《Hyperion Evergrowing》 Prologue Prologue Leif fidgeted at the edge of the army camp atop a grassy hill not quite tall enough to be considered a mountain. He did so in the way he had been taught growing up, without any movements of his body or any nervousness reaching his face. The kind of fidgeting only possible if you get beaten for appearing to not pay attention to lessons by the family tutor. The kind of fidgeting that involved mentally pushing and pulling small, mostly opaque grey rectangles with gold and red trimmings. Now you might feel concerned at the idea of boxes only visible within your mind''s eye, doubly so if they had letters, numbers and words on them. These weren¡¯t hallucinations caused by schizophrenia but instead perfectly normal. The young man moved and adjusted the system windows he had pulled up so they might block out the source of his worry. On another hill of similar size and shape were the enemy. The Enslaved Legion crawled over the almost mountain like the ant-like monsters their black carapace armour represented. Leif had heard many soldiers doubt the invaders were human at all. They were, he knew, at least some of them. Though he suspected come morning he would be intimately familiar with just what kind of people they were. ¡°Captain sir!¡± Came a shout from behind along with running footsteps. Leif turned away from the enemy encampment, blinking the system out of his vision. As he did so sunlight glinted off his polished bronze breastplate, red and gold half cape fluttering in the wind. ¡°At ease.¡± Leif said, his tone not hinting at any lack of confidence. His second in command, a tall man from a northern border city squinted at the light and shuffled so he was parallel to Leif. He stood up straight and saluted, fist to heart. ¡°Captain sir! Orders from above, squads are to muster and report to their captains... Sir.¡± Leif nodded and followed the other man''s wandering gaze, back to the legion encampment. At the small groups of black figures that were beginning to dig entrenched positions in the valley between both forces. ¡°Are we... Ya know. Actually gonna fight them? A real pitched battle?¡± He asked. The two armies had been shadowing each other for the better part of a month, lightly skirmishing over position and resources so the question wasn¡¯t as strange as it might sound. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m afraid so Heffnir. The generals and seers are planning something for tonight. At least that was the conclusion reached in the officers meeting earlier today.¡± ¡°Fuck. Uh, I mean... How are the omens?¡± ¡°The omens are good, as to be expected I suppose. Shall we go?¡± Heffnir nodded, the taller man followed briskly behind Leif as they wove through brightly coloured tents and below equally vibrant banners depicting noble heraldry. As the two departed dark clouds moved in front of the sun. === Rain fell in heavy sheets against the single file column of cloaked soldiers as they rounded the foot of the hill, the ground slick with muddy run-off. Above, fires raged from campfires and torches both, a reminder of warmth and comfort every man and woman taking part in the upcoming assault wouldn¡¯t experience until the battle was won. Leif marched ahead of his squad, twelve men and women trudged through deep mud thoroughly worked by those that had been before them. Head down as rain soaked his hood, Leif pulsed his aura in short guiding bursts. The invisible echo of power rolling off his shoulders, moving as far back along the column as his level and attributes could allow, just enough to reach the next squad leader, hopefully anyway. Visibility had plummeted as night had fallen and the rain had gone from light drizzle to a suffocating blanket of liquid. Leif could barely see five metres ahead, the backs of the soldiers he was trailing seeming to meld into the murky darkness. Two more bursts, quick succession. None of his squad had aura skills but they could still feel the aura of those who did. An innate sense possessed by all living beings. Leif¡¯s [Noble] class, inherited from his father, had granted him a social aura when he had reached the second level. Intended to be used within courts and high society gatherings, the skill [Aura of Nobility] had fast tracked him into being an officer when the war broke out, though he supposed nepotism did most of the heavy lifting. Unfortunately mud and rain don¡¯t care about one¡¯s birthright or caste. He cursed as part of the hillside slid out from under him making him slide over three metres and out of the single file marching formation. Three short pulses followed by a fourth longer one. ¡°Wait¡±, the message said, conveying patience and apology. Using the light from the campsite above and the faint echoes of the advanced squad¡¯s aura pulses he re-orientated and continued onwards into the night. To battle. === The Varan camp was alight with controlled flame and bustling with activity. This activity however wasn¡¯t from the usual bustle of soldiers. The kingdom''s forces had slowly departed down the back of the hill to avoid detection from the Enslaved on the opposite side of the valley. The activity was camp followers intentionally making themselves visible so scouts and lookouts with perception skills from the legion camp wouldn¡¯t see that business wasn¡¯t as usual. If all went well, the enemy wouldn¡¯t suspect anything until it was too late. Legionnaires in dark carapace toiled in the valley below, creating makeshift earthwork fortifications, pits and low walls. This was standard for the legion, the two armies had shadowed one another like timid dancers around the narrow stretch of tamed land between rugged wilderness and a vast lake for a little over a month. During this time the Enslaved would entrench themselves to withstand harassment by the less orderly but more mobile Varan forces. It was this consistent military doctrine the Varan army intended to take advantage of. Flares of light magic intermittently lit up the night, fired in high arcs so as to not reveal the many snaking tendrils of soldiers from the assault force creeping forward. Light attuned mages within the Varan camp illuminating the legion¡¯s camp every five or so minutes, it was something the army did every night when the enemy was nearby. To scout, certainly. But the constant bright flashes were an indirect sort of attack, intended to prevent sleep and constantly distract. A vibrant flash of green. Five minutes. Another, then yellow. ¡°Advance.¡± The message hidden within the colours relayed. And over a thousand soldiers obeyed. They would defeat the invaders here and now, or die trying. ===T/his chapter is updated by Green, green, yellow. Green, green, yellow. Red, green, yellow. Leif crouched in the mud, his squad fanned out behind him in a loose formation. He squinted into the night, trying to make out the legions earthen walls. When the red flare had been fired, mages with classes attuned to earth had begun creeping forward, their spells and skills evening out the final stretch of ground and filling in the newly dug moat. The army didn¡¯t possess many [Terramancer]s, so those they did have would be burning through their energy as quickly as possible to ready the ground ahead. Footsteps from behind, hostile intent focused on him. A legionnaire missing an arm and with several arrows sticking from their armour rushed him. Half of a snapped spear was thrust at Leif¡¯s neck as he jerked backwards. Phantom echoes of the same attack materialised chaotically around the enslaved strike, the skill used was faint, its form barely coherent for more than a second, a sure sign of the user''s exhaustion. Anger, hatred and not a little desperation radiated off the enslaved as they attacked again and again in furiously wide motions. Leif stepped into an overhead swipe and planted his fist into the gut of his attacker. Air whooshed from the legionaries lungs before a horizontal slash enhanced by [Duellist''s Focus] removed their head. Leif sagged to the ground as the enslaved toppled back, torso becoming obscured by mist. Some sort of enhancing or empowering skill leaked from the corpse, mixing into the air. No wonder they were somehow moving with that injury. He thought numbly. For several minutes Leif stayed still, propped up by his sword he listened to the ever quieting sounds of battle. A scream, and then nothing. Steel ringing against steel, and then silence. All was quiet. Is it over? Is it finally done? Thoughts ran through Leif¡¯s exhausted mind. How could he regroup with survivors? Would others come to find him? Had they even won? Or was the legion finishing off Varan stragglers? A riderless horse came screaming out of the fog, hooves kicking up mud as it rushed past. Leif made to grab for its reins but flinched back as the beast tripped, leg snapping under its own weight as it fell hard into the mud. Not riderless. Two dog sized insects retracted their mandibles from where they had latched onto the now dead animal¡¯s flank. Their emotionless eyes fell onto Leif as the two monsters swivelled their bodies to face him. They rushed forward, legs skittering over the churned ground. Leif rolled to the side from his kneeling position. A Projected Shield snapped up around his back as he heard a crunch from a heavy impact. He spun up to his feet but screamed as mandibles latched around his forearm. Dropping his sword from the pain he stepped back and drew his dagger. The short blade pierced the ant''s eye, it went limp, but the mandibles stayed clamped firmly around his arm. The second monster, dazed from running head first into the now dissipated shield gathered itself before coming right at him. Leif panicked, one arm was useless, likely broken, muscles and tendons severed by insectile blades. His sword lay submerged in mud and his dagger was stuck fast as he tried to yank it free from the insect¡¯s corpse. Pain lanced up his leg as the remaining ant bit through his boot and severed his achilles tendon. Leif fell hard on his side but impacting the ground was enough to let his dagger slip free. Death rushed for his neck but he twisted, blocking the attack with the dead ant still latched onto his arm. The monster¡¯s body was dislodged from the blow, its vice grip on his forearm slackened. Leif kicked out with his one good leg and sent both carapaced forms tumbling. He sucked in a breath but there was no relief from the pain. [Recovery Breath] was overused, the effect all but null. His physical attributes dropped, no longer enhanced from being in a combat stance. The ant came again, but the monster''s fixation on his neck made dispatching it simple enough. Leif¡¯s head fell back, a mix of blood and mud instantly soaking his short dark hair. His vision began to fade as blood loss took its toll. I¡¯m going to die. He thought blankly, but there wasn¡¯t enough energy left for any particular emotion to take root. Fear had long ago fled in the face of exhausted acceptance. Death came slowly, or slower than one might expect. A mix of increased vitality from attributes and the desperate intakes of healing breaths made the minutes crawl into an hour, then two. His consciousness flickered in and out. Each bout of darkness interrupted by a reflexive gasp and a spasm of pain. At some point the mist began to burn away as the morning sun rose. In the few moments he could focus Leif saw the aftermath of battle stretching off into the distance. In the dawn light figures stalked the battlefield. Tall and slender with inhumanly twisted limbs, they stopped at corpses and the dying, hunched over as if feeding. Growling came from his left but Leif was too weak to move. Something bit into his thigh but he could barely feel the pain. Two wolves with mangy coats and sunken features began to tug at his limp body. Feebly he pulsed his aura, but [Aura of Nobility] had no combat potential, it was simply a final, desperate attempt to survive. An inhuman hiss sent the two beasts whining and scampering away. Dark muttering in a language Leif wouldn¡¯t have recognised even if he were fully lucid drew closer. A figure, taller than any human and twice as thin stood over him. Glowing red eyes bore down from a face lacking any distinct features except for ash grey bark in the place of skin. It spoke in a guttural hiss and knelt down. A crack formed on the creature''s mask-like face in a mock imitation of a smile. An elongated, crooked finger pressed into Leif''s chest, the sharpened claw-like end penetrated his battered armour as if it were heated butter and sunk into flesh. Then something was pushed into him, rushing through his veins and pushing aside organs as it twisted and grew. Leif screamed as his soul was ripped apart. You have lost 5 levels in the [Fighter] class! -5 to all attributes! You have lost 5 levels in the [Guard] class! -5 to all attributes! Warning! You have lost class levels, skills connected to classes with lost levels may be unstable! You have lost 0 levels in the [Noble] class! Inheritant classes cannot lose levels! You have lost 4 levels in the [Fighter] class! -4 to all attributes! You have lost 1 level in the [Guard] class! -1 to all attributes! You have lost all levels in the [Fighter] class! All skills lost, class perk lost, base stats lost! You have lost all levels in the [Guard] class! All skills lost, class perk lost, base stats lost! Warning! You have suffered devastating soul trauma! Warning! Your body is being forcibly transformed! Warning! Your body has been irrevocably changed! Warning! You are no longer a human! You are no longer an enlightened race! You may no longer gain non monster classes! Error! Inheritant class detected. Class restrictions negated! Chapter 1: First Thoughts Chapter 1: First Thoughts Monster ecology was an underdeveloped field in the kingdom Leif belonged to, in all human lands really. A system that quantifies most of reality tends to stifle innovation outside of its rules and intricacies. This isn¡¯t to say that the system didn¡¯t have anything to do with monsters, just that enlightened races had access to different bits than said monsters. As the body of our protagonist is currently decomposing into the soil, let''s start by quantifying what a monster is. In Varan, a monster would be defined as an entity of unnatural birth. This isn¡¯t wholly inaccurate, people and animals tend to be born after the sacred act of hand holding and kissing is performed. Monsters, by contrast, do indeed tend towards the unnatural. Take for example the fact that roots are growing out of Leif¡¯s spine. And yes, those are branches sprouting from his eye sockets. The exact process is technically defined as a form of soul parasitism. He¡¯ll be fine... Probably. As defined by the system itself, monsters are beings who are born through the intervention of mana. Undead are reanimated through skills and spells aspected towards death. Elementals are born through parts of the natural world being over saturated in energies, no points for guessing which kinds. Slimes divide over time, in the same way bacteria and problems do. Goblins along with other facsimiles of sapience pool out of shadows in the ruins of civilization. Plant monsters tend to be quite varied. From seeds to spores to implanting a parasitic bulb in the still beating hearts of their victims in an effort to supplant their mind, body and soul into a twisted replica of the original. As exciting as it sounds, the process is fairly slow. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months as the seasons went by. Seasons, it should be noted, were caused not by the planet having an axial tilt, as this world didn¡¯t have one. Instead they were caused by the rotation of the first of two orbiting moons. Season, the first, closest and largest of the two moons rotated once every two months. When its ordinary crater pocked half faced the planet, weather acted normal and the climate didn¡¯t fluctuate. When the half with the glowing red ravines criss-crossing the surface like they were the webs of terrifyingly huge spiders faced the planet. Well, things tended to get strange. T/his chapter is updated by Strange from an outsider''s perspective that is, the influx of thaumatic phenomena, extreme weather and exaggerated temperatures were quite ordinary to the beings of this world. A world with many names and colloquialisms across many languages and cultures. These all tended towards similar meanings; The land, the world, the soil beneath our feet. For the sake of simplicity let''s smoosh them together, aggregate the meanings and pick something at random. Let''s call the planet Earth, probably hasn¡¯t been done before. === Like all the rest it was a [Juvenile Blight Tree], but unlike the others of its kind it possessed a unique trait. Awareness. It had a thought. Huh? This thought lasted three entire months, during which its aggressive tendencies stalled. No longer a beacon of death, grass wriggled its way into the tree¡¯s territory. Then came insects, followed by birds, then small mammals. During a heavy snowstorm the tree had its second thought. Uhh? Ok, I know what you might be thinking. This tree is stupid! And as well it should be, the poor thing has an intelligence of one. For context humans are born with Five! That''s right! Five whole points! If you feel insulted don¡¯t be, intelligence, as with all attributes is a multiplier of a creature''s inherent characteristics. So while the numerical difference between one and five might be somewhere around the ballpark of four, the difference between a human with an intelligence of five and a tree with the same score is stark. The fact this tree could think at all was remarkable! Mmmh? Keep trying little guy, you can do it! Chapter 2: Actions Chapter 2: Actions Within a form of wood a consciousness stirred, it had done so several times now. Each spark of thought was greater than the one before it, more focused and slightly faster. With every thought it became more and more aware, aware of its surroundings, the taste of dirt, the warmth of the sun, the feeling of small legs climbing its branches. Small pinpricks of light shone in its mind''s eye. Each corresponding to the small animals scampering around. The instincts of its species screamed at the tree to attack, to consume and grow. But another, slightly stronger instinct held it back, telling it that something was wrong, that something was unnatural. There was more, the tree could sense that the second instinct was correct, somewhere deep inside knew. And though neither the origin nor veracity of this feeling could be detected the tree clutched onto it with all its focus and will. Then, as its burgeoning identity was being pieced together, different sensations filtered through the fog of its consciousness. Small pricks of emotions and intent; Safety, hunger, nest, hide. Where were they coming from? And why could it sense them? Could it be the same presences climbing on its body? These thoughts were quite complex, and thus the tree pondered them. A year passed. === Fear! The emotion was sharp and sudden, like a knife against skin. But it wasn¡¯t the tree¡¯s emotion, no, it was external. Something was panicking nearby! Hunger. Another emotion but this time from a distinctly different source, the intent of this second source of emotion was directed towards the first. It could feel the location of both, a small flicker of presence. At first the tree had used this faint sense to strike out against prey, and a part of it felt the intense desire to lash out. To send forth a sharp root from the soil and end both presences. But it hadn¡¯t acted on such instincts in over a year. But something had changed. The fact the tree could not only feel these emotions and sense both presences with such clarity... Something had definitely changed. But what? Fear again! The smaller presence moved quickly as the larger bounded forwards. The fearful presence darted up the tree¡¯s trunk and its closeness stirred something within the trunk. It remembered! The small presence was familiar, it had nested within the tree¡¯s branches. This realisation stirred something else, a dull protective instinct. The small thing was in danger. Don¡¯t lose them! A crack resounded through the forest as a [Juvenile Blight Tree] protected the life of something else. A historic first! Level up! Class [Noble] is now level 6! For fighting to protect another under your watch and within your territory you earned a level! +1 to [Willpower] +2 free points! New class skills available! [Grand Action] or [Bloodline Insight]! ... Uhhh...? It knew that if it had one skill, it had others. And knowing that let the system pick up some of the slack. And by some I mean a whole lot. === Name: Leif Vin Race: Blight Tree Age: 8 Attributes: Free: 22 Might: 7 Alacrity: 3 Intelligence: 1 Willpower: 2 Spirit: 6 Charisma: 14 Total Level: 10 Monster Classes: 1/1 Juvenile Blight Tree: 4/10 Skills: Savage Roots / Predators Sense Classes: 0/2 Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 6/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility I / Court Empath / Grand Action === Seeing the full status screen stunlocked the tree for five months straight. Chapter 3: Contact Chapter 3: Contact Birds chirped in Leif¡¯s branches as the early morning sun filtered through the sparse canopy. It, or rather, he, now comprehended why the small forest animals seemed attracted to his form despite their survival instincts likely screaming at them to stay away from the [Juvenile Blight Tree]. And it wasn¡¯t because they were idiotically ignoring the concept of self preservation. === Aura of Nobility I: Aspects: Aura, Social* Your auric presence possesses traces of your noble baring and lineage. You may display your intent through your aura, your intent has a greater effect on those with a weaker aura. You can control your aura in ways that are impossible without an aura skill. Notes: Keep this suppressed around the Kossia family. They¡¯re insufferable. Two years later, one of them married my cousin! They¡¯re closing in! HELP ME! === And what''s more, Leif knew why he could sense the emotions and intentions of the nearby animals. === Court Empath: Aspects: Social*, Perception You feel the emotions and intents of those around you and can see in which direction said emotions and intents are directed. Your ability to sense such things is determined by your charisma attribute. === While Leif couldn¡¯t read the system windows, he could instinctually grasp what each of his skills did. As if some innate knowledge of their uses was trickled into his mind. His roots spread out in a five metre radius around his trunk, some stretched downwards in search of ground water, others fanned out to cover more distance. Leif¡¯s current self imposed task was to manually direct his roots. Focusing on any one task was difficult, but as Leif willed his roots to move, they did so. He found that actively controlling his root¡¯s growth increased their progress by one and a half small presences per warmth period. This highly scientific method was interrupted the next day when it rained. As an entity with no sight, smell or hearing, accurately gauging the world was difficult. Sixteen warmths and three wets into the expansion Leif encountered something peculiar right on the edge of his ¡®perception¡¯. An intent, hungry and searching. However the source of this intent wasn¡¯t anything Leif had ever sensed before. He continued expanding in the direction and, after four days, reached the new being. He reached roots. When Leif initially came into physical contact with the other tree¡¯s root system he didn¡¯t immediately identify it as the source of the vaguely hostile intent. Leif found it difficult to push his limited perception down to the far ends of his roots. And telling different root structures apart was remarkably difficult. So for another week he pushed his roots towards the intent, and the other tree did the same in his direction. When the grass around Leif¡¯s trunk began to wither and die he didn¡¯t notice, he only noticed when a sharpened root erupted from the earth and struck towards a small presence on one of his lower branches. The creature, a small bird, successfully dodged the assassination attempt. This resulted in the attack penetrating Leif¡¯s body. Bark splintered and chips flew off into the forest. If Leif had ears he would have heard the sharp crack that split the air and sent the numerous occupants of his canopy fleeing in every direction. Pain wasn¡¯t something Leif could feel. Instead of pain there was a dull sensation of something being off, a rush as chemical processes within his body moved towards the wound, sap mixed with a sharp aroma secreted out. Both trees remained idle for well over an hour, each trying to comprehend what had just happened. The other blight tree, not as blessed with incredible intellect, could feel that the tree it had encroached on was similar to itself. The faintest sense of a familiar bond pricked at its still burgeoning awareness. Leif, for his part, felt no such familiar bond. Quite the opposite. The strange feeling of unease surrounding his existence prevented him from making such a connection. He had been attacked! A part of himself the young tree didn¡¯t comprehend was outraged, it instinctually wanted to counter attack. To fend off the danger. But what truly sealed the fate of the unfortunate blight tree was that it had scared off Leif¡¯s tenants. A protective pride swelled in Leif¡¯s not chest. An emotion resembling the human emotion of anger bubbled to life. Leif¡¯s entire world sharpened, he swept the surrounding area with his limited perception. He saw clearly for the first time the reaching roots, like skeletal fingers clutching in his direction. The dead grass, vitality robbed by the attacker. The attacker... Leif imitated the tree equivalent of squinting in indignant incredulity via his aura at the other plant. [Grand Action] boosting his might attribute the power of [Savage Roots] was heightened. Eight metres away from Leif¡¯s trunk a spear of wood erupted from one of his probing roots. Damp soil was parted as the sharp blade punched into the other tree¡¯s roots. It didn¡¯t sever them, not entirely. If Leif¡¯s opponent noticed it had been stabbed it didn¡¯t react. Or more accurately it would take several days to react if it did notice. In this period Leif began draining the vitality from the enemy root system via his opening. It took two nights and a day before the roots withered and died, the faint intent leaking from the closer roots vanished. Chapter 4: Garden Warfare Chapter 4: Garden Warfare Garden warfare between two trees wasn¡¯t overly exciting. [Savage Roots] was a remarkably ineffective skill, if either plant monster had practised or pushed their limits the skill would have been far more potent. The enemy tree countered, it¡¯s own spear of wood striking out at Leif¡¯s advancing roots. This counter was in turn countered, and then that counter was countered. Fronts were made, lines were drawn, should hostile roots cross into the others territory they would be set upon. Stabbed and strangled. Leif was a smart tree. Smarter is probably the more accurate descriptor. His roots went deeper, only to strike up from beneath. His [Grand Action] skill boosted his [Might] when he went on the attack and [Spirit] when recovering from wounds. As time flew past, his victory became more and more certain. The foe was losing ground, and the more ground that was lost the less nutrients it could absorb. And though there was a certain defender''s advantage, Leif¡¯s relentless advance crushed all opposition. He knew he was winning. If Leif had eyes he would have noticed his opponent began to look sickly as its roots were destroyed, leaves wilting and branches sagging. He could instead tell the condition of the other tree via the innate life detection his specific species possessed. Then something changed. It was sudden, shockingly abrupt for a battle between two plants. A battle that so far had lasted for two entire season shifts. The enemy grew far stronger, it surged with vitality and its intent sharpened. Where once its actions and reactions had been comparatively slow they were now practically blistering. As if a switch had been flipped, Leif began losing ground. The frequency in which the enemy launched [Savage Roots] attacks doubled, then tripled. Both combatants had become more proficient with their skills as the fight had progressed, but for such a sudden shift to occur... Leif¡¯s mind raced, the strange planty synapses that may or may not have existed went into overdrive. How? How had he gone from days away from victory to being so hard pressed on the back foot, back root, whatever. Initially his thoughts were along the lines of a level up. Had the enemy tree gained a new skill that could explain the boost in combat ability. But could a single skill have made such a difference? And if so, how far was Leif from getting the same skill? As it turned out, no. Neither tree had levelled up.. In actuality Leif¡¯s opponent was three entire [Juvenile Blight Tree] levels above him. It had an extra skill, and this skill was the only reason it had held on so far into the fight. But Leif couldn¡¯t know this, and his total level was still higher at ten versus seven. In fact, the cause of this sudden paradigm shift would become apparent in three weeks time. === Leif was sick, he could feel himself wither, his vitality draining. As he lost more and more ground his every action became sluggish, his every thought strained. He was going to lose and he didn¡¯t know why. === Oh, that''s what it means. Leif realised. And then, in the world¡¯s most stunning display of understanding cause and effect he had a thought. That must have been why the other tree became strong! And he was correct. Not only was he correct but he was substantially stronger. Weakness fled in the wave of higher numbers. His mind sharpened due to [Willpower] and [Intelligence] let him see new connections, have new ideas. Though he had lost ground against his foe the fight had returned to the prior status quo. A status quo in which he had the advantage. One month and two weeks later... Level up! Class [Juvenile Blight Tree] is now level 5! For killing another of your kind and proving dominance over a protracted back and forth conflict you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Intelligence] +5 free points! You have displayed excellence above your ability! For surviving a gruelling battle of attrition few others of your level could have survived you have gained the following! +2 to [Willpower] +2 to [Spirit]! For demonstrating combat prowess while within the wilderness and possessing tenacity and grit in the face of adversity you have the opportunity to gain the [Survivor] class! Class slots: 0/2 Accept? Y/N As Leif couldn¡¯t read the system prompts, and therefore had no idea an option had been presented he neither accepted nor declined the final message. This led to the class being automatically declined after a month had passed. In our protagonist''s defence, he had important things to do. Like drinking groundwater and photosynthesising. Chapter 5: Oversized Chickens Chapter 5: Oversized Chickens Goblins weren¡¯t overly intelligent. And before anyone starts accusing this story of being exclusively about stupid people allow me to clarify. Goblin¡¯s didn¡¯t need to be smart. They were short lived and violent, and while they had a social hierarchy similar to primitive humanity their ultimate goals in life made higher learning and philosophy unnecessary. They were monsters spawned from the ruins of civilization, the usual grinding wheel of natural selection didn¡¯t apply. Doing the dirty and waiting for storks to deliver baby goblins just wasn¡¯t how they did things. Speaking of birds, the goblin tribe currently stalking through the young wilderness near a certain tree possessed several. Not as livestock or pets, these metre tall killing machines with raptor-like talons and beaks the shape of curved daggers were effectively members of the tribe. When a goblin reached level 10, assuming it met certain criteria it would gain the option to evolve their racial class into a variant of the awakened race''s [Tamer] class. This class would keep the goblin hallmarks, [Enhanced Stealth] and [Savagery] while supplementing the monster with several interesting options. One such option had led to the capture, raising and eventual taming of three Highland Runners. Flightless and with crests of bright red feathers and slick black and blue bodies, these predatory animals were a common sight in less forested regions. And they were animals. Nothing monstrous about them, but just because a creature wasn¡¯t given a thaumatic bump on the way into existence didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t apex hunters in their own rights. The goblin tribe these three birds now belonged to had lost six members trying to raid the nest to claim their eggs. The goblins often let these creatures go off and hunt as a pack. A skill enforced bond prevented them from acting against the tribe nor getting too far away, so what was the risk? All the monsters and beasts within this part of the wilderness were quite weak, the strongest had been a level fourteen evolved bear that they had filled with arrows from a safe distance. This is why the goblin tribe wasn¡¯t expecting all three of their prized companion beasts to be dead within the hour. The cause... Well I¡¯m sure you already know. === In the calm afternoon sun, towards the end of the Hush season sat a tree. With its thin twisting trunk of grey wood and a canopy of dull red leaves, this tree made for quite the imposing sight. Other plants, trees included, lived within the forest. But for reasons related to being stabbed by root spears and drained of life things tended to stay away. But this tree was different. The three birds of prey could feel it. Something in the air told them this tree was different, as though it held itself in a dignified poise. And while the three interloping hunters didn¡¯t understand that this feeling came from the highly unusual phenomenon of this plant monster having a [Noble] class, they could see something they did understand. This tree, for whatever reason, was practically bustling with life. Squirrels scampered up and down branches while the crimson canopy was flush with chirping songbirds. At the base of this tree was a lush lawn of verdant grass, clearly unhindered by the tree¡¯s usually hungry nature. Within this unusually vibrant grass was dinner. Not the tree¡¯s dinner, oh no. Three sets of hungry eyes soaked in the sight of a deer and her nursing fawn. The mother deer gave the newcomers a placid ¡®what can ya do?¡¯ look, the same kind she might instinctually give to a fast moving vehicle. The hunters knew something wasn¡¯t right. They squawked at each other in shrill tones, the sound sending songbirds fleeing and squirrels diving for cover. They prowled around the tree, instinctually looking for danger, ready to flee at the slightest rustle of leaves or the smallest bulge in the soil. Nothing happened. And as nothing happened, they became more bold. Sharp talons pawed at the ground, beaks snapping. The fawn stopped feeding, its small head peaked up over its mothers frame. It looked imminent death square in the eye and... Promptly went to sleep. The highland runners gave each other the bird equivalent of a shrug and darted forward. They closed the gap fast, these were evolved beasts, each over level 10. One rushed right for the deer, one taloned foot raised to deliver death in a single crushing blow. The other two flanked to the sides, eager to partake in the coming feast. As the killing blow descended a brilliant golden dome sprung up around the deer. It cracked when the attack impacted it, white fractures quickly spreading along its surface. The birds had an instant to react, an instant to realise they were in well over their heads and run for their lives. Instead they spent that instant looking on in confusion. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. A spear of wood lanced from the ground penetrating the lead animal through the breast, it thrashed around, feebly trying to break free. The hollow bones of one of the flanking runners were crushed as a second spear shattered its legs. Age: 10 Attributes: Free: 14 Might: 18 Alacrity: 5 Intelligence: 4 Willpower: 7 Spirit: 16 Charisma: 17 Total Level: 14 Monster Classes: 1/1 Juvenile Blight Tree: 6/10 Skills: Savage Roots / Predators Sense / Harvests Due Classes: 0/2 Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 8/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility I / Court Empath / Grand Action / Under My Protection === Yes, he still hadn¡¯t figured out how to spend free attribute points. Chapter 6: The Clan Chapter 6: The Clan Gret Koll knew the folly of his kind. How they bickered and fought over scraps. When his clan had been forced to flee their spawnland they had endured tribulation and struggle. When Gret, one of the youngest of his clan, had finally reached the level ten milestone and evolved it hadn¡¯t taken long for him to usurp the current chief. He had burnt the old fool alive; nothing could withstand his magical flames. Obedience from his fellow goblin had only been natural, loyalty a forgone conclusion. So why, under the feral moons were his clanmates starting to doubt. Why the FUCK were they questioning his leadership? Did they want to die screaming? Gret seethed internally as he stomped ahead of his clan. The scouts were too frightened to forge ahead so he had to lead by example. If his pathetic kin were so weak to die to a bunch of TREES how could it be his fault? If his family weren¡¯t so incompetent there wouldn¡¯t be a problem... ¡°Chief!¡± Screeched a nasally voice from behind. Gret let out a long suffering sigh and turned to face the soon to be scorched pile of meat and regrets. ¡°WHAT? DO YOU NEED ME TO HOLD YOUR HAND? KEEP MOVING OR I¡¯LL KILL YOU!¡± He roared, the other goblin flinching back. ¡°B-but chief... It¡¯s the Bog brothers... They said they couldn¡¯t feel their bonds anymore and-¡± ¡°WHAT?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I¡¯LL RIP THEM APART WITH MY BARE HANDS!¡± ¡°C-chief...¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± ¡°T-they already left, t-to go find their birds...¡± With a sickening thwack Gret¡¯s charcoal staff caved in the skull of the wretch before him. As the body toppled to the ground, cinders flared up from beneath the monster''s dark green skin. Gret stomped towards the rest of his worthless clan, they eyed him with a mix of fear and trepidation. ¡°WELL?¡± Gret screamed, spittle flying. ¡°WHERE DID THEY GO?¡± === Bog turned to face his brother, the equally small goblin was hunched low next to him in the shrubbery. === An entire clan of goblins, around forty members large, gathered in a cluster within sight of a Blight Tree, grey bark and red leaves easily visible through the usual greenery of the forest. Gret stood closer than the others, a ragged cloak he had taken from a slain adventurer slung over his back, grubby fingers wrapped around the staff that channelled his fire magic. This Blight Tree was just like the others it had seen, well, not quite. This one was far smaller, as if its growth was stunted. For his clan to be afraid of a plant... Pathetic. The chief was currently half ranting, half screaming incoherently at the group of goblins. Something about how they didn¡¯t have a single useful bone between them and that their mothers were swine. Goblin¡¯s didn¡¯t have mothers so that particular insult flew mostly over their heads. Though they did possess an innate understanding of awakened beings courtesy of their shadowy origins from the ruins of towns and cities. Some high level variants even gained skills related to blending into awakened society. Gret hollered for another minute, cursed out both moons which was terrible luck, and stalked towards the tree. He raised his staff and channelled a skill. Orange flames licked up and down the length of the staff for three heartbeats before a [Scorching Ray] launched from the tip. To Gret and the rest of the goblin''s surprise a golden barrier flickered into existence, absorbing much of the initial damage from the skill. But not all. The barrier fractured, then shattered. Flames wreathed the tree, scorching bark and incinerating leaves. A surprising amount of birds and smaller forest critters fled at the encroaching fire but many were too slow. Gret turned back to his clan with a smug look of superiority. ¡°SEE! NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF!¡± No one felt the need to point out that Gret was the only caster variant the clan had. Nor that he possessed the clan¡¯s only magical item. Some clapped, a few cheered and the rest lowered their heads in supplication. This wasn¡¯t the first time Gret had demonstrated his power to the clan, and likely wouldn¡¯t be the last. Goblins followed the strongest, it was ingrained into their very existence, their instincts would compel them. Now that the chief had put the fear of himself back into his clan they would obey as he ordered them to march through dangerous territory and into deadly predicaments. Gret leered at them before turning back to the burnt, but still standing tree. His eyes glinted as he spotted something. ¡°YOU AND... YOU! GO FETCH ME THAT DEER!¡± ¡°Y-yes boss.¡± The two nameless goblins stammered and moved forward. Surely if they did this Gret wouldn¡¯t beat them? They drew hand made daggers of flint and sticks and stalked forward. The goblins wouldn¡¯t complain about dinner... Half way between the tree and the clan both goblins stopped dead, root spears had plunged up into their throats and out the back of their necks. Everything went silent, then the tree began to drain the corpses. Gret scoffed. ¡°They should have dodged. NEXT! YOU AND YOU! MOVE IT!¡± The clan looked between their cruel chief and the bloodthirsty tree. They decided to take their chances against the tree. Chapter 7: Echoes and Victory Chapter 7: Echoes and Victory To say that Leif didn¡¯t understand what was going on would be an understatement. To say he was pleased with the current happenings would be a gross misassessment of the situation. That fire had hurt. By all rights Leif thought he should be dead, the source of the flames was too far away from his roots for the tree to strike back. But then, for whatever reason the flames had stopped and presences started moving forward in small groups of twos or threes. Leif was desperate, what if these presences had more fire? He lashed out, killing all who got too close. Before long seven goblins lay dead, their vitality rapidly draining away. Leif¡¯s bark began to grow back, leaves budding on newly restored branches. Level up! Class [Juvenile Blight Tree] is now level 7! For slaying multiple foes of similar level in quick succession you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Spirit] +5 free points! The system popped up once again in Leif¡¯s mind''s eye. Though he couldn¡¯t read what the messages said he had slowly begun to intuit their meaning. This was telling him that his strength had increased. That was good, but probably not enough. What could he do? Back when Leif had fought the other tree, at the moment he was on the verge of losing he had received a surge of power. But why? And possibly a more important question, how? As if responding to his silent question the system popped up more information. === Attributes: Free: 19 Might: 19 Alacrity: 5 Intelligence: 4 Willpower: 7 Spirit: 17 Charisma: 17 === Attributes, he knew that. Instinctually he had figured them out years ago. There were six, he saw the list presented before him, each attribute had an attached... what were they? Numbers. The thought came suddenly and without explanation. Numbers? They were numbers! Somehow it was as if a veil had been lifted. Strange images and scenes flashed through Leif¡¯s mind. They were jumbled and confusing and were gone as quickly as they had come. Numbers. He could work with this. His attention returned to the attributes. Six attributes, each with numbers designating how strong they were... wait, that wasn¡¯t right. Why were there seven attributes listed? Was there a seventh he hadn¡¯t noticed? Had that always been on his status? As if responding to his question the system supplied an answer. The outlier attribute had once been higher, but had subsequently been lowered by the exact amount of attributes he had gained. Wait... lower attributes, but a sudden surge of power when I was weak. Leif had gained strength since then, so could he... Now that the dots had been connected the tree now knew what to do. Leif attempted to manually spend a free attribute point. And it worked. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. A wedding, knives hidden behind every smile. A proud father beaming down. Playing in the gardens of a grand estate. Learning under a strict gaze. A smiling family. === A stabbing pain as a goblin¡¯s flint dagger penetrated bark. What? Where am I? Another impact, this one against a thrumming shield of gold. This... Goblins! I¡¯m under attack! Somehow beneath the haze of confusing memories he had still activated [Under my Protection]. The deer seemed unworried at the very least. Leif focused, no time to consider what he had just experienced. Four presences flickered out as spears of wood punctuated vital organs and severed limbs. Leif focused his will with [Grand Action] and studied the creatures besieging his person. They were goblins, he somehow knew that now when moments prior he hadn¡¯t had a clue. The lifeblood of the slain stained the dirt, a far more prominent part of Leif¡¯s consciousness now realised what he was doing. Draining their blood to heal and grow. It felt disturbing, wrong in a way he couldn¡¯t put a finger on. A finger... Just what is going on? He was surrounded, and the majority of his foes were outside his range. His attention shifted from the goblins to the roots closest to them. With a mental effort he channelled the newly gained vitality from the dead into growth. His roots started grinding forward at a speed he had never thought possible. And the goblins had no idea. They would pay. === Gret lounged back against a boulder watching the show. In small groups the goblin¡¯s he hated the most were sent to their deaths, all those he had caught muttering mutiny under their breath or were slow to obey his orders. He could get used to this. The feeling of power, of control. A primal sense of satisfaction crawled up his spine and he couldn¡¯t help but grin. Just a few more pests to take care of, then he would incinerate the tree and move on, clan in awe of his power. He was so caught up basking in his own grandeur that Gret didn¡¯t notice the mumbling and murmuring of his clan. Goblin¡¯s instinctually follow the strongest, but instincts had their limits. Sometimes it was possible to be too cruel, even for goblins. The clan just needed a little push, and it would all come falling apart. Wooden spears erupted from the soil to impale and restrain. Goblins screamed in terror and made a hasty retreat away from the tree''s suddenly increased threat radius. They scrambled and crawled, a press of panicked bodies desperate to get to safety. Gret stood, fury in his eyes. He raised his staff and opened his mouth to rally his worthless clan. A goblin shouldered past him, sending Gret staggering back. He tripped onto his ass and cursed. A knee struck his chin, dazing and disorientating him. The goblin chief cursed and swore, he tried to stand but a root wrapped around his ankle. Gret froze. Then, in a wild flailing of limbs he was dragged bodily towards the tree. Gret twisted and his ankle snapped, screaming in pain he reached down and grabbed his wooden restraint. [Burning Hands] incinerated the root and he was free. He stumbled up but fell the instant he put weight on his shattered ankle. Panicked, he looked for where he had dropped his staff in the chaos. It wasn''t far, he dived for it, arms outstretched. Searing pain lanced through his hip and another spear ripped into his side. But he wasn¡¯t stopped. Snarling, Gret grabbed his staff and levelled it at the plant monster. ¡°NO ONE BESTS GRET! DIE-¡± Something sharp penetrated through the back of his skull and out the front. Gret died as he lived, screeching in rage. Chapter 8: Choices and Levels Chapter 8: Choices and Levels Level up! Class [Juvenile Blight Tree] is now level 8! T/his chapter is updated by For slaying a [Goblin Flame Chief] and chasing off his clan you have gained a level. +1 to [Might] +1 to [Spirit] +5 free points! New class skills available! [Blight Heart] or [Darktree¡¯s Insight]! Another prompt, Leif now vaguely understood what this meant. The meaning of the system messages were still hazy, but with a little focus... Yes, he felt he knew. A level up, from seven to eight in the [Juvenile Blight Tree] class. Plus one to both [Might] and [Spirit] and five free points. There was more to the message, but before Leif could fully comprehend it another system prompt appeared. Level up! Class [Noble] is now level 9! For protecting your territory and maintaining the calm of your subjects you have gained a level! +1 to [Intelligence] +1 to [Willpower] +1 to [Spirit] +1 to [Charisma] +2 free points! Another level up, this time in the [Noble] class. Something struck Leif as odd about this class. As though he knew instinctively that possessing it wasn¡¯t normal, but also that having it brought him great comfort, as if to go without would mean he had lost something irreplaceable. Faces he didn¡¯t know, places he didn¡¯t recognise, sorrow he didn¡¯t understand. What is this? He thought as images once again flashed through his mind. For over an hour Leif contemplated what was going on, who he was. I am me. He concluded, but I am not what I was. It is as though I have lived two separate lives, one as a tree and the other... The realisation settled onto his consciousness like a weight. As if now that he knew that something was not right, the sheer amount he didn¡¯t understand, he didn¡¯t know, might crush him. To distract himself Leif returned to the system prompts. After a slow and careful examination he believed he knew. Tapping into instincts and knowledge from something else Leif fully faced the choice in front of him. Two skills, [Blight Heart] and [Darktree¡¯s Insight]. Thinking back, Leif had never been presented with a choice of skills from his [Juvenile Blight Tree] class. His [Noble] class had always offered a choice, at least for the two skills he had gained since becoming aware. Wait... I had [Noble] levels and skills before that. But how? No, focus, one thing at a time. He tried to focus on both options but no additional information appeared. Disappointed, he studied the names, could he gain any information from them? No... Wait, yes! He felt a distinct impression from each option. Strength, strength to survive, to find out what I am, who I am, and why I¡¯m like this. Strength to protect those who relied on me for shelter. Leif¡¯s mindset shifted, he had been passive for too long. Spending the seven free attribute points he had gained from the two level ups he got to work. Three into [Might], three into [Alacrity] and one into [Intelligence] === Season rotated above, for two months the weather was calm and the climate stable. Then the cracked half slowly rotated into view. Ravines of glowing red heralded the end of the hush season and the beginning of turbulence. Pulsing red, as if blood from a clotting wound spread along its surface, the planet below changed in response to the sight. Beneath a night sky tinged ever so slightly red, a tree grew. It changed just as the world around it did, crimson stained the earth around it from two separate sources. Then turbulence had ended, the storms retreated and the snow melted. A Blight Tree stalked the evergreen forest, it moved in a manner akin to a spider. though with dozens of twisted legs of dull grey wood. It hunted in search of prey, its red canopy a herald of violence and death. It found what it was searching for. Prey filled with vitality slumbered in the morning light, blissfully unaware of impending doom. The Blight Tree crept closer, vaguely aware of its cousin nearby but ignoring it all the same. What could a lesser do anyway? As the Tree struck with blade-like branches and roots akin to stakes, a golden shield flared up. The attack met the barrier and stopped dead. Then the lesser struck back, spears breaking bark and sinking into its trunk. Strength meeting, no, exceeding the evolved tree¡¯s own, and pushed the monster onto the defensive. Where it tried to sink its roots into the soil to gather nutrients it was blocked. When it tried to syphon the vitality from the life living within the others branches the golden barrier would flare up, protecting not only the body of the lesser but also the many animals that called its form home. For an hour the two monsters duelled before finally one perished. The unevolved Blight Tree ripped apart its cousin and drained it of vitality. Level up! Class [Juvenile Blight Tree] is now level 10! For slaying a [Blight Tree Prowler] and displaying dominance over an evolved member of your species you have gained a level. +1 to [Might] +1 to [Spirit] +5 free points! You have gained the capstone class skill [Uproot]! Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Juvenile Blight Tree] class! Would you like to evolve? Y/N Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing monster evolution! Chapter 9: Baby Steps Chapter 9: Baby Steps Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Juvenile Blight Tree] class! Would you like to evolve? Y/N ¡®Would you like to evolve?¡¯ The words were so strange, like the past eleven years had been just for this moment. He had grown used to the voice of the before, whispering instinctual knowledge into his mind. Like a series of well grown roots, supportive and reliable. But now, that voice was silent. As if unsure for the first time. Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing monster evolution! Whatever I was before, this is entirely new for me. He thought, carefully examining the system windows. He selected: Yes. Monster evolution may commence when mana threshold has been reached. Current progress: 1/100% He waited, then waited some more. A full week passed. Current progress: 4/100% Yeah this would take a while. Leif was sick of waiting around. He, as with all trees, was remarkably competent at the task of doing very little. But as his mental attributes had grown his ability to simply wait had lessened. He was still excellent at it. Eleven years of doing mostly that had given him more than enough practice. Oh! I have a new skill. He realised, the system prompt about evolution had caught him off guard and he had forgotten. === Uproot: Aspects: Empowerment (Body), Technique (Movement) You empower your body, allowing you to temporarily retract your root systems and become mobile. Moving in this way puts strain on your body and reduces your overall combat ability. Once this skill has expired you automatically replant yourself and rapidly spread your root systems. === Well, may as well test it out. He thought. And so he did. And it was awful, truly the worst experience of Leif¡¯s tree life. The feeling of years worth of agonisingly slow progress being slurped up into his trunk, parts of his body that should never move snapped into position beneath his now elevated form. Leif swayed. Unsteady on so many new appendages. He took several very tentative steps around the clearing he called home. It was unruly and incredibly awkward, but that wasn¡¯t the only problem. The biggest issue Leif was having was his weight. His roots sunk into soft soil and took effort to pull out. He would over correct his balance trying to maintain a steady footing only to sink further. It was exhausting and miserable. And to top it all off it just felt wrong. Two feet would be so much easier. He thought. And it took several minutes before he caught what he had thought. Why had he thought two feet would be easier? Was it... Smiling faces. A parade through the street. Racing friends along winding paths. Ugh. Leif staggered as the sharp memories flooded his mind, his entire form sagged. What am I? He asked himself, but he received no answers. === Current progress: 99/100% ... Current progress: 100/100% Congratulations! You may now evolve your [Juvenile Blight Tree] class! Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing monster evolution! Commence Evolution? Y/N In a forested clearing several dozen kilometres from where he had begun his life as a tree. Leif accepted the class evolution prompt. Leif¡¯s aura winked out, the benevolent feeling disappearing. Most of his tagalongs drifted away... Commencing monster class evolution! === Name: Leif Vin Race: Blight Tree Age: 11 Attributes: Free: 0 Might: 25 Alacrity: 20 Intelligence: 14 Willpower: 13 Spirit: 23 Charisma: 20 Total Level: 19 Monster Classes: 1/1 Juvenile Blight Tree: 10/10 Skills: Savage Roots / Predators Sense / Harvests Due / Blight Heart I / Uproot Classes: 0/2 Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 9/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility I / Court Empath / Grand Action / Under My Protection Chapter 10: Evolution Chapter 10: Evolution Leif gasped in a lungful of air, a phantom sensation of biological processes restarting rippled through his body like the rumblings before an eruption. He coughed and fell to his knees, hands around his throat and head reeling. Hands, knees, throat... ¡°What,¡± he spluttered, ¡°what is this?¡± ¡°I think you already possess the appropriate knowledge to come to a quick and decisive understanding.¡± A chipper voice said. Leif groaned and turned in the direction of the response. ¡°You look terrible! Congratulations on surviving though, I wouldn¡¯t have bet on you!¡± A faint red outline said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe the number your rebirth did on your soul shape. Yeesh, quite the unpleasant experience I¡¯d imagine!¡± Leif looked at the figure, looked with eyes. The realisation was so shocking it almost started another coughing fit. ¡°None of this is real, you¡¯re not actually breathing air, it¡¯s all in your head!¡± The red ghost said in an upbeat tone. ¡°I, for one, am surprised you even manifested in such a form. You¡¯re a tree, but here you are, looking like pottery that¡¯s been dropped too many times. Man-shaped pottery!¡± He laughed. ¡°Why does it all hurt...?¡± Leif asked. The ghost slapped him on the shoulder, it didn¡¯t help. ¡°Like I said, all in your fractured mind. Nothing to worry about, probably.¡± ¡°Probably?¡± ¡°Right! It''s much better than: hopefully!¡± The ghost grinned. Its smile like lines scratched into a chalkboard. ¡°I-I died, didn¡¯t I?¡± Leif mumbled, parts of the past came flowing back into him. Memories of life before... before... ¡°Yup! Got turned into a tree. Could be worse though, you could have been dead before one of the blighters got to you.¡± ¡°The thing that killed me, put something inside of me... It was a plant, but it had legs?¡± ¡°An evolved form of what you are physically. Much more than one evolution though. Your sire is only a few steps away from incarnating, pretty impressive for a walking tree!¡± The crimson spirit leaned down, beaming. Leif had so many questions, he needed to know so much. ¡°W-will I-¡± ¡°Remember this? Sorry but no. Well, you¡¯ll remember the evolution bit, the choices you made and didn¡¯t make. But not me, not my words.¡± ¡°Wha-¡± ¡°System observer, I slipped through a crack. That¡¯s why we¡¯re having this conversation.¡± ¡°A crack?¡± ¡°System error, look through your logs! Sort by older than ten years, yeah that''s the one!¡± Error! Inheritant class detected. Class restrictions negated! The broken man sat there for several minutes, looking blankly at the system message. It was the oldest system message in the log. Why was there nothing before that? The overseer stepped back to a respectful distance, hands clutched before him. ¡°Can I go back? Can what that thing did to me be undone?¡± ¡°It cannot. Transfigurations, especially ones caused by soul parasitism, are irreversible. My condolences.¡± Leif slumped, despondent. It all felt so meaningless, and even after learning all this... I¡¯ll forget. ¡°I don¡¯t want to forget, I want to be me.¡± He said, though more for himself than the slightly glowing spirit. ¡°Cheer up, there¡¯s still something you can do. Nothing is ever truly hopeless.¡± The red outline said, squatting down to Leif¡¯s eye level. ¡°I¡¯ve been cheering you on the whole time! You can do it!¡± ¡°How?¡± The evolution screen snapped open as if springing from restraints. Grey screen highlighted by red and gold trimming. Evolution for the [Juvenile Blight Tree] class is commencing! Please review your current class before proceeding! === [Juvenile Blight Tree] A predatory plant capable of rudimentary awareness and actions. Consumes vitality from the soil but also plant and animal life via simplistic but temporary agrokinesis fuelled attacks. Tier: 1 (Monster) Level: 10/10 Class Perk: You draw mana from the nearby environment over time fuelling physical growth and granting experience. Experience gain from all sources other than passive absorption is reduced by 50%. Growths: Free Points: +5 Might: C+ Alacrity: E Intelligence: E Willpower: E Spirit: D+ Charisma: E The crimson shadow shrugged noncommittally. ¡°Survival isn¡¯t necessarily evil.¡± ¡°Trees survive just fine without ¡®staining the world red.'' There¡¯s nothing natural about any of this.¡± ¡°Well, you see. It sort of comes with the territory. Monsters are usually quite monstrous.¡± === [Blight Sanctuary Tree] Hunters hunt so as to provide for others, food, safety, comfort from the terrors of the wilderness. Despite your origins, many have found sanctuary within your branches and beneath your canopy. An instinctual drive to protect has been at the core of your being since you sprouted from the soil. Though the blight is still a part of your nature, you no longer walk the path of the darkwoods. Become a fortress for those who rely on you, detect threats before they approach and better defeat those that do. === ¡°I wish these were more detailed.¡± Leif said. ¡°Well, most level ten monsters can barely string more than a single thought together. The fact that these have descriptions at all is due to thoroughness.¡± Replied the overseer. ¡°You made these?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say.¡± ¡°I like this one the best so far at least.¡± === [Blood Blight Spriggan] No longer bound to the rigid form of their birth. The spriggan steps out from under their own shade and into a new and dangerous path. Forsaking the expansive pool of vitality of their tree form they become far more agile and cunning. You have displayed intellect and adaptability beyond your limits. Thoughts and ideas can only take a member of the blight so far while you remain in one place. Unable to idly wait for power, you will reach for it with your own two hands. === ¡°A spriggan is... person shaped, right?¡± The ghost snapped its fingers, an image manifested from a wobbling heat haze. The creature Leif saw was human in stature, but twisted and off in enough ways that the two could never be mistaken. Dull grey bark instead of skin, elongated limbs and a hunched back gave off a primal impression. Two glowing red eyes glared out from a head lacking any other distinctive features. It reminded Leif of something. Glowing red eyes peered down into his own, the creature reaching down towards him. Piercing through battered armour to get at the flesh beneath. Leif flinched at the memory, the image of the spriggan vanished. ¡°I¡¯ll be like the things that stalked the battlefield. Will I turn people into trees? Subject them to the same torture of not knowing what they are?¡± ¡°It is a single option of many.¡± The overseer said in a gentle tone. Leif turned his attention back to the evolution prompts, there was a final option. He read over it, still fuming internally. === [Amber Blight Spriggan] From inception you have struggled against the embedded instincts of the Darkwood. As a blight tree you fought to gain a sense of control no others of your kind could conceive of at such a young age. At every turn you took the harder path, you turned away easy meals and waged wars you should never have won. And yet you prevailed. A noble spirit and unyielding will have guided you this far, and now the amber offers you a branch. Symbols of authority and wealth, the amber sap within your body glistens like gold and pumps like blood. You will rise, radiance from the darkness, and hold the future with your hands. === And well, the choice was obvious. ¡°This will help me remember? Become like I once was?¡± Leif asked, turning towards a smiling overseer. ¡°It might.¡± ¡°And you did this? Gave me this option?¡± ¡°I am an overseer. I can only observe, measure and record.¡± ¡°So that''s a no?¡± Leif asked, slightly incredulous. ¡°If I could change things,¡± the scarlet shade said, ¡°I would have done so long, long ago.¡± He nodded. So far the overseer was upbeat and chipper, but he spoke with such emotional gravity Leif could almost feel himself sucked in. But he had his choice, so he selected it. If Leif had expected to vanish from the evolution space in a flash of light, he would have said goodbye. === The overseer stood still as the temporary space made to house consciousnesses began to dissolve. The space, by design, was made to be as unassuming and forgettable as possible. No features or stimuli could be present that might influence choices made. The system prickled against the ghosts form, sharp stabbing sensations meant more to discomfort than cause pain. He had pushed against his restraints too much by interacting with the mortal. The overseer shuddered as the outlines that made up his body broke apart and converged into a single crimson mote. As he was, holding any form took significant effort. As the being drifted back into corporeal reality, he considered the events that had transpired. Each decision, each choice... A stolen eternity. He regretted so many things, but watching someone go through something so familiar... unsettling was putting it mildly. Chapter 11: The New and the Old Chapter 11: The New and the Old Snow fell in heaps around Leif, some landing on his head and shoulders, others impacting his legs and arms. He sat in a daze, blinking at the world of white in confusion. Trembling hands were raised in front of his face. Four ivory white fingers tipped with sharp claw-like tips. A palm and wrist made of twisted wood, bumpy and with grey vines tipped with red leaves sprouting along the length. He touched shaking fingers to his face. It felt smooth, hard with a firmness to the shape. And, for some reason, wet. Amber tears ran down his cheeks. Thin lines staining the white wood gold. Somewhere within him was the beating of a heart, its very presence unbelievably soothing. Leif took in a deep calming breath. And his chest rose slightly. It took him several seconds to realise the significance of taking a breath in the first place. He shuddered involuntarily, part of it was the cold. Icy winds bit into his body in a way he had never felt in this life. In many ways he was lesser now, his form no longer a wellspring of vitality and growth. And what more, he could smell the air. As though his body was covered in tiny noses, wherever scent came into contact with his exterior Leif could perceive a faint whiff of aroma. It felt off in a way he couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on. Leif knew this wasn¡¯t right, instinctually he could tell that but not why. A familiar sense of unease flitted through his mind, but it was greatly diminished from when he had been a tree. This was better, but not perfect, far from it. With an idle thought he ran his hands through the snow all around. And just as he could smell from his body, so too could he taste. The crispy texture of the icy substance trickled up his arms in a strangely enjoyable way. When he focused his awareness the taste and smell sharpened. Leif looked to the sky, red cracks peeked through sparse cloud cover. And for several hours Leif just basked in the sensation of being. === Congratulations! You have evolved into a [Amber Blight Spriggan]! Please review your new classes characteristics: === [Amber Blight Spriggan] Tier: 2 (Monster) Level: 10/20 Class Perk: You naturally recover from wounds at an accelerated pace. The amber blood running through your veins has innate healing properties. +100% To the effect of enhancement (Body) skills +100% To the effect of blood aspected skills Growths: Free Points: +5 Might: C Alacrity: D Intelligence: D Willpower: D+ Spirit: D Charisma: C Base Stats: Might: +10, Alacrity +10, Intelligence +10, Willpower +10, Spirit: +10, Charisma +10. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. === Leif read over the new class. He only briefly paused when he noticed he could now read. A plus ten to all stats... It seemed excessive somehow. I wonder what other monsters get? He idly thought. He pulled up his [Noble] class to compare the two. === Aspects: Technique,Enhancement (Body)* Your physique becomes stronger and denser, you become harder to move against your will. You may project ethereal golden copies of your limbs from your body, these limbs are affected by half of your physical attributes and can be manipulated and reshaped. The clearer the mental image the more stable the creations. === [Predators Sense] ¡ú [Amber Awareness] Amber Awareness: Aspects: Perception (Time), Enhancement (Body)* The amber can see further, more clearly, but they can also see deeper. Focus to gain a limited understanding of what transpired in the close past using your innate senses. The more personally significant the stimuli the clearer the echoes. Passively sharpens your awareness of your surroundings and improves all existing senses. === [Harvest''s Due] ¡ú [Blight''s Bounty] Blight''s Bounty: Aspects: Enhancement (Body)*, Technique (Blood)* Your attacks passively drain vitality from struck foes. You may actively syphon or bestow lifeforce via continuous touch. Blood you absorb is converted into the amber sap that beats within your heart. This amber sap naturally becomes compatible with any target you bestow it upon. After you have drained a being of vitality you gain up to +40% to all attributes for one hour. This bonus is lost incrementally over the hour-long duration. === [Blight Heart I] ¡ú [The Well Within I] The Well Within I: Aspects: Cultivation (Blood)*, Empowerment (Body) A near endless well of energy and potential rests inside your heart. As you absorb vitality a portion remains, filling and expanding a pool of energy that allows you to improve the output of skills. As you heal and nurture this pool of energy is condensed, becoming more potent. A portion of this energy is reserved to grant rapid recovery should you become critically injured. === [Uproot] ¡ú [Settle] Settle: Aspects: Transformation, Enhancement (Body)*, Domain (Life) You may put down roots, returning to your more traditional form. While transformed you enter a restful slumber, the passage of time easing deep wounds and mending scars. The longer you remain transformed the more you affect the world around you, bestowing life and infusing the energy of amber into the very ground. === Leif read over his newly upgraded or transformed skills. He wasn¡¯t totally sure what to think. Were these skills powerful? In what ways could he use them? He had thought discarding his tree shell would have made him far more vulnerable to damage, but most of these skills involved healing in some way. A [Scholar], or just a skill enthusiast would have described Leif¡¯s [Amber Blight Spriggan] class as ¡®highly synergistic.¡¯ Chapter 12: One Small Step Chapter 12: One Small Step Icy winds howled through the trees, the sky above churning, a harbinger of a newly born storm. The sound was shrill and piercing, the distant rumblings ominous. Leif heard this through small holes on either side of his mostly featureless head. Golden eyes gleamed behind slits in the ivory wood as his attention shifted from his system to the piled up snow surrounding him. It was as if he was sitting in a small personal crater. He slowly stood on shaky legs. Not from weakness, but inexperience. His stance was strong, as if he were latched to the ground firmly by an extra serving of gravity. Instinctually he knew how to walk, echoes of an obscured past brushed against his mind as if guiding and urging him forward. But he had spent several months scurrying around as a spider tree, newly gained experience warred with distant impulses. He took a deep breath, air passing through a thin, rigid gap on the lower part of his face. Straightening his back and squaring his shoulders Leif confidently took a step toward the nearest incline of snow. His foot crashed through the frigid surface, a weight he didn¡¯t realise he possessed parting the snow and making him sink. This caused an immediate loss of balance, Leif tumbled forward to spectacularly face plant into the snow, his body sinking over a foot and becoming stuck. That didn¡¯t go to plan. === Leif couldn¡¯t move, the snow surrounding him constricted his limbs almost completely. He could wriggle, but doing so just made more snow fall down onto him. Above, the storm began to rage, a new layer of white would soon coat the world. The newly evolved spriggan was well and truly stuck. If he had still been a tree the cold wouldn¡¯t have bothered him. But now he could feel it seep into his body, sapping his strength. His immediate thought, a thought that he hated, was to use [Settle]. Doing so would let him plant roots into the ground and wait out the storm. But he hadn¡¯t just evolved away from that path to instantly return to how he was. Leif would find another way. I have new skills. He thought. I just need to learn how to use them. So, what could Leif do? Well he had several options and all of them had a solid chance of working. But there was something he wanted to try first with absolutely no chance of success. The first was that the body of a spriggan, despite feeling familiar and being mostly human in shape and size, was still radically different from the body you might be used to. The second was that just as his density had increased, but so too had his strength. And that was strength from more than just the [Might] attribute. Woven strings of plant fibres created imitation muscles beneath his ivory bark exterior. There were even rudimentary bone and joint structures. A golden root shot from the Leif shaped pit and flopped listlessly onto the snow. Describing his first proper use of [Gilded Body]¡¯s limb conjuring ability as a bit flaccid would be an understatement. Leif dismissed the limb into a puff of golden essence and tried again. He focused [Grand Action] to support his [Willpower] attribute, it made picturing his desires easier. Another root shot from just above where shoulder blades would be on a person. This was one far more solid, its shape and colour more defined. It pierced down into the snow and hooked to give him leverage. Then he mentally commanded the golden root to pull. It wasn¡¯t enough, he created another of similar shape and size but immediately his body sagged. Energy drained away at an alarming rate, his mind fogged and muscles ached. He lost control of both roots and they dispersed into motes of golden light. Panting, exhausted, in pain from skill overuse and still stuck in his pit of shame, Leif reconsidered his options. [Blight''s Bounty] would let him absorb vitality. Actually, thinking about it he could still do that without any skill... After a few minutes of squirming and wriggling he felt his fingers brush against a cold layer of soil. The process was fundamentally different from when he had been a tree, but it was still just as agonisingly slow. With considerable effort he managed to work his fingers deeper into the hard earth, then his hand. Then he started on the other. Once he had a firm grasp on the soil beneath him he reached out with his will and began to drain. Minutes passed as the process continued. But with each passing moment the attribute gain from [Blight''s Bounty] accumulated. Not only was his body slowly being replenished but he was growing stronger. After ten minutes he had exhausted the energy from the ground, he estimated all his attributes had increased by around 20%, what they would have been before the skill had upgraded if he had drained a living creature. Leif only had one attempt before he would have to resort to using [Settle]. Two golden roots hooked over the edge of the hole and heaved, with the elevation he got his hands properly underneath his body and pushed. With a surge of strength he rose to his feet, victorious! Then he waded through the thigh deep snow before collapsing under the ice covered leafy canopy of a nearby tree. The whole plant shook when he leaned against it, Leif squinted. Chapter 13: Turbulence Chapter 13: Turbulence Over the weeks the weather rapidly changed. The snow storms were chased away by rolling troughs of humid air from the south. These in turn were followed by boiling thunderstorms looming large over the western mountains, lightning crackling sideways and rain falling in the same direction. After each storm bioluminescent lights rose from the ground and danced in swirling patterns of radiance through the sky. Through it all the cracked surface of Season rotated out of sight little by little each night. Before, Leif had only vaguely felt the changes as they swept across the earth. But to see, hear, smell and even taste the world was a surreally extraordinary experience. Other than observing nature, what did Leif do? Well, he had eyes now so... May as well see what he can see. === The mountains pierced the sky from horizon to horizon. Great stone spearheads proclaiming themselves impassable. Leif didn¡¯t want to pass them however, he just wanted to climb to the top. As he ventured closer and closer, days stretched into weeks and he became more and more familiar with his new body and upgraded skills. A pleasant surprise was the return of a flock of forest creatures. They seemed to gravitate towards him, birds eager to stray far from their secure nests. Rodents playing between his feet as he walked. But best of all? The return of two dopy deer. Now that he was more aware of his surroundings Leif began experimenting with his [Noble] skills. First, he began to experiment with his [Aura of Nobility]. The aura was something he had been radiating out non stop for as long as he could remember. But what else could he do with it? The first answer was the most obvious, retract it. This led to the horrifying discovery that having your aura on full blast at all times was a not insignificant drain on his energy. Pulling his aura back was like closing a leaky valve. It was idiotic, just how much energy had he wasted over the years? Of course the aura skill was also the reason so many forest animals decided where he was heading was the place to be. If he retracted it the critters would slowly drift away, but not as much as he would expect. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) Was something else making them stick around? Having so many animals around led to the next discovery. [Court Empath] had an entire part of the skill he hadn¡¯t noticed before. It helped him read body language. This was more than a little odd because nowhere in the skill description did it mention that. His musings on skill descriptions was interrupted by a roar. This wasn¡¯t the first of its kind he had heard as he ventured towards the mountains but it was by far the closest. Forest animals were sent scampering for cover, even the two deer seemed temporarily nonplussed. From a nearby outcropping stalked a scaled creature the size of a horse. Two curved red horns framed its eyes like helmet decorations with similarly coloured spines running down its back. The creature bounded to the edge of the outcropping like a dog, long tail lashing against the rocky ground it stood on. It kept low to the ground, a deep chuffing sound escaping from its fang filled mouth. Its intent was obvious, but [Court Empath] confirmed it. Hostile. Its wild presence, an aura of savagery billowed up and away from the creature as though it were uncontrolled. It doesn¡¯t have an aura skill. Leif realised. He tried to recall any times he had felt a creature, monster or otherwise be capable of controlling its aura like he could. The griffon could, from before I evolved. He noted, not that the information would do him much good now. With a frantic jerking motion it ripped itself away from his grasp. The drake backed away, snarling and limping. Leif rose to a crouch, body trembling from the strain of using so many skills while also being restored from the drake''s stolen vitality. He rose slowly, focusing on his opponent, if he could get just one more good hit... Then the second drake arrived. Substantially smaller than the first and with differently shaped horns, it rushed him from his blind spot. The only reason Leif survived was [Court Empath] screaming a warning due to its hostile intent. A fitful barrier flashed into place but the newcomers'' jaws crushed through it and deep into Leif¡¯s shoulder. He let out a half scream half wordless hiss as golden blood began to seep from his wounds. The first drake seemed more than willing to let the second smaller one have a turn. Lifeforce flooded through Leif¡¯s body from [The Well Within], the skill finally deciding he was in critical enough condition to activate its reserve of vitality. The smaller drake tried to shake him like he was a dog toy, not realising just how heavy the small spriggan was. In the second of surprise he had been bought, Leif elbowed it in the top of its skull. The drake crashed to the ground where it unleashed a torrent of flames while dazed from the blow. Leif dived out of the inferno¡¯s path, scrambling to his feet, glanced over his shoulder at the first drake, leaped onto the second and drove a sharp gold branch conjured from his knuckles into the top of its skull. The drake died instantly, flames guttering out just before two deer-shaped observers could be turned into charred memories. He ripped the golden stake out and, in a moment of sheer exhausted panic, willed the conjured limb to detach from his hand. When it did, he blinked in astonishment, then he threw it like an improvised projectile at the larger drake. The attack missed due to his lack of experience but the drake still reacted. The creature flinched back, and growled as it circled him. Leif plunged his fist into the bleeding wound atop the dead drake''s head and began syphoning its blood. Crimson streams ran up Leif¡¯s forearm before being absorbed into his body. He felt the pool of energy from [The Well Within] slowly refill as his wounds sealed shut, charred bark falling away to be slowly replaced. Through the healing process the remaining drake growled and stalked around him, Leif shifting to maintain eye contact atop the carcass. It didn¡¯t spew flames, in fact the monster seemed to be gasping for breath. Did my kick puncture a lung? He questioned, standing up from the deflated corpse. The drake growled and took a step back, clearly uneager to continue the fight. Leif sighed, everything hurt and his soul ached from the overuse of so many skills in such a short duration. But he couldn¡¯t leave an enemy to come back for revenge. It feebly attempted to make a final attempt for his life but whatever internal injuries it was suffering from rendered the drake all but incapacitated. He grabbed it by the throat and put a golden stake through its skull. The fight having ended, Leif sagged to his knees. The two deer trotted over and started eating a patch of partially scorched wild grass. Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 11! For slaying the descendants of dragons in disadvantageous combat you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Intelligence] +1 to [Willpower] +1 to [Charisma] +5 free points! For constantly fighting unarmed and unarmoured. Using nothing but your body to defeat competent foes and beating a drake to death with your bare hands, you have the opportunity to gain the [Brawler] class! Class slots: 0/2 Accept? Y/N Chapter 14: Fisticuffs Chapter 14: Fisticuffs A new class? Did Leif have a reason to decline? He couldn¡¯t think of one, a new class would mean better stats and new skills right? As he trudged away from the scorched and bloodied battlefield to go find shelter while he recovered, Leif accepted the prompt. Congratulations! You have gained the brawler class! Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 1! For meeting the class requirements and having an available class slot you have gained a level! Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com +1 to [Might] +1 free point! === [Brawler] Meticulous training and martial discipline are not your forte. Despite this your aptitude for using your body as a weapon is remarkable. Tier: 1 (Foundation) Level: 1/10 Class Perk: +50% To the damage of unarmed strikes +50% To physical resilience while unarmoured +50% To body enhancement skills while unarmoured +50% to body empowerment skills while unarmoured Growths: Free Points: +1 Might: C+ Alacrity: D+ Intelligence: E Willpower: E There was a soft crunch followed by a snap. This broke Leif from his musings. He looked down, a deer with a red leaf in its mouth looked back. Their gazes held for several moments before the deer went back to slowly chewing. Leif picked it up and threw the flailing animal into the water. === The rocky valley shook, pebbles tumbled down and dust was disturbed. Leif crouched at the valley''s edge, squinting down into its depths. A bellow resounded from below, the sound like a bass boosted foghorn echoing off the stone walls. Two somethings made of stone and standing over five metres tall duked it out. Their titanic fists making the world rumble with each impact. The monsters, giant stone elementals, continued their brawl unaware of the spectators. One opened its craggy maw and exhaled a barrage of glowing projectiles. Shrapnel crashed into the other elemental and peppered the ground and walls. It responded by levitating a boulder and sending it flying, the air visibly parting due to the force of the throw. I need to find another way up. Leif thought. This valley is not going to cut it. I barely survived two drakes and these creatures are much, much larger. Would I even be able to scratch one if it came to a fight? He stood and turned to face his ever growing horde of animals. The usual suspects were present, but the newcomers were quite obvious. Over forty feral hogs milled around. Where they had come from Leif didn¡¯t know, one day he had stopped to absorb vitality and bam! There they were. My [Aura of Nobility] isn¡¯t even being projected out anymore. Why are so many animals following me? === The herd, for what else could it be? Seemed reticent to climb higher into the mountains. The foothills were dangerous enough. Just the other day Leif and company had inadvertently wandered into drake territory. A pack of five drakes had been spotted and that was more than enough to make Leif turn around and go the other way. But that hadn¡¯t been all. This pack of drakes, several miles closer to the mountains, were distinctly different than the two he had fought prior. Though it was hard to make out specific details from the distance at which he had spotted the roving pack he could tell they were almost double the size. The way they had effortlessly bounded up boulders and cliff-sides made Leif re-examine his surroundings. Within minutes he spotted claw shaped groves where drake claws had dug into rock. The sheer size of the gouges made him shudder. And to do that to stone? What would those claws do to me? Leif asked himself, then decided not to risk finding out. It was looking like his self appointed goal of climbing to a mountain peak wouldn¡¯t be possible. Considering he had barely made it to the foothills after over a month of trying it didn¡¯t seem likely. The early hush face of the moon gazed peacefully down from the sky above. Though Leif imagined it was judging him. For what? Probably because he was putting the finishing touches on a sleeping hog pyramid. He just needed to place the runt on top... And... done! Level up! Class [Noble] is now level 10! For building a community in which you hold a position of leadership and respect you have gained a level! +1 to [Alacrity] +1 to [Spirit] +2 free points! That did not just happen. Chapter 15: Legacies Chapter 15: Legacies Level up! Class [Noble] is now level 10! For building a community in which you hold a position of leadership and respect you have gained a level! +1 to [Alacrity] +1 to [Spirit] +2 free points! You have gained the capstone class skill [Legacy]! Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Noble] class! Auxiliary classes cannot be promoted! [Noble] experience earned is evenly distributed between your other classes! You may now teach the Inheritant class [Noble] to those who meet the minimum requirements! Leif didn¡¯t even look at the new skills description. That had to be the worst way to ever receive a level up. How did that even happen? Was hog stacking really worth that much? Or was he so close to levelling up that doing literally anything would have pushed him over the edge? Thoroughly bemused he checked over his newest skill. === Legacy: Aspects: Enhancement (Body)*, Analysis, Social* Your legacy endures. Those you sire are stronger, healthier and have an innate resistance to diseases. You can instinctively identify any descendants and may analyse them if they''re of equal or lower level to you, gaining a general overview of their classes, levels and attributes. === This skill made Leif feel... Uncomfortable. The idea of making more creatures like himself was practically revolting. What was he supposed to do with this? Utterly useless skill, he closed the system window and began unstacking the hogs. === The third village was occupied. Smoke rose from the centre like a beacon. But something wasn¡¯t right. This place was just as destroyed as the ones before it. Leif pulsed his aura in an attempt to get the animals to stay back. It took an hour and many failed attempts before they seemed to get the picture. He crept forward, though stealth wasn¡¯t his strong suit by any means he went unseen through fields of wild wheat. Chattering and screeching came from one of the outlying buildings, the sounds were unfamiliar to Leif¡¯s ears, but his fractured memory placed them all the same. Goblins. Nothing sows fierce dislike of a species of monster like almost being murdered by them. As he got closer Leif abandoned all attempts at stealth. The ground was a patchwork of detritus and foliage, there would be no way for something of his weight to move around without making a sound. So he stood up straight and marched up to the building. A little green monster poked its head curiously out of the partially destroyed door. It looked at him blankly with beady dark eyes. Those eyes went wide as Leif¡¯s foot introduced its head to the doorframe with a sickening crunch. The voices from within the home went quiet. Then angry screeching started. Leif shoulder checked the door, sending it splintering inwards. What little light there was filtered through ceiling beams where the roof was absent. But visual perception wasn¡¯t needed if you could sense creatures'' locations via their lifeforce and emotions. A goblin threw itself forward, a spear gripped tightly. The weapon plunged into Leif¡¯s lower back and snapped in half, he ended the monster''s life with a backhand. Another flipped a table and started to string its bow. Leif reached over, grabbed the goblin by the neck and drained it of lifeforce. It struggled in vain with his hand tightly around its throat. A fourth goblin swung a rusty cleaver in a wide arc. Its sharp teeth glinted as it passed through a pillar of light. The weapon was wreathed in a dark mist so instead of letting the attack land a golden shield snapped into existence. The barrier held against the attack but the dark energy seeped into cracks, rapidly destabilising the skills structure. But it didn¡¯t matter, a golden vine skewered the monster through the heart and out its back. The goblin in his grasp finally stopped moving, its body going limp, all blood and vitality syphoned away. Not thirty seconds later Leif stepped out of the now cleared building and into the afternoon sun. Two deer stood outside waiting for him. Leif sighed at the sight and shooed them away. He wanted to clear out this village without having to worry about protecting anyone but himself. He limbered up, hopping in place and doing a few test punches. If he had managed to kill two drakes, this shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem. === An hour later twenty seven goblin shaped husks littered the village. Chapter 16: Scrap Iron Chapter 16: Scrap Iron Leif lounged against stone steps leading up to the most intact building within the village. A carved statue made of wood depicting a winged woman with arms raised high and small symbols etched into her arms lay on its side next to him. The statue was decayed, the wood rotten in several places. Noting that its eye¡¯s had been gouged out by some sort of blade or claws probably wasn¡¯t important. All around the village Leif¡¯s animal followers wandered around, rifling through dirt or munching on leaves and vines. It suddenly struck Leif how despite being of plant origin he only tolerated herbivores and omnivores. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. He had observed birds exclusively eating worms and insects. I protect them because they rely on me. He realised. If the first animals to live around me had been a pack of wolves or something similar I think my outlook might be different. And it was true. In his earliest moments of awareness he had protected the presences living within his branches. He continued to watch the beasts go about their business and turned his attention to the system prompts he had received. Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 2! For ridding a ruined village of goblin squatters using only your body you have gained a level! +1 to [Willpower] +1 to [Spirit] +1 free point! It was a strange level up. [Willpower] and [Spirit]? How exactly do class growths work? Mentally shrugging he turned to the skill options. New class skills available! [Iron Fists] or [Scrappy Focus]! His focus wandered between both skills. Like previous options there was no description. Instead only vague impressions of what each did. Is there a skill that would let me see more about skill options? [Iron Fists] felt like a very simple skill. Unarmed attacks did more damage. But it also had some sort of defensive application, like parts of his body he struck with would take less damage from the recoil? [Scrappy Focus] was strange. The skill felt familiar in more than one way. He was almost entirely certain that this skill was similar to [The Well Within]. Similar in that it would build up a pool of energy that could be used to empower other skills. He mentally prodded at the pool of energy within him, bloated and full from the goblin slaughter. Would [Scrappy Focus] add to this pool? Add to a separate pool? And if so how would it be different? Would the skills interact synergistically or hinder one another? He didn¡¯t know. The second way the skill felt familiar was less tangible. A whisper he couldn¡¯t quite hear, something he had long figured out was due to his life before being turned into a tree. Whatever that had been like. This time the feeling he received made him think he had possessed the skill before? Or maybe something very similar? He considered both skills. The odd allure of [Scrappy Focus] or the simplicity of [Iron Fists]... He hadn¡¯t hurt himself at all when attacking the goblins, but they were unarmoured and soft. He had a cultivation skill, it replenished quickly as he fought due to the various ways he would absorb lifeforce... There didn¡¯t seem to be a wrong choice. You have gained the [Brawler] skill [Iron Fists]! === Iron Fists: Aspects: Enhancement (Body)* When you make an unarmed strike the attack deals more damage. As you attack with a body part it becomes more resilient to physical harm as if it were made of metal. === It was as though a group had come through and picked what they wanted from the corpses. But what? And are they still around? Leif picked up a bent sword, the feel and weight became familiar as faint echoes of who he had once been filtered through his mind. He was close, Leif could feel it. As he held the weapon it were as though the puzzle pieces of his past became more distinct. Though when he did test swings it felt notably weaker than his punches and kicks. Can¡¯t deny the efficacy of my class perks. Though I suspect a weapon in better condition would be far more effective. He noted, the old unknown part of himself critical of the blade''s condition. Leif looked around before continuing into the city. While he couldn¡¯t see any evidence of inhabitants he did notice several more instances of clear looting. What''s more the darkened corners of ruined structures seemed oddly sharp, as if the shadows were being emboldened to come out of hiding. Some buildings appeared to have been flattened from above. Checking inside he found what seemed to be hollowed out boulders over a metre wide had crashed down into the structures. But very little furniture was left, the paraphernalia he had come to expect from exploring several destroyed villages was absent. A part of his mind he didn¡¯t fully understand analysed the battle. How it was odd the city was destroyed instead of occupied, how there only seemed to be the corpses of one side present in the aftermath. Maybe it was an internal conflict? The people turning on one another? Then the victors took what they could and fled? It didn¡¯t feel correct but it was the best guess he had. The empty and abandoned streets gave the outer layers of the city a haunting feel. It didn¡¯t help that Leif kept detecting lifeforce and the bare hint of emotions and intent at the very edge of his perception. His alternative senses only stretched a few dozen metres and grew fainter the further out he pushed them. Shadows loomed ominously, they danced through the narrow gaps of alleyways and shifted when he wasn¡¯t looking. He let [Grand Action] Swap between [Spirit], [Intelligence] and [Alacrity] as he prowled forward. Each attribute ever so slightly affected his perception in different ways. As Leif focused he noticed something push back, it was incredibly subtle to the point he couldn''t be sure he had actually noticed anything out of the ordinary. Whenever he stopped progressing and went to look he found nothing. Whatever is out there is shadowing me. Coming here might have been a mistake... Though he still didn¡¯t see any signs of the city''s inhabitants, the feeling of a trap being closed around him became harder and harder to shrug off. Thankful he had left the animals back in the village, yes, even the deer, Leif continued on. Occasional uses of [Amber Awareness] told him that there were indeed things following him. Small creatures being careful not to be seen. Then, just as Leif decided that going any further was a poor idea, chittering came from all around. Leif whipped his head around and saw them. Hundreds of pairs of beady little eyes watched him from the roofs of nearby buildings. More slunk out of alleyways from the direction he had come. Leif let out a hiss of dissatisfaction. Goblins. Had goblins done this to the city? It didn¡¯t feel right, how could these little monsters have overcome the walls and so many armed defenders? Booming laughter came from a building as a figure stepped out. They were tall with their heavy muscular physique visible under patched together armour. Now that he noticed, all the goblins seemed to be partially armoured in similar hack job protections. But comparing this being to the comparatively tiny goblins he had seen so far seemed like a disservice. It was as if a dire wolf had casually walked out from where it had been living among rabbits. ¡°We have no quarrel with your kind little plant.¡± The newcomer called. His deep voice echoing through the shattered buildings and crumbling walls. ¡°But if you wander so carelessly into my territory... Well...¡± Sharp tusks jutted from the monster''s chin, their mouth agape with a wicked smile. Leif backed away, he didn¡¯t make a sound in response. This creature was taller than him by almost a head, comparing it to the other goblins almost didn¡¯t feel fair. ¡°No talk? How disappointing!¡± He grinned. ¡°Do you even know what I am? Do you know who I am? Do not tell me that they didn¡¯t teach you? Or are you a stray?¡± The towering goblinoid spoke with a lilting, mocking tone. The swarms of goblins all cackled and laughed. Their cruel, amused intents locked onto him. ¡°Out of respect... for your elders.I will not kill you! You see, the last sacrifices, I mean test subjects, haven''t come out of their hole in quite some time. How do you feel about running the gauntlet for me?¡± I don¡¯t think I have a choice. He grumbled internally. Chapter 17: Falling Chapter 17: Falling Leif was shepherded towards the central district of the city. Goblins jeered in a wide ring surrounding him as he retreated away from their leader. They threw rocks and fragments of roof tiles, some even loosed arrows in his direction. But his attention never wavered from the tall armoured goblin. Menace radiated from its form like waves repeatedly striking a beach. An aura darkened the ground as the goblin slowly advanced, the boiling shade seemed almost physical as it cloaked the figure and the ground at his feet. Just being in its presence made him feel inferior and vulnerable. But what was more the monster had control of its aura, unlike the drakes or the many goblins Leif had fought this being felt like a qualitative improvement of all the rest. Would this creature have struggled against a pair of drakes? Would it have been prevented from climbing the mountains? No. No, it wouldn¡¯t. Leif could feel it deep down. The dangerous lilt in the goblins'' step and the intelligent gleam in his eye told Leif plenty about how outclassed he was. It were as if he had failed to scale a mountain only to find another standing right before him. But the true tell, what really made him uncertain, he couldn¡¯t detect the monster at all. No vitality, no emotions, no intent. It were as if his skills were totally useless in the face of the leader. The leader whistled casually as he followed along. As Leif backed off he noticed the city begin to change. The most noticeable difference between the inner districts from the outer ones was the sheer amount of goblins. They came in shapes and sizes Leif had never seen before. There were even several figures taller than the source of the taunting whistling. Though they couldn¡¯t have been more different. These hulking green goblinoids where like a boulder had been given a face and four limbs and told to ¡®Go get em.¡¯ What was more Leif found where all the items from the outer districts had been taken. Several hoards of junk were piled up within streets and squares. Several groups of goblins seemed to be very invested in their pile of trash, Leif spotted several scuffles that he guessed were caused by a desire for ¡®loot¡¯. A chunk of wall was thrown at Leif by a mean looking evolved goblin. It smacked into the side of Leif¡¯s head and made him stumble. ¡°None of that.¡± The leader chided. ¡°That¡¯s no way to treat an honoured guest.¡± The offending goblin snickered and scurried away. ¡°My sincere apologies.¡± He said. ¡°They don¡¯t teach them manners so far from the Heartlands. If I hadn¡¯t given them strict instructions they may have torn you to pieces before I could say hello.¡± Leif wondered what the large goblin got out of talking so much. As he entered the large plaza with the colossal slate structure he guessed he would find out soon enough. He glanced over his shoulder at the towering statue, up close the sheer scale of the thing was intimidating. Its head lay several metres from its left foot, eyes gouged out. Just like in the village. He realised. If only he had the luxury to take a closer look. Something brushed up against him, it wasn¡¯t physical, but instead as though his soul had been poked by a feather. A feeling of being weighed, of being judged and coming up lacking washed over him. Leif winced at the unpleasant sensation. ¡°Into the building if you would, straight down.¡± The leader said. From his tone Leif guessed it wasn¡¯t a request. He hesitated then decided to not play along. Leif deliberately moved away from the structure''s entrance. The goblin leader shrugged. ¡°Oh okay then.¡± He raised his palm and a wickedly long sword apparated out of shadow. To Leif¡¯s alarm and confusion the weapon radiated a sinister violence. [Court Empath] can perceive the blade but not the wielder? Why? ¡°You would prefer to take your chances? I can understand that. Got that Darkwood pride in you Blight? A deviant evolution and at level thirty, or thereabouts, surely you have some backbone in you?¡± Level thirty? Leif wondered. He thinks I¡¯m a higher level than I am. But why? And could I use this? Leif edged slowly around the goblin. He just rested his blade on one shoulder and made no attempt to impede Leif¡¯s progress. He had hundreds of seething and chittering minions to do that for him. The ground beneath him buckled. Then gave way. Leif began to fall, the sudden drop made him slip from the king''s grasp. Shadowy hands reached for his falling body but to no avail. The darkness below swallowed him whole. === Szesis strode to the edge of the newly formed pit. He spat down into the hole at the same time he unspooled his perception. Telltale traces of the trial''s mana were down there, far more saturated than those near the entrance. His shadowy clone likewise peered down. Well, that''s convenient. He thought. If I¡¯d known there was another entrance I could have saved some time. He knew better than to go down himself. But damn was it tempting. Humanity might be a stain on the underside of his boot but their ancients sure knew how to ward out incarnates. He could almost taste the myth buried deep below, power his kind hadn¡¯t seen in generations. Now he just had to hope the child of the Darkwoods would survive the fall. He couldn''t get his prize otherwise, his first investment had disappeared on him after all. That thought annoyed the incarnate being. But it wouldn¡¯t be too much of an issue, with enough time he would get what he came for. I¡¯ve already waited this long, what''s a few more years. It¡¯s like a holiday if I think about it from a certain perspective. Szesis considered sending a thank you gift to the ants. Sure, they were traitorous scum who couldn¡¯t be trusted but their willingness to clear out an entire city and just move on was commendable. He turned to the confused gazes of his minions. ¡°Shortcut!¡± He explained. They cheered like the loyal subjects they were. It was good to be king. === Leif¡¯s consciousness fluttered as he came to, the familiar sensation of [The Well Within]s emergency restoration flooding him. What wasn¡¯t great was the aching emptiness of his energy pool. He felt far, far too weak. Leif tried to move but couldn¡¯t. Shadowy tendrils slowly evaporated off of his prone form releasing him from their clutches. That was unpleasant. He thought, air hissing from his mouth at a sudden spike of agony. Good to remember I¡¯m not immortal. Also, nice to know my hatred of goblins is justified. Leif grunted and rolled over onto his back. As his perception slowly came crawling back he noticed several things. The first was that he lay in a pool of water, debris from above disturbing what had once been an inch deep pond carved into the stone floor below. He had landed two dozen metres off centre of a circular chamber that seemed to stretch off into darkness in every direction. The room was lit by various sources around the pool, metallic statues akin to the one above on the surface, each in different heroic poses and holding different weapons. They all had glowing runes etched into their surfaces. Dim blue light washed through the chamber giving it an ethereal ambiance. The final thing Leif noticed was that his right arm was missing. It lay, mangled, in a slowly expanding pool of golden sap. Dust and detritus rained down from above, light from the city barely filtering down through a narrow gap his fall had created. This seriously sucks. But at least I¡¯m not dead. Chapter 18: Tutorial Skipping Chapter 18: Tutorial Skipping After several minutes of letting his enhanced healing, courtesy of his [Amber Blight Spriggan] class perk do its work, Leif got to his feet. He stumbled over to his arm and picked it up. All around the three dozen or so statues seemed to stare at him, judging. I need something to drain. Leif thought. He absorbed some of the water at his feet but it did little good. He staggered over to one of the statues, a well muscled figure with a javelin over one shoulder. Tentatively he reached out and touched its upper thigh. Nothing, just as his senses had been telling him. The cold metallic figure was absent of any lifeforce. Leif looked around for an exit to the chamber, on opposite sides of the large round room were the outlines of circular arches glowing with the same blue light as the statues. He started walking towards one when a light splash came from behind. Leif spun, he didn¡¯t sense lifeforce or intent but... A transparent phantom, identical to the javelin holding statue in shape and pose stood proudly in the rubble strewn water. Then it moved, slowly shifting its footing and bringing up its weapon. It nodded slightly in Leif¡¯s direction and entered a combat stance. The spriggan stood there, unsure what was going on. Was it because I touched the statue? Is it going to fight me? The phantom made no moves to attack, it just remained in the combat stance. Leif stepped up out of the pool and instantly the phantom dissolved into motes of blue light. Leif relaxed slightly. He didn¡¯t seem to be in immediate danger. He circled the room twice, looking for an exit. The arches seemed to be the best bet, but there was no way out. Though he did notice something. One of the arches seemed damaged in some way, the runic symbols flickering fitfully at infrequent intervals. Just as Leif was heading back to the pool of water a three by three metre hole slid open in an innocuous part of the smooth wall . Light, footsteps and two voices came from the opening. Leif tensed, what was that? More goblins? But it wasn¡¯t goblins. Two men walked into the chamber through the newly created side entrance. One was tall and broad with pale skin and dark braided hair. The second was a shorter lean man with sandy hair and glasses. Both men, human men, froze as they saw him. Leif froze in turn. This was the first time in Leif¡¯s tree life he had seen people. And they had just walked in out of the blue. And though he was caught thoroughly flatfoot he could identify the trembling echoes from his soul for what they were. Recognition. This, this was what he had once been. He could feel it deep within his core. A sudden barrage of memories and impressions flickered through his mind faster than he could process them. A series of emotions surged in his chest, then fear replaced them all. They won¡¯t be able to tell what I am. Smiling half forgotten faces. And even if they knew, how would they react? Locations so familiar yet distant. His mind whirled as fast as it could go. What should I do? He panicked. The taller man, clad in a smart grey and blue uniform with tanned hide armour stepped in front of the other, an axe materialised out of nowhere with a faint warping of the surrounding air and fell into his outstretched hand. Leif felt a sensation of being measured brush against his spirit but ignored it. ¡°Oh hey!¡± Said the shorter man, his voice more curious than afraid. ¡°Is this a boss-fight room?¡± A purple glowing sphere hovered over his shoulder. The impression the man¡¯s presence gave off was like a carefully arranged stack of scrolls. His wide brim glasses and lack of any obvious armour distinguishing him from his peer, though he wore the same grey blue uniform. Marcus waited for Sieg to catch up, then let the bigger man go in first. Leif stood in the pool of water, unsure what to do. The two men entered the passageway and vanished from sight. A minute later Marcus¡¯s orb popped back into the chamber, followed shortly by its owner. ¡°Passageway is collapsed. Not unexpected but a bit of a shame, using the maintenance tunnels to get this far was pretty lucky.¡± ¡°We have no idea how difficult this room''s challenge will be.¡± Sieg huffed, entering after Marcus. ¡°Ask your new friend if it knows anything.¡± Marcus beamed and turned to Leif. ¡°We skipped the early floors when we found this maintenance key. The upper levels are crawling with goblins and we didn¡¯t want to get stabbed. Their boss did throw us down here but you can never be too knife safe around goblins. Anyway we slipped away and closed the entrances behind us.¡± He looked up and grimaced. ¡°Though maybe they¡¯ll come down through the hole...¡± Leif was sweating internally. Not being able to talk was frustrating. He understood the words and instinctively knew if his body was capable he would have no problems. He tried making basic sounds but they just came out as unintelligible hisses. Sieg frowned in his direction but the axe slung over the muscular man''s shoulders didn¡¯t move. ¡°You know how this chamber works?¡± Marcus asked him. Leif shrugged and hissed again. He sighed then tried something different. [Aura of Nobility] could be helpful here. He mentally and physically gestured at the javelin statue. Both men felt his aura and looked at the statue. It worked! Leif thought excitedly. He walked over and pressed his one hand against the glowing statue. A moment later the phantom appeared and got into position. ¡°Huh.¡± Marcus said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. ¡°What happens if you touch the projection? Sieg? Do the honours?¡± Sieg glowered and turned to Leif. ¡°Monster. Touch the projection.¡± Leif didn¡¯t have much of a choice. He reached out and poked the phantom in the arm. Both it and the statue flashed red, then the phantom flickered out of existence briefly before appearing nearby in the same combat stance. Marcus clapped his hands together. ¡°Training room! There¡¯s something similar in the academy right, Sieg?¡± Sieg grunted. ¡°In the Iron training halls from what I¡¯ve heard, never seen, let alone used them.¡± ¡°You need to copy the projections stance. Look, there''s an axe one over there. One of us needs to complete whatever this is to unlock that,¡± he pointed, ¡°archway. No other way forward. And the further down we go the further away we get from the green horde¡± Both spriggan and dark haired human looked to the archway, then back to each other. Leif nodded hesitantly. ¡°We must work together!¡± Marcus cheered, fist raised. ¡°For united we will not be oppressed! The orc squatting in the city above us may have far, far too many goblins... But we have the power of justice, friendship, and no other choice!¡± ¡°Wonderful.¡± Sieg muttered. ¡°Because the last monster was so kind to us.¡± ¡°Hey, he threw us down here instead of murdering us. It could have been worse.¡± Leif decided he had no idea what was going on, and would just go with the flow. Chapter 19: Strategic Cheating Chapter 19: Strategic Cheating Sieg cursed and threw his axe aside and crossed his arms. Marcus laughed from where he and Leif were watching. ¡°It¡¯s a whole lot less amusing when it''s you failing.¡± Sieg muttered, stepping out of the pool and recalling his axe with some sort of skill. The projection fuzzed away. After the first few stances the phantoms began to shift between forms with faster and faster movements. Sieg could only get a few repetitions in before losing the rhythm. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) Leif motioned at Marcus with his aura, pointing at the statues. ¡°Me?¡± Marcus asked. ¡°I¡¯m a mage, these are testing for martial prowess. Not my field of expertise.¡± He scratched at his slight stubble. ¡°Actually there¡¯s a statue with no weapons, maybe you should give it a try?¡± Leif shrugged and stepped into the pool. He nudged the statue with a foot and the phantom appeared in a martial arts stance. Leif looked it up and down. Then at where he was pressing his mostly severed arm to his socket. It was healing but the process was agonisingly slow. ¡°Ah, right.¡± Marcus said. ¡°Maybe once you''re healed huh? How are you doing that anyway? Is it a skill?¡± Leif wasn¡¯t sure how to answer that with his limited communication abilities. He half nodded and half shrugged. ¡°Do you need sunlight? You¡¯re a plant monster right?¡± He waved his head from side to side. Sunlight didn¡¯t seem to be entirely necessary but having it wouldn¡¯t hurt. What Leif really needed was sustenance. How do I communicate this? Frustrated, he hissed. Without a tongue making complex sounds seemed to be impossible. Leif was quickly growing less than pleased with his current body as he spent time with the two humans. It had been a little over three hours since he had fallen through the roof. Leif tried to push a sense of hunger, or eating out with his aura but by Marcus¡¯s confused expression he didn¡¯t succeed. He could point and vaguely gesture using the control granted from [Aura of Nobility] but anything more complex was impossible. ¡°Wasn¡¯t the fourth chamber partially overgrown with plants?¡± Sieg asked. ¡°Those were mushrooms, different type of life.¡± Marcus shrugged. ¡°Really?¡± Doesn¡¯t really matter I suppose. Place will be flooded with goblins by now anyway.¡± Leif perked up at the mention of possible sources of vitality, especially goblins. He could eat those and maybe recover some of his wounded pride along with his arm. He tried to explain with his aura and head movements but neither human seemed to get it. Fortunately he would be capable of a live demonstration in three... two... A high pitched scream came from above, all three turned to see a small figure plummet out of the ceilings hole. It hit the ground with a sickening splat, sending waves rippling through the pond. Red started staining the water. Before either human had reacted Leif had hopped into the pool and made his way next to the corpse. An ethereal golden root manifested from his shin and speared the corpse. Immediately it felt as though a weight was lifted off Leif¡¯s shoulders. Vitality surged through his body, mending his cracked bark and mostly reattaching his arm. He picked up the shrivelled corpse and hauled it out of the water. ¡°Oh.¡± Marcus said. ¡°That''s what you wanted a goblin for...¡± The two humans shared a look. ¡°Are you fully healed?¡± Leif shook his head after testing his arms movements. Still stiff and partially painful to move. ¡°Going back is risky.¡± Sieg pointed out. ¡°We¡¯ll need to head back up to the third chamber for the side exit anyway.¡± Marcus countered. Leif hissed. ¡°Side exit?¡± He wanted to ask. Marcus winked. ¡°What the big green guy upstairs doesn¡¯t know can¡¯t hurt him. Besides, his goals for this place are idiotic anyway. There hasn¡¯t been a recorded use of a Mythstone in almost a millennium.¡± === If a goblin shits in a dungeon hallway, but there¡¯s no one around to see it. Did it really happen? The answer to this particular question was inconclusive because a maintenance passageway entrance slid open nearby and three figures walked out. They saw the goblin squatting in the hallway, loincloth hanging down at its knees. Marcus gagged but Leif didn¡¯t notice. He rushed the little monster and plastered its brain matter over the nearby wall with a single punch. === ¡°Well you¡¯ve been training your whole life Sieg!¡± Marcus laughed. ¡°And you have a combat comprehension skill! Hey Planty, how long have you been doing this?¡± Punch, step, block, step, red. He let out a hissing sigh and held up a single finger. Marcus turned to Sieg. ¡°See, only one day!¡± Leif shook his head and turned back to the projection. If only he had eyes in the back of his head, able to see his stances and movements from another perspective. That way he could notice the mistakes he was constantly making... Wait a second. He performed the opening part of a sequence and then... Red. He quickly stepped away and activated [Amber Awareness]. He could see a vague, indistinct amber outline of his body, feel how he had moved. With a little practice maybe the skill would improve. If he could use the skill to perfect the stances, then repeatedly experience doing them correctly over and over... Well, that was cheating wasn¡¯t it. No way it would be overly effective. Right? How fast could he realistically improve? Six hours later... === Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 3! For exemplary progress made while training in martial arts you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Alacrity] +1 free point! Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 4! For continuous rapid improvements while practising martial arts you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Spirit] +1 free point! New class skills available! [Aggressive Stance] or [Grounded Stance]! You have reached the level 25 milestone bottleneck! You have unlocked skill fusion! To advance beyond this point you must overcome an advancement trial! Warning! Advancement trials difficulty is based on your total number of skills. For every skill above a total of 10 difficulty will dramatically increase! Current skills: 12! Warning! Failing an advancement trial may result in the loss of class levels! Advancement trial may only be attempted while at level 25! Any experience gained while at level 25 will be banked until trial is completed! Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing the advancement trial! Good luck! Begin advancement trial? Y/N Chapter 20: Tongue Tied Chapter 20: Tongue Tied Apparently Marcus and Sieg had a campsite set up in one of the previous chambers the two men had explored in the few days they had been exploring the underground complex. They had given Leif directions and told him they would leave the tunnel doorways open. Sieg grumbled about ¡®trusting a monster¡¯ but he didn¡¯t seem to care enough to do anything about it. The man was complaining out of obligation rather than worry, and Leif didn¡¯t really blame him. Judging by how proficient Sieg was with his axe and the rapid progress at which he tore through the statue trials, Leif doubted he could touch the man, let alone win in a fight. This is to say, when Leif received the newest flurry of system prompts an hour after they had left he had no idea what to do. He suspected both Sieg and Marcus were at a higher level, though just how high he could only guess. Should he try to ask them? Wait, don¡¯t they think I¡¯m already level 30? And how would I even go about asking? There¡¯s so much I don¡¯t understand. Leif sighed and focused on the one prompt he did understand. Two skills to choose from, both had something to do with stances. This didn¡¯t seem like a difficult choice, a strong, stable footing would synergise far greater with his current fighting style and body than the offensive alternative. Just weighing the feeling he got from [Aggressive Stance] to that of [Grounded Stance] made the choice straight forward. You have gained the [Brawler] class skill [Grounded Stance]! === Grounded Stance I: Aspects: Comprehension, Enhancement (body)*T/his chapter is updated by Grants instinctual understanding of combat stances and their uses. Grants a bonus to balance, footwork and stability while fighting in a combat stance in which you have proficiency, bonus increased by degree of proficiency. === Leif felt the change as he stood there, the forms he had been practising snapped into greater focus. Even while still and not in a stance he felt in more control. He took a step forward and fell into a combat stance. The martial arts phantom dipped its head slightly as if in acknowledgement of his improvement. And it felt right, as if everything up until this point had been wild flailing. He moved through the early forms, his speed and precision blisteringly fast compared to just a minute prior. As Leif worked he felt himself shift slightly to enhance his motions. Even without using [Amber Awareness] he could tell his basic forms were rapidly approaching a mastery he couldn¡¯t have dreamed of even hours prior. As he practised the basic forms the phantom performed different poses and movements, becoming more complex and intricate. He had reached this stage prior but had quickly made errors and faltered. This time he lasted two minutes of quickly escalating difficulty before his stance broke. Leif breathed out and let his body relax. Maybe I should thank the goblin, ork, whatever he was. Almost killing me and smashing me through the ground is turning out pretty great. His mind wandered to his animals, if Leif had known how close he had been to a goblin infested city he would have sent them far away. Wild animals weren¡¯t incapable of protecting themselves, but he still felt responsible. His body ached and weariness was creeping into his mind. He wondered how long a lack of sunlight would take to affect him. As he walked the maintenance tunnels of whatever this underground labyrinth was he considered the other system prompts he had received. What would the advancement trial be? But perhaps more interesting, how did skill fusion work? Choose two or more skills to attempt a fusion! Warning! Success rate depends on proficiency and understanding of skills in fusion! ¡°Right right,¡± Marcus waved the voice off, ¡°Keep us posted and all that.¡± He grabbed the device from Sieg and somehow turned it off, he turned to Leif smiling. ¡°Anyway I was thinking, you can¡¯t talk because you don¡¯t have a tongue? Why can¡¯t you just make one with your gold skill?¡± Huh? === ¡°Eya¡± ¡°Ehya¡± ¡°Eey¡± Early next morning Leif was practising making sounds. It was incredibly awkward, like talking with a dead fish lodged down your throat, Its floppy tail smacking the insides of your mouth. Its salty taste reminding you of the ocean and better times. This got away from me so let''s move on. [Amber Awareness] and [Gilded Body] were receiving massive workouts. Leif¡¯s proficiency with both skills rapidly improving. As he did so Sieg followed the instructions of the axe statue, the man was getting better with each failed attempt. During his speaking practice Leif had downtime. This let him contemplate what the first thing he should ask the two men if, or rather when he mastered talking. What were they doing here? What was this place and why was it below the city? Who was the voice from the device? Well, he supposed before anything he would start with introducing himself. === ¡°Leaf? Really?¡± Sieg snorted. It was a few days later. ¡°Yes...¡± Leif said, the sound slurred and wispy. ¡°There¡¯s no way.¡± Marcus laughed. ¡°That cannot be your name.¡± The man was practically rolling around on the floor. ¡°It... is... name... why... you... laugh?¡± ¡°B-because,¡± Marcus chortled, wiping a tear away with a finger. ¡°You¡¯re a plant monster, and your name is Leaf. Like the thing that grows on trees.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry.¡± Marcus wheezed. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be rude. Do- do you have a last name?¡± ¡°Vin...¡± ¡°Vine?¡± The sandy haired man gasped. ¡°Are you seriously called Leaf Vine?¡± Sieg choked on the water he was drinking. Leif glowered internally. How the hell have I been a plant for over eleven years and not realised that? Am I stupid? Chapter 21: Understanding Chapter 21: Understanding Leif brooded while he waited for his [Gilded Body] skill to recover after overuse. Imagine for a moment, that if, whenever you wanted to talk, you had to solve a puzzle cube while balancing on a tightrope. Ok, now imagine something more sensible but equally as challenging. What I¡¯m trying to get across is that it wasn¡¯t easy. Leif and Marcus sat off to the side watching Sieg get further and further into the statues training, with every attempt he grinded away, progressing more and more. The large man''s movements were powerful but nearly perfectly controlled. The axehead parting the air like a scalpel, each swing surgical. ¡°He¡¯s really good, you know?¡± Marcus said with a smile. ¡°Sieg I mean. Really smart too, he beat me in several systems theory classes.¡± Leif gurgled non-committally. Was there an easier way to switch between contrasting consonants? ¡°Oh hey, that''s different.¡± Marcus said, putting aside the notebook he was writing in and perking up. The spriggan looked up when he detected something manifest within the chamber. An intent, directed at Sieg. The axe phantom had solidified, it now stood, tangible and in a combat stance. ¡°Final part?¡± Sieg grunted. ¡°Gods I hope so, this seriously sucks.¡± Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com ¡°Kick its ass big guy!¡± Marcus cheered. Sieg cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. Then the projection attacked. It moved in familiar motions, never deviating from the forms it had been imparting. Though it moved in new and unpredictable patterns of the pre-existing stances and strikes. The two combatants whirled and struck, their battle constantly picking up speed. Steel axehead met spectral projection and sparks flew. Sieg winced and drew back as the phantom pressed him. The tall man fell a step behind in the dance of combat, then a second. The projection spun out from a flurry of quick testing strikes into a devastating overhead swing. Sieg caught the attack on his armoured forearm. Blood seeped from where the armour had cracked and down into the pool of water. Sieg roared and the air grew cold, shards of ice misted into existence and the water below quickly froze over. Then Sieg burst forward, no longer in the statues'' stances, power surged around him. Ice-layers built up around his axehead, sharpened sheets of infused elemental energy. His weapons edge grew in size and the air screamed as he struck forward and parted the projections head from its shoulders. It flashed red, then poofed out of existence. ¡°Nobody fights without skills!¡± Sieg complained loudly. He gestured to the axe statue. ¡°I don¡¯t have your stupid class. Shouldn¡¯t have to fight like I do.¡± He trailed off, letting his skills disperse into spooling vapour. Leif stood. Couldn¡¯t he do something about Sieg¡¯s wound? === Blight''s Bounty: Aspects: Enhancement (Body)*, Technique (Blood)* Your attacks passively drain vitality from struck foes. You may actively syphon or bestow lifeforce via continuous touch. Blood you absorb is converted into the amber sap that beats within your heart. This amber sap naturally becomes compatible with any target you bestow it upon. After you have drained a being of vitality you gain up to +40% to all attributes for one hour. This bonus is lost incrementally over the hour-long duration. === He could! Leif had never used the healing portion of the skill on someone else so maybe... He made to walk over but Sieg quickly popped a small red object into his mouth and started chewing. The tall man squinted at Leif. ¡°What? You wanted my blood?¡± ¡°Not... blood...¡± Leif managed to get out. ¡°Can... heal...¡± ¡°That''s superstitious nonsense.¡± Sieg nodded in Leif¡¯s direction, seeing the spriggan¡¯s interest. ¡°My trial was about my decision to leave my tribe and come south, about walking away from perceived responsibility and accepting my choice.¡± He shrugged. ¡°There was a monster too but it was hardly worth mentioning, I killed it in a single hit while it was forming.¡± ¡°I failed my first attempt, lost three levels and was sick for a month.¡± Marcus said with a faraway gaze. ¡°I had to get further below the skill threshold by fusing more than is recommended at such a low level. It cost a ton but shouldn¡¯t be harmful in the long run." ¡°Fu...sion...?¡± Leif was struggling to form words as he pushed [Gilded Body]¡¯s limb creation to its limits. ¡°It takes a long time.¡± Sieg explained. ¡°But it can be sped up with mana catalysts like shards. Pretty much any skill can theoretically be fused with any other skill, as long as you can picture what a successful fusion would look like.¡± ¡°The Academy teaches the ¡®Trestotle Model¡¯ for progression. Each level is like a balloon, gaining experience expands the balloon with the ultimate goal of ¡®levelling up¡¯ being like popping the balloon.¡± Marcus said in a lecturing tone, hand gestures demonstrating something slowly expanding. ¡°Skills are like a counter weight. They push back against the expansion, only a little bit for each one. But if you go over your skill limit, usually between fifteen and twenty, your skills push down with enough force that progress becomes impossible.¡± ¡°It''s a balancing act, you need to fuse skills to keep yourself below the limit. But each fusion is harder and harder, takes more time and resources. So you can¡¯t just fuse a bunch of low grade skills. You need to be selective or else progress at higher levels will be extremely difficult.¡± He explained. Leif nodded, it seemed to make sense. ¡°What was your advancement like?¡± Sieg asked. ¡°Can¡¯t say I¡¯m not a little curious how a monster''s bottleneck differs from our own.¡± Leif paused. He hadn¡¯t completed his advancement. I still don¡¯t know why they think I¡¯m level thirty. He realised. ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell.¡± Marcus said, waving away Sieg¡¯s question. ¡°It¡¯s personal, I have no intentions of sharing my advancement.¡± ¡°No... I... don¡¯t... know...¡± How could he explain? Words were hard so he¡¯d settle with a half truth and try again later. Sieg frowned and shifted. He shot Marcus a look, the other man shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m taking a break from the pool. It¡¯s all yours.¡± Sieg said motioning to the ring of statues. Leif nodded. He wanted to see how far he could get. Think about his first skill fusion while he was at it. === The two humans watched the spriggan activate the unarmed statue and begin the training routine. It was remarkable how quickly Leif was improving over just a few days. ¡°Think he gained a comprehension skill that involves combat?¡± Marcus asked as he stretched. ¡°It¡¯s possible. Hard to tell. It¡¯s not like we know all the rules of monster skill gain.¡± ¡°So...¡± ¡°First whiff of dishonesty my skill has detected so far.¡± Sieg said flatly. ¡°So he does know but doesn¡¯t want to share?¡± Marcus considered thoughtfully. ¡°Eh, if anything that makes me more inclined to trust him. Everyone¡¯s got secrets, you know?¡± Sieg grunted in agreement. ¡°At least I know my skill is working.¡± ¡°...I can lie more often if you¡¯d like?¡± ¡°Helpful as always.¡± Chapter 22: Silent Anticipation Chapter 22: Silent Anticipation Leif flowed from one stance to another. The basic forms flew by and the exercise increased in complexity, speed and overall difficulty. He reached the peak of the intermediate training, from experience if he pushed himself the phantom would ramp up the difficulty again but Leif knew he wasn¡¯t ready. Instead he worked the movements into his muscle memory, and time flew by. His thoughts wandered to what the two humans had told him. It was a lot to take in, but it confirmed a few things. Monster advancement milestones were very similar, if not identical to... what was the term? Awakened advancement? Human advancement? Skills too seemed to be remarkably similar. Now whether this was true for all monsters or because Leif was an outlier due to his auxiliary class allowing him to break certain rules he wasn¡¯t sure. He had twelve skills: === [Amber Blight Spriggan] Gilded Body / Amber Awareness / Blight''s Bounty / The Well Within I / Settle [Noble] Aura of Nobility I / Court Empath / Grand Action / Under My Protection / Legacy [Brawler] Iron Fists / Grounded Stance I === But Leif needed to lower his total number down to ten using the newly unlocked skill fusion option. The system had said that the advancement trial¡¯s difficulty would dramatically increase for every skill over ten. But did that mean if he had below ten skills it would be easier? Was there an advantage to succeeding a harder trial? Leif had many questions, though hearing that Marcus had failed his first attempt had made him certain of one thing. He didn¡¯t want to lose levels, that sounded miserable. So. What skills should he combine? Leif considered his options as he trained. When his body flagged he and Sieg swapped places. Sieg quickly worked his way to the projection fight but struggled to get past the first minute. Let''s see... I need to be able to picture what a skill can do after a fusion. So which skills do I have that are similar? [Amber Awareness] and [Court Empath] were both perception skills. What would a skill fusion of the two look like? And would a fusion keep both skills full capabilities? He suspected it wouldn¡¯t be as simple as a clean merge. He found the time aspect of [Amber Awareness] fascinating, but the actual detection abilities from [Court Empath] were superior. He considered [Amber Awareness] more closely. The core of the skill was its general perception boost... Or was it? No, it wasn¡¯t. Just because he was only just learning the full capabilities of the skill didn¡¯t mean the time perception wasn¡¯t the skills core. But he couldn¡¯t be certain. This is probably a sign I shouldn¡¯t fuse these skills. What else is there? [Grand Action] and [Blight''s Bounty] provide general attribute boosts. But [Grand Action] was very simple, [Blight''s Bounty] had energy draining and healing mixed in. What would these two skills look like fused? [Blight''s Bounty] but with a greater attribute increase? Or would it become focused like [Grand Action] was. It feels like a safer fusion than the two perception skills at least. He mused What about [Gilded Body]? [Iron Fists] could be a candidate. Leif liked the flexibility of being able to conjure golden limbs in any shape provided he could picture it clearly. Would a fusion with [Iron Fists] make them more solid? Or just go into the general strength increase [Gilded Body] granted? What about both? Leif mentally opened the skill fusion window. Initiate a skill fusion? Primary skill: [Gilded Body] Marcus pulled out the maintenance key and opened up the way back, all three quickly made their way through the winding maze of tunnels. Every thirty seconds or so the world would shake. After minutes of running they reached the camp, Marcus and Sieg quickly packed the tent and their other belongings while Leif examined the chamber. Like the statue chamber there were two arches that indicated typical entrances. Though this room was lacking any statues. Instead against one wall was some sort of long raised platform. A faded mural depicting an armoured person wielding a sword a brilliant silver light was carved in intricate detail above the platform and into the curved roof. ¡°Could it be Hera?¡± Asked Sieg as the three moved to a non descript part of the wall. ¡°Unlikely. I mean, they would have contacted us if she had arrived, right?¡± ¡°So something else? What if-¡± Sieg was cut off as the chamber shook, dust fell from the ceiling, tiny flakes of powder illuminated by Marcus¡¯s purple orb. Unlike before the light didn¡¯t return, the Mythhold seemed to have lost power. Then, all at once, every entrance into the room opened. Both standard entrances and three hidden maintenance doorways slid soundlessly apart. A pack of panicked goblins spilt out of one entrance as if they had been pressed up against the doorway. They screeched in surprise and fell in a cluster of limbs and makeshift weapons. Heavy footsteps fell as a hulking figure barged into the chamber from the other doorway. It roared as it saw the two humans and singular spriggan. In one hand it held a wicked stone club and in the other a flaming torch. ¡°Troll!¡± Marcus called. Sieg stepped forward axe at the ready. The trolls roar seemed to shake the goblins out of their daze. As one they turned to Leif and the others, malicious cruelty in their eyes. The chamber rocked again. As the trembles ceased the fight began. The goblins charged, scrambling forward. A field of chilling air washed out from Sieg with a wave of his free hand, the floor froze between the group and the goblins, in the same motion he swiped horizontally at the troll. A thin blade of ice sliced through the empty space. It impacted the troll''s chest and made the creature stagger, a thin line of blood trickling down the hulking monster''s torso. ¡°Gauntlet.¡± Marcus said, somehow commanding his skill. Purple energy flowed around his wrist and hand before solidifying as a gauntlet. Energy crackled between Marcus¡¯s fingers as he pointed at the closest goblin. The creature slipped on the ice created by Sieg a moment before a thin line of purple struck it in the leg. The skill singed the goblins skin and quickly ran up its body like a snake made of lightning. The creature screamed in pain and fell back. The purple energy then jumped to the next goblin, it too fell screaming. Marcus gestured and pointed. Goblins fell as if he were a conductor of death. But more were coming. From both main doorways goblins streamed through. Leif stepped forward. [Grand Action] focused his [Might] attribute as he kicked off the ground, it cracked beneath him. Two golden roots flowed from his knuckles, each hand now topped with a gilded blade-like tip ten centimetres in length. He crashed into the goblins severing limbs and lashing out to crush bones. The green creatures struck back but what strikes found purchase against his hardened bark left minor scratches. For each blow Leif sustained that dealt noticeable damage [Blight¡¯s Bounty] would steal the vitality from four or more goblins. Leif fought in the way the training projections had taught him. But the addition of bladed tips on each hand made for greater versatility. He swept through the mass of green like how a boat parts the oceans waves, with every strike a goblin died. But the battle wasn¡¯t without difficulties, his twin perception abilities [Court Empath] and his innate vitality detection made his surroundings a blur of emotion and sensation. He focused and willed the effects of [Court Empath] to lessen, letting his feeling of the surrounding lifeforce fade away along with the intent and emotions. Purple arcs of power danced through the clumped goblins. What monsters survived the energy coursing through and over them were left stunned and defenceless against Leif. His hand blades pierced the skulls of two goblins at the same time, they slumped to the ground dead. To his right the troll roared again. Leif spared a brief glance and saw the source of the creature''s angry intent. Sieg hacked away at the troll, his body surrounded by dozens of tiny ice shards. The troll¡¯s legs were frozen to the ground and with every passing second frost crept up its arms. It flailed in an attempt to escape. With a shattering sound one leg burst free and the troll lunged forward. Forward and right into the overhead blow from Sieg that split its skull in two. Shockingly the creature didn¡¯t die. Blood and tissue began to rapidly reconnect around the axehead still lodged into the monster''s brain. Sieg yanked his axe free, cursed, then decapitated the troll. Even as its head hit the frosted ground with a dull thunk it continued to heal. The northman mentally called the iceshards surrounding him to strike at the troll''s body as he continued to attack with his axe. An arm fell, then a leg. The half restored head of the troll was removed, then Sieg backed away. He felled three goblins who were approaching him before focusing back on the troll. A metre long spear of ice formed in his hand before surging forward. The troll was impaled and rapidly frozen. Sieg¡¯s axe glowed with the white light of snow as he shattered the troll from foot to neck stump with a single blow. Arrows started flying, loosed from shoddy goblin made bows. Leif ignored those that hit him, most fell off harmlessly anyway. Sieg had to retreat, he wasn¡¯t as resilient. ¡°Shield.¡± Marcus''s voice echoed from over the sounds of battle. A purple half dome of energy flickered around him. Arrows clattered harmlessly against the protective skill. The man counter attacked with his arcane gauntlet¡¯s power. The archers tucked away in one of the chamber entrances screamed as they died. A minute later the room fell quiet, four dozen dead goblins littered the floor. The three surviving combatants waited in silent anticipation for something else to go wrong. Chapter 23: The King and the Princess Chapter 23: The King and the Princess Szesis was bored. Not in the ¡®I have nothing to do¡¯ way that you probably imagined. But bored in the ¡®I have nothing of value to do¡¯ kind of way. He had never been good at waiting, it hadn¡¯t helped that the last few interesting events had given him conflict blue balls. The two humans he had caught snooping around had been after the same thing he was. But instead of fighting to the death they had agreed to his proposal of doing his work for him. That had sucked, no entertainment value at all. The second event had been... well, almost alarming. It wasn¡¯t every day you witnessed a member of the Darkwoods roaming around outside their vast territory. He had partially hoped the one he had noticed casually walking through the ruined streets of Pherin had been a scout. But no invading force of Blight Beasts or Grim Ents had shown up which was very disappointing. He shifted uncomfortably on the slanted roof he was taking a nap on. His makeshift armour clanked and that made his mood worse. Yes, wearing it made the goblins think he was one of their own but he missed his actual armour. He reached through a ring of shadow and pulled out a half empty bottle of wine. He drained it and casually dropped it off the side of the building. A screech of pain came from below but he ignored it. With a brief effort he hopped to his feet and leaped a quarter of the city''s district with a few hops, only to land within the ¡®command centre¡¯. It was a pile of rubble but the goblins were very pleased with it. ¡°General.¡± he nodded to the goblin on watch and half heartedly saluted. The goblin dropped his spear in shock and returned the gesture. ¡°G-g-general?¡± It stammered. ¡°Congratulations on the promotion. Where are the others?¡± ¡°I-i-inside my l-lord.¡± ¡°Wonderful. Go kill a mountain drake and bring me its head. Oh and do it alone.¡± Szesis benevolently commanded as he strode past. The newly promoted and soon to be dead goblin practically skipped down the street. He approached where several evolved goblins were bickering over a poorly made map of the city drawn in debris and dust. ¡°Gentlemen! I have detected a great enemy of our people and must make haste to slay it! I¡¯ll be back in a day or two. Don¡¯t kill each other while I¡¯m gone, okay?¡± The oversized green children scrambled to salute him, praise his existence or beg for something. He ignored all of them and swapped places with a shadow positioned on one of the outer walls. Szesis stretched and yawned. Exile was fun when it wasn¡¯t so dreadfully dull. Now then, what should I spend the next few days doing? Go fight something worthwhile in the mountains, see what the humans were doing down south? If only I could... ¡°Oho! What is this?¡± He asked outloud to nobody. A dark speck was rapidly approaching from the western horizon. Szesis squinted, making out a humanoid shape in dark slender armour and two sets of rapidly beating insectile wings. ¡°Well well. Isn¡¯t this a pleasant surprise!¡± He said before shooting off a condensed pulse of his aura. The dark shape slightly altered its course and moved directly towards him. Szesis looked down at the scrap the goblins called armour and sighed. Then he started stripping. === Ah, he probably should have guessed that. Formians only got so worked up about a very select number of things. Well, he had no idea as to the fate or location of the formian hive queen. ¡°Dead. Sorry for your loss.¡± ¡°LIES!¡± The word hit Szesis like a steel fist. He would have rocked back from the force if he wasn¡¯t, you know, the greatest. ¡°Not lies! She¡¯s dead and I killed her. Sorry for your loss.¡± He lied honestly. These words made the formian try to kill him. Which was exactly the point. === Shockwaves of gravitational power cracked buildings in half and sent chunks of city wall tumbling. Goblins died in their hundreds as they scampered for cover. Szesis dodged a scythe-like blade of energy with a casual hop and twisted mid-air so he could observe the chaos. This... well. This was great. Honestly everything was wonderful. He definitely had the situation in hand. X was, maybe, just a little bit stronger than him. A dark blur raced across rooftops, a volley of navy blue spears lanced towards him. Szesis dodged by swapping with a nearby shadowy copy, it died in a puff of black essence above him. ¡°Should have waited to put on my boots before saying anything stupid.¡± He complained to himself, finishing his getup and standing up. He reached out and summoned a long blade wreathed in shadows. Time to prove he wasn¡¯t a total pushover. The formian spotted him and let out an ear piercing screech. Goblins tumbled to the ground, blood trickling from their long ears. Szesis cracked his neck and burst into shadowy power. He stabbed forward and a mimic of his strike manifested a split second later right in front of the formian. X cut it to pieces with suddenly clawed hands and continued right towards him. So he followed up his attack with fifteen more, each coming from a new direction. This made X retreat, her wings a blur as she skimmed backwards. Szesis was already moving in pursuit, he darted from shadowy alleyways to shattered buildings, his every step propelled by his immense attributes and movement skills. He flitted around the city, never staying in one place for more than a moment. His aura naturally making him harder to detect. Above the formian lost track of his position so instead decided to launch destructive beams of energy in wide sweeping arcs through the city. The attacks had no hope of catching someone as slippery as Szesis, he burnt through stored energy to manifest new shadowy copies and sent them scattering through the newly ruined ruins. This is fun. Szesis thought happily. I hope the Mythhold survives! A lance of power sliced the metallic titan in half. Hopefully. Chapter 24: Into The Depths Chapter 24: Into The Depths ¡°I can¡¯t close the maintenance door. It¡¯s like the whole structure is shutting down.¡± Marcus said as he held up the door key. ¡°And you can¡¯t use your skill?¡± Sieg asked. ¡°[Create Key] only helps me unlock things I understand, not lock them again.¡± Marcus sighed. ¡°The tunnels will be flooded full of goblins in no time, what a shit show. They may even find the hidden exit.¡± ¡°What...do?¡± Leif asked as he drained vitality from frozen troll chunks. Sieg looked at Marcus. The shorter man nodded and closed his eyes. ¡°Find.¡± Spectral images flickered in and out of existence around the mages head. He reached up and quickly arranged them into ever shifting orders. A minute passed, then another. Marcus began to sweat, his movements becoming sluggish. Finally he opened his eyes. ¡°Deeper?¡± Sieg asked with concern in his voice. Marcus nodded. ¡°There... there should be another way out... Ugh.¡± He stumbled and clutched at his head. ¡°Aha, the [Seeker] class is quite excellent, especially after its tenth level promotion. But its skills are really tricky to use correctly.¡± Marcus explained for Leif¡¯s benefit. The spriggan tilted his head in acknowledgment. ¡°Which way?¡± Sieg asked, his tone worried as he glanced between the chambers now opened entrances. ¡°Back, back to the statue room. I¡¯ll re-use the skill when we get there, the path I saw was incredibly blurry.¡± As the sounds of goblin screeching neared them the three retreated into the Mythhold¡¯s depths. === ¡°This way. Through two more chambers then... then there¡¯s some sort of blockage but there appears to be a side route.¡± Marcus said, pointing the way forward. They left the statue room as the world trembled. Still at one percent. I guess killing things doesn¡¯t accelerate the process like with my evolution counter. Leif thought. ¡°I can sense that there''s enough mana in each panel for a single blast or whatever they might do.¡± Marcus said. ¡°Normally I¡¯d suggest we go through a maintenance tunnel instead of trying the room but the way back just collapsed and there don¡¯t seem to be any side exits.¡± ¡°Through the traps it is.¡± Sieg sighed and let his axe disappear. ¡°I¡¯ll be using my face to check these unless either of you want to volunteer." Leif considered this, his body was naturally more durable than both humans and he was currently full to bursting with stolen lifeforce. His attributes were at their full forty percent increase from [Blight''s Bounty]. He shrugged internally and stepped forward. Both humans nodded and stepped back. Leif cracked his neck, lowered himself into a ready pose, focused on [Might] with [Grand Action] and exploded forward. He burst past the next pair of traps, a dark sphere of energy detonated behind him. Leif felt the residue of whatever that explosion was brush against his back but he didn¡¯t stop. Two lances of ice flew from above but they veered away as they drew closer to smash harmlessly into the floor. Sieg¡¯s doing no doubt. Two metal tipped arrows a foot in length shot from the next set, one on each side. They curved slightly to track Leif¡¯s momentum. On one side he manifested a condensed shield of golden light and on the other intertwined limbs of ethereal roots curved around his forearm. The shield shattered and the arrow skidded off Leif¡¯s shoulder. The other impacted his protections from [Gilded Body] and punched right through his raised arm. Leif hissed in pain and stepped back. He made to continue but Marcus held him back and confidently walked forward. ¡°Next one is lightning I think, allow me.¡± Sure enough two bright flashes of lightning erupted toward the man. He raised a hand still wreathed in a purple gauntlet, both bolts curved mid air and struck his fist. There they were absorbed into the skill''s construct, crackling power threatened to overwhelm the working so Marcus ejected the stored power at one of the two upcoming panels. The improvised attack didn¡¯t seem to do any damage unfortunately. ¡°Arcane magic has its drawbacks, but the versatility is unmatched.¡± Marcus boasted as he flexed his fingers. Leif ripped the arrow out of his arm and watched as amber sap quickly filled and closed the wound. The pool of vitality within him had dropped slightly but it wouldn¡¯t pose a risk. Five minutes later the room was cleared, the chamber behind them was a destroyed wreck from energy detonations and skill usage. Chapter 25: Fissure Chapter 25: Fissure Letlet watched in awe as what he could only assume were gods did battle in and above the ruined streets of the former human city; Pherin. To witness such glorious displays of power was something he had dreamed of ever since he came crawling out of a half destroyed basement. That was three months ago but to Letlet it felt like a lifetime. Which it was, for him at least. The system had only recently bestowed him with a name of power, Letlet had run around telling everyone he could! They had hit him and told him to ¡°piss off¡± but Letlet didn¡¯t mind. He was happy and there was nothing anyone could do about it. He was happy even as a dark blue light built in power over the city. He was happy as the clouds above began to twist and flow downwards. He was happy as a crackling beam of power ripped the central district apart, the very ground splitting open. He was happy as he was instantly vaporised, not even ashes remaining. === The next chamber had been going so well. Had being the important word in that sentence. The room was cylindrical with significant vertical height. Smooth stone bridges criss-crossed the chamber, well most of them did. Several of the bridges pivotal to completing the chamber had collapsed. Murals depicting warriors in splendid armour and wielding every kind of weapon under the moons that gleamed a brilliant silver. They wrapped the edges of the chamber in a downward spiral, each displaying meticulous detailing. Though Leif found the little details difficult to pay attention to, what little he did see of the art display was certainly impressive, he was currently trying not to die. Arrows and other assorted projectiles rained down from above, he slapped a falling stone out of the air but took an arrow to the shin. Further along the narrow walkway Marcus and Sieg were struggling. Out of all of them Marcus was the only member of their group with a potent ranged option. Purple bolts of light whizzed up the height of the chamber, the energy illuminating the darkened bridge-ways above. For a short, horrifying instant he failed to find purchase. Then his momentum slammed to a halt. Leif hissed from a mix of strain and triumph. The walkway jerked to a stop as it got caught in one of the chamber''s many alcoves. ¡°Well.¡± Marcus gasped. ¡°That was too close!¡± Then a beam of dark blue energy ripped through the chamber from above. It sliced cleanly through every bridge it came into contact with. By what could only be called a miracle it just barely missed the bridge they were clinging to. What was less fortunate was the follow up tremor. Their bridge was shaken free and began to plummet. Over a hundred goblinoids, two humans and a spriggan fell screaming into the void below. The darkness swallowed them up, each instant of falling stretching on for an eternity. Suddenly their momentum began to taper off, slowing considerably before almost stopping in its entirety. Marcus¡¯s glowing sphere of purple light zipped down to its caster and revealed their situation in a soft purple light. Every chunk of falling stone hung suspended as if caught in slowed time. Below was the faint outline of the largest runic circle Leif had ever seen. Well, he hadn¡¯t seen many but this one still stood out as remarkably large. The bottom of the cylindrical chamber was almost double the width of what it had been above. Leif took this all in in stunned shock. He shook his head and heaved Sieg up, who then in turn did the same for Marcus. Everything felt light, almost weightless. A goblin still mid fall spun helplessly in mid air, its downwards momentum all but vanished. It thrashed and kicked but was unable to move. Sieg sent a disc of ice in the monster''s direction, the projectile quickly lost its speed and harmlessly bumped the goblin. The man shrugged. Silver light flickered around Leif, he looked around confused and saw the same light around his two companions. All throughout the chamber silver light illuminated goblins before with a flash they all vanished, appearing on the chamber''s floor unharmed. For a single peaceful moment nobody moved. Then Sieg bisected the nearest goblin and chaos reigned. Chapter 26: Bloodbath Chapter 26: Bloodbath Goblins came screeching at the trio from all sides, they rushed forwards over a dozen at a time. Purple bolts of power danced through the oncoming tide, goblins fell one by one, fried by Marcus¡¯s skill. Frost condensed around Sieg and icy winds whipped through the arena. Leif didn¡¯t have time to pay any more attention to his companions, he crashed into the green wave and sent small bodies scattering. A punch shattered a skull, a kick burst vital organs. He conjured two short blades of ethereal golden energy from his knuckles and began to kill. Shadows suddenly rushed up his right leg, they pulled at him but with little success. Leif was too heavy for whatever the source of the magic''s plan had been. But it was alarming, magic meant an evolved goblin right? Potentially multiple. Orange flames streaked over the swarm and exploded a metre away from him. Leif backed away but was too slow and surrounded on all sides. Goblins died but he was partially scorched. At least two evolved goblins. He noted. He drove a blade through the heart of a nearby monster and felt its lifeforce drain, his wounds began to heal. He shoulder checked a pair of spear wielders letting their attacks land so he could reposition. And not a moment too late, another blast of flames landed where he had just been. As goblins died he sensed their vital energies fade away, this let him keep a vague idea of where Marcus and Sieg were fighting. The chamber intermittently flashed with different colours. But the predominant one was the violet of the human mage''s skills. The ground trembled again sending the small green attackers stumbling, Leif was about to take advantage of their distracted state when a hulking behemoth of a creature rampaged through the goblin swarm. A troll, not dissimilar to the one Sieg had killed earlier that day, but it wasn¡¯t alone. Accompanying the troll was a taller goblin in more intricate but still terrible quality armour. Three javelins were slung over its shoulder. It grinned at Leif with a mouth full of sharp teeth and moved to encircle him as the troll attacked in a frenzy. Leif stepped back from the first overhead blow of the troll''s massive club, he ducked the second and deflected the third as the creature tried another overhead strike. Leif stepped into its poor excuse for a guard and landed a blade tipped fist right into its centre of mass. It roared in fury but Leif didn¡¯t let up, he roundhouse kicked its jaw sending rotting teeth and spittle flying in a dramatic arc through the air. Before he could continue his assault the tall goblin launched a frenzy of attacks with two daggers. One of the daggers bit into Leif¡¯s neck, the blade sinking in over an inch. He jerked back from the sudden pain and inability to breathe. Another strike came, this one low. Leif battered the attack aside with a newly manifested arm of gold. But doing so cost him one of his knuckle blades, but it seemed to be enough. The large evolved goblin, tall for its kind but too small to be confused for a human, lost the momentum of its flurry of attacks. Leif kneed it right between the legs, the devastating critical hit dealing empathic damage to all men everywhere. The spriggan didn¡¯t get to deal a finishing blow. The troll, having quickly recovered, tackled Leif with a bellow and a surge of violent intent. The two went down hard in a tangle of limbs, Leif being restrained despite his weight. The newly summoned arm shattered under the mass of the troll''s crushing embrace. The troll grinned down at the plant monster, sure of its victory. It grabbed one of Leif¡¯s arms and twisted the limb. With a snap the arm broke and fell limp. Leif hissed, his mostly healed throat now allowing him to breathe. For over a minute the two struggled, the taller goblin staggered around nearby with its arms holding a particular part of its body. The troll frowned in confusion, its peanut sized brain doing little flips. Then the monster started to sag, the thuggish energy its kind were known for possessing a near infinite amount of seemed to have fled. Leif¡¯s broken arm snapped back into place and he battered the troll away. The towering creature fell limply to the side, its body crushing an unfortunately close lesser goblin. Trolls are very hard to kill. Not so if they¡¯re facing an opponent capable of draining lifeforce with a continuous touch. Leif rolled to his feet and caught the wrist of the tall dagger wielding goblin as it aimed for his eye in a last ditch attack. He squeezed, the relatively frail bones of the goblin turned to fragmented shards under its skin. The creature screamed in terror as Leif headbutted it into the afterlife. He dragged the goblins limp body for a few seconds so he could drain just a little more vitality. The monster''s blood ran up Leif¡¯s arm in a near continuous stream of red. Leif flared his [Court Empath] skill, seeking out the emotions and intents of two figures in particular. There. The spriggan dashed through the fight and towards where purple and white pulsed in near constant waves of power. On his way over he crossed paths with a goblin kindling a small ball of fire. The right half of its body was a crispy mess, no doubt due to Marcus¡¯s purple bolts of energy. Leif slapped it into the past tense and continued moving. Stolen story; please report. === Name: Leif Vin Race: Amber Blight Spriggan Age: 11 Attributes: Free: 2 Might: 35 Alacrity: 42 Intelligence: 25 Willpower: 25 Spirit: 33 Charisma: 32 (+50%) Total Level: 25 Monster Classes: 1/1 Amber Blight Spriggan: 11/20 Skills: Gilded Body / Amber Awareness / Blight''s Bounty / The Well Within II / Settle Classes: 1/2 Brawler: 4/10 Skills: Iron Fists / Grounded Stance I Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility I / Court Empath / Grand Action / Under My Protection / Legacy Chapter 27: Fortune Chapter 27: Fortune The trembling had finally, blessedly stopped. The lower levels of the Mythhold seemed to be far more intact than what Leif had travelled through to get this far down. After a few minutes of rest Marcus stood up with a groan. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Can¡¯t use any active skills for a little bit so lets avoid combat if we can.¡± Leif and Sieg nodded, the trio moved deeper into the mythhold. To Leif, the sheer scale of this underground structure was staggering, but the other two didn¡¯t seem overly surprised. ¡°Whatever was going on on the surface seems to have calmed down.¡± Sieg noted. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I want to find out what the source of that dark blue beam was. Also, for some reason this part of the Mythhold still has mana running through many of its constructs.¡± Marcus nodded. ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s quite a bit more ambient mana down here too. It¡¯s almost as if-¡± The mage skipped a step and almost fell. ¡°Big source of mana to the left.¡± He turned to his fellow human. ¡°I think it might be a geode. And if it''s been down here it wouldn¡¯t have been touched since Pherin was razed, a good eight years or so?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be damned.¡± Sieg sighed. ¡°Finally some good luck.¡± Leif had questions but they could wait. The trio jogged up to an intersection and turned to see a perfectly round room with a dazzling formation of purple gemstones sprouting from the floor. Wires and strange mechanisms were attached to the base of the structure but Leif didn¡¯t understand their purpose. ¡°It''s mostly low grade shards.¡± Marcus said, practically buzzing with excitement. ¡°But I can see a few dozen medium grades mixed in with the low. Sieg... Sieg, we''re rich! We¡¯re the richest second years of all time!¡± ¡°Richest if you don¡¯t count the imperial nobles and anyone who was sponsored.¡± ¡°They cheated and don¡¯t count.¡± The man said, laughing with arms outstretched. ¡°Shit, we don¡¯t have a way to carry all this. You have the only spatial storage and it''s not exactly large!¡± ¡°We can ditch the tent and use the sack for storage.¡± Sieg suggested. ¡°Maybe get other members of the expedition down here once they arrive. We¡¯ll have finder''s privilege.¡± The axe wielder summoned his weapon and carefully leaned it against the entrance wall. Marcus zoomed forward like an excited puppy. He conjured a hand of purple energy, winced, then sent it swooping upwards to start plucking mana shards from the top of the geode. Leif studied the strange object. It seemed to sprout from the ground at odd angles. Almost like branches reaching out of the ground... or like a hand. He thought. Sieg turned to Leif. ¡°You can keep what you help carry. I don¡¯t know how valuable this stuff is for monsters but this may as well be a dragon''s hoard for us. ¡°What... is... it?¡± ¡°A mana geode.¡± Sieg explained. ¡°If left alone it naturally produces shards, the longer, the higher the grade. We, and by we I mean humans with evolved crafter classes can use them for all sorts of things. The simplest use is a catalyst for skill fusion, and that''s what most people use low grade shards for.¡± The man continued. Leif perked up at the mention of skill fusion. Just how much can I increase the fusion percentage by? ¡°Here.¡± Sieg said as he cleanly snapped off a low hanging shard and handed it to Leif. It was flat, rounded and about the size and shape of an arrow head. It pulsed softly with a bluish purple light. ¡°What... level... am... I?¡± Leif inquired, tilting his head. ¡°Well,¡± Marcus said, as the larger mana shards he was carrying began to vanish one by one. ¡°You have an aura skill so at least level thirty. Maybe low forties if I had to be specific. ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± Marcus and Sieg said at the same time. ¡°You don¡¯t have an aura skill?¡± The mage asked. ¡°I... do... but... am... level... twenty... five.¡± He said, beginning to feel the strain from the overuse of [Gilded Body]. Both men shared a look. Marcus raised an eyebrow and Sieg frowned. ¡°How is that possible?¡± The man said under his breath. ¡°That''s a hard rule isn¡¯t it? Could the academy be wrong?¡± ¡°Yeah I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s like, the first thing they teach newbies: If it has a controlled aura it''s too strong.¡± Marcus said as if quoting someone. ¡°You¡¯re level twenty five?¡± Sieg asked for clarification. Leif nodded. ¡°Yes...¡± ¡°Fuck. What level did you get an aura?¡± He had to think about that for a few minutes. [Aura of Nobility] was the first skill in his [Noble] class. So he would have had to have gotten it at [Noble] level two... Should I tell them? He pondered. That I used to be like them. How would they react? For some reason the idea made Leif nervous, but it was something he had been putting off ever since he met the two men. Leif wanted to be as he was, even through all the confusion and chaos it had been a driving force, like a ship''s sails caught in the wind. Only, now that port was in sight, he realised he didn¡¯t know how to dock. Should fear and uncertainty keep him from trying? No, no it should not. So he firmed his resolve, and told them. ¡°Two...¡± Leif said. Both Marcus and Sieg fell silent. Chapter 28: Unnatural Combinations Chapter 28: Unnatural Combinations ¡°Two...¡± Leif said. After neither man replied for several seconds he hissed and elaborated. ¡°Once... like... you. Person...¡± In nervousness he checked the progress of his skill fusion. He had consumed several more lesser mana shards over the thirty minutes they had worked. Fusion of skills [Gilded Body] and [Iron Fists] 51/100% ¡°A person?¡± Marcus said. ¡°A human? Like me and Sieg?¡± Leif nodded solemnly. ¡°Memory... distant. Am... Leif. Always... was.¡± ¡°But how? It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t... know. I... am... unnatural ¡± ¡°You have a monster class?¡± Sieg asked. Leif nodded. ¡°And... others... [Noble]... [Brawler]...¡± ¡°An inheritant class and a normal class? You¡¯re awakened!¡± Marcus exclaimed. ¡°You just did it early somehow.¡± The spriggan indicated confusion with his aura and a tilt of the head. Using [Gilded Body] so much was making him feel faint. He plucked another mana shard and consumed it for his skill fusion. ¡°Uh,¡± Marcus said, ¡°I¡¯m not really the best person to ask, it''s not my field of expertise.¡± ¡°Nor mine.¡± Sieg grunted. ¡°There would be people at the academy who would know more. From what I understand, sometimes a monster gains access to normal classes when they reach a certain level. I think it''s at level fifty.¡± Leif went to speak but [Gilded Body] was barely responsive. He hissed in annoyance and absorbed another mana shard, hopefully the skill fusion would make talking easier. The gathered pile was already too big for the three of them to carry. Fusion of skills [Gilded Body] and [Iron Fists] 80/100% ¡°Hey Leaf? We can¡¯t help too much and I¡¯m sorry for that. I¡¯d understand if you are reticent about trusting us.¡± Marcus said hesitantly Leif grunted. It was hard to put into words his feelings towards the two, the moment he had met them he had become more sure of what, and who he was. They didn¡¯t kill me, or attack me in any way. And it''s not like I''ve hesitated to follow them this far. He indicated for the mage to continue. ¡°Well, after this. You should come with us back to the Academy. You¡¯ll have to meet the other members of the expedition but I doubt they¡¯d mind too much.¡± Didn¡¯t the one you talked to via that strange device want you to kill me? He thought. Then he considered. From what Marcus and Sieg had said about the Academy... it seemed like a good idea, or at least something to seriously consider. Leif nodded and Marcus grinned in response. ¡°Perfect! If anyone could help you it would be there-¡± He activated [Amber Awareness] to feel the changes to his body once again. There was a distinct difference, he felt even more solid, his steps were firm and sure. Not only that but the skill felt completely refreshed, as if he hadn¡¯t been overtaxing it just to speak. How much more control do I have now? Will speaking be easier? ¡°Bad news guys.¡± Marcus said. ¡°There''s a way out a little further down.¡± ¡°How is that bad?¡± Sieg asked. ¡°It feels. I don¡¯t know, flooded maybe? It¡¯s hard to tell. Also I just levelled up which seems to not be the greatest sign.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you level when we first entered the Mythhold?¡± ¡°Yeah... Fast levels only happen if you repeatedly challenge yourself. I¡¯m worried about what''s ahead.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t know until we get there.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t swim...¡± Leif said, then paused. That was a whole lot easier than before. His voice was still raspy and hoarse but the clarity and speed with which he could speak... like night and day, as if he had been trying to use cutlery with his toes. ¡°Huh? Did your skill finish fusing?¡± Sieg asked, noticing the change. ¡°Yes.¡± Leif nodded, reshaping the temporary tongue in his mouth felt smooth and intuitive. He licked the roof of his mouth just because he could. There wasn¡¯t any taste, he found that somewhat disappointing. ¡°I am too dense, I will sink.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it''s flooded with water...¡± The mage said, his brow knitted in concentration. ¡°But it definitely feels wrong somehow.¡± The passageway they were jogging down shook violently. Spider web thin cracks began to streak along the ceiling, barely illuminated by Marcus¡¯s purple sphere. Sieg stumbled against the wall to steady himself. He was over encumbered with mana shards, his axe slung over his shoulder instead of tucked away someplace. Leif wanted to ask how the spatial storage worked but now wasn¡¯t the time. ¡°If this place comes down, we¡¯re all dead.¡± The slayer grimaced. ¡°If your packs are too much, drop them, our lives are the priority now.¡± Leif shrugged. He was carrying the most but didn¡¯t feel too tied down. He was about to state as much when a malicious force came spooling from the direction they were travelling. Haunting whispers echoed through the hallway and the air grew thick and cold. Sieg swore, Marcus winced and Leif hissed at the sensation. ¡°You know what guys? Let''s find another way.¡± The seeker suggested. Then the ceiling began to collapse behind them. Just one thing after another. Chapter 29: From Below Chapter 29: From Below The trio dashed forward, away from the falling stones and towards the terrifying presence. They would have outrun the collapsing tunnel if every step didn¡¯t feel like wading through malevolent molasses. A chunk of ceiling fell from above, Leif instinctually tugged at his newest skill. [Gold Iron Physique] activated as two arms of ethereal gold erupted from his shoulders. Unlike before the limbs were far more defined, and though they were still far from opaque the skill''s projections were distinctly more solid. Leif caught the rubble and tossed it aside, another slab of stone crashed down but he rolled away. He used his two golden limbs to push himself quickly up to his feet. He spent a brief instant to marvel at how good the skill fusion felt. Before if I¡¯d tried a similar stunt the skills structure would have strained, maybe fractured. ¡°Push back the aura! Together, now!¡± Sieg bellowed. For a brief moment the spriggan was confused, push back? How? But the answer was clear as he felt the auras of both humans billow out and shove against the dark whispers. Leif copied them, his own aura pushed into theirs from behind. It worked, the malicious presence retreated and the trio dashed forward. And not a moment too soon, the way back came crashing down in a shower of stone and debris. Leif conjured [Under My Protection]s barrier to protect himself as he stumbled out of danger. Dust sprayed everywhere, turning the air into a chalky mess. ¡°Away.¡± Marcus coughed, a purple mist sweeping the air around him clean. Sieg just breathed out heavily, icy wind clearing away flying detritus. Leif was suddenly and acutely aware of the downsides of being able to taste from all over his body. Dust got everywhere, seeping into the tiny cracks between his bark. The three stumbled into the chamber they had barely made it into. From somewhere deep within the darkness the sounds of something crashing around was heard. It seemed far enough away that Leif didn¡¯t suspect it was an immediate danger, whatever it was. ¡°Good news guys.¡± Marcus whispered. ¡°This place isn¡¯t flooded with water.¡± ¡°After all this, we actually found our objective.¡± Sieg sighed. ¡°I¡¯d trade any amount of extra credit for my life at this point.¡± ¡°Found what?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Dungeon.¡± Marcus said simply. ¡°It''s the source of the awful aura, a place where mana filters down from above and coagulates in the depths of the world. A monster breeding ground; depends on the type of mana what kind.¡± ¡°I¡¯m betting undead. Or death attuned monsters at least.¡± Sieg said, worry in his voice. ¡°Lets hope there are no corpses lying around down here then.¡± Marcus said, ever the optimist. They took in the rectangular chamber as the mage sent a ball of light zipping around. Every ten metres or so was a small side room carved into the walls. Within were person sized slate stone boxes. ¡°We need to leave. Right now.¡± Sieg barked, no longer keeping his voice low. Eighteen ornate stone coffins lined the left and right of the chamber in small alcoves, they were perfectly spaced, each with a smaller metallic statue at the coffin''s head. An insectile creature the size of a small shack struck down into one of the coffins, the stone split with a crack that shook the air, disturbing resting particles. It was long and surprisingly slender for its size, six segmented legs and wickedly sharp mandibles. It chittered and turned to the trio. Now facing them Leif noticed more details. Patches of rot snaked along its cracked obsidian carapace, a sickly black-green light flickering within its wounds. What''s more, the same twisted unlife energy dwelled within. Refugees streaming into a city fronting a vast lakeside. Scared villagers, destroyed lives. A month of two armies going back and forth, neither engaging. Victims on both sides. The golden blood in Leif¡¯s veins ran cold. Faces he no longer recognised flashed through his racing mind before dissolving into rain and darkness. Leif hissed, anger churned deep within his soul. The enemy. Fragmented images from a long fought battle bubbled to the surface. A part of him desperately wished to grasp these memories. To become as he was, but Leif doubted he had the luxury of time. ¡°Enslaver.¡± Sieg spat. ¡°I thought they had all been killed during the war. There shouldn¡¯t be any more in Pherin¡± ¡°Apparently not...¡± Marcus commented. The undead ant monster observed them each carefully, it¡¯s antenna twitched in apparent displeasure. ¡°We need an exit Marcus, we need one right now!¡± Sieg snapped as he stepped forward, mana shards clattering to the ground as he brought his axe into a ready position. ¡°Behind the statue, there¡¯s a small tunnel.¡± Leif stepped up beside Sieg, his golden eyes alight with boiling emotions. His internal energies thrummed with anticipation. ¡°Can we kill it?¡± The large man looked at him like he was insane. Hostility, hungry and frenzied, lanced into Leif with an almost physical force. The colossal ant reared up and shrieked, the sound shook the chamber. Then it charged. Chapter 30: Arisen Myth Chapter 30: Arisen Myth It charged. Marcus called his gauntlet and retreated clockwise around the chamber. Sieg flooded the floor with as much ice as possible then went counter clockwise. The enslaver didn¡¯t care, it charged right through the field of ice, ignoring both humans and launching itself at Leif. The spriggan didn¡¯t have time to run, he tossed aside his sack of mana shards and raised two sets of arms in a cross before him and triggered [Under My Protection]. The skill''s golden barrier flared to life as gleaming black mandibles went for his throat. The monster''s natural blades sliced through the shield with minimal effort, the attack''s momentum barely halted. But Leif was ready for it, he braced and caught the sword-lengthed appendages with the flat of two sets of hands. Leif stepped in and amplified his weight using [Gold Iron Physique]. It was just enough to redirect the enslavers'' attack, Leif twisted and ducked as the monstrosity barrelled over him. Now under the creature he jerked himself to the left to avoid a spear tipped leg. Leif grabbed the limb and pulled. The ant buckled slightly and staggered to the side. Then to the surprise of everyone it tensed, then leapt into the air. It covered over twice its height in a single leap, landing sideways on the curved ceiling. Leif had let go of the creature''s leg in an attempt to escape but suddenly found himself free. He shook out his hand, there was a strange twinge from where he had touched the enslaver. The colossal ant turned, its six legs stabbing into the chamber¡¯s wall. Purple light and a yelp came from behind Leif as he sensed Marcus¡¯s sudden spike of fear. One of the stone coffins the enslaver had opened burst outwards sending shards of stone flying in all directions. Purple arcs of light lit up the dust cloud as Marcus unleashed on the coffin''s inhabitant. Leif couldn¡¯t spare the man a second glance, the monster above him chittered, then spat a condensed orb of acid with tremendous force. Focusing on his [Might] attribute Leif dodged to the side; he was only barely in time. Where he had been a moment prior was a sizzling and churning puddle, it rapidly ate away at the mosaic tiles below. Another orb, this one aimed for where Leif was moving. The second golden barrier of the fight manifested with a flash, the acid impacted the skill''s construct and immediately began to melt the working into dripping essence. A third globule of spit shot from the enslavers mouth but Leif partially extended his conjured limbs and used them to pivot off the ground and out of the splash radius. Cold burst from one side of the room. Sieg bellowed in response to a blade of silver that had lanced out from one of the closed coffins to spear him through the bicep. Cracks resounded from all around the chamber as the undead broke free of their tombs. A skeletal figure clawed its way out of its confinement. It manifested a sword of shimmering silver in its hand. Sieg put an ice spear through its skull, it collapsed instantly. Marcus hastily backpedalled away from the coffins closest to him, firing off bolts of arcane power as he did so. The enslaver screeched and dived from its perch, Marcus blasted it as it fell, purple arcs of power crackled up its left side and along several of its legs. The monster twitched involuntarily as its descent turned from predatory lunge to uncontrolled tumble. Leif quickly stepped to the side of where it would fall and readied himself. Another blast of cold chilled the chamber but he didn¡¯t have time to look. The ant crashed into the floor, sending mosaic tiles and shards of ice and mana flying. ¡°Leaf!¡± Marcus called, as he preemptively ducked a horizontal swing from a one armed skeleton. The mages eyes darted from the impaled spriggan to the dozens of mana shards littering the ground beneath and around the giant ant. He blasted the one armed skeleton with a bolt of arcane power, then he turned and fired at the mana shards. The energy from Marcus¡¯s skill, infused with his will and intent, rapidly danced from one lesser shard to another. They cracked, then detonated in blinding flashes of blue light. But he couldn¡¯t check to see if the spriggan had survived, [Path of Fate] alerted him to imminent danger and [Nimble Steps] carried him away. And not a moment too soon, another skeleton, this one wielding a hammer of brilliant silver struck at the seeker with terrifying force. The undead were the most bizarre creatures Marcus had ever encountered. He¡¯d seen undead before, but there was something distinctly off about how these skeletons were fighting. They¡¯re stumbling around as if drunk, but their attacks and skills are far too precise. It''s like an expert warrior in the body of a toddler... Wait... Throughout the Mythhold monuments and artworks depicting warriors of myth wielding weapons of silver. Mythical. He realised with a shock. These are the bodies of mythical class holders. They still have those classes! === Sieg fought three undead at once, shards of ice surrounded him, orbiting him as if he were the centre of a great blizzard. They warded off the mostly mindless attacks but the undead were the most inconsistent opponents the slayer had ever fought. One of the undead came at him, its unstable movements suddenly smoothing out into perfect sword strikes. It took all of Sieg¡¯s attention to stay alive for the three seconds the skeleton pressed forward. Then it faltered, the mastery of battle and swordsmanship fleeing as if it were never present. Sieg heard Marcus call out, and though he wanted to see why he simply didn¡¯t have time. He bisected the undead and spun to face the next. Then a blinding flash of blue light came from the centre of the chamber. Disorientated, Sieg willed his elemental powers to blast out in all directions. He instinctively rolled away from the closest skeleton. Sure enough, a sharp pain to his cheek confirmed that the monsters hadn¡¯t been blinded. === Leif sailed through the air. The spear of silver impaling him slowly dissolved as he flew gracelessly up and away from the now scattered remains of its wielder. It occurred to him at that moment that [Grounded Stance] only worked when you were, you know, grounded. The spriggan would soon rectify that mistake as he crashed up against the curved ceiling and bounced off. He landed to the floor with a thud, his weight crushing tiles beneath him. Leif groaned and tried to get to his feet, but he couldn¡¯t move. The death energy was rendering him incapable. He couldn¡¯t see the enslaver but he could feel its rage and unsated bloodlust. It seemed obsessed with him, and as hungry intent began to lock onto him from every direction he suspected something was making him appear like a tasty treat. If pushing the death energy out didn¡¯t work. And converting the energy is too slow... Leif hissed as he realised he would have to do something stupid. Chapter 31: Endearing Idiocy Chapter 31: Endearing Idiocy All important discoveries are made when someone says; ¡®This is a stupid idea, but let''s do it anyway¡¯. Most spectacular failures are also predated by these exact words but don¡¯t let that stop you from trying! The first ¡®this is a stupid idea¡¯ came from Leif. The spriggan had, by mostly luck, come to the admittedly correct decision to hope his newly upgraded [The Well Within II] could overpower the rampaging death energy within his body in combination with the conversion from [Blight¡¯s Bounty]. So instead of fighting the power he decided to draw it in. The closer to his centre of mass the distorted vitality travelled the more at the mercy of Leif¡¯s amber lifeforce it became. It reached a crucial moment of near imbalance, corrupting darkness met a surge of amber life, then its advance grinded to a halt. Bit by bit the golden energy within Leif gained ground, and as it gained ground it absorbed, then converted the power into amber tinged vitality. And as Leif absorbed more and more [Blight¡¯s Bounty] finally began working as intended. Gold mixed with sickly dark green in a maelstrom of conflict. Death sought to subvert and decay, Life consuming and springing up from death. With every moment [Blight¡¯s Bounty] grew in strength, for every portion of grim power harvested Leif edged closer to victory. He couldn¡¯t move, couldn¡¯t breathe. His vision flickered fitfully as his mind went blank. But only for an instant. Vitality surged as Leif went from the brink of death to full to bursting with life energy. His wounds began to heal at a visible pace and the deathgrip his body was under had vanished. What was more, his attributes began to soar. From ten percent, to twenty, to the maximum of plus forty percent to all attributes. As the undead began to swarm him four golden arms burst from his sides with a thrum of power. They were the most solid manifestations the skill had ever produced. As one, they pushed off the ground, Leif kicked up into a standing position. Far faster than before, he lashed out at the undead, a blade of silver bounced off a manifested shield now empowered by his increased attributes. The enslaver snapped its mandibles together and lurched forward to attack. It battered aside the smaller undead in an attempt to reach the spriggan. Leif wasn¡¯t delusional, he knew he couldn¡¯t beat the enemy before him. But for the past he couldn¡¯t remember, and the moments he had lost. Leif wanted to try anyway. === Frost built up around the colossal statue that framed the exit tunnel to the chamber. Sieg quickly glanced inside but it was too dark to see anything. ¡°Marcus!¡± He roared. ¡°Get into the tunnel! We need to leave!¡± The mage blasted the enslaver from the side, but the massive insect didn¡¯t even look in his direction. ¡°Right!¡± Marcus replied, trading places with Sieg and entering the narrow passageway. The glowing purple of his gauntlet lit up the space beyond. Sieg cracked his neck and turned to see Leif about to be turned into wood chips. ¡°Oh for fucks sake.¡± He muttered, parrying an undead''s strike and driving it away with a blast of icy wind. ¡°Marcus! Is the way clear?¡± ¡°There''s a locked door, give me a minute!¡± The seeker called back. Am I about to do something stupid? He asked himself. A part of Sieg, a part he had grown to hate, insisted on leaving. On walking out and starting fresh. It was a survival instinct honed over years of mistrust and isolation. It was a constant battle to not leave everyone and everything behind. Marcus, the expedition, the academy, hells, the empire itself. This instinct had saved him once, but now it was outdated, unneeded. He swallowed thickly, the spriggan hissed as one of its corporal arms was severed by the wicked mandibles of the undead enslaver. Come on Siegfried, why is doing the right thing always such a burden? He chastised himself. Then Sieg charged. He only needed a minute. === A few metres into the dark passageway were stairs carved out of the stone floor. Marcus had found it fascinating ever since he and Sieg had arrived in the Pherin Mythhold, how this fantastical structure had been built. Sieg¡¯s attention shifted to the doorway the trio had first used to enter the chamber. Undead clawed their way inside by the dozen. The horde they had been running from had arrived. And now they were out of time. Marcus came sprinting from under the statue''s legs. ¡°Sieg! I need your mana shards, the ones in your spacial bracer! Leaf! It¡¯s time to go!¡± === It had taken Leif three seconds to lose his arm. Not the best of showings if he was being totally honest with himself. He would have died if Sieg hadn¡¯t arrived when he did. For over a minute the two fought a desperate retreating battle. With every blow the enslaver grew more and more agitated, Leif¡¯s strikes stole tiny amounts of the dark potential that kept its body animated. Every little bit would slowly add up, but he didn¡¯t have the time. Even as Leif¡¯s body healed, his soul screamed with skill overuse. He snapped a final feeble shield up around Sieg but it had little effect, the slayer was sent tumbling, his lifeforce flickering fitfully at the corner of Leif¡¯s senses. ¡°Sieg! I need your mana shards, the ones in your spacial bracer! Leaf! It¡¯s time to go!¡± Marcus yelled as he dashed back into the room. Leif nearly collapsed from exhaustion right then and there. But that would have resulted in his almost instant death. Then the tide of undead washed past the monstrous ant. Sieg hobbled towards the exit as Marcus began conducting bolts of purple energy into the swarm of rotting limbs. With so many targets so close together the arcanist reaped unlife with every attack. Leif abandoned the idea of retrieving his arm. Hopefully it regrows. He thought wearily. The spriggan arrived under the statue, grabbed Sieg, then hauled the large man up the stairs. Marcus stayed behind, firing off bouncing arc after bouncing arc. ¡°Crush medium grade mana stones!¡± The seeker yelled over the wailing din of undeath. ¡°Throw the dust into the circle!¡± Sieg muttered something but Leif didn¡¯t catch it. Both of them stumbled into the tiny chamber. Sieg practically fell onto the carved floor. One by one he manifested a mana shard from his spacial storage item. Leif joined him, crushing the shards as quickly as they appeared. The dust touched the sigils engraved into the floor and dissolved with a flash of light. The magic circle flickered sporadically, growing in consistency and brightness with every passing moment. Marcus screamed something from behind them and Sieg reacted on instinct. Dozens of shards materialised all at once, the northman winced at the massive waste of money. They crushed five more before the circle lit up in brilliant rainbow light. Both Sieg and Leif vanished before either could blink. === Marcus watched the portal flash to life, he was so close. But not quite close enough. A fleshless hand grabbed his ankle as he ascended the final step. He fell to the ground. Boney tips gripped his boots and sunk through the hard leather. He winced at the pain but pushed forward. Marcus reached back and unleashed everything he could down the flight of stairs. It was a solid wall of writhing limbs and gnashing teeth. He supposed it was partially comforting to finally see undead acting normal. The mage scrambled to his feet and made for the still glowing portal. His foot gave out beneath him. The undead that had grabbed him had severed muscles and rended flesh. Marcus let out a wordless scream as he hit the ground. His vision swam and his head pounded. He¡¯d been in rough shape prior to the fight due to the toll [Path of Fate] took on him with every repeated use. A screech of pure fury came from the stairs and the wall of undeath were knocked off their feet as something large impacted them from behind. Marcus went ghostly white as the savage mandibles of the enslaver ripped a path forward through its fellow undead. It can fit into the tunnel? He thought in alarm. I¡¯m so damn dead. Blades harder than steel and sharper than swords pierced into Marcus from behind. He briefly blacked out from the intense pain. The undead ant thrashed its head from side to side, Marcus¡¯s spine was severed, he was incapable of doing anything. Everything went dark as death closed in, the rampaging enslaver barreled forward. Forward and into the flickering portal. The mage hit the rainbow light face first and vanished, the portal winked out severing both mandibles and a pair of front legs. Chapter 32: Surface of Chaos Chapter 32: Surface of Chaos Two deer munched leaves and grass on a hillside overlooking the shattered city of Pherin. As mundane, mostly normal animals the two creatures naturally had no idea what was going on. A sphere seemingly made of the night sky hung suspended a mile over the highest point of the city. Dark blue beams flashed out from inside the gargantuan thaumatic working, the darkness having a diameter of over a hundred metres. Goblins poured from the city''s walls in their hundreds, the small green monsters were in such a panic they completely ignored the two free meals observing the battle between incarnate and awakened. Eventually the beams stopped, which disappointed the deer. The light-show had been pretty. === Szesis wasn¡¯t nearly dead. And if you told him otherwise he would have killed you. Killed you after he had rested, not because he was the most injured he had ever been. Not that at all, he was simply sleepy. With a soul so overtaxed it was practically on fire Szesis swapped places with his last remaining shadow clone. It had been strategically placed to allow for an unseen escape, something the orc gladly took advantage of. In an instant he had crossed half the city and found himself in the ruins of a structure so thoroughly destroyed he couldn¡¯t tell what it had once been. Above, his [Domain of the Night] spun slowly, like a pitch black moon. Its presence shaded the entire city and amplified the darkness spooling from alleyways and creeping from crumbling buildings. But its true effects were on the inside. The formian called X was trapped within, her attempts to break free from the skill¡¯s grasp were futile. Eventually the beams of blue light ceased, the other monster had surely burnt through her ability to use that skill. It must have been one of her core skills. The battered and bleeding orc observed, it would be an important detail in their eventual rematch. Of course the formian had also seen one of his core skills, she was trapped inside it at that very moment. Szesis fully veiled himself in his aura, and waited. Not hiding. === X seethed internally, but externally she was calm and collected. During the fight her face hadn¡¯t shown a single emotion. Such things were weaknesses, and weaknesses could be exploited. As X hovered within the sphere of light she considered her situation. Her mother was close, she had been tracking her faint presence for months. To be told of the queen¡¯s supposed death had been an insult too grave to let slide. But now she was trapped within what she knew for certain was one of the incarnate¡¯s core skills. Her [Ray of Annihilation] wasn¡¯t suited to her current situation, and her other core skill absolutely wasn¡¯t. She launched beam after beam of gravitational power, the skill tore through the shadowy working but failed to create a significant gap. Chunks of the destroyed city hovered around her like debris from an asteroid field, but they too failed to free her. So eventually she stopped trying. Her insectile wings hummed behind her back, gravity magic keeping her otherwise poorly optimised body airborne. When she was free, X would hunt down the savage who had insulted her mother, her hive. She would rip its feeble limbs from its body and feast on the corpse. Time within the orc¡¯s domain skill seemed to pass far too slowly. Or maybe that was her impatience talking. X took in a deep lungful of air and centred her mind. It was important for a princess to be controlled and dignified at all times, how else could she control her subjects? But it was hard. So much harder than it had once been. She truly believed the path her kind had chosen to walk was the right one, and that no sacrifice was too great. The shadowy domain finally began to fade, instead of instantly leaving X pushed out her aura, her perception spreading down into the city below. It would be foolish to not expect an ambush, the orc had had far too much time to prepare. Now if only she could- X sensed something beneath her, far below. A familiar presence. The queen. Forgetting about her enemy X let herself drop. Down, down towards her mother, to where she would be home. Down, she could find her mother down. He blearily skimmed the newest system messages but quickly blinked them away. Now wasn¡¯t the time. The spriggan hissed and rolled to his feet. He stumbled when he attempted to use the arm that was no longer attached to his body. Where is Marcus? Leif looked around, no sign of the man. Sieg coughed and blood splattered the once polished marble floor. Leif reached out with his one remaining arm and tugged the man out of the magic circle. It won¡¯t do for us to be in the way when Marcus comes through. He thought. But as the seconds crawled by the mage didn¡¯t appear. Leif stared blankly at the space the man, his friend, should be. But he wasn¡¯t. ¡°Marcus...¡± Sieg wheezed, as the muscular man dragged himself upright. ¡°Where is he? Marcus? Marcus!¡± Absently Leif reached out and grabbed the man''s shoulder. He pushed lifeforce into Sieg, hopefully it would help him heal from his severe, but not critical wounds. They both stood there in silence, staring blankly at the floor. Then, finally, Marcus appeared. And blood stained the floor. Before either man had recognised the state Marcus was in Sieg had darted forward and caught the mage. Instantly his armour and clothes were coloured crimson. Intestines oozed from the sides of Marcus¡¯s torso and flopped to the floor with a wet splat. ¡°N-no... No!¡± Sieg stammered. The large man began to tremble. His whole body shaking. Leif rushed forward and grabbed onto the body. He desperately pushed vitality from himself and into the mage. Nothing. But the skill kept moving energy, Leif redirected everything he had into Marcus. No longer healing his own wounds he felt his lifeforce drain away at an alarming rate. Nothing. Sieg reached for a pouch and withdrew a small glass bottle filled with red pills. He gasped out a sob as the bottle opened, then he forced all the healing pills into Marcus¡¯s mouth. Nothing. Leif conjured two ethereal arms. He ignored the spike of pain that ran through his soul and scooped up Marcus¡¯s guts. He pushed them into the gaping wounds and desperately held them shut. Nothing. For over a minute Leif flooded the unnerving still body before him with as much lifeforce as possible. His vision began to grow faint and the world began to spin. He grabbed Sieg¡¯s arm and began to drain, transfusing vitality from one human to the other. Nothing. The worst injuries on Marcus¡¯s body healed over, patched together in ways that would prevent the man''s death. Would have. If only they had been faster, if only they hadn¡¯t left him behind. If only they had been stronger. Nothing. Then the mage gasped in a lungful of air. Chapter 33: Hostile Negotiations Chapter 33: Hostile Negotiations A clone of shadow scaled the exterior of the devastated temple as Szesis watched through the copies senses. Both human and spriggan were in rough shape, clearly injured from a life and death battle. Didn¡¯t I throw two humans down into the Mythhold? There should be another... Oh, there it is. The second human appeared with a flash of light a few moments later, Szesis immediately dismissed him as dead. He doubted anyone could lose that much blood and guts and walk away alive. But both human and spriggan tried everything they could to save him. As he watched Szesis¡¯ attention was drawn to the plant monster. A blight creature that can heal? Now that is quite the oddity. And to try and heal a human at that... did the poor thing hurt its head from the fall? His quarry weren¡¯t going anywhere fast, so Szesis spent a moment to see if he could find X. After a few minutes of searching, the formian didn¡¯t seem to be nearby. The orc winced, rolled his shoulder, then swapped places with his shadow clone as it hopped down into the temple. Wounded as he may have been, as a second strata incarnate there wouldn¡¯t be any danger. Szesis suspected he could fight them while sleeping. Regardless, it was best to deal with this quickly. He landed with a soft thud and conjured his blade of shadow. To his surprise the human mage seemed to be breathing, his wounds rapidly healing. Well it won¡¯t make a difference. ¡°Gentlemen, tree. I¡¯m so glad you made it out alive.¡± He said with a confident smile. ¡°I truly hope, for your sake, you have what I need.¡± ¡°No.¡± the dark haired human said, his tone lifeless. The man didn¡¯t even turn around, he just stared blankly down at what should be a corpse. Very rude. ¡°No? I can definitively say that''s the wrong answer!¡± The orc sneered. He pressed the tip of his blade into the back of the dark haired human''s neck. He brushed aside matted braids and let the edge draw a trickle of blood. ¡°So tell me human. What exactly do you mean by no?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t find anything. I doubt it was there to begin with.¡± He grinded out through clenched teeth. His tone shifted from neutral to a slight spark of anger. ¡°Come on now... If you¡¯re going to lie, don''t make it so obvious.¡± Szesis tutted mockingly as he lightly kicked one of the medium grade mana shards littering the bloody ground. He drifted the tip of his blade to press against the neck of the crouching spriggan. ¡°Reassess your answer boy. Or I''ll kill this odd blighter and make you watch your friend bleed to death right before your eyes. I doubt he¡¯ll live much longer without constant attention.¡± Finally the human turned to face him. Szesis relished the look of fury, hopelessness and bitter resentment on his face. ¡°A mana geode, and a large network of tombs. The lower floors will be littered with undead by now.¡± ¡°I see, I see.¡± The orc nodded. ¡°That is disappointing, I hereby declare you failures. You may now beg my mercy for your worthless lives.¡± ¡°Why... Why did the world start shaking?¡± The spriggan asked. ¡°Princess?¡± The spriggan asked. ¡°Another ant?¡± Its tone was surprisingly sharp. Szesis waved the question away. ¡°You think I did this to the city? Nah, it was an awakened ant called X. Around level one fifty, maybe sixty. Real deficient in the brain department, awakening is bad for one¡¯s health you see.¡± Both man and spriggan tensed. He ignored them both, fear was a natural response if you were pathetic and weak. ThoughI suppose it is partially my fault. Oh well! The orc yawned and stretched. ¡°Alright. For relaying such intriguing information you get to live. Best of luck with the blond one.¡± He began to walk in a wide circle around the ruins, two pairs of eyes followed him, unsure if he was telling the truth. A tendril of shadow stretched out from a crack in the temple''s wall, it slithered towards the blade-length mandibles. Then Szesis, and the severed appendages vanished in a puff of shadow. === Another ant. Something so powerful it nearly brought the city down on their heads. Leif thought as he trudged through the shattered city. Marcus was unconscious and slung over his back while Sieg used his shoulder to walk. To call his exhaustion bone deep wouldn¡¯t be metaphorically incorrect. He and Sieg had chosen to find some-place away from the city centre to rest. The sheer level of devastation was shocking. Giant lines had been carved into the streets and split buildings in half. Chunks of the city had seemingly been scooped up from the ground and tossed around like a child playing with coloured blocks. If the battle had destroyed the other end of the teleportation circle... Best not think about it, it wouldn¡¯t do him any good to lose focus. With every step his fatigue built, his body grew heavier and heavier. Leif wanted to exit the city and return to where he had left the hundreds of animals that had followed him. But if he was honest with himself the possibility of them making it that far without collapsing was next to none. He was totally drained. If it weren¡¯t for the innate healing of his [Amber Blight Spriggan] class Leif suspected he would be a corpse several times over. Fascinating how such an innocuous part of the class''s perk was so helpful. He contemplated, half delirious. Then he saw something that made him certain he was hallucinating. He skipped a step and almost fell, Sieg cursed and stumbled. Two deer. Two stupid, idiotic, insane deer. They emerged from an alleyway a dozen or so metres away and stopped to stare at him. Leif stared back. His one arm twitched involuntarily. Sieg grumbled and regained his balance. Then he too stared. For thirty seconds this moment of frozen time extended. Then Leif broke it. ¡°What the hells are you doing here?¡± Chapter 34: Sanctuary Chapter 34: Sanctuary As the sun began to set two humans, a spriggan and a pair of deer walked into a destroyed bar. There was no punch line, or an actual bar for that matter. The building had been split down the middle from a blast of condensed energy. Fires lit up the night sky, weaving trails of smoke were blown away by the crisp evening wind. If Leif never went underground again in his life he could die happy. He stared down at the stump he had in place of an arm, the wound ached with a phantom pain. Both deer nuzzled up next to him, both fast asleep. Leif drifted off, his hazy mind incapable of remaining awake for even a second longer. === A pack of goblins stalked the early morning. Their quiet footsteps and small frames made them quite unnoticeable in the twilight of dawn. They passed a block, then rounded a bend and came across an interesting sight. Two forest creatures were drinking from a fountain that by some miracle hadn¡¯t been destroyed in the chaotic events of the prior day. The monsters snickered greedily and scampered forward, both creatures, a local variety of deer, were completely clueless as to their imminent deaths. ¡°No.¡± Said a voice from behind. The small gathering of little green men slowly turned to see a human sized being made of ivory white wood and with red leaves sprouting intermittently from its body. The goblins all gave each other the ¡®Is this thing for real?¡¯ look, then charged. === Leif, trailed by the two deer, returned to the ruined bar where he had left Sieg and Marcus. After that early morning snack he was feeling much better. Sieg up nodded slightly as the spriggan entered the building, then gestured to the pale sleeping form of his friend. Marcus was in rough shape, but considering he had been disembowelled just over twelve hours ago, being alive at all was a good sign. Leif crouched down next to the mage and transferred his newly gained excess of vitality into the man. He shifted slightly but didn¡¯t wake. His breathing became stronger and after a few moments his pale complexion began to fade away. Sieg let out the breath he had been holding. ¡°He¡¯ll live?¡± ¡°Yes, I think so.¡± ¡°I really thought I¡¯d lost him back there.¡± ¡°That''s right,¡± Sieg said, ¡°But we need to go somewhere safe, somewhere without goblins and undead and enslavers. If we had known how crazy this part of the frontier was I doubt the expedition would have been funded at all. It really seems like a lost cause.¡± Leif found the idea of the expedition fascinating. He knew they had been searching for dungeons, but he still wasn¡¯t sure why. He understood the need for somewhere to rest and recover. ¡°I have a place.¡± He said. ¡°You do?¡± Leif nodded and stood. ¡°Assuming the goblins didn¡¯t reoccupy it. It''s a nearby village. Oh, it''s full of animals.¡± ¡°Anything¡¯s better than here.¡± The man said. One of the deer took a bite from his ration bar. === As it turned out, Leif didn¡¯t need to be worried for the safety of his animals. The army of hogs had been... diligent in their territorial protection. A sizable group of goblins had indeed made their way to the village, but judging by the current lack of living monsters and the flock of happily grunting, squeaking or chirping animals swarming him, Leif was sure things had been okay. The spriggan had been worried for their safety, about what may have happened after he had left. He felt relieved that his worries had been for naught. A comforting warmth spread through his chest. It wasn¡¯t much, but he was glad these creatures had followed him. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m back.¡± He said and laughed as two squirrels ran up his legs and started playing. The crowd of animals reacted to his voice with excitement. Right. I couldn¡¯t even talk when I last saw them. He doubted they could understand him, despite acting strangely for wild animals they weren¡¯t that different. Leif led the thoroughly bemused Sieg into the village and to a building that still had most of a roof. He carefully placed the still unconscious Marcus down and turned to Sieg. The tall man glanced over his shoulder at the dozen or so forest critters watching from the broken doorway. ¡°I have no idea what is going on.¡± He said. ¡°But I¡¯m just going to accept it and pass out if that''s okay?¡± Chapter 35: Learning Chapter 35: Learning Leif was halfway through constructing a hog pyramid when Sieg emerged from the partially wrecked house. The spriggan had periodically checked on both sleeping humans every other hour. Both men should be in peak physical condition, from what he could tell from their lack of wounds and restored lifeforce. But there was more to someone''s well being than physical wounds. Leif could still feel the ache in his very soul from the overuse of his skills. Speaking of skills... As Sieg sat down on a fallen log Leif looked through his current list in search of his next fusion. === [Amber Blight Spriggan] Gold Iron Physique / Amber Awareness / Blight¡¯s Bounty / The Well Within II / Settle [Noble] Aura of Nobility I / Court Empath / Grand Action / Under My Protection / Legacy [Brawler] Grounded Stance I === ¡°What on earth are you doing?¡± Sieg asked. ¡°Looking at options for my next skill fusion.¡± He replied, still reading over the descriptions of each ability in turn. He noticed something odd about [Aura of Nobility] but chose to ignore it for now. I don¡¯t know what a note is, or how it got there, but it doesn¡¯t seem important at the moment. Sieg glanced at the orderly pile of sleeping hogs. ¡°Right... listen, I owe you a whole lot. Me and Marcus both. If you need help with anything I promise to keep it between us.¡± Leif closed his skill list. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°People are usually very secretive with their attributes, classes and skills. Even at the Academy only the most basic information is freely available.¡± The spriggan nodded, it made sense. If someone knew the ins and outs of your abilities they had a major advantage if it came to a fight. ¡°What about you, how can I help?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve helped more than enough. I owe you more than you could know. Even if we lost most of the mana shards we still have a small fortune. I can finally promote my [Frost Slayer] class, I gained three whole levels from the craziness of the past few days. I¡¯m almost level fifty now. ¡°His gauntlet?¡± ¡°Mhmm.¡± The man picked up his axe, ice began to build on the weapon''s head. ¡°For me it''s a skill called [Frigid Edge]. It worked for us, but it isn¡¯t easy. Don¡¯t forget that each fusion increases the difficulty and cost of the next. Fuse like with like, avoid fusing things that are too different. For skills with ranks like aura, comprehension and cultivation you should try to consolidate them.¡± The spriggan reread the skills again. Reevaluating his choices. ¡°But don¡¯t take my word for it. I¡¯m only an Academy second year. There are surely things I don¡¯t know. Leif nodded and had one final look through his skills. What could he do? And what did he need? There were a myriad of options, but only a few he could clearly picture the potential outcome of. Initiate a skill fusion? Primary skill: [Amber Awareness] Secondary skill: [Court Empath] Fusion success rate: Major Warning! Skills used in this process are lost after a successful fusion! Warning! Newly fused skill will belong to the class of the primary skill! You may only attempt a single fusion at a time! Commence skill fusion? Y/N In his time under Pherin, Leif had truly begun to understand the sheer usefulness of [Amber Awareness]. The ability to clearly see his mistakes from another perspective had been invaluable. Would the fusion allow me to see the present and past in greater clarity? He pictured a skill that could observe his surroundings, then replay them with ever increasing detail. Like my personal window into the past. He accepted the fusion and picked up another hog. Commencing skill fusion! Fusion of skills [Amber Awareness] and [Court Empath] 1/100% Chapter 36: Connections Chapter 36: Connections It was three days later and Marcus still hadn¡¯t awoken. According to Sieg, falling into a coma-like state after being extensively healed was common. Leif held his mostly regrown arm up to the sun, the warming rays had been far more comfortable ever since being trapped underground. He lay in what had once been a wheat field under a blanket of animals. The spriggan had discovered a powerful new component to his [Gold Iron Physique] skill; multi-petting. Four ethereal hands of amber each attended to a different creature. A shadow fell over Leif¡¯s body. He squinted up at the deer shaped silhouette. The placid animal looked down at him with accusing eyes. ¡®Without me?¡¯ Her gaze seemed to say. ¡®Do I mean so little to you?¡¯ He reached up with his real arm and scritched the deer¡¯s chin. The animal leaned happily into his touch. Sieg¡¯s voice drifted over from somewhere inside the village. He seemed to be talking to someone. Is Marcus finally awake? Lief thought, carefully rolling to his feet. T/his chapter is updated by ¡°Shall we go take a look?¡± He asked the deer. It blinked at him. ¡°Guess that''s a yes.¡± Leif hopped over a partially collapsed stone wall and strode into town. The deer completely flubbed its jump and fell in a tangle of limbs. Leif shook his head, amused, and kept walking. ¡°-ead... Yeah that''s what I said. Where are you?¡± Sieg said as he held the communication device. The man seemed less than pleased. Leif looked around but didn¡¯t spot Marcus. Had the expedition gotten within range? As he got closer the response from the device became more audible. ¡°-See the smoke from our position. Maybe a day out at most. You should come to us instead.¡± Said the voice. ¡°No Johan, we¡¯re not coming to you. Marcus still hasn¡¯t woken up so I have no idea how you think we could. Anyway, why are you so far from the city?¡± ¡°We pulled back when the light show started. And when we couldn¡¯t contact you until we got closer, the safety of the main expedition members became the priority.¡± Johan said through the device. Sieg grunted. ¡°Where is Hera? Shouldn¡¯t she be here by now?¡± ¡°Hera is-¡± The sound from the orb crackled. ¡°Lady Hera is travelling with Adriana and Linus so she couldn¡¯t go at her usual speed. According to her, the monster activity in the region is rapidly becoming abnormal.¡± Leif finally got close enough to see the man''s face. It was the same person who had demanded Marcus and Sieg kill him earlier. Not the most positive of first impressions. The man¡¯s dark bald head glitched in the orb, then his eyes fell on Leif. ¡°I see you failed to follow my advice? No wonder you¡¯re both roughed up. Trying to lead us into a trap, Siegfried?¡± ¡°You know damn well that isn¡¯t the case. Leaf here is an asset and a witness to the events that happened below Pherin. So get your ass up here and do your duty as coordinator.¡± ¡°My duty? Listen to me you damn savage. I don¡¯t know what it''s like in whatever shithole you came from, but in civilised lands we don¡¯t fornicate with monsters.¡± The man snapped. ¡°Besides. If you don¡¯t kill it, Hera will, and she¡¯ll have far more questions for you than I will.¡± ¡°There are some benefits to being a tree.¡± The spriggan shrugged. The two made their way to the house Marcus was sleeping in. A hog came squealing past while being ridden by three forest mice. Sieg eyed the sight but didn¡¯t comment. ¡°He, um. The man back there, you¡¯re not from the same place as him?¡± ¡°No. And I¡¯m better for it. Johan is from a southern imperial province, not sure which one. I¡¯m from the land far north of the empire. Though I suppose most imperials would consider where we are right now ¡®the north¡¯. ¡°I see.¡± Leif said, though he really didn¡¯t. He wondered if Sieg had a map? ¡°It¡¯s not the north unless you piss mead and fistfight bears.¡± Sieg continued. ¡°And the vistas... most beautiful place on earth let me tell you. Fjords filled with the purest of water, mountains wreathed in constantly swirling snow. Ice spirits come out to dance when music is played, and during the turbulence...¡± The man looked off into the middle distance. ¡°The sky is set alight with rainbow lights, aurora¡¯s as far as the eye can see.¡± ¡°Sounds breathtaking.¡± Leif replied honestly. The man grinned at his words. ¡°So why did you leave? Come south to the empire?¡± Sieg¡¯s smile dropped. ¡°The north is beautiful, but it''s also dangerous. I inherited the title and class of [Sworn], it''s a religious position within the tribes. My tribe... they believe that the system is a test, it pushes us down because it wants us to rise. A twisted kind of offshoot of what Lashivites believe down south in the empire proper.¡± He continued. ¡°For months at a time, sometimes years, the north is cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes it''s the weather and sometimes it''s migrating monster hordes. The high sworn of my tribe decided that these periods of isolation were a divine test from the heavens. He wanted us to embrace these tests.¡± ¡°Did he get his way?¡± Leif asked as they approached the house. ¡°Yes, but also no. It took years for his constant suggestions to gain traction. And when they finally did, many of my people chose to leave. Families with young children or the extremely elderly, what the high sworn was suggesting would have been suicide for many. Eventually I opposed him, it wasn¡¯t an easy thing to do and back then, I was quite young, but he would have led us to our deaths.¡± ¡°So you left?¡± ¡°Aye. He was too low level to pass on his class to anyone else. So it was just me and him. We were two months into our self imposed isolation when I confronted him. It was a shouting match in front of the entire tribe.¡± Sieg shrugged. ¡°In the end I just walked away. I grabbed my shit and left, I didn''t look back. Kept going until I left the north entirely. From what I heard a few years later many of the tribe had followed after me only a few days later.¡± ¡°So you saved people? That''s good.¡± ¡°I saved myself.¡± He said without humour. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect anyone to follow.¡± Chapter 37: Shared Sympathy Chapter 37: Shared Sympathy Marcus was dead. Or rather, he felt like he was dead. He drifted in and out of consciousness over the course of several hours. When the memory of what had happened to him bubbled to the surface a soothing presence would chase it away. Two voices slowly filtered down through the haze. It took him several minutes to focus enough to make out who exactly was talking. The first presence was a familiar sharp frost, the second, a golden pillar of authority. In his state of half awareness Marcus thought he sensed an intangible connection to the second, but it was fleeting, like moonlight through heavy cloud cover. ¡°That hardly seems fair.¡± Came a familiar voice. it sounded as if it were coming from far, far away. ¡°Fair? Not at all. We wouldn¡¯t know until afterwards but they were intentionally trying to get us expelled. When you¡¯re from a high born family or have a sponsor you can get away with a lot. Even if the Academy is fairer than most places.¡± The second voice was deeper, a comforting baritone. Marcus knew who that was. Sieg? And the other? Leaf? Marcus¡¯s foggy mind cleared bit by bit, and with it, the clarity of the conversation sharpened. Oh, I remember this. Fun times. ¡°And they got away with it?¡± Leif asked. The spriggan¡¯s voice was significantly less pleasant than Sieg¡¯s. A raspy and hissing timbre to each word. Though it was far better now than when he had first started. ¡°Almost.¡± Sieg said, laughing. ¡°Even though we did the work as a pair, and the project had ten people per group. Our grade wasn¡¯t great, it wasn¡¯t terrible mind you, but just barely enough to pass. One of the little pricks tried to claim that me and Marcus had ¡®sabotaged the project¡¯.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think he intended for his accusation to be taken quite so seriously.¡± Sieg continued. ¡°But somehow his family got wind of the story and pressured the Academy to take action. Which they did, and when they did they found that no, we hadn¡¯t sabotaged shit...¡± ¡°Ah, they got punished?¡± ¡°No, not really. Their family got some blowback but nothing really came of it. What did happen was the Academy quietly shifted me and Marcus into a different wing, so that was nice.¡± ¡°And you and he became friends afterwards?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Yeah, I realised being so standoffish wasn¡¯t doing me any favours. But in my defence anyone who acts so unreservedly friendly right from the start is suspicious.¡± Huh? What''s that supposed to mean? ¡°Maybe... maybe you were too influenced by your past to see clearly?¡± Yes! Exactly! Leaf, you tell him. ¡°He asked me if I wanted to play ¡®Knight-Tiles¡¯ within the first thirty seconds of us meeting.¡± But it''s a fun game! You even like it- What the hells was that? A warm wet sensation pressed against the side of Marcus¡¯s face. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know what that was. He had to teach me.¡± Because you were uncultured- Ugh! What the shit? The wetness came again. Then something slimy entered his ear. Marcus yelped and sprang up, eyes snapping open. A deer stood at his bedside with its tongue out. Both man and spriggan turned to look at him. ¡°M-marcus! You¡¯re awake!¡± Sieg said as he pushed the deer aside. Leif shrugged. ¡°Told you it would be soon.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Marcus groaned. ¡°I¡¯m alive. Not sure how, but I won¡¯t complain.¡± Leif contemplated this. Where would be safe? The northern mountains were full of dangerous monsters, should he send them back east? Would they even obey him? Leif looked at the two deer following Marcus around. Probably not. He thought with a sigh. === Fusion of skills [Amber Awareness] and [Court Empath] 100/100% A faint wisp of smoke had come into view. Its nearby presence signifying to the trio and their many, many animal followers that the expedition camp was close. The smoke rose from behind a series of low rocky hills. Sieg and Marcus had gone on ahead prior to Leif completing his latest skill fusion. While he waited, the spriggan had plenty of time to read over his newest skill. Congratulations! Your fusion of the [Amber Awareness] and [Court Empath] skills is complete! You have gained the [Amber Blight Spriggan] skill [Amber Sympathy]! === Amber Sympathy: Aspects: Perception (Time), Enhancement (Body)*, Social* The amber provides a glimpse into the past. You passively absorb information about what has recently transpired nearby, you gain this information whether you were present or not. The more significant or personal the events of the past, the clearer they become to your sight. You become more aware of your surroundings and are able to detect the emotions and intent of beings nearby. You may share a limited amount of this skills effects with those nearby. === And by read over, I mean adjust. Because, unlike before, [Amber Sympathy] was always active. Sure, like with most skills Leif could push the effects down with a mental prod and a slight exertion of will. But Leif wanted to get used to it. Just looking at the hundreds of animals revealed a transparent golden echo following each creature as they milled about, though the further from him they were the less visible the trail. He focused, and the echoes became more distinct, physical reality rewinding as what looked like amber grains of sand flowed all around. He could see the faint hints of the trajectory leaves had fallen, where footprints had been trodden into the ground. But most fascinating of all were the impressions and emotions. It was nearly indescribable, but Leif could almost hear the whispers of intent and feelings from the past as if they were a distant conversation. Leif waved his hands through the air, and where his hand passed, the spriggan could feel the path the wind had blown. But there was more. For the longer Leif focused on his surroundings the further and further back the gilded overlay of time rewound. It was, to put it as simply as possible, magical. Chapter 38: The Expedition Chapter 38: The Expedition Leif didn¡¯t know what to do. Should he do his advancement trial right now? He was currently at the skill threshold and Marcus and Sieg could be gone for a few hours to a few days. To advance beyond this point you must overcome an advancement trial! Warning! Advancement trials difficulty is based on your total number of skills. For every skill above a total of 10 difficulty will dramatically increase!Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com Current skills: 10! Warning! Failing an advancement trial may result in the loss of class levels! Advancement trial may only be attempted while at level 25! Any experience gained while at level 25 will be banked until trial is completed! Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing the advancement trial! Good luck! Begin advancement trial? Y/N On one hand he wanted to do it right now. But on the other hand he didn''t know how long it would take. On the other, other hand he was alone and it was a good use of time. On the other, other, other hand if he was attacked while undergoing the trial he would only have a few hundred hogs to defend him. Hundreds of hogs wasn¡¯t an awful defensive strategy... While he was trying to make up his mind Leif did what he often found himself doing while nervous. Look through his status. === Name: Leif Vin Race: Amber Blight Spriggan Age: 11 Attributes: Free: 2 Might: 37 Alacrity: 44 Intelligence: 27 Willpower: 25 Spirit: 33 Charisma: 34 (+50%) Total Level: 25 The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± He asked. Not expecting that response. ¡°Dinner is on the pot, it''s the twins night for serving duty. Did they burn the campsite down again?¡± ¡°No... Um.¡± He floundered internally. It would be a lot easier if she just looked up. ¡°I¡¯m not from the camp. Are you with the expedition...?¡± ¡°Hmm? By the heavens!¡± She exclaimed having finished a particularly dirty burgundy undershirt. ¡°It''s... It''s... Come a little closer, this old woman can¡¯t see very well.¡± Leif shuffled uncomfortably in place, then did as she asked. ¡°Tall, well built. A nice ivory exterior. You know boy, with how our dear coordinator was going on about you I¡¯d imagined you having horns and fire.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± He stopped. ¡°You know of me?¡± ¡°Leaf was it? Or Leif, that''s a fairly common name in the northern kingdoms is it not?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°With an ¡®A¡¯ or an ¡®I¡¯?¡± ¡°Oh, with an I.¡± ¡°I see, we will head off once I¡¯m done here, I wasn¡¯t joking about it nearly being dinner time.¡± ¡°You... you want me to come along. Wouldn¡¯t that be a problem?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem if you help this old woman with the rest of the laundry.¡± Leif looked over his shoulder to check if he was being pranked. Dozens of pairs of eyes watched him with great interest, but it was the usual animal suspects. He shrugged and joined the old woman. Leif supposed he had more than enough hands to help out. === The spriggan carried the basket full of wet, but thoroughly cleaned clothes. The old woman happily chatted away about the time she was told the story by her friend about the time someone had told her that a cat had been rescued from a tree. Leif didn¡¯t even know the older woman¡¯s name, but as he listened to her ramble on about one topic or another Leif felt he knew far too much already. The spriggan, followed by the animal horde quietly plodded along as she launched into a story about parsnip prices. What am I doing? He thought to himself. The old woman was surprisingly spry for her age. She walked and talked without missing a step, and the incline they were climbing was quite steep. When the tents of the expedition camp finally came into view she was regaling him with a tale of how she correctly timed the imperial markets. But Leif quickly found himself distracted. He also had no idea what she was talking about. Three dozen people milled around a small clearing. They were all different shapes and sizes, but they wore the same style of clothing as Marcus and Sieg, a well fitted uniform of grey and blue. The humans gathered around a central fire, bowls in hand. Several loudly chatted about one topic or another. The spriggan froze, unsure what to do. ¡°Come boy, those clothes won¡¯t carry themselves.¡± The old lady beckoned. Leif briefly panicked, reflexively opening his system window before calming himself. Am I really doing this? Should I be doing this? A hundred worries raced through Leif¡¯s mind. But he couldn¡¯t return to what he was by standing still. He stepped towards the camp. Chapter 39: Blade and Hand Chapter 39: Blade and Hand ¡°I normally do the cooking.¡± The old lady said as she casually walked into the camp. ¡°But it¡¯s Academy policy to teach those on expeditions basic survival skills. You see?¡± That makes sense. Leif thought as one by one every pair of eyes around the cooking fire turned to him. Suddenly he was very conscious of the fact he was carrying a basket full of clothing. ¡°Is it overcooked?¡± the elderly woman asked. ¡°Are we all going to get food poisoning? Again?¡± The group looked between her and the laundry carrying spriggan. ¡°Lady Melissa!¡± A bald man exclaimed as he stood, hastily unsheathing his sword. ¡°Intruder in the camp! Drive it off!¡± Leif saw Marcus and Sieg get to their feet in the back of the group. ¡°Coordinator Johan.¡± The elderly lady, Melissa snapped. ¡°Put that sword away before you hurt yourself. As for the rest of you...¡± She glared at the stunned crowd. ¡°You will not stab my assistant. Boy, go put the washing down by that box... No, the shorter one.¡± ¡°I- I cannot believe it.¡± Johan spluttered. ¡°To bring this filth to our camp...¡± He wheeled on Marcus and Sieg. ¡°The monster has already corrupted Lady Hera¡¯s servant! How dare you do this to us?¡± Leif sensed the aura of the man, Johan, tremble in fury. It gave off the impression of shifting and interlocking machine parts. He deliberately tried to relax as he carefully placed the clothing to the side. So many hostile intents and emotions were quickly fraying his nerves. He wanted to push his newly acquired [Amber Sympathy] down, to no longer be able to feel the intent of those around him. But if they attacked... the skill would be his only warning. ¡°We¡¯ve been telling you this for the past few hours.¡± Sieg spat. ¡°If you listened to us at any point you might understand.¡± ¡°Pah! This is why the Academy shouldn¡¯t accept savages, you¡¯ve led a monster right to us! While we¡¯re in the middle of hostile territory? Are you mad?¡± The coordinator snapped in response. The members of the expedition looked warily between Leif and the argument. A few fanned out or took on defensive postures but most stood around and gawked. ¡°Dear?¡± Melissa asked one of the onlookers, a young woman with two circular disks on her belt. ¡°Y-yes ma''am?¡± She replied, her gaze shifting from Leif to the older woman. ¡°Where is my little Hera? Has she arrived yet?¡± ¡°N-no. Not yet, the missive from earlier today is still the most-¡± Something in the girls pocket pinged. The sound deafening all muttered chatter. She fumbled for a moment before bringing a smaller version of the communication orb out. Johan stomped over and snatched it out of her hand. The object flashed briefly, the man smirked. ¡°Spit it out.¡± Sieg demanded. ¡°Soon,¡± The coordinator said triumphantly, ¡°It says soon. The blade is coming soon.¡± For some reason several people all looked to the sky. Melissa waddled over to Leif with a bowl of soup. He hadn¡¯t even noticed her grab it. ¡°Want something to eat? It¡¯s dried fish and cream. Good for you.¡± ¡°Uh, no... I don¡¯t eat.¡± He said. ¡°It''s important for growing boys to eat.¡± She stated with the confidence of seniority. ¡°I should probably go.¡± Leif said. ¡°I¡¯m not welcome here.¡± And it was true, he could feel the hostility building up, disgust, anger and fear. Not all of it was directed at him, or at least not directly. It was more like what he represented was anathema to these people. Considering this land was destroyed by monsters, I can¡¯t blame them. He thought. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) It all felt hopeless. This had been a mistake, how could someone, something, like him possibly be welcomed into civilised society? ¡°I suspect so.¡± ¡°Give me one good reason why I shouldn¡¯t gut you like a fish.¡± She commanded. Her tone broached no argument. ¡°Sieg and I owe him our lives, blade.¡± Marcus said as he coughed dust and dirt from his mouth. ¡°I would certainly be dead without him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a witness to the events below Pherin.¡± Sieg commented. ¡°And we already offered him the Academy''s assistance.¡± ¡°Did you now?¡± She asked, never looking away from Leif. The spriggan remained still but Marcus nodded emphatically. Hera narrowed her eyes, her already sharp gaze glinted threateningly. ¡°Oh, here¡¯s something interesting: In the southern deserts there are shape shifters who disguise themselves as people, manipulate their way into towns and villages. They can hold a conversation, even act friendly...¡± Leif understood the implication. ¡®Prove yourself.¡¯ ¡°I have a [Noble] class.¡± He said, that wouldn''t be possible if he were lying. Right? ¡°So you¡¯re level fifty. Forced some brat to impart the class. I¡¯ve seen it happen. The line between monster and person blurs the stronger one becomes.¡± She said coldly. ¡°I¡¯m only twenty five.¡± He hissed, her blade bit into the bark at his neck. She tilted her head as if studying him from a new angle. ¡°Do you feel frustrated? Fearful? Desperate?¡± Leif couldn¡¯t nod with a sword to his throat. He just glared back at her with two balls of glowing amber. ¡°I¡¯m getting sick of things more powerful than me doing what they want.¡± ¡°A common complaint. Just get stronger, it worked for me.¡± ¡°Hera... Dear. Don¡¯t you think this is enough?¡± Melissa asked. ¡°One can never be too safe, grandmother.¡± ¡°Miss Hera Kossia. The man you are threatening is someone I invited into our camp, they¡¯re a guest as far as I¡¯m concerned.¡± The old woman chided. Hera sighed. ¡°You¡¯re not a blade of the Academy grandmother, this isn¡¯t your choice to make. I must prioritise the safety of-¡± More words were exchanged but Leif wasn¡¯t paying attention. Something had shocked him to the core. Kossia. I know that name. But from where? Then the realisation hit him, like a brick through an expensive window. Leif blinked open his [Aura of Nobility]¡¯s skill description. === Aura of Nobility I: Aspects: Aura, Social* Your auric presence possesses traces of your noble baring and lineage. You may display your intent through your aura, your intent has a greater effect on those with a weaker aura. You can control your aura in ways impossible without an aura skill. Notes: Keep this suppressed around the Kossia family. They¡¯re insufferable. Two years later, one of them married my cousin! They¡¯re closing in! HELP ME! === Chapter 40: Tag Along Chapter 40: Tag Along ¡°Kossia?¡± Leif asked, his voice a questioning hiss. Hera raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. ¡°Oh, you got something to say?¡± Leif hesitated. I suppose it''s too late to back out now. ¡°I know, or rather, I think I knew that name.¡± ¡°You?¡± She asked with heavy scepticism. ¡°Knew me?¡± ¡°No. Maybe? I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t remember who I was.¡± She squinted at his words. ¡°Then. How. Do. You. Know. My. Family?¡± Each word punctuated with intent. ¡°One of my skills... [Aura of Nobility] has a note attached to it. I didn¡¯t know what it was until your name was mentioned.¡± Leif explained. ¡°Do tell.¡± Hera said, keeping her sword raised. But her tone was less overtly hostile now, more curious. Like I have a damn choice. He grumbled internally. But he wasn¡¯t too upset, not when he suddenly had a lead to his past. He read over the note, then mentally shrugged. What''s the worst that could happen? ¡°It says: Keep this suppressed around the Kossia family, they¡¯re insufferable.¡± He kept his tone as flat and neutral as possible. For the second time in only a few minutes everything went quiet. Except for the sound of Johan choking. Leif¡¯s response seemed to have temporarily stunned Hera. Though if that was a good thing or not he wasn¡¯t sure. She laughed. A single, high note. It split the evening air like a particularly loud ranged attacking skill. The sword fell from the Spriggan¡¯s neck as Hera doubled over wheezing. Her initial laugh turned into an avalanche as more tumbled from her mouth. Leif glanced at Melissa, the old woman had her lips pressed together in an amused line. Her eyes creased, the laugh lines pronounced due to her advanced age. ¡°Sorry... If that was offensive to your family.¡± He told the old woman. ¡°Not my family deary, I worked for the Kossia¡¯s my whole life. But I followed this one when she left the roost.¡± Melissa said as she smiled at Hera, the younger woman had fallen to the muddy ground.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com ¡°There¡¯s more.¡± Leif noted. ¡°P-please tell.¡± Hera snickered as she got to her feet. She wiped a single tear from her eye. ¡°Sure.¡± He said, shrugging. Without a sword to his neck Leif was far more willing to share. ¡°Two years later, one of them married my cousin. They¡¯re closing in. Help me.¡± He said, keeping his voice neutral. Hera fell over again. The ghostly projection of the archer faded away into wisps of smoke. Leif could have sworn it gave the woman a disapproving look as it did so. ¡°So...¡± Marcus said, wringing his hands together. ¡°No violence? We¡¯re all good here?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. There¡¯s no way Plant Boy over here could have faked something so accurate. Oh man, it''s gotten so bad even the monsters know to stay away.¡± Hera wheezed. ¡°I don¡¯t actually know what any of it means.¡± Leif said. Actually can I even put notes on skills? Then he opened his system and tried to add a note. === Grounded Stance I: Aspects: Comprehension, Enhancement (body)* Grants instinctual understanding of combat stances and their uses. ¡°Probably not.¡± He admitted. ¡°Reassess that answer boy. My grandmother might be twice the age of the next oldest person on this expedition, but she¡¯s thrice as cunning. She knew.¡± ¡°Yes ma''am.¡± ¡°So. Think you could take the spriggan?¡± Darius shifted uncomfortably in place. ¡°N-no ma''am. Probably not.¡± ¡°Correct. Your threat assessment has improved.¡± She said with a curt nod. ¡°Anything that can control that many animals isn¡¯t in your strike range. Now, get out of my tent.¡± Darius awkwardly bowed then made to exit. ¡°Oh, one last thing. Keep an eye on Johan and the other idiocy oriented members, it isn¡¯t every day a unique being walks into your campsite. And I¡¯m quite fond of this one already.¡± === Leif sat on a boulder overlooking a small gully. It was a few minutes walk from the camp, and while he had technically been accepted the spriggan knew to keep his distance. He let the tension of the past few hours drift away. He had been interrogated, questioned. As it turned out he didn¡¯t have much to add to the story Marcus and Sieg had already reported. Both men had argued for him to stay within the camp, they even offered to let him stay in their replacement tent. But Leif needed little rest, and the idea of being trapped beneath something, even if it were just a sheet of fabric... The fractured moon hovered overhead, red lines criss crossing half of its surface like still bleeding wounds. He breathed in the cool night air, tasted the hint of incoming change on the wind. He¡¯d been putting off his advancement until now. And finally he had a few days to focus on himself. It was a strange thought, that despite being a tree this was the first time in what felt like a lifetime he would remain still. To advance beyond this point you must overcome an advancement trial! Warning! Advancement trials difficulty is based on your total number of skills. For every skill above a total of 10 difficulty will dramatically increase! Current skills: 10! Warning! Failing an advancement trial may result in the loss of class levels! Advancement trial may only be attempted while at level 25! Any experience gained while at level 25 will be banked until trial is completed! Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing the advancement trial! Good luck! Begin advancement trial? Y/N Forced to retreat, beaten, treated like trash, tested and threatened. Just get stronger. He thought mockingly to himself. Okay then, I will. Eleven years since his rebirth. Eleven years of stumbling around blind and confused. But he was no longer directionless. He now had his first taste of success, a light in the dark that may reveal who he was. No more holding back. It was time to take the next step. Commencing advancement trial! Chapter 41: The Decision Chapter 41: The Decision Commencing advancement trial! Witness a past event in which a choice was made! Passing this trial will break the level 25 bottleneck and allow for further advancement! Good luck! Everything faded away into darkness. One by one the stars winked out and the evening wind stopped blowing. Leif found himself floating in an empty void, it was absent of all defining features or characteristics. As the spriggan tried to concentrate on his new surroundings they once again began to shift. His mind felt like it was being held underwater, all thoughts murky and distant. Voices echoed, as if spoken from a vast distance. Cracks of light formed in the void surrounding Leif, he twisted and turned to get a closer look but found that he couldn¡¯t move. Finally there was a flash of light and the world slowly came into focus. Leif blinked as his mind cleared and his surroundings came alive. He was... walking. Yes, he was walking down some sort of hallway. To his left were lines of pillars fronting a vast swath of vegetation. But not like a forest, the plants are all in orderly positions, their branches cut into shape and leaves trimmed. Where am I? He thought, mind spinning as he struggled to take in everything at once. He was like a spectator in his own body. He could feel himself walk but not control his movements. What¡¯s more he could feel the thoughts and emotions of the body he controlled, and, in a moment of pure ecstasy, Leif realised what was going on. It was his body, his past self that was still human. Just the sensation of being in the correct body gave Leif such a strong sense of relief he could barely contain his excitement. But it also made clear just what he had lost. Just how far from what he should be he was now. The world warped slightly and the scene shifted. Footsteps echoed off the polished stone floor. Two sets of footsteps. ¡°Leif! Leif stop for a moment and listen to me. Please, you''re making a mistake.¡± Called a female voice. ¡°It¡¯s not a mistake sis. It¡¯s the right thing to do.¡± His past self responded, his voice confident and mind resolute. ¡°It¡¯s not the right thing if it gets you killed Leif .¡± The young woman, Sis, snapped as she jogged to keep up with his longer strides. She had dark brown hair tied into a knot and tanned olive skin. Her dress was highlighted in the same gold and red as the banners hanging from balconies or the flags fluttering atop poles. ¡°Listen to me for once! Please, am I Flavia Vin? Or some random stranger to you?¡± Leif stopped and sighed. ¡°Sis, this isn¡¯t a mistake. Grandfather wouldn¡¯t do-¡± ¡°He would! He would Leif.¡± Flavia said in an exasperated tone. ¡°He would, because he did. He¡¯s made his decision and that''s final. Getting in the way is suicidally stupid.¡± ¡°The patriarch will see reason.¡± Leif said with a smile. ¡°Besides, Loki¡¯s been a valuable member of our house''s staff for decades. Longer than we¡¯ve been alive sis!¡± He grinned as she scowled. ¡°Stepping in is the right thing to do. Grandfather will see that.¡± Leif said and put a hand on Flavia¡¯s shoulder and looked her in the eye. The woman was young. Observer Leif could instinctively place her age a few years younger than his own. But how old am I? I should have asked Marcus and Sieg about how old they all are. Or would that have been weird? He contemplated. The spriggan was still mostly clueless about the intricacies of humanity, other than the minor fragments of memory and instinct that he had retained. ¡°It¡¯s a scheme.¡± Flavia groaned. ¡°Grandfather is doing this to give house Yerl an opening to gain face. Stepping in will anger both parties. And after the last incident you don¡¯t have anything or anyone to protect you.¡± The young woman tugged away and glared at him. ¡°Well, the scheme is stupid so I¡¯ll put a stop to it.¡± He said with a shrug. ¡°And I don¡¯t need protection, I¡¯m the one who protects around here.¡± He continued striding down the passageway. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot! I- I¡¯ll get father. Don¡¯t get killed!¡± She said and ran off in the other direction. The sound of her sandals striking polished stone echoed as they went separate ways. === Leif witnessed himself walk through the grounds of a grand estate, he marvelled at the sights, greedily absorbing every detail. He was brought back to the present when he felt his steps speed up. Leif rounded a corner and came across an alarming scene. A group of three men in well fitted clothes and short blades at their hips surrounded an ageing man in servant''s clothing. Leif had passed many servants on his way to this courtyard and could immediately recognise their different stations at a glance. He could also tell that the three men weren¡¯t in House Vin¡¯s gold and red. Two of the men were grabbing at the man he assumed was Loki and beginning to get violent. Leif vaulted a low stone wall and entered the courtyard. ¡°Gentlemen!¡± he called out. ¡°What seems to be the problem?¡± ¡°Young lord.¡± The leader of the group said, stepping away from the old man and bowing at Leif¡¯s approach. ¡°We have discovered this trash has been insulting your great house and stealing from its vast estate. We of House Yerl were just about to put him down for his insolence.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Leif said as if he didn¡¯t understand. ¡°But I don¡¯t believe you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com ¡°What?¡± Gasped the older man. ¡°Hey Loki. Did you do the things this man is accusing you of?¡± ¡°Only to help feed my-¡± ¡°See! Innocent! This is uncalled for!¡± Leif beamed. The Yerl lackey, or whoever he was went red. ¡°You- but-¡± He spluttered. ¡°Loki. I Leif Vin, of House Vin hereby pardon any and all allegations of slights against my person and my house done by you, however true or false they may have been.¡± ¡°You dare call us liars? Do you even know what''s going on?¡± The man snapped. ¡°I do, but I don''t care. Find honour and face somewhere else, there¡¯s none to be found here.¡± ¡°This was a direct order from the Vin Patriarch!¡± The leader snarled, his tone low and dangerous. ¡°You misjudge your standing boy.¡± ¡°Th-thank you young master...¡± The old man stammered out. One of the Yerl goons struck him across the face. Leif tensed, his vision going red, he stepped forward blade half drawn. ¡°That... that was very foolish.¡± He said slowly, in a tone to match that of the Yerl family member. ¡°Shut up boy. You¡¯ve gone too far already.¡± The man growled, his eyes flickered down to Leif¡¯s half drawn blade. ¡°A duel. For honour!¡± Leif replied, his words making all three men pause. The leader smirked and straightened. ¡°Instead of killing you, I¡¯ll make you beg. Your patriarch won¡¯t fault me either way, your reputation precedes you.¡± === Leif knelt before a seated crescent of elders. The other members of House Vin slowly filtered into the auditorium to witness the Patriarch''s judgement. Whispers came from all sides, Leif caught snippets of his name being said. ¡°An invasion?¡± His father nodded grimly. ¡°I... see. So I¡¯ll be a soldier then? For the rest of my life?¡± Leif asked bitterly. ¡°Though maybe it would be for the best.¡± ¡°No. Not the rest of your life. Ten years was what the Patriarch chose, and I think it¡¯s a good amount of time. It will give you time away from the house and its politics, time to see the world and grow into yourself...¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°But Leif, you have made enemies these past few years, and even more when we consider the past few days. House Vin will be making it clear that you no longer have our blessings and protections. You will be a target. Our house¡¯s rivals will see this as an opportunity to strike.¡± ¡°I see... It¡¯s not just exile? It¡¯s a test?¡± Leif asked. His father nodded stiffly in affirmation. ¡°So I''ll have to prove myself then. Show them that I¡¯m not an easy target.¡± His father¡¯s eyes softened. ¡°I have been ordered to provide you with nothing but the bare essentials to make it to the capitol. Though nothing can undo the inheritant class I bestowed upon you, not if they don¡¯t want to cripple you. As harsh as this sounds you must leave before first light. Now would be best, do not linger.¡± ¡°Right... What about-¡± ¡®LEIF! YOU DAMN IDIOT!¡± Flavia yelled as she burst uninvited into the office. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot, you¡¯re stupid and I hate you.¡± She said, gripping his shoulders as he remained seated, violently shaking him so his head rocked back and forth. ¡°You better not die! You better come back! If you die I¡¯ll kill you!¡± ¡°R-right, you got it sis.¡± He laughed, rocking in place from her assault. Even his father smiled slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare not come back. I don¡¯t want to inherit your responsibilities for the family, you have to do it.¡± I¡¯m sorry. Her words pained both past and present Leif. ¡°Wow, now I think I¡¯ll go out of my way to die in a ditch somewhere.¡± Leif joked, then he stood quickly, nodded at his father and made for the door. She grabbed the back of his red and gold cloak. I¡¯m so sorry. ¡°Please come back.¡± He could hear the tears in her trembling voice. ¡°It won¡¯t be the same without you. So come back alive. Promise me Leif!¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± He said, not looking back. ¡°You got it, I promise.¡± He doesn¡¯t know what he is letting go. And then he left, stepping out of the office, leaving family behind. Leif walked quickly down the attached hallway and away from his father and sister. Details of the world began to fade away, leaving only the light at the end of the hallway clearly visible. Something latched onto Leif¡¯s shoulder and pulled him back. No, don¡¯t go. If you go you¡¯ll never come back. The man grunted and shrugged off the restraints. Another force grabbed him, halting him mid step. Please. If you leave you¡¯ll lose everything. You¡¯ll lose yourself. Leif struggled against the grasping limbs, hands. Another wrapped around his leg, then his throat. With his every attempt at escape the grip only tightened. Sweat beaded on the young man¡¯s face, his eyes narrowing in concentration. You have everything you want right here. There must be something you can do, you can still change things. Leif thrashed against the immovable force stopping him from leaving. He writhed and pulled, trying with all his might to take just one more step. Tears began to well up in his eyes, fear and loss and desperation all threatening to spill out, he had been so careful to keep them in check. Just stop, if you''re going to die at least do so without abandoning everything. He screamed and took one final step, parts of his restraints fell away. A thousand hands all grasping for him, tugging him back and threatening to engulf him in their embrace, swallow him whole. Leif noticed for the first time that he was no longer possessing his former self. The spriggan hovered overhead, watching as the man he had once been was prevented from making the mistake of leaving his life behind. The trial world started to crack, white light shone through fractures in reality as everything began to break apart. It¡¯s better this way. I¡¯m happy with this. I belong here. I want to be here. The struggling human¡¯s head snapped up in Leif¡¯s direction. Tears streamed down his suntanned face, long dark hair was tugged back by unwavering hands. The spriggan flinched as their eyes met. Defiance, rage, pure unfiltered fury bore into him from below. Who are you to make that choice for me? Those eyes said, dark brown spearing into glowing amber. At least if I die, I¡¯ll do so without giving up. But we didn''t come back. We failed to keep our promise. Giving up in this situation is normal, it''s the right thing to do. We can still try! Try to come back! Those eyes said, pleading. And then Leif realised. The hands holding his past self back, stopping him from moving forward. They were made of wood. Four fingers, sharp clawed tips. Come back? How could we? Is that even a possibility as we are now? The man¡¯s gaze softened, as if in recognition of future pain. It won¡¯t be easy. The world continued to crumble away, the cracks in reality almost reaching the man below. Leif steadied himself, then made a choice. He felt his heart break, loss like a mortal wound to his soul. His resolve firmed. If he wasn¡¯t ready yet, he would make himself ready. There had to be a way, a way to turn back. I can still try. Yes. I can¡¯t give up yet. Fight for it. The dark eyes said. Fight. I can do that. The golden gaze replied. Then Leif let go. His former self burst free from the wooden restraint and ran with all his strength. As he raced forward the trial shuddered, threatening to collapse. The fabricated reality shattered with every step. The spriggan watched the man he had once been sprint into the light. Everything went white, and the trial ended. Chapter 42: Advancement Chapter 42: Advancement The night air brushed against the bark that Leif possessed in place of skin. He felt no discomfort, no pain. It took him a moment to adjust to the completion of the trial, his mind soaking in memories of what had transpired. He just stopped, remaining perfectly still. For over an hour he sat, emotions from within roiled while his monstrous physiology enforced an artificial calm. There was no adrenaline, no dopamine or endorphins. Having experienced the thoughts and emotions of his past self, only now did the spriggan realise how hollow he had been up until now. How lacking in humanity. And that realisation lit the smouldering embers of desire. He had chosen to fight, to do what he must in order to reclaim a portion of his old life. But only now, hours after making the decision, did he understand what it meant. The amber sap that coursed through his body like golden blood churned, power flexed within him in resonance with something. Then the moment faded, and Leif let himself relax. The trial hadn¡¯t been what he¡¯d expected. In a way he felt cheated, if Leif had known the content of the trial he would have done it far sooner. It had been a link to his past, he should have undertaken it immediately and not waited for his skill fusions. He... paused. No, that isn¡¯t right. Towards the end, the decision I made. Would I have made the same one only a few days prior. Knowing what I do now, how much did it change me? Leif contemplated. He couldn¡¯t wallow in regret. The man he had once been had gone to war, and it was up to the present Leif to bring him home. Once more he thought over the trial. Advancing was supposed to be more challenging depending on how many skills one had. But how could his trial have scaled in difficulty? If he had undertaken it with eleven skills, or even twelve, what would have changed? Would the system have shown him more? Happy days, together with family? Or would it have been different in its entirety? Didn¡¯t Sieg mention a monster in his trial? Leif shook his head and finally looked at his system notifications. He needed the distraction. Congratulations! You have successfully completed the level 25 advancement trial! For resonating with the past and coming to a solid conclusion about the decision made your trial completion grade is: High! No additional reward is granted based on passing grade! For passing this milestone you may now advance your levels beyond this point! Banked experience will be awarded after rewards are finalised! Your general class limit has increased from 2 to 3! All attributes have their efficacy increased by +10%! For achievements earned and difficulties overcome up to this point you may further increase the effects of a single attribute of your choice by +30%! === Attributes: Free: 2 Might: 37 (+10%) Alacrity: 44 (+10%) Intelligence: 27 (+10%) Willpower: 25 (+10%) For prowess shown in battle you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Spirit] +5 free points! New class skills available! [Veil of Nature] or [Embolden Vegetation]! Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 13! For overpowering rampaging death energy you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Intelligence] +1 to [Spirit] +5 free points! Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 14! For surviving a deadly encounter and restoring an ally from the brink of death you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Alacrity] +1 to [Spirit] +1 to [Charisma] +5 free points! New class skills available! [Nature¡¯s Beacon] or [Amber Steps]! For an instant Leif was stunned. Three entire levels? As it turns out, no. Not just three levels. There was more to come. Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 5! For defeating multiple foes using your body as a weapon you have gained a level! +1 to [Intelligence] +1 to [Charisma] +1 free point! Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 6! For going blow to blow with a foe far more powerful than yourself in a life and death battle and living to tell the tale you have gained a level! +1 to [Spirit] +1 free point! New class skills available! [Combative Gumption] or [Bounding Leap]! Leif was stunned at the sheer amount of levels, stats and skills. He had three pairs of skill options before him. Not only that but he had nineteen free attributes. The spriggan was about to spend them when he noticed the final system prompt. It was a new class. For displaying your aptitude for life aspected magics, reversing the near fatal intrusion of death energy and successfully bringing someone back from the very brink of death, you have the opportunity to gain the [Attuned: Life] class! Class slots: 1/3 Accept? Y/N For constantly healing and protecting your allies even in the direst of situations and proving yourself a capable healer and combatant even under the most stressful of circumstances you have the opportunity to gain the [Adept] class! Class slots: 1/3 Accept? Y/N Oh, two new classes. Great. Chapter 43: Skills Chapter 43: Skills Two new classes. Both were very similar in description. Leif was at a loss, which should he pick? [Attuned: Life] or [Adept]? Both? Neither? He knew from pestering both Marcus and Sieg that one of the strongest arguments against filling up all your class slots was that low level classes granted a whole lot of skills. And if you went over a certain limit you wouldn¡¯t be able to gain levels. Leif looked between both classes, he had no idea what to do. Luckily there was a campsite full of academics nearby. He had time to go over the options with people more knowledgeable than himself, so he would. He turned his attention to the first of his skill options. [Veil of Nature] and [Embolden Vegetation]. The first was difficult to get a solid grasp of. Initially Leif thought it might be an aura skill but he shouldn¡¯t get one of those until level thirty in his [Amber Blight Spriggan] class. Or whatever it will evolve into. Instead it was a perception skill, or rather, the opposite of a perception skill. A stealth skill, a way to hide himself and those nearby. No, that''s not quite right. It has some protective capabilities as well. He realised, studying more closely the feeling he got from the skill. As for the other skill. It seemed decent actually. [Embolden Vegetation] would, quite simply, allow him to empower any plant he touched. Leif was a plant, so the skill should work if he used it on himself. Right? Just from Leif¡¯s initial evaluation of both skills he was leaning towards [Embolden Vegetation], but it would be smart to look over the other options before making a decision. The next two skills were [Nature¡¯s Beacon] and [Amber Steps]. The first skill had a social aspect, he felt it resonate slightly with his [Noble] class perk. He could call animals to his location, or potentially direct them to a place of his choice. Leif looked around at the piles of sleeping forest critters. Birds and rats, hogs and squirrels. I don¡¯t think I need any more of them. I have no idea how they¡¯re keeping themselves fed either. From what he knew these animals should be eating far more than they were currently consuming. Hogs were notoriously destructive foragers, and while they did wander off at times to eat, these outings weren¡¯t anywhere near as frequent as the spriggan would have thought. But if they were healthy and happy he wouldn¡¯t complain. As for [Amber Steps]... Oh wow, that¡¯s amazing. I¡¯m definitely picking this. === Amber Steps: Aspects: Technique (Teleportation) (Movement) (Time) Your every step echoes into the past. You may teleport to a location you recently occupied. === Aspects: Analysis You may analyse a target to determine if their combat experience is greater, lesser or equivalent to your own. Analysis may fail if the target is significantly more powerful. === He immediately used it on the hog. Combat experience: Lesser! I don¡¯t know what I expected. Finally Leif returned to the first pair of skills. He still couldn¡¯t get a clear read on what [Veil of Nature] could truly do. Picking it would be a gamble, one that may or may not pay off. Ultimately Leif made the simple choice and picked [Embolden Vegetation]. === Embolden Vegetation: Aspects: Empowerment (Nature) (Body)* (Life) Touch a plant to spur it to rapid growth and recovery. Vegetation you empower with this skill become more resilient and require less nourishment to survive. The targets of this skill quickly lose the majority of its empowering effects. A small portion of this skill¡¯s effects are maintained but will slowly decay over a longer period of time. Repeated uses of this skill on the same targets reduce its efficacy. === Leif¡¯s immediate fear after reading over the skill¡¯s description would be that he couldn¡¯t target himself. After a moment of panic he calmed down, he could indeed feel that his own body was a valid target. The second question was how long was the ¡®slower decay period¡¯? He plodded over to a nearby tree and placed a hand on the trunk. [Embolden Vegetation] triggered and a shudder rippled through the plant¡¯s centre of mass before shooting up its branches and down into its roots. Almost immediately leaves began to bud, then fully grow in the tree¡¯s canopy. Leif spotted several small branches spread, reaching for the surrounding air like greedy little fingers. The spriggan could feel the energy thrumming through the tree. A vibrant and potent force that made its vitality hum with delight. It made Leif curious as to what exactly [Embolden Vegetation] would do for him. If it makes my mobile form sprout branches I will not be pleased. Chapter 44: Training by Dawn Chapter 44: Training by Dawn Leif¡¯s fist rushed through the crisp morning air. He stepped forward, and moved into the next part of the training form. His every strike sent a small rush of wind blowing across the small flat plateau. He was using [Grand Action] to empower his [Might] attribute. Having spent his nineteen free points on [Charisma] the effect was quite potent. === Attributes: Free: 0 Might: 41 (+10%) Alacrity: 45 (+10%) Intelligence: 29 (+10%) Willpower: 25 (+10%) Spirit: 37 (+10%) Charisma: 55 (+90%) === Leif effectively had over a hundred [Charisma] after the bonus was taken into account. [Grand Action] allowed him to boost any other attribute by around twenty after counting the ninety percent increase. The results were immediately noticeable. When he focused on [Spirit] his body felt more vibrant, and his connection to the world around him felt far clearer. [Willpower] made concentrating feel almost effortless and [Intelligence] cleared his mind and sharpened his memory. But the two biggest changes were to his [Might] and [Alacrity]. Leif moved onto a different form, a more complex series of sweeping movements and wide stances that the Mythhold had taught him. As he repeated over and over what he had learnt beneath the city of Pherin, Leif became more and more accustomed to how much stronger he had become. From the edge of his perception, the range having been increased due to his [Aura of Nobility] benefitting from the massive boost in [Charisma], Leif felt two faint presences approach. Initially he assumed it was Marcus and Sieg, but they wouldn¡¯t have known where he was. Nor did they have any reason to be awake so early. Actually, maybe Marcus could find me with his skills. Leif thought, thinking back to the mage¡¯s [Seeker] class. But as it turned out, it wasn¡¯t either of them. As the two presences came closer the feeling of their vitality became clearer. People, likely two members of the expedition. ¡°Me? Insufferable? If you think this is my fault-¡± ¡°Hey, hey!¡± Leif said again, raising his voice to distract from the upcoming argument. He paused, unsure what to say. Wincing internally his mind raced. How would I have acted in the past? What would the man who was still human have done? ¡°I¡¯m training too. How about we... do it together?¡± Even to his own ears that sounded forced. Both humans stopped bickering. It was clear they didn¡¯t know how to respond, he could sense confusion and apprehension from [Amber Sympathy] . Leif didn¡¯t blame them, if a monster had asked his past self to ¡®train¡¯ how would he have reacted? So he tried a different tact: ¡°So, what do you need to improve? Maybe I could be of assistance?¡± The two shared a glance then spoke at the same time. ¡°Coordination.¡± ¡°Teamwork.¡± Then they glared at each other as if annoyed that the other had spoken. Ah, I have no idea how to teach that. Leif thought.¡°Uhh, okay. How about you... warm up?¡± He had seen Sieg do that before attempting the statue¡¯s trials in the Mythhold. When he had asked, Marcus had explained the process in his usual enthusiasm. The teens both shrugged, then moved into separate positions. Leif was relieved, he would have time to think- Almost immediately they got in each other''s way. Linus had withdrawn two wooden training daggers and began to levitate them in wide sweeping arcs around his body. Adriana in turn lifted her hands and started sending out short bursts of whistling wind. The daggers drifted into the path of the blasts and then the two were bickering and cursing. From what Leif had understood from Marcus and Sieg¡¯s explanations, expedition members were paired off into teams. But the two men were far, far more coordinated than these two. Leif scratched the back of his head as the first rays of light peaked over the horizon. Leif rewound his perception of time. Amber grains, each representing movement, change, drifted back as he focused. The spriggan saw both Linus and Adriana move back into their ready stances, he sensed how their intent was focused internally as they began to use their skills. Leif cancelled the time perception of [Amber Sympathy] and crossed his arms. ¡°Neither of you take the other into account when you act. You¡¯re like two arms reaching for an object, never realising you''re attached to the same body.¡± Two golden apparitions burst from Leif¡¯s shoulders as the humans turned to look at him. Both limbs moved into a ready stance. ¡°Come. No skills, half speed.¡± Chapter 45: Observations Chapter 45: Observations Hera saw. Her perception, honed from her high level archery class, and further enhanced from light magic let her see much further than most of her level. She stood on one foot at the tip of a spear-like pine as she looked over the landscape that had once been the Kingdom of Pherin. It was a bleak, disturbing reminder of what could have happened to her own homeland. To all the northern kingdoms during the massive Enslaved invasion for that matter. Her keen vision flicked to the stone wall of jagged teeth jutting from the ground like a savage grin. The northern mountains were a place of high mana density, danger lurked around every stone, even someone considered an ¡®elite¡¯ of humanity like herself had to be wary. But it wasn¡¯t the mountains humanity had to be worried about. It was what lived beyond. Even a few day¡¯s travel from the mountains she diligently scanned the peaks, searching for any movement or glint that may grant her foreknowledge of an imminent threat. There was nothing, other than the boiling clouds that rolled between the jagged peaks there was no movement. The threat was closer, from her life of living on the edge Hera had found that simple fact to be the most consistently true. Danger was always closer than you imagined. It had been true when she was little, it had been true while she was training for the crucible. And now, years after she¡¯d gone through hell and come back reforged... She shook her head and refocused. The Academy Blade shifted her attention to her more immediate surroundings. The remnants of ruined villages and towns littering the landscape for miles in all directions, the lingering smoke trail from the expedition''s campsite, a small flat plateau jutting from a nearby cliffside where three figures moved. Hera had noticed this encounter happen over an hour ago as the sun had first risen and had been intermittently watching its progress. The pair she had intentionally put together fumbled over one another as they traded blows with the expedition''s most recent, and most interesting addition. She found it infinitely amusing that despite being so far removed from home, a strange remnant of her past would find her even out on the ruined frontier. Hera doubted she had ever met the man called Leif Vin. If the spriggan¡¯s story was true, and despite the absurdity she did believe it to be so, then he would have died back during the war. I would have been how old? Thirteen? Fourteen? She thought idly, months and years had somewhat lost its meaning after her experience in the distorted time of the crucible. Movement caught her attention from the north. Two large, winged creatures had burst from a tree covered hillside. Hera watched the griffon¡¯s panicked ascent as they flew perpendicular to the northern mountains and disappeared into the west. The danger is far closer. She thought. They couldn¡¯t stay here. Whatever forces were at play in this region were beyond her ability to contend with. She would need to observe the aftermath of the battle and find evidence of the powers at play. ¡°A day, then we head south. Maybe sooner, it depends on what I find.¡± She spoke aloud, her voice drifting on the wind. ¡°Y-yes ma''am.¡± Said Darius from a nearby, but notably shorter tree. His voice quivered slightly. He teetered, his balance unsteady. Hera could pierce the skill producing the misty shroud he used for concealment, but for those around his level he would be nearly invisible. She suspected the less observant members of the expedition hadn¡¯t noticed him at all. That was something she would need to train them on. So much to do. She thought, judging the distance from her current location to where the griffons had taken off. A bow of light materialised in her palm. Hera drew back the string and an arrow blurred into existence. ¡°Keep watch kid, I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Then she loosed the conjured projectile in a streak of white into the distance, the arrow whistling as it flew, a streak of shimmering white trailing the projectile. A few moments later she mentally triggered a followup skill and vanished, but not before hearing his muttered reply of: ¡°I¡¯m not that much younger.¡± === === Thirty minutes later she re-emerged into the mid morning light of Pherin. ¡°Fucking hells. This is why I hate fanatics. Why the fuck would you deliberately undermine an ancient structure''s defensive integrity? Just to build a back entrance?¡± Hera yelled at the rubble. ¡°Utter, fucking, imbeciles.¡± And what was worse. The undead she was informed about in the debrief had escaped down into the depths of the earth. Fractured cracks mired by hundreds of tiny scratch marks indicated the direction they had fled. Hera hadn¡¯t gone deeper. She was an archer, much of her strength relied on large open environments. Despite her reputation for being brash, she most certainly wasn¡¯t suicidal. A shiver ran down her spine. At this very moment they were likely crawling around beneath the northern frontier. If they found a way up to the surface. Or worse, if they were being controlled by something. This isn¡¯t just a regional crisis. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Undead in the north. The empire barely holds them back in the east as is. She fumed internally before firing off an arrow of light into the sky. === A crimson speck of light, invisible to all but its own kind hovered above the northern frontier of humanities territories. The overseer observed. It was his job after all, not that he was getting paid. Data streamed into what constituted his mind, unseen rivers flowing into his consciousness wherever the system¡¯s influence touched living beings. He couldn¡¯t observe the whole planet, not at once anyway. The overseer had been situated above this specific part of the world for the past fifteen years. He would seed his awareness into regions where major shifts in the power structure of the many warring factions of Earth occurred, or would soon occur according to his predictions. It wasn¡¯t an exact science you must understand. Do you know how difficult seeing the future is? Anyway, the overseer had been paying keen attention to this specific part of the world. It had only become more interesting after a major error let him slip through the cracks. That wound in the fabric of the system¡¯s directive had since healed over, nothing but metaphorical scar tissue remaining. It was disappointing, he would have loved to have another chat. System errors weren¡¯t an altogether uncommon phenomenon. But ones that left a large enough gap only happened on average once or twice a year. The overseer watched several happenings all at the same time. A mundane trade agreement at the sky docks of Ahle-ho, two children struggling to survive in the streets of Kartinth, an ever growing horde of undeath beneath what had once been the kingdom of Pherin. Over the millennia he had watched, humanity had lost more and more to forces they were unable to keep in check. To say the overseer had grown callous to the loss of life wouldn¡¯t be incorrect. He had created several mental blocks and backup protocols just to prevent himself from being overwhelmed. It wouldn¡¯t do for this world to lose the last of his kind. The overseer felt his awareness wandering. Focusing for an extended period of time was growing harder and harder. He just hoped something would change for the better while he was still around to see it. Chapter 46: Sharing Chapter 46: Sharing Three daggers, each controlled and propelled by telekinesis flashed forward. The sharp metal glinting under the sun. To Leif¡¯s sight they were trailed by a thin line of gold. As were the movements of both of his opponents. Leif slapped aside the first, sidestepped the second and let the third impact his shoulder. It did little to stop him, though the dagger penetrated deep into his bark. The spriggan charged the human whom the blades belonged to, his four amber arms reaching, deflecting, hounding. This had started out as training without skill use. It was one of many things Marcus had talked about while they were trapped within the Mythhold. Apparently it was a common training method in certain parts of the world. Leif and Sieg had done it. Once. Then the spriggan had gone back to practising with the statues. Leif¡¯s current fighting prowess was like night and day to how it had been back then, it was remarkable how much a few days had changed him. He knew the early levels were the easiest to gain, but levels only counted partially for his current growth. Regardless, Leif had sensed the building frustration growing within his two ¡®students¡¯, as they kept tripping over one another. He had told them to go wild, if anything it had made them fight even worse. But that was over an hour ago, and four rounds later things were slowly changing. Linus launched himself back with a burst of telekinetic power, as Leif made to follow a sharp whistle came from his left. It was followed a split second later by a powerful burst of wind. It buffeted Leif but only for a moment. Adriana cursed and gestured downwards. A field of thrumming wind surrounded her body, empowering her movements. She sent two more bursts of air in Leif¡¯s direction as Linus retracted his daggers from where they had flown. For a brief, fantastic moment the two were in sync. Then one of Linus¡¯s daggers moved into the path of his companions'' blasts and got knocked off course by Adriana¡¯s wind, the weapon was sent tumbling. Then the wind mage stepped into an invisible wire of telekinetic energy and tripped. Both humans yelled in frustration, but they didn¡¯t let up. Leif grabbed at Linus¡¯s collar but a sharp whistle made the rogue speed up ever so slightly. The spriggan turned his attention to the fallen mage as she struggled to get up. [Amber Steps] carried him back towards her location with a streak of golden light, [Grand Action] accelerated his movement as he focused on [Alacrity]. Adriana panicked at his sudden and rapid approach, she flared a dome of repelling wind and sound around her. Leif powered through, though he was still slowed slightly by the domain skill¡¯s effects. The wind mage sent a compressed blade of near invisible air right for his throat. He easily blocked the relatively dangerous attack with a golden barrier courtesy of [Under my Protection]. Then snapped his arm up to catch the rogue who was hurtling through the air right towards him. Linus had landed on, then kicked off a boulder with enough force to crack the stone below. The man, somewhat foolishly yelled as he flew forward. It didn¡¯t particularly matter in this instance as Leif could already sense him, though it may have been a decent surprise attack in any other situation. A golden hand caught him by the arm and twisted. At the same time another grabbed Adriana by the shin. Young man and woman swapped places, tumbling like the blades of a windmill as Leif spun his entire body. Linus slammed face up into the ground as Adriana was wheeled through the air, then Leif slammed her down on top of him. Both combatants groaned in defeat and moaned in pain. Leif stepped back and crossed three sets of arms. ¡°Better.¡± They were fine, mostly. He would heal them in a bit. The pair of humans didn¡¯t get up. He analysed them. Combat experience: Lesser! Combat experience: Lesser! To be expected I suppose. I wish [Combative Gumption] gave a little more detail. Leif contemplated. The spriggan focused on his [Willpower] and reshaped a golden limb. It narrowed and extended, no longer recognisable as a hand and arm but more akin to the roots he had first created after his evolution. Both humans nodded dumbly. ¡°It¡¯s faint, and it¡¯s hard to make out...¡± Adriana said. ¡°Is this... our fight?¡± Linus asked, squinting at his surroundings. ¡°Yes.¡± Leif replied simply. ¡°Now watch, right from the start you got into each other''s way.¡± === Midday came and went before something changed. Both Linus and Adriana had become fixated on training. Their animosity fueled rivalry spurring each to improve faster than the other. But just because they were motivated didn¡¯t mean they were any good. Two new presences approached the plateau. Leif cocked his head in the direction of the newcomers while he absent mindedly scratched the head of a deer. Several animals had filtered down from where they had been resting, many watched in interest as the two humans sparred. Sieg and Marcus came into view. Leif nodded as they approached. ¡°You¡¯re stronger. Very nice. How was the advancement trial?¡± Sieg called. ¡°It was enlightening.¡± He responded. Out of curiosity he used [Combative Gumption] to analyse them both. Combat experience: Greater! The results for the northman were expected. The man had been training and fighting most of his life after all. Leif switched his focus to Marcus and repeated the skill usage. The skill was instinctual, barely requiring any input to activate. ...Huh? Leif thought, reading over the results in confusion. Combat experience: Lesser! Error: Target invalid! Error: Target invalid! ¡°What?¡± Marcus asked, coming to a stop. ¡°Is something wrong? Is it my face? What¡¯s happening?¡± === Somewhere far away, a red mote of light was absent mindedly watching a pair of songbirds fly through the air. The overseer received a ping indicating a system error, followed by coordinates. It did a little flip in happiness before zooming off. Chapter 47: Imperfect Chapter 47: Imperfect Combat experience: Lesser! Error: Target invalid! Error: Target invalid! ¡°Huh?¡± Leif asked. Looking blankly at the system message. ¡°Huh?¡± Marcus asked, staring at his staring. ¡°My analysis skill is saying you¡¯re an ¡®invalid target¡¯.¡± Leif said, thoroughly confused. ¡°What?¡± Marcus asked, dumbfounded. ¡°What?¡± Sieg said, equally puzzled. He turned to look at Marcus, then shrugged. ¡°Mine works fine.¡± Leif shared a look with the deer. Combat experience: Lesser! What is going on? Leif thought. Why is my [Combative Gumption] skill showing two error messages? And why only for Marcus? T/his chapter is updated by ¡°I have a new skill.¡± He explained, detailing the effects of his analysis skill. ¡°For some reason it shows two error messages after I analyse you.¡± ¡°System errors sometimes happen when skills conflict.¡± Sieg said. ¡°A pretty famous example is if a new skill invalidates the conditions to use an older skill. The system sometimes... alters things if that happens.¡± ¡°Maybe your skill has two conflicting prerequisites?¡± Marcus suggested. ¡°Something like: ¡®You must be lower level¡¯ and ¡®you must be higher level.¡¯ There¡¯s a course dedicated to system oddities in the Academy.¡± Leif reread the skill, there was nothing of the sort in the description. ¡°No, nothing like that.¡± ¡°Oh well, if it¡¯s a new skill from [Brawler] it will likely fix itself if you fuse it to something else, or if the class promotion changes something.¡± Marcus said, hopping forward. ¡°Now, tell us, did you get offered a new class?¡± The spriggan nodded. ¡°Yes!¡± Marcus said, pumping his fist. ¡°I knew it! I won the bet!¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t win shit.¡± Sieg stated flatly. ¡°I never took that bet.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Leif said, ¡°I was offered two.¡± Sieg grunted in approval. ¡°Well deserved. Did you pick one?¡± ¡°Not yet, I wanted to get a second opinion before I made a choice.¡± Leif said. The spriggan detected the intent to nibble and gently deflected the offending deer with a hand. It made an annoyed huff at being denied. Leif glared down at the innocent looking animal, its eyes wide and hopeful. Then an arrow of light fell from the sky, it disappeared behind a cluster of trees back in the direction of the main campsite. Leif tilted his head in acknowledgement and moved to follow the human. They walked several dozen metres from the expedition. Leif noticed Marcus pointing towards Hera and him to Sieg but neither man followed. They reached the tree line and stopped, Hera leaning against a tall tree. ¡°Time is short so let''s make this quick. I¡¯m grateful you saved the lives of two of my people. Without you they wouldn¡¯t be alive and we may very well have lost more trying to rescue them. I¡¯ve checked out the ruins of Pherin, it¡¯s a massive disaster.¡± He nodded, unsure where she was going. ¡°Thinking about your story and how... unique your situation is, I can only assume you will be of great interest to several factions, not only within the Academy but the empire as a whole. But this is just about a state of emergency, we don¡¯t have time to do paperwork and check regulations. I¡¯ll probably get yelled at but at this point I don¡¯t care.¡± Hera sighed, before continuing. ¡°Bringing you with us will be a pain. The military especially won¡¯t be pleased with a monster tagging along. Fortunately I have a solution. Darius! Get over here!¡± She called, seemingly to nobody. Huh? A moment later a young man in dark clothing, leather armour and with piercing green eyes materialised out of mist. Leif took a step back in surprise, he hadn¡¯t noticed the man, or his intent with his perception until he had become visible. ¡°Y-yes?¡± Darius asked, his voice hesitant. ¡°Give Leif your badge.¡± Hera ordered. ¡°M-my lady?¡± ¡°Yes, I know it¡¯s yours, but we only have one.¡± She turned to Leif, plucking a small silver object from Darius¡¯s hand as the man withdrew it from a pocket. ¡°This denotes someone as an auxiliary member of an official Academy operation.¡± She flipped it to Leif. The spriggan caught the object and examined it. It was finely detailed and made out of a silvery metal, a faint blue glow emanated from within tiny seams. It was shaped like a serpent eating its own tail. Or is that a dragon? Yes, its wings are folded but that¡¯s definitely a dragon. Within the centre of the encircling dragon were four overlapping circles in an almost flower shaped pattern. ¡°It¡¯s something the Academy uses to verify personnel hired on for one reason or another. If anyone asks, you¡¯re a healer we brought on after an incident. Congratulations, you¡¯re hired. Your pay is whatever the current rate is, I¡¯m not sure how much a healer''s time is worth.¡± Darius shrugged when Hera shot him a questioning look, the boy looking away after a moment, not meeting her gaze. Leif appreciated the help, he really did, but there was a glaringly obvious flaw in Hera¡¯s plan if she wanted him to blend in. ¡°Here.¡± She said, as the air around her hand warped. A thick travelling cloak, mud red in colour and with several small patches materialised out of nowhere. The blade threw the clothing at Leif, it landed on his head and draped him like a clothes hanger. Little pointed sticks jutted up and out from under the cloth. ¡°Just put that on and don¡¯t talk too much. It¡¯s obvious you¡¯re not human when you talk. Oh, now that our little expedition has two auxiliary members you two are a pair. Look after one another and all that. Now I have a tent to pack, see-ya.¡± She said, turning and walking off. Leif untangled himself from the cloak and looked down at it. The spriggan suddenly became aware he¡¯d been effectively naked this whole time. Physiologically incapable of feeling embarrassed, the noggin chemicals just weren¡¯t there, Leif stood frozen. The parts of his mind and soul that were human conflicted with those that were monstrous. The collision short circuited both. ¡°Uh, good to meet you?¡± Dairus said. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly when Leif didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Um... are you okay?¡± If anyone is wondering, no, there was nothing to see. Chapter 48: Adept or Attuned Chapter 48: Adept or Attuned Leif looked rather unassuming under his new cloak. He was roughly the size and shape of a human adult, though he had different proportions. His arms were longer and his hands were larger, possessing four claw tipped fingers. With his hood up, aura withdrawn, and extremities hidden beneath fabric the spriggan wouldn¡¯t draw too many odd glances. The expedition marched in a quick, loose, single file formation. Most people were burdened with their tents and belongings, but several were notably light on visible possessions. ¡°Do you not have a tent?¡± The covered plant monster asked. ¡°I sleep under the stars.¡± Darius replied. The young man watching the moving column reach the base of the hill and disappear one by one into a sparse cluster of trees. ¡°Do... you have a tent?¡± Leif looked at him for several seconds. ¡°Ah, stupid question.¡± He turned away, sheepish. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m not great with... people. Or monsters. Sorry I¡¯ve never talked to a plant before and...¡± Leif huffed a laugh. ¡°Less words can be better. Sometimes I don¡¯t know what to say.¡± Often actually. But he doesn¡¯t need to know that. ¡°Really? I guess so.¡± Darius replied, partially fading out of sight. A twig snapped behind them and the man jolted, spinning in alarm, the movement dispelling whatever stealth ability he had unconsciously triggered. Two deer stared placidly, both chewing on leaves attached to the same stick. It looked ridiculous. ¡°I¡¯ll let the expedition get further ahead before I follow with my animals.¡± Leif said. ¡°You can go on ahead, I know you¡¯ve been forced to do this.¡± ¡°O-oh, not at all. Well, a little. But I¡¯d happily do anything Lady Hera asks.¡± He said, green eyes sparkling as a goofy grin spread over his face. ¡°Do you know her well?¡± ¡°Y-yes! Well, no. Not as much as I¡¯d like, she¡¯s just so... you know?¡± Leif didn¡¯t. ¡°Strong?¡± He guessed. Darius sighed, the man gained a faraway look in his eyes. ¡°She''s so beautiful, smart, the way her hair shimmers under the sun...¡± The spriggan¡¯s amber eyes flickered, imitating a slow blink. Huh? ¡°And the way she moves, so elegant and graceful. And the way she fights...¡± Darius¡¯s hands were wildly gesturing. ¡°And the way her body hugs the-¡± He paused, realising what he was saying. And to whom. The human turned beet red and partially veiled himself in mist. He squatted down, arms hugging his knees. ¡°P-pretend you didn''t hear anything.¡± Leif just nodded. He had a class to pick. For displaying your aptitude for life aspected magics, reversing the near fatal intrusion of death energy and successfully bringing someone back from the very brink of death, you have the opportunity to gain the [Attuned: Life] class! Class slots: 1/3 Accept? Y/N For constantly healing and protecting your allies even in the direst of situations and proving yourself a capable healer and combatant even under the most stressful of circumstances you have the opportunity to gain the [Adept] class! Class slots: 1/3 Accept? Y/N Leif had been considering his options ever since they had been presented to him. But that didn¡¯t mean the choice was easy. He had two skills with the ¡®life¡¯ aspect. Leif suspected that [Attuned: Life] would likely amplify those skills and most certainly grant him several new ones. Leif sorted his current skills, making a list of the skills with the life aspect. === Settle / Embolden Vegetation === Only two, and they were both skills he had very little experience with. I think foundation classes provide at most a plus fifty percent bonus to skills from the class perk. At least that¡¯s what [Brawler] provides. Actually, now that he thought about it... What is the difference between ¡®life¡¯ and ¡®blood¡¯? Both have something to do with healing. And several of my ¡®blood¡¯ skills barely seem related to it at all. They mention vitality and lifeforce, isn¡¯t that synonymous with healing? Well, Leif supposed he had someone to ask. Though he wasn¡¯t sure how mentally sound Darius was after his little outburst. ¡°Hey. Can I ask a question?¡± The spriggan asked. ¡°S-sure.¡± The man stammered, looking up guiltily. ¡°Anything. I mean, not anything. You know what I mean...¡± He sighed, shoulders deflating. Leif didn¡¯t. ¡°Why are some skill aspects so similar? And do class perks overlap if the aspects are more or less the same?¡± The man rocked back in his ankles and sat back, he looked lost in thought. ¡°They¡¯re like... system semantics. That¡¯s what I was taught anyway. But no, there¡¯s no overlap. Fire and heat are different aspects, and class perks don¡¯t overlap any bonuses. A bonus to ¡®fire¡¯ wouldn¡¯t affect a skill with the ¡®heat¡¯ aspect. I think. Not unless they had both.¡± ¡°I have blood and life aspects. Don¡¯t they do the same thing?¡± He shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t go to that big fancy Academy. My family runs an adventuring guild in Ahle-ho, you¡¯d be better off asking the students. Or Lady Hera...¡± He mumbled the last part. Leif crossed his arms. He wasn¡¯t fully satisfied with that answer, especially since the expedition was currently marching out of sight. He focused on the second option. [Adept] seemed more generalised, it mentioned both healing and combat in the class unlock prerequisites. Fighting is good. I do that quite a lot. He mused. It was likely the class would provide a perk with increases to what he was already good at. Stacking perks seems to be quite potent, I wonder how much class synergy is recommended? +50% To the effect of skills that heal or restore Growths: Free Points: +1 Might: E Alacrity: E Intelligence: D Willpower: D+ Spirit: C Charisma: C+ Base Stats: Intelligence +1, Willpower +1, Spirit: +2, Charisma +2 Skills: None === Leif nodded thoughtfully as he read over his second healing class. The part of the class perk about natural recovery was almost identical to a line in his monster class¡¯s perk. He would need to level up in either class to gain a new skill. According to Marcus and Sieg, being taught by another owner of a similar class would be enough to level up once or twice. But Leif didn¡¯t have anyone to teach him. Fortunately he doubted gaining levels would be too much of a challenge. Leif spent his two new free points on [Charisma], bringing the attribute to sixty. His resolve firmed. He would gain strength, and then regain what he had lost. === Name: Leif Vin Race: Amber Blight Spriggan Age: 11 Attributes: Free: 0 Might: 42 (+10%) Alacrity: 45 (+10%) Intelligence: 31 (+10%) Willpower: 28 (+10%) Spirit: 41 (+10%) Charisma: 60 (+90%) Total Level: 32 Monster Classes: 1/1 Amber Blight Spriggan: 14/20 Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Amber Sympathy / Blight''s Bounty / The Well Within II / Settle / Amber Steps / Embolden Vegetation Classes: 3/3 Brawler: 6/10 Skills: Grounded Stance II / Combative Gumption Adept: 1/10 Skills: None Attuned: Life 1/10 Skills: None Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility I / Grand Action / Under My Protection / Legacy === Chapter 49: Scouring Chapter 49: Scouring The crimson glow from the closest moon¡¯s cracked surface filtered down onto the planet. Where water pooled red was reflected like glistening blood. As season¡¯s devastated side slowly rotated more and more into view over several days the weather began to shift. The winds would pick up, or become perfectly still. Rain or snow would fall in an endless wave only for the sun¡¯s rays to warm the world the very next day. During these early days of turbulence a group of goblins ran through the wilderness. They numbered around twenty, and as they ran they trampled undergrowth and disturbed wildlife. They ran because they were being hunted. They all were. A shock-wave of power bloomed from behind the slowest goblins, it came from a hundred metres back, the force sending dirt spraying and wood splintering. The detonation of power had come from where several of their group had tried to hide. Sweat ran in sheets down their small green bodies of those still fleeing, their breath coming in fearful rasps. Many of the panicking monsters dropped their makeshift weapons and shrugged off scrappy armour. They fled in any way they could, sometimes on all fours, desperately shoving each other aside to get even a few steps further from their pursuer. The evening flashed a dull blue as a lance of power shredded the land fifty metres to their left. The goblins knew their time would soon be up. For a brief, beautiful moment the air went quiet. For a blissful instant everything seemed peaceful. Then she fell upon them. The five fastest goblins, each over level ten, died instantly as a crushing weight plastered them into paste against the soil. Wings thrummed on their attackers back, each insectile protrusion moving faster than they could see. It blurred forward, bones broke and skulls shattered. In an instant over half of their troupe was dead. The slowest goblin, an unevolved creature with no name, fell back in terror. Warmth stained its ragged loincloth as it froze in fear. One of its brothers tried to flee, but it was pulled back as if by invisible strings. It screamed and wailed as it flew into the pursuer''s iron grip. Words were spoken but the unnamed goblin couldn¡¯t hear what was said, nor could it truly see through its tear stained vision. One by one its clan died as the hunter reeled them in. Finally its turn came. A vice grip latched onto his shoulder and yanked him upwards. The goblin shivered in terror and rapidly blinked the tears from its eyes. The being before it looked almost human, pale skin and long jet black hair. It stared down at the goblin with cold, lifeless eyes, its feminine face portraying no emotion. ¡°Where is he? Where is the one you call king?¡± She asked. ¡°P-please!¡± The goblin howled. ¡°P-please! I¡¯m just a goblin! I¡¯m only level three. I don¡¯t give any experience! Please!¡± And so she did. With sheer force of will honed from a lifetime of combat and survival she ripped herself from the pull. Goblins continued to die, killed by an entity far beyond their ability to comprehend, let alone fight. But as X left a trail of death in her wake, darkness crept up from below, adding the dead to their numbers. === The expedition headed south, Hera pushed them to move faster and faster. During the day she would stand above them, floating on a shimmering platform of light. She seemed focused on the far distance. And the faint flashes of blue light that could occasionally be seen. As they travelled Leif noticed the land becoming less and less hospitable. Birds no longer sang in the branches of trees, insects had gone to ground and small mammals hid at the slightest sounds. He could feel something change, deep beneath his feet. A creeping foulness following behind them. Even his animals could feel the change, the myriad creatures all sticking closer to him with every passing hour. After a day of moving at a near constant jog the expedition seemed to finally slip away from the malevolent force that had been on their heels. It was as if the world had taken a deep sigh of relief. The landscape changed. No longer were they marching through dense clusters of trees and jagged cliffs. Instead the land became flat, rocks piled up at the base of large sweeping hills as if they had been collected by a force capable of moving the world itself. In the distance, and the direction they were travelling, were large swaths of swampland. The inconsistent weather of early turbulence followed, each hour potentially bringing something new. On the fourth day of being on the move Hera called the expedition to a halt. In a valley a mile or so away was a trail of lights and a line of slow moving caravans. The vehicles were being pulled along by large woolly beasts with upward facing horns. Surprisingly, some of the creatures seemed to tower above the very carts they were pulling. ¡°What is it?¡± Leif asked to the empty air. At a cursory glance he seemed to be alone, but over the last few days he had gotten more and more skilled at sensing a hint of the veiled, misty presence lingering nearby. Darius shrugged, the man materialising from mist a few metres away. ¡°Dunno, it isn¡¯t the basecamp though, we¡¯re still a week or two off still. Maybe nomads?¡± ¡°Nomads? I didn¡¯t think anyone lived here?¡± The man squinted into the distance and nodded, seemingly to himself. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s definitely nomads. A Demikin clan most likely, they¡¯re a pretty common sight on the border of the human territories. Demikin? Chapter 50: Distance Chapter 50: Distance As the expedition drew closer they caught the attention of the nomad camp. Individuals, too far away for any recognisable details, grabbed weapons and began scrambling around. Clearly the expedition¡¯s arrival had caught them unaware. From his position at the rear of the expedition Leif saw the tension and nervous shuffling of the Academy students. He could sense several preparing for a fight, others looked as if they were ready to run. ¡°The empire is quite hostile to Demikin.¡± Darius said as he squatted in place, watching as six riders exited the nomad camp. ¡°There have been more than a few wars in the past century or so, mostly in the east and south. The Enslaved attacking the northern kingdoms and imperial provinces is only the latest incident.¡± Leif tried to recall what he knew of that particular enemy. He¡¯d been remembering small flashes of a battle but the memory was hazy and faded. ¡°I thought the enslaved were ant monsters?¡± He asked. ¡°No, the enslavers are ant monsters. But most of their soldiers were human, or demikin with ant-like features.¡± The spriggan tensed at the revelation and viewed the camp with greater scrutiny. The riders approached the expedition, their stout horses effortlessly navigating the rugged and hardy terrain. ¡°Will they be hostile? Will there be a fight?¡± Leif asked. The amber glow of his eyes watching the nomads warily. ¡°Nah, we¡¯re in unclaimed territory. And even if we weren¡¯t, Ahle-ho has friendly relations with many of the demikin clans in this area.¡± Darius said, shrugging. ¡°Actually, maybe she will need me, since I¡¯m from a guild and not the Academy." Leif side-eyed the young man. He seemed to have lit up at the thought of being of use to Hera. Strange man. Leif thought as he turned his attention to where the nomad riders had come to a stop. In the distance Hera stepped forward. For over a minute words were exchanged, then the riders nodded and their postures relaxed. Darius was practically vibrating with excitement, his presence slowly fading in and out. ¡°Alright kids.¡± Hera called as she approached the milling crowd. ¡°We¡¯ll be making camp here for tonight. I need to talk to their leader, if any of you start trouble I will make you regret it.¡± Marcus and Sieg were the obvious exceptions, and while they kept him company they clearly had other things to do than babysit a brooding monster. Sieg was on cooking duty along with a woman Leif didn¡¯t know the name of and Marcus started arguing with two other men about a technical topic Leif didn¡¯t understand. It was so normal, but so far away. An hour into the meal a group departed the nomad camp. They snaked down the hill and made their way towards the expedition. It was small compared to the gathered Academy students, around ten nomads in total. Conversation came to an end and several people stood up, some tense others more relaxed. Leif wasn¡¯t overly familiar with the social cliques but he had noticed several distinct groups. The one that made to confront the newcomers was led by the one expedition member Leif had an overwhelmingly negative experience with. ¡°What do you want?¡± Johan snapped. His arms crossed as if his posture alone could bar them entry. Leif felt what remaining intent on him shift away and be redirected at the nomads. Now that they were closer Leif finally got a good look. At a glance they were indistinguishable from normal humans. Slightly taller and well built, but that wasn¡¯t out of the ordinary, Sieg was of similar stature. Then Leif noticed the hair, it was long and remarkably fluffy, it rolled down their shoulders like white and grey clouds. Then he noticed the horns. ¡°We brought drink.¡± The lead nomad said, his voice a low rumble despite his age being on the younger side. ¡°And we suddenly have so many new friends to share it with. It would be shameful to waste what may be the last calm night before turbulence kicks off properly.¡± The man grinned, his eyes twinkling with amusement. Johan took a step back as if the lack of hostility was a physical force. Several expedition members chuckled at his expense. Some whooping at the proposition of drink ¡°What a coincidence.¡± Sieg laughed in response. ¡°I just so happened to cook too much food.¡± Chapter 51: Ruckus Chapter 51: Ruckus There was a brief moment of tension as both groups stood still. Then the leader of the visiting nomads laughed. ¡°I like your attitude northman!¡± He bellowed. ¡°Nowhere does hospitality like beyond the pass! It¡¯s a damn travesty!¡± Sieg grinned. ¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive them, their culture is far too advanced for such things.¡± Both men clasped forearms as if they were long time friends. Johan spluttered in the background, he muttered dark words and stalked off. With that the tension broke. The nomads, all on the younger side of adulthood, some with more prominent horns and some lacking them entirely, began to pull out skins filled with fragrant liquid. Drink, as it turned out, was a fantastic icebreaker.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com Leif watched, an observer rather than a participant. He watched the golden trail of time follow each gesture, he saw different groups as they moved around. With each moment they intermixed, their trails weaving together like a complex web. With so many people it was difficult to accurately read their emotions and intent, Leif suspected it was because of his lack of experience with [Amber Sympathy]. Actually. He thought. Couldn¡¯t my aura be of use? Leif focused, utilising his recently improved [Charisma] attribute. Control was never something he had really tried, other than expanding and retracting of course. As the gathering morphed into a party Leif practised. At first he retracted his presence, pulling it around him much like the heavy cloak he was wearing. Then he tried to shape it, a tendril snaked out but he quickly lost control as he moved it too far away, the connection fraying. He pushed and pulled, reshaping his [Aura of Nobility] like wet clay. Leif withdrew into himself, the activity letting him forget his loneliness. As the minutes ticked by his control slowly became more deft, the complexity of forms he could shape his aura into improving. Leif jerked in surprise when his focus was interrupted by a system notification. Congratulations! Your [Noble] skill [Aura of Nobility] has met an upgrade threshold! Would you like to upgrade [Aura of Nobility] from rank I to rank II? Y/N He accepted the prompt, somewhat surprised at how easy the upgrade had been to obtain. His aura seemed to tremble, then condense, like early morning mist pooling in valleys. If before his aura had been blurry and insubstantial, now it had sharpened into focus. The difference was subtle but immediate. Or at least Leif thought it was subtle. Several intents locked onto him from the party goers who were nearest. All but one belonged to members of the expedition, but none he knew beyond the vaguest of details. One by one their focus slid away and back to the increasingly rowdy impromptu festivities. I guess they felt the change in my aura? Leif thought. He patiently waited for the attention to slip off of him. Now that his aura skill had upgraded he could sense the auras of those nearby with a brand new clarity. But it wasn¡¯t just that. All of his esoteric senses became slightly clearer, growing in fidelity with every passing moment. The lifeforce surrounding him, mostly blurry and diffuse due to the sheer quantity of people, became far more defined. It wasn¡¯t to the point he could pinpoint individuals, he would need more practice. Then he noticed one of the intents hadn¡¯t left him. He glanced up and met the gaze of a nomad woman. Her long cloud-like hair billowed down her back and her similarly bushy eyebrows were cocked in amusement. Small horns barely poked out from beneath the layer of fluff. She looked him up and down, then smirked. Leif grumbled internally as he refocused on his aura. Is she mocking me? Does she find my isolation funny? Did she- ¡°Greetings.¡± A voice said, a jovial lilt to its accented tone. Leif looked up and saw the nomad approach. She held two wooden mugs and continued with a song-like tone. ¡°I¡¯m Liv, nice-ta-meet-ya.¡± Leif froze. She doesn¡¯t know what I am. What if she finds out and it ruins the party? What if a fight breaks out? What if- ¡°Enough!¡± Johan spat, his face filled with indignant rage as he stumbled to his feet from the sidelines. ¡°This is why I didn¡¯t want them here. Nothing ends well when monster blooded are involved!¡± Everything went quiet. The man¡¯s anger faltered briefly before returning with a renewed fervour. But before he could say anything else a new figure stood. It was a nomad who was sitting next to their well built leader. His frame was lean, his hair shimmering an iridescent purple, its shoulder length restrained by woven bands. No horns, in fact he seemed to barely belong among the mostly homogeneous nomads as only his clothing matched. He stepped forward with quick confidence and placed a hand on the two younger nomad''s shoulders. ¡°Sorry, sorry. Things got a little heated, how about we all take a step back and not ruin the night. I suspect we¡¯ve all been told not to cause trouble. Forgive my little brothers.¡± He said with a placating, but friendly tone. Followed by a short bow. One of Johan¡¯s eyes twitched. Leif winced. As did several other expedition members, Marcus and Sieg included. This won¡¯t be good. ¡°You should be grateful to be in our presence at all. You should be honoured that we would give trash like yourself the privilege.¡± The coordinator hissed with a slurred voice, he pointed an accusing finger at the purple haired man as he got up in the man¡¯s face. ¡°Trash.¡± The nomad¡¯s expression flattened. All friendliness vanished to be replaced by calculating intensity. ¡°Interesting words. You wouldn¡¯t happen to be from the southern empire would you?¡± ¡°So what if I am?¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to have no hair at all?¡± ¡°What of it?¡± ¡°And you have an almost metallic gleam to your skin. In my experience people with those traits tend to have some dragon blood in them, a little hypocritical for someone who hates ¡®monster blooded¡¯, wouldn¡¯t you say?¡± The coordinator froze, his entire body tensing. The nomad smiled. Then Johan punched him. Right in the face. The observing crowd all ¡®ooed¡¯. The nomad¡¯s head rocked back, the coordinator¡¯s expression one of barely fulfilled vengeance. Then a mirror sheen flashed over where the blow had landed and Johan¡¯s head snapped backwards. Unlike his own punch, which other than being surprising hadn¡¯t seemed to do much damage, the sudden and unexpected counter crunched bone and sent blood flying. The crowd ¡®ahhhed¡¯. The coordinator fell on his ass and raised his hand, three orbs, each a different colour spun into existence. They raced forward, each heading for a separate part of the nomad¡¯s body. The man, standing but still off balance from being sucker punched, didn''t have time to react. Whatever the damage reflect skill had been was apparently activated automatically. A golden shield snapped up around him, it thrummed with protective power. It blocked all three orbs with ease, each dissipating into motes of elementally charged light. Leif stepped forward, amber arms crossed over his chest. Several people all looked to him before older members of both encampments rushed in to break up the fight. Chapter 52: Assistance Chapter 52: Assistance Leif felt the attention on him, like gusts of wind constantly poking at his soul. Actually, some of the intent washing against him felt different, as if his aura was being questioned. Not understanding the difference and not having the time to consider he mentally battered them away. The questioning intent dispersed and Leif stepped forward. He was technically an employed healer, he¡¯d already saved lives, and this would be nothing quite as grand. He reached out and touched the shoulder of the injured nomad with an amber arm. Vitality washed down his arm as he focused on [Willpower]. With the boost to the attribute and the improvement to all healing related skills courtesy of [Attuned: Life] golden light lit up at the point his ethereal limb met intricately detailed tribal furs. The man gasped, and briefly shook in place. He let out a breath as if everything was right in the world and gave Leif a nod in thanks. The spriggan turned his attention to the second, younger man. Johan glowered up at him, his eyes burning with fury, pain, shame and a kaleidoscope of other emotions. To Leif¡¯s senses they rolled off of him as if they were a physical mantle. Johan reached up and wiped blood from his upper lip. For an instant it looked as if he would try and lash out, but even in his addled mental state the man seemed to recognise that would be a poor idea. ¡°Piss off, I don¡¯t need the help of a monster.¡± He muttered, his words slurred. ¡°Too bad.¡± Leif responded coldly. He didn¡¯t like the man but he had been hired to heal, so he would. Not that anyone knows how much I¡¯m being paid. He shrugged internally, refocusing on Johan. ¡°I need the experience.¡± His golden eyes met the coordinator''s. For an instant neither moved. Then a flash of amber light lit up at Johan¡¯s feet. A etherial tendril had snaked out from under Leif¡¯s cloak and made contact with the man''s boot. After a moment his nose made a disconcerting pop as the bone mended back into shape. Johan blinked, his initial reaction similar to the nomad¡¯s. Leif turned and walked away as the man started a half incoherent rant. The healing had mended the wound but it had done nothing for his current state of drunkenness. As Leif left the spotlight he caught Sieg¡¯s eye. The large man nodded slightly, the motion conveying a surprising amount of detail. ¡®He was an asshole, but you did the right thing.¡¯ The man¡¯s expression said. The spriggan hoped he was right. ¡°Impressive.¡± Liv said as Leif sat back down at the edge of the party, she handed him his mostly full mug. The liquid sloshing around as she gestured. Leif shrugged and took a sip. ¡°I was expecting something idiotic to happen.¡± He admitted. While he wasn¡¯t familiar with most of the expedition¡¯s members, those he did know seemed to have fairly large personalities that tended to clash. ¡°Samil here is a peacock.¡± Liv said giggling to herself. ¡°That¡¯s why he¡¯s so pretty. Isn¡¯t that right, purple boy?¡± Samil¡¯s smile flattened as he pressed his lips together. ¡°I don¡¯t know about pretty... Different? Certainly. Me and my family are descended from an awakened bird-like monster found to the far east. An Amethyst Lyre to be precise, not a peacock.¡± Leif frowned internally. Descendant? ¡°Yeah, yeah. Some kind of king or something, right?¡± Liv asked. ¡°So the story goes. Hard to gauge its validity so far from home. The powers that be in the east are constantly changing, faster even than the weather during turbulence.¡± ¡°I... don¡¯t understand.¡± Leif said hesitantly. At the look of confusion on the two nomad¡¯s faces he elaborated. ¡°I¡¯ve been isolated... I was a hermit, of a sort. What do you mean by ¡®descendant¡¯?¡± Samil nodded, considering Leif¡¯s question. He flipped some of his long purple hair so it fell in front of his shoulder. ¡°My hair is evidence of an awakened bloodline, the remnants of a monstrous trait or feature that has faded with each passing generation.¡± ¡°Like my horns.¡± Liv said, tapping the small ivory protrusions. ¡°Awakening is a remarkable process.¡± Samil said. ¡°When a monster reaches a certain point, level fifty I think, it can choose to ¡®awaken¡¯. When they do, they gain the ability to acquire human classes.¡± ¡°And a human body.¡± Liv said. ¡°But from what I know that¡¯s considerably harder. I¡¯ve heard stories of my revered ancestor, they said he looks like a grumpy old man, but he¡¯s actually a high level Tempest Mountain Goat. He lives somewhere in the mountains to the north.¡± Leif froze, his whole body tensed as if he had been struck by a bolt of energy. His mind raced and his thoughts spiralled. Human body? Could it really be that easy? Chapter 53: Showtime Chapter 53: Showtime The conversation continued with Liv and Samil speculating about the strength of their respective monstrous ancestors. Leif tuned them both out, not on purpose, he was simply too distracted by the most recent revelation. Level fifty. It was so close, there was no way his goal would be so easily within reach. Right? He thought. Maybe he had suffered enough? Maybe this was the world¡¯s way of apologising for his unfair treatment? The thought was somewhat comforting. But a twinge in his soul told him that it couldn¡¯t possibly be so easy. Something would go wrong, or there would be unexpected complications. His mind kept spinning as the night crawled on. === Marcus waddled over, more than a little tipsy. He started complaining about how: ¡°Arcane formulas should just get along.¡± It seemed like nonsense and after a minute he was dragged away. When Leif finally was in the state of mind to talk he asked more about awakening, but nobody really knew much more than the name. Samil suggested asking an awakened monster about it which wasn¡¯t actually a terrible idea. If he knew where to find one, which Leif currently did not. As the night went on the food ran out and the drinks quickly followed. Several people began to drift away, some expedition members returning to their tents and the nomads back to their camp. He noticed several people slip away in pairs but didn¡¯t bother to investigate. It wasn¡¯t his business. As long as they weren¡¯t actively hurting each other or in danger he didn¡¯t particularly care. The cracked face of Season hung large in the sky as Leif returned to his animals. He paused, looking at a suspiciously shaped pile of hogs. His amber eyes narrowed as he beheld the seemingly self made pyramid. Leif looked around for the deer. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but he found the company of the two creatures who had been with him the longest comforting. He couldn¡¯t find them. Uh oh. Leif spent several minutes searching, only to discover a hoofed leg sticking out from under the pile of hogs. Leif let the slowly building tension leave his body and made his way to a mostly flat stretch of hill. Level fifty... He was close, or closer than he had been before his advancement. At level thirty two he was still a ways off. But it wouldn''t be long, right? Hera was strong, and she seemed young, only being a few years older than the Academy students. Maybe there¡¯s a way to level up quickly. He contemplated. Perhaps there¡¯s a method or location that could grant large quantities of experience? He thought over his possibilities, the burning desire for growth building up with every passing minute. Then it struck him. But it was neither capable, nor smart enough even if it was. It tried the next tent and to it, and the universe¡¯s surprise actually got in. The tent was empty, which was odd. Normally there should be a person sleeping within. Confusion was a general state of being for the deer so it mostly didn¡¯t consider this oddity. It sniffed around, flinging loose clothing around and generally making a mess. No food though, disappointing. It tried the next tent, but it was sealed shut. The muffled sounds coming from within were strange so the deer tried extra hard to get in. This attempt involved pushing its face into the tent flap as hard as it could, leaving a deep impression in the fabric. Fortunately the tent¡¯s occupants seemed to be distracted by something and didn¡¯t notice. It tried the next tent, nothing. Then the next. Also nothing. Somewhat peeved at its repeated failure to break and enter it moved to one of the outer tents. The flap was open. Success! Without thinking, though that probably didn¡¯t need to be mentioned, the creature eagerly darted inside. It was dark, the outside was somewhat illuminated due to Season¡¯s crimson and white glow but within the tent the animal couldn¡¯t see anything. Or at least that should be the case. A dim glow emanated from the far side of the tent. And while the illumination wasn¡¯t great it was just enough for the deer to make out a lying figure. But even if its sight was mostly compromised it could smell and hear something. Breath stained with far too much drink, and soft snoring. The deer crept inside, kicking over a sheathed sword and spilling a waterskin onto a pile of clothes. Perfect entry. The figure didn¡¯t notice, despite its toes becoming damp after the deer gave them an experimental lick. Salty. It sniffed the air, there was something further inside. The deer¡¯s tummy rumbled in anticipation as it snuck further inside. It accidentally stepped on the sleeping man¡¯s leg but he just groaned and rolled over. The scent of yummies became clearer. The deer sniffed again, sure enough they were near the human¡¯s bald head. A sack, small and roughly pillow shaped, was being used as a headrest. Within were crunchy ration bars. Yummy ration bars. But the man¡¯s face was directly where the sack¡¯s opening was. The deer stared blankly into the dim light, its single digit brain cells working overtime. Showtime. Chapter 54: Camp Chaos Chapter 54: Camp Chaos === Countdown to disaster: Ten minutes. === Johan dreamt of home. Of the canyon walls the size of mountains, the washed out rainbow colour dividing the hundreds of rock layers, each an indication of times long lost as the years went by. He dreamt of the rolling dunes and hanging petrified forests, he dreamt of the people, hardy but always smiling. And he dreamt of losing them. It was a repeating nightmare, of beauty turning to tragedy. Of the shadows of winged creatures darkening the ground and the earth shaking roars that filled the air. But this dream was different. He ran through the streets of the city he once called home, terror in his heart. As he fled he stepped into a puddle, his feet becoming wet. But it wasn¡¯t raining, in the south it only rained during turbulence, and even then only rarely. Huh? He scrambled up and continued fleeing, heart pounding in his chest. Wind, hot and humid struck his face. He tensed, recoiling as terror leapt into his chest. He expected to look up and see the hungry jaws of the monstrous creature that would soon end his life. It had happened before, unlike in reality these nightmares often ended in his death. But there was nothing. He looked around, desperate to see where the danger would be coming from. His surroundings were blurry, washed out and unfocused. Johan blinked, trying to recall, trying to see. It had been so, so long. Something struck him in the back of the head and he jerked forward, he yelped in pain and spun. His eyes snapped open and darkness flooded his vision. What? Something tall and four legged loomed over his prone body, its wide eyes glinting with madness, its form stretching off into the darkness as if melding with the tent. His mind, half awake and still highly intoxicated saw what it wanted to see, what it expected. He screamed. Choked on his tongue, gagged, then screamed again. === Countdown to disaster: 7 minutes. === Something crunched in the dark. The sound like bones breaking, splintering in a thousand pieces from a devastating impact. The deer chewed, the ration bar too large to fully fit into its mouth. It was otherwise frozen in place, its eyes fixated on the suddenly awake and screaming human. This lack of reaction wasn¡¯t exactly indicative of well tuned survival instincts. After all, this placid creature hadn¡¯t known danger for most of its life. From the moment it had discovered the happy tree to the birth of its daughter. The deer had been safe and secure underneath a vibrant red canopy. Also the animal was colour-blind. But that hardly matters at this point. With another crunch it broke off half of the ration bar, chunks and crumbs half fell onto the ground, the other half falling into the human¡¯s lap. The man screamed again for some reason as the deer stepped forward and towards the sack. There were still tasty treats within. Unable to see, the animal ran in random directions, this just so happened to take it over the ashes of the campfire, embers burst up around its hooves, some landing on the trailing tent fabric. Elemental orbs flashed by, but the deer¡¯s erratic movements, combined with the casters'' disorientation, caused them once again to miss. All except a sphere of dancing flames which burst against the loosely hanging fabric. Now the entity assaulting the camp was both a ghost, and partially aflame. Yells and cries came from all around, torches were lit and people stumbled out of tents with bleary eyes. === Countdown to disaster: 1 minute. === Leif sprinted into the chaos of the expedition camp. His weight, combined with the somewhat unstable ground had made the journey take a bit longer than it otherwise should have. Even having reduced his weight using [Gold Iron Physique] it hadn¡¯t helped much. While this skill granted a certain degree of flexibility the spriggan was still far denser and heavier than he looked. Leif glanced around, seeing panicking expedition members and a few nomads running around and shouting. Sieg burst from a nearby tent, the large man was pulling on a shirt, his movements clumsy. ¡°Sieg!¡± Leif called, jogging over. ¡°What is going on-¡± Then he saw it, and his tree mouth fell as open as it could. Aflame, completely covered in soot, mud and fabric. The deer. It was being chased by almost ten people, all screaming and yelling. ¡°I have no fucking clue.¡± The large man said, glaring at the chaos. ¡°But I think that has something to do with it.¡± The spriggan sighed. He pushed out his aura and the deer immediately veered in his direction. Sieg looked around for more danger, the man having summoned his axe after he had strapped on his storage bracer. Then Leif felt it, something was off. Leif could sense the lifeforce of things within his aura¡¯s radius. A radius that had dramatically increased after his advancement and skill rank up. It wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to say the Spriggan could feel every blade of grass, the worms in the soil and the bugs in the air. Though not perfectly clearly, more like the wash of vitality now had more defined colours. It had taken Leif a few hours to properly adapt to this change in ability, but he was glad he had taken the time to do so. All around him, just on the edges of his perception, he could feel approaching absences of vitality. As if something, or somethings, were veiling their presences. It was subtle, incredibly so. If Leif wasn¡¯t blasting his aura out while deliberately searching for danger he never would have noticed. ¡°Incoming!¡± he yelled, flaring warning intent through his aura. Then he grabbed the deer and ripped off its burning mantle. The animal was unhurt and looking nonplussed. ¡°We¡¯re surrounded!¡± He called again, desperately trying to get everyone¡¯s attention. Ice billowed from Sieg, coating the ground in frost. The tiredness in his eyes vanished as his expression became alert. But while he was prepared, there were dozens who were not. Angry chittering filled the night. Then the veiled things in the dark skittered forward. === Countdown to disaster: 10 seconds. === Chapter 55: Inexperience Chapter 55: Inexperience An arrow of light was fired from atop the hill where the nomad camp was situated. It flew in a high arc, a radiant streak of white that illuminated the night like a personal star. For the brief instant it hung at the peak of its arc, everything came into sight. The panicking, half asleep expedition camp. Several of its members too young to be considered adults. Several were half dressed, half asleep and half intoxicated. All were unprepared. But not as unprepared as they otherwise would be. As the arrow fell, a comet through a void of black, the creatures hissed and skittered away. But only for a moment. They were tall, twice the height of a human, though almost all of their size came from the eight, pencil thin legs that held up their small, hairy thorax and abdomen. Sets of eight eyes glinted in the light from above, the campsite was surrounded by hundreds of ominously reflective spheres. A man stumbled back as he saw them. His face going pale and his eyes wide in terror. His panicked yell seemed to be the spider monster¡¯s indication to charge. The light from above seemed to sear away the darkness that clung to their spindly frames. The arrow of light fell among them, piercing the body of a single monster. It shuddered and twisted unnaturally as it died. Long slender legs folding in on themselves. It was a single death, but there were countless spiders. An ethereal warrior aparated where the arrow had landed, its armoured frame wielding a large blade. It began to hack and stab as several more arrows lit up the sky. Several of the arachnids froze, many turning to face the newly appeared threat while the rest swarmed forward. Shards of ice flew horizontally, spinning like discs as they severed arachnid legs like an axe would fell saplings. They snapped with a sickening sound, their elevated bodies falling with furious screeches. Marcus stumbled out of the nearest tent, trading places with the deer as Leif threw the oblivious animal inside. The spriggan focused on [Willpower], the attribute soaring thanks to [Grand Action] and his vastly improved [Charisma]. Four limbs of ethereal golden energy thrummed into existence from Leif¡¯s back, they pushed through small gaps in the cloak he had made for just this use. The limbs then morphed, changing in seconds as bladed tips grew from their knuckles. Leif¡¯s own, physical, ivory white arms were likewise tipped with similar golden blades. So much control over [Gold Iron Physique] would have been impossible prior to his advancement. Screams rose from all around as the Spriggan stepped forward. He gutted a spider, a bladed arm piercing it up from below. Another fell as he bisected its front two legs, the creature screeched as it tumbled, he crushed it underfoot and kept moving. An expedition member fell backwards as a spider lunged for him, but Leif shielded the man with a golden barrier. A pair of floating daggers zoomed in from out of sight and stabbed into the monster¡¯s side but Leif didn¡¯t have spare attention to give. With each blow Leif landed, the monster''s vitality and purple blood trickled down through his limbs and into the pool of life energy within his body. Leif had burnt through much of it to empower the initial skill usage that conjured his golden arms. With every kill the pool refilled, it churned within him, boiling and eager. So when a spear tipped spider leg stabbed downward, the intent somehow shrouded, and punched through his neck, jerking the spriggan¡¯s entire body to a stop the energy was ready. In that exact moment a pair of spiders seemed to materialise out of the darkness. Shadow spooled from both towering monsters like the morning mist. Each was taller and more angular than the other spiders Leif had seen. He could only assume both were higher level, most likely both were evolved monsters. One of the two leaped forward as if to bite him. Leif slashed at it with three bladed arms and drove the monster back, it hissed in pain as purple ichor ran down its face, several eyes ruined. Leif needed to kill them quickly, every second he wasted people might die. The uninjured monster skittered to the side and opened its mandibles wide. Strands of darkness, sticky and restrictive shot from its open maw. An amber shield snapped into existence around his body but the shadows, web-like in nature, phased through the barrier and wrapped around his legs, stalling his movement. Leif hissed, letting the shield drop and cutting at the strands. Each slash severed the restraints, but for every one removed two more would latch onto his body. The injured spider flanked him, then bit down on his shoulder. Leif didn¡¯t feel pain, but instead a facsimile of the sensation. An icy chill flooded his upper body as the monster''s fangs sunk deep. Despite his bark being remarkably tough the creature didn¡¯t have any problems penetrating through the outer layer and into his plant fibre muscles. Leif seized up, his body going numb. His amber arms fell limply to his side as he felt his connection to the skill grow fuzzy, likely because the limbs were connected to his body but he couldn¡¯t be certain of the exact cause. More shadow webbing wrapped around his form. Leif was being spun up like a cocoon, he struggled for a moment before realising it was useless. He would cut his way out or not at all. The spider monster chittered and pulled the connecting webbing taught. Then it yanked, like a fisherman plucking their catch from the water. Nothing happened. It yanked again, this time with more force. Leif increased his weight using [Gold Iron Physique] and once again the spider achieved nothing. Something rumbled in the distance but Leif didn¡¯t have the time to consider what. Both spiders hissed and chittered, unsure what to do. His unusual nature fought whatever paralytic venom the spiders had pumped into him. With every second he could feel the cold retreating, his control over his limbs being slowly restored. But as he was, Leif couldn¡¯t move. If either monster decided to finish him off there was little he could do. Their spear-tipped legs were easily up to the task if they targeted the right areas. Despite being restrained Leif was more than healthy. [The Well Within] practically roared with power from the monsters he had killed and partially drained. Power waiting to be used, practically begging. Leif reached for a skill he hadn¡¯t yet used in combat. Previously he hadn¡¯t wanted to use it without extensive testing but things were looking desperate. [Embolden Vegetation] triggered, and the life force within his body trembled. The well of vitality that his body housed flared, his golden eyes flashed with power and his entire body convulsed. Somewhere in the distance what sounded like thunder rolled across the land. Chapter 56: The Charge Chapter 56: The Charge Heat built under Leif¡¯s bark and every muscle went tense. The paralysing cold was shunted to the side, his body regaining control. But that wasn¡¯t all. Far from it. All over his body his plant-like nature became clearly apparent. Red leaves bloomed where newly growing branches shot from his back and arms. The wooden spikes outlining the crown of his head rapidly lengthened, each jutting out like ivory horns. Blood red leaves billowing out like a canopy of crimson hair, or the plume of a helmet. The shadow webbing, tightly wound around his body, was shredded by the sudden growth. As was the travelling cloak gifted to him by Hera. Leif staggered forward, falling to one knee. He was temporarily overwhelmed by the sudden change to his physical form. Everything felt electric, from the sharp tips of his four clawed hands to the beating well of life force within his chest. It urged him up, to expand, to grow into his true potential. And for a brief instant he felt something more. It was a distant feeling, incorporeal and fleeting yet somehow all around. Then it was gone. Golden light flared as cracks formed up and down his body, pain, this time real, lanced into his very soul. It was too much, he was burning up from the inside. It was as if the vitality coursing through his very being was trying to tug his existence in different directions. His mind reeled at the sensations. How is it so strong? Is the skill being amplified by the vitality within me? Or is it the other way around. He gasped, desperately trying to wrestle his rapidly transforming body under control. But it wasn¡¯t working. The power within him wanted to grow. It needed to grow. So he redirected that intense desire into something else. The two spiders chittered in frustration, neither willing to get too close to the plant monster that had suddenly lit up like a golden beacon, light blazing from within. When a dozen amber limbs erupted from all over the spriggan¡¯s body they weren¡¯t totally unprepared. What they were unprepared for was the sudden increase in reach. Bladed gold impaled and amber fingers ripped as the two monsters, each three metres away, were torn to pieces. Blue crystals slowly manifested out of similarly coloured mist over their twitching copses, but Leif barely registered the phenomenon. Almost immediately the newly conjured arms destabilised, the rampant energy rendering the skill constructs brittle and volatile. They broke apart into amber motes of light, essence drifting up into the night sky. But there was more to come, Leif pushed himself up to a standing position and lurched himself to the side as a pack of three more spiders scuttled past, their abnormally long limbs easily allowing them to step over any still standing tents. Amber limbs once again burst from all over his body, the spiders stood no chance. The bundles of shadow they were hauling along fell to the ground with unceremonious thuds. Leif could detect lifeforce and emotions from within, but he was barely in a state to help. Everything ached, each movement sending soul deep waves of agony through his body. The rampaging energy had subsided, but it had left him feeling raw and weak. He limped over to the first bundle and ripped it apart with his clawed hands. A girl was within, Leif thought he recognised her as the expedition¡¯s assistant coordinator but he couldn¡¯t be sure. She was paralysed, unable to move except for the terror in her darting eyes. Leif saw the pain, the fear. It hurt him deeply to feel a portion of both be shunted onto him. He moved on to the next bundle, this one contained a still asleep nomad. Leif paused, but didn¡¯t think too much about it. It was idiotic to sleep through something like this but he supposed alcohol was alcohol. The third bundle was very small, too small to be someone¡¯s entire body. Sure enough it contained a severed leg. Leif winced internally at the sight and healed both freed captives. He was running low on stored vitality, the abnormal usage of his skills weighing him down both physically and spiritually. Someone screamed and he moved forward, half delirious. But not before grabbing one of the spider corpses by the spear tipped feet and draining its remaining vitality. The largest of the hogs were no strangers to danger. Several of them bore scars from previously won battles. Normally hogs wouldn¡¯t actively seek conflict. Sure, they could be violent, especially when it came to protecting their young. But if one thing was readily apparent about these creatures it was that their behaviour wasn¡¯t exactly normal. The biggest of hogs slowly worked itself up into a frenzy, its younger and smaller family following its lead. One by one eyes turned to the distant campsite. They all froze, a powerful and familiar flare of energy erupted from the battle. The lead hog squealed, outraged at the thought of leaving the protector to fight all alone. It was an old creature, its hide wore the signs of age, one of its tusks was broken. But ever since it and its family had encountered the protector things had been good. From spending every day, desperately scavenging for food, struggling to survive. It didn¡¯t want to lose what it had found. Something bound it to the protector, it bound them all. The connection wasn¡¯t forceful or malicious, instead it was comforting, liberating. It squealed once more, then rushed off down the slightly sloped hillside. A tide of furious fur followed after it. The uneven rocky ground made the initial build up of momentum struggle to take off. Once the majority of the hogs had reached firmer ground they began to pick up speed. The earth shook under their hooves, almost two hundred beasts charging. Their charge ran straight into a retreating group of monsters. Slender legs snapped under the onslaught as the hogs ploughed forward, unstoppable and furious. Dark webbing impacted a few but it wasn¡¯t nearly enough. The tide of animals reached the human camp and split in two. Like waves tide parting before the prow of a ship. Each half of the stampede curving around one side, the horde encircling the campsite, dozens of spiders perishing each second. Bundles of shadow fell from where they were being carried, they landed on the sea of hogs and were swept up in the charge. A minute later the charge tapered off. The lead hog had accidentally run face first into a boulder and from there it all fell apart. Stunned survivors of the expedition stared in awe at their sudden and unexpected saviours. Several of the hogs all moved to where their protector was slumped against a mostly collapsed tent. He reached out and petted them on the snout. Hera stood in partial disbelief, then she started barking orders. The injured were gathered and those wrapped up in webbing were freed. === That night several animals all received system notifications they couldn¡¯t read. Level up! Class [Canyon Swine] is now level 10! For savagely trampling monsters far stronger than yourself you have gained a level! +1 to [Might]! Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Canyon Swine] class! Would you like to evolve? Y/N Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing beast evolution! Chapter 57: Respite Chapter 57: Respite Level up! Class [Forest Deer] is now level 10! For being the reason your herd was alert and ready, leading to them surviving an ambush you have gained a level! +1 to [Alacrity]! Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Forest Deer] class! Would you like to evolve? Y/N Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing beast evolution! The deer couldn¡¯t read. Obviously. Though being tied to a thin tree with rope while the humans cleaned up after the attack did give it plenty of time to try. And fail. Animals couldn¡¯t exactly control or manipulate the system. Other than by accident. The deer, hanging there helplessly wasn¡¯t an exception to the rule. It instinctively blinked away the window like it had done to all the others. Fortunately the system operated mostly autonomously for lower level beasts and monsters. This was one of the reasons why certain prompts would be automatically accepted after a certain duration. One could consider the restrained animal a sort of accidental power leveller. Not deliberately mind you, but being in the proximity of a certain monstrous tree seemed to reward a constant trickle of minor experience. You may find this odd. Why would being in the presence of Leif grant experience? Does it work on people? The answer is surprisingly simple. Plant monsters, almost without exception, naturally release a small amount of excess life-force into their surroundings. It¡¯s one of many minor innate abilities the monster type possesses, another example being the ability to drain vitality, even without an associated skill. This is why the environment around monstrous plants tended to be vibrant, even overgrown with vegetation. Animals innately gained a small amount of experience by being well fed, safe and healthy. Among a few other objectives. A continuous stream of all three sources over months gradually led to levels going up. After an hour, as the morning sun rose over the horizon, its daughter plodded up to it. Both deer stared dumbly at one another. Why are you like this, mother? The gaze of the younger deer seemed to say. I regret nothing. Was the silent reply. === Leif nodded, then awkwardly raised the cup to his mouth. Or the small slit in his mask-like face that counted as one. A single sip seemed to drive back the darkness, Leif felt his vision clear and his mind refocus. He took another sip. Both healers remained in silence as the woman worked, she tended to each casualty with equal care. Once she had finished she knelt before Leif and dipped her head in a partial bow. ¡°Thank you, honoured one.¡± Leif didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. He just gawked at her from beneath his hooded cloak. The elderly woman continued. ¡°This one is Kala, spirit healer and descendant of Lila. My sincere gratitude for aiding in our wounded, you have saved many lives.¡± ¡°Uh, you''re welcome?¡± Leif said, this wasn¡¯t exactly what he had expected to happen. The elder straightened and smiled, laugh lines showing on her aged features. ¡°I hope one day you have many descendants. They will be a proud and virtuous people, I am sure.¡± Leif nearly spat up the water he had drunk. He felt it surge up from whatever he had in place of a stomach and fought to keep it down. Kala snickered in amusement at his reaction. ¡°In all seriousness dear. I am genuinely grateful to have another healer on hand. Without you, I fear many who live now would have had a far more grim fate.¡± ¡°Is there no other healer? I¡¯d have thought they would have been fairly common?¡± Leif asked, having regained his composure. ¡°It is rare, I''m afraid. To be offered a class capable of healing isn¡¯t uncommon, but it¡¯s usually self healing with limited applications in the restoration of others. It took years of careful work to push my own abilities in that direction.¡± Kala replied, her gaze briefly going distant. Leif frowned internally. He supposed it was true he seemed to be the only healer within the expedition camp. ¡°Why? Why is it so rare? I mean, there are several people in your camp with knowledge of herbal ointments and medicine.¡± He said, gesturing to the injured within the tent. ¡°Why not actual healing skills?¡± Kala¡¯s smile waned. ¡°The ability to heal thaumatically, as the academics you travel with would put it, is dictated by aptitude and mindset. Not just anyone can light themselves on fire and gain an associated pyrokinetic class or skill. It takes time, effort, and more than a little luck.¡± The spriggan nodded thoughtfully, he supposed it made sense. ¡°And even when someone obtains a healing class, their power is dictated by the aspects their skills have.¡± Kala continued. ¡°I am a water aspected healer, I can cleanse and purify, but restoring severed limbs...¡± She motioned to the man Leif had reattached the leg of. ¡°Actually I¡¯ve been wondering about that. What exactly are the differences between these aspects? I have blood, and now life aspected skills. But they both heal? I can¡¯t tell the difference.¡± ¡°Hmmm. Do you not have a spell skill?¡± She asked. ¡°I do not.¡± Leif said, then paused. Actually he had several notifications he hadn¡¯t looked through yet. Maybe he would receive one from his latest level ups? ¡°If you wish to learn, I can teach. My knowledge may not be generally applicable to your path, but any little bit can help. We healers must stick together, besides...¡± She smiled. ¡°I think our groups will be moving down south together for the conceivable future. This time with a night watch that doesn¡¯t get blackout drunk.¡± Chapter 58: Healing for Dummies Chapter 58: Healing for Dummies Two hours later the expedition and nomad clan were on the move. Surprisingly there had been zero fatalities during the night''s violence and panic. The monsters had seemingly been more interested in disabling and stealing their potential victims than they were killing, and those who did sustain life threatening injuries had been healed in time. Six people had been carried off into the night, but they had been saved when the hogs had charged to the expedition''s rescue. Leif noticed that people, especially the expedition camp, seemed to be treating both him and his animals differently than the day prior to the attack. They cast glances, some even staring. This wasn¡¯t out of the ordinary, but no longer were there looks due to distrust and fear. Instead there was curiosity, even amusement directed towards the deer and some of the more friendly hogs. Leif was a little hesitant to let his animals get too close to either group of humans. They were potential food sources after all. Fortunately both groups seemed to have more than enough food. That, or they didn¡¯t touch the animals because of him.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com The wind howled as far above clouds twisted into bizarre corkscrew formations. These formations were surrounded by spinning streams of what seemed like snow. The temperature had dropped as the turbulent and unpredictable weather picked up. Leif watched as a party of twelve split off from the now merged group. He spotted Hera and Darius among them. They were heading towards the swamp, the nomads having given each a horse on which to ride. With time to finally wind down from the nights frantic activity Leif looked over his latest notifications. Level up! Class [Adept] is now level 2! For healing the injured in a time of crisis you have gained a level! +1 to [Willpower] +1 free point! New class skills available! [Healing Palm] or [Identify Ailment]! Level up! Class [Attuned: Life] is now level 2! For infusing yourself with a surge of vitality and successfully utilising it you have gained a level! +1 to [Spirit] +1 free point! New class skills available! [Detect Vitality] or [Life Spells]! Leif read over the system windows and the information they provided. He spent the two free points he had gained on [Charisma] and turned his attention to the new skills options. Leif was somewhat disappointed at the choices offered. Both seem fairly obvious. He thought, mentally sussing out the feeling the four skills were giving off. While initially he was disappointed he consoled himself that these were just the first set of many skills he would earn from both classes. Samil nodded. ¡°She¡¯s scolding Han. You can hop in if you want, there should be enough room.¡± Leif suspected he would break the vehicle with his weight if he climbed aboard. ¡°Best not. I can wait.¡± He said. Samil shrugged then parted the hanging cloth and called inside. A moment later the wizened features of Kala poked out. She saw Leif and smiled. ¡°Ready to learn I hope?¡± === ¡°It is good you asked before making a hasty choice.¡± Kala said approvingly as she sat next to Samil in the drivers bench at the front of the cart. Han struggled in her lap, but the old woman had no problems keeping him in place. ¡°Many make choices without consulting their elders.¡± She continued, Samil smiling off to the side. ¡°My path wasn¡¯t that of a healer Grandmother. I will be a mighty warrior one day.¡± The man replied. ¡°Yes yes.¡± She sighed. ¡°A fool like his father.¡± She turned to Leif. ¡°[Identify Ailment] isn¡¯t a dead choice like you first assumed. The more you understand about the wound, disease or ailment the easier it is to heal. The more efficient the skills used, the less strain it puts on you and your patient. Not to mention the less energy it takes to empower if you have a cultivation skill.¡± Leif nodded thoughtfully, he hadn¡¯t realised that had been a factor in how effective his healing was. Would the same concept be true for some of my other types of skills? He contemplated. ¡°Anyway. That skill is both a crutch, while also being remarkably useful. I had the same skill once, but it changed over time.¡± ¡°So I shouldn¡¯t pick it?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need a skill to learn how to identify what''s wrong with your patient.¡± She said, reaching down to a leather skin bag she had brought out of the carriage. Within was a book, worn with age. She cackled. ¡°If you¡¯re travelling with a bunch of students then it¡¯s only proper you have a little homework? Hmm?¡± Leif looked at the cover and mentally squinted. In faded text were the words: A Novice''s Guide to Restoration. Better than ¡®healing for dummies.¡¯ He idly thought. Chapter 59: Will of the World Chapter 59: Will of the World Kala had told Leif he should read through the introductory chapters of ¡®a novice¡¯s guide to restoration¡¯ before picking his newest skills. When Leif had told her the skills would be automatically selected by the system in several hours her reply had simply been: ¡°Read quickly then.¡± The convoy had set up camp for the evening, everyone on much higher alert than the night before. The group that had gone off to scout the swampland had returned during dinner. The unnerving report that evidence of several large groups of spiders should be present, yet were absent made everyone uncomfortable. Leif sat with both deer asleep next to him, backed by the nearest fire he was absorbed with the textbook. It described concepts he hadn¡¯t even considered. The flow of vitality through the body, how it was more potent while moving from the heart, and less potent on the return. It detailed the different aspects that had restorative properties, or certain aspects that could potentially develop healing related skills. It answered a question Leif had been pondering for a while now. What exactly was the difference between the ¡®life¡¯ and ¡®blood¡¯ aspects? The book described the life aspect as being foundational. A general descriptor the system used for healing skills that encompassed most avenues of restoration, but without specialisation. Though the aspect also tended to be given to skills with already present healing properties, or the ability to bestow restoration on others. This made Leif suspect his [Blight¡¯s Bounty] skill would likely gain the aspect if the skill was improved via a class evolution. Nature, the book said, specialised in growth and passive resistance to ailments. Bone was focused on mending and rejoining. Water, as Kala had previously explained, was cleansing and soothing. In contrast, fire was energising and aggressive. Healing skills with the fire aspect could often harm the user if improperly used. Ash was revival and holding onto life, making the most of the last drops of life-force. The book went into significantly more detail on ash than any of the prior aspects. Apparently the author had first hand experience with the element. There was an anecdote about how they had seemingly brought an ally back from the very brink of death. Finally Leif reached the section detailing blood. The aspect seemed to have a focus on internal injuries, with another strength being a malleable sort of manipulation. Someone with a blood aspected class could quickly clot weeping wounds, or drain vitality from their opponent. The final chapter Leif read stressed that any healing skill could technically restore ailments outside of their speciality, but that the strain and cost of cultivated energies would be far greater. This too was something Kala had already taught him, but Leif made sure to read every last word. He found it strangely addicting, absorbing knowledge directly from a page. How the past words of an experienced person could be passed down from individual to individual. The wisdom contained gaining a sort of immortality by being put to page. The spriggan snapped the book shut, startling one of the deer awake. The other snored away happily, not having noticed. He scratched the awake animal behind the ears and opened up his system window. The grey screen highlighted with gold and red appearing in his mind''s eye. Yet also overlaying the physical world. Warning! Make selection within 6 hours or skills will be randomly chosen! A soft white light bloomed at the point of contact as the skill activated. The deer didn¡¯t seem to notice. Leif felt his cultivated reserves from [The Well Within] drop, the skill twinging slightly. Neither effects were overly impactful, about what he had expected. Leif suspected he could use [Healing Palm] another ten or so times before the skill would fray and its effects would lessen to the point the skill would be all but useless until it had recovered. As for how much cultivated lifeforce the skill cost to amplify... The spriggan focused, trying to gain an accurate sense of how much energy rested within him. It was nearly impossible to tell, there was no numerical value that could quantify the well of power. His understanding of the vitality nested within his soul was more instinctual than practical. He activated [Healing Palm] again, this time on himself. With a hand pressed to his chest Leif pushed as much cultivated power into the skill as he could, he felt the cultivated vitality within him surge up his arm in tandem with the skill¡¯s innate energy. Then it flowed back into his well of lifeforce. The skill tingled his body, it tried to heal, to restore but found little in need of either. The effects fizzled as Leif returned his attention to his cultivation. He had maybe used... a thirtieth of the stored energy to amplify the skill, and while much of it returned back into his well a significant portion had been lost. Leif sighed. No infinite loop of power for me. Leif hadn¡¯t expected it to work, but it was good to confirm his theory. Now, time to test my spell skill. He placed his palm back onto the sleeping deer. He felt for the unfamiliar skill. Brand new, it felt slippery, almost intangible. He focused his will and steadied his mind. Marcus was his frame of reference for this kind of skill. The human had spoken with intent. Using his voice to mould his skills into a more effective shape. The spriggan triggered [Healing Palm] and spoke aloud. ¡°Heal.¡± Nothing happened, or rather, nothing out of the ordinary. Except no... something had changed, though it had been minor. Something both within him and in the air and soil had shifted ever so slightly. It was faint, like a breeze brushing against the very edges of his awareness. He contemplated that shift, that feeling. Again he tried and again the use of [Healing Palm] wasn¡¯t empowered. Another, then another. White light lit up the evening with every attempt. He was getting closer, Leif could feel it. This time Leif focused on that shift, when he spoke he spoke not only to his skill, but the air, the soil, the world itself. It was less a statement and more a question, a request for assistance. Then something intangible and faint, yet at the same time colossal and all encompassing answered. And the world shifted, pausing like its breath was being held. ¡°Heal.¡± Chapter 60: Goals Chapter 60: Goals ¡°Heal.¡± The word hung in the air, the sound seeming to come from all around, not just Leif¡¯s mouth. Then something shifted, power built up in his hand, rising with every moment. Leif felt the well of power within him drain at an alarming rate, he had been so focused on getting his command to work he hadn¡¯t limited the draw. White light with dancing specs of gold flared from where he touched the deer¡¯s back. It lit up the night, briefly outlining the shadows of a distant clump of trees. The deer bolted awake, limbs flailing and eyes wide with alarm. The creature''s body glowed with the after effects of his healing as it tore off through the camp. It stumbled, tripped, then tumbled up against a sleeping yak. The large beast opened its eyes sleepily, not seeming too bothered by the disturbance. The deer lay, legs up in the air as it stared back at Leif. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for trying to eat me.¡± The spriggan said. The creature let out an annoyed whine. Leif got to his feet, there was a short spike of pain from [Healing Palm]. Empowering it with [Life Spells] puts a much greater burden on the skill. Good to know. He needed to refill his pool of vitality. === Leif ran his clawed fingers along the dry bark of a twisted and aged trunk. Ordinarily he would have tapped into his innate ability to drain vitality as well as the passive drain granted by [Blight¡¯s Bounty]. But the tree before him was aged, almost deceased. It felt wrong to take away its final few years for what for him would be a minor and temporary increase. He let his hand fall away as he stepped back from the tree. Then a thought struck him, and he reached back out. Triggering [Embolden Vegetation], making sure to not tap into his cultivated vitality, he pushed life into the tree. The energy surged through its trunk and branches, seeking to encourage growth and bolster vitality. To Leif¡¯s surprise it actually worked, the skill having a much greater effect than he had anticipated. Over the next few minutes the tree stood up straighter, its few leaves were now joined by dozens of new shoots. The plant practically thrummed to his senses. Did I just cure this tree of its old age? He asked himself, partially gaping at his handiwork. The implications were staggering. Now that the tree was well and truly alive... Couldn¡¯t I syphon lifeforce back into [The Well Within]? It didn¡¯t work when I healed myself, but if this works it would almost be an exploit... He tapped the tree with a single clawed finger. Sure enough vitality began to trickle down his extended digit, slowly entering his cultivation pool. He was so focused, amazed at his discovery that when a presence bloomed up behind him as it entered his mostly restrained aura¡¯s range he jerked back in surprise. Leif turned to see who it was, relaxing at the familiar sight. ¡°Hey. Hope I¡¯m not interrupting... strange tree business?¡± Hera said as she tossed a small bag towards him. Her blond hair seemed to glow faintly, it outlined her face and shoulders, making them stand out against the dark of night. Leif hadn¡¯t noticed that before, he supposed it wouldn¡¯t be obvious while under sunlight. Leif caught the bag out of reflex, the contents clinked around within. ¡°What is this?¡± he asked. ¡°Mana shards from some of the evolved spiders. The harvest is split based on participation and you did quite a lot. Usually I¡¯d say lives are invaluable, but in this case they¡¯re around one and a half low grade shards each.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Leif said, feeling somewhat foolish, he hadn¡¯t considered payment at all. ¡°I¡¯m not currently fusing any skills, I was waiting to see what skills my new classes give me.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Hera said, stopping a few metres away. ¡°Hmmm, you don¡¯t have anywhere to store shards do you? I should have thought about that.¡± She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. Leif thought the motion looked strange, as if she were suddenly half a decade younger. She laughed. ¡°Oh, yeah. I mean, it did. Didn¡¯t quite go in the way I had hoped though. It¡¯s complicated.¡± Leif sighed. ¡°Complicated... feels like things get more complicated the more I learn.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a big, scary world. Some people make it, some don¡¯t.¡± Hera said. ¡°And you did?¡± ¡°I made it somewhere. Not sure if where I ended up was what I had wanted. But at least I made something of myself.¡± She said with a shrug. The spriggan hesitated. He didn¡¯t want to pry, but this woman was at least tangentially connected to his past life. Also she had just asked about him. ¡°How did you do it? Get strong I mean?¡± Hera looked up at the night sky, the cracked face of season glaring down from above. ¡°I was being led by the hand down a certain path. Back then, the Kossia family was obsessed with growing its influence. The Matriarch, my grandmother, viewed her life¡¯s goal to get our family into as many positions of power as possible.¡± ¡°My skill note wasn¡¯t overly positive towards them.¡± Leif mused. ¡°Right? If a random tree monster knew how bad it was, my family must be truly infamous! I bet even the dragons to the south know to stay away!¡± She laughed, hands on her hips. ¡°So you left?¡± The spriggan asked. ¡°Well, I ran away. Disowned myself really, that was fun. Melissa followed me, bless her. Without her I don¡¯t think I would have made it as far as I did.¡± She said. Inwardly Leif frowned. Surely there was a better way than to up and leave. ¡°Anyway, I joined an adventuring company down in Sablaris, it was a sister company to the guild Darius¡¯s family runs. That got me to level fifty. It took a few years to advance that far but I was still too close. My family kept harassing me, demanding my return.¡± She sighed and leaned back against the newly healed tree. ¡°So I entered the empire proper. If I became a citizen of Mekrys, even the Kossia family wouldn¡¯t be able to pull me back. I probably should have thought things through more. I was young, alone, and had the [Noble] class...¡± Leif nodded as she trailed off. He didn¡¯t really understand, but it was good to know his suspicions that Hera had the [Noble] class were correct. He remained silent, letting her piece together her life¡¯s story. ¡°There are three ways to become a citizen of the empire. Well, four. But I¡¯m not counting being born in the capital as an option. The first is buying your citizenship, it takes more fangs than sense and wasn¡¯t an option for me. The second is marriage, if you marry a citizen then you become one too.¡± Her face darkened for a moment. ¡°The final way is through something called The Crucible. It¡¯s a tamed dungeon below the imperial capital. If you survive and come out strong enough you can join a faction and become a citizen. Simple really.¡± ¡°And you entered this... Crucible?¡± He asked, Hera nodded. ¡°And the faction you joined was the Academy?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Now I¡¯m a professional babysitter. Speaking of, I need to do the rounds and make sure nothing is sneaking up on the camp. Want to come with?¡± Chapter 61: Noble Chapter 61: Noble The wind picked up, it rustled leaves and billowed clothing. The sound was not that of a raging gale, instead the wind possessed an almost shrill melody. In the distance, motes of purple and red fluttered up from the earth. Specs of bioluminescent light reaching for the sky. An arrow of light streaked through the night. It impacted the side of a grassy hill with a thud. An instant later two figures appeared in a flash of light. The first was a cloaked being that teetered briefly before taking a step forward to gain their balance. The second staggered only to be caught by an amber arm. ¡°Hells Leif. Why are you so damn heavy? If you were any higher level I¡¯m not sure if I could have teleported us both. Maybe only a shorter distance.¡± Hera grumbled, wincing at the internal pain caused by the over-taxation of her skill. ¡°We could have walked.¡± The spriggan pointed out, mentally focusing on the teleportation anchor left behind by his [Amber Steps] skill. He felt his connection to the anchor remain stable despite the distance. ¡°We¡¯ll walk back. I don¡¯t think my skill would activate if I tried to take you again.¡± Hera snorted, straightening up and observing their surroundings. ¡°Why would you leave?¡± Leif asked after a minute of silence. ¡°Your family I mean. Even if things were bad, wouldn¡¯t it have been better to stay?¡± Hera pursed her lips and started walking. She indicated for him to follow. ¡°Why would I have wanted to stay? I was being groomed for a position I didn¡¯t want. Surely you know a little of what the northern kingdoms are like? The things the noble houses do?¡± ¡°But they¡¯re still your family. Leaving it all behind is walking out on everything you knew. What about those who would miss you? Those that loved you?¡± ¡°Anyone who loved me would have been glad to see me escape. How much of your own house do you remember? Because mine certainly wasn¡¯t worth sticking around for.¡± Hera said. ¡°I... I only recall small flashes.¡± Leif admitted, picking up his pace to match the archer¡¯s. ¡°A face here, a happy moment there. But my advancement trial was a moment from my past. It showed a disagreement between my past self and house Vin, but there was good too. I had a sister, and a father. Both...¡± He trailed off. Both would miss me. He didn¡¯t say. Both would have mourned my death and moved on. He tried not to think. ¡°I was eleven.¡± Hera said after Leif didn¡¯t continue. ¡°I was eleven when my family told me who I would marry. A man from another house, he was almost triple my age. We wouldn¡¯t have been wed until I was of age but still. Absolutely disgusting.¡± She spat to the side and continued. ¡°But you know what happened? A year later he was assassinated, then the people who had him killed were in turn assassinated. So the whole thing was called off, thank the gods.¡± Leif didn¡¯t know what to say. He still was only partially familiar with the cultural part of humanity. He remained silent and let her vent. ¡°And then the war started. The Enslaved Legions started marching on our lands. You know what my family did? They bickered and squabbled, more interested in their own power than protecting anything or anyone!¡± Hera came to a stop, she clenched and unclenched her hands, clearly worked up. Leif stepped up beside her. For a few minutes nothing was said. Finally Hera broke the silence and turned to him. ¡°What happens when you go back to them?¡± She asked pointedly. ¡°The story goes as such:¡± Hera continued. ¡°There was once a man who ruled over all humans. He fought back the tides of monsters and built the first cities. As a reward the system granted him a class, a class that he passed down to his children, and they passed that down to children of their own.¡± ¡°So people with the [Noble] class are the descendants of this man? This... first king?¡± ¡°The First King. That¡¯s exactly what they call him. It¡¯s because of him some people have a class that signifies that they¡¯re supposedly better than everyone else. That they have some innate right to rule. But it¡¯s bullshit. Anyone can learn the [Noble] class, it just has to be taught by another holder of the class. It¡¯s all about aptitude for the class¡¯s skills. Bloodline and birthright have nothing to do with it.¡± Leif re-examined his class. Why did he have it when others didn''t? As a monster, was he even deserving of it? But what was more, why did he still have it when all of his previous classes had been lost? ¡°But do you know what¡¯s worse? The skills. They¡¯re awful.¡± Hera said, wrinkling her nose. ¡°They¡¯re manipulative and controlling. Did you know there¡¯s a [Noble] skill that can force someone to obey a command?¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t think I was ever offered something like that.¡± Leif admitted hesitantly. She nodded. ¡°Good. The skills any class offers the owner is based on personality and experience. But it¡¯s worse than that. [Aura of Nobility], the skill pretty much every single person is offered right from level two. Even that skill leaves a bad taste in my mouth.¡± Leif frowned internally at her words. He hadn¡¯t found the skill to be anything but useful. ¡°Surely you¡¯ve noticed it? Everyone¡¯s aura projects their emotions and intent. It¡¯s not something specific to [Aura of Nobility].¡± She said. ¡°No, I have a perception skill that allows me to sense that.¡± Leif said, confused. ¡°[Court Empath]? Yeah I have that one too. That skill¡¯s real use is piercing through basic obfuscation, aura manipulation and the innate resistance of those with higher ranked aura¡¯s to being read.¡± ¡°Wait. So... why? Why does [Aura of Nobility] even exist?¡± ¡°The skill allows you to lie. You can project an intent while meaning something completely different. You can be feeling one thing but present to the world that you¡¯re feeling something else. Most classes that allow for deceit or direct manipulation are restricted, or at least partially. Not [Noble] though. Why would those with authority restrict themselves?¡± Leif considered her words, he really did. But they were wrong. Weren¡¯t they? ¡°I don¡¯t think your conclusion is correct, at least not fully. The [Noble] class¡¯s skills can protect and guide. They¡¯re not inherently malicious, doesn¡¯t a leader need to be able to correctly care for their subjects?¡± ¡°I¡¯d agree if these powers weren¡¯t so readily abused. I¡¯ve seen those with sinister intentions use these skills all my childhood. It never ends well.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t blame a tool for how it¡¯s wielded.¡± ¡°I can if the tool corrupts anyone who picks it up.¡± Leif sighed inwardly. He was arguing with someone who had made the same mistake his past self had. But unlike him, she hadn¡¯t experienced what it was like to wake up having lost everything. She hadn¡¯t lived half a decade flickering in and out of awareness with a gaping hole where her identity and past should be. Chapter 62: Names Chapter 62: Names A flock of Highland Runners crested a distant hill. Their shrill cawing split the morning air. The caravan was in full momentum, they had awoken early and set off as fast as possible. The world was gaining an almost dark and malevolent cast. And it wasn¡¯t due to turbulence. Everything was fleeing south before an ever encroaching threat. When the sun was hanging far overhead the mixed group stopped for a break. Many collapsed as soon as the relentless marching was no longer needed. Food and drink was handed out and people ate quickly and quietly. Leif walked through the caravan, absorbing the growing tension the humans and their animals were feeling. Several of his own animals were intermixing with the humans. They seemed more inclined to the nomads than the expedition. He saw the largest hog, scarred and battered from a lifetime of struggle be handed a bundle of fireside cooked bread and fruit from a nomad girl who did a little bow. Leif almost missed a step when the hog dipped its head in response. Did it just bow back? Or am I seeing things? He shook his head and continued on. Leif found the group he was searching for. Marcus sat cross legged on a patch of short wild grass while Sieg practised axe forms nearby. Purple lightning crackled around the mage, his glasses partially hiding his closed eyes. Marcus peeped open an eye as Leif sat down next to him. ¡°Hmmm. The student seeks advice from the master.¡± He said with a smirk in his most sagely of tones. If Leif could roll his eyes he likely would have. This was his third day of learning about spell casting from Marcus. The human adopted the gruff diction of an older man and spoke with prompt pompousness. Leif wasn¡¯t sure why and Marcus just smiled when he had asked. His ability to practise was dwindling as the caravan spent less and less time idle, even going partly into the night. ¡°Recall the teachings.¡± Marcus said in his odd way of talking. The spriggan did so, mentally recalling what he had been taught. ¡°Wrong!¡± Marcus bellowed. Coughing slightly before continuing. ¡°Out loud. You must repeat the lessons out loud. It¡¯s very important!¡± Leif didn¡¯t understand. Sieg also seemed to share his confusion. ¡°Marcus. What on earth are you doing?¡± The man said, letting his axe vanish and wiping sweat off his brow. ¡°I am very wise.¡± The mage said sagely. ¡°Very annoying.¡± ¡°Mhmm. Yes, that too.¡± ¡°How is anyone supposed to meditate with you acting like a clown?¡± ¡°With great focus and concentration.¡± Leif tuned them out, focusing internally. It was surprising how easily he could centre himself while remaining still. As if there was a part of him that relished any opportunity to stay in place. As for what he had learnt? ¡°Mr Tree!¡± Han called, beaming up at him. ¡°What names?¡± ¡°Names?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± the kid said, nodding enthusiastically. The motion making both of the deer¡¯s heads bob in unison. ¡°What names of deer?¡± Leif¡¯s mind temporarily went blank. He... he had never even thought to name either of them. In fact, he hadn¡¯t considered naming any of his animals. Why was that? Wouldn¡¯t that have been a normal thing to do? He shook his head to clear his thoughts before responding. ¡°I don¡¯t know. They don¡¯t have names.¡± Both animals gazed up at him, eyes confused. Han scrunched up his brow in concentration. ¡°This one is Lani.¡± The boy said, tugging on one of the deer¡¯s tongues. ¡°Because she is cute. And Lani is a cute name.¡± Leif nodded hesitantly. Lani... it isn¡¯t a bad name. He mused. ¡°And this one is Bumhead. Because she keeps following people when they try to go do poos.¡± The child said confidently. The spriggan looked down at the newly named deer with pity. ¡°How... how about something shorter?¡± ¡°Bum?¡± ¡°Something... nicer?¡± ¡°Hmmm.¡± ¡°What about Bam?¡± Leif asked. The kid¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°BamBum!¡± ¡°How about just Bam?¡± He said, Han nodded after a moment. Leif still needed a way to differentiate both deer visually. They looked practically identical. ¡°How should we tell them apart?¡± He asked. ¡°This one is younger and has more dots.¡± Han said, pointing at Lani. ¡°And this one keeps trying to eat Yak fur. It¡¯s simple to tell apart.¡± Leif looked between both nonplussed looking deer. Only now that it was pointed out did he notice the minute differences. ¡°Lani and Bam it is. Try to keep out of trouble you two... please?¡± He said to both deer. If the spriggan didn¡¯t know any better he could have sworn both animals eyes briefly unfocused, as if their attention had been briefly drawn to something no one but they could see. Han released his grasp of the animals tongues, he wiped his palm on his furs before running off giggling to himself. Leif reached out and gave both deer a scratch under the chin. They nuzzled into his touch. The spriggan smiled inwardly. Even as beneath their feet malice built. A creeping sense of dread leaking into the ground. They would soon be out of time, Leif just hoped he could keep everyone safe. Chapter 63: Malice Chapter 63: Malice Leif put a golden fist through the skull of what had once been an evolved wolf. The monster, rotting and twisted, perished with a low gurgling growl. Overhead streaks of white light flashed, each targeting undead too far away for anyone else within the expedition to even have a chance of hitting. From over a hill another group of undead of all different shapes and sizes came sprinting, bounding and stumbling. Among their number were several distinctly goblin shaped figures. They would undoubtedly be corpses reanimated by death attuned magics. Leif wasn¡¯t certain if that was an improvement. Just like the previous group, and the group before that they rushed mindlessly forward, only to be cut down. In fact, over the course of the day a near constant yet strangely small stream of undeath had come charging. None had a hope of genuinely threatening the combined convoy, yet still they came. It was ominous, much like the feeling of dread that wafted up from beneath their feet. Leif couldn¡¯t help but suspect they were being toyed with, like whatever malevolent force was directing the attacking monsters was only half interested in him and the expedition. By what, and why? The spriggan wasn¡¯t sure. A barrage of skill, each as wildly different in appearance as they were in their varied aspects, were launched from where a cluster of a dozen Academy students were positioned at the mouth of the small wooded valley. T/his chapter is updated by Thunder rumbled from ahead. This was yet another constant of the day. It wasn¡¯t caused by any fluctuating weather, in fact the day was remarkably pleasant and warm. This thunder came from several of the stronger nomads. Unlike their expedition counterparts, many of the nomads seemed to share remarkably similar paths. A half rotted, yet still moving carcass of a bear came howling towards the spriggan. Leif contemptuously slapped it, the sheer force of the blow sending the undead beast spinning comically into a pack of three mostly skeletal goblins. ¡°Does that count for extra points?¡± Leif asked the mage who sat above him on the lower branches of a tree. ¡°Eh, sure.¡± Marcus said with a yawn. ¡°What do you think Sieg? Triple points?¡± ¡°I think.¡± The large man grumbled as he held his axe wearily. ¡°That you should be taking this more seriously.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. It was scary at first. But that was hours ago. If they bunched up before rushing us it might be a challenge.¡± The mage shrugged. ¡°But they don¡¯t, so it isn¡¯t.¡± He lazily pointed a finger to a straggling zombie goblin. It popped as purple lightning fried its insides. ¡°Alright people!¡± Hera called from where she stood over a hundred metres away atop a stack of boulders. ¡°The way forward is clear, pull back and regroup with the caravan.¡± As one, and with more than a few sighs of relief, the expedition members retreated from where they had been holding ground. Leif knew what his job was, heal any wounds as quickly as possible. There had been some minor scratches and bites earlier in the day, but he had gotten to the injured before any afflictions spread by the undead attackers could fester. It also helped that most of the undead seemed more interested in getting to him specifically, to the point many would forgo easier and closer targets. Leif had thought it was strange until an expedition member had pointed out most undead could detect vitality. ¡°Are you certain? I cannot force you to remain, but there is a certain safety in numbers.¡± Hera said. The nomad nodded firmly. ¡°Beyond this valley are flatlands. If we travel quickly, both during the day and night we should make it out safely before the threat becomes too great to manage.¡± === ¡°Kala!¡± Leif called as he sought out the elderly healer some ten minutes later. She turned with a creased brow. ¡°I need a favour. Please, before we part ways.¡± Her expression softened. ¡°What can this old woman do for you?¡± Leif paused. He had made his choice, but that didn¡¯t make it easy. ¡°I... I need you to take my animals with you. They¡¯re not safe where I¡¯m going.¡± Behind him his entourage of critters shuffled uncomfortably, as if they could partially understand his intent to part ways. It wasn¡¯t a decision Leif made lightly. Far from it. But what choice did he have? If he brought them with him into a military camp under attack from a horde of undeath what would happen? Even if he somehow found a way to keep them safe, what then? Could he bring them along as he tried to re-enter society? He needed answers, help and most importantly power. If he managed to get into the academy he couldn¡¯t bring them. If he found a dungeon he couldn¡¯t bring them. If he wanted to be the person he used to be... Something within Leif¡¯s chest twinged. For a moment he hesitated, tempted beyond reason to abandon everything. To give up his goals, ambitions, hopes, and just accept what he had now. But Leif couldn¡¯t, no matter how tempting the fleeting thought had been, deep down he knew he couldn¡¯t. Kala nodded, somehow reading the emotions on his featureless face. ¡°Yes. We can keep them safe. When this is over you can come and find us.¡± Leif turned then. Seeing the faces of his animals. The newly named Bam and Lani were in front, eyes wide and confused. His chest twinged again, the desire to stay rearing up. It took several moments for his resolve to harden. Then, using his aura, Leif told them what they had to do. After several minutes of coaxing, and with obvious reluctance, they joined the nomads. As the clan departed Leif watched, as they snaked over a series of hills and vanished from sight Leif watched. I¡¯ll come find you. When this is all over, I promise. Chapter 64: Siege Breakers Chapter 64: Siege Breakers Soldiers fought atop palisade walls built barely a month earlier. Undead shambled, ran and prowled towards the encampment. Few could ascend the three metre high fortifications, clumping up at the base of the wall and ineffectually battering the defences. But some could, and those were the true threats in this battle. A large monkey-like creature used the shoulders of the weak undead amassing at the base of the wall to launch itself up and onto the battlements. It swiped out with long clawed arms rippling with muscle, battering aside two imperial soldiers. They cried as they fell, one toppling off the wall completely, fortunately into the camp and not out. The second slumped against the sharpened stakes that tipped the fortification, wheezing and gasping for breath. The undead monkey screeched in maddened triumph and stalked forward. Somewhere in its feral gaze was the faintest sheen of intellect. A frightening prospect, either this monster had been alarmingly powerful when it was turned, or had somehow levelled up considerably. Undead displaying even a hint of awareness were a terrifying prospect to any region or territory held by humanity. Fortunately for the wounded soldier a higher levelled officer was close by. Flames roared atop the battlements, incinerating the monkey as it threw itself to the side a moment too late. All across the imperial outpost, newly constructed in the ruins of the now abandoned town of Far-Reach, similar scenes played out. The defenders held, but all knew in their hearts the position was lost. Some of the mostly green soldiers had heard the reports of conflict with the undead in the east. The ravenous tides had been a near constant thorn in humanity''s side for what felt like countless generations. The citizens of Mekrys all held faith in the eastern garrisons. But for how long would their faith in the empire¡¯s ability to defend them remain if a new front against the undead was opened in the north? For the average recruit, these contemplations on the wider scope of imperial stability were irrelevant, preoccupied as they were in surviving from one moment to the next. Far to the south a rainstorm pelted down in angular sheets. The column of half a dozen floating, vaguely ship shaped vehicles seemingly spared from the downpour by sheer luck as gale force winds propelled them ever onwards. Above the evacuating skimmers, in the roiling cloud cover a man stood defiant in resplendent imperial armour, his concentration split partially between commanding the weather itself and fending off the pair of undead griffons harrying the evacuating non combatants. A serpentine form slithered through the air as if swimming through the rain itself. A maw lined with sharp fangs grinned down at the two monsters, a low rumbling growl escaping its throat. Then, with a snap of its vast, bird-like wings it plummeted down. === Leif took in a sharp intake of air as he crested the jagged hill¡¯s peak. From the summit he could see the outpost sprawling out beneath him. Though perhaps more importantly, he could see the swarms of undeath surrounding its wooden fortifications. Hera already stood atop the hill. The woman had used her arrow teleport skill to quickly ascend and get her eyes on the situation. Conjured bow in hand she grimaced down at what she saw. Leif couldn¡¯t blame her, the situation looked grim. The outpost was built along a series of rocky bluffs. The undead were attacking uphill, through what had once been farmland and local industry. Behind Far-Reach were heavily forested valleys, rolling hills and snaking rivers. A natural stone arch, easily the width of a road, connected the primary bluff to a shorter secondary bluff that stood otherwise alone to the south of the rocky formation. Leif noted this smaller bluff seemed to be in heavy use by the expedition, but at the distance he was looking he couldn¡¯t identify why. The scout looked at the mage with a blank expression. ¡°I mean kinda. If this goes bad my badge will end up in some zombie''s belly. I need that to get paid, and if I lose it my father will kill me.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The mage asked. ¡°Not thinking about someone else?¡± ¡°Huh? No I... I...¡± The man spluttered, realisation dawning as Marcus stood there beaming. ¡°I¡¯m not... There¡¯s nothing...¡± ¡°Even though we barely see you, it''s incredibly obvious.¡± Sieg grunted as he bumped Marcus to keep the man moving. ¡°N-no it isn¡¯t. I mean... W-what¡¯s obvious?¡± Linus didn¡¯t seem to care, still grumbling under his breath. ¡°Isn¡¯t she too old for you?¡± Adriana asked with a scowl as she scooted past. The scout faded away to hide the changing colour of his face. === Still atop the hill Hera sneezed. ¡°Feeling sick?¡± Leif asked, not taking his eyes off the battle below. ¡°Gods I hope not. I¡¯m over level one hundred. If I¡¯m somehow still susceptible to the common cold despite my advancement this whole system is a scam.¡± ¡°Well, get all the sneezes out now, I need your aim to be on point. The timing of this will be pretty tight.¡± The blade wrinkled her nose and conjured the first of several arrows. ¡°I¡¯m fine, maybe someone was talking about me?¡± ¡°Only good things I hope.¡± Hera pressed her lips into a line. ¡°Very funny. Do you perform stand-up to grass and shrubs?¡± Leif cocked his head to the side and replied flatly. ¡°I¡¯m usually standing up? What do you mean?¡± Chapter 65: Lure Chapter 65: Lure A behemoth of twisted flesh and bone lumbered towards the imperial outpost. Each step shook the earth beneath its colossal legs. It wasn¡¯t the first of its kind to approach the fortifications. But unlike the last time such a monster had threatened the outpost, the imperial defenders were run ragged from exhaustion and skill overuse. On the battlements, soldiers scrambled to get into position to repel the towering abomination. Overhead, the light cloud cover built, the pitter patter of rain plinked off laminar armour bringing an intermittent percussion to the melody of battle. The monster lowered its disfigured body and let out a garbled roar. Soldiers released projectiles and unleashed skills. They impacted the colossal undead but did little to injure it, with each earth shaking step it drew closer and closer. Then something that gleamed a brilliant white impacted the monster directly in its misshapen forehead. The creature staggered, the blow wouldn¡¯t be lethal but the sheer force of the projectile temporarily stunned it. Then, where the arrow protruded from its noggin two figures flashed into existence. The first drove an already drawn sword through the undead monstrosity''s bulbous neck, severing the head in a single swift strike. The second had what looked like tendrils of gold billowing from their cloaked back. From the battlements only those with perception skills enhancing ocular vision could make out the scene clearly. Not tendrils. Arms. Each balled into a fist and clutching tightly around gleaming objects. The swordswoman kicked off the toppling behemoth as the cloaked individual plunged two ivory arms into the stump where the monster''s neck had been. Black ichor flowed up what looked like armoured bone white arms only to burn away into an inner golden glow. A second arrow fell, this one landing atop the wooden battlements. Soldiers scrambled away but the arrow hadn¡¯t been an attack. With another flash of light Hera appeared, stumbled, then caught herself against a sharpened wooden parapet. === Leif rode the undead as it collapsed. His weight, increased thanks to [Gold Iron Physique] pushed its body down and allowed him to maintain his balance. Hera vanished in a flash of light, no doubt repositioning to her second arrow. Speaking of arrows... As death energies flooded into his body, only to be subsumed and converted into golden lifeforce, Leif felt every inch of his body flex with power. [Blight¡¯s Bounty] was working overtime and the attribute increase from the skill was already maxed out at forty percent. Leif hopped off the now unmoving behemoth and slammed the first of his already conjured amber limbs into the disturbed soil. Or more specifically, the glowing arrow it was holding. Working quickly he repeated the action, planting each arrow like a tent stake before doing the same with the next. All around him Leif could feel the hostile intent from the nearby swarms of undeath slowly shift from the human outpost and onto the much closer, and much more concentrated source of vitality. Leif triggered [Amber Steps]. Not to return to the hill, but instead to quickly reposition himself back to the bloated corpse of the abomination. He jumped off the body, striking down ravenous undead and they clawed at him in seeming desperation. He twisted, letting the amber arms spin in a wide arc, crushing reanimated corpses and twisted ghouls. Then, with the last three arrows planted he retreated into the centre of the circle he had created. The first arrow he had planted began to fade, the skill¡¯s structure losing its cohesion. That¡¯s when Hera triggered another skill. In a flash of light an ethereal soldier clad in ghostly white armour burst into existence where the arrow had once been. It wielded a massive two handed blade, the weapon already in mid swing as the entity was summoned. Its translucent armour a set of gleaming, interlocking plates that seemed to be without flaws. ¡°Wait one moment!¡± The officer called down as he ran off to find anyone not currently occupied with defending the outpost to assist him. Something that was surprisingly easy as the fighting along the walls seemed to have mostly stopped. He called up to a squad staring slack jawed into the distance. When they didn¡¯t reply he picked up a loose stone and threw it. ¡°What?¡± Their leader called down, rubbing the back of his helmeted head. === It sat cross legged in a cavern beneath the world. It could sense the puppets it commanded go limp one by one, their strings cut. The humans were surprisingly resilient, if it had expected two elites to be accompanying their little excursion it would have handled things slightly differently... A beetle crawled out from between its teeth. It snapped its jaws shut, snapping the insect in two with a satisfying crunch. Though it neither hungered nor tired, the being intimately enjoyed the sensation. The feeling of breaking something far below itself in stature and power. The thrill, the hunt, the game. Undeath could get so dull if one didn¡¯t invest in little ways to keep themselves... occupied. Lifeforce bloomed above and the large carapaced form it was sitting on twitched. A skeletal hand steadied the former royal, soothing its innate urges. An observer may have called the gesture kind, almost caring. Instincts it had long suppressed urged it to snuff out any and all life. To satiate and fulfil the purpose its kind were born to do. But you didn¡¯t get far within undead society if you were little better than a feral beast. It tapped bony fingers along the obsidian exoskeleton of its most beloved prize. Formians were a fascinating commodity. Even a queen as young and relatively weak as the one it had risen were such... unique specimens. A spider chittered nearby, one among a few of the enthralled it had bothered to recover. The beast was still alive, though with every passing day it drew closer and closer to undeath as ambient energies claimed it. Sending those creatures after the humans had been quite amusing. Though, with how the current situation was going it regretted not having its more potent undead available at the time. Yes, cutting the game short would have been a considerable let-down. But victory was its own reward. Though, with how its horde had grown both in size and strength the being couldn¡¯t truly complain. Even now, some of its more prized possessions were hard at work. Butchering their way through the network of caverns that gave the depths of the world such a unique and abyssal flair. One of its more stable connections, a string of death connecting to a reanimated griffon snapped. It hissed in displeasure, the undead surrounding it within the cavern instinctually doing the same. Their wills resonant and subservient to its own. It contemplated its next move while gently stroking the formian queen. It was still possible to get a perfect victory. If the humans escaped, the status quo in the east may change, but that wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing... Its kind were a little too happy to enter extended periods of stagnation. No. It wouldn¡¯t let that happen. If only to avoid the displeasure from the underlord it served. It still had several cards to play. And if all went to plan it could gain far, far more than it would lose. It just needed to dangle the appropriate bait... It cackled, the chilling sound reverberating through the oddly geometric cavern. As it had done many times before, it reached for the string connecting itself to the ant queen. With a blur of consciousness its mind merged with that of the ant¡¯s, its senses the ant¡¯s own. Time to have some fun, claim another prize, and finish this little game. Chapter 66: Far Reach Chapter 66: Far Reach The slopes fronting the imperial outpost became still. Smoke rose in faint wisps where blasts from skills had scorched the hillside or ignited abandoned fields. Among this smoke rose motes of amber light. Leif hissed out a long breath as he allowed his limbs to finally dissipate. Around him the few remaining sentinels cracked, and broke apart, fading away into white light mixing with gold. Corpses littered around Leif¡¯s feet, the hem of his cloak darkened with a mixture of dirt and blood. Throughout the fight he hadn¡¯t been in any true danger, the numbers of undead while great had been diffused by distance and lessened by the soldiers atop the fortifications. What few that made it past Hera¡¯s summons were often missing limbs or gravely wounded. Leif flared his aura in an effort to burn away the last remaining excess vitality. He knew as he cultivated life-force his available pool would expand, but that expansion was comparatively slow compared to the rate he could accrue energy. His focus briefly shifted to his notifications. He had gained a level, not too bad for a ten or so minute stretch of intense combat, though the build-up of experience over the past few days was likely as much of a reason for the gain. Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 7! For defeating a large number of foes unarmed and unarmoured you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Alacrity] +1 to [Spirit] +1 to [Charisma] +1 free point! That was a very nice level up. He wasn¡¯t totally sure as to what caused certain level ups to grant more attributes while others granted very little but he had noticed the fluctuation in growth. More was better, he wouldn¡¯t complain. Leif trudged up the incline towards Far-reach. He noticed a section of wall different in design and accurately identified it as a gate. He angled towards it and continued on. He reached the gate and looked up at the soldiers atop the wall. ¡°Well?¡± He asked, cocking his hooded head to the side while shuffling the heavy travelling cloak around to make sure it covered him completely. ¡°Uh, we¡¯re waiting for orders. Sorry about that uh... sir.¡± One of the soldiers said in an apologetic tone. Leif grunted and crossed a pair of amber arms in front of his chest. ¡°Good work out there.¡± Another soldier called down. ¡°Very impressive, saved our asses for sure.¡± Leif nodded then fished out a small metallic badge. ¡°If I showed you this would you let me in? This seems ridiculous.¡± The first soldier squinted down at the object. ¡°What is it?¡± His own skill, [Combative Gumption] compared combat experience. He was fairly certain this metric measured ¡®combat experience¡¯ quite literally. As in, how much experience had they gained from fighting in regards to levelling up. He checked the soldiers, not entirely surprised that many, if not most, were recognized by his skill as: Combat experience: Greater! If they possessed one or two combat oriented classes, as to be expected of soldiers, then even if they were at an overall lower level the sheer fact they had needed to fight in order to gain said levels made his skill determine them to be ¡®greater.¡¯ They rounded a bend in the well worn path, the dirt road a remnant from when the outpost had been a small town. Passing lines of orderly tents and what looked like abandoned crafting workshops the officer finally gestured. ¡°Over there. The healing stations are in that long tent. The quarantine area is behind it.¡± She said formally. Leif nodded and stepped towards the healing tent. He could already perceive the fitful vitality of several within. The officer coughed and her bodyguards shifted uncomfortably, their armour clanking softly as they did so. If Leif could physically roll his eyes he would have done so. He sighed and continued past the wounded and towards the quarantine area. It turned out to be a converted barn, one of the sides having been removed allowing for a tarp and wooden supports to expand the building outwards. The academy students milled about, several with bored expressions while others seemed nervous. Several guards watched at a safe distance, none too close to the students. ¡°Next.¡± Called a gruff voice. Leif watched as Linus stepped up to a pair of older men who both wore exhausted expressions and dirt and sweat stained robes that had once been white. Around their necks hung two pendants with what looked like a jagged mountain bound in chains. The man who had spoken raised a small crystal shard. It didn¡¯t seem to do anything so the man handed it over to the other who placed it within a small metal box. The officer Leif had been following cleared her throat. ¡°New arrival.¡± She barked formally. ¡°And a healer, prioritise him if you would.¡± ¡°I outrank you girl.¡± The crystal user grunted. ¡°And healers should be all but immune to being turned. Unless they¡¯re dead of course. But fine, over here boy. Let¡¯s get this over with.¡± The spriggan stepped into the opened barn, a guard stepping aside to let him enter. The man Leif assumed to be the leading officer for the quarantine area looked him up and down before the second man silently handed him a second crystal from the same metal crate. Once again nothing seemed to happen. ¡°Clear.¡± The man grunted, handing the other back the crystal. ¡°Now if you¡¯re really a healer, get to work. If anyone dies because of this tedious formality I¡¯ll feed you all to the commander''s snake.¡± Chapter 67: Suspicions Chapter 67: Suspicions The smell in the air was sterile and clean. The scent of blood and sweat mixed with medicinal balms and clean bandages. There was a pervasive sense of barely contained panic as the number of critically injured had begun to climb. Climb, that was, until Leif got to work. ¡°Heal.¡± The command resonated through the tent, the very world stirring at its utterance. The bedridden soldier, face gaunt and skin pale from blood loss twitched as golden light flashed. Where what was a near fatal bite wound to the lower neck, muscle fibres regrew at a visible rate and the man¡¯s skin healed over. His breathing changed from the ragged gasps of a man desperately clinging onto life, to the deep rhythm of an exhausted sleep. He wouldn¡¯t be able to continue the fight, healing magic would often leave the recipient in a near coma-like state for days, if not more. Aides grabbed the unconscious man and carried him out of the tent to wherever the recovering were being kept. It had been four, approaching five hours since Leif had begun working within the healers tent. There were three others designated as the outposts healers. Though only one had any actual healing skills. The other two were proficient with balms and stitches. One was a surgeon by profession, the other having been trained as a battlefield medic. Within his first hour Leif saved four lives, healing the injured soldiers of what would have surely been fatal wounds. Apparently the undead had once again begun assaulting the outpost, though ever since Leif and Hera had intervened the numbers were significantly reduced. Even then, soldiers fell. Leif overheard two officers talking in low voices about the slowly increasing fatality rate. Several bodies had been carried through the healers tent, hidden under white sheets. According to the imperial healers, the two men outside working in the quarantine area were priests. Their crystals were able to detect death aspected energies that may be lingering within any otherwise unaware victims. Every now and again they would enter and double check the recovering patients, at no point did their crystals react. Leif wondered if they actually worked, or if the priests were just waving them around for fun. Towards the end of the first hour Leif was running low on stored vitality. He had excused himself and made for the battlements. Then, he had located where the sound of battle was loudest before scaling the wall and simply hopping over. Twenty seconds later he materialised back atop the palisade fortifications with a streak of golden light. Soldiers watched him go, several slack jawed. Below were the corpses of two undead drakes where the spriggan had ripped them in half, among half a dozen pulverised corpses. Revitalised, Leif had returned to the tent. This process repeated itself four more times. Despite these intermittent breaks his efficiency only improved. While healing he made sure to note the specific injury or ailment, then he tried to guide his restorative energy in a way it would have the most effect. It wasn¡¯t easy, but after the fifth or sixth attempt he noticed a considerable reduction on the strain the use of his healing skills had on both him, but also the wounded he was treating. It was progress, sure and steady. The experience he had earned, both from healing and combat was also noteworthy. It had resulted in a level. Level up! Class [Adept] is now level 3! The blue and gold trimming to the man¡¯s military uniform gave him away as a man of noble birth. Sieg immediately didn¡¯t like him, he took a step back, his guard rising. In his time in the empire Sieg had come to learn the types of people best avoided. The man before him was almost certainly one of them, there was a feeling he gave off, though Sieg couldn¡¯t pinpoint exactly what. ¡°Dismissed soldier, I have some questions to ask the academy contingent of our little expedition.¡± He said smoothly, the first man saluted once again and made himself scarce. Out the corner of his eye Sieg saw Marcus approaching, he subtly motioned for his friend to stay back. He noted the imperial soldier had a metallic earring painted red, a pattern that looked like a spiderweb woven out of blood, or the cracked surface of season up above. He didn¡¯t recognise the symbol, perhaps it was a guild or some other sort of organisation¡¯s mark. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware there was anything me or my companions would need to be questioned about.¡± Sieg said, keeping his face straight. He suspected he could guess what, or who, the officer would ask about. ¡°Oh, but there is.¡± The man said with a slight smile. "It¡¯s about the... thing, you brought back with you. The one currently masquerading as a healer.¡± Sieg frowned in mock confusion. ¡°If you¡¯re referring to the auxiliary member Hera hired during our outing, then I don¡¯t have much to say. Ask her about him if you want.¡± He said, crossing his arms. Something about this man was putting him on edge. ¡°The Academy blade is currently indisposed to questions regarding her latest hiring decision.¡± The officer said. ¡°Considering she is performing overwatch for the siege we find ourselves weathering. Perhaps you could fill me in...?¡± He asked leadingly. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like my problem, sir.¡± The officer¡¯s smile widened but none of it reached his eyes. ¡°I see, thank you for your...¡± He said, trailing off. Sieg turned to what had caught the man¡¯s attention. From around a tent walked the topic of conversation, hooded and tall, with the faint golden glow of his eyes peeking out from under his hood. Sieg looked back to where the officer was but the man had vanished. ¡°Gods dammit. This is the last thing we need.¡± He muttered, pushing his aura out towards the spriggan, Leif changed course from the large gathering of students and moved to him. The northman jogged forward and met him halfway. ¡°What is it?¡± Leif asked. ¡°You seem to have drawn suspicion. Or rather, some of the military leadership probably has an idea of what you are and they¡¯re snooping.¡± It still surprised Sieg how quickly the spriggan had gone from nearly unintelligible to an almost natural sounding voice. He supposed it was old habits kicking back in, though truth be told he didn¡¯t have a clue. Leif paused for a good few seconds before deflating. ¡°How many lives do I need to save before I get treated like everyone else?¡± He asked with a sigh. Sieg grunted. ¡°You could save the whole damn world and there would still be people who hate and distrust you. It¡¯s not a you thing, it¡¯s a human thing. Now come, I didn¡¯t get to see how that plan of yours was executed because apparently we students need to be babied constantly.¡± Chapter 68: Skimmers Chapter 68: Skimmers The dawn broke, the sun lighting up the underside of a blanket of wispy clouds, causing the sky to burn as if aflame. Then turbulence asserted itself, and smoke began to rise up from the layer of white and grey. The condensed water vapour hanging above the world burned like the warmth of a hearth. The awe inspiring sight did little to revitalise the defenders of Far-Reach. The soldiers were weary, their exhaustion bone deep from what Leif had learnt was days of near continuous fighting. Small droplets of soot fell from the sky, rendering the already dour and suffocating atmosphere of Far-reach even more so. Leif could practically taste the emotions hanging in the air, odorous and pungent. He pulled back [Amber Sympathy], reeling in the skill along with his aura. As morning began to pass an argument rose near the curved arch of natural stone, the bridge linking the two bluffs that housed the newly founded imperial outpost together. The voices were crisp and sharp. The shouting quickly attracted a crowd, several academy students watched from their position on the southern edge of the main bluff. The belligerents of the verbal conflict were a contingent of crafters and other noncombatants who hadn¡¯t been evacuated during the first round. The others a contingent of officers not so subtly ordering a portion of the next evacuation to be the army¡¯s wounded. Leif still wasn¡¯t certain how the evacuation would be handled. From what he had both overheard, and had been told, the expedition had utilised a fleet of vehicles capable of flight. According to Marcus, who had professed he found the whole subject fascinating, the ¡®sky skimmers¡¯ weren¡¯t flying, not truely. Instead they rode currents of mana along predetermined paths, the skimmers were incapable of veering from their chosen paths more than a dozen or so metres. The thaumatic theory and engineering aspects of the technology went so far over Leif¡¯s head they may as well have disappeared into the burning clouds above. Leif felt at the depleted pool of vitality that nested within him. He had drained much of it during his stop to the healers tent before the sun had risen. Fortunately, the casualties during the night had been lax, the undead¡¯s numbers perhaps having begun to thin. At his side a misty presence manifested. Ever since Leif had upgraded his aura skill the scout had become easier and easier to notice. But with his aura retracted Darius had managed to get the drop on him. Leif didn¡¯t give the young man the satisfaction of startling him. He was fairly certain Darius found the process of sneaking up to someone as close as possible highly entertaining. Leif turned and saw the man staring out towards the horizon. ¡°Worried?¡± The spriggan asked. ¡°Yeah... Ahle-ho is on the coast, almost directly south of us. My family, friends, home...¡± Leif grunted, amused as the man spluttered. He once again studied the horizon, hoping to see a sign of change. Darius fell silent before perking up. ¡°Hey! Look, over there.¡± He called, pointing eagerly. The spriggan followed Darius¡¯s directions and strained his eyes, the golden glow flickering behind his ivory mask. He couldn¡¯t see anything. But the scout yelled again, this time attracting attention. ¡°Skimmers! They¡¯re coming!¡± Immediately a dam of tension broke, more people started pointing and calling. Some laughed, a few soldiers cheered. A few seconds later Leif finally saw what Darius had spotted. Over the horizon came the distant outline of triangular sails, as they drew closer Leif made out the wooden ship-like structures each was attached to. But they weren¡¯t boats. They were flat, more like a raft. They quite literally skimmed across the sky, valleys and forests being left behind as the crafts bobbed up and down, ploughing forward with tremendous speed. Then the murmurs started once again. Leif could sense a growing tingling of anticipation and fear building. There were three skimmers, but as Leif studied what he now recognised as wooden jetties jutting out of the smaller bluffs side, he noticed something strange. There was room for more than three skimmers, five at least. ¡°Gods.¡± Darius hissed. ¡°This-¡± Then an alarm began to ring from near to the walls, a screech split the morning air. The feeling of malevolence, ever present yet diminished, suddenly flared beneath his feet. Horns blared and officers began barking orders. Leif tensed, then let the building nervous energy go. He would be more than capable in the upcoming fight. It was callous to think of what may turn into a slaughter as an opportunity, but for him it likely would be. Then he turned, and followed the rushing soldiers to the wall. Chapter 69: Living Chapter 69: Living Undead streamed up the hill in a near continuous tide. Some were skeletal, almost fragile looking. Others still possessed their skin, muscles or fur. Beasts, goblins and bizarre mixes of both met a hail of skills and weapon propelled missiles. A screech split the air as row after row of undead fell, only for their place to be filled. Intermittently blue light would coalesce in a small blue shard, only to fall into the swell of monsters and vanish from sight. As Leif reached the top of the wooden battlements he saw it. At the peak of a hill, the hill he and the expedition had once scaled before entering the outpost, stood the distant towering form of a black carapaced insect. The amber blood flowing through his body froze as he felt a baleful gaze and intent land squarely on his shoulders. Leif tensed, his whole body ready. Around him soldiers stumbled or cried out, the sheer weight of the reanimated monster¡¯s intent enough to act as a physical force even from so far away. It couldn¡¯t do that before. Leif thought, ripping his eyes away from the undead enslaver and back to the more immediate threat. Has it gained more skills since we fought it below Pherin? Was it hunting and levelling up all this time? A rotting goblin reached the bottom of the palisade below where Leif was standing and impaled the wood where its fleshless arms had been whittled into sharp bone spears. It used its arms to rapidly scamper up the side of the wall. It reached the wall¡¯s apex and leaped towards Leif, mouth stretched wide. A golden palm hit it in the face, shattering its skull and sending the monster''s diminutive body flipping off back into the horde below. Then another undead clambered up, only to be cut down by a soldier¡¯s sword. For minutes this pattern repeated, those few undead who could climb would ascend the wall only to be slain. For a moment Leif hoped this status quo would hold, but that hope was quickly dashed. The sheer press of bodies began to create makeshift ramps. Undead, ravenous and frenzied used the heads and shoulders of their kin to assail the fortifications in greater and greater numbers. A level up notification made itself known before being minimised automatically. In a brief moment of calm in between the maelstrom of violence Leif checked it, hopeful it would offer him something to meaningfully aid their current plight. It didn¡¯t, but the boost to attributes was welcome all the same. Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 15! For standing in defence of the needy and bestowing freely your vigour you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Spirit] +1 to [Charisma] +5 free points! He had five free points. Mentally slamming them into his [Charisma] attribute, Leif felt his power flare, his aura strain against invisible restraints before flexing into its new potential. He sensed panic bloom from his left and instinctively activated [Under My Protection] without turning. The golden shield snapped around a fallen imperial just as a humanoid with oddly elongated limbs leapt at them. It hit the barrier and bounced off, the undead was run through the back by a spear wielding defender before it could recover. Panic. Death. Fear. The emotions swirled in the air, laying over the battle like a thick blanket. Smothering and suffocating. Intermittently the enslaver queen would screech, the sound sending soldiers recoiling and the intent slamming down into their spirits. Soldiers cursed and screamed as one by one they fell. Despite everything it quickly became apparent to Leif that this fight was far, far beyond his ability to impact significantly. There were simply too many places he needed to be. Too many wounded to heal, too many lives to save, too many monsters to kill. In the sky above, the crimson cloud cover began to darken. In the distant south the steady rumbling of thunder rolled across the land. A multicoloured flash of skills erupted down along the battlements. A part of Leif¡¯s mind unconsciously recognised that it wouldn¡¯t be enough. They were simply outnumbered, they wouldn¡¯t be able to win. The spriggan sucked in a sharp inhalation of rain chilled air through the rigid slit he had in place of a mouth. Fear. Fear. An emotion often correlated to weakness, or perhaps cowardice. It was so raw and potent that it grabbed his heart in a vice grip and threatened to squeeze. Fear. Fear of failing to protect those around him. Fear losing those he had come to rely on and trust. Fear of once again falling, forgotten and alone. Fear of never regaining what he had lost, of dying as something inhuman and wrong. In that moment Leif was in two places. Fighting atop a wall in the remote remains of a once bustling settlement. Facing the sky as his life bled out in a muddy and silent field. And while the emotion was sharp and painful both. It was also the most real thing he¡¯d felt in over a decade. As his mind connected two points in time, it solidified something important, like a puzzle piece slotting into place. It made him feel alive. The air stilled, all sounds falling away. As if up until this point he¡¯d been fumbling around in murky darkness. Blindly reaching out in desperation for something he didn¡¯t truly understand. But despite it all it was him. Even as his mind, body and soul had been torn apart and remade in a twisted mockery of what he had once been. Under all that had been twisted and changed, he was still Leif. And he was still alive. Despite the unfathomable odds. Despite the potentially unique situation he had found himself in. Despite it all he knew one thing: That the man he had once been had felt the exact same fear. And in response to this realisation, in response to the sheer relief of still being, something in the world shifted. Leif let out a long, hissing exaltation as the fear fell away, discarded like a shirt that no longer fit. An awareness locked into him, it wasn¡¯t physical, nor was it tangible in any way. The intent, if calling it such was even correct, was more curious and playful than anything else. Like a bubbling spring, or laughter riding currents of wind. Congratulations! Your [Adept] skill [Life Spells] has met an upgrade threshold! Would you like to upgrade [Life Spells] from rank I to rank II? Y/N Leif didn¡¯t need to read the message to know what it was. He accepted, and felt the world once again shift, like a breeze blowing through a field of grass just out of sight. Leif felt his ability to control, or perhaps his ability to request and commune with the abstract concept of life be strengthened. Like flexing a muscle he tested the connection this intangible authority had with his blood aspected skills, It was stronger, but not yet fully complete. He would need another upgrade, or maybe two. The call of the past faded into the background as Leif fully focused on the present. He had a plan, it was stupid and foolish and quite possibly suicidal. Or it would be if he didn¡¯t empty out his reserves of golden power still roaring within him. Leif darted along the battlements, his amber limbs a blur of motion. As he moved, Leif expended as much cultivated vitality as he could with every injured man and woman he touched with [Healing Palm]. The empowered skill knitting together rent skin, mending torn muscle, and restoring shattered bone. He glanced back into the outpost, at the growing pile of critically injured who had been pulled back from the fighting. In a bounding leap he fell from the wall, landing in a heavy and inelegant crouch before making his way to the pile of wounded. Forty seconds later, as the anchor he had left atop the wall began to flicker and fade at the back of his awareness, Leif stepped forward and triggered [Amber Steps], reappeared back atop the fortifications. Leif cracked his neck. Time to do something stupid. Then he jumped off the wall and into the unyielding swarm of teeth and bones. Chapter 70: Above Chapter 70: Above Or rather, he was about to do something stupid. As he stepped up onto the sharpened wooden parapet a deafening roar split the battle. The undead seemed to shy back, recoiling from the sound as if in terror. Many of the defending humans flinched, several clasping hands over their ears as the near deafening wave of sound buffeted them. All eyes turned to the burning sky. For a moment nothing appeared, everything stood still as if soldier and undead monstrosity were united in waiting with baited breath. Then a serpentine creature descended, it burst through the crimson and saffron clouds, its green scaled form glimmered a rainbow iridescence. The blood red crest of feathers surrounding the crown of its draconic head stood out even against the similarly coloured sky. As it dropped, the creature stretched out, from snout to tail it was as long as the trunk of an aged pine and twice as wide. Wings, feathered and bird-like, snapped out as the majestic creature plummeted, the motion arresting its descent and causing it to pull up from its dive no higher than thirty metres from the top of the outpost''s walls. A great swelling of wind whipped across the battlefield as the monster glared down on the horde of undeath. Its fanged mouth parted as if in an amused, cruel smile. ¡°Pocht is not pleased. Pocht is not pleased at all!¡± It said, its voice a hiss of disapproval. A ripple passed through the ranks of the undead, the intent of the giant ant queen shifted from the defenders, many breathed out in relief at the liberating sensation. The scaled monster beat its feathered wings a single time. ¡°Perish.¡± it commanded, the word resounding like the edict of an executioner. Invisible fire danced along every surface, the world responding to the order. Flames, real and white hot with edges of blue rushed from the creature¡¯s open maw like floodgates being flung open to unleash a torrent of water. A screech of outrage came from the still stationary enslaver as the flames bore down upon the undead horde. A secondary force rippled across the battlefield as a green malevolent light flickered into existence within the chests and eyes of the reanimated corpses. The undead rushed forward, their ravenous assault on the defensive perimeter of Far-reach redoubling. It wasn¡¯t enough. Whatever empowering magic had been bestowed on the abominations was irrelevant before the flames that ashed flesh and charred bone. Dozens of undead vanished under the torrent of flames, the winged serpent coiled upwards and unleashed a second devastating stream of white and blue down upon the battlefield. The soldiers below flinched away from the heat, several abandoning the wall entirely to avoid being in the proximity of the attack. Leif activated [Under my Protection] as even his ivory white bark began to crisp at the heat. The reanimated ant queen chittered angrily, malevolent energy built up along its obsidian carapace. The scaled monster twisted, its entire body contorting to face down the enslaver. Before either monster could clash a solid beam of white streaked across the sky. It fell upon the giant ant, piercing its head before detonating in a wave of radiance. The entire horde of undead rippled as if struck, their frantic assault of the outpost once again coming to a halt. Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.comost immediately he was met with an onslaught of rotting flesh and twisted bone. They fell upon him, [Under my Protection] flared into life only to be buffeted by the sheer weight of bodies. He positioned six arms of conjured gold, using his [Willpower], Leif moulded them into spears, the tips sharp and length increased. When the shield dropped he stabbed out and up, impaling the closest monsters with each strike and an unknown amount packed in close behind them. Leif stepped back, retracting his limbs only to stab forward once again. He repeated this over and over, each repetition felling several more baleful creatures. Some still possessed flickering green light, their gazes piercing, the energy animating them bubbling in a violent fervour. Soldiers in imperial silver and blue called for the retreat as a towering abomination reached the wall, it crashed through like a child stomping through play blocks. Another screech split the air, a moment later a beam of blue carved horizontally down through the wall. It split the twisted behemoth from side to side, rotting guts spilling out over the ground. Leif jerked down, but he would have been too slow. Barely a foot above his head the gravitational energy crackled and dispersed. The top half of the nearby section of wall fell backwards in an almost absurdly slow fashion. The spriggan staggered back. He hadn¡¯t been the target of that attack, but he had almost been a coincidental casualty. Death had come so close, and so fast that he hadn¡¯t been able to react in time. A feeling of powerlessness swept over him, if affecting the wider scope of this battle had been beyond him before, now what could he do? Arrows of light arced over the encampment, each targeting the distant figure of the awakened enslaver. Pocht coiled and twisted, moving in erratic patterns in an attempt to reach the undead queen. Whenever it got too close a beam of dark blue would slice through the world, keeping it at bay. They had lost, it was only a matter of time before the final defenders fell and the tide of undeath claimed the outpost, erasing all traces of life. Then the wind changed direction, and the crimson sky parted as if by a colossal wedge. In the distance thunder rumbled across the land and the temperature dropped by several degrees. Leif twisted around to see what was coming. For an instant he and many of the desperately fighting soldiers held bated breaths. Then, over the horizon and approaching at a blisteringly fast pace, came a vessel. Easily five times the size of the skimmers Leif now saw had almost reached the smaller bluff. Rain fell, the shower quickly transitioning into a flood, the dry packed dirt of the camp rapidly turning into a muddy mess. Within moments the outpost was bathed in sheets of icy water, from the south, almost indistinguishable from the rolling thunder and inaudible over the sounds of battle, boomed laughter. Chapter 71: Downpour Chapter 71: Downpour The storm-front rolled in as the walls were abandoned. Carts, crates and debris were pulled into makeshift barriers to stem the undead''s advance through the winding streets. Leif ducked behind one such barrier as it was closed off, the soldiers didn¡¯t give him a second glance. His cloak hung heavy on his shoulders, the rain soaked fabric partially restricting his movements. But there was otherwise little discomfort. There was the ever present worry that his inhuman form may be revealed. But in the moment, surrounded by undead he found it hardly mattered. Above, the serpent roared in triumph, its movements becoming quicker, its every motion more agile and dangerous. No longer did it beat its feathered wings, as it was swimming through the falling rain. ¡°What is that thing?¡± Leif asked, staring up at the being of fire and scales. Another jet of white and blue flames scorched the now abandoned battlements, the undead streaming through gaps in the defences were incinerated as they blindly rushed forward. ¡°Commander Kaan¡¯s bound companion. It¡¯s called a coatl, a sacred protector of the empire.¡± One of the nearby soldiers said, the young man likewise staring up in awe. ¡°Bound?¡± ¡°Yeah, he has a high level [Tamer] class.¡± The soldier replied, briefly taking off his helmet and wiping water from his eyes. Something that powerful could be made subservient to a human? How is that possible? Leif wondered, gazing up at the coatl with a new perspective. Icy frost bloomed a street over. Leif reached out and trickled vitality into the nearby soldiers with [Blight¡¯s Bounty] before tearing off towards the familiar skill. He would fight, but he¡¯d rather fight alongside those he knew. There was no path leading in the correct direction, so Leif took the direct route. He kicked in a door of a repurposed house, he crossed the plain rectangular room in only a few strides before increasing his weight and shoulder checking the structure''s far wall. He burst out into a small dusty square in a shower of splinters right as a purple arc of lightning flashed towards him. Leif nearly froze in surprise, his shield flickering around him for the half a second it took for the arcane energies to disperse. ¡°Fuck, my bad!¡± Marcus called. ¡°Did you just run through that wall?¡± ¡°No time.¡± Leif hissed, turning to face a group of short, humanoid ghouls. The right hand side of the courtyard was inundated in frost. Several of the incoming undead slipped and tumbled, their fall sending those behind them likewise spilling to the ground. A sharp whistle of wind came from a nearby street as Adriana ran into view, she was followed a moment later by Linus, the boy lugging a sword far too big for him to use. Leif didn¡¯t have time to consider why. Wind magic swirled around him as a feeling of being lightened flooded through his body. The world slowed ever so slightly, his every movement flowing and crisp. The air around his arms and legs quivered slightly as he ran to position himself between the students and the undead. Sieg manifested an axe head of sharpened ice before bisecting three undead with a flex of his skill. The large man was likewise surrounded in vibrating air. Leif stepped forward, amber limbs surging outward to puncture, crush or restrain. He found his control of [Gold Iron Physique] was just as affected by Adriana¡¯s empowering skill as the rest of his body. Convenient. He thought, easily deflecting a skeletal beast¡¯s clawed swipe with two amber limbs. Leif dispatched the monster and cracked his neck. ¡°Did you guys see the royal sky skimmer?¡± Linus called, shouldering the massive weapon. ¡°It¡¯s our ticket out of here.¡± ¡°We all saw it.¡± Adriana snapped. ¡°The problem will be getting onto the bluff with the docks.¡± ¡°Fighting retreat?¡± Marcus suggested. Arcane lightning dancing between similarly coloured gauntleted fingers. ¡°Also, what''s with that sword, Linus?¡± ¡°He¡¯s compensating for something.¡± Adriana said. ¡°I have an idea.¡± Linus said. The young teammates spoke over one another, then shared a baleful glare. ¡°Focus people!¡± Sieg called, the man using his aura in conjunction with skills Leif didn¡¯t know to ice over the other half of the approach. Reanimated corpses clogged up the slippery entry point, clustered as they were. Marcus¡¯s arcane lightning danced through the ever growing pile up, dealing incredible damage. ¡°Above, on the right!¡± Leif called as the group retreated through a mostly unused lane, a low growl came from the worn tiles of the nearby rooftops. A moment later a pack of three undead drakes prowled into sight, their clawed legs digging into the rain slick tiles. Two of the reanimated drakes were the size of the more common beasts found in the foothills of the northern mountains. Raw muscle was visible where several clumps of dull scales had fallen off. The third was a different story. Unlike the larger creatures Leif had spotted in his somewhat naive quest to climb up a mountain, this drake was long, lithe and remarkably slender. It was like comparing a rapier to a pair of battleaxes. ¡°I¡¯m still forty nine.¡± Sieg sighed, grunting as Leif helped him get to his feet while healing his wounds with a trickle of vitality. ¡°One off the next milestone. I haven''t even been able to promote my combat class. The first group of evacuees were most of the crafters and non combat officials, and they apparently took the promotion items.¡± ¡°Cheer up big guy!¡± Marcus laughed. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have time to do the advancement trial even if you did reach fifty! Also, as fun as this is, we really should get going.¡± === Fighting powerful monsters from a distance had been Hera¡¯s go to strategy for several years. It had been wildly effective, being able to defeat foes who were significantly stronger than you was one of, if not the quickest ways to level up. Albeit far from the safest. It had served her as an adventurer, it had served her in the crucible, and up until this point it had served her while she worked as a blade of the Academy. A crackling lance of dark blue energy ripped through the air she had been standing in but a moment prior. She ran, manifesting platforms of light with every step only to let them dissipate into essence. Maintaining more than a few barriers was well beyond her ability without dedicating a significant portion of her focus to the task, and she needed all of her power, wits and concentration to not be obliterated. Another beam of gravity energy shot from where the humanoid enslaver flew a hundred metres away. Hera manifested a barrier of light above her and twisted, kicking off the pane of light, shattering it in the process, and launching herself downwards. She felt her hair rise and her clothes tug against her body, pulled back by the near passing of the ant¡¯s deadly attack. Another pane of light appeared as she fell, Hera twisted the skills construct with a minor effort of will, altering it to let the barrier not be tied to the point she had cast it. Hera hit the platform feet first and felt it partially fracture under her downward momentum. Fortunately it held, she rode the pane of light downwards, ever so slightly tugging on the skills construct to reassert its default state of being stationary. It was a trick she had learnt years ago, back when the skill had an entirely different name. Hera stabilised her footing and summoned a bow thanks to her [Armoury of Light] skill, a core skill that she had created thanks to multiple fusions, all from different classes. The created weapons were an all but perfect conduit for her other powers. She twisted, the platform spinning, and returned fire on the enslaver. The creature was forced to dodge, flying inelegantly to the side, its insectile wings a blur of motion even to Hera¡¯s enhanced vision. Then it was forced to retreat further as a geyser of white and blue flames raked across the sky. ¡°Shiny Human!¡± The feathered serpent hissed, coiling through the rain and rising to Hera¡¯s own elevation. ¡°Coatl.¡± She replied, not entirely sure how to communicate with commander Kaan¡¯s bond. ¡°Father says to drive the ant lady away, he will bring the big fly boat!¡± Pocht roared, then it dove to avoid a lance of blue light. ¡°Tell him to hurry up!¡± She yelled back, running in the opposite direction to not give their opponent an easy target. For minutes more they battled in the sky, and though they fought to force the enslaver away from the outpost and the desperately retreating humans below, the oddly human shaped ant was more than capable of weathering their assault, never straying far. It¡¯s trying to protect the undead queen. Hera realised, cursing under her breath. While that thing is in play it won¡¯t allow us to shepherd it away. And while it''s over Far-reach everyone is in danger. She peered through the low, burning red cloud cover and scanned the ground. The closer to the battle Kaan drew the more wild and unruly the skies became, as high as she was the very air was thick with both rain and soot. If she could eliminate the undead enslaver queen maybe this whole ordeal would end. From the report Marcus, Sieg and Leif had given her about the events within the mythhold, Hera doubted the ant queen was the entity in control of the horde. It won¡¯t hurt to try. She thought. Firing off a quick volley to keep the enslaver woman busy before retreating up into the clouds with a sequence of bounding leaps. [Prismatic Sight] activated, and the cloud cover thinned, retreating into the background as her perception skill bled away all excessive visual stimuli and helped her vision penetrate any non solid obstacles. She sighted the ant queen far below and began charging up an arrow of light. Hera doubted she would get another chance as good as this one. Best to make it count. Her previous attack on the enslaver hadn¡¯t killed it outright, though surely the monster had been wounded. She would need to put everything she could into a single, deadly attack. Power built, light shining in the arrow¡¯s pointed head like a beacon. The clouds around her shone with a dazzling radiance, the heat coming off the skill made steam rise in a continuous pillar as the very air screamed like a kettle. She took aim, years of training and far more life and death experience than most her age steadying her arms, calming her breathing. Then an obsidian clad fist crashed into her side. As the Academy blade was sent flying, the impact blacking out her vision and pulverising her ribs, the almost fully charged skill destabilised, then detonated. Everything went white. Chapter 72: Of a Feather Chapter 72: Of a Feather Kaan Alfredi, commander of the Ahle-ho garrison, captain of the Empire¡¯s Mercy, bondmate of an ancient guardian, and grandfather to forty seven grandchildren made the sky weep at his approach. He hung in the sky, as if the very air was capable of supporting his greatness. His well oiled moustache and beard remained perfectly still, despite the chaotic lashes of wind and rain that surrounded him. In fact, he wasn¡¯t wet at all, a benefit of mastery over weather magics. Despite his age, Kaan Alfredi didn¡¯t look a day over fifty. One of many advantages to advancing through the level fifty and one hundred bottlenecks at a young age. His dark complexion was common among those from the empire¡¯s eastern provinces. At his command, great updrafts of wind swept from the south, propelling both him and his personal sky skimmer at speeds no vessel had ever been designed to travel. The skimmer was far larger than the meagre rafts the expedition had used on its initial deployment to the northern frontier. And truth be told, the Empire¡¯s Mercy was not the right tool for this job, its greater size making it more suited for the open seas than constantly pitching in an effort to not crash into the tops of trees or rolling hills. But he had little choice, two of the skimmers had to be left behind due to damages. As long as he could evacuate the men and women under his command out of the deathtrap that had been sprung on them, everything would be fine. Should be fine. With a flex of his will he ushered another gale of winds to surge up from behind. His skimmer once again picked up speed, the crew clutched to guardrails or had tied themselves to the deck via ropes. Such speed would generally be ill advised, if the skimmer strayed more than two dozen or so metres from the navigation route the vessel would no longer be powered by the invisible streams of wayfinding magics. But the pace, while reckless, had been more than worth it. Kaan had partially feared that Far-reach would have fallen, the position having been overrun by undead. It was a good thing that the empire¡¯s methods of reclaiming lost territories accounted for sudden attacks. Far ahead, the battle raged unceasingly, from his elevation Kaan could just make out undead and soldiers fighting in the streets and through the ruins of buildings. But beyond that, above Far-Reach was the real fight. Kaan felt his blood rise, his every cell flush with energy. He¡¯d burnt through a week''s worth of cultivation pushing for time over the past few days, a little more wouldn¡¯t hurt. He redoubled his speed, the cultivated power of storms and winds that spun within his soul being expended in what many would have considered wasteful excess. In the moment, Kaan found that it hardly mattered. He hadn¡¯t seen a fight like this in years, not since the ants had slaughtered their way across the northern vassal kingdoms and partially pressed into the empire proper. It seemed that Hera¡¯s reports had actually been correct. Sure, he¡¯d doubted her. When Hera had explained the academy¡¯s discoveries via communication construct he had found them hard to believe. But as he observed the conflict with his own eyes Kaan finally accepted that she hadn¡¯t been mistaken, the enemies humanity now faced were likely a remnant of that invasion. It brought him no small amount of joy to realise some of his old foes had willingly presented themselves for him to finish off. Kaan laughed, the sound reverberating through the clouds like rolling thunder. If the man who had gifted him the Empire''s Mercy could see what he was doing with it, he likely would have spat blood. He could feel the flickering emotions of his bond. Pocht roared in delight as he drew near, the closer he and his bonded companion drew the more stable their connection. He was close, a minute, maybe less. He would have to guide his skimmer into the tiny docks at the outpost lest his ship accidently break apart on the rocky bluff. It would take only a moment, surely there would- A sudden spike of alarm reached him from Pocht, his heart briefly caught in his throat. For an instant nothing happened. Then a blinding flash of white lit up the sky, blowing away the cloud cover that hung above Far-reach. Kaan cursed and kicked off of the wind, [Rain Step] carrying him ahead of the skimmer at a blisteringly fast speed. He blurred forward, still blinking the blindness from his vision. Kaan sensed, rather than saw his bond as the coatl was sent flying by the blast. The pain, phantom, like a memory, reached him through their connection. Finally the outpost came within his range of perception, each raindrop that hit the ground below, plinking off armour and skin relaying the positions and situation of the battle. It looked grim, despite everything he had been too slow. His perception caught a figure falling through the air, Kaan pivoted mid step and all but flew upwards. He caught Hera¡¯s falling body, then kicked off the air to lurch both him and the unconscious blade away from a slice of dark blue power. The creature hissed and pulled back. Its feathered wings, slick with the constant runoff of water, shuffled as the great serpent glared down at Leif. ¡°Explain... Is hiding healer friend?¡± ¡°Yes! Friend of you and humans.¡± Leif shouted, gesturing around at the staring soldiers. ¡°If friend, then who is bond?¡± It asked, still suspicious. Leif paused, he didn¡¯t have a bond. How will it react if I say that I don¡¯t have one? Before he could answer Marcus wobbled up beside him, slipping once in a puddle but catching himself on Leif¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Oh great feathered serpent. It is me, I am the... holder... of this one¡¯s bond.¡± Leif shot the man a glance. ¡°Truely?!¡± The coatl asked, leaning in closer, its tone excited, its rampant intent far less hostile. ¡°Bond holder like father? Can fly and make rain?¡± ¡°Uh, no? I can make purple lightning though.¡± Marcus said, taken aback by the question. The coatl shook itself as if shimmying in joy. Then it turned its head and blasted a gout of blue-white flames down a nearby street. ¡°Good! Good! You heal, Pocht rejoin fight now!¡± It said, bursting Hera¡¯s water bonds and dropping her limp body to the wet, muddy ground. The coatl beat its wings a single time, spraying water and detritus in every direction. Then it was gone, slithering through the air like a fish in water. The pressure of its presence lifted off everyone¡¯s shoulders, Leif heard several take long, gasping breaths. He ignored them and scrambled over to Hera¡¯s unconscious form, sending a spell and cultivation empowered [Healing Palm] into her blackened and burnt side. He tried his best to control the flow of healing, guiding the energy to where it was most needed. A single use of the spell wasn¡¯t enough, nor was a second. After three uses Hera¡¯s breathing had stabilised, then her eyes opened and she coughed up a mouthful of water and blood. ¡°Fucking hells.¡± She gasped. Leif dragged her under the cover of a nearby, half packed tent. ¡°I¡¯d ask if you are okay.¡± The spriggan said. ¡°But I can tell that you are.¡± ¡°Wow, I feel so cared for.¡± Hera grunted. She looked up, her eyes flashed white with specs of rainbow light. ¡°That thing is terrifyingly fast.¡± Leif pushed her down as she tried to stand. ¡°Woah, I said you were okay. But that doesn¡¯t mean you can go back-¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, the body is partially remade at level fifty. Then fully at level one hundred. I¡¯m much more receptive to healing magics than most others. Hells, I¡¯m straight up harder to kill than even defensively focused level fifties.¡± She said. ¡°Okay... if you say so.¡± Leif said, not entirely convinced. He let her stand nonetheless. She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine as long as I don¡¯t eat a direct hit again." She looked around to where several Academy students were all staring at her. More than just the four Leif had fought with to get this far. ¡°You all need to evacuate, and I mean right now. Get on Kaan¡¯s big fancy ship when it arrives and don¡¯t look back.¡± She cracked her neck and grinned. ¡°You too, tree man. I¡¯ll see you all at Ahle-ho, if I¡¯m not around after a few days go find Darius¡¯s family. I trust the independent guild more than the imperial army. The Academy and military don¡¯t always get along.¡± Then she fired an arrow of light into the distance, vanishing in a flash a few moments later. Leif turned to Marcus. ¡°What the hells was that?¡± ¡°Hey.¡± The sandy haired man said, raising his hands defensively. ¡°Your honesty was about to get you killed. The commander''s bond is an... infamously poor decision maker. If it found out you weren¡¯t bound it probably would have toasted you.¡± Leif groaned, he hoped this wouldn¡¯t come back to bite him in the ass. Chapter 73: A Moment More Chapter 73: A Moment More A team of three imperial thaumaturges cleared the street wide stone arch with wind and heat controlling skills as streams of people moved to where the three sky skimmers were hastily being pulled around the sides of the bluff. On the side Leif was standing, a temporary barricade was being hastily erected. The undead still rushed through the outpost in a near continuous stream. Fortunately their progress was being stalled by teams of soldiers holding the winding choke points of Far-reach¡¯s streets. Leif was at the rear of the expedition group as they crossed the natural bridge. As the expedition members made their way through the less developed secondary bluff, they rounded a bend and saw the skimmers where they were parked. He saw several groups manoeuvring the hovering vehicles with ropes all while keeping them from impacting the rocky side of the bluff with long sticks. Men were shouting and pointing away from the outpost, but through the thick sheets of rain Leif couldn¡¯t make out what they were gesturing towards. At the centre of the smaller bluff was an obelisk standing over four metres tall. Its dark purple exterior letting the angular structure stand out against the backdrop of near endless water. Faint runes glowed along the circular base of the obelisk, each pulse sending streaks of violet snaking up the object¡¯s sides. He tried peering into the distance, trying once again to make out what it was that was making the imperials anxious. Above Far-reach were the distant roars and thrum of battle, though the howling wind and endless rain drowned out the worst of it. ¡°It¡¯s the larger skimmer.¡± Marcus said, his tone low. ¡°They must be bringing it into the dock.¡± Leif gave the man a sideways look, then returned to studying the near solid sheet of water and mist surrounding the bluff. ¡°These are small jetties, how is something that big going to- Then he saw it. A looming shadow barrelling down on the docks. Soldiers screamed and support staff scrambled into action. Leif¡¯s amber blood ran cold and the wind buffeted his cloak. Those around him shielded their eyes and fought against the weather but due to his nature Leif was less affected. The skimmer was coming in far too fast, its dark silhouette rapidly materialising into the clear visage of a large, well adorned ship. Wooden staves, over three metres long, cracked and shattered as they tried to prevent the vehicle from colliding with the rocky side of the bluff. Aboard, Leif could see the skimmers crew doing the same but in reverse, their own staves snapping against rain slick stone. Skills were launched as Leif rushed forward, pushing aside gawking soldiers and students alike. Adriana was at the front, facing away from the near horizontal rain she unleashed a wave of wind. Half a dozen golden arms cracked into existence as Leif reached the very edge of the bluff. Palms of glowing amber met the half turned skimmer and pushed. He felt the distant sensation of conjured limbs cracking and splintering under the force. He channelled as much cultivated vitality into his next use of [Gold Iron Physique] as he could, another half dozen arms burst from his back, shoulders and side. These too strained against the skimmer, desperately fighting for any leverage against the momentum of the flying ship. Leif felt not just his skills, but his very body tremble as it groaned under the strain. His clawed feet dug into the solid ground as he used every fibre of his being to prevent the crash. Moments passed but they felt like minutes, the skimmer struck the side of the bluff. The polished wood of its hull smashed against stone as the skimmer¡¯s mass tipped from the impact. The skimmer rocked back, its crew tumbling down to the deck and out of sight. The entire vehicle heaved, then stilled. Damaged, more than a little battered, but hopefully still functional. They had done it, disaster had been averted. Exhausted cheers rose from those who had prevented the worst of the crash, a moment later the slack jawed onlookers behind them joined in. Leif fell to a knee, breathing out a stream of heated air from his slit of a mouth. That had been too close. Strong hands grabbed him under one shoulder and tried to pull him up, Sieg shouted something but what the man had said was lost under the pounding ache of skill overuse. The spriggan¡¯s attention was arrested by something else. Something was wrong, the malevolent, hungry gloom that had been a constant presence beneath their feet had... changed. It was almost indescribable, like the orientation of a nozzle having been turned ever so slightly. Then violent intent swept over Leif and the surviving humans. It was as though a starving beast had slipped its leash. A bloodthirsty screech washed over the imperial outpost. Followed in turn by hundreds of feral howls and screams. Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com === ¡°To think.¡± Kaan said, his voice carrying effortlessly on the wind. ¡°That your kind¡¯s invasion of the northern kingdoms brought this old man out of retirement.¡± The enslaver didn¡¯t respond. They rarely did in his experience, a habit of their innate pheromone communication if imperial researchers were to be believed. Regardless, he tried again. Getting under one¡¯s foes nerves, while immature, was a noticeable advantage. ¡°It¡¯s been almost a decade since the last of your hosts was turned back at the gates of Ahle-ho. Tell me monster, were you at that battle? Did we once cross swords?¡± Despite his bravado, Kaan had no hope of defeating the opponent he faced. His level would make him be regarded as one of humanity¡¯s elites, but his speciality was large scale warfare. A duel in the sky was much less his forte. Though he did possess certain strengths his opponent may underestimate. His bond, Pocht, was much of his personal strength. Almost half his total levels were dedicated to his promoted [Tamer] class. If Kaan guessed correctly, the coatl was less than half the level of the enslaver he now faced, but if they fought together that disadvantage in power should narrow significantly. Being a bonded companion had its perks. Pocht roared as he rocketed upwards, his connection to Kaan allowing the feathered serpent to effortlessly swim through the rain and clouds. With a flex of will Kaan channelled a not inconsiderable amount of power into the coatl, bestowing the serpent with enhanced strength and speed. Both struck out at the same time, the momentum of their attacks causing them to trade places, Kaan¡¯s condensed blasts of water and wind were replaced with Pocht¡¯s searing white and blue flames. But even united they couldn¡¯t drive the monster away. It flittered back at their assault, never straying far from its protective position above the undead queen below. Though inelegant in the air, the humanoid enslaver had little issue staying a step ahead. The glowing fire reflecting off the creatures blackened carapace. Through his ability to sense what the rain touched, Kaan noticed an imminent opportunity sneaking up from below. He smirked. Years of experience raising children, then grandchildren, had made him quite proficient at being a distraction. The humans that had already evacuated wouldn¡¯t be privy to any secrets, they could be allowed to escape. That clan of nomads was a potential threat, one that would be dealt with after the Puppeteer was done with the imperials. But it was time to prepare a swift means of escape. The battle above ground was getting a little too rowdy. It wouldn¡¯t do to remain should any other faction come snooping around the aftermath. The humans likely would, but they hardly mattered, the real powers of the world didn¡¯t live in disgusting cities and revel in their collective weakness. As the Puppeteer¡¯s prized undead finally finished their work, its attention drifted upwards, along the tether of death that linked its mind to that of the formian queen. Though the attempt would likely be classified as greedy, it wanted to orchestrate a situation where the ant princess it had lured to the fight would either fall entirely under the queen¡¯s control, or die trying to save her. But how... The Puppeteer considered its options. There were a multitude of possibilities, but many were far too elaborate, possessing too many points of failure. Something simpler would have to do. It let out a low, harsh cackle as it ran fleshless fingers along the carved runes that made up the now completed teleportation circle. The portal would be one way, and wouldn¡¯t last more than an hour or two. The anchor back in the homeland was only temporary after all. ¡°Oh my wondrous creations.¡± It murmured. Gazing upon the undead with glowing silver eyes. ¡°You will become my masterpieces, soon even the Underlords and Tombsires will bow and scrape at the mere hint of my passing...¡± Something moved in the distant shadows of the vast cavern, pulling them from its reverie. The Puppeteer whirled, a staff carved from two interlocking spines appearing with a blur. ¡°Who dares interrupt my work?¡± It hissed. The ghostly green flames resting in its partially melted eye sockets darting back and forth. ¡°I was wondering who was making all this racket.¡± Came a deep, amused voice. The shadows stirred, the darkness oozing forward like the sap of a tree. ¡°And you seemed so happy too. We can¡¯t have that. A naughty child who has strayed from the bounds of the compact should be... punished.¡± ¡°I have overstepped no such bounds.¡± The Puppeteer snapped. ¡°This is neutral territory, abandoned by the humans and unclaimed by the Formians.¡± ¡°Oh, I know.¡± Said the voice. ¡°To be perfectly honest, I couldn¡¯t give less of a shit about the rules. I just want to break some of your toys.¡± Then the shadows surged forward, twisting and writhing, of each oncoming tendril sharpened into blade-like spears. The Puppeteer¡¯s staff smashed into the ground, the sheer force of the impact cracking stone and causing a shockwave to wash out from the epicentre. It lurched back and slammed a skeletal hand into the outer ring of the teleportation circle. To the side a silver eyed undead was engulfed in a writhing mass of darkness, the tether of deathly energy snapping as it was carried away. ¡°NO!¡± It screamed. ¡°YOU DARE?¡± A baleful green light flared into existence as the portal burst to life. With a panicked mental command the remaining few mythical undead were ushered towards the glowing frame. The sudden light fought back the shadows, the Puppeteer briefly saw the outline of a tall, muscular figure welding a wickedly long sword. Then the figure vanished, and another of its prized undead was slain as steel severed bone. The thing. No, the orc, strode out of a pool of darkness and casually removed a skull from the body it was attached to. Silver light flickered, then was extinguished. The Puppeteer twisted and unleashed a roaring inferno of green flames at where the vile interloper was standing. But he simply stepped back and was carried away. ¡°You¡¯ve been holding out on us.¡± The orc mocked. ¡°Keeping such a juicy secret from your peers. There¡¯s going to be lots of very upset powerhouses knocking at your door.¡± ¡°SILENCE! I WILL WRING THE MARROW FROM YOUR BONES!¡± One of the silver undead reached for the portal, it was an instant from being whisked away to safety when a tendril of shadow wrapped around its femur and tugged it into the darkness. Another torrent of emerald fire thundered across the vast chamber, it was followed by another round of mocking laughter. The orc appeared once again, this time in the midst of the final three undead, slithering up from the shadows between their legs. For a terrifying instant the Puppeteer thought all three would be butchered. The dark, shadow wreathed sword flashed. Two undead were culled in an instant as the orc¡¯s blade carved them in half. So much potential, so much promise, gone. All but one, it reached the portal and vanished in a flash of green light. The orc let out a tsk of annoyance and turned to face the Puppeteer. ¡°Aw, one got away. Too bad.¡± Shadows swarmed through the chamber, like a wall of angry snakes. ¡°You planning on sticking around? I could do with a warm-up before the main event. ¡± The undead didn¡¯t reply as it blitzed past the orc in a streak of green fire. It vanished through the portal, a moment later the gateway snapped shut. The Puppeteer slammed a fist into the cool, blackened marble of its laboratory. It screamed in rage. Then every single one of its tethers except for the single remaining silver eyed skeleton snapped. It froze mid tantrum. Uh oh. Chapter 74: Dark Skies Chapter 74: Dark Skies In the skies above Far-reach a formian princess fought to kill. No longer was it good enough to simply keep the humans away from her sire. The very last of her family was now actively participating in the slaughter below, X couldn¡¯t let her opponents have an opportunity to strike out against her.T/his chapter is updated by And so she fought, fending off three fighters while actively going for the kill. She lashed out at the blond haired woman, the archer having survived the backlash of her skill¡¯s detonation and the strike X had delivered to her side. She had fallen, unconscious and charred, even as the human who commanded the rain had caught her, X had assumed the woman dead. But there must have been a powerful healer among the human workers, the archer herself was most likely above the third threshold. X had analysed the human and found herself comparing favourably in every attribute. Even still, it had been wrong to assume her total superiority. It was difficult for X to determine the exact strength of humans, most were fragile, their weakness apparent. Even the demikin that were born to her own hive were inconsistent in their strength. And even though she was awakened, closer to human than most other monsters, X still found the creatures strange, beyond her understanding. Though X had taken their form, obtained their powers, and slowly learnt their ways, she had only done so because of a higher directive. It was necessary, the monarchs had said, a new paradigm for their kind. It wasn¡¯t her job to disobey. After all, who was she to question her betters? Even if her mother had been killed and reanimated, it didn¡¯t matter. It was correct to submit to a higher authority, even if the last of her family was corrupted beyond all- X froze, her body stiffening just as she was about to trigger [Ray of Annihilation]. Her mind spun, her vision narrowed. Where was she? Why was she fighting above a human settlement? Where were her- Fight. The command slammed into her consciousness. A condensed pulse of water impacted her from behind and sent her tumbling through the air. A searing white stream of fire carved a tunnel through the torrential downpour and threatened to incinerate the outer layer of her carapaced armour. X reached out and grabbed onto a point in space. Then she tugged, pulling herself bodily through reality as the very air screamed at her passing. She unleashed twin beams of gravitational energy, driving away the feathered serpent. Strange, ethereal creatures danced through the rain. Nearly invisible they struck out at her with bladed tendrils. One such entity cut into X¡¯s lower thigh, she shredded it with a swipe of her claws. Protect. X winced as chains wrapped around her mind, forcing her to look in a specific direction. The archer was facing away from her, looking down towards the ground, charging an arrow of light. The world seemed to slow as the formian¡¯s perception narrowed into a pinpoint of focus. She should have finished the human off when she had the chance. How dare she threaten her queen? Her queen... X forced the archer to abort her attack with a slicing beam of gravitational energy, she fended off two blurred creatures that struck out at her from the rain itself, positioned herself so the serpent couldn¡¯t breathe its flames without endangering the human man, then slowed that same human with a domain of gravity. She did all this in seconds, and all while distracted, her mind elsewhere. She had to protect her mother, the queen of her hive, her very purpose- ¡°No!¡± She screamed, clutching obsidian clawed fingers to her head. Everything hurt, her mind ached as it strained against invisible restraints. She felt the cold, callused hand of control reach out to once again rip her back into delusion. X willed herself to fly back, to take in her surroundings and situation. She needed a moment to steady her mind and regain control. Something was very, very wrong. But instead she attacked, kicking out at the coatl, shattering emerald scales and sending the serpentine creature blasting back. Everything felt distant, like she was a spectator in her own mind. She felt the chains wrap themselves even tighter, firming their hold over her will. Far below, the abomination her mother had become tore through the human outpost, a twisted host of undead howling in savage sympathy. The human man spoke again, his voice easily carrying over the roaring wind and rain. But it didn¡¯t matter, she heard his words but didn¡¯t listen. There was a distant memory of anger, had he said something before that had made her rage? It didn¡¯t matter. She had failed. Kill. The mental command ordered. And she would. X would rip these foes apart, then she would join her mother on the ground. They would be together. A gangway was lowered and the scramble to make it aboard the vessel turned into a stampede to access the narrow wooden passageway. Leif let the aura he had been tightly restraining unspool. It hung heavy in the air as he manipulated it towards the panicking surge of humanity. He infused it with a general command of patience, of calm. It had an immediate effect, the disorganised boarding slowed as people took a step back and reassessed their surroundings. Several crew members and imperial officers gave Leif strange looks, their own aura¡¯s having been attempting to perform a similar feat. ¡°Ropes.¡± Leif said. ¡°Hang them over the side and help people up.¡± Two nearby soldiers snapped to attention and began to follow his command. Seconds dragged into a minute, Leif became the centre of a whirlpool of chaos. His aura on full blast the humans gave him enough of a berth to haul people up and onto the skimmer. Two medical officers he recognised led a small contingent of injured up the gangway. Leif flared his aura and unconsciously people made way for the newcomers. The skimmer was packed, the vessel dipping ever so slightly down with every new addition. Leif looked around and saw dozens of people he recognised. From members of the expedition to soldiers he had fought alongside. They were safe, if the skimmer cast off now they could make it out. But there were still dozens who had yet to board. And dozens more still moving towards the three smaller skimmers. It made him wonder just how many people had been present within the outpost. He wondered if there were other groups of imperials in the wilderness surrounding Far-reach. He knew the army''s motive for being this far north was to set up a series of forts and outposts to monitor the wilderness. Leif didn¡¯t know what would come of that plan. Would the empire still attempt to cordon off and slowly resettle the lands of the fallen kingdom of Pherin? The command to cast off was bellowed from the skimmers rear and the gangway was retracted. Leif saw Sieg and Marcus pushed up against a barrel as people were squished together like sardines. Crewmates of the skimmer were ushering people around, trying to evenly distribute their weight so the vessel wouldn¡¯t tip over. He saw another bunch of expedition members near the far side of the skimmer, Melissa and several of the younger humans he hadn¡¯t learnt the names of. He even saw Johan, the bald man was speaking to a group of haggard looking imperial officers. One of the officers, a man with severe features, caught Leif¡¯s eye as he studied them. A small metallic earring dangling, the jewellery blowing in the wind. Something about the man¡¯s gaze made Leif recoil internally. But he maintained eye contact, Leif was proud of his actions during the siege. If the officer had an issue with his presence then he could- The wind stopped all at once. The rain faltered as everything went quiet. An ominous, tense, silence descended onto the world. Leif glanced around, unsure as to the cause. Then he saw it, through the dispersing mist and clouds hung a twisting, writhing spherical mass of shadow. It was like a dark sun hovered over Far-reach, the inky black of the object drawing in all light and colour. The Empire¡¯s Mercy rocked to the side as it was finally pushed away from the docks. All eyes were focused up at the sky. What on earth? Is that a skill? I didn¡¯t think Hera or whoever this commander Kaan is, used shadow magic? Is it the enslaver? An undead thaumaturge? Leif thought, his mind racing. Suddenly an onslaught of dark blue light burst from the massive sphere of darkness. They sliced through the air, several slamming down into Far-reach and the surrounding wilderness. A beam lanced just to the side of the Empire¡¯s Mercy, the skimmer lilting at the potent beam''s energy. A dozen more beams erupted from the shadows, each blasting off in seemingly random directions. The people still on the docks yelled and dove for cover. One of the mostly full smaller skimmers cast off, the hovering vessel rocking dangerously to the side. Through the now mostly clear weather Leif saw flashes of skills as soldiers fought off the ever growing tide of undead assaulting the barricades preventing access to the stone arch that connected both bluffs. Leif¡¯s heart tightened, if things kept up not everyone would get away. It would be a slaughter. His fist tightened where he clutched the skimmers metallic railing. What could he do? What should he do? Then a line of dark blue light neatly sliced the two docked skimmers neatly in half. A spray of red mist burst from both decks, the evacuating passengers killed instantly. Four neat halves of wood and metal unceremoniously fell from the sky, the ropes holding the skimmers to Far-reach snapping, unable to hold their weight. More beams came lancing from the hovering sun of darkness, but none came close to the docks. It had been a random, deadly coincidence. And now nearly a hundred people would die, trapped, watching as their peers escaped. A triumphant screech split the stunned silence. The enslaver queen was coming to reap its due. Chapter 75: Growth Chapter 75: Growth Leif forced himself to look away from the dozens of terrified faces that stared in horror at the retreating Empire¡¯s Mercy. Far below, the wreckage of the bisected skimmers smashed into the rocky ground, they splintered and sparked at the impact, the sound echoing up like a haunting, dissonant melody. The single surviving smaller skimmer cast off from the side of the bluff. It was full, the raft-like vehicle dropping dangerously. It was at the very limit of its capacity, forty people crammed themselves on board, some hanging over the sides due to the lack of space. As Leif turned, he saw the stark, numb expressions of the men and women who had been fortunate enough to escape as they sat or stood bunched together on the deck of the Empire¡¯s Mercy. A ranking officer of the skimmer barked orders, they pitched their voice to be heard over the yells and pleas coming from the outpost. Men and women in blue and silver uniforms snapped from their distracted reverie and got back to work. It felt as though time had slowed to a crawl, it hadn¡¯t been half a minute, but each second felt like an eternity. Leif saw the faces of those few expedition members he knew best. Adriana wasn¡¯t looking, her head ducked to her knees. Linus was staring up at the clearing sky, expression blank. Sieg¡¯s expression was grim, his stance rigid and tense, a hand on Marcus¡¯s shoulder. The sandy haired mage stood at the edge of the skimmer, eyes haunted, jaw working as he gazed blankly back at Far-reach. Another beam of dark blue energy hummed through the air three or so dozen metres off to the side of the Empire¡¯s Mercy, it splintered trees and shattered boulders as it sliced vertically along the countryside. A form wreathed in mist swung across the deck, using the rigging that hung from the tall wooden mast that supported the triangular sail the skimmer¡¯s crew were hurriedly unfurling. Darius landed in the small clearing on the deck the spriggan stood within. ¡°Can the skimmer land?¡± Leif asked, forcibly keeping his voice calm. The young man shook his head. ¡°Maybe if we pass over a plateau or hill that reaches high enough, but the route to Ahle-ho doesn¡¯t pass over anything like that. Beyond the upcoming stretch of valleys it¡¯s mostly flatlands.¡± ¡°So we¡¯ll just leave them to die?¡± Darius didn¡¯t reply, he just stared up at the umbral sphere that hung over the outpost like a black sun. Leif didn¡¯t need words to understand the man¡¯s thoughts. If the battle in the sky ended quickly enough, maybe, just maybe, those being left behind could be saved. But Leif knew what the presence of powerful shadow magic implied, or rather, who it most likely heralded. While he hadn¡¯t seen the battle between orc and awakened enslaver due to being trapped below Pherin, he had more than felt the battle¡¯s presence. But there was hope. Perhaps, if Szesis had sided with Hera, Kaan and Pocht against the enslaver they may be able to win. But it would hardly matter if the survivors had been butchered by undead before that happened. Leif realised something, that a part of him had tensed, eager to return. He cast his mind back, searching for what the man he had once been would have done. The answer came to him easily, surprisingly so. For an instant Leif imagined the old, human him, standing at his side on the skimmer''s deck, long dark hair tied behind him, eyes fixated back on the outpost, ready to do whatever it would take to protect others, even if it cost him. The spriggan¡¯s golden eyes flickered, and the vision was gone, but his decision remained. He clenched a four fingered fist under his cloak. Perhaps it was stupid, foolish, even suicidal. But acting felt like the correct thing to do, and that made Leif¡¯s choice easy. He pulled out the silver badge and held it up so its metallic face glinted in the morning light. ¡°I¡¯ll be holding onto this, but I¡¯ll come find you after this is over.¡± He said, tilting his head slightly in the scout''s direction. Darius blinked, looking between Leif and the badge. Then he glanced back towards Far-reach and his eyes widened. ¡°Wait... what are-¡± Leif pocketed the badge and stepped forward in one fluid motion. The scout''s words were cut off as the spriggan vanished in a blur of golden light. It streaked through the expanse between the skimmer and Far-reach in moments. He appeared on the skimmer docks mid stride, several of the trapped men and women cried out, recoiling at his sudden appearance. He could feel their fear, desperation and hopelessness, it hung in the air, heavy and grim. Someone shouted and grabbed onto Leif¡¯s cloak, he ignored them, conjuring amber arms to push aside the crowd. With a pulse of his aura Leif forced his way through the despondent mass of humanity, finally bursting free as he stepped onto the hard stone of the bluff. Some questions were called after him but Leif could barely hear them over the rapidly approaching horde of howls and screams. He jogged up the shallow incline, cresting the bluff¡¯s peak in a few long strides. He saw the natural stone arch, still partially slick with water. Soldiers retreated along its length, the barricades that had been hastily constructed on the far side having been overrun by a tide of reanimated corpses. A final line of defence was being set up, soldiers lining up as they prepared to die. Leif¡¯s perception brushed over them, allowing him to sense their tension, terror and resolve. It mixed and swirled in the air, like a physical blanket pressing down on the very world. An officer turned at his approach, one eye caked closed by a layer of blood. The man¡¯s one good eye widened in surprise as he saw Leif. ¡°What happened at the docks? Who are you?¡± The officer demanded, his voice almost cracking due to the tightly wound tension. ¡°Two of the skimmers were destroyed, and who I am doesn¡¯t matter. Hold off any undead who make it past me.¡± Leif said as he stepped through the single file rank of soldiers and onto the bridge. The officer called another series of questions after him but Leif¡¯s focus was planted firmly on the fight before him. A final pair of men hobbled past, one supporting the other''s weight. Hot on their heels was a duo of skeletal dogs. Leif pulverised the first with a pair of amber arms, the second he sent wheeling off the side of the archway with a contemptuous backhand. He grabbed the now unmoving body of the first hound and let the remaining death energy that coursed through its rotted form trickle up his arm and into his body, there the foul power met his pool of golden vitality and was subsumed. Another undead came at him, this one some kind of bear. A spear tip of gold met the monster''s charge, the pointed blade passing through one of the reanimated beast''s eye sockets and out the back of its head. He dropped the hound, its energy all but gone and grabbed hold of the now still bear. A sense of serene calm passed over Leif as he fought his way along the bridge. It was too wide for him to bottleneck by himself, but the ever growing well of life-force that was building up inside of him was more than a tempting lure. Undead threw themselves at him, at first they came alone or in pairs, then he faced three, then four. The barricades the soldiers had erected at the far end of the stone connection between both bluffs was stemming the flow of undead, but with every passing second more and more flooded onto the bridge. [Blight¡¯s Bounty], a skill that allowed him to syphon life-force with his attacks and grant up to a forty percent increase to every attribute, was a constant boon. Ever since the fighting had begun earlier that morning the skill¡¯s effects had never faded in their entirety. With the maximum increase to his attributes Leif felt alive, stronger, faster, more aware and durable. His aura, strengthened from his investments into [Charisma] pressed down on the onrushing undead like a physical force. Leif swiped out, battering aside a swarm of goblin sized ghouls. A rain of arrows and ranged skills whipped through the air, passing to either side of him and felling the next rank of undead. He had a second to breathe, and he spent the instant to glance up. The dark sun still blacked out the sky directly over Far-reach, blasts of blue energy lancing out in all directions. Leif mentally pulled in his aura, firming his resolve. It tightened around him like a veil. Then he flared it out, directing the full force of his intent and defiance at the rotting horde. The hood of his cloak blew back as he yelled wordlessly into the wall of death. The air rippled, the closest undead let out screeches as they staggered back, only to be ploughed into by those directly behind them. Leif charged forward, trusting [Grounded Stance] to keep his footing stable as he crashed into the disoriented mass of twisted limbs. Undead pressed in from every side, his amber limbs lashed out, fending off raking claws and snapping, fang filled mouths. His body was tough, the natural physique of what he had become was far greater than that of the human he had once been. That resilience had been further amplified by his classes and skills. Even still, he wasn¡¯t immortal. Every glancing blow that landed chipped away at his bark-like skin. The sheer press of bodies enough to strain the structure of the golden arms conjured by [Gold Iron Physique]. He roared as teeth bit down into his side, the bent steel from a sword wielded by a reanimated soldier cutting into his neck, and something punctured his lower back. Bit by bit he was being worn down, with every strike he sustained the vitality churning within him rushed forward to mend and restore. With immense effort Leif managed to take a single step forward. He streaked backwards in a blur of golden light. He reappeared several metres ahead of the horde. His cloak was ripped and torn, amber sap dripping from dozens of newly opened wounds. He shook away the phantom impressions of pain that burned across his body. Ever since he had been reborn, certain feelings and sensations had been denied to him. Though the thought of what he had lost brought more agony than any number of physical wounds. Leif flexed as three sets of amber arms reformed, replacing the cracked and fractured limbs that rose from his sides and back, poking out from small strips he had created in the heavy cloak Hera had gifted him. With grim amusement he noted it hardly mattered now. The cloak would be nothing but tattered strips before long. He repeated his tactic from earlier, gathering up his aura before slamming it forward and into the mass of abominations. Leif backed up a few steps, then charged forward. Again he plunged into the violent mass of rotting limbs, again he sustained enough minor damage to have killed an imperial soldier twice over. It was a gruelling, desperate battle of attrition. His body was aflame with golden light as his cultivated vitality boiled in response to every scrape and cut. Leif¡¯s attacks were draining and converting death attuned energies faster than he could expend the vitality to fuel his other skills and restore his body. His cultivated life-force strained against the limits his soul could handle, forcefully expanding his maximum capacity at the cost of burning him up from the inside, sending lances of soul deep agony through his entire body. Leif¡¯s vision blurred, his consciousness fuzzing around the edges. He tried to step forward and trigger [Amber Steps], but the sheer mass of the undead pressing into him from all sides restrained his movements. The arms of gold he used to strike out with and restrain his enemies began to crack, then shatter under the endless assault. He reached out with a physical arm of ivory wood and grabbed onto the undead directly in front of him. ¡°Heal.¡± He rasped, the command sending healing energies flooding into the corrupted monster. It dusted at his touch, bone and flesh disintegrated as he pushed every drop of cultivated energy into [Healing Touch]. The internal burden caused by excessive vitality lapsed temporarily, but something within him twinged violently. Leif, surrounded by hungry death, fell to one knee as [Grounded Stance] finally gave out. He pulled at his aura, trying to wrap it around him but his attention was being tugged in a hundred different directions. Something latched onto his right arm, the ivory limb falling limp as faux tendons were severed. [Under My Protection] snapped into existence, the golden shield flaring around him, only to almost instantly break under the onslaught of attacks coming from every direction. A clawed hand raked across his face, the vision in one of his glowing eyes winked out. A colossal undead shoved its way through the horde, the abomination crashed bodily into Leif and knocked him back. Bones snapped as he fell back on an unfortunate pair of zombies, their bodies crushed under his weight. The abomination grabbed one of his legs and tried to rip it free. Leif flooded the limb with as much healing energy as possible, he succeeded in preventing the dismemberment but was yanked forward along the rocky ground. Level up! Class [Attuned: Life] is now level 3! For successfully controlling a vast amount of life attuned energies and utilising it while under the threat of death you have gained a level! +1 to [Willpower] +1 free point! The level up notification flickered briefly into his awareness before the grey box with red and gold trimming was minimised. From what he saw it hadn¡¯t provided anything that could potentially save his life. I¡¯m going to die. Leif thought, the truth slamming down into him. He had expected panic to rise up, for fear to take hold of his body and mind. Instead he found himself accepting the fact with a grim, almost callous resolve. It had all been for nothing. His second chance at life, every obstacle he had overcome and every step he had taken. Worthless, useless, pathetic... Leif shook himself, violently wrenching his mind from the spiral of dark thoughts. Surely he could do something, anything. He had one option, it would grant him power, but it was a last resort that would almost immediately result in his death. Out of panicked instinct he reopened the most recent system prompt. There was nothing new, but maybe... Recently he had upgraded the skill granted by his [Attuned: Life] class. In the chaos of the day''s events he hadn¡¯t taken the time to explore and understand the new capabilities of his newfound authority granted by [Life Spells II]. And you are me? He asked, half delirious. ¡°Everything, nothing, all at once.¡± It replied. Leif felt it begin to draw away, leaving him in his final moments. He reached out with his aura and brushed up against it. He had so much to say, so much to do. The will of life paused, as if giving him one final chance to satisfy its interest. Life is protecting others, it is acting to preserve. He thought, desperate for the world''s mana to stay for even an instant more. Life is change, even if it¡¯s unwanted. Life is connection, the bonds that tie us together, that make us strive for more. ¡°All acceptable answers.¡± The mana said. ¡°And yet you hate? A part of you despises it, despises yourself. Why?¡± Its words slammed into Leif, a metaphorical slap to the face. It was an uncomfortable, unsettling truth. Ever since he had returned, growing from the earth and into a twisted parody of what he used to be. It had been lurking in the back of his mind. Regret, anger, disgust, fear. It was twisted around the very essence of what he had become. He didn¡¯t want to accept it, but in his final moments he felt that it was impossible not to. Amber tears fell from twin slits in his mask-like face. Life is nurturing, loving, caring. The will of the world didn¡¯t respond, the silence was like the gavel of judgement slamming into his soul. Life is... I am... life. ¡°Yes.¡± A young man, caked in blood, his ripped clothing and armour layered in mud and grime. His dark eyes stared up into the cloudy sky as he bled out, every passing second drawing him closer to death. Leif knelt next to him, body aglow with golden flames. He went to reach out, to heal the man, and bring him back from the brink. But he couldn¡¯t move, amber light scorched every cell of his monstrous body, burning him like kindling on a pyre. The man coughed, blood bubbling up between his lips. Leif¡¯s heart twinged at the sight. ¡°What do you want?¡± The mana asked. ¡°I want to live.¡± Leif replied, speaking out loud even though his body no longer worked. ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yeah, even if it¡¯s only for a moment more.¡± ¡°Why?¡± The will of the world asked the monster. ¡°I can¡¯t grow if I¡¯m dead.¡± He said. ¡°I can¡¯t do, be better if I don¡¯t try.¡± ¡°Acceptable.¡± Congratulations! Your [Attuned: Life] skill [Life Spells] has met an upgrade threshold! Would you like to upgrade [Life Spells] from rank II to rank III? Y/N Everything snapped into perfect clarity as the system window appeared before him. The world began to speed back up, the overflowing vitality within him ignited as he triggered [Embolden Vegetation]. Every undead on the natural bridge flinched back as lifeforce exploded from Leif¡¯s body. The closest few partially dusted from the outpouring of energy. Something resonated within him, a connection blooming into life. You have displayed excellence above your ability! For resonating with a law of mana, convincing it of your worth and reaching a state of peace in your final moments you have gained the following! +20 to [Spirit] +20 to [Charisma]! Strength flooded his body, it intermixed with the rampaging vitality, swirling and twisting until both were indistinguishable. Leif¡¯s body began to change, the protrusions of twigs on his head grew rapidly into a crown of branches. The red leaves littering his body multiplied, tripling within seconds as every muscle and joint flexed, then expanded. He enlarged, rising half a foot within the span of a second. Leif let out a final, almost bestial roar as the enslaver descended upon him, broken mandibles glinting against the radiant glow of his body. Leif mentally reached for [Gold Iron Physique], willing the skill to activate one final time. He mentally probed it to use every last drop of vitality it could manage, to rip the enslaver into bloody pieces. The world shifted ever so slightly, responding, if only just, to his desire. With the very last drop of strength in his body Leif brought up both of his ivory arms, each criss-crossed in dozens of golden cracks. He brought them together with enough force to make the air ripple. His skill didn¡¯t work with [Life Spells], the differing aspects didn¡¯t allow for such a use. Leif didn¡¯t care, he did it anyway. ¡°GROW.¡± Congratulations! Your skills [The Well Within III] and [Life Spells III] have harmonised with one another! Would you like to fuse [The Well Within III] and [Life Spells III] into the [Amber Blight Spriggan] skill [Font of Life]? Y/N === Font of Life III: Aspects: Cultivation (Blood)* (Life)*, Spell (Blood)* (Life)*, Empowerment (Body)* The limitless potential of your vitality resonates with your authority over life. A portion of vitality you absorb is permanently added to a pool of energy that resides within you, you may develop and strengthen this pool by utilising the differing aspects of this skill. You may command the will of the world, increasing the potency of skills or altering their usage. The closer to death you are, the more potent this skill becomes. Mastery of all aspects of this skill are required for further upgrades. === A dozen golden arms burst from all over Leif¡¯s body, reaching and grasping for the undead ant that loomed above. A dozen arms became two, then three dozen as Leif forced every last drop of life-force into the activation of the skill. Hands grabbed hold of the enslaver''s mandibles, pulling them apart as the monster launched itself downwards. Spear tipped limbs punctured obsidian carapace, bladed arms severed legs, one hand ripped an antennae right out of the creature''s head. The ant spasmed as it was dismembered, crushed and impaled. More and more amber arms struck out at the enslaver, even more brushed aside the lesser undead as they howled and attacked. The limbs grew up and outwards, elongating and twisting to do as much damage as possible. It was a veritable forest of gold, unstoppable and unrelenting. Leif pushed more and more into the skill, the arms tensed, then redoubled their efforts. A fist crushed the ant¡¯s right eye, another dug sharpened fingers into the gap between armoured carapace. For what felt like an eternity, life and death struggled for supremacy. Then, with one final heave, the sound of tearing flesh and bending carapace echoed across Far-reach. The enslaver let out one final, pitiable scream, then it was ripped in two. The emerald flames that infused its body flickered out, then vanished. Two halves of the building-sized monster fell from the stone bridge, blood and ichor painting the bluff¡¯s side as they tumbled down, hitting the ground with a sickening finality. The stone archway cracked as what could have been hundreds of hands descended, splintering stone and shattering rock. The bridge collapsed, undead tumbling down in a howling cacophony and rage. The rock beneath Leif¡¯s feet began to crumble, he used the forest of limbs to tug his useless body away from the encroaching chasm, dragging himself back to the safety of the smaller bluff. The vitality within him guttered, then died. A soul deep chill replaced the raging inferno of golden light. Leif hit the stone ledge of the bluff as the last of the bridge fell away. Everything was numb, cold, silent. Peaceful. System prompts and windows flashed before him, a veritable cascade of information that he had no desire, nor ability to parse. Golden motes of essence drifted up into the sky as his golden limbs broke apart and dissolved. Amber light rose far above Far-reach, disappearing into the clouds and shimmering against the sun¡¯s rays. With the last embers of his consciousness, Leif triggered one final skill. A skill he had never used, a skill he had never planned to use. But in that moment, as he lay motionless on cold, blood splattered stone, it felt right. Leif activated [Settle]. And darkness claimed him. Epilogue Epilogue Flavia Vin fidgeted behind her desk as she desperately tried to forget the hills of paperwork, not quite tall enough to be considered mountains, in front of her. She did so in the way she had been taught growing up, without any movements of her body or any nervousness reaching her face. The kind of fidgeting only possible if you get beaten for appearing to not pay attention to lessons by the family tutor. The kind of fidgeting that involved mentally pushing and pulling small, mostly opaque grey rectangles with gold and red trimmings. She still remembered the day her older brother had taught her how to customise the windows of information so they wouldn¡¯t be totally bland and grey. Naturally, as a seven year old, she had made the mental interface a garish mix of pink and green. She tinkered and played, ultimately resulting in making the system appear and disappear with a shower of sparks and flower petals, she even altered the text so it danced and spun. Then Flavia had cried because it had become utterly incomprehensible. Leif had only been a few years older, and he had panicked due to being unable to help her fix the changes she had made. Then they had both gotten in trouble with their father. The memory was a bitter, if nostalgic distraction from the task before her. Twelve years, twelve years since the death of her brother. Twelve years since she had been forced down the path Leif would have walked, if he had remained with the family. She sighed, brushing dark bangs out of her eyes, adjusting her posture to work the crick out of her back. Getting older hadn¡¯t been as fun as her younger self would have assumed, time seemed to flow faster and faster with every passing year. Flavia turned her attention to a report about crop yields and expected taxation of house Vin¡¯s holdings. She used a skill to sharpen her vision, another to take a series of mental notes. Her work wasn¡¯t enjoyable, but that wouldn¡¯t stop her from doing it efficiently. The door to her office, the office her father had once used, rattled as something pressed against it. Then a series of three sharp knocks rang against stone. By the rhythmic cadence, she knew who it was. ¡°Enter.¡± She said, deactivating her perception skill. A man in servant''s clothing entered and dipped into a formal bow. He was tall and spindly, not a trace of muscle or fat could be seen beneath his tailored servants clothing. ¡°My lady.¡± He said, producing a letter. ¡°A report from Mekrys, it arrived earlier today via a summoned courier.¡± Flavia took the letter and tossed it onto the pile, she would get to it later. The man bowed, then exited as swiftly as he had entered. She returned to the report on crop yields, but something caught her eye. A familiar, deep voice crackled from the polished gemstone, the metallic frame of the construct humming. ¡°Daughter.¡± It said. ¡°Ill news I¡¯m afraid. The Lord Regent is calling an emergency assembly.¡± ¡°I assume we just read the same report from the empire?¡± She asked, jaw clenched. There was a pause before her father spoke again. ¡°Indeed. I can only pray this isn¡¯t a repeat of twelve years ago.¡± Flavia couldn¡¯t help but agree. The enslavers had rampaged across the north, their legions laying waste to cities and clashing with hastily mustered armies. They exchanged words, her father was the patriarch of house Vin, though Flavia acted as his substitute while he was in the capitol. The power games and politics of her family seemed tiny and insignificant in the face of what could very well be a catastrophe that washed humanity back across the southern seas. ¡°Gather our allies and call in every favour.¡± Her father said, his crackling voice weary and tense. Flavia agreed, already running the list of things she needed to have done before the day¡¯s conclusion. They said their goodbyes, and the communication construct let out a hissing whistle as the connection was severed. The device was beginning to wear down, she would need to have it repaired. Flavia collapsed back into her chair, then she reached for her drink. Not her cup, the whole bottle. She drained half of the contents, feeling warmth spread through her chest. It wasn¡¯t the healthiest thing to do, but she had skills to aid in her mental clarity and focus, it wouldn¡¯t affect her. Much. Feeling numb, Flavia re-read the letter one more time, then she paused, there was a second page. She hadn¡¯t expected the message to continue after the signatories, so she turned the letter revealing a smaller strip of paper that had been attached to the first. There, in penmanship different from the report was a single sentence, followed by a new signature, and the symbol of a sword. ¡®Do you know Leif Vin?¡¯ It read. Chapter 76: Slumber Chapter 76: Slumber A tree, twelve and a half metres tall with smooth ivory bark topped with a canopy of vivid crimson leaves stands at the north most point of a rocky bluff. Said bluff was south of its much larger and less isolated sibling, and both contain the remains of stone and wood structures devastated by the recent battle. Crimson leaves partially hang over the northern edge of the bluff, the tree¡¯s smooth trunk tilted at a slight angle. At the bottom of a ravine that divides both stone formations lies the wreckage of what was a natural stone archway that spanned the gap. Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om A seasoned botanist with an unhealthy obsession with plant life that could be described in the most charitable way possible as: ¡®unfriendly¡¯, would likely identify the tree as being an evolved variant of the Blight. A carnivorous species of monstrous flora that reproduces parasitically that are common throughout the northern wilderness. They would then turn around and flee, call a thaumaturge with access to fire skills and have them burn the thing to ashes. Fortunately for Leif, there wasn¡¯t a human in sight. In fact, the nearest humans were towards the coast, hundreds of miles south. But if for whatever reason a botanist was exploring the undead infested wilderness north of humanity''s frontier, and they hadn¡¯t been overcome by terror... Well, they may have noticed something strange. Because there were several oddities with the tree standing alone on the bluff. There was an abundance of animals living in and around the plant monster''s branches. Families of songbirds and rodents called the ivory white branches home, the strange feeling of safety and comfort the tree exuded was highly unusual for its apparent species. Normally you would expect the immediate area around a Blight tree to be a graveyard of corpses drained of all vitality, and nothing would dare grow within the plant¡¯s territory due to the lack of nutrients in the soil. But for the lone tree atop the bluff, this couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. Plant life thrived all around it. Grasses and ferns broke through hardened stone cracked by powerful roots that dug into the ground and cliffside. The lesser flora seemed to reach for the sky with newly grown stems, their colouration far from the sickly green one might expect. Moss and vines too latched onto every surface they could, compelled by a benevolent force to multiply and thrive. Ruined buildings had become overgrown, the steep cliffs were practically bursting with life. Where logs had been used for the construction of temporary structures new shoots tentatively began to grow. And as time passed, the explosion of life only expanded. === And strangely enough, it didn¡¯t bother him. He now knew what he was, where he was, and why he was there. Leif pulled back his perception and sharpened his focus, just because he was no longer blindly searching for something he didn¡¯t quite understand didn¡¯t mean he could stay stagnant. There were things he needed to do, places to go, people to see. But he was still exhausted and sore. Even if he wasn¡¯t dead, the battle had done a serious amount of damage to both his body and soul, his cultivated energy was fitfully low and with an exploratory scan of his soul he noted [Healing Palm] was still broken. Warning! Multiple skill choices pending! Make selections within 12 hours or skills will be randomly chosen! A system window popped up into his awareness. Leif mentally squinted at the prompt. There were several things that didn¡¯t make sense, he wasn¡¯t certain how long he had been trapped within the vision, it was obviously longer than twenty four hours. He had even grown to a size eclipsing his previous maximum as an unevolved Blight tree, and he had spent over a decade in that form. Twelve hours... Surely I can rest for a little longer... Eight, no nine hours at least. He grumbled internally, minimising the prompt and letting himself relax. Just because there were things to do, didn¡¯t mean they were urgent. Warning! Multiple skill choices pending! Make selections within 6 hours or skills will be randomly chosen! Ugh, that wasn¡¯t nine hours. Leif mumbled, feeling the dull ache throughout his body return as his consciousness focused. You¡¯ve already waited weeks, if not months, stop pressuring me... Leif tried to return to his restful slumber, but he couldn¡¯t. No matter how much it pained him, he couldn¡¯t deny the fact of his existence. That fact being he found it extremely enjoyable to see his numbers go up, human, tree, he suspected it didn¡¯t matter. Leif let the system expand the prompts he needed to check over, and was promptly overwhelmed by the sheer number of notifications he had to read, and choices he had to make. What the hells did I do? He grumbled, looking over the almost two dozen windows. Oh yeah, I killed a big insect. Was that really enough for all... what? Six, seven levels? I have to pick four new skills? He thought mentally scanning through the information. He side-eyed the ¡®six hours remaining¡¯ notification and let out a completely metaphorical sigh. I shouldn¡¯t have waited so long, whoops. Chapter 77: Sprouting Chapter 77: Sprouting Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 16! For defeating a host of undead in defence of the living you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +5 free points! Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 17! For defeating a foe over twice your strength you have gained a level! +1 to [Intelligence] +1 to [Willpower] +5 free points! Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 18! For defending your domain and those who dwell within from repeated undead incursions you have gained a level! +5 free points! Leif studied the first batch of level up notifications. Yeah, that¡¯s the good stuff. He thought, already planning how to spend the free points. But, of course, there was more to come. Though before he read over the brawler level up notifications he frowned internally at the last level up. Not just because it hadn¡¯t given him any attributes beyond the usual five free points [Amber Blight Spriggan] always granted, though he was slightly annoyed. Instead he read the description of what actions had resulted in the experience gain for the level up. He sensed another pin prick of death energy enter the limits of his perception, then vanish. Ah, that must be it. How many undead have I killed in this way to result in a level? Killing enemies weaker than me must only grant a tiny trickle at this point. He mused. Actually, what exactly is killing the undead? He frowned, once again only in his imagination, and skimmed his skill descriptions. It didn¡¯t take him long to detect the probable cause. === Settle: Aspects: Transformation, Enhancement (Body)*, Domain (Life)* You may put down roots, returning to your more traditional form. While transformed you enter a restful slumber, the passage of time easing deep wounds and mending scars. The longer you remain transformed the more you affect the world around you, bestowing life and infusing the energy of amber into the very ground. === The domain aspect of [Settle], bestowing life-force into the environment was likely having the same effect on the dead as [Healing Palm]. Recalling that skill made him remember it was currently fractured, the [Adept] class it was attached to was unable to gain experience until he found a way to restore the skills functionality. Hopefully time heals that wound. He thought. Because if it doesn¡¯t, I might be in some trouble. That being said, I do have a standing invitation to the Academy, assuming a decade hasn¡¯t passed or the people I know aren¡¯t dead. Leif went to read over the new skill options, but decided to do them last. [Darktree¡¯s Insight], a skill he had been offered before his class evolution what felt like a lifetime ago. It was a comprehension skill related to his treelike nature, though this newest option was more aligned with whatever the ¡®amber¡¯ part of his class evolution had done to him. Leif was tempted, but ever since he had declined [Veil of Nature] he¡¯d regretted it. Not that the skill he had picked in its place, [Embolden Vegetation] was a skill he regretted choosing, far from it. It was more that he felt the protective aspect of [Veil of Nature] would pair wonderfully with [Under my Protection]. I¡¯ll need to start fusing skills soon, I¡¯m not sure what the limit the level fifty advancement will require, but I¡¯ll be almost at twenty total skills after I go through all my options. If I don¡¯t lower the amount of skills my ability to level up will drastically slow, if not stall completely. Leif thought, skimming through the list of current skills. He briefly reconsidered picking the comprehension skill, then mentally shrugged and picked [Veil of Nature]. === Veil of Nature: Aspects: Stealth (Shield), Empowerment (Nature) Project a protective veil over those you touch, reducing their physical and thaumatic presence and guarding against divination. Those under the effects of this skill have their resilience against elemental damage increased. === Leif read over the skill, it was mostly what he had expected, though he found the resistance against divination effects interesting. Not thinking much of it Leif activated his newest skill, completely unaware of the panic he would inspire in someone thousands of miles and a sea away. He felt the warmth of the skill as it shrouded his expansive tree body like a cloak. The effect was nothing spectacular, but he hadn¡¯t expected it to be. Around him several of the small animals that called his branches and the surrounding vegetation home shifted and stirred. Leif mentally expanded the skill¡¯s reach and pressed the protective effect into several of the birds and squirrels that nested among his leaves. In his mind¡¯s eye, Leif felt his ability to detect their vitality and emotions dim. Though as the originator of the skill¡¯s stealth effects he could more easily pierce the veil he himself had created. Leif turned to the next choice and immediately discarded [Nature¡¯s Beacon]. With enough finesse he could already communicate using his aura, and the idea of using animals in a fight wasn¡¯t all that pleasant. Could a family of angry squirrels do some damage? Probably not. Actually, couldn¡¯t I use [Nature¡¯s Beacon] to call back the animals I sent away before the battle? He thought, then an undead brushed against the limits of his domain and died. On second thought, bad idea. I¡¯m not sure how bad the situation has gotten, but with the frequency of undead trying to attack I¡¯m certain it isn¡¯t looking good. That left him with the two new choices. [Sap Speed] felt like a touch based effect that would allow him to reduce the [Alacrity] attribute of whatever he came into physical contact with, but if he was fighting something fast enough to require the use of [Sap Speed] Leif doubted he could get close enough to activate the skill¡¯s effect. This left him with [Wood Manipulation]. At first the skill didn¡¯t excite him, but the more he thought about it, the more the possibilities for its use excited him. After all, wasn¡¯t his body made out of wood? === Wood Manipulation: Aspects: Technique (Wood) You can use your will to shape and manipulate wood. === That is the least exciting skill description I have ever seen. Leif attached a demeaning note onto the skill, then turned his attention to the [Brawler] and [Attuned:Life] choices. Chapter 78: More Skills Chapter 78: More Skills New class skills available! [Enduring Grit] or [Power Strike]! New class skills available! [Vitality Tether] or [Wave of Restoration]! The first choice was simple. [Enduring Grit] was an enhancement skill, almost certainly with the [body] sub aspect. And while Leif only received a general impression of both skills, he could relate the feeling [Enduring Grit] gave off to other skills he possessed. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) [Power Strike] may be a potent increase to his offensive potential, but [Amber Blight Spriggan], [Brawler] and [Adept] all granted a bonus to [Enhancement (body)] skills via their class perks. === Enduring Grit: Aspects: Enhancement (Body)* You gain an increase to your physical resilience. The more injured you become, the greater the enhancement from this skill. === It was hard to gain an immediate sense for how potent this new skill was, treebound as Leif currently was. If he was in a form he was more familiar with, then the change may have been noticeable. Regardless, he was pleased with [Enduring Grit], though the skill was simple, he suspected the increase to his physical resilience was substantial due to his synergistic bonuses. That left him with the final skill choice, and if Leif was being honest with himself, he didn¡¯t have a clue which to pick. They were both healing skills, that much was obvious from a cursory glance. If Leif had to put a finger on the difference between both skills, it would be that [Vitality Tether] was a constant, but single target heal. While [Wave of Restoration] was a wide, area effecting heal. Leif suspected, though he couldn¡¯t tell from feeling out the properties of both skills, that [Vitality Tether] was both more efficient, and far more potent over the period of time the skill would last. [Wave of Restoration] was more immediate, broader in its use, and as a result far less efficient. Leif considered the use of both skills when used in combat against undead. In that contest the latter was the clear winner. In a prolonged session of restoration, his current ability to heal thanks to [Blight¡¯s Bounty] was more than sufficient. I just don¡¯t see a situation where [Vitality Tether] actually does anything that I cannot already do. But on the other hand, once I regain use of [Healing Palm] I can modify that skill using [Life Spells] to have an area of effect. Leif paused, then realised he didn¡¯t have [Life Spells] any more. His spell casting skill and his cultivation skill, [The Well Within] had merged, fused together in a moment of desperation. For the first time, Leif truly considered the events that had transpired during the battle for Far-reach. It left him with a dull ache, but also a strange sense of pride. Of satisfaction. Protecting others, even at the potential cost of his own life had felt like the correct thing to do. Though looking back on that day, he knew that without aspects of both his power, and parts of the system he didn¡¯t and likely would never truly understand, he would have died. Was he arrogant to believe he had survived due to anything other than blind luck? I don¡¯t know. He thought dourly. Leif half expected to spiral down into a whirlpool of negativity and self loathing. That mindstate had become so easy to fall into during the days leading up to his near death. But he didn¡¯t, maybe it was his current form partially changing his mentality, or maybe it was the minor truth about himself he had finally accepted as death loomed overhead. There was still pain, loss, and deep down Leif suspected that part of him would never truly leave. But it wasn¡¯t all consuming, not anymore. Maybe I¡¯m just happy to be alive. He mused, then laughed, albeit only internally. He had been using his skill selection to distract himself from his newly cleared consciousness, bleary from pain and however long his rest had been. But now his introspection had distracted him from his skill selection. Since he wasn¡¯t sure which skill to pick, he just chose the one that felt more immediately appealing. === Wave of Restoration: Spirit: 66 (+10%) Charisma: 101 (+90%) Total Level: 45 Monster Classes: 1/1 Amber Blight Spriggan: 18/20 Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Amber Sympathy / Blight''s Bounty / Font of Life III / Settle / Amber Steps / Embolden Vegetation / Veil of Nature / Wood Manipulation Classes: 3/3 Brawler: 9/10 Skills: Grounded Stance II / Combative Gumption / Enduring Grit Adept: 3/10 (Locked) Skills: Healing Palm (Fractured) Attuned: Life 5/10 Skills: Wave of Restoration Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility II / Grand Action / Under My Protection / Legacy === There was an almost visceral satisfaction in seeing his attributes, classes and skills all improve. He wondered how difficult life would be if someone didn¡¯t have the system to quantify and guide their growth. It would probably be awful. Leif concluded, shuddering at the thought. Now that it was all laid out before him, and his future wasn''t in danger of being decided by a coin flip, he had time to consider his next steps. The next advancement bottleneck was at level fifty, he would need to start fusing his now bloated list of skills down to a more manageable amount. He had new skills to test, and existing skills to improve, especially [Aura of Nobility], he felt as though he was on the cusp of what was required for that particular rank up. Fixing [Healing Palm] went without saying, though he didn¡¯t know where to start. Level fifty was close, surprisingly so. It hadn¡¯t been long at all since he broke through the level twenty five bottleneck. Well actually, my status screen does say my age is now twelve and not eleven like it used to, I¡¯m not sure how close I was to my listed age ticking over but it¡¯s been several months at the minimum. He was close to reaching a total level of fifty, but before that Leif would almost certainly reach level twenty in his [Amber Blight Spriggan] class. It was strange, but Leif was genuinely excited to see where his next evolution would take him. Chapter 79: Ins and Outs Chapter 79: Ins and Outs Commencing skill fusion! Fusion of skills [Grounded Stance II] and [Enduring Grit] 1/100% Leif could have taken the first skill fusion in any number of different directions. He had some fairly wild ideas and some potentially crazy aspirations. But it was important to start simple and work his way up. The reason Leif settled on combining one of his newest skills and his combat comprehension skill together was two fold. The first was more experimental, ever since his rebirth Leif had adapted to his new body and classes by adopting a fighting style best described as: brutal. He would get up close and personal to an enemy, then utilise his innate endurance and vitality drain to out sustain his foes. This often resulted in him standing his ground and exchanging blows, the longer the fight went on, the closer to victory he became. The experimental part of this fusion was to see if he could integrate the increase to physical resilience granted by [Enduring Grit] into the stability granting power of [Grounded Stance]. To homebrew a skill dedicated to his specific style of combat. The second reason was simple, literally. He could very easily picture how both skills would come together. Even though [Enduring Grit] was a skill he had basically no experience with, the fact the enhancement skill was so basic and so straightforward made the merge almost feel obvious. The system had even given the success grade of the skill fusion as: Major. So he was feeling quite confident. Now that the first of hopefully several successful fusions had begun, Leif turned his attention to his next project. Unsettling and taking stock of his situation. While being a tree was surprisingly enjoyable, Leif still had a desire to stand up and move around. He was injured, in more ways than one, and had no delusions about getting into another life and death struggle so soon. He just wanted to take a walk. And maybe loot the aftermath of the battle for goodies. And test out [Wood Manipulation]. Okay he also wanted to refill his cultivation pool, having that sit almost completely empty felt not great. Sure, he could drain the vitality out of the nearby fauna and flora but he wasn¡¯t a monster. Or at least, he wasn¡¯t a mindless devourer. There were baby squirrels in his branches. But there was a problem. If he undid the use of [Settle], his domain would drop and the life that was using him for protection would become vulnerable to the undead that still occasionally brushed up against the edges of his perception. But was there a solution? Maybe, hopefully. He wasn¡¯t sure yet, but he had an idea. === Font of Life III: Aspects: Cultivation (Blood)* (Life)*, Spell (Blood)* (Life)*, Empowerment (Body)* The limitless potential of your vitality resonates with your authority over life. A portion of vitality you absorb is permanently added to a pool of energy that resides within you, you may develop and strengthen this pool by utilising the differing aspects of this skill. You may command the will of the world, increasing the potency of skills or altering their usage. The closer to death you are, the more potent this skill becomes. Mastery of all aspects of this skill is required for further upgrades. === Leif was yet to explore the intricacies of [Font of Life]. Mostly because he had been asleep ever since he had almost died. He studied the skill, feeling out the minutia and newfound potential found within. Leif¡¯s eyes flickered into being as golden light filled twin slits in his mask-like face, he gasped in a lungful of air. Though he suspected he possessed no such organ within his chest. Leif looked up at the shimmering night sky, partially hidden behind a canopy of crimson leaves. Life-force still pulsed within the tree¡¯s bark, but it was flickering and fitful. The invisible connection the spriggan felt to the tree began to stretch and weaken. Leif grunted and rolled to his front, he staggered to his feet only to fall as he lost balance and toppled over. Damnit. He thought, scrambling in the dirt. He reached out and grabbed a large stone, using it as leverage to climb to his feet. He was weak, shockingly so, but whether it was due to his existing injuries or because of the magical surgery he had just performed on his body he didn¡¯t know. Leif stumbled over to a stretch of ground where ferns and moss had grown in abundance. He hadn¡¯t wanted to do this, his plan had been to hunt undead and drain their deathly energy into his cultivation, having it be devoured and converted in the process. But there was no way he was climbing down the bluff in his current condition, nor would the tree survive for long enough even if he was capable. Sorry about this. He apologised silently to the plants. You¡¯ll grow back stronger than ever, probably. Then he drained them of vitality. Leif blinked, it had barely been a trickle. If he hadn¡¯t been paying attention Leif might not have realised he had actually gained anything. Previously he had drained a tiny amount of vitality from plants he passed in order to maintain himself, but it seemed his cultivation pool now required far more energy. Cursing internally he wobbled over to another area and repeated his prior action. Grass withered, mushrooms lilted and moss detached from the ground and blew away in inert clumps in the night breeze. It still wasn¡¯t enough, and he was running out of time. Just as he was about to give up and reactivate [Settle], hopefully undoing what he had just done and trying again another day, he stopped. There was vitality, it was diffuse and faint, but all encompassing. The only problem was that it was pooled deep beneath his feet. Leif fell to a knee, focused on [Might], raised a clawed, four fingered fist, then drove it into the hardened stone with a crack that split the night. Birds panicked and flew away, rodents squeaked and fled. But the stone had been breached up to his forearm, he started to drain. Stupid, stupid. You had roots in the ground you damn idiot. You should have done this before detaching, so incredibly stupid. He growled at himself, not sparing the attention to conjure a tongue and speak out loud. Instead he used [Gold Iron Physique] to conjure a glowing amber stake at the tip of his fist, then drove it down into the crack he had already made. Again and again he struck, each time he drew on more and more vitality. The trickle became a stream, but it was so slow. It would have to be enough, Leif stood and scampered over to the trunk, his trunk, and placed a palm against the ivory bark. [Healing Palm] was broken, but that wasn¡¯t the skill he intended to use anyway. Leif sharpened his [Willpower], then spoke aloud, his voice resonating through the air. ¡°Survive.¡± Then he triggered [Embolden Vegetation], and urged as much cultivated life-force into the skill as he could manage. Golden lines of vitality shot up into the tree, the partially filled in person sized gap his evacuation had left began to bleed amber sap as new bark began to grow. The invisible connection Leif felt to the tree strengthened, then snapped into place. The spriggan sagged, forehead against bark, and let out a long sigh. The domain that had been slowly dissipating ever since his separation expanded to fill its previous size. For several minutes Leif remained in place, even though he had succeeded he found himself resolving over and over to not brazenly experiment before he had made a full recovery. Finally he stood and looked the tree up and down. It would need further attention, but it should be fine. It had been messy, but he had succeeded. Now if he left, he would be able to leave his domain behind to protect and restore those in need. If he ever found his animals again he would have a safe place for them to live, that thought cheered him greatly. The tree was still him, though it was just a shell, lacking any of his skills or consciousness besides the obvious exception. Then Leif turned and gazed at the expanse of withered plants, a pang of sadness twinged his heart, the plant life had sprung up atop the bluff because of him. They didn¡¯t have any awareness to speak of, still, it felt like a betrayal. Something caught Leif¡¯s eye, he had glimpsed it during his earlier panicked scrambling, but it had slipped his attention as he had tried to save himself, from himself. The spriggan trotted over and looked down at what he found. A circle of small stones surrounding a pile of ash, and within that ash, something that glowed a faint red. He stuck a finger into the abandoned campfire and found a small glowing gemstone, he picked it up, and felt a slight amount of warmth. Leif stood with hands on hips, gazing around at the completely empty bluff. ¡°Huh. That¡¯s strange.¡± Chapter 80: Scavengers Chapter 80: Scavengers Leif stared down at the campfire, if he had a face capable of emoting it would possess a look of contemplation, perhaps consternation. This hadn¡¯t been here during the battle, for one it was in the middle of what had once been a commonly walked path. For another, the area surrounding it had been cleared of the recent plant growth. The spriggan began to explore the bluff, his surroundings illuminated by starlight. Back when this place had been an imperial outpost the secondary, smaller bluff he now found himself on had been used to house the crafters and non combatants. He saw workshops, abandoned and missing tools and goods. The remains of tattered tents, weather worn fabric fluttering in the wind. He passed the large, almost four metre tall obelisk that stood within a clearing, its hulking dark structure streaked with faint snaking lines of purple energy. That had once been an anchor that allowed for sky skimmers to navigate the skies. Though now it seemed mostly lacking in power, the months of no maintenance having taken their toll. The lack of any signs of human activity in what had once been a bustling, if under siege outpost was distinctly eerie. Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Long grooves, the width of Leif¡¯s forearm crisscrossed the ground and buildings seemingly at random. Leif knew the cause of these scars, they had been caused by the awakened formian that had bombarded Far-reach from above. The monster had been cut off from the battle by a vast sphere of shadow, but her attacks of dark blue light had still sliced through the domain and claimed the lives of the humans fighting below. Leif reached the skimmer docks, and down in the darkness he thought he could make out the outline of the two skimmers that had been split in half, their desperate crew and evacuating soldiers having been killed. At the far end of the bluff Leif¡¯s domain was barely present, the vitality that suffused the ground was dim and barely noticeable. His aura hadn¡¯t been able to cover the distance from the domain tree to where he was standing back during the battle. He concluded it was likely the large increase to [Charisma] he had received due to what the system had called ¡®a display of excellence.¡¯ As he looked around he couldn¡¯t help but notice that once again no one was here. Actually, now that he thought about it, there weren¡¯t any corpses either, not on the entire bluff. That was a good sign, it meant those he had fought to save had been evacuated. That cheered him greatly, it would have been more than a little embarrassing if his reckless last stand hadn¡¯t even worked. It took almost an hour for Leif to explore the entire bluff, though he had been taking the ponderous, scenic route. Most of the valuables, weapons and armour had been taken. Some tools and supplies remained, though the food had rotted or otherwise spoiled. Leif, not overly pleased at having regained his ability to smell, picked up the crates that had contained those leftovers and tossed them off the nearest cliff. Not on my bluff, no thank you. === Below were piles of corpses and the stone that had fallen to crush them. Leif conjured a sharp stake of amber light in each hand using [Gold Iron Physique], reduced his weight using a different part of the same skill, then dropped over the edge. He let himself fall for a moment, before stabbing out against the cliff-side with his twin stakes, they ground against the hard stone, sending sparks and golden essence flying up as he descended. They caught, and Leif came to a sudden stop halfway down the cliff. It was to the credit of his attribute enhanced body that weakened as he was, he barely felt any strain. Leif let himself drop the rest of the way, landing in a heavy crouch in the base of the valley below. As he had fallen the effects of his domain had gradually lessened, now that he was no longer atop the bluff Leif suspected the domain''s effects were reduced by around twenty, maybe thirty percent. Even down at ground level vegetation flourished, the air possessing a crisp freshness that Leif associated with untamed wilderness. He began to work his way through the twisted, picked clean bodies that littered the ravine. Leif had somewhat hoped there would be mana shards to scavenge, but the small shards of energy that grew within monsters over level twenty five were absent. The undead had in general been quite weak, though more than a few had manifested shards upon being felled in battle. But there was nothing remaining. Leif sighed as he worked his way to the largest corpse. The building-sized, carapaced body of the formian queen lay slumped where it had fallen. Bits and pieces lay scattered all around the ravine due to the violent dismemberment Leif had inflicted upon it during his final moments of consciousness. He could remember the moment clearly, and it was quite satisfying. But the corpse before him now had been picked clean, large chunks of its exoskeleton had been removed and most of its innards looked to have been scooped out. There was also no mana shard. Leif gazed around the ravine distinctly disappointed. He had wanted to use the mana shards he had hoped to loot to speed up the process of skill fusion. Leif turned and took in the sight one last time, even if this had been a let down he still had several things to do before returning to the bluff. Something gleamed under the starlight where it was partially buried under rubble. Not a mana shard, a small metallic badge. Leif brushed off the dust and detritus, revealing the detailed carving of a serpentine dragon eating its own tail. The Academy token he had been given by Darius and Hera, and an item he had promised to return. Finally he left the ravine, using the starlight above to guide his steps. The world was silent and cool, it felt in that moment like he was the only being alive to witness its wonder and majesty. But it was a fleeting, foolish observation. Leif shook himself from his brief moment of reverie and stretched, his wooden limbs popping as he loosened up. Time to get to work. Chapter 81: Manipulations Chapter 81: Manipulations Leif had spent three days trudging through the wilderness after having departed from Far-reach. During his exploration he had finally seen the world in daylight. The landscape was withered and desolate. The malevolent presence brought about by deathly energy had corrupted and blighted the land for what seemed like dozens of miles. What animals he saw were diseased and malnourished, many having succumbed to the unfortunate fate of undeath. Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Leif spotted a pack of mangy, starving wolves as they crested a nearby hill. Their leader, a much larger and healthier looking beast howled, the sound mimicked a few moments later by the rest of the pack. They saw him, then retreated. Melting away into the distance like morning fog. That had been a wise decision. Leif was far from being weak enough to be threatened by a group of mostly unevolved animals. Though in fairness, the wolves had likely been more interested in avoiding the monster he currently fought. The monster, or more accurately the abomination, had a frightening appearance. Its rotting form a bizarre and twisted amalgam of forest creatures and what Leif suspected were goblins. It had the body of a large bear, but its six legs were hooved and antlers sprouted from its head. A dozen grasping, skeletal arms protruded from its spine, some still holding rusted weapons. Though the abomination was a fearsome looking foe, it was currently... struggling. A nearby tree, thin and spindly, had reached down and grappled the monster''s upper body while ten or so roots had erupted from the ground to spear into the abomination or wrap around its six misshapen legs. Leif stood nearby holding a large stick. He focused, and the metre length branch rippled like the surface of a pond. Then its form began to flow and reshape, the brittle yet solid nature of the object stretching and reshaping in his clawed hand. After a few moments the stick¡¯s shape settled into that of a slightly deformed sword. The spriggan gave it a few test swings. The balance was off and the blade would likely snap after only a few good impacts, but still, pretty cool. In the days he had spent exploring his surroundings and hunting down undead to replenish his cultivation Leif had discovered something very important: He really, really liked [Wood Manipulation]. The skill was as versatile as it was flexible. He could call roots from the ground like he had done to the monster before him, reshape trees or fallen branches according to his will. Ever since his rebirth Leif hadn¡¯t had much cause or reason to use swords, but it was an aspect of his old life he still felt some distant attachment to. Besides, there¡¯s something uniquely satisfying about turning almost sword shaped sticks into actual swords. He mused, holding up his current blade and nodding to himself. There was a weight limit to [Wood Manipulation], the heavier a unit of wood, the harder it was to control. But that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t control smaller parts of larger objects. He imagined that someone or something with a similar skill only with a different element or aspect they could control would have similar restrictions. Stone manipulation came to mind as a similar ability he should look into comparing [Wood Manipulation] to. Leif lengthened the blade, smoothing out the weapons profile and removing any parts of the structure that jutted out or were causing its balance to be off. Leif then sized up the thrashing and snarling undead abomination he had restrained and focused. The wooden blade in his hand rose a foot in the air, then turned so its pointed end faced the monstrosity. Then, with an effort of will and a mental command the blade shot through the air, stabbing into the undead¡¯s left eye socket and becoming stuck with a sickening thwack and a spray of foul black blood. The bluff finally came back into sight. Leif had spent several days out in the wilderness regaining his strength and getting back into the swing of things. He reached the base of the towering stone cliff and focused, then stepped forward, zipping up and across the bluff in a blur of golden light. He appeared right at the base of the ivory white tree, head spinning and soul twinging in pain. [Amber Steps] had worked, just as he had hoped it would. Well, he had known it would. Leif could feel the anchor that was planted firmly at the base of the domain tree, the spriggan had felt it ever since his separation from the tree had succeeded. His idea for splitting himself hadn¡¯t only been based on a long term solution for family and friends he didn¡¯t know the location of. He had needed a quick way back up the bluff once he had left, something faster and more convenient than climbing that is. Leif dusted himself off and calmed the animals he had disturbed with his sudden entrance with a subtle brush of his aura. At his hip was a small wooden sphere attached to a belt he had fashioned out of a narrow branch. The sphere parted at his mental command to reveal a handful of glistening blue shards. Fusion of skills [Grounded Stance II] and [Enduring Grit] 53/100% Progress towards the skill fusion was less than ten percent a day, but with the small amount of mana shards he had acquired the fusion should speed up greatly. He plucked one of the small crystalline objects out of the container and resealed the hole with [Wood Manipulation] so the remaining contents wouldn¡¯t fall out. Would you like to consume this mana catalyst to increase current skill fusion progress? Y/N? Leif accepted the prompt and the small, narrow gemstone dissolved into a shimmering blue liquid that flowed into the palm of his hand. The cool sensation that followed was quite enjoyable, like the water of a clear spring washing through his body. The spriggan turned his attention to the domain tree. His connection to it was still stable, having weakened not at all as he ventured around the surrounding wilderness. The tree itself however had somewhat deteriorated. Some of its branches sagged and many of its crimson leaves looked wilted. Leif suspected that if he had stayed away for any longer his connection would have begun to dissolve. But he was here now, and his cultivated pool of vitality was bursting at the seams. Leif spent the next few hours using [Embolden Vegetation] on the domain tree and absorbing mana shards. He sat up against his own trunk, a pair of songbirds standing on his head, occasionally hopping around and filling the air with their melody. Within his domain the sickly malevolence of the surrounding region was absent, the air was warm and the company was welcoming He intermittently checked the progress of his skill fusion, but it looked like it would take another day or so to complete. With nothing urgent to do, Leif relaxed, and just enjoyed the sensation of being alive. Chapter 82: Tenacity Chapter 82: Tenacity The supply crate lay on its side, a faded and weatherworn symbol was painted onto its side though Leif couldn¡¯t make out the details. He sunk clawed fingers into the wooden exterior and lifted the container, carrying it to where he was gathering all the leftover supplies he could find on the smaller bluff. Most containers he found were damaged, destroyed, or had been left open prior to being left behind. Others had sprung leaks or, like the food crates he had thrown overboard, their contents hadn¡¯t survived even if their protection had. Leif reached out, and focused his concentration. He could pry these crates open with his physical strength without problem, but this was an opportunity to practise. The top of a crate, smaller than the rest and cube shaped, opened like a flower in bloom, the wooden exterior parting in smooth motions to reveal the contents inside. The problem with opening a container in this way was that it ruined the wax like sealant that rendered the crate waterproof. He could close to box back up, simply reversing his prior manipulation of the wood, but the container''s integrity would be irreversibly damaged. Within were nine bottles of what Leif suspected was liquor. He popped a cork off one of the bottles and had a whiff. He almost gagged, hastily returning the cork around the mouth of the bottle. Alcohol, but not the drinking kind. Leif deduced, putting the crate to the side. Another crate, opened in the same fashion, contained tools and supplies for the crafting of arrows. Another was tightly packed rows of preserved meats. A larger crate contained boots and under-shirts that Leif had seen some imperial soldiers wear while not in armour. The next crate, one he had found next to the one with boots, contained cloaks and pants. He continued to sort through what he had collected. Nothing jumped out as immediately valuable, but what goods he could think of a use for he put to the side. That done, he moved to the most intact structure on the bluff. It was a wooden building that had once been a workshop of some description. One of the walls and part of the ceiling had been obliterated by a stray gravity beam, but otherwise the structure was in good condition. Leif cleaned out the rubble and detritus, then deconstructed some of the nearby buildings and repurposed their lumber. It took him less than an hour to turn the workshop into a perfectly serviceable barn. Once that was done, he spent time strengthening the individual planks of wood with his powers, sealing off holes and gaps in the walls and ceiling before finally moving the things he had a potential use for into the building. Just as he finished placing the final crate and that was taking in his handiwork, he received a system notification. Congratulations! Your fusion of the [Grounded Stance II] and [Enduring Grit] skills is complete! You have gained the [Brawler] skill [Tenacious Fighter]! === === The first thing Ram noticed as he fell towards the ruins of the human village was that the life-giving tree with ivory white bark and red leaves seemed to have grown since he had last used this place to rest and recover. The second was a man shaped creature of similar colour looking up at him as he dropped. Ram snorted, and shifted the direction of his descent, his long white hair billowing out behind him like a mantle made out of clouds. As the ground below rose up to meet him Ram slowed his fall with a brief effort of will, his hands never leaving the pockets of the mismatched fur coat he wore. His bare feet met the stone without a sound. He scanned the creature up and down with an assessing look, gaining a sense of its aura and strength. Clearly it was the tree¡¯s guardian or something of the sort, but its strength was nothing to concern something of his power. Ram didn¡¯t have an analysis skill, but he trusted his intuition gained from decades of battle more than any trickle of information the system might provide. The plant monster lowered itself slightly, as if ready for a confrontation, though its posture was purely defensive. Ram let the silence hang as he glared into glowing golden eyes. ¡°So.¡± He barked. ¡°Finally awake hmm? Or have you been deliberately ignoring me the entire time?¡± Ram¡¯s voice was like gravel being slowly grinded into dust, a low rumble like an advancing avalanche. The monster''s eyes flickered, as if blinking, and it stood up straighter. ¡°I¡¯m... sorry? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Its deep voice was surprisingly coherent for a plant creature, though it had a slight rasp, as if its body wasn¡¯t made for speaking. Ram¡¯s eye twitched, and he felt electricity dance through his billowing mane of hair and sparked between the horns that protruded from his head. The plant creature¡¯s attention flickered to the sparks of power briefly, before returning back to him. Ram let the silence hang once again, letting it stretch out for an uncomfortable duration. Something he had learnt during his long years of life was that it was far easier to communicate the less one talked. Sure enough, the ivory monster shifted uncomfortably, then spoke. ¡°I... assume you¡¯ve been here before. I only just woke from a long slumber, so I don¡¯t know who you are.¡± Ram didn¡¯t respond, letting the creature stew under his gaze. Truthfully he hadn¡¯t been sure if it had been capable of speech, but he always welcomed pleasant surprises. Even the most powerful beings in the northern mountains were barely able to communicate beyond base growls or screeches. Finally, once the quiet would grant his response enough gravitas, Ram spoke. ¡°I see.¡± The wind blew, the red leaves of the tree rustled, a bird flying overhead let out a chirp. Then he walked past the monster made of bark and slumped to relax next to his old campsite. Ram let a spark of lightning zap the fire starting gem that still rested where he had left it, while at the same time commanding wind to bring him wood for kindling. Within moments a merry little fire crackled away within the circle of stones. The confusion radiating off the plant creature was practically palpable, but that didn¡¯t matter. After all, it wasn¡¯t his job to explain himself. Ram had declared his intentions months ago, it wasn¡¯t his fault if nobody had been around to hear him. Chapter 83: Stubborn Chapter 83: Stubborn Leif stared dumbly at where the newcomer lounged next to the fire. The horned man was dressed in what looked like a dozen different animal pelts that had been stitched together, and he was absolutely covered in dirt and grime. Splotches of blood and less identifiable things stained his rags. Despite his ragged appearance the man was strong, his physique muscular and solid, Leif was glad he didn¡¯t appear to be hostile. He didn¡¯t need to activate [Combative Gumption] to know the being before him was a fighter. But still, who the hells acts like this around strangers? He thought, halfway between amused and annoyed. But Leif thought he knew who this man was, or rather, he had heard of him before. The spriggan sat next to the fire and watched as the man reached into a pocket and withdrew a handful of nuts. The man started chewing loudly, not looking at Leif. There was silence for several awkward minutes before Leif sighed and spoke. ¡°You have a family, correct? A group of nomads that travelled through this region some time ago.¡± The man didn¡¯t reply, instead he reached into his pocket and withdrew what looked like a pear. They locked eyes as he took a large chunk out of the fruit, juices dripping down his chin and splattering the front of his rags. He ate the entire pear, including the pip, never once taking his eyes off Leif. The spriggan didn¡¯t shift impatiently, his physiology was more than sufficient to remain still while waiting for the man¡¯s answer. Then the man reached into his pocket, and withdrew a second, almost identical fruit. Leif glared at the stranger, his eyes blazing gold as he cocked his head to the side. Is this some sort of abstract mind game, or is this guy completely clueless? ¡°Hmm?¡± The horned man grunted. ¡°Did you want something?¡± ¡°An answer would be nice.¡± Leif replied flatly. ¡°Answer... to what?¡± The two just stared at one another, the man beginning to slowly eat his second fruit. Nothing but the sound of munching broke the silence that stretched on for another few minutes. Leif stared impassively, he couldn¡¯t read the man¡¯s aura and [Amber Sympathy] wasn¡¯t picking up his emotions or intent. From what Leif understood, that meant the man¡¯s aura was stronger than his own. His aura¡¯s rank must be quite high, because his [Charisma] seems to be as low as it could possibly get. Or maybe it¡¯s his [Intelligence] that¡¯s lacking? Brain damage? Or is this a specific thing to do with his species and acting like a brick wall is perfectly normal behaviour? ¡°Are you the patriarch of the demikin clan that was travelling through this region prior to the undead appearing?¡± Leif asked, exasperated, though he tried not to let his emotions show in his voice or body language. ¡°Oh. Yes.¡± The man replied, mouth full of fruit. There was another several minutes of silence that stretched on and on as Leif waited for the still unnamed man to elaborate. If Leif¡¯s memory was correct the stranger before him was the ¡®revered ancestor¡¯ the nomad Liv had described. He, or rather, the high level tempest goat in the guise of a man reached once again into his pocket. ¡°Please talk.¡± Leif said, trying to interrupt his guest before the man could stick anything else into his mouth. ¡°About what?¡± Asked the goat. The spriggan just stared at the man, watching in dumbfounded silence as he pulled out an entire bottle from his pocket. What is wrong with this guy? His family seemed like relatively normal people, how on earth is he so strange. Leif thought, trying to recall if he had horribly misinterpreted the actions of the nomad tribe. ¡°Your name, why are you here? I need to know where your family is because I left some of my own with them.¡± Leif asked, feeling like he was explaining the basics of conversation to a child. ¡°Ram.¡± The man replied, then took a swig from his bottle. Above, a flock of mismatched songbirds danced and dove, moving in intricate patterns as dictated by his aura control. He wasn¡¯t forcing them to act in this way, instead the colourful animals seemed to treat mimicking his aura control as some sort of game. Leif split his aura, dividing the birds into two equal groups that spiralled around one another. He guided them in ever more elaborate manoeuvres, splitting his aura into half a dozen rope-like strands. The spriggan retracted his aura, the birds letting out tweets of disappointment before returning to the domain tree. Leif let his aura wrap around him, then expand into a dome three metres out. It hung in the air, the condensed and potent power rippling ever so slightly. If there was one benefit to focusing so heavily on [Charisma], it was that his aura was far more powerful than even its rank would suggest. He spent the next hour practising [Wood Manipulation], working to condense and compact small spheres of timber that had been restored by his healing skills. Leif worked on his finesse and control, tasks that had become much easier since his aura had upgraded. An orb of smooth wood half the size of his fist hung just above his extended palm as Leif willed it to become smaller, to compress more tightly. It was a struggle, his concentration straining to maintain the process. As it was reduced to a satisfactory size Leif wove in another layer of wood and repeated the process. The ball grew hot, trembling where it floated under the effects of [Wood Manipulation]. Finally it grew too dense, its weight too much for the skill to control without his full attention. The ball fell into his palm with a heavy thwack. It took focusing on [Might] with [Grand Action] to keep the sphere of condensed wood from slipping from his grasp crashing to the ground. Leif tensed the wood fibre muscles of his arm, feeling the steady strength contained within. Heavy footfalls sounded from behind him so Leif turned, conjuring two amber arms to hold the ball as he took in the horned man that approached. They stood there for several moments just looking at one another. Leif was tempted to play the awakened goat¡¯s game and match his silence until he caved in and spoke, but determined he had better things to do than waste several hours. ¡°Ram.¡± The spriggan said, nodding slightly. The goatman crossed his arms and grunted. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Leif blinked at Ram, then looked down at the ball of compressed wood. ¡°I¡¯m experimenting, discovering the limits of my skills before I leave. Why do you ask?¡± Ram seemed to chew on his words for almost a minute before answering. ¡°Why leave? Isn''t it your duty or whatever to protect this place?¡± When Leif didn¡¯t immediately respond the man vaguely gestured to their surroundings, as if that clarified his comment. ¡°No...? No not particularly. I intend to use this place as a home of sorts, maybe as a point to begin removing the undead¡¯s presence from this region.¡± Ram frowned as if confused. ¡°I thought you were tending to the tree. Is that not your purpose as a guardian?¡± Leif blinked, staring mutely at the awakened goat for several moments. What is this guy on about? ¡°Guardian? Why would I be the guardian of myself? Sure, the domain tree took a while to grow to its current size but I¡¯m not exactly tied to this place.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What?¡± Both spriggan and awakened goat stared at one another for over a minute. Then Ram took a swig from his bottle and snorted in amusement. ¡°Well, why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± If Leif thought he could attack the being before him without being vaporised in a flash of lightning he would have done so. He could admit to himself the idea was very tempting. Maybe a good punch will knock the hypocrisy out of him? Chapter 84: Frigid Chapter 84: Frigid Leif trudged along a hillside, he maintained his focus on a ball of wood that was constantly being reshaped and moulded into different configurations. When the wood began to destabilise and his manipulations became too much for the object to handle, Leif would send a trickle of healing amber energy into the object. [Wood Manipulation] wasn¡¯t a skill he could upgrade like [Aura of Nobility] or [Tenacious Fighter], Leif knew the skill¡¯s biggest constraints were his own expertise and his raw strength. If his [Willpower] was higher he would simply be able to do more. If he had a year to practise his proficiency would grow in leaps and bounds. With an effort of will and a guiding gesture with a hand he reshaped the sphere into a metre long staff, then he used the staff to help navigate a particularly unstable part of the hillside. Leif turned his attention to the man he was following. Over the past few days Ram had become... more tolerable. The awakened beast had taken a keen interest in his self imposed training regime. Leif¡¯s staff dug into the hardened soil, breaking a chunk of it away. He stumbled but maintained his balance. Ahead of him, Ram was effortlessly walking along as if the steep slopes were a perfectly flat road. Though the ice between beast and monster had broken, It had gotten to the point where Leif was feeling distinctly uncomfortable under the goat¡¯s constant gaze. Fortunately the old man dressed in rags was easy to ignore once Leif became entirely focused on his advancement. When Ram had finally stopped acting as a decrepit and mangy shadow and had approached him, the goatman had asked Leif what he was hoping to achieve by ¡®flailing around''. When the spriggan had replied that he was preparing himself before leaving to gain the final two levels he needed before his class evolved at level twenty, Ram¡¯s interest had gone from looming, to a sharp, almost overbearing obsession. ¡°Right then.¡± The awakened goat had said, standing up and placing his hands on his hips, a dangerous glint in his eyes. ¡°Fight me.¡± ¡°No.¡± Leif had replied. ¡°I know the difference in our power. I could feel it the moment we met.¡± ¡°Cmon now, I¡¯ll hold back.¡± Ram said, the dangerous glint turning into a fiery gleam. Leif had sighed, then reluctantly conjured eight golden arms and lowered himself into a combat stance. Then with a blinding flash of light the spriggan had found himself lying face up in a smoking crater, the hazy silhouette of Ram looming over him like the world¡¯s most disapproving mountain. ¡°You¡¯re too weak.¡± He said, his wrinkled features serving to compound his scowl. ¡°You suck at holding back.¡± Leif retorted, smoke rising from where lightning had scorched his body¡¯s exterior. ¡°And I did just mention being close to an evolution, how strong did you think I was?¡± ¡°Get up and try again.¡± ¡°How did your family turn out so normal when they¡¯re related to you?¡± Ram had smiled crookedly, then shook his head. ¡°Let me show you something.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t-¡± ¡°Follow me or I¡¯ll zap you.¡± The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) ¡°Give me a minute to stop smoking, then fine.¡± ¡°Listen kid. If you can defeat the baby elementals in the closest clusters I¡¯ll be impressed. Oh, when doing this kind of training, only use skills and abilities from the class you¡¯re trying to evolve, you¡¯ll level up faster that way.¡± Leif hesitated, then decided to at least try to follow Ram¡¯s instructions. He needed to gain levels, and if this method worked he supposed he wouldn¡¯t complain. But that did mean several important skills wouldn¡¯t be available for the upcoming battle. For the first time in what felt like forever, Leif mentally commanded [Grand Action] to deactivate. The skill was a near constant source of raw power, applying twenty percent of his [Charisma] attribute to any other attribute of his choice. Then he fully restrained [Aura of Nobility]. He felt his awareness and ability to perceive the abstract weaken, the innate sense of control he felt over his surroundings fade away. To his side Ram grunted, then mumbled something but Leif ignored him. Under the restrictions he would be fighting with, [Under my Protection] was also unavailable, the shielding skill was a core part of his fighting style, but if it helped him advance he would do without. Finally he pushed down the enhancement components of [Tenacious Fighter], a feeling of instability coming over him. The spriggan stepped towards the ice elemental, without his aura active [Gold Iron Physique] felt far weaker than usual. Almost instinctively Leif knew his usual number of limbs would be infeasible to control and maintain, so he only manifested a single pair. Even conjuring two amber arms felt like pushing through a wall, the skill struggling to emerge from his soul and project out into the physical world. I never realised how much my aura did for my control, this almost feels like trying to fight and run blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back. The spriggan mused as an icy wind began to encircle the elemental. In effect Leif was suppressing himself, even if he didn¡¯t have an aura skill, whatever intangible presence that all beings emanated would still be present, granting a minor but still noticeable boon to his abilities. With a grinding sound like a pile of rocks getting intimate the icy monster shifted its body, then lurched towards him. Leif could no longer sense its aura, but he could see frosted mist begin to coalesce around its ever changing form. The mist merged into a single point before the elemental, then lanced out towards him in a finger thin beam of white light. Leif raised both conjured limbs crossed before him, the beam punched into the golden arms and immediately caused them to crack and fracture. Excess cold energy burst out from where the attack had just barely been blocked and impacted Leif¡¯s head and upper torso. The spriggan staggered back from the impact, letting himself fall into a roll. He stood and stepped to the side, another beam of ice and light flashing past where he had just been. Leif rushed forward, though he felt off balance and his body was acting sluggish, his more than potent attribute totals still gave him enough power and speed to reposition quickly. He closed the gap and landed a heavy blow with his left fist, the elemental¡¯s exterior cracked as his strike connected, the monster rocking back as its body shifted and reorientated. Leif saw the mist build up and, knowing what was likely being aimed at, stepped around the elemental and forced it to rotate to keep a bead on his location. He landed another punch, then another, followed up by a newly conjured golden fist crashing into the crack-like wounds his assault was inflicting. Another beam flashed out but Leif stepped forward, vanishing in a blur of golden light and reappearing on the opposite side of the elemental. He hadn¡¯t been quick enough to totally dodge the elemental¡¯s attack, his left side was partially frozen over, icy frost making his bark-like skin brittle. Sensing the anchors left behind by [Amber Steps] felt like gazing through fogged glass, Leif could barely make out where the teleportation skill was lingering with each step he made. A sound like gears grinding together in the wrong way emitted from the crystalline entity as it shifted and reformed. Leif noticed for the first time that the elemental was withdrawing the damaged parts of its body into deeper layers of its ever changing form. For over a minute the battle continued. The elemental¡¯s attacks grew faster and more aggressive, the monster lashing out with jagged ice blades or preparing multiple beams to fire in rapid sequence. But Leif, even while suppressed, was no slouch in combat. Even if he hadn¡¯t spent the weeks since his return to consciousness familiarising himself with his abilities and expanding his capabilities with training, he doubted it would have mattered. The elemental, while sturdy and relatively powerful, was simply too low level. Leif¡¯s attributes, even while not utilising [Grand Action] were too much. With each devastating blow he landed, its ability to shift the damaged parts of its structure lessened, and with a final series of rapid strikes followed by a roundhouse kick it simply fell apart. Ram clapped lazily as Leif centred himself, then let his conjured arms dissipate. The spriggan stalked over to where the old man was lounging on the icy ground. ¡°What I don¡¯t understand,¡± Ram said, ¡°is why you felt the need to fully suppress yourself.¡± Leif glared at the man, though with his unmoving and flat facial features it likely didn¡¯t come across. ¡°You told me to only use skills that were part of the class I was trying to level up.¡± ¡°True, I did say that. But you¡¯re too low level to have more than one class so it shouldn¡¯t have mattered.¡± Ram pointed out. Leif paused, if he were a normal monster that may have been true. What little he understood about his situation made it clear he was currently deviating from what was the norm for monsters of his level. Then he realised something, and tried to burn a hole into Ram with his eyes. ¡°So you told me to do something I shouldn¡¯t have been able to do? That doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± ¡°If anything doesn¡¯t make sense kid, it¡¯s you.¡± Ram grunted, his amusement clear. ¡°Now how the hells did you awaken before level fifty?¡± Chapter 85: Gaining Experience Chapter 85: Gaining Experience ¡°Now how the hells did you awaken before level fifty?¡± Ram¡¯s question hung in the air, as if by merely being spoken it charged the environment with static electricity. Leif wasn¡¯t overly surprised Ram had figured him out, but he was surprised the goat cared enough to ask. After a moment of consideration he decided it likely didn¡¯t matter if Ram knew or not, so he chose to answer truthfully. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly a secret, several people already know and with how quickly you figured it out I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter. The truth is I was once human, I died or something very similar and awoke with a new species and class. I was an unevolved tree for a little over a decade, but during that time I wasn¡¯t really aware of myself or my condition. I slowly regained consciousness, gained levels and evolved. I¡¯ve met people, animals and monsters. An expedition of students from an empire to the south, a clan of nomads with horns and fluffy white hair.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Ram said, wrinkling his brow and taking a swig from his seemingly always full bottle. ¡°I was expecting something interesting, but that makes sense.¡± Leif cocked his head to the side. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that circumstances like mine were common. The people I spoke to about it didn¡¯t know what to make of me.¡± The sound of tinkling glass came from the nearest cluster of ice shards as the remnants of what made up the elemental Leif destroyed slowly rolled across the ground. ¡°I don¡¯t know about common, uncommon, whatever.¡± He said with a dismissive wave of his grimy hand. ¡°It makes sense, but there¡¯s nothing I can get out of it so I don¡¯t care.¡± Leif stared at the awakened beast for several seconds, grinding sounds came from behind the spriggan and began to grow louder and louder as the source drew closer. With a crack another elemental emerged from the pile of ice crystals. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sorry my situation isn¡¯t more interesting to you.¡± He said flatly. Ram grunted in amusement but didn¡¯t speak further, his attention sliding off Leif and moving to the approaching elemental. ¡°What about you? What¡¯s your story?¡± The spriggan asked, crossing his arms and not looking away from the goat. ¡°None of your business, kid.¡± ¡°I know your family, I could always ask them.¡± ¡°They¡¯re far away from this shithole, best of luck finding them.¡± ¡°So you do know where they are.¡± ¡°Of course I do, why do you think I ventured down from the mountains? I was making sure the forces battling over this region didn¡¯t go in their direction.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t realise you were such a big softy.¡± Leif laughed, letting his aura unspool, it felt like letting out a deep breath. Ram grunted. ¡°You¡¯re too cheeky for someone who can barely fight a baby elemental.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bad match up, they don¡¯t have any life-force I can drain. Normally when I hit things I can syphon off a little bit of energy. Unless that power is somehow completely negated by me being suppressed, but I highly doubt it.¡± Leif said contemplatively. Congratulations! Your fusion of the [Veil of Nature] and [Wave of Restoration] skills is complete! You have gained the [Amber Blight Spriggan] skill [Shroud of Preservation]! He had used up the last of the mana shards he had collected during his first multi-day outing away from the bluff over the past few days, slowly working towards the completion of this newest skill fusion. Leif had been disappointed to learn that ice elementals apparently didn¡¯t produce mana shards on death, though the crystals that made up their bodies could be harvested for what Ram had described as ¡®boring crafter shit¡¯. When Leif had asked Ram why that was the case, the awakened goat had simply shrugged and asked Leif if he knew why the sky occasionally pissed water. The spriggan huffed at the memory, and turned back to the description of his newest skill. === Shroud of Preservation: Aspects: Stealth (Shield), Empowerment (Nature) (Life)* You may cause a protective veil to cling to you or those you choose to bestow it upon within a certain range. Those under the effects of this skill are shielded from divination workings and have increased resilience against elemental damage. Each use of this skill imbues a constant, but limited healing effect that is used to restore the target when needed. === He felt the previous form of the skill shift around him, changing into its new incarnation. [Shroud of Preservation] was almost exactly what he had envisioned when he had initiated the fusion attempt. It was partially disappointing that the minor stealth aspect had reduced in potency, but the system still seemed to consider it the core, or perhaps most important aspect the skill possessed. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what criteria was used to determine the leading aspect in the skill descriptions. The range of use changing from touch to a nebulous, ¡®certain range¡¯ was nice to see, but he was mostly pleased with the healing aspect the skill had gained. Leif had tested [Wave of Restoration] and found this skill underwhelming. The healing effect had been less potent than [Healing Palm], and the range without using spellcraft to modify the skill¡¯s structure had been disappointing. Speaking of spellcraft... Now that [Shroud of Preservation] had a life aspect, I should be able to do this. ¡°Enhance.¡± Leif commanded, his voice making the air still and everything around him became slightly more in focus. Then the moment passed and Leif saw faint motes of golden light twist and twirl around him. He raised an arm, looking in fascination at the faint heat haze that shrouded the limb. Little specks of amber light floated within the shroud, likely visual representations of the skill¡¯s ability to heal him should he receive damage. He had used a not insignificant amount of his cultivated vitality to enhance the skill, but he sensed it had been a worthy investment of power. Leif stood and turned his attention to a nearby pile of ice, with a wave of his hand a longsword made of wood floated into the air to hover over his left shoulder. Time to get those last two levels. Chapter 86: Elemental Chapter 86: Elemental The elemental loomed above him even though it was still fifty or so metres away. All around the valley the piles of ice that littered the ground were coming to life, whether it was because the reconstituting monsters had detected the being who had almost killed them and were coming alive to defend themselves or because of something else, Leif didn¡¯t know. The icy mist that was ever present within the valley now swirled and rolled across the ground, the mist¡¯s presence making the already frosty landscape reflective with newly formed ice. With every step the ground cracked beneath his feet, the wooden sword hovering above his shoulder dipping and rising like a fish swimming through the sea. Leif¡¯s amber eyes were locked onto the elemental he had chosen as a target, golden motes of light drifted around his form and his aura fought back the rising chill that suffused the air. A series of cracks reverberated through the valley as a cluster of ice crystals the size of a house broke apart, the group of smaller elementals that emerged gliding across the icy ground and heading in Ram¡¯s direction. He ignored them, even if the monsters came after him instead they were unlikely to pose a threat. Unsuppressed and ready to go all out Leif only cared about the towering elemental before him. It stood as tall as the crystalline structure the smaller elementals had emerged from, unlike many of its contemporaries roaming the valley this elemental seemed to stand on two legs three times as wide as the domain tree. Its upper body had no discernible features, the monster having no head, arms or anything that couldn¡¯t be described as a massive collection of shifting shards of ice larger than Leif¡¯s entire body. With every step Leif drew closer, his aura pushing against the elemental¡¯s own. It felt as immovable as a mountain, and as unstoppable as a glacier. But its presence was unfocused, more intent on blanketing its surroundings than trying to combat him directly. That began to change as Leif broke into a run. The spriggan wasn¡¯t fast by any means, but calling the elemental¡¯s anything other than ponderous and lethargic would be incorrect. As Leif charged, aura pulled tight around him, glowing amber lights cutting through the billowing mist, the elemental noticed him. It didn¡¯t growl, but the sound of its colossal body shifting to reorientate on him certainly sounded like it. Two points of ice blue light began to concentrate above the monster''s body, the mist swirling as if agitated as the energy gathered. Leif made it five more steps before two beams of ice and light flashed down, cutting across the ground where he would be in a sweeping x. The golden barrier of [Under my Protection] rippled into existence, the shield cracked and buckled under the twin beams but held long enough for the elemental¡¯s attack to dissipate. Leif ran through the falling chunks of barrier and dissipating essence of the skill without slowing his stride. A follow up attack from the elemental came only a handful of seconds later, once again Leif¡¯s shield blocked the attack and he didn¡¯t stop. The elemental seemed to possess the presence of mind to know its strategy wasn¡¯t working as the spriggan drew ever closer, so it began to condense four attacks at once. Leif didn¡¯t stop, even as the beams of white light flickered down to freeze his body solid and shatter him into a thousand pieces he never stopped moving forward. The light cut through the place he had been without meeting the resistance of his shielding skill. But Leif wasn¡¯t there, [Amber Steps] had carried him back over thirty metres in a blur of golden light. The crystalline body of the ice elemental ground together and crunched as it shifted to reorientate on Leif¡¯s new position. The spriggan hadn¡¯t stopped running, even if his progress had been stalled. The elemental rumbled forward, its legs piercing the frozen earth as it lumbered towards him. Five beams of light condensed above its form, then once again flashed out to exterminate the small creature who dared to challenge it. A veritable forest of conjured limbs met the five beams, frozen chunks of golden power fell to the ground and shattered as glowing hands and forearms met the elemental¡¯s attack and were cut through, but not without bleeding away much of its energy. Leif burst through the cloud of white and gold, ice falling away from his body and bone chilling mist surging around him. He didn¡¯t stop, he hadn¡¯t slowed at all. Then he blurred forward in a stream of golden light and appeared under the elemental¡¯s towering body. Leif twisted his body and conjured another forest of golden arms. Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Empowered by a not inconsiderable portion of his cultivated vitality and strengthened by a spell command the two dozen or so arms twisted and wove together. They conjoined into a single massive arm twice as long as Leif was tall, then a fist glowing with power smashed up into the elemental¡¯s body causing the monster¡¯s form to crack down the middle. For matching a powerful foe in combat and forcing it into capitulation instead of wasting its energy fighting what it couldn¡¯t defeat you have gained a level! +1 [Willpower] +5 free points! Leif couldn¡¯t help but feel like the system seemed to have shrugged its metaphorical shoulders when granting him that level. He knew that the system only described the primary action that resulted in the level gain, not every tiny thing that had added up to enough experience to gain the level. But still, that message certainly didn¡¯t look impressive. But by this point he had spent several days battling and testing himself against the elementals within the valley. If Leif was being honest with himself, he somewhat doubted his ability to deal enough damage to the elemental to have destroyed it completely. It would have been a gruelling battle of attrition, one that he would have needed to play safely due to his inability to drain life-force to sustain himself. I suppose that if I were a being capable of breaking apart and reconstituting after some time had passed, I probably wouldn¡¯t feel like fighting an extended battle that was ultimately meaningless. He mused, stepping over a pile of now inanimate ice. He stretched and began to march towards the edge of the valley. Time to refill my cultivation pool, then find something for round two. And so he did, and with each victory [Amber Blight Spriggan] drew closer and closer to level twenty. Leif challenged an elemental that was slightly smaller than the one he had defeated to reach level nineteen, unfortunately the battle had drawn the attention of another of the colossal monsters and Leif was forced to retreat under a hail of ice beams. After letting himself thaw and fully recover from the failed attempt, Leif used his aura to draw an elemental to a part of the valley that he had cleared in the days of fighting prior. This one was far more aggressive than any other Leif had fought up until that point. It attacked and attacked, never letting up a near constant barrage of ice lances and crushing blows. After a ten minute back and forth battle, Leif stood atop a trembling pile of cracked and shattered crystals. Amber arms tipped with spear points plunged down over and over, each penetrating blow driving further down into the elemental¡¯s body. The entire time it¡¯s aura crashed against his own, like an avalanche trying to sweep him away. Leif resisted, though his soul ached and his mind wavered, the elemental was unable to suppress him. ¡°Just... die... already.¡± He groaned, driving four spiked fists into its increasingly damaged form. Leif sent a silent thank you to the elemental that had given up only a few minutes into the battle, this slog was just tedious. ¡°If you can¡¯t beat me... and you¡¯ll just reconstitute later...¡± The spriggan growled. ¡°Then...¡± A crack split the air as the elemental¡¯s body fractured down the middle. ¡°Just...¡± Its entire body slowed, no longer attempting to withdraw the damaged parts. ¡°Give!¡± The monster stilled, and the pressure of its aura slackened. Leif let his amber limbs disperse into essence as he sagged, breathing heavily atop his conquered foe. Then the elemental¡¯s body began to glow, brilliant white light shining through the thousands of cracks and gaps in its body. ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± Leif said, feeling the creature¡¯s intent with [Amber Sympathy] moments before it happened. The elemental rudely ignored him and didn¡¯t stop. The brightness grew, its entire form trembling. Leif sighed in resignation and summoned a golden barrier. Then the elemental exploded. Chapter 87: Mending Chapter 87: Mending Amber blood pooled from the wound where a metre long jagged spike of ice had punctured Leif¡¯s torso and punched clean out the other side. There was a finger deep gash in the side of his head, both his legs were missing to various degrees of severity and one of his arms was mangled to the point of complete disuse. He was caked in a layer of jagged ice, though most of it lay strewn around him. Leif coughed, gagged, then reached up and yanked the arm length shard of what had once been part of an elemental out of his throat. The amber motes of light from [Shroud of Preservation] drifted down into his body as his cultivated vitality worked on mending him from the inside out. Golden light flickered across his body like flames merrily dancing in a hearth. The spriggan lay sprawled out in the crater the impact his body had made by crashing into the side of the valley. Icy mist drifted around him, but it was created by the fragments of elemental that were either still embedded within him, or were scattered around the landing zone, Leif was too far away from the valley¡¯s centre to be near any active elementals. Which in his current condition was likely quite fortunate. His body rippled and spasmed as his healing magics dislodged the splinters, stitched together his plant fibre muscles and closed over gaping wounds in his outer layer of ivory bark. He could feel the somewhat unnerving, though completely painless sensation of his legs regrowing and his arm twisting back into shape. All things considered, he¡¯d probably been in worse shape before. Or at least, closer to death, relatively speaking. Leif had enough synergistic skills and bonuses to make his body remarkably sturdy, and that was without mentioning the fact [Font of Life] amplified the effects of his cultivated vitality and spell casting the closer to death he became. The fact his reserve of life-force was currently surging through him with more vigour than he had ever seen was more than enough confirmation he had come quite close dying for a second time. The more he healed, the slower the healing became, but Leif found himself not really caring. Was it annoying [Healing Palm] was still fractured? Certainly, but that skill was more about healing others, with how much restorative energy his body was being flooded with Leif somewhat doubted any more healing would help. Crunching footfalls came from nearby, a moment later Ram was looking down at him from where he stood over the spriggan¡¯s head. ¡°Alive?¡± The awakened beast asked, what could have been either concern or a scowl on his aged features. ¡°You could have warned me they could explode.¡± Leif said once his body stopped its most recent spasm. ¡°I thought by the piles of elemental scattered all around the valley it was obvious.¡± Leif considered Ram¡¯s answer, in hindsight that was kind of obvious. ¡°You still should have told me.¡± The goat looked down at him with a smug expression. ¡°You should have asked.¡± ¡°Oh Ram, the great and powerful, please tell me everything of importance you have forgotten to mention.¡± Ram scoffed, then knelt down to study Leif¡¯s healing form. ¡°I¡¯ll be damned kid, you sure can heal quick.¡± ¡°It might be faster.¡± Leif grunted. ¡°But one of my healing skills is fractured. Oh, any idea how to fix that? I was waiting for it to fix itself but that doesn¡¯t seem to be happening.¡± The goatman stared down at him as if he was an idiot. ¡°How do you normally fix broken things?¡± He asked, as if that made any sense. ¡°It¡¯s hardly a tangible thing Ram, skill¡¯s are not like bits of broken pottery you can glue back together.¡± Ram crossed his arms. ¡°And why not?¡± ¡°Because... Because that¡¯s not...¡± Leif trailed off. That wasn¡¯t how it worked. Right? Right... ¡°He¡¯s not a long lost sibling or something?¡± Leif asked, half jokingly. Ram didn¡¯t reply for several moments, Leif heard him take a deep breath before speaking. ¡°My siblings are long dead. Of old age I mean, none of them reached the level I did.¡± ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± Leif said, sensing the slight tremble in Ram¡¯s otherwise ironclad aura. The spriggan couldn¡¯t read the man¡¯s emotions or intent due to the difference in their relative strength, but in that brief moment something slipped through the cracks. ¡°Could you tell me about them? If you want, I¡¯m not trying to force you or anything.¡± Again Ram was quiet as he stared up into the cloudy sky. Leif turned his head slightly and saw the far away look in his eye. ¡°There¡¯s... there¡¯s not much to say. They were just a bunch of goats, though I suppose I was too. There was a tribe of humans who lived on the northern slopes of the mountains to the north east of here. They were a rugged, hardy people.¡± He said, gravelly voice slightly forlorn. ¡°Tempest goats can sense storms, and in the north those can be more dangerous than monster attacks or the raids of other tribes. It was a long time ago, and back then I was barely a fraction of what I am now, even still I can remember some things. Warning the tribe of danger, guiding them through mountain passes after heavy snowfall. I was good at it, the best out of all my entire herd, and in time I grew.¡± ¡°You levelled up and evolved?¡± Leif asked, intrigued. Ram nodded. ¡°I remember leaving, going off to find a place with high mana density, then waking up bigger, stronger, more than I was before. I returned to my place in the tribe, I remember my siblings being unable to compare to my strength, even some of the roaming monsters were no match for me. So I evolved, then evolved again. But humans don¡¯t want powerful beasts living among them, and for good reason...¡± He continued after a brief pause. ¡°I was powerful, far beyond any of my kind. And for that they pushed me away. It got easier when I learnt to talk, the strange way some creatures can even without the proper bits. I was a barely aware beast the height of a fully grown man that could shoot lightning, it was never... I was never... ¡± ¡°Good at talking?¡± Leif asked, part of his attention was now on his own mouth, but that wouldn¡¯t stop him from getting in a little jab. Ram glared at Leif, then his expression melted away into tired amusement. For the first time Leif really saw how old the man before him was, how the wrinkles, calluses and scars weren¡¯t just a guise the beast in human form was wearing. ¡°Sorry.¡± Leif said, shifting slightly where he was laying on the ground. ¡°I didn¡¯t-¡± Ram waved his words away and grunted. ¡°No it''s true, even back then I don¡¯t think talking really helped. I remember my first attempt being so loud the surrounding mountains trembled and people ran away in fear.¡± The goatman sighed. ¡°Time passed, and when I finally reached level fifty I awakened, and well, the rest is as you see it.¡± ¡°Awakening...¡± Leif said, studying the half regrown hand emerging from his mostly unmangled arm. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering for a while, but what exactly is the difference between Awakening and Incarnating? I know the general differences, awakened monsters and beasts can gain general classes and eventually transform, but what exactly is incarnating?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question.¡± Ram grunted. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest kid, it¡¯s been so long that I don¡¯t really remember. When I reached level fifty... I don¡¯t think I really had a choice. Awakening just felt... right.¡± ¡°Maybe you awakened because of your connection to the tribe?¡± Leif said, though his thoughts drifted to the awakened formian who had done battle over Pherin and Far-reach. Why did she awaken? Is it because of the humans the formians enslave? Is that enough to form a connection, or is it something else? ¡°One thing¡¯s for certain.¡± Ram said, slapping his knee. ¡°Incarnates are strong, really strong.¡± Leif gave the man a side eye. ¡°Said like someone who has experience getting into fights.¡± ¡°You¡¯re damn right kid! Ain''t nothing I won''t fight. Well, unless it''s absurdly strong, I¡¯m not eager to die quite yet.¡± Chapter 88: Conflict Chapter 88: Conflict Leif watched as Ram took a swig from his seemingly endless bottle, then the goatman handed the bottle to him. He took the bottle and eyed it suspiciously, it was normal alcohol, this wasn¡¯t the first time Ram had offered Leif his bottle in the past hour. The spriggan tilted back his head and drained more than enough liquid that the bottle should be almost empty. Nope, still full. Leif mused, handing it back to Ram. Ram was going on a long winded, and partially rambling tangent about a species of bat monster that lived within a series of caverns beneath the northern mountains. This wasn¡¯t the first story the awakened goat had told Leif about the mountains, and he was increasingly grateful his past, less experienced self had given up on that quest. Even as he was now, Leif doubted he could make it even half way up. His gaze shifted down the valley, watching as large shapes moved through the icy mist that was growing by the hour. If ice elementals at their full strength call the mountains home, I highly doubt reaching the summit is even a remote possibility. Ram was gesturing wildly as he described the time he punched one of the ¡®screamer bats¡¯ as he called them, so hard that its head exploded. Leif chuckled at the mental picture of one of the monsters letting out a high pitched screech, only for that screech to abruptly cut off as its skull was reduced into a fine mist. The goatman took another swig, and in that moment Leif opened up the system windows that he had automatically closed after surviving the explosion. Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 10! For reducing an elemental to the point of near death while using your body as a weapon and surviving the resulting explosion because of your powerful physique you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Alacrity] +1 free points! You have gained the capstone class skill [Fists of Conflict]! Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Brawler] class! [Brawler] experience earned is evenly distributed between your other classes! Foundation tier general classes can be promoted using a promotion item! You may directly promote this class into an Advanced class, or merge it with another Foundation class to create a Union class! Leif recoiled slightly at the barrage of system windows. Then he let out a groan and flopped back into the side of the hill. ¡°What?¡± Ram asked, leering over the lid of his infuriatingly full bottle. ¡°I levelled up.¡± Leif said. ¡°Congratulations?¡± ¡°No, I levelled up in the wrong class. Now I have another skill that I¡¯m pretty sure pushes me back over the skill limit for experience gain.¡± Ram laughed, it started as a low snicker but quickly built up into a full belly guffaw. Leif conjured a golden hand that reached out and tried to snatch the bottle but the goat lifted it out of reach. Leif focused, and his hand extended. Ram stood up and shuffled away as Leif¡¯s golden hand groped uselessly in the air. ¡°I told you to only use skills from the class you wanted to level up. But did you listen to old Ram? Noooooooo.¡± He mocked, leaning to the side as Leif swiped for his bottle. The conjured limb became too long, and without any cultivated vitality to bolster its form the arm dispersed into motes of essence. Leif threw a rock at him with his newly regenerated hand. A tiny bolt of lightning struck it out of the air. ¡°If I did that while fighting the larger ice elementals I would be dead.¡± Leif pointed out. ¡°True.¡± ¡°And I wasn¡¯t getting any experience from fighting the weak elementals.¡± ¡°You probably were, just only tiny amounts.¡± ¡°I sent a group of animals that were under my protection with them, hopefully they¡¯re still together even after all this time.¡± ¡°Mhmm, you mentioned that before.¡± ¡°Yeah, I hope they¡¯re doing alright. I think getting enough food may have been a problem, I¡¯m not sure why but they seemed to eat less than normal when they were around me.¡± Leif said, then he turned to Ram. ¡°Do you know where they are?¡± He nodded and took a swig from his bottle. Leif frowned internally. ¡°How can you tell? I assume they¡¯re not close.¡± ¡°I can sense storms.¡± Ram replied simply. ¡°And most of the clan have storm related classes, their bloodline grants them quite the affinity for them.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Leif nodded. ¡°I guess that makes sense. Do they have a ritual or something to combine their powers so you can track them or are you able to detect anyone with storm related powers?¡± He asked. ¡°It¡¯s hardly a ritual.¡± Ram said with a snort. ¡°Just calling up their powers all at once. And no I can¡¯t just track anyone with storm powers, it¡¯s more... complicated than that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you plan on expanding that explanation?¡± Leif asked, half joking. The goatman glared at him. ¡°Endless questions with you isn¡¯t it. Like talking to a damn kid.¡± Well, the system does only consider me to be twelve years old. The spriggan mused, but he kept silent. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how it works exactly, so don¡¯t bother asking. I can sense storms that are brewing, and storms that have broken, they appear differently to my skill. I know that my family are by the western coast, far away from the large human territories. I can sense the storm overhead, where it will go, when it''s most likely to start pouring its contents everywhere...¡± He said, trailing off. Leif almost couldn¡¯t stop himself from asking several different questions. How far was the range? What was the skill called? What were the aspects? But he stayed quiet and waited for Ram to continue on his own, the man clearly wasn''t done. ¡°But I can also sense... another kind of storm. It¡¯s the kind of storm that¡¯s slowly building in the south, the human kingdoms and cities seem to be the cause, though honestly if it wasn¡¯t for my family I wouldn¡¯t give a shit.¡± Leif considered his words. ¡°I assume this isn¡¯t a literal storm?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not. War. Conflict. Whatever you want to call it, I can sense that too. How it builds up, when it spills over. There always seems to be a storm constantly building up, I don¡¯t know how the humans haven''t killed each other off yet.¡± Ram said, tone heavy. ¡°Sometimes they¡¯re not the cause.¡± Leif said, thinking back to the formian invasion that had ultimately resulted in his death. ¡°Sometimes an outside threat forces their hand, I think that can make war inevitable.¡± ¡°I know.¡± The awakened goat growled, his tone low and expression thunderous. ¡°You¡¯d think then, that they would stop fighting among themselves, if there¡¯s an external threat pressing in on all sides they shouldn''t- I don¡¯t get how they can spurn- It just doesn¡¯t make sense. The northern tribes have it rough, but at least they don¡¯t lash out blindly at anything they perceive as different.¡± The two lapsed once again into silence. Leif knew the man was right, it was a concern that felt all too personal. He suspected he would face a similar, if not a worse response than Ram¡¯s clan of demikin when he re-entered human society. ¡°Bring them here.¡± He said, looking Ram in the eye. ¡°Your family, my animals. When I evolve I suspect the domain tree I created will undergo some changes.¡± ¡°Mhmm... yes, I can do that.¡± He replied thoughtfully. ¡°But what of all the undead? The ruins of that village will be protected, but I have no interest in sticking them on an island they can¡¯t escape. Food and resources will be a problem as well.¡± If Leif could smile he would have. He looked north and clenched a fist. ¡°I think I can get rid of the undead, or at least the source of the problem.¡± And hopefully I¡¯ll get the last level I need while doing so. ¡°I have a reunion with a dungeon to get to.¡± Ram looked as though he was going to say something, but simply grunted in acknowledgement. He gestured down into the valley. ¡°I¡¯ll clean up here, then get moving. Unless you want to have some more fun with the elementals?¡± Chapter 89: Lani鈥檚 Life Chapter 89: Lani¡¯s Life Lani considered her short life to have been one strange series of coincidences and bizarre happenings. Perhaps the most strange of these being the fact she could consider at all. She remembered the moments leading up to her evolution clearly, the nomads and the animals that followed them finally reached where the land became rocky and the wind had carried the overpowering scent of salt. In a wave that had been absolutely bizarre to witness from an outsider''s perspective, many of the hogs had slumped to the ground and fallen into torpor. The kind humans had all stared in shock, as too, had Lani. When she had looked around in confusion she had seen that her own mother had likewise slumped into unconsciousness. Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om A murmur had started up among the nomads, but back then Lani hadn¡¯t been able to understand. A little human boy was shaking the unconscious deer with tears welling up in his eyes. The deer, Bam, for her part had fallen over onto her side, drool pooling on the hard packed ground. A series of messages had flashed into Lani¡¯s vision, though back then she hadn¡¯t been able to read them. It wasn¡¯t the first grey box to have materialised into her vision, but now that she was more Lani knew that these were more than hallucinations or fear induced delusions. A group of hogs that hadn¡¯t gone still, wandered around the still in shock humans, sniffing around at their unconscious kin. Hours later the animals began to wake one by one, but they did so having changed. The hogs were now far larger, their tusks having a metallic gleam and with ridges poking out along their spines. Bam had been one of the last to awaken, though she was no larger, her fur had a faint gleam and a tiny pair of newly grown horns shone with a strange illumination. The two deer locked eyes, even as the evolved one began to eat the shirt of the small human that used her as a pillow. Two months later it was Lani¡¯s turn, and afterwards her life changed forever. === The sea wind blew across the camp, though it was more than a little buffered by dunes and makeshift barriers the clan had constructed. People bustled all around going about their daily tasks and the large evolved yaks slept in a position that allowed their bulk to help shield the camp from the wind. Lani could sense their simplistic dreams, little motes of colour and emotion bubbling from the beasts as they slept through the hottest part of the day. When she closed her eyes the amount of detail she could see wouldn¡¯t so much as increase, but sharpen into clarity. Around her sat several more than awake children, they varied in age but the oldest wouldn¡¯t have been over twelve. An aged woman with slightly iridescent silver hair sat on a seat before the class, her face the very picture of patience as she demonstrated with conjured water different symbols Lani had come to learn were letters. The same letters that populated her vision whenever she called on the system. It had been several months since her evolution, but Lani still marvelled at how her world had expanded. Each day after lunch the woman would gather up the children of the nomad clan and teach them about letters and numbers, about monsters and danger, and about the system and skills. It usually took the better part of an hour for the children to be gathered up, after which they would all greet the elder with a lilted chorus of ¡°Hello Elder Kala.¡± Lani just stared at him with obvious doubt, even as the other deer puffed out in obvious pride. It was times like these where she wished she could talk, there were so many ways she would state her disbelief. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that.¡± Samil said, gesturing back to where the hunters were pulling the day''s catch from the hogs. ¡°She almost shot that flying sea serpent out of the sky.¡± Kala wrinkled her brow. ¡°What was a sea monster doing so far inland? Should we be worried?¡± Samil nodded seriously. ¡°There was a whole school of them flying over the water a few kilometres out, one of them strayed from the group and spotted us. Olav will report to his father, I suspect the Chief will order everyone away from the sea for the next few days.¡± He gave a meaningful glance to the clearing that was only recently full of kids. The conversation continued as Lani cast her thoughts to the endless stretch of water an hour or so on foot from where the encampment was located. It scared her, the vast field of blue stretching off into the horizon. It didn¡¯t help that whenever she looked at it for too long, she got the ominous sense that there were things lurking just below the surface. Things that dreamt, like she did. She was shaken from her contemplation by a call from the clan Chief, the clan gathered around, humans and animals both and listened to his warnings about the sea. They all knew the danger, but usually the beach was relatively safe. The older man trailed off, many of the white haired clansmen and women glancing off to the east. Lani followed their gazes as she frowned, it took her a moment to notice what had caught their attention. There was a storm brewing in the east, and it was coming in quickly. ¡°He¡¯s coming.¡± Olav said, his face stretching into a wide grin. Murmurs of excitement quickly built up among the clan. Lani glanced at Samil and Kala, but they seemed as out of the loop as she was. Then Kala¡¯s eyes widened and her lips thinned into a knowing smile. ¡°Oh, about damn time I get to meet this ¡®revered ancestor¡¯. Maybe he¡¯ll even live up to some of the stories.¡± Lani didn¡¯t have a clue what the elderly teacher was on about, but whoever was coming, she doubted they were as great as the protector. Chapter 90: Ruins Chapter 90: Ruins The landscape north of Far-reach was not what Leif had remembered. Which was only natural, deathly energy seeped into the very land, rotting it from within. It was a sobering, almost melancholic emotion that overcame Leif as he passed valleys blighted by undeath, forests barren of all leaves. Rotting corpses of the beings who had once called this region home shambled around, their bodies unable to find respite even in death. The further north Leif travelled the more desolate his surroundings. Even turbulence, chaotic weather patterns caused by the cracked face of the earth¡¯s closest moon seemed subdued, smothered by the blighted and barren landscape. Leif had been trudging towards the ruined city of Pherin for well over a week, the northern mountains slowly coming into sight the closer he came. It struck him one day, as he stood atop a ridge and looked into the distance, how utterly massive the mountains must be for him to see them from this far away. He and Ram had returned to Far-Reach before going their separate ways, the goatman turning into a stream of lightning as he bounced up through the sky and vanished into the distance. Leif had attempted to restore [Healing Palm], the first step of which was returning to the domain tree. Becoming one with the now dozen metre tall tree was something he knew he could do, if only in theory. In practice it was as simple as he had imagined. Using spellcraft he twisted the intent behind [Settle], effectively doing the inverse of what he had done when separating himself from the skill to begin with. At his command the world trembled, then he slipped into the trunk like a stone breaking the surface of a pond, vanishing within. Leif¡¯s attempts to visualise [Healing Palm] ended up being unsuccessful, even with the meditative mindset once again being in his tree form brought, he still could only vaguely sense the skills that rested within his soul. He could feel [Settle], being practically within that skill¡¯s structure brought it closer to his awareness than any other. He attempted to blindly grope around in the dark for the fragments of [Healing Palm], but it was like trying to grasp the air in a fist. Throughout his several hours of reaching within himself, letting all else fall away as he concentrated on seeking out the fractured skill, one thing repeatedly caught his attention. The golden thread that connected him to the strange vision was ever present, the hair thin strand of light more real than any other part of his soul. During his days of recovery, exploration, then training, Leif had let the vision fall to the back of his mind. But now within the calm stillness of [Settle], as he stretched his perception ever inwards, Leif found the connection an almost distracting constant. He reached out mentally for the golden strand, not to return to the vision, but instead to feel if he could. The strange buzzing and pressure was distant now, but not gone in its entirety. Even a week and hundreds of miles later Leif still found himself thinking back to the string within his soul. Marching through the lifeless wilderness, no longer connected directly to the domain tree Leif could no longer sense the connection. Instead, deathly energy seemed to permeate every inch of reality. It was a distracting, smothering, foul presence. It washed against him, thicker and more tangible by the day. It felt like the life aspected domain [Settle] emitted, only an exact opposite. Maybe that''s what it is? Could the dungeon, or perhaps the mere presence of undead creatures create a domain with the death aspect? Leif didn¡¯t know, and he likely wouldn¡¯t until he reached Pherin, and explored the Mythhold below. A second spear came from his right, a faint wisp of intent right at the edge of his aura. This one Leif didn¡¯t bother blocking, simply stepping to the side and letting the missile sail past. It crushed three undead as they tried to claw their way past the conjured hands that were restraining them. His cultivated vitality began to build up back to maximum as [Blight¡¯s Bounty] worked to convert the deathly energy that entered his body into life-force. He pushed more power into his shroud, the golden motes beginning to dance around him as if energised by the vitality he was feeding into the skill. Leif considered ignoring whatever was attacking him from range, but he decided against it. Alone, the attacker was no real threat, but that could quickly change if more powerful undead joined in to assault him all at once. He slapped aside another bone spear, then began running in the direction he sensed the hostile intent. He wasn¡¯t fast, speed would likely never be his strong point. Even still he moved with surprising haste. As Leif made his way through the ruined streets of Pherin, amber limbs reached out to use buildings as leverage, hauling him along like a demented spider. There was a limit to the strength of each arm individually, but combined they were more than enough to accelerate him towards his destination. Leif vaulted over a mostly crumbled wall and into a courtyard. Before him, clinging to the side of the remains of a structure that may have once been a bazaar, loomed the evolved undead. It was almost entirely made of bone, but that was the only natural part of the abomination. It was long and slender, its body wrapping around the peak of a nearby building like a snake wound around a branch. But by far the most striking part of its foul appearance were the hundred sets of skeletal arms that lined either side of its serpentine body, giving the monster an almost centipede-like visage. Leif locked eyes with the undead, its enlarged face sunken and hollow with angry emerald light dancing within its eye sockets. As the undead and spriggan locked gazes, It reached down an arm and scooped a skeleton from the ground even as the undead ran towards Leif. Before his eyes the lesser undead was melted down, bone flowing like water in a stream only for the liquid to stretch out into the shape of a spear. I didn¡¯t expect to be so right with my assumption the spears were melted bone. Leif thought, eyeing the projectile wearily even as his own arms wove a defensive pattern around him. The undead chittered angrily, intent flared even as the monster lifted the spear and took aim. Then another spear was lifted, and then another. The undead¡¯s form rippled as it began to repurpose its own body for ammunition. Yeah no thanks. He thought, reaching down with a pair of amber limbs and grabbing chunks of debris. Then he threw them with everything he had, [Grand Action] increasing his [Might] attribute as strength flooded Leif¡¯s body. The chunk of building shot through the air, crashing into the undead¡¯s side and spoiling its aim. Leif ran forward, ripping up chunks of the partially shattered street as he did so. Under the cover of his own barrage of projectiles he reached the base of the building the undead was lurking atop of, then he half climbed, half tore the structure down as he ascended. Bone spears flew even as the undead retreated. He grabbed onto the monster as the building fell apart, deathly energy flooding into him where he was draining the undead. The undead shrieked, and contorted, its head thrashed as the monster hissed in fury. Spears fell, only to bounce off a barrier of golden light as Leif shifted his focus onto [Willpower]. The barrier cracked, but held off the onslaught of spears as the spriggan tore the undead to pieces, bone chunks flying off into the piles of rubble and detritus. A minute later the thrashing stopped, and a mana shard manifested above the now still undead¡¯s body. Leif plucked it out of the air, nodding thoughtfully at the small blue crystal. He would need a few more of these, and not just for the skill he was currently attempting to fuse. Chapter 91: The Dungeon Chapter 91: The Dungeon It took Leif seven hours to reach the temple he had once used to escape the very place he was trying to reenter. This was because, to put it nicely, he took the scenic route. Due to this, a good quarter of Pherin¡¯s streets were now free of undead. Bones and dust littered promenades that had once hosted hordes of skeletal monsters as they roamed aimlessly through the city. All things considered, it was quite the leisurely stroll through the ruins of civilization, he was only impaled three times total. Leif had a few interesting discoveries during this time, the first was that pushing too much cultivated vitality into [Shroud of Preservation], while remarkably pretty, threatened to destabilise and potentially fracture the skill¡¯s structure. The second, also related to [Shroud of Preservation], was that with enough energy pushed into the skill the healing motes of golden light obliterated any undead that came into contact with them. As Leif walked through the streets of Pherin, specks of amber light weaving behind him like the world''s longest cloak, undead dusting in his wake, he had time to think and reflect. The city surrounding him felt like a grim parody of his own situation, it had been brought low by conflict, its people killed or displaced. But unlike him, the abandoned city hadn¡¯t had a chance to recover, inundated by misfortune after misfortune. First the invasion, then it had become a nest for goblins, then a source for the undead spreading throughout the region. From his perspective, it hadn¡¯t been all too long since he was first exploring the city he currently wandered through. Though in reality it was closing in on a year. He recalled his initial encounter with Sieg and Marcus, the first humans he had met since losing his own humanity. The lessons he had learnt, the trials they had faced as they fled deeper into the Mythhold to escape the battle raging on the surface. Remembering what he had lost still caused pangs of sadness, of pain, but it was far less than it had once been. He was getting used to what he had become, his body no longer feeling wrong, like his soul had been stapled onto a vessel it didn¡¯t belong to. Leif flexed his hands, feeling the sensation of only four fingers being attached to each. Before he would have felt an innate sense of disgust, of wrongness, but that had faded almost entirely into the background of his mind. It was his life, his second chance, and he would make the most of it. In contrast to these feelings was the temple that loomed before him. Malevolent energy pooled within its halls, wrapping up the pillars and covering the entrance and windows like webbing. Leif had assumed the temple would serve as a side entrance to the dungeon, but standing outside of the structure he couldn¡¯t imagine it being anything but the main entrance. If the damage to the upper layers of the Mythhold is what I suspect it is, then this may just be the only way inside the dungeon. He thought, stepping through the threshold of the temple, brushing away the sinister pressure emanating from within with his aura even as it tried to cling to his very being. The amber light flickering around him began to sizzle and pop, the motes of life energy clashing with invisible miasma that drifted through the air. It felt stifling, as if his body was constricted and it was hard to breathe. The further into the temple he walked the more it felt like something intangible was getting further and further away. Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Within the main hall of the temple was the teleportation circle, but unlike when Leif had last used it there was a pulsing pool of darkness within. It dimmed all light, as if its very presence dulled the world around it. He paused, observing the corrupted portal as if it might be a trap. Green light flickered occasionally within the inky black, but otherwise nothing happened. He tentatively approached, amber limbs raised and ready to protect him, instead the pool seemed to ripple, then clear. The darkness retreated, leaving a shimmering window into a small chamber Leif recognised. It immediately struck Leif how little he actually knew about dungeons. Ram had talked about having found and explored several in the northern mountains, but like with any conversation with Ram details tended to be lacking. He knew they were a sort of congregation of power, and a source of certain monsters related to said power. He knew they had a centre, a core of sorts that held the power in place, and he knew excess power from the dungeon could seep out into the world. He stepped up to the very edge of the portal, haunting whispers echoing from within. Leif firmed his resolve, then stepped inside. The structure was different, subtly wrong in ways that at first Leif couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on. The large room that he, Marcus and Sieg had first battled the enslaver queen was mostly as he had left it. The shape and dimensions of the room hadn¡¯t changed, but all the damage the previous battle had inflicted on the room was absent. The lids of the stone tombs that surrounded the room¡¯s exterior were likewise present, but they were no longer broken where the silver eyed undead had forced their way free. Leif was naturally suspicious, and checked one of the slate coffins, it was empty and seemingly in perfect condition. As was the next one, and the next. These changes were odd, but not necessarily out of the ordinary. Maybe the Mythold had some sort of self repair functionality? Leif mused as he exited the chamber, entering the corridor lined with dozens of alcoves, each housing a single- There were no alcoves, instead the corridor immediately branched at a t-intersection, both paths leading off into darkness. ¡°What the hells?¡± Leif asked nobody as he glanced from side to side. The response was a series of howling screeches from the right hand corridor. Moments later a trio of slavering ghouls scrambled down the hallway, clawed hands raking across polished stone, mouths opened wide in a feral snarl. Three golden hands met the face of three separate undead, their bones broke, their skulls shattered, their limp bodies went sailing back into the darkness. Leif was more interested in the architecture than the sub level twenty five monsters. Where the structure had once continued was a solid stone wall, but it lacked the detailed engravings that were common this far down in the Mythhold. Additionally, the wall was slightly indented, not quite aligned with the walls on either side. Leif smashed a golden fist into the plain wall, the surface cracked as the blow left an inch deep crater in the solid stone. The spriggan listened for any sign the wall was hollow, or that there was anything on the other side. Nothing. He thought, leaning in to study the damage his strike had done. Already the wall was beginning to mend, stone slowly flowing back into place. To either side came the howls and screeches of more low level undead. It wouldn¡¯t do to become complacent within the dungeon, while Leif had more than enough experience fighting undead to know his power-set generally countered them, there was still a considerable risk if he let his guard down. No telling what kinds of monstrosities the dungeon has cooked up. If the bone centipedes up on the surface are anything to go by, there might be some truly bizarre and deadly encounters lurking in these halls. It was as the thought passed through Leif¡¯s head that ethereal forms erupted from the walls, floor and ceiling. Chapter 92: Non-Euclidean Chapter 92: Non-Euclidean A dozen spectres phased through the stone walls, floor and ceiling. Their translucent limbs were extended out towards him, their mouths stretched into feral snarls of agony and fury. Leif jerked back in surprise, raising his arms, both real and conjured to defend himself. Something cold touched his ankle, an icy chill shooting up his leg. Leif fell to a knee as the limb gave out, he glanced down and saw a ghostly hand wrapped around his lower shin. He struck out at the offending touch with one of his real arms, but the moment his fingers brushed against the ethereal hand a frigid chill shot down his arm. The contact was brief, and he still maintained control of the limb, but his leg was still being drained. Faint streams of golden light were flowing into the spectre¡¯s arm, disappearing into the floor where the rest of its body was still hidden. Above and all around, ghostly forms assaulted him from every direction. Their incorporeal bodies weren¡¯t able to pass through his conjured arms, but their golden structure cracked and weakened as the spectres pressed the attack. Leif conjured a short blade of amber from the knuckles of his uninjured hand and struck down at the wrist of the monster partially submerged in the ground. The arm was severed, the spectre still hiding within the floor fleeing out of sight. But making the attack had cost him, the golden blade had been hastily made, [Gold Iron Physique] only technically allowing the form to be made as it wasn¡¯t exactly a limb. Leif had found that creating full arms, hands included with the skill, led to far more stable manifestations, but he could only guess as to why. Regardless, his distraction allowed the spectres to push past his defences, their ghostly fingers reaching out to touch him. The cold sensation in his leg was already retreating as a flood of amber vitality restored functionality to the limb, but it would take a few more seconds before he could move. [Under my Protection] flared to life, the golden barrier snapping up around him, protecting him from the ethereal monsters, but not for long. Within moments his attackers began to press into the shield, their very touch enough to cause hairline cracks to spread through the skill¡¯s structure. They¡¯re intangible, but thaumatic constructs can slow them down. He realised, amber arms fanning out behind him as he stood, then shifted into pointed spears. The shield dropped, over taxed by the spectre¡¯s slowly phasing through, then each spectral undead had a golden point driven right at their centre of mass. Five of his strikes were right on target, amber spears punching right through the undead¡¯s chests and out the other side. Three only sustained glancing blows, their ethereal bodies dancing to the side to avoid his attacks. The rest blurred, their forms becoming almost invisible, only for them to appear several metres away. Teleportation, that must be a skill of some kind. He noted, stabbing once again at the nearby spectres. Those he had struck were clearly damaged, their forms less substantial and their movements slower, but even having taken direct hits the undead were still alive. The spectres that had teleported away all raised their arms, haunting screeches coming from their still wide open mouths. Ethereal weapons, each glowing with ghostly light began to manifest around them, then the weapons surged forward, edges glinting as the amber light of Leif¡¯s skills reflected off the faux metal material each of the weapons were made of. He battered two swords aside, deflected a spear with his real arm, then used [Amber Steps] to avoid an axe that fell down from above. Two daggers flew in low, cutting at the back of his legs, but unlike with human physiology their strikes found no weak tendons to sever, only the joint of hardened bark. As quickly as they had arrived, the summoned weapons began to fade, their attacks slowing and forms fading away. Leif looked around, and found himself alone in the t-intersection of the dungeon. The ghostly monsters had once again tried a hit and run tactic, but Leif had put a stop to that by immediately going on the offensive. Three out of the nine had managed to escape into the floors and walls, but their tricks wouldn¡¯t surprise him again. If he were anyone else, constantly having small snippets of life-force drained from his body would likely be quite dangerous, Leif could imagine a group of human adventurers slowly being whittled down by repeated attacks, their bodies becoming more and more susceptible to the death aspected energy that suffused the dungeon. But for every spectre Leif was drained by, he refilled his supply of vitality by draining the more standard undead. He examined his surroundings more closely, noting for the first time that there were strange entrances and walkways higher up in the room. He had no way of reaching them, not that he had any reason to try. They were built into the walls, leading in ways nobody would be able to walk without falling off. He even saw a stairwell in the darkened shadows of the ceiling. Shrugging, he marked the room on his map and continued on. === Everything was going great, he was making quick progress through the dungeon, outside of a few trap rooms he had been careful while crossing, Leif had discovered that despite his initial worry, there didn¡¯t seem to be much in this place that could actually harm him. Not physically anyway. The further into the dungeon he travelled, the more and more dense the deathly energy became, the architecture of the structure slowly becoming less coherent. The dungeon had been using the rough design on the Mythhold for its rooms, hallways and chambers, but the longer he explored the more things got weird. Rooms would be awkwardly combined, hallways would lead to a turn, but the turn would lead either straight up or down. Leif had no desire to potentially fall to his death, and climbing wasn¡¯t really his strong suit. Despite the psychic damage from the incongruous architecture, everything was going great, that was until he was walking down a hallway only to be forced to take a right turn. Then another, then another. When he made a fourth right turn in quick succession and wasn¡¯t back where he had started Leif let out a long suffering sigh. He looked down at his map, now with four lines making a square in the wood. It only got worse from there. Leif entered a large cylindrical chamber, darkness shrouding the floor and ceiling as the walls seemed to stretch up and down into eternity. As he peeked out over the edge Leif suddenly began to fall, not outward, but backwards. The hallway he had just walked down was now a vertical shaft below him. Amber arms arrested his fall, then pulled him up and into the cylindrical room. The walls of the room were now the floor, and as he tentatively stepped out into the chamber gravity seemed to follow him along the slightly curving ground, making whatever he was standing on the direction he would fall. Leif glanced forlorn at his detailed and intricate map. Then he used [Wood Manipulation] to roll it up into a scroll. If the dungeon was going to throw nonsense like this at him, the map wouldn¡¯t be much good. ¡°If there¡¯s a term for the kind of confusing bullshit this place is, I¡¯m going to find out when I get to that big academy in the empire.¡± Leif shouted into the darkness. ¡°I mean, how on earth does this even work?¡± He hadn¡¯t expected the dungeon to reply, so when a flare of foul power pulsed in the darkness to his left Leif turned to face it. Then he heard the scrambling of hundreds of creatures moving towards him. Chapter 93: The Core Chapter 93: The Core Undead poured through the cylindrical chamber, running, scrambling and crawling as they moved along the walls, the strange nature of the room allowing them to defy gravity. Hundreds emerged from the darkness, Leif could even see them on what from his perspective was the ceiling. The sheer amount of undead was a daunting obstacle, but Leif had more than enough reasons not to back down. For starters, he was in perfect condition, maybe more so. The strategy employed by the dungeon to whittle attackers down through attrition hadn¡¯t worked on him, Leif¡¯s cultivation was practically bursting at the seams, his body filled with vitality. Even so, he knew the dangers of being overwhelmed. Durable he may be, but he wasn¡¯t immortal. At a glance Leif assessed the approaching monsters as mostly weaker variants of undead, zombies, skeletons, and other types that hadn¡¯t yet reached level twenty five. Evolved they may be, but there was a qualitative difference between beings who had crossed over that threshold. Leif let cultivated vitality flow into [Shroud of Preservation], golden motes of light bloomed into existence all around him, then the light began to increase in luminosity as he let more and more vitality flood into the skill. Within seconds a swarm of amber motes billowed out behind him, tiny specs of light that reminded him of the night sky. Then he reached out with his will, attempting to push back the ever present miasma of the dungeon. He couldn¡¯t modify the skill with spellcraft, but in this case he felt as though he didn¡¯t need to. It took a not inconsiderable amount of effort, but Leif moved the skill, using the part of its innate structure that allowed him to target the skill at a range to cast the motes out around him. The undead horde drew closer as the specs of life-force drifting through the air began to move faster and faster. The skill began to strain under his will, a faint, but not unfamiliar ache beginning to build in his soul. There was a limit any skill could be used, or changed before it would break. Leif was familiar with this process, and had no intention of repeating that mistake. With as much control and finesse as he could muster he fed vitality into the skill, as he did so he twisted the cultivated energy, using it to accelerate the movement of the motes of vitality. The fastest undead were upon him now, though several flinched back as they touched the motes, the weakest even falling back, part of their body going unresponsive or even turning to dust. The undead coming from the walls and ceiling began to curve down towards him, within moments he would be surrounded. Amber arms struck out, not to crush or destroy, but to restrain. In a similar way to what he had done in the city, Leif held back the undead, using their bodies as both a battery for vitality but also a barrier to protect himself. Lifeforce trickled into him through his conjured limbs, then it flowed out of him and into [Shroud of Preservation]. The glowing motes of vitality were brighter now, rotating around him as if he were the eye of a windless storm. Undead charged into the golden maelstrom, only to be turned to dust, only the strongest surviving coming into contact with more than a few motes. The healing energy contained within the skill immediately began to drop, the cyclone of vitality fading as the life-force was eaten into by his offensive use of the skill. Several undead pushed through the storm, the sheer mass of bodies practically forcing them towards Leif. They were met by a defensive weave of amber hands that grabbed and held onto their twisted forms. Vitality was spent, then recovered, a near perfect cycle resulting in a small circle of destruction within the cylindrical chamber. [Shroud of Preservation] began to lose stability, without the ability to use a spell command to stabilise the skill¡¯s structure it wouldn¡¯t last for another minute. But with how effective the inefficient use of the skill was at slaughtering the tide of weak undead, Leif doubted it would have to last that long. It would have been enough, then a volley of spectral weapons fell down from above. Within the sea of hostile intent and with his aura restricted, Leif didn¡¯t notice the attack until it was upon him. A golden shield flared to life above him, blocking the two dozen weapons as they struck down at him with tremendous force. He saw them then, a cluster of spectres that flew lazily in the centre of the chamber. They were out of his effective reach, free to strike out at him with their conjured blades. Under constant assault from all sides, Leif began to move. The storm of golden light followed him as he walked around the circumference of the chamber. The spectres twisted in mid-air, following him with their otherworldly gaze as he attempted to reposition in a way that would allow him to strike back. Pain built up within him as [Shroud of Preservation] reached its limits. Each skill had an independent amount they could be used, and the defensive skill was rapidly reaching its limits. The shield of [Under my Protection], broke, then was reconjured as the ethereal weaponry attacking him from above struck again and again. === After that display the dungeon seemed to grow... desperate. Leif dispatched small groups of weak undead that came after him even as the deathly energy of the dungeon became thicker and thicker. The cylindrical chamber gave way to a bizarre room of stairways and pillars. Then a maze of twisted corridors. Leif even passed through what looked almost identical to a trap chamber he had run through almost a year ago on his first descent into the Mythhold. Finally, having battled through a seemingly endless corridor lined with stone tombs he entered what could only be the centre of the dungeon. Giant statues lined the walls, their design reminding him of the statue that had stood above the Mythold¡¯s entrance back on the surface. Tens of these towering figures of stone filled the chamber¡¯s exterior, while in the centre hung a floating sphere of darkness. The orb was nearly pitch black, its only blemishes the occasional flicker of baleful emerald or icy blue. Something invisible seemed to focus on Leif as he marched towards it, the world seeming to twist and slow. The walls of the room suddenly loomed closer, the statues bearing down over him like titans ready to pass judgement, their expressionless faces now carved into a twisted visage of fury and feral hunger. It felt not dissimilar to what he experienced when utilising the concept of life mana, only disgusting. Leif wasn¡¯t overly phased by the intimidation tactic, though even he had to admit the presentation was quite impressive. It was just... I can sense hostility and intent, and there¡¯s absolutely nothing of the sort in the statues. Leif came to a stop twenty or so metres from the floating orb, he placed his real hands on his hips and glared up at the manifestation of deathly power. ¡°So, you must be the core.¡± The world tightened around him, as if trying to squeeze the soul from his body. If Leif could raise an eyebrow he would have done so. Maybe if I had better control over [Wood Manipulation] He thought wryly. It wasn¡¯t as if he was unaffected by the dungeon¡¯s final attempt to kill him, it was just with an effective [Charisma] of around two hundred his aura was more than up to the task of keeping the power at bay. It probably doesn¡¯t help that I¡¯m heavily attuned to what is effectively the anathema of death. ¡°Cry about it all you like, but I can¡¯t let you keep existing.¡± He said simply, the dungeon flaring in anger, then fading into what almost felt like depressed acceptance. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought, no more corrupting this already ravaged part of the world.¡± Now he just had to figure out a way to reach the core. It would be embarrassing if he came all this way only to be forced to turn around and leave... He considered the problem for several seconds, then glanced down to the secret weapon hanging at his waist. Three small balls of condensed and compressed wood were latched to his body, they practically hummed with power. Leif looked from what were effectively [Wood Manipulation] bombs, then back up to the core. He grabbed one of the spheres of wood, focused on [Might], triggered [Embolden Vegetation], then threw the ball with as much force as possible at the core. In mid-air he unravelled it, willing it to expand and snap back into its uncompressed state. An ear splitting crack echoed through the room as the wooden ball practically exploded with golden light, wooden chunks twisted and writhed with furious strength. Then the mass of expanding wood collided with the dungeon core, everything froze, as if the world itself was holding its breath. Wooden branches stilled in their violent expansion, wrapped around the core, jagged stakes impaling the dark orb as other parts smashed into it. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then the core cracked down the middle and the world resumed. Leif¡¯s vision snapped to the system window the instant it appeared, if he could smile he certainly would have. He probably could have used [Wood Manipulation] to mimic the expression, but he was too distracted. He had reached level twenty in [Amber Blight Spriggan]. A brand new skill and the long anticipated class evolution awaited. Chapter 94: Path Unwalked Chapter 94: Path Unwalked The core fell, no longer held aloft by an invisible force. The air within the final chamber shifted, the unseen moving as death began to retreat, its dominion over this place no longer absolute. Leif felt the shackles holding back his aura and stifling his spell working fall away, he let out a long sigh, the sound whistling from the thin crack on his face. He took several steps backwards, then the dungeon core crashed into the ground, dust and malevolent energy washing over him. Somewhere off to the side the still thrashing construct of wood met the ground and twisted in on itself, the sudden release of compressed energy gradually dying off. But Leif only paid half a mind to either, because within his mind''s eye, outlined in gold and red, were a series of system prompts he had been anticipating for quite a long time. Level up! Class [Amber Blight Spriggan] is now level 20! For destroying a [Death Attuned Dungeon] and once again allowing life to prevail you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Charisma] +5 free points! You have gained the capstone class skill [Ambassador of the Eld]! Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Amber Blight Spriggan] class! Would you like to evolve? Y/N Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing monster evolution! Monster evolution may commence when mana threshold has been reached. Current progress: 1/100% It was interesting, looking at this notification now that he was far more aware of both himself, and his surroundings. Mana threshold... He mused, temporarily ignoring his newest skill as he reread the system''s wording over once more. Mana is a force that exists out in the world, it has a will, a personality, so what does that mean? Leif cast back his memory to his first monster evolution, how it had taken several months just to complete the evolution¡¯s progress. He had been far less cognisant of both himself and his surroundings back then, his life prior to evolving being more like a continuous sightless blur. But there was one thing he recalled clearly, though now it confused him. Defeating enemies had increased the evolution progress. ¡°Is gaining experience the same thing as getting closer to this ¡®mana threshold¡¯?¡± He asked aloud, glancing to the dungeon core, black wisps of a smoke-like substance drifting off the sphere as it slowly dissolved. Almost unconsciously his hand drifted to the wooden pouch filled with mana shards at his hip. Mana shards... mana threshold... the will of mana... He couldn¡¯t be certain of anything, but he had a theory. Monsters, and perhaps beasts built up mana within their bodies, after reaching a certain level of power this accumulated power would manifest upon the creature''s death as a small dark blue gemstone. But this didn¡¯t happen with humans, Leif considered this oddity before realising something. ¡°Humans don¡¯t have monster classes, general classes use a catalyst when promoting, does this somehow negate or make the process of reaching the mana threshold obsolete?¡± The mana core didn¡¯t answer as it continued to dissolve. He looked down at the object, then stepped back up towards it. His focus was being pulled in multiple directions at once, and he knew that, but maybe... Leif reached out and placed a finger on the dungeon core, then he tried to drain it. A tiny stream of black power flowed down into his finger, almost immediately he cut off his attempt to drain the core as death aspected energy began to rampage within his hand. [Blight¡¯s Bounty] got to work converting the stolen power into golden vitality but not before his four fingered hand, and most of his arm had withered away. Leif stared down at the now stump at the end of his shoulder. His arm was already growing back, but it would likely take several hours. Leif jerked back from the core after a moment of stunned shock. Putting aside the fact he could have died, the sheer amount of energy that tiny drop of the dungeon¡¯s power had contained was incredible. [Font of Life], no longer purely a cultivation skill burst with potential as the vitality within him bubbled as if set to boil, he could feel the reservoir of power expanding, becoming denser and more potent. Level up! Class [Attuned: Life] is now level 6! For displaying the dominance of life you have gained a level! He went back to [Enforcing Balm], that skill would likely fuse almost perfectly with [Embolden Vegetation], but did he need more healing? At what point was he so difficult to kill that any increase to his survivability was a waste? The question was more theoretical than practical, if reaching that state was possible he wasn¡¯t there yet. Whatever he chose there would be time for one, possibly two fusions before he triggered the evolution. Would having more evolved skills give him better options? Leif flexed the slowly growing nub that was his arm, then turned to the dungeon core. It was gone, only a small fist sized gemstone remaining. At a glance it looked like a mana shard, if black and radiating deathly energy. He conjured a golden arm and plucked the crystal off the floor, he made sure not to accidently drain any power from it. His skill choice would ultimately come down to a risk. Should he take a guaranteed boost to his survivability? Or potentially ruin his aura strength. Leif had been too passive for too long, once he evolved he planned on proactively seeking out his goals, no matter the risks or potential consequences. Why wait? He thought, then selected [Aura of Recovery]. === Aura of Recovery I: Aspects: Aura (Life)* Your auric presence soothes pain and hastens recovery. You can control your aura in ways that are impossible without an aura skill. === The dungeon was beginning to fall apart as Leif returned to the room with the exit portal. The portal, as he suspected, was now gone. Fortunately he had saved enough mana shards to temporarily power the teleportation circle, in a flash of light he re-emerged back in the ruined temple, the midday sun beaming down from above, rays of light shining down through cracks in the roof, dust dancing between pillars. Leif pushed out his aura, unlike before there were now two distinct parts to his presence, one was authoritative and regal, the other protective and calming. They didn¡¯t clash, but the way they mixed invisibly around him partially stifled the effects of both. The noble aspect of his aura was far stronger than the healing aspect, but he would spend the next several weeks correcting that imbalance, then he would fuse the skills together. He walked through the city streets, the everpresent gloom that hung to every destroyed building and clogged every alleyway and street was lifting, the air felt cleaner, the sun felt warmer, it was as though the world had taken a deep sigh of relief. Over the next few weeks he slowly meandered his way back to Far-reach, watching as nature came back to life as the corrupting fingers of undeath loosened their grip on the environment. Birds flew through the air, animals that weren¡¯t half dead and deceased could be spotted. Turbulence returned with a vengeance, rain storms, scorching heat and dazzling displays of multicolour light only a handful of phenomena that returned with it. Leif returned to Far-reach, teleported up to the domain tree and set about performing the tasks he wanted to have completed before he evolved. One day, while lounging atop the bluff, practising his spellcraft in conjunction with his ever improving aura control, he received a system message. The spriggan stretched and stood, gathering up his few belongings and placing them undercover. Then he returned to the domain tree, slipping into the ivory white wood of the trunk and becoming one with the now towering plant. Crimson leaves reached into the sky, the canopy providing shade for the many families of critters that lived within his branches. Current progress: 100/100% Congratulations! You may now evolve your [Amber Blight Spriggan] class! Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing monster evolution! Commence Evolution? Y/N Chapter 95: Split in the Road Chapter 95: Split in the Road The world faded around Leif, all details, sensations and stimulus falling away into the background. The spriggan found himself standing in an empty place, whenever he tried to focus on anything but himself he felt his attention be pulled back in. He stood, no longer in tree form, though he didn¡¯t notice the change. Leif looked down at his hands, they were covered in hardened bark, small ivory protrusions jutted out at random down his forearm. His body was lined in golden cracks, the amber blood within him making each seam glow slightly with every heartbeat. Leif stood still, waiting. It was only after several minutes did he realise what he was doing, he was waiting, but for what? Or for who? He thought, casting back into his now improved memory to try and find out the reason for what he was doing. But there was nothing, back during his first evolution it had been only him and the system windows. But something deep within Leif told him that something was wrong, there had been someone else, but who? He focused his mind and tried to dig deeper, and he found gaps in his memory, small incongruences with his first evolution that in hindsight didn¡¯t make sense. Leif looked around the empty world, an uneasy sensation building in the back of his mind. Even as the nothing surrounding him tried to push his awareness back towards himself he dug deeper, trying to penetrate the strange void he found himself in. But there was nothing, and no matter how hard he tried there was naught but a featureless, blank world. The spriggan straightened, trying to centre himself for the task to come. The evolution would decide his immediate future, maybe even the direction for the remainder of his second life. He could hardly afford to distract himself now. Evolution for the [Amber Blight Spriggan] class is commencing! Please review your current class before proceeding! === [Amber Blight Spriggan] From inception you have struggled against the embedded instincts of the Darkwood. As a blight tree you fought to gain a sense of control no others of your kind could conceive of at such a young age. At every turn you took the harder path, you turned away easy meals and waged wars you should never have won. And yet you prevailed. A noble spirit and unyielding will have guided you this far, and now the amber offers you a branch. Symbols of authority and wealth, the amber sap within your body glistens like gold and pumps like blood. You will rise, radiance from the darkness, and hold the future with your hands. Tier: 2 (Monster) Level: 20/20 Class Perk: You naturally recover from wounds at an accelerated pace. The amber blood running through your veins has innate healing properties. +100% To the effect of enhancement (Body) skills +100% To the effect of blood aspected skills Growths: Free Points: +5 Might: C Alacrity: D Intelligence: D Willpower: D+ Spirit: D Charisma: C Base Stats: Might: +10, Alacrity +10, Intelligence +10, Willpower +10, Spirit: +10, Charisma +10 === The system then began to list off all his [Amber Blight Spriggan] skills, most of which he hardly felt the need to review. The sheer number of skills was impressive, but also slightly frustrating. He was a single level away from fifty, but he would still need to spend quite a lot of time bringing his total down to fifteen. But there was a new skill he had only recently gained via fusion, so he took the time to reread the description before continuing with the evolution. === Amber Aegis: Aspects: Technique (Shield), Empowerment (Life)* (Nature), Social* Conjure a protective veil around yourself or a nearby target to reduce elemental damage taken and bestow a minor lingering healing effect. You may remove the healing effect of this skill to instead manifest a temporary shield around the target. Those within close proximity of this aegis may find both your actions and its presence calming. If this skill is used for the purpose of protecting another, this skill benefits from 50% of your charisma attribute. === This fusion was his most complex so far, and unfortunately the stealth aspect of [Shroud of Preservation] didn¡¯t survive the transformation. In its place he had gained the social aspect from [Under my Protection], and in his limited time experimenting with the skill it seemed shockingly potent. It was somewhat frustrating he couldn¡¯t figure out a way to strip the condition to gain the added bonus from his [Charisma] attribute from the skill, but he couldn¡¯t think of a way to justify the skill functioning how he wanted without it. Regardless, Leif found himself more than pleased. Proceed? Y/N There was only one thing left to do, see his first option. === [Mature Amber Spriggan] === [Amber Blight Woad] The carriers of the blight, servants of the darkwoods, co-opted by the amber to serve a new purpose. A woad stains the earth with its nature, preparing the nearby inhabitants to become vessels for offspring. It is the responsibility of the woad to spread the will of their masters, and to relish in the change their coming brings. === ¡°What the hells?¡± Leif asked out loud, having finished reading the description for [Amber Blight Woad]. This was like several of his nightmares all neatly pressed into a single class. How did I even get offered this class? I thought the classes offered were based on the actions I take? There was no amber only version of the woad class, not that Leif would have ever considered it. === [Treefolk of the Amber Council] Small and slight, treefolk live within the branches of their betters. Those who serve the Amber Council have not existed for millenia, so it would be your sacred duty to prepare a location for the return of your masters. Not suited for combat, the treefolk are specialised to hide from foes and stay out of reach of danger. === Leif looked blankly at the class. These last two options had been so far from what he had predicted he would be offered during the evolution he was almost speechless. At least I wouldn¡¯t have trouble getting through doorways with this class. He thought ruefully. === [Inheritant of the Amber] A spriggan, if only in name. As the first of your kind in many ages the inheritant of the amber stands alone, unaware of the daunting task before them. As the first member of the newly born council, you will learn from the past before the present catches up with you. Great power and influence await, but only if you have the drive to claim it. May you rebuild what was lost in the shadow of your kind''s ancient enemies. May your sight be clear, lest you make the same mistakes. === This is the second time the ¡®council¡¯ has been mentioned. Leif mused, still not entirely sure how to take this newest class. It was simultaneously both incredibly sparse on details, while also revealing a great amount of information. Am I really the only member of the amber alive? And what¡¯s this about an ¡®ancient enemy¡¯. If there was one thing he was completely certain of, it was the class description labelling him as ¡®unaware¡¯ being perfectly accurate. It was also strange that the class didn¡¯t have his species in the name, he suspected it was because multiple kinds of monsters could technically evolve into this class, or something similar. He looked to the next class option, and to Leif¡¯s surprise it wasn¡¯t just a version of the [Inheritant of the Amber] but with blight slapped onto it. === [Scion of the Darkwoods] Though you have embraced the amber, you find yourself alone, without allies, mentors or knowledge of the past. Your noble lineage makes you an interesting prospect for the blight, the blood within your veins, while different from their own, is undoubtedly powerful. To stumble blindly and without assistance is not uncommon within the darkwoods, and those who cannot prove themselves will inevitably wind up lost, forgotten, deceased. The potential of two ancient powers beats within your heart, perhaps instead of the amber''s long awaited return, the world will see the birth of something entirely new. === Was... was this class offered to me because I fused several of my [Noble] class skills into my monster class? Leif didn¡¯t know, but he found himself intrigued that not only had the class referenced his human origins, if only tangentially, but it also directly called out his current situation. It was intriguing, while at the same time unfortunately lacking in details of the powers offered. There was one final choice, and Leif read over it while contemplating the myriad of choices offered. === [Scion of Aeons] The past calls to the scion of aeons, the unearthing of history the highest calling. Secrets long lost to time may reveal themselves, lessons long forgotten coming to your aid. At the height of their power, the amber relished the opportunity to delve into the past, ancient history as much sustenance as water and light. The amber are gone, but the secrets they uncovered, and the power that was stolen still remain. Only those true of character and noble of purpose were worthy to walk this path, but now the door lies open and ready, none remain who would disagree to your appointment, while at the same time none remain to endorse your ascension. Even if you are not purely a member of the amber, your deeds, past, and blood qualify you for this honour. === Having read over the final class offered, Leif withdrew into his mind to consider all he had learnt. Some of the class descriptions for several of the options presented before him had referenced past events that he was mostly clueless about. But now he felt as though the picture was slowly coming together. The amber were peaceful, but their desire for knowledge and secrets resulted in them being targeted by an unknown enemy. Now as the only one of their kind left, he was potentially saddled with the same secrets, the same enemies. The choice before him was in no way easy, he had somewhat hoped for a special ¡®super spriggan¡¯ class. Or something that would have made picking the right evolution straight forward. Alone in the empty world, Leif sat and pondered the choice that would change the trajectory of his life. Chapter 96: Scion Chapter 96: Scion To gain a class you required a certain aptitude or affinity for the power it would offer. The description of his current class mentioned his deviation from what a typical blight monster would do, and Leif had assumed that simply acting against the norm had been why he had been given the offer to become one of the amber. But as he sat in the blank void reading over his newest evolution options, he wondered not just why, but how [Amber Blight Spriggan] had been offered to him during his first evolution. According to the system¡¯s descriptions of several of the classes, whatever the amber were, their council, and their power were long gone, dead for what may have been centuries. Millennia. He realised, re-reading the description for [Treefolk of the Amber Council]. But if they were all dead, how had he been offered the class? Was the system capable of reviving extinct species? Or was he somehow uniquely suited to the power [Amber Blight Spriggan] would grant him? He cast back his memory to the time before his first evolution, reconsidering his actions with his greater understanding of what the amber represented. Life... blood... time... Wait, not just time, the past. The realisation struck him like a bell, the thought reverberating through his mind. Back then he had been so fixated on the past, so desperate to catch even the tiniest hint of who he had once been. That panicked, almost instinctual clawing for not just the past, but his past... Was that it? Was that obsessive fixation enough to connect me to a bunch of long dead historians trees? He felt ridiculous, and even if he was no longer the confused and desperate creature he had once been, there was still that simmering passion for his old life. It wasn¡¯t that he wanted to waltz back to house Vin and pick up where he had left off over ten years ago, he couldn¡¯t conceive of a scenario where that turned in any way other than disastrous. But he still wanted to at least know just who he was, and what the family he had left behind was like. Whether they wanted anything to do with him was a completely different story. And it wasn¡¯t just that, he felt a connection to the past. Exploring the Mythhold, then the dungeon it had become, witnessing how a war long past had ravaged the land and left cities and villages in ruins, humanity slinking through territory it had once owned only to be thrown back. He wanted to know, to learn and discover, and as Leif became certain of this part of himself, he also knew which class he would take. He couldn¡¯t say there were no bad choices, because there were. But well over half of the classes he could pick were at the very least decent. But of all of them, the last intrigued him the most. The idea of discovering ancient secrets and unearthing forgotten history sounded fascinating. [Scion of Aeons] would allow him to do just that assuming the system description of the class was accurate. But as he thought over the class, he realised there was another aspect to the class that attracted him in perhaps even more than the thematic concepts. The possibility that the class would innately enhance his time aspected skills. What could [Amber Steps] become if the anchors lasted for hours instead of minutes? Days? What about weeks? [Amber Sympathy] too had a time aspect, just how far back could he see if the skill was enhanced? Hells, even his most recent skill for [Amber Blight Spriggan] had the time aspect, what new skill would he be offered, and what could he fuse them into? Leif wasn¡¯t exactly sure what ¡®speaking with the voice of history¡¯ entailed in the description for [Ambassador of the Eld], but it surely wasn¡¯t a negative. If he looked further into the future, what would the aura skill he would eventually gain from [Scion of Aeons] be? Would he be able to slow time? Rewind it somehow? Would he gain the ability to unwind damage sustained to himself and others? His healing could go from extremely potent to beyond powerful if he could literally undo injuries. But there was another, less promising part of looking into the future to consider. The descriptions of several of the classes hinted at a troubled past of the amber. If he committed to this path, would he encounter the same enemies? Assuming they had survived the centuries would he have to contend alone with forces that culled an entire species? Leif couldn¡¯t be sure, but it would likely be wise to assume the worst. He would need to build his personal power to the point he could contend with hidden and potentially extremely deadly foes. But it couldn¡¯t just be him, would he be able to use the strength he gained to elevate others? If I want to protect others, help them and in turn receive help. He thought ruefully. I might be better off picking [Mature Amber Bloodwell Spriggan]. But blood magic was less interesting to him than time magic, which now that he thought about it was a fairly immature way to select an evolution option. Leif went back and forth for another hour, at one point he almost convinced himself that one of the Drus classes might be the strongest option. The things I could do with [Wood Manipulation] if I chose to become a treant. He mockingly thought to himself. Maybe I could compress myself down to be able to fit through doorways. The longer he went over the different options, the more he became confident [Scion of Aeons] was the correct choice. So, with only a little hesitation, a last minute consideration of [Scion of the Darkwood], and a final reread of all the options, Leif selected his newest class. The world around him began to fade, the perfectly blank void spinning around him as a surge of power he had never felt before rushed through his body. Leif sucked in a sharp intake of air, momentarily at a loss as what he could only assume was a massive spike in attributes took effect. He was so startled in fact, that he hadn¡¯t realised the significance of taking that breath. He was still sitting, but no longer in the empty world of the evolution space. Leif sat atop a hill of finger length emerald grass, the blue sky above him dazzling in its radiance. The spriggan, or whatever he technically was now looked around, he knew this place. It was the vision world he had unconsciously entered after the battle at Far-reach. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. But this felt different, the details of the space he was in felt more real somehow, the warm wind blowing against him more physical. He brushed his fingers through the grass, half expecting it to suddenly begin growing. Leif knew he wasn¡¯t actually present within the space, his real body, likely still in tree form was still atop the bluff, he briefly wondered if that part of him was undergoing a massive spurt in growth due to his evolution. Class Perk: You naturally recover from wounds at an accelerated pace and damage you deal takes longer to heal. You can perfectly track the passage of time. +150% To the effect of enhancement (Body) skills +150% To the effect of blood aspected skills +150% to the effect of time aspected skills Growths: Free Points: +5 Might: C+ Alacrity: C Intelligence: B Willpower: B Spirit: C+ Charisma: B Base Stats: Might: +20, Alacrity +20, Intelligence +40, Willpower +40, Spirit: +20, Charisma +40 === Leif was mentally nodding to himself as he read over the details for his newest class, then he reached the base stats. Oh wow, no wonder I felt that when I picked the evolution. Do all monsters get such a massive amount of stats? Is this normal? He wondered. He suspected that that was the case, but he didn¡¯t really have any way of proving it. Maybe when Ram returns. Chapter 97: Progress Chapter 97: Progress Evolving felt amazing, and Leif hadn¡¯t yet left the comforting embrace of the domain tree. He felt something different about his connection to the tree, as if his relationship with the part of himself he had severed had changed. It didn¡¯t take him more than a moment to realise it was almost certainly because of a skill change. So [Settle] is probably no more. He mused, basking in the feeling of growth and potential that now suffused his form. There was something new, he could instinctually feel that even without reading the system''s information. It wasn¡¯t the only skill to change, he could sense his instinctual understanding of several skills shift within him. It was hard to pinpoint exactly which skills were different, though that was likely because he was still within the domain tree. Without stalling any longer he opened up his system window, immediately a list of skills that had been changed by his evolution popped up. === [Amber Sympathy] ¡ú [Time Born Sympathy] Time Born Sympathy: Aspects: Perception (Time)*, Enhancement (Body)*, Social*, Analysis You passively gain knowledge of events and changes that have occurred within your surroundings, the more significant these events the more clear they are to your sight. You may invoke the passage of time, seeing an echo of the past which you may project to those nearby. You have greater awareness of both your material and spiritual surroundings, and have the ability to sense emotions and intent of those within range of your perception. Finally you may analyse a target to determine their age relative to your own. === The change was immediately apparent, [Time Born Sympathy] was now an analysis skill, but beyond that Leif couldn¡¯t tell what else may be different. The wording of the skill had changed somewhat, and he could somewhat sense that the skill was now stronger, but whether that was due to his sudden leap in attributes or because the skill was innately more powerful Leif couldn¡¯t tell. For now he noted the changes as minor, but potentially more potent than what they first appeared. I¡¯m not too sure how useful being able to analyse age will be, but I suppose I¡¯m slowly building up a repertoire of skills that let me judge the experience of those I analyse. Leif hadn¡¯t used [Combative Gumption] much at all since he had recovered from the battle, the skill hadn¡¯t even worked on Ram and he had never bothered to try it on the elementals. I should analyse more often, it probably won¡¯t hurt me unless the target can actively change the results of analysis skills. === [Blight¡¯s Bounty] ¡ú [Consuming Aeons] Consuming Aeons: Aspects: Enhancement (Body)*, Technique (Blood)* (Life)* (Time)* When you strike or make continuous contact with your body you may drain vitality from the target. Additionally whenever you drain a target of life-force you inflict a damaging resonance that accelerates the body''s natural decay, this effect can stack. Vitality you absorb is naturally converted into the amber blood that runs through your veins, and you may control the speed at which this conversion occurs. After you have drained a being of vitality you gain up to +60% to all attributes depending on the amount drained. This bonus to your attributes lasts for one hour and is incrementally lost over that duration. You may pause the benefit gained from these bonus attributes for up to a day, preventing the incremental loss of this effect. You may bestow life-force with a touch, and your blood naturally adapts to any target you heal, increasing efficiency. Whenever you heal a target you bestow a supportive resonance that accelerates the body''s natural recovery, this effect can stack. === Woah. Leif thought. There¡¯s a lot of good stuff in here. From the increase to his attributes going from forty to sixty percent, to being able to more easily prepare the bonus before going into a fight by being able to pause the effect. Not to mention the harming and healing resonance that had seemingly come out of nowhere. I suppose the skill now has a time aspect. He mused, rereading the skill¡¯s description. Functionally [Consuming Aeons] was very similar, but the skill had received a massive qualitative increase to its power. I need to test out how potent the resonances are. I don¡¯t imagine speeding up natural decay to be very strong unless the resonance stacks up considerably. With [Consuming Aeons] fully charged up, he would have a total of plus seventy percent to most of his attributes, and an insane increase of one hundred and fifty percent to his [Charisma]. And assuming the level fifty milestone provided additional percentage increases things were about to get insane. Leif hadn¡¯t yet snuck a peek at his new totals after the huge amount of flat attributes his evolution had added, but he was very tempted. One thing at a time. He reminded himself, looking over the next skill that had changed. === [Settle] ¡ú [Tree of Respite] Aspects: Transformation, Enhancement (Body)*, Domain (Life)* (Time)*, Technique (Nature) Leif reread over the changes to his skills a second time, committing them to memory. He was done, the next step was getting one final level and advancing beyond the level fifty bottleneck. He had been holding off on fusing any skills until after his evolution, but now that that was behind him he could continue to whittle his number of skills down to fifteen and below. Finally he opened up his status sheet and gazed proudly at the bigger numbers. === Name: Leif Vin Race: Scion of Aeons Age: 12 Awaiting manifestation: Emblem Attributes: Free: 6 Might: 62 (+10%) Alacrity: 60 (+10%) Intelligence: 64 (+10%) Willpower: 73 (+10%) Spirit: 76 (+10%) Charisma: 135 (+90%) Total Level: 49 Monster Classes: 1/1 Scion of Aeons: 20/40 Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Time Born Sympathy / Consuming Aeons / Font of Life III / Tree of Respite / The Amber Path / Embolden Vegetation / Amber Aegis / Wood Manipulation / Wisdom of the Ages Classes: 3/3 Brawler: 10/10 Skills: Tenacious Fighter III / Combative Gumption / Fists of Conflict Adept: 3/10 (Locked) Skills: Healing Palm (Fractured) Attuned: Life: 6/10 Skills: Aura of Recovery II Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility III / Grand Action / Legacy === Chapter 98: Changes Chapter 98: Changes It was with more than a little trepidation that Leif deactivated [Tree of Respite], allowing him to slip from the trunk like a stone breaking the surface of a pond. Light and sound and smell all struck him at once, the clarity of his post evolution senses striking him all at once. He knew that [Intelligence] increased one''s ability to process stimuli, and [Spirit] strengthened perception though in ways he wasn¡¯t too sure about. But this was a bigger increase than his admittedly vast increase to his attributes could explain. There was a qualitative difference between what he could hear and smell, as if up until this point his senses were being smothered. He had closed his eyes while he adjusted to his improved perception, the process feeling more tangible than it ever had before. Leif was pretty sure he still didn¡¯t technically have eyeballs, but there now seemed to be a more physical mechanism in play. The same was true, he realised, for his mouth. He had a jaw now, and actual muscles in his face. The range of movement wasn¡¯t good, but he could now open and close his mouth. It was hard to describe the sheer joy of regaining something so simple, but so fundamental to what every human could do. Leif opened his eyes, amber light igniting within his face as he took in the suddenly more colourful world. He stretched his arms and legs, feeling the newfound strength and flexibility each possessed. Then he realised something that brought him up short. He was taller, significantly so. It was hard to judge without directly measuring himself but Leif suspected he was a foot, maybe two taller. His limbs were longer, and as he studied them he noticed the difference in their shape and structure. Before, his body had several jagged protrusions and small branches jutting off in different directions. Crimson leaves had grown from these places in small clumps, the leaves were still present, but the jagged parts of his body had been significantly smoothened out. And though the leaves persisted after the evolution, they now possessed an almost metallic, golden tint that reflected the sunlight shining down from above. He raised his arms, noting how the small gaps and divots were less prominent, though a faint amber glow still emanated from within the largest of them. Finally he noticed his hands, four fingers and a thumb. For what felt like an eternity he stood in wonder, though due to his new class perk he knew it had only been a few minutes, staring at his hands. His digits were long and slender, their tips still ended with sharpened claws, but it hardly mattered. Such a simple change left him speechless, a giddy, childlike excitement bubbling within his chest. He reached up and touched his face, feeling tears building up as he did so. He pushed them down and explored the structure of his head. No longer was it a featureless plane of wood, while it was still mostly flat and mask-like, there were now several bits of detail etched into the wooden surface. He explored the top of his head, and to his surprise found a considerable number of leaves that sprouted from his scalp only to flow down the back of his head almost reaching his shoulders. Leif could feel them growing at an accelerated rate, quickly becoming a thick mane of red faux hair. And that wasn¡¯t the only change, the structure of his head was different in several ways, the most significant being that what was once a series of several small protrusions jutting from the crown of his head were absent. Instead they seemed to have morphed together and smoothed out, appearing more like a diadem woven into his forehead. Leif walked around, testing the range of movement in his limbs. It was slightly disorientating seeing the world from a higher vantage, his stride was longer and his reach further. If he was being honest with himself, he was probably too tall. Back when he had travelled with the expedition he had been of similar height with the largest humans, but now he would tower over them. For another, while his body was definitely stronger than before, his centre of gravity felt slightly off, as if he couldn¡¯t quite move in the ways he wanted. As Leif made practising strides around the bluff he also noticed that he now weighed quite a bit more, but that weight was distributed across his larger frame. The not quite spriggan reached out with his mind to the remains of what had once been a wooden building, fresh shoots now grew from the wood and moss covered most of the structure. He activated [Wood Manipulation] and watched in fascination as the organic structure rippled and parted with comparable ease. The amount of control he could now utilise while using the skill was like night and day. He gestured, and a tendril of wood grew from the wall, it twisted as it approached him becoming screw shaped. Leif detached the bit off wood and experimented with his new capabilities, he morphed the wood into a ball, then a cube, then he compressed it down as much as he could. To his excitement the process of compression was far easier than it had ever been before, the wood¡¯s structure was likewise significantly more stable. Back when he had first chosen the skill, one of his reasons for doing so had been the potential of changing the shape, and potentially size of his body. And while he had become significantly more practised with [Wood Manipulation] since, Leif had always felt like his control was too inexpert to work on his own body. But that no longer felt like the case, he would have to take his time, experiment with the possibilities and feel out the limits and potential risks. He had a plan of sorts, just how much stronger could he become if he increased his density by compressing more wood into a smaller body? Mass was a large part of the amount of physical force he could put behind any given blow, but with an expert use of [Wood Manipulation] Leif thought he could become far stronger, at least physically. === As he had changed, so too had the world around him. Death no longer hung in the air like a foul miasma, and the domain that emanated from the domain tree had started making sweeping changes to the environment atop the bluff. It seemed that the domain had spent most of its energy fighting away the grasping hands of undeath, but now unchained from that task flowers bloomed, plants grew and mosses spread to cover everything in a carpet of vibrant greenery. Leif turned his attention to where the natural stone bridge had once connected both bluffs. As it was currently, it would be difficult for people to reach the elevated position in which the domain tree was located. He felt the strong and healthy roots of ivory white beneath his feet twitch as he brushed against them with [Wood Manipulation]. He needed more practice, so why not make a bridge? What about a stairway that would allow for easier access to his bluff? The plant monster stood, and got to work. === The journey to the western coast had been a scramble to stay ahead of the undead that rampaged through the wilderness. Kala was old, even if she would smack anyone who told her that, and the continuous high speed travelling had done more to worsen her health than she would like to admit. Even as a healer, there were limits to what ailments and injuries she could treat and mend, the water aspected skills she possessed helped ease aches and chase away pain, but at her age there was no such thing as unlimited stamina. And that wasn¡¯t to mention the fact that with every year that passed, her connection to the skills that nested deep within her soul grew fainter, more distant as her life slowly drew to its conclusion. Getting older wasn¡¯t easy, but that part of it was easily the worst. She could ignore the tweak in her back, shrug off the weight that pressed down on her shoulders and power through the shaking in her legs. But the skills she had dedicated much of her younger life to honing and growing slipping from her grasp was terrifying. Not that she would admit that, not even to the two people she loved the most in her life. She shared the yak pulled cart with three beings, one was her youngest grandchild, the other two... weren¡¯t exactly human. If Kala had been told forty years ago she would have taught arithmetic to a deer and scolded another for eating its way through an entire laundry day''s worth of socks she would have laughed the story away, it was simply too silly to believe. She gazed lovingly at Han, the young boy sprawled over the sleeping forms of two evolved deer as the three of them slept the day away. The wagon jostled to a stop, and she heard voices calling out from outside. As she was reaching for the latch to the exit the door swung open revealing a wide eyed man whose eyes and hair reminded Kala so much of her daughter. She scowled at the spear he had slung over one shoulder and cocked an eyebrow at the boy. He noticed her expression and slightly smirked, though the cheeky brat tried to hide it. ¡°What is it, boy?¡± She asked, allowing herself to be helped down to the ground. ¡°We¡¯re not sure.¡± Samil said, steadying her with a gentle hand. The boy was so clearly made to be a healer, it baffled her daily that he had chosen the path of a warrior. The two made their way towards the front of the nomads convoy, on their way they passed a group of evolved hogs, the beasts letting out excited squeals as they ran around in circles. Kala frowned, trying to figure out the source of their jubilation. Then, as she stepped around the hulking form of a yak, she saw something that made her mouth drop open in astonishment. Unlike the dour surroundings they had been travelling through for the past several weeks, the landscape before them was lush and green. Life bloomed from the husks of what had been deceased and dying trees, the grasses springing from the earth as if a drowning man gasping for air. And as Kala stared, her constant companion of pains and aches began to fade away. Chapter 99: Reunion Chapter 99: Reunion The functionality of [Healing Palm] has been regained as you have restored its structural integrity! Class [Adept] can once again be levelled up! In his mind¡¯s eye, Leif watched as the separated chunks of the [Healing Palm] skill finally slotted together, settling into their correct places. After countless attempts, he had slowly pieced together the correct process. He needed to will the skill together, all while maintaining a firm vision of the skill¡¯s function. He had envisioned healing energy flowing into the hand, then being transferred into its target. The mental image had to be firm, but it also had to be held for an extended period of time. It wasn¡¯t the most difficult thing Leif had ever done, but mentally gathering the skill together, holding them in place all the while his understanding of the skill slowly worked to seal the cracks and mend over the damage. His improved attributes, especially [Willpower] and [Intelligence] made the process possible. But Leif suspected [Spirit] had ultimately been the deciding stat when determining if restoring the skill was possible at all. Leif¡¯s eyes snapped open as he slipped from the domain tree, landing steadily on the ground. A songbird fluttered down from the branches above, alighting on his shoulder and tweeting happily. Leif gave the little creature a gentle scratch with his fully working hand, a claw tipped finger stroking the bird''s brightly coloured feathers. He rolled his neck, causing the animal to chirp and hop onto the top of his head, where it began rustling through the leaves he had in place of hair. His body was more compact than it had been weeks ago, shorter and more smooth. Where cracks and gaps had been, now there was polished ivory wood. Mass had been compressed, then healed until the changes had stabilised. The faux muscles of his arms, legs and torso had been enhanced, though that had taken considerable effort to finally get correct. One of the biggest issues had been balance, perfectly getting the wood he was controlling aligned having been an agonising exercise of tedious trial and error. But as Leif walked around the domain tree and began to cross the bridge of ivory white wood that spanned the gap between the two bluffs, he could feel the difference in power, the sheer potential waiting to be unleashed. His body was like a tightly wound wire, when he tensed strength flooded into his limbs. The bridge creaked slightly under Leif¡¯s weight, causing him to use a minor part of [Gold Iron Physique] to make himself lighter. It wasn¡¯t by much, but it was enough to stop the somewhat ominous noises. The middle of the bridge was where the structure was at its weakest, he had initially shaped the roots of the domain tree into a wide platform, but quickly realised he would need to work his way towards the centre from both sides to maintain the structure¡¯s integrity. So he had used [Embolden Vegetation] and [Wood Manipulation] in conjunction to create thin ropes of ivory roots to span the gap and reach the other side. He had then encouraged the growth of the domain tree¡¯s roots in a specific direction, and slowly finished the construction over several days. It had made for good distraction from him accidentally losing all motion in his legs. Leif was no engineer, that much was obvious, which was probably why he was more proud of the staircase that edged the right side of the mostly round bluff, gradually reaching the bottom at the southernmost point of the bluff. If his domain tree was at the most northern part of the rock formation, then the staircase wrapped around part of its circumference. The isolated bluff was roughly teardrop shaped, with the south being more narrow than the north. Leif liked the staircase, growing out of the cliffside as it was, roots having been woven together to create large flat platforms. His only gripe was the lack of symmetry, he would need to grow out a second staircase on the left side of the bluff, but that would come later. He reached the larger of the bluffs and got to work clearing away the almost entirely destroyed buildings, scavenging anything that might be of use. Golden arms moved in a flurry all around him, taking apart walls, dragging away rubble and gathering timber which he then reinforced and moved to a separate pile. He could control more arms now, around twenty, with their reach and flexibility being considerably improved. Leif moved around the destroyed settlement, finding some minor supplies, personal items and even a crate entirely full of pickle jars. He used [Wood Manipulation] to levitate the crate to one of the nearby piles of goods and kept working, his immediate surroundings a constant blur of motion. As he worked he checked the progress of his latest skill fusion. Fusion of skills [Time Born Sympathy] and [Combative Gumption] 69/100% It had been over two weeks since he had started the fusion, and its current progress was with him using every mana shard he had collected except for the black death attuned crystal to fuel the fusion. He had known that the time it would take to complete each successive fusion would increase, but he hadn¡¯t expected it to have escalated so quickly. At this rate, even if he gained one more level and reached level fifty right now, it would take him the better part of a year to bring his skill total down to fifteen. Ideally he would gain his final level in [Attuned: Life] or his monster class, that way he wouldn¡¯t accidentality get another skill he would have to do something with before he would be able to advance. From what he understood, which admittedly wasn¡¯t very much, each advancement trial would be not only more difficult, but increasingly dangerous. The penalty for failure was the loss of several levels, and that didn¡¯t sound overly pleasant. But if Leif was honest with himself, he was eager to see what the advancement trial would show him. Would it be another glimpse into his past? What could he learn? He paused, momentarily struck with a thought, his conjured arms stilling in their work. What do normal monsters witness for their level twenty five advancement? He hadn¡¯t considered it before, but now that he had it didn¡¯t make sense. When he had undertaken the advancement trial it had been a key moment from his past, the vision being of a decision his still human self had made and how he had reacted to it. I don¡¯t think the average monster as of level twenty five would have experienced anything that would be worthy of a trial. Leif mused, brow slightly creasing as he considered the puzzle, the newly gained control over his facial features making the expression possible. Did they see a hypothetical situation? One created by the system in order to give them a choice? Or was the trial something as simple as choosing what type of prey to hunt, or cave to sleep in? He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. The spriggan looked up, and saw only disparate groups of white fluffy clouds. He looked to the south west, where the sound had come from, but there were no storm clouds. The rumble came again, this time louder and much closer. Then a streak of lightning shot through the sky far above, a formation of clouds parting as something blew through them at tremendous speed. The blur of light changed directions as it fell, angling down towards where Leif stood. The spriggan crossed his arms, his real arms, shaking his head slightly as dozens of birds and other critters went scrambling in fright. Dust and debris blew in every direction as something impacted the ground before him with enough force to crater the stone. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be.¡± Said a deep, rumbling voice as a figure stepped out from within the cloud of dust, lightning crackling between their horns, their hands hidden within the pockets of their stitched together rags. ¡°You look all polished up.¡± ¡°You just destroyed a bunch of mostly intact furniture.¡± Leif pointed out flatly. ¡°So I did.¡± ¡°Welcome back you old bastard.¡± Leif said, his mouth slightly contorted into a smile. ¡°I assume things went well.¡± Ram raised his eyebrows as he looked around in mock surprise. ¡°Not as well as things went here, I barely even feel the oppressive weight of death trying to drain my soul from my body, very nice.¡± ¡°I told you I was going to destroy the dungeon. I did.¡± ¡°Like smothering a babe in the cradle. Wasn¡¯t that thing barely a year old?¡± ¡°I... I¡¯m surprised you... care?¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t.¡± === === ¡°Fight me.¡± Said a broad young man, hands on hips as he beamed at Leif. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Aww, why not?¡± Leif gestured vaguely at the house he was helping build. ¡°I¡¯m... busy?¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll fight me afterwards?¡± Asked the man hopefully. ¡°Olav... you¡¯re the chief''s son, don¡¯t you have anything important to do?¡± Leif asked, exasperated. This was the third time in as many days the demikin had challenged him, Leif was beginning to run out of excuses to turn him away. Would the clan hold it against him if he threw the overly enthusiastic man off the nearest cliff? ¡°Nope!¡± Olav declared, lightning dancing between his horns in a way that reminded the spriggan of Ram. Actually, the man reminded Leif of Ram in far more ways than just that ¡°I just hit things hard.¡± Combat experience: Lesser! Age: Older! Leif squinted mentally at the system window. ¡°You have less combat experience than me?¡± ¡°What?¡± Olav cried, staggering back as if the plant monster had just struck him physically. ¡°Untrue! Sladerious! Fight me at once!¡± ¡°The system doesn¡¯t lie, usually, unless you have a skill that hides your abilities?¡± ¡°Hiding is for cowards!¡± Olav declared, regaining his poise and standing straighter. ¡°And I¡¯ve never lost to a tree before!¡± ¡°But you did lose to that rock crab we encountered way out west.¡± Came a laughing voice, followed by a woman with the same fluffy hair and horns as the rest of the clan, a hunting bow slung over her shoulder. She was trailed by a group of humans clearly ready to leave on an expedition of sorts. The clan chief¡¯s son¡¯s jaw slackened as he stared at her in disbelief. ¡°Y-you... that wasn¡¯t... It was cheating and you know it Liv! the same way your man does with his damage reflection skill!¡± ¡°He¡¯s my man now is he?¡± Liv said, turning to a blank faced Samil, eyebrows wagging. ¡°I am not.¡± Samil said, tone completely flat. ¡°We have a hunt to do. How about you stop harassing our host and come with us?¡± ¡°But I desire battle!¡± Olav stated, the man repeatedly yelling his challenge even as he was dragged off by the hunting party. === As days turned into weeks, wooden homes sealed against the weather sprung up all over the smaller bluff. A fenced off paddock for the yaks was created on the sloped hill of the main bluff, the timber Leif had scavenged going into the temporary construction. Small gardens for vegetables and herbs were planted, the owners marvelling as shoots sprung from the ground in half the time they normally would have expected. A system for water collection was put together by the nearby stream as everyone went about their daily tasks. Leif continued to work on his skills and body, he spent time with his animals and interacted with the nomads. At some point Ram had left for the mountains, only for him to return a few days later with some sort of massive, tough skinned worm slung over his shoulders. According to him it was delicious. According to the stomachs of his family it was poisonous. One day a group of not quite adult members of the clan had discovered the fact Leif could alter his body, the teens finding it endlessly amusing to suggest alterations and changes. No, he couldn¡¯t grow a third arm, yes he could technically engrave suggestive imagery all over his body, no he wouldn¡¯t actually do that. That particular gathering had been disrupted when five evolved hogs had wandered over looking for scritches. It hadn¡¯t taken him long to get used to the changes, but he was sometimes still caught off guard at the different appearances of what had once been mundane animals. Bam teleporting or Lani acting surprisingly intelligent still caught him by surprise. It was hard to imagine them as the silly little creatures that had followed him since his first evolution. Actually on second thought no it isn¡¯t. He thought to himself, ruefully remembering some of their most recent antics. Bam had managed to get herself stuck up the domain tree, and Lani had followed him around until he had read her parts of the textbook on healing Kala had given him after he had asked. Truthfully he was tempted to stay, to stick around forever and watch what had once been his solitary home change day by day. But he didn¡¯t have the luxury of staying in one place for too long. Perhaps that was a critical flaw for a tree monster to have, perhaps his willingness to try and learn, to attempt and reconnect with his past life would end in tears. But civilization was calling, with all the trappings, knowledge and danger it would bring. With a heavy heart he informed the clan leaders he would be leaving. He just hoped it wouldn¡¯t be for too long. Chapter 100: Just a Healer Chapter 100: Just a Healer Most people in his situation would likely relish the position of power he held over the people he was currently pointing a sword at. Or at least, that''s what Sarb thought as he ushered a bunch of dirty farmers out of their homestead point first. He wrinkled his large nose at the smell of piss, dubiously eyeing the wet stain running down the leg of the youngest man. There were a thousand ways he could justify his actions, a thousand reasons and excuses. But being honest with himself he knew exactly why. He wanted money, and there was nobody in this forgotten backwater to stop him. ¡°Hey boss!¡± Called a voice from the back room as he pushed the last farmer out the front door. ¡°What?¡± He snapped back, a scowl scrunching up his rounded face. ¡°I found something. Bunch of beans!¡± ¡°Great.¡± Sarb growled, rolling his eyes and giving one of the farmers a kick so he would get moving. ¡°Go help Vince with the next house over, I can hear yelling.¡± ¡°Right boss, you got it.¡± Said the other bandit as he jogged out of the building, sack slung over his shoulder. Beans fell from the sack in a continuous stream from a hole that a rat had likely chewed into the woven material. ¡°Fucking idiot.¡± He muttered, marching the farmers down the barely cobbled road and into the main square of the village. The settlement was a bleak and entirely uninspiring place, thatched roofs with half assed repairs, fields full of emaciated and withered crops. He certainly didn¡¯t envy the frontier life, no sir he did not. The plain metallic ring on his finger hung heavy, not with weight, but at the prospect of being used. To think a man like me could have something like this. Sarb mused darkly, deliberately pulling his attention from the artefact and yelling at the sorry lot of dirt peddlers to hurry up. Three dozen villagers were already in the village centre when he arrived with the latest batch. They were tied together with ropes, all looking miserable as they sat in the dirty plaza, several of his men rummaging through their pockets. They wouldn¡¯t find anything, these farmers were poorer than street rats, less well fed too by the looks of things. ¡°This is a shit haul boss.¡± One of his men mumbled as Sarb stomped passed. ¡°Ain¡¯t nuffin but shit and sadness in this place.¡± He grunted in acknowledgement but otherwise said nothing. He knew, but he didn¡¯t particularly care. This was more of a supply grab before they returned to hunting the coastal roads for merchant caravans anyway. A yell came from nearby, and Sarb turned to glare at the disturbance. His already poor mood took a dive when he saw two of the recent recruits getting handsy with some of the village girls. ¡°Hey!¡± He snapped. ¡°Have some fucking standards and get back to work. Keep it in your pants or I¡¯ll cut it off.¡± ¡°Fuck you.¡± The man snarled, the hole where one of his eyes had been adding more than a little malice to his glare. ¡°Let us have some fun you fat prick.¡± ¡°Are you questioning me, boy?¡± The bandit leader asked as he wobbled over. His gaze stabbed into the man despite being a head and shoulders shorter. ¡°What if I am?¡± The man smirked, leering down at his employer. An employer who was over fifteen levels higher than himself. A sharp thwack split the air as the flat of Sarb¡¯s blade hit the side of the idiot''s head, sending the man tumbling to the ground. ¡°You questioning my orders?¡± He asked the now prone and groaning man¡¯s friend. ¡°N-no.¡± ¡°Good. Now do your damn job, keep watch, and don¡¯t, fucking, get, distracted.¡± The man nodded frantically, already pulling his friend up off the ground. The bandit leader spat on the ground, then walked over to where the loot was being collected. A tall and spindly figure was making notes on a wooden pad, mumbling thoughtfully to himself. A spear rested next to a poorly maintained fence, though the weapon was easily within the man''s reach should he need it for whatever reason. ¡°Hey Tio, how long will this last us?¡± Sarb asked, the other man glancing at him briefly before looking back to the pile of sacks. ¡°W-what?¡± Nazan squeaked as laughter erupted from several of the nearby bandits. The dagger around his throat was withdrawn as grimy hands started tugging away at his garb. Then a crack rang out from a street over, the sound was like wood snapping, and it was followed by a loud yelp of alarm. Everyone in the village square, bandit and local both, turned to see the source of the commotion. A bandit with large, bushy eyebrows and a grimy unkept beard ran into sight, he was followed a moment later by two other men. ¡°Boss!¡± The man screamed, voice panicked. ¡°There¡¯s some fucker coming!¡± Endless gods damn trouble. Sarb fumed internally, snapping at his men to spread out and get into position. ¡°How many?¡± He called. ¡°Just one boss!¡± Came the reply, followed shortly by another loud crack. ¡°He¡¯s got a shield skill boss, it''s all glowy like!¡± Another two bandits ran into the clearing, including the source of the sounds, a skinny man with a sling. ¡°My powershot ain¡¯t doing shit!¡± The bandit with the sling yelled, scrambling to get distance and fumbling to reload. ¡°But I woulda split his head open if he wasn¡¯t cheat¡¯in with that shield skill!¡± Everyone in the clearing held their breath as weapons were drawn and skills were readied. Then, a cloaked figure strode into the village square. They were tall, their bulk clear even under the heavy cloth that shrouded most of their form. They had hardy leather boots, and when the cloak shifted simple clothing was revealed underneath. The most striking feature of the newcomer however, was a plain brown wooden mask that covered their face, a golden glow coming from the eye slits. Their hands and forearm seemed to be clad in ivory white armour that appeared unlike any metal Sarb had ever seen, perhaps it wasn¡¯t metal at all. ¡°By the Bringer of Rain, by the Mother of Solace.¡± The priest mumbled under his breath, but other than a smack to the back of the head he was ignored. Who the fuck prayed to the god of rain in a time like this? Was the priest damaged in the head? Sarb thought, trying to analyse the approaching man. To his discomfort the skill produced no result, this stranger was either significantly more powerful, or their aura skill was developed enough to block his analysis. ¡°Who are you?¡± Tio called, spear resting casually against the lanky man¡¯s shoulder. Despite the way Tio was acting, Sarb could tell his brother was tense and ready for a fight. Of all the shitstains who followed him out into the frontier to pillage and loot, the only one of them he trusted to have a good head on his shoulders was Tio. ¡°A traveller.¡± Replied the masked man as he slowly scanned the situation he had walked into. Outnumbered as he was, the newcomer was remarkably calm. Either it was an act, or they had a reason for their confidence. Sarb felt the man¡¯s aura brush up against his own, several of his men likely feeling the exact same thing as their postures relaxed, one even laughed. It was the aura of a healer, soft and gentle. Healers were rare, Sarb had only met a handful throughout his entire life. But the ¡®traveller¡¯ was clearly one of them, his aura was unsuppressed so the likelihood of deception was relatively low. ¡°You came to the wrong place.¡± A bandit called, his voice dripping with newly found confidence, several of his fellows snickered at his words, clearly feeling the same way. ¡°I mean, what¡¯s a fucking healer going to do?¡± Though the man¡¯s aura clearly denoted what he was, Sarb couldn¡¯t help but be hesitant to lower his guard. He hadn¡¯t spent half a decade in this line of work to not notice danger when he saw it, even if his own combat oriented aura from his promoted [Fighter] class pushed out his perception. He pressed against the aura of the hooded man, but it was like a solid wall, there was no further information he could glimpse. Was it a trap? An ambush? Was this man truly alone or were they being surrounded at that very moment? ¡°You should take your men and leave.¡± The masked man said, his glowing eyes turning to lock onto Sarb. The bandit leader gulped, taking a step back involuntarily. Nothing about the man before him had changed, but the air seemed to hum with the sound of his voice. As if the very idea of defying his suggestion carried an ancient implication. ¡°We ain¡¯t doing shit.¡± Yelled a bandit from the left before he could reply, not that he could with his throat tightening and heart racing. Sarb couldn¡¯t tell who had spoken, his entire world had just gone very narrow. [Mind for Battle] only triggered in combat, its effect increasing depending on the difference in power between him and his opponent. His breath began to come quicker, even as one of his stupid, stupid men rushed forward to bash the travellers head in with a cudgel. With his senses enhanced, Sarb saw for the first time a faint heat-haze surrounding the cloaked man, like a near invisible ripple in the air around him. Faint traces of golden light flickered into being, then the bandit was there. The cudgel fell with enough speed that the weapon was nothing more than a blur, wreathed in deadly power from a skill the strike was empowered to the point even high level combatants would have their bones crushed and flesh pulverised. The man simply raised his hand, catching the blow without any apparent difficulty. The cudgel stopped dead, the stranger reacting to the blow not at all. Everything went silent as both bandit and villager stared, their hair and clothes being blown back as a shockwave from the attack¡¯s impact blew across the clearing. Then the aura changed, it rolled out from the man like a physical weight. Suddenly the masked stranger loomed twice as tall, his latent authority pressing down on everyone, stifling breath and suppressing power. Bandits flinched back, several cursing and rushing to conjure any skill they could. The villagers... the villagers were fine, somehow unaffected despite the oppressive presence bearing down on the village square. A cold sweat broke out on Sarb¡¯s back. Just a healer my ass. Chapter 101: Banditry Chapter 101: Banditry The impact from the bandit¡¯s heavy blow rang down Leif¡¯s arm, the palm of his hand cracking slightly from the sheer force behind it. But he didn¡¯t flinch, in fact by the horrified looks and the quickly spreading shock and panic he could sense rippling through the armed men the display had likely looked more than impressive. If possible he had wanted to avoid a fight, even if that outcome was more than unlikely. Leif pulled back [Aura of Recovery], then slammed [Aura of Nobility] down onto the heads over every bandit present, the potency of his rank three aura backed by his [Charisma] attribute enough to half suppress every single bandit at once. Using both aura skills at the same time resulted in a diluted mix of both effects, the combination was sloppy and drastically reduced the efficacy of his aura. One day, hopefully soon, when he fused both skills that would no longer be a problem, but for now he would have to use one or the other. The eyes of the bandit who had swung the cudgel went wide, he tried to pull the weapon free but Leif tightened his grip even as amber blood trickled down the cudgel¡¯s length. Unfortunately for his attacker, using a weapon made of wood against a plant monster was about as likely to work as freezing an ice elemental to death. The cudgel melted as the infused power from the human¡¯s skill faded away, the liquid wood flowed down the bandit¡¯s arm twisting in such a way as to keep it locked in place. ¡°That was foolish.¡± Leif said as his grip moved to the restrained man¡¯s forearm, his gaze shifted from the terrified eyes of his attacker, and onto the rotund bandit he had identified as the likely leader. ¡°Drop your weapons, get on the ground. I won¡¯t ask twice.¡± A crack sounded as the sling wielding bandit who had taken shots at him before loosed a stone. The projectile whipped through the air, faintly glowing from a skill it left behind a streak of light. But Leif had felt the intention to attack build from the man who had fired, sensed the spike of glee the moment before the stone was loosed. Instead of trying to block, he simply tilted his head to the side, the projectile zipping past him by barely a centimetre. [Grand Action] focused a considerable amount of his [Charisma] attribute into [Intelligence] making the world seem to slow. Intelligence allowed for the processing of information and stimuli quicker, and the flood of strength granted to the attribute had never been higher. His attributes soared as he let go of the mental restraint holding back [Consuming Aeons] as several things happened at once. Fifteen opponents. Leif counted, feeling about half that many auras press against his own. They were weaker than his own, maybe rank two at the highest. Just under forty restrained and unarmed villagers were in the vicinity of the fight, though he sensed several already scampering away as the bandits'' attention lapsed. Those with the ability to attack from a range were the greatest threat, even as four men rushed forward to attack. Leif threw aside the man he was holding, sending him tumbling limply down a side street. He reached out with his will and latched onto the wall of the house nearest to the sling wielding bandit, the wall rippled, then exploded outwards to restrain the bandit. He disappeared under a tide of rapidly extending tendrils with a yelp of surprise, followed by a muffled cry of pain. Four pairs of conjured arms struck out at the four men closing the distance. Leif stepped forward and struck out at each at the same time. An open palm struck the middle of the closest bandit, another had his rusted sword battered aside and a tap to the side of his head. The third triggered a skill and briefly became intangible, a dagger coated in a vile green liquid aimed right at the side of Leif¡¯s hidden neck. The fourth came in low, hatchet aimed for Leif¡¯s shin. Unempowered by a skill, the axe¡¯s shaft was unravelled via [Wood Manipulation], followed by its wielder having his legs tied together by the remnants of his own weapon, then was shoved away. Leif exchanged places with the intangible man, then when he regained physicality a golden fist lashed out to connect with his gut. The breath wheezed out of his mouth as the dagger wielding bandit doubled over coughing, specks of blood flying from his mouth. A blade of wind came down from above, the cause was a bandit who had quickly scaled one of the nearby houses to gain a vantage. But the man had no aura skill, and reading his intentions was like reading a picture book. Without looking at the man Leif manifested a barrier of golden energy which briefly flickered into existence, interposing itself between him and the wind blade. Before the wind-aspected bandit could get off a second use of his skill a spear of wood punctured his thigh from below, Leif having called it up out of one of the building''s support beams. The man screamed, more preoccupied with his injury than in sending off another blade of wind. Leif stepped back, vanishing with [The Amber Path] to avoid a blast of flames unleashed from a man to his left, the scion retaliating by telekinetically pulling a lid from an opened crate and sending it spinning into the man¡¯s jaw. He went down, but the next bandit was already upon Leif. A spear tip danced in a blinding pattern, the wielder both absurdly tall and skinny. Water twisted around the bandit¡¯s feet, propelling his movements as the human dashed behind him. Leif reached for the spear with [Wood Manipulation], but a skill of some kind empowering the weapon quite literally made the task slippery. Several bandits who hadn¡¯t committed to the fight whooped as the water infused spear severed two of Leif¡¯s conjured arms at the wrist, then the man was behind him again. For a brief moment he saw the faint hint of a smirk on the spear wielder''s face, then Leif tripped the man by ripping a buried root out of the ground. The bandit¡¯s look of surprise vanished as the man exploded into a geyser of water, his body disappearing, only to reappear ten metres away as his form was recondensed from flowing streams of water. The spear user winced, the skinny man clearly pained from utilising the movement skill. Leif suspected it had a restriction of some sort that the bandit had violated, but he couldn¡¯t tell for sure. He stretched out his perception, trying to get a read on his surroun- ¡°Stop!¡± Yelled a voice, the fight briefly coming to a stop. ¡°Retract your aura or I¡¯ll fuckin kill her! Suppress yourself or this blood is on your hands!¡± ¡°TIO!¡± He roared, mentally reaching into his ring to retrieve something that could hopefully save him. A pendant, something given to him and part of his upfront payment appeared in his hand, the power contained within causing his hand to tingle. ¡°TIO! Get over here now!¡± ¡°B-boss!¡± One of his men called, Sarb turning to see fear written all across his grubby face. ¡°He-he¡¯s-¡± But before the bandit could finish the sentence an arrow penetrated his neck, killing him instantly. He couldn¡¯t see what was happening to his brother, if he took his attention from the sword wielding demikin he would be dead. There was no response from Tio, either his brother hadn¡¯t heard him or had fallen, it was too late to hold back now. Sarb pushed power into the pendant in his hand, and space warped around him. [Warp], as the skill was called, was unique among low level teleportation skills. Unlike most other teleportation skills [Warp] didn¡¯t require a pre-existing anchor in order to be used. The downside was that the destination was random, it was an escape skill for that very reason. So when Sarb vanished in a pop of air, only to appear within the dirty front room of a village homestead he didn¡¯t know exactly where he was, but at least he was out of immediate danger. He mentally put the pendant back into his storage ring, the enchanted item¡¯s power had been spent and couldn¡¯t be used until recharged. He exchanged it for a low grade healing pill, it would hopefully be enough to staunch the wound on his face. Sarb winced at the acrid taste but swallowed the pill all the same, he needed to leave, and he needed to leave now. He shuffled over to the door and pushed it open, stepping out into the ill maintained street, almost tripping over a patch of weeds growing from between two cobble stones. He heard shouting and the sounds of battle coming from his left, so he turned and ran right. He made it three steps before stopping dead in his tracks. Three of his men lay dead in the street, their weapons littered the ground as blood pooled beneath them. A young woman, or was it a man stood above them, their face in a disgusted grimace. Long iridescent hair flowed down their back, seeming to catch the sun¡¯s light in a hundred different ways. ¡°Oh, hello. Where did you come from?¡± They asked in a distinctly masculine voice. The spear in their hand raising slightly in Sarb¡¯s direction. The man was strangely still, his form partially ethereal, as if not quite real. ¡°Out of the fucking way.¡± The bandit leader spat, putting on every ounce of speed he could to blitz down the foe before him. His sword flickered up, then cut right through the man¡¯s head, severing it in a single, brutal blow. The long haired figure seemed to flicker, as if being distorted. Sarb¡¯s eyes grew wide, only then realising the information his skills and instincts were telling him. Then a flash of prismatic light overtook his vision, a sharp, unbearably painful sensation was the only warning he had before his head was removed from his shoulders. ¡°There¡¯s no way that worked four times in a row.¡± The bandit leader heard from behind him as his vision swam and his hearing faded. All sensation felt infinitely far away, everything was becoming cold, so cold. === Samil stared down at the headless corpse of the heavyset man. He let out a sigh, turning away to get the grisly sight out of his vision. Killing people was never pleasant, it didn¡¯t matter who they were or how it happened. He was with Leif on this one, though he knew for a fact Liv and Olav thought of situations like this very differently. Besides, as he understood it in most places the penalty for banditry was death, very few places had the desire or infrastructure to incarcerate people. ¡°I wasn¡¯t even trying to kill anyone, but you guys just kept attacking the illusion.¡± He muttered, shaking his head, partially in disbelief. The tactic of using illusions and reflected damage was supposed to only work against low intelligence monsters, how on earth had four grown men fallen for the same trick? The man he had only just killed at least had the excuse that he hadn¡¯t seen how the other three men had died. The sounds of battle had drawn to an end, it didn¡¯t take a genius to know what the outcome would be. Samil noticed something strange, so he crouched down and removed the plain looking ring from the rotund bandit¡¯s finger, then he wandered off towards the village square, trying not to think about the corpses he was leaving behind. ¡°I hate people sometimes.¡± He mumbled as he walked past ransacked homes. He lamented that no matter where he and his few remaining family went, people always seemed to take advantage of people. But the world was a vast place, he knew that better than most. Maybe things could be different. Chapter 102: Mundane Chapter 102: Mundane The atmosphere within the village was oppressive and dour. Men, women and children sat or stood in groups, some trying to move their stolen belongings back into their ransacked homes with others staring blankly into space. As the tension slowly broke many of the villagers broke down with it, outpourings of emotions were a common sight. Of the nearly thirty bandits who had attacked the village, well over half had been killed. The survivors were tightly bound in makeshift ropes of wood within a building adjacent to the village square, their mouths were gagged and their weapons taken elsewhere. A different suite of emotions was radiating off them, defeat, anger, despair. The punishment for these men would be, according to common law, execution. Leif wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about that. It was obvious the moment he and his travelling companions had laid eyes on the village that these men were beyond redemption, at least he could comfort himself that he gave them a chance to surrender. Bodies were carried past, the corpses belonging to three villagers that had put up a struggle in one of the outer houses. Olav strode up to him, brow furrowed, fingers restlessly tapping the pommel of his sheathed sword. ¡°Not the battle you wanted?¡± Leif asked. ¡°There is nothing about victory to be ashamed of!¡± Olav replied, his frown being replaced by a grin. ¡°But yes, there is no glory in putting down dogs.¡± At least this village had people still in it. Leif mused, scanning his surroundings once again. His real face was hidden under the wooden mask he wore, it had been a suggestion given half jokingly by some of the children back at Far-Reach, and the scion appreciated the humour behind it. As it was, villagers gave him wary, but grateful glances. He had no doubt their reaction would have been considerably different if he had walked in undisguised. Chatter came from nearby, Leif and Olav turned to see Liv and Samil walking towards them. ¡°I don¡¯t think any of them escaped.¡± Liv said, stretching with arms over her head. The movement making the quiver and bow slung over her back almost slide free. ¡°Samil got the big bad boss after he teleported away.¡± The man in question rolled his eyes, neatly stepping away from a playful elbow to the ribs Liv tried to catch him with. ¡°I don¡¯t know what skill he used, but I doubt he would have teleported next to me if he had a choice.¡± ¡°You should have seen the battle.¡± Liv said, sighing dramatically. ¡°Truly an expert display of skill and power, stories will be told of their duel for centuries to come.¡± ¡°He killed himself by attacking an illusion and not dodging the reflected damage.¡± The man said, expression flat. Samil looked around at the distraught and vacant villagers. ¡°And I don¡¯t think this place is in any condition to sell us supplies. We¡¯ll have to go further south.¡± Two weeks ago when Leif had left Far-Reach. He had intended to go alone. But the nomad clan needed several things if they were to settle down for an extended period of time, and they didn¡¯t have the capability to craft what they needed. The scion was grateful for the company, doubly so now that he had found himself facing the worst of humanity. Singing started up nearby, a group of haggard looking men and women sitting around a man dressed in strange looking robes. The robe wearing man looked just as rattled, if not more so than those around him, but nonetheless he led them in song. It was a slow, sombre melody, simple in its lyrics but resonant with its emotions. ¡°Catchy.¡± Olav said, humming along. The man¡¯s left foot tapping along, completely out of sync with the song. ¡°We need to help these people however we can.¡± Leif said, feeling the grief and hopelessness swirling in the air all around him. ¡°We¡¯ll take the bandits off their hands too, take them to a larger settlement to see justice.¡± The three demikin all nodded. ¡°Want to come hunting with me?¡± Liv asked. ¡°I think fresh meat will do these people well.¡± Olav nodded along happily, but Samil remained in place, eyes glued to the nearby serenade. ¡°Oh come on.¡± Liv huffed, shaking her head as if in despair. ¡°That was nice, I was being nice!¡± A faint smile touched Samil¡¯s face, but it was gone a moment later. ¡°You¡¯ll be faster without me, I can do more good here.¡± Olav just blinked guilelessly, and Liv pouted dramatically. ¡°Fine~ See you later.¡± Leif turned to the last person in line, it was the man Leif had initially pegged as an outsider, or an official of some sort due to his robes. But he was a priest, a fact that had become immediately apparent the moment they had had a conversation earlier that day. ¡°System¡¯s blessings.¡± The man, Nazan said as he dipped his head in a respectful nod. ¡°Priest.¡± Leif said, nodding back. ¡°Is there anything I can do for you?¡± ¡°No, no more than you already have. Any who use the powers that they have been gifted to do good have already done more than enough.¡± Leif wasn¡¯t sure ¡®gifted¡¯ was the correct term to use, but he chose to not comment. Samil¡¯s advice had been to avoid the preacher as much as possible, but at no point had Leif detected ill intentions towards himself or any of the townsfolk from the man. ¡°Regardless, on behalf of the people of this village, I must profusely thank you and your companions.¡± Nazan said, taking a seat beside the disguised monster. ¡°Times have been beyond difficult for the people of the frontier, it¡¯s been like this ever since the war, but the undead and the monster migrations they caused were too much for many communities to handle.¡± ¡°Were the undead not the primary issue? I would have thought people would have fled further south to avoid them?¡± ¡°They were for the first few months, but the guilds working alongside the imperial contingent from Ahle-ho created outposts that lured the undead away from the settlements. The problem was that the crops withered, sources of water became tainted and livestock became sick. There were still the occasional attacks from small groups of undead, but they weren¡¯t overly common¡± ¡°Well, the undead won¡¯t be a problem going forward, that issue has been solved.¡± The priest¡¯s eyes went wide, the man mumbling a series of prayers under his breath. ¡°That is... that is wonderful news. System and gods willing, maybe the people here will be able to lead better lives.¡± Leif tilted his head. ¡°So you¡¯re not a local?¡± ¡°No, no, not at all. I¡¯m from Jursa.¡± ¡°Jursa?¡± ¡°Ah- It¡¯s an imperial province, east of Cerres and flanked by the Salt-ridge mountains. Are you not from the empire then?¡± The question seemed innocent, but Leif winced internally. Better not stray far from the truth. ¡°No... I¡¯m from Varan.¡± The priest seemed to let out a short sigh. ¡°Oh, that''s good, great, I mean it wouldn¡¯t matter, doesn¡¯t matter. Though they are kind of close... geographically speaking.¡± He clapped his hands together. ¡°Anyway, I passed through the kingdom on my pilgrimage. I''m glad they sent soldiers and adventurers to help push back the western frontier, you do your kingdom proud by coming this far west. It may just be a part of life, but humanity has lost so much in recent history.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Leif said. ¡°So we have.¡± Chapter 103: The Ring Chapter 103: The Ring Leif sat at the edge of the village, partially to keep watch, and partially to focus on the magical ring Samil had looted from the bandit leader. The process of attuning to a magical item wasn¡¯t overly complicated, it just took time and focus. As the minutes ticked by the connection between himself and the ring increased, slowly blooming within his mind¡¯s eye similar to the sensation of gaining a new skill. Finally the connection finished forming, the ring suddenly gaining a mental weight. It wasn¡¯t quite heavy, instead the item gave off a strange kind of pressure. The sensation wasn¡¯t uncomfortable, and within moments it had faded away into the background as his attention shifted to what exactly the item did. A part of him had expected a system message telling what properties the ring had, but he suspected that was a skill reserved for less combat focused classes. But that didn¡¯t mean the system was completely silent. You have attuned to an item! Attuned items count as skills, but cannot be fused or altered in any way a normal skill can be. Warning! Attuning to any additional items may bestow certain penalties! Leif opened up his status sheet, and sure enough a new line about the number of magical items he had was now displayed below his list of classes and skills. There was no further information about what the item actually did, nor did his status sheet even record that the item was a ring. === Attuned Items: 1 === It was interesting that the system quantified magical items as skills, and Leif guessed the penalties the message had mentioned related to experience gain and the ability to gain levels. Which meant that the ring wasn¡¯t something he was likely to keep his connection to in the long run. He was already sitting right on the soft cap of the number of skills his soul could handle. Now he just needed to find out what exactly the item did. Leif cast out his mental perception, seeking for the innate knowledge within him that would confirm or disconfirm his suspicions about the ring. Sure enough, it was as he guessed. The ring felt like a small pocket, a space that could accept, hold, or withdraw a certain amount of items. But it wasn¡¯t empty, the small drawer sized space was practically filled to the brim. There were several letters bound together with string, a pouch containing a handful of silver coins, a small glass vial with a single pill within and some small miscellaneous items. Leif took this all in with a mental sweep of the rings contents, but his attention was drawn by a pendant that seemed to take up far more space than its physical size should allow. He tried to pull the item from the storage space, the process was intuitive, though it took three attempts. The trick was intent and focus, he had to mentally picture himself reaching into the small magical container, mentally grasp what he wanted, then withdraw the item out into reality. The air around his hand warped slightly, then the plain looking pendant materialised in his palm. He had seen the bandit leader teleport away during the fight, and Leif suspected that this necklace was the reason why. But the item''s power had been spent, it lay inert in his palm absent of power. Leif instinctually knew he couldn¡¯t attune to this item, something about its design made that possibility null. Either this was a one time use item, or it had a way to be recharged. Shrugging, Leif returned the pendant to the ring, then pulled out the bundle of letters. It was too dark to read the words, so Leif conjured a pair of golden arms to loom above him, the ambient illumination of the skill¡¯s structure enough to read by. Unfortunately, the letters seemed... odd. The words used didn¡¯t mean anything when put together, it was just an endless stream of nonsense and random babble. Each letter, of which there were four, was the exact same, inexperienced as he was, not even Leif could miss the fairly obvious. The letters had been written in a cypher, just by looking over them Leif could see patterns emerging with the same series of words used across several of the letters. The scion frowned slightly, mentally searching through the spatial ring for a clue or a list of what the code''s message might mean. But there was nothing, it was likely the bandit leader had the knowledge to decode the messages by memory. Leif couldn¡¯t help feeling as though there was more at play here. A storage item was far, far too expensive for a random bandit to have been carrying around. Even one as small as the ring. ¡°And by business.¡± Olav said, striding out after him with his hands laced together behind his head. ¡°You mean offering to bless their fields with your magic.¡± ¡°I do, yes.¡± ¡°Sounds like shit business. Isn¡¯t there supposed to be profit in business? I honestly don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get what we need from someplace else. The people here have nothing to give.¡± Leif said. ¡°Sure, sure. And afterwards we can have that fight you promised?¡± Olav said, his lazy grin turning predatory. Leif sighed. ¡°Fine.¡± He felt excitement bubble up from within the man at his acceptance. ¡°As long as you realise it will be a one sided beatdown.¡± He added, smirking slightly beneath his mask. The demikin tripped. ¡°Not so! I¡¯m plenty strong!¡± === A day later the party of four left the village. They were sent off with waves and calls of gratitude. Behind them was the group of solemn looking bandits, each man tied to the next with ropes Leif had created. It was a grim procession, neither group being overly comfortable with the arrangement. The nearest town was three days'' travel to the south-east of the village, behind the imperial cordon. As they went, they passed signs of destruction and conflict. None of the bandits had admitted to attacking any other nearby villages or farmsteads, but nonetheless they were ravaged and abandoned. They encountered a pack of roaming undead just after sunset on the second day. The pack of eight skeletal ghouls threw themselves ravenous at the tied up prisoners, but they were dispatched within moments. The bandits cringed back as violence exploded all around them, they did so again when Olav suggested letting the ghoul he was sitting on have a nibble. On the third day the group found themselves walking alongside a wide, fast flowing river. The dirt path on their side of the bank was overgrown and in disrepair, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the southern side of the river. An hour into following along the flowing waterway a squad of armoured men and women riding horses spotted them from the other side. What followed was an awkward, shouted conversation that neither party could really hear over the constant roar of the river. With his aura fully extended, Leif could communicate telepathically, so at least his group got their side of the story to what he thought was an imperial patrol. Wordlessly one of the riders pointed down the river, then the patrol continued on its way. It was getting towards evening when Leif and company finally saw faint smoke trails drifting up from over a nearby hill. The bandits started dragging their feet, but Leif just pulled them along. If they hadn¡¯t wanted to face judgement, they shouldn¡¯t have preyed on the weak. Whatever was coming for them, he wouldn¡¯t object. Chapter 104: Checkpoint Chapter 104: Checkpoint Jerin slumped against the portcullis of the checkpoint gate, taking a deep breath from his pipe, then exhaling over the course of several seconds. Smoke billowed out before him, slowly fading in the evening air. ¡°You know that shit¡¯ll kill you, right?¡± Another soldier said, leaning away from the smoke and wrinkling his nose. He snorted, and took another drag. ¡°Not if I invest half my free points into [Spirit] it won¡¯t.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t military standard, how do you expect to get promoted if command finds out you¡¯re not following the levelling plan?¡± The other soldier said, the younger man adjusting his helmet and standing up straighter. ¡°Fuck kid, you really are green as shit?¡± Jerin grunted, shooting the man an amused look. ¡°Firstly, everyone fucking invests points into whatever they want, the trick is hitting benchmarks by certain levels. Secondly, we¡¯re stationed in the middle of fucking nowhere, to get promoted you need to be on the promotion track, and we sure as shit aint.¡± The rookie didn¡¯t look convinced, that was fine, wasn¡¯t Jerin¡¯s job to convince anyone. ¡°Well, I¡¯m following the levelling plan. If I¡¯m a few points over the next benchmark then so be it.¡± He said resolutely. ¡°If you invest points into [Charisma] you might get laid more.¡± Jerin commented, taking another breath of the sweet smoke, tobacco filling his lungs and easing the aches of standing still in one place for several hours. ¡°R-really?¡± ¡°No, not really. Actually, it''s more of a maybe? I think anyway, some people believe it makes them more confident.¡± He could tell the other man was interested. Jerin snickered to himself before continuing. ¡°But what¡¯s one hundred percent real: The higher your [Spirit] attribute, the longer you last in bed, trust me kid.¡± ¡°Y-yeah, I guess that makes...¡± His colleague trailed off, attention arrested by a group of almost twenty approaching along the riverbank from the west. ¡°Hey!¡± Jerin called, shouting over his shoulder to the other soldiers lounging around behind the walls. ¡°Anyone got eyes on the incoming group? There¡¯s quite a lot of them.¡± Minutes passed as the group drew closer, one of the scouts called out that several seemed to be bound, which made the alertness of the outpost slowly drop. Jerin squinted as the newcomers reached the far side of the river, stopping briefly to study the stone bridge that spanned it. The checkpoint was an old stone fort built to check merchants and travellers as they ventured south. He was pretty sure it outdated the nearby town by a good few centuries, at least judging by the state of decay. ¡°Wow.¡± His fellow guard said. ¡°Looks like four people looking over about fourteen prisoners, what do you think happened?¡± Jerin grunted, he was more interested in why the fuck anyone was still living past the imperial cordon. Didn¡¯t they know the lands up north were swarming with undead, enslavers and who the fuck knew what else? Though there hadn¡¯t been many undead attacks in the past week, maybe the gods had given pity to the frontier and the poor souls who tried to settle it. ¡°Halt travellers!¡± Jerin called, raising a hand after putting out his pipe. ¡°This is the Klos checkpoint, state your business and intentions. This territory is under the empire¡¯s protection.¡± It was the standard thing he was supposed to say, though he hadn¡¯t had much practice over the past few months. The group of four looked between one another, then a tall man wearing a mask stepped forward. The man¡¯s eyes seemed to glow gold beneath the wooden covering, and it was the only distinguishing feature Jerin could make out as the rest of him was covered in a heavy travelling cloak. He instinctively tried to analyse the man, not particularly trusting anyone who covered their face. The skill bounced, revealing no information. To his side his fellow soldier tensed, likely having gotten the same results. ¡°As you said.¡± The masked man stated, his voice a low baritone that emanated from behind his mask. His words seemed to hang slightly in the air, as if given additional gravitas by the wind that carried them. ¡°We are travellers, looking to trade.¡± He gestured back to the sorry looking procession of grimy captives. ¡°We discovered this lot attacking a village three days from here, though there was about double the number. We have possible information on their motives.¡± He understood the implication. There had been twice the number of bandits, but this group of four had likely killed them during an engagement. Jerin¡¯s eyes took in the other three, his hand involuntarily tightening on the hilt of his sword at the horns a man and woman had jutting from their head. The man saw him looking and grinned, but the woman just ignored him. ¡°I was not aware of any tribes still within the region!¡± A voice called down from atop the wall, the sound making Jerin double check his pipe was hidden. ¡°As captain of this fortification, I demand you state your identities and levels.¡± But the imperial soldiers in their blues and silvers weren¡¯t the only armed presence. Soldiers in burgundy and green had their own camp, separate but neighbouring the imperials. Leif wondered if they had taken over farmland, or if the ground hadn¡¯t been in use. As the farmland came to an end several squads of imperial soldiers watched them with keen interest, but they didn¡¯t move to intercept their approach to the town. The second group of soldiers did, a dozen peeling away from their camp and moving to place themselves along the road leading into Klos. Leif wanted to skip the song and dance at the checkpoint, so he let his stronger aura roll out to meet the approaching soldiers like one might roll out a nice carpet to meet guests. ¡°It feels like cheating.¡± Samil commented as the soldiers all stiffened, then split into two rows on either side of the path. ¡°But at least it¡¯s making them friendly.¡± ¡°A fight would be more fun.¡± Olav grumbled. ¡°You could have at least waited for them to make fools of themselves.¡± ¡°Let''s not make any more of a scene.¡± Leif said, raising a hand to greet who he assumed was the leader of the soldiers before him. The officer, a stocky woman with short hair and more than one scar bowed stiffly. ¡°Welcome sir, I hope you had no trouble at the checkpoint.¡± ¡°No trouble.¡± Leif said, already liking her more than his last encounter with a military officer. ¡°We have business we would like to complete within the town, and hand off the criminals we apprehended attacking a village a few days'' travel from here.¡± ¡°That is fine. There is a standing bounty on bandits and thieves, but it is paid out by a guild representative. Their office is halfway up the main street of the town, if you pass the tailor you¡¯ve gone too far.¡± ¡°I have a written letter from the village elders detailing the attack, I assume I hand it to this guild representative?¡± The woman nodded briskly, then gestured to her waiting soldiers to grab the bandits. ¡°Is there anything we should know about the situation here? This is our first visit.¡± ¡°Klos is under martial law, curfew two hours after sunset and any exchange of goods may be inspected by a member of the Ahle-ho guard for any reason.¡± ¡°Not the imperial troops?¡± She scowled, glancing at the nearby camp before turning back to him. ¡°No sir, that isn¡¯t their jurisdiction, their prerogative is the defence of the frontier.¡± Leif sighed internally, he absolutely did not want to stick his nose into whatever political mess was going on here. ¡°I¡¯m Leif by the way, could I request a conversation with whoever¡¯s in charge before the bandits are... dealt with?¡± ¡°Captain Peri.¡± She said formally, nodding slightly. ¡°And the person in charge would be me, I can accept that request and see it actioned.¡± The scion just nodded, and chose to ignore the muffled yelling and struggling of the bandits as they were led away. Peri turned on her heels and marched off, leaving Leif and the three demikin alone to enter the town. He felt the tension leak from his shoulders, letting out a long sigh of relief. While this was an excellent test run for when he went further south, he couldn¡¯t help but wish things were less stressful. ¡°Cheer up!¡± Liv said as she slapped him on the back with more than a little strength, he didn¡¯t budge. ¡°As long as you¡¯re around, me and the big doofus can hide behind you, probably won¡¯t be too bothered by the little gift from our revered ancestor poking out of our heads.¡± ¡°I welcome any challenge.¡± Olav said, crossing his arms. The grin slipped from his face as he continued. ¡°But we should complete our task with haste, it would not be good to delay our return by too much.¡± ¡°You have my sympathies.¡± Samil said with a shake of his head. ¡°At least my heritage is less obvious, though I am a few generations more removed from my ancestor. Besides, Ahle-ho is more friendly with demikin than the empire proper, so things should be fine.¡± Chapter 105: Payment Chapter 105: Payment The main road of Klos was overflowing, not just with people, but with stands and stalls. Leif and the others passed by where the usual restrictions for the town¡¯s market was, and that too was bustling. Shouts trying to capture attention and cries marketing hot deals drowned out the high pitched chatter of the milling crowds. Soldiers, both imperial and local patrolled or shopped, but they were dwarfed by a third type of person. Adventurers, mercenaries, bounty hunters. If the cordon to hold back the encroaching frontier was an obligation for those within the military, it was a veritable gold rush for independents who worked through the guilds. ¡°It feels like there are more outsiders than locals.¡± Samil said, pitching his voice to be heard over a merchant working a nearby weapon repair stall. Leif nodded, sending a message of affirmation through telepathy. He had to withdraw his aura, the sheer amount of emotions and intentions like a maelstrom of chaos to his perception. In polite society it was seen as rude to project your aura, when powerful people gathered their presences could overwhelm, even potentially injure those with fewer levels. The main street of Klos, as it turned out, was not polite society. Men and women ranging from level ten to above fifty engaged in an invisible shoving match. The aura of merchants drew attention while the presence of combatants left phantom impressions of blades being drawn. Leif used his aura like a wedge, parting the presences around him like a ship through waves. Samil, Olav and Liv crowded in behind him, using him like a vessel to navigate turbulent seas. A bell tolled from somewhere within the market district, and like a blanket being used to smother a flame aura¡¯s were retracted and the milling crowds began to disperse. Merchants who had only just been yelling about end of day sales began to pack up their wares, some even cutting off in-process deals to close up shop. Ah. Leif realised. This was the very end of the day''s trading, no wonder people were being so aggressive. He was unimpressed, but at least the street was clearing by the time Liv called out that she saw the guild building. Compared to the buildings of stone that lined the streets of Klos, the guild office was a construction of wood and brick tiles. And it literally was a construction, half of the building still had workers with glowing lights on their helmets scaling scaffolding to expand the building into the unoccupied plot next to it. Adventurers gathered around two large notice boards outside the building''s front facade, posters and fliers displayed sketches of all manner of creatures, written descriptions below detailing numbers, location and any associated reward. Leif overheard a party near the front discuss going after a nest of insects two days'' travel from the town, but he didn¡¯t stick around to listen. He pushed open the front doors, each with an engraving of a lion¡¯s head and a spear, and entered into the building. His heavy steps caused the floorboards beneath his feet to creak, the rowdy conversation and clatter of cutlery taking place across several long common tables quieted down to a whisper. The scion quickly scanned the room, his amber eyes glowing from beneath his simple mask. He pushed out his [Aura of Recovery], using it to tag several of the closest humans with both of his analysis skills. Combat experience: Lesser! Age: Older! Combat experience: Greater! Age: Older! He felt several others in the room do the same to him, most failed to find purchase, that was until Leif sensed something penetrate through. His gaze snapped to a large, well muscled man standing with his arms crossed near a counter on the far side of the room. The man blinked, then slightly inclined his head. Leif didn¡¯t know what information he had gleamed, but considering the lack of any hostile reaction it was unlikely to have been critical. Leif stepped forward, feeling the attention of the room¡¯s occupants slide off of him and onto his companions. Whispers started up at the sight of Olav and Liv¡¯s horns, a group of several men over on a far table being by far the loudest. ¡°I¡¯m here to see the guild representative, whoever that may be.¡± Leif said, glancing at the large man standing off to the side. The clerk on the other side of the desk looked him up and down, then nodded. ¡°Sure thing, please state your reason for this appointment, it may change your position in the que.¡± ¡°Before we begin, I am legally obligated to inform you that this room has truth telling wards, and anything said within it will be recorded, but held in confidence unless I or another representative deem that it is within the council''s best interest to share them. The warding is of rank two strength, and if you are capable of blocking its effects I may request you to briefly suppress yourself so that it may work.¡± ¡°Bloody hells.¡± Liv said. ¡°You do that speech every time someone walks in here?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Frederick said, his words punctuated by the scratching of quill on paper, his hand seemingly moving on its own accord as he gave them all an assistive, but not unfriendly gaze. === A slip of paper, then the four letters Leif that had been in the bandit leader¡¯s possession slid across the desk with a flick of Frederick¡¯s hand. The [Scribe], for what else could his class be, folded the letter from the village elders and carefully placed it atop a pile of other papers. ¡°The slip has your pay, it is the general rate for bandit bounties. I have recorded the contents of the letters and will see that they¡¯re investigated. I ask that you do not speak of this incident to any other than myself, or captain Peri as it may be a matter of national security.¡± ¡°National security.¡± Samil said, brow furrowed. ¡°Have there been other incidents like what we discovered?¡± ¡°I am not at liberty to go into details, but this is but one of a series of things that have been discovered. But as a neutral party I will not say anything further.¡± So that''s it? Leif thought, somewhat uncomfortable with the lack of information. That there¡¯s something going on, and the guilds know what it is? Do they not care that people are dying? ¡°I bet it¡¯s the imperials, bunch of slimy pricks. You hear what one of those idiots said to me downstairs?¡± Liv chimed in. Fredericks hand never stopped moving, every word still being recorded. ¡°As you are outsiders to the situation within these lands, I will request that you do not go around making baseless accusations.¡± The man said. ¡°The imperial army, Ahle-ho guard and adventurer parties are all working together to prevent the fall of this region.¡± He paused, letting his words sink in before continuing. ¡°I do not know how invested in this cause you may or may not be, but I can assure you that the men and women working and fighting along the frontier care, they care a lot.¡± ¡°Well.¡± Liv said. ¡°I take back my accusation, but they¡¯re still a bunch of slimy pricks.¡± The scribe gave her a meaningful look as he continued to write. ¡°In addition to the bounty paid out for the bandits, I can also offer a reward for any information as to the state of the undead incursion north of the frontier. You may or may not be aware, but the outbreak is in part due to the influence of a death-aspected dungeon.¡± The three demikin all turned to look at Leif. Frederick turning a moment later. ¡°Oh.¡± Said the disguised plant monster. ¡°I was familiar with the dungeon, yes.¡± ¡°Was?¡± ¡°Well it''s been destroyed... so yes, was.¡± Frederick blinked. ¡°I apologise sir, but could you please suppress yourself and repeat that? For the record?¡± Chapter 106: Vision Chapter 106: Vision Cool wind skimmed the hillside, vibrant green grass waving in rippling patterns, almost hypnotic patterns. Leif spread his fingers, running them through the shin high foliage as he stared up into the perfectly clear night sky. ¡°We of the Amber welcome you, together we will serve a greater purpose than we could alone.¡± Said a calm voice from off to his side. The woman, amber light having engulfed half of her body, stood, repeating her words as if to a crowd of students. But there was no one there, well, other than him. ¡°To see so many of you, healthy and safe brings me no small amount of joy. There is much to learn, and even more to do, but together nothing is beyond our grasp.¡± The woman said to the crowd of one. Leif had heard the entire speech several times by now, the strange mental place he was connected to becoming his usual retreat during the long and lonely nights. He didn¡¯t have to sleep, not like his demikin companions did, so he had had time to practise reaching the state of mental stillness required to perceive the golden link. ¡°There is a duty our kind must perform, to act for the preservation of life. It is an honour, nothing is more fulfilling. In time, you who have awakened will likewise learn to love this duty.¡± Leif considered the speech, and the reason he had somehow been connected to this place. His working theory was that immediately after his first evolution he had technically qualified to see the vision, but as he had never settled he had never been in the state of mind to view it. He remembered having a desire to settle right after his evolution, but he had pushed away the feeling. It felt like a lifetime ago, stumbling around in the snow, wandering off in a random direction in the hopes he would discover something related to his past. ¡°But first, you must learn to communicate. As awakened beings, it is no longer good enough to remain the silent observers you were up until this point. You have chosen to take this step, now you must begin to walk.¡± The speech was drawing to an end, in a few moments the woman would begin walking around the hill, as if to have conversations with beings who should have been present. Leif absently toyed with the intricate, half metallic and half crystalline object he had conjured into his hand. The seal, part of the initial reward for reporting on the Pherin dungeon, wasn''t really within this mental space. Instead it was an image, an echo much like his current form was. He had discovered this little trick while escorting the captured bandits. For some reason he could pull whatever was present within his spatial ring into the vision. He didn¡¯t know why it was possible, just that it was. He looked at the seal, studying the intricate patterns of woven metal and cut gem. It had a weight to it, both in reality and within this place. Not a physical weight, but an abstract heft similar to that of his storage item. A promotion seal was the lowest grade of promotion item, capable of increasing a foundation class into a tier two class. These little, but valuable items had been some of the things his demikin companions were on the lookout for. As nomads, they didn¡¯t have the ability to obtain seals or any of the more advanced promotion items outside of system rewards. Leif knew that the item he held hadn¡¯t been bestowed from the system, but instead crafted by someone who had dedicated much of their life to reverse engineering the design. He hadn¡¯t admitted to destroying the dungeon personally, only stating under the effects of the guild office¡¯s truth telling wards that he had verified its destruction. Apparently, despite it having been almost two months ago, those this far south hadn¡¯t yet noticed the change. Frederick had practically pushed him and his companions out of his office. He had been so desperate to relay the message as quickly as possible the man had gone from polite and dignified to half manic. An hour later after Leif and the others had found a room in a nearby inn a runner had delivered them a parcel, and a note requesting a meeting three hours after dawn. Leif spun the seal between his fingers, then willed the item to vanish. He could use it to promote his level capped [Brawler] class, and he likely would once he exited the vision. Technically he had four more, but since he would be going further into civilisation while the nomads would be returning to Far-reach he would let them have them. Besides, with the money he had also been given he could probably buy more. With a brief effort of will a coin appeared within his opened palm. Unlike the silver coins that had been in the bandit¡¯s possession, this coin was only partially made of metal. An outer ring of what Leif thought was brass outlined the fingertip sized circle of what he could only describe as ¡®glossy clay¡¯. The coin was hollow, an inner circle likewise outlined with brass. The design made sense, as the coins had all been tied together on a string. According to Samil they were called ¡®flakes.¡¯ With the slightly larger, silver outlined coins being called ¡®scales.¡¯ Wouldn¡¯t it be easier if everyone used the same currency? Leif thought, standing up and making his way up the hill. What¡¯s the point of having republic silver and imperial coinage? He supposed it was some sort of tradition or custom for different places to mint their own coins. He reached the base of the towering tree, the amber portal radiating golden light into the quiet night. Leif turned, seeing the similarly coloured bonfire that was the distant figure of the awakened member of his own kind. If the system was accurate with his evolution descriptions, she was dead. Just like the rest of them. === Leif¡¯s golden eyes blinked in the dark, he had honestly forgotten the skill fusion still wasn¡¯t complete. Damn thing had taken over a month to fuse, and that was with him using several mana shards to speed it along. You have gained the [Scion of Aeons] skill [Sympathy From Experience]! === Sympathy From Experience: Aspects: Perception (Time)*, Enhancement (Body)*, Social*, Analysis You passively gain knowledge of events and changes that have occurred within your surroundings, the more significant these events the more clear they are to your sight. You may invoke the passage of time, seeing an echo of the past which you may project to those nearby. You have greater awareness of both your material and spiritual surroundings, and have the ability to sense emotions and intent of those within range of your perception. Finally you may analyse a target to determine their age and combat experience relative to your own. === It was basically the exact same skill, and that was by design. Leif was slightly amused to see that not even the description had changed outside of the additional text detailing where [Combative Gumption] had been slotted in. Now his two analysis skills were one, and without losing any of the interesting aspects of what [Time Born Sympathy] had before the fusion. The scion let out a small exhale of relief, he hadn¡¯t been sure envisioning ¡®just put the combat experience bit into it¡¯ had qualified as enough intent when commencing the fusion, but fortunately it had. A flicker of orange light filtered through the closed shutters of the window. Leif frowned, glancing from the system window in confusion. How is it morning already? It should be hours away still. He stood, reducing his weight as much as possible to not wake the sleeping demikin as he crossed the room. He used [Wood Manipulation] to silently usher the window open, then he paused at what he saw. It wasn¡¯t the sun, but it was fire. A tall building down by the market had caught aflame, orange tendrils reaching into the sky from the structure''s roof. He heard shouts coming from a street over, but he was already moving. By the time he was out the front door of the inn bells had started ringing all over Klos, sleepy people and disgruntled adventurers leaning out of windows or running out onto the streets. ¡°How much of a problem do you think it is?¡± A voice called from overhead. Leif turned to see Liv lazily blinking from their room¡¯s window. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like an attack, hopefully they can put the blaze out quickly.¡± He responded. ¡°Okay, that''s good.¡± She said with a yawn. ¡°I¡¯m going back to sleep, cya.¡± Chapter 107: Flames Chapter 107: Flames Bells tolled in a steady cadence as Leif walked down the main street of Klos. Bleary eyed humans gathered in small groups outside homes to watch as the night sky was tainted a vibrant orange. It reminded him of the turbulence that had ignited the clouds above Far-reach, and that wasn¡¯t a pleasant memory. But this was just a single building, it didn¡¯t herald an undead assault or imminent fight to the death. A large crowd stood in the invisible dividing line between the main street and the plaza that was the market. Empty stalls lined the sides of the street and groups of men and women in hastily donned armour shoved free standing stalls out of the way. Leif recognised them as members of the Ahle-ho guard, with some local guards mixed in. The fire had destroyed much of a tall three story structure, and had jumped to the smaller bakery that shared a wall with it. Buckets of water were being run from the nearby well, then tossed onto the flames. A family with several young children stood off to the side, their hunched silhouette outlined by the orange glow of fire. An older man was lying on the street, two soldiers kneeling over him, one with a hand placed to his chest. Leif pushed his way to the front of the crowd, the people parted around him but two soldiers who were standing to keep everyone back saw him emerge and stepped forward to stop his approach. ¡°Healer.¡± He said, not slowing as his aura brushed against theirs. ¡°Ah.¡± The closer one said, shuffling awkwardly while the other went from ushering him back to gesturing him to come closer. Moments later he was standing over the prone man, his face was covered in soot and ash, his hands covered in bright red blisters. A flash of light came from the hand of a woman who was kneeling beside him, the man just coughed violently in response. ¡°He has smoke in his lungs.¡± She said, her voice pitched with panic. ¡°I don¡¯t have the strength to heal the internal damage.¡± Leif squatted down, heavy traveller cloak billowing out as he did so. He placed a hand on the man¡¯s chest, to any onlookers it would look to be covered in a gauntlet of ivory wood. A flash of light emitted from where his hand connected with the injured man, it was the same colour as the flash that had come before, only far brighter. The burns along his hands and arms immediately began to fade, the puffy red skin returning to a more normal tan. The scion felt his healing energy pass through the man¡¯s body, travelling not only to where the burns were located but his bones, organs and muscles. The ageing man¡¯s eyes snapped open as he let out a hacking cough, blood and flem splattering the ground as he let out deep, wheezing breaths. Smoke in the lungs. Leif thought, mentally recalling his knowledge on different aspects and their healing properties. It was a general rule that if a skill stated it could heal, it could heal a general array of ailments and injuries. Some aspects were more efficient than others, while some were far less effective in certain situations. Getting rid of the physical substance within his body would require... what? Wind aspect healing? ¡°How long was he inside the building?¡± Leif asked, sending another pulse of healing energy into the man¡¯s body. It was highly inefficient, but he could brute force a solution, he would need to be cognisant of how much strain his patient''s body could handle though. ¡°A few minutes, or so we think. He was a neighbour who ran inside to help get the kids out.¡± Said the soldier with the healing skill. There were shouts of outrage, mixed with some calls of support. The collection of adventurers and townsfolk who had been slowly dispersing began to loudly argue, some even pointing fingers of accusation at one another. ¡°The empire shouldn¡¯t even be here!¡± One called. ¡°We would have been overrun by monsters without them!¡± Came another. ¡°Ahle-ho only cares for itself!¡± ¡°The guilds care more than the empire!¡± Leif¡¯s golden gaze scanned the increasingly aggressive crowd. He could sense the agitation, anger and fear building up to a fever pitch. The number of those in favour of the empire was far smaller than those against, but discontent with both was a common stance for the people of Klos to take. The adventurers for their part were mostly keeping their mouths shut, but Leif saw more than one place a hand on a weapon or group up with their companions. ¡°Order!¡± Peri called, raising her hand and shouting over the arguing crowd. ¡°I said order! There will be a formal investigation, and the possibility of arson will be explored with the required severity and detail!¡± Leif let the following shouts fade into the background as he focused on the feelings he was getting from a certain skill. [Sympathy From Experience] passively fed him information about past events, and the skill had been subtly buzzing against his subconsciousness for a while now. He invoked the aspect of the skill that would overlay his vision with a vague outline of the past, watching as the passage of time flowed backwards, grains of amber light rewinding the destruction caused by the flames. He saw the sketched outlines of people running backwards into the buildings, he saw the aged man he had healed return to the building with a young child under each arm, then a few minutes later his entrance through the front door. Eventually his vision of the past had gone back far enough that the building was no longer aflame, there was no evidence of any other figures having been present for the start of the fire. Leif slowly walked around the perimeter of the ruined enchanters shop, he noted that the fire had seemingly started on the bottom floor, but the clarity of what he could see was lacking in most details. As far as he could tell, the fire had spontaneously begun behind the shop''s counter, but he couldn¡¯t see what the cause was. He let the skill fade, the golden motes that outlined the passage of time disappearing from his sight. He walked around the building, stepping back into the market square. He intended to go straight to the captain and tell her what he found, or rather, didn¡¯t find. But he came up short, most of the previously rowdy crowd having likewise gone still. Two dozen imperial soldiers marched through the town, their armour on full display as they walked in perfect lockstep. Townsfolk and adventures both retreated at their passing, even as tension rapidly built. ¡°So.¡± Came a voice that Leif recognised from when he and his companions had been held up at the checkpoint. ¡°What''s going on here?¡± Chapter 108: Distance Chapter 108: Distance Leif observed the growing tension between two armed forces as they squared off in the market of Klos. Words like ¡®jurisdiction¡¯, ¡®treaties¡¯ and ¡®overstepping¡¯ were thrown around with reckless abandon, and anger flared from both parties. Adventurers and civilians formed a rough semicircle around both the Ahle-ho and Empire soldiers, as if to spectate an upcoming fight. He watched the shouting match for several minutes before coming to a definitive conclusion. I absolutely have no interest in getting involved with this mess. Leif had thrown his metaphorical weight around while entering civilization, but now that he was inside human territory he just... didn¡¯t care about butting into what was clearly a political nightmare. Besides the more he stuck his head into business that didn¡¯t involve him the more likely it was his disguise was discovered. The imperial captain who had confronted him and his companions at the river checkpoint drew himself up to his full height and quoted some sort of law or official document. He looked so unbelievably smug, like a child who had just stolen a handful of candy and gotten away with it. The man had introduced himself after Leif and the others had gotten through the checkpoint, he had practically bowed and scraped into the mud before returning Leif¡¯s academy badge. Leif could recall his name if he wanted, his memory was far sharper now than it had been prior to his evolution. But he couldn¡¯t muster up the motivation to bother. He cast one final look at the burning building, sighed, then walked over to where the middle aged woman and her children stood watching as official representatives of foreign militaries argued legal semantics. ¡°I investigated your house.¡± He said telepathically, not interested in raising his voice to be heard over the shouting match. ¡°The fire started on the ground floor behind the counter, I didn¡¯t see any signs it was deliberately started. If you have a basement, maybe that was the cause, but it was hard to make out details through the smoking rubble.¡± The woman looked at him with wide eyes as the toddler she was carrying let out a huge yawn. ¡°I-I see.¡± She said, ¡°Thank you... uh, sir?¡± Leif nodded, turned on his heels and walked out of the market square. === Leif leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, staring despondently up at the ceiling of Frederick¡¯s office. The chair would have collapsed into splinters beneath him without several skills working in tandem to prevent just that. He almost wanted to let [Wood Manipulation], [Embolden Vegetation] and [Gold Iron Physique] all drop so he would annihilate the chair, then likely the floor beneath him all in one shocking display of: I no longer want to be here. Liv, Samil and Olav were out in the town, shopping for the goodies they would need to bring back to their families in Far-reach. Apparently Kala had asked Samil to seek out some minor enchanted items, which was no longer looking like an option. Instead he was sharing the small office space with the guild representative and two very unhappy captains standing to either side of him. Why did it have to be my meeting? He thought, groaning internally as the imperial captain repeated a line about ¡®the mandate of the emperor¡¯. The man had said the exact same thing almost ten times in the past thirty minutes, then would pause, cross his arms and smile triumphantly. Leif was in no position to judge all officers of the Mekrys Empire negatively simply based on his experience with this one man, but he was beginning to have patriotic feelings towards the republic, a nation he basically knew nothing about. This meeting was supposed to be about the Pherin dungeon, but that hasn¡¯t even been mentioned once. He mused, flexing and manipulating his aura in increasingly complex patterns. I should find a guide for aura advancement, it might have some exercises to speed up the rank up process. ¡°This incident does not put the frontier treaty into question, and even if it did, nobody in this room is of high enough rank to do anything about it.¡± Peri said through clenched teeth. ¡°The garrison commander would beg to differ, captain.¡± The man Leif was deliberately trying to not remember the name of said. ¡°Well.¡± Peri said, crossing her arms and sitting down. ¡°This is... fantastic news. Untamed dungeons are the leading cause of monster attacks all across the frontiers of human territories, even more so than the factions that are rumoured to exist.¡± The unnamed man sniffed. ¡°The dungeon was a potential resource, we know of one more thanks to that failed expedition from last year, but there hardly seems to be a reason for resettlement.¡± ¡°If I may, an undead dungeon is not a resource worth attempting to exploit.¡± Said Frederick. ¡°I am aware of the tamed dungeon beneath the imperial capital, but this hardly seems like the same situation. From what information I am privy to, the dungeon was slated for destruction, though I am unsure if the forces sent to do so have been dispatched.¡± ¡°And there is proof of this?¡± Asked the man, looking at Leif for the first time since the beginning of the meeting. ¡°Yes.¡± Leif said simply, mentally tallying the pros and cons of revealing his involvement. ¡°The information was checked by this room¡¯s truth telling enchantments.¡± Frederick said. ¡°And scrying spells cast last night seem to be verifying the lack of undead assaulting this region.¡± ¡°I... I will need physical proof of this event.¡± Said the officer. The air warped above Leif¡¯s hand, then a blackened shard materialised into his palm. Leif could feel the death-aspected energy dwelling within the crystal, small amounts of power slowly trickling into his hand only to be crushed and converted. Peri let out a sharp intake of breath, and Frederick looked at the shard with wide eyes. The imperial captain reached out a hand, only to flinch back and swear under his breath when his hand got within thirty centimetres of the crystal. ¡°How on earth can you hold that?¡± He asked as he shook the limb he had extended out like a dog trying to dry itself. ¡°My hand is numb, and it fucking hurts.¡± Leif returned the crystal to his spatial ring. In truth he wasn¡¯t sure of the exact nature of the aspected mana shard, nor was he aware of its value. But judging by the shocked looks on the faces around him it was likely something special. ¡°It¡¯s from the core, but I will not be disclosing how I obtained it. Does this suffice as ¡®physical proof?¡¯¡± Nods from all around. ¡°Good.¡± He said, standing and stepping towards the door. ¡°I am leaving for Ahle-ho in a few days, I would like a letter of introduction for your guild, Frederick.¡± The guild representative was already reaching for a blank piece of paper. ¡°And as for the incident with the enchanter... I did not see any evidence of arson when I investigated the property with my perception skill. The fire started behind the counter, I do not know how as my skill doesn¡¯t provide very much detail in situations like this. I have no intention to involve myself further in this matter, but as a motion of good faith I will offer my services as a healer should it be requested. Peri, I want to interrogate those prisoners before I leave, specifically the tall spear wielder because of something I noticed when I tried to get information from him before. Good-day.¡± And then he left the office, his heavy footfalls resounding off the walls as he walked down the stairs. He strode across the common area, passing two dozen adventurers as they loudly talked and drank. Leif found it strange the guild building seemed to serve so many functions at once, but he supposed it was a cultural thing. He was stepping out the front door when the floor beneath the eating, shouting and laughing adventurers exploded into a shower of splinters and flames. Chapter 109: Collapse Chapter 109: Collapse Heat buffeted Leif as a column of fire ignited the common area of the guild building. [Amber Aegis] flickered around him, the golden barrier deflecting most of the splinters and flames as the shockwave rolled over him. He whirled, cloak burning around the edges only to see a wall of smoke and dancing flames. Someone stumbled towards the door, their body almost entirely engulfed as they blindly scrambled to escape. A second blast of fire rocked the building, chunks of the ceiling coming crashing down to disappear into the inferno. He conjured an amber limb and thrust it out towards the adventurer who was blindly groping for a way out. Leif hauled their smoking, near dead form from the building as a wave of cinders blew through the door frame and out into the street. Healing energy flowed into the adventurer as Leif¡¯s golden eyes fixated on the burning building. He could sense the panic and terror from those trapped inside, with every passing moment their lifeforce grew fainter and fainter, several presences flickering out one by one. Standing by and watching as people died was something that struck him like a physical force, but the flames were a danger he couldn¡¯t ignore. Not just physical in their threat, if he charged into the inferno there was a significant risk that his identity as being non-human would come to light. The adventurer in his arms let out a gasping breath, their whole body shuddering as the worst of the damage was washed away in a tide of healing magic. ¡°Please.¡± They rasped, raising a trembling hand towards the guild hall. Leif hesitated, hating himself for doing so. He willed [Amber Aegis] to protect the adventurer, bestowing the minor healing over time effect as he lowered them to the ground. Men and women were spilling from the front door, several diving out of windows or breaking their own way out with enhanced [Might] or skills that empowered their physical blows. Leif stood, rolled his neck, then reached towards the burning building with an effort of will. Using [Wood Manipulation] he ripped the wall outwards, smoke and fire spilling out of the newly created hole. He stepped forward, then knelt down to place a palm on the charred floorboards. Amber energy flooded into the scorched material, then tendrils of wood rose from the floor around his touch, each snaking off into the building to grab presences he could detect through the burning chaos. One by one he hauled survivors free, each receiving a quick [Healing Palm], the worse off being targeted by [Amber Aegis]. The flames were spreading quickly, too quickly to be natural. As Leif pulled survivor after survivor from the building he began to sweep his perception in search of the cause. He couldn¡¯t detect anything below the building, but similarly with the enchanters shop the fire had clearly come from the ground. Maybe from below the building? Leif thought, several golden arms shooting out to catch a wooden beam as it fell. He distantly became aware of bells ringing, people shouting out or groaning in pain. Smoke billowed from the ceiling as the structure''s upper floor began to collapse. There were still people inside. ¡°Protect.¡± He commanded, forcing as much power and authority into his shielding skill as he could. A golden barrier flickered around him, a dome of protection to keep back the encroaching fire. Leif strode into the building, the ground at his feet was distorted from both the heat and his manipulation skill. The ceiling groaned, but he mentally wrestled with it as he held it back from collapsing with [Wood Manipulation]. Three bodies were slumped unmoving at his feet, vitality only present within one of them. The scion leaned down and scooped up Peri, walking a fair distance away before placing her down. One of her arms was mangled and her breathing was rough and uneven, but she would live. Frederick was dead, as somebody who likely lacked a single combat class his physical attributes hadn¡¯t been enough to survive the fall. The imperial captain was likewise deceased, a large wooden splinter having staked him through the skull. Leif looked up and sighed, this wasn¡¯t the first time he had fallen into a place unknown to him, but at least he had suspected it to happen this time. And it wasn¡¯t like the surface was too far away. The ceiling to the sewer, for what else could it be, was barely ten metres above him. Too high to climb without significant effort on his part, but not so high that his predicament would be inescapable. The charred exterior of his body flaked away as his healing took care of the minor wounds and burns that covered him, but that wasn¡¯t the issue. His clothing, cloak and all were barely enough to cover him, let alone disguise his nature. He raised a hand to his face, and the mask was gone, if anyone was conscious to see him his cover would already have been blown. He willed a mostly unburnt section of floorboard out of the dam blocking the sewers flow, it was dry and clean. Within moments he had reshaped it into a replica of his old mask, though the colouration was different. Leif placed a hand on the shoulder of the unconscious soldier at his side, healing her enough to save her life, but not enough that she would regain consciousness. [Amber Aegis] flickered around her, the skill faintly warping the air as golden motes of light slowly orbited her body. Every few seconds one of the motes pressed up against one of Peri¡¯s many wounds, the skill slowly restoring her. Leif¡¯s perception warped, then golden grains of sand began to rewind the events that had recently transpired. He saw the bodies and detritus that surrounded him fall upwards, the floor of the guild building flowing back into place. He waited, for over a minute no further information came to his sight, then three hazy figures walked backwards out of the tunnels gloom. He watched as one of the vague outlines had raised their hands, a ball of fire falling down to hover between their palms. The figure channelled the skill for over a minute, their other two companions keeping watch from both sides of the tunnel. The fireball winked out, then a second fell from above and was channelled. As Leif observed, anger built within his chest. He didn¡¯t care why these people had done what they had, what their motives were or if they were following orders. People had died, been murdered in cold blood, and he had been stupid enough to step in and try to save them. ¡°Fuck.¡± Leif said, glowering in the direction the attackers had come and left in. By the time the people above had picked their way through the ruined guild office and were peering down into the sewer below he was already gone. Chapter 110: Confrontation Chapter 110: Confrontation Leif stalked a trio of ghosts through the damp tunnels, trying his best to ignore the rank odour wafting around him with every step he took. His clothes were torn and scorched, little better than tatters, the ivory white of his body exposed in several key locations. Echoes of voices and footsteps echoed down from above as the people of Klos went about their day, a day likely inundated with chaos and uncertainty. The guild office was destroyed, the man in charge was dead. An imperial captain who had been attending a meeting in the building had likewise perished, Leif could already sense the fear and uncertainty as it filtered down from above. Hopefully none of the factions scrambling to make sense of the situation would initiate a conflict, the result of which would likely be blood running in the streets. Samil, Liv and Olav wouldn¡¯t know where he was, though it was unlikely that would believe he had perished in the flames. Ram had told the story of him being blown apart by an exploding ice elemental enough times that his near imperviousness was a known fact among the fledgling community of Far-reach. The ghosts, gilded outlines of the three who had been responsible for the attack turned to the left, disappearing around a corner. Leif jogged to catch up, having to reactivate his time perception he relocated the fleeing echoes. This was an interesting workout for the skill, Leif could rewind time to see the movements and actions of what had transpired recently, but he could also run his perception of the past forwards, seeing a delayed version of events outlined in golden dust. A tiny spec of gold moved across the ground in front of him, a rat or some other kind of sewer dwelling creature most likely. Leif paid it no mind, his attention fixated on the trio of ethereal figures as they fled from the scene of their crime. With a hole in the floor of the guild building it wouldn¡¯t take long for people to begin searching the tunnels for the culprits, just like he was doing. I¡¯m on a time limit. He thought darkly. If the worst comes to pass I¡¯ll try to flee the town and hide out in the wilderness. Running away wasn¡¯t something he was keen on doing, it felt like the worse of his several options. Fleeing to preserve his identity as no longer human felt like a failure, as though doing so would forever taint his attempts to integrate into the world in which he once belonged. The tunnel widened, the age worn stone sloping steadily downwards. The sounds from above were quieter now, he was likely on the very outskirts of Klos. But the sewer system kept going, expanding outwards as if to accommodate for a part of the town that didn¡¯t exist. Leif frowned beneath his newly made mask as he stepped into a large stone chamber with some sort of long defunct machine built into the far wall. Pipes and wheels rusted where they hung inert and inoperable, what metallic surface they had that was still clean glimmered under the light of a large quartz gemstone that flickered fitfully where it was carved into the ceiling. Several connecting tunnels lay entirely in shadow, no light from the surface reaching their confines. The golden echoes stopped by the machine, only to continue on after a short pause. Leif followed them, careful to trace their steps as the cracked and uneven stone below his feet threatened to shift. The next series of tunnels and rooms were like stepping back in time, the worn stone bricks of the sewer system giving way to structures of even older design and far more wear. Tunnels slanted at increasingly obtuse angles, entire rooms subsumed by earth and mud. The echoes he was following picked their way through the archaic chambers with swift familiarity, his own progress hampered by his heavy physique. Finally the maze of tunnels met natural caverns, a ravine cutting through the ancient passageway and abruptly ending the expansive network of chambers and rooms. Running water fell from above in a constant roar of sound, the clear liquid plummeting down into a shadowed reservoir far below. Leif pressed up against the wall of the cavern as low voices came into his auditory range. Tents and camping supplies littered the large shelf of stone that jutted out to give the cavern an almost crescent moon shape with jagged edges and a slanted roof. Glowing quartz speckled every surface that hadn¡¯t been eroded by flowing water, evidence of several crystals having been ground to dust beneath boots littering the ground as chalky detritus. Leif let his perception skill drop, letting out a deep breath as the increasing amount of internal strain lessened as its effects dissipated. He didn¡¯t need them anymore, his targets were right before him. Roots emerged from the cracked stone above him, Leif reached out with a hand and grasped the nearest one, pulling vitality down through his arm. Anyone on the surface above would see a tree wither away, its leaves rapidly ageing and bark falling off in clumps. ¡°-Camp, up to the surface and get a few days away from the town.¡± Said a gruff voice. The source a tall man with greying hair and sunken eyes. ¡°As I said before, we should wait to see the results of our actions. It¡¯ll take at least half a day for the first adventurer teams to reach this part of the underground, I can go back up topside and see if our job is done.¡± Said a feminine figure draped in dark cloth and leathers. ¡°We also need to strike the guard camp, they have some of the expendables in cages. They probably won''t be able to talk but...¡± Said a bored sounding voice from the third person, they were slumped against the far wall of the cavern, orange flames dancing between their fingers. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Ah, sorry about that.¡± ¡°We could give you new clothes?¡± Asked the woman, but her tone made it clear she was joking. ¡°But we wouldn¡¯t let you leave afterwards.¡± ¡°Cut the banter. Unknown opponent, unknown skills, fight to kill, formation three.¡± Leif lowered himself into a combat stance, arms fanning out around him. Three hostile aura¡¯s pressed down onto him as his own flared out. Swordsman, fire elementalist and some sort of shadow magic. He thought, mentally assessing each of his opponents. Fire user first, then whoever''s the biggest threat after that. ¡°A noble.¡± Said the swordsman, brow furrowing. ¡°From where do you hail? Are you from the empire?¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± Leif asked, moving to keep all three combatants in his field of view as they circled him. ¡°You should have stayed in your estate, lordling.¡± Mocked the woman as her form blurred into the shadows. ¡°It¡¯s a lifetime too late for that.¡± He said, then he shot forward, three golden arms lashing out to fend off the swordsman while three more lanced out towards the fire elementalist. Silver crescents cut into his conjured limbs as a tide of darkness flowed behind him. The elementalist backed away, creating balls of flame to hover in the air between himself and Leif. He kicked off, his attributes were through the roof due to proactively draining enough vitality prior to the fight to be capped off. The stone cracked as he surged forwards, driving away the swordsman as the man blurred forwards, blade flashing out in an attempt to cut his way through the repeatedly replenishing forest of golden arms. Leif swatted aside one of the floating motes of flame, the hovering power detonating at his touch, the explosion of fire and force being absorbed by his shield, the kinetic power behind the skill mitigated by his solid footwork and dense body. Shadows snaked in from behind, cutting at him and trying to entangle him in a web of inky darkness. Leif couldn¡¯t detect the source, the female assailant having veiled herself, her presence undetectable by his perception. He forced his way through the restraints, strands of shadows snapping as he crushed a second fire mote in a golden fist. He heard a curse from the shadow user as he charged through the rapidly clearing haze of smoke that had engulfed him due to the explosions. Flames flickered around him, burning the already scorched fabric of his ruined outfit as he locked eyes with the elementalist. The man¡¯s blank, emotionless expression subtly shifting into a look of shock. The man lowered his arms, then pulled upwards as if trying to telekinetically lift the stone floor. A line of flames erupted from the ground, the elemental magic an opaque wall blocking his line of sight. Before Leif could charge through it, the remainder of his clothing be damned, the swordsman arrived in front of him in a blur of movement. Steel cut into his torso as the man executed a barrage of blisteringly quick attacks, fabric was shorn through and ivory bark was cut into. The swordsman backed away as conjured arms lashed out to grab him, the man''s footwork quick and precise as he danced away from Leif¡¯s reach. Silhouetted against the wall of fire he raised his sword, then there were two more of him on either side, both copies likewise raising their blades. Power built, blossoming alone the edges of the three raised swords like invisible fire. ¡°May your bloodline end with you.¡± The man spat, a gleam in his eyes as he shifted his stance in preparation to attack. ¡°That¡¯s the plan.¡± Leif said, then mentally grabbed the roots buried deep within the rock ceiling above them, and pulled the roof down on top of them. Chapter 111: Overwhelming Chapter 111: Overwhelming Roots ripped free from the slanted ceiling, twisting and writhing as they responded to Leif¡¯s command. Chunks of stone, pulled free by the violent exit of the roots, fell in crashing heaps to the floor. The cavern shook, the sound of running water replaced with rock impacting rock. Leif stepped forward, the motion turning him into a blur of golden light as [The Amber Path] pulled him away from danger. A pillar of flames shot up from behind the wall of fire, the elementalist trying in vain to incinerate several tonnes of stone in an effort not to be crushed. The swordsman cursed, the copies on either side of him striking out, severing the larger chunks of falling rock as he tried to reposition. Shadows shot forward, no longer harassing Leif to grab both men out of danger. Dust and debris flooded the cavern, temporarily blocking his line of sight, but he could still perceive his target with his more arcane senses. He rushed forward, into the swirling cloud of dust ignoring the small bits of stone still raining from above. The shrouded figure of the swordsman came into sight, the man was doubled over coughing, a bloody gash on one of his shoulders. The man brought his blade up in a defensive motion, the weapon turning into a blur as wind picked up, buffeting him as he advanced. He caught the sword on the forearm, the steel edge biting into the unusually tough exterior of his body. He sent a punch towards the man¡¯s face, but the human swayed to the side avoiding the strike. Then a follow up attack caught him in the gut as one of Leif¡¯s golden fists hit him right in his centre of mass, the swordsman went blasting away, tumbling out of sight as wind shot from his lungs in a trailing wheeze. Leif heard a muffled shout, then everything lit up orange as flames cut through the cloud of dust. Leif fell to a knee and rolled, barely avoiding the worst of the sudden surge of elemental energy. He came up filthy, but still moving, his reserves of cultivated vitality already healing the worst of the burns. The flames cut through the cavern once again, this time he didn¡¯t try to dodge, allowing his shield skill and incredible durability tank the damage as he inexorably advanced. === Sevis spat dirt from his mouth, one arm hanging limp as his other sent a continuous lance of flames slicing through the dust filled air before him. His ears rang, blood stained one of his eyes as a nasty gash on his brow flared in agony. He had seen their attacker land a devastating blow against their party''s swordsman, with his skills and attribute distribution such an attack would have likely killed him outright. Panic flared somewhere deep within him as he continued to pump as much power as possible into his attacks. His skills, developed to be as destructive as possible, responded to his growing alarm as the towering figure clad in strange ivory armour turned to face him. ¡°He¡¯s coming!¡± Verity yelled, but he could see that for himself. Sevis back pedalled as the hulking frame of the man who had rolled under his first blast of fire, but had still caught more than a little of the skill¡¯s impact. He half expected the man to stay down, but that hope was in vain. The armoured figure came up running, golden eyes gleaming as they were locked onto his own. Sevis cursed, sending another blast towards the man before hastily creating a defensive field of floating balls of fire as he stumbled back. He landed poorly and pain shot through his leg, causing him to falter in his retreat. He cried out, raising a hand to unleash another wave of fire at the burnt figure. A barrier of amber light flickered briefly into existence, his opponent briefly silhouetted in gold as red hot flames engulfed him. A moment later he burst through, then the figure in white armour was upon him, gauntleted hand reaching for his throat. Cinders wreathed his already charred cloak as smoke billowed from where his armour had sustained damage. Explosions rocked the air before him as the hastily created skill constructs detonated against the man¡¯s body, he didn¡¯t flinch. Sevis panicked, years of training and conditioning threatening to break as fingers wrapped around his throat. To command fire, you needed to be in control of yourself, this lesson had been pounded into his head every day of every week of every month. But to empower fire? You could feed it something else. The artificial stillness of his emotions brought about from his medication and training fled as something intangible was drawn from his body via his attackers touch. His body, despite being a repository for elemental fire became cold as energy that should be his was drained in a slow but continuous stream. Fear, anger, hatred and desperation. They flashed through his mind as death closed in, and the carefully maintained leash was slipped, something ignited, feeding on his rampaging emotions. Sevis screamed as flesh, bone and blood became fire, [Avatar of Fire] remaking his body in an instant as power flooded through him. His scream of pain became a roar of triumph as the grip around his throat vanished, the [Noble] who had been foolish enough to fight them alone was engulfed in searing hot fire. Burn! Sevis thought as the ecstasy of liberation became all consuming, mind alight, his rampaging emotions fuel for the pyre of his enemy. Ivory armour blackened, charring as he surged forward to embrace his newest victim. This was it, this was the power he had been denying himself all these years. Who needed restraint? Who needed control? Anyone who tried to take away what was rightfully his deserved to die. Then a golden fist twice the size of his torso smashed into his barely physical form. Pain reasserted itself as his skill was forcefully cancelled, blood sprayed from his mouth as the fire that had only a moment before made up his being vanished and his human body returned. Daniel was too old for this shit, at least that was the thought going through his head as he picked himself out of the crater his landing had made in the cavern''s wall. Something within him was thrumming, a vibration that made his teeth want to chatter and bones tremble. It was some sort of lingering damage, but all he could do was grin and bare it. He coughed up blood, even as the healing pill he had swallowed worked to restore where his opponent had caved in his chest and punctured one of his lungs. His head swam, but he tightened his resolve, willing himself to get up and fight. With an effort of will he activated a skill to clear the air in his immediate surroundings, then he began to manually pump air into his body. It was hard, incredibly so, but there were certain advantages to having a wind aspected class other than light steps and quick movement. Not that it had done him much good so far. His sword was missing and he didn¡¯t have time to look for it, instead he drew a short dagger from his hip and staggered to his feet. He spat onto the ground, his saliva was stained mostly red. He heard one of his teammates scream, winced, then raced back into the fight, in a single step he had covered half the distance, in another he was within striking range of the armoured man. In under a second he assessed the situation, Verity was wounded, Sevis was lying unmoving in a heap. Their opponent... their opponent shouldn¡¯t be alive. His armour had been punctured or burnt away in dozens of different places, the wound in his chest should have been enough to kill anyone below level one hundred. Until the body was remade and one¡¯s life was no longer dependent on the functioning of vital organs enough physical trauma should be fatal. Should. But even in that fraction of a second as he took in the [Noble], his armour began to mend. Stab wounds closed over, burned surfaces flaked away. The stranger¡¯s masked face tilted in his direction. You¡¯re not human, are you? Daniel thought, staring into two burning amber slits. His dagger flashed even as he let the wind carry him into his opponent''s blind spot. His strike landed, chipping the ivory white exterior of the abnormality they were facing. Daniel hissed out a breath, the sound like a shrill whistle. The very act of standing up had been agony, fighting in his current state was an entirely different type of torture. But he never let up. As Verity retreated to tend to their pyromancer¡¯s wounds he struck again and again, faster and faster. He might be far older than his two teammates, and he may have reached the end of his potential, but that didn¡¯t mean he wasn''t every bit as dangerous as his level would suggest. Years spent serving his sentence had stolen what could have been a rise to power, but there was still glory in service, in dedication. Roots whipped out to strike or restrain but he cut them apart. Ethereal arms struck and blocked, it was like trying to fight an entire forest at the same time. For every blow he landed amber fingers brushed against his body, stealing something vital and leaving that same dissonant reverberation. I can¡¯t kill him, whatever he is. Daniel thought, slowing as pain from skill overuse and his internal injuries began to accumulate. If he didn¡¯t spend the time to let the healing pill currently working overtime to restore his body do its thing he wouldn¡¯t last much longer. Heat bloomed, and laughter began to fill the cavern. Daniel¡¯s heart sank, he danced backwards, weaving his dagger in a defensive pattern as he gained distance. The armoured figure didn¡¯t pursue, instead it had turned to face the growing pyre of flame and heat simmering in the corner. Verity swung passed him on a tendril of shadow, he couldn¡¯t see her face but she was clearly panicked. And for good reason, their bomb was about to go off. ¡°We need to go.¡± She hissed, voice pained. ¡°Deeper, away from this place.¡± ¡°I know. Fuck, is he really losing it?¡± In response to his question the body of their team''s pyromancer ignited, and the air began to burn. An explosion rocked the chamber, the force of which almost knocked him from his feet. He gasped, scorching hot air filling his already damaged lungs. Verity cursed as she landed on her wounded leg, but he dashed to her side and caught her even as his consciousness began to flicker. The room shook, rubble falling from above as the cavern¡¯s structure began to fall apart. He shot one final glance over his shoulder at the stoic and unreadable stature of their pursuer, then he dove off the shelf and into the darkness below. Cackling laughter followed their descent. Chapter 112: Excavation Chapter 112: Excavation The fire user spontaneously combusted as maddened laughter clawed out of his mouth. Leif sighed, raising an arm to shield his face from the following detonation of power. The battle had wounded him, though his cultivated base of life-force hadn¡¯t been overly tapped into. The two injured humans however, were in far worse conditions. They fled, vanishing over a ledge as the cavern began to collapse. He turned, and dashed for their packs, all the while cursing the fact he was about to get trapped underground, again. Should have learnt from the Mythold back in Pherin. He mused darkly, backing away as the sound of manic laughter mixed with the crashing reverberation of several tonnes of stone falling down from above. He turned to the entrance of the cavern, then watched as it collapsed, his already fraying connection to the anchors created by [The Amber Path] were severed by the physical barrier that now separated them. There were several smaller side exits, but they were rapidly becoming untenable. A colossal chunk of stone crashed down barely a metre away, then flames washed over everything. Leif whirled to protect the packs he had grabbed, covering them as best he could, then kicked off and sprinted for the nearest exit. If he was lucky, it wouldn¡¯t be a dead end. If he wasn¡¯t, well, there were probably dumber ways to die. Not that he would be overly pleased with the current situation. Though it angered him more than he wanted to admit, letting two of the terrorists escape wasn¡¯t the end of the world. At least the fire user won¡¯t survive this. He thought, sensing the wavering emotions of the human as his altered form was crushed. But flames writhed free from tiny cracks, elemental energy spooling back into a vaguely human shape. Hopefully won¡¯t survive this. Leif amended. Then he was through the small gap he had chosen to escape down, pushing the packs in front of him and down the natural passageway. After several metres something became obvious: packs would fit, but he wouldn¡¯t. Leif focused his will and began to warp and change his body, already tightly compressed wood and plant fibre twisted and flattened, his entire form slowly shifting to become smaller and narrower. Pain burnt within him as his body began to break, such delicate changes should not be rushed, but here he was performing them while trying to escape. The narrow passageway shook, rubble fell from above, an angular chunk of stone collided with his shoulder and pinned him against one of the increasingly narrow walls. Leif grunted, conjuring several limbs to dislodge the rock and protect himself from any more falling from above. He wouldn¡¯t be crushed to death, not with his physique, instead the danger was becoming stuck in a crevasse and being unable to escape. Heat erupted from behind him, the human turned animated bonfire either still alive or some sort of lingering effect having been triggered. He could stretch back his perception to check, but he¡¯d rather not attract attention. The fight may not have been an overwhelming victory, but at least he had gotten out of there with what he needed. The further he travelled the more distant the irregular flares of heat became, the rumbling faded away, the collapsing cavern no longer a threat. Leif hacked away at the passageway before him, amber arms converted into blades punching through loose rock and debris. His storage ring didn¡¯t have enough room for even a fraction of either pack he had grabbed, his luggage a burden he had to be constantly aware of as he progressed. Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Finally the gap he had been wriggling through ended, but not in a new cavern for him to escape into. Instead the inky darkness of a ravine stretched out beneath him, like a maw eager to devour him whole. He turned, looking back the way he had come. Nothing for it, he took a deep breath, then carefully began to lower himself down into the darkness. It was a perilous and near blind descent. His conjured arms, that he used to carefully lower himself down into the depths below, emitted a soft amber glow, but that glow was hardly enough by which to see. The darkness was oppressive, the tight confines of the ravine suffocatingly tight. A part of him, the monstrous part of himself he was gradually becoming more and more familiar with, hated being underground. It was against his nature to not be under the open sky, surrounded by warmth and life. It wasn¡¯t quite claustrophobia, his rationality and mental fortitude battered away any fear that flickered into existence, but it was far from comfortable. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°So we go back home?¡± Olav said. ¡°I didn¡¯t even get my fight. I was promised a fight.¡± ¡°If we wait around too long, we might get caught up in a fight trying to get out.¡± Samil pointed out, nodding in the direction of a brewing argument between two different groups of soldiers. ¡°They haven''t come to blows yet, but it¡¯s getting more and more likely the more time passes.¡± Olav grunted, adjusting the bulging sack slung over his shoulder. The large demikin opened his mouth, then paused, staring out over the town. He pointed, the other two following his direction. ¡°What is it with this town and things catching on fire?¡± He asked dubiously. ¡°Does this always happen? I hope the one we¡¯re building doesn¡¯t do this.¡± ¡°No.¡± Samil replied, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he took a closer look at the strange manifestation of fire energy hanging over the town. ¡°Oh... oh no.¡± A street over from where they were standing erupted into a geyser of flames as a vaguely human shaped ball of fire streaked down from above. Moments later the screaming started. Liv and Samil turned to face one another, faces pale. ¡°Holy shit.¡± Liv said, backing away while wiping away crumbs. ¡°We should go.¡± ¡°Y-yeah.¡± He replied, a nearby explosion sending chunks of building raining down. ¡°This is not something we should get stuck in the middle of, at least not without a plan.¡± ¡°Finally!¡± Olav cheered, letting his pack slump to the ground. Then he took off towards the living inferno. The other two demikin watched him go, expressions blank. ¡°Your cousin¡¯s an idiot.¡± Samil said, running a hand through his hair and letting out a groan. ¡°We should probably not watch while he gets himself killed.¡± ¡°...Sure.¡± Chapter 113: Showdown Chapter 113: Showdown Townsfolk ran as their homes burnt around them. Dancing embers eagerly seeking out victims as if possessed by an unnatural malevolence. Olav raced around the corner of an intersection only to collide with an adventurer as they backpedalled, wreathed in flames they were unable to put out. Olav cursed, ducking to the side as he hastily patted out the fire that had jumped hosts, the adventurer letting out a horse, hollow scream as they slumped against a nearby building. The demikin turned, trying not to let the vision of the immolated corpse linger as he sprinted towards the source of the devastation. His heart pounded in his chest, his muscles tensing and vision growing narrow. He wanted to test himself, to unleash the power he and his family had been born with, to prove himself worthy of the blood within his veins. But the sight before him wasn¡¯t one of promised glory, the spectre of flames stood in the middle of the street, arms outstretched as cackling, manic laughter echoed off the burning buildings around them. Charred bodies littered the street, each burnt beyond recognition. Olav tightened his grip on the pommel of his blade, lightning dancing down his arm and between his fingers even as he drew the weapon. Before him was an enemy, a worthy challenge he would throw himself against to become closer to the man he wished to be. Or that¡¯s the lie he told himself, it was easier than to admit the surging anger and hatred towards the thing in front of him was due to the lives it had reaped. Lives of people he had grown up learning to avoid the ire of, to keep away from because of how they would react when they saw him, saw his family. His white hair billowed up around him, his horns like the peaks of mountains jutting out above roiling storm clouds. The being of flame turned, unleashing a wave of power into a nearby structure, reducing it to ash in a matter of moments. Lightning flashed, and Olav crossed the street in a blur of movement, closing in on his target only to take cover within an alley as the flames turned in his direction. ¡°Olav!¡± A male voice came from where he had just been, he turned to see Samil and Liv poking their heads around the street corner. ¡°This is suicidal, even for you!¡± ¡°We can take it! Before it kills even more!¡± He called back, expression hardening. Liv winced, stringing her bow with shaking fingers. ¡°They¡¯re not worth it, why would we fight for the people of this place?¡± ¡°For honour!¡± ¡°Bullshit, these people hate us, we owe them nothing!¡± A deafening explosion rocked a nearby building, debris was sent flying in a hail of stone and splinters as the crazed laughter built in volume, drowning out his reply. Olav took a deep breath, his mouth becoming stained by ash and smoke. He glanced at the human shaped inferno, noticing another group of armoured people likely preparing their own attack. He locked eyes with his fellow demikin, one family by blood, the other by familiarity. ¡°It''s a monster.¡± He said. ¡°We can see that.¡± His cousin hissed, her eyes wide as she finished stringing her bow. ¡°That¡¯s what they think we are. Monsters, a danger to their cities and families, all because of our ancestry. But it¡¯s bullshit, it¡¯s not fair that we¡¯re hated, turned away, even hunted. We¡¯re not monsters, but that thing is.¡± They didn¡¯t respond, but he could see in their expressions they agreed. He was a simple man, and that was okay. But he was also a future leader of his clan, there were some things he had to do. ¡°For honour.¡± He said, grinning as he stepped out into the street. Then he charged the enemy. === Leif scaled down the steep incline of the cavern like a deformed spider, his dozen conjured arms grabbing onto floor and ceiling both as he maintained his balance during the descent. The further he went, the more otherworldly his surroundings became. Gone were the jagged, natural caverns that he had climbed through to get this far, now every surface was bizarrely flat, surfaces indented with strange geometric patterns as if carefully chiselled over hundreds of years. A faint glow emitted in the direction he was travelling, the chamber he was traversing ending in a sheer drop into a bioluminescent stream teaming with all manner of living things he had never seen before. Rainbow scaled fish swam up and down the currents of ethereal water, ivy and moss grew from the liquid in great stretching tendrils that arched up and over the underground river. He sharpened his fingers, digging into solid stone as he leaned over the ledge, taking in the sight. The river flowed into a connecting chamber, just as geometric as all the others, there it fell down into a pool he couldn¡¯t see the end of. He backtracked, climbing back up the way he had come, then he vaulted into an adjacent cavern, this one narrow, shaped almost like a spear head. A lightning wreathed sword cut through the neck of the infernal being, the illusionary duplicate fading away like a distant mirage. The elemental figure collapsed, only to reform with a bestial screech out outrage and fury. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky, hitting the monster dead on, only for a volley of other skills to strike a moment later. It howled, retreating into a nearby building and catching it aflame, the neighbourhood burnt, the town of Klos went up in smoke, people fought anyway. A squadron of imperial soldiers struck out at the monster as it burst from the building and scrambled down the street, weapon empowerment skills used in synchronisation to cut at its form, its fiery essence bursting up into the ash filled air with every impact. It struck out, the soldiers died, then more adventurers attacked from behind. Blade, projectile and elemental bolt rained down onto it from all sides, the monster retaliating with uncontrolled geysers of power. But it was weakening, even as the town was reduced to rubble around it it began to falter. A sphere of summoned water bounced towards the being of fire, it burbled happily, tiny limbs flailing as it burst against the monster and instantly turned to steam. It screamed, tearing down the street in a frenzied attempt to escape. More soldiers, their emblems covered by soot, more than a few having sustained wounds that would have left anyone weaker reduced to ash attacked in a loose formation. They didn¡¯t kill it, but they succeeded in forcing it back. A dozen spears lanced out towards it, the monster dodging back to avoid the thrown volley. But each of the weapons burst harmlessly upon touching the ground, then the real spear stabbed into its side as it and its wielder dropped out of invisibility. Samil retreated under a suppressing hail of ranged attacks, then more and more people jumped in to attack. The creature of flame fell under an onslaught of sword, axe and spear, its elemental body breaking apart as it wailed and thrashed. Its form exploded outwards with enough force to drive its attackers away, but not to critically wound them. It let out one final gasp, then the flames went out, and a charred man stood in its place, covered in wounds and staring absently into the darkened sky. It, or rather he, fell to his knees, a low moan escaping from blackened lips. Then a sword wreathed in lightning severed head from shoulder, and the monster that had killed so many was slain. For a moment nobody moved, too shocked and exhausted to react. Then the survivors cheered, their voices mixing in a chorus of triumph. === It wasn¡¯t a fight, more the desperate flailing of two people out of their depths. A dagger plunged for Leif¡¯s neck, but the attack didn¡¯t break his shield. A tendril of shadow wrapped around his leg, but it was severed by a conjured arm. The scion backhanded the man, sending him tumbling through a nearby stream. The woman let out a wordless scream as she rushed forward, her fist cloaked in umbral energy. Leif met it with a punch of his own, her hand broke with a sickening crack. Her cry of agony was silenced as he grabbed her by the throat and began to syphon life-force, the cowl and veil that had hidden her features falling away as she thrashed weakly in his grasp. She aged visibly as vitality was transferred between them, her eyes becoming sunkern and skin being pulled taught. It disgusted Leif, both the sight of what he was doing, but also the actions. He didn¡¯t regret it though, their fate would be death no matter what, whether it was by his hands or another authority he didn¡¯t know, nor did he particularly care. He hadn¡¯t objected to killing the bandits he and his travelling companions had encountered days prior because of any particular reason on his part. It somehow felt wrong, as if by taking a human life he was taking a step away from who he had been. But it was an irrational feeling, he had once been a soldier, even in his advancement trial he had watched his past self kill. But even if he knew, logically, that the humans before him were deserving of death, it still felt like something intangible was slipping away. Blades of wind whistled through the air as the man recovered, spluttering to evacuate water from his lungs. Leif turned, using the man¡¯s companion as a shield, the blades of wind fizzled out just before they made contact. He threw the woman to the side, as if discarding a spent husk, and stalked towards the man. ¡°Fuck you.¡± He rasped, crawling backwards through the shin deep water. ¡°Fuck you, you¡¯re not even human, you¡¯re a damn monster, you should be dead, she killed you with that blade through the chest.¡± Leif didn¡¯t say anything, his every step closing the gap between them. Then he reached down and grabbed the man by the leg. He lifted him with ease even as blades of wind cut uselessly against his incredibly durable body. Maybe if he had been more focused, or had a cultivated pool of energy to draw on. Leif mused, then he shook his head, what was he doing? He swung the human bodily down into the flowing water, parting the flowing liquid with the impact. Water splashed onto the nearby islands of stone as he picked him up again, slamming the man back down into the water. Again and again and again. It felt cathartic, as if he could take out all the world''s wrongs by beating him. Leif paused, dangling the human by the arm. He looked down, watching as red stained water flowed between his legs. What am I doing? He thought with disgust, staring into the glassy and broken expression of the man in his grasp. For an instant the human¡¯s eyes focused on his masked face, split lip curling into a sneer. With the last whisper of strength within him the man brought his unrestrained arm up in a cutting motion. Leif allowed it, he didn¡¯t even bother protecting himself with [Amber Aegis]. The mask cracked down the middle, then fell apart, splashing down into the water below. Man looked at monster, surprise evident on his face. ¡°Well?¡± Leif asked. ¡°The pillars will stand eternal.¡± He whispered as his eyes rolled up and his expression went vacant. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means.¡± the scion replied, recalling the split halves of the mask back into his hand with [Wood Manipulation]. He twisted the mask pieces together, then lengthened his creation. A short sword of wood took off the man¡¯s head, his lifeless body slumping into the bloody stream a moment later. Chapter 114: Ashes Chapter 114: Ashes Leif wished his spatial ring was larger, that way he could actually store clothing in case he ever got into a situation like this again. Unfortunately it wasn¡¯t, and the likelihood of him being able to afford something better was practically none. Though maybe my current bottleneck is my location. He thought, stabbing an amber limb into the steep incline of stone, slowly inching his way up higher. The two packs from the terrorists were slung over his back. With every motion he made they swayed, but their bulk wasn¡¯t enough to majorly impede his process. The biggest challenge was finding a way back up to the surface. The higher up he climbed the more natural the caverns became, their geometric shapes becoming jagged and narrow. That was the problem, he had found several ways back up to the surface, he just couldn¡¯t fit. ¡°I miss the sunlight.¡± He grumbled, pulling himself up onto a ledge. Small rocks tumbled down into the darkness below, dislodged by sharpened claws and stabbing limbs. A tunnel led off to the right, and from what he could tell it seemed to curve upwards. Hoping for the best but expecting disappointment he pushed out his aura, and by doing so increasing the scope of his perception. He couldn¡¯t sense the physical layout of the way forward, instead he was groping around with esoteric senses to find... life. He sensed it, traces of roots from the surface. Hopefully he was close now. He wasn¡¯t. It was another dead end, one that was incredibly uncomfortable to back-track out of. He was beginning to feel claustrophobic, the suffocating weight of thousands of tonnes of stone pressing in on all sides making him feel distinctly uneasy. Not going underground again. He promised himself, healing his arms back into the proper shape after having partially broken them to fit through a narrow passageway. Leif couldn¡¯t help but remember that he had made a similar promise after escaping the Mythhold for the first time. With every hour he was trapped down in the network of caves his desire to teleport home became stronger and stronger. He could just take a step, and in a blink he would be out of this increasingly uncomfortable nightmare. But he didn¡¯t, he didn¡¯t need to, and that¡¯s what he kept repeating to himself. In the end it wasn¡¯t magical senses that allowed him to escape, he heard a shrill whistling coming from a passage that had appeared to lean downwards. Instead the tunnel dipped downwards, then led upwards to the surface, the rock having been eroded over time into a surprisingly effective channel for wind. Leif still had to punch his way out. Anyone into ancient cave structures would have wept at the damage, but the Scion wasn¡¯t particularly keen on geological preservation. The cave mouth curved upwards, almost like a mouth that had been carved into the hillside. Before he left, Leif stripped off the tattered and charred clothing he was wearing, and dressed himself in the clothing he found in the packs. There were rations, blankets and waterskins. Both packs had spare boots, neither of which fit him, bent metal cooking implements and some sort of silvery chalk. It took him a few moments to resize his feet, a distinctly strange experience even if this wasn¡¯t his first time doing it. He wondered if there were people with flesh magic, allowing them to reshape and change their physical appearance like he was capable of doing with [Wood Manipulation]? He pulled on a cloak, double checked himself, adjusted the repaired mask covering his face, then stepped outside. I need to make a new one, I did kill a man with this only a few hours ago. The fresh air and evening sunlight was glorious. What was less glorious was the massive pillar of smoke rising in the distance. It didn¡¯t take much deduction to realise what must have happened. Guilt flickered to life in his chest, he should have finished off the strange fire elementalist when he had the chance. He glanced around, checking his surroundings before heading towards the town. The hillside he had emerged from was wooded, and he took the time to partially drain several ageing trees on his way. He hoped those he was travelling with were safe, he wasn¡¯t sure he could face the demikin clan if some of their younger generation had been killed on his watch. Some of the clan¡¯s elders had been hesitant to let them come south, even if what they were procuring would be vital to turn Far-reach from a well-built campsite to something more. He was a powerful healer, they should have been safe. And hopefully they still are. He thought, pulling a low hanging branch down with a mental command, then twisting it off the tree with another. The stick shifted into a staff, then he created a loop, put the straps of the two packs through the loop and continued on his way. There were so many things he could do with [Wood Manipulation], he still needed to get used to having the skill, but it was a muscle he was becoming increasingly familiar with stretching. The forest, cultivated as it was by the nearby town, wasn''t overly difficult to traverse, he quickly made his way towards Klos, emerging from the treeline to get a closer look at what had come of the settlement. A well travelled road curved, following the lay of the land, and he jogged down it as his worry began to build. Klos was in a bad shape, from what he could see huge sections of the once well developed town were nothing but burnt rubble, he saw hundreds pitching makeshift tents in fields. One of the benefits of having two small armies encamped outside the town was that there were tents and resources to spare, though judging by the sheer number of newly homeless both forces were being stretched to their limits trying to provide. A perimeter had been created, and as Leif approached it several soldiers rode out on horseback to meet him. He could tell by their tense posture that they were on alert, and when they got into range of his politely restrained aura he could feel more than a little fear and wariness. ¡°Halt traveller, state your identity and business, do not lie or hide anything.¡± The lead soldier said, stopping right at the edge of Leif¡¯s aura range, a hand placed on his sword''s pommel. By the man¡¯s uniform Leif could tell they were from Ahle-ho. ¡°Hardly the kind of traveller you think I am, I was in the guild building when it exploded, saved your captain¡¯s life when we fell into the sewers. Where is Peri now? I have information she will want to hear.¡± The soldier blinked at him in surprise, as if those were the last words they had expected to hear. ¡°Oh, ummm... What is your name?¡± ¡°Leif, I was in a meeting with her, Frederick and the imperial captain I don¡¯t recall the name of. I brought in the bandits you are currently holding.¡± ¡°I see, we will need to verify this information.¡± The soldier said, gesturing for a pair of men to depart. For several awkward minutes they waited in silence, the soldier¡¯s horses trotting restlessly in place. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. === Surprisingly they didn¡¯t lead him into the camp, instead Leif was guided into a part of Klos he hadn¡¯t been to before, though he barely recognised the town at all at the moment. Large warehouses, the biggest structures he had seen in the Klos apart from a large estate that had probably burnt down, had been set up to house the wounded. Despite the size of the buildings, they were crammed full of people. They crossed a small bridge that led over a wide but shallow canal, likely the reason the warehouses had survived the flames, and entered the closest one. Leif kept his head on a swivel, searching for Samil, Liv and Olav, but he didn¡¯t see them. He pushed out his [Aura of Recovery] when they entered the building, one of the soldiers that was escorting him flinching slightly as it washed over him. Leif shook his head. ¡°I thought about it alot over the past few hours, and realistically we¡¯ve helped as much as we can. We¡¯re in no position to help refugees, Far-reach isn¡¯t a proper settlement yet, we couldn¡¯t feed, let alone house much more than we have now.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah that makes sense.¡± Liv said, ¡°I guess this is just a shit situation.¡± ¡°A situation we helped make better.¡± Samil said, putting a hand on her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ve travelled quite a lot with my grandmother and Han before we joined up with you guys, this sort of thing isn¡¯t uncommon. Towns get destroyed, people lose their homes, sometimes it¡¯s monsters, sometimes it''s...¡± ¡°Not.¡± Leif said, grunting as he got to his feet. ¡°I¡¯m going to go to the nearby forest and recover for a few hours. I¡¯ll probably stay in this town for the next week or so, but you should prepare for the journey back.¡± They nodded, and some time later wandered off to go find breakfast. As Leif walked through the ash strewn streets he finally checked his system notifications. Level up! Class [Adept] is now level 4! For healing vast numbers of wounded you have gained a level! +1 to [Intelligence] +1 free points! New class skills available! [Pain Syphon] or [Restful Recovery]! Congratulations! Your [Attuned: Life] skill [Aura of Recovery] has met an upgrade threshold! Would you like to upgrade [Aura of Recovery] from rank II to rank III? Y/N You have reached the level 50 milestone bottleneck! To advance beyond this point you must overcome an advancement trial! Warning! Advancement trials difficulty is based on your total number of skills. For every skill above a total of 15 difficulty will dramatically increase! Current skills: 17! Attuned Items: 1! Warning! Failing an advancement trial may result in the loss of class levels! Advancement trial may only be attempted while at level 50! Any experience gained while at level 50 will be banked until trial is completed! Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing the advancement trial! Good luck! Begin advancement trial? Y/N Chapter 115: Departure Chapter 115: Departure Leif ended up staying in Klos for over a week, there was far more to do than healing those who had been severely injured in the fire that had claimed over a quarter of the town. There was an interesting, if morbid phenomenon he observed while treating the victims. The survivors were moderately levelled, their increased attributes having granted them enough resilience to stave off death until they could receive healing. The death toll was high, the demographics that had died painted a grim picture. Many who he had healed had lost everything, their homes, belongings, friends and family. It pained him greatly that he could mend them physically, but emotionally they would be scarred, perhaps for the rest of their lives. Restoring Klos was more than just healing its people, reconstruction efforts started almost immediately, the excess of manpower from both military forces aiding where many of the non-local adventurers did not. With every day that passed more and more of those who had travelled to the frontier to hunt monsters and earn coin slunk out of the town, often to the silent scorn of the townsfolk. Leif resented them, but couldn¡¯t blame them, they were people who had spent their whole lives in, or seeking battle, time was experience and money and not everyone had the luxury to waste both. As for him, there was no experience to gain, he had reached level fifty after all. While any experience he gained now would be banked, likely resulting in a massive surge of levels after he passed the advancement trial, he didn¡¯t particularly feel the need to grind. His goal now should be to fuse his number of skills down to, or below fifteen. [Aura of Recovery] had finally reached rank three, and with some trepidation he used it as the base for fusing [Aura of Nobility]. There was no benefit to keeping skills in a class that could no longer gain levels, and his plan was to eventually have [Noble] be completely empty of skills, but it still felt strange to be finally changing what was likely his most used ability. He didn¡¯t begin the fusion process right away, even if delaying the beginning of the fusion would only delay its completion. It was important to get the intention perfect for his new aura skill, especially with his focus on [Charisma] as his primary attribute. Aura strength was a big part of his overall combat ability, it had allowed him to fight three humans, who he suspected to have been just below, or perhaps even above level fifty themselves without being suppressed. Instead he had been pressing all three at the same time, making them have to focus on their aura control to prevent themselves from being suppressed in turn. The intention he finally decided upon for the aura fusion had been ¡®benevolence¡¯, a somewhat awkward decision to make, since the aura would be how others would detect his presence, though after some self reflection he determined it to be a good fit. Nobility, the title not the class, was about authority and control, but when looked at from the lens of a more idealistic perspective you could argue it also represented responsibility. Responsibility to protect, to uphold laws, and to provide for. Being benevolent didn¡¯t necessarily mean selfless, and while he intended the fusion to embody as much restoration as it did nobility, benevolence required a position of authority, of power to be most effective. Or maybe he was deluding himself, trying to fit a naive ideal into a skill meant to reflect what he was. As he had levelled up [Aura of Recovery], he had realised that improving the skill wasn¡¯t so much about control and finesse, but about embodying what the aura represented. Leif¡¯s understanding of this concept was somewhat vague, but he suspected that going forward it would become an increasingly important factor in his aura strength. Samil, Olav and Liv had left after two days helping with the town¡¯s recovery. They had left not so much because of a desire not to help, but rather to escape the near endless meeting, debriefings and interrogations that the town and military leadership insisted was necessary. As demikin they were treated on the very edge of fairness, if it wasn¡¯t for their help in protecting the town, not to mention Leif¡¯s own influence after the events, they likely would have been chased out of town. The imperial commander, a willowy man who showed too much gum when he smiled, and he did that a lot, had suggested that the demikin could be used as a scapegoat for the incident. He did so while in a meeting, a meeting that Leif was attending along with other people of influence, a suggestion the scion had politely told the man to choke to death on. Politely, and he didn¡¯t actually say that, but that didn¡¯t stop the commander from becoming quite upset. He never stopped smiling though, a fact many of the locals found unsettling, but they couldn¡¯t not invite him to meetings with his soldiers aiding in the rebuilding effort. After Leif contemplated throwing the man out of a window for the fourth time in an hour-long meeting, he reflected, not for the first time, that it was more than likely the empire sent its worst officers to the frontiers of humanity, and by doing so neatly putting them out of sight. It would explain a lot. During the many meetings Leif found himself wondering how the two academy students were doing, hopefully if they had gone on any other expeditions those would have turned out better than the one in which he had met them. Visiting the famous imperial institution was one of his immediate goals, and hopefully he could reconnect with both men. After all they had been through, he hoped they still considered him friends. Town officials were needed to approve the rebuilding of destroyed structures, but due to the scale of the reconstruction effort there weren¡¯t enough to go around. As a noble, apparently Leif had enough qualifications to be an acceptable replacement, and so he was continuously asked by store owners or homeless families to approve one thing or another. As somebody with a class related in some way to wood, he was also one of the primary builders, this only served to compound people¡¯s desire to pull him around town and ask him for help. Mostly he stuck to houses, though one particularly insistent woman followed him around in an effort to get him to approve the reconstruction of her business. A business she wasn¡¯t willing to reveal the details of, and thus she couldn¡¯t effectively argue for having its priority bumped up the queue. She tried everything, from bribery to seduction, the latter was a uniquely strange experience. In the end it turned out she was the owner of the pleasure house, he had caught one of the city officials approving the reconstruction a day after she had finally given up trying to persuade him. The bandits Leif had captured were executed along with several people who had been caught looting and stealing following the disaster that had befallen the town. His suspicion that one of them had been magically silenced, unable to provide information about those who had hired them was correct, but there was little that could be done. With nobody having the skills necessary to attempt breaking whatever magic was binding the man, there was little they could do. It hardly mattered, they knew who had hired the men. But from what Peri told him, there was little that could be done about it. The Republic was across the sea, holding territory to the west. Tensions had been building over the past few decades, but neither side was looking to start any sort of conflict. According to the captain, this sort of remote sabotage wasn¡¯t uncommon. All they could do was report it to higher authorities and hope the attacks would stop due to political pressure. === Finally he felt like he had done enough, he informed those in charge he would be leaving, and despite their best efforts to make him stay, even offering him a not inconsiderable amount of land and property, he departed. The road to Ahle-ho was long and winding, it passed through several villages and towns, even an old stone fort. He met refugees and farmers, soldiers and adventurers, merchants and even a particularly brave thief. Finally the wind changed, and he could taste salt in the air. The further south he travelled the less temperate the climate, and the less fertile the soil. Buildings went from mostly made of wood, to boxy constructs of polished and often painted limestone. The beginning of turbulence began to roll over the land, strange weather patterns and arcane phenomena becoming increasingly frequent. One day, just after the breaking of a storm he finally caught sight of his destination. On the horizon stretched a seemingly endless line of blue, and to the east were the tips of shimmering spires. Chapter 116: Vacant Chapter 116: Vacant The roads leading into Ahle-ho were mostly absent of travellers during the worst of turbulence, however whenever there was a gap in the chaos they would emerge from small roadside shelters to continue on their way. Farmers rode carts pulled by beasts of burden, their harvests having been completed in the leadup to the wild and largely unpredictable weather. Needing neither sleep nor food, he made good time, but that was relative to the average human traveller. A hailstorm tore across the coast, pelting land and building with jagged chunks of ice, leaving the roads slippery and unable to be traversed. A day out from Ahle-ho, Leif was frustrated by the delay, taking shelter in a small town built next to a large open air quarry. He wasn¡¯t the only traveller to take shelter from the turbulent conditions, a large hall made out of carved stone housing over two dozen others in a similar situation. Conversation within the large shelter was quiet, partially muffled by the constant barrage of hail that struck the building''s roof. Whenever the main door to the building was opened, the temperature dropped and a gale buffeted the interior, causing lanterns to flicker and the beasts who had been unlatched from their carts and wagons chuffing and grunting. An adventurer with powers of earth and fire created glowing rocks that emitted heat, handing them out to the families of small children to better light up the darkness of the shelter''s interior. A space was cleared and several people convinced the creator of the glowing rocks to construct a pile of the things, before long a small mountain of orange and red was placed in the centre of the makeshift gathering place. The adventurer, a middle aged woman with sunkissed features was breathing heavily by the end, wincing slightly with her every movement. The men and women of the shelter let out a cheer for her effort, letting her settle down in a position of honour nearest to the stones. Children kept running around, gathering blankets and handing them to the adventurer, quickly burying her under a mound of cloth. People told stories of their lives and travels, of boon harvests, hometown drama and monster sightings. They went around in a circle, relaying news and telling tails. When it was Leif¡¯s turn, the scion sitting with his back against the wheel of a large cart, he told them of what had happened in Klos, and the troubles beyond the imperial cordon. His retelling of events was heavily abridged, not wanting to reveal his own secrets, nor bring the mood of the gathering down. This ended the sharing of stories, and instead turned the topic of conversation into a round-table discussion of the frontier and everyone¡¯s opinions of how it was being managed. The conversation was fascinating, Leif learning about the fall of Pherin, the exodus of refugees and the ultimately failed invasion of the enslavers and their legion, the army being defeated after a brief siege of Ahle-ho. These events had taken place ten years ago, history older than several of the younger children who were nodding off to sleep now that the discussion had turned serious. Apparently the failed invasion prompted Ahle-ho to request aid from the empire, turning what was a small diplomatic garrison into something much larger. The political situation had been tense ever since, with certain factions being displeased with the Prince¡¯s decision to allow imperial influence to grow within their city, while others used the opportunity to increase their relationship with a major regional power. The guilds, the highest authority in the city if not for the prince, had been posturing and positioning ever since. It was ten years of strenuous peace, with tensions slowly increasing as guilds on opposite sides of the growing conflict engaged in proxy conflicts or sabotaged one another''s interests. The republic was seen as an outside faction, with none of the traders, merchants or adventurers within the shelter having favourable views. There was historic context that Leif was missing, and he didn¡¯t feel comfortable asking a room of strangers. Gradually the glowing stones, apparently called ¡®ember charges¡¯ by the adventurer who had created them, faded away and people began to go their separate ways, melting into the shadowy enclaves of the shelter to go to sleep. Leif sat cross legged in the centre of the room, ignored by everyone as he focused on practising [Wood Manipulation]. Time passed, and before long the shelter''s door was opened, the morning''s light flooding into the room to muffled grumbling from its occupants. One of the townsfolk, the same man who had guided Leif into the shelter the night before, spent a few minutes asking around and checking on everyone who had taken refuge from the turbulent weather. When he spoke to Leif, the man had stated there was food being cooked in the nearby inn, but the scion waved him away. The town¡¯s gutters were full of a seemingly endless flood of water, several buildings had chipped paint and what was a firm footpath was now puddles and mud. Leif eyed his surroundings dubiously, getting through this without ruining his boots wouldn¡¯t be simple. A moment later his worries were proven prudent as two town guards and a haggard looking man with greying hair and a scarred lip awkwardly trudged through the mud. ¡°Hail!¡± The man called, stepping up onto the shelter''s stone entrance with wet squelch, the guards following suit a moment later. ¡°I heard there was an adventurer team within the shelter, are they still here?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a pair, they should still be inside.¡± Leif said, stepping out of the doorway and letting the man pass. The two guards didn¡¯t go inside, instead they did their best to clean their boots without making too much of a mess. He looked down at the muddy track the older man had left when he went inside. ¡°Something urgent?¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Eh, kinda-sorta.¡± One of the guards said, using the shaft of their spear to clean the sole of their boot. ¡°The quarry partially flooded and some of the... workers are acting strange. Manny,¡± They nodded at the door, ¡°thought he saw something moving around in the water, so here we are.¡± ¡°I¡¯m from Varan, it¡¯s been... a while since I was home.¡± ¡°Oh wow.¡± said Nayet. ¡°The northern kingdom? I heard they almost fell during the war, apparently you guys pushed one of the enslaved legions into the northern mountains and that¡¯s what caused Pherin to capitulate.¡± Leif suspected Pherin hadn¡¯t been given the chance to capitulate, considering the destroyed state of their capital city, but he didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Yes... those were hard times, I used to serve in the military.¡± ¡°You fought in the war? That¡¯s pretty awesome, I bet you have some killer scars.¡± Tollumi said, clapping Leif on the back. The scion just grunted. They rounded a house and walked along a winding path leading out of town, deep cart tracks had worn grooves into the stone, the water from last night¡¯s storm filling the indents. A group of eight men marched up the road towards them, they had woven packs on their back, each filled to the brim with chunks of limestone. They marched in an oddly synchronous manner, completely silent as they approached Leif and the two adventurers. Leif didn¡¯t recognise any of the approaching men, but something about them was eerily familiar. Their rhythmic lockstep, their vacant expressions and sunkern features, the way they didn¡¯t speak. The three of them paused, stepping to the side to let the men pass by. Tollumi spat to the side, muttering something that made Nayet slap his arm. Leif barely noticed, his amber gaze locked onto the retreating backs of the labourers. ¡°Those men...¡± He said darkly, mind racing as he tried and failed to place how he knew them. ¡°Enslaved.¡± Nayat said sadly. ¡°Poor things, whatever those ants did to their minds it left them broken, they¡¯re barely human at all now.¡± ¡°Enslaved?¡± Leif hissed. ¡°What are they doing here? I thought they were killed during the war?¡± Tollumi growled, then spoke. ¡°Probably should have been, after their queen or whatever was killed after the siege, they all fell into a strange torpor.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t see it personally, but apparently they just stood there, completely despondent. The allied armies rounded them up into prison camps, and ultimately they decided to put them to work.¡± Nayat said softly. ¡°It¡¯s a shit existence, but for some reason they only function at all when doing some task or another, they¡¯re completely harmless though, never once hurt anyone from what I¡¯ve heard.¡± Tollumi added. ¡°Though they did all start acting strange about a year ago, remember the group that worked the mill in Laryus honey? How they fell to their knees and started shaking, super strange, whatever it was they got better a few days later.¡± A year ago? Leif thought. That was when the undead enslaver queen attacked Far-reach, there¡¯s no way it''s a coincidence. The enslaved rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight, Leif let out a hissing breath, finally realising how tense his body was. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Nayat asked, looking at him with worry. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine, seeing them brought up bad memories though.¡± He replied, then turned and motioned for them to continue. Chapter 117: Flood Chapter 117: Flood The quarry was a set of giant steps carved into an artificial valley, the limestone had been dug away in layers that resulted in the quarry being like a funnel. Water had fallen from layer to layer, finally accumulating in the innermost point where it pooled into a small, roughly rectangular lake. Foremen gathered around the uppermost lip of the quarry, looking down at the lake with troubled expressions. Former members of the enslaved legion likewise stood around, tools in hand gazing blankly down into the quarry. They were eerily still, none making a sound even as regular labourers wove between them to attend to an assortment of tasks. The sight made Leif¡¯s blood run cold, there was something incredibly wrong seeing the enemy he had once fought and died to protect his old home from being treated as additional hands for a workforce. They had been enslaved once, forced to fight for monstrous overlords. And now, over a decade since that war had ended, they were prisoners of war, still slaves. Maybe that¡¯s all they can ever be. He thought, an unexpected stab of pity biting into his heart as he saw one of the quarry workers gesture at a group of enslaved, the men silently moving to obey whatever the order had been. Leif noticed then, as he watched them from afar, that several had the distinct markings of monstrous heritage. Obsidian carapace covered the hands of one of the enslaved, another had dark markings on his cheek. So they are demikin. He realised, pity quickly being subsumed by a chaotic collection of emotions he wasn¡¯t in the right state of mind to analyse. ¡°Man.¡± Said Tollumi, ¡°there are more of them than I thought, usually places like this would only have a handful at most.¡± ¡°It¡¯s wrong.¡± Leif said, his voice barely audible, but the adventurer heard him nonetheless. ¡°Yeah, poor bastards. It¡¯s not like the Ahle-ho government doesn¡¯t realise they¡¯re just victims of those ant monsters, but it''s impossible to rehabilitate them, whatever the enslavers did to their minds makes them unable to function in normal society.¡± ¡°They wither away.¡± Nayet said solemnly. ¡°Unless they¡¯re told to work, they will just stand there and slowly die. It¡¯s horrible, they can¡¯t even feed or clothe themselves unless they¡¯re given orders to do so.¡± ¡°You mentioned they acted strangely a year ago.¡± Leif said. ¡°What did they do?¡± ¡°They stopped responding to orders. Some of them had seizures and others went catatonic¡± Tollumi said gravely, running a hand through his short cut hair. ¡°But they¡¯re fine now?¡± The man nodded. ¡°Most of them recovered, but some never did.¡± There was too much wrong with this situation, too many reasons why he wasn¡¯t sure what to feel. His memories from before his death were almost entirely absent, more impressions on his soul than detailed images and scenes. But it didn¡¯t matter what he thought, there wasn¡¯t anything he could do about it. Free them? Kill them? Help them? He didn¡¯t know what he wanted. He saw a group of four enslaved, each standing in silence as they stared down at the pool. Other groups worked around the perimeter of the quarry, but none ventured within, even when directed to do so. It seemed that as reliant on direction as they were, the demikin had engraved instincts that prevented them from getting any closer to the monster lurking below. Tollumi tensed, his hammer held at the ready. Then the monster burst from the pool, its maw of sharp, arm length teeth stretched wide as it let out of trumpetting bellow of rage. Leif threw his spear with everything he had. With his [Might] attribute increased with [Grand Action] the force behind the throw was terrifying. He aimed the spear¡¯s trajectory as best he could with [Wood Manipulation], but with the sheer speed the projectile was travelling it was almost impossible to guide. Fortunately it struck just off his target, the merfey jerking to the side in an attempt to dodge his attack. The monster reared back as Leif¡¯s spear shattered dark blue scales and penetrated muscles, he had been aiming for the eye but this was almost as good. Tollumi rushed forward before the monster could withdraw, with a battlecry that shook the quarry he struck at the merfey with his warhammer, a projection of the weapon appearing right to the side of his attack. The monster was sent flying back, its large form crashing down into the pool of water sending waves splashing up and over the next lowest layer. Leif ran around the outside of the artificial lake, aura pressing down into the monster¡¯s own with all the force he could muster. The impression he got from the merfey was sharp and predatory, a hunter through and through. Even as it twisted within the pool, reorienting itself and preparing its next move, the monster shoved back against his aura. Invisible power rippled in the air, savage ferocity against a bulwark of authority. Twin jets of water erupted from the pool, but they weren¡¯t aimed at the scion. Instead they cut towards the two human adventurers with incredible speed, both blades of water condensed with enough pressure to cut a line through the stone as they bore down on their targets. Nayet clapped her hands, and a pulse of heat and fire expanded out in front of her, dissipating one of the jets in an explosion of steam. The second missed by an inch as Tollumi dashed to the side, his physical attributes enough to just barely avoid the attack. The limestone wall behind where he had been standing cracked, chips of rock flying in every direction. Nayet reached up and added the debris to her orbiting ring of stone, but there was obvious strain on her features. Leif reached out with his will and tried to pull his spear free from the monster''s face, in response two jets of water lashed out at him. The golden barrier of [Amber Aegis] flickered around him, but it wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop the attack. ¡°Steady.¡± He commanded, voice hanging in the air as if to command the world itself. The buckling shield flickered, then held back the cutting force of the water. The merfey launched from the water a moment later, its serpentine body arching with predatory grace as it hung in the air, yellow eyes burning with fury. Leif¡¯s spear flew into his hand, the sharpened tip stained in bright red blood. A barrage of stones came from the opposite side of the pool, each impacting the monster¡¯s side with sharp cracks. It twisted in the air, observing its opponents, large sails stretching out to grant it the ability of flight. Then its form shimmered, and the monster vanished from sight. Tollumi let out a yelp of surprise, he backed away, eyes scanning the air in search of the monster that had been there but a moment before. ¡°It¡¯s invisible!¡± Nayet called, bringing more stones towards her to recreate the orbiting ring of rock she had just expended. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be able to do that? It shouldn¡¯t be able to do that!¡± But there was an even bigger problem, the water from the pool was rapidly rising, quickly overflowing its container to flood the quarry step they were fighting on. Leif cursed, trying to pinpoint the monster with his esoteric senses, he could tell it was still there, but its emotional presence was muted, as if intentionally blurred. Water churred at it splashed around his shins, rapidly soaking his boots and lower cloak. Then the world was stained blue, as if everything was suddenly underwater. Leif felt his aura come under a sudden increase in hostile pressure as whatever skill the merfey had just used pressed down on everything. Moving was difficult, the water around his legs suddenly doubling in weight. Shit. Leif thought, casting a glance at the two humans. Nayet had fallen off her feet, her husband having rushed to her side to steady her. This thing is way stronger than we thought. Chapter 118: Evolved Chapter 118: Evolved Water churned around Leif as he looked around him, searching for the serpent that had vanished from sight. He kept his footing easily enough, several skills working in tandem to maintain his balance. He pushed cultivated vitality into [Amber Aegis], unable to see or predict when the merfey would strike next he decided that shoring up his defences was a wise choice.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) A moment later that was proven to be correct as a wall of scales and fangs shimmered back into visibility and lurched towards him. Leif raised his wooden spear, ready to throw the weapon into the monster¡¯s maw and deal a devastating amount of damage to its internals. But the serpent wasn¡¯t stupid, the overflowing water surged up around Leif, jets of condensed liquid cutting into the flickering barrier that appeared to protect him. He fell into shadow as the monster descended, but having no desire to get swallowed by a big fish he pushed through the increasingly wild water and took a step. He vanished in a golden blur, shooting through the water back towards the two human adventurers. But something clamped down around him, as if trying to force the teleportation to destabilise. He focused his will and pushed against the foreign pressure, rematerializing in a geyser of foam as his appearance displaced water all around him. Tollumi whirled, an arm around his wife. The human¡¯s eyes were wide, hair soaked and plastered to his face. He nodded in the scion¡¯s direction, then exploded upwards, carrying him and his partner out of the water and up onto the next step of the quarry. Leif turned, but the serpent had vanished again. A wave rose, threatening to crash down upon him as he dashed for the ramp. Every step was met with more and more resistance as the tide swelled to restrain him. The golden barrier created by [Amber Aegis] flickered to protect him from the worst of the assault but the skill¡¯s construct was beginning to strain. Leif took a deep breath, then he was submerged completely, but even the lungful of air felt wrong, as if he had partially inhaled water. Leif suspected that if he was a human, or any kind of creature with a more natural physiology he might be in more trouble, but as it was the sensation was uncomfortable instead of life threatening. A dozen amber arms fanned out around him as dust and debris from the quarry turned the violent water dark and murky. He focused, changing the shape of the arms created by [Gold Iron Physique] into stakes. They drove through the water, stabbing into the ground with tremendous force. The stone around him cracked, even more rock and detritus joining the already chaotic swirl that surrounded him. Leif¡¯s environment grew darker and darker as he dug his way forward like a spider. He couldn¡¯t float, let alone swim, if he couldn¡¯t get out of the water soon he would quickly find himself in a significant amount of trouble. One step at a time, even as the world around him became nothing but raging chaos and noise. Another step, then another. After what felt like ages but in reality was only a few seconds he stepped onto the ramp. Now I just need to climb. He thought, a chunk of limestone crashing into the side of his head and crumbling apart. Where is the merfey? Is it hunting the others? Did it fly out of the quarry? If I could just sense- Something massive whipped into his side, a mass of dark blue scales shattering Leif¡¯s shield and knocking him off his feet as he was sent tumbling head over heels down into the quarry¡¯s depths. His spear was gone, vanishing into the darkness as rampaging currents dragged it away. The light from overhead was dim and quickly vanishing. Something moved to his right, a massive shape gliding effortlessly through the debris filled water. But he wasn¡¯t helpless, even if the merfey was treating him like prey. He just needed one good hit, get its attention magically locked onto him, then he could gut it like the fish it was. In an attempt to goad the monster closer Leif pushed out his aura, declaring his intentions to defeat the creature even as he pretended to physically slow. The serpent swam closer, eager as it sensed weakness, its yellow eye locked onto him as it circled him counter clockwise. He scrambled up its side, dislodging scales and tearing muscles as the serpent gave up on trying to liberate itself from him and instead focused on reaching the ocean as quickly as possible. The merfey dipped and bobbed in the air, but even still it picked up speed at a terrifying pace. What was previously a distant stretch of shimmering blue quickly expanded as both monsters drew closer to the sea. Leif cursed, redoubling his efforts to bring the monster down, if he fell into the sea he would have to teleport to safety, and that was if he could survive reaching the bottom. Its form flickered, and for a moment it looked like it was no longer there, that he was flying through the air attached to absolutely nothing. Leif punched down into the monster, the impact sending a revealing ripple out from the point of impact. The merfey shuddered, its serpentine body shimmering in and out of visibility and it twisted and writhed. But it didn¡¯t stop, if anything it sped up. To the east Ahle-ho came into focus, the massive walls of the distant city and the towering spires that must be some sort of palace becoming clearer as both monsters drew closer. Another village came and went as the sea approached, Leif could hear the distant ringing of bells quickly fading as they passed. They dipped, only to rise again once the merfey regained its composure, the monster was sagging but it was far from being fully drained. The vitality of a monster as evolved as it was was like an endless sea. Not unlike the seemingly infinite wall of aqua that stretched from horizon to horizon, the faint white caps of waves no longer so far away. Leif refocused, stretched his many arms, then brought them down in a fury of attacks. Scales and blood trailed behind the merfey as its back was torn apart, one of its large sails was ripped apart causing the monster to screech in pain but Leif didn¡¯t relent. They were seconds away from reaching the cliff-side, beyond salvation for one, and likely death for the other. Flesh was parted, and bone revealed. Leif grabbed the merfey¡¯s exposed spine and yanked with everything he had. The serpentine monster bucking, then falling into a spinning dive. The land was below them in one moment, the sea the next. Leif plunged every arm he could spare into the gaping wound before him, shattering bone and pulverising organs. He felt the moment the monster he was grappling die, and he really felt the moment it smashed into the ground, his grip slipping, his consciousness briefly vanishing before returning in a rush of wind and chaos. He was falling, even though they had hit land he was still falling. There was nothing but the endless sea, the infinite plane of blue stretching into infinity. In panicked instinct he reached back, and his hands almost instantly found the sheer rock of the cliff-side. He scrambled and twisted, trying to halt his momentum with any means he could. Leif smashed through a stone ledge and kept falling, but his momentum had been partially arrested. Golden blades stabbed into limestone, slowing him further. Another ledge shattered under his descent, seabirds fleeing in every direction as he obliterated their prime seaside property. Finally he came to a stop, bloodied and battered, though it wasn¡¯t his blood, barely a handful of metres above the sea. Waves crashed against the cliff, the spray of their impact splashing him from below, he shifted and barnacles crunched under his weight. Leif¡¯s head met the limestone wall as tension left his body. That had been far, far too close. He looked up, over a hundred metres of sheer stone met his gaze. Chapter 119: The Climb Chapter 119: The Climb The hundreds of seabirds that called the sheer cliff home were less than pleased at his presence. Leif couldn¡¯t really blame them, especially considering the damage he had done during his fall. But that didn¡¯t stop being constantly swooped by dozens of the angry creatures at a time from being quite annoying. Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om His aura, or perhaps nature, seemed to mollify the majority of the birds, his presence pacifying them. Unfortunately a majority of the winged beasts being mostly impartial to his existence wasn¡¯t much of a comfort when being constantly swooped, battered, pecked and screeched at by the minority. To make matters worse, a good portion of the seabirds that had taken issue with him having crash landed into their homes were evolved. Harsh winds battered at him, beak and claw tore at the golden shield that protected not just him, but his clothes. Not for the first time he internally complained about how small the spatial ring he had looted was, the small drawer sized space being already filled to capacity with what few belongings he possessed. Leif''s arms reached up to grasp the shallow ridge above him, then his conjured limbs pulled him up. Progress was slow, and it was slowed further when the seabirds started to assault the golden arms he was relying on. Pain slowly built as his soul began to strain from skill overuse, before long he would need to rely on his physical attributes. He ignored the birds, focusing entirely on the climb. Then a massive surge of wind crashed into him, his shield flickered, absorbing the attack but the stone around and above him was less fortunate. The rocky cliff-face crumbled under his weight, and Leif fell, scrambling to regain his handholds. The spray of ocean waves meeting rock splashed against his back, the water below only a handful of metres away. Leif cursed under his breath, the sound coming out more like a hiss of anger than any actual words. I¡¯m not going to make it at this rate. He thought, the ache in his soul growing by the second. Above the circling seabirds let out cries of triumph, their calls seeming to mock his misfortune. He needed a new plan, somewhere to recover and hopefully wait out the ire of the cliff''s residents. There seemed to be a small gap some thirty metres to his left, a place where the sheer stone wall had been carved into over centuries by wind and waves. Taking one final glance upwards, Leif began to make his way towards it. Moving horizontally was far easier than vertically, but doing so didn¡¯t take him further away from the rising tide¡¯s clutches. At one point he sensed the presence of something in the waters below, but when he looked down he couldn¡¯t see anything. The water gradually rose, the crest of waves partially submerged his legs every time they met the cliff. Soaked entirely through he finally reached the gap, only to have his hopes sink. There was no ledge, nor cave to take shelter in. Instead it was a fairly narrow crack that only got wider the closer to the sea it was. Leif wedged himself inside, digging into the stone with his clawed hands, lodging his legs in such a way that he wouldn¡¯t fall. The seabirds seemed to lose interest with their target mostly out of reach, so he let [Amber Aegis] finally drop along with his conjured limbs. The strain of skill overuse immediately lessened, but he would need to rest before making another attempt at scaling the cliff. === The sun was setting when Leif pulled himself bodily over the edge of the cliff, the sea was lit by a vibrant cascade of gold, red and pink. Bright blue motes of light skimmed the water''s surface before spiralling up into the clouds above. He unsteadily got to his feet, taking a few shaky steps forward before gaining his balance. He glanced around looking for the merfey¡¯s corpse, he ended up smelling it before he saw it. Dozens of seabirds fought over the remains, their beaks tearing into exposed sections of flesh that his battle with the thing earlier in the day had revealed. As he approached the birds took off in a squawking mess of feathers. Leif let out a breath of satisfaction, the shard had saved him several weeks of waiting. Being at the level fifty bottleneck he could no longer level up, new skills wouldn¡¯t be available until after he regained the ability to level up. After he passed the advancement trial his maximum number of normal classes would likely increase to four, but he didn¡¯t know how he felt about diving into a brand new class. From level one to ten a class would give him five total skills, another five if he levelled from eleven to twenty. There was something to be said about constantly gaining new abilities, but Leif was also cognisant of the fact he would constantly be battling against his maximum number of skills in order to not suffer a massive experience penalty. It struck Leif that due to his nature, he actually had one more class than humans at the same level. Humans started with a maximum of two classes, gaining their third after level twenty five. His maximum was currently three, but he also had a monster class. No wonder I¡¯m constantly pushing against the skill limit, I¡¯ve been getting more skills than normal. He knew from his time with the academy expedition that classes offered skills every five levels after reaching tier three. People at my level would likely have a class pushing the high twenties by this point, maybe they would have two classes at exactly level twenty five if they had limited themselves to only two classes. He summoned the promotion seal from his spatial ring, flipping the intricate metallic and gemstone object over so that its surface reflected the night sky as it spun. Would you like to consume this promotion item to increase one or more of your classes from tier 1 to tier 2? Classes available for promotion: [Brawler]! Classes available for merge: [Brawler] and [Adept], [Brawler] and [Attuned: Life], [Adept] and [Attuned: Life]! Warning! Merging classes will not grant new skills or attributes based on combined level! Warning! The options available when promoting classes by merging two tier 1 classes will be less than promoting a level capped tier 1 class! Warning! You are vulnerable during the promotion process! Leif read over the system prompts, flipping the promotion item once again to make them disappear. There were choices to make, and now was likely the best time to make them. But I¡¯ll wait until I¡¯m somewhere safe. He thought, before standing and marching away from the sea. Chapter 120: Class Promotion Chapter 120: Class Promotion On his way back to the quarry town Leif ran into Nayet, Tollumi and a very flustered looking Manny. The foreman ushered the horse he was riding to move to the side of the road, while the two adventurers rode closer on the mount they shared. Nayet held the reins in one hand as she waved towards him with the other, her husband winced as he dismounted, one of his arms wrapped in bandages. ¡°This is great! Wonderful news!¡± Manny said, running a hand through his greying hair. ¡°We thought the worst may have happened, but it didn¡¯t, and now everything is fine.¡± The man grabbed the lantern that had been tied to his horse''s saddle and scampered forward. ¡°Everything is fine?¡± Nayet asked, scowling at their temporary employer. ¡°Your people misidentified a highly evolved monster and almost got us all killed!¡± ¡°Well yes... but no, the creature was as we thought, just at a significantly higher level.¡± The man placated, though by Nayet¡¯s scathing response that he almost immediately wilted under it was likely he had already made this argument several times before. Tollumi shook his head, a wry grin stretching his lips as his partner went off on the quarry manager. ¡°Glad to see you¡¯re alive, friend, thought you were dead for sure when that thing took off with you hanging to its side.¡± ¡°It was a near thing. Almost fell into the sea, never knew seabirds could be that aggressive. I didn¡¯t expect to see you out here, unless there are more search parties I missed?¡± Leif said. The adventurer frowned. ¡°No, we¡¯re the first and only, took most of the day to finally set off. The merfey was using the quarry as a nest, the innermost part was full of around fifty eggs, when the... I think it was the father, fled into the sky with you grappling it they all started to hatch. Tiny bastards wriggled off in every direction, biting people, slithering into houses.¡± ¡°The eggs were ready to hatch already? Wasn¡¯t it less than a day?¡± The adventurer shrugged. ¡°If I¡¯m remembering my monster lore correctly, male merfey carry the eggs inland when they¡¯re nearly ready to hatch, the rivers and gullies are probably much safer for baby monsters than the open seas.¡± Leif imagined dozens of vicious little monsters swimming along riverways, attacking settlements and retreating into the water before they could be hunted down. The thought wasn¡¯t pleasant. He reached out and placed a hand on the man¡¯s shoulder, [Healing Palm] poured restorative, life attuned energy down his arm. Tollumi let out a soft gasp, his eyes going wide. Then he grinned, flexing his arm and wriggling his fingers. ¡°Very nice, what do I owe you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need payment.¡± ¡°That''s... very generous of you, but I¡¯d feel guilty not giving something in return, getting my arm healed in Ahle-ho would have been quite costly.¡± Leif paused as he went to dismiss the adventurers offer. Maybe he could get something from them after all. ¡°Fine, how about you guide me around the city, I think we¡¯re both going in that direction.¡± Tollumi nodded thoughtfully. ¡°Sure, that¡¯s no problem. You never been to Ahle-ho before?¡± ¡°Never.¡± Leif affirmed. They turned as the conversation behind them picked up in volume. ¡°Y-yes, yes! I assure you Miss, I will pay the promised amount in full. I would never try to short change those who valiantly defended our town.¡± Manny babbled, his hands up and palms out as if trying to surrender. Nayet¡¯s gaze flickered towards where her husband and Leif were standing, there was a twinkle in her eyes that promised mischief. ¡°But my dear friend, the monster was not only stronger than you claimed it would be, but we had to deal with its offspring as well. Don¡¯t you think that would indicate the promised payment is insufficient?¡± She pouted, the expression made to hide a smirk. ¡°Because I think it¡¯s insufficient.¡± ¡°No... Now, now, let''s not get hasty!¡± === Night had well and truly fallen by the time they returned to the quarry town, strange geometric phenomena drifted near invisible through the cloudless sky, their presence only made apparent when they warped the stars they drifted in front of. The two adventurers offered to let him ride in their place, but Leif rejected the offer, he didn¡¯t want to kill the poor beast. Nayet constantly prodded verbally at an increasingly sullen Manny, Tollumi listening in silence with a faint smile on his lips. The turbulence shelter was mostly empty, and while Manny insisted that they stayed the night in the nearby inn, all three of them rejected his offer. According to Nayet the aged man would likely try to reduce their pay by stating that they had accepted hospitality, and judging by the way the quarry manager¡¯s shoulders slumped as he trudged away Leif suspected she was likely correct. The shelter felt almost uncanny without all the carts and families cramped within, as if the large building was absent of its singular purpose, the empty space within somehow less real than it had been the night prior. He had spent most of the journey back contemplating his class promotion, so when everyone within the shelter had fallen asleep, he was free to begin the process. So he summoned the promotion seal from his spatial ring, and selected the option that would allow him to merge the [Adept] and [Attuned: Life] classes. The small object of shaped crystal woven with intricate patterns of metal flashed in his hand, then broke apart as the world faded all around him. === As with his two previous monster class evolutions, he materialised within a completely blank world, devoid of any details or stimuli. Like the last time he was within this space, Leif distinctly felt that something was missing, but the feeling was vague and distant. He shook the feeling away, slumped to the featureless floor, and focused on the system message that had appeared. Promotion for the [Adept] and [Attuned: Life] classes is commencing! Please review your current classes before proceeding! ===Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Intelligence: D Willpower: D+ Spirit: C Charisma: C+ Base Stats: Intelligence +1, Willpower +1, Spirit: +2, Charisma +2 === He read through the listed information, skipping over the three total skills he had between both classes. [Healing Palm], [Restful Recovery] and [Aura of Recovery] were all straightforward abilities. Leif was curious to see how the base attributes of a tier 2 class would compare to his tier 3 monster class. Proceed? Y/N === [Adept of Self-Restoration] Through the repeated usage of self healing abilities, you take the step to reinforcing that aspect of your power, imbuing your body with more potent regeneration at the cost of a weakened ability to heal others. No stranger to battle, an adept lives and dies by their ability to channel vital energy to where it is needed most. === So this was the class promotion that would favour [Adept] over [Attuned: Life] in the merger. It was nothing spectacular, this was no legendary class of sea serpent riding or monster ant slapping, and that was fine. If Leif was being perfectly honest with himself, he was tempted to pick this class immediately, since an increase to his self recovery would almost assuredly compound on the abilities of his [Scion of Aeons] class. If [Adept of Self-Restoration] provided the expected increase to body enhancement skills as well as some sort of boost to self healing Leif suspected he would become quite nearly impossible to kill, assuming his opponents were of a similar level and there were no environmental factors to consider. But he would do his due diligence and read through all his options, there was no reason to be hasty. === [Attuned: Vitality] You share a powerful connection to the aspect of life, and have moulded your potential around this connection, even communicating with the will of mana itself. Deepen this connection, and expand your authority over all that lives. Being attuned to the aspect of vitality takes you down the path of being a healer beyond compare. === That was... both more and less than he had expected. Leif reminded himself that his ability to use spell workings at all was due to [Life Spells] skill the [Attuned: Life] class had offered him at level two. Yes, spellcraft was powerful, potentially far more powerful than he knew. Leif was also at a bottleneck of sorts with upgrading his [Font of Life] skill, a combination of cultivation and spellcasting that both seemed to have unbelievable potential, while also being far more complicated to advance. He drummed ivory fingers on his knee. It was tempting to take this class, but it appealed to him less than [Adept of Self-Restoration]. Was it necessarily worse? Unlikely. But it would likely be a more complex class, and there was something about power from relative simplicity that felt more natural. Leif hadn¡¯t been sure the class promotion selection would provide him with a third option, but sure enough there was one more class to potentially select. This one needs to be really interesting for me to consider it at all. He thought, reading over the final class. === [Healer of the Forest] Your dedication to the healing of vegetation, the restoration of devastated environments and your elevation of beasts many would consider powerless grants you an uncommon perspective on the role of a healer. While your ability to restore flesh and bone is commendable, your mastery over weaving life into wood is perhaps even more impressive. Call upon natural magics to empower your dominion over life, and increase your capacity for healing by channelling vitality through the medium of wood. === Damn, that¡¯s actually not bad at all. Chapter 121: An Adept of Vital Wood Chapter 121: An Adept of Vital Wood Leif found himself sitting in the empty world unable to choose what his new class should be. Both [Adept of Self-Restoration] and [Healer of the Forest] appealed greatly to him, in an ideal world he would probably have wanted to have gone with both. The way he intended to stack his defensive abilities was to compound self healing abilities to the point that any attack that didn¡¯t kill him in a single, devastating hit wouldn¡¯t be fatal. He was already well along this path, having several skills that all worked towards this effect or increased his survivability in synergistic ways. [Font of Life] allowed him to access a pool of cultivated vitality, one that became more potent the closer to death he was. [Consuming Aeons] gave his attacks the ability to steal vitality from any opponent struck. As a plant monster with a blood aspect he could naturally drain life-force from other living things, his [Scion of Aeons] class granted him a small amount of passive healing at all times. Those four abilities combined to be a core part of the mechanism that kept him alive. But there were other abilities as well: If he fought within the domain created by [Tree of Respite] his healing would receive a boost, [Embolden Vegetation] would grant him a massive burst of healing, at the cost of super-charging his cultivated vitality to the point it would actively harm him if he didn¡¯t keep it below a certain threshold. Even [Amber Aegis] had a small healing aspect that was lost when the skill triggered its defensive shield. Then there were the skills that granted a boost to his overall durability. [Gold Iron Physique] was a big one, it increased his weight and hardened his body against attacks. [Tenacious Fighter] increased physical resilience the more injured he became, with [Fists of Conflict] having a small damage reduction component against enemies he had already struck. Self healing was a massively important part of his overall survivability, and if he chose the [Adept of Self-Restoration] that would only become more powerful. Another reason to pick that class as his choice was that it was all but guaranteed to keep the class perk that increased the effects of body enhancement skills. Judging by patterns he had observed with his monster class. Tier one classes granted a fifty percent bonus with their perks, tier two classes granting one hundred and tier three one hundred and fifty. If [Healer of the Forest] didn¡¯t have a class perk related to body enhancement, he wouldn¡¯t just lose out in the fifty percent increase from [Adept of Recovery], but the initially plus fifty percent to begin with. Leif¡¯s [Scion of Aeons] class already granted a plus one hundred and fifty increase to those types of skills, and as far as Leif could tell there were diminishing returns with stacking class perks, though it was hard to tell exactly how much. All of these were good reasons to pick the upgrade to his adept class when promoting. However [Healer of the Forest] had a major advantage when it came to be his next class. While the more combat focused adept promotion would increase his self healing, wouldn¡¯t [Healer of the Forest] do the exact same thing? If [Healer of the Forest] increased the effect of healing skills on plants, that was basically the exact same thing as a boost to self healing. He was, after all, a plant monster. The class would likely give him access to skills that conditionally applied only to plants, and that would likely result in some very powerful synergy. Maybe he could even gain access to skills that would increase the power of [Wood Manipulation]. Having his monster class and [Healer of the Forest] both working towards increasing his power in the same direction was a really hard opportunity to give up. But it was an opportunity he could afford to give up, at least temporarily. As far as Leif knew, you could never double up on a class you already had. If he promoted away from [Adept], he could never regain the foundation class. But he could always gain another class related to plant magic. Something like [Attuned: Wood] or [Druid] were not only potential options, but they were classes he would likely have a fairly easy time obtaining if he tried to unlock them. Leif sighed and slumped in his sitting position, flopping down to lay on his back, staring up into the empty void above. [Healer of the Forest] was the better class, he was almost completely sure of it. But taking it would ultimately reduce his long term plan of becoming unkillable. It¡¯s the right choice, I¡¯m not making a mistake. He thought, rereading the offered classes once again. He paused, his attention being pulled by [Attuned: Vitality]. No, even if it''s a really interesting class it just isn¡¯t what I¡¯m looking for. Spell casting is a completely valid avenue of power, but it''s more adjacent to my current path than I¡¯m comfortable with at the moment. There was an argument to make that with his focus on [Charisma], getting a class that seemed to be specifically designed to increase his spellcraft was likely optimal. But Leif wasn¡¯t sure if that reasoning was sound. ¡°This isn¡¯t a mistake is it?¡± He asked nobody in particular. ¡°The logic behind my choice is based on how class selections actually work? I¡¯m ninety nine percent certain I can¡¯t fill my basic class slots with different versions of promoted [Adept] classes.¡± There was no response, but Leif let himself stew in his contemplations for a few more minutes. ¡°I should have promoted [Brawler] instead, it would have been far more simple.¡± He grumbled. Then selected [Adept of Self-Restoration]. Congratulations! You have promoted your [Adept] and [Attuned: Life] classes into the tier 2 [Adept of Self-Restoration] class! Please review your new classes characteristics: === [Adept of Self-Restoration] Through the repeated usage of self-healing abilities, you take the step to reinforcing that aspect of your power, imbuing your body with more potent regeneration at the cost of a weakened ability to heal others. No stranger to battle, an adept lives and dies by their ability to channel vital energy to where it is needed most.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Tier: 2 (Union) Level: 10/20 Class Perk: The effects from your life aspected skills are increased by 100% when they affect you, but are reduced by 50% when they affect others +100% To the effect of enhancement (Body) skills The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Your healing skills are 100% less strenuous on your body [Aura of Recovery] didn¡¯t change, whether that was due to the skill currently undergoing the fusion process he didn¡¯t know, but he was suddenly relieved that promoting his class hadn¡¯t somehow cancelled the progress of the fusion. Fusion of skills [Aura of Recovery] and [Aura of Nobility] 41/100% Leif looked around the dark and quiet interior of the turbulence shelter, with his ability to accurately track the passage of time from [Scion of Aeons] instinctually knew there were two and a half hours until dawn. He opened his full status sheet, then flinched when he realised he had seven free attributes that were unspent. He spent them all on [Charisma], then took in the changes. Name: Leif Vin Race: Scion of Aeons Age: 12 Awaiting manifestation: Emblem Attributes: Free: 0 Might: 64 (+10%) Alacrity: 61 (+10%) Intelligence: 68 (+10%) Willpower: 75 (+10%) Spirit: 78 (+10%) Charisma: 142 (+90%) Total Level: 50 Monster Classes: 1/1 Scion of Aeons: 20/40 Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Sympathy from Experience / Consuming Aeons / Font of Life III / Tree of Respite / The Amber Path / Embolden Vegetation / Amber Aegis / Wood Manipulation / Wisdom of the Ages Classes: 2/3 Brawler: 10/10 Skills: Tenacious Fighter III / Fists of Conflict Adept of Self-Restoration: 10/20 Skills: Life-Fused Fist / Meditative Respite / Aura of Recovery III Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Aura of Nobility III / Grand Action / Legacy Attuned Items: 1 Spatial Ring Chapter 122: Ahle-ho at Last Chapter 122: Ahle-ho at Last ¡°How long has it been since we were last home?¡± Nayet asked, the adventurer skipping ahead of their small group, happy humming to herself as a full pouch of coins jingled at her hip. ¡°Seven, no, eight months now.¡± Tollumi said, his eyes scanning the horizon as they crested the rocky hill. ¡°But the answer is too long, far too long. I wonder if the guild finished the gymnasium expansion, you¡¯d think that after half a year it would be done but that project has been on hold ever since we joined.¡± ¡°Yeah, but it would only happen if Silverfang sold the adjacent property, and they¡¯re way too land grabby to not push the price as high as possible.¡± Leif listened to the back and forth, passively absorbing information as he kept pace with both adventurers. His attention was arrested when Nayet let out a whooping cheer as they reached the apex of their ascent, the coastal city of Ahle-ho finally being revealed in its full glory. Towering walls of white rock rose in segmented tiers, the tiled roofs of homesteads and businesses mixing together in tightly packed districts separated by massive thoroughfares and plazas. Ahle-ho stretched along the coast, several outlying farming communities dotting the outer edges of the settlement, their fields like green patch-jobs having been sown into the hardy ground. Leif¡¯s only prior experience with a city, or at least the only experience he remembered was the destroyed remains of Pherin. Ahle-ho dwarfed the abandoned and desolate settlement many times over, and that was without being able to see the parts of the city built down along the cliffside. ¡°You see the massive building with all the painted spires?¡± Nayet asked, turning to him with a massive grin stretched across her face. ¡°I do, it''s not exactly easy to miss.¡± He replied flatly. ¡°Right, well, I think being ostentatious was the point. That''s the palace, you can¡¯t really tell from this angle since we¡¯re coming in from the north but it''s actually built right up along the western wall. Behind it, and completely out of sight are the sky docks. You¡¯ll never see so many skimmers in your life.¡± ¡°The large circular building dominating the skyline over to the left is the coliseum, it¡¯s where the guilds test themselves and jockey for position. Most of the guild headquarters are spread throughout the city, but all the guilds that matter own buildings nearby to the coliseum.¡± Tollumi added. ¡°Guilds... I just realised I¡¯m looking for somebody and I don¡¯t even know what guild they belong to.¡± Leif said as the road they were travelling on merged into another wider path, the well kept dirt transitioning into carved tiles perfectly interlocking with only the barest hint of a gap. Several groups commuted along this road, merchants and farmers making up the majority of travellers, however there were several individuals who could easily be identified as adventurers by their arms and armour. Tollumi and Nayet were strange in that regard, Nayet not wearing armour and Tollumi being able to store and summon his own. A pair of guards in matching uniforms patrolled casually along the right side of the road, occasionally inspecting carts and luggage. ¡°You don¡¯t know? Why didn¡¯t they tell you?¡± Nayet asked. ¡°I think he just forgot, we weren¡¯t exactly planning on separating until the very last moment.¡± ¡°Ah, yeah, that happens sometimes, things can get pretty crazy when monsters are involved.¡± ¡°That happens.¡± Tollumi said with a snort. ¡°We haven''t even told you our guild allegiance.¡± ¡°We haven''t?¡± ¡°We have not.¡± He affirmed. ¡°Sorry Leif, adventurers normally exchange that information when they meet, but since you¡¯re not affiliated with any guilds we never actually introduced ourselves properly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°We¡¯re members of the Twin Heart guild, one of the five prime guilds within Ahle-ho.¡± A pair of guards approached the trio and Tollumi stepped forward to meet them, Nayet picking up the introduction in his stead. ¡°Unlike most other guilds, Twin Heart actually has branches outside of the city. The main branch is in Ahle-ho, they wouldn¡¯t be one of the prime guilds otherwise, but we have a presence in Sablaris, and even within the empire.¡± ¡°Sablaris...¡± Leif said, his mind working with the enhanced memory granted by the [Intelligence] attribute alongside the [Wisdom of the Ages] skill that had capstoned his time as an [Amber Blight Spriggan]. ¡°I recall a friend mentioning a sister branch to the guild I¡¯m looking for being present there.¡± Tollumi glanced over his shoulder, the man having summoned his armour and warhammer to show the guards. ¡°Now that''s an interesting coincidence, I¡¯m not sure how many guilds have foreign branches, let alone branches in Sablaris.¡± ¡°Who is it that you¡¯re looking for?¡± Nayet asked. Carts and wagons were stuck in a deadlock of traffic while swarms of pedestrians flowed around them like a river around a boulder. There was shouting and cursing, an endless barrage of increasingly loud noises that drowned out all attempts at conversation. Leif gave up on trying to talk, instead switching to telepathy and almost making both adventurers jump out of their skin in fright when he initiated communication. A short figure bumped into Leif, both the scion and stranger becoming briefly tangled before drawing apart. He would have thought nothing of the interaction except for the faint tingle of intent he felt brushing up against his withdrawn aura. ¡°I think someone just tried to pick my pockets.¡± He sent mentally, slightly nonplussed. ¡°Yeah, that will happen, it''s usually just kids though!¡± Nayet yelled back at him. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a money pouch hanging at your hip?¡± She didn¡¯t reply for several seconds as they were cut off by the movements of the crowd. ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone, but the rope is enchanted to resist cutting, ain''t no way some street urchin destined to unlock the [Rogue] class can get my precious-¡± The rest of her words were interrupted as a nearby vendor started yelling about fresh fish skewers, but Leif got the general idea. Ahead Tollumi¡¯s head poked out over the throng of humanity, the man gesturing towards a side street. Leif made his way over to where the adventurer was directing him, finding that the alley was far less crowded than the main road they were traversing. ¡°Why are there so many people?¡± Nayet asked her husband. Tollumi shrugged. ¡°Not sure, maybe there¡¯s a festival or some sort of event?¡± ¡°They might be migrants, refugees.¡± Leif suggested, when both humans turned to him he expanded on his guess. ¡°When I was in the north, near the imperial cordon there was an incident that destroyed a large part of a town. Beyond the border, in the frontier there aren¡¯t many people who aren¡¯t in constant danger. Assuming the problems are more widespread than I saw, it would make sense people travelled south.¡± Tollumi frowned while his wife looked glum. ¡°That might just be it, there were a lot more travellers on the road prior to turbulence, but we were distracted by monster hunting contracts and didn¡¯t look too deeply into it.¡± A shrill whistle pierced the air, the constant thrum of conversation and movement dying down for a few moments, a series of distant shouts being heard during the lull. A column of two dozen soldiers wearing the familiar blues of the imperial army cut through the crowd, their presence cutting through the mass of humanity as the armed men and women projected their auras out, filling the air with the domineering impression of steel and discipline. The atmosphere immediately shifted as tension rose, people shuffled away from the approaching patrol as dark muttering began. The whistle was blown again, then one of the soldiers stepped forward, the space around him clearing out in a matter of seconds. ¡°In the name of the prince and by his authority, we are putting the streets of this city back into order. All pedestrians step away from the middle of the road, make way for the carts!¡± He said, his voice being carried by some sort of skill. Leif felt a small amount of mental pressure followed by an easily ignorable compulsion. Many of the civilians trying to get through the city were affected far more than he was. Immediately people moved to obey the command, even as others started to push back against the compulsion, fighting with everything they had to resist. Chaos broke out as people began to shove and yell, confusion breaking out as half the crowd moved in one direction while the other half resisted them. The officer shouted again, the same feeling of mental pressure washing over everyone present. ¡°-By his authority, the prince of this city, do I command you into order! Step aside and make way-¡± Leif winced as a piece of rotting fruit sailed through the air, a streak of vibrant red that splattered against the soldier''s face, sliding down his cheek over several agonising seconds. ¡°Get the fuck out of our city you damn tyrants!¡± A hoarse voice from somewhere within the crowd. ¡°Yeah! You¡¯re not wanted here!¡± ¡°Leave and never return!¡± ¡°Silence!¡± The officer boomed, fist tightening on the hilt of their sword. ¡°We should go.¡± Nayet said, a pensive expression on her face. ¡°If there¡¯s a riot we don¡¯t want to be anywhere nearby.¡± ¡°Wise words dear.¡± Tollumi replied. ¡°The soldiers won¡¯t be stupid enough to start violence, if the situation here is anything like it was prior to our tour things won¡¯t escalate beyond this.¡± The three of them departed, pushing their way down the alley and away from the incident. Leif hoped that they were right. Chapter 123: Guilds, Tiers and Levels Chapter 123: Guilds, Tiers and Levels ¡°I have to ask.¡± Leif sent telepathically to his two guides who were striding ahead of him at a brisk, but measured pace. ¡°Who are the people running around on the rooftops?¡± ¡°Iron rank adventurers, at the minimum.¡± Tollumi said, side stepping around an elderly woman pushing a small trolley, its wooden wheels clacking against the slightly uneven ground. ¡°How ignorant would it make me if I didn¡¯t know what being at that rank means?¡± He asked. ¡°Pretty ignorant.¡± Nayet said, stepping in behind her husband as the trio started to push through a small crowd. ¡°Do they not have adventurers where you¡¯re from? I thought the concept was pretty universal?¡± Leif paused. ¡°I was a... soldier, not an adventurer, so I¡¯m not familiar with the organisation structure. And I¡¯ve been in the wilderness for quite a long time.¡± ¡°The northern kingdoms are structured differently anyway.¡± Tollumi said, apologising as he gently shoved an older teen aside. ¡°Instead of working for guilds, they¡¯re hired by noble houses to hunt down monsters and keep the peace, or at least that¡¯s what I heard.¡± ¡°Sounds about right.¡± Leif said, though in truth he was clueless. ¡°Okay! Let me explain then.¡± Nayet said, talking over her partner as he opened his mouth to do just that. Tollumi¡¯s mouth closed with a smile, the man leading them through a series of less crowded side streets as they made their way further within Ahle-ho. ¡°Okay, so. There are guilds, lots of guilds. Ahle-ho has guilds, Sablaris has guilds, the empire has guilds and even the republic out west has guilds. It¡¯s an old tradition, it predates most modern countries but nobody really knows by how much.¡± She took a deep breath. ¡°In Ahle-ho there are five big guilds, they¡¯re called ¡®prime guilds¡¯, and Twin Heart is one of them. Prime guilds have a say in how the city is run, and often get first dibs on contracts, expeditions and dungeon dives.¡± ¡°Okay I¡¯m following so far, what about the people using the roofs of buildings as a highway.¡± ¡°Right, so there are adventurer ranks. The prime guilds have the most high ranks in the city, and by high I mean gold and silver ranked adventurers. They¡¯re not exactly grades based on power, but you need to be over level one hundred to be a gold rank.¡± ¡°And that''s no easy feat.¡± Tollumi called over his shoulder. ¡°Once you reach level fifty, levelling slows way down, you need to be constantly pushing yourself and finding new challenges. Me and the rock thrower I call a wife were planning on reaching level fifty while on tour, but things didn¡¯t quite pan out that way.¡± ¡°Shut up hammer boy, you know you love me.¡± ¡°Hammer boy? I¡¯m at least a hammer man.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Anyway, adventurer ranks go from tin to gold. It goes: Tin, then copper, then bronze, iron,¡± She gestured up towards the roofs of the nearby buildings, ¡°Then silver and gold. We¡¯re only copper, but that will change once we actually get over level fifty.¡±Updated chapters at novelhall.com ¡°Level fifty is the prerequisite for bronze rank. With iron and silver being about proving you aren¡¯t a public nuisance.¡± Tollumi said. ¡°It¡¯s twenty percent, for a total of thirty.¡± Nayet said, spreading her arms as if to demonstrate the potency of the increase. ¡°I can¡¯t wait, watching Tol run around even in heavy armour is making me jealous. Also there are secret benefits that boys don''t know about.¡± Leif thought about that for a second, and realised he had no idea what she was on about. ¡°Sounds about right.¡± They stepped out onto a busier street, taking a right turn and following the flow of traffic. Leif saw the colosseum rising up above the city''s skyline, the large curved structure dominating the horizon. He wondered if that was where they were headed, only for Tollumi to take an exit after only a hundred metres. There was a gated checkpoint they were waved through by a pair of lounging guards, the wall being more of a dividing line than a defensive fortification. The street began to slope, homes often being connected to the road with a short series of steps. They passed through a bazaar, scents, sights and sound Leif had never experienced before rolling over him as they navigated the tightly cramped stalls. Light filtered down from stained glass windows that followed the curvature of the multi-domed ceiling. They even walked through a passageway that sold decorated masks, Nayet asking if he wanted to stop and take a look. Eventually they emerged from the enclosed market, both adventurers with spiced buns, still steaming with internal heat. Leif had a painted mask that vaguely looked like a deer which he had strapped to his side, it didn¡¯t quite provide the coverage he needed to preserve his identity, but the mask was made of wood and that problem could be fixed. He wasn¡¯t sure about actually wearing something with such bright colours, even if Nayet had practically bullied the shopkeeper to lower the price as low as it could possibly go. They stopped within a plaza, Tollumi gesturing grandly at a temple on the other side of the plaza, Nayet clinging to his arm with a mix of embarrassment and happiness. ¡°Behold,¡± He said, ¡°the temple where we swore solemn oaths, and dedicated our lives- Owch, what was that for?¡± ¡°I doubt Leif cares, it''s weird you¡¯re showing someone we only met two days ago where we got married.¡± ¡°Right, which is why I will mention that despite how relatively unimpressive it looks, the building predates the city itself.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to justify showing me.¡± The scion said. ¡°It¡¯s sweet, and I don¡¯t mind. Thank you for showing me.¡± Tollumi beamed, sweeping a bow that Nayet interrupted by poking him in the ribs. ¡°Is it always so busy?¡± Leif asked, noticing a near constant stream of people coming and going. ¡°No, not usually.¡± Tollumi said. ¡°Perhaps it''s a sign of troubled times? Or maybe it¡¯s just because the city is practically overflowing with people?¡± A family with several small children was led outside by a priest wearing white, and slightly ornate robes. The family was holding blankets and the father had a basket of what may have been food. ¡°They seem to be doing good, regardless of the reason.¡± The adventurers nodded seriously, both raising an open hand to the priest who returned the gesture before heading back inside, the robed figure disappearing behind a painted pillar. ¡°Receivers usually perform acts of charity, it''s a good sect, that''s why we chose it.¡± Tollumi said with a smile. ¡°Anyway, how about we get to the guild, unless you want to see the theatre where-¡± ¡°No, let''s get going.¡± Nayet said, pulling her husband along. Chapter 124: Twin Heart Chapter 124: Twin Heart The Twin Heart compound stood alone, a single building and its surrounding courtyards and facilities taking up an entire city block. A low wall with a peaked roof outlined the compound''s exterior, many passersby resting under the shade it provides. Groups of armed and armoured men and women came and went, their destination a monster hunt or some other guild activity. Banners flew proudly on the sea breeze, twin circles of dark crimson separated by a swirling pattern of black and white. The massive wooden doors marking the entrance of the Twin Heart headquarters stood open and inviting, but a large gathering of nervous looking younger men and women, several still in their late teens, stood off to the side as if waiting for permission to enter. ¡°Look at the cute newbies.¡± Nayet said, waving to a nearby group of teens who awkwardly waved back. ¡°That was us not too long ago.¡± Tollumi said with a smirk. ¡°I don¡¯t think we ever looked that nervous though.¡± ¡°Are they members of the guild?¡± Leif asked, stepping up and assessing the gathering of stressed and excited humans. He mentally nodded at the few who stood attentive and calm, silently marking them for likely success among their more rowdy peers. ¡°Not yet, they¡¯ll need to pass a series of tests before the guild will accept them as initiates.¡± ¡°Then they¡¯ll be attached to a mentor group for a few months before they earn their tin rank.¡± Nayet finished for him. ¡°Is that something you¡¯ll do? Be a mentor for a bunch of kids?¡± ¡°Not until we¡¯re bronze rank.¡± She said with a shake of her head. ¡°Actually, it might happen if for some reason the guild is recruiting more than normal and they need all hands on deck, we are basically there already.¡± They marched through the entrance, leaving the waiting hopefuls behind. A paved path led up to a large wooden building, the way was marked by well trimmed trees that stood stiffly even with the wind buffeting them. Overhead clouds swirled in chaotic patterns, a symptom of turbulence rather than anything to do with the guild or city. A large man with a receding hairline and bulging muscles stepped out of the building, laughing over his shoulder at something Leif hadn¡¯t overheard. The man turned, and his eyes lit up with recognition. ¡°Welcome back! Nayet, Tollumi! If it isn¡¯t my favourite pair of lovebirds, glad to see you alive and well!¡± ¡°The remnants of the monster wave were no problem, not after the undead took a bite out of them and they mostly broke against the cordon.¡± Tollumi said, tensing as the newcomer pulled him into a bone breaking hug. ¡°Jay!¡± Nayet cried, joining her husband in the embrace, though tactically placing herself on the outside of the crush. ¡°What happened to your hair? Is it a casualty of battle?¡± The man, Jay, snorted. ¡°Fuckin hardly lass. The alchemists ran out of ointment, and with all the new blood in the city stock has been abysmally low.¡± ¡°Aww, that sucks. You should really shave it all off though, it looks terrible.¡± Jay reeled back as if struck. ¡°Young lady, take back that grave insult at once, I will not have my honour tarnished! Ah, but who¡¯s this? I don¡¯t recognise their face. Not that I can see it, but I respect the fashion choice of wearing a mask.¡± ¡°A friend we met just out of town, we almost died facing an evolved Merfey that landed in a quarry. Jay meet Leif, Leif meet Jay. This big, balding man is an iron rank member of the prestigious Twin Heart guild.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°I trust that¡¯s a valid reason?¡± ¡°It... is. I apologise, one can never be too careful with current events.¡± He said, something invisible shifting in the air around him. A pair of passing adventurers stumbled mid step, as if they hadn¡¯t noticed the man up until that very moment. ¡°I am Lars, guild enforcer, what was your name again?¡± ¡°Leif, it¡¯s a pleasure.¡± ¡°Leif... Leif... that name... Ah,¡± He said, snapping his fingers. ¡°I do recall a Leif being mentioned after the incident with the Academy expedition. I will admit my... surprise to seeing you here. Regardless, follow me, I will take you to Darius, he is not an easy man to find when he doesn¡¯t want to be seen.¡± With that Lars turned on his heels and began to make his way towards a closed door near the back of the room. The man made a subtle gesture, and Nayet and Tollumi jumped in place as if receiving an electric shock. Nayet turned and made a silent ¡®O¡¯ before giving him a little wave and a nod of what might have been encouragement. Somewhat hesitant, Leif followed the guild enforcer, the man seeming to slide in between roaming groups of adventurers as if somehow unseen by the majority of the room¡¯s occupants. That man is dangerous. Leif thought, hardening his aura and tightening his focus. If this was some sort of trap, then he would be ready. The door opened without any apparent contact as Lars approached, and clicked shut behind Leif as the Scion stepped through the threshold. Functionaries darted in and out of side rooms as they made their way deeper inside the building, but none paid him or the guild enforcer any mind. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting skill.¡± Leif said as he followed behind the man. ¡°I confess that I have no idea how it works.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Lars said, then continued without missing a step. ¡°It¡¯s an application of my aura skill, and if someone knows how it works it becomes far less effective. You¡¯ll have to forgive me if I don¡¯t explain further.¡± Did he open the door with his aura? Leif wondered, letting his own aura spread slightly so his perception could partially leak into the rooms they were passing. To his surprise, there was more than a little resistance to the walls, as if the building was made of both physical and spiritual barriers. They ascended a flight of stairs, then crossed over a bridge that seamlessly connected the office to an adjacent structure. Eventually they arrived at a heavyset double door, the dark wood was engraved with gold, the pattern was the guild¡¯s symbol, with the door¡¯s seam breaking it down the middle. ¡°He¡¯s in here?¡± Leif asked, wondering if the young man he had met during the Academy expedition was influential enough for this to be his room or place of work. Though I guess he is the guild leader¡¯s son, maybe this level of opulence is completely normal? ¡°Yes.¡± Lars said simply, stepping to the side as if to present the doors for inspection. ¡°My uncle knew we were coming, but my cousin is unaware.¡± Cousin? Uncle? Lars is related to Darius and the guild leader? He wondered, stepping up to the door. ¡°It¡¯s polite to knock.¡± Lars said with a faint smirk when Leif didn¡¯t move for several seconds, then the man turned and marched down the hallway. So Leif did so, rapping his ivory knuckles against the door. A moment later a voice called for him to: "Enter" Chapter 125: Reunion Chapter 125: Reunion ¡°Enter.¡± Came the rumbling voice of a man within the meeting room. Leif didn¡¯t recognise the voice, but he had come too far to turn around and walk away. Though now that he thought about it doing so would be quite amusing. ¡°Who is this? If you were busy we could have had this discussion at a later date?¡± Came the voice of a younger man, this one Leif did recognise. As he pushed open the door two figures came into view, both sitting at a large round table positioned next to a wide glass window with a view of what were likely training yards below. Darius, a thin young man with dark hair and piercing green eyes was straightening up from his slouched position. The other had similar, if aged features, possessing a degree of gravitas and maturity the younger man lacked. The guild leader raised a glass full of a deep orange- almost amber looking liquid as a greeting, a wry smile on his lips. ¡°Ah but my boy, this is your guest, not mine.¡± He said, placing down the glass and standing in a smooth motion, his green eyes gleaming with a curious intensity. ¡°My guest?¡± Darius asked, looking genuinely confused as he rocked back in his chair. ¡°I don¡¯t know... who... wait... Leif?!¡± He exclaimed, quickly standing, almost spilling his own drink as he did so. ¡°Gods, I thought you were dead, you should have sent a letter. Wait, no, how could you have? Uhh, you should have come sooner.¡± The guild leaders'' smile widened as his son expelled a rapid series of poorly thought out words. ¡°See? Like I said, a guest. How about you introduce us, my boy?¡± ¡°H-how did you know?¡± ¡°Lars.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t contact me?¡± ¡°Apparently not.¡± ¡°Umm, right. Father this is... wait. Leif, this is my father, uh, how much does, I mean, how are you even here?¡± Ah. Leif realised. Darius knows what I am, but his father probably doesn¡¯t. Unless Darius told him what happened on the expedition. Did I just walk into a room with a powerful adventurer, he doesn¡¯t seem on edge about my identity but that could change at any moment. ¡°This is the unique monster Hera told you about, the one she hired on as an auxiliary healer.¡± Well, that answers that. He thought, a mix of shock, trepidation, and a slight amount of relief spiking through his mind. If he already knew, then maybe there won¡¯t be any problems. ¡°So he is.¡± The guild master said, striding forward, his smile still present. ¡°I¡¯ll admit this is an experience new to me, despite the many years I have held this position you are perhaps the first monster to casually walk into my guild. It¡¯s more impressive than anything, and I like the mask, it¡¯s so unstable that it wraps back around to being inconspicuous.¡± ¡°Right...¡± Leif said. ¡°Sorry for any issues my coming here may have caused, things moved a little quicker than I expected and I was so distracted by the city that it honestly slipped my mind.¡± Nikolas got a far away expression, sharp eyes focusing on something from the distant past. ¡°She did. Damn girl showed up the very next day with a splint and crutch she made herself. She was the only applicant to show up, and it was pouring with rain.¡± He snorted in amusement, returning to the present. ¡°Quite frankly she looked a mix between pathetic and insane, standing there completely soaked. Apparently her puppy dog eyes won me over, and the rest is history. Let it be known that without a keener eye than mine, talent may slip from our grasp!¡± Darius went to stand, then slumped. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll run the damn tryouts.¡± ¡°Wonderful.¡± His father said, clapping his hands together. ¡°What were we talking about? Oh, right. Leif, Lars said you had something for my boy?¡± ¡°I do.¡± The Scion said, summoning the Academy badge onto the table. The small silver token engraved with the likeness of a serpentine dragon consuming its own tail rolling slightly before flopping over front side up. ¡°Oh, umm, yeah, I was given a replacement a few months after the incident.¡± Darius said, procuring his own token from his coat pocket. Leif stared at it for several moments, then sighed. ¡°Right, I should have known.¡± ¡°Those are pretty valuable.¡± The guild-master said, somehow flipping Leif¡¯s token up onto its side without touching it and rolling it around the table. ¡°Part of the reason I allowed my very talented, handsome, but not very bright son to join that expedition. A decision I almost came to regret, thankfully it wasn¡¯t a complete disaster.¡± ¡°What do you mean, ¡®not very bright¡¯?¡± Darius asked, clearly displeased at the descriptor his father had used. ¡°Boy, you ran around invisible instead of studying. And you run around chasing women way out of your league, I know you¡¯re not the brightest because I used to do the exact same thing.¡± ¡°Want me to tell mum you said that?¡± Nikolas grunted. ¡°She¡¯s not in the city, also she already knows, bless her pure heart for taking pity on me.¡± He stopped the academy token from rolling off the table with a finger, then flicked it back to Leif. ¡°Besides, you wouldn¡¯t have gotten away with half the shenanigans you did as a child if seeing you scamper around trying to be sneaky didn¡¯t make her swoon. It¡¯s my own fault for marrying a [Rogue], can¡¯t blame me though.¡± Leif returned the academy token to his spatial ring, amused as Darius stood, the younger man shaking his head as if in disgust. ¡°Tryouts are in ten minutes, I¡¯ll go check on them.¡± Darius mumbled, then he turned to Leif. ¡°It¡¯s, um, good to see you again Leif, I¡¯m glad you survived. And... I appreciate you returning my token, even if I already had one. You can, uh, come with me if you want. I doubt the old man would mind.¡± ¡°Assuming you have the common sense to not go around shouting your identity, then I don¡¯t particularly care what you do. Consider yourself a temporary member of the Twin Heart guild while you¡¯re in our wonderful city. Though I will ask that you stay back for a few minutes as I do have some things to discuss.¡± Darius lingered at the door, as if unsure if he should stick around or depart. Nikolas shooed him away before turning back to Leif. ¡°I¡¯m going to give our guest my ¡®Those with Power¡¯ lecture, you know the one. Now get out of here.¡± ¡°You may as well be torturing him.¡± Darius muttered as he slunk away, his fathers words more than enough to dissuade him from sticking around. ¡°I heard that you little shit!¡± He called, then he winked at Leif. ¡°Actually I lied. Well not really, I will give you the ¡®talk¡¯, but there¡¯s more than just that. It¡¯s important, I''m afraid.¡± ¡°Should I be worried?¡± Leif asked, somewhat hesitant at the man¡¯s shift in tone. Chapter 126: Those With Power Chapter 126: Those With Power Leif and the Twin Heart guild leader sat alone within a large ornate office, light filtering in from a window that covered much of the right hand wall, refracting slightly as it passed through the glass and bounced around the room, illuminating its contents. A shelf with what looked like brass medals, a counter fronting some sort of bar. A couch draped with the fur of some exotic beast. ¡°Worried? Hardly, this will be educational if anything.¡± Nikolas said, taking a sip of the amber liquid within his cup, finishing the contents. Leif¡¯s own drink sat untasted on the round wooden table, the scion yet to remove his mask. The man leaned back, taking the monster sitting within his office in with a critical glance. Suddenly the man before him wasn¡¯t a father, an adventurer or even a guild-leader. He was more, a presence far larger than the physical form it originated from. Nikolas didn¡¯t so much as twitch, but the human studying him loomed over Leif, a force of nature rather than a man. He tensed, instincts built over dozens of battles for survival making the golden blood in his body run hot. Then the guild-leader smiled, and he was just a man. ¡°Let me begin with a question. What do you think I see?¡± He asked, leaning forward and lacing his fingers together atop the table. Leif considered the question, his physiology not allowing him to sweat, nor did it create adrenalin to spike his alertness. It was a blessing, in a sense, to be in control over a body that was more statuesque than alive at times. What does he see? Leif thought, his mind trying to decide how literal the question had been. ¡°You see a humanoid figure in a mask and cloak.¡± ¡°I do, what else?¡± ¡°You can feel my aura, you know I have the [Noble] class because of that.¡± He nodded. But Leif didn¡¯t for a moment think that he had adequately answered the question. ¡°You can likely get information from analysis skills, but I have no way of knowing what.¡± ¡°Physical appearance, auric presence, and system analysis.¡± Nikolas said, raising a finger for each thing he listed off. ¡°All correct, but simplistic. I¡¯m not disparaging your answer, but I will criticise and make corrections, elaborations. Firstly, I see a man, a traveller, someone with worn clothing covering strange white armour. I see the mask, and assume you value privacy, I see your golden eyes, and infer some sort of ocular skill.¡± ¡°I... I see.¡± Leif said, noticing that the man at no point indicated he saw a monster. Which is a good thing. He mentally noted, it was a little awkward to have his physical traits listed off in such a direct manner, but it was also very helpful. There was something liberating to know that his appearance didn¡¯t call attention to his lack of humanity. ¡°For your aura, I can sense several things. I can tell the rank of your aura skill, it¡¯s at rank three. But I can also feel that its strength far outstrips the rank. Which either means you have a skill that directly enhances the properties of auras, something quite rare without a dedicated class, or that you have invested heavily into [Charisma].¡± Leif remained silent, that was interesting but nothing overly revealing. That changed when the guild-leader continued to speak. ¡°I can tell that you¡¯re woefully under trained with aura use, that your aura¡¯s power comes from raw strength, rather than skill. This is understandable, expected considering your situation, but it is also the first major flaw in your disguise.¡± ¡°You can... tell from my aura what I am? How? I thought my aura skill only projected information determined by the type of aura it is?¡± Leif asked, somewhat taken aback that what he had assumed was a fundamental rule of aura¡¯s was incorrect. ¡°Auras display more than just what the skill description says. They¡¯re like an image, a signature you show others. Emotions, intent, experience. I can sense all three within your aura, but that¡¯s not what is giving you away. It¡¯s as I said, the lack of finesse and technique gives you away. The average person on the street wouldn¡¯t be able to tell, their aura skills are of a lower rank and they¡¯ve likely never fought a monster more powerful than a slime. The raw power is indicative of a powerful monster, if I didn¡¯t know any better I may have assumed you were of a significantly higher level.¡± Leif thought back to all the times he had fought monsters. He realised what Nikolas was saying made sense. The undead enslaver queen, or the ice elementals had been the biggest standouts, having used their presences to try and crush and smother. Suppress through brute strength. And, belatedly, Leif realised he had been doing more or less the same thing. It was an almost embarrassing realisation, to have committed so many free points into [Charisma] while fumbling one of the main uses for the attribute. ¡°It¡¯s something to be wary of.¡± Nikolas said, refilling his glass. ¡°Monsters have far higher stats than us lowly humans, but in return their skills tend to be more simple, lacking in refinement and, in the case of aura skills, rank.¡± ¡°I understand, I think. Power with little finesse will attract attention.¡± ¡°Worse. It will attract the attention of people like myself. You get a gold ranked adventurer on your trail and you¡¯d better hope you have some tricks up your sleeves. But I digress, the third thing, is analysis. I have a higher ranked aura than you, and a perception skill that helps me pierce stealth and obfuscation. I know you are at level fifty, I know you have four classes, I even know your highest three attributes.¡± He let out a sigh. ¡°Having four classes at your level is highly uncommon. I know your situation is... different from the norm, but it''s enough to raise an eyebrow.¡± ¡°I had five classes only a day ago.¡± Leif said Nikolas almost spat out his drink. ¡°Bloody hells, if you were a normal person that would imply two auxiliary classes, that¡¯s downright unheard of for someone of your level. Some of the strongest people I¡¯ve ever met only have a single auxiliary class.¡± ¡°How bad would that have been?¡± Leif asked, suddenly realising how close he had come to making a massive mistake. He hadn¡¯t known analysis skills that could see the number of classes existed, and even if he had, he hadn''t put together the potential risks of having an almost impossible number of classes. ¡°Bad? Ordinarily, not the worst thing in the world. But it would have almost certainly attracted the attention of those like myself, I don¡¯t think I need to explain why that would be unfortunate for you?¡± Leif let out a self deprecating sigh, though it came out more like a soft hiss. ¡°Another thing, I didn¡¯t even feel you analyse me, how is that possible?¡± ¡°My aura rank beats yours, your auric defences are like a slab of rock instead of a fortress, I have a skill that increases my subtlety in several key areas.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Nikolas took his silence for an admission of ignorance, which it was, and answered his own question. ¡°Most folks, farmers, dock workers, smiths, whatever, retire at level thirty. There are exceptions obviously, experience gained by those without martial or thaumatic classes is dependent on the challenge of their work, and their willingness to step outside their comfort zone. These people have classes that grant little to no power, and their attribute growths are lower.¡± ¡°That¡¯s higher than I expected, I¡¯m not sure why though.¡± Leif said, increasing his speed to keep up with the experienced adventurer as the man ascended a flight of stairs three at a time. ¡°It¡¯s because most people only have one class, and they focus on it completely. You have [Labourer], [Crafter], [Guide], [Scribe] and so on. They only get so many skills, and that keeps their experience penalty low. And so from their early to late teens, to when they retire old and wrinkly they gain around thirty levels.¡± ¡°Do they not struggle with the level twenty advancement trial?¡± The scion asked. ¡°The first trial is about being sure of the decision you made in the past. Not sure what it¡¯s like for... you know, but there¡¯s only so much regret someone has at that point. Besides, if you¡¯re not happy with the path you¡¯ve walked thus far, you can always commit to another. The level twenty five trial is simple like that, you just need to pick one or the other. Surprisingly easy to fail though, especially if you have too many skills when you start it.¡± ¡°Is the level fifty advancement trial about the present then?¡± ¡°You¡¯d think that, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Nikolas asked. ¡°And yes, you are mostly correct. Some people are superstitious about sharing details, but I¡¯ve never found that it hurts. It¡¯s about the different versions of yourself you could have been. Like if you¡¯d picked different classes, made different choices. It¡¯s a fun one, though it can get quite grim. If you clash too much with one of your alternatives, it can end up in a fight. But you¡¯ve distracted me.¡± He said, the two of them having reached a simple looking door at the end of a hallway. A pair of guards stood to either side of the door, and both saluted when they approached. ¡°Boss.¡± One of them said, hand to chest. ¡°Good to see you in good health.¡± ¡°Am I ever not?¡± ¡°No sir.¡± ¡°Damn right.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s this with you, boss?¡± Asked the other guard. ¡°Hmm? Oh this? It¡¯s a walking talking tree with delusions of having lived a life as a human.¡± Nikolas said, completely seriously. Both guards laughed. Then they stood aside. ¡°You always find the strangest people, boss. Good luck tree-man. Try not to fall asleep, he hates that.¡± The first said. Nikolas entered the room, Leif hot on his heels, the door clicking shut behind him. ¡°What-¡± ¡°Pfft, funny isn¡¯t it?¡± The guild-leader asked, a wry grin on his face. ¡°Ha! I wish I could see your face, it must be priceless.¡± ¡°What if they had attacked?¡± Leif asked, half panicked. ¡°Those two? They would never harm a fly, complete pacifists.¡± He said, walking quickly across the room and vaulting the desk on the other side. Some paperwork went flying, but quickly flew back to their original positions without the guild-master even turning around. He began to rifle through a drawer filled with what looked like letters. ¡°Now, about being level fifty. You need to understand how strong you are, I¡¯m not talking about in relation to other adventurers, I¡¯m talking about the average person. You¡¯re stronger, faster, more durable. Your skills can kill easily if you¡¯re not careful, and reckless ability use can lead to massive amounts of collateral damage.¡± Leif slumped into a chair, it cracked under his weight, causing him to jump back onto his feet. ¡°The chairs in here aren¡¯t enchanted like they were in the VIP lounge, careful. Do you understand what I mean?¡± ¡°About the chairs?¡± ¡°No, about doing serious harm.¡± ¡°Yes, I know. I¡¯m a healer so I¡¯ve seen the damage skills can do. I¡¯ve seen a town burn because of a single man.¡± Nikolas plucked a letter from the cabinet and spun around on his heels. ¡°Wonderful. The disparity only gets greater from here on out. Commit this lesson to heart, mind your actions, and one day you may reach the vaunted iron rank!¡± ¡°I¡¯m... not actually in the guild.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m aware, but it''s part of the speech and I had to say it.¡± He said, handing Leif the letter. It was sealed with a red wax emblem of a dragon eating its own tail. ¡°What is this?¡± The scion asked, taken off guard once again by the sudden change in topic. ¡°A letter from our mutual friend. One Hera Kossia, sent to me in case you showed up.¡± Chapter 127: I do, but he鈥檚 dead Chapter 127: I do, but he¡¯s dead Leif held the letter between two ivory fingers, the plain envelope standing in contrast to the intricate red wax seal, the stylish flourish of a serpentine dragon eating its own tail crafted with such fine details he could make out the individual scales and the pupil of its eye. The envelope was surprisingly heavy, slightly bulging from its hidden contents. ¡°A letter?¡± He asked, shooting a glance up at the Twin Heart guild-master. ¡°You¡¯re sure it¡¯s for me?¡± ¡°It came with a note stating as such.¡± Nikolas affirmed, the man sitting on the corner of his desk with an expectant expression. ¡°Well? Pop it open and give the thing a read.¡±Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Leif nodded, and began to peel away at the seal. He ended up having to sharpen the tips of his fingers with [Wood Manipulation] to find enough purchase to get it off. Within were several sheets of paper, more than he had expected, even with the letters'' weight. There was a large sheet, perfectly sized to fit the envelope, and a handful of smaller ones tucked in behind it. He gingerly removed the largest page, skimming the first few sentences to make sure it was the correct starting point. It felt almost surreal to be holding something specifically for him, as if this situation had somehow been beyond his grasp up until this very moment. It was unexpectedly heartwarming, and Leif had to mentally steady himself from the surge of emotions, a mix of joy and nervousness that threatened to bubble up within him. He removed his mask, attaching it to his waist along with the painted one he was yet to wear, and took a deep breath. ¡®Leif, it has been a while. I am writing this in the hopes you will make your way to Ahle-ho and the Twin Heart guild. I trust Nikolas, even if the old man talks far too much. This letter is being written because Marcus says he is no longer able to scry you, he insists that this is due to some sort of skill blocking his own, and not your untimely death. I¡¯m not sure how his skills are able to reach so far north, but he seems sincere, his concern genuine. I¡¯m no expert on the [Seeker] class and its many known promotions, so you¡¯ll have to ask him yourself. The students and I are back at the Academy, though things are busier than ever for someone like myself. The kids, though I suppose many of them are technically adults, are fine. So too, are the hundred expedition members you acted to save when those whose duty it was to do just that were unable. You prevented a massacre, so in place of those who are not certain as to your identity, thank you. Thank you for protecting those you had no obligation to protect, for risking your life for people you didn¡¯t know. Few would have done the same thing in your situation, and that is deserving of more credit than you are likely to ever receive. Of course, I also need to mention that it was reckless to the extreme. I saw the state of your physical form after we were victorious, the fact you live at all is downright miraculous. I can hardly criticise though, you wouldn¡¯t believe half the idiotic and downright suicidal things I did to gain my power. Nothing as noble as yourself, I¡¯m sure. But crazy? Certainly. As the people of influence I know keep reminding me, power comes with responsibility. No doubt if you¡¯re reading this, Nikolas has started to beat that understanding into you. I recommend you leech what knowledge and resources you can from him, then run away as fast as possible. Nik, if you¡¯re reading this, I am not criticising your methods, only the quality of your character.¡¯ Leif glanced up at the silently waiting guild-master, unsure how the man would react if he read that part of the letter. ¡°What?¡± Nikolas asked, cocking his head to the side with a look of benign serenity on his face. ¡°Did she mention me? Only good things I assume?¡± ¡°She complimented your methods.¡± Leif said dryly, his words causing the man to beam. ¡°Did she now? I left a better impression than I thought!¡± ¡°Right.¡± He mumbled, returning his attention to the letter. ¡®Things are changing, powers we thought were dormant are beginning to stir and war once again seems to be on the horizon. Can you believe it? Even surrounded on all sides by enemies that could squash us like insects, we humans continue to bicker and fight amongst ourselves. I don¡¯t want to make light of your situation, but being able to take a nap in the dirt for a few decades and let this whole thing blow over is more appealing with each passing day. Speaking of insects, Alfredi, his snake, that arrogant orc and I defeated the Awakened Enslaver, though despite our numbers advantage, it was far too close. I am fine, as is the coatl, Pocht, but Alfredi was forced back into retirement due to his wounds. The imperial representative for Ahle-ho that replaced him is no doubt doing a perfect job in reducing regional tension. I swear, it''s like Mekrys is itching for war to break out.¡¯ She sat behind the desk that had once belonged to their father, her face partially covered by locks of golden hair. Flavia¡¯s hands moved across a small section of her desk, her actions blurred by the golden world. She¡¯s writing. Leif realised, his mouth going dry, sweat appearing on his back and his legs aching with years of exhaustion. He wiped at his eyes, only to press her letter against his cheek. It came away wet. Flavia looked up, head tilted towards the ceiling as if lost in thought. She was the girl he had seen, only taller, more dignified, older. Golden grains of sand outlined the markings of weariness on her features, the crease in her brow, the shadows beneath her eyes, the slight down turn of her lips. Her jaw trembled, hands gripping the table as Flavia reacted to whatever she had just written. She looked so incredibly sad. And he had left her. For twelve years, likely far more. ¡°You better not die! You better come back! If you die I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Her past words rang in his ears, those of a girl fearing for her brother. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare not come back. I don¡¯t want to inherit your responsibilities for the family, you have to do it.¡± It wasn¡¯t a complaint, it was a plea. ¡°Please come back.¡± She had said, tears in her eyes. ¡°It won¡¯t be the same without you. So come back alive. Promise me Leif!¡± ¡°Yeah. You got it, I promise.¡± He had lied, not having turned around to look her in the eye. Seeing her felt like dying all over again, of laying in the mud, breath coming short as the end closed in. Phantom pain, repressed and forgotten lanced through his soul, but he ignored it, raising the real paper with his real hand. ¡®You ask if I know a Leif Vin? How could I not, I still think of my brother every single day. I know him, of course I do, but he¡¯s dead. What I want to know, Blade Hera, is why you are asking? What does that name mean to you, more than a decade after his passing?¡¯ It was as if a mountain was pressing down on his shoulders, an invisible weight trying to flatten him into the ground. It was too much, it hurt way too much. How could it not? ¡®Why does an esteemed member of the Academy want to know? Why do you want to know about a man long dead? Why do you want to know about my stupid, foolish, moronic, obtuse older brother? I miss him so damn much, so please, tell me why you want to know.¡¯ The letter ended, the words at the end having been written with enough force to partially tear the paper. The vision faded, golden motes falling in a shower of sand, turning into dust as the letter tumbled from his grasp. Leif staggered back, he felt weak, sluggish, unable to bear the weight of the past. As he collapsed, something blurred in the corner of his vision, arms somehow strong enough to support his inhuman weight catching him before he hit the floor. Oh, He realised numbly, mind going dark. I wasn¡¯t alone, that¡¯s embarrassing. Chapter 128: Unprepared Chapter 128: Unprepared The monster collapsed, but Nikolas was already there, having moved the moment Leif¡¯s aura spiked with a discordant mix of emotions. It was a good thing that his office, and much of the Twin Heart headquarters was warded against unkeyed presences, or the plant monster would have caused every worker in the archives on the floor below, and likely several working in the alchemy labs below that to have collapsed into an emotional stupor. It was the kind of sympathetic technique used by high level individuals with the [Noble] class, and any doubt the man turned monster Nikolas held in his arms lacked such a class was now long gone. The guild leader strained under the surprising weight of the half catatonic being, flaring a strength enhancing skill in order to pull the Scion up and over to a corner of the room. ¡°What have I done?¡± Leif murmured, though Nikolas doubted the question was directed at him. Whatever the contents of the smaller letters were, had been significant enough to have triggered some sort of emotionally sympathetic skill, though he didn¡¯t know exactly what. He had felt the skill activate, sensed as something beyond his perception temporarily expanded to fill the thaumatic membrane of the room. ¡°Flavia, I¡¯m so sorry.¡± The scion whispered. ¡°It¡¯s okay kid.¡± Nikolas said before his mind had caught up with his words. ¡°You¡¯ll be okay.¡± It was extremely unusual to be offering words of sympathy to someone on the far end of the human spectrum, but it didn¡¯t feel like the wrong thing to do. He sighed, propping Leif up against a wall and taking a step back from the seated man. Gods dammit Hera, what did you do? He fumed, using his aura to pull the larger letter up from where it had fallen onto the floor. He skimmed it, the information processing granted from a high [Intelligence] attribute making the task take a matter of instants. He was no [Scribe], his paperwork prowess came from brute force and practice. He was skimming the last of the smaller notes written by Leif¡¯s sister when a presence flickered briefly on the other side of his door. The room was soundproofed, but Nikolas could practically hear the yelp of surprise as his visitor made his presence known to the two guards stationed outside. With an effort of will the room¡¯s door unlocked with a faint click, then Lars stepped smoothly inside, the man practically gliding with every step. ¡°Uncle.¡± He said politely, dipping his head in the barest approximation of a bow. ¡°There was a fight between a handful of applicants, and they have been banned from participating in guild tryouts, otherwise things are going smoothly.¡± His eyes slid over to where Leif was sitting, then back to Nikolas. ¡°Tactful as ever, little Hera put an emotional ambush in her letter. It had a larger impact than she was likely imagining.¡± He explained, answering Lars¡¯s unasked question. ¡°I see... there was no... incident?¡± ¡°Other than my desk getting a few new scratches and one of my chairs getting damaged on accident, no, there was no major incident.¡± A privacy bubble sprung up around both men, the creation an act of silent spellcraft and aura manipulation. Nikolas was almost jealous of proficiency with which his nephew manipulated his more esoteric powers. He was a prodigy, no doubt about it, even if his levelling speed was only above average, instead of astronomical like someone like Hera¡¯s had been. ¡°Uncle, I don¡¯t doubt your judgement, but are you certain we can afford to house a potential risk within our Guild? With the state the city is in, not to mention the tension building between the disparate factions... I just can¡¯t see the benefit.¡± Lars said, his tone suggesting more doubt that he otherwise implied. Nikolas examined the younger man, it still took him by surprise how similar he looked to his father. Guild enforcer he may be, prodigy he was, he wasn¡¯t experienced enough that his uncle couldn¡¯t teach him a thing or two. ¡°You read the uncensored report just like I did, what do you think?¡± ¡°That an anomaly partially involved with the regional tension Ahle-ho is currently experiencing isn¡¯t a risk worth onboarding.¡± Lars replied instantly, the man silently judging Nikolas¡¯s expression before elaborating. ¡°The fact it... he, got into the city at all is a testament of how badly things are going. With the influx of refugees the city has never been so full. The sheer mass of newcomers is acting as cover for the other guilds to silently bring in their people despite it being against the guild accords.¡± ¡°All true, all true. But I think you¡¯re missing the greater picture. The Twin Heart guild isn¡¯t exclusively based in Ahle-ho like many of the other guilds, and as one of its future leaders you need to be aware of external factors.¡± Lars frowned, the same way his father used to do when deep in thought. Nikolas smiled slightly at the sight, but quickly suppressed the expression to avoid making the younger man think he was getting mocked. Sensitive to certain emotional phenomena he may be, Lars wasn¡¯t at the level where he could freely read the guild-masters'' intentions. ¡°I think foreign powers are using the turbulence to slip agents into the city. The imperial garrison already acts openly and with the support of the Prince, but it¡¯s an open secret the Republic is pressing for advantage in any way it can. There are reports of sabotage along the imperial cordon, though monster attacks are finally beginning to ebb.¡± ¡°Did you hear the news from Pridelance?¡± ¡°Yes. While the destruction of the Pherin dungeon uncovered by the Academy expedition over a year ago is certainly a possibility to explain the lack of monster attacks, I doubt the veracity of the claim. They didn¡¯t disclose the source of their information, and the outer branch sustained an attack at the same time.¡± ¡°Potential calamity. Likely ally.¡± ¡°I need a drink.¡± ¡°No booze in the office I¡¯m afraid, wife¡¯s orders.¡± Lars just stared blankly at him. Nikolas sighed, waving his hand and revealing a hidden compartment built into one of the shelves. The privacy bubble popped. === The sound of voices broke Leif out of his stupor. Distantly he had been aware of the two presences in the room with him, though he hadn¡¯t brought himself to care. He needed to do so many things, wanted to make things right. But how? And in what order. Even if intellectually he had known the difficulties of completing his goals, it was only now, confronted with physical evidence of his past life that it all seemed so daunting, an impossibility as he currently was. His vision cleared slightly, the blurry shapes of his surroundings slowly coming into focus. That was it, wasn¡¯t it? He couldn¡¯t go home as he was, he would just make things worse. He couldn¡¯t get to the Academy, his cover would all but assuredly get unveiled. But he needed to get to Hera, with her connection to his sister he could figure something out. Maybe send a letter telling Flavia that he wasn¡¯t dead? But to do that he would need to reach the Academy. How? He thought. I¡¯m not even sure where it is. Across the sea and to the south, but where exactly? Seig mentioned something called ¡®Lutum¡¯, but what is that? A part of the Academy? If the expedition could make it to the frontier of what was formerly the kingdom of Pherin, then surely there¡¯s a way to get from Ahle-ho to the Academy. But even if there was, was it even wise to do such a thing? Nikolas had mentioned several ways he could fairly easily be uncovered as a monster. But those weren¡¯t impossible obstacles to overcome. His aura control could be improved, his ability to block hostile analysis skills increased. And maybe if I can push through the advancement bottleneck, I¡¯ll get a clue as to how I can potentially gain a human form. Ram had been unhelpful when Leif had asked. Apparently the process involved puckering and wishful thinking, though the old goat had either not felt like revealing the conditions for getting the ability, or he had forgotten. But even with all the uncertainty, the path forward, at least for the immediate future, was clear. Advance, improve, learn, then travel. It wouldn¡¯t be easy, and he was potentially doomed to failure. But he had to try. By some miracle he had been given a second chance at life. For much of his time as a monster Leif had regretted what he had become, despised the form he now wore in place of his humanity. But he would have died in that battle, unlike the hundreds who had no doubt fallen alongside him, Leif had a second chance. It was time to start treating his life as such. He stood, slowly getting to his feet as a wave of unusual dizziness threatened to send falling back onto the floor. He exhaled, then met the gazes of the two humans who had paused their conversation to look at him. As was quickly proving to be a pattern, Nikolas had a glass of alcohol raised to his lips. The second man, Lars, had an empty glass on the desk before him, though he didn¡¯t seem to be in the process of drinking the day away. ¡°How do you feel?¡± Nikolas asked. ¡°You were pretty out of it after reading that letter.¡± ¡°I¡¯m... I¡¯ll be fine. I wasn¡¯t expecting to be confronted so directly by my past. It¡¯s hard to explain, but it hit me far harder than I had thought it would. Nikolas reached forward and slid the neatly stacked pile of papers towards Leif. ¡°These are yours, should you want them. You are a guest of the guild, and can do as you wish. I know Darius offered to have you join him with the newbie tryouts, and that offer is still open if you wish.¡± ¡°I... yes, that sounds interesting. But I need to think beyond that. I¡¯m nowhere near as prepared as I had thought I was, I need to advance and train, learn about all that I¡¯m lacking. Progressing was my primary focus, and still is, but I now know that my efforts were aimless and mostly ineffectual.¡± ¡°Well, how convenient that you find yourself within the headquarters of an organisation dedicated to just that.¡± The guild-master said with a grin. ¡°And don¡¯t put yourself down too much, you¡¯ve done fine, better than most people do trying to level up solo.¡± ¡°You are lacking in several key areas, and not to be rude, but your identity is a potential risk to us.¡± Lars said, expression and aura inscrutable. ¡°To rectify that I will teach you some of what you lack. For the guild, you understand?¡± ¡°You mean about auras?¡± Leif asked, trying not to let the sudden spike of excitement that fluttered to life in his chest leak out into his voice. Lars looked to Nikolas as if seeking approval, then nodded. ¡°I do.¡± Chapter 129: Auras for Dummies Chapter 129: Auras for Dummies Leif and Lars sat in the guild-master¡¯s office, though the room was absent the owner in question, Nikolas having excused himself several minutes prior. Lars was fully perceivable to Leif¡¯s senses, though reading the man¡¯s emotions or intent was like trying to see the sky while indoors. The man sat, lounging back in his seat, grey eyes partially vacant in the familiar expression of ¡®I¡¯m looking through my system windows.¡¯ He was a severe looking man, his tanned complexion and features similar to Nikolas and his son, Darius, though Leif¡¯s self-appointed teacher lacked similarities beyond visual. Where Nikolas had an open sort of intensity, and Darius an ephemeral timidity, Lars gave off the impression of somebody in complete, authoritarian control over themselves. His face was similar to his aura, both completely unreadable unless the man specifically intended to show otherwise. Leif didn¡¯t mind the stretching silence, he had a lot to consider, and even more to worry over. Both masks, his self made blank wooden construction and the painted mask he had bought from the bazaar only a handful of hours ago. He had mostly bought it on a whim, the purchase something Nayet had eagerly jumped into, the female adventurer likely more proficient with hunting bargains than monsters. Using [Wood Manipulation] he altered its shape and size, altering the underside to fit his chosen facial structure, while morphing the mask to provide greater coverage so he could wear it to hide his nature. The mask itself was painted with swirling blues and greens, with splashes of whites and golds highlighting the deer-like features it had been designed to mimic. Leif looked down at the mask, trying to fight down the surge of regret that swelled to life within him. He had been so eager to come down into human society and embark on his self-guided quest of reunion that he hadn¡¯t stopped for more than a month to enjoy the parts of his new life that he had grown attached to. He hoped Bam and Lani were safe, hoped the former wasn¡¯t causing too much mischief and the latter was learning all she could. The pair of now evolved beasts had been a constant comfort even before his first evolution. He had come a long way since being a tree in the woods. Both in terms of physical distance but also personal change. How much further would he have to go? The scion reached over the desk and smoothed over the damage he had done to the wooden surface, Nikolas hadn¡¯t asked him to do so, but it felt right to undo his mistake. He definitely wasn¡¯t putting off looking at the rest of the letters stacked neatly off to the side. He reached out a tentative hand and withdrew them into his spatial ring, the storage item having some free space after he had used the promotion seal. He would read them over later. Just, not right now. He was busy now, he definitely didn¡¯t have time. Besides it would be better to pace himself, that way he could read the letters written by his sister whenever he needed a... happy moment. Definitely, there was no self delusion in this train of thought at all- ¡°Ok, I¡¯m ready. Let¡¯s begin.¡± Lars said, the man¡¯s eyes having returned to focus. ¡°Right.¡± Leif said, jerked from his internal tug of war match with reality. ¡°Uh, if I could ask, what were you doing all this time?¡± The guild enforcer frowned. ¡°I was re-reading my notes on aura manipulation and training.¡± ¡°You... added that many notes to your aura skill?¡± ¡°No, I put my notes in a separate section of my system. I wrote down every single choice I made, why I made it and the thought process behind that choice.¡± You can do that? How do you write notes separately from your system? He wondered, half tempted to open up his system window and riffle through it right then and there, but Lars kept talking. ¡°Look into it later, we have things to do and I want to check up on how the tryouts are going.¡± The man said, leaning back on his chair, swivelling the two back legs to face the door, then standing with one smooth motion. ¡°Put a mask on and follow.¡± Then he was gone, striding out of the door and past both guards, neither of whom reacted to his passing. When Leif stepped out after him both men jumped in place, one of them cursing and putting a hand to his chest. It seemed that neither guard could perceive Lars, but Leif had no issues doing just that. When he had asked the man how he performed his aura trick Lars hadn¡¯t been inclined to answer, but things were likely different now. Instead of asking Leif focused, his perception locking onto the guild enforcer as his [Aura of Recovery] pushed out to fill the hallway before him. When it was a metre away from Lars, the invisible strands of his presence seemed to struggle pushing forward, as if there was a hidden patch of air subtly blocking his progress. ¡°Tell me.¡± Lars said, his voice being transmitted telepathically instead of the man speaking out loud. ¡°What is an aura?¡± Leif was somewhat taken aback, not just by the telepathic communication, but by the feeling of connection that was brushing against his mind. Whatever Lars¡¯s skill was, it clearly allowed for two way communication, unlike Leif¡¯s own skill. He thought back to the conversation he had with Nikolas, as decided to basically quote the man in his mental response. ¡°It¡¯s something that displays intent, emotions and experiences.¡± ¡°True.¡± Lars said after a short pause. ¡°But that¡¯s what an aura does, not what it is.¡± Fifteen minutes turned to twenty, then thirty as he sat and waited for Lars to return. He wondered if the man had gotten lost, or had accidently triggered a trap in the vault. Both seemed unlikely. A pair of adventurers stepped around a nearby building and marched up to the back of the line, Leif recognised both of them, and as they looked around they noticed him sitting off to the side. ¡°Leif!¡± Nayet called, waving. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Waiting patiently.¡± He replied, standing and making his way over. ¡°Did you finish whatever you were doing?¡± ¡°We did.¡± Tollumi said with a smile. ¡°Our nearly year long honeymoon tour is officially complete, and we are now off the registry of active adventurer teams.¡± ¡°We got enough contribution points to earn a reward each, but we pooled our points and upgraded our reward token.¡± Nayet happily explained. ¡°Normally they don¡¯t let you do that, but being married has its perks.¡± ¡°It has a few.¡± Tollumi added, earning himself an eye roll from his partner. ¡°Congratulations.¡± Leif said. ¡°I assume whatever you¡¯re getting will have been worth the effort?¡± ¡°Yeah it will.¡± Nayet said. ¡°Spatial item here we come! And without needing to wait for an enchanter to have a commission slot available. Life is so much better when you don¡¯t need to carry around luggage.¡± Leif nodded. ¡°They are quite nice. Even if my ring is quite small I don¡¯t dislike having it, the convenience of not needing to carry around a bunch of small items in my pockets or in a bag makes me glad I have it.¡± ¡°Mhmm, the low grade one¡¯s are really small, but they¡¯re still expensive and quite rare. We got away without needing one for a while with Hammer Boy¡¯s skill letting him store a set of armour and a weapon. And I¡¯d love a ring or bracelet for personal use, but it¡¯s important to prioritise an asset that will be helpful for both of us, you know?¡± Tollumi huffed, rolling his own eyes at Nayet¡¯s ¡®hammer boy¡¯ comment. ¡°With how valuable they are, don''t you worry about them getting stolen?¡± Leif asked, genuinely curious. His own ring was partially fused with his finger, though that fact wasn¡¯t obvious at a glance, instead it looked to be built into the ivory gauntlet he looked like he was wearing. ¡°Higher grade storage items have personalised locks, and if you pay a scryer to imprint the item¡¯s identity you can track it down if it gets stolen.¡± Tollumi said, shuffling forward as the line moved up. ¡°That isn¡¯t a foolproof method.¡± Lars said, the man materialising seemingly out of thin air. Nayet gasped and Tollumi leaped back, bumping into the adventurer behind him. ¡°H-head enforcer, p-please don¡¯t do that.¡± She said, hand to her heart. ¡°I enjoy keeping people on their toes, it helps with awareness training.¡± Lars said, expression completely blank. ¡°Congratulations on your return, know that the guild values your membership and supports your decision to take a break from active adventuring.¡± ¡°Y- you know about that?¡± Nayet asked, shooting her husband a glance, the man just shrugged. ¡°I know everything.¡± Lars said, completely seriously. ¡°Except, apparently, where what I came for was located in the vault.¡± He mentally sent to Leif, reestablishing the telepathic link. ¡°Whoever used it last has some explaining to do, because it most certainly is not a piece of armour.¡± Then he marched off, clearly expecting Leif to follow. The scion said his goodbyes to both flustered looking adventurers, then followed the enforcer out of the courtyard. Chapter 130: Trying Out Chapter 130: Trying Out Leif trailed Lars as the two marched through the Twin Heart guild compound. They passed by several dorms, each with a continuous stream of adventurers coming and going. There was an interesting dichotomy to the place, younger adventurers, those of lower rank would give way for their more powerful seniors. Few of the less experienced adventurers openly displayed their rank, though from bronze rank and higher the practice became more common, usually with a small pin crafted into the shape of the Twin Heart guild¡¯s symbol of twin circles. ¡°You have two aura skills, that is a problem you should resolve as quickly as possible.¡± Lars sent telepathically as they walked around a lowered series of training courtyards, one was full of people doing sword drills under the watchful gaze of an instructor, the other had two pairs of adventurers duelling, dust flying as their weapons clashed. There were large stone steps flanking both sides of the training spaces, some small groups of people lounging around or watching the training in progress. ¡°I know it¡¯s a problem, I¡¯m currently fusing them as we speak.¡± Leif said. He thought about prying for more information, and decided it was worth a try. Lars was in a teaching mood it seemed. ¡°Other than having overlapping skills taking up skill slots, and both skills taking time and effort to train up separately, is there another problem?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lars said simply, turning to face the duelling pairs. Blasts of force washed against an invisible barrier surrounding the courtyard as the four combatants exchanged a blur of attacks and parries. Two adventurers, likely sisters judging by their similar appearances, clashed, multicoloured energy coursing through their limbs with every punch, block and kick. Small spirits of different elements danced around one of the adventurers, the man standing back from the fight, exchanging a volley of elemental projectiles with the other pair''s spear wielder. Javelins fell from the sky towards him, only to vanish after impacting the ground and reappear in their throwers hands. ¡°There is a problem with spreading yourself too far conceptually, though this is more of a general rule for progression. Gaining experience, and indeed advancing the ranks of certain skills becomes exponentially harder over time. The more focused you are, the more synergies and conceptual overlap the easier it becomes. This is why you don¡¯t see people mixing and matching classes with little alike. A level fifty human could have four different thaumatic classes, each with a different speciality. ¡°But they¡¯ll struggle to advance.¡± Leif said, thinking out loud. ¡°Is that something to do with the experience penalty from having too many skills? Is it not just about the quantity of skills, but the variety?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lars said again, eyes darting around to follow the sparring match he was watching. ¡°I think it¡¯s why most monsters level up so quickly, though I suspect you will have more insight about that than me. Anyway, back to discussing auras. Having two or more aura skills has the same problem with having too many spell skills, or comprehension skills. They¡¯re all competing for the same resources: time, effort, experience. At rank five the conditions for ranking up those kinds of skills goes from technique to... alignment. It¡¯s not an easy concept to explain, but how you embody the skill is more important than how you use it.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s lessened by fusing them together? Or at least partially?¡± Leif asked, wincing as the man with summoned spirits took a fist to the gut as one of the sisters suddenly blurred forward past her opposite with the activation of some sort of movement skill. ¡°That is correct. There are a series of exercises and training methods you can employ to strengthen your aura. Meditation techniques and thought exercises can also assist in this, but they¡¯re not as important at your current level of advancement. I can teach them to you now, but you will need to start mostly from scratch when your skill fusion is complete.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Leif said, not particularly liking the sound of that. ¡°I¡¯ll end up having a third aura skill, I think monsters are forced to pick one at level thirty.¡± Lars blinked at him. ¡°You¡¯re not level thirty in your monster class? I... I had not considered that a possibility. Fascinating, I¡¯m sure those who specialise in monster research would love to get their hands on you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure how I feel about that.¡± Leif replied telepathically. ¡°But yes, my monster class is only at level twenty.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t want to get dissected by a bunch of madmen, don¡¯t go to the academy. Or at least, learn to properly hide yourself.¡± Lars said, stepping forward as the protective field around the courtyard dropped, the duel having come to an end. The two pairs of adventurers were gathered off to one side, towling themselves down, breathing heavily. One of the unarmed fighters jumped in place, turning to see Lars approach. There was a telepathic conversation that Leif couldn¡¯t hear, then the quartet departed, leaving the courtyard vacant. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to chase them off.¡± Leif commented, stepping up beside the guild enforcer. ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Lars said, ¡°they were already packing up, I just gave them advice based on my observations.¡± Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of what looked like silver bracelets. The enforcer tossed them over to Leif. The scion caught both objects, then looked down at them. ¡°What are these?¡± ¡°The toys I grabbed from the vault. Suppression bracelets, for aura training. Put them on.¡± Leif did so, placing one on each forearm. ¡°I need to attune to these?¡± ¡°You do.¡± He nodded and focused on the metal bracelets. Expecting the process of attunement to take several minutes, Leif looked back up to where Lars was standing. Suddenly their power snapped around him, his aura becoming compressed, restrained by a weight that tried to squeeze his presence back into his soul. Leif took a step back involuntarily, surprised by the abruptness of the attunement completing. You have attuned to an item! Attuned items count as skills, but cannot be fused or altered in any way a normal skill can be. Warning! Attuning to any additional items may bestow additional penalties! Leif thought Darius was doing a fine job, the kids seemed keen and interested, their attention focused on him almost completely, though some were staring around, wide-eyed at the spars taking place around them. A small group of guild officials started directing the applicants to gather in groups based on their level. There were three groups, a sub level ten group, a sub twenty group, and the smallest, an above twenty group with only four people. Darius practically teleported away as the guild hopefuls moved off to follow directions, the man appearing before Leif and Lars, mist sweeping past him from some sort of skill. ¡°Oh, hey. Didn¡¯t expect you to take so long.¡± He said, voice strained. ¡°I¡¯m sure you were handling things well without us? Nobody seems to be dead, which is a good sign.¡± Lars said calmly. ¡°It was a close thing, one of the [Mage]¡¯s thought she could display her power level better by targeting one of the guild officials instead of the training dummies. I have no idea how that thought came to her. I know most of these kids haven¡¯t had formal training, but there¡¯s a difference between not knowing any better and attempting murder in-front of a hundred people.¡± ¡°Does anyone need healing?¡± Leif asked, half amused, half unbelieving. ¡°No, no. She missed, thank the gods. Anyway, there are some pretty interesting classes this time around. There¡¯s a boy in the above twenty group who has an attuned class I¡¯ve never even heard of before.¡± ¡°A conceptually attuned class? What is it?¡± Lars questioned, his gaze sweeping the four tryout participants in the mentioned group. ¡°[Attuned: Spring], I have no idea what that even means. Probably some system weirdness, the kid doesn¡¯t know what it is either.¡± Darius said, mystified. ¡°Spring? Are his skills jumping related?¡± Leif mused, equally as baffled. ¡°No, it''s a healing class based around new growth. He can make flowers bloom with a domain skill. It¡¯s like [Druid] but even more specific.¡± A pair of under tens stepped into a part of the large training area, one of the guild officials creating the shielding field around them with some sort of crystalline device. It was two boys, both around fifteen years old, and both brandishing training swords. One of the boys charged forward, sword raised as silver energy wreathed the blade. The other lowered his stance, dropping into a defensive posture. Their clash lasted twenty seconds, the attacker being disarmed by a flourish from the defender. Now on the back foot the first boy stumbled back, trying to ward off the onslaught from his opponent. Without a weapon, he quickly yielded the match, but not without taking a nasty smack to the forearm. ¡°They were both [Fighters], yes?¡± Leif asked, watching as the victor raised his hands in triumph while the defeated shook out his arm and activated some sort of self healing skill with a deep exhale of breath. Leif could sense the increase in life-force through his innate perception. ¡°Uhh, yes, I believe so.¡± Darius said, though his attention was on the under twenty match that had just started. He pointed to one of the combatants. ¡°That one has glass magic, it''s quite potent for his level.¡± And he was right. The man, older than his opponent by at least half a decade, had conjured a tornado of flowing glass shards, the occasional barely visible fragment zipping out towards his unimpressed looking opponent. But the glass user couldn¡¯t be approached without his opponent risking injuries, so after a minute long ¡®battle¡¯ he drove his opponent into a corner where they promptly surrendered without even using a single skill. ¡°What''s his story?¡± Leif asked, gesturing to the sweating glass user as his conjured materials dissipated into motes of energy. ¡°Union of [Crafter] and [Attuned: Glass], level eighteen. Only one actual combat skill, but as you saw he made good use of it.¡± Darius explained, his usual hesitation gone now that he was a safe distance away from responsibility. ¡°Free class slot too.¡± Lars said, rubbing his chin in thought. ¡°What would you pick in his situation?¡± ¡°Uh, probably [Tracker], maybe [Psion] if he had the aptitude for it.¡± Darius said. ¡°You want good perception with all that glass flying around, and [Tracker] gets some light weapon skills that you could make out of glass with the right setup.¡± ¡°What about you, Leif?¡± Lars asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Truthfully I don¡¯t know. [Tracker] sounds like a good idea but I¡¯m fairly ignorant as to all the available options.¡± The enforcer nodded. ¡°Understandable. It¡¯s a lack of knowledge you will need to rectify. Nobody has all the tier two classes memorised, I don¡¯t even think humanity has discovered them all, even with thousands of years of history. But knowing all the foundation classes is a good way to learn about the possible powers you might face.¡± Leif nodded. He liked the sound of knowledge, and if he could learn by watching a bunch of fairly entertaining fights that was all the better. Chapter 131: Usage Chapter 131: Usage Flowers, ethereal and glowing bloomed from the dusty floor of the training field, conjured into existence by a back-pedalling teen as their opponent closed the distance with flames wreathing their clenched fists. His name, as Leif had overheard when the boy introduced himself to his opponent, was Jason. Jason¡¯s [Attuned: Spring] class made him the centre of much attention, both from his fellow guild applicants, but also the full guild members who were spectating or organising the individual matches. His long blond hair whipped around his face as he projected a blade of wind towards his much faster opponent. The other boy, who had introduced himself as Mareen swatted the elemental attack out of the air, rushing forward even as his every footstep kicked up ethereal pollen, coating his plain, and slightly scorched clothing in glowing dust. Whatever the strange skill¡¯s effect was Jason¡¯s opponent was unlikely to find out, the other boy lashing out with a flame cloaked foot to clip him in the side. The blond teen tumbled across the ground as he came to a stop, a buffer of conjured wind slowing his fall. He reached out, pulling streams of ethereal pollen towards him, absorbing them into his body. It was some sort of healing skill, though it was cut short when Mareen dashed forward and slapped the odd class user into the protective shielding with a flaming palm, causing them to flicker, then fade as Jason yielded, face smouldering. ¡°That is a very interesting class.¡± Lars observed, watching from the side-lines with Darius and Leif as Mareen pulled his dazed opponent up off the ground. ¡°Does he have a wind-based class as well? Or were those air blades something to do with spring?¡± Leif asked, sensing as the vibrant vitality contained within the dissipating flowers wilted away. Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) ¡°Yes, he has [Attuned: Wind] as well.¡± Darius said. ¡°Even if this is his second loss in the individual bouts, he¡¯s pretty much a sure thing with his unusual class, not to mention having two attuned classes before the first advancement.¡± ¡°Healing too, even if it¡¯s quite weak.¡± Leif said, nodding to himself. Several of the tryout attendees had self healing skills, though they were only successfully used outside of combat, the skills being too slow and ineffective for instantaneous healing. Leif wondered if that was exclusively due to the people using them being low level, or if self healing was a fairly weak skill archetype most of the time. A young woman fighting in the under twenties bracket dual wielding twin blades unleashed a devastating barrage of lightning quick strikes against her thaumaturgical orientated foe. Her opponent wore a black mask that covered their entire features, the magic they flung towards their more aggressive foe seeming to linger within the air, floating around like a dark miasma. Leif felt spikes of uncontrolled emotions spike within the dual wielder, a mix of hatred, anger and doubt threatening to overwhelm her mind. Like most weapon users Leif had seen fight, she was far faster and stronger than the magic user she faced, but that strength meant little when she started swiping at phantoms, screaming for her opponent to fight her all while tears ran down her cheeks. The fight concluded when she collapsed into a sobbing tangle of limbs, swords clattering to the ground as she curled up into herself. Her opponent staggered away, they removed their mask and threw up, gasping as if in pain. Mocking laughter came from the other tryout attendees, to them it must have looked like a pathetic display of both combatants flailing around, then falling over. ¡°An [Acolyte] Lars said, nodding towards the previously masked thaumaturge. ¡°Emotional manipulation. Can have quite the nasty variety of side effects for both the user and the victim.¡± The enforcer blurred as he skipped over to both distraught humans, his presence seeming to stabilise them emotionally. The under twenties shuffled over to where the over twenties had been fighting, the much smaller demographic having already concluded their series of duels. Darius¡¯s green eyes were watching the under ten duel that was still underway, two spear users circling each other, though neither seemed willing to engage. ¡°I see.¡± He replied, then turned to the dual wielder. ¡°Take a seat, we will discuss your actions later. For now you are not permitted to participate in the fighting. ¡°Y-yes sir. I¡¯m sorry sir, I don¡¯t know what came over me.¡± She said, eyes reddened with tears. She knelt, picking up her training swords, then she scurried off to the sidelines. === Vitras was having the time of his life. There were so few situations where you could really go all out, using every tool at your disposal to eke out any and every advantage. His soul twinged with pain from skill overuse, but he grinned and ignored it, watching the final duel of the under twenties come to sudden conclusion as a dagger user made a desperate dive under his opponent''s wild swing, stabbing the other man in the gut and driving the wind from his lungs. He clapped and cheered along with the rest of his cohort, though internally he was already preparing for the group fights. Vitras was no expert combatant, and he was far, far weaker than the four team captains from the over twenty division. But he had other advantages, and he had been skillfully using those advantages to subtly remove the most powerful competition. A silent whisper here, a subtle suggestion there. It wasn¡¯t strictly honourable, but it was certainly resourceful. His father would be proud, doubly so when he got a position in the prestigious Twin Heart guild. All he would need to do was put up a good showing in the final rounds, something that would be easy now that he was the only [Mage] left in all three divisions. To his side a pair of girls were talking about which of the four captains they hoped to join in the team duels. Sure, the hard hitting man with the flaming fists had gone undefeated against the other three in his division, but Vitras personally hoped he would be slotted with the strange plant mage. Anyone with a wide ranging healing skill, likely some sort of domain would be invaluable in a team situation. Even if his personal combat abilities were below his peers, his skills would be indispensable for the upcoming fights. Speaking of indispensable... He thought, pushing his way through the crowd and towards his next target. The older man, likely the oldest of everyone who had attended the guild tryouts, was sitting off to the side, toying with a glass bauble, rolling it between dexterous fingers. Vitras had already given the man a suggestion earlier in the day, though he hadn¡¯t ended up activating it. It was more a precautionary use of his skill to remove a potential threat, a threat the glass manipulator hadn¡¯t been, but likely would be if they were selected into different teams. His skill required line of sight as well as a verbal component. A verbal component he could make completely silent with his [Subtle Casting] skill. Life would be so much harder without my classes. Vitras thought, silently mouthing his suggestion for the glass user to forfeit control over his materials if the secondary part of his skill was triggered. His suggestion from earlier in the day had been slowly wearing off, no point risking it not activating and potentially costing him his rightful position within the guild. Vitras backed up into the crowd once again, keeping his movements casual and smile friendly. He planted another two suggestions on those he hoped wouldn¡¯t be on his team, even though doing so made him sweat slightly from the internal discomfort of skill overuse. He loved [Bestow Orders], of all his skills it was by far his favourite, even if people from other walks of life likely wouldn¡¯t agree. But that was why he was using an aura mask, his peers didn¡¯t have to know, in fact it was better that they didn¡¯t. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like anyone would fault him for using an ability he had rightfully earned, from a class that had been rightfully passed down to him. There was nothing wrong with being better than everyone else, and if anyone disagreed he could always change their minds. Chapter 132: Shitshow Chapter 132: Shitshow The number of spectators swelled to outnumber, then eclipse the number of applicants. The young men and women trying out to join the Twin Heart guild broke up into groups of around twenty. Each group was captained by one of the above twenty candidates, of which there were only four. About eight or nine under twenties joined them, and under tens filled out the remaining numbers. A small but notably dejected cluster of people sat off to the side, the failure of their application denoted by their lack of participation in the team battles. The dual wielder girl was part of this group, and out of all of them she looked by far the most upset. Lars sat with those who had failed, talking to each in turn, explaining the reason for their failure, and the methods by which they could improve should they wish to try again next time in the future. Darius stood off to the side, quietly mouthing the rules for the group battles, as well as some flowery speech about what it meant to be a member of the Twin Heart guild. He looked stressed, and because he was stressed he was partially shrouded in mist. Several applicants kept shooting him scared looks, as if instead of being overcome by social anxiety, the guild-master''s son was a figure of intimidation and incredible power. If Leif hadn¡¯t listened to the man wax poetically about nonsense during the days they were an auxiliary pair during the expedition, he too may have misinterpreted Darius¡¯s actions as sinister brooding instead of accidental skill use. He may ¡®umm¡¯ and ¡®ahh¡¯ frequently, but Darius cut the same striking figure as his father. The amusing dichotomy was quite fun to watch, but Leif found his attention distracted by a loud group of bronze ranked adventurers who were calling him over. They wanted to know who the team captains were, for purposes that absolutely had nothing to do with betting. The adventuring party had only just arrived, but Leif had been watching most of the solo bouts and was in a solid position to explain. There was Jason, the double attuned man with the strange class relating to ¡®spring¡¯. Mareen, undefeated and with the same [Brawler] class as Leif, though possessing different skills and another fire related class. There was Lyra, a young woman with an ice focused [Shaman] class who had unfortunately found herself completely countered by Mareen in their duel. Finally there was a sullen looking boy who Leif thought was called Caspar, he was the lowest level of the four team captains at only twenty one, and was an archer. His class was [Rogue], but he fought with a bow, Leif wasn¡¯t sure if he actually had the [Archer] class, or had gained bow related skills from his [Rogue] class promotion. The adventurers he explained this to then loudly relayed the information, embellished slightly, to the parties sitting nearby. Then the bets came flooding in, even a guild official dashed over and started taking notes and recording the wagers. According to the spectators, Mareen¡¯s team had the best odds of winning, an impression helped along by the young man loudly hyping up his team in lieu of strategizing like the other teams were doing. Though Leif noted that those who had been watching the individual duels quietly bet on Jason and his area of effect healing skill. Leif would have bet on the [Attuned: Spring] holder as well, though he wasn¡¯t overly comfortable betting on which group of children could beat up the other groups the best. Maybe he was soft? Or was it a cultural thing? A human thing? Probably not. The allotted time for the teams to get to know one another came to an end, a guild functionary running over to where Darius was misting up the place to relay the news. The man looked around as if for emotional support, Leif could feel the apprehension in his aura. So he excused himself from the adventuring party that was trying to recruit him for ¡®totally reasonable healer rates¡¯ and made his way over to where Darius was standing. ¡°Need a hand?¡± He asked. ¡°Uh, no. I mean, yes. I mean...¡± Darius let out a sigh. ¡°I need a full day without people in order to recharge, this is agonising.¡± ¡°That bad, huh?¡± ¡°Worse. Life is so much easier when nobody can see me. Apparently hiding constantly is a bad habit, I have a skill that lets me know when I¡¯m being noticed. Dad said I shouldn¡¯t have taken it, but it¡¯s basically perfect for a stealth specialist in training.¡± ¡°Sir.¡± The guild functionary said, rubbing his hands together. ¡°It¡¯s best to begin the proceedings now, lest this event run past sunset.¡± ¡°Right, yeah okay.¡± Darius said, rolling his neck and letting out a deep breath. ¡°It¡¯s just a bunch of kids, what''s the worst that could happen?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t say that sir, it¡¯s bad luck.¡± The functionary said, wincing. === Vitras watched with keen interest as the guild-master¡¯s son stood within the centre of the courtyard where the fights would take place and reiterated the rules for duels between applicants, this time scaled up for the group battles. It was the same stuff as before, no aiming for above the neck, no seriously injuring your opponents, no attacking anyone who had yielded. Vitras rolled his eyes when he heard one of his teammates ask if cutting off someone''s leg counted as a serious injury. Of course it would, healers were notoriously expensive, even for someone like his father. Luckily the idiot got cussed out by someone else before Vitras could turn and do it himself. The people of Ahle-ho might be stupid and mostly uncultured, but at least they weren¡¯t completely incompetent. Especially not the members of the prime guilds. In Vitras¡¯s homeland, the guilds were mostly subservient to the noble families and city administration, but up here they were practically royalty. The dark haired man with the almost shining green eyes was the booney¡¯s equivalent of a prince, and who knew what the tall masked man who was standing beside him was. Some sort of bodyguard? An elite assassin or monster hunter? Vitras shuffled from foot to foot, excitement building. Maybe he could ask his father for a cool mask and hood, he was already partially in disguise so it wasn¡¯t that much more extreme? The immaterial mask on his aura wasn¡¯t the kind of mask he wanted to wear, but for him to participate in this little event without his identity being exposed it was unfortunately necessary, even if it was highly uncomfortable. The guild-master¡¯s son finished his speech, punctuating his words by conjuring ethereal looking mist to swirl around him. It was the kind of dramatics Vitras highly approved of, it reminded him of skill flourishes people would perform in court. Jason, the nature magic user that captained their team yelled in affirmative when a guild functionary asked everyone if they had understood the rules. Then it was time to battle. Or it would have been if the [Brawler] with fire magic hadn¡¯t chosen the gloomy looking archer¡¯s team as their opponent. As the team with the strongest captain, the [Brawler] got to pick how the round robin of group fights would commence. Vitras tsked, a good portion of his suggestions lay dormant on that man¡¯s team, but it didn¡¯t really matter. As long as the fights didn¡¯t stretch on for too long they would hopefully last. Standing off to the side, Vitras and his team watched the first group battle. The swelling crowd roared with excitement as both teams crashed into one another. Referees called out whenever somebody yielded, took a significant injury or was restrained. Mareen led his team in a devastating charge, the close combat fighter dishing out serious damage with just his bare hands, weaker combatants being sent flying with brutal punches and kicks. They were going to win, and it was all going to be because of him. Vitras grinned, adrenaline pumping through his veins as his team, now on the attack and far healthier than their opponents charged forward. He didn¡¯t need to use [Bestow Orders], but why not? It was fun, being the hidden spider pulling the strings was exhilarating. The feeling of power and control was all but intoxicating. He ran forward, more a light jog than a sprint and focused. Vitras didn¡¯t care about the consequences, he was too far away from the glass magic user for there to be any consequences for him, so it didn¡¯t matter. He was like a god among mortals, a higher being. He was untouchable, and the glass user would be the tool used to secure his greatness. ¡°Obey m- Something flashed gold behind Vitras as a hand grabbed him by the back of the head, a grip as strong as steel lifted him up off the ground as an aura he thought he recognised crashed down into him, spearing into his own and suppressing him completely. The aura mask, granted to him by a necklace he was attuned to held, then shattered, the crystal containing the enchantment cracking under the weight of the one suppressing him. Father? Vitras thought, legs flailing, arms reaching up to scramble at the gauntleted hand that had lifted him a foot off the air with contemptible ease. No, it wasn¡¯t his father, the authority was similar but this felt more wild, powerful instead of dignified and controlled. ¡°Agh! What is this, get off me!¡± He screamed, voice coming out far more petulantly than was proper, but that hardly mattered. This crazy bastard was going to kill him if he squeezed any harder. ¡°No.¡± Came the reply, voice cold, hard and domineering. ¡°I don¡¯t think I will.¡± ¡°Let me go! Do you even know who I am?¡± Vitras screamed. It was a stupid thing to say, he had applied for the guild tryouts under a false name, so of course they wouldn¡¯t. Unless they knew his father. Wait, of course they would know his father, how many other [Noble]s were in the city? The fight around them had stilled, young men and women stared in abject shock as he dangled helplessly, still held up in one hand. With a puff of mist the guild-master¡¯s son appeared, scowl thunderous. Obviously he was angry at the madman who had grabbed him, anything else wouldn¡¯t make sense. ¡°Help me!¡± Vitras yelled, redoubling his struggling attempts to break free. ¡°I¡¯m being attacked!¡± ¡°This the one?¡± Darius asked, tone flinty. ¡°Yeah, he was about to do something to the glass manipulator.¡± ¡°Fucking hells.¡± Vitras blinked, what was going on? How did they know? That was impossible. Another man, this one the guild enforcer who had been watching from the sidelines and occasionally interacting with the applicants appeared seemingly out of thin air. Vitras panicked, the man¡¯s expression looked sharp enough to kill. So he did what anyone of his standing did when confronted with the consequences of their actions. He yapped. ¡°I am Vitras Nahn, son of Lord Antony Nahn of the Ahle-ho imperial garrison! You will let me go at once!¡± The enforcer facepalmed, the smacking sound could be heard across the entire guild compound. === The next few days would be described by anyone in the Twin Heart guild¡¯s leadership as: Politically tense. And if they weren¡¯t trying to be polite: A massive shitshow. Leif understood only small fragments of the bigger picture, but apparently the incident had caused a massive stir across the entire city, especially with the guilds. It didn¡¯t surprise him that the imperial garrison was widely unpopular among both the guilds, and common citizenry of Ahle-ho. What did surprise him was that the Twin Heart guild were one of the few openly in favour of imperial intervention within the city. The exact reason for why had something to do with foreign branches of the guild, and a long history of support from the empire. It was a pro empire stance that was almost unique among the prime guilds within Ahle-ho. So the son of the garrison commander attempting murder within the headquarters of possibly their only real ally within the city was the political equivalent of performing a lobotomy on yourself with a hammer. There was an emergency council among the city''s guilds, followed by an official investigation by the palace guard. A ¡®gift¡¯ made its way into the Twin Heart coffers from an ¡®anonymous donation¡¯ that Nikolas had called a ¡®Oh gods please forgive us and don¡¯t turn this into a major incident¡¯ amount of money. Leif had assaulted the son of one of the most powerful men in the city. But the whole thing was swept under the rug so quickly and thoroughly that absolutely nothing came of it. In fact, the whole incident ended up being really funny in hindsight. Or at least so he was told, It was hard to see how when his identity was such a contentious topic. He, and only he, had even received an apology letter from Vitras, which Nikolas had promptly framed and hung in his office. The fact the apology had been dictated to a single person, and not the guild as a whole, was some sort of face saving measure by the imperial commander, though Leif was mostly bewildered as to how that made any sense. Nikolas invited him to a mostly private ¡®welcome to the guild¡¯ party in the lounge where they had first met. And life went on. He went from stranger, to guest, to minor guild celebrity overnight. He trained, helped out around the guild, and once a few weeks had passed even explored the city. Turbulence raged overhead, ever changing and chaotic, Season turned, its cracked face slowly becoming hidden from sight. In this manner he lived, learnt, and improved. As a healer, even one with diminished capabilities due to his [Adept of Self-Restoration] class, his healing was shockingly potent due to the sheer amount of attributes at his disposal compared to others in the healing profession. And while he felt strange accepting any amount of payment for his healing, being paid dramatically sped up his progression towards his level fifty advancement. The weather changed, the city changed, he changed. Chapter 133: Dock Dangers Chapter 133: Dock Dangers Aaron pulled against the ageing rope, rending it taut with a sharp tug and tying it against one of several cleats lining the fishing vessel''s upper hull. Men, sweaty and rough looking, much like himself, sprung into action as the lower docks of Ahle-ho approached. Before him was a wall of sheer stone stretching from horizon to horizon, a cliff whose sole purpose was to hold back the sea from washing over the land. Tiers of wooden scaffolds and platforms jutted from the cliff below the midpoint of its structure, warehouses and elevated drydocks, slaughterhouses and workshops. Each building was worn, layered in salt and grime, and had seen the attention of a dozen generations of hands all working to keep it at least somewhat functional. A wave picked up the fishing vessel, carrying it towards the jetty they were aiming for as if by magic. Which was exactly what it was, paired enchantments built into the ship and its destination working in tandem to bring the vessel, its crew and contents home, without smashing it against the Ahle-ho cliff. Once they came within range a dozen hooks attached to ropes were tossed down from overhead, Aaron and the rest of the crew grabbing them and evenly distributing the ropes across the ship. Then, as the entire boat was being pulled skywards they each sought out nets and crates filled with the day''s catch. His own net, filled to bursting with small silvery fish slapped against his back as he hefted it over his shoulder. It was wet, slimy and smelled like death, but if you weren¡¯t able to ignore the many unpleasant fragrances of the job then the fishing crews weren¡¯t for you. He departed the vessel, booted feet smashing into the wooden platform the boat had been raised alongside, his coworkers doing the same with their own burdens. The weight of the day¡¯s work pressed down into him as his muscles ached and bones groaned. The exhaustion fled as he activated [Last Stretch], the burst of stamina and strength flooding his body, accumulated from the energy expended while out at sea. He trudged along the jetty, then up a short set of steps and onto the platform that acted as a road running lengthwise along this level of the docks. A single fish, smaller than the rest, slipped free from his net, falling between the gaps in the wooden planks below him and plummeting to safety. He ignored it, marching purposefully to the drop off point, then he could wash off and head home to the wife and kids, have a hot meal and- A scream broke through the efficient clammer of the docks, then a yell of panic and alarm. He spun, fishy burden knocking into the man beside him as Aaron turned to see the cause. A pillar of brine had risen to the level of the dock, a large orange shape, all spikey shell and wicked pincers fell onto the jetty and began scurrying forwards, beady eyes locked onto the nearest dockworker. Another pillar burst from the waves below, this one likewise carrying another monstrous crustation. Then another, and another. Aaron didn¡¯t have time to count them all, he had already turned and ran, dropping his bundle of fish, fleeing for dear life. But the crabs, Brine Reavers, were quick, they darted forwards, pincers flashing and blades of salt water slicing out to injure and maim. ¡°Shit shit shit.¡± Aaron hissed, a compressed stream of water cutting overhead, a man behind him letting out a cry as he fell to the wooden planks below. The strength granted to him by [Last Stretch] flooded through his body, his every step carrying him closer to safety at a remarkable clip. But it wasn¡¯t fast enough. He was only human, and a non combatant at that. Whatever his meagre attributes were the things attacking the dock had far more. A large wooden beam fell from overhead, it crashed down into the path, almost crushing him as wood splintered, sending tiny shards of brittle timber peppering his body. Aaron swore and fell, raising a hand to shield his eyes. Monster attacks were rare, but not unheard of, especially towards the tail end of turbulence. The thousands of fish, squid and other sea critters in the slaughterhouses were an easy, and tempting target. Aaron tried to stand, blood streamed down his forearms and legs where they had been struck by the explosion of splinters. It hurt, but he was- Another beam of water carved overhead, this one aimed not for him but the walls to the nearest warehouse. The crabs were going for their prize, but they wouldn¡¯t turn down the free meal of any humans that got in their way. There was a scream and Aaron twisted to look behind him. An older man, shirt torn and blood streaming down the side of his head had his arms raised defensively, a monstrous crab looming above him, pincer clacking and soulless eyes staring down at their victim. He wanted to close his eyes, to turn away from the execution of his fellow [Labourer], but he couldn¡¯t. Like watching an out of control carriage veering towards a fruit stall, he couldn¡¯t avert his gaze. Then something fell from above, slamming into the crab and pulverising it down, and through the wooden pathway. It was a warhammer, heavy and wide, constructed from woven bands of wood and shaped by a deft hand. The weapon fell with the crab, both dropping out of sight, the splash that followed being drowned out by the screams coming from all around. Aaron scrambled back, pressing up against the beam and muttering prayers under his breath. He looked up, desperate to see the source of the attack that had crushed one of the monsters in a single hit. The older man let out a low groan from where he still lay, Aaron blinked, forcing himself to refocus as he ran forward to help him up. Two more crabs scurried towards them, pincers clacking as they sought out an easy meal. ¡°Cmon, cmon get up.¡± He hissed, pulling up the older [Labourer] even as the two crustaceans closed in. From somewhere off in the distance the crack of skills being activated could be heard. ¡°Help!¡± He yelled, stumbling down the water strewn platform. ¡°Somebody! Please! Help- The walkway rippled, each individual plank of wood rising as if they had turned liquid. Then a figure burst through the fallen beam blocking the way forward, it seemed to melt around them, parting like cloth as it twisted and rose. The split halves of the beam warped into twin lances, tips jagged and wickedly sharp. Then both spears launched forward, zipping through the air with a sharp whistle. One of the projectiles was deflected by a defensive skill from a crab, the other found its mark as it impaled itself within the other crab¡¯s mouth. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The stranger was clad in layers of billowing grey and white cloth, gold and red detailing lining each fold of fabric as their clothing billowed in the harsh sea breeze. Aaron couldn¡¯t see the person¡¯s arms, but his attention was fixated on their face instead. Or rather, the brightly coloured animal mask that covered their visage, a grey hood draped over the back of their head. Sharp golden eyes glowed from within twin slitted eyeholes, a promise of power and violence as they burned behind the mask. ¡°R-right, thanks.¡± Leif conjured a dozen golden hands from within his multi-layered poncho-like garb. The fabric parting as each limb darted out to place a palm on each injured human. With an effort of will, he pulsed healing energy down each arm, the power spreading into every target simultaneously, wounds closing with visible speed. Retracting the conjured limbs he mentally connected with each patient, pushing the importance of rest into their minds, the direction bestowing the effects of a skill should they choose to follow it. By the time he had stood and was walking over to where Jason was leaning against a shed half of the men were breathing deeply, eyes closed. One was even snoring. ¡°It¡¯s crazy how everyone stops panicking when you show up, I had to pin down some of them just to get them to stay within my [Domain of Spring].¡± ¡°I have several skills that all help with that.¡± The scion replied, nodding to a group of soldiers that were carrying blankets. ¡°Here, take these.¡± Jason¡¯s eyes went wide as Leif summoned a handful low grade mana shards into his upturned palm. ¡°N-no, mentor I couldn¡¯t. Aren¡¯t these from the monsters¡± ¡°They are, and they won¡¯t do me any good, I¡¯ve outgrown this grade of mana shard.¡± ¡°But, still, that¡¯s a whole lot of money.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not giving you all of them, not when my new spatial ring has so much free space. I¡¯ll sell them once we¡¯re back at the guild.¡± ¡°Fine, but I owe you.¡± Leif snorted, ignoring the offer. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯re not needed here any more.¡± ¡°Did you know?¡± Jason asked, following after him as Leif strode away. ¡°Did I know... what?¡± ¡°That monsters would attack the docks, is that why you chose to train down here today?¡± ¡°Nope, I just wanted to have a look at the water. The last time I was this close to the sea I was in a fairly precarious situation.¡± ¡°More precarious than a bunch of murderous crabs trying to kill everyone.¡± Leif thought about it for a moment before replying. ¡°More dangerous for me. More birds too.¡± Chapter 134: Inspired Changes Chapter 134: Inspired Changes Leif sat alone, cross legged in his undecorated room, one of many identical lodgings available to guild members. He wasn¡¯t technically a member, he hadn¡¯t passed any initiation tests, nor was he completely familiar with their rules and culture. But Nikolas didn¡¯t care, and as the Twin Heart guild-master, if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for the rest of the guild. He cleared his mind, centering himself and straightening his posture. The metal bracers clipped to each forearm didn¡¯t weigh him down physically, but when he reached out with a mental command... The room seemed to constrict around him, invisible pressure crushing his spirit from all sides. He flexed his aura, combating the first stage of suppression and holding the pressure at an arm''s length. The first rune on each bracer lit up with soft blue light, their luminescence mixing with the flickering amber of his eyes to fill the darkness of the room. Leif tightened his focus, flexing his aura once again, gaining a centimetre of ground against the magical items suppression before the exponentially increasing suppression forced back his progress. It would have been an unimpressive display of his progress over the past three months, to be exactly where he had started, even with his newly fused aura. But the second stage of the adaptive suppression bracers wasn¡¯t a test of raw strength, but technique. He drew his presence together, condensing it into a spot before his chest. Doing so without weakening the protective barrier around him was a challenge, one he had failed several times in the past. But now... well, it wasn¡¯t simple, or easy for that matter. Multitasking two separate workings of his soul projection, maintaining focus on one task while simultaneously holding the other in place was akin to weaving together a tapestry with your feet, and with your eyes blinded. Difficult, but after months of practice, far from impossible. His aura condensed before him, elongating and sharpening into a structure of faux geometry, the pattern more one of spiritual intention than material creation. Then he drove it forward, into the clenching fist that threatened to crush him, and parted the suppression like a boat through the sea¡¯s waves. He held the projection for a second, then two, pushing himself just a little further all the while the bracers redoubled their efforts to crush his defences. Then the second pair of runes lit, and the suppressing pattern changed. Instead of crushing him it lashed out against his aura, a series of directed and violent strikes meant to spiritually cripple and maim. Leif had learnt exactly what being struck by the suppression force had felt like, and it was distinctly uncomfortable, not an experience worth repeating more than fifty or so times. A broad defence was no longer applicable, like how he had parted through the suppression with a directed push, now the onslaught he defended against was doing the same to him. Interestingly enough, he had more initial success against this stage of the aura training than the first two. Splitting his aura into smaller, flexible strands had been a technique he had developed independently, while undergoing self guided training after his re-awakening on the plateaus of Far-reach. This did not mean his efforts had been competent, or in any way effective. A lesson he had learnt with swift and direct instruction from the enchanted items that bound him. This stage too was passed in time, the mental strain of blocking, parrying and deflecting a seemingly endless barrage of strikes, as if sword fighting with an invisible duelist, both he and his opponent lashing out with barely perceivable blades. Though, after an exhaustive period of learning what failure meant, Leif¡¯s mental image of this duel had changed. A sword had felt like a natural, simple idea of what he was wielding to spiritually defend himself. But he didn¡¯t use multiple swords, not really and not usually. But arms? That was far more relevant to the present him. The fourth stage was akin to the second, maintaining a defensive perimeter while simultaneously attacking. The bracers somehow projected a slowly moving target for him to strike out against, all the while its barrage of strikes never ceased. The fourth set of runes lit up, his room now well and truly dyed blue. Leif¡¯s awareness of his physical surroundings snapped back into focus as with a mental command he ended the suppression from the bracelets. As fun as this was, now wasn¡¯t the time to push against the near insurmountable wall that was the fifth and final stretch of the training. He had things to do, tasks to complete before his next big step forward. Leif stood, stretching out his arms, both real and conjured, revelling in the liberating feeling of no longer being restrained. He rolled to his feet, mentally reaching into his brand new storage ring and plucking his newly bought clothing from the separate space in which they were being held. He had followed Darius¡¯s advice and spent the guild contribution points he had been rewarded, and subsequently earned on the upgrade. With the growing upheaval within the city specialised items were becoming harder to find, more expensive to commission. As the multilayer robes covered him Leif placed the painted mask onto his face. In his opinion it looked a little silly, especially outside of the festivals Nayet had informed him it was traditionally worn. But there was something to say about looking ridiculous instead of sinister, which his previous appearance, tattered cloak and plain mask tended to invoke. Besides, the children he passed on the streets of Ahle-ho found it funny. Leif knew Bam and Lani would like it too. With a final check up of his appearance, Leif was out the door to his small residence, striding down the dormitory hallway with purpose. With every day the number of people living within the building seemed to increase, more and more adventurers returning to the city. Those he passed greeted him warmly, some calling out to inquire about his well being. Being a healer who didn¡¯t overcharge for a single use of an underpowered skill went a long way to making people accept you, even if they had never seen his face. Leif checked in with the guild office to see if any requests had come through or meetings scheduled. There were none, so he made his way to the training courtyards. He hastened his step, and arrived exactly two minutes before the designated time. Bronze and Iron ranked adventurers, all members of the guild who operated solo and without a party trickled into the courtyard, some filtering into the stands but most stepping down into the space designated for duels. These were people at a higher level than himself, as someone at the level fifty milestone he was technically weaker than all of them. But the attributes gained from his monster class was more than enough to close that gap, or even overtake it entirely. But whether he was victorious or not was largely matchup dependant. ¡°Okay people!¡± Called one of the iron ranked adventurers from the nearby seating area. ¡°We¡¯ll continue on from last week. Keep the fights non-lethal, and try not to break the protective barriers. Most of you don¡¯t have a problem with this...¡± They trailed off, glaring at one of the thaumaturges with a particular affinity for explosion magic. There were some chuckles as the adventurer read off the list of training bouts, who would face who and where. Leif already knew who his opponent would be, and his opponent knew who they were facing as well. ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t our little masked friend. I¡¯ve been waiting for this kid, but I don¡¯t suppose you wore any metal?¡± Jay said, the massive man was all polished muscle, even his bald head was remarkably shiny. ¡°Still haven''t found hair ointment?¡± ¡°Ha! Fuck you, I bet fifty flakes you¡¯re bald under that mask.¡± Leif snorted but didn¡¯t reply. Technically he didn¡¯t have any hair, just a mane of crimson leaves he had to constantly trim lest they poke out from under his hood. They had to wait until the first batch of duels had completed, then both man and tree person made their way to the middle most field. The protective barrier shimmered around them, Jay started warming up while Leif mentally ran through his options and plans. ¡°How about we make this fun?¡± Jay called, his grin sly, metal loops having been conjured around his biceps. ¡°I¡¯m not taking the mask off.¡± ¡°Daww, c¡¯mon don¡¯t be so shy. You can¡¯t be any uglier than me.¡± ¡°What if I wager a seal? Everyone needs a good promotion seal?¡± Jay said, placing his hands on his hips. ¡°I don¡¯t have any tier one classes, so I¡¯ll pass.¡± Leif replied smoothly, summoning a pre-condensed wooden sword from his spatial ring. The large man frowned. ¡°I thought you had the [Brawler] class, did you promote out of it already?¡± ¡°I did.¡± He said, levitating the blade up above his shoulder. The newly gained power flowed through his body as Leif lowered into a combat stance. He felt stronger, faster, more durable than ever before. The jump in power when merging two foundation classes into a union class was far less impressive than the straight upgrade of a tier one class into an advanced class. Where [Adept] and [Attuned:Life] had combined to create something only marginally stronger than the sum of its parts, Leif¡¯s newest tier two class was something else entirely. His mouth stretched into a grin as he let healing energy flow into his arms and legs, two, then four golden arms springing out from under his clothes and shifted into fists. Jay cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck, the experienced arena fighter hopping up and down to psyche himself up for the bout. ¡°Well, then. I hope you can show me.¡± Leif mentally commanded the system to open, showing him the details of his latest promotion and the changes that had come with it. === [Brawler] ¡ú [Inspiring Brawler] Your prowess for unarmed combat is only matched by your passion for battle. You put your all into battle, your fists resonating with your force of personality, the strength of your being amplifying your every blow. Those who witness your triumphs are inspired to commit further acts of greatness, and your foes tremble at the very thought of seeing you in action. You do not fight to entertain, but your martial ability inspires awe nonetheless. Tier: 2 (Advanced) Level: 10/20 If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The force washed over him, but Leif¡¯s stance was unbroken, his legs unmoving as his clothes fluttered up and around him. His stance was sturdy, like, well, a tree having planted its roots into the tiled stone. Leif was buffeted by the attack, then he launched himself forward, running towards Jay, wooden blade surging forward to plunge into the human¡¯s chest. Jay just laughed, arms raised as a massive slab of ethereal steel came into existence overhead. It was the biggest sword Leif had ever seen, easily three times the length Jay was tall. The large man turned slightly, allowing the wooden blade to glance off his chest piece. Leif charged, weaving together a spike of aura that slammed against the human¡¯s own. The indomitable strength of steel clashed against the authority of nobility, of honesty and generosity. Without the past months of aura training Jay¡¯s ephemeral defence would have held. But with it, the man was suppressed for just a moment as a tide of benevolence suppressed him for just an instant, his massive blade, all but completely shimmering out of existence. === Aura of Benevolence IV: Aspects: Aura (Life)*, Social* Your auric presence carries the weight of your authority, generosity and genuine intent. Those within your aura have their physical and emotional pain soothed, and receive a greater benefit from all sources of healing. You can control your aura in ways that are impossible without an aura skill. Notes: All this time, and the Kossia family is still causing me trouble. Not entirely sure what kind of trouble they were making before, but if it''s anything like Hera now then I fully understand my previous self and his well-founded fear. RUN AWAY! Or something. === But it wasn¡¯t just the newly forged aura that struck Jay, for Leif had increased the skill up from rank three, to rank four in the time since the fusion had completed. It turned out embodying what it meant to be benevolent alongside rigorous re-training was enough to break-through into the next rank. A meaty arm swung towards Leif as the Scion closed in, he raised a golden hand, catching the blow and carrying the momentum to twist Jay around, lifting the large man by the waist and slamming him down into the ground. The increasingly invested crowd of onlookers ¡®ooed¡¯ at the blow. Leif called back his wooden blade, looking down at the crumpled form of- A slab of steel rushed for the side of Leif¡¯s head, he just managed to bring up his real arm in time to block the strike. The ivory bark of his arm cracked, the sound like the breaking of bone. Fortunately he was fully covered, there was no risk of his physique being exposed like this. Jay laughed, spitting to the side as he leapt to his feet. One of the metal bands around his biceps was missing, now swimming through the air like an eel. ¡°Damn son, you¡¯re not half bad. You should join the arena, I bet the guys running it might even let you keep the mask, a bunch of the lads have them while they fight. Though they¡¯ll likely pick something more scary, maybe a golden dragon? I could pitch it for you if you want?¡± ¡°Thanks for the offer, but I¡¯d rather spend my free time putting high society healers out of business by healing the needy.¡± Jay laughed again, working pain out of his neck. ¡°Yeah I heard about that from Tollumi, I hear they hate you. Honestly, fuckem, bunch of pricks.¡± Leif slightly slackened his stance, feeling the structure of his arm already heal completely. ¡°I haven''t seen him in a while, how is he doing?¡± ¡°Oh he¡¯s doing fine, Nayet has him by the balls, like usual.¡± Jay said, grinning slyly. ¡°You know, they¡¯re gonna name me the godfather of their kid. Me? Can you believe it?¡± ¡°No, I can¡¯t. Did Nayet agree to it, hells, did Tollumi agree to it?¡± ¡°Well, no. I haven''t talked to them about it yet.¡± Leif let out a bark of laughter. Then he surged vitality through his body and punched the man in the face. The [Adept of Self-Restoration] skill, newly fused from [Life-Fused Fist] and [Embolden Vegetation] flooding the attack with power. === [Surge of Life and Growth] Aspects: Technique (Life)*, Nature, Empowerment (Body)* You may channel healing energy into a limb to empower it temporarily, allowing for far more force behind every attack. You may transfer the energy into a target you are touching with the empowered limb to rapidly heal them and promote regenerative growth. You may supercharge the life-force within yourself or a target you are touching, dramatically increasing the rate of recovery and growth. This effect is more potent when used on flora, both mundane and magical. This effect lingers for a duration determined by how much life-force was stimulated. Repeated use of this skill on the same limb or target reduces its efficacy. === Five minutes later Jay lay sprawled out on the ground, body covered in slowly mending bruises as some sort of self healing skill slowly went to work. Leif sat beside him, chin in the palm of a golden hand. Bent and dented steel shapes littered the courtyard around the two combatants, many of them sporting fist shaped holes. ¡°I don¡¯t need healing, give me an hour and I¡¯ll be good as new.¡± The human said, wincing slightly as he tried to move. ¡°Not to be rude, but your self healing skill is shit.¡± ¡°Ugh, it¡¯s usually faster, is whatevers rattling my skull doing something to slow it down?¡± ¡°I... I¡¯m not actually sure. Maybe? Possibly? At least let me heal you so its-¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a charity case! I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Leif ignored him, slapping a palm to the man''s chest and pumping him full of gilded vitality. Jay howled as if the damage to his pride was a thousand times worse than the physical pain he was under. ¡°Get up, the next pair needs this field.¡± Chapter 135: Precipice Chapter 135: Precipice There was a quiet rumble to the streets of Ahle-ho, the way people moved from building to building, their steps quick and their heads down as if to ward off misfortune by speed and subtlety. The number of people had risen like the tide, then ebbed down into a trickle. Thousands of refugees had been relocated to what was being dubbed as Ahle-ho¡¯s newest expansion, though as of present, it was more of a shanty town, barely a step away from slum. Leif had learnt much about the coastal city in his time living within it, its streets and slopes going from alien to familiar, the bustling bazaars and markets no longer places his perceptions would become overwhelmed within. He had even seen the sewers below the city, the grand network of stone tiled tunnels described to him as a ¡®mastery of engineering.¡¯ As a side note: slimes were adorable. They were less adorable when they melted through clothing and ate away at flesh and muscle. The monsters grew quite quickly and into sizes that could block tunnels and waterways. They were bottom feeders, harmless unless you got too close or tried to give them a hug. For many of the city''s youth, and indeed several members of the Twin Heart guild, slaying them was a rite of passage, the way they had earned their first few levels in their combat classes. In his time living within Ahle-ho Leif had slowly chipped away at the things he needed, or wished to accomplish. His aura training was a necessary and important part of most of his days, as was training and learning. As a healer with a vaguely nature based class, he had been offered the mentor position for Jason, a role Nikolas had encouraged him to take. The guild-master had been friendly and welcoming, he had listened to Leif¡¯s story of the attack at Klos and the bandits beyond the imperial cordon. The ciphered letters Leif had looted from the lead bandit had been studied and quickly broken by an expert the man had hired. The story was as expected. The bandits were in part funded by foreign agents to attack key areas that would put pressure on not just the Ahle-ho government, but also the empire. The bandit group Leif and the others had encountered were meant to target merchant caravans along a coastal trade route partially sponsored by the empire. What was disappointing was how unexpected the news was to Nikolas. So too, was his inability to act on the information. Banditry was on a rise across the region, and the guilds were already assisting law enforcement and the state¡¯s private armies wherever they could. But the duty of adventurers was the hunting and slaying of monsters, and while higher ranked guild members had a certain amount of legal authority to act as vigilantes with the current political climate, doing so was very much discouraged. Nikolas had been amused however, by Leif''s story about the Pherin dungeon. How a single monster had completed what several expeditions had failed to even get close to achieving. Apparently Leif¡¯s own homeland of Varan had been responsible for many of the attempts at reaching the lost city, but due to the monster waves caused by the dungeon break they had failed to push beyond the limits of the human frontier. Apparently the undead hadn¡¯t been the primary threat to the region, but instead the secondary threat. The sudden appearance of the undead and the rapid degradation of the environment had caused mass migrations from both monster and beast. The northern mountains were populated by powerful beings that those who lived in the foothills and valleys couldn¡¯t compete with, so instead they had fled south, right into human territory. === The small bell tinkled overhead as Leif stepped into the enchanter''s shop. The small and tightly packed store was full of harried looking customers and staff, the many displays covered in faintly glowing glass, the items within appearing mundane, if well crafted. But nothing sold within the shop was mundane, and the wiry looking owner would yell at anyone who so much as whispered anything to the contrary. Leif waited for ten minutes before one of the store assistants finally got around to seeing him. He handed over an order chip and the woman scurried off behind the counter. Several minutes later the shop''s owner slunk in from a back room, their wide glasses partially fogged and their apron covered in ink stains and prismatic dust. A small wooden box was produced, and money was exchanged. Leif popped open the lid with a thought and beheld the item within. ¡°It¡¯s called a warp pendant, containing a single use of the same skill. It¡¯s a single-use item, the kind that doesn¡¯t need to be attuned to. But once the skill contained within has been expended, the item needs to be manually recharged. [Warp] teleports you to a random nearby location, somewhere you could physically travel on foot, but not necessarily within line of sight. Don¡¯t do anything stupid with it, the skill won¡¯t backfire unless you use it in a really idiotic location, but if it does backfire you may end up with an arm or leg stuck inside something it really shouldn¡¯t be.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Leif said, plucking the plain looking pendant from where it lay atop a small velvet cushion. He examined it under the light, then pulled it into his storage ring. As an enchanted item, or as with any item that was magical, it took up more space than its physical size would indicate. But with his new ring, purchased courtesy of somewhat dubiously gained ¡®contribution points¡¯ it was no problem. ¡°Any way I could recharge this myself?¡± The owner snorted. ¡°Not unless you have extensive experience with space-aspected magic, feeding power into it that isn¡¯t aligned with the skill within will cause the item to degrade rapidly, or even break. So no, take it to an enchanter.¡± Leif nodded, then departed the store. It had taken the better part of two months to get the thing recharged, not a particularly sound investment of his time or money. But now he had an unreliable mode of short ranged transportation. With that done he had now taken care of every single one of the bandit¡¯s possessions. Well, other than the silver coins he was still carrying around. He¡¯d get rid of them, but why bother? They weren¡¯t taking up much space. The mid morning sun beamed down from overhead, filtering through multi-coloured tarps that fluttered from window sills or balconies. The painted walls of most buildings were chipped and damaged, worn down over the months turbulence had ravaged the city from on high. Leif had questioned the logic of painting houses and shops when the paint would be stripped away by the harsh weather, but apparently that was exactly the point. The people painted their homes to gauge how severe turbulence was, a sort of long term spectator sport that the community would come together to prepare for. Entire streets would be repainted with the same colours and patterns, children putting hand-prints up as high as they could reach. But none of that was happening, the atmosphere of the city pressuring those attempting to partake in the tradition to wait for a more symbolic time. While no crisis had befallen Ahle-ho in the time Leif had lived within the city, everything seemed to teeter ever closer to an invisible ledge, as if balanced on the precipice. It was unnerving, especially with his ability to sense the emotional state of those around him. The smothering haze of anxiety and trepidation was almost suffocating at times. Leif had a week left within Ahle-ho before he would depart for the empire, and before that he would be as ready as possible. He turned down a wide street, sticking to the sidewalk in order to avoid the cart traffic that rumbled down the middle of the street. There was shouting from ahead, a merchant''s wagon had lost a wheel, the incident holding up traffic and causing tension to rise. A young man worked to repair the wagon even as the yelling increased in volume and intensity. Leif stepped up beside the broken vehicle and lifted it with a golden hand. The young man glanced up, eyes thankful as he attached the spare and screwed it in place. It would need more work to be fully road worthy, but for now it would hopefully prevent a brawl. Leif continued on, the man waving thanks, the wagon''s owner not even noticing as he yelled back at another agitated driver. === A priest in plain white robes handed out blankets and small packages of dried food to the loitering crowd outside the temple. Several attendants assisted the elderly and sick, passing out cups of water and taking what few donations were given in return. The receiver temple stood proud within the courtyard, the pillars lining the structures face the only part of the street that had been repainted. Worshipers came and went in quiet reverence, heads bowed and expression contemplative. Many wore masks, though plain and unpainted, making the temple one of the few places within the city that Leif didn¡¯t feel somewhat awkward for keeping his identity hidden behind his own mask. Mosaic depictions of natural phenomena lined the temple''s interior, many people kneeling before them in silent veneration. A man knelt before a display of growth and warmth, head bowed and face unmasked. Though they were turned away from Leif, he recognised the man¡¯s long blond hair and slight stubble. Jason let out a long sigh, then rose to his feet, the young man turned and saw Leif standing off to the side. He quickly stepped over, frown changing into a smile. ¡°Mentor, welcome. I didn¡¯t expect to see you here so soon.¡± He said, voice soft so the sound wouldn¡¯t carry. ¡°No sense in delaying. Any luck on your end? Have the gods answered your questions?¡± ¡°Ha, no. Unfortunately not, I¡¯m still as ignorant as ever as to the nature of spring. Not that I¡¯m entirely surprised, I may have come to the city in part because of its temples, but expecting divine assistance for my mortal problems isn¡¯t wise.¡± ¡°I have no idea how you can become attuned to a concept you don¡¯t understand. It feels as though the system is playing a joke of some sort.¡± Leif said, half serious. The receivers weren¡¯t as strict as the other faiths, or at least that¡¯s what Leif had been told, but they still took their worship of the system seriously. ¡°Maybe. The priests don¡¯t know what it is, the scholars don¡¯t know what it is, and the guild is equally clueless. Anyway, you¡¯re here for your advancement aren¡¯t you, mentor?¡± Leif nodded. While the question had been in the back of his mind, he had wondered how people went about their system upgrades. Did they do them at home? In their bedrooms or some other room of the house? Some did, but most chose to undergo their advancements and promotions within the specialised rooms that most temples provided free of charge. Leif had already done his [Brawler] promotion within this very temple, and now with fifteen skills and plenty of achievements under his belt he was ready for whatever the advancement trial would throw at him. In preparation he had read through the letters written by his sister. They weren¡¯t easy reads, but none of them had triggered [Sympathy from Experience] like the first one had. Even still, the grief in the words written by Flavia had stung him somewhere in the soul, only with significant effort had he maintained his composure. A priest guided him towards one of the unoccupied chambers as he recalled the letters, trying to steady his mentality in the here and now. Hera hadn¡¯t directly stated that he was still alive, instead the Academy blade had claimed to have encountered somebody familiar with the name ¡®Leif Vin¡¯, and she was investigating because of it. A part of Leif suspected that Flavia didn¡¯t believe Hera, or at least not completely. Her written responses were mostly polite and forthcoming, but his sister had been constantly angling for more information. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Leif waved farewell to Jason as the stone door slid closed and let out a long, whistling sigh. A part of him was angry, though the emotion was largely directionless. He had been angry that Hera had contacted his family, had taken the step, the step that should have been his. But at the same time he felt relief, relief that the bandage had been ripped off, that he hadn¡¯t needed to be the one to extend that first branch of connection to his past life. Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Sympathy from Experience / Consuming Aeons / Font of Life III / Tree of Respite / The Amber Path / Amber Aegis / Wood Manipulation / Meditations on Eternity Classes: 2/3 Inspiring Brawler: 10/20 Skills: Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess III / Fists of Awe Adept of Self-Restoration: 10/20 Skills: Surge of Life and Growth / Aura of Benevolence IV Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Grand Action / Legacy Attuned Items: 0 === He let his vision dim, slowly slipping into meditation even as he pushed and retracted vitality into his extremities. He breathed in, then out, pulsing his aura in time with every breath. The nerves began to fade, the uncertainty drifting into the back of his mind. Unbidden, he recalled the description of the last of his newly fused skill. === Meditations on Eternity: Aspects: Social (Time)*, Enhancement (Mind) (Body)* (Life)* Your words and actions carry with them the weight of the past. You have an improved memory, with significant events and experiences personally witnessed carrying a greater significance. You may create a one way telepathic link with those nearby. You may bestow your understanding through lessons learnt and experience gained from the past via metaphor and image. While meditating you recover both physically and mentally at a faster rate, and your ability to concentrate is improved while you are well rested. You may bestow this effect onto those resting nearby, though at a reduced efficacy. The longer you live, the more potent this skill''s effects. === [Wisdom of the Ages] and [Meditative Respite] had become [Meditations on Eternity], a highly exaggerated name for a simple little skill. It was both interesting, and quite amusing how many times the capstone skill of his [Amber Blight Spriggan] class had changed its name. This was the third in almost as many months. Was it strange that his monster class had given him such an odd ability as its capstone? Maybe, he didn¡¯t really have anything to compare it against. He flexed his limbs, feeling the flowing life-force within. Of all his fusions, outside of his new aura, [Surge of Life and Growth] was his favourite. It had been a risk to use the [Adept of Self-Restoration] skill [Life-fused Fist] as a baseline for the fusion, but it had worked out just as he had hoped. [Embolden Vegetation] was a good skill, a really good skill. But the skill¡¯s main strength was the same as its main problem: immense synergy with his cultivated vitality. When used on himself, the skill would explosively mix with his life-force to heal his body and spur it to grow. Which was an incredibly potent effect, the skill having saved his life on several occasions. But, it also did substantial amounts of damage to his body, the risk to his life almost outweighing the healing it provided. So he could have sat on the skill, kept it in his back pocket for just the right moment, then suffer the backlash. Or, he could have fused it into something with more control, less overall power but far more constant use. Now the pool of cultivated energy, normally placid and unused except when healing his body or empowering his skills, was like a constantly moving stream within him. The life-force moved down one arm, then up into the next, strength and power flooding into each limb before quickly retreating. Leif stretched his fingers, then realised he had gotten himself distracted. The new skills and his [Charisma] scaling from [Inspiring Brawler] was a massive increase in power, potentially even more than his monster class evolution. Leif¡¯s golden eyes flickered back to life under his mask, he leant back, looking up at the stone room¡¯s ceiling. He had almost forgotten perhaps the most important part of the level fifty advancement. He wasn¡¯t human. He was a monster. Whatever changes happened to monsters that passed this bottleneck were largely unknown to him, but those he did know, like gaining access to normal classes he already had. He knew that whatever he was, the system likely classified him as ¡®awakened¡¯. But what would that do to the advancement trial? Would he gain the option to awaken again? Or go down the other path? Could he incarnate, whatever that meant? And if he could, did he want to? ¡°I¡¯m psyching myself out of this again.¡± Leif said to the empty room, shaking his head and sitting back up. ¡°Fine, no more delaying. System! Advance me!¡± Nothing happened, the system didn¡¯t respond to voice prompts. He sighed, then mentally triggered the advancement. Good luck! Begin advancement trial? Y/N Yes. He thought, and everything faded away. Chapter 136: Alternatives Chapter 136: Alternatives Commencing advancement trial! Experience the paths in life you did not walk! Passing this trial will break the level 50 bottleneck and allow for further advancement! Good luck! The world shifted back into focus, the unreality of the system space giving way to the well kept yard of a hilltop homestead. A man in plain clothes knelt next to a partially deconstructed cart, his concentration on the task before him creasing his tanned features. The wheel was slotted into place, then spun, then tightened. The man ran a hand through his dark hair, wiping away sweat and reaching for a tool at his side. Leif watched the stranger work, the scene slowly playing out before him under the midday sun. There was something about this person, something familiar. He looked around, taking in his surroundings with a keen eye- Wait, I can move? I thought this was a vision? He realised, glancing down to see his body. Leif raised a hand to his face and made contact with the painted mask. ¡°Are you going to say hello? Or will I be burdened with the start of this conversation?¡± The man asked, not looking up as he continued to work. Leif paused, glancing over his shoulder. There was no one there. He looked back at the man and their eyes met, flickering amber and human brown. In that moment Leif recalled how his sister and father had looked in his first advancement trial, their similar tanned skin, dark hair and brown eyes. His heart skipped a beat, the scion taking an involuntary step back. The man stood, dusting himself off and placing his hands on his hips. ¡°Well? Did turning into a tree monster rob you of the ability to speak? I¡¯m really not sure how this is supposed to go if we can¡¯t communicate.¡± ¡°N-no, I can talk.¡± Leif said hesitantly. ¡°Are... are you who I think you are?¡± ¡°Yes. No? Sort of? I¡¯m you, obviously different in several ways, but I think it would be accurate to suggest we¡¯re more or less the same. It¡¯s just you¡¯re real, and I¡¯m a construct of the system.¡± The human Leif said. ¡°This is not what I thought the trial would be. I mean, I had heard of something similar happening to others, but I thought it would be similar to the first one.¡± Human Leif shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t say. I only have the memories and personality I should have. Now, come inside, come inside. We¡¯ll have more guests soon, but as I¡¯m the first and this is my house I¡¯ll show you around.¡± ¡°Your home?¡± Leif asked, following the other as he waved him inside. The interior of the home wasn¡¯t what he expected. Wheels, axles and sketches of carts and wagons littered the interior, the dining table was covered in notes and tools. ¡°Is this... is this all yours?¡± ¡°Mine? No, no most of this is somebody else¡¯s.¡± He said, pulling out a chair, spinning it around and taking a seat. For a long moment neither spoke, both taking in the appearance of the other. ¡°Nice mask. It looks cool.¡± Updated chapters at novelhall.com Silence stretched out again, Leif glanced around the room, noticing that further details seemed to fade into the background, as if unimportant aspects of the scene. He wasn¡¯t sure how to respond, how to act. It was one thing confronting another aspect of yourself, but the man before him was so different, so alien that he was paralyzed with indecision. Finally he spoke, letting the first thing that came to mind slip from his mouth. ¡°I don¡¯t understand... Where are we? How is this... how are you an alternative to my life?¡± ¡°Expected the Vin estate? That¡¯s understandable. I think somebody else will be better suited to answering that but I¡¯ll say what I can. We¡¯re in southern Varan, near the stretch of wilderness between the kingdom¡¯s territory and the imperial province of Cerres. As I said before, this is my home, though it looks more like a workshop at the moment.¡± He laughed. It sounded forced. Before Leif could respond the door swung open, a man in fine clothing with a sheathed sword at his hip strode inside. He took in the house''s interior with a sharp gaze, then looked imperiously down his nose at Leif and his other. ¡°What the hells is this? Why did the trial start in this dump and not the estate?¡± The Monster¡¯s face twisted into a snarl. ¡°Maybe you are more foolish than I had assumed. Where is your sense of survival? Why would you defend those who would cast us aside and hunt us as sport?¡± ¡°I... I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Leif said, stepping back as the monster slashed at him with a growl. ¡°Guys, guys, please stop this.¡± The Worker said. ¡°I¡¯d rather this trial not turn into a bloodbath. I haven''t levelled up much since the war, hells I don¡¯t even have a weapon.¡± ¡°Did you leave your pride back in the workshop along with your spine?¡± The Noble asked. ¡°No man, I left that shit behind. Do you know how many people didn¡¯t come home after the war?¡± Rain began to fall, slowly at first but rapidly picking up speed. Lightning flashed in the distance, followed seconds later by the low rumble of thunder. The world twisted once again, this time reforming into a rain slick alleyway, dancing shadows cast by flickering lamps. The Noble sniffed, stepping under a nearby roof overhang. The Worker shuffled in after him, the two squeezing together to stay out of the rain. The Monster growled, claws flexing as it eyed the urban surroundings with mistrust and hostility. Leif raised an amber arm to shield his face from the rain, turning to face the cause of the latest shift. An emotional void sat hunched against a nearby wall, long unkempt hair falling down over their grimy features, tattered clothing soaked through and clinging to emaciated features. They didn¡¯t say anything, hells, it didn¡¯t even seem like they had noticed the arrivals of the alternatives. Their life-force flickered, fitful and weak, not unlike the distant streetlights that struggled to stay lit under the increasingly heavy downpour. Leif quickly strode over to the newcomer, crouching down and extending a hand. The man flinched, letting out a cry as they twisted away from his touch. It was only then that Leif realised the man was missing a leg. Gods. Leif thought, hesitant to try again. What happened to us? ¡°Well, aren''t you all a merry band of failures.¡± The Noble said, pitching his voice to be heard over the rain. ¡°Do you mind if I change our location? You realise you could have picked clear weather and sunny instead of whatever this is?¡± ¡°I will never go back to that place.¡± The Monster hissed, clawed feet cracking the cobbled stone as they tensed. ¡°What about my workshop? It can be a neutral ground for this meeting.¡± The Noble made a snide comment and the Monster hissed. Leif, still crouched by the side of the street let out a sigh. Then he focused, flexing his will, pressing his aura onto the faux space of the trial, twisting the world in accordance to his desire. Everything dissolved, the rain stopped falling, the buildings melted away. A moment later the five versions of himself appeared in the blank, featureless void that the system usually presented. ¡°Will this do?¡± Leif asked, standing as the Wretch let out a panicked gasp and retreated even further. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how any of you could possibly exist. What choices did you make that lead you in such different directions?¡± ¡°Yeah, this is good.¡± The Worker said, shaking his sleeves, sending water droplets flying. ¡°I am also curious how... this happened. I only know vague details about all of you.¡± The man sent a sorrowful look at the Wretch. ¡°And I¡¯d really rather avoid conflict.¡± The Monster let out a low growl, then its claws partially retracted into its hands. ¡°Talk is cheap, I will not hesitate to carve the distance between us into your flesh.¡± Leif let out an exasperated sigh as he took in the four arrayed before him. Whatever this was, it certainly wasn¡¯t what he had expected from the level fifty trial. Something''s attention shifted, a certain part of the system taking note of the events that would transpire. Chapter 137: Duty Chapter 137: Duty Leif¡¯s golden eyes flickered between the four versions of himself the system had created, trying to wrap his head around just what he was seeing. He had said it out loud already, but he truly didn¡¯t understand how any of the people before him were possible. Is the system twisting things? Exaggerating to create a more challenging environment for the trial? And how is this supposed to go? We can physically interact with one another, are we supposed to fight it out? Somehow that doesn¡¯t feel right. The alternatives each stood, or in the case of the Wretch, sat. They watched him as he watched them, and it was fairly obvious he was supposed to take the next step. ¡°Somehow, you¡¯re all me. But what are we supposed to do? What can you tell me about yourselves?¡± ¡°I could tell you about your mistakes, about how you made the wrong choices and how they led you down a doomed path.¡± Noble Leif said, his scowl an almost permanent fixture on his face. ¡°But I suppose you already know how you failed, afterall, I would know how I would feel if I had my humanity stripped away.¡± ¡°You.¡± Leif said, pointing at the Noble. ¡°You are both the least interesting of the alternatives, and also the most confusing. I know what I am, who I am. Monster, human, it doesn¡¯t matter. I was never an asshole. Are you pretending to have a stick up your ass or was it a disease you caught?¡± ¡°Some of us know how to take responsibility, know how to prioritise what really matters.¡± The Noble spat back. ¡°If you had understood the value of family and duty you never would have died during the Enslaver war because you never would have become a soldier.¡± He gestured at where the Wretch was slumped on the ground. ¡°Better to be him than whatever you turned into. At least you would still be a person, albeit one who crumbled before adversity.¡± Leif felt his temper flare, a heat rising within him at the Noble¡¯s words. It was a distinctly unusual sensation, his emotions were usually mellow and unobtrusive. He went to speak, but one of his alternatives beat him to it. ¡°This one mistakes decadence for adversity.¡± The monster hissed, flexing his misshapen arms and letting out a low growl. ¡°Better to be a monster than a collared dog. Did you come up with that speech yourself, or were you tutored in what to say?¡± The Noble¡¯s scowl deepened, his grip on the pommel of his sword tightening, his knuckles turning white from the force. He shot a glance at the Monster, his expression changing almost imperceptibly. Leif couldn¡¯t read the man¡¯s emotions, his aura control was too tight, but he thought he recognised the look of discomfort, of fear, or perhaps something else, flicker across his face. But he didn¡¯t reply, instead continuing to stare at Leif. In response to having his words ignored the Monster tensed, their grey body twisting in on itself as if readying for a fight. ¡°Stop.¡± Leif said, raising a hand at his monstrous alternative. ¡°You¡¯re too quick to resort to violence. Don¡¯t think I accept you as a possibility either.¡± It hissed at him, gold and red eyes flickering his barely concealed outrage. ¡°You dare defend that one?¡± It questioned, bloodied claws extending. ¡°He does not understand us, he barely understands himself.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand any of you.¡± Leif replied, glaring at his others from behind his mask. ¡°How about we change that? Who wants to explain themselves first?¡± Worker Leif awkwardly shuffled in place, he opened his mouth, then closed it without speaking. The Wretch didn¡¯t even look up, their shaggy hair still dripping with condensation. ¡°I do not need to explain myself, not through words. If you wish to learn of my path, my pain, then we will fight. Strength is the only true measure of success, strength is the only way you survive.¡± The Monster said, spreading their arms as if welcoming the challenge. The Noble scoffed, then spoke up. ¡°I will go first, since nobody else seems capable.¡± The world seemed to shift, then it paused, as if awaiting Leif¡¯s permission before transitioning the scene. He mentally accepted, and then there were only two figures, him and the Noble. They were on a mountain pass, the ground was coated in a thin layer of snow, frost clinging to every surface. Laughter came from down the narrow path Leif and his alternative were standing upon, and a few moments later three people came into view. They had heavy packs slung over their shoulders, their heavy boots crunching the light layer of snow with every step. One of the approaching trio spoke, and the other two laughed. ¡°What is this?¡± Leif asked, golden eyes locked on the approaching trio. ¡°The day you made a crucial mistake.¡± The Noble replied, likewise focused on the small group as they made their way closer. Each was young, male, in their early teens if Leif was to guess. Two of the boys had indistinct features, their faces hazy, as if he was trying to observe them through a partially smogged window. The final boy¡¯s appearance was clear, his tanned skin and dark hair a younger mirror to the Noble¡¯s own. One of the boys picked up the pace, their steps carrying them further up the mountainside with every bounding step. The other faceless boy let out a cry of outrage, then likewise sped up. The younger Leif tried to match their pace, but was unable to keep up. ¡°C¡¯mon Leif! Hurry up!¡± One of the boys called, turning and waving. ¡°I...can¡¯t..¡± The young Leif said, painting with exertion in between every word. ¡°I don¡¯t... have that many levels... yet, my attributes are too low.¡± ¡°Pfft, you won¡¯t level without putting in the effort!¡± ¡°I¡¯m a [Fighter]... I don¡¯t... I don¡¯t level up through... hiking.¡± Past Leif protested ¡°Everything gives experience, my dad said so.¡± The second, slightly slower boy commented, hopping from foot to foot as if full to bursting with energy. The trio was close enough now that Leif could tell that they weren¡¯t real. They had no auras, no emotions he could sense. Unlike the Noble standing besides him, it was as if he was observing an illusion, or a painting come to life. The scene shifted, the sun moving overhead as the day progressed into evening. The three boys set up camp atop a plateau, their location partially covered by a shallow cave. They were lounging around, chewing on some sort of dried meat and passing around a water skin. The trio were chatting inanely, laughing and joking with one another. ¡°You know what¡¯s crazy?¡± One of the boys asked. ¡°One day, Leif will be head of our family. I don¡¯t know what to think about that.¡± The other boy snickered. ¡°I think you need to pay attention to your tutor to be named heir. Or was that a lie my dad told me?¡± ¡°I pay attention.¡± Young Leif said, trying to defend himself. ¡°Suuuure you do. Is that why you complain about getting smacked so often?¡± ¡°Yeah, whatever. It¡¯s all stupid anyway, I¡¯m better with a sword than numbers anyhow.¡± ¡°Right, because [Noble]s spend all their time going around stabbing people.¡± One of the boys mocked. The Noble stepped up behind his younger counterpart, looking down with an imperious look on his face. ¡°Who are the two others? I can¡¯t see their faces.¡± Leif asked. ¡°Mum! Please, do you need water? Do you need medicine?¡± ¡°There is no medicine for this, Leif. This is the price of failure, I¡¯m so sorry.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Please, I want to understand.¡± ¡°Family...¡± She said, a faint trickle of blood coming from her mouth. ¡°Mum! No, Doctor! Somebody come quick!¡± Young Leif shouted, completely frantic. ¡°Little Leif, your sister...¡± ¡°Flavia? What about her? Stay with me mum.¡± ¡°Protect her, no matter what. Leif, don¡¯t let her end up like me, don¡¯t fail in your duties.¡± Her eyes sharpened as she gasped in a lungful of air. ¡°Whatever you do, you need to be strong enough, influential enough, powerful enough to never let her go. Never lose her.¡± ¡°Mum? I don¡¯t understand. Please, I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Leif, you need to lead this family. Even if you hate it, even if you hate me, you need to stay in control. Your father... he isn¡¯t... not bad, not like the others...¡± She coughed again, blood staining the sheets that covered her. ¡°I... love you.¡± And then her eyes closed, her breathing slowed. Leif watched his past self run for the door, screaming for help, for anybody to come. A minute later a pair of faceless doctors burst into the room, but the vision was beginning to fade. Leif looked from the still form on the bed to the Noble. His alternative¡¯s expression was grim, his eyes focused on some-place distant and unknowable. ¡°I missed this?¡± Leif asked, struggling to keep his emotions in check. ¡°You did.¡± The Noble replied, fists clenched, the words coming through grinding teeth. ¡°You did, damn you idiot. This... this is what you lost.¡± Leif slumped to his knees, the space around him completely devoid of details. ¡°What, what was her name?¡± ¡°Nicea.¡± ¡°Nicea, I see. What happened to her, why did she-¡± He choked on his words. ¡°Why did she die?¡± ¡°She failed her level twenty five advancement. She failed it badly. Nobody knows the details, we have no idea what she saw, what past choice she was confronted with.¡± The Noble said, tears running down his cheeks. ¡°And you weren¡¯t even there for her, you were up on a mountain playing adventurer. I hate you, I truly, truly hate you. Why the fuck couldn¡¯t you have acted like you were supposed to for once in your life?! Why did it all mean so damn little to you?!¡± Leif flinched, the words from his other striking a part of his soul he didn¡¯t know he had. The Noble stormed up to him, grabbing him by the collar and trying to lift him. Leif didn¡¯t even feel the attempt. The Noble spat to the side and shook Leif by the shoulders. ¡°Why? Why couldn¡¯t you have cared even a little? Would it have been so hard? Would it really have hurt you to... to... Fuck! Why don¡¯t you even remember your own mother! You didn¡¯t even know you had a father or sister until the system showed them to you! Why did you die and leave it all behind? Was it really too much? Was it really that much of a fucking burden? You inhuman trash! You sack of shit! I am better than you, my life is the correct one, my path is what we were meant to be-¡± His aura wavered, uncontrolled, and through the gaps in his projected identity Leif saw the truth, though it was one he had expected from the very beginning. ¡°Then why are you so damn miserable?¡± Leif said, cutting off his other mid rant. ¡°If you¡¯re so much better, so powerful, so dutiful, so righteous and correct? If you¡¯re all those things, then why are you lying to yourself? This isn¡¯t you! Isn¡¯t me! I¡¯m not some arrogant, self absorbed member of the nobility. I saw what I was like, used to be before I died. I can remember bare snippets, tiny fragments from the before. And I was nothing like you. I may have lost everything, friends, family, my humanity. But at least I wasn¡¯t pretending to be something else.¡± The Noble headbutted him, then screamed as his nose broke against Leif¡¯s mask. He jerked back, falling over as he clutched at his bleeding nose, the sudden rush of crimson mixing with his tears. ¡°I¡¯m not- I¡¯m not lying. I chose this path, this life. It was what she wanted, what was best for all of them! For Flavia!¡± He curled in on himself, letting out a gargled cry as he swallowed down blood. ¡°She¡¯s alive! She¡¯s okay!¡± Leif said, standing on shaky legs. ¡°I don¡¯t know what mother was so scared of, what fate she thought would befall Flavia if you weren¡¯t around to protect her. But our sister is alive. Hurting? Sure. Grieving? Yeah, but I can still make it better. I can return and maybe things will fix themselves.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t. They¡¯ll hate you, try to hurt you. Even if you do everything right they¡¯ll still want more.¡± ¡°Will I be any worse off than you?¡± The Noble flopped over onto his back, forearm keeping the blood in as he pressed it to his nose. He laughed, it was wet and bloody. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I really, really don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Then, if that¡¯s the case, why are you so arrogant, so prideful? If it¡¯s not you at all, why act like it is?¡± ¡°Because... because pretending is the only way it doesn¡¯t hurt. The only way it doesn¡¯t feel like I¡¯m failing her final request. The only way they think I¡¯m the man they want me to be. Demand me to be.¡± Leif stood over his alternative, watching him spit up another mouthful of blood. Strangely enough he didn¡¯t feel any desire to heal the man. The Noble had done this to himself. ¡°It isn¡¯t fair! Why is it that I had to die to escape this life? Why can¡¯t I be myself without betraying everything I know?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I won¡¯t pretend I understand your life when I clearly don¡¯t. But I¡¯ll try to make it better, to make it right, whatever that might be.¡± The Noble just laughed hoarsely. ¡°Do you trust me enough to try? In your place?¡± ¡°I... I trust you enough to fail less than I did. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡± Then he broke apart into a thousand shards of crystalline glass. Chapter 138: Defeated Chapter 138: Defeated Leif stared down at the shattered remains of the Noble, the tiny shards of crystal reflecting light that didn¡¯t exist within the empty world of the trial. Was that supposed to happen? He wondered. Or was he just that fragile? Was the simulated ego really so weak, so easy to break? Glass crunched, the sound jolting Leif from his contemplation. The monster took another step, clawed feet crushing the crystalline remains. ¡°Weak.¡± It hissed, shifting to grind the shards of crystal into the featureless floor. ¡°As was to be expected.¡± ¡°He was living the life he was born to live...¡± Leif said. ¡°But he hated it, forced himself to embody the person who wouldn¡¯t.¡± He looked around. The Worker and the Wretch were off to the side, the latter looking sorrowful, the former despondent. ¡°Yes.¡± The Monster growled. ¡°Now dispatch of the next weakest, shatter them like you did the Noble, prove that humanity is the cause of all our problems. Both our own, and the beings we once called kin.¡± Leif ignored them, striding over to where the Worker was patiently waiting, careful not to step on the fragments of the Noble as he did so. The Monster leered, letting out a low whistle of anger. ¡°What of you two? Why are you the way you are? How did it come to this?¡± The Worker smiled forlornly, the lines of his face creasing, his eyes not meeting Leif¡¯s own. ¡°Nothing so harrowing for me. I¡¯m afraid of all of us, I¡¯m the boring one.¡± ¡°Boring? I somehow doubt that. Where do we diverge? Did you leave the family as I once did? Did you join the army as an officer? Fight the enslavers that invaded Varan?¡± A gasp came from the side, the Wretch¡¯s eyes had shot open, his manic expression glaring up at them as if realising their existence for the first time. ¡°No.¡± He whispered. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to go back. I don¡¯t want to lose them again. I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t, I can¡¯t, I can¡¯t I can¡¯t I can¡¯t I CAN¡¯T!¡± The Wretch was screaming by the end, arms shielding his face, his one leg kicking out as if to defend himself from an invisible foe. It was a pitiable sight, the man¡¯s aura was a chaotic mess of emotions and intentions, as if his mind and soul were trapped someplace far away from his body. ¡°Silence his wailing or I will do it myself.¡± The Monster said, prowling forward. Leif whirled on the Monster, once again reaching out to restrain its bloodlust. The scene flickered, and once more they found themselves within the forest. It sneered, their blood red claws extending, dripping, flowing into blades made of crimson liquid. The Worker took a step back, panicked as the intent to kill began to radiate off the Monster. It¡¯s presence was not unlike Leif¡¯s own before he fused his aura. But the Monster¡¯s authority was like that of a tyrant, a predator, one¡¯s who¡¯s very nature gave them the right to brutality and bloodshed. ¡°I grow tired of this game.¡± It growled, its slate grey body rippling as it grew. The Monster¡¯s vaguely humanoid appearance twisting and morphing into something unrecognisable. Blood cloaked their elongated arms and legs, jutting out at random, the spiky protrusions glinting under the bare trickle of moonlight filtering down through the canopy. Now half the size of the being before him, Leif flexed his will, four pairs of amber arms bursting from his clothing, their glow bathing the small forest clearing in a golden ambiance. ¡°Explain yourself! Who are you? And why the hells are you in my trial?¡± ¡°I am you, a stronger you, a more primal you. One who shed their weakness and now walks the path of true power!¡± The Monster roared down at him, the being¡¯s voice making the nearby tree¡¯s quake, their leaves rustling as if trembling in fear. The Worker grabbed the Wretch and tried to pull him away. The crippled alternative let out a cry of panic and lashed out, striking the Worker in the side of his head, sending the man sprawling. An [Amber Aegis] sprung up around both human alternatives, the golden glow of the clearing intensifying. ¡°Why protect them? Why? Do you realise how much it limits you? Why bother letting them close? Why bring those who mean you harm into your life?¡± ¡°I am stronger because of those I connect with. It allows me to learn, grow, expand my horizons in ways impossible without them.¡± Leif replied, taking a step to the side as the Monster began to circle him. A spear of blood shot out for one of the humans behind him. Leif snapped out an amber fist and caught the projectile, he crushed it with his grip. ¡°Learn?¡± The Monster laughed, the sound more like a low, rumbling cackle. ¡°Yes, I too learnt much from humans. I learnt how much they fear, and what that fear drives them to do.¡± ¡°What happened when you met the expedition?¡± Leif asked, keeping himself between the Monster and the other alternatives. ¡°Or, perhaps, you never met them? You have golden eyes, at least partially, so when did our paths diverge? What mistake did you make that-¡± Something gripped Leif by the leg. Startled, he glanced down, and the scene shifted. But it wasn¡¯t the Monster¡¯s doing. Soldiers, faceless one and all milled around the courtyard. Dozens of squads of twelve stood in formation. None of them were real, they possessed no physicality nor presence. Leif stared down at the one being in the vision other than himself that possessed both. The Wretch clung to Leif¡¯s leg, his eyes wide and confused. ¡°What did you do?¡± Leif asked ,having to raise his voice to be heard over the sound of orders being shouted. The Wretch didn¡¯t respond, their breath coming in short, sharp inhalations as he took in their surroundings. A group emerged from a nearby building, one of their number immediately arresting Leif¡¯s attention. It was him. Older than he had been during the last vision, or even the previous advancement trial Leif had completed. The young man was in his late teens, hair cropped short and eyes firm. At a glance Leif thought he looked stressed, his muscles tensed and his calm expression forced. The new group, each wearing more formal uniforms lined up before the soldiers. Then, one by one, their names were called, and the squad they were being assigned to shouted out for everyone in the courtyard to hear. ¡°No.¡± The Wretch whispered. ¡°Not again.¡± Leif placed a hand on the man¡¯s shoulder, he flinched away, but his grip on Leif¡¯s leg only tightened. It was as if the Wretch was clinging to him for support, while at the same time seemingly unable to get too close. ¡°Captain Leif Vin! You are assigned to squad seventeen. From this day forward they are your responsibility. May you lead them well in the battles to come!¡± A faceless officer yelled. The past Leif stepped forward and his faceless squad saluted. The scene shifted, rain fell in heavy sheets down on a muddy and churned battlefield. Corpses and discarded weapons littered the ground, blood mixing with water and dirt to vanish into the background of the carnage. Past Leif ran, his squad arrayed out behind him. They clashed with a group of dark-clad enslaved, the ringing of steel on steel all but drowned out by the storm overhead. Occasionally flashes of multicoloured light lit the battlefield, the skills refracting off the falling drops of rain to briefly turn the world into a chaotic rainbow. A faceless soldier fell, cut down by their opponent. Past Leif yelled and charged forward, fending off two enemies at once as he sought to exact vengeance. The skirmish was won, but another began almost immediately afterwards. ¡°Captain sir!¡± The tall soldier, Heffnir yelled. ¡°Where is the frontline? Was a retreat called?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! What are the flares saying?¡± ¡°The codes are all wrong, it doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡± Another soldier said. ¡°Shit.¡± Past Leif swore, turning with his sword drawn. ¡°We need to regroup with our allies or we¡¯ll be sitting ducks out here.¡± His expression was hard, hair slick against face from the downpour. The squad, only eight now, started moving in the direction of a nearby flurry of activity when they were set upon by small dog sized monsters. The ants swarmed over the mud, mandibles clacking, their obsidian forms nearby invisible against the muddy field. Skills flashed, soldiers screamed. Leif fought, hacking and slashing at the swarm of ants. Then one dashed forward, and severed his leg with a savage bite. Past Leif didn¡¯t cry out as he fell, instead it looked as though the shock of the maiming had temporarily stunned him. Heffnir yelled, rushing forward to spear the monster as it backed away. The battle continued, men and women fell. Heffnir reached down and grabbed Leif, hauling him up onto his back. The tall soldier screamed a command and what was left of the squad obeyed. They retreated, fleeing into the night. The scene shifted, the chaos of the night being replaced by the damp mist of the morning. The squad of four trudged through a field, carrying two wounded between them. Leif was one of them, he was unconscious and limp, but still breathing. His leg having been tied up with impromptu bandages. The sun rose over a nearby hill, the mist burning away as the dawn light washed over the land. The soldiers looked around, searching for danger, or perhaps for allies. They found the latter. A hundred horsemen emerged from a nearby crop of trees, their spears pointed towards the sky as they rode. The squad collapsed, exhausted and wounded. Leif watched in confusion as a small group of cavalry detached, making their way towards where his past self and his men were located. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Leif said. ¡°I thought you said they all died? But that clearly isn¡¯t what happened.¡± ¡°Watch.¡± The Wretch rasped, his eyes staring blankly at the scene before them. ¡°Identify yourselves!¡± One of the riders yelled. ¡°Squad seventeen, or what''s left of us.¡± Heffnir replied, the man sounded exhausted, but his relief shined through. ¡°What is this?¡± One of the riders asked, unlike the others they weren¡¯t armoured. ¡°More deserters? Round them up, they will be held accountable for the defeat our forces suffered today!¡± ¡°W-what? S-sir that¡¯s not!¡± Several of the horsemen dismounted, their spears now pointed at Leif¡¯s former squad. One by one his men surrendered, their protests went ignored and their explanations of innocence unheard. Past Leif¡¯s eyes fluttered open as he fell to the ground, Heffnir no longer able to carry him with his arms bound in chains. He gasped out what may have been a question, but nobody replied. ¡°Take that one, they¡¯re a captain by the looks of it.¡± The unarmoured man said, gesturing at Leif. ¡°Put that one out of their misery, it¡¯s the humane thing to do.¡± A spear fell, an unmoving soldier died. ¡°What... What is this?¡± Leif asked, looking on in disbelief. ¡°This can¡¯t be right, what on earth is happening?¡± The Wretch shook, in rage or fear Leif couldn¡¯t tell. The scene shifted, a dirty cell and its dirtier occupants. Then again, a gallows and two dozen men and women lined up before it. ¡°What is this?¡± Leif asked, even more frantic. ¡°Answer me! Why is this happening?¡± The past, leg-less Leif was forced to watch as his surviving squad was hung. He grabbed the Wretch, pulling him up by the collar as the world faded around them. He shook his alternative. ¡°What the hells was that? Why would they do that? Answer me, damn you!¡± ¡°They needed someone to blame.¡± The Wretch rasped. ¡°They used what they found.¡± Then his body turned into transparent crystal and shattered. The glass shards fell through Leif¡¯s fingers as the scion stood stunned, unable to comprehend what he had just witnessed. Chapter 139: Dignity Chapter 139: Dignity It didn¡¯t feel real, and perhaps, maybe, that was because it wasn¡¯t. Could the system really know? How accurate were these projected futures? Were they divergent realities somehow split from the main path at specific points in time? Or were they merely illusions meant to test his character and nature? Leif wanted to be sick, he felt hollowed out, empty, paralyzed with indecision and uncertainty. His shocked, despondent reverence ended when something smashed into him from behind. An impact rocked his body as he was sent tumbling, flying through the empty void of the trial space, rolling over featureless ground, crashing against the base of a moss covered tree. Moonlight filtered down from above, crimson and angry, as blood writhed in angry patterns, slithering towards him like serpents seeking prey. In the centre of the clearing stood the Monster, their towering form wreathed in sanguine shadows. A deformed fist, easily the size of Leif¡¯s torso was outstretched from when it had struck him, in the other was the limp form of the Worker. A pair of golden eyes locked onto burning red as the forest slowly returned to silence. ¡°Do you understand yet?¡± The Monster asked, its rumbling voice dripping with mockery. Leif didn¡¯t respond. A spear condensed above the Monster, then shot forward, pinning the scion against the tree as his torso was penetrated through completely. ¡°Do you see why this path of yours is doomed?¡± Another spear fell, this one punching through his gut, stabbing into the roots behind him. Leif¡¯s gaze never left that of the Monster. A third spear fell, and the scion moved his head to the side, the crimson conjuration carving an inch into his skull. The wound immediately began to heal. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to show me a vision? Show me where our paths diverge?¡± Lief asked, his tone flat and emotionless. ¡°Why bother?¡± It replied, stepping forward, letting the unmoving form of the Worker fall to the forest floor like a discarded doll. ¡°You already know, you knew the moment you saw me.¡± Spears formed above the Monster, their edges becoming jagged and cruel as they fanned out like a crown above its head. ¡°You went home.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question, more a bland acknowledgement of fact. ¡°I went home.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry you went through that.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m sorry you did not!¡± It spat, the spears plummeting down to impale, lacerate, maim and kill. Leif¡¯s vision went black, the distant sensation of physical stimulation he felt instead of pain falling away as parts of his body were ripped apart. He came to what could have been an eternity later, but was likely only moments, his ruined form being dragged through the mud. Leif was lifted, then smashed down into a nearby tree. Wood splintered as a crack resounded through the forest. His body rose into the air, then was brought down once more. Again and again he was driven down into the devastated remains of the tree. The Monster let out a howl of triumph, then flung Leif with enough force that the parting of the air made a cracking sound not unlike a bone snapping, or maybe that was the dozen branches he crashed through, splintering them under the sheer power behind his momentum. Leif landed, the impact creating a crater out of dirt and undergrowth. He lay face down in the dirt unmoving even as his broken body rapidly stitched itself back together. His cultivated vitality surged within him, eager and willing to act even when he himself was not. This is worse than when the ice elemental blew up right next to me. Leif mused, his arm regrowing out of the socket it had been ripped out of, his legs being reshaped in accordance to the pattern he had forged them into after his evolution. It was so hard to get my body¡¯s healing to not revert the changes I made to it. He reflected, life-force flowing into his newly remade fingers. Compacting and compressing all that mass was such a pain in the ass. Something approaching him made the ground quake. It sure is nice of the system to so faithfully recreate a forest environment, right down to the vitality wriggling through the soil. ¡°Giving up so soon?¡± The Monster growled, its colossal form looming above Leif. The scion flipped over onto his back, looking up into the alien face of his alternative. ¡°Thanks, I needed that.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I haven''t been able to see how effective my self-healing had become, it¡¯s not really something I could test in Ahle-ho, and nobody goes so far in the practice duels to actually do serious damage. I would always yield if my opponent got enough good attacks in.¡± ¡°What are you blabbering on about?¡± ¡°The world is full of terrible people. They¡¯re violent and hateful. Angry and spiteful. But I¡¯ve met a lot of good, honest people. People who were willing to help me even when they knew what I really am. Did you ever encounter-¡± A foot smashed down into his head, pulverising it into the already churned ground. ¡°I¡¯m angry, confused, and if I¡¯m completely honest with myself- appalled with what I¡¯ve seen in this trial so far.¡± Leif continued, telepathically. ¡°SILENCE!¡± The Monster roared, its foot coming down once again, the impact shaking the world. ¡°But I¡¯m still going home. But I¡¯m not going to rush it, I¡¯m going to do it right. I¡¯ll be coming equipped with knowledge, information and allies. Hells, I may even be able to pass for a human by the time I get there. Wouldn''t that be funny?¡± ¡°Anyone who would willingly walk into a trap is a fool, unworthy of the life they live! I will never allow myself to do such a thing. I will cripple you, break you, cause you to fail this trial. You will forever be stuck as you are, never able to advance!¡± The Monster took a step back, leering down at Leif as if to observe its triumph. Two amber eyes stared back up at it. A dozen spikes of blood drove down into the scions body, stabbing and constricting Leif. Then they hauled him up out of the crater, splaying his limbs as if to examine a fresh kill. ¡°Out of curiosity, what classes do you have? You clearly have more [Might] than me, but I¡¯m guessing you didn¡¯t go the [Charisma] route. How synergistic are your skills and perks?¡± ¡°You will die curious.¡± ¡°No.¡± Leif said, flexing his body even as it was pulled apart in several directions at once. ¡°No?¡± Vitality he harvested from the ground, roots and trees blazed to life within Leif, every crack, wound and gash in his body flaring with amber light and renewed strength. Golden arms burst from his body, then grabbed onto the tethers of blood and began to drain. Life-force, rich and nourishing flooded into him as he fell. Leif kicked off the moment he landed, dashing forward to drive an ivory fist into the alternative¡¯s leg. Roots and branches whipped up and around Leif, the blur of movement enough to veil his location from the Monster¡¯s counter attack. The colossal fist swiped through the air but found nothing. Lief struck the creature from behind, then again and again as conjured limbs lashed out in unison. The Monster screamed in fury, striking out with heavy blows. Leif vanished in a stream of golden light, appearing behind it and once again driving a series of powerful strikes into his alternative¡¯s back. He regretted then, that this was a virtual space. He may have been able to rank up the largely neglected [Font of Life] from just this one encounter otherwise. Would defeating a foe of this strength grant him significant experience? If this was the outside world how many levels would he gain? Leif drove a fist into the Monster¡¯s side, sending the creature staggering from the sheer force behind the blow. A fist sized indent remained, and it didn''t heal. What are my effective attributes right now? [Consuming Aeons] provides a sixty percent increase, and then I¡¯m putting twenty percent of my [Charisma] attribute into [Might], and after my [Inspiring Brawler] perks and skills... Leif shook his head in an attempt to clear it. I can¡¯t have my mind wondering. Focus, even if it hurts, focus until this is done. He ducked a wild backhand, blocked a rain of blood spears and parried a barrage of frenzied charges. There was no grace to the Monster¡¯s movements, no skill or finesse. Leif was rarely accustomed to being the speedier combatant, but he found himself running circles around the Monster. Leif reached out with his will, calling a nearby tree to uproot itself and fall onto his opponent. Branches twisted into spears, then with an infusion of vitality they blasted towards the Monster, streaks of gold through the night. ¡°It does.¡± Leif said, the sound more a gasp than a coherent sentence. ¡°Was, was your child a son or a daughter?¡± The worker shook his head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°It matters to me.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter to the trial. I... I don¡¯t know the answer, I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°You really aren¡¯t real then, just a projection.¡± ¡°A bit of both, I believe.¡± The worker said. ¡°Leif, now that you¡¯ve seen my life, the life you could have possibly lived, how do you feel?¡± Leif didn¡¯t respond, he simply looked down at his hands. His clothing was in tatters, much of his body was stained in blood and debris from the battle in the forest. ¡°I would have had a kid.¡± He said, not answering the question. ¡°Maybe, what you¡¯ve seen aren¡¯t the only possibilities, only the most... significant, the most pertinent.¡± ¡°Unlike the past, the future isn¡¯t predetermined.¡± ¡°Yes, I think you know more about that than me though. I¡¯m just a small business owner.¡± ¡°You¡¯re far more than that.¡± Leif laughed. ¡°A father. A husband. A human.¡± ¡°All true, and I¡¯m happy because of it. This may sound wrong, but I don¡¯t think I would ever trade the life I have now for the one you now live.¡± Leif took off his mask, letting the painted wood fall to the perfectly blank floor. ¡°That... that''s fair. It¡¯s funny, I have a complex about having... offspring, I guess is the right word. The species I was reproduces in a very... unsavoury way. But maybe, maybe things won¡¯t be like that anymore. I don¡¯t even know how any of this really works, it doesn¡¯t help that apparently I¡¯m alone.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you need to grow a flower and ask a bee politely? Or drop a bunch of fruit onto the ground? Spread your seed or whatever?¡± ¡°Very funny. I don¡¯t think I flower, at least I haven''t yet. Maybe back at Far-reach things are different.¡± ¡°So, what is your conclusion? Can you accept things as they are?¡± The Worker asked. ¡°I... I can. I¡¯m jealous, and if this was the me from just after my rebirth I think I would even hate you for the life you lived. But... there are things I can do now that I could never do before. Maybe the world will look different when I¡¯ve lived for longer than most people? I have Lani and Bam, all the people back by the domain tree who are relying on me. Maybe my sense of self importance is too high, or potentially misplaced, but I¡¯ve inherited a legacy of some not insignificant importance.¡± The Worker clapped his hands together. ¡°That¡¯s great! You need to focus on what you can do now. I¡¯m sorry for showing you what I did, but I¡¯m glad you see things like that.¡± ¡°Right, thank you. What do we do now?¡± ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s a bit anticlimactic, but I think I just need to-¡± The Worker goes still, then his body transforms into clear crystal. For several moments Leif waited for it to shatter like the other alternatives, but the Worker remained, complete and smiling. Leif placed a hand on his shoulder and looked into the man¡¯s eyes. He let out a sigh, mostly of relief and wariness, then turned back to the still prone form of the Monster. Red eyes glared back at him. ¡°You¡¯re the last one. I suppose that makes you the strongest.¡± Leif said, crossing his arms. ¡°Why haven''t you finished me off? Do not tell me you¡¯re too soft for even that?¡± It growled. ¡°I am not. I wanted to at least hear your last words. Give you what little dignity I could.¡± ¡°Dignity... I have none left. It was stripped from me well before our meeting.¡± ¡°I see. Any advice?¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t listen even if I told you, damn fool.¡± Then the Monster shattered into crystalline shards, and the system populated his vision with messages. But they weren¡¯t the ones he was expecting. Congratulations! You have completed the initial stages of the level fifty advancement trial! You must now make a choice about your path! Error! Choice has already been made! Error! No choice recorded! Error! Choice has already been made! Warning! Deviation in progression path detected! Warning! Rewards for trial completion may be altered or nullified! Error! Unable to grant trial rewards! What on earth? ¡°Ohh, sorry about all this! It happens sometimes, rarely but it does happen. I¡¯d apologise, but it¡¯s really not my fault.¡± Leif spun, a man made out of crimson light stood before him. The figure waved. ¡°Hi there, long time no see. It¡¯s been what, over a year since your first evolution? Congrats on the second one by the way, we haven''t seen one of your kind for over a millennia! Feels like old times.¡± Chapter 140: Oversights Chapter 140: Oversights Leif stared at the figure made of crimson light, a sketch of a smile stretched across their otherwise undetailed face. ¡°Who- or what are you?¡± He asked, both on guard and alert at the figure''s sudden appearance. ¡°Hmmm, little me? Give it a few seconds, you¡¯ll remember. I think so at least.¡± The red ghost said, its smile widening. ¡°I don¡¯t- wait...¡± Leif said, a veil that had been placed over his memories being drawn back. He remembered his first evolution, of going over the different options and ultimately deciding to go with [Amber Blight Spriggan]. But a second, previously hidden layer to that memory was now revealed, Leif saw himself engaging in conversation with the entity that now stood before him, how he had been congratulated, consoled, and told that he wouldn¡¯t remember. ¡°You- you put me down this path.¡± He half stated, half accused. ¡°I did no such thing! I am an overseer, I can only observe, measure and record.¡± It said, raising the bare outline of what could be arms as if in defence. ¡°Yes... You said the same exact thing last time.¡± Leif recalled, unwilling to lower his guard. It was highly unnerving to realise that his memories had been altered, doubly so now that his ability to recall past events had been further enhanced by a skill. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me, do you? Harsh, a little rude, but fair. A lot of the beings I interact with don¡¯t understand me, it¡¯s one of my life¡¯s great tragedies.¡± The ghost mumbled, dejectedly. Leif¡¯s vision briefly flicked to the system notifications he had received, the ones repeatedly declaring that an error had been made. ¡°What does the system mean that the trial rewards may be nullified or altered? Is this your doing?¡± ¡°No, no. That¡¯s a standard message, everyone in your kind of situation sees it. Though I do think it¡¯s worth pointing out that it''s quite rare for anyone to actually get to this point. You are almost unique in that regard. Madness, death, those are the most common outcomes. I know you have many questions, but before you barrage me with them I should point out that my ability to share information is heavily restricted. It is my nature I¡¯m afraid, believe me when I say that fact upsets me more than it does you.¡± Leif took a step back, mentally readjusting to the conversation. ¡°I kept thinking that there was something wrong whenever I re-entered the space the system uses for evolution and promotion. I kept thinking that something was missing, that was because you were absent.¡± ¡°That¡¯s sweet of you. And it¡¯s as I said during our first meeting, it¡¯s because of cracks, metaphorical cracks. Sometimes I can slip through, sometimes I cannot.¡± The overseer said. ¡°Cracks...¡± Leif said, his gaze returning to the system notifications. ¡°You mean the errors? Are those the cracks?¡± ¡°They are.¡± ¡°Is there something wrong? With the system I mean. I know errors are relatively common, common enough that people study their appearances at places like the Academy. But I¡¯ll be honest, the idea is kind of terrifying.¡± ¡°What¡¯s scary about the omniscient working that governs our reality having a few glaring holes? That¡¯s crazy talk.¡± Leif just stared at the overseer. Silence hung between them, then the overseer continued. ¡°Is there something wrong... that is quite the loaded question my tree-friend. I cannot say, I am not at liberty to share certain aspects of the system¡¯s workings. It exists, and for the most part it works fine. So don¡¯t worry about what you can¡¯t change.¡± The crimson ghost said with a shrug. ¡°You mean there are certain rules you cannot break?¡± Leif said. ¡°Rules... not quite the correct term, but it¡¯s close enough. It¡¯s all very complicated, magic at a certain scale always is, or so I believe.¡± ¡°You''re saying that it¡¯s too complicated for me to understand.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too complicated for me to understand. It was too complicated for the d????e????s????i?????g????n????e????r?????s???? to fully understand. So don¡¯t feel bad about it.¡± Leif blinked. There was a part of that sentence that his mind skipped over. ¡°Whoops, you¡¯re too low level for that talk, it gets easier to forget with every passing year.¡± The overseer said, laughing awkwardly. ¡°Anyway, shall we get down to business? Our time isn¡¯t infinite so let''s not waste it!¡± ¡°Yes... let''s.¡± ¡°Okay, so, do you understand what¡¯s gone wrong here? Actually, that¡¯s too soon, do you know what would have happened, if you were normal?¡± Leif considered the question. Unless his knowledge was way off the mark, at level fifty monsters split into one of two different paths. They either incarnate, or awaken. With both paths having different bonuses and reasons to be picked. ¡°I think-¡± ¡°Yes, that''s right. They¡¯re the two paths monsters can walk down, though only rarely will something be given the option to pick. It takes a certain type of mindset and life experience to awaken, and the same is true for incarnation. I should point out that most monsters who reach level fifty incarnate, an overwhelming majority in fact. So you¡¯re quite special, in more than one way.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not getting a choice, am I?¡± ¡°You are not.¡± The overseer stated. ¡°As I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already figured out, you have already awakened. There are certain... problems with how you did it. Certain options only become available after you have reached a specific level... a specific level that you have not technically reached, even though you are level fifty.¡± He said, wringing his hands together. That brought Leif up short. What does that mean? How could I not meet the level requirement... oh. ¡°Do you mean-¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Yeah that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°What about the Amber, who were they?¡± ¡°Monstrous trees.¡± ¡°I already knew that.¡± ¡°Then why did you ask?¡± ¡°Why-¡± The world broke apart, and everything faded away. === Congratulations! You have completed the level fifty advancement trial! Error! You do not meet the prerequisites for certain advancement rewards! For resonating with possible alternative versions of the present, and comprehending the lives and choices you could have made your trial completion grade is: Very High! No additional rewards based on passing grade! For passing this milestone you may now advance your level beyond this point! Banked experience will be awarded after rewards are finalised! Your general class limit has increased from 3 to 4! All attributes have their efficacy increased by 10%! For achievements earned and difficulties overcome up to this point you may further increase the efficacy of a single attribute of your choice by 30%! === Attributes: Free: 0 Might: 67 (+20%) Alacrity: 63 (+20%) Intelligence: 69 (+20%) Willpower: 77 (+20%) Spirit: 80 (+20%) Charisma: 147 (+100%) === The advancement chamber within the receiver temple was a welcome sight, though Leif found it difficult to make it out past the onslaught of system messages. He was alone, his clothing no longer destroyed. From experience he knew the system wouldn¡¯t continue until he had selected an attribute to increase the efficacy of, so he took the time to let out a long sigh. Power pulsed through him, the changes made by the ten percent increase to all attributes a welcome addition. He looked up at the ceiling, allowing everything he had just seen, experienced and learnt to wash over him like a wave. It wasn¡¯t overwhelming, though maybe that was because he hadn¡¯t taken the time to process everything. Okay, let''s pick an attribute and see what comes next. Chapter 141: Qualitative Increase Chapter 141: Qualitative Increase You have selected [Charisma] as the beneficiary attribute for the +30% bonus! Confirm? Y/N Leif confirmed the prompt, the space around him seeming to ripple as his aura flexed from the sudden rush of power. The choice wasn¡¯t difficult. His [Charisma], after the ten percent increase from the advancement trial and now the additional thirty percent bonus was effectively above three hundred and thirty. None of his other attributes had broken over one hundred, even after the percentage boost. Was there a chance he was overinvesting into a single attribute? Potentially. Did it feel amazing with the amount of ways he now scaled alongside the attribute? Absolutely. Was he going to stop investing in [Charisma]? Probably not anytime soon. The addictive aspect of watching the big number get bigger was not something he planned on fighting against. He could stop anytime he wanted though. You have gained 1 core skill point! You may select any skill to become a core skill! Core skills do not belong to any class, and do not contribute to any penalties involving the number of owned skills! You may now defer skills during skill selection! Deffered skills may show up in later skill selections! Error! You do not qualify for one or more rewards due to not meeting prerequisites! Error! One or more rewards have been deferred until prerequisites are met! Your level has bestowed upon you an increased longevity! You now age 25% slower! As you level up your body, mind and soul will be gradually reinforced as it is remade through mana! The benefits from this process vary depending on the aspects of your classes and skills! Mana reinforcement progress: 0%! Core skills, skill deferral, mana reinforcement, slowed ageing. I know people have been telling me level fifty is where things start to get interesting, but this is a lot more than I expected. Leif thought, re-reading the onslaught of system messages for a second time. All of a sudden the strength of some of the iron ranked adventurers he had sparred with made more sense. Sure, Leif had been the equal, if not superior to around half of those he had sparred with over the past three months, but the sheer amount of changes were still staggering. And I¡¯m missing out on some of them until my monster class reaches level fifty. He realised, rocking back in his seated position. There was a sharp knock at the door to the room, then it opened and three temple aides came running inside. Leif looked at them from under his mask. They looked at him. Nobody moved. ¡°Ah... the senses in the room detected a spike in aura activity, we assumed the worst.¡± One of the aides said, looking around as if searching for the cause. ¡°We apologise for the interruption sir, this was not our intention.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Leif said, more than a little relieved that he hadn¡¯t done something foolish like disrobe or remove his mask. ¡°I have a stronger aura than my level would suggest, I simply slackened my control over it after the trial was completed.¡± That was partially a lie, and judging by the faces of the aides they suspected as much. But he had no interest in revealing just how much stronger his aura was than the expected norm. The aides dipped into an apologetic bow before hurriedly closing the door after confirming he didn¡¯t need their presence. For healing those often ignored and defending the weak you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Spirit] +1 free point! Mana reinforcement progress: 20%! Leif missed a step, stumbling as a cool feeling spread throughout his body, soothing his mind and flowing into his soul. While the attributes from levelling up were a familiar sensation of gained power, this new sensation felt not unlike the absorption of mana shards to fuel skill fusion, only that the sensation had washed over his existence before fading away. So that¡¯s what mana reinforcement feels like? Is it five percent progress per level up? He mused, scanning the level up messages to see if anything was out of the ordinary. Other than the system putting a name to the sea serpent he had defeated in the quarry village, a rarity in his experience, nothing seemed wrong, no errors had appeared, thankfully. It was a little strange reaching level twenty two in his monster class and not getting a skill selection, but that was because tier three classes had skill selections every five levels instead of every two. Leif had twelve free points, it was tempting to place them into an attribute like [Spirit] or [Intelligence], but knowing that the twelve points would effectively become almost thirty if they went into [Charisma] made the choice not difficult at all. His flat total jumped to one hundred and sixty one, and his aura rippled in the darkness of the city street. Leif took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, flexing and retracting his aura in time with the action. I¡¯m not addicted. He told himself. I can definitely stop investing into [Charisma] whenever I want. It would be easy, I could do it right now. He lied. A part of Leif lamented that he would need to give back the aura suppression bracelets in a few days, but he doubted Lars would be particularly pleased with him absconding with a valuable magical item. An owl hooted from somewhere overhead, voices came from a nearby home, flickering light barely visible through drawn curtains. Under the pale illumination of season Ahle-ho¡¯s colours seemed washed out, the city having finally calmed after months of tension. It was an illusion, an effort of self deception that made him hope that along with his sudden change and growth, that the city he had called home would have magically changed with him. There is to be a summit of the guilds, a grand meeting to discuss Ahle-ho¡¯s future. If the lingering anticipation he can sense in the air is true, then the future of this place will likely be determined in the coming months. If all goes well, hopefully it will happen without violence. But there was nothing he could do. Even if he had the desire to intervene in the growing political struggles, how would he even begin? It was humbling, to have come so far from when he was just a sapling in the ground, yet still be barely a dot on the map that was the interconnected webs of power that criss-crossed not just this city, but all the human territories. Was he a formidable power? Sure. But there was only so much one person could do, no matter how monstrous. The owl swooped down from above. It silently alighted atop Leif¡¯s hooded head, the sensation causing him to realise he had been standing perfectly still in the middle of the wide street. ¡°I¡¯m thinking grand thoughts.¡± He told the bird. ¡°When I don¡¯t even have a firm grasp on my own problems. Am I arrogant, or just stupid?¡± It flew off, startled that its perch hadn¡¯t been the kind of tree it had expected. He laughed, the sound was freeing. Leif returned to the Twin Heart headquarters, taking the longer, scenic route through the city as he did so in order to get used to the new strength coursing through his body. He was waved inside by the two tired looking guards at the main gate as he approached, and then returned to his room in the adventurer dormitory. Less than a week, then I¡¯m out of here. He suppressed the spike of anxiety that came with the thought. I better make use of every resource I have available to me before I leave. He settled down, and got to work. There were things to do in the morning. People to meet and information to gather. But before that... The familiar sensation of the suppression bracelets washed over him as he triggered with a mental command. Leif smiled internally, then got to work. Full Character Sheet and Ability Recap Full Character Sheet and Ability Recap This chapter has no content other than a full character sheet overview. I recommend bookmarking it so you can reference Leif¡¯s skills easily. === Name: Leif Vin Race: Scion of Aeons Age: 12 Awaiting manifestation: Emblem Attributes: Free: 0 Might: 70 (+20%) Alacrity: 65 (+20%) Intelligence: 69 (+20%) Willpower: 78 (+20%) Spirit: 83 (+20%) Charisma: 161 (+130%) Total Level: 54 Core Skills: 0/1 Monster Classes: 1/1 Scion of Aeons: 22/40 Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Sympathy from Experience / Consuming Aeons / Font of Life III / Tree of Respite / The Amber Path / Amber Aegis / Wood Manipulation / Meditations on Eternity Classes: 2/4 Inspiring Brawler: 11/20 Skills: Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess III / Fists of Awe Adept of Self-Restoration: 11/20 Skills: Surge of Life and Growth / Aura of Benevolence IV Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Grand Action / Legacy Attuned Items: 2 Large Spatial Ring Adaptive Suppression Bracelets === [Scion of Aeons] The past calls to the scion of aeons, the unearthing of history the highest calling. Secrets long lost to time may reveal themselves, lesions long forgotten coming to your aid. At the height of their power, the amber relished the opportunity to delve into the past, ancient history as much sustenance as water and light. The amber are gone, but the secrets they uncovered, and the power that was stolen still remain. Only those true of character and noble of purpose were worthy to walk this path, but now the door lies open and ready, none remain who would disagree to your appointment, while at the same time none remain to endorse your ascension. Even if you are not purely a member of the amber, your deeds, past, and blood qualify you for this honour. Tier: 3 (Monster) Level: 22/40Updated chapters at novelhall.com Class Perk: You naturally recover from wounds at an accelerated pace and damage you deal takes longer to heal. You can perfectly track the passage of time. +150% To the effect of enhancement (Body) skills +150% To the effect of blood aspected skills +150% to the effect of time aspected skills Growths: Free Points: +5 Might: C+ Alacrity: C Intelligence: B Willpower: B Spirit: C+ Charisma: B Base Stats: Might: +20, Alacrity +20, Intelligence +40, Willpower +40, Spirit: +20, Charisma +40 Gold Iron Physique: Aspects: Technique, Enhancement (Body)* Your resilience to physical and thaumatic damage is increased as your body is tempered to be akin to iron. You are naturally more dense and can control your physique to become heavier or lighter at will. Attacks you make with your body deal increased damage and have greater force behind them. You may conjure golden ethereal limbs which count as your own body for any beneficial effects granted by skills and class perks while they remain physically attached to your form. You may manipulate the shape of these limbs at will. Sympathy From Experience: Aspects: Perception (Time)*, Enhancement (Body)*, Social*, Analysis You passively gain knowledge of events and changes that have occurred within your surroundings, the more significant these events the more clear they are to your sight. You may invoke the passage of time, seeing an echo of the past which you may project to those nearby. You have greater awareness of both your material and spiritual surroundings, and have the ability to sense emotions and intent of those within range of your perception. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Finally you may analyse a target to determine their age and combat experience relative to your own. The more injured you become, the greater this skill''s effects. Fists of Awe: Aspects: Social*, Enhancement (Body)* Dealing unarmed damage intimidates nearby foes, and inspires nearby allies. Those intimidated by this skill find their attention drawn to you and away from all else. Your words and actions are more threatening to those who are intimidated by this skill. You take less harm from, and your unarmed strikes deal more damage to those who are intimidated by this skill. Those inspired by this skill are less affected by negative emotions, and have increased resilience against mental attacks. === [Adept of Self-Restoration] Through the repeated usage of self-healing abilities, you take the step to reinforcing that aspect of your power, imbuing your body with more potent regeneration at the cost of a weakened ability to heal others. No stranger to battle, an adept lives and dies by their ability to channel vital energy to where it is needed most. Tier: 2 (Union) Level: 11/20 Class Perk: The effects from your life aspected skills are increased by 100% when they affect you, but are reduced by 50% when they affect others +100% To the effect of enhancement (Body) skills Your healing skills are 100% less strenuous on your body You naturally recover from wounds at an accelerated pace Growths: Free Points: +1 Might: D+ Alacrity: E Intelligence: C Willpower: C+ Spirit: B Charisma: D+ Base Stats: Might: +3, Alacrity: +1 Intelligence: +4 Willpower: +5, Spirit: +6, Charisma +3 Skills: Surge of Life and Growth: Aspects: Technique (Life)*, Nature, Empowerment (Body)* You may channel healing energy into a limb to empower it temporarily, allowing for far more force being every attack. You may transfer the energy into a target you are touching with the empowered limb to rapidly heal them and promote regenerative growth. You may supercharge the life-force within yourself or a target you are touching, dramatically increasing the rate of recovery and growth. This effect is more potent when used on flora, both mundane and magical. This effect lingers for a duration determined by how much life-force was stimulated. Repeated use of this skill on the same limb or target reduces its efficacy. Aura of Benevolence IV: Aspects: Aura (Life)*, Social* Your auric presence carries the weight of your authority, generosity and genuine intent. Those within your aura have their physical and emotional pain soothed, and receive a greater benefit from all sources of healing. You can control your aura in ways that are impossible without an aura skill. Notes: All this time, and the Kossia family is still causing me trouble. Not entirely sure what kind of trouble they were making before, but if it''s anything like Hera now then I fully understand my previous self and his well-founded fear. RUN AWAY! Or something. === [Noble] Bestowed upon you by a member of high society due to you possessing an exemplary aptitude and being of a true bloodline. Tier: Auxiliary (Inheritance) Level: 10/10 Class Perk: +100% To the effect of social skills +50% to the effects of the charisma attribute Growths: Free Points: +2 Might: D Alacrity: D Intelligence: C Willpower: C Spirit: C Charisma: C+ Base Stats: Might: +1 Alacrity: +1, Intelligence: +2, Willpower: +2, Spirit: +2, Charisma +2 Skills: Grand Action: Aspects: Enhancement You gain a bonus to an attribute of your choice equal to 20% of your charisma attribute. Legacy: Aspects: Enhancement (Body)*, Analysis, Social* Your legacy endures. Those you sire are stronger, healthier and have an innate resistance to diseases. You can instinctively identify any descendants and may analyse them if they''re of equal or lower level to you, gaining a general overview of their classes, levels and attributes. Chapter 142: Interlude: Ram鈥檚 Retirement Chapter 142: Interlude: Ram¡¯s Retirement Ram didn¡¯t like cities. He didn¡¯t like towns either, or villages for that matter. Sure, he¡¯d spent much of his early, unintelligent life on the outskirts of northern settlements in between the times he roamed the rugged snow-capped mountains, but he had never grown to appreciate them. But watching one be built? Now that was interesting. ¡°Uhhh, revered ancestor, sir. Are you sure about this?¡± ¡°Absolutely. Have it done.¡± ¡°But... Revered ancestor, not to be rude but...¡± Ram shot his descendant, a younger man perhaps in his late twenties with his best ¡®I am disappointed in you¡¯ look. He stared down at the man from his perch atop a sleeping yak, the beast having not yet realised he was there and was happily snoring away. The demikin shuffled from foot to foot, static occasionally arcing through his mane of white hair. ¡°Revered ancestor who is very wise. I humbly suggest that you reconsider the order to build a home in this location.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because, honoured one, this is a vegetable field...¡± ¡°Yes, I can see that.¡± Ram said, raising a bushy eyebrow. ¡°So... if we built a home here, the elders in charge of agriculture would become upset.¡± ¡°Can you not move the field?¡± ¡°Umm, no? That would kill the crops. And we¡¯ve already prepared the soil here for farming.¡± Ram didn¡¯t reply to that, he just gave his descendant the silent treatment. It always worked, always. The demikin, true to his genetics, just stared up at him in silence. Five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty as the staring contest continued. The Yak woke up and started trotting over to where the rest of its herd were grazing. Ram didn¡¯t move, letting the beast carry him away, never once breaking eye contact with his wide-eyed descendant. He reached into his tattered robes and withdrew his never-ending bottle from his totally not a spatial item. He took a long, deep drink, then returned the bottle. Eventually Ram drifted far enough away that his descendant went back to work in his field. Ram grunted in amusement and elevated himself into the air with a brief effort of will. Then he kicked off nothing and shot towards the nearby stream. The stream was a new addition to the slowly developing settlement, its existence courtesy of the slowly melting ice elemental corpses up in the north. The water was crisp and fresh, its path having been slowly ground into the land over the past few months as the stream followed the path of least resistance. Ram knelt, scooping a handful of water and splashing his wrinkled face. Laughter came from further upstream, and the old goat glanced up to see a parade of children and animals stomping their way down the stream. They yelped and giggled in delight as they jumped in and out of the cool water, squealing as they splashed one another. Despite his best efforts to maintain a gruff expression, Ram smiled, how could he not? He still found it surprising, even with all the time that had passed since his awakening. To see people, humans, who were related to him, not just by bonds of companionship but by blood. Intellectually he understood it, but instincts from a life he could barely remember still made him hesitate on occasion, his brain taking a few seconds to understand what he was seeing. A bunch of juvenile hogs, their bodies still bearing the stripes of youth spotted him and squealed in excitement. They charged him through the shallow stream, splashing happily before clustering around his feet with high pitched squeals. ¡°Well well, what do we have here?¡± Ram asked, loudly enough for the approaching children to hear and raising a bushy eyebrow. ¡°It seems lunch has come to me! How lucky!¡± ¡°Grandpa no!¡± Came a cry from one of the children. ¡°You can¡¯t eat the little piggies! They¡¯re so cute!¡± ¡°Really now?¡± Ram said, plucking one of the tiny hogs up out of the water and lifting its wiggling body up to his face. The hog, completely oblivious to its impending doom, grunted happily. The awakened beast¡¯s grin became feral as he turned away from the now outraged kids, then he tucked the hog into his patchwork coat all the while making loud, fake chewing sounds. Ram looked over his shoulder, his cheeks bulging comically as his tiny descendants stared at him with wide, horrified eyes. He snorted, and produced the hog like a magician performing a trick. The kids expressions shifted from traumatised to extremely amused in the span of a second. Ram laughed at the sight, and the laughter felt good. === The pale tree with crimson leaves glinted gold in the evening light. Ram slumped down beneath its canopy, watching as the demikin he called family gathered in the clearing they had created for communal events. The disconnected bluff had once been the place the clan had begun building their homes, but the walls had kept sprouting leaves and the roots spreading beneath them disturbed the foundations of the structures, both new and old. Ram just stared at his descendant. Olav stared back. Over a minute passed. ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough?¡± ¡°About thirty levels too low.¡± Ram confirmed. ¡°Damn.¡± === Ram watched from his position atop a slowly moving cloud as a procession of just over forty people slowly trudged across a grassy hill. The goat in human form squinted down at the strangers, the humans. They didn¡¯t carry weapons, nor did they wear armour. If anything, they looked even more rugged than he did. And that was a carefully cultivated appearance, or so he told himself. He had been offered a new coat as a gift from a family of hunters, but he had been too proud to accept. He definitely hadn¡¯t been embarrassed at the display of affection, not at all. One of the humans in the rear of the group stumbled and fell, the bundle in their arms rolling down the slope for several metres. The whole procession stopped, several backtracking to assist the one who had fallen. I don¡¯t want to deal with this. Ram thought, static electricity crackling between his horns. I don¡¯t want these people anywhere near my family. His thoughts turned dark, his muscles tensed and his vision narrowed. But it was an old reaction, a tired reaction, and judging by the weakness of those below him, it was an unnecessary reaction. Ram¡¯s sigh of defeat had enough force behind it to disperse the cloud he was standing on. What is the world coming to? He groaned internally as he fell. === The new homes were built, the new people were welcomed, and life went on. There was something melancholy about the passage of time, Ram mused, of spending the long turbulent years alone, battling beast and monster in the frozen peaks of the northern mountains. It was during the early hours of a night no different from the dozen that had come before it when the presence of the domain tree rippled, its aura pulsing across the land, expanding, growing. It was a sudden, subtle yet overbearing change, one that couldn¡¯t be brought about by anything other than a large increase in power. ¡°So you did it.¡± Ram said, looking up at the shadowy canopy that loomed far above him. ¡°Not too bad, kid.¡± Under the night sky the crimson leaves twinkled as if reflecting gold. The two deer and the piles of hogs stirred in their sleep, some waking at the disturbance, others letting out contented sighs at the change. Two pairs of eyes blinked at him in confusion, the unspoken questions contained in their wide, animalistic gazes apparent. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, I wasn¡¯t the one who passed through a bottleneck.¡± Ram grumbled. Bam huffed at his non answer and stood, wandering off to go find food, Lani kept looking at him as if wanting Ram to expand on his statement. ¡°You¡¯re the smart one, supposedly, figure it out.¡± Lani looked up at the tree, and her eyes twinkled in understanding. Then she settled down and went back to sleep. Ram leaned back, his expression distant. He could still sense the rumble of inevitable conflict coming from the south, a growing storm slowly building towards the moment it would inevitably break. The storm was wider now, broader in ways Ram wasn¡¯t sure how to describe. He only hoped the monster that made this new life for his family possible would return before the maelstrom swallowed everything in its path. Or, maybe Leif would stumble into trouble that was completely unrelated. Chapter 143: The Heart of Ahle-ho Chapter 143: The Heart of Ahle-ho Nikolas sat within his spacious and well decorated office. His boots were kicked up onto the desk before him, his chair tilted back as he read through the last of the day''s reports. Acquisition forms, personnel records, monster activity reports and dungeon access permits were organised into neat piles. It amused him how his younger self would have hated this part, but now, with his age, experience and attributes the bureaucratic mundanity of his job as the guild-master was more relaxing than it was tedious. He yawned, stretched, and expanded his perception outwards, spreading it over the Twin Heart compound, its wards and defensive enchantments impeding him not at all. He sensed the functionaries shuffling around in the guild offices, the alchemists and enchanters working in their labs, the many adventurers training or relaxing. With a flex of his will and an unnecessary hand gesture the paperwork on his desk was lifted by his aura and deposited neatly in a drawer. He then stood and exited the room. The two guards saluted, though they didn¡¯t have to. He was a guild-master, not a general, and the Twin Heart guild was a guild, not an army. Something piqued his senses towards the compound''s main gate, so Nikolas stopped and focused his perception. ¡°Uh, boss?¡± One of the guards said. ¡°Hmm? Yes? What is it?¡± ¡°Is that part of the wall really that interesting?¡± ¡°What? Oh, no. I was distracted. If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I¡¯m at the main entrance.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Nikolas continued on, his steps more purposeful than before. Functionaries stepped out of his way as he rounded a corner as a sign of respect, and partially out of prudent caution. With his physical attributes he could move at a speed that would seem little more than a blur of motion to the eyes of these lower levelled men and women. In the case of an emergency he would need to utilise every drop of speed, and having to weave around those weaker than him would not only slow him down, but endanger them as well. But there was no emergency, not today, and hopefully not ever. Though that seems increasingly unlikely with every day that passes. Nikolas thought darkly. He stepped onto the enclosed bridge that connected the two main buildings of the compound and encountered a presence that was trying its hardest to subtly convince everyone and everything that it wasn¡¯t present. Nikolas snorted in amusement, not breaking stride as Lars¡¯s indistinct form rippled into existence at his side. ¡°Uncle, I was just coming to find you.¡± The guild enforcer said, walking a step behind the older man. ¡°It appears we have guests.¡± ¡°Indeed we do nephew, indeed we do.¡± In contrast to Lars¡¯s tone of mild annoyance, Nikolas¡¯s own was largely amused. He had expected this meeting for quite some time, though perhaps it wasn¡¯t a great sign that it had finally happened. ¡°I¡¯m surprised they came in person, usually these kinds stick to sternly worded letters and vague threats.¡± ¡°They¡¯re posturing in the lead up to the conference. They likely secured the support of another guild before doing anything.¡± ¡°Any guesses as to who?¡± ¡°If I were to bet on it, Rising Tide. Maybe one or more of their subordinate guilds.¡± Nikolas said after a moment of consideration. The two stepped out of a side door to the main reception hall and quickly exited the building. He prodded the gatekeepers with his aura, prompting them to open the way. They obeyed immediately, the large doors swinging open with ponderous speed. He kicked off a step, modulating his strength to not crush the stone as he shot forward. An instant later Lars copied him, the two arriving before the main entrance of the guild compound as if out of thin air. Three men and a woman in vibrant and ornate robes turned their attention from the gatekeeper they had been harassing to stare with pompous indignation at the new arrivals. Their leader, an elderly woman with greying hair stepped forward, plastering a faux smile onto her face and conjoining her ring-covered fingers, the bands of gold and silver clinking together as she did so. ¡°Healer Nada.¡± Nikolas said, bowing in a display of courtesy that was not reciprocated. ¡°To what do I owe this pleasure?¡± ¡°You know full well why we¡¯re here guild-master. One of your members is in violation of the pact of generosity, and is guilty of interfering with the duty of our healing order.¡± Nala said, stretching her neck as if to look down on him. She was still over a head shorter, so the effect wasn¡¯t overly impressive. ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Guild-master Nikolas, for the record could you state a falsehood?¡± ¡°The sky is purple and the clouds are made of sugar.¡± ¡°My skill is functional, healer Nala.¡± ¡°There was a masked man! He has been seen not only entering and exiting the Twin Heart compound, but accompanying several of their members. Do you deny this guild-master?¡± ¡°I know of no such person within Ahle-ho.¡± Everyone turned to the palace official. The man grimaced and sent an apologetic look Nala¡¯s way. ¡°It appears guild-master Nikolas and the Twin Heart guild are not in violation of the pact of generosity. This public investigation is over. Good day to you all.¡± ¡°Wait! I will ask questions of others within the guild!¡± Nala said, quickly moving to intercept the official despite her advanced age. ¡°The writ you obtained allows for no such thing. And even if it did, this is not an official audit of the Twin Heart guild. Guild-master Nikolas has every right to legally represent any from his guild when it comes to questioning.¡± ¡°That is hardly-¡± ¡°Good-day healer Nala. This matter has officially ended.¡± The palace official said, writing something in a pad before bowing once again, then walking off. The crowd dispersed now that the spectacle had concluded. The healers went on their way, though with far less grace than that of the palace official. ¡°Well, that was fortunate timing.¡± Nikolas sent telepathically to Lars, having felt and allowed the mental connection to form between them. ¡°To think that if they arrived only a day earlier you may have had to actually lie.¡± Lars silently replied. ¡°True enough, true enough.¡± Nikolas sent. ¡°But the justice system stops working if they realise we can bypass the truth telling skills with a healthy amount of self deception and advanced aura manipulation.¡± === The sky skimmer dipped suddenly as wind currents blown in from the south buffeted the craft. Far below, a squadron of rays, their bodies flashing with bioluminescent light chased the skimmer¡¯s shadow as they darted in and out of the waves. Leif leaned over the edge of the deck, putting everything he could into the weight reduction aspect of [Gold Iron Physique]. He had left Ahle-ho the day before under the effects of an illusion skill. Lars had suggested the idea and Leif had no real reason to decline. The illusion had long faded, though the scion was still in disguise, his painted mask still firmly attached to his face. It was a disappointing blow to learn that the transformation available to awakened monsters wouldn¡¯t be within his grasp until he had reached level fifty in the associated class. It was a setback, but it wouldn¡¯t stop him. The Academy awaited, and allies that would be able to assist him were located therein. Despite his eventual destination, the skimmer wasn¡¯t heading south. Instead it flew in a mostly straight line to the east, following the steady curve of the coast. Sky skimmers, unlike their sea dwelling cousins, could only travel along predetermined paths. He had once had the basics explained to him by Darius when the two of them were still a part of the expedition. Magical pylons served as anchors, somehow both guiding and partially powering the vessels as they sailed through the air. The route the skimmer would travel would visit Sablaris, then travel south east into the empire to the city of Kartinth. From there it would be a boat ride down to the archipelago that housed the Academy. The open sea was an extremely dangerous place to traverse, only in the relative shallow of coastal waters could ships sail in any amount of safety. According to several people he had discussed the topic with, the Rien sea which much of the human territories surrounded, was nowhere near as deep as the open ocean. If something as powerful as a merfey dwelled in the coastal parts of the sea, Leif shuddered to imagine what might lurk down in the depths. He gripped the railing of the Skimmer, the breeze making his layered coat flutter around him. His forearms felt bare, the suppression bracers he had slowly but surely grown addicted to using during his stay with the Twin Heart guild having been returned to the guild¡¯s vault. It was a regrettable loss, and he definitely wasn¡¯t suffering from withdrawals. Leif had spent his last days in Ahle-ho subjecting himself to the next stages of the bracer¡¯s training. Unfortunately his large increase in aura strength didn¡¯t provide the leap in progress he had hoped for. Instead, the ¡®adaptive¡¯ part of the item''s name had put him firmly and mercilessly in his place. Leif let out a sigh and stepped away from the edge of the skimmer. He had spent the past days leeching as much knowledge and wisdom from the more experienced adventurers around him. He hadn¡¯t learnt much that he didn¡¯t already know, or wouldn¡¯t have been able to intuit in time. As he retreated below deck Leif¡¯s mind turned to a choice that would determine much of his path going forward. What should he select as his core skill? Chapter 144: Core Considerations Chapter 144: Core Considerations The sky skimmer didn¡¯t have individual rooms below deck. Instead it was a wide open space between the reinforced hull and the deck above, the distance between both forced both Leif and the taller passengers and crew to duck, but only slightly. The ¡®room¡¯ was segmented not by walls, but by hanging cloth, with over half the space being filled with cargo that was tied to thin metal sheets. When Leif had asked, one of the crew had told him that the sheets had a weight reducing enchantment, which he supposed made sense. The skimmer rocked to one side, the curtains and loose objects shifting as the vessel was buffeted by air. The vehicle was following the coast-line, utilising the updraft coming from the cliffs below to maintain a comfortable altitude. But that didn¡¯t stop the occasional bit of non magical turbulence from making itself known to everyone on board. Leif parted a curtain and stepped into the compartment he had been designated, having to stoop lower under a wooden beam to make it more than halfway inside. The compartment was empty, most people were up on deck, and that suited Leif just fine. He sat cross legged in the far corner, and settled down to contemplate his next choice. A core skill, as he had been taught, was more than just a skill that existed outside of his classes. While it would no longer count towards his skill maximum, a number he thought was around eighteen or nineteen, though it could be more after his advancement, that was by no means the only change. You have selected the [Grand Action] skill! Do you want to spend 1 core skill point to turn [Grand Action] into a core skill? Core skills do not belong to any class, and do not contribute to any penalties involving the number of owned skills! Confirm? Y/N Leif declined the prompt, just as he had done so several times over the past week. Something that was frustrating him about the system was the lack of information it provided. During skill selection he could only intuit what the different options did by their names and the vague feelings he received when focusing on them. During class selection he couldn¡¯t see exactly what the class perks and attribute growths would be, so picking anything had a certain amount of risk. And now, when selecting his core skill, the system was omitting several key bits of information that would alter the choice of anyone who was informed. It turned out that Leif was by no means the only person to have these same gripes. Information gathering was a key part of several powerful institutions. From his eventual destination that was the imperial Academy. To information houses that traded, well, it was in the name, and private archives such as the one within the Ahle-ho palace. Finally there were adventurer guilds, and the Twin Heart guild was by no means an exception. There were two main things a member of the Twin Heart guild could spend their contribution points on. The vault, and all the treasures contained within, and spending time within the guild archive. Certain information was free, such as the general characteristics of a monster the guild had contracted them to hunt down. But in depth class and skill knowledge was not. Leif had entered the archives with Darius, and the usually reserved man had spent over an hour happily explaining every little detail about what the archive contained. It even turned out that the archive would purchase rare class and skill information for contribution points. Leif did not sell any of his system details, he wasn¡¯t an idiot. Usually anyway. He had bought an information packet about core skills, and then promptly had the purchase rendered a waste when he and Darius visited Nikolas, and the guild-master took it upon himself to go into full lecture mode. A lecture that Leif suspected was more for Darius¡¯s sake than his own, but he wouldn¡¯t complain about the free lesson. It turned out that the system''s description of what a core skill was wasn¡¯t just lacking, but so woeful it bordered on the absurd. The first thing the system failed to mention was that a core skill would be offered a series of upgrades upon being selected. This was a good thing, nobody would complain about getting a more powerful skill, and certainly Leif wouldn¡¯t. But the upgrades didn¡¯t stop there. Upon the completion of any advancement, be it class promotion or passing the next advancement trial at level one hundred, the skill would also change. The important part of these changes was that they took aspects from all his classes. A core skill wasn¡¯t just a skill that existed outside of a class, it effectively existed within all of them at once. So if Leif chose a core skill, then promoted his [Inspiring Brawler] class, the core skill would be offered an upgrade depending on what he promoted the class into. Leif tapped his fingers on the wooden floor of the deck, trying to finally come to a decision. The problem he was facing wasn¡¯t due to the lack of options. Instead it was the overwhelming amount of choices. Ultimately he would need to pick something with as much room for growth as possible. Something simple, something that he constantly used, and something that he was comfortable with changing multiple times as his level increased. You have selected the [Grand Action] skill! Do you want to spend 1 core skill point to turn [Grand Action] into a core skill? Core skills do not belong to any class, and do not contribute to any penalties involving the number of owned skills! Confirm? Y/N [Grand Action] was the right choice. Objectively it was correct. It perfectly met all the criteria. It was simple, constantly in use and had a near limitless amount of potential. But not being able to pick [Aura of Benevolence], [Consuming Aeons], [Font of Life] or any of the other skills that tied his abilities together felt like giving up the chance to see something spectacular. When he had brought up picking the [Aura of Benevolence] skill to Lars, the man had firmly shaken his head. An aura skill was something you had to embody, to slowly but surely mould yourself into over time. Having one¡¯s aura rapidly undergo changes every few levels was counter intuitive. Leif agreed with his reasoning, Lars had time and time again proven his expertise on the subject. But... You may select two attributes, granting both a bonus equal to 20% of your charisma attribute. This bonus is increased depending on how much larger your charisma attribute is compared to the targeted attributes up to a maximum of 30%. === Benevolent Actions Aspects: Enhancement, Empowerment, Social* You gain a bonus to an attribute of your choice equal to 30% of your charisma attribute. Those around you may gain a portion of this effect depending on their positive disposition towards you. === The three choices were simple, the changes far from a complex reworking of the original skill. The larger changes would come when he evolved or promoted his classes, so Leif wasn¡¯t caught off guard by the relatively simple upgrades he was presented with. His head hit the wall behind him as he laughed. These are all excellent, how am I supposed to pick between them? Leif returned the silver coin to his spatial item, the thing didn¡¯t have three sides so it wouldn¡¯t be any help. The first option, [Glorious Action] was the most immediately appealing. It was an increase in power over [Grand Action] by over double. With his effective [Charisma] at almost four hundred, granting fifty percent of that to any attribute would be like having invested around a hundred and seventy points into it. It was a staggering amount, and would be like tripling any attribute of his choice, at will. But he would only be able to target one attribute at a time, and while his ability to freely swap between them during a fight was all but instinctual by this point, it was still a significant drawback. The second choice, [Grandiose Actions], was an answer to this shortcoming. At a glance it was inferior to the first option, but Leif found himself liking it more as he considered it. Assuming his [Charisma] was high enough to increase the bonus from twenty percent to thirty percent, the overall increase would be ten percent more. But was that worth it? Almost certainly. The final option brought him up short. On one hand it was the weakest of the three by a not insignificant margin. On the other, it was absurdly powerful. His attributes were naturally higher than humans of the same level, and if he surrounded himself with allies and comrades the sheer amount of power he could grant them was incredible. Giving even two people an increase of up to a hundred in any attribute of his choice would eclipse the benefits from the first two skills and then some. And that wasn¡¯t to mention the social aspect the skill had, meaning that its effects would be increased by his [Noble] class perk. The question was, how much was a ¡®portion¡¯ of the skill¡¯s effect? Would the effect be lessened the more people who were under the benefits? And- Wait, wouldn¡¯t the skill having the social aspect boost every part of the skill, not just the second line? Leif¡¯s thought process ground to a halt. So, assuming the system isn¡¯t dividing the one hundred percent increase from the [Noble] class perk between different aspects of the skill, the increase I would receive should be sixty percent, not thirty. His mind whirled. There were hundreds of different theories about how skills interacted with class perks, and how attribute scaling was calculated. If he hadn¡¯t spent the past few months bringing his understanding up from completely ignorant to somewhat educated he wouldn¡¯t have a clue how any of this worked. The skill has the ¡®social¡¯ aspect, meaning at least part of the skill will scale with my [Charisma]. But the skill already scales with [Charisma], hells [Grand Action] scales with the attribute but it doesn¡¯t have the social tag. Does that mean nothing will change other than the function? Leif decided to sleep on it. He didn¡¯t technically need sleep, and his rest was more of a meditative torpor than real sleep. The system would probably force his choice after twenty four hours, so he still had time to make his choice. Though if he was being honest with himself, Leif would almost certainly pick the final skill upgrade. The potential synergy was almost too good to pass up. I wish you weren¡¯t so abstract with your information. It¡¯s quite frustrating. He thought, focusing on the system windows floating before him. There was no response. Chapter 145: Stowaways Chapter 145: Stowaways Lucia put her head down and worked until her knuckles were raw and her fingers ached with exertion. The dishes, plain creations of carved wood kept piling up before her, accumulating faster than she could clean. Lucia grit her teeth, and kept going. She didn¡¯t stop when the restaurant owner started screaming at her and the other youths to go faster, she didn¡¯t stop when the boy next to her was dragged away and beaten for dropping a bowl. She didn¡¯t stop, because she couldn¡¯t. Two stale loaves of bread and a small satchel filled with pan seared discards were her pay for the evenings work. She didn¡¯t complain, that would mean they wouldn¡¯t let her back. Lucia quickly ducked out before the owner could let out his temper, she ran down the alley and darted down the poorly lit street. She ran through the cobbled roads of Kartinth until the sole of her oversized right boot finally disintegrated. She stumbled, clutching the food to her chest as she fell. Lucia hissed in pain as she picked herself up off the muddy street. Kicking off the now useless boot and letting out a series of curses she had heard her older cousin use on numerous occasions. A lump built in her throat, remembering about the family she used to have hurt. It hurt more than the bloodied skin on her knee, hurt more than her bruised and cut hands. It wasn¡¯t fair, nothing about this situation was fair. But life was what it was, and even if over the course of her short life it had gone from bad to worse, it was all she could do but dig down deep and survive. Half an hour later she stumbled, half asleep into the rundown structure that was her temporary home. A large figure peeled itself up out of a chair in the main room, sunken eyes glaring at her as if she was trespassing. Which, unless she gave up a portion of what she had earned, she would be. ¡°One loaf, half of what I was given.¡± Lucia said, trying to keep the weakness out of her voice. The ageing woman before her was no different than most of the people who lived rough in the poor districts of the city, a predator who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to pounce on any opportunity. It was greedy, shortsighted, if the woman let her keep coming back she would get more food in the long run than if she took everything now and chased Lucia away. The young girl found that desperate people rarely thought about that, and they absolutely hated it if you pointed out the flaws in their logic. ¡°I smell meat. Give it to me, girl.¡± The woman snarled, her scarred lips twitching. ¡°I don¡¯t-¡± ¡°I said give it to me!¡± She repeated, stalking forward. Suddenly a pair of callused, thin fingers grabbed Lucia by the collar, pulling her up off the filthy, carpetless floor. She cried out in surprise, kicking out. The bread fell from her grasp, and then the packet of meat she had hidden in her ragged shirt was taken. Despite her appearance, the older woman had several levels under her belt, and far more [Might] than Lucia had. She felt the difference between their strength when she was thrown to the floor, her face coming perilously close to the pointy end of a rusty fire poker as she skidded to a stop. ¡°My brother... needs that.¡± Lucia groaned as she rolled over. ¡°Please, he¡¯s sick and weak.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care, girl. Be grateful that I haven''t kicked you out.¡± Lucia sighed in resignation and stumbled over to the single loaf of bread she had left. She stalked out of the room, ignoring the wet sound of munching coming from behind her. === ¡°Lucia! You¡¯re back.¡± A small boy cried, jumping free from the pile of rags he was using as a bed. ¡°I¡¯m back Royce, I¡¯m back.¡± Lucia said, slumping down against the wall to their small, dark, mouldy room. ¡°Look, I brought dinner.¡± ¡°Thank you big sis!¡± Royce said, throwing his little arms around her neck and hugging her tightly. She could feel his ribs, how diminished and skinny he was. It almost broke her heart to know she was failing him, that even with everything she did to keep them alive it wasn¡¯t enough. ¡°You need to eat Roy, to keep up your strength. Here, the loaf is yours.¡± Her brother looked away and coughed, then stared up at her with wide brown eyes. ¡°But sis, you need to eat too.¡± ¡°I already ate.¡± She lied, ruffling his shaggy blond hair. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah, would your big sis ever lie to you?¡± Royce looked doubtful, something he never would have done only a few years prior. He was growing up, but in the worst possible place. He took the loaf and tore off a bite, he grimaced slightly at the taste, but chewed without complaining. I would have complained when I was his age. She thought, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the stab of pain that shot through her stomach. Roy coughed again, and continued doing so for several seconds. Lucia clenched her fists and fought back tears, this wasn¡¯t what life was supposed to be like, not for them. Silence stretched in the little room for several minutes, it was only broken by the sound of Royce slowly devouring the bread, his meal occasionally being interrupted by fits of coughing. ¡°I heard something interesting.¡± She said, not opening her eyes. Royce made a noise that indicated interest. ¡°Apparently there¡¯s some sort of event happening in the Academy, a bunch of ships are going there, taking supplies and the occasional passengers.¡± ¡°Sis, we can¡¯t go. What happens if we get caught sneaking onto a ship again?¡± Her brother asked. ¡°Then I¡¯ll take the beating for both of us. But we won¡¯t get caught, we¡¯ll be more careful.¡± ¡°But there are way more soldiers on the docks these days, you said it yourself.¡± ¡°True, but they¡¯re looking for terrorists and enemy soldiers, not two kids.¡± ¡°What if they think we¡¯re terrorists?¡± Lucia opened one eye and looked at her little brother. A deep frown mired his malnourished, but innocent features. ¡°You¡¯re eight, Roy, nobody will think you''re a terrorist.¡± ¡°What about you? You¡¯re thirteen.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a lady. Ladies don¡¯t commit acts of terrorism.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. That makes sense.¡± Roy mumbled, tearing off another bite of stale bread. He chewed, and Lucia closed her eyes. ¡°Hey, Lucia?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have any, we¡¯re leaving.¡± Lucia replied, quickly walking past her host and making for the room where her brother was. ¡°You need to pay if you want to leave.¡± Lucia ignored those words, darting up to the door to their room and bursting inside. Royce lay in the blankets, pale and sickly. His eyes slowly opened as he awoke, blinking sluggishly to clear his vision. ¡°Sis?¡± Roy asked. ¡°We¡¯re going, I know which ship we need to be on!¡± She said, her excitement bleeding into her voice and overpowering her wariness. ¡°You do? That¡¯s great!¡± ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll be out of here in no time. And then we¡¯ll finally know what happened to our family¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere, girl.¡± The ageing woman said as she stomped up behind Lucia. ¡°You still owe me, and you aint sneaking off without paying.¡± ¡°You only asked for payment for each night we stayed. There¡¯s nothing we owe you.¡± The woman grunted, closing in on Lucia. ¡°Don¡¯t care. You owe me whatever I say you owe me, girl.¡± ¡°But you said-¡± Her words were cut off as the sharp sound of a slap echoed through the building. Lucia raised a hand to her face, blinking in shock. A second slap sent her rheeling, the blow knocking her head to the side. ¡°Sis!¡± Roy screamed from within the room, his next words being cut off as the woman slammed the door shut. Lucia¡¯s head swam as she tried to get to her feet. Her attempt was foiled as a booted foot connected with her ribs. ¡°You work for me, brat! You do as I say, and you will be grateful for it! You want your worthless brother to die? You don¡¯t listen to me and I¡¯ll kill him. You hear me? I¡¯ll slit is fucking throat!¡± Lucia¡¯s world went very, very still. Even as the woman grabbed her by the leg and dragged her down the corridor she barely breathed. Another slap broke Lucia from her state of shock. Then she was lifted bodily and thrown towards the door. ¡°Bring me back double the food tonight, I don¡¯t care how you get it. And if you get on your knees and apologise I might even let you keep some.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do this.¡± Lucia muttered, steadying herself against the wall for support as she stood. ¡°What did you say? Speak up, girl!¡± ¡°You- you can¡¯t do this! We¡¯re not your damn slaves!¡± ¡°You became my property the moment you walked through that door and asked for my generosity. And what are you going to do about it? Do you even have a class?¡± Lucia didn¡¯t, but that wouldn¡¯t stop her from standing up for herself. She may be nothing but a street urchin with nothing to her name but the rags on her back and what little she could scrounge together. But she had once been more, she knew what it was like to be more. ¡°You threatened my brother.¡± She said, it wasn¡¯t a question, but a statement whispered with little emotion. ¡°I did. And I fucking meant it. You get out there, or I¡¯ll snap his frail little bones and dump him in the sewers.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t let you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have a choice, brat.¡± It was true. Lucia didn¡¯t have a choice. There was nothing she could do to the person before her. Nothing her meagre strength could accomplish. She looked up into a pair of sunken, hollowed out eyes, and found that she didn¡¯t care. Lucia dashed forward. Not towards the host, but towards the fireplace she had never once seen lit. She reached it just as she was grappled from the side by a near unstoppable force. A hand went around her throat as Lucia screamed and writhed. She was pinned, helpless, dead to rights unless she somehow fought back. But it was all meaningless. What could she do? What could she do now that she was all alone, absent everything she grew up knowing and loving except for her baby brother? Royce. She thought, her vision going blurry as her consciousness faded. Her trembling fingers found what they had been searching for the entire time. Lucia mustered every drop of strength she had left, then the rusted poker pierced the woman¡¯s eye and burst out the back of her skull. She fell dead, her grip around Lucia¡¯s throat going limp. The girl crawled to her feet, trying to ignore the corpse. She wretched into the ashes of the fireplace, took three steps, then fell in a heap and wretched again. Adrenaline raced through her body as she took several gasping breaths. Then Lucia firmed her resolve and marched to her brother''s room. Lucia shielded Roy¡¯s vision from the blood seeping into the floorboards as they left. She shielded her own vision from the system prompt that still populated her vision. She had been offered class, but victory tasted like blood. === The dock workers heaved, activating skills to lighten their loads as one by one crates and barrels were placed within the hull of the merchant ship. They worked through the afternoon and well into the evening, before finally all the cargo was loaded. As the sun set and the workers left to rest after a hard day¡¯s work, two small figures climbed up out of the water below the pier and quickly dashed up the gangplank. In the morning, crew on board and passengers assembled, the ship departed the port city of Kartinth and began the multi day-long voyage south the series of islands the Academy resided upon. The ancient institution was rarely open to visitors from the general public, but the tournament that would soon be underway provided an exception to that rule. Among the many passengers, each eager to arrive at their destination. One stood out from the rest. He had paid, certainly. But the individual was odd for a variety of reasons. The most striking of which was the painted mask that covered his face. Chapter 146: Encounter Chapter 146: Encounter The pervasive dampness in the tight confines of the lower decks made Royce feel as though the world was pressing down on him. His chest tightened and gunk oozed its way into his windpipe. Even at eight years of age he knew how dire his situation was. Lucia told him he was alright, that everything would be okay. He loved his sister, he truly did. But in the year since everything had gone wrong, Royce had seen others, even kids as young as himself, succumb to the same disease. The urge to cough overwhelmed him, but heeding Lucia¡¯s warning about making too much noise he hacked up his lungs into a discarded sack they had found in the ship¡¯s depths. His eyes watered and his world spun, dizziness was a constant companion in the young boy¡¯s life, but it was growing increasingly stubborn in its desire to not leave him be. By the time his eyes stopped watering and his vision cleared Lucia was stirring to wakefulness besides him. She mumbled something in her sleep and turned, shifting as if doing so would make her rest on the hard, salty boards any more comfortable. Light filtered into the storage compartment they were hiding within from a dangling lamp, the faint orange illumination that reached Royce allowed him to perceive the crimson splotches that now stained the sack. He stared down at the blood, his hunger addled mind barely able to comprehend what he was looking at. ¡°Royce...?¡± Lucia mumbled, and it took him several seconds to realise the word hadn¡¯t been the by-product of her usual sleep chatter. ¡°Sis!¡± He squeaked, not unlike the rats they were sharing the space with. He fumbled with the sack, hastily turning it over so she wouldn¡¯t see the blood-stained phlegm. ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± ¡°Shhh.¡± She chided, sitting up with a wince. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to surprise you, Roy. Is everything okay?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m okay.¡± He lied. She leaned over and ruffled his dirty blond hair with a tired smile. ¡°Just two more days, yeah? Then, once the ship arrives at the Academy we¡¯ll sneak off and go find answers.¡± Royce nodded. He knew the chances of their plan working were slim. But if Lucia wanted to try anyway he wouldn¡¯t stop her. He didn¡¯t have the strength, and soon, he wouldn¡¯t have the time. He shivered involuntarily and his sister pulled him into a hug. It reminded him of better times, of happier days when they were all safe and together. ¡°I¡¯m going to go find us some water, and hopefully food if I can manage.¡± Lucia said, breaking off the embrace. The ship rocked and salty foam sprayed up from below, bubbling around the corners of the room before slinking away. She gave him a shaky smile, swiping her tangled fringe away from her eyes. Though they were siblings, neither looked particularly alike. While Roy had blond hair and dark eyes, his sister had brown, verging on black hair with sharp orange irises. The reason was simple. While they shared the same father, their mothers, whom they had inherited much of their looks from, were different. ¡°Be safe sis.¡± Roy whispered to his half sister. Lucia¡¯s smile became slightly more confident as she adjusted the oversized rag she wore as a shirt, tying it off at the hip so it wouldn¡¯t catch on anything as she went scavenging. ¡°Always, you know me.¡± He did. He worried anyway. === Footsteps from the deck above made Roy¡¯s heart skip a beat. Time within the darkened corner in which he was hiding seemed to stretch unnaturally as the minutes trickled by, elongating with every moment he was alone. The ship groaned its protest as its prow cut through a large wave, the hull taking the brunt of the impact. Roy shivered as icy water slipped through small gaps in the sealant between planks, the frigid sensation of his lower body becoming soaked making his every underdeveloped muscle tense. Roy¡¯s teeth chattered as he curled in on himself for warmth. It didn¡¯t do much good. Something bumped overhead, and he jumped in fright. Where he was huddled behind a mountain of crates it was unlikely anyone would discover him. But movement nearby would make Lucia¡¯s life harder as she tried to return to him. If she got caught, what would happen? Would they beat her? Put her to work? Throw her overboard and forget about her? Doubts and worries writhed through his fear addled thoughts like an unwelcome worm. To distract himself Roy focused on the empty air before him, willing the magic that governed the world to appear. It was hard, especially with how difficult concentrating was in his current condition, but the boy persevered, clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes. Then the window opened up before him. It was green, his favourite colour. It reminded Roy of the dense forests from the homeland he was too young to remember, but he had seen paintings. Lucia had taught him how to see his status and change how it looked, but he liked it green. Dark green background, green border, light green text. It didn¡¯t show much information. Just his name, age, race and five in every attribute. Unlike most who lived on the streets his age, Roy could both read and write. Apparently both skills were a prerequisite to being able to summon the system, though he suspected that had just been motivation to get him to learn his letters and numbers. Roy¡¯s favourite part of the system interface wasn¡¯t the information it showed. Instead it was the endless pages of notes he could write just by thinking. It was like having an infinite amount of paper and ink, and he had filled it with every thought, idea, dream and question he could think of ever since he had first manifested the system within his mind''s eye. It helped stave off the boredom and anxiety, helped keep his mind off the long days he spent alone, praying that Lucia would return. And maybe, just maybe, the system was reading his words and keeping an eye on him and his sister. The lamp at the entrance to the room flickered, briefly making the shadows dance and darkness leap from its hiding places. Roy tucked in his legs and tried to make himself as small as possible. Had there been someone at the door? He thought he saw a glimpse of a large silhouette. Wrestling down the sudden urge to cough he peeked around the corner of the nearby crate. Something moved, its bulk blocking the lantern''s light completely. Roy went still as fear gripped him, wrapping around his neck like a noose and threatening to squeeze. He couldn¡¯t move, couldn¡¯t breathe, couldn¡¯t think. It wasn¡¯t Lucia, it was too big, too tall and broad. And what was worse, he couldn¡¯t make out any details about their appearance. Cloth draped their body, hiding their arms and upper legs from sight. But what was worse, it didn¡¯t have a face. Just two golden pinpoints of light. It''s a ghost, a spirit of the ocean come to eat me! He thought, unable to look away. I¡¯m going to die, I¡¯m going to vanish and Lucia won''t know what happened to me! The monster moved away from the lantern, the shadows retreating as light retook its rightful place in the entrance. The sudden change broke him from his panicked state, finally allowing him to move, to hide deeper in the confines of the ship¡¯s storage. He covered his mouth with his arm and coughed, desperately trying to keep the sound from slipping out. Footsteps approached, one after the other, all other sounds becoming distant as Roy¡¯s mind hyper fixated on just them. Something reached down for him, the hand of death coming to claim him. He squeezed his eyes shut, tears silently streaming down his cheeks. A firm grip grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him up. Before he knew what was happening, Roy was standing, held in place by strength he couldn¡¯t imagine. ¡°I thought I sensed something down here.¡± The... man said. Huh? Roy thought, his jumbled mind trying to make sense of the words. They were deep, resonant and not at all threatening. ¡°Gods, boy, you¡¯re so weak. Why are you down here all alone in the cold?¡± Wah? ¡°How old are you? Never mind, too young, far too young.¡± The stranger said, kneeling before him, placing a second hand on Roy¡¯s shoulder. It felt gauntleted. ¡°I- I¡¯m sorry mister.¡± He said, babbling. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt her. Please, please don¡¯t hurt her.¡± ¡°Who? Who is her?¡± The stranger asked, but Roy was too far gone to hear. ¡°Please, please, she was only trying to help me. Please don¡¯t hurt her, or kill her, or throw her overboard. She was-¡± The boy¡¯s rambling was cut off as something warm and golden pulsed through his body. He gasped, falling forward as what was left of his meagre strength fled him. Falling? Did he let go of me? Roy thought, stunned. The stranger caught him before he hit the floor. ¡°Woah, steady now. You¡¯re okay.¡± They said. Roy took in a lungful of salty air, and then another. It took another dozen before he realised the pain in his chest was no longer present, that every breath was as easy and as natural as the one before it. He sobbed, grabbing a fistful of the stranger¡¯s clothes. He was so shocked he completely ignored the painted mask that covered the stranger¡¯s face. Another pulse of healing shot through his body, instead of wiping away the sickness and disease that plagued his small stature this one brought strength and comfort. Roy tried to thank the man but a lump caught in his throat. He couldn¡¯t believe it, he was healed, he could live! He could help Lucia now, she wouldn¡¯t have to starve herself just to keep him alive! The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Lucia. Where is she? I need to tell her this. She needs to see! A scream came from the storage room¡¯s entrance. A familiar scream. Roy¡¯s heart stopped. Before he could blink the stranger had turned, a blur of movement so fast he hadn¡¯t noticed until after it had happened. His sister stood before the man, something sharp gripped in her hand, two cups having fallen to the ground behind her, their watery contents spilled over the floor. ¡°Fine, fine. If this job paid better that wouldn¡¯t have worked.¡± The cook muttered, shuffling around to prepare the leftovers. ¡°Two bowls, if you could.¡± ¡°Do you have two mouths?¡± ¡°Yes. In a manner of speaking.¡± ¡°Ah. You¡¯re the idiot that took in those two stowaways. Make sure you hide your valuables, don¡¯t want them to get stolen.¡± ¡°They¡¯re just kids.¡± ¡°Kids make the best pickpockets, little fingers and all that.¡± The man said, filling both bowls with a violent motion of his ladle. The food made a slopping sound as it made contact with the cheap crockery. ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it.¡± Leif replied, picking up both bowls and making for the exit. ¡°Have a good night.¡± The cook muttered something under his breath as he departed. Leif descended another short staircase, then walked down the narrow hall to his cabin. Two figures were within, he could detect their vitality and emotions through the wall. One was the placid, unmoving energy and dampened thoughts that indicated sleep. The other was a restless mess of emotions and intent, the life-force within their body vibrating with their uneven heartbeats. Leif rapped two golden knuckles against the door, waited a breath, then used [Wood Manipulation] to move the stool that had been propped up against the inside of the door to prevent his access. The key turned in the lock, and he stepped inside. Leif pushed vitality into [Amber Aegis], flaring the skill around himself, not for protection, he hardly needed any from the girl who had jumped to her feet to confront him, but instead to disperse the golden motes of light throughout the small cabin. ¡°How did you do that?¡± She asked. ¡°Can you use telekinesis?¡± ¡°I can manipulate wood, this whole ship is like a playground to me.¡± Leif replied, mentally pulling the stool upright and placing it between him and the clearly agitated child. Then he placed the bowls onto the seat and sat on the floor, his back against the now closed door. The girl¡¯s eyes darted between him, and the food, then back again. He gestured towards the bowls, she flinched back. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt you.¡± Leif said calmly. ¡°I can¡¯t trust that.¡± ¡°I haven''t hurt you yet, quite the opposite actually.¡± The girl''s eyes flicked to her sleeping brother, then back to Leif, then the bowls. ¡°Eat, I don¡¯t mind. That¡¯s what the food is for, actually. In case that wasn¡¯t obvious.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± She asked, glaring suspiciously down at the food. ¡°Stew.¡± ¡°Is it poisoned?¡± ¡°No, but it is cold. The cook doesn¡¯t do reheats.¡± She darted forward, grabbing a bowl before hurriedly retreating to the other side of the room. Then she started shovelling the thick stew into her mouth with her fingers. Not once did she break eye contact with him. ¡°We know someone from the Academy. If you hurt us, she¡¯ll be mad at you.¡± ¡°What a coincidence, I know people too.¡± Her eyes narrowed. ¡°Prove it.¡± The air above Leif¡¯s palm rippled, then a small metal badge materialised atop it. The token gleamed in the golden ambiance of the room. The girl stopped eating, her jaw falling open as she stared unblinkingly at the object. ¡°That¡¯s the token they give to auxiliary members of expeditions.¡± The girl said, grimacing at the metal object. ¡°Impressive knowledge.¡± Leif said, returning the token to his spatial ring. ¡°Is this proof enough?¡± ¡°Sure. Fine.¡± She said, digging into her meal with renewed vigour. ¡°Maybe you''re not lying. Maybe you stole it.¡± ¡°Not too far from the truth, actually.¡± Her eyes went wide. ¡°Borrowed.¡± Leif continued, trying to cut off her assumptions. ¡°Temporarily. Or at least that was the plan. It¡¯s mine now though, the other guy doesn¡¯t need it.¡± ¡°You killed him?¡± ¡°What? No, he got another token.¡± Leif laughed. ¡°You¡¯re incredibly suspicious, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Keeps us alive. You got a problem with that?¡± She said defensively. Leif shook his head and sighed. ¡°No, not at all. I¡¯ve paid the fee for you to reach the Academy. Getting off the island might be another thing altogether though. Not sure if I can help you with that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t trust you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t even know my name.¡± He said. ¡°But we can change that. I¡¯m Leif Vin, travelling from Ahle-ho to meet some old friends. Who are you?¡± ¡°Lucia. Lucia Pheris. And my brother is Royce Pheris.¡± ¡°Pheris, huh?¡± ¡°What does it mean to you?¡± Lucia snapped, the next handful of food paused halfway to her mouth. ¡°Nothing.¡± He said, somewhat off-put by the aggression in her tone. It was altogether sharper than it had been up until this point. ¡°Nothing at all.¡± Chapter 147: Arrival Chapter 147: Arrival Lucia awoke for the first time in what felt like an eternity without the sharp tang of hunger nor the everpresent, bone deep ache that had been a constant tag along for the past year. The rocking of the ship and the warmth of the blankets threatened to lull her back to sleep, and a part of her mind, a part she had thought long dead and buried, wanted to accept that her present situation was all right. The street rat that had taken over couldn¡¯t let that happen. She jolted, the unfamiliar location of the cabin making her heart race and thoughts whirl in panicked loops. The gentle breathing coming from beside her snapped Lucia back into reality. Royce was safe, she was safe. It didn¡¯t feel real. As quietly and unobtrusively as she could, Lucia extracted herself from the blankets. Royce tried to maintain his hold around her waist, but even after being healed the young boy was still frail and weak. They were alone in the cabin, which was something she found both comforting and alarming. Lucia blinked bleary eyes as she looked at the stool placed up against the door. It hadn¡¯t done anything to stop the masked man before, but she hadn¡¯t been able to help herself from propping it back up. It was better to be safe than sorry, and she wasn¡¯t naive enough to think that there weren¡¯t any other dangers on the ship. Lucia was silently plotting which of the ship''s passengers to try and steal food from when it struck her that she was a passenger. She glanced down at the filthy clothing she was wearing, her tattered pants and lack of shoes. She felt like such an idiot. They were going to the Academy, one of the most powerful institutions in the world, and she had been planning on walking around dressed like the street¡¯s least favourite beggar. There wouldn¡¯t be any alleys to slink around in, and building¡¯s on their last legs in which to hide. ¡°Damnit, damn damn damn.¡± Lucia whispered to herself, pacing around the small room in tight, repetitive circles. She had been so preoccupied with taking the first step that she hadn¡¯t considered the second, or any that came after. She shot a guilty look at the still sleeping form of her little brother. She had been days away from failing, again. ¡°Maybe I am naive. We didn¡¯t even get halfway without being discovered.¡± She mumbled, running a hand through her dark, matted hair. Lucia let out a shaky breath, then glared at the still unopened door. They needed help, more help than they had already received. The realisation chipped away at her pride, and it shocked her to find that her pride was still even partially intact. Maybe I haven''t changed, even after everything that happened. === The ship sliced through the calm waters of the early morning, and many of the passengers and crew were taking advantage of the stillness to stretch their legs and take in the sights. The sails of a dozen other vessels dotted the sea around them, some merchant, others military in origin. Lucia hovered in the shadows of the doorway, peering out at those milling around on the upper deck. Where is he? She thought, flinching back as two deckhands shuffled past the door, both carrying a barrel. Hard earned instincts warred with her need to leave the safety of the dark interior of the ship. Something invisible tugged her attention upward, as if the wind was guiding her to the person she was seeking. Lucia almost walked out then and there, only a distant memory of having experienced something similar holding her back. Was that an aura technique? Like they used to do back home? Nostalgia clashed with concern. Just how powerful was this person¡¯s aura control? And what other tricks might they be able to pull. She didn¡¯t even have a class, let alone a level... Wait, that isn¡¯t true anymore. Lucia realised, not that being level one was much of a difference than being level zero. She clenched her fists, took a deep breath and stepped out into the hazy morning light. She walked quickly along the deck, turning and rapidly ascending up a short flight of stairs. She ignored the looks, the stares, the mutterings and the whispers. She¡¯d seen them all, heard them all, and she knew they could be worse. Lucia scampered onto the raised decking of the stern, ducking to the side to dodge a pair of sailors who... walked past without even glancing in her direction. She gulped, then ascended a second, shorter series of steps. There she finally saw the man, the masked healer. He sat cross legged, facing away from her and out, towards the disappearing horizon. ¡°You.¡± She said, raising a hand to protect her face from a roaming gust of wind. ¡°Good morning.¡± Leif replied. He didn¡¯t move, but Lucia felt his aura shift around him, the intangible presence that every high level person she had ever met possessed. She knew that with time and practice she would be able to sense the specifics of a person''s aura, the part of their soul they projected out to the world. ¡°You weren¡¯t in the room.¡± ¡°I could tell you needed space. Besides, I have a skill that removes my need for sleep.¡± ¡°You were up here all night?¡± ¡°I was.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°To watch the stars reflect off the sea.¡± ¡°Not what I meant.¡± She said, frustrated. ¡°Why did you help us? Why did you help my brother and I? We didn¡¯t ask for it!¡± The man cocked his head to the side, turning slightly. He was still wearing his painted mask. Lucia thought it looked creepy. ¡°Why? Now isn¡¯t that the question. I seem to have a habit of picking up strays. Can¡¯t seem to help myself.¡± Silence stretched between them, the quiet only interrupted by the screeching of gulls flying overhead. Leif turned back to the sea and rolled his neck. ¡°They serve breakfast an hour after sunrise, so in about twenty-¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Lucia blurted. Cutting the masked man off as her mouth ran off without her brain. ¡°I¡¯m not cooking breakfast, you¡¯ll have to thank the cook.¡± Lucia grit her teeth, acutely aware of her weakness as her anger grew. He was making fun of her. Joking at a time like this. She wanted nothing more than to grab his stupid mask and throw it off the ship. Didn¡¯t he know how hard it was for her to say that? Didn¡¯t he know what she had been through? Lucia opened her mouth, then closed it without speaking. He didn¡¯t know. Of course he didn¡¯t. She hadn¡¯t told him. Why was this so hard? She hadn¡¯t always been bad with people. Had an extended period of hardship and a year of trusting nobody but her little brother stripped her of everything she had known? Every lesson she had been taught ever since she was a girl? So while she had a poorly fitting dress that even after several hours of impromptu seamstressing felt uncomfortable to wear, Roy looked like the son of a merchant family. Albeit a very skinny and grimy son of a merchant family. She heard the stool be shuffled out of the way, then the door¡¯s lock clicking. ¡°I¡¯m done!¡± Roy said, beaming up at her. Lucia¡¯s heart stopped, it was the first bright, genuine smile she had seen on his face in what felt like an eternity. ¡°Look sis, look! I did the buckles myself!¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s great. I thought I¡¯d have to do them for you.¡± ¡°Nope! I figured them out all by myself.¡± He said proudly. Then he wrapped her in a hug, burying his face into her dress. Footsteps echoed down the narrow corridor. Lucia twisted awkwardly, trying to get eyes on the newcomer while being held. The masked healer strode down the passage like he owned the place. The loose fabric that garbed him flowed in a way that almost looked enchanted. And maybe it was, high level healers were almost always incredibly rich. ¡°Leif, look! I did the buckles myself!¡± Roy said, grinning up at the man. It worried Lucia how quickly her brother had grown to trust the stranger, but she supposed having your life saved tended to build that kind of confidence quickly. For her part she just nodded, gently prying herself from her brother and standing up straight. ¡°Nice going. Does everything fit?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Yup!¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± The man said, turning to look Lucia in the eye. There was an intensity behind his every word, one that she couldn¡¯t place a finger on. It was an invisible sense of authority, not unlike the man¡¯s aura. But instead of the usual honesty, there was an undercurrent of something else. Lucia blinked as two objects appeared in Leif¡¯s hand. Then he tossed them towards her. Lucia flinched, instinctually expecting an attack of some kind. It was only when her eyes caught up with her brain did she try to grab them. She missed both, the objects tumbling through her fingers at her fumbled attempt at a catch, falling to the ground with a clatter. ¡°W-what? Are these made of wood?¡± She asked. ¡°They are.¡± Leif said, nodding in affirmation. ¡°They¡¯ll tide you over until you can find something more permanent.¡± ¡°I... um... Thank you, I guess.¡± Lucia mumbled. Looking at the sandals with a suspicious squint. ¡°Did you make them, mister?¡± Roy asked, his own expression that of inquisitive curiosity. ¡°It wasn¡¯t too difficult. Though they¡¯re by no means a masterwork of crafting. I doubt I have a future as a cobbler. I can¡¯t work leather like I can wood.¡± ¡°You could be a carpenter!¡± The boy exclaimed, grabbing one of the sandals from his sister. ¡°Wow, look how smooth you made them.¡± ¡°Magic makes things easy. Besides, I think my calling lies in wagon engineering.¡± Leif chuckled. ¡°Now, come, we¡¯re almost at port.¡± === The port for the Island of Pellus was nothing like Lucia had imagined. Instead of wooden jetties and walkways, the dock seemed to have been constructed entirely out of shaped stone. The seamless and smooth way the massive slabs of pale rock had been placed together was, to her inexperienced eye, a sure sign that magic had been used. The town beyond the dock too seemed to have been created using the same technique. Buildings made of curved and flowing stone lined the waterfront, the subtle colouration of strata adding a decorative splash of colour to the otherwise uniform look of the structures. Roy, Leif and herself were among the last to depart from the ship, stepping onto solid ground for the first time in days and following the crowd that was already mingling with uniformed teens and young adults. A dozen cheerful reunions took place all around them as the trio wove their way through the throng of excited people. Roy was openly admiring every sight, and nothing of Leif¡¯s expression could be seen because of the mask, but the scene before them drilled a hole through her stomach, a feeling of cold emptiness spreading through her. But Lucia and her brother weren¡¯t here for a happy reunion. If anything, their time at the academy would end in tears and a mountain of regret. She silently followed Leif and Roy through the crowd, barely noticing how groups of people seemed to unconsciously step out of the way, or shuffle to the side to let them pass. ¡°Welcome! Welcome to Pellus!¡± Called a student standing off to the side, several of their peers in stylish grey uniforms repeating their declaration, waving paper fliers and smiling at the milling crowd. One of the students, a girl in her late teens with rosy cheeks noticed Lucia staring and beckoned her over. ¡°Do we...?¡± Lucia asked, nodding towards the students. ¡°As good a place to start as any.¡± Leif said, stepping forward, the crowd parting around him. Chapter 148: Sights to See Chapter 148: Sights to See ¡°And this is the Pellus public bathhouse. You might be able to tell from the architecture that the building predates the rest of the town by several centuries. Usually the older structures that predate the Academy are used by the Academy, but this is one of the few exceptions.¡± Their first year student guide explained, leading Leif and the two children along a mosaiced road that curved with the natural arch of the hill. ¡°You can see on the left some of Pellus¡¯s famous cafes and restaurants, though I think the restaurants are mostly booked out, and will be for the next few weeks. It¡¯s a busy time on the islands during the quadriad.¡± She continued, not deviating from her trajectory towards the bathhouse. The wide, artistically intricate street was packed with people, mostly students and their visiting family, but also a contingent of guards with the symbol of the Academy, a serpentine dragon eating its own tail emblazoned on their grey and black outfits. ¡°Ella, you said some of these buildings predate the Academy? What do you mean?¡± Leif asked their guide. The fact Lucia and Roy¡¯s attention was firmly locked on the bathhouse was not lost on him. ¡°And what are the fees for the bath?¡± ¡°Oh, the history of the place is quite fascinating. Most of what we¡¯re walking through now used to be the ruins of a town. When imperial settlers found the archipelago it was abandoned, with only the largest buildings still standing, like the spires. As for the bathhouse... I think it''s ten flakes for an adult, and half that for kids. Though they may have upped the prices because of all the visitors, you¡¯ll have to double check.¡± ¡°I assume you two will be fine on your own?¡± Leif asked Lucia, the girl nodding rapidly. He handed her enough coins, and then some. Both siblings tore off towards the bathhouse, not eager to delay the alluring prospect of finally being clean. ¡°Take your time! If I¡¯m not outside when you get, out just wait, I won¡¯t be far!¡± He called after them, shaking his head as they dashed up carved stairs leading up to the structure, Roy almost tripping. Lucia helped him up the last few steps, then both children disappeared into the ornate structure, vanishing out of sight with remarkable speed. ¡°Cute kids. Are they yours?¡± Ella asked, adjusting the collar on her uniform as she watched them go. ¡°No, they are not. Truthfully, I¡¯ve only known them for a handful of days.¡± Leif said. ¡°Ah, I see. They¡¯re so dirty, I¡¯m surprised they were let onto the island at all. Their parents or guardians must be ashamed of themselves.¡± She said, frowning. The student hadn¡¯t been subtle in her glances towards Roy and Lucia, the discomfort clear to Leif¡¯s senses. Leif made a noise of agreement, not commenting that the two had been in a much worse shape when he had found them. He was yet to pry the story of their situation from either sibling, but he doubted they had anyone left that could feel shame. ¡°So, the quadriad? I¡¯m here on business, and wasn¡¯t aware of the... festival until about a week ago. But I gather it¡¯s a big deal?¡± Ella sighed dramatically. ¡°It¡¯s a massive tournament held once every year. Students from all four islands compete in a wide variety of events, and most of them take place right here on Pellus, since we have the most venues. But there¡¯s food and dances and agents from capital factions who have come to scout talent, it¡¯s a huge ordeal.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not competing?¡± ¡°No. I wish, but I¡¯m only a first year student. I can¡¯t compete unless I get invited to a team, and the singles events are only available if you have a commendation.¡± She said, sighing again. ¡°But by working as a guide I get extra credits which, in turn, will help my grades. Wish I could watch though.¡± ¡°My condolences.¡± Leif said, crossing his arms, comparing what he had just learnt to what he already knew of the Academy. ¡°Can students earn commendations by participating in expeditions?¡± She perked up at the mention of expeditions. ¡°Yup yup, that¡¯s the main way. But there are also academic commendations and donation commendations. I signed up for one, an expedition I mean, but the selections haven¡¯t been decided yet.¡± ¡°I see. Best of luck with that.¡± ¡°Thanks! Hopefully everything goes well. Shall we continue the tour, or should we wait for them to be done?¡± ¡°No, let''s continue. They¡¯ll be in there for a while.¡± === ¡°This is the artisan street. You have smiths and enchanters mostly, but also an assortment of other trades. The company that tailors all the uniforms for the students has an office here, but most of the work is done back in the capitol.¡± Ella explained, stepping aside to let another touring group pass. ¡°Interesting. Are the enchanters open for commissions?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Not for outsiders, no. They¡¯re all contractually linked to the Academy, but it''s usually only students and faculty on the islands anyway, so it isn¡¯t often a big deal. Most of the artisans here are smaller branches of larger establishments down in Mekrylis. Students with certain classes can work in the shops for experience, and many do.¡± ¡°Not many students are working in the shops today.¡± Leif noted. ¡°Is that because of the quadriad?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. The arena needs enchanters on standby to help maintain the arrays during the tournament, so most of the students will be there doing that. Others will be there for equipment repairs and the like.¡± ¡°And the arena is where?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s towards the other side of the island. Do you see the spire in the distance, the big one, not the smaller ones with the domed roofs?¡± ¡°Oh, no. I¡¯m impressed you know that much about her.¡± She laughed. ¡°My second class is [Scribe], it¡¯s pretty boring but lots of students have it. I¡¯m not sure if I want to invest into promoting it, or holding off and getting levels in something new.¡± They approached the bathhouse, Ella greeting a pair of women she recognised. Two cats sat atop a nearby roof, their tails interlinked as they observed the endless parade of foot traffic. Leif extended his perception towards the bathhouse, noticing two familiar points of vitality nearing the entrance. ¡°Shall we head back?¡± He asked. ¡°I think the kids are almost done.¡± ¡°Oh, sure thing.¡± === Roy wobbled out of the changing room feeling like a completely different person than the mud and grime soaked boy that had entered. He felt warm and floaty, the steamy hot water from the bath having almost lulled him to sleep on several occasions. He shook his head vigorously, his messy crop of short blond hair swinging around his face like a dog trying to dry itself. ¡°Roy, stop it.¡± Lucia hissed, a towel wrapped around her own head as they headed for the building''s reception. ¡°You¡¯ll get it all tangled and knotted.¡± ¡°But it feels so fluffy and light.¡± He mumbled, letting out a contagious yawn. ¡°We need to make this last Roy. We don¡¯t know when we¡¯ll get another chance like this. Maybe even never.¡± She chided after finishing her own yawn. She pouted down at him as he giggled and stuck out his tongue. ¡°It¡¯s fine sis. We¡¯re here aren¡¯t we? Once we find the person who knows what happened to mum and dad we¡¯ll go meet them.¡± Lucia¡¯s expression clouded over for an instant, but then she smiled down at him. Roy blinked, but assumed he had imagined the change in his sister due to how sleepy he felt after the bath. ¡°That¡¯s right, we¡¯ll find her, then we can get back to our family.¡± She said, though her tone was a little stiff. She reached down and ruffled his hair, then laughed at his affronted expression. ¡°Why do you get to mess with my hair but I can¡¯t?¡± Roy complained, ducking to dodge out of reach of her continuous attack. ¡°Because I¡¯ll be the one who will brush your hair the next time it gets tangled. Just like I brushed it this time. Now come on, we need to put our towels into the used basket.¡± She said, offering an outstretched palm. He took it, his smaller fingers wrapping around her own. They returned their towels and traded in wooden chips for the few belongings they had left in the reception. Then both siblings stepped out into the mid-day sun. Roy raised both hands to the sky, one outstretched, the other still holding Lucia¡¯s. The warm ocean breeze ruffled his clothes and the sun shone down onto his face. Two familiar figures approached, and he waved with both hands, awkwardly forcing Lucia to wave as well. ¡°Leif! Helpful lady!¡± He called, his grin wide and honest. ¡°Look! I¡¯m all clean!¡± The lady in the mostly grey uniform smiled up at him, waving back. Leif, by contrast, looked him and his sister up and down, then nodded in approval. ¡°Better. Did you have any trouble?¡± ¡°Roy almost got us yelled at for splashing too much, but otherwise it was fine. It was good. Uh... thank you.¡± Lucia said, scratching her cheek. ¡°You are most welcome. Now, I have a suggestion.¡± The masked man said. ¡°I¡¯m hungry!¡± Roy said, hopping up and down. Lucia gave him a meaningful look but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°I see. Well, how about we get you some food, then head towards the arena. I¡¯ve heard there¡¯s a spectacle happening there, I don¡¯t want to miss it.¡± The helpful lady smiled and gestured back down the street. ¡°Shall I show you some of the best food stalls?¡± ¡°That''s fine.¡± Leif said. ¡°Then Ella here can show us to where the upcoming duel between two Academy blades will take place.¡± ¡°I... I will?¡± Ella asked, sounding stunned. ¡°She will?¡± Lucia muttered under her breath, her expression distant. ¡°Yay!¡± Roy yelled, charging down the large stairs and onto the colourfully tiled street. This time he didn¡¯t almost trip. Chapter 149: Showmatch Chapter 149: Showmatch The expansive collection of ancient stone buildings was even more impressive in person than Lief had expected. Even the smallest of the structures was larger than the tallest apartment in Ahle-ho, the stonework that made up their construction an intricate and elegant series of carvings and engravings. Every wall, pillar, doorway and window served a purpose greater than they could alone, the buildings like an artwork, a complex puzzle that had been put together with incredible skill and effort. The age of the place was also on display, with more than a few of the structures they passed showing signs of repairs, or minor damages caused by weather and time that had yet to grow serious enough to warrant attention. Vines took to the walls of the student dormitory they passed with incredible vigour, the plants growing up every surface though could manage in order to get close to the sun. Ella guided their small group, an ordeal she was more than excited to undertake, the girl was practically bouncing with excitement as they drew closer to the arena. Guards in black and grey kept visitors from wandering off the path, but their presence was less of a threat, and more of a gentle reminder to guests of the Academy¡¯s power. Roy matched the excitement of the tour guide. Babbling an endless stream of enthusiastic questions to the older girl, who, in turn, answered in much the same way. They heard the sounds of the rumbling crowd well before the arena came into sight. The imminent beginnings of the quadriad echoing off the pillars that lined the wide path between two towering lecture amphitheatres. The acoustics of the nearby buildings amplifying the distant yells of the crowd. In contrast to her brother, Lucia grew quieter the further into the Academy¡¯s grounds they travelled. The girl adopting a mask of happiness and wonder that wasn¡¯t matched by the simmering anxiety and trepidation Leif sensed bubbling just below the surface. He slowed his step to fall in beside her, Roy ran ahead to read the engraved plinths that described the lives and careers of former lecturers. ¡°What?¡± Lucia asked, her smile strained. ¡°You¡¯re tense.¡± Leif said, looking down at her. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Huh? I... I¡¯m not tense at all. What makes you think that?¡± ¡°I can read your aura. I can tell.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie, not technically. While emotions could be discerned from somebody''s aura, having a skill specifically for the task made the task far easier. Lucia¡¯s aura was weak, which ordinarily would make perceiving information from it significantly harder. But without an aura skill she had no hope of hiding from an empath. Leif hadn¡¯t been blind to the girl''s emotional state, in fact it had been the primary reason that even after choosing to help both Lucia and her brother, he had been keeping his distance. Nobody¡¯s emotions became knife sharp and clouded with a dangerous amount of desperation without having experienced far more than the recommended dose of tribulation and hardship. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± She lied, not making eye contact. ¡°Is it the prospect of seeing combat?¡± He asked. ¡°Or maybe the idea of being within a crowd?¡± ¡°I said it¡¯s fine.¡± Lucia snapped. Then she winced and looked up at him guiltily. ¡°I¡¯m not... It¡¯s nothing like that. You wouldn¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°True. You would have to explain it to me.¡± She clenched her fists and took a deep breath. Then exhaled, visibly relaxing. ¡°It¡¯s not... It¡¯s my problem, my burden. I have to carry it, nobody else.¡± ¡°What about Roy?¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t need to worry about anything. He... He¡¯s too young to really understand. And...¡± She sighed. ¡°And he¡¯s better for it. I just want to protect him, okay? He doesn¡¯t deserve the life we were, are, living.¡± Leif stopped, bringing Lucia up short. ¡°Do you deserve it?¡± Lucia flinched. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She whispered. ¡°You don¡¯t. Nobody does. I don¡¯t know your story, the events that lead to the present or what you plan to do. But you didn¡¯t deserve to be in the state I found you. Not your brother, and not you.¡± ¡°Was that why you helped us? Was it just sympathy and pity? Did you think we were pathetic, that we couldn¡¯t help ourselves? That we needed your charity and-¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Leif said simply. Cutting off her growing rant. ¡°Do I need another reason?¡± She took several, deep calming breaths. Then, finally, Lucia looked him in the eyes. ¡°There are people who might not want us on the islands. They might not want us alive at all. They might hunt us down and hurt us, and they might even hurt you for having helped us.¡± She blurted, then glanced around in panic to see if they had been overheard. ¡°I think the polite thing to have done would have been to tell me this before we got off the ship.¡± ¡°I- You¡¯re right. You¡¯re right... I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry... I can¡¯t do anything right. I can¡¯t even get help correctly. You should leave us, maybe-¡± ¡°Maybe if you didn¡¯t act like a clown we wouldn¡¯t make fun of you.¡± Suggested Sabline, the slender woman hovering an inch above her own couch. ¡°You just make it too easy.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the strongest!¡± Zane protested. ¡°I could beat you all in a fight! I deserve respect! I deserve worship!¡± ¡°You deserve a boot up your ass.¡± Mouric muttered. ¡°You¡¯re hardly the strongest blade, Zane.¡± Sabline said sweetly. ¡°Afterall, you¡¯re the lowest level out of all of us.¡± ¡°By choice! I¡¯m the lowest level by choice!¡± The man shouted, flopping down into the couch next to Hera and crossing his arms. ¡°None of you have the guts to challenge me anyway. That¡¯s why they have me paired up against Crest. It¡¯s going to be so boring!¡± ¡°Because he¡¯s going to beat you?¡± Hera asked, standing up to avoid the swordsman¡¯s attempt to sling an arm around her shoulder. ¡°Because he¡¯s going to do some cryptic bullshit, then hide his actual abilities! You know he¡¯s going to do just that, it¡¯s Crest we¡¯re talking about!¡± Zane whined, elbowing Mouric as he gesticulated wildly. ¡°Zane, I am going to throw you into the sea if you don¡¯t stop acting like a child.¡± The massive slab of muscle said, glowering down at his fellow blade. ¡°Maybe you can meet one of the monsters Kastro encountered? Might even give you a little humility.¡± Before the other man could reply a knock came at the door. ¡°Lady Hera, the match will begin soon.¡± Said a voice from the other side, the sound partially muffled. ¡°Right. Coming.¡± She called in reply, stepping over the dropped platter of food and making for the exit. ¡°Wish me luck.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need luck.¡± Sabline huffed. ¡°You basically counter Kastro in every way.¡± ¡°Even in a little arena?¡± She asked. ¡°He can¡¯t scare arrows. Just stay away from him.¡± ¡°True enough.¡± Hera said, opening the door and striding out. The official waiting on the other side dipped into a bow, then asked her to follow. She activated [Prismatic Sight] as she walked down the slightly curved wall, the light from outside bending as it reacted to her skill¡¯s activation. It wasn¡¯t the same as being able to see directly through solid objects, but it was the next best thing. Combined with the skill¡¯s visual perception enhancement and the way it filtered out unnecessary details Hera took in the entire arena all at once. The stands were packed with students and their families. Academy officials and teachers, merchants and representatives from all over the empire. Grey was the predominant colour worn by the spectators. With most first and second years having not yet earned the greens or oranges of their older peers. Hera modulated her speed, not letting her attribute enhanced body race ahead of the babbling official that was trailing her. It wasn¡¯t her first quadriad, nor her first bout with another blade. But considering the eccentricity of many of her colleges she couldn¡¯t blame the man for making sure she understood the rules. They entered a chamber with several massive arches lining the circular walls. In times long forgotten to history the room would have functioned as a minor teleportation hub, allowing her to arrive at the other side of the arena in a single step. But the arches remained inert, the power that once coursed through the ancient arena long dormant. So instead of teleporting to where she needed to be, Hera and the official descended a series of well lit steps, before finally arriving below the arena floor. There were waiting rooms and waiting cells, but she didn¡¯t enter either. The announcer¡¯s voice echoed through the underground complex just as easily as it had reached the booth her and the other blades had been residing within. She stretched as the speech reached its conclusion. Rolling her shoulders and flexing her fingers. Hera briefly considered conjuring her armour from her [Armoury of Light] skill, but decided against it. Her preferred combat style was quick movements and maintaining distance with her opponent. The armour, even made out of hard light, would only slow her down. Instead she conjured her bow, the shimmering construct of magic gleaming in her hand, its string an almost invisible strand of prismatic light. ¡°And without further ado! May I present the two combatants who will be starting off the quadriad! They need no introduction, yet for the sake of our newcomers and visitors I will do so anyway!¡± The announcer roared, the spectators letting out a cheer of approval. ¡°We have the ninth blade! An archer of terrifying skill! A woman who climbed to the peak of power in only a handful of short years! The radiant adventurer herself! Hera Kossia!¡± Peak of power? What nonsense is this? She mused, the space around her shimmering as her aura focused the light. Why the Academy thinks teaching kids level one hundred is some sort of unassailable peak is beyond me. ¡°Her opponent is the tenth blade! The newest member of the Academies ten most powerful combatants! A man who¡¯s very presence distorts the minds of those nearby with terror! A returner from the bottom of the sea! Kastro Low!¡± The arena shook with the sound of thousands of voices screaming in unison. Hera shook her head, her blond hair swaying behind her. Time to get this little showmatch over with. Chapter 150: Humanity鈥檚 Finest Chapter 150: Humanity¡¯s Finest ¡°It¡¯s starting! It¡¯s starting!¡± Roy said, bouncing from foot to foot. ¡°We need to get inside!¡± ¡°Patience Roy, we¡¯re at the front of the line.¡± Lucia said, placing a comforting hand on her younger brother¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you have an Academy token!¡± Ella was saying to Leif, the first year student just as excited as Roy, only she was doing a worse job at hiding it. ¡°You should have said something earlier! Associates of the Academy can use privileges and facilities most visitors cannot!¡± ¡°If you couldn¡¯t tell from the mask, I¡¯m trying not to attract too much attention.¡± ¡°Really? The mask is pretty eye-catching though.¡± Leif tilted his head in acknowledgement. That was a fair point. Maybe he should have worn the plain wooden mask instead of the painted one he had bought from a market stall in Ahle-ho. Well, it''s too late now. He thought, an official waving him and the others inside. The rumble of the crowd and the booming voice of the announcer washed over them as they climbed up into the outer ring of the stands. The sheer mass of humanity was an almost physical blow to the senses. Roy covered his ears and shouted something to Lucia. The girl shook her head, then pointed towards a section of the stands where the press of people was relatively less. ¡°Oh wow, oh wow.¡± Ella said, clapping her hands together as they made their way around the outside of the upper most level. The announcer had just finished introducing the tenth blade. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we made it in time for the start of the fight. I can¡¯t believe they let us skip right to the front of the queue!¡± ¡°I¡¯m certainly not complaining.¡± Leif replied, though his attention was on the arena itself. There was a strange barrier blocking his aura, and the aura of all the spectators from entering the almost one hundred and fifty metre long stretch of sand. It partially reminded him of the protective barriers the sparring yards in the Twin Heart guild, but the aura rejecting component had more in similarity to the suppression bracers. He still missed them. He should buy some if he got the chance. They were halfway to the sparsely populated side of the arena when the crowd roared and two figures stepped out onto the sand. From their distance, Leif and the others could just make out both combatants. A feat made easier as the field surrounding the innermost ring of the structure rippled, the effect somehow zooming in wherever Leif wanted to look. Roy almost walked into a trio of students, the boy staring in amazement at the magical display. The closest blade to where they were was a tall, severe looking man who was likely within his later twenties, though with the slowed ageing of higher levels it was possible he could be quite a bit older. He had short grey hair that was neatly swept back from his face. Leif couldn¡¯t see the man¡¯s eyes, but from the arrogant tilt of his head he was likely looking down on his opponent. The other was a welcome sight. It had been a year, or thereabouts, since he had last seen Hera. The woman still sported the same long blond hair and confident expression she had back during the expedition. A bow of conjured light was held loosely in one hand, the other was placed on her hip. ¡°That¡¯s quite the enchantment.¡± Leif said appreciatively, nodding to the vision affecting shield. ¡°I wonder how it works?¡± ¡°There¡¯s an Academy legend about the team of students who discovered the arena control room and helped reverse engineer and repair the enchantments.¡± Ella yelled over the cheering crowd. ¡°Well, not all the enchantments are working. But all the key one¡¯s are functional. Other than the teleport arches. But I think that¡¯s a power supply issue. Maybe? I¡¯m not sure.¡± The announcer started counting down to the beginning of the match. The crowd joined in on the count of eight. ¡°C¡¯mon sis!¡± Roy said, tugging at Lucia¡¯s hand. The girl had stopped in place and was staring down into the arena. ¡°I- Right. Let''s go.¡± She said, shooting a look at Leif before grabbing Roy by the hand and leading him the final stretch of the way to a quartet of open seats. They had to squeeze past a group of orange uniformed students who were on their feet, Roy plopping down into the closest seat only to be shooed onwards by Lucia. ¡°Begin!¡± The announcer screamed, and both figures in the arena blurred into motion. I can¡¯t believe it took her, Kaan, Pocht and that damn orc fighting together to defeat that awakened enslaver. Just how much stronger had that thing been? Leif wondered, clapping appreciatively. ¡°It was too fast!¡± Royce was complaining to Lucia. ¡°I didn¡¯t see enough of it!¡± For her part, his sister looked stunned, staring blankly down at the arena¡¯s sandy floor. ¡°Right? That¡¯s what the strongest of us are like!¡± Ella said. ¡°Humanity¡¯s finest, that''s who the Academy Blades are!¡± Healers in white robes were sprinting up to Kastro as the woman held the man¡¯s severed arm up to his shoulder. One of the healers made his way to Hera¡¯s side but she waved him away. ¡°Who¡¯s the woman?¡± Leif asked, nodding towards the scene below. ¡°That¡¯s Blade Daniela Low. She¡¯s the seventh Blade, she¡¯s the older... cousin I think. Yeah, older cousin of Kastro. There¡¯s another Blade from House Low as well, Zane. He¡¯s the second. They say he¡¯s the strongest of them all, even if he¡¯s only number two in seniority.¡± ¡°Three from one house, huh? Impressive.¡± Leif said. It was an honest assessment. Relatively weak compared to the monsters that lurked outside the humanities territory that may be, it was still a formidable feat to boast multiple level one hundred and above combatants. The invisible barrier around the arena rippled, then vanished, the vision projecting enchantment disappearing with it. As one, the aura¡¯s of the spectators flooded down into the sight of the battle like a waterfall cascading off a cliff. Leif had never been around so many high level people before, and even after his months of training it still felt like a chaotic mess of intentions, emotions and power signatures. === Hera blinked, buffeted by the onslaught of presences vying for her attention. She waved again, the slowly quieting crowd letting out another round of cheers. The pressure that had slowly been bearing down on her mind throughout the fight was drifting away, the mental assault she had been under for the duration finally letting her think straight. ¡°Bloody hells.¡± She muttered, glancing tiredly at where Kastro was being helped off the sands. ¡°The Low¡¯s have another monster. Unbelievable.¡± She shook her head and started walking back towards her entrance. The corners of her vision still shifted with unseen threats and terrors. That was not pleasant to fight. Can¡¯t imagine if I actually had to get close to deal significant damage, that would not have ended well for me. The higher level someone got, the stronger their mental fortitude became. [Willpower] was a factor, certainly. As were skills such as her own [Mastery over the Self and Battle]. It had been... what? Years since she had endured a mental attack of that kind. Well, that''s another thing to add to the training regime. No rest for the wicked, Hera. Literally, I¡¯m going to have nightmares for days after this. She flared her aura, pushing away a greasy aura from someone who tried to analyse her. Probably one of the faction representatives from Mekrylis. They should know better, but some people were too used to not having to deal with consequences. Then something tapped the edge of her attention. It was a polite greeting, but more importantly it was a familiar greeting. Lars? Hera thought, turning to look up at the crowd. She hadn¡¯t thought of the aura prodigy in years. Frowning, she scanned for the source. The tap came again, this time guiding her attention upwards and to the left. Not Lars then, this presence doesn¡¯t feel like him. It¡¯s more... noble- She locked eyes with a masked man sitting up in the highest level of the stands. Hera snorted, then laughed. Well, isn¡¯t this a nice surprise. She thought, nodding slightly towards Leif before turning away. Then she missed a step. What if he¡¯s pissed about the letters? Chapter 151: Appointment Chapter 151: Appointment Lucia felt cold. Even under the afternoon sun and surrounded by the raucous energy of the arena stadium her limbs felt numb and her skin was clammy. She had witnessed the fight between the tenth and ninth blades of the Academy, but in truth she had seen very little of it. Her gaze had been locked on the woman with golden hair, the point all other details had faded into the background. Hearing stories and rumours was one thing. But finally laying eyes on the woman was like reaching the base of a mountain and finally seeing just how far there was to go. And how unprepared you were to even attempt the ascent. Her heart pumped loudly in her ears, the sound drowning out all else. She tightened her hands into fists in her lap and fought down a sudden bout of nausea. That¡¯s weird. She thought, unable to stop the trembling in her hands. I haven''t felt like this since- Her mind reeled, unable to finish the thought. Her vision went blurry and suddenly the past year became real. All the sleepless nights, the days without food, the struggle to keep living, to keep Roy alive. One way or another, it would all be over soon. The realisation made her heart beat even harder, made the world close in around her, tightening like a vice and threatening to never let go. Lucia stared down at... not the cause. Maybe the catalyst of everything that had gone wrong. Hera wasn¡¯t an enemy. Hopefully. Lucia could only pray that she wasn¡¯t, even if... even if- She couldn¡¯t think about it. It was too painful. And then Hera, possibly the strongest person she had ever personally seen, turned and looked in her direction as if perceiving her stare. The projection from the arena¡¯s shields were no longer in effect, so Lucia couldn¡¯t see the woman''s face, nor the precise direction she had looked, but it was enough to make everything go very still and very quiet. It took her several seconds to realise she was being tapped on the shoulder by Roy. Her brother¡¯s excited and happy expression slowly faded as the seconds trickled by and she didn¡¯t respond. Lucia blinked, and looked up at his concerned face, his sunken features were less pronounced after several days of full meals and repeated healing. ¡°Sis. Did you see?¡± Roy asked, his eyes wide. ¡°Y-yeah. I saw. Pretty... Pretty cool, huh?¡± She said, forcing a smile. Her brother frowned, her response hadn¡¯t been what he had expected. She tried again, her smile a little more genuine as she saw the concern written over his features. ¡°It was so cool! With the light and the scary monsters! It was so fast!¡± ¡°It sure was. People on that level have lots of attributes, so everything they do is really quick and strong.¡± ¡°I bet they have like, a million in each one! I wanna be that strong too! Do you think I can? Can I sis?¡± She reached out and wrapped an arm around his back, shifting in her stone seat to get a little closer. ¡°Of course you can, Roy. You¡¯re amazing. You can do whatever you want, and I promise to help you do it.¡± The little boy kicked his feet happily and started retelling the events of the fight, though his story was limited to what he had actually been able to see. He also made up several parts. Apparently there had been a dragon swimming in the grey water and the tentacles had been its fingers. Lucia felt herself slowly calm down as she watched the arena get swept clean by several pairs of people running around with large rake-like contraptions attached to wheels. The remaining puddles of foul liquid seemed to vanish in a flash as some sort of enchantment activated in the machine¡¯s prongs. Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Ella stood and excused herself, rapidly shaking Leif¡¯s hand and thanking him for bringing her along, then the first year departed with a wave to Lucia and Roy, running off to go report to her supervisor where she had been. The stadium settled down after the showmatch. The following events were segmented team bouts between second years, the displays of power and skill were far less impressive and garnered a significantly reduced amount of attention from the spectators. A quartet of girls two rows down seemed particularly enthused about a match happening around the midpoint of the arena, so Lucia found herself focusing on that one over the dozen or so others. About an hour in, Roy announced he needed to pee. So Lucia picked herself up out of the chair and guided him up along the outer limits of the arena to where she had spotted a pair of doors labelled as restrooms. Around ten metres away from where they had been seated the force of the mixing aura¡¯s pressed down onto both children. ¡°Quiet Roy.¡± She hissed, squeezing his hand to emphasise her words. ¡°But yes, that''s her.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that the lady who fought in the arena?¡± ¡°Yes, Roy. It''s the same person. Just... just keep quiet about it like I told you. We need to be careful.¡± She finished, her voice as low as possible so her brother could hear, but nobody else. ¡°-And how is she? Things weren¡¯t looking great the last we saw one another.¡± Leif asked. ¡°The Academy has the greatest healers in the world on standby. No expense was spared.¡± ¡°Best in the world, huh?¡± The masked man grunted, turning to face Lucia and Roy. ¡°So- ¡°We¡¯re coming.¡± Lucia blurted. ¡°I mean... if that''s okay. Um, can we please come?¡± ¡°You saw the match, did you?¡± The official asked with a smile. ¡°I can understand being excited. It isn¡¯t every day you meet one of the pillars of the civilised world.¡± === The plazas of mosaic stone were as vast and intricate as they were empty. That wasn¡¯t to say that there were no students and Academy faculty walking their lengths or gathering in groups. It was that the sheer scale of the courtyards made it seem as if they weren¡¯t present at all. A single plaza within the inner halls of Pellus was larger than the entire Twin Heart guild compound, and there were several plazas connected in a checkerboard pattern, the spaces only broken up by covered walkways and small, curated gardens. Leif had associated what he had seen of the Vin estate with opulence and wealth. He now knew that assumption had been... not incorrect, but lacking in scope. Relative instead of absolute. Two lines of fountains flanked the wide path leading up to a massive structure that towered above the surrounding structures and courtyards like a fortress. It was angular, built with a more utilitarian purpose than the ancient displays of architecture that they had passed leading up to it. It was also, to Leif¡¯s inexpert eyes, far older. If the modern Academy had been built within and around the ruins of a civilisation long forgotten, then the building they now entered must have predated that civilization by centuries, or perhaps millennia. The interior of the structure, the portal hub for the Academy, was far newer than its exterior. The designs of the inner walls and tiled floors reminded Leif of the arena. He asked the Academy official who was guiding them through the well guarded chambers if they were built by the same people. But the man apologised and admitted that it was something he had never looked into. The innermost room was protected not by the black uniformed guards that littered the teleportation hub, but instead ten massive statues, their marble blades pointed upwards, the light from the room''s open roof filling the space with a warm orange glow. Three smaller chambers lay equidistant from one another around the outer ring of the room, the familiar ripple and distortion of permanently activated portals shimmering within. Leif had only ever encountered portals like these once before, the undead dungeon below Pherin having maintained, or potentially created one using a portal link between the depths of the Mythhold and a largely destroyed temple on the surface. Leif wasn''t overly familiar with the permanent gateways that you could both see and walk through and the temporary teleportation circles that needed to be activated using mana shards or an equivalent power source. The only thing he was comfortable with saying for certain he understood about teleportation, was that it required an anchor before use, or some sort of pathway in which to follow. His own [The Amber Path] skill used both principles, and every step he took left behind a short lived anchor he could use. The portal to Lutum was decorated with the laurel and fist symbol Ella had described, and Leif had spotted on the shoulder or chest of several students back at the arena. With a slight warping of reality they stepped through, appearing in an almost identical building to the one they had just been standing in. ¡°This way, if you would.¡± The official said, gesturing towards the exit. ¡°The Lutum campus is far more spread out than those of the other islands. We will take a brief carriage ride to Blade Hera¡¯s residence.¡± ¡°Of course. Lead on.¡± Chapter 152: Homes Chapter 152: Homes The carriage pulled up a gentle slope, the well greased wheels and stable suspension making the journey comfortable, if slow. Leif found it strange knowing where his occasional buds of insight on the construction of wagons and carts were originating from, and it was stranger still that those small snippets of his memories and former knowledge had been among the first, and most detailed to have slipped from one life to the next. The attendant drove the carriage, with Leif and the two children being the only occupants of the vehicle. Roy was as happy and excited as ever, the boy''s quick recovery over the past few days had reignited his childlike fascination with the world around him. He badgered his sister with endless questions, though Lucia was largely as ignorant as he was. So then he directed his curiosity to Leif, who also was largely clueless. What was the large building with the domed roof that they had passed? He didn¡¯t know. Why were the tall trees planted along the paved road alternating species? He didn¡¯t know, though he guessed it was for variety. The green of one canopy, followed by the purple of the next was an effect he quite enjoyed. If her brother was a blend of jubilant and awed, Lucia was the opposite. Leif had been keeping tabs on the girl''s mental state since before they had arrived at the arena, and while she was competent at suppressing her emotions, worry, fear, and not a small amount of anger occasionally flared up. It wasn¡¯t targeted towards him, more projected outwards at the world of luxury and near decadence they were travelling through. And then there was the way she reacted whenever Hera was mentioned. It had been hard to sense during their time at the arena due to the chaotic mix of aura¡¯s, intents and the emotions that came along with them from the hundreds of spectators, but Leif was all but certain there was something up. Lucia, while cagey about her reasoning for visiting the Academy, had alluded several times that she was looking for someone. It was not a stretch to guess who that someone might be. Either it was a happy coincidence, or an unfortunate one that he had discovered the siblings on the ship ride across the sea. He tapped his ivory fingers on the carriage''s window, feeling the wooden structure ripple as he lightly pushed his will through it. He had his suspicions as to the history of Lucia and her brother, but it was likely ideal to wait and tackle the issue with another adult. Another human adult, someone who was more informed and in a better position to do something about it. They pulled up to what looked like a small tenant apartment not unlike many of those they had already passed. Though this one was surrounded by a tall iron fence, and an odd glass dome connected to the building from the side. A well tended and vibrant garden lined the path leading up to the front door. Roy all but leapt out the carriage the moment they had pulled to a stop, the boy spinning around in fascination as he ran up to the gate and wrapped his small fingers around the narrow bars. Leif stepped out next, then turned and held the door open for Lucia. The girl looked from the building, then down to him. She swallowed, a rapid fire series of emotions and micro expressions passing over her increasingly tired looking face. ¡°Is it something I should know about?¡± He asked, his words finally making her realise she needed to move. ¡°No.¡± She said quickly, exiting and hurriedly walking over to where Roy was trying to eat a golden leaf. ¡°We have arrived.¡± The official said, tethering the horses to a small post. ¡°This is the residence of the ninth Blade, Hera Kossia.¡± ¡°Is this a student dorm? It looks like the ones we¡¯ve been passing.¡± Leif said. ¡°No. Though it was once a similar structure. The internals of the building are quite different, and the greenhouse is an unusual addition that, if I am recalling my history of the place correctly, was only restored when the Blade moved into the establishment.¡± ¡°Greenhouse? You mean the big glass dome?¡± ¡°The very same.¡± He said, ringing a small brass bell hanging from the gate. ¡°I see.¡± The scion crossed his arms and waited. Thirty seconds later the double front doors to the residence opened, and a familiar old woman shuffled outside. Melissa was as Leif remembered, Hera¡¯s ageing attendant was dressed in her usual smock and apron, a knowing smile tugging at her lips. She waved in greeting, though likely the only one of them she recognised was the official who had rung the bell. ¡°Welcome, welcome! To what do we owe the pleasure?¡± She asked, smiling sweetly down at the two children and giving a polite nod to Leif as she unlatched and pulled open the gate. ¡°I¡¯m afraid Hera hasn¡¯t gotten back from that meeting they sprung on her after the fight at that awful arena. I assume she is the reason for your arrival?¡± ¡°Indeed ma¡¯am.¡± The official said with a bow. ¡°These three have been invited by the Blade personally, I simply guided them here.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Melissa said. ¡°And who are these... guests? We don¡¯t usually get small children here on the islands, so this is a surprise.¡± ¡°Leif Vin.¡± Leif said, bowing slightly. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you again.¡± The old lady paused, looked at the official, then back to him. ¡®Oh. Well, isn¡¯t this a pleasant surprise? I dare say I was definitely not expecting you to be the one under that mask!¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a while, Melissa. How are you doing after the... events that transpired.¡± ¡°Oh, that dreadful thing. I¡¯ve followed Hera into all sorts of terrible places and situations, but that was one of the worst. Just awful, a total disaster. I¡¯ve been fine, though I dare say I¡¯m several years older than I should be. Oh hello, aren¡¯t you adorable?¡± ¡°I¡¯m eight.¡± Roy said confidently as Melissa bent to get a better look at him. ¡°So old! And so tall! Though you clearly need more meat on those bones of yours!¡± The old woman said. ¡°This is Roy and Lucia. They¡¯re... acquaintances I met on my journey here.¡± ¡°How tantalisingly vague of you.¡± Melissa snorted. ¡°Well, I just have to hear about this. Come on in.¡± === Melissa played host, getting tea and a tray of baked goods and placing them on the table in the comfortable lounge. She placed empty cups onto the polished wood, but allowed them to pour their own drinks, giving Leif a meaningful look. He connected to her telepathically, giving the old woman a mental recap of his journey to the Academy, and how he had met Lucia and Roy. She gave the two children a pitying look, then shook her head and smiled. Roy was offering Lucia ¡®half¡¯ of a cookie, with his half being about twice the size of hers. ¡°They¡¯ve been through a lot.¡± He sent. ¡°There¡¯s something more going on too, but I hadn¡¯t wanted to force the issue.¡± The old lady glanced at the clearly agitated Lucia from her position by the door and nodded subtly. She returned a few minutes later with a stack of blankets. The young girl shot the elderly woman a suspicious side eye, but wrapped one around her shoulders anyway. Melissa launched into a story about how some of the alchemy students accidently filled the lab they were working in and the rest of the building with bubbles that clung to every surface. Roy giggled as he listened, captivated as he sat next to his sister, almost completely covered head to toe in numerous blankets. Lucia smiled, but it looked strained, she fidgeted, her arms wrapped protectively around her knees. Leif asked about the different facilities on Lutum, and what they could expect from the quadriad tournament. Melissa seemed less than interested in the fighting and contests that would be taking place over the next few weeks, but her detailed recollection of what to expect on the mostly forested island was fascinating. Apparently there was an evolved beast reserve on the part of the island where nobody lived. The creatures were used to train up some of the weaker students from the different campuses. Both Leif and Melissa tilted their heads up as a presence appeared on the rooftop of the building. The older woman smiled and excused herself, heading upstairs with surprisingly adroit steps. ¡°So.¡± Leif said. ¡°We have a few minutes. Are you going to tell me why you¡¯re here?¡± ¡°You brought us here.¡± Lucia said, not meeting his amber gaze. ¡°Why are you here?¡± he repeated. ¡°I can¡¯t help you if you don¡¯t tell me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± He sighed. ¡°You came to the Academy to find Hera. Well, you¡¯ve found her. I have my own business here, my own reasons for being on the archipelago. But we¡¯re here together, so I would like to know.¡± ¡°What if you¡¯re wrong?¡± She asked stubbornly. ¡°I¡¯m not. It is a fascinating coincidence that we just so happen to be looking for the same person. Perhaps due to the quadriad allowing for visitors this meeting was more or less inevitable. But I am not wrong.¡± ¡°Impossible.¡± Leif hummed, leaning back. ¡°After everything, it seems like a strange thing to consider. Is anything actually impossible?¡± Hera raised her cup as if in a salute. ¡°Seeing how far we¡¯ve both come down our paths, I doubt it.¡± ¡°You say that like you¡¯re only just beginning.¡± Leif commented. ¡°I am. Anyone who thinks level one hundred is the human limit is deluding themselves. I¡¯ve earned myself several decades of extra time by hitting the milestone so young. Once I¡¯ve settled my foundation, I¡¯m going to push for way more. Two hundred isn¡¯t beyond my reach.¡± ¡°Seems ambitious. I¡¯m just going to focus on my next big milestone. One step at a time.¡± ¡°Probably wise. Are you going to keep a low profile going forward?¡± ¡°If I can.¡± Hera nodded thoughtfully. ¡°It¡¯s for the best considering your situation.¡± She turned her head slightly, her eyes shining. Leif had noticed it too, the small presence that had crept closer to the door. Hera smiled and mimed zipping her lips shut. The scion nodded appreciatively. ¡°So, the quadriad? I saw your fight, very impressive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just the Academy showing off to the outsiders. And entertaining the students, hopefully inspiring them to greatness and all that. Apparently we.¡± She tapped her uniform. ¡°Used to use the tournament to determine who among the ten blades should be in charge. But over the past century or so the institution moved towards seniority as the deciding factor.¡± ¡°Feels unfair for someone like you. Assuming you compare favourably to the other Blades in terms of combat ability.¡± ¡°Eh, it¡¯s so so. I can probably handle about half of them without much issue, but it''s all matchup and location dependent. If the fight took place in a wide open field with several kilometres for us to play around in, I¡¯m likely in the top three, probably higher. If the fight took place in the crucible dungeon, someone like Daniela or Helos would have the advantage.¡± ¡°So straight up battles in the arena aren¡¯t a good way to judge actual strength.¡± ¡°Right. If I fought Kastro in the sea I¡¯d find myself drowned in seconds. But he couldn¡¯t touch me in the arena, not physically anyway.¡± ¡°You seemed to handle the mental attacks well.¡± ¡°I could keep my distance. I can still feel the headache though, damn thing will probably last another day or two. Made the meeting they sprung on us a pain to sit through. But those meetings are always a pain, so not much of a difference.¡± ¡°Do you need healing?¡± ¡°Sweet of you, but no. Dealing with the after effects is probably the best way to increase my resistance to mental attacks in the future.¡± ¡°I feel like most sensible people would take a break from advancement and recover.¡± ¡°Most people don¡¯t have what it takes to reach level one hundred.¡± Hera said, using her cup to cover her smirk. Leif nodded, conceding her point. ¡°What are your plans for your time at the Academy... assuming you can share?¡± The presence listening in at the door had snuck closer, but his answer wouldn¡¯t break his cover. ¡°Well, I want you to help me make contact with Flavia. Ease our eventual reunion, make our in person meeting and hopefully the rest of the whole ordeal less troublesome.¡± ¡°Consider it done. I owe you after all that¡¯s happened.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to broaden my knowledge base. I was hoping to sit in on some classes or lectures, but I understand if that¡¯s not possible.¡± ¡°It should be. Though only for the more basic courses. I can give you access to the main library on Pelus if self study is more your thing.¡± ¡°That would be wonderful. There are some... historical records I want to look at.¡± Hera raised an eyebrow, but conscious of their eavesdropper she waited for him to expand on that statement. ¡°There¡¯s a species of monster I¡¯m particularly interested in seeing if there are any records of. For my research.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I looked for myself upon my return to the archipelago, but didn¡¯t find anything. Though my search was far from thorough.¡± ¡°Interesting. I¡¯ll still take a look for myself.¡± ¡°Sure. You want to reconnect with the students from the Pherin expedition? I know Marcus was keeping tabs on you. Sieg is competing in the quadriad.¡± Leif sensed the flicker of emotions from behind the door. ¡°Maybe don¡¯t mention the expedition. I think the kids are-¡± He telepathically sent Hera, but Lucia flung the door open and had stormed into the room before he was finished. ¡°Hello there, girl.¡± Hera said, smiling as her eyes darted to him in worry. ¡°I don¡¯t usually have guests-¡± ¡°You!¡± Lucia yelled, pointing accusingly at Leif. ¡°You were part of the Pherin expedition? Did you know? Did you know the whole time?¡± ¡°I only knew what you told me. Which was very little.¡± He said, raising a hand to placate the girl¡¯s rising anger. ¡°How could you! How can you sit there so casually after what you¡¯ve done!¡± Hera blinked at the explosion currently going off in her living room. ¡°I am not following.¡± Lucia wheeled on the older, and much, much stronger woman. ¡°Why did you fail?! After everything they did, everything they spent and risked to make it happen! Why? Why did you let them die?¡± ¡°Kid, I don¡¯t know who you are-¡± ¡°Pheris.¡± Lucia screamed, tears running down her face, her fists clenched into tight balls at her side. ¡°My family risked everything to try and take back our homeland! Everything would have been fine if you hadn¡¯t failed! They- they wouldn¡¯t have-¡± The girl was gasping for breath, her words barely coherent by the end. Leif stood, making his way to her side in three quick steps. Lucia was shaking with impotent rage, loss and confusion. He flared [Amber Aegis] around her, for the first time taking full use of the calming effects the skill bestowed. ¡°I think... I think we need the full story.¡± Leif said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He glanced at Hera, seeing the distraught look on the usually confident Blade¡¯s face. ¡°We can¡¯t help you without understanding your story.¡± Lucia screamed again, and punched his side. A golden mote of light drifted into her hand, healing the damage. The pain seemed to shock the girl out of her manic state, and Leif sensed as every suppressed fear, regret and sense of loss from the past year bubbled up and out of her. Lucia broke down, and wept into his side. She cried for her home, she cried for her family, for her brother, and finally, for herself. Chapter 153: Consequences Chapter 153: Consequences Leif, Hera and Melissa sat in silence within the living room of the apartment turned Blade residence. Night had fallen, bringing with it an sea born mist that rolled over the archipelago like an ethereal blanket. Lucia and Royce had been given a guest room, and from the pattern of their vitality Leif could tell both were asleep. When Melissa had heard the commotion coming from the room she had quickly made her way back inside. Roy had followed, the little boy hot on her heels. He had stood frozen in the doorway, watching his older sister break down and sob. Lucia¡¯s emotions were apparently contagious, and despite not knowing the reason for her outburst, the boy had started bawling as well. Neither the masked tree monster nor the Academy Blade had any idea what to do. Thankfully Melissa, having spent most of her life working as a servant of the Kossia family, was more familiar with what to do with distressed children. She had taken them up stairs and calmed both of the kids down. She had cooked and delivered them a meal, prepared a bath and helped make the bedroom as accommodating and comfortable as possible. Hera had changed out of her Blade uniform, and she now sat with one leg over the other on the couch opposite him, a glass of half drunk whisky dangling between her fingers. Melissa sat primly off to the side, her hands in her lap, her wrinkled face cast in an expression of concern. ¡°Well.¡± Leif said, levitating a small wooden coaster over his hand. ¡°Sorry for that.¡±Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) ¡°Don¡¯t apologise.¡± Hera said, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. ¡°It was deserved. Or at least, I deserved it.¡± ¡°Terrible thing to happen to children.¡± Melissa said. ¡°Especially those so young.¡± ¡°Do you know who they are? Who their family is?¡± Leif asked. Hera took a drink, sighed, then spoke. ¡°Would you think worse of me if I said I knew?¡± ¡°It depends.¡± She sighed. ¡°I knew, vaguely, that something had happened to the former royal family of Pherin after the expedition failed. I knew that the main expedition was funded, at least in part, by them. And I knew that they... instigated something in the capital to try and regain what they had lost. I try to keep out of the capital and its politics, if it wasn¡¯t for the crucible I never would have visited before I became a Blade.¡± ¡°And the kids?¡± ¡°I honestly thought everyone had been killed. I didn¡¯t know two had survived.¡± ¡°You say that like entire families get killed on the regular in Mekrylis.¡± Leif said. Hera glanced at Melissa, who nodded grimly. ¡°They do. It¡¯s like a nest of vipers all competing to eat each other first.¡± ¡°Does the emperor not care?¡± ¡°Having the noble families all bickering and fighting among themselves benefits him, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Hera said bitterly. ¡°Better that a handful of houses and their commoner retinues die in back alley stabbings than a civil war killing tens of thousands every few years. You think the empire has its problems? You should see the republic, it¡¯s one civil war after another over there.¡± Leif frowned internally. ¡°From what I heard and saw in Ahle-ho, the republic is preparing for a war with the empire.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all bullshit posturing. This happens every decade. At worst there will be a few coastal skirmishes in the south, a few towns changing hands and some trade routes going in and out of favour. Is it terrible? Sure. Is it avoidable? You tell me.¡± ¡°Lady Hera.¡± Melissa said. ¡°I believe this one may be on a larger scale than any in recent history. At least that is the general consensus among those in the know.¡± Leif shrugged. ¡°The system likely compares the physical age of my body, instead of the age of something more esoteric, like my soul. If I hadn¡¯t died, I¡¯d be in my early to mid thirties by now, not that I kept much of my life experience or memories from when I was a human.¡± ¡°Damn, that sucks.¡± Hera laughed. ¡°I know a few system researchers who would love to figure out why that¡¯s the case. Does the system really say you¡¯re twelve years old?¡± ¡°It does.¡± Leif confirmed with a sigh. ¡°And I have a few skills that upgrade the longer I live, not even being considered a teenager by the system is a pain.¡± ¡°Moving back on topic.¡± Melissa said with a strained smile. ¡°Hera dear, could you contact those you trust in Sablaris or Ahle-ho, see if sending the siblings up north is a possibility?¡± ¡°It will ultimately be their choice.¡± Leif said as Hera nodded, crossing his arms. ¡°Lucia should at least have a say in this conversation. Roy might be a little too young, but I doubt his sister will take kindly to those she views as at least partially responsible for the deaths of her family dictating her life choices.¡± ¡°In the morning then. Melissa, could you facilitate that meeting, assuming the girl is ready for it?¡± === Lucia was not ready for a meeting come the morning of the next day. The young girl instead locked herself in her room and only opened the door when Melissa brought her and her brother breakfast. The mists that had rolled in during the night burnt away under the first rays of sun and the Academy slowly bustled to life. There were classes and lectures in the morning, with the quadriad¡¯s second day kicking off an hour after midday. Leif spent much of the night in the greenhouse, much to his own amusement. The vegetation was vibrant with vitality and the soil was rich with nutrients. Apparently the glass dome served to focus light and heat into the greenhouse, which was helpful for Hera, as the woman was as much a light mage as she was an archer. The plants were a byproduct of sorts, and were a pet project of Melissa, the older woman taking it upon herself to tend to the resident¡¯s many gardens. He didn¡¯t want to leave Hera¡¯s home with Lucia and Roy¡¯s situation not taken care of, but he wouldn¡¯t waste his entire day waiting around for them. Neither would Hera, and with the Blade leaving to take care of her own duties, he did as well. With Melissa remaining behind to babysit, Leif departed the residence for the teleportation hub, Mask on and clothing covering his body, directions to the Academy¡¯s library and other places of interest swimming through his mind. He walked, passing a group of third year students out for a morning run through Lutum¡¯s tree covered and twisting roads and paths. The forested island¡¯s gradual elevation occasionally allowed for the distant sea to be visible through the canopies. He took the long route back to the teleporters, seeing parts of the island he hadn¡¯t yet passed. He wanted to find Sieg and Marcus, but the two third years lived on the far side of the island, and could be anywhere within the Academy now that it was well into the morning. An hour later he stepped into the massive library, the almost stick thin receptionist waving him inside when he showed her his token. There were parts of the four story building he didn¡¯t have access to, but that was fine. He had little interest in poking around at ongoing projects or personal information about past attendees of the institution, instead he perused the second floor, collecting a small pile of tightly bound tomes ranging from bestiaries, historical records and a complete record of every known tier one class. Unlike the Twin-Heart guild, the Academies knowledge base was as broad as it was deep. The sheer breadth of information available was daunting, even if he had years to spend researching it wouldn¡¯t be enough to sift through even a tenth of the library''s contents. So he had to prioritise. Leif drew attention from students and faculty alike, but none confronted him, let alone approached him during his stay. The closest thing to an encounter was a trio of first years who thought they were far more quiet than they actually were, the teens speculating why he was wearing a mask. They settled on him being a secret member of a distant kingdom''s royal family, which wasn¡¯t too far from the truth, though Leif had never heard of the place they finally settled on. The list of tier one classes was more complete than the one he had previously read. Though that was more due to the greater amount of attuned variations that were documented in the tome. He had asked the receptionist about a potential list of every tier two class, but apparently that was a little more difficult to ascertain. If there were several hundred tier one classes, there were millions of tier two classes. Every tier one class had several possible promotions, several of which being far rarer than normal. And then, every tier one class also had a union with every other possible class. The academy had a compiled list of every tier two class that its past students and faculty had donated the knowledge of, but it was far from complete. The bestiary was a more fruitful read, and though Leif was mostly interested in different species of plant monsters, that section of the book was unfortunately small and lacking in detail. The only mention of ¡®blight¡¯ was a species of blood draining brambles that the bestiary stated the northern kingdoms had to constantly contend with. Instead of knowledge about his own nature, Leif found himself far more interested in examples of evolved beasts. He found a reference to ¡®Iron tusked boars¡¯, Leif was fairly confident that was what most of his own horde of hogs had evolved into. There was even a mention of several evolved deer species, though none of them mentioned dream magic or teleportation. Apparently there was a species of evolved squirrel that was known for violently combusting into a large ball of fire, though they had mostly been culled. Why the system would give such creatures a self-destruct skill like that was beyond him. Students started filtering out for lunch, many quietly chatting away excitedly about the upcoming tournament. There would be another bout between Academy Blades, this time between the seventh and eighth members. The eighth Blade, a man named Mouric was apparently a fan favourite among many of the more combat oriented students. Well. Leif thought, placing the books in a neat pile and standing to leave, having been told there were people with specific skills who could return them to the correct places. This should be interesting. Chapter 154: Blizzard Chapter 154: Blizzard ¡°Mouric Voknar! And his opponent, the seventh Blade: Daniella Low! The inevitability of ice clashes with the fury of steel and flame!¡± The announcer roared, riling up the crowd much as he had done during the previous day. Leif was buffeted by the cascade of noise that washed over him and the arena. Much like the last time Leif had spectated the quadriad, his interests were mostly on the displays of power from high level individuals. When he compared himself to Hera or even her vanquished opponent, Kastro, he found himself coming up short. But the gap wasn¡¯t as wide as it had once been. During the battle over Far-Reach, Leif hadn¡¯t been able to interact with, let alone participate with the higher levelled portion of the fight. The powers that had been in play were beyond his ability to contend with. Now, several levels, promotions and an evolution later, that would likely no longer be the case. Could he match someone like Hera in offensive power? Not at all. But defensively? Absolutely. Obviously he wouldn¡¯t win any fights by not being able to attack, and that was a problem he would need to solve going forward, but there was a sense of security, of safety and comfort in knowing just how durable he was. A laugh boomed across the arena sands, cutting short his train of thought. A massive man with an even bigger hammer jogged out from one of the entrances. Leif focused on him, and the perception altering effect of the stadium''s shielding brought his features into perfect clarity. The man¡¯s uniform shirt looked like it was unable to contain the wall of muscle that was Mouric¡¯s torso. He waved a meaty hand at the cheering crowd, then let his hammer, the weapon longer than he was tall, crash head first into the sandy ground. Every grain in the arena jumped as the huge slab of dark metal impacted the floor with a devastating crash. Leif had seen the blue haired man¡¯s opponent the day before. Daniela Low, cousin of Kastro, shared much of his features. Grey hair and sharp features made her look like a statue that had been carved with slightly exaggerated proportions, leaving her scowl sharp, her expression deadly and pensive. Unlike Mouric, Daniela ignored the crowd, staring at the massive man with her arms crossed, seemingly unarmed. The sand around her began to blacken, charred by an invisible heat as she flexed her fingers. The announcer began the countdown, the crowd joining in a moment later. Then both combatants, two humans over level one hundred burst forward, the ground cracking beneath their feet. With every step Mouric took, ice condensed behind him, growing into a towering, glacier-like slab before he had crossed even half the distance. The arena shook, and Daniela blurred forward. A wave of heat blasted from her fist as she bore down on the larger man, cinders swirled and the air screamed. Mouric brought up the head of his massive hammer to block, but an unseen force shoved it aside. White flashed, and every spectator in the crowd lost sight of the battle. An instant later a shockwave of wind buffeted the barrier, followed a heartbeat later by a thousand shards of fractured ice. The students sitting in the row ahead of Leif stood along with almost everyone else in the stands, belatedly the scion did the same, because if he didn¡¯t he wouldn¡¯t be able to see the arena. Several thousand people all collectively held their breath, then a jagged tower of ice burst up out of the cloud of dust, followed by three more. There was another white flash, then flames erupted outwards in a devastating column of destruction. The fire swept clockwise around the arena, where it passed, sand blackened and bubbled, orange tongues leaping up to lick the barrier. There was a bellow, then finally the crowd caught sight of Mouric as the muscular man leapt up into one of the pillars of ice, his arms, legs and torso coated in a protective layer of glacial armour. The man gestured, and the ground rumbled, his conjured glacier picking up the pace as its cracked and half melted surface ploughed across the space towards the cloud. His hammer was nowhere to be seen, that was until he held out a hand, causing the massive weapon to come spinning up towards him. There was another burst of heated air, and Daniela strode into sight. She looked unharmed, her uniform unrumpled and her grey hair still tied back as it had been at the start of the fight. ¡°Nicely done!¡± Mouric shouted down at her, waving with his hammer in a bizarrely friendly manner. ¡°Yield, brute. You are not my match.¡± She replied coldly. ¡°Perhaps. Perhaps not. Shall we find out?¡± He said with a grin. In response to his words, Daniela raised a hand, and another eruption of orange flames flooded towards the hammer wielder. Mouric jumped to another piller just as the fire washed over where he had been standing, then a dozen large chunks of ice appeared over his head. They started falling immediately, with the man doing something with a skill to alter the speed and direction of their fall. Daniela hopped back from the first, sidestepped the second, blasted a third from the air with a contemptuous wave of her hand, then cut the remainder in half with a world distorting shout of spellcraft and the sudden appearance of a sword in her hand. Mouric laughed, then the large man kicked off the now halling pillar of ice, launching himself towards the seventh blade with the inexorable force of an avalanche. From there the duel fell into a rhythm. A sudden melee engagement and a resulting storm of fire, ice and sand making actually perceiving the battle a challenge. Then one, or both combatants would disengage, and the two would skirmish for a handful of seconds. In the brief flashes of the close combat engagements Leif could make out, Mouric¡¯s massive hammer seemed to play a key factor. Both Blades seemed to have one or more skills that allowed for at least partial control over the weapon. If Leif was to guess, Daniela had some control over metal, allowing her to manipulate the hammer¡¯s head as it got close to her. The scion suspected that Mouric¡¯s weapon was enchanted, which made the feat of being able to influence it at all with [Metal Manipulation] or some other skill an incredible display of power. For his part, the eighth Blade looked to be using a weapon mastery skill, likely a heavily fused comprehension skill that allowed for weight manipulation. The hammer spun and twisted, never seeming to find a target, while also dominating every moment both combatants spent in melee range. Mouric had no problem flooding the battlefield with his ice powers, so he likely had a cultivation skill of some kind. Leif sat back down after the crowd settled, considering what he knew of both Blades. Assuming both had two classes, each around level fifty, what would they be? If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Most of the lights are new. And damaging enchanted and reinforced stone isn¡¯t exactly easy.¡± ¡°How would you know, have you tried?¡± ¡°Have you?¡± ¡°Guys. Stop. Please.¡± Sieg sighed. ¡°Could you please go five minute¡¯s without you bickering?¡± Adriana whistled in annoyance, the action rustling the clothing of everyone in the waiting room. Linus rubbed the back of his head. Their three other teammates gave each other worried looks, then they all waited in silence for several minutes. ¡°Yes, I have tried damaging enchanted stone.¡± Linus said with a shrug. ¡°Did you try using your head?¡± Adriana snorted. Sieg groaned. ¡°Hells you two, if you need to blow off steam go into a side room and have at it. I¡¯m losing my damn mind listening to this while we wait.¡± The two second years scowled, pouted and flushed, both shuffling uncomfortably under his icy glare. ¡°You¡¯ll be going out in three minutes.¡± The official said, looking worried. ¡°Please do not leave.¡± ¡°Bet Linus only needs a minute.¡± Adriana muttered. ¡°Piss off-¡± ¡°We are about to fight a six man team from Braslim. They¡¯re mostly third years, and we need to take this seriously.¡± Sieg interrupted. ¡°I am asking you, right now, as this team¡¯s leader: Please. Shut the fuck up, I¡¯m begging you. I¡¯ll get on my hands and knees if I have to.¡± ¡°Sorry¡± Adriana said, kicking at the floor. ¡°I know how important this is. I¡¯ll behave.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Sieg said, turning to look at Linus. ¡°Yeah. You got it man. I know you don¡¯t want to disappoint the big guy.¡± ¡°Right.¡± The northerner said, ushering everyone in closer. ¡°We¡¯ll crush those smug bastards. But one last time, this is the plan...¡± Chapter 155: Hello There Chapter 155: Hello There Leif was about to leave his seat and return to the library, when the sands below were finally cleared of ice. Large sections of the arena were filled with muddy, blackened detritus from the earlier fight between Blades. He perched on the edge of his seat, undecided on what to do. Maybe he should check the schedule before he departed? The announcer''s booming voice pronounced that the upcoming fights would be six versus six bouts between teams from the different islands. The announcer called for the first two teams to enter, large doors on opposite sides of the dirty, but mostly cleared sands grinding open. The closest team jogged out in a tight formation, the red bandanas around their heads clearly marking them as part of the same group. Leif didn¡¯t recognise any of them, which wasn¡¯t a surprise. What was a surprise was that he did recognise someone from the second team. Three someones in fact. Sieg, Linus, Adriana and three other students from Lutum walked in single file out of their own entrance. In contrast with the bandana team, they weren¡¯t wearing anything identifying, other than their Lutum crests, nor did they strike elaborate poses for the crowd. The protective field flickered to life around the arena, and Leif huffed in amusement at the look of disgust on Sieg¡¯s face as the tall man with dark braided hair saw the spectacle his opponents were making out of themselves. The northerner was as Leif remembered him, but Linus and Adriana looked different, though he supposed that was due to the year that had gone by since he had seen them last. Adriana spun a long flute between her fingers, and Linus ran a hand through his hair, two daggers floating above each shoulder. The young man had a thin moustache on his upper lip that looked like it needed to be put out of its misery, and the young woman had easily grown over an inch in height. Leif¡¯s mouth stretched into a smile behind his mask as he settled back down into his seat. Studying was important, but he couldn¡¯t miss this. === The fight was short, and decidedly one sided. Despite putting up a strong front, the bandana wearing team from Braslim got run over in less than five minutes. Much like Mouric before him, Sieg displayed the might of ice magic, frosted mist rolling off his glistening axe head as the man forged blades of ice that spun towards his foes with devastating speed, and, as one of the bandana wearing students learnt when she tried to block with a shield skill, incredible power. Linus, with the support of Adriana¡¯s wind magic, paired off against a spearman and lightning sword user on the right hand side of the arena. It was hard to make out, but Leif thought Adriana was creating platforms of wind for Linus to bounce around off of as the [Rogue], empowered by a skill that drastically increased his speed, took both martial classers apart with cruel efficiency. Adriana buffeted both opponents, the shrill sound of her flute blasting the sand around her away. Unlike during the duel between Blades, Academy officials were now on the sands, blowing a whistle and gesturing with a hand to indicate whenever someone was defeated. A presence that became necessary when an unarmed [Brawler] from the Braslim team refused to surrender, even when he was pinned in place with ice and had an axe blade to his neck. The member of the bandana team who put up the best fight was some sort of [Mage] who conjured twin spinning arcane circles that fired a continuous stream of beams at anyone who got too close. Linus threw a dagger into the [Mage]¡¯s shoulder from just outside his maximum range with the aid of a telekinetic shove, causing him to lose concentration, his skill working flickering out of existence as a swordswoman from the Lutum team dashed in to force his abdication from the battle. It was a clean six-zero, and the crowd, at least those not from Braslim, made their appreciation of the skill on display known through rigorous applause and cheering. Leif clapped alongside them, then stood once the raucous died down and made his way into the inner workings of the arena. It was a maze of stone tunnels and branching passageways, a small instinct in the back of his head reminded him of his dislike of being underground, but considering who he was trying to locate it was easy enough to push aside. Leif didn¡¯t know where he was going other than a vague notion of the general direction in which he should be travelling, so he asked a pair of student enchanters who seemed more interested in the light fixture they were repairing than the tournament taking place several metres above their heads. He complimented their work, and they happily pointed him towards the location of the nearest waiting room. The scion detected a collection of about twenty vitality signatures all clustered together and stepped out into a connecting corridor. A group of six humans huddled together near the entrance to the waiting room, all of whom were now familiar. Sieg looked up, his brow creasing into a frown as he looked at Leif¡¯s masked appearance. Sieg¡¯s frown turned to a scowl as he saw Leif slightly adjust his trajectory in his team''s direction. ¡°Can I help you?¡± He asked, testily. ¡°Maybe.¡± Leif said. ¡°But I wanted to congratulate you on the fight, impressive.¡± Adriana sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, Linus copying her a moment later, though neither of them were facing the other. ¡°Another one? How have three of these guys found us already? We only just won our first match.¡± She grumbled. ¡°We¡¯re not interested in your offer. I¡¯m not interested in your offer.¡± Sieg said, crossing his arms defensively. Leif came to a stop. They didn¡¯t recognise him, and that was fine. But who did they think he actually was? One of the outsiders scouting talent for the factions in the capital? It seemed like the most reasonable guess. He briefly considered leaning into their assumptions and having a little fun at their expense, but he wasn¡¯t in the Academy to make a scene. Instead he raised a hand. ¡°There¡¯s a misunderstanding. I¡¯m not recruiting you or anything like that. I am genuinely just congratulating you on the win. I see you broke through the level fifty bottleneck Sieg? When last we met you hadn¡¯t made that leap.¡± The man blinked in surprise, his scowl returning to its previous frown. ¡®And you two.¡± Leif continued, gesturing at Linus and Adriana. ¡°I remember you two getting in each other''s way constantly when you fought. Glad to see things have improved.¡± He glanced at the other three. They hadn¡¯t been on the expedition. ¡°I don¡¯t know your names, sorry about that. Nice fight though.¡± ¡°Do... Do we know you?¡± Linus asked. Leif¡¯s mind froze, but his body reacted smoothly as he dipped his head in a respectful motion. ¡°Oh, Mentor... I did not expect to see you here.¡± Sieg said, stepping forward, his hands open. ¡°Am I not allowed to give feedback and encouragement to my favourite student?¡± The large man said, standing to his full height. He smiled down at Linus and Adriana, both of them giving the other a nervous glance. ¡°Why so tense? I am far from the least approachable of the Blades. If you got ambushed in a dark corner by Crest you may have to worry, but not me. Hmmm, is the stranger the cause I wonder?¡± ¡°No, sir. This... This is an old friend from an expedition we took part in last year.¡± Sieg said. ¡°An old friend?¡± Mouric asked, taking a slow step forward that seemed to cover half the distance between him and Leif. ¡°Hello sir.¡± Leif said, bowing again, mentally adjusting his mask so it wouldn¡¯t fall from his face by accident. It wouldn¡¯t do that, but he made sure anyway. ¡°I am Leif Vin. Sieg was correct, we met during the Pherin expedition.¡± ¡°The one that ended in disaster? Wasn¡¯t Hera in charge of that one, or am I remembering wrong?¡± ¡°She was, yes. I am currently staying within her residence. I am an associate of the Academy.¡± Leif said, conjuring his token and looking up at Mouric as the man loomed above him. ¡°I see. I see.¡± Mouric said, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. ¡°Hera never mentioned she had a friend who was so...¡± A firm analysis swept over Leif, brushing his aura aside like a glacier carving a path down from the mountains in which it was born. ¡°Strong.¡± The scion¡¯s mind raced. He hadn¡¯t sensed Mouric with his aura until the man had entered the room, and he was fairly certain that wasn¡¯t due to Adriana¡¯s now dissipated wind barrier. Now that the man stood before him his immense strength pressed down on him like a physical weight. What had Mouric seen? What information had the system given him? Out of reflex, Leif triggered his own analysis skill, somewhat surprised when the man didn¡¯t even try to block it. Combat experience: Greater! Age: Older! ¡°Who are you, really?¡± The Blade asked, his tone more curious than hostile. ¡°And why are you wearing that mask? Isn¡¯t it a little... I don¡¯t know, rude?¡± Saying that he was trying to hide his identity wasn¡¯t really a good excuse since he had already told the man his name. Fortunately there were a wide variety of other reasons he could be hiding his appearance. From needing partial anonymity for certain skills to function, to having suffered a grievous wound that he hadn¡¯t been able to heal. The story he had decided to go with when pressed had been Lars¡¯ suggestion, the guild enforcer having helped him workshop it during one of their training sessions. ¡°Aura training.¡± Leif replied calmly. ¡°I am trying to align my identity with my aura, and not my physical appearance.¡± Mouric raised an eyebrow. ¡°An interesting technique. Not a fan of it myself, but interesting nonetheless. Say, we¡¯re in an arena of sorts, you¡¯re quite strong, how do you feel about having some... exercise?¡± Linus choked, Adriana slapping him on the back. Sieg spoke up. ¡°Mentor, are you sure?¡± The eighth Blade grinned. ¡°What? Can¡¯t I have a little fun with a friend of my prote?ge??¡± ¡°I watched your fight with the seventh Blade.¡± Leif said carefully. ¡°I already know I¡¯m not your match.¡± ¡°True.¡± Mouric said without a hint of modesty. ¡°But I find myself intrigued nonetheless. How about I make it worth your time? You last five minutes against me, while I¡¯m holding back to not damage the chamber we''re in, and I¡¯ll owe you a favour.¡± ¡°And if I lose?¡± The large man rolled his shoulders, his grin widening. ¡°Oh, nothing much. I just want to borrow your mask.¡± Chapter 156: Unmasked Chapter 156: Unmasked Leif stared up into the grinning face of the eighth Blade, feeling the temperature in the large stone room slowly drop, though not from anything Mouric was doing. Despite the man¡¯s ice powers, the cause of the drop in temperature was Sieg, who was nervously releasing puffs of icy mist from his hands as he flexed and clenched his fingers. There were several things the scion could say in this situation. He could ask the man if he had recovered from his earlier fight with the seventh Blade, or question if his cultivated reserves of energy needed to be refilled before he fought again. Leif could bring up the necessity of having a fight at all, or invoke his token or affiliation with Hera in order to dodge the challenge. But it wouldn¡¯t work, he could tell from the excited, almost battle crazed gleam in Mouric¡¯s eyes. The Blade wasn¡¯t mad, instead his eagerness to fight was likely the reason for his level of power, and the cause of his position within the Academy. Leif had caught his attention, and that had naturally resulted in a challenge being presented. He could sense the truth of his observations in the man¡¯s unspooling aura, the eagerness Leif could empathically sense and the increased flow of vitality through the man¡¯s body as his heart rate increased. Sieg was demanding to know if a duel was necessary, but Leif cut him off mid sentence, giving the man a short nod in gratitude. ¡°Five minutes, and if I lose you want to borrow this mask?¡± Leif asked, pointing to his face as he clarified the terms, mentally running through a checklist of his skills and abilities. Mouric grinned, nodding enthusiastically. ¡°Good man! I was worried you lacked sense! Nothing lets two people get to know each other better than a bout! And I just so happen to have a soft spot for festival masks.¡± ¡°And you owe me a favour if I win?¡± Leif asked, letting out a calming breath. ¡°Oh, sure.¡± Mouric said dismissively. Leif couldn¡¯t blame the man, he was almost certain this wouldn¡¯t be his victory. He reached out a ¡®gauntleted¡¯ hand, and the Blade shook it with his own meaty paw. Leif pushed healing energy into Mouric¡¯s arm, not as an attack, but instead to heal the dozen minor aches and wounds throughout his body. The massive man snorted in amusement, raising an eyebrow. ¡°I didn¡¯t want another handicap.¡± Leif said, stepping away and dropping into a fighting stance, the motion familiar and instinctual due to [Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess]. He sensed the Blade¡¯s readiness for conflict rise as the skill slightly enhanced his ability to read emotions and intent caused by his own actions. Mouric cracked his knuckles and shot the three students a look as they scampered off towards the sidelines. Leif rolled his neck, conjuring two sets of golden arms, one out in front of him in a defensive position, the other off to either side for balance. The heavier, or more accurately, the denser his body became, the more and more important stability was when it came to combat. Falling over wasn¡¯t ideal while in a fight. Leif shifted his stance, feeling the weight reduction aspect of [Gold Iron Physique] fade away. The battle before him would be like walking a tightrope. He would need to do everything in his power to not lose, while simultaneously not doing anything that would reveal his identity as not human. Fortunately, being significantly heavier than he appeared wouldn¡¯t be one of those things, since such abilities were fairly common, the man before him likely possessing one such skill. Fight defensively, take it slow. He¡¯ll be holding back, assuming he doesn¡¯t want to bring the roof down on our heads. Leif thought as Mouric called for Sieg to count them down. ¡°On the count of zero.¡± The northerner said. ¡°Three!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see if you¡¯re as interesting as I think you are.¡± The Blade said. ¡°Two!¡± ¡°I hope I won¡¯t disappoint.¡± ¡°One!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°Zero-¡± Mouric burst forward, the stone floor beneath his feet shattering outwards as the sheer force behind his advance made a crater two metres wide where he had just been standing. Leif had expected the sudden attack, saw the tensing of the Blade¡¯s muscles and a flicker of his intention that leaked through his aura control. What he hadn¡¯t expected was the sheer ferocity behind it. So much for holding back to not damage the chamber. He thought, half alarmed, half amused as [Amber Aegis] triggered, the shield skill rippling to life around him, his [Willpower], enhanced through a certain core skill guiding it to be more condensed around his arms as Mouric¡¯s fist hammered down into him. The room shook, the newly installed lightning fixtures flickered, Leif didn¡¯t budge a step. The massive human¡¯s eyes widened ever so slightly, then the scion countered, life-force flashing through one of his conjured arms as it rushed forward to shatter the man¡¯s ribs. There was a bright flash of white light that temporarily blinded Leif¡¯s vision, but not his ability to sense vitality. He felt the Blade shift ever so slightly to the side, so Leif adjusted the trajectory of his strike. An amber fist crashed into a breastplate of conjured ice, the sound of the protective layer of elemental energy cracking resounding through the training room. Leif pushed forwards with his aura, twisting it around the Blade like snakes constricting their prey. A series of blows, spiritual and intangible, happened over the course of an instant as benevolence was rebuffed by a glacial wall, then was stubbornly shoved away, only to rush upwards and and press down from above. Compared to Lars, Mouric¡¯s aura control was slow and ponderous, likely by design. But that didn¡¯t mean Leif was necessarily his match. He punched forward, this time physically, at the same time a sharpened blade of his presence tried to puncture the human¡¯s aura for long enough to disrupt whatever skill was coming next. Mouric laughed as Leif¡¯s vision cleared, his ice clad forearm of flesh and blood having blocked the scion¡¯s blow. ¡°Nah, this is way too much fun. I never thought I¡¯d get two good fights in one day. Gods bless the quadriad, I wish we held it twice a year instead of once.¡± The chamber had fallen into a dark ambiance, the only light in the spacious room that which was being emitted from Leif¡¯s amber arms and motes of golden vitality drifting around him, and Mouric¡¯s faintly glowing ice. Sieg waved his hand, his own conjured ice catching their attention. ¡°Guys, the chamber can¡¯t hold out much longer. There¡¯s already massive structural damage, this has gone on for long enough.¡± ¡°Bah! It¡¯ll hold! We keep going! There¡¯s at least two minutes left!¡± The Blade said dismissively. ¡°Mentor... I do not think this is wise.¡± Sieg tried again, though from the look on his face he likely knew it was futile. ¡°We keep going.¡± Mouric grinned at Leif. ¡°Fine. But only if you take full responsibility for the damages¡± Leif said. Mouric nodded happily. Leif couldn¡¯t help himself, despite the situation his mouth cracked slightly upwards as the large man charged forward again. Then he summoned another sphere from his spatial ring. This time the Blade wasn¡¯t caught off guard, a detonation of ice blasting out to combat the explosion of super compressed wood. Ice met unravelling branches, freezing some in place and being shattered in others. Mouric¡¯s massive hammer crashed through the writhing world of wood and ice, smashing a path through the chaos. Leif stepped back, activating- Mouric¡¯s aura crushed his own into the floor, the sheer weight and unyielding force behind the sudden attack interrupting Leif¡¯s attempt at teleporting away as he was surprised for a fraction of a second. His own aura reasserted control over the space around him, but the delay had been enough to trap him in place. He staggered back as the hammer sent a shockwave through his arms, the internal structure of his upper body getting turned to pulp from the impact. He kicked off, forcing everything he had into [Might] to create distance and the several seconds he would need before he was healed. Chunks of ice rained from above, each larger than Leif¡¯s entire body. The chamber shook, rocked by repeated impacts as he punched them out of the air with conjured arms of gold. The hammer flew in from the side, shattering his protective shield and sending him spinning through the air as he temporarily lost all feeling in his right-hand side. Two wooden swords appeared from his storage ring, striking out at the vitality signature Leif could sense coming towards him, not from the right, but from the left. Mouric caught one blade in his armoured hand, but the second drove into his shoulder, the weapon of compressed wood, not as explosive as the spheres, nor anywhere near as heavy, having just enough force behind it to shatter the protective layer of ice and punch down into skin. Leif landed on one foot, fell forward onto the other and forced [The Amber Path] to carry him away. The Blade tried to prevent the teleport once again, but Leif¡¯s aura defences were up and the attempt failed. Leif blurred away, stumbling as he slipped on the icy floor, crashing to the side as the still healing damage to his body unbalanced him too much to remain standing. His opponent appeared behind him an instant later, but he was already twisting, hand and ring outstretched, a javelin of wood spearing towards Mouric¡¯s unprotected, grinning face. The man jerked to the side, the projectile sailing narrowly past him, then his foot landed on Leif¡¯s arm, pinning it to the ground, the head of the Blade¡¯s massive hammer smashing down right next to Leif¡¯s face a second later. The scion froze, knowing, even as his body rapidly repaired itself, that he had lost. His clothing was in tatters, especially around the torso, revealing frost covered ivory wood that had been manipulated into the shape of a breastplate. The cloth on his arms were likewise in tatters, but the pretence of armour he was using to disguise the nature of his body seemed to hold, at least for now. ¡°I yield.¡± He gasped, making the large man beam. ¡°Good. Damn. Fight.¡± Mouric laughed, wiping a thin line of blood off his cheek where the javelin had barely missed its mark. ¡°I think you have more than a little competition, Sieg!¡± The man in question ran over, Linus and Adriana hot on his heels, though their progress was slowed as they tried not to slip on the icy and very damaged floor. ¡°Mentor! That was way too far!¡± ¡°Pfft, please! Your friend is already mostly healed. He¡¯s like a cockroach.¡± ¡°Are you okay, Leif?¡± Adriana asked, her steps lighter than the other two due to her wind magic. The scion groaned, his vision swimming and mind racing. The phantom beat of his heart pounding in his chest as golden blood flooded every inch of his battered form. ¡°He¡¯s fine. He¡¯s fine!¡± Mouric laughed, leaning over his defeated adversary. ¡°Now then, I¡¯ll be taking my prize.¡± And so he did, plucking Leif¡¯s mask off his face with two meaty fingers. The Blade, one of the strongest humans in the world, blinked down at Leif. Then he snorted, tossing the thin piece of painted wood to the side. ¡°Fine then, keep your damn secret!¡± He said, his chuckle quickly turning into a full belly laugh. Leif looked up at the howling man from behind his second, plain, wooden mask. Every ounce of tension fled his body, mind and soul as Mouric stomped away. Chapter 157: Bruises Chapter 157: Bruises Leif stared up at the shadowy ceiling of the underground training chamber, feeling as something inside him snapped back into place. He couldn¡¯t feel pain, it wasn¡¯t something his body was physiologically capable of, though he could intellectually understand, and instinctively detect damage to his form. His pride, limited as it was, could be bruised, though losing the fight had been more a relief than anything. Adriana looked down at him, the second year student brushing away the dark hair that fell down over her eyes. ¡°You weren¡¯t this strong back during the expedition, right?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Leif groaned, rolling over, focusing healing energy into his hand so he could move his fingers. Rising to a kneeling position he looked down at himself, brushing dust and shards of ice from his damaged clothing. ¡°Damn, even with all the tears I can¡¯t tell.¡± Linus said, reaching down to pull Leif up. The scion gratefully accepted the help, and promptly pulled the human down on top of him, the young man letting out a yelp of surprise as he found himself completely incapable of lifting the tree monster. Adriana laughed and Linus cursed, scrambling to his feet. ¡°Sorry.¡± Leif said, lightening himself with [Gold Iron Physique], then for the first time ever he targeted someone else with his core skill. [Benevolent Actions], formerly [Grand Action], now had two separate components. One where he could shift the thirty percent of his [Charisma] to any other stat, and one where he could target those around him with a similar effect. Leif focused on [Might], but found that the second effect of the skill could be something else. [Might] was what he wanted to bestow, so he synced the effects. Linus¡¯ eyes went wide, the second year letting out a sharp exhale of breath as he looked down at his hands in shock. ¡°Woah... what?¡± ¡°Try again.¡± Leif prompted, the human helping pull him to his feet, successfully this time. ¡°No way... This this- this is a flat attribute buff? How?¡±Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com ¡°My core skill.¡± Leif said. ¡°How does it feel?¡± ¡°Amazing! I¡¯m like, twice as strong. How long does this last?¡± Leif finished patting himself down, then glanced up at Sieg. The northerner was glaring towards the exit to the chamber, and Leif turned to see Mouric ducking out, then scampering away like the world''s largest mouse. ¡°I¡¯m... I¡¯m not sure. Did the Blade just run away?¡± Sieg clicked his tongue. ¡°He¡¯s leaving us with the cleanup. Cheeky bastard.¡± The room was devastated, unmelted chunks and shards of ice littered the ground and walls. The remnants of both of Leif¡¯s wood bombs now lay dormant on the floor, dozens of stiff and twisted branches criss-crossing one another, several pointed ends embedded into the stone. The true scale of the damage was hidden by the lack of light, though just because you couldn¡¯t see something, didn¡¯t mean it didn¡¯t exist. Half an hour later the four of them, three humans and one tree, exited the tunnels and passageways of the arena and into the afternoon sun. Fights, individual duels instead of team battles, were now taking place in the wide field of sand, and the stands were far less full than during the fight between the eighth and seventh Blades. Sieg explained the basic structure of the quadriad and the different prizes the students were competing for. Commendations were the primary thing up for grabs, with himself and a few other students using the event to hopefully gain a spot as future Blade candidates. It was something the northerner was striving for, and with his mentorship under Mouric, he had a decent shot at making it, assuming he performed to a certain, high standard in the tournament. Apparently most of the Blades had at least one, sometimes more students they had taken under their wings. There were exceptions to this, Hera being one of them, Kastro, the newest Blade, being another. The fourth Blade, a man who went by ¡®Crest¡¯, was infamous for refusing any and all opportunities to teach, instead focusing on his own mysterious powers and projects. Leif wasn¡¯t exactly keen on meeting any more Blades, since he was currently fifty fifty on positive interactions with those who held the title. They made their way to the teleportation hub, the building a bustle of activity now that attention was slowly bleeding away from the quadriad. All three students were from Lutum, and they were more than happy to show Leif around their home island. As before, the stark difference between Pellus and Lutum was jarring. It was like stepping out from the centre of some sort of palace, to finding yourself in a rural, spread out town sprinkled through forests and fields. The scion preferred Lutum, which didn¡¯t surprise him in the least. Adriana lived in a girls dorm near the beach, with Linus living on the bottom floor of an apartment complex that was far taller than those that surrounded it. They passed a stable, not full of horses, but instead home to large tamed beasts. Sieg had a pensive expression on his face as a fourth year [Tamer] showed them around the spacious and clean building. Leif wasn¡¯t sure what to think of the place. Taming beasts and monsters, though the latter were housed in a different building, was decidedly odd. But the creatures seemed happy, well fed, with several boasting fairly advanced evolutions. A massive dog with shaggy brown hair bounded up to the tall metal fence and flopped over, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. The very good boy received belly rubs from all four of them for about ten minutes, one of its legs kicking happily into the air. As the sun began to set Adriana excused herself and returned to her dorm. Linus departed a few minutes later, though he was heading for a dining hall. They had made their way around a good section of the island, and with just Leif and Sieg left, the northerner invited him around to his place. The scion accepted the invitation, and the two of them headed down a gently winding path to a collection of residences that, at least from a good distance away, looked similar to Hera¡¯s. Though, to Leif¡¯s immense disappointment, they didn¡¯t have greenhouses. They walked the quiet path alone, and Leif took the opportunity to fill the man in on a more thorough explanation of what had happened since they had last met. When his story finally got around to Lucia and Royce, they were approaching the front of the building. The doors were open, with a handful of students milling around the foyer. Unlike Hera¡¯s residence, this building hadn¡¯t been converted from an apartment. They ascended a flight of stairs, then reached a plain but sturdy looking door. Sieg knocked, the man pulsing his aura in a pattern that Leif chose to not pay attention to. There was the sound of hurried footsteps from behind the door, then a pause that lasted several breaths, followed by more footsteps that got louder and louder. A latch was flipped, the handle was pulled, then the door swung inwards. A frazzled and tired looking Marcus smiled out at them, though his expression faltered upon seeing a masked stranger standing in his doorway. The [Arcanist] had wild, sandy hair, round glasses resting partially askew on his face, and a uniform that hadn¡¯t been buttoned up properly. There were dark bags under his eyes, though they still possessed a familiar, intelligent twinkle. ¡°Ah.¡± He said, glancing at Leif, then back to Sieg. He cleared his throat. ¡°Hello, um, welcome. Good to see you, Sieg. The, uh, the place is a bit messy at the moment, I wasn¡¯t expecting guests.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t believe who stumbled into us below the arena.¡± Sieg said with a warm smile. ¡°A street performer?¡± Marcus asked, then he winced. ¡°Sorry, that was rude of me. Unless you are a street performer, then I totally called it.¡± ¡°Not a street performer.¡± Leif chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not a musician. But I do provide healing for the low low price of completely free.¡± Chapter 158: Link Chapter 158: Link The living room was spacious, though the stacks of paper and piles of books littering every available surface made the room feel cramped. Marcus laughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he hurried over to the largest stack. ¡°Sorry, sorry. This project is getting away from me, it¡¯s not due for a few months but I was trying to get it done before the quadriad started. The scope kinda blew up in my face.¡± ¡°Are you almost done?¡± Sieg asked, carefully stepping through the mess, leading Leif to the balcony that lined the far wall, divided from the living room by two large panels of glass. He slid one of them aside, a cool evening breeze rusting several loose bits of paper. A fog gently rolled across the island from the distant sea, coating the world in an ethereal shroud. ¡°Yeah, by tomorrow. Say, um. Who exactly is in our suite?¡± Leif turned, reached up to his face and removed the painted mask. ¡°It¡¯s been a while. Good to see you, Marcus.¡± Marcus screamed, falling back and knocking over a pile of books. ¡°Wha- Who? Huh?¡± He gasped, his expression shifting from exhausted, to terrified, to confused, to realisation over the course of several seconds. The [Arcanist] snapped himself on the forehead, then laughed. ¡°Gods, Marcus. Are you okay?¡± Sieg asked, concerned. ¡°Me? Ahah, I¡¯m fine. I just haven''t slept in like, two, maybe three days. Leif, it¡¯s you! You scared the shit out of me, unless you¡¯re a sleep deprivation induced hallucination, then I¡¯m just talking to myself. Sieg, are you real?¡± ¡°Should I heal him?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°I- I don¡¯t need that.¡± Marcus protested, holding up his hands. ¡°Honestly, it¡¯s fine. I have a skill and- Oh, oh okay that feels really good. No, don''t stop, thanks.¡± Leif had his hand placed on the man¡¯s shoulder, his healing washing away some, but not all of his fatigue. Healing magic wasn¡¯t a substitute for sleep, unless someone had an exceedingly rare lightning-aspected restorative ability, one that energised as well as healed. Marcus changed second by second, as if a physical weight was being lifted off of his shoulders. He blinked, the bags under his eyes no longer as dark as before. ¡°So you are real?¡± He mumbled, then wrapped Leif in a tight hug. ¡°We were so worried.¡± Leif looked at Sieg awkwardly, the taller man just shrugging, clearing away fallen leaves from the balcony table. ¡°It¡¯s... It''s good to see you too, Marcus.¡± ¡°What happened? I was scrying on you with one of my skills, but it suddenly stopped working. I feared the worst, you know?¡± ¡°Ah, I briefly had a skill that prevented divination skills.¡± The scion said, patting the sandy haired man on the back. ¡°You don¡¯t have it any more?¡± ¡°I fused it with other skills a few times, and the protection against divination was slowly lost.¡± Marcus clicked his tongue, then disengaged the embrace. ¡°Well, okay then. That¡¯s fine I suppose.¡± ¡°I would have kept the protection against divination aspect of the skill.¡± Sieg said. ¡°That¡¯s a rare effect, useful too if you want privacy.¡± Leif considered that, and he had to agree. It had probably been a mistake to shift the direction of his skill away from that aspect. ¡°Maybe. To be honest, I¡¯m surprised your divination skill reached that far north at all? You were here on the Academy¡¯s islands right?¡± ¡°Yeah... That¡¯s the weird thing. I¡¯m not sure how I pulled it off either. It just kind of worked when I tried, though the connection was pretty slippery until I got the hang of it. And I¡¯ve been trying over the past few months, but I couldn¡¯t get it to work. Or, not work properly, it¡¯s complicated.¡± If Leif could furrow his brows he would have, instead his frown was internal. He put back on his mask as he stepped out onto the balcony, letting healing and strengthening energies flow into the chair before sitting on it. An oddity struck him, a distant memory from a week after they had escaped from the mythhold together. Curious, he analysed Marcus. Combat Experience: Lesser! Age: Older! Error! Target Invalid! Error! Target Invalid! Leif stared at the error messages that populated the system windows that had appeared before him. ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Both Marcus and Sieg said at the same time. ¡°It¡¯s the... Do you remember back during the expedition, how when I analysed you it came up with several error messages?¡± ¡°Um, yeah. I think so, wasn¡¯t that after you had just advanced past the level twenty five bottleneck?¡± Marcus said, scratching his cheek. ¡°Well, it¡¯s still there. I just analysed you again.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Oh indeed.¡± Sieg said, tapping his fingers on the table top. ¡°Did you ever figure out what was causing the error messages?¡± ¡°No.¡± Leif said, equally confused. ¡°But maybe... maybe it had something to do with Marcus being able to use divination on me from so far away? Perhaps it¡¯s a connection of some sort?¡± ¡°Maybe. Stranger things have happened, or so I¡¯ve read.¡± Marcus shrugged. ¡°What information is it trying to show you anyway? The system doesn¡¯t always function as expected, but there¡¯s always a reason of some kind.¡± The scion froze. ¡°When I took Sieg and went looking for it, we found the partially buried temple complex, the one they¡¯re trying to excavate. Pretty neat, huh?¡± ¡°What-¡± Leif blurted, his voice cutting out in his haste to evacuate the words from his mouth. ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°It means there¡¯s another ¡®amber¡¯ something in the Academy. Maybe it¡¯s one of your cousins or something?¡± === Roy sat alone at the head of the large table that split the dining room in half, he used a cushion to get the height he needed, his small fists clasped firmly around a knife and fork. Humming came from the kitchen, and a few moments later Melissa strode out, the elderly woman¡¯s mouth stretching into a matronly smile as she saw him looking. He flushed as his stomach rumbled, his mouth salivating at the scents washing from the two plates of steaming food she was carrying. ¡°Smoked canyon ham and fried vegetables from the eastern provinces.¡± Melissa explained, placing both plates onto the table, then pulling out a chair for herself. Roy held back just long enough to say his thanks, then dug into the perfectly cooked meal. He fought back tears as the flavours hit his tongue, and choked back a laugh at the crunch of the golden tuber. He hadn¡¯t been this happy, this well fed in... forever, it felt like. It was a bit strange that he was living in someone else''s house, and weirder still that that person hadn¡¯t shown up for dinner, but he guessed that a Blade of the Academy was really busy. He wished Lucia had come down to eat with him, but his older sister hadn¡¯t left her room since the night before. Melissa had already delivered her dinner, and he hoped she would actually eat this time. He knew Lucia was upset, she had yelled and screamed and cried herself to sleep. When he had held her hand and asked why she had forced a smile and told him everything was okay. But it wasn¡¯t okay. He knew that. Melissa made an appreciative sound as she ate her own cooking, the ageing woman¡¯s grey hair tied up in a neat bun, her posture and table manners as perfect as his probably should be. She reminded Roy... not of his grandparents, but somebody else''s. The kindly old woman from the stories Lucia had read to him back before they had needed to leave the capitol. He had always wondered why his own grandparents hadn¡¯t been like those in the stories, but according to his sister that was because they were important people, with important things to do. ¡°Why are you old?¡± He asked through a mouthful of food. That hadn¡¯t been what he had meant to say, so he swallowed and tried again. ¡°Where are your grandkids?¡± She smiled at him, wiping at her lips with a decorated napkin. ¡°I never had children, dear. I always needed to focus on my duties before anything else.¡± ¡°That¡¯s sad.¡± He stated, piercing a purple carrot with his fork. ¡°Not so. I ended up finding a daughter of my own, and I¡¯ve followed her all over the world.¡± ¡°Why did Hera make my sister cry?¡± ¡°That... that is a harder question, dear.¡± She said, putting down her cutlery. ¡°What do you think?¡± Royce frowned at a pile of beans, opened his mouth, closed it again, then huffed in annoyance. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t understand. I don¡¯t know why our family left us behind. Why didn¡¯t they come find us? They¡¯re mean. I hate them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit harsh, don¡¯t you think?¡± She chided softly. ¡°My grandpa wore a crown and sat on a big chair. He was stupid, he never smiled or did anything fun. He couldn¡¯t cook.¡± Melissa went to reply, when the door swung open and Hera strode in. She was frowning down at a report in her hands, her boots tracking a small amount of mud onto the wooden floor. She paused, glancing up at the dining table. ¡°Oh.¡± She said, blinking at Roy. ¡°Hello, I didn¡¯t... notice you. How is dinner?¡± ¡°Good.¡± Roy said, looking her in the eye. ¡°Your mum is a good cook.¡± Hera smiled, tucking her report away and kicking off her boots. They landed in a neat pile alongside several other pairs. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you home so soon, dear.¡± Melissa said, half standing from the table. ¡°Shall I prepare something?¡± ¡°No. No, there¡¯s no need. I already ate. Where¡¯s Leif? Did he make it back?¡± ¡°He has not returned. Is something the matter?¡± ¡°No. Maybe. Hold on.¡± Hera said, running out of the room, her footfalls rapidly ascending the stairs. She returned to the dining room a minute later, her eyes still shining. ¡°He¡¯s with Sieg and Marcus, so he should be fine.¡± ¡°Ah, those two.¡± Melissa said with a knowing look at Hera. ¡°They¡¯re a good influence, probably.¡± Hera snorted. ¡°Apparently not. You won¡¯t believe what Mouric said when he found me?¡± ¡°Oh dear.¡± ¡°Hmmph.¡± ¡°And what was the report you were reading?¡± ¡°The redacted... Something he, luckily, never read. Of all the Blades he¡¯s the easiest to handle. I¡¯m just glad Leif didn¡¯t run into Zane, that would have been a total disaster.¡± Chapter 159: Dimid Chapter 159: Dimid The seaborn mist was still rolling over the archipelago as Leif stepped through the portal arch, seamlessly teleporting from one hub building to another in less than a breath. Three guards turned at his approach, though they otherwise ignored him as he marched past. There were few students around this early in the morning, but Leif was hardly the only person walking the dimly lit streets and hallways of the Academy. A minute later he exited the towering structure that served as the portal hub. It was identical to the other hubs, though the surrounding structures were not. If Lutum was spread out and forested, and Pellus was developed and urban, then Dimid was rocky and steep. A single, wide road stretched out before him, cutting straight down the centre of a valley strewn with boulders and stones larger than the buildings that lined the street. Though that wasn¡¯t quite accurate. The boulders were buildings, entranceways and windows were carved into the rock, and Leif could sense the vitality of those stirring to wakefulness within rooms hollowed out of stone. Halfway down the road stood the administration building for the island, it was wide and short, pushed up against a cliff wall as if trying to melt into the wall. The scion stepped inside, only to find that the main reception hall was sunkern down a level, stone steps needing to be descended in order to enter the structure proper. So much for not going underground. Leif mused, taking two steps at a time. A candle flickered in a small bowl in the single occupied booth. Two people, a middle aged man and woman stood just off to the side, quietly conversing in hushed voices. Leif guessed they were faculty, though neither wore any uniform or identifying markers. He gave them a short nod, and they returned the gesture before walking off through a side door which, Leif noticed, also led down a flight of stairs. The official behind the occupied desk sat up as he approached, stifling a yawn behind his hand and blinking tiredly. ¡°Good morning.¡± Leif said, placing a hand onto the carved stone desk between them. ¡°I was pointed in this direction by a third year student. It¡¯s about the temple excavation occurring on the island.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. Hold on.¡± The official said, leaning over to shuffle through a box full of papers. Leif had spent the night in Sieg and Marcus¡¯s apartment. There had been an available bedroom, but the scion had remained on the balcony after the two humans had gone to bed, Sieg willingly, and Marcus being forcibly dragged away from his project. The arcanist had wanted to use Leif¡¯s magic to pull an all nighter and get his paper complete by the morning, but he had been out voted. Considering that the man had passed out the instant his body had made contact with the bed, it had been for the best. The official cleared his throat, tapping the bottom of a small stack of documents on the desk to straighten them out. ¡°Uh, let¡¯s see here. The temple excavation... oh, wait. Can I see identification?¡± Leif produced the Academy token, when the official sniffed for some reason, then returned it. ¡°Okay, sure. I can¡¯t give you all the information, but I can tell you who¡¯s in charge and where to go if you want to get yourself involved for whatever reason.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Leif said. ¡°That would be helpful.¡± ¡°Alright. The professor in charge of the excavation is Goodwil. Uh, professor Goodwil that is. Her office is in the clay lecture hall. Do you know where that is?¡± Leif shook his head. The official cursed under his breath and ducked out of sight to rummage through more documents. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of professor Goodwil, is there anything I should know about her?¡± Leif produced his token. ¡°It just so happens that I am.¡± ¡°Fine, fine. Come on in. We¡¯re short on people now that the quadriad is underway. Apparently watching children beat each other half to death with sticks and their poor excuses for magic is more important than discovering the truth of the ruins our civilization uses as its foundation.¡± The scion stepped into the office, the door clicking shut behind him. ¡°The duels between the Blades is an educational experience, I¡¯m sure you¡¯d agree?¡± ¡°Hmmm. I suppose. If someone¡¯s goal in life is to get themselves killed in the fruitless pursuit of power they may as well learn from the best. Now, what did you say your classes were? How does a clown intend to assist me in my work?¡± Leif let the clown comment slide, taking a seat. He wouldn¡¯t tell her the truth, but he would tell her just enough to get her interested. ¡°I have a class associated with learning from, and embodying the past in certain ways. I can feel the weight of history that underlines the Academy. And if I get close enough to the temple, I may be able to identify the reasons for its creation, perhaps the reason for its destruction. She raised a narrow, grey eyebrow. ¡°Interesting. Interesting indeed. I can read the truthfulness of your words, and you most certainly have my intrigue piqued. I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯re willing to share the name and description of your class?¡± ¡°Sorry, professor. But I am not.¡± ¡°Hmmm, a waste. We keep too many secrets, even when sharing knowledge would benefit us all. What is your name, boy?¡± ¡°Leif. Leif Vin.¡± ¡°Well, Mr Vin. I suppose I can give you a chance to prove yourself useful. The earth mages will be unavailable for the next few days, some fools damaged the underground foundation of the arena yesterday so they¡¯ve been pulled away. Meet me and my team at the granite sparing fields at ten in three days.¡± Leif bowed in his seat. ¡°I will be there, thank you, professor.¡± She sniffed, leaning back in her chair. ¡°No need to thank me, Mr Vin. I¡¯m willing to take all the help I can get. I¡¯ll take any volunteers that wander into my office, assuming they aren¡¯t as dumb as a sack of bricks. Speaking of, if you could try and rope that [Seeker], the boy who discovered the temple back into the excavation, that would be wonderful.¡± ¡°You want Marcus?¡± ¡°Apparently he¡¯s busy. On what I can¡¯t imagine. Children can never focus on what¡¯s really important, it¡¯s a damn shame.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± He said. Chapter 160: Upwards Chapter 160: Upwards The history of the Mekrys empire was an interesting, if highly embellished read. The empire, a collection of provinces bordered large swaths of three, interconnected, seas. The Rien, the largest and most western of the three seas, was what Leif had flown over, then sailed through to reach the academy. The Loriet, the central and smallest of the three technically started at the archipelago, and continued eastwards until the sea narrowed, squeezed past two peninsulas, then changed to the Mirith Sea. The empire, or rather, the people who had migrated down from the eastern plateaus and would later found the empire, had sailed all three seas, charting their edges and settling in the places most fertile and prosperous locations. Ruins of past civilisations had littered the coasts, and the Mekrys empire would use these ancient foundations to springboard into a regional power. People had lived around the sea before the empire had been founded, and according to the worn tome Leif was reading, Varan, his homeland, had been some of those peoples. The book listed several pre existing city states, Ahle-ho, and an alliance that would become the republic included, though the author had pushed the fact that Mekrys had been the catalyst for these places to become ¡®civilised¡¯. The Academy had been settled by the same peoples who had founded the Empire, though what would become the most powerful educational institution in Mekrys had remained stubbornly independent from the wider empire until it had joined to protect itself from an external threat. The Blade¡¯s had been a core part of the Academy¡¯s identity right from its inception. With the position being based off, or more likely, inspired, by the statues of ten swordsmen and women present in each portal hub. According to another book, what was now the Academy had been an ancient order of humanities protectors, and the Blades had been a pivotal part of that organisation, just as they were now. The archipelago had been discovered and settled some four hundred years ago, with the Empire being founded at around the same time. According to scholars, the islands and their countless secrets had been abandoned for over half a millenia prior. Leif leaned back on the stone bench in the dimly lit alcove, his amber eyes rising to the arched ceiling. The temple complex, or whatever it would end up being, that Marcus had discovered would more than likely date back to a thousand years ago. A part of Leif itched to check out the sight immediately, but he could be patient. A few days of wait wouldn¡¯t kill him, not when he had so much more to do. He snapped the final book shut, mentally recalling the hundreds of pages of information he had just absorbed. [Meditations on Eternity], along with focusing on [Intelligence] made it easy. It was interesting how attributes increased his day to day abilities, not just in combat. Sure, [Benevolent Actions] made the effect easier to spot, but he doubted the increases would become noticeable for the average person. He stacked the books into a neat pile, then departed. === ¡°It''s done.¡± Marcus said, hands on his hips, his grin a mix of deliriousness and jubilation. Leif clapped twice, then let the [Intelligence] boost he was giving the man drop. Marcus keeled over. ¡°No! Bring it back! My mind feels so much slower now!¡± ¡°The skill was at its limit.¡± Leif said, watching the man writhe around on the ground. ¡°Push through your limits! Reach the sky! Do the impossible!¡± ¡°I can do far more impressive things than make your brain run faster.¡± Marcus sighed, getting to his feet. ¡°I¡¯m never letting you leave. How do you feel about becoming me and Sieg¡¯s house plant?¡± ¡°I have infinitely more important things to do.¡± Leif laughed. The [Arcanist] looked hurt. ¡°Did you give Goodwil¡¯s proposal any thought?¡± ¡°Yeah, it sounds interesting. I was always planning on joining in, even if as a Lutum student it would have been a bit tricky. You being around just seals the deal for me. No reason not to, right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± Leif said, sliding his and Marcus¡¯s chairs back under the table of his apartment with a gesture and a brief effort of will. ¡°Do you want to get lunch, then head for the quadriad?¡± Marcus yawned, adjusted his glasses, then let out a half manic cheer of relief, then marched out of the room. ¡°Hells yes. I need a break! Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± === They caught the tail end of the duel between the fifth and sixth Blades. Marcus filled Leif in on what the two powerhouses abilities were, but judging by the massive cloud of dust completely shrouding the arena they hadn¡¯t missed much. Sabline Wilds, the fifth Blade, was a highly promoted [Tamer] focusing on elementals. Her second class was a wind focused promotion of [Shaman], and the woman¡¯s fighting style was an endless parade of summoned air elementals, all the while her bound spirit flew her around the battlefield. It was her fault that nobody could see anything. Though the occasional blast of wind made the arena¡¯s shielding ripple. Helos had a similar build to Daniela, both having metal conjuration and manipulation as core aspects of their fighting style. Unlike the seventh Blade, the sixth was a spearman, and his abilities all orientated around a publicly revealed core skill, a small pocket world Helos used to store, and unleash a forest of silver spears. ¡°Poor thing.¡± Hera said from her perch atop the boulder. ¡°It probably had a family.¡± ¡°Hilarious.¡± Leif replied, raising an ivory hand to his face, examining the vitality that pulsed within. ¡°I don¡¯t think it had a single thought in its head other than hunger and anger. Are you sure these things appear in the wild?¡± ¡°Uh huh. I used to hunt them back when I was an adventurer. A single one of them could flatten a village if they grew big and hungry enough. Did you figure out what was wrong with your weird fusion skill?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. The skill description mentions mastery over all of its aspects for further upgrades, but it feels like there¡¯s more than that. Like the difficulty is compounded somehow.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°What do you mean, ¡®yup¡¯?¡± ¡°Yup, as in, that¡¯s why nobody combines the rank up skills if they can afford it. Comprehension, aura, cultivation, spell. It seems like a good idea to put them all together, to free up space for more skills. I don¡¯t know if the system puts a penalty on those kinds of fusions, or if there¡¯s a natural reason why they¡¯re a pain to upgrade. I don¡¯t think anyone will ever figure it out. I mean, sure, loads of scholars argue about it. But I once read an essay where someone was arguing that a duck was a fish because it could swim.¡± ¡°The system practically forced the fusion onto me.¡± Leif grumbled. ¡°I suppose I could have declined the prompt, but it seemed suicidal to do so at the time. I wasn¡¯t really thinking of the consequences.¡± ¡°It happens.¡± Hera said, plucking a quill from the dead bear. ¡°So are you going to restrict your experience gain to your non monster classes.¡± ¡°Probably. They¡¯re one level away from getting another skill, so I¡¯ll probably level up once more in both classes, then block them. Assuming nothing else goes wrong for whatever reason.¡± He walked up to a nearby tree, barely a sapling, and placed a palm onto its narrow trunk. ¡°Grow Tall.¡± Leif said, his voice echoing slightly as he triggered [Surge of Life and Growth], flooding the young plant with vitality. It began to grow almost immediately, the tree greedily sucking up every last drop of life-force Leif fed it. Branches stretched for the sky and leaves budded to life. ¡°I think Melissa is trying to grow some desert fruit in the greenhouse, she might appreciate the help.¡± Hera said. ¡°Sure. Do we need to do anything about the corpse?¡± ¡°Nah, it¡¯ll be gone by morning.¡± === Leif sat in the back of the lecture hall, regretting his life choices. There was nothing wrong with learning, the previous lecture he had attended that morning had been fascinating, even if the professor had shown up ten minutes late and couldn¡¯t figure out how to turn on the enchanted illusion projector. The patterns and intricacies of turbulence was something he hadn¡¯t ever considered before, nor how different parts of the world seemed to suffer from different types of phenomenon during the months of magical upheaval. It made sense now that someone with more knowledge about the topic had explained it. Leif supposed he would have noticed the patterns himself if he had travelled more. A group of first years giggled to themselves in the row in front of him. Leif tried not to sigh. From a purely academic standpoint, learning about how high levels and attributes affected the way the human body functioned was interesting enough. But the lecture was a little more... in depth than that. The professor, a very serious looking older man with a moustache so sharp that if anyone walked too close they risked losing an eye, was very seriously tapping the chalk diagram he had drawn. An immature snicker rolled through the large room. Leif put his forehead in his palm, desperately wanting to leave, but not wanting to bring attention to himself. So he sat there, for over an hour, learning why high level humans found it harder to conceive. He would have to double check what the lectures were actually about before he attended them. ¡®Growth, life and the system¡¯ hadn¡¯t ended up being at all what he had expected. Truly fascinating. Never again. Chapter 161: Low Blow Chapter 161: Low Blow Zane Low closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. He pictured in his mind''s eye the courtyard before him, the fifty wooden training dummies, their limbs bobbing slightly in the wind. He exhaled, and every dummy was beheaded at once. The resulting sound was like a dozen coconut trees all giving up at the same time, their life''s work clattering to the ground and rolling around. The second Blade opened his eyes and sheathed his sword, running a hand through his messy crop of white hair. He struck a dramatic pose, then bowed to his audience of headless training dummies. Their heads were already beginning to regrow, that enchantment had been more than worth the price he had paid. Two sets of footsteps came from behind him, so Zane whirled, covering one eye with his fingers and gasping. ¡°Y-you! You saw it, didn¡¯t you?¡± Both approaching figures stopped, glancing around the courtyard, more than a little confused. ¡°You saw it!¡± He accused. ¡°My true power! A secret technique passed down over hundreds of years, only to fall into my waiting lap!¡± ¡°What are you talking about, Zane?¡± A serious looking Daniela Low asked, frowning at him. ¡°Good answer.¡± Zane said, nodding slowly, his eyes suspicious slits. ¡°Is he always like this?¡± Kastro said, the gloomy looking man a step behind his equally grey haired relative. ¡°I confess, it is true.¡± Zane said solemnly. ¡°I am always perfect. It is a burden I have carried, and will carry for the rest of my life.¡± ¡°Put a shirt on, Zane. We need to have a serious conversation.¡± Daniela said, crossing her arms. ¡°There is no need to be so serious! Come now, sister, we¡¯re all family here!¡± She sniffed. ¡°We are not siblings.¡± ¡°Cousin! What¡¯s the difference? We¡¯re all Low¡¯s, who cares about specifics?¡± ¡°Your attitude is the problem. This is why the Jursa branch tried to have you assassinated, Zane.¡± ¡°They did?¡± Both Zane and Kastro exclaimed at the same time. Though Kastro sounded alarmed, while Zane sounded confused. Daniela sighed. ¡°Yes, they did.¡± ¡°When?¡± The swordsman asked, leaning forward. ¡°I think I would remember my own assassination!¡± ¡°During that party in Hilace.¡± Zane frowned, then his expression brightened. ¡°The masked clowns! I thought those were entertainers.¡± ¡°You live an interesting life, cousin.¡± Kastro said hesitantly. ¡°Nonsense, I¡¯m quite boring. And call me brother.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not siblings.¡± Zane staggered back as if struck. Daniela cleared her throat, but he held up a hand and closed his eyes. A moment later his sword was drawn, and the regrown heads of the training dummies once again fell to the ground. The second Blade sheathed his sword, then struck another pose. Kastro clapped awkwardly, while Daniela just glared at him. Zane sighed. ¡°Fine, what was it you wanted to talk about?¡± ¡°We should go somewhere private first.¡± The seventh Blade said. ¡°This is my personal training courtyard, nobody can just walk in here.¡± He replied confidently. His cousins glanced at one another. ¡°Oh, right. Okay, sure, let''s go.¡± He turned and marched towards the nearby shed. A minute later the three of them were crowded into the small room and the door had been locked behind them. His relatives looked uncomfortable, but why a room full of almost person shaped dummies would unnerve someone recognised by the Crucible, or someone who took walks on the seafloor for fun was beyond Zane. He slung an arm around the nearest dummy¡¯s shoulders, its face, a smooth wooden oval had a smiling expression painted on it. He had done it himself. A group of second years off to the left tried to restart the first chant in the small gap between the announcers introduction. Someone from a few rows higher shot a jet of water at them. ¡°Both combatants are famous, or perhaps infamous for their unique paths! One utilises a type of magic never before seen in the world, the other having levelled a single class all the way to one hundred! The fourth Blade, a man who goes by the pseudonym of ¡®Crest¡¯ may not have any combat oriented classes, but there isn¡¯t a person alive who would deny his power! The second Blade, Zane Low, is a renowned swordmaster who¡¯s very presence makes the enemies of humanity quake in fear! Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together and welcome our combatants!¡± The crowd did so, though with added cheering and hollering. Two figures stepped out from openings on opposite sides of the arena. Leif used the perception-altering effect of the protective shield around the arena¡¯s sands to take a look at both men. The second Blade, Zane, was a tall and lean man with stark white hair tied back in a bun. He looked younger than his position of seniority would imply, and he wore the overcoat of the Blade uniform wrapped around his waist, its long sleeves tied into a ribbon. A straight sword was at his hip, and his expression was completely serious. He gave off the impression of a warrior who had dedicated every hour of his life to mastering both himself, and the sword. The fourth Blade looked unremarkable by comparison. He was short and wiry, and his slightly hunched posture gave him a scholarly air, as if he spent more time bent over a desk researching than on the battlefield. His uniform was several sizes too big, and his lower face was covered in a week''s old stubble. Both of his hands were clutching the pendant that hung around his neck, the brass chain gleaming under the afternoon sun. ¡°Any bets on who will win?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Crest.¡± Marcus replied instantly. Sieg snorted. ¡°Zane, and it won¡¯t be close.¡± Marcus jokingly punched his roommate in the side, and Sieg stoically ignored him. The announcer began the countdown, the crowd joining in moments later. Neither Blade reacted to the imminent beginning to their duel, both stood relaxed and unworried on opposite sides of the sandy field. ¡°Begin!¡± Crest took a single step back, a dark blue crystal appearing in his hand. The sand where he had been standing a moment before was split, a perfectly straight gash appearing in the ground. Leif quickly turned his attention to Zane, but the second Blade hadn¡¯t moved, his sword was still sheathed. Rainbow power rippled around the fourth Blade as he raised his gemstone, the crowd held its breath as energy rapidly built. Then prismatic light thundered across the arena, turning the sand to glass as it blasted forward like a river. The protective shield rippled, the vision altering enchantment flickering out briefly as the attack raced to cross the distance between both Blades. Leif expected Zane to draw his sword and cut through the assault of prismatic energy, but the swordsman did no such thing. Instead his form blurred as he stepped to the side, a smirk briefly appearing on his lips, though it faded just as quickly. The rainbow beam crashed against the far wall of the arena, power splashing up like a wave impacting a cliff. The barrier flickered again, this time becoming awash with multicoloured light. Then, just as Leif was trying to see through the disturbance, his system information briefly flickered to life before his eyes. Everyone in the crowd recalled as if struck, cries of alarm and confusion coming from hundreds of people at once. Then the phenomena faded, and the vision altering effect of the shield returned to normal. ¡°Umm.¡± Marcus said, blinking his eyes rapidly. ¡°Did anyone else just see their own status sheet?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± Sieg said, equally baffled. Leif replayed the moment using [Sympathy From Experience]. The vision repeated itself before his eyes, though backwards. Sure enough, a distorted and stretched image of his status sheet appeared for half a second, then vanished. What in the hells was that? He thought, alarmed. Just what power was Crest using? Was he tapping into the system itself? How? Leif focused back onto the man, as did most people in the arena. He saw a zoomed in image of the man¡¯s blank, almost bored expression, then the field of view zoomed out and he got a look at his full body. The crystal was still in his hand, though it was now radiating the same rainbow energy as the attack. But it wasn¡¯t just a crystal. Leif recognised it alongside dozens of others at the exact same time. It was a promotion item, larger and more intricate than the Seal Leif had used to promote his [Brawler] and healer classes, so it was likely an Emblem, or something of a higher grade. ¡°Crest.¡± Leif said numbly, still staring at the man who went by the same name. ¡°Holy shit.¡± Marcus breathed. The air rippled before the fourth Blade, then Zane appeared, an inch of his sword having been drawn from its sheath. Crest looked surprised for a brief instant, then the swordsman kicked him between the legs. Crest crumpled to the sandy ground with a soul rending gasp. He didn¡¯t get back up. You have displayed excellence above your ability! For witnessing a display of significant authority that touches on the system itself you have gained the following! +1 free point! Everyone in the crowd started murmuring again, over a thousand pairs of eyes going unfocused simultaneously. ¡°Am I dreaming?¡± Sieg asked. ¡°Did what I just witnessed actually happen?¡± ¡°Good question.¡± Leif said. Chapter 162: Commitment Chapter 162: Commitment The uproar of the arena crowd made continuing the quadriad for the day an unlikely prospect. A hundred voices all yelled questions or stood to run off and find somebody who may have an answer. An ageing couple two rows above where Leif and the others were sitting were spewing panic into the air, their flaring fear and confusion a constant tapping on Leif¡¯s awareness. Things got worse when the announcer, his voice barely audible over the sounds of the raucous crowd, announced that the bout had ended. Then the barrier flickered off, and dozens of people leapt down into the sand. Zane drew his sword, making several of the intruders flinch back, but the second Blade simply swung his sword through the air in a lazy pattern, making the air ripple before him. Then he crouched down, grabbed the still crumpled Crest by the collar of his oversized uniform, and vanished with a wave, taking the other Blade with him. ¡°Do you think Crest meant to do that?¡± Leif sent telepathically to his two companions. Marcus shrugged, and Sieg frowned. Leif stood, then led the two humans through the chaotic stadium. His aura gently pulsed around him, projecting his intent to leave in such a way that most people automatically stepped aside without realising why. They passed the panicking couple, both were mouthing what may have been prayers into identical iron pendants shaped to resemble a mountain bound in chains. A chant started up on the far side of the arena, though the voices making it up were dissonant with one another. Black uniformed guards swarmed down to disperse a rapidly growing brawl that had started up between those who had jumped down into the sands. Marcus took over guiding them once they had exited the arena, the man¡¯s [Seeker] class allowing him to divine the best way to proceed. With Marcus in the lead, they avoided congested areas and ducked through side alleys between the ancient structures of Pellus. Their path brought them past the library, but they continued onwards to the portal hub, managing to beat the crowd by a handful of minutes. They stepped through the portal to Lutum just as a nearby guard was receiving instructions to prevent access to the hub via a communication construct that, at a glance, looked strikingly similar to the object the fourth Blade had used in his duel back in the arena. Leif suspected both crystalline devices must have used similar underlying principles in their construction, or maybe the use of carved gemstones, or mana shards, was necessary for whatever reason. Another guard on the Lutum side of the portal was receiving the same message, though it was a few seconds delayed. The woman shot them an assessing glare, but let them pass without issue. ¡°So.¡± Marcus said with forced cheer once they were outside. ¡°How are you guys spending the ¡®free¡¯ free point we just earned?¡± ¡°[Might].¡± Sieg said without hesitation. ¡°I put too many into [Intelligence] this past year, and now my strength is lacking.¡± ¡°My attributes are a little too out of balance at the moment. I think I¡¯m going to bring everything up to around a hundred before I start investing into [Charisma] again.¡± Leif commented. Marcus and Sieg turned to stare at him. ¡°What?¡± They both asked. ¡°I barely have a hundred points in my highest attribute. You¡¯re cheating.¡± Marcus whined. === Hera¡¯s eyes flashed as she walked down the corridor, stone arches lined the ceiling every ten paces, and orange crystals radiated a warm light that would ordinarily calm her, but all she could feel now was exasperation and more than a little agitation. She scanned the contents of the large meeting room she was approaching, then she sighed and pushed open the wooden doors, striding inside without breaking pace. There were eleven individuals within the room, including herself, each of them sitting around a large circular table. Zane had his feet kicked up onto the table, and was the first to greet her as she entered. ¡°Hey, what''s up?¡± He asked. ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®what¡¯s up¡¯ me, Zane. Why on earth is half the academy freaking out about system interference? What did you do?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. It was his fault.¡± Zane said, pointing at the despondent looking Crest, the fourth blade was sitting with his head in his hands as he mumbled to himself. ¡°A bunch of Lashivites are holding a candle-lit vigil in the stands.¡± Mouric said as the large man barged into the meeting room from another door, his blue hair wild and expression a mix of amused and irritated. ¡°They¡¯re praying that the system forgives us for our transgressions, and that it doesn¡¯t punish us further.¡± ¡°Ah. Lashivites, the most reasonable reactions, as always.¡± Zane said, receiving a series of glares. ¡°Sheesh, touchy subject, my bad. Don¡¯t bite my head off.¡± ¡°None of us are Lashivites.¡± Sabline said, the fifth blade rolling a fingernail sized ball of compressed wind between her fingers. ¡°We¡¯re irritated at your attitude.¡± Zane blew a raspberry at her. Then the ball of wind blasted him off his chair and up against the far wall with a resonant crack. ¡°Peace. This meeting was called to create order, and discuss the events that have transpired.¡± An older woman said, lacing her fingers on the table. She wasn¡¯t a Blade, but instead the spire head of Pellus, Laurum Shan. Sapphire teardrops stained her cheeks, reflecting the same colour as her eyes. ¡°Crest, dear, could you give us an honest recounting of what happened, and perhaps more importantly, why it happened?¡± Crest looked uncomfortable as every gaze in the room turned to him. He shuffled in place, not meeting their eyes. ¡°It¡¯s... um, you know...¡± ¡°We don¡¯t.¡± Mouric said. ¡°But thanks for the free point, I appreciate it.¡± ¡°I put too much power into the skill.¡± Crest said, nodding to himself as if that explained anything. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°The leeches from the capitol are going to think we can magically bestow levels.¡± Sabline said with a huff. A purple bird, some kind of summoned sparrow, impacted one of the talls windows flanking the left hand side of the room. A whisper of distorted words washed across the meeting table as the creature dissipated into essence. ¡°Oh look, there¡¯s another message. Not sure how it slipped past the defences though.¡± ¡°Most people aren¡¯t in the position where they can do that.¡± Sieg said. ¡°The Academy is all luxury and convenience, but most places aren¡¯t like this.¡± ¡°And who¡¯s fault is that?¡± ¡°I... I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not asking because I think there''s a culprit.¡± Leif said with a sigh. ¡°I just wish things were... better.¡± ¡°Can you make it into a fish?¡± Roy asked, raising his half melted ice dog up to Sieg. The man smiled, and did just that. === Night had fallen, and Hera still hadn¡¯t come home. Both Marcus and Sieg had returned to their apartment an hour ago, trying to beat the fog that swept over the island. From within the greenhouse, the swirling mist was ethereal and otherworldly, it flowed in tandem with the ocean breeze, rolling up against the glass to create phantom shapes. There was nothing magical about the mist, as far as Leif could tell it was simply a natural phenomena. He focused his awareness on the plant life around him, sensing as they seemed to reach towards him, the ferns unrolling and branches bending. The air was warm, and streams of condensate slid down the outside of the greenhouse as the mist brushed up against it. There was a small pot of half budded flowers that Melissa had been trying, and failing to raise. Leif focused on that, brushing up against the juvenile plants with his aura, sensing as the vitality within them stirred. The quiet sound of a door clicking closed behind him returned Leif to the present, his perception and aura unspooling outwards. The figure was familiar, and she froze in place as his presence gently washed over her. ¡°Can I help you, Lucia?¡± He asked, not turning from his seated position. ¡°How did you notice me?¡± ¡°The door made a small noise, but I would have noticed if you had gotten any closer.¡± She clicked her tongue. ¡°Why are you out here?¡± ¡°I enjoy it. Why are you out here?¡± ¡°I... I was looking for you.¡± He turned his masked head to look at her from over his shoulder. ¡°Are you ready to talk?¡± She nodded, clenching her fists. Then she took a deep breath, and tried to relax. ¡°I have questions as well.¡± He nodded slowly. ¡°I will answer what I can.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t lie to me?¡± ¡°If I can¡¯t answer a question honestly, I will tell you.¡± ¡°Where... Where is Blade Hera?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, probably dealing with one thing or another.¡± ¡°Okay. I... I trust you more than her anyway.¡± ¡°Happy to hear it.¡± He said, trying to keep any trace amusement out of his voice. Lucia flopped down onto the stone path, tugging at a small patch of grass poking up between two polished tiles. ¡°Sorry... For punching you, I mean.¡± ¡°I forgive you, it didn¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°It hurt me.¡± She mumbled. ¡°That¡¯s because you hit a layer of hardened wood.¡± Chapter 163: The Fall Chapter 163: The Fall The cries of an infant leaked through the heavy set door and out into the dark, candle lit hallway. There were voices within the maternity ward, Lucia could make out proud and confident tones of her father, the weary congratulations of the nurses, and the exhausted, but overjoyed laughter of her step mother. She shifted on the stone bench, kicking her feet and staring blankly at the stone wall opposite her. She wasn¡¯t old enough to really understand the significance of being a sister, an older sister, but a part of her felt despair. With the birth of her sibling, she would never inherit the castle, the city, nor the country. If she had become queen it would have been an almost unfathomable amount of time in the future, but she had been taught to expect it, to want it, and now it would never be hers. She didn¡¯t know what to think about that. Lucia didn¡¯t know if the baby was a boy or a girl, but it didn¡¯t matter. She was now the second most important of her father¡¯s children. Lucia didn¡¯t remember her birth mother, but she loved her father, the prince of Pherin, and she loved the woman he had come to marry. She loved them, loved them all, but she still doubted, and that doubt still hurt. Would they forget her? Would she be pushed aside? Ignored? Discarded? Did she even matter any more? The door creaked open, bathing the hallway in a golden, warm light. The cries of the newly born child doubled in volume and she glanced up. A man stepped out, his silhouette outlined in amber light. He held a howling bundle of cloth in his arms. The man turned and spotted her sitting alone on the bench. Her fathers icy blue eyes met her own orange gaze, then he grinned. It was in that smile that Lucia knew everything would be alright. ¡°Hey, Lu. Look, it''s your little brother.¡± Erdwin Pheris said, a hand resting on the back of his son''s head. ¡°He¡¯s loud.¡± Lucia commented, staring in fascination at the baby. Her father laughed, and the sound was full of love and free of worry. ¡°You were just as loud, if not more so!¡± Fears forgotten, she hopped off the bench and ran up to her father, leaning forward to examine the surprisingly red baby. Were all newborns so... shrivelled looking? A nurse poked her head out the open door, looking concerned, but the woman wasn¡¯t willing to order her father around. The infant, her little brother, had a tiny tuft of blond hair, and while his eyes were closed she already knew they were brown, like his mother. ¡°What... What''s his name?¡± She asked. Erdwin suddenly looked panicked and nervously glanced over his shoulder, noticing the disapproving looking nurse lurking in the doorway. He cleared his throat, then motioned with his head for them to go back inside. ¡°I... I¡¯ll be honest Lu, I kind of expected another daughter...¡± The nurse took the still screaming baby, then returned him to his mother. Gabriele Pheris looked exhausted, Lucia had seen her in better condition after she and her father had come home from a week long hunt in the northern foothills. Was having a baby really so much harder than battling fully grown drakes? Gabriele shared a knowing look with her husband, then turned her slight smile to Lucia. ¡°I thought he¡¯d be a girl too. So did the diviners. We¡¯ll need to double check their qualifications.¡± ¡°We need a name.¡± Erdwin said, rubbing the back of his head. ¡°A name for a future king... Hmmm, this is harder than I expected.¡± Lucia¡¯s step mother chuckled softly, kissing the forehead of her unnamed son. The baby was quieting down now, it had probably tired itself out from all the wailing. ¡°What about the name you would have gone with if Lu was a boy? I always liked that one.¡± ¡°Royce.¡± Her father said, nodding decisively. ¡°Our little Roy.¡± Lucia reached out with a finger, gently placing it into Roy¡¯s palm. Her baby brother¡¯s tiny fingers wrapped around her own. She giggled, and her father knelt down with a hand on her back, and her mother brushed a lock of Lucia¡¯s dark hair out of her eyes. The moment stretched on, and Lucia knew that from then on, everything would be okay. What had she been worrying about anyway? === ¡°Father, they¡¯re coming. We must prepare!¡± Erdwin said, his palms extended as he stood before the large throne of slate grey stone. Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com She didn¡¯t know the intricacies of battle, she hadn¡¯t been taught the way of war. So she watched in horrified fascination as her country''s defenders lit up the battlements of the outer wall with a thousand different skills, each flashing a kaleidoscope of colours. The army in black moved blocks of soldiers forward, only to have them pull back as ranged skills were launched towards them. It was like a dance, and Lucia had no clue how so many people were so perfectly coordinated. In the north distant lights lit up the clouds. She desperately tried to get a better look, but it was to no avail. The battle in the sky was too far away, but she knew who was fighting. The heroes of Pherin, adventurers and soldiers who had sworn before her grandfather that they would lay down their lives to defend their home from the invaders. The distant battle ebbed, then stopped entirely. Lucia¡¯s heart raced, they must have won. In the little girl¡¯s mind there was no other outcome. A single figure flew out of the clouds, and she jumped up and down to try and make out which hero it was. As she did so, bells started tolling. She frowned, unsure why the alarm was being tolled. Weren¡¯t they safe? What could be so- A beam of dark blue light flashed out from the distant figure, and in an instant a chunk of the city¡¯s outer wall was obliterated, carved through like a knife through a cake. Lucia fell back, screaming as the city shook. Her screams were echoed by the people all throughout Pherin. She stumbled to her feet and sprinted down the stairs. She needed to find her parents. She needed to find Roy. Only together would they be safe. The world continued to shake. === The Royal family of Pherin fled through ancient tunnels as their people were butchered. === Lucia¡¯s recollection of their flight through the countryside was a blur of fear, aches, and desperation. As they travelled south, they encountered other groups of fleeing refugees. One night she and her brother huddled inside a tent as violence broke out within the makeshift camp they had joined up with. Gabriele hugged both her children tightly, whispering soothing words into their ears as she tried to distract them from the screams and the clashing of weapons. They were led away in the morning, both children instructed not to open their eyes. After that, they weren¡¯t lacking for supplies. They spent a month in a coastal city she didn¡¯t remember the name of. She saw her family meet with all manner of officials and representatives, and she couldn¡¯t help but notice how her grandfather¡¯s attitude shifted when people from the empire offered them a way out. She didn¡¯t mention it, instead Lucia kept her head down and took care of her brother. Her parents weren¡¯t around often anymore, both of them were too busy trying to keep the situation under control. This only became worse once they arrived in the imperial capital of Mekrylis. Weeks would go by without her seeing anyone from her family in the grand estate they now dwelled. They lived in luxury, but something was wrong. Her grandfather found the largest room in the estate and turned it into a throne room. He was angrier now, they all were. Even her father was more distant, and her step mother less friendly. She missed them. The real them. But at least she had Roy. Years passed, and the people her grandfather invited to the estate grew less and less reputable. Their smiles and mannerisms were less sincere, and their intentions were never honest or straightforward. One night a great celebration was held, and Lucia and Roy were told that they would be able to go home. Her grandfather led a toast to the reclamation of their homeland. She was relieved, things were finally going up, things would finally go back to normal. The celebration continued well beyond that first night. For days it continued, then weeks, then months. Her relatives made promises and purchases they would never have before, all under the assumption that their kingdom would be theirs once again. Lucia believed them. She believed that the expedition would be successful. That the risks they had taken and the expenses they had paid would be worth it. How could they possibly fail? The Academy had assigned their newest Blade to the expedition, not to mention a former imperial commander, and hero from the Enslaver war. Perhaps things would turn out for the best? Opportunity often followed disaster they had said. When house Pheris rebuilt their home, it would be better than ever. She had believed until her father came into her and Roy¡¯s room one night and wept. His once strong arms shook as he held his children to his chest. He mumbled sobbing apologies into her shoulder, and she didn¡¯t know what to do. In the dark of early morning they snuck out, Erdwin and Gabriele guiding them to a boat, promising to come find them soon. She gripped the side of the ship as they sailed away, Roy waving to their parents as they grew more and more distant. Only she noticed the trail of smoke rising in the direction of their borrowed home. And only she saw as armed men ran onto the dock. She didn¡¯t see what happened next, she hadn¡¯t been brave enough. And just like that, Lucia and Roy were alone. Chapter 164: Directions Chapter 164: Directions Under the misty veil of the greenhouse Lucia talked, and Leif listened. She told him of her life before the fall of Pherin, what it was like watching her little brother slowly grow up alongside her. Lucia had to stop at several points in her story, and Leif only interrupted to ask guiding questions when she stalled. Leif could sense the emotions bubbling up within her, but he also sensed the burden that she carried slowly lift off her shoulders. And while there was progress, it all came crashing down again once she started recalling the year she and Roy had spent alone in the streets of Kartinth. Sharp, agonising pain leaked from her every word as she told him of their first night sleeping in a dark alley. Of the injustices and indignities they had suffered. How a sympathetic lesser noble had agreed to take them in, only for them to be back out on the streets in only a handful of days. Tears built in Lucia¡¯s eyes as she told Leif how she had slowly pieced together what had happened to her family, using what little coin and resources that she had access to gather information from a city, and a sea away. She recounted how Roy had gradually gotten more and more sick, and how they had needed to run from those hunting them on multiple occasions. Eventually she and her brother were no different, and no better from every other street rat, and as they blended into the filth of the city the pursuit had ceased. As Roy¡¯s condition worsened Lucia dedicated herself to keeping her brother alive. She worked and scavenged and desperately grabbed every opportunity that came her way. Leif was more than impressed, though from the way Lucia was telling the story she seemed to believe she had failed somehow. If anything it was the opposite. She had sidestepped traps and avoided lures, at no point had she fallen down the path others in her situation had stumbled down. She admitted to stealing, to lying and deceiving, and she even admitted to taking the lives of three people, each on separate occasions, and each under different circumstances. Lucia lowered her head as if waiting to be judged, condemned for doing whatever she could to survive. She was confessing to the wrong tree. Finally Lucia told him how she and Roy had snuck onto the boat in which he had eventually found them. They had used an old, partially boarded up smugglers route from the slums to the docks, and had then swam under the piers, clinging to the barnacle and algae covered support pillars until they had found the opportunity to sneak aboard. Silence hung between them for several moments, until Leif reached out and placed a golden hand onto her head. Lucia flinched slightly at the contact, but she didn¡¯t pull away. ¡°You did good.¡± Leif said, ruffling her dark hair. ¡°Better than anyone could have expected.¡± ¡°I did terrible things.¡± She whispered. He nodded. ¡°True, but you did them in order to survive, and in order to protect. As long as you recognise that, as long as you dedicate yourself to doing better going forward, you should be proud, not ashamed.¡± Lucia wet her lips, her lower jaw trembling. Tears built up in her orange eyes, but she hurriedly wiped them away. She nodded stiffly, holding eye contact for several seconds before looking away. ¡°Do you have a class?¡± Leif asked, letting his conjured arm dissipate into golden motes of light. She paused, then nodded again. ¡°Do you mind if you tell me which one?¡± ¡°[Rogue].¡± Lucia swallowed. ¡°But I¡¯m only level one.¡± ¡°I see. I suppose it makes sense. You must have gained enough experience for a level in the class. If you had been a little older, you probably would have earned several levels. It¡¯s interesting how the system restricts experience gain for children, though not overly relevant to our current conversation.¡± ¡°Am I a bad person?¡± She asked quietly. ¡°Do I have a class only bad people have?¡± Leif huffed in amusement. ¡°I know several [Rogue]s, and they¡¯re all fine people. One of them lives on this very island, I can introduce you to him if you want.¡± ¡°I... I thought I would only be able to get levels by doing crime.¡± She admitted sheepishly. ¡°It¡¯s a martial class. You¡¯ll get levels by fighting, training and pushing yourself just like everyone else. It¡¯s just that the fighting style you¡¯ll benefit the most from will be elusive and quick. I¡¯m fairly certain most scholars agree that classes and skills are just tools. It¡¯s up to the individual how to use them.¡± Leif said. ¡°At least that¡¯s what the authors of the books I¡¯ve been reading all seemed to think. I tend to agree.¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± ¡°Your class isn¡¯t something like ¡®thief¡¯ or ¡®murderer¡¯. Firstly, those don¡¯t exist. And secondly, there¡¯s nothing criminal about using light weapons and being stealthy.¡± Lucia looked deep in thought, then she sighed. ¡°I wanted to be a swordsman like my father.¡± ¡°You¡¯d be a swordswoman in that case.¡± Leif pointed out, then he continued before she could interject. ¡°And who says you can¡¯t use a sword as a [Rogue]? You don¡¯t need to use a two handed greatsword, there are plenty of options.¡± They lapsed into silence again, and Leif could tell that Lucia was working up the courage to ask him something. Inquisitive intent built up, then popped before she could gather it fully into action. ¡°If you want to ask something, just ask. I already told you I would be honest.¡± ¡°What... What happened to my home? During the expedition, I mean.¡± Leif drummed his fingers against a nearby flower pot¡¯s rim. ¡°Being completely honest, I didn¡¯t join with the expedition until after I had left Pherin. I was an auxiliary member, hired on as a healer.¡± Lucia frowned. ¡°What were you doing in Pherin? Before you joined the expedition?¡± ¡°I was lost.¡± Leif said. Lucia rolled her eyes. ¡°I thought you said you were being honest?¡± ¡°I was honestly lost.¡± ¡°Possibly. But I won''t.¡± ¡°You... won¡¯t?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t. You will. I¡¯m willing to help, but I have other things that require my attention.¡± Leif said. ¡°How? How can I? How is it even possible for me to do that?¡± Lucia cried, she looked more confused than upset. ¡°You have a class. Now you need to get stronger.¡± She clenched her fists, meeting his gaze, but not holding it. ¡°How?¡± ¡°We¡¯re at the Academy, aren''t we? I¡¯ve seen first year students who are only a year or two older than you are.¡± Leif said, then he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. ¡°Half of Lutum is an evolved beast reserve. All the experience you could want for the first dozen or so levels are in there.¡± Lucia shuffled from foot to foot, her uncertainty slowly shifting into determination. ¡°Can I really do it? Can I really get that strong?¡± ¡°You¡¯re living in the home of a woman who did just that. If it wasn¡¯t for the arrival of an extremely powerful monster, Hera could have retaken Pherin by herself. It would have taken a long time though, she isn¡¯t that powerful. Not yet, at least.¡± Leif said. A fire lit behind Lucia¡¯s eyes as she stood up straight. ¡°What do I need to do?¡± ¡°Hmmm.¡± Leif said, standing. ¡°Do you still have the sandals I made for you?¡± ¡°Uh, yes.¡± She said, glancing down briefly. ¡°They¡¯re upstairs though.¡± ¡°Go get them.¡± ¡°I have proper shoes now.¡± ¡°I know, Melissa told me.¡± ¡°Then why...?¡± ¡°Just go get them.¡± He chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ll level up quicker, trust me.¡± Lucia nodded, then ran off back into the house. Leif watched her go, then shook his head. He hadn¡¯t been in Far-Reach for several months now, but he suspected the settlement was growing. Back during his stay in Ahle-ho, he had heard several people discussing trying to resettle past the imperial cordon now that the undead dungeon was gone. The empire had no interest in the venture, but they wouldn¡¯t stop desperate people from trying their luck. If the war brewing between the empire and republic kicked off, then it was more than likely Ahle-ho would get dragged into the conflict, if not become a focal point in the war. If the worst came to pass, the refugees crowding the city would flee elsewhere. They would attempt to escape to the east, but also the north. They would inevitably discover Far-Reach, and the opportunities his domain tree provided would be hard to ignore. Leif had discussed the possibility of refugees arriving with the clan elders before he had left, and the general consensus was to try and accept them, assuming violence wasn¡¯t a more likely outcome. He wasn¡¯t afraid for the demikin or his animals. Ram was there, and while the awakened beast was far from a competent conversationalist, his presence was about as good as protection came. The door to the greenhouse swung open, and Lucia ran up to him, the makeshift wooden sandals he had crafted for her pinched between her fingers. ¡°I have them.¡± She said, presenting them awkwardly as if for inspection. Leif held out a hand and used [Wood Manipulation] to pull them from her grasp. With a brief effort of will the wood of both objects warped and seemed to melt, then he reshaped them into two short, partially curved daggers. He adjusted their shape and balance, condensing and stretching the wood, then shaping the blade, sharpening it, then he reinforced the weapons structure with an infusion of vitality. Finally he smoothed out the grip and flared out the hand guard and the base of the pommel slightly to offer a little more ease of use. Then he flipped then, catching both weapons in his hands, then presenting them to Lucia hilt first. Lucia stared at the weapons in shocked awe. She hesitated in taking them, only doing so when he motioned with a nod of his head. ¡°T-thank you.¡± She said, holding the daggers with a look of what could be reverence in her bright orange eyes. ¡°Start with these, and if I find wood light and durable enough I¡¯ll try to make a sword. Think of these as training weapons. Yes, they are sharp, but they¡¯ll blunt quickly, so you¡¯ll need to bring them to me when they do.¡± Lucia nodded excitedly. ¡°What''s first?¡± Leif placed a hand on his chin, though the painted mask covered his lower face completely. It was fairly late at night, and he likely wasn¡¯t the most suited to teach her the intricacies of weapon use. Well, he wasn¡¯t bad at swordsmanship, but that was mostly due to instincts from his past life. Leif would hardly consider himself any better than competent. ¡°Hmm. I suppose the first step is obvious. You practise until you reach level two. You¡¯re a [Rogue], so a mix of weapons training, stealth and general exercise should do it. The first levels should come pretty quickly.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯m ready.¡± Lucia said, practically bouncing up and down. Leif considered if this really was for the best, then he shrugged internally. It wasn¡¯t like he needed to sleep anyway. Chapter 165: Sneaking for Dummies Chapter 165: Sneaking for Dummies Two daggers of sharpened wood cut through the air, their shape was partially shadowed, just like their wielder. Motes of golden lift drifted lazily through the greenhouse, each softly illuminating their surroundings, casting soft, slowly moving shadows throughout the large enclosed space. Leif brought up an arm to block, a short blade of amber having emerged from his closed fist. It was the simplest construct [Gold Iron Physique] could create, and it was how Leif had first used the skill back when it had just been [Gilded Body], a year and thirty levels ago. Lucia¡¯s wooden daggers met his conjured blade, chipping away two small grooves that were quickly healed over. Leif countered at a quarter speed, cutting for Lucia¡¯s leg as she backpedalled. He pursued for five seconds, gradually increasing the speed and power of his probing attacks. Then he took a step and vanished, reappearing somewhere out of sight. The scion pulled back his aura and retracted his senses, he dismissed his amber blade and began to casually stroll through the garden. The game was simple, Lucia would practise her stealth as she snuck around trying to locate him, keeping to the shadows [Amber Aegis] produced after Leif had used to skill on several of the tallest plants in the greenhouse. She would attack, assuming she could get close enough undetected. Leif would counter, then he would teleport away and things would start over. He stopped, pretending to examine a flowering bush with bright blue petals. A minute passed and Lucia didn¡¯t attack, so he casually walked off down a random path. He was fairly confident she was behind a wall covered in vines, but without extending his aura to check, he couldn¡¯t be sure. He stopped just before passing the ambush sight, pivoting to take a different direction. Something rustled softly behind him, and Leif mentally added to his ¡®alertness tally¡¯. Leif quickly turned around, pushing vitality into his fingertip until it started glowing gold. He waited ten breaths, then, seeing and hearing nothing, he continued his wandering. The sound of a foot scuffing against a paving stone came from behind him and Leif froze, dramatically waiting a second before whirling around. In that time Lucia had dove in between two elevated garden beds. He knew she was there, but only because she had barely brushed up against the very edge of his aura. A few months ago he wouldn¡¯t have noticed with his perception restrained as it was, but the aura training he had undergone had left his more esoteric senses sharp and well honed. Not that this was a realistic scenario in the first place, but the comparison was interesting. Leif pretended to be more blind than he actually was as he stomped around, searching for Lucia. He decided to only ¡®discover¡¯ her if she actually made another sound, which to her credit she didn¡¯t do. He did another lap of the greenhouse, occasionally freezing and turning around in accordance with his fake level of alertness. The greenhouse was an impressively sized structure, and a full lap around the perimeter took him just under three minutes. Right as he was reaching where he had started Lucia burst out from between two larger fern trees. She dashed towards him, daggers poised to strike. To her credit, Leif hadn¡¯t expected her to come from that direction. She must have quietly run around to get in position, and her plan had worked. Lucia rushed into his guard and stabbed towards his chest. Just before the attack made contact with his body a shimmering golden barrier flickered into place, but he would count that as a success. ¡°Good.¡± Leif said, back pedalling while blocking and defending. Lucia tried to dart forward again to score another hit but he didn¡¯t let her. Daggers were at a distinct disadvantage in melee combat due to their shorter reach, their main advantage was their light weight and significant penetration power when catching an opponent off guard. In a straight up fight they were less useful. Leif saw the realisation flicker to life within Lucia¡¯s eyes as the girl quickly hopped back, then she threw her weapons. One dagger went low, against an ordinary opponent it might wound the target¡¯s leg, reducing their mobility or potentially ending the fight outright if the attack pierced an artery. However, that was only if the dagger¡¯s aim was true, which Lucia¡¯s throw was not. It missed by a foot, and the second, higher aimed throw missed by even more. ¡°Shit!¡± Lucia cursed as she threw herself back and to the ground. The motion allowed her to evade Leif¡¯s first strike, and a desperate roll to the side allowed her to dodge the second. She tried to get to her feet but a golden blade pinned the hem of her shirt to the ground, and she aborted the attempt before the fabric tore. ¡°Decent attempt, though maybe don¡¯t throw away your weapons. At least not without practising your aim first.¡± Leif said, letting the amber ¡®limb¡¯ he was holding her down with dissipate. Lucia glared up at him, her breath heavy and brow beading with sweat. She blinked, then winced and tried to stand. ¡°We go again.¡± She said, brushing dirt off her back and legs. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah. I still have more in me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite late, you know.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve done nothing but stay in my room for days. I can keep going.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Leif said, shrugging. He reached behind him mentally and pulled the wooden daggers over from where they had landed. They each hovered over one shoulder. Lucia extended a hand out to grab one, but it bobbed out of her reach. ¡°That¡¯s cheating.¡± She scowled. ¡°What''s to stop you from pulling my attacks off target anyway?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Leif said, willing the other dagger to rise out of reach as Lucia tried to snatch it out of the air. ¡°Feels unfair. I should get metal weapons instead. Hey! Give them back!¡± She was jumping to try and grab the daggers, diving forward when they dipped down within her reach. ¡°Metal weapons wouldn¡¯t help you win against me.¡± Leif said. ¡°They might help. It isn¡¯t fair you can just hover them around!¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. After a few moments of concentration Lucia¡¯s expression shifted from excited, to thoughtful. ¡°Um, I think the first one will let me... feel, I guess, when people are nearby. I think. No, wait. It¡¯s when they are looking at me. That¡¯s pretty helpful if I want to avoid detection, right.¡± ¡°It would help.¡± Leif said, nodding. ¡°Don¡¯t pick that one.¡± ¡°Huh? Why not?¡± ¡°I have a friend from Ahle-ho, an adventurer from one of the prime guilds that operate in the city. He has that skill, or an evolved version of it. But it¡¯s ultimately more hindrance than help. It¡¯s a... crutch. Once you get an aura you can develop a similar sense, but without the constant reminder all day every day that you are visible to other people.¡± Lucia sniffed, but her attention had clearly shifted to the second option. ¡°[Light footwork will make me... lighter, I guess. More quiet?.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably a stealth and combat comprehension skill.¡± ¡°Comprehension?¡± ¡°It means you can upgrade the skill the more you practise and gain experience with using it.¡± Leif explained. ¡°Can¡¯t I learn to be sneaky without a skill?¡± ¡°You can. Anyone can, you don¡¯t need a class for that either. But comprehension skills also grant a bonus to the actions they affect. It starts off fairly minor, but it can become a significant increase the higher the skill¡¯s rank becomes.¡± Leif said. Lucia frowned, shifting into a seated position as she considered. ¡°You really don¡¯t want me to pick the first one?¡± ¡°I would strongly advise against it.¡± ¡°And that''s not because you think it would help me beat you?¡± ¡°I doubt it would work on me at all, actually, not with how strong my aura is.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just saying that to show off.¡± Lucia said as she hugged her knees, her frown deepening. Then her gaze went unfocused. Leif waited several minutes as he silently watched Lucia read words only she could see. She only spoke up to confirm that the skill indeed had a comprehension aspect, which confirmed which one she had picked. Eventually she stood and started tentatively walking around. She stepped down onto one of the wide flat stones used for the pathways, experimentally testing different ways to place her feet. She hopped from stone to stone, gradually picking up speed as her confidence grew. Her thoughtful expression slowly shifted into a smirk, which in turn became a grin. Lucia¡¯s smile only grew when she started sneaking around on the patches of grass and dirt. Before she would have made small noises as she scuffed loose earth or crunched grass underfoot. Lucia finally seemed to remember Leif was there and turned, pointing at him with a triumphant look on her face. ¡°We need to go again. Another round of training, I¡¯m sure I can-¡± Her words were cut off as she yawned loudly. If Leif could have raised an eyebrow he would have. Instead he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. Lucia flushed, covering her mouth with an arm. She blustered for a few seconds, then yawned again. ¡°Okay, fine. But we do this again in the morning.¡± ¡°It¡¯s already morning.¡± Leif pointed out. It was true, though darkness still shrouded the Academy and the mist would still hang heavily over the island for a few more hours. ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll spar when I wake up!¡± ¡°As much as I admire your enthusiasm, I probably won¡¯t be around when you get up. I do have things to do other than babysit you.¡± He said, letting his aura once again unspool as he walked towards the exit. Lucia followed, and if it wasn¡¯t for her quiet grumbling, he wouldn¡¯t have heard her at all. Chapter 166: Local Expedition Chapter 166: Local Expedition As Leif exited the greenhouse and entered the living room he spotted Hera lying on a couch, her long blond hair cascading over the back of the expensive furniture as she leaned with her face tilted upwards, a wet cloth covering her eyes. ¡°Long night?¡± He asked, holding the door as Lucia scooted into the residence after him. Hera¡¯s response was a mix between a grunt of affirmation, and a groan of agony. She shifted in place, the cloth slightly falling off of her face as she turned slightly towards them. ¡°Someone important thought the little incident at the arena was a terrorist attack and started calling in military favours. A former provincial governor and his old war pals thought it would be a good idea to try and instate martial law, which they had absolutely no authority to do, and a group of particularly devout, but not particularly bright people broke into a student laboratory and started retrofitting it into an apocalypse shelter.¡± ¡°Sounds fun.¡± Leif said flatly. ¡°I spent four hours having a standoff with an elite squad of imperial soldiers over the sea with Kastro and Mouric. If they had tried to force their way onto the islands there may have been a tinsy winsy, ever so small civil war. Luckily they didn¡¯t.¡± Hera said, her one revealed eye swivelling to look at Lucia. The girl was standing awkwardly off to the side, hovering between trying not to be noticed, and clearly wanting to say something. She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. ¡°Good to, uh, see you, miss Hera. Sorry for my, um, the way...¡± The Blade waved her words away. ¡°None of that. Just happy you¡¯re finally up and about. I trust beating Leif with sticks made you feel better?¡± Lucia considered the question, then just nodded. ¡°She barely landed a single hit.¡± Leif grumbled, though his tone made it clear he was joking. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it a beating.¡± ¡°I would have gotten you if I had proper weapons.¡± Lucia huffed. Then she yawned again and side-eyed the stairs. ¡°Goodnight, Lucia.¡± Leif said, indicating that she didn¡¯t need to stay. The girl smiled gratefully, bobbed her head in the approximation of a bow, then quietly scurried upstairs. ¡°I take it she has a class then?¡± Hera asked after a minute of silence. Leif sat on the couch opposite to her, crossing one leg over the other and resting his arms over the back. ¡°She does. [Rogue]. Got a level up too. She just picked her first skill.¡± ¡°Ah, the good old days.¡± Hera mused, returning the cloth to cover both eyes. ¡°I kind of miss it, you know. Only having a handful of skills, all my attributes being below ten. Simpler times.¡± ¡°I remember being rooted to the ground.¡± Leif said. ¡°I think I prefer how things are now.¡± ¡°You never know. Tree¡¯s don¡¯t need to deal with multi hour long meetings about bullshit a bunch of high level adults should know how to deal with without acting like children.¡± ¡°Perhaps if you had a tiny amount of my innate patience the meetings would be more tolerable.¡± He countered. ¡°Are things stable now? I assume the civil war has been averted.¡± Hera just sighed. ¡°I can only hope. So long as Crest doesn¡¯t pull any more of his mystical system nonsense, things should be okay. Last year... or was it the year before? I forget. Anyway, he showed us all, the other Blades I mean and some other members of the council. A device he had created to allow someone to display their system windows for other people to see. He had a third year girl use it to show us how it worked, and the damn thing glitched everyone in the building¡¯s system to display nothing but scrambled text and symbols nobody recognised for over a week.¡± ¡°Sounds like an interesting guy with interesting talents.¡± ¡°Interesting. Not sure that''s the word I would use to describe him, but I suppose it fits.¡± ¡°I thought Blades were picked for their combat potential. Is that why he got picked, or was it something... else?¡± ¡°Officially it''s because he¡¯s over level one hundred. Unofficially it¡¯s because every other institution in the empire wanted to dissect him like a frog and see what kind of system magic he has tucked away behind his liver.¡± ¡°So he¡¯s more of a researcher then?¡± ¡°Mhmm.¡± ¡°Do you think he¡¯d find my situation interesting?¡± ¡°He would. I don¡¯t recommend approaching him though.¡± Hera warned. ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it. Not after the close call with Mouric.¡± Leif said. ¡°Actually I¡¯ve been wanting to talk to you about an excavation of Dimid I got myself involved with.¡± ¡°The... what was it? The buried temple complex they found?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡± Leif confirmed. ¡°Apparently Marcus was the one who found it.¡± ¡°Really. I did not know that. But I wasn¡¯t really paying attention. Did you get yourself put on the team?¡± ¡°I did. Anything I should know or keep in mind before I start working on the site?¡± Hera shrugged, the motion making the cloth slide off her face fully this time. She grabbed it as it fell, scrunching it up into a small ball, then she conjured a sphere of light around the cloth that then zipped off towards the kitchen. Neither returned. ¡°Keep a low profile. Your aura should be strong enough to block analysis skills from anyone who isn¡¯t a Blade. Oh, don¡¯t get near the spire head. Vevosis is a blood mage, he might be able to sense something off about you.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the chance I''ll encounter him while I¡¯m on Dimid?¡± ¡°Now that you¡¯ve asked, one hundred percent.¡± Probably a statement from the Academy about the arena incident and the aftermath. Leif mused, pausing mid step as Marcus and Sieg both came to a stop. ¡°Have either of you read that?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Marcus said, then the blond man snapped his fingers. ¡°And now I have. Lets see... hmmm. They apologise for the incident... everything is under control... putting resources into studying the phenomena so it doesn¡¯t happen again... signups for those who want to help... a political statement about solidarity I don¡¯t really care about... tests of the arena shield before the quadriad continues. That¡¯s about it.¡± ¡°You can read it just like that?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Yup. Pretty neat, right? I can do the same with books, but the more text the harder it is to get a firm grasp of the contents. I need a direct line of sight though.¡± ¡°I see.¡± He said as they walked past. ¡°Sieg, one of the kids I found that are staying with Hera has the [Rogue] class. Could you speak to Linus for me and see if he¡¯d be interested in giving her some tips?¡± ¡°You want Linus to help?¡± The northerner asked, looking baffled. ¡°He can¡¯t be that bad, he¡¯s on your team.¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s a competent fighter. I don¡¯t doubt his abilities, only his character.¡± ¡°He¡¯s only a pain when Adriana is around. Those two somehow bring out both the best, and worst in one another.¡± Marcus said with a shrug. ¡°Are the kids doing okay? How is Roy?¡± ¡°They¡¯re doing fine. Lucia, his sister, crawled out of her room last night for the first time since we arrived. They¡¯re both troubled though. The way Roy reacts around food or Lucia acts when she doesn¡¯t have an eye on every entrance is worrying.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll get better, as long as they have good people around to help.¡± Marcus said. ¡°Right. You can come around later and I¡¯ll introduce the older sibling to you. Might do her good to meet some new people while she¡¯s in a safe space.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ll have time over the next few days, but I¡¯ll talk to Linus about your request.¡± Sieg said, coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the towering building housing the portal hub. ¡°Sounds good. Best of luck with training.¡± ¡°See you tonight, Sieg.¡± Marcus waved, then he turned to face Leif. ¡°Well then. Shall we go find out why one of my skills sniffed out something connected to you on Dimid?¡± ¡°As long as it isn¡¯t some buried calamity, then yes.¡± ¡°Ha! What¡¯s the worst that could happen?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that.¡± === Marcus insisted he knew the way to the granite training fields, but when his ¡®shortcut¡¯ led them into a dead-end path between two massive, partially hollow boulders Leif used a divination skill of his own: Asking someone for directions. Twenty minutes later they arrived, around forty students, most of which wearing the Dimid crest on their uniform, milled around in small groups. Their quiet chatter ended when professor Goodwil, flanked by four other members of the islands faculty exited a nearby building. The elderly woman began to bark instructions at a rapid fire pace, splitting the students into teams and shouting a list of do¡¯s and don''ts. Do stick together, don¡¯t explore unmarked passages, do keep a record of your team''s exploits, don¡¯t use any skills that haven''t been approved by her or the other teachers unless it''s an emergency. During Goodwil¡¯s speech another professor, some sort of [Attuned: Light] or [Illusionist] class holder, projected a topographic map of the region over everyone¡¯s head. The map showed the route they would travel through the rocky region of the island, mountains, cliffs and ravines were only a handful of the obstacles they would need to skirt around on their way to their destination. ¡°You went out this way after you scryed something?¡± Leif sent telepathically to Marcus. ¡°Yup. Almost fell in a hole.¡± He whispered. A few minutes later Goodwil stomped over to their location, a spindly looking man skittering close behind her. ¡°Marcus and Mr Vin. Good to see you. This is professor Nern, he¡¯s a [Geomancer] and an archaeologist by trade. I¡¯m putting you under his expert care since your abilities lie somewhat outside of the general skill sets for the other teams. ¡°A pleasure to meet you.¡± Leif said with a bob of his head, Marcus mimicking the motion a moment later. ¡°Mmmm, yes.¡± Nern said. ¡°I read your file, Marcus. Two commendations and three recorded expeditions. Not a terrible commitment for a third year if I do say so myself.¡± The man¡¯s voice was stilted, his cadence irregular, though his accent was refined. ¡°Thanks?¡± Marcus asked. ¡°And you, Mr Vin. Or is it lord? You didn¡¯t have a file, so I went ahead and created one for you while doing my own research. Varan nobility, a distant nation, but still a title worthy of some respect, even here in the heart of the empire. Congratulations on the advances your house has made over the past few years.¡± ¡°Uh, sure.¡± Leif said, honestly baffled. ¡°That¡¯s... good?¡± ¡°Mmmm, yes.¡± Nern said, moving a hand to his face as if to adjust glasses he didn¡¯t have. Marcus adjusted his own as if by reflex. ¡°Shall we depart? We are wasting sunlight just standing around.¡± ¡°A fine point, Nern.¡± Goodwil said, clapping her hands and gathering everyone¡¯s attention once again."Everyone! We''re departing in one minute, grab your things and gather around your team leaders!" Chapter 167: Pile of Rocks Chapter 167: Pile of Rocks After a handful of late arrivals trickled into the muster point and were loudly scolded by professor Goodwil and summarily shunted into different teams, the excavation expedition departed. One of the faculty who was accompanying them activated a skill that occasionally rippled invisibly across the teams, pulling their attention towards their destination and relaying information about the upcoming terrain. It was a somewhat disconcerting experience the first few times it happened, the sensation of foreign information trickling into his awareness being quite unusual. The source of the skill was a highly promoted [Guide], the class being one that excelled in, well, guiding others. The non combat class was popular among those who became teachers or leaders, with it granting skills that made it easier to keep track of others and more effectively communicate between groups. Once they were away from the Dimid campus, the expedition crossed over an invisible line, not dissimilar to the one that divided the Academy portion of Lutum from the beast reserve. ¡°Do hostile creatures live on this island?¡± Leif asked aloud, directing the question at Marcus, though it was the nearby Professor Nern who answered. ¡°Not quite. The wards on Dimid are more for detection than protection. There are cavern systems and expansive ruins littering the island, and any number of creatures may be lurking within.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Leif said. ¡°Mmmm. We don¡¯t need the same type of wards like those on Lutum with its beast filled forests or Braslim and its elemental sanctuaries. Make no mistake, we take the safety of our students extremely seriously. The largest hotspots of danger on this island have more intricate wards placed around them.¡± ¡°Is the place we¡¯re going one of those hotspots?¡± ¡°No, but it is largely unexplored. There are several combat teams for a reason, though I suspect engagements will be minimal.¡± ¡°It¡¯s perfectly safe.¡± Marcus said with a smile. ¡°Hardly.¡± Nern sniffed. ¡°Though any potentially hostile entities are unlikely to assault a group as large as ours.¡± ¡°So it would be dangerous if someone came out here alone?¡± Leif asked, glancing at Marcus. The sandy haired man started whistling while Nern began lecturing about the different species of wildlife found on the island, and what type of rocky environment they preferred. Leif and Marcus passively absorbed a textbook''s worth of information about the differences between granite and limestone over the next hour. As they snaked through ravines and shallow canyons they were only stopped twice, though as Leif was towards the rear of the group he only received a projected message to halt, not the reason for why. As far as he was aware they weren¡¯t attacked, though perhaps some of the outlying groups may have scared off the occasional beast sniffing around. Ancient structures were built into the rock, or had partially sunk down into the ground. Great pillared entrances lead into collapsed rooms and the remains of buildings littered the canyons. The architecture reminded Leif of the older structures found around the Academy, though even his senses were gradually becoming overwhelmed by the poignant feeling of lost history that hung over every forgotten pathway or ruined home. Without realising it Leif began to voice the feelings and impressions he was gaining from their surroundings, and Nern quickly stopped waffling about how sedimentary rock formed into layers through stratification over time. Leif pushed out his aura and perception, for the first time truly using the underutilised aspected of [Sympathy from Experience] and [Meditations on Eternity]. His senses brushed against something intangible, though whatever it was it became more and more prominent the closer to their destination the expedition drew. Leif lapsed into silence, partially because he didn¡¯t want to voice how oddly familiar the impressions he was gathering were, and partially to just quietly absorb everything he could. Leif shot a look at Marcus, but the man was walking with his eyes closed, his hands in his pockets as he casually strolled along as if following an invisible path. ¡°I know why your divination skill led you here. I can feel it.¡± Leif sent. The [Seeker] peeked open an eye and smiled knowingly. Up ahead a halt was called, and a minute later the expedition was gathered around a wide section of canyon, rocky walls towering overhead, their peaks sharp, and the shadows they cast were long and cool. A sea breeze blew through a western passage, and the remains of ancient structures littered the place as if something massive had picked them up and discarded them with contemptuous ease. Parts of the structures seemed to have been made of a darker material, and in other places seemed to have odd grooves carved into their surfaces, some longer and wider than Leif¡¯s arm. When the initial exploration teams returned, reporting a blockage of petrified roots preventing their progress deeper into the ruins, Leif volunteered himself to assist in clearing them away. The rubble-strewn passageway was a little wider than the average human, though advancing into the structure often required ducking, or even crawling to fit through the tighter spaces. There was only so much that could be done to adjust the passageways without risking a total collapse. At the bottom of a half caved in staircase was the reported blockage, and Leif went down alone while veins of orange light snaked through the stone above his head to provide light. [Wood Manipulation] seemed to slip off of the ancient wood, the once living substance having mineralised, becoming more akin to rock than what it had once been. But there was a solution. After a few minutes of experimentation he discovered that an injection of amber vitality made his skill function normally, though the roots were incapable of holding life-force for more than a handful of seconds. Even with [Benevolent Actions] increasing his [Willpower] Leif struggled to manipulate the shape of the roots to allow access. But he had more success than professor Nern, the [Geomancer]s [Rock Manipulation] skill finding absolutely no purchase on the petrified wood. An hour into the excavation Leif needed to let his skills recover, the ache in his soul growing too intrusive to ignore. It was a temple, that much was obvious from the very first room, though the weight and significance of the place he was sensing would have told him as much even without so many physical clues. Iconography and symbols reminded Leif of the temple he underwent his level fifty advancement trial within. For every passageway discovered that was traversable, three or so were completely caved in. The temple was huge, its massive chambers having been almost scooped out of the stone it was constructed within. Its sheer scale became more apparent as scouting teams returned with reports of additional caved in entrances. They excavated a long curved chamber with a partially buried statue and fountain lining its right side. Another room had dozens of lines of destroyed pews, though the front of the chamber had fully collapsed. Throughout them all petrified roots jutted from the walls or had seemingly burst up out of the floor. The now dead tree seemed to have been the cause of much of the destruction of the temple, if not for the other signs of conflict. They discovered their first corpse in a side chamber dedicated to what Nern suspected was a goddess of fertility, though if it was any of the gods worshipped in modern times he couldn¡¯t identify them. The body was distinctly human, with rusted armour and the remains of a shattered sword littering the ground. ¡°A temple guard?¡± Marcus asked, the man crouching down next to the skeletal remains. ¡°Mmmm, perhaps.¡± Nern said after he had directed a student to fetch a box for the bones. ¡°We¡¯ll need to get these dated. But I think, much like the rest of this place, they will predate what we know of the fall of the civilization that once lived on the archipelago.¡± ¡°What do you know of those people?¡± Leif asked, trying to sense any potential undeath energies within the body. Fortunately there didn¡¯t seem to be any. With luck, this wouldn¡¯t be a repeat of the Mythhold. ¡°We know very little.¡± Nern said, taking a careful step away from the remains. ¡°Other than that they were masters of architectural styles we are still studying, and experts of enchantment. As far as the Academy''s records suggest, they were standard humans, though certain demikin tells can be hard to detect with only a handful of remains and circumstantial evidence remaining.¡± ¡°Why would this temple have been attacked?¡± Leif said, frowning internally. ¡°Even with the different denominations and methods of worship, there is rarely conflict between the different faiths. At least not that I¡¯ve read about.¡± ¡°There are still religious conflicts.¡± Marcus murmured. ¡°Though not so much in the empire.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Nern sniffed. ¡°In less civilised places, like the republic, such things often happen.¡± ¡°In the republic, faith is usually just an excuse for war, not usually the real cause.¡± Marcus said. ¡°Or so I¡¯ve heard.¡± The sandy haired man shot Leif a look, his eyes briefly flickering to two smaller roots that snaked out of the far wall, though neither were anywhere near the corpse. Leif followed his gaze. He didn¡¯t think whatever had happened here had been due to any differences in religious ideology. Whatever, or whoever had done this, had almost certainly been targeting the tree that was likely buried somewhere down in the dark. ¡°Let''s keep going. The excavation will take weeks if we continue at this pace, maybe longer.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll stay here and collect the body.¡± Nern said, glancing out the room, only to scowl when he didn¡¯t spot the box he had ordered. Chapter 168: Academy Life Chapter 168: Academy Life ¡°There¡¯s definitely an internal reservoir of power.¡± Marcus was saying as they stepped through the portal connecting the island of Dimid to Lutum. He was looking down at a sheet of paper he had rubbed a pattern into from where a large gash in the temple''s structure had revealed aged and decayed arcane wiring. ¡°Obviously there¡¯s nothing left, no power I mean, it¡¯s empty, only residual energy is left.¡± Leif walked a step behind the human, only half paying attention to the constant deluge of information. With his [Intelligence] attribute at just under seventy, it was easier to focus on multiple things at once. For his part, Marcus was making full use of the attribute, and likely several skills. Without looking he stepped around a puddle and took a turn back towards his apartment. He was almost certainly auto piloting as he walked, following the steps of a [Seeker] skill to guide him in the right direction. Marcus flipped over to another page. ¡°Here¡¯s another rubbing of a different part of the same wall. Do you see how the channels move together, but remain separate? And it looks like this is a partially destroyed rune, though it''s hard to tell. It¡¯s interesting, without my most recent paper I don¡¯t think I would have noticed.¡± They continued walking in silence for several moments before Marcus glanced over his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to ask what I noticed.¡± He said with an exaggerated pout. ¡°Oh, sorry. I thought you meant the runes and channels.¡± Leif said, trying to squeeze interest into his tone. It was interesting, and he was interested, there were just other things on his mind. ¡°Well, yeah. But I mean the reason why they¡¯re like that. The purpose for having such complex magical infrastructure in a temple of all things.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Marcus shrugged. ¡°But it¡¯s similar to the arena or the portal hubs. All the ancient buildings with importance to the civilization that built and used them have the same type of care and attention put into their design.¡± ¡°So the temple was significant?¡±Updated chapters at novelhall.com ¡°Sure. But it¡¯s more than that. You don¡¯t need those types of enchantments and workings for something simple, like lighting. It means there¡¯s something seriously impressive, magically speaking, somewhere in the temple. There pretty much has to be.¡± That made sense. The expedition had barely scratched the surface of the buried temple complex. Some of their earth mages, including professor Nern, could partially sense through stone, and they had confirmed that at least from the rooms and chambers that had already been explored, the structure kept going. A divining of the full layout of the building had already been attempted, but of all the [Seekers] and other classes with similar scouting skills, only Marcus had any amount of success. According to Marcus, the internal structure of the temple had a thaumatic weight to it, the walls and floors seeming far denser than they actually were. Those capable of manipulating stone too were struggling. The ancient magics embedded into the temple''s foundation made simply digging through the rock both far more difficult, and far more dangerous than they otherwise should be. But these were all superficial details, background dressing to the real mystery. Just what had attacked the amber tree, and why? It was one thing to be told by the system directly that something had killed off the beings Leif was now related to, but discovering the remains of one such entity unnerved him. ¡°What are the strongest kinds of monsters?¡± He asked, making Marcus glance up from his stacks of paper. ¡°I¡¯m not really an expert on that sort of thing. I mean, I can tell you my opinions, but why do you want to know?¡± ¡°Humour me, please.¡± ¡°Okay. Well, in my, uh, where I¡¯m from there are lots of stories of sea monsters, leviathans that dwell within the depths of the oceans. They¡¯re why ship travel is so restricted, and why most people either travel over land, or by sky skimmer. I saw one when I was little, it rose out of the sea, larger than any building I had ever seen. It was dozens of kilometres away from the shore, but the waves it created by breaching the surface still destroyed ships and demolished homes.¡± Leif had read about those monsters in the Academy library, but he doubted the leviathans were the culprits he was looking for. Records suggested that they never came ashore, and whatever had attacked the temple had most certainly done just that. ¡°What else?¡± ¡°Hmm. Well I guess the Dragons are what comes to mind next. Their territories lie to the south of the empire, in the deserts and wastelands. You¡¯ve met a pseudo dragon during the expedition, but coatls are some of the smallest dragons, and some of the least deadly.¡± ¡°I fought drakes in the northern foothills.¡± Leif said. ¡°Comparing drakes to dragons is like calling a metre long river fish a leviathan. Sure, they both live in the water and are technically pretty big, but, you know, not the same thing.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Marcus licked his lips and waited for a group of first years to pass by before continuing. ¡°Dragon¡¯s are just as likely to steal from or enslave a human as they are to kill and eat us. The southern provinces suffer attacks from them fairly frequently, but the empire pays tribute annually to some of the larger flights to stop them from raiding us. It¡¯s a pretty controversial policy, some people think the empire should just give up the southern provinces, others think we should attack the dragons. Most people are more reasonable though.¡± ¡°What are the odds it was a dragon that attacked the temple?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Well, some of the rocks are burnt, and something definitely took clean slices out of some of the walls. But I feel like a dragon would have just obliterated the entire site and flown off, there¡¯s clear signs of combat inside the temple so that clearly didn¡¯t happen. I guess it could have been a dragon, assuming they wanted something inside and didn¡¯t want to destroy... Oh. Oh, I see why you¡¯re asking now. Damn, but would a dragon have, you know, wanted...?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Leif said. ¡°But we¡¯ll find out more when we actually get to the tree. If all that''s left is a burnt stump... I guess we¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°Maybe it was the undead? You already told us how your domain was basically a hard counter to weaker undead. Could the temple have been attacked and the amber tree killed so that the undead could get onto the island?¡± Marcus suggested. ¡°Unlikely. The corpse we found didn¡¯t have any trace of undeath energy on them. And death seems to stick around. Maybe not for over a thousand years though.¡± ¡°Yeah, probably not the undead then.¡± Their conversation lapsed as they drew closer to the neighbourhood of student housing that Marcus lived within. Leif agreed to meet the man outside his apartment next morning so they could return to Dimid together, then they went their separate ways. The shadows cast by the evening sun through the brightly coloured trees lining the roads seemed longer than usual, darker. ¡°Yes. And my body literally doesn¡¯t feel pain.¡± Hera snorted, then she turned her attention back to Lucia. ¡°You can do it, girl!¡± She called. And slowly, with clear effort, Lucia got back up. Only to take a single step and promptly fall forward, collapsing down onto her face. Leif had to telekinetically pull one of her daggers out of her hand to stop her from stabbing herself. Leif walked over, pulling her up by the shoulders and letting a trickle of healing energy flow into her body. ¡°I can still fight.¡± She mumbled. ¡°Maybe tomorrow.¡± He responded. ¡°Heal me. I can keep going.¡± ¡°I am healing you, and no, you can¡¯t.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t feel it working.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point.¡± Leif said, catching Lucia as she stumbled. In the end it was easier to carry her over to where Hera was waiting. ¡°Shall we head back?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Hera asked, grinning at him. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel like doing a little training?¡± Leif almost rejected her offer out of hand, but he stopped himself. Why not? He thought. I need to get my mind off the excavation anyway. ¡°Sure. Are we doing it here or is there a specific place Blades need to go to use their full powers?¡± ¡°Full powers?¡± Hera asked with a smirk. Leif sighed and looked down at himself. ¡°What are the odds this outfit gets ruined?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, how good at dodging are you?¡± Leif grunted, then lowered Lucia up against the trunk of a purple leafed tree. He took off his outer robe, folded it, then lay it over her lap. He was wearing a sleeveless undershirt, and most of his body looked like armour, if made out of white wood. The biggest problem was the head of red leaves he had in place of hair, though in the darkness of night it looked mostly indistinguishable from the real thing. He had tried to get rid of them so his head could mimic the form of a helmet, but the leaves grew back too quickly. He jogged back over to the middle of the field, limbering up as the clouds shifted overhead, soft moonlight filtering down from above. A quarter of season¡¯s surface was red, tinting the night in a subtle pink. Hera dismissed her sentinel of light, then created a longsword out of hardened light. She lifted it up, taking several practice swings. ¡°I thought you were an archer.¡± Leif commented, mentally reaching into his spatial ring for a condensed sword of wood, though he ultimately chose not to summon it. He needed to get experience for [Inspiring Brawler] to get the final level he wanted, so unarmed combat was the way to go. ¡°I combined the [Archer] and [Fighter] classes when both reached level ten. My other main class was [Attuned: Light].¡± ¡°What did that create?¡± ¡°Weapons Expert.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Leif said, glancing at her sword. ¡°Wasn¡¯t the first thing I did when we met to threaten you with a sword?¡± ¡°Not going to use it in this fight?¡± He goaded, conjuring two pairs of golden arms and dropping into a stance. Immediately he felt his weight shift, his balance improve and his resilience rise. ¡°Not during a friendly spar. That sword can slice through pretty much anything without issue.¡± === The fight was quick, and it ended as Leif had expected. During his fight with Mouric, the Blade had overpowered him with brute strength and raw power, though not by so much that it had been a one sided beatdown. The main difference between him and Hera was quite simply, speed. And range too, but she didn¡¯t use her bow during their bout. When Leif focused on [Alacrity] the gap between them narrowed, but then his perception couldn¡¯t keep up with the speed of the fight. When he focused on [Intelligence] the battle moved at a speed he could react to, but then his speed wasn¡¯t enough to actually dodge or parry. It didn¡¯t help that Hera gradually grew faster and faster as the duel progressed, until eventually there was absolutely nothing he could do. Leif consoled himself with the fact he was half her level, and quite possibly hard countered by the ninth Blade. It didn¡¯t stop Hera from gloating the entire way back to her home. As the three of them stepped through the entrance of the residence, well after midnight, Hera was retelling a story of when she hunted a powerful, and excessively durable mountain giant. Lucia was thrilled by the tale, and even exhausted as she was, the low level [Rogue] couldn¡¯t help but demand her own rematch against the Blade. He waved them goodnight as they whisper talked while ascending the stairs, then quietly stepped into the greenhouse. As he lowered himself down into a cross legged position in the centre of the garden, he reflected that even with the uncertainty of the excavation, the stress of needing to hide his identity and the worry he felt as he tried, and failed to figure out how to properly make contact with his sister, he could admit to himself that he was enjoying himself. And so the days passed, and the world continued spinning. Chapter 169: Better Times Chapter 169: Better Times Nikolas stood with his hands behind his back, looking over the balcony railings of the Ahle-ho palace, wondering if he could have done more to prevent the tragedy that had unfolded. Conflict between the guilds wasn¡¯t unheard of, though violence between the prime guilds rarely happened out in the open. The Ahle-ho guilds usually competed with one another via proxies or official competition, and open warfare was rare. But the worst had come to pass, and now large swaths of the city lay in ruins. Things had been civil at first, the leadership of the prime guilds and their minor allies had met to discuss the city and its future. The fact the republic and empire were building up for war was one of the worst kept secrets of all time, and everyone of significance within the independent city knew it. Politicking and jostling for power and position was a standard affair when the guilds met to talk policy, though rarely did their meetings have such a tense undercurrent. Everyone had their own agenda, own interests and alliances. Everyone wanted Ahle-ho to flourish, there was simply a difference in opinion as to how that should be achieved. Some wanted further ties with the empire, a position his own Twin Heart guild held due to their close relations with Mekrys ever since their founding, though that position was hardly shared by the majority of guilds. The largest ¡®faction¡¯, were the independents, those who wanted Ahle-ho to stand strong by itself, to not rely on foreign aid to maintain sovereignty. Among this group were those who opposed the empire for political reasons, those who thought more independence would result in more power and authority for themselves, or the final reason, supported the republic. No guild was openly the latter, though Nikolas knew for certain at least several were leaning in that direction, if not having directly aligned themselves with the ostensibly hostile foreign power in secret. Ahle-ho was an ally of the empire, the city used its currency and allowed a garrison of imperial troops within its walls. Its ports housed imperial ships and its primary trading partners were imperial merchant guilds. The prince of Ahle-ho was openly in favour of the empire, to the point many, Nikolas himself, suspected the man wished for the city state to join Mekrys and become its newest province. When the prince agreed, against the majority advice of the prime guilds, to double the number of imperial troops within the city, dissonant factions stirred into action. Ultimately it was the lack of unity among those who sought independence that ruined their bid to expel the empire from Ahle-ho. Rising Tide, Hope Mandate and the Steel Keepers guilds all openly declared their opposition to the growing imperial influence in the city, with the latter two prime guilds publicly and privately requesting that the prince revoke his support of Mekrys. Rising Tide however, was more direct. Nikolas wasn¡¯t certain what exactly had sparked the conflict, if the civilian protest had turned violent, if agitators had attacked the garrison or if a street brawl had escalated to the point blood had been spilt. One thing was certain, violence had erupted on the streets and the guilds had gone to war. For a single night. That was all it had taken for order to be reestablished. A single night was all it had taken for thousands to die. He had personally duelled with the Rising Tide guild master over the rooftops of the city, the man now rotting in a cell below the palace, likely for the rest of his life. He had also directed his elites to raid the compounds of the Double Lion and Silverfang guilds. It was strange now, to know that it was the manoeuvring and scheming of his rivals that had undone them, rather than any cunning ploy of his own. There were only two prime guilds now, and the Twin Heart guild was one of them. From the balcony he could make out the tens of thousands of tiny lights flickering in the city below, a candle-lit vigil for the fallen. For now Ahle-ho was mourning, but Nikolas had no doubt that anger would slowly simmer back to life. He just hoped this was the last of the bloodshed his home would need to endure. ===Updated chapters at novelhall.com ¡°W-what did you say?¡± The boy spluttered, his overly decorated dress uniform looked to be choking the life out of him, or perhaps his face was turning red for another reason. ¡°I said no.¡± Lucia replied, trying to fight down the paranoid instinct to stab the boy before her and go find a dark corner to hide in, a task that would be rather difficult, if not impossible to pull off successfully. All around her was a bustling crowd of youngsters, most around her age, though some, like the child dressed as a peacock gaping down at her, were a few years older. ¡°H-how dare you? I offer you a place in my team, and you... refuse me? Do you know who my father is?¡± She did, but only because the boy had already loudly introduced himself to her. He was the son of a noble house, though she had never heard of it before. Behind the noble three of his offsiders glowered at her. Apparently she wasn¡¯t supposed to have refused the kind offer. This was just a training day run by the Academy during the break between the quadriad, they weren¡¯t even supposed to be in teams, everyone would be competing alone. ¡°Who is your backer, girl? My father will hear of this insult, so you better be prepared to pay the price!¡± The boy sneered, though the expression lost most of its impact due to how clearly flustered he was. His hand tightened around the ornate hilt of his shortsword, and Lucia tensed. Her own fingers rested on the pommel of her wooden daggers. People were turning to stare at the altercation, several pointing and whispering. The boy took a confident step forward, puffing out his chest. Lucia was a fraction of a second away from breaking his overly sharp nose with her fist and darting away, when a high pitched, and slightly panicked voice called out. ¡°Lucia, is that you? Come on, you need to, uh, help me with something.¡± She blinked and turned, seeing the familiar face of a nervous looking first year girl. Ella, the girl that had guided Roy, Leif and herself around Pellus on the day of their arrival to the Academy, smiled, stalked up beside Lucia, then pulled her away into the crowd. She had a bow slung over one shoulder, though there weren¡¯t any arrows on her person that Lucia could see. She let herself be dragged away, letting out a breath of relief. ¡°Fine, run. You¡¯re not that pretty anyway. And you dress like a boy!¡± The red faced idiot called after her, though she didn¡¯t pay it any attention. When they reached the edge of the crowd Ella stopped tugging her along and turned, her smile becoming less strained. ¡°Sorry to interrupt, I¡¯m sure you had it under control, but we¡¯ve been breaking up fights between young masters all morning and I recognised you and figured I would step in before you stabbed him.¡± ¡°Thanks?¡± Lucia said, deliberately taking her free hand away from the weapon it was resting on. ¡°What are you doing here, Ella? Are you participating?¡± ¡°No, no. I¡¯m working. Students aren¡¯t allowed to participate anyway, this is more for the kids of outsiders and visitors to see what the Academy¡¯s training looks like. A lot of the kids here are probably looking to join as first years at some point, though some are just here to show off.¡± Golden life, a well of vibrant blood. It knew what this was. The primary target of the hunt, the true purpose of its mission. Instructions hard coded into its memory flashed through the weapons mechanical cognition. The amber one shouldn¡¯t be destroyed, its flames should only be used sparingly lest the prize be lost. But it was a weapon. It was created to kill. And its ancient programming no longer held sway. Heat built up once again in the palm of its metal hand, only for the limb to be violently wretched aside, the jet of blue fire being redirected upwards, away from the living beings and scorching the walls and ceiling of the half buried chamber. Its sensors froze, not understanding the stimuli it had detected. Something was closing in, moving quickly, something gold. The weapon tried to raise its other arm but fossilised roots, remnants of the battle that had left it half destroyed, held it in place. The gemstone in the centre of its chest flashed crimson, self destruct was the only- An ivory fist crushed through the weapon¡¯s torso, grabbed hold of the power source within and ripped it out, tearing wires and metal ribs as it did so. And so the weapon died, finally. === Vevosis, Spire Head of Dimid, lounged behind his desk and stared out at the evening sky. The rainbow colours of the sunset over the Rien sea were gorgeous, the view worth more than any amount of gold. A figure who looked identical to himself, though entirely made up of various shades of crimson, from their skin to their clothes and their eyes, poured wine into his jewelled goblet. The object was beyond tacky, an obscene display of decadence and wealth. He loved it, the sheer impracticality of the goblet made him laugh every time somebody entered his office and saw it. To his left another bloody clone shuffled through paperwork, its eyes glazed over with a vivid red, hiding both iris and pupil. The clone wore thin black gloves, so as not to stain the paper. The worst part about the bloody skill constructs was their inability to communicate. Maybe when he reached level one hundred the core skill that allowed him to conjure them would upgrade in that direction. More combat ability was also a potent choice, but he had people for that. No need to get his, or copies of his hands dirty. Though there were reasons he was yet to reach that milestone, time being the least of them. He flipped the final report in front of him up off the gilded marble desk before him with his aura, the physicality granted to rank five auras never ceased to make his life ever so slightly more convenient. ¡°Oh, ho. Looks like that little expedition I approved actually found something interesting.¡± He said to the two clones, taking a sip of wine before continuing to read. ¡°Some sort of automaton down in the central levels, still active even after all this time.¡± The clones didn¡¯t respond, but he liked to pretend he had an audience. ¡°We¡¯ll have to get some [Operator]s down there to take a look. Most people think the way things were in the past was superior to what we have now in every way. They¡¯re wrong of course, but in this case they would be correct.¡± He leaned back, swirling the half full goblet, enjoying how the golden sunlight reflected off the jewels embedded into the metal. ¡°It¡¯s a shame the real prize of the temple is long dead. The things we could do with some of that monstrous tree¡¯s blood...¡± The clones both shuddered, a reflection of his own desire, if none of it showed on his real body. ¡°Sustainability is the key. Don¡¯t take more than you need. The dragons make that mistake, as do the djinn, the formians too. Most recently the undead are learning that lesson the hard way...¡± Vevosis took another sip of his wine, holding out the goblet for the clone to refill. As the crimson liquid was being poured into its new home, he felt something quiver in the air, a scent brushing up against his awareness. He and both of his clones glanced up at the same time, looking to the north west. ¡°Bloodshed... Interesting.¡± He mused aloud, looking disapprovingly at the overfilled goblet. His clone had the good sense to look sheepish. He sighed and stood, walking around his office to stand before the window. The blood mage looked down at the Dimid campus stretching out before him, the hundreds of tiny humans scurrying between the buildings, their forms casting long shadows as they tried to return home before the mists rolled over the island. ¡°I suppose it might finally be starting.¡± Both of the clones looked at him inquisitively. Vevosis smiled. He¡¯d need to prepare his people, set things in motion and see to the Academy¡¯s defence. His smile stretched further. Maybe he¡¯d hit level one hundred sooner than he thought. Chapter 170: Corpse Chapter 170: Corpse ¡°W-what on earth?¡± Marcus gasped, picking himself up off the dusty stone floor where Leif had shoved him. A golden shield rippled around him, warding off remnant waves of heat that washed over the room. ¡°That thing almost turned me to ash.¡± The jagged remnants of crystal fell from Leif¡¯s fingers as he crushed the gemstone in his fist, the automaton going inert beneath him. Blue flames still danced along the ceiling, charring ancient rock and filling the chamber with smoke. ¡°That was a priceless artefact!¡± Nern shouted, waving his hand in front of his face. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have destroyed it!¡± Both Leif and Marcus turned, giving the professor a pair of incredulous looks. Nern wrinkled his nose, then glanced at the scorch mark that had been burnt into the wall beside the entrance. He cleared his throat. ¡°Nevermind. I must say Mr Vin, I did not expect you to be able to punch through solid steel. Most impressive. Maybe try to do less damage in the future...¡± Leif shook his head and glanced down at the bulky, vaguely humanoid looking machine. ¡°What exactly is this? And why is it down in the temple?¡± ¡°It looks like a war golem of some sort.¡± Marcus said, adjusting his glasses. ¡°I¡¯ve seen similar machines, though nothing this advanced. Look how damaged it was before you destroyed it, I¡¯m shocked it was capable of activation at all.¡± ¡°People made this?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Professor Nern said, nodding in acknowledgement to the team of shocked looking students who had appeared in the doorway, clearly having run from elsewhere in the temple at the sound of combat. ¡°The dungeon below the imperial capital is famous for manifesting similar looking monsters. Though something this advanced is similar to the most powerful constructs found within.¡± ¡°Naturally created constructs look different though.¡± Marcus said. ¡°I¡¯ve, uh, I¡¯ve studied the crucible dungeon quite a bit. The automatons from there are made of twisted metal, their internal structure is more organic. Look, you can clearly see distinct wiring within the chest cavity.¡± More members of the expedition had arrived, a combat team pushing their way through the gawking crowd. Nern started awkwardly barking out a recounting of events, the professor sending away people to report to the leadership about what had happened, and to alert the other teams of potential dangers within the temple. Leif stood back, letting a team dedicated to thaumaturgical research approach the automaton and begin prodding it with all manner of skills and instruments. It wasn¡¯t his place to barge in and take charge, his own skills lay elsewhere. And besides, the system was distracting him. Level up! Class [Inspiring Brawler] is now level 12! For applying the efforts of your diligent training to destroy an unknown foe that posed a danger to your allies with your bare hands you have gained a level! +1 to [Spirit] +1 free point! New class skills available! [Showmanship] or [Aura of Spectacle] or [Fist Projection]! Mana reinforcement progress: 25%! Leif scanned the new skill options, frowned at the poor level up, then closed the system window. He¡¯d deal with these later, and when they weren¡¯t potentially surrounded by hostile constructs. === There were more, an hour later a team excavating an alternative entrance to the temple encountered the remains of two such automatons, though both had been destroyed by now petrified roots, and neither attacked. The temple was evacuated, and the day ended before the leadership could come to a conclusion as to what to do next. The quadriad was returning the next day, so professor Goodwil ordered the temple¡¯s entrances to be sealed, and told everyone to take the next day off. And so Leif and Marcus returned to Lutum, both lost in thought about what they had discovered. Hera glanced upwards, and Leif knew that if she wanted, the Blade could see through the ceiling and check on the two children sleeping upstairs. ¡°Apparently she put a bunch of noble brats to shame today. Broke a bunch of records, a few hearts, and one kid''s leg. I¡¯m so proud.¡± ¡°It seems she was busy. Let¡¯s go, I want to see how this works, and I don¡¯t want to risk breaking anything valuable in here.¡± He said, standing and marching towards the door. He needed to do something to distract him from the discovery down in the ruins. Something to stop his thoughts from spiralling. Something to stop him from going back down there by himself, regardless of the risks. Hera downed the liquor in her glass, almost choked, then followed. Experimenting with the new skill helped, but only barely. And during the next day, when he spectated the quadriad with Roy and Lucia, he barely paid attention to the fights at all, his thoughts pulled back to Dimid and the ancient temple. === Dust fell from the ceiling as the twisted wall of roots shifted, their form peeling away to create a narrow passage barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through. The further into the temple complex the expedition went, the more prominent the presence of the petrified roots. But it wasn¡¯t just the frequency of their appearances that increased, but the size, and perhaps more importantly, the mass. Leif¡¯s [Wood Manipulation] skill had come a long way since he had first used it to pick up sticks and bend branches, but the mental effort required to both hold the vitality he had pushed into the petrified wood in place while willing the roots to move was a trial all on its own. Leif squared his shoulders, preparing to widen the gap when someone called for him to stop. A pair of mages ran forward, babbling about structural integrity, and he stepped aside, giving way to their expertise. This was the main bottleneck for their progress, the tonnes of stone above their heads could fall at any moment if they weren¡¯t meticulous in maintaining the foundations and supports. He wasn¡¯t an impatient person, or at least he tried not to be, but the further down they excavated, the more present the golden thread hanging in his peripheral vision became. Leif had managed to ignore the quivering line of gold only he could see up until this point, but both he, and whatever power or instincts that had somehow manifested inside him after the battle at Far-Reach agreed on something. The amber tree was close, and with it, a glimpse into the past. Eventually the two mages had reinforced the walls and roof to their satisfaction, and Leif went back to clearing the path forward. He went first, the loitering combat teams having already figured out that he was more than capable of protecting himself. The chamber he emerged into was massive, the cavernous space stretching off into the inky darkness, the lights from the expedition behind him barely making the shadows retreat more than a handful of metres. That changed when someone shot a bright green flare of light into the room. Destroyed machines littered the tiled floor, and skeletal remains lay in piles or alone where they had fallen. Blackened lines were burnt into the ground, and from what the light revealed, the floor had once been decorated with a mosaic mural. Two combat teams fanned out to either side of the room as a third team sent someone running for more people. Another flare of light flooded the room as the first began to fade, and as it did two machines began to stir, awakened from their dormancy at the approaching of people. To Leif¡¯s side Marcus uttered a word that made the air tremble, then a purple gauntlet crackling with arcane power appeared over his hand and forearm. ¡°Team one! Focus on the closest automaton! Team two! Delay the other until the first is dealt with. Don¡¯t get too close! Anyone who isn¡¯t an approved combatant needs to get the hells out of my sight thirty seconds ago!¡± A middle aged professor yelled, striding forward along with the two combat teams. Leif crossed his arms, not moving to engage. He would act if he needed to, but the combat teams had been chosen well, so it was likely he wouldn¡¯t even need to heal them afterwards. Skills flashed across the room as the battle started, a wave of water crashing against a jet of blue flames, steam exploding outwards, only to be taken control of by somebody else and redirected above their heads, the billowing vapour splashing up against the distant ceiling and fading away. When the automatons had been discovered, the combat teams had been shuffled around, each being made to have at least two members who could reliably check the machines in battle. Two minutes later the first of the constructs was cut apart, and a minute after that both teams converged on the last one. Unlike most of the machine¡¯s Leif had seen down in the temple so far, this one was actually capable of movement, though one of its legs had been severed cleanly in half centuries prior. The other half dozen automatons that hadn¡¯t reactivated were thoroughly checked over, then the professor that had called out orders sent someone to go fetch the newest members of the expedition. [Operator]s, those who could more effectively utilise magical machines, constructs and vehicles, were a rarity, even within the Academy. But during the day¡¯s break, Goodwil and the expedition leadership had managed to scrounge up a handful, though Leif was yet to see any of them. Leif watched as the room was cleared, the bones and machinery pushed off to the sides. His breath caught as he finally made out what the largely destroyed mosaic depicted. A massive golden leafed tree. And at the far end of the chamber, a rounded stone door with a carving showing something similar. Almost by instinct he drifted across the space between him and the door, his esoteric senses picking up traces of information. ¡°Mmmm. Locked.¡± Nern said from where the professor was hovering by Leif¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I can sense the stone gears behind the walls here and here, we¡¯ll need to wait for-¡± The scion stepped forward and placed a hand against the slab of rock easily twice his height. Something shifted, and golden light flashed dully as the door rolled off to the side, slowly grinding on unused mechanisms. Wind stirred the chamber, a salty breeze picking up the dust behind him, making more than a few people cough or gag. Beyond wasn¡¯t a room or a chamber, it was an open air alcove in the shape of a crescent, sunlight streaming down through a jagged crack that ran from the apex of the ceiling, down the natural formation of stone and parting to reveal the sea. Water splashed up over the cliff side, running down finger thin channels that had been carved into rock in ages past. But those details were unimportant. For in the centre of the space, right up against the edge of the cliff, stood a petrified tree. It wasn¡¯t burnt, nor had it been hacked to pieces, but it was dead nonetheless. Chapter 171: Blood Ties Chapter 171: Blood Ties ¡°How did you do that?¡± Nern inquired as the stone door opened completely, the slab rumbling to a stop with a crunch that reverberated through the floor. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Leif said as he walked forward, clothing billowing as the sea breeze buffeted him. With every step the lines carved into the stone, each filled with salty water began to emit a soft amber glow. There was a gentle incline of stone steps leading up to the base of the tree, with the grooves running from equidistant, shallow bowls and converging where petrified wood met chiselled rock. ¡°Leif, are you sure this is safe?¡± Marcus asked, grabbing the scion¡¯s sleeve. ¡°What if... what if the same thing that... you know...¡± He paused, a boot resting on the next step up. ¡°It¡¯s safe. I don¡¯t know how I know, but there¡¯s nothing here... The danger, whatever it was, it has passed.¡± ¡°And what of the other people here?¡± Marcus whispered. ¡°Are you sure you want to do this in front of them? What if they see something or your identity is revealed somehow?¡± ¡°Hmmm. What were the purposes of these bowls?¡± Nern asked aloud, the man having conjured a small pebble and tossed it into the bowl, causing the sea water contained within to ripple outwards. Leif let his senses and aura stretch outwards, trying to gather a feeling for the ancient history that surrounded them. Information trickled into his mind, slow and lethargic. The knowledge wasn¡¯t conveyed in words, but instead distant impressions, feelings and emotions. ¡°The bowls weren¡¯t for water.¡± This place wasn¡¯t exposed to the sea back when it was... used. Look, you can see evidence of the cliffside having eroded over time.¡± He said, the golden light behind his mask flickering. Telepathically he sent. ¡°Distract everyone for a little bit.¡± ¡°What? How?¡± Marcus hissed as he shot Leif a worried look. He didn¡¯t respond, instead he climbed the final few steps and reached forward, pressing a hand of ivory wood up against the lower trunk of the- === Aei¡¯lesh was proud, but not stubborn. He gave as much as he was given, and no more. But the mortals loved him for it, and in turn, he cherished them. There were times in the year where people flocked to the place he was rooted, offering a smearing of blood that they wiped against the regal form of his exterior. In return he bled for them, the golden liquid that filled his body with the power of longevity and preservation dripping from his branches only to accumulate in the stone channels the mortals had carved into the stone to gather his power. When the world changed, as it always did, the mana growing agitated and restless, they came in greater numbers, always seeking the strength to survive the months of turbulence that were to come. Aei¡¯lesh did not know why the mortals did not simply tame the rampaging powers as their forebears had done in the centuries prior, but he did not question their methods. Instead he remained where he was, the focused sunlight filtering down from above, communing with his brothers and sisters from all over the world. He would grow, in time, but it would be inconvenient. If he outgrew his home, he may need to move, which as a tree was not particularly easy. Some of his siblings could uproot themselves with ease, even change forms and walk around as the mortals did, but not him. The quiet, contemplative, and still life was what he was comfortable living, and he had no need to change. He settled back to rest, having recently learnt of a fascinating inquiry about the nature of their world, and the meaning of existence. His attention turned to the question raised by one of his sisters, and years blurred by. When awareness of his surroundings returned, the robed man who had led the sermons and communicated with him when it came to matters of importance for the temple was now an aged woman. That happened sometimes, even with his gifts mortals still withered and died in time. It was the natural way of things, and this change wouldn¡¯t wrongfoot him, it had happened before after all. Aei-lesh extended his perception and communed directly with the woman¡¯s mind with a gentle application of a telepathy skill. To his surprise she wasn¡¯t the successor of the priest he had known, but instead the successor of that man¡¯s successor. Aei¡¯lesh was surprised, had he been distracted for so long? The woman, too, was surprised. Apparently she hadn¡¯t believed the stories that he was aware and capable of communication. Aei¡¯lesh supposed he couldn¡¯t blame her for that mistake, he had been rather quiet for a rather long time. The priest told him of a war that had ravaged the region, how a titanic being of stone had risen in the west and reshaped the seas. The resulting waves from the clash with those who dwelled in the deep had washed away entire cities and peoples. This saddened the tree, the loss of life was always tragic, no matter who it was who had perished. ¡°Were the islands attacked?¡± He had asked. ¡°No, ancient one.¡± The priest had responded. ¡°No monster would dare.¡± It was true, the compact that governed the world and its myriad powers would not be violated so easily, or so recklessly. === A scream of pain and fear rippled through the golden threads that connected Aei¡¯lesh with his siblings. It was so loud, and so surprising that it jolted him out of his meditation. He reached out with his mind, attempting to commune with his family to see what had happened. His projection materialised into the realm of endless grasses and rolling hills, a tree easily twice the size of his physical form stretching up to greet the crystal blue sky. Others appeared one by one, each pulled from their lives, tasks or musings. Only the greatest of their kind could enter this realm at will, with the younger members of their species only being invited within when certain conditions were met. ¡°What has happened?¡± Aei¡¯lesh demanded, his thoughts mixing with the growing cacophony of noise within the space as more and more of his kind joined the meeting. His question went unanswered, for nobody knew. Though there was no ignoring a truth that they could all see. One of their kind was absent, their thread severed. Silence reigned in the infinite world of grass as the horror of their reality settled down onto them. Somehow, somewhere, one of their own had been killed. A decision was made, those with mortal followers would send their people out into the world to seek for the truth. Aei¡¯lesh himself sent many, the mortals living on the island nation he protected more than willing to comply with his requests. And so he waited for the news to arrive, for one of the mortals to return with the truth of what had transpired, for one of his siblings to discover the fate of the one who had died. === Aei¡¯lesh¡¯s agents never returned, and two years later another of the amber were killed, their presence vanishing from the connection they all shared. But they knew where this sibling had been rooted. North, past the three seas and the Pherin mountains, in the kingdoms of honour and swords where much of them dwelled. Another death, again in the north, then another, and another. Within the span of a year half their number was missing, their minds and souls having been torn from the plane of endless grass, their amber blood doubtlessly no longer flowing within their bodies. The threat was coming from the north, and so those who were left sent those who could walk, many of the younger members of their species. The children found death, famine and plague, tides of feral beasts, rampaging monsters and fallen cities. The mortal lands to the north were being devoured, their people streaming down past the mountains in a river of refugees and desperation. But there was something wrong with the people, something corrupted, something blighted. Decades passed, and the youngest of their kind fought alongside the mortals to beat back the encroaching wilderness. But one by one they vanished, disappearing into the now overgrown territories that the mortals once held, and the amber once protected. Never in Aei¡¯lesh¡¯s life had he ever witnessed such a change in the status quo. The mortals had been devastated, millions had died, their ancestral homes lost to them. But the amber? His kind were on the verge of extinction. Those who still lived, those who had called the south their home reconvened the council one final time. Some of his siblings desperately sought out the other monster factions, seeking answers and aid. They were ignored. Others tried to prepare the next generation of the amber, creating a grand working of golden threads to seek out any who were born, and bring them together. No longer could the amber afford to be conservative with who they allowed access to the space of their meetings, all would be welcomed, no matter how young. For his part, Aei¡¯lesh prayed. If the answers to their plight could not be found among the living, then perhaps the ascended wills that lingered and ruled, their influence over the world¡¯s mana transcendent, could aid him. Before his prayers could be answered, lives in the temple above him began to be snuffed out, one by one. An attack. They were coming for him. Aei¡¯lesh was no helpless sapling, and those who dared come for his life and those he protected would suffer the full extent of his wrath. His roots ripped through the temple, finding beings of steel and flames. He crushed them, even as they hacked and burnt at his limbs, Aei¡¯lesh reduced them to scrap. His roots closed off entrances and extended to heal his defenders. They were so small, so young and fragile, he would never forgive any who would dare kill his people. He stretched out his cumbersome perception, unspooling it upwards to discover the identity of his foes. His mortal enemies. And he found them. And the truth broke something. Aei¡¯lesh screamed in agony, in despair and in loss. The sheer force behind the telepathic wail staggered those within the temple, blood leaking from their ears, eyes and mouths. He flinched, every part of him recoiling at having harmed his own people, his roots ripping out of walls and collapsing ceilings. No! No! I¡¯m sorry! He thought, horrified to sense more and more life being snuffed out, the vitality of those he loved and cared for winking out as stone crushed them, as his flailing roots smashed into or stabbed them. Aei¡¯lesh¡¯s perception rose once more. I¡¯m so sorry. I don¡¯t understand. I¡¯m so sorry. Forgive me, please. Why? Why? What did we do? What did we do to make you hate us so? The scion flexed his fingers, then nodded wearily. ¡°Do you have a pen?¡± === Johan ran through the darkened halls of the temple, cursing the fools who had somehow allowed a monster to roam free in the Academy. This place was supposed to be a haven of humanity, a fortress of integrity and power, but there was no mistaking it, they had been infiltrated. He hadn¡¯t believed it at first, he was sure the name of the man who had spearheaded the excavation efforts was an unfortunate coincidence. Leif was a common name in the northern kingdoms, or so he had read. Maybe the masked stranger had no relation to the thing of wood and blood the Pherin expedition had discovered, it was unlikely, but he had hoped. He hadn¡¯t made a scene, instead he had made sure to verify before he reported anything. The counsellor he had been made to see had told him that he had an unfortunate habit of assuming the worst, and letting his assumptions cloud his judgement. But there was little risk of him being wrong about this. He would recognise those golden arms anywhere. And that wasn¡¯t to mention the damned blond haired idiot Marcus standing right next to him. This was why the Academy needed to be more careful about letting foreigners onto the islands. Most of the outsider students ended up being dumped into Lutum, and for that he was grateful, but to think one of them had been stupid enough to betray everything this institution stood for? Unbelievable. Johan cursed as he rounded a corner, almost colliding with a group of Dimid students who were taking rubbings of a mural that had been carved into the wall. ¡°Out of my way!¡± He snapped, barging through them. He didn¡¯t have time to apologise or explain himself, everyone on this island was in danger, and only he knew about it. He sprinted up a flight of stairs, his boots dislodging a loose stone, almost making him lose his footing. He ran into a curved, half caved-in room and cursed again. He hadn¡¯t gone the right way. This whole damn place was a maze, and as an [Operator], he had only been part of the excavation for less than a full day. A professor was lecturing a trio of second years about religious history, pointing to the carving of a cracked statue with his cane. ¡°Where¡¯s the way out?¡± Johan gasped, wheezing for breath. ¡°I need to get out! There¡¯s something down- I need to talk to someone in charge!¡± ¡°Young man, you need to slow down. These ruins are unstable, if you charge around recklessly-¡± He wasn¡¯t listening, half way through the professor''s chastisement he had whirled around and fled, taking a different turn to escape. Ten minutes later he was outside, panting for breath as a bunch of people stared at him in shock. ¡°Where... Where is... Goodwil? I... I need...¡± ¡°She¡¯s leading a group through the newly uncovered passages found in the third entrance.¡± Someone said, which wasn¡¯t helpful at all. He didn¡¯t know what the ¡®third entrance¡¯ was, nor did he know where to find it. ¡°Did something happen, kid? Are you okay?¡± A fourth year girl asked, kneeling down and placing a hand on his shoulder. Instinctually, Johan lashed out at her, pushing her away and scrambling to his feet. She looked shocked, but not hurt. He cursed under his breath again. None of these people would listen to him. They all thought he was having a panic attack, that he needed to be looked after. They all thought he was Unreliable. Weak. Johan stumbled to his feet and made for the hovering metal platform that rested by the side of the encampment. He and his fellow [Operator]s had arrived using it several hours ago, and without them he might struggle to pilot it properly, but it didn¡¯t matter. He needed to find someone who would listen to him. Someone with the power to do something about it. He could go to a Blade? But they were probably at the arena on Pellus. Could he go to the Academy guard? No, he was on that stupid list, they would probably detain him instead of hearing him out. Then who? That was a foolish question, he already knew who to go to. Only a member of Fracture might take him seriously, and the Spire Head of Dimid would understand the situation better than anyone else. The metal platform hummed as he fed power into the control panel at its front. Someone yelled at him to stop, but he didn¡¯t listen. Within seconds the rudimentary vehicle was lurching upwards, the energy he was pushing into it granting the platform the lift it would need to clear the rock walls. Several dozen metres in the air the control panel connected with the island''s private navigation obelisk, then, with a mental shove, it was zipping back towards the Dimid campus. === Three sharp knocks sounded against Vevosis¡¯s office door. He rolled his neck and cracked his fingers, glancing up from the pile of paperwork before him. There was so much to do before the inevitable happened, and he was trying to get ahead while he had the chance. He opened his mouth, not to speak, but to taste the air. A familiar scent. The blood mage smiled. ¡°Come on in Norman.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Came a voice from the other side of the door, then a moment later a tall man stepped into the room. The lantern flame flickered as he did so, the fire contained within the shell of glass and metal briefly turning black. ¡°Is this Academy business, or something else?¡± Vevosis asked, his eyes flicking to the man¡¯s metallic earring, the piece of jewellery having been painted a delightful shade of red. ¡°A bit of both, sir.¡± Norman said, an expression of concern crossing over his gaunt features. He wore the dark uniform of the Academy¡¯s guard as if he had been born to wear it. ¡°A... student is here to see you. He has a fairly wild claim, but I thought I would speak with you first before I brought him up.¡± ¡°Hmm? Who is it?¡± ¡°A third year. Johan, a student from our own island. He was a recent addition to the temple excavation.¡± Vevosis tapped his fingers on his desk, mumbling the student''s name to himself. ¡°Johan... I believe I recall the boy. Wasn¡¯t he someone you scouted? During the failed Pherin expedition if I recall correctly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one. He¡¯s a middlingly levelled [Operator].¡± ¡°Anyone with that class is at least somewhat useful, no matter what personal defects they may have. What was his report about? Something about the excavation?¡± Norman wet his lips. ¡°Yes... According to the boy, the anomaly from the expedition is currently within the temple itself, interacting with the corpse of the tree.¡± Vevosis frowned. ¡°Anomaly? You mean the talking blight monster you reported?¡± ¡°The same one, I¡¯m afraid.¡± The blood mage whistled. ¡°Well, isn¡¯t that a surprise. How did that thing get onto the archipelago I wonder? No matter, I suppose I¡¯ll find out soon enough...¡± ¡°Sir!¡± Came a rasping, out of breath voice from the door. ¡°Sir, you have to listen to me! I know what I saw! Please! I¡¯m not crazy.¡± ¡°Ah, Johan, we were just speaking about you.¡± Vevosis said, lacing his fingers together. Norman tensed, as if ready to strike, but with a subtle gesture the Spire Head ordered him to stand down. ¡°I must admit my confusion. I thought the ground floor was protected in such a way that nobody unauthorised could enter?¡± ¡°I... I used my... platform... to hover up to the third floor... I used an open window.¡± ¡°How resourceful of you.¡± ¡°Thank you... sir.¡± ¡°Well then, take a seat. I suppose I¡¯ll hear the story from your lips. You may leave us, Norman.¡± The severe looking man bowed, then departed, closing the door after him as he went. Chapter 172: Unsettled Chapter 172: Unsettled ¡°Well, child. It seems you have come to me with a most interesting discovery.¡± Vevosis said, the Spire Head lounging back in his chair, the thin line of his mouth curved into a slight smile. Or was it a sneer? Johan suddenly found his mouth dry and his heart rate accelerating. It was the effect of being in the direct presence of someone over twice his level, he knew that, but the nerves still fluttered up within him. ¡°Sir, I-¡± ¡°Shhh, I already heard from my subordinate. A monster infiltrating our esteemed Academy... what would the sponsors and factions think about this...¡± ¡°It¡¯s in the temple! Down in one of the lowest-¡± Vevosis interrupted. ¡°And?¡± ¡°A- And?¡± Johan spluttered. ¡°And... was your reaction to this... creature... appropriate?¡± ¡°I... I don¡¯t understand sir.¡± Vevosis sighed. ¡°Look at you, boy. You¡¯re a mess. If anyone saw you on your way into my office they would have thought you mad. They would have assumed that an incident had occurred. There are eyes and ears all over the islands during the quadriad, appearance is important.¡± Johan blinked, he didn¡¯t understand what the man was talking about. There was an incident! Why did how he looked matter? The monster might be going on a rampage as they were talking. They didn¡¯t have a second to waste. ¡°But sir. Aren¡¯t the people in the temple in danger? Shouldn¡¯t you go to-¡± ¡°Are they?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Those participating in the excavation. Are they in danger?¡± ¡°Of... of course.¡± ¡°If the monster was hostile, wouldn¡¯t it have already attacked? Tell me, did you warn those in the temple that they were in danger? Or did you come straight to me?¡± ¡°I... I knew they wouldn¡¯t listen. And... I...¡± ¡°And you caused a scene?¡± Johan felt heat rise in his cheeks, and it became harder to keep his breathing under control. Sweat beaded on his brow, and his vision narrowed. This was stupid, they didn¡¯t have time for this. Couldn¡¯t the lecture wait. ¡°Did you even consider that if your actions had been noticed by our little imposter, that it may have been forced to act? That in forgoing subtlety you endangered lives?¡± ¡°But sir, it was doing something with the dead tree. There were golden lights and everything, apparently it somehow got through the final door. A door that was locked! It could be plotting something! It could be preparing to attack the Academy!¡± Vevosis raised a single eyebrow, leaning forward with interest. ¡°Golden light, did you say?¡± ¡°Yes, golden light.¡± Johan said, trying to force down his frustration. He stepped forward. ¡°As I said, it was doing something to the tree. Probably trying to bring it back to life, or pulling power from it somehow. Nothing good, I assure you.¡± The Spire Head didn¡¯t reply, instead the man simply smiled, tapping his fingers on top of a stack of papers. Johan felt the frustration bubbling inside him turn to anger. He took a step forward, hands scrunching into fists. Why did nobody take him seriously? Why wasn¡¯t a man known for his dedication to humanity acting? Shouldn¡¯t a leader of Fracture be more keen on destroying an enemy of humanity? ¡°Interesting.¡± The blood mage said after several seconds, his smile widening. ¡°Very interesting indeed.¡± Johan¡¯s fist slammed down onto the desk, causing every loose object to jump . ¡°Are you even listening to me? Why are you ignoring my warning?!¡± He yelled. ¡°How can you sit there and-¡± His words were cut off as his entire body went stiff, his limbs freezing up and his breath catching in his lungs as a pervasive chill raced through his veins. He stared in terror down at the Spire Head as he was lifted bodily up into the air, his body tugged slowly upwards as if strings were connected to every cell. Johan¡¯s eyes widened and he began to struggle, though his limbs were out of his control, he reached for every skill he had access to, cycling through anything he could mentally reach for. A compressed orb of wind manifested over his left shoulder, only for the still forming working to be snuffed out of existence as Johan¡¯s aura was suppressed completely. He gagged, choking on nothing as his head became light and feeling began to flee from his extremities. Vevosis just sat in his chair, the smile never having left his face. Finally Johan dropped, collapsing to the floor of the office as his limbs failed to hold up his trembling body. His head spun and vision blurred. He didn¡¯t notice when the Spire Head stood, or how he had moved so fast. Only that firm fingers had grasped him by the top of his bald head, yanking his face upwards to look into piercing eyes that sparkled with flakes of crimson. ¡°Child.¡± Vevosis cooed, his tone soothing, expression calm. ¡°Never raise your voice like that in the presence of your betters. It is... undignified.¡± Johan opened his mouth to speak, but his lips were sealed by the older man¡¯s index finger. ¡°Shhh, no talking. I will explain. You wonder why I am not acting immediately? It is because I have no need to. If the creature hasn¡¯t attacked already, it isn¡¯t going to within the next few hours. I am... aware of what this thing is. Its kind are relatively common in the regions past the northern kingdoms. They¡¯re parasites, scavengers, crude beings of wood and blood. There is a chance this imposter has planted blighted seeds within those it has come into contact with during its time at the Academy. This is fine, as I can deal with any infection personally.¡± ¡°You need to kill it.¡± Johan wheezed. ¡°Kill it? Boy, why on earth would I do that?¡± ¡°Because... It¡¯s... an enemy. A threat.¡± ¡°If this creature is what I assume it is, then it is no threat. It is a resource. Potentially one of incredible value.¡± Vevosis chided, tightening his grip and forcing Johan to look up into his eyes, then letting him go and standing, striding for his desk. A communications device was pulled from a draw, and several words were spoken into it. Johan barely paid attention, his head throbbed with the rhythmic pounding of an intense headache. The Spire Head brushed aside the objects on the edge of his desk without touching them, then sat, one leg crossed over the other. ¡°I¡¯m gathering my people now. Are you pleased, child?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Do you understand, child?¡± ¡°Yes... sir.¡± ¡°Mhmmm, you don¡¯t. Well, we have time to wait until those I requested arrive, so allow me to educate you.¡± Johan swallowed, but didn¡¯t try to stand. The office darkened as clouds passed in front of the sun, the light no longer streaming in through the large glass window that occupied the far wall of the room. ¡°There is strength in blood. In our blood. In human blood. It is what ties us together, emboldens us to act, and compels us to protect and love. It is a passionate thing, a beautiful thing, a power that connects every man, woman and child. But there are those with tainted blood, those whose ancestors committed the taboo act of binding their bloodlines to the horrors that lurk where the light of civilization does not shine.¡± Vevosis said, his words silky smooth, knowing, mocking. The [Operator]¡¯s fingers dug into the wooden floor, though his nails failed to scratch the polished surface. Why did the office even have wooden floors? Wasn¡¯t the entire building made of stone? He blinked, snapped back to the presence. He had been trying to distract himself from what was to come. ¡°I can sense the purity of bloodlines, you know? Most blood mages cannot, but it is a core aspect of my path. I can look at anyone, and know how loyal their family has been to humanities cause. Do you know what I see when I look at you, child?¡± Johan squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his teeth to fight down the anger, the disgust, and the self hatred. ¡°I sense the blood of dragons. How their foul influence flows through your veins. Not much, your bloodline has no doubt been cleansed over the generations. Yet it still persists. You feel anger, child? Rage? Tell me. Which part of you is furious? Which part of you wants to lash out in anger? The human, or the animal?¡± ¡°I am human.¡± Johan whispered. ¡°Mmm.¡± ¡°I am not a traitor to my species. I have dedicated my life to fighting back against our enemies.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± He shook, tears welling up unbidden. He didn¡¯t know what to say, could muster up the energy to answer the implied question. He was failing, had been for years. There was little chance he would successfully complete the four year tenure at the Academy, his level was too low, his commendations lacking. ¡°Let me give you some advice, child. It is not the purity of your blood that gives you value. Oh, caught your attention, did I? Yes, alas, it is true. How truly human someone is has no bearing on their value as a person. Yet a lack of purity is always a bane, always a hindrance. Do not despair... dry those tears... there is still hope for you. One¡¯s disadvantages can be overcome with action, with dedication, and with duty. Will you live in such a way that your shame can be overshadowed by your deeds?¡± There was a clapping sound from beyond the entrance, then Vevosis¡¯ voice came again, this time pitched to carry further. ¡°I have an interest in meeting one of the members of the expedition. I recognised the names of everyone listed as official members, except for one. It¡¯s quite unusual for a visitor to our grand Academy to so proactively participate in our extra-curricular activities.¡± ¡°Back.¡± Leif sent to Marcus. ¡°We¡¯ll use one of the side entrances.¡± The [Seeker] nodded, backpedalling down into the temple. Then his eyes went wide, and Leif could tell why. The cold sensation that was slowly filling him turned icy in an instant as an invisible hand felt like it had reached into his chest and taken hold of the very core of his being. Marcus cried out as he was sent stumbling forward, Leif quickly reached out and caught him with a pair of golden arms, his real ones being used to support himself against the wall of the tunnel. ¡°Ah. But it seems he has arrived.¡± The Spire Head said, then a moment later a shadow fell across the entrance. The man was tall and sharp, he wore the Academy¡¯s uniform, though over it was a vivid red coat. His eyes shimmered the same colour as they locked onto Leif¡¯s own amber gaze, and his mouth stretched into a shockingly white grin. ¡°Hello there friend. Why don¡¯t we have a chat?¡± The man didn¡¯t move, but another tug, this time even stronger, made Leif stumble forward a step. But that was okay, the direction of the step didn¡¯t matter. Still holding onto Marcus, Leif vanished in a blur of golden light, both his, and Marcus¡¯s bodies dissolved, the blood mage¡¯s grip on them breaking as they temporarily lost physicality. The golden light streaked backwards, following the exact path they had taken to arrive at the main entrance. [The Amber Path] fizzled out somewhere in the middle of the temple¡¯s many underground passageways, well out of range of the Spire Head¡¯s perception, or anyone else he had brought. ¡°Shit.¡± Marcus cursed, blinking rapidly as he regained his balance. ¡°Was that some sort of blood manipulation skill? It felt like my veins were going to be ripped out of my body!¡± ¡°It¡¯s likely.¡± Leif said, already turning to flee deeper into the underground complex. ¡°Come, we need to leave.¡± ¡°Ah man. And things were going so well.¡± ¡°If the temple falls down on our heads, then fate is playing a trick on us.¡± Leif hissed as he dashed down a partially dug out tunnel. The two of them quickly reached an intersection. As Leif tried to remember the routes to the other entrances, Marcus spoke a word that shook the air. ¡°Reveal to me.¡± He intoned, his hand extended. As if compelled by an invisible hand, he turned and pointed, his eyes closed. ¡°That way.¡± They ran, their footsteps echoing off time-warn foundations and partially crumbled pillars. The lights that had been put in place by the expedition were fading, the power being fed to them along tort wires dissipating, slowly plunging the buried structure into darkness. Marcus created several balls of shimmering light, flinging them down hallways or into unlit chambers to guide their steps. The two of them rounded a corner, only for the orange glow of torch-light to filter down from over a stone balcony, the sound of hurried boots striking dust covered rock making them skid to a stop. ¡°Back!¡± Marcus hissed, his expression panicked. Leif had already grabbed him, and with a blur of amber light they were gone, rapidly retreating back the way they had come. ¡°Were they the Academy guards?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Yeah. I think so. Damn it, why now? How did they even find you? Hang on, let me look for another way out.¡± Marcus closed his eyes, one hand outstretched, the other holding onto Leif¡¯s arm. ¡°There are three more entrances that the excavation has uncovered, but from here only two are accessible. Let me search for people in those directions...¡± Shouts came from down a shadowed corridor, Marcus¡¯s eyes snapped open. He didn¡¯t need to say anything, his grimace told Leif everything he needed to know. ¡°We need to go our separate ways.¡± The scion said, already striding away from the approaching sounds. ¡°They¡¯re after me, not you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid, I can still help you get out.¡± ¡°If the worst comes to pass, I have a way out. I don¡¯t think they can stop me. I could take you along with me, but I don¡¯t recommend it. Fleeing would be an admission of guilt, and it might just ruin your life here in the empire.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to teleport out?¡± ¡°Not unless I have no other choice. But it might come to that, I don¡¯t want to fight anyone associated with the Academy if I¡¯m not forced to.¡± ¡°Okay... Alright. We¡¯ll split up. I have plausible deniability if they don¡¯t find us together. What do you want me to do? Go find Hera?¡± ¡°If you could, that would be much appreciated. Try to find Lucia and Roy too, they should be on Pellus watching the quadriad. If you find them, tell them to stay at the residence and I¡¯ll try to get back to them. I don¡¯t want any investigation of me to end up getting their identities revealed to the wrong people.¡± ¡°I can do that.¡± Marcus said, letting out a deep breath as they reached an intersection. ¡°The way to the tree is down that way. Stay alive.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try my best.¡± Leif said, gripping the other man¡¯s forearm. They shook, then ran in opposite directions. === Leif sprinted into the final chamber of the temple, the salty scent of the sea blowing in through the still open doorway on the far side of the massive room. He could sense the vitality signatures of his pursuers in the higher floors, and could feel them drawing closer. He skidded to a halt, turned, and pulled back a hand. His newest skill, [Fist Projection], required around a second of buildup, a haze of energy manifesting around his clenched fist. He focused on [Might], feeling as strength flooded through his body. Then he struck forward, aiming for the ceiling above the passageway he had come. The air rippled as the projected force of his punch flew upwards, crashing into the stone and sending a cascade of dust and debris raining down. Then he kicked off, dashing towards the corpse of the long dead amber tree. He passed through the doorway, his form briefly casting a shadow back into the temple as the afternoon sun poured down from the tiny gap far above. Leif reached out, brushing fingers against the door frame, willing it to close. Golden light appeared briefly, but the stone door didn¡¯t move, its mechanisms grinding against one another, but the degradation of the structure prevented it from closing. The scion cursed, sensing a rising swell of agitation coming from behind him. Leif knew he could fight. From an attribute standpoint, he outclassed any human of the same level, and he had little reason to believe the Academy guard were much higher in level than himself. And even if they were of significantly greater level, they weren¡¯t comparable to the Blades. He could win. But fighting here would likely cost him more than he gained. He could run, leap off the cliff and fall down into the water. Walk along the seafloor and hope he could sustain his body through healing, even as he suffocated. It was risky, but potentially less so than engaging his pursuers. There was one final option. A choice he only realised as he desperately dug through his system interface for another way out that didn¡¯t involve teleporting away hundreds of kilometres. It couldn¡¯t work. Shouldn¡¯t work. As written, the skill did not function in the way he wanted it to. But spellcraft let one push the limits of their abilities, and he had already proven he could interact with the roots of the dead amber tree. He took a sharp breath, the sound coming as a hiss as air was sucked through the mouth slit of his mask. He placed a palm against the tree¡¯s trunk and pushed. Activating [Tree of Respite]. There were restrictions, and they made themselves immediately apparent as he tried to fuse with the tree¡¯s twisted trunk. Living, non-evolved. The target of the skill fulfilled neither of those conditions, but maybe. ¡°Fuse.¡± Leif said, focusing his [Willpower]. At the same time he let his vitality flow freely into the petrified wood, flooding it with life once again. Reality twisted, the breeze going still. There was a flash of pain within Leif¡¯s soul, and the invisible wall blocking him out cracked, but not enough to let him slip through. Quickly. Leif thought, panic rising. He had seconds before his pursuers saw him. He pushed again, but the innate resistance from trying to push his skill beyond its limits delayed him. The scion cursed, then ducked around to the other side of the tree. He was just in time, shouts and cries reached his ears as over a dozen men and women dressed in a dark uniform burst through the cloud of dust he had created to distract them and block their line of sight. No intent locked onto him, so he was yet to be detected. ¡°Fill, stabilise.¡± He commanded, mentally intoning the words instead of speaking them aloud. But spellcraft wasn¡¯t subtle, the awareness of the Academy guard snapped in his direction. Golden blood flowed in a torrent from his outstretched hands, draining his cultivated reserves drastically with every passing second. Within moments he had pushed forty percent of his stored vitality into the tree, then fifty, sixty. He reactivated [Tree of Respite] once more, and this time his hand slipped into the trunk, then his forearm, bicep, shoulder. As the guards spilled out into the space where the amber tree¡¯s petrified remains were rooted to ancient stone, Leif vanished, becoming fully subsumed by the petrified wood. Immediately his ability to perceive his surroundings lessened, his sight, hearing and sense of smell went first, then his ability to feel what he was touching quickly followed. He became part of the tree, and it became a part of him. The nature of the corpse resisted him, and pressure built within his soul, quickly turning to pain. But he was far from the same being who a year ago could only use a couple of skills a handful of times before he needed to rest. His aura tightened around him, cloaking what little part of his physical form remained, his entire mind dedicated to the task of fighting back against the petrified wood¡¯s attempt to eject him. Living beings surrounded the tree, and he could sense the beating of their hearts, the power contained within their bodies. They milled around, confused as to where he had gone. He sensed one vanish over the side of the cliff, the person¡¯s presence disappearing immediately as it left the constrained range of his perception. The pressure on his soul built, insistent and violent. In response Leif let more of his vitality flee his body, flowing into the trunk around him. ¡°Hold.¡± He tried to command, but he couldn¡¯t focus on spellcraft and maintain his position within the petrified corpse of his forebear at the same time. He could feel his body slipping, approaching the edge of the trunk as he began to reconstitute. Leif shut everything out, falling into a meditative trance. It was easier to pull off than he had thought, [Meditations on Eternity] more than eager to accommodate his needs. But his cultivation was all but dry, tapped out completely from the insane expenditure to make the impossible possible. It merged with the petrified wood, then faded, the corpse unable to hold incompatible energy. So instead Leif reached out, grabbing what vitality he could with his will and pulling it back. A tiny trickle re-entered him, but it wasn¡¯t enough, and what he did regain immediately left him once more. He reached out further, deeper, and drew in everything he could. Then again, and again. With each repetition he gained proficiency, confidence, the life-force loop he had created was inefficient, but it would give him the moments he needed to stabilise his position. ¡°Hold.¡± He tried again, his soul screaming as [Tree of Respite] was pushed to its very limits, the structure of the skill beginning to tear. In his mind¡¯s eye he saw it, a flickering orb of gold that represented the ability, fraying as it was pulled in every direction at once. He sought out the golden thread, finding that it came easily now that all distractions had fled his mind. Through the mysterious connection he tried to find something, anything that could help him. If he could just connect with the long passed being he was taking refuge with then maybe- It snapped into place. A tenuous connection to something insubstantial, lost, dead. But it was something, and he had nothing else to do but try. ¡°Protect me.¡± He begged. Whether it was luck, stubbornness or the remnant will of Aei¡¯lesh that made the spell working function, Leif wasn¡¯t sure. But finally the corpse of the amber tree stopped fighting him, instead it embraced him, holding him closely, protecting him. Vitality flowed into him more easily, the trickle of amber energy he was pulling from his petrified surroundings growing to a stream, then a river. Golden blood that only a second ago had been invisible, undetectable to his senses, became clearer, as if it had always been there, only hiding out of sight. I bet this is how I¡¯m supposed to upgrade [Font of Life]. He mused, his mind numb and soul aching. A moment later the system confirmed his thought. Congratulations! Your [Scion of Aeons] skill [Font of Life] has met an upgrade threshold! Would you like to upgrade [Font of Life] from rank III to rank IV? Y/N Yes, obviously. He mentally commanded the prompt, the last of the burden of maintaining his situation falling away as his control increased to the next level. Finally he let his meditation drop, the veil that had been placed over his still functioning senses being lifted as he took in his surroundings. The people surrounding the petrified tree were present, but they weren¡¯t focused on him. There was alarm, worry, even fear. But he wasn¡¯t the target, Leif could sense as much. Then, as if receiving orders he couldn¡¯t hear, they left, fleeing back into the temple as quickly as they had come. Leif let them go, focusing on [Spirit] to encourage his recovery, letting the ache in his soul subside partially before he detached himself from Aei¡¯lesh¡¯s mineralised body. The surface of the trunk rippled as he fell out and back onto solid ground. His clothing was rumpled, and mask askew, but everything was otherwise as he had left it. Letting out a sigh of relief, Leif fell to one knee. Only then did he realise how strangely cold it had gotten. And when he looked around, a faint mist was rising up over the edge of the cliff. This was normal, an everyday occurrence on the Academy¡¯s four islands. Though that was only true after the sun had set. And there was still daylight left. Chapter 173: Encroaching Mists Chapter 173: Encroaching Mists Lucia watched the team battle taking place in the arena with keen interest. She didn¡¯t know any of the combatants, but one of the girls from the Pellus team was obviously a [Rogue], the way she moved and fought, darting in for quick, intense strikes with her shortsword, only to rapidly retreat, was indicative of the class. One of the [Rogue]¡¯s teammates was throwing around balls of rainbow fire, the attacks seeming to distract and debilitate instead of burning his opponent. Lucia¡¯s eyes narrowed as she watched the short sword wielder blur forward, taking advantage of the distraction created by her ally. She should have committed to that engagement. Lucia thought. The spearman was off guard and she was inside his range. She was too quick to retreat. In the seat beside her own, Roy was waving his arms and clapping. Her little brother kept jumping out of his seat, only to plop back down a moment later. He seemed to be focused on a completely different part of the fight, and within seconds she had followed his gaze, the perception altering field around the arena allowing her to make out details she would have otherwise missed. Five minutes later the team from Pellus won, though it had been close. The match had ended with a duel between the final member of each team. A tall man with stone wrapping around his body like armour faced off against the spearman the [Rogue] girl had failed to take out earlier. Lucia tapped her foot impatiently, there were new things she wanted to try out. She could practically taste level four, she was so close. Hopefully both Leif and Hera would be available later for training, hopefully in the beast reserve like they had planned. The Blade wasn¡¯t around every night, but the masked healer was. A tugging on her sleeve caught her attention, and she looked down to see Roy trying to tell her something. Lucia leaned forward, trying to make out his words over the cheering of the crowd. Roy opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say got interrupted by a yawn. She squinted at him, covering her mouth with a fist as she fought back a yawn of her own. It was because yawns were contagious, not because she was skipping sleep. ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± Roy said, his voice barely a whisper over the spectators. A chant had started up about how Pellus was the greatest of the islands. Lucia nodded, standing and taking hold of Roy¡¯s hand. It was strange to hear those words from her sibling¡¯s mouth and have there be something she could do about it. In the time she and Roy had spent on the archipelago the past year had begun to feel like a lifetime ago. By the time they were out of the arena Roy was clinging to her back like a monkey, his chin resting atop her shoulder. He was still too light for his age, but only a handful of weeks ago carrying him like this for an extended period of time would have been too much for her to handle. Roy sleepily mumbled his favourite parts of the day¡¯s fights as they plodded along towards the portal hub, both of them grabbing two chicken skewers from a student run pop up stand, one of many that lined the road. The day was cloudy, though it wasn¡¯t cold. The temperature this far south was fairly constantly warm, at least when it wasn¡¯t turbulence. A subtle chill made her come to a stop, the gentle afternoon breeze rustling her clothes. ¡°Sis? Why is there mist?¡± Roy asked, pointing to a shadowed alley between two lecture halls. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We should get home in case it gets any thicker.¡± Lucia mumbled, her eyes darting around as she noticed more and more wisps of unspooling mist. They seemed to be coming from the west. === Daniela Low sharpened her sword as she sat on the steps leading up to her grandiose residence. Servants and caretakers bustled around, each going about their own individual tasks. Sparks flew along the blade¡¯s edge, and she focused her will to slightly alter the shape of the metal. When she was done, the weapon vanished, only to be replaced a moment later as she summoned another. She hummed to herself as she worked, the rhythmic exercise always served to calm her, to centre her mind. There was so much to do, so many pieces to put into place. She had never been so busy, but ever since she had become a Blade of the Academy, her life had been one meeting after another, one commitment followed by several more. The responsibility weighed on her sometimes, that of her duty to the institution and her family, but also her own ambitions. House Low was organising an expedition into the east, where they would finally uncover just how much territory the undead had lost. Humanity would likely never reclaim what they had lost in the region, but that didn¡¯t mean they had nothing to gain from pillaging the underground fortress cities of the undead. She wanted to go herself, but Kastro would likely gain more from the experience. As if her thoughts had summoned the man, her younger cousin dropped down into the courtyard before her, his fall softened by a bubble of grey water that splashed up to partially engulf his body. ?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com === ¡°It¡¯s only theft if the coin is taken out of circulation and kept in a vault somewhere.¡± Helos was saying, his arms crossed. ¡°The whole point is to reinvest back into the city, province or whatever.¡± ¡°And how often does that happen? You think some slimy fifth generation governor is going to be able to resist skimming a nifty sum off the top?¡± Mouric asked, the massive man¡¯s head almost brushing against the room¡¯s ceiling. Hera popped a salted nut into her mouth, trying to tune them out. She flipped through a folder of reported monster sightings near the imperial capital, matching the descriptions given with her repertoire of knowledge about the region. It had been too long since she had gone on a proper hunt, and while the occasional bout with her peers kept her from getting too rusty, she was keenly aware of the deadline she was working with. She had decades, but it was still better to act while the proverbial iron was hot. It was a known phenomena, that just like how younger people suffered from an experience penalty, the same was also true for the elderly. Though whether this was because of some system imposed limitation, or simply a natural consequence of the soul stagnating over time, well, there were some fairly fierce debates about the answer to that question. ¡°-Right, but if you use the wealth from taxation to build roads or whatever, infrastructure that improves the efficiency of commerce and labour, you end up making more over time. Surely this is a fairly simple concept to understand?¡± Helos said, reaching over and grabbing a fistful of nuts. Hera shifted the bowl away. These were her nuts. ¡°Oh, I understand it just fine. The last time I was in the eastern provinces some pompous dickhead happily explained how he was leeching from the people to fund his next mansion. I put his head through a wall, and last I checked his son, or maybe grandson had taken over as governor.¡± Mouric explained. Helos shrugged, then the sixth Blade reached through a shimmering silver portal, grabbing another handful of nuts out of the bowl. ¡°I¡¯m going to stab you if you-¡± Hera said, only to be cut off as the sound of bells resounded across the arena. Within seconds the happy, cheering crowd had fallen quiet. Mouric cursed, summoning his massive hammer. Helos threw the nuts he was holding into the air, and in the same motion he created a doorway of liquid mercury. Hera rose and dashed for the portal, and the three Blades were gone before the nuts had fallen to the ground. === Leif found it worrying how weak he felt with his cultivation all but empty. It wasn¡¯t a physical weakness, but more an uncomfortable feeling now that one of his lifelines was tapped dry. If he could find a living being, ideally a plant of some kind, he could heal it with his other skills, and then drain it. The process was slow, and wouldn¡¯t do much, if anything to help expand his reserves unless he spent months doing it, but any little bit would help. Unfortunately, the only living plants he could sense were himself, and small shoots of grass that poked out of cracks in the stone. Trying to refill his pool of vitality with a bunch of grass would be like trying to drink the ocean through a straw. Only possible with an obscene amount of time, effort and stubborn determination . He had emerged from the temple several minutes ago, and now he was making his way through mist filled valleys and canyons. It was all but impossible to see more than a handful of metres in front of him, the mist seeming to press down on every type of perception, not just the mundane. Sound was muffled, and everything appeared to suddenly burst out from nowhere, even if it was just a jagged boulder. Even with the obstacle, Leif had little issues making his way back towards the campus. With the mist, he might even be able to get back to Lutum without Vevosis, or the Academy guard finding him. But it was difficult to look on the bright side of his situation, not when the abrupt onset of the usually evening confined mist filled him with worry. There was a constant dull sound, like metal striking metal, only from a great distance away. He suspected it was some sort of bell, but with the mist dampening everything it was hard to tell. Was there a monster attack? Was the bell ringing because of him? Probably not that last one. So then why? It was as he was considering this that Leif ran into a party of a dozen armed men and women. The group almost stumbled right into him, clearly as unaccustomed to traversing the misty environment as Leif himself was. They weren¡¯t Academy guard, they didn¡¯t have the dark uniform. Adventurers? But why would they be here? He didn¡¯t have time to ask, because after only an instant of hesitation, the newcomers attacked all at once. Chapter 174: Outbreak Chapter 174: Outbreak The sudden, instantaneous feeling of having several hostile intentions lance into his awareness almost cost Leif the fight. Him hesitating to retaliate, unsure as to the identity of his assailants almost got him killed. Almost. As a spear of crackling lightning punched through his chest, he didn¡¯t feel pain, but the strike staggered him back a step. The shaft of the weapon was metal, every inch of its surface lined with glowing red runes. The ground beneath his right foot turned to mud, and he slipped down, almost losing his footing. A shower of black needles flashed for his head, easily piercing the golden shield he conjured to protect himself. A whip of fire came in from the side, shattering the already weakened shield and burning a gash through his clothes. A beam of brilliant red blight impacted his sternum, and thankfully had seemingly no effect. Then a haze of nightmarish sights drowned his vision, leaving him mentally reeling, his aura control unbalanced and weak. Several more attacks came a heartbeat later, but against any normal opponent the initial offensive would have been enough. The squad of assailants seemed to think so as well, because even as the follow up barrage fell down onto Leif, one of their members jetted forward, churning white water splashing out behind him as he blurred towards Leif with incredible speed. His fist was wreathed in water, and a cruel, triumphant grin spread across his cracked lips. So when his strike connected with Leif¡¯s chest, the man had an instant to realise that he had just made a massive mistake. In that instant his fingers broke, wrist shattered and forearm fractured. His look of elation shifted to one of confusion, then horrified agony as he looked up into blazing golden eyes. Then Leif¡¯s masked face caved the man¡¯s skull in, the wood splintering and bone dissolving under the force of the headbutt reverberating through the mist-covered landscape. The unarmed combatant, likely a [Brawler] of some kind, died, but a hand of gold reached out and grabbed him by the throat. Blood rushed down and through the conjured limb, vitality, already fading from the moment of death flowing into Leif, refilling his cultivation. It wasn¡¯t as much as the Scion would have expected, but his cultivation skill had just upgraded, his maximum capacity would be far greater than it had been before. As the myriad of wounds all over his body began to heal, Leif took an awkward step forward, and vanished in a streak of golden light. He didn¡¯t go far, barely twenty metres. But it was enough to disappear into the chaotically swirling mist. The muffled sound of shouts and curses drifted through the frigid air, the words lethargic, smothered. ¡°Is that a Blade?¡± One of the attackers called, it seemed to be the individual with the flaming whip. Somebody replied, their voice panicked, though the exact words were lost. ¡°Whoever they are, they must be critically injured. Go! Find them! You all have your orders, don¡¯t let a single one escape!¡± As the group chorused an agreement, Leif burst out of the mist from the opposite direction they had seen the golden light disappear towards. The stone beneath his feet shattered as he kicked off, a forest of amber arms snaking out to strike at every vague outline he could make out through the mist. Leif could sense them, the subtle outlines of their presences like pinpricks on his awareness, and he knew they weren¡¯t looking in the right direction to stop his counter attack. This was not a game. This group had come at him without hesitation, the intention to kill had been so sharp it had almost blinded him. But they didn¡¯t know who he was, and that meant they could realistically only be from a handful of places. Either this was another faction within the empire, or more likely, some sort of invasion from the republic. If it was the latter, and as he got a closer look at their appearances and dress, he grew more confident that it was, then he had already fought and killed their kind before. Leif had killed the two republic agents in the caverns below Klos. He had regretted the necessity, but not the action. He reminded himself of that as his fist crushed a man¡¯s rib cage, the shock of the blow stopping his heart. He ignored the spike of fear and alarm as another hand grabbed a woman by the ankle, lifting her up off the ground before slamming her down into the stone ground. A golden arm ripped a sword from one of the invaders, and then pinned one of their comrades against a nearby boulder with the weapon. Every punch shattered bones, every strike stealing life and turning it to golden power. The spear wielder''s head was crushed into the ground, another¡¯s legs were broken, then their stomach was pierced by a sharpened limb. Ten seconds later everything was silent, the essence of skill constructs bleeding into the swirling mist. Broken bodies littered the ground, blood and viscera coated every available surface, and that was after most of the invader¡¯s life-force had been absorbed. Leif let out a hissing breath, his body was burning hot from stolen vitality, and the air heated around him, forcing back the chill. The half broken painted mask flew up into his hand from where it had fallen, and he smoothed out its surface with [Wood Manipulation]. Leif¡¯s clothes were torn, scorched and covered in blood, but he didn¡¯t have time to change. Nor did he have the intention to do so. If he was right, there would be more violence to come. The scion rewound time with [Sympathy From Experience], he found the direction he had been walking in before the abrupt confrontation, then sprinted back towards the Dimid campus. === A sound like rolling thunder passed over the expansive plaza¡¯s of Pellus as war broke out on the island. The ground shook, and the surroundings lit up with a hundred different colours as skills were unleashed. Roy clung to Lucia¡¯s neck, trembling with terror, his eyes scrunched shut. She couldn¡¯t blame him for being scared, because she felt the exact same thing. Responsibility straightened her spine and firmed her resolve, and even as her legs burnt and heart tightened in fear as the sound of fighting drew closer she kept running towards the portal hub. The battle had started instantaneously and without warning, groups of armoured humans suddenly appearing all over the island, each instantly turning and attacking whoever was the closest. The response from those capable of fighting was quick, but the sheer ferocity and unexpected nature of the attack had put the Academy¡¯s defenders on the back foot. A squad of dark uniformed guards sprinted by her and Roy, they shot her a glance, but didn¡¯t stop. She let them get out of sight, then ran in the other direction once the sound of combat started up from where they had gone. Mist rolled over the nearby buildings, but it was inconsistent in density. Occasionally, Lucia could make out distant structures, and she used those opportunities to reorientate towards the hub. ¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡± She said to Roy. ¡°Another hundred or so metres. Can you hold on until then?¡± ¡°Y-yes.¡± He whispered, increasing the strength of his grip. ¡°Okay, take a deep breath and stay calm. We¡¯ll be fine Roy, we¡¯ve already survived worse.¡± The edges of Leif¡¯s clothes burnt away as he punched through the chest of the rock and magma shell. He could sense the living being hiding within, like a beating heart for the monstrosity who¡¯s very presence turned stone into molten slag. His [Amber Aegis] flared up with every inch his fist drove into the thing¡¯s superheated form, the sole of his boots catching fire. Leif reached back, then slammed his fist back down into the thing¡¯s chest, and its rocky exterior shattered. His fingers wrapped around something soft and fleshly, then he ripped it out with every ounce of strength and physical power his compressed body could muster. What ejected from the molten shell was a head, spine and part of the upper torso of a now very dead human man. Leif threw the corpse to the ground, the body of rock the invader had been using for protection crumbling apart. Purple light flashed behind him, and the Scion turned to see Marcus channelling a surge of violet arcane power into an armoured figure that was sprinting towards him, and the still recovering students who were yet to get to their feet. A black clad Academy guard stepped into the charging individual''s way, and the two exchanged a flurry of blows as steel rang against steel. Leif took a step, blurring back to where Marcus stood panting and sweating. A golden shield flickered around the guard as a sword strike almost took off her arm. The guard took advantage of the opening, plunging her blade between a gap in the invaders armour. Silver light flashed, and the guard¡¯s sword snapped in half, her attack blocked by some sort of skill. She rolled to the side, catching a savage wound in her neck, and then a projected fist sent the armoured figure flying, their broken body twisting in the air as they flew back into the mist. Leif grabbed the guard as she tried to stand, healing her, not with any skill, but inelegantly pushing vitality into her body. She gasped, her grip around his forearm, a reflexive defensive motion she had made when he grabbed her, tightening in surprise. Her pain filled gaze cleared, and she gasped out her thanks. The guard narrowed her eyes, but before her gratitude could fully turn to suspicion, Leif had already spun and marched off. He wasn¡¯t sure if that guard in particular had been sent to hunt him down, but getting as much distance as possible couldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Marcus.¡± Leif said. ¡°Where is the portal hub?¡± ¡°Uh, over there. I think.¡± His friend said, gesturing vaguely to their left. ¡°You think? Are you sure?¡± ¡°Not at all. Shall we go anyway?¡± An explosion of bright pink light lit up the mist in the direction he had pointed. ¡°Uh, actually I was wrong. The portal hub is over there.¡± ¡°Come, let''s go, quickly.¡± Leif said, ignoring him. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to. I felt whatever that pink light was scrape against my mind like nails against a chalkboard.¡± Leif heard a groan of complaint come from the man, but he was already gone, running towards the light. It didn¡¯t take him long to find the source of the skill. A woman in flowing black robes danced through a crowd of writhing bodies, vivid pink light snaking from the mouths and eyes of her victims. She cackled, raising a hand, causing every single one of the spasming forms laying around her to violently jerk in that direction, the smoke escaping from their orifices moving in tandem with her gesture. He ran forward, summoning a compressed javelin of wood out of his spatial ring. He stepped into the throw and launched the projectile, sending it tearing through the air. The dancing woman stopped, her head snapping in his direction. She snapped her fingers, and one of her still living victims lurched to their feet, stumbling into the path of the javelin. Leif tightened his [Willpower], reaching out and urging the projectile to veer upwards using [Wood Manipulation]. It worked, just, the hair on the student¡¯s head rustling with the javelin¡¯s close passing. The thaumaturge thrust a hand out towards him, pink smoke leaping from the eye sockets of those around her to surge forwards with inevitable and slithering maliciousness. The javelin fell in an arc behind the caster, and as it did Leif spoke. ¡°Return.¡± It did, right through the mage¡¯s gut. A golden hand caught her corpse before it hit the ground, another having already grabbed the javelin as he mentally commanded it to return to his spatial ring. Life-force flowing into Leif, then back into the students who littered the street. A single amber limb conjured from [Gold Iron Physique] snapped out to touch each and every one of them, then he used [Surge of Life and Growth] through each limb in turn, breaking contact the instant he felt like the healing would be enough. ¡°What do you need me for?¡± Marcus asked as he jogged up besides Leif. ¡°Directions.¡± ¡°... And moral support?¡± ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°That way, maybe three or four hundred metres. I think, this mist is playing havoc with my abilities. I don¡¯t remember the mist ever being this bad. It didn¡¯t use to do this, or it wasn¡¯t anywhere near as debilitating.¡± Leif nodded, swatted an arrow out of the air as he sensed hostile intent build up behind him. Then sent the arrow back the way it had come, the archer falling over a second later. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Chapter 175: Violence Chapter 175: Violence Level up! Class [Adept of Self Restoration] is now level 12! From healing your body from damage sustained in battle, while in battle, and coming out on top you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 to [Willpower] +1 free point! New class skills available! [Extract Ailment] or [Delay the End] or [Life Orbs]! Mana reinforcement progress 40%! In the brief moments between battle Leif checked over the system messages he had received. There were new skills, none of which seemed immediately vital for him to pick immediately, though he didn¡¯t have the time to thoroughly go over the impressions they gave. [Delay the End] was, judging by its name, something that could likely save his life in a pinch, but he wouldn¡¯t pick it unless he felt it was necessary. What he could do however, was put the free point he had gained from the level up into [Alacrity], bringing the attribute up to a flat seventy. He mentally commanded the system to close as the portal hub loomed into sight, breaking free from the mist, its sheer size making the structure unable to be fully hidden now that he and Marcus were closer. The battle seemed strangely quiet around the building, the sounds of conflict distant and echoing ominously across the island. Leif saw why as Marcus¡¯s hand landed on his shoulder, the man pointing to a thin strand of crimson connecting two hollow stone buildings. There were more, hundreds, thousands of them, they littered the area like spider webs, each almost invisible and razor sharp. When Leif focused, he could faintly make out the vitality contained within each strand. ¡°Blood.¡± He said aloud, stepping in front of Marcus and leading the way forward. ¡°And there are people in the nearby buildings, quite a lot of them.¡± A tall figure emerged from the mist, their hands clasped behind their back. They were human in shape, and their appearance would suggest the same, if not for the fact they were entirely comprised out of blood. ¡°Hello there.¡± The blood clone of Vevosis said, though its mouth stretched into a wide smile instead of moving in tandem with the words. The entity''s face was much like that of the original, only the thing¡¯s teeth were sticky and entirely crimson. It held up a crystal device, and only then did Leif realise that the clone itself hadn¡¯t spoken, instead the Spire Head¡¯s voice had come from the object it was holding. ¡°I¡¯m afraid this locale is currently off limits. Students, please step into one of the nearby buildings, you will be safe within.¡± The shard of crystal projecting the voice glimmered, and the words shifted to a more dangerous cadence. ¡°Invaders, you have made a terrible mistake attacking my island, but you will go no further.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t recognise you.¡± Marcus said, hopping from foot to foot. ¡°Hey! Will you stop us from getting to the hub?¡± The clone, or rather, the magical communications device shimmered once more, repeating the first part of its speech. ¡°It¡¯s most likely a recording of some kind. Is there anyone else in our way?¡± Leif telepathically sent to Marcus. The [Seeker] raised a hand, and a moment later he shook his head. ¡°Possibly. I can¡¯t sense deep within the portal hub building, but I think there¡¯s only this clone between us and there.¡± He replied aloud. ¡°Okay. What are our odds of getting past this thing?¡± He sent. Marcus chewed his lower lip, wobbling his head from side to side. Leif felt the man¡¯s anxiety, his resolve, and more than a little confidence. They could do it, but they would have to be quick. ¡°If we do this.¡± Marcus said, drumming his fingers against his leg and glancing behind them to see if any invaders were coming. ¡°We need to get off the island before anyone realises what we¡¯re doing. Also, we shouldn¡¯t leave the people here undefended, so let''s try to not kill this... gentleman.¡± Leif shot the bloody copy of Vevosis an assessing look, his analysis attempt bounced and he rolled his neck. Something burnt in the distance, staining the mist a dull, smokey orange. The scion lowered himself, golden arms fanning out to either side of his body. The clone spread its arms as if imitating him, its grin widening, stretching unnaturally. Leif focused on [Alacrity] with his core skill, sharing the attribute increase with Marcus. Then he ran forward. Immediately dozens of sanguine strands of blood lashed out towards him, the razor thin line flickering out of the mist. Mentally Leif saluted the clothes he was wearing, and plunged head-first into the crimson wires. They cut at him, blocked his path or wrapped around his limbs. Strips of fabric fell to the ground, and the distant sensation of damage reached his awareness. Golden arms dissolved where they had been severed, but new ones sprouted from his back and sides to replace them. Someone pushed them from behind in an attempt to get passed, and whoever they were, their [Might] was high enough to bully their way forward. People shouted and wailed, some trying to follow the path being forged by the aggressive student. ¡°You need to stay here!¡± A guard was shouting. ¡°There are attacks on all the islands, the safest place is to remain here!¡± His words were immediately undermined as the ceiling cracked, a massive chunk of stone falling from above. It was blasted into dust a moment later, but the hole remained. A figure with chains wrapped around their arms and neck leered down at them, his eyes dull and lifeless. He raised a hand, pointing it downwards, towards the hundreds of helpless, trapped students inside the hub. Roy clenched his eyes shut as the sound of rusted metal scraping against rusted metal split the air. He screamed, Lucia screamed, a hundred voices all cried out at once, their wails only adding to the cacophony. Through the pain and terror Roy opened his eyes a crack. He was the only one to see the man with the chains get swept away by a wave of oily grey water. With the man¡¯s sudden departure, the sound vanished. But in his place was a pervasive, uneasy sense of otherworldly dread. It wasn¡¯t much of an improvement. === Hera sprinted as fast as she could, platforms of light materialising under her boots with every step. The sea shimmered over a hundred metres below her, and dark clouds boiled ominously above. She reflected that it would be nice to have a battle with good, clear weather for once, but the enemy had likely picked to attack when they had specifically due to the cloud cover. That, or they had created it. Republic ships floated along the coast of Pellus, and tempting as it was to turn back and pick them off, Lutum was in danger, and she had her orders. [Lightspeed Acceleration] triggered in its most powerful state, and her sudden increase in velocity made the air crack around her. The skill was powerful, incredibly so. Ordinarily the skill gradually increased her speed over time, but in the way she had just used it, the sheer speed it granted made fine amounts of control all but impossible. But she didn¡¯t need control, she needed to move. With every second wasted, lives would be lost. She sensed the approaching figure before she saw him, and the realisation of who it was almost made her sigh. It wasn¡¯t one of Sabline¡¯s wind elementals, the one that had been following after her to relay tactical updates on the battle had been forced to turn back due to the distance from its summoner. Zane, white hair billowing in the wind, eyes wide open and mouth blessedly closed, followed in her wake, his own flight made possible by the sword he was standing on, though the effort to catch up was clearly straining him. ¡°Hello there Hera, nice day we¡¯re having.¡± Zane sent telepathically. He almost certainly had an item to allow the feat, because his singular class most certainly didn¡¯t grant him that ability. ¡°They picked me to help out with Lutum, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re grateful.¡± She forced down her mix of irritation and relief, but didn¡¯t respond, any words she spoke would be lost in the rush of wind. There were ten Blades, but only eight were present at the Academy. Two per-island had been the snap decision, and they hadn¡¯t had time to sort out who exactly would go where. Her home island was clearly in sight now, though for anyone else it would be little more than a blur on the horizon. She sped up, partially to get there faster, partially to outrun the idiot on the flying sword. ¡°Woah, not so fast. We¡¯re almost close enough.¡± Zane sent, and his telepathic message sounded winded. She didn¡¯t slow, so he was forced to speed up. He dipped down below her, then pushed every ounce of speed he could out of his flying sword to raise himself before her. He drew the sword at his hip, and the sky before them cracked, blurred, changed. Space twisted as it was cut into, the world shifting around them as they dashed through the temporary gap. Then they were there, a hundred metres above the forested hills of Lutum, the flashing of skills lighting up the ground below. Without missing a beat Hera conjured a panel of light before her, slightly angled upwards. She kicked off it, soaring upwards as she twisted, flipped, and conjured her bow. Upside down she created an arrow out of hardened light, drew back the bow, sighted a target, then loosed. Then again, then again. [Reaching Arrows] made the projectiles go further, faster, and travel in more complex ways. [Noble Reflexes] steadied her hand, helping her pick out targets. [Legacy of Battle], combined with her incredible ocular perception helped her find the enemy leadership. Her [Aura of Gathering Radiance] skill condensed the light around her, empowering her skill constructs, and her [Hard-light Constitution] empowered her body to withstand the strain of doing so much, so quickly. Within seconds the sky was lit with a dozen streaks of light zipping down towards the island below, and the number only multiplied with every passing moment. A swordsman with twisted steel blades died as he kicked in a door and rushed inside, an arrow shattering the dormitory window and taking him in the heart. A flying storm mage looked upwards, their eyes widening in shock as their magic rose up to protect themselves. An arrow slammed into their skull from behind. A trio of spider-like constructs, each the size of a small shed were crawling over a lecture hall. An arrow of light pierced all three in the glowing red crystalline cores they had hidden under their metallic carapace. A man with smokey wings dodged the two arrows she had sent his way, but was forced to blast apart the next five as he desperately back-pedalled. He blurred, then split into five identical copies even her perception couldn¡¯t tell apart. Near the coast, figures glowing with amethyst light materialised from under the decks of every other ship, each wielding a bow larger than their bodies. Perceptions locked onto Hera from all over the island, and more and more invaders revealed themselves. They weren¡¯t as strong as her, but they had no doubt been hand picked for their abilities. Abilities that would allow them to check her in a fight, or counter specific skills she possessed. Someone had done their homework, that was flattering. These must be the individuals Sabline had reported as targeting specific Blades, a strategic move by their enemy that indicated significant preparation, intelligence gathering and coordination. Unfortunately the souls below her had miscalculated, or perhaps their leaders had. Because she hadn¡¯t arrived on Lutum alone. Zane let out a low whistle as he hovered up beside her, casually gesturing down with his drawn sword. ¡°Should I take the beach? Cut off their retreat?¡± ¡°No. Protect the portal hub, those constructs are closing in on it..¡± ¡°As you wish, ninth Blade.¡± He said with a bow. Then he cut the air before him and stepped through, his flying sword tumbling through the sky, now absent a rider. Hera absent-mindedly tucked it into her spatial storage before it could fall out of her reach. Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 176: Cover Chapter 176: Cover The crowd parted as Leif delicately used his aura, his presence, to gently direct the milling students around him. His aura washed over those within the portal hub and its connecting hallways and chambers, suppressing those within slightly, nudging them towards calm. His honest disposition, and genuine intention to help where he could, prevented a panic or outbreak of violence as he worked his way towards the portal arches. As he passed, a golden arm would stretch out, healing the wounded he moved alongside. The crowd filtered away slowly, more willing to spread out into the further parts of the structure, but they were replaced almost immediately by a stream of newcomers pushing their way through the portals and into the newly opened space. Leif¡¯s clothing was in tatters, but either nobody noticed the oddities of his appearance, or they didn¡¯t care enough to confront him while there was a war going on outside, and he was clearly there to help. Blood was splattered against the painted mask, with several cracks running through its surface. Amber had stopped flowing from his wounds, but it left his body streaked with golden lines. As he and Marcus finally stepped up before the portal arch leading to Lutum, shouts echoed through the building. The crowd murmured, shifting in anxiety, and their combined voices drowned out the words being yelled. ¡°Time to go.¡± Marcus hissed, his hands on Leif¡¯s back. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here, quickly.¡± Leif sharpened his aura, and those nearby flinched back. With barely a sliver of space to walk he stepped forward, pushing through the last students and into the portal. The crowd on the other side was just as packed together, if not more so, and the world trembled with the distant rumbling of battle. Leif turned, and through the distortion of the portal he saw black clad guards shoving their way into the teleportation chamber back on Dimid. ¡°We¡¯re trapped.¡± He said, his amber gaze drifting over the heads of the mass of humanity before him. ¡°Shit. If a fight breaks out in here it won¡¯t go well.¡± Marcus muttered. ¡°A fight won¡¯t break out. I¡¯ll either surrender or use my escape skill.¡± Marcus shot him a thoughtful look, then cupped his hands to his mouth. ¡°Hey! Everyone! There¡¯s more room through the portal to Dimid. It¡¯s safer there, the fighting is less fierce!¡± The hushed and panicked chatter ceased, everyone turning to look at Marcus with hope. The [Arcanist] gestured grandly to the portal, then panicked students started rushing for it. Leif stepped to the side, allowing them to pass. It was delaying the guards, but if anything, they were now more trapped by the newly created press of people. Leif fished through his system windows, briefly considering his unselected skills, but none of them could help. His mind plunged into his spatial ring, mentally sifting through his possessions. He had his compressed wooden weapons, spare clothing, his Twin Heart guild badge, some rope, money, Mana shards, and the one he had gotten from the undead dungeon. And he also had a warp pendant. It appeared in his hand, the chain dangling through his fingers. It was single use, and the location it would take him was random, but it would be somewhere reachable by walking, and would hopefully bring him somewhere away from the mass of humanity crowding around him. Leif had never used the item before, but he had seen it in use months ago. ¡°I can get us out. Hold onto me.¡± Leif said, but Marcus was on the other side of the room, smooshed up against the far wall to let the stream of students escape through the portal. ¡°Just go.¡± The portal hub shook. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, get out of here. Do some good outside.¡± Leif hesitated, then nodded. He activated the pendant, and vanished. === Zane fought three enemies at once. In a vacuum, he wouldn¡¯t be struggling, but he had to keep them away from the portal hub, and by extension, the people hiding within. He spun, parrying an overhead strike from a fellow swordsman, then disengaged to prevent a wind and fire mage from running for the large structure he was defending. There was an eruption of superheated air, then a devastating gout of flames that blasted from the mage in every direction. Zane leaped, and while in mid air he sent a near invisible ripple of energy towards the third combatant. His final opponent was surrounded in a bubble of water, and Zane couldn¡¯t make out their appearance, but whoever they were, their presence in the battle was very irritating. Smaller bubbles drifted all around, bouncing against the road, trees and nearby buildings. He had already learnt that when they touched an ally of the water mage, they would confer a potent amount of healing. If he touched them, they would latch on and try to restrain him. Before his attack could reach the bubble, the swordsman was there, he deflected the strike, then countered with a ranged slash of his own. Zane waved his sword and reappeared behind the fire mage, already spinning into a follow up attack. The mage screamed and blood flew, his arm fell to the side, but at the same time intense heat flared from the wound, cauterising it instantly and making Zane stumble away. The ends of his white hair were charred, and his uniform was singed. The mage retreated under the protection of a dozen bubbles, and the swordsman made a run for the portal hub. Damnit. Zane thought, intercepting the man with a burst of speed, sparks flying as their blade¡¯s clashed. The mist that covered the island was slowly dispersing, likely due to the intense light show taking place above their heads. ¡°You should surrender.¡± He casually told the swordsman as the byproduct of their duel tore into stone and cut down nearby trees. ¡°If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll be forced to reveal my... true power...¡± ¡°The Pillars will stand, you bastard.¡± The man spat, his brow knitted in concentration. ¡°The pigeon roosts.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I thought we were making up sayings.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll remove your head from your shoulders, Blade!¡± Unfortunately for the swordsman, another one of his friends decided to try and steal his prize. A fourth invader charged down the street, hammer held high as loose stones drifted up around him. The stones spun, sharpening, then they blasted forward with a swing of a hammer. Zane danced back, his sword flashing to deflect the worst of it, then he rolled to the side as an arm thick stream of fire tried to punch through his chest. He focused, the world around him slowing, sharpening. He cut, and all four invaders bled. The now one armed fire mage lost an eye, the swordsman fell back, blood gushing from his neck, the hammer wielder tipped, both his legs having been severed at just below the knees. The person within the bubble screamed, the sound distant, and the protective barrier of water sprayed as it was briefly parted, then its contents began to darken. Zane ran a hand through his hair and beamed at his enemies. Then five more ran into sight, and the fight was on again. A minute later the swordsman was dead, the fire mage had retreated and two of the newcomers were out of the fight. But he wasn¡¯t in great shape either. He would slowly heal from any wounds suffered from battle, but that would take time he didn¡¯t have. Suddenly the air to the side rippled, then popped as someone teleported right outside the portal hub. Zane fought back a sigh, skipping back to create space from the newcomer. They were tall, covered in tattered cloth and wore a blood smeared mask that looked like it was painted in the style of some sort of animal. A goat maybe? Zane raised his sword, pointing it at the man. ¡°Hello there, would you mind waiting until I¡¯ve dealt with these?¡± The newcomer glanced around, then back at the portal hub. Zane¡¯s heart sank, he didn¡¯t know what powers this person might have, but judging by what looked like wooden armour, they were probably a nature magic user. Nature magic was the worst, its users were always annoyingly durable. He let out a breath and prepared to engage, but the newcomer turned from the hub, golden arms fanning out to either side of his body. His masked face glanced up, and then he spoke. ¡°Is Hera doing that?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Zane replied. Two metallic constructs skittered out of a nearby crops of trees, their bodies an odd mix between insectile and humanoid. ¡°I have people I need to find, but I won¡¯t leave the portal hub in danger to find them. Not that you need help, I¡¯m sure you were handling things fine on your own, second Blade.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not an enemy?¡± Zane asked, leaning to the side to dodge a glowing bolt aimed for his face. ¡°Not unless you attack me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wonderful news! Say, do you want to help me clean up this... rabble?¡± The masked man nodded, then pulled a vibrating ball from thin air. He threw it at the approaching constructs, and it exploded into a writhing mass of wood that utterly obliterated the machines. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I like the mask, very mysterious. I used to wear one back in my adventuring days, but mine was black and white.¡± He said, deflecting another bolt with his sword. Golden motes of light drifted up around him, and the stranger''s aura washed out over their surroundings. It felt like being hugged. ¡°Zane Low, I must thank you for apprehending the... asset.¡± Vevosis said, his tone smooth and silky. He spoke to the Blade, but his gaze was locked onto Leif. It was predatory, hungry. ¡°Asset?¡± Zane asked, shooting Leif a look. ¡°Vivy, what the hells are you on about? And don¡¯t you have your own island to be protecting?¡± ¡°I assure you that things are under control on Dimid. I am simply here to perform my duties to humanity. ¡°Humanity? Is that so?¡± Vevosis smiled, but didn¡¯t look away from Leif. ¡°It is.¡± Leif rolled his neck, this was exactly the kind of situation he had hoped to avoid when coming to the Academy. Now he was trapped between a Blade and a Spire Head, and the only way out was to use [The Amber Path] to escape back to the anchor he had placed next to the domain tree. It had been going so well, but now everyone he had been involved with over the past few weeks would have to answer uncomfortable questions about his identity, and if they had known what he was, why they had helped him. As the guards surrounded him, keeping a safe distance, he looked up. Flashes of light still filled the misty sky, though they seemed further away than they had been when he first arrived on Lutum. Hera was out there, but she likely hadn¡¯t noticed the situation, too busy engaged in her own battles. The corpses of those who had assaulted the portal hub littered the ground, the strange constructs, not unlike those that were in the depths of the temple, sparked and smouldered where they had been destroyed. ¡°Explain, Vivy. Because I¡¯m not interested in helping you capture an ally.¡± ¡°Ally? My dear, that is no ally. The thing standing beside you is an enemy of humanity. An ancient and formidable foe that has done more damage to our species than you could imagine.¡± Two small figures appeared in the entranceway. And Leif wondered how everything had gone so wrong. ¡°An enemy, huh? Doesn¡¯t look like one to me. But there are lots of enemies still on the island, how about you do humanity a favour and help us clean up? As opposed to standing around here and doing nothing?¡± Vevosis didn¡¯t move, but his presence rose up, towering and sanguine. ¡°Yes. An enemy. After all, the thing masquerading as a person is not human, am I correct, monster?¡± ¡°Could I say anything to convince you otherwise?¡± Leif said, locking gazes with the Spire Head. The vitality within his body churned, hot and energetic. But even so, he doubted the man would have much difficulty restraining him with his blood magic. ¡°You cannot. And don¡¯t even think about taking a single step. You are in my custody now, creature. No longer will you threaten these islands, our precious students.¡± Leif saw the confused expression on Lucia and Roy¡¯s face, both children were staring at him unbelieving. He hesitated, then he reached up and removed his mask, tossing it to the ground with a clatter that echoed in the pervasive silence that followed. Would they capture him? Or would they kill him outright? A memory from the distant past, of an amber tree lashing out in fear and confusion as his world was torn apart. Leif¡¯s ivory fists clenched, the wood creaking from the force. ¡°I am Leif Vin. I was human once.¡± He tensed for battle. ¡°I am no threat to you, or the Academy. My time here has been peaceful, and I have nothing to do with the invasion that has taken place. Is taking place.¡± ¡°Lies.¡± Vevosis said. ¡°How could something as filthy as you be innocent?¡± ¡°I will not yield my life to you.¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have a choice. No choice at all.¡± Shouts came from behind them, but Leif didn¡¯t turn. A group of invaders charged into the square, and froze at the sight of the stand off. The guards surrounding Leif didn¡¯t budge, their weapons still focused on him alone. Zane drew his blade, and the air sharpened. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but we have a war to fight. People to save. How about we delay this little argument until after the lives of those under our care are safe?¡± ¡°Seize it.¡± Vevosis said, ignoring the Blade and flicking his hand in Leif¡¯s direction. Icy cold raced through Leif¡¯s body, and moving became a hundred times harder. The guards all moved as one, even as the republic soldiers prepared their skills from behind them. [Surge of Life and Growth] activated at full power, and he used [Wood Manipulation] to wrench back control over his own limbs. ¡°Stop.¡± Suddenly an invisible blade was at everyone¡¯s throat. Every guard and every invader, and everyone froze. Vevosis¡¯s eyes narrowed as blood trickled down his neck, and he finally looked away from Leif, his cool gaze locking onto Zane. ¡°What are you doing?¡± The second Blade grit his teeth, the strain of holding whatever skill he had used in place quickly taking its toll. ¡°This is idiocy. Nobody is doing anything... until I say so. Not... a... single... one... of... you.¡± ¡°You would defend one of your enemies? An enemy of humanity?¡± ¡°You would prioritise this over your duty? If you and your little Fracture buddies cared half as much about humanity as you pretend to, you would be fighting to save lives. You... Leif, was it? You stay right here, this is not over. Try to run, and I¡¯ll cut you down.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have the authority to threaten me, Low.¡± Vevosis growled. ¡°Do you want to get censured? You want to lose your cosy little position as Spire Head? Because I¡¯ll remove you from your post myself, I¡¯ll do it right here and now if I need to.¡± ¡°You do not understand. You do not comprehend the mistake-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit about your schemes and your bullshit. You, monster. You¡¯re in my custody now. Now nobody gets what they want. Are you happy now?¡± Nobody said anything. Then two children sprinted into the ring of guards, a boy and a girl. They tackled Leif, and even with every ounce of their strength they couldn¡¯t have moved him if they had wanted to. Zane blinked in surprise, glancing down at Lucia and Roy. The invisible sword threatening to remove Leif¡¯s head from his shoulders shimmered, then broke. Leif grabbed both children with an ivory hand each, and let them push him back. A single step. Two very different powers tried to stop him. One sharp, and one bloody. Two aura¡¯s crashed down onto him, attempting to stifle his skill activation. Individually, Leif wasn¡¯t a match for either man. At least not in a direct confrontation. But aura strength? He could manage, if only for just a second. But a second was all he needed. And then they were gone, in a streak of amber light. Chapter 177: Recall Chapter 177: Recall Hera drew a final arrow, pulled back the string on her bow, then loosed. The projectile made of hard light flashed through the trees. Twisting between trunks as it hunted the figure with smokey wings. She felt it when the arrow landed, then she triggered one of her core skills, vanishing in a flash of white light, and appearing above the man. His body was pinned to the ground, his limbs twitching, his wings singeing the air as they dissolved. Her soul ached, and her arms trembled, but she couldn¡¯t stop yet. She drew the sword at her hip and severed the man¡¯s head, slumping to her knees a moment later. She knelt on the forest floor for over a minute, heaving lungfuls of air as white motes painfully flaked off her arms and shoulders. She reached for a small vial tucked into a pouch at her belt, and popped the healing pill into her mouth. Then, as the pill got to work mending her body Hera stood. She walked back the way she had come, gradually increasing her speed to a jog, then a full run as she did so. On her way, Hera passed three amethyst clad corpses, the hard light arrows that had felled them still embedded into their bodies. She didn¡¯t stop for them, instead she leapt up a nearby tree, gaining as much elevation as she could to scout her surroundings. Boats drifted away from the shore, and many more lay wrecked on the sandy beaches of Lutum. A group of over a hundred raised their weapons as the enemy retreated, their numbers were comprised of Academy guard and combat track students that had joined together to resist the invaders. Hera sighed in relief, then turned her attention to the parts of campus she could see. It took more effort than she would have liked to activate her perception skill, and when she finally managed her vision briefly went dark and her soul twinged in pain. All over the island battles were being won, though not without great cost. They had been unprepared for the attack, but of course they had. Nobody had expected the republic to have been able to manage the feat, not striking so deep into the Empire. This was such a waste, both of lives and resources. What exactly had the invading forces hoped to achieve? Holding the archipelago would have been impossible, and Blades, despite their power, were by their nature replaceable. Had they just wanted to kill as many students as possible? Were the empire¡¯s high society, visiting for the quadriad, the real target? Hera didn¡¯t know. And it left her feeling empty. She glanced towards the part of Lutum where the fighting was still ongoing. Zane was there, or he should be, and no matter how unreliable the man acted, there were few people she had ever met who could truly match him in combat. She strained to see more, but so far into the forest surrounding the campus it was impossible to tell just what the situation was. She sighed, mentally reaching for another arrow. She could rest when this was over. A streak of amber light flew up into the sky from where the portal hub was, it circled overhead for several seconds, then flew with incredible speed towards the west. Hera blinked, then swore. The source of that skill could only be one person. === ¡°You idiot! Do you know what you have done?¡± Vevosis screamed, his hands gripping the collar of Zane¡¯s coat. ¡°Do you know what you¡¯ve cost me? What you¡¯ve cost us? That was a treasure worth more than kingdoms, and you let it get away!¡± ¡°Treasure? You lying sack of shit, you said he was a threat!¡± Zane replied, slapping away the Spire Head¡¯s hands and stepping back. Behind the two men, the Academy guards Vevosis had brought were engaging the last of the invaders. Finally doing their actual jobs, he would need to check the record of their employment, their allegiances seemed misaligned to say the least. ¡°It is both, in more ways than you could comprehend. It¡¯s heading towards Pellus, with luck we can still intercept before it slips away.¡± Zane tsk¡¯d, then glanced towards the portal hub. Students were streaming outside, and with every second more and more guards arrived from the other islands. ¡°What about the two kids that he left with, who were they?¡± ¡°I have my suspicions... How about you go save them? Surely that is within your power¡± ¡°You¡¯re a slimy son of a bitch, you know that?¡± Zane snapped, then he sprinted for the portal arch. ¡°And this conversation isn¡¯t over. Your actions here will be hotly discussed over the next few days!¡± ¡°Capture the monster and all will be revealed. Trust me, Zane.¡± The second Blade spat to the side, then swung his sword. He vanished into the portal hub, already heading for Pellus, determined to intercept Leif and at least salvage something from this horrible situation. === Roy floated in a world of amber and gold. Gravity seemed to have no sway on his body, but at the same time he didn¡¯t feel completely real. He raised his hands, and they were partially translucent, each digit shimmering, glowing with amber light. It was odd, but he didn¡¯t feel any pain or discomfort. If anything, it felt like all his worries had drifted away. ¡°Is... is that the sea down below us?¡± Lucia asked, and her partially muffled voice made him glance up. Both his sister and Leif were floating alongside him, and both were partially constructed out of golden light. Now that Lucia had pointed it out, Roy could see the outside world zipping by around them. Clouds flew above them, and the waves of the Rien Sea churned far below. ¡°I thought this would be more instantaneous.¡± Leif said, turning away from them to watch the direction they were headed. ¡°It will take hours to arrive at Far-Reach at this rate. Maybe a full day.¡± He reached out and placed ivory fingers against the wall of the skill. The confines of the golden world shifted, stretching and morphing. Roy glanced at Lucia, and he saw the worry on his sister¡¯s face. She was staring at the back of Leif¡¯s head, her fingers clenching and unclenching. He touched down, then wobbled over to her, unstable on his partially ethereal legs, and reached up to grasp her hand with his own. The two siblings stood together and waited. Finally Leif sighed, then spoke. ¡°You still came to me. Even after what I was was revealed.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Lucia said softly. Roy nodded, though he doubted Leif noticed. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°We needed to save you from the bad guys.¡± Roy said simply, glancing up at his sister for confirmation. She smiled, and he returned the expression. ¡°The bad guys...¡± Leif repeated, then he turned. For the first time both siblings got a good look at his face. Though it was streaked with golden light, just like the rest of them, they could still make out his features. Leif hit the water with a thunderous crash, and his entire world was surrounded by darkness. Immediately he began to sink, the depths swallowing him even as he thrashed around to try and stop his inevitable descent. His body was dense, and while that made him physically powerful, it was the opposite kind of body he needed at the moment. He felt the power of [The Amber Path] flying away, and saw through the water the shimmering gold of the skill as it continued on its path. To his side he sensed Lucia, but he couldn¡¯t detect Zane, the Blade was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Lucia, swim to the surface.¡± He telepathically sent, while at the same time trying to reassure and calm her with his aura. He felt her react to his words, but with no way to hear a reply he sunk in silence, spreading amber motes of light into the water around him in an effort to see. He sensed the moment she broke the surface, felt the residual relief washing over her, only for it to be replaced by another spike of panic. But he was too far away to help her, hells, he could barely help himself. He drifted downwards for over a minute, completely helpless. Things moved in the water around him, and he could sense their flickering vitality. Small and quick, likely fish instead of some overwhelmingly powerful sea monster. Suddenly his feet hit sand, and a cloud of sediment burst up around him. Out of oxygen his body was already deteriorating, and a trickle of vitality was being expended with every passing moment to restore him. He had time, several minutes, perhaps more if he fed on the life-force of the creatures flitting around him. Leif pushed more power into [Amber Aegis], trying to ignore the flicker of pain that shot through his soul. The sea floor bloomed into light all around him, the golden motes reflecting off startled fish, their scales twinkling in the darkness. Water pushed down against his senses, and physical pressure weighed upon him. But he had seen the lights in the distance as [The Amber Path] had carried him and the others, and if his guess was correct, it was likely a settlement of some sort, probably Kartinth. He could no longer detect Lucia, but he started walking in the direction he hoped she had gone. His teleportation skill was now on ¡®cool-down¡¯, or at least the long distance recall part of it was. The skill description said it could be up to a year before he could reactivate it, though the amount depended on distance travelled. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t be that long. He mentally opened his system notifications, quickly re-reading the one about his previous skill options for [Adept of Self-Restoration]. Unless drowning was an ailment, the first choice was out of the question, the second, [Delay the End] felt almost identical to what the name suggested, and [Life Orbs] gave off the impression of a technique, likely one that would allow him to utilise vitality in a new way. He didn¡¯t have much choice at the moment, death was closing in, so only a single option made sense. === Delay the End Aspects: Enhancement (Body)* (Life)* Increases the efficacy of all healing skills the closer to death the user is. Reduces physical damage taken the more injured the individual¡¯s body is. === Immediately he felt the gradual drain of his vitality slow, the potency of each drop sustaining him more and more. But even with the new skill, his time was rapidly running out. The amount of healing he required only seemed to increase with every minute, and despite now having several skills that all worked to increase his durability, he wouldn¡¯t make it, that much was obvious. Leif was one level away from reaching level twenty five in [Scion of Aeons], but he had only just gained two levels in the class, relying on the chance he could gain that final level, and hope that whatever skills it may offer him could somehow save him from his situation was a poor thread to tie his life to. But he had other options, surely there was a way out. Something caught his attention above him, and Leif looked up. A shadow was carving through the water¡¯s surface, and to either side were several more. They were boats. And boats were made out of wood. Furthermore, Leif suspected he knew who the owners of the vessels were, and there would be no love lost if he broke one or two. Or several. He pushed everything he had into his physical strength, flooded his legs with vitality, braced himself to jump with a dozen arms all ready to push at the same time. He leapt, shooting upwards, mentally reaching out for the hull of the nearest ship with [Wood Manipulation]. He didn¡¯t make it on the first attempt, and moving so much, so quickly, seemed to quickly burn out the fuse that was the time he had until suffocation claimed him. He landed back on the seafloor, his descent doing little to settle the storm of sediment raging around him. The shadow he had aimed for was too far away now, but another was hot on its heels. Leif prepared himself, then reached for the last compressed wooden sphere he had in his storage ring. It appeared in his hand, and immediately fell through his fingers, tugged downwards. It hit the sand with a dull thud. Leif planted a foot on the sphere, then flooded it with his remaining vitality. The sphere exploded, and Leif blasted upwards, controlling his ascent with [Wood Manipulation] as twisting and writing branches carried him upwards. This time his momentum was greater, and with a wrench he tugged at the ship above him. It ripped apart, the hull splitting in two as Leif¡¯s will forced it to descend, what had once been tempered wood flowed down towards him, reaching as if it were a hand trying to pluck him from the sea. He let it, then climbed the stalk with every limb he had available, pulling more and more of the ship apart as he gained elevation. Barrels and crates fell all around him, their contents spilling out into the gloom to be lost forever. The first sailors were pulled down along with their ship, weighed down by their armour and weapons. Several lashed out in fear with skills that lit the sea a plethora of vibrant colours, but their lives were snuffed out as amber limbs snaked out to pluck their vitality. The boat crumpled in on itself, groaning and bucking as its purpose was reshaped in the most violent and dramatic fashion possible. Then it burst like an egg, and Leif erupted back up onto the surface. All around him were shouts and cries, torches were being lit on nearby vessels, the shadowy shapes of the republic ships were revealed like a veil being lifted. His fingers dug into the remains of the ship below him, then with a roar he used what was left of its wooden carcass to bridge the gap to the next vessel. The platform he created speared into the upper deck, shaking the entire ship with the impact. Men fell back, and Leif leapt aboard, scattering the crew with a forest of amber limbs, forcing the deck to stab upwards to impale a dozen soldiers all at once. He sensed several intents, sharp and dangerous, lock onto him from several directions, and he tensed. Then another ship exploded into a shower of splinters, having been carved straight through with a single swing of a blade. Zane licked his lips, then waved awkwardly, a waterlogged Lucia draped over one shoulder. She was trying to twist out of his grip, but he held her in place with little difficulty. ¡°So...¡± He called. ¡°Sorry about that!¡± ¡°Is that Kartinth?¡± Leif yelled back. ¡°Uh, probably. I¡¯m not sure what exactly happened.¡± ¡°Forget it.¡± Leif snapped. ¡°What¡¯s more important to you, me or an invasion fleet?¡± ¡°Admittedly, a fleet of ships trying to invade my home is the priority. Shall we, uh, take care of business?¡± Chapter 178: Splinters Chapter 178: Splinters Lucia¡¯s world spun, and that was in part because Zane had dropped her onto the lilting deck of the bisected ship he had leapt onto with her slung over his shoulder. All around her were the crashes, screams and emanations of battle, the activation of skills lighting up the night, their endlessly different aspects reflecting off the void that was the pitch black sea. All of those were reasons she struggled to find her feet, couldn¡¯t see clearly, and was on the verge of a panic attack. But they weren¡¯t the primary reason. Roy was gone, carried away in a streak of light. Her brother was gone. Her little brother. It felt like something had been violently torn out of her chest. Whenever she had left Roy alone during their time living on the street, her heart had fluttered with anxiety, and her stomach had twisted into knots. But she had always known where he was, and had always known how to return to him. But here, the cold sea air buffeting her from all directions, she was more lost than she had ever been before. A wave struck the sinking half of the boat, and she fell forward, managing to catch herself on the nearby railing, her balance better than it had ever been before gaining her class. Lucia blinked tears from her eyes and desperately glanced around for Leif. He would know where Roy was, he would know where to find him. Finding him was the easy part, the wooden vessel he was standing on had been twisted and melted into an unnatural shape, and the world around him bristled with amber lights and golden arms. Soldiers threw themselves at him, only to be rebuffed as the deck they were standing atop shifted to knock them over, ruptured to send them flying or twisted upwards to restrain their bodies and draw them closer. Even over the din of battle and the distant ringing of bells from the city, Lucia heard someone grunt as they pulled themselves up onto her half of the ship. Her breath caught for a fraction of a second, then she dove to the side, crouching behind a trio of crates that had been bolted to the deck. The soldier staggered over to where she had just been standing and leaned against the railing. Sea water dripped off them in a steady stream, and they spat into the sea, cursing up a storm. They had an axe slung over their back, and a dagger attached to their belt. Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com Suddenly a massive explosion of flames detonated atop a nearby ship, the sheer heat and power of the fire rocking every vessel in the vicinity. Lucia¡¯s ears rang and her vision went white, there was a second detonation, then a third, each getting further and further away. There was a thump next to her as something, or someone fell against the crates. When her vision returned the man was right beside her, blood streaking down the side of his face. She scrambled away, but his eyes refocused before she could break line of sight. There was a pause as they both froze. Lucia was moving before she had consciously made the decision to do so, she crossed the distance between them in three quick steps, her fist aimed for the soldier¡¯s nose. The punch connected, and the man¡¯s head snapped back, but he was a higher level, and easily weighed three times as much as she did. Therefore he recovered quickly from her blow, but unfortunately for the soldier, the instincts drilled into him during his training made him reach for the axe slung over his back instead of taking advantage of his other advantages. In the time it took him to grab the weapon¡¯s shaft Lucia had plucked the dagger from his belt and jammed it into his throat. She slumped to the increasingly tilted deck, her hands trembling, blood fountaining off to the side from the deadly wound she had inflicted. Lucia wanted to be sick, to recoil at what she had done. But she just felt numb, conflicted and scared. A system prompt flickered to life before her eyes, and she stared at the message for several seconds. This was the second time she had levelled up after killing another person. She preferred training. There was a scream from a nearby boat, and Lucia glanced up to see the crew aiming skills skywards, flashes of multicoloured light lancing into the night air, silhouetting a serpentine body with a wingspan wider than the ship it flew above. A gout of white hot fire streamed from its shadowed jaws, and the soldiers on board were engulfed. She shrunk back, her eyes wide as she watched the monster unleash its power. Water splashed against her boots, and she looked down to see that the bisected ship was out of time. Then a bridge of wood speared down into the deck, and Leif stepped off of it, landing with a splash next to her. He looked at the corpse, the blood mixing with the sea, then back to her. ¡°Are you okay?¡± He asked. ¡°I... Yes. We need to- We need to find Roy, is he...¡± ¡°Gone, he¡¯s likely a hundred miles up the coast by now. We¡¯ll follow, but we need to get to land first.¡± ¡°Will he be fine? What if the skill breaks, or falls apart now that you¡¯re not there. What if he¡¯s trapped forever, or it doesn¡¯t go to where you thought it would? What if-¡± ¡°Lucia.¡± Leif said, placing a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Focus, Roy will be fine. We need to leave before one of the coatl¡¯s mistakes us for an enemy.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°I... Yes, okay. Are those what are flying around?¡± ¡°They are. Whatever the Republic¡¯s plan here was, getting to the city undiscovered was probably part of it. Shame we ruined it.¡± === ¡°Really? Let me try and explain myself.¡± Zane coughed, raising a hand skywards, only to let it fall down a moment later. That was too much effort, he¡¯d have to monologue without props. ¡°Firstly, Vevosis is a slimy bastard, and I shouldn¡¯t have listened to him in the first place. You weren¡¯t a threat, and I don¡¯t give a shit what he wants out of you. Secondly, you¡¯ve more than proven yourself not an enemy. The coatl¡¯s would have found and torched you if you were with the Republic, they can sense that sort of thing, and if you¡¯re part of another faction or group I don¡¯t want to know about it. Thirdly, I¡¯m tired and want to sleep.¡± ¡°You separated us from Roy.¡± The girl said, and out of the corner of his eye Zane saw her clench her fists. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Sorry? You could have killed him! You could have killed us!¡± The second Blade winced. ¡°Sheesh, I know alright, I know. I said sorry.¡± Leif walked forwards, each step crunching the sand underfoot. He loomed over Zane, and the glowing eyes really added to the sinister effect. He wondered if the man-tree had a skill to make them do that. ¡°I really am not your enemy. I have nothing against the Academy, nor the empire. I came to the islands to learn, and I regret having to leave under these circumstances.¡± ¡°Right. I¡¯m not your enemy either, nobody who fights alongside me deserves to have me turn around and put a sword to their neck. Things are always more complicated than they need to be, it''s a pain in the ass. I just want to stab bad guys, eat good food, and annoy my wife. This secret society, walking trees and lost children crap is not for me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a... surprisingly immature way of looking at things.¡± The walking tree said. ¡°I did not imagine this was what you were really like after watching you in the arena. Regardless, we¡¯re leaving now. Please don¡¯t send anyone after us.¡± ¡°Okie-dokie, best of luck. Oh, you too girl.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t trust him.¡± She said. ¡°He¡¯ll try to capture us, or do something to hurt us.¡± ¡°Oh, I won¡¯t. Can¡¯t say the same for anyone else though. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if Vevosis hasn¡¯t already sent goons after you already. You should be as far from here as possible by the time dawn arrives. If my hunch is correct, there will have been other invasion fleets, so try to stay inland if at all possible.¡± ¡°We might.¡± Leif said. Zane chuckled, then stopped, doing so hurt his ribs. ¡°Oh, you mentioned Hera when we first met, didn¡¯t you? I won¡¯t ask questions, but I¡¯ll let her know what happened.¡± ¡°Thank you. That would be... beneficial.¡± ¡°I aim to please. Now, if you could be so kind, let me rest. My everything hurts.¡± He closed his eyes and wiggled into the sand, getting comfy, or as comfy as he could, there was a shell poking into his lower back. His eyes fluttered open when he felt something nudge his arm. Healing energy trickled into him, warm and comfortable. Zane sighed, flexing his fingers and toes. ¡°Alright, for that, I¡¯ll kick Vevosis between the legs for you as well.¡± Chapter 179: Interlude: The Boy Who Fell From The Sky Chapter 179: Interlude: The Boy Who Fell From The Sky Bam trotted through the field of fully grown grain and considered that it was unfair that she wasn¡¯t allowed to eat all of it. It grew so quickly, and nobody would notice if she nibbled on a couple, or several hundred juicy heads. It was truly outrageous, one of life¡¯s great injustices. She walked along the dirt path towards the farmhouse in the distance. There were lots of buildings now, it felt like every day those with the misfortune of possessing thumbs would run around putting more up. She didn¡¯t understand why they liked the structures so much, wasn¡¯t it more comfortable to sleep under the night sky? Well, most of the humans didn¡¯t have fur, they needed to make their own, or steal it from other animals. Bam didn¡¯t get it, but Lani probably did. Her sister was weird, she slept so frequently because she thought too much, it was bad for one¡¯s health. Well, technically Lani was her daughter, but all the human¡¯s didn¡¯t know that, so they called them sisters. If Bam was being honest, she forgot the true nature of their relationship most of the time anyway, so it didn¡¯t really matter. Hells, she didn¡¯t even remember what the first years of her life were like, not like now, where she could remember not to eat the wheat. The family that lived in the farmhouse saw her, and waved. She happily chewed in greeting. Wait. Whoops. One of the farmers shouted, and Bam turned and scrambled back down the path, bits of half eaten grain tumbling from her mouth. She fled as quickly as she could manage, only stopping occasionally to sample the goods as she went. Bam reached the end of the fields, and hopped over a small stone wall. She could hear the farmers catching up to her, so she bolted down the road, legs flailing, almost bowling over two women holding baskets, and making a yak pulling a wagon huff in surprise. Bam skidded to a halt, then backtracked to the shorter of the two humans. She gingerly plucked an apple out of the woman¡¯s basket with her teeth, ducked under a grabbing hand trying to stop her, then skipped away from the scene of the crime, fruity juices squirting out of her mouth. So tasty, everything grown around the big rock with the tree was so delicious. The yak huffed in annoyance as she passed it again, but Bam ignored it, there were more people chasing her, how fun. She lost her pursuers at the outskirts of what she knew were called ¡®outer villages¡¯. Smaller communities that had sprung up around the edges of the big tree¡¯s life giving presence. Then the radius would expand, and more fields could be planted, which in turn meant more groups of wooden boxes. But the outer villages didn¡¯t compare to the town that had sprung up around the two rocks. There were hundreds of buildings, all in different shapes and sizes. The paths had stones mixed into the compact dirt, and what had once been a tiny stream, from the big ice cubes that she wasn¡¯t allowed to go near again, was now a flowing river. There was even a bridge. It felt like every day more people arrived at Far-Reach, which meant more food, which meant more fun. When newcomers arrived they were always dirty, skinny, and sad. Which of course was stupid, they should have just eaten more, humans always made things more complicated than they needed to be. To prove her own point, Bam stopped for a snack break by nibbling on some tasty grass. Grass grew rapidly, and in great numbers. The council had gone to great efforts to eradicate the weed from around the town, but tiny clusters of the stuff would always spring from somewhere. When she was done with the grass, Bam noticed a cluster of blue flowers, which tasted okay. Next to them was a log covered in moss, which tasted better, though she could have done without the ants. And besides that was a bench with a bunch of folded shirts. Well, if people were just going to leave this stuff lying around, she would clean up for them. Ignoring the shirtless people swinging around swords, spears and the occasional axe in the nearby training yard, Bam got to work cleaning up society. ¡°Bam, no!¡± Came a shout from behind her, and she sheepishly turned to see what was the problem. A large, muscular man who was sweating far too much for it to be healthy, ran towards her, his face red, lightning crackling through his long white hair. He had little horns too, but her¡¯s were bigger, and therefore better- ¡°Stop. Eating. My. Fucking. Shirt. You. Stupid. Animal!¡± Olav yelled, wringing her by the neck. ¡°Stop it! This is the third time this week! Why do you do these things?¡± Bam tried to ask what was the matter, but the telepathic bridge had long been severed, and she had no way of rebuilding it. Instead she hung there in silence, watching Lani watch the night sky. === The first hour of flight alone in the world of gold was terrifying. The skill kept rising and dipping at random intervals, and Roy was certain it would fall apart, plummeting him down into the sea below, or dashing him against the rocky cliffs he was soaring over. But after an hour or so had passed, and his tears had dried, Roy found himself watching the world pass by below him. He saw the distant lights of coastal towns and villages, and larger clusters of light that must have been cities. The clouds parted as he flew north, and the moonlight let him see forests, hills and even several small islands. Leif¡¯s skill carried him north, then west, and Roy found himself trying to remember the initial journey that he and Lucia had taken with their family to reach the imperial capital. He had been very young then, and could barely recall more than small flashes of moments. Still, he tried, watching the world from a vantage he had never experienced before. So he couldn¡¯t help but notice the fires, and the bands of moving torches that revealed ships all along the coast. He had never seen war, didn¡¯t remember the one that had claimed his homeland, but the sight made him sick. Why did people have to fight, what was the point of attacking cities and towns? Wouldn¡¯t everyone be happier, safer, if they just got along? He opened his mouth to ask Lucia, then closed it when he realised she wasn¡¯t there. He felt cold, vulnerable, he didn¡¯t know what it was like to be without his older sister. For his entire life she had always been there, even when things had gotten really bad, and his sickness had made him too weak to move. Sometimes he would wake up in a dark room alone, but she would always leave a note saying where she had gone off to, and he knew she wouldn¡¯t be far, would always return before long. But now miles passed every minute, and with every one that ticked by, Lucia grew days, if not weeks away. Roy hugged his knees and tried not to cry, he was a big boy now, he shouldn¡¯t weep, it would feel wrong without his sister¡¯s shoulder anyway. It took him several seconds to notice the massive city below him, easily the biggest he had seen so far. He expected the golden world to carry him by just like all the other¡¯s, but it didn¡¯t, instead he hovered around the settlement, circling it several times. This let him make out the massive palace, towering walls, and intricate network of wooden docks built into the cliffside. He also saw the war taking place on the streets below. Men and women fought and died, groups leaping between rooftops, and several powerful figures doing battle in the sky. Roy¡¯s breath caught, if one of them attacked Leif¡¯s skill thinking it was caused by one of their enemies he might fall from the sky and plummet to his death in the streets below. Thankfully, before anyone could turn their attention to the steak of golden light circling their city, he was gone, heading north. Roy could now see that he was following a road, then a path. He soared over a massive river lined with dozens of fortifications and bridges, then he was looking down on villages with no lights twinkling in their windows. Were there no people there? Why? Had something happened? In the far north, a massive range of mountains loomed out of the darkness, and Roy knew what they were. Lucia had told him stories of the northern ranges, how his father had loved to explore them, hunting monsters and levelling up. He thought for a moment Leif¡¯s skill would carry him all the way back to Pherin, but instead it aimed right for a town full of twinkling lights. He dropped rapidly, the golden world flashing through low cloud coverage. A massive tree with shimmering red and gold leaves took up everything he could see and the ground lurched upwards. Roy screamed and covered his eyes, then with a rush of wind the skill fell apart, and he dropped, falling, he was going to die- He fell half a metre and promptly landed on something soft and warm, his legs sticking up into the air. He cried out, flailing wildly, but he couldn¡¯t move. But whatever he had landed on certainly could. It was an animal of some kind, large and fluffy. It was going to eat him for sure! All around him was movement and chaos as hundreds of creatures were abruptly yanked from their sleep. He wasn¡¯t going to die from the fall, he was going to be trampled to death. He covered his eyes with his arm and tucked in his legs as he rolled off the animal and landed in the dirt. For over a minute he remained like that, shivering and terrified. And nothing happened. He wasn¡¯t attacked, eaten or stepped on. In fact, the ruckus from so many animals had already died down. He spread his fingers and risked a look. Two pairs of eyes looked down at him, one curious, sparkling with ethereal silver light. The other was... upside down? And was that a tongue lulling from its mouth? ¡°Wuh?¡± He said dumbly. Chapter 180: Interlude: House Vin Chapter 180: Interlude: House Vin The ascent leading up to the palace in Varan city was Flavia¡¯s favourite place in the entire lakeside settlement. It was lined with beautiful arrays of multicoloured flowers, artfully sculpted statues painted in lavish golds and silvers, and the multitude of endlessly flowing fountains added a bubbling ambiance to the walk that threatened to transport her to another world. It reminded her of the gardens and courtyards back home, though a hundred times more regal. The shimmering domes of the palace fought for the attention of any making their way upwards, and the reflecting of the early morning sun off their metallic and gemstone construction did wonders to constantly remind her of just what kind of den she was marching into. The rhythmic clank of the two guards walking in solemn lockstep at her heels was another reminder, this time of her duty. She didn¡¯t need protectors, not here, not unless the painters working to restore the artistic integrity of some of the more timeworn statues were assassins in disguise. When she finally reached the base of the grand stairs leading up to the palace proper she beheld the sight of two dozen guards standing in two straight backed lines, each flanking one side of the approach. It didn¡¯t escape her notice that half of the palace''s protectors wore the same red and gold as her own two guards. The others had the regal purple of the royal family, and similar colours were displayed from hanging banners, but these too were often paired with red and gold copycats. The flanking guards all saluted in unison, and none so much as hinted that she wasn¡¯t welcome or expected. The last time she had visited, there had been no sign of house Vin¡¯s influence, but now it was hard to escape the reality of her family¡¯s rising fortune and status. While Flavia had been managing her house¡¯s response to the undead crisis in the west, deploying the adventuring companies under her family¡¯s employ and coordinating the defensive effort, her father had been here, along with many of her house¡¯s more senior members. Playing politics wasn¡¯t a term she enjoyed using, but if it was a game, they were winning. Now that turbulence had come and gone, and she had received word that the planned expedition into the lands that had formerly belonged to the kingdom of Pherin was no longer needed, her grandfather had insisted, as the daughter of house Vin¡¯s heir, that she should integrate herself into the royal court. This was a game that ordinarily, if the trajectory of her life hadn¡¯t been altered suddenly with the death of her brother, that she likely would have had to take part in far more often. The younger her would have been delighted at the splendour and spectacle, enchanted by the music and outfits, and overwhelmed by the sheer grandeur of it all. As she ascended the final steps and double checked that she was just as presentable as her maids had wanted her to be, she forcibly reminded herself of the difference twelve years could make, and just how quickly everything could change. Her mother had likely walked the same journey she had just completed a thousand times, but that did little to ease her worries. She took a deep breath, then stepped inside. === Flavia forced a smile and dipped her head slightly in a loose approximation of respect. Not for the first time she wondered what would break first, her fist, or the nose of the Patriarch of house Yerl. Their houses were allies, almost everyone in the great hall of the Varan city palace was either a friend or in a position of subordination to either house Vin or one of the other main players, and the tense political climate within their country made any alliances valuable. But that didn¡¯t stop her from wanting to deck the older man in his smug, stupid face. Her brother, if he were still here, surely would have already done so. But Flavia couldn¡¯t, it would be both politically idiotic, and she also lacked the physical strength, so she would have to satisfy herself by imagining the sight of blood flying and the sound of cartilage crunching as she wiped the condescending half sneer off his face. ¡°My dear.¡± Bartol Yerl drawled, all but leering over the goblet of wine he had raised to his lips. ¡°I dare say it would be a perfect union. Our houses would become closer than ever, and I can attest to my son¡¯s... affections towards you.¡± Flavia had to fight down the sudden need to gag. Erik Yerl was like his father, a disgusting weasel of a man, and his idea of ¡®good natured fun¡¯ was exposing himself to serving girls or challenging farmers a quarter of his level to ¡®friendly spars¡¯. A few years prior she had entertained a similar proposal from Bartol, at the behest of her father, and the resulting meeting with the man¡¯s son had been nothing short of excruciating. His ¡®the death of your brother made you more beautiful¡¯ poem had not been the romantic gesture of endearment he had expected, and the fact he had mistaken her appalled expression for an encore request had not helped his attempt to court her in the least. No. It had been that incident, along with several others, that had convinced Flavia to seek companionship outside of the noble circles. ¡°Our houses already walk side by side.¡± She demurred, and the resulting scowl from the older man made it clear that her backhanded insult had landed. Their houses were certainly allies, but they were not equal. No, there wasn¡¯t a noble family in the palace that had a higher standing than house Vin, even the royals, fallen and politically weak as they were, could only claim equivalence. Everyone would agree, but privately the writing was on the wall. ¡°Perhaps I will speak of this with your father.¡± Bartol said, his own smile as forced as hers. ¡°When he isn¡¯t attending the lord regent, I¡¯m sure the Vin patriarch would love to have your company.¡± Flavia said, blindly plucking a fried roll off a nearby tray. She chewed slowly, then dismissed the man with a ¡°Thank you for your time, lord Yerl.¡± He stalked off, and was immediately replaced by the next person who wanted her attention. Nobody was so blatant to que up to see her, or at least, not in an obvious line. Instead the lords and ladies of Varan loitered throughout the hall, mingling in conversation while keeping an ear and eye focused on her at all times. The order in which they would approach her was based on their perceived station, and remembering who was in and out of favour was as exhausting as it was impossible. The lady of house Syre was a sharp and dignified woman, and her position was a rarity among the court. Matriarchs were uncommon within Varan noble society, and it was generally accepted that whenever they did take power they would allow themselves to be succeeded quickly and quietly. Flora Syre had defied those norms, and had risen to become quite a figure of prominence. Flavia liked the older woman, and considered her somewhat of a friend, though with how politically focused the Matriarch of house Syre was, a true friendship would likely never be possible. ¡°No. Not yet, Lord Vin.¡± The captain said, withdrawing a scroll from a pocket inside his uniform. ¡°The message¡¯s transcription is written in full here.¡± ¡°Thank you, soldier. Dismissed.¡± The captain saluted again, then he and the two [Operator]s swiftly made their escape. Flavia turned to leave, but her grandfather held out a hand. ¡°Stay, Flavia. This is an important learning opportunity for you, and I will not have you miss it.¡± ¡°Yes. Of course.¡± She said, trying not to show how uncomfortable she was. ¡°What do we do, Leif? An attack of this scale... It¡¯s bad, right? Worse than you predicted?¡± ¡°Indeed, your highness. I am uncertain how the Republic has made such a broad attack against our esteemed allies. As for what we do... Hmmm, we find ourselves in a delicate situation. With Epidor having grown closer to the northern tribes, it would be unwise to turn our backs on them.¡± The regent said, both palms splayed out onto the table. Flavia knew her grandfather, and she knew when he was scheming. Well, he was always scheming, but his face only adopted a faint hint of a smile when he had something cruel in mind. ¡°Will they take advantage and attack us?¡± The king asked, sounding horrified. ¡°First the ants, then the undead, now this? It¡¯s like the end of the world!¡± ¡°The world is not ending, and Epidor will not dare attack us if we reinforce our eastern border. As for sending aid to the Empire, we will do no such thing. Not until they request such of us, and even then we must be canny in our response. After the Empire¡¯s failings to provide... adequate assistance in our times of need, we are under no obligation to go above and beyond the nature of our relationship.¡± The king nodded along, as if he had been thinking the exact same thing. Flavia pitied him, how could she not. He was a lame sheep among hungry wolves, it was as if the room was full of buzzards circling overhead, all but waiting for him to keel over. An advisor leaned forward. ¡°Epidor received the Empire¡¯s aid first, and most prominently during the enslaver attack on our lands. Mekrys will be expecting their aid now, in return for the favour.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± The lord regent said. ¡°Tell me, granddaughter, what do you make of this? Flavia schooled her features, meeting the man¡¯s gaze. She knew what she wanted to say, but she also knew what he, and to a lesser extent her father expected her to say. The attention of every important person in the meeting, the king excluded, was on her. ¡°Since we are not the targets of this conflict, it is likely our rivals will bear the brunt of the cost of war. One could consider this an opportunity, if approached with cautious deliberation.¡± She said, earning low murmurs of approval, likely for her grandfather''s sake than her¡¯s. ¡°How many troops do we expect Epidor to send south to Aid the empire?¡± Another advisor questioned, and before long the scattered carvings had been returned to their positions on the table. It made her sick to know that this was almost exactly how those in power had acted during the last war. The jockeying for position and power, seeking opportunity in the misfortune of others. Flavia¡¯s eyes met those of her father, and Galeus nodded almost imperceptibly, though his expression looked grim. She tuned most of the conversation out, only paying attention to the key decisions being made. Another war. What will I lose this time? Chapter 181: Northbound Chapter 181: Northbound ¡°Should you have killed him?¡± Lucia asked, glancing over her shoulder as she and Leif walked between the sandy hills and arid shrublands that lined the western coast. ¡°He might have been lying.¡±Re?a?d new chapters on ¡°He wasn¡¯t. I could tell.¡± Leif replied, stabbing a driftwood staff into the side of the dune as he scaled it. ¡°Also, I¡¯m concerned you would ask me that. I don¡¯t think killing another person should be one of the first courses of action you consider.¡± He reached the top, boots leaving deep trenches in the sand with every step, then turned back and extended a golden arm down to where Lucia stood, not meeting his gaze. ¡°He was... a bad person.¡± She muttered, her voice low. ¡°Zane made a mistake. And he recognised that. He even apologised, which is better than I would expect from most people.¡± ¡°But he attacked us! He could have killed- He might have- Ugh, it''s not right. What he did was evil!¡± ¡°Evil.¡± Leif repeated, still holding out his hand. ¡°Is that what you really think?¡± Lucia clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She glared up at Leif, her eyes wide, her jaw trembling. ¡°Stop reading my emotions, it''s not fair!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to be an empath to know that you¡¯re upset.¡± ¡°Upset? I¡¯m furious! I¡¯m so angry I could explode! Don¡¯t tell me that I¡¯m wrong to feel like this! He cut Roy away from me! Roy¡¯s my responsibility, and I don¡¯t even know where he is! I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s safe, if he¡¯s scared, cold, hungry?! I need to be there for him, and that stupid white haired idiot swordsman took him away, cut him out of my life!¡± Leif stood atop the dune, watching Lucia rant, her orange eyes ablaze, the very first hint of dawn just appearing in the early morning sky. He let out a breath of air, then let his golden arm dissipate, at the same time stepping forward and sliding back down the sandy hill. He walked past Lucia, who whirled around, face red and breath shaky as he did so. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked, her voice breaking. ¡°We¡¯re taking a break. You need to rest, it¡¯s been a long night.¡± ¡°No, we need to keep going! At this rate it will take months to find him!¡± Leif sighed as he sat. ¡°I haven''t known you for very long, but I¡¯ve noticed something interesting about you. So please, if you¡¯re in such a rush, make it up the dune. If you can, I will follow.¡± Lucia wrinkled her nose, glaring defiantly. Then she turned and marched with all the dignity and grace she could muster up the dune. She made it halfway before her legs gave out and she slipped, falling back to the bottom. Lucia angrily dusted herself off, then tried to run up the dune, but again she fell. She was shaking by the time she slid down to the bottom, a mix of impotent rage and exhaustion rendering her immobile. She yelled wordlessly at the dune, and tried again, then again. After a minute she stopped, her shoulders heaving, fingers digging into the sand, tears streaking down her face and falling off her chin. Leif stood and slowly made his way over to her, kneeling beside her and placing a hand on her back. ¡°I have to find him.¡± She sobbed. ¡°I need to. If I don¡¯t... I can¡¯t...¡± ¡°You will find him again. But for now you need to focus on yourself. You need to survive, Lucia, you need to help yourself before you can help him. Until you meet again, you¡¯ll need to trust that Roy is capable of taking care of himself, that he¡¯ll be safe without you.¡± ¡°But without him-¡± Lucia choked on her own words, the fight fleeing from her limbs like a breath being exhaled. She slumped, and Leif caught her before her face planted into the sand. ¡°I failed. If I was stronger, smarter, more capable, I would have been able to protect him.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too hard on yourself. This is far more my failing than it is yours. You¡¯re just a kid, Lucia, how could you have possibly stood up to someone three times your age and a hundred levels higher?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡± She said weakly, leaning on his shoulder as he led her to where the ground was flattest, and the shrubs best protected against the wind. ¡°This was my purpose. My whole life, everything we¡¯ve been through. For it to have been worth it, he needs to be with me, safe and happy.¡± ¡°Lucia, you are more than just your duty to your brother.¡± ¡°Am I? Everything I¡¯ve done, everything I¡¯ve endured... It was all for him. All for his future.¡± ¡°It was for you as well, don¡¯t forget that.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t at all. If it had just been me, if Roy wasn¡¯t there, or if he had-¡± She swallowed thickly, hugging her knees and squeezing shut her eyes. ¡°I would have given up, I wouldn¡¯t have had the strength to continue. It was so hard, so painful. If I didn¡¯t have Roy, I would have found a corner in the city and given up, let it all end.¡± Leif didn¡¯t know what to say, so he kept quiet, wrapping her with a gentle, reassuring blanket of his aura. He leaned back and watched as the sky turned from black to grey, and the wispy clouds drifting lazily overhead grew in definition as the sun¡¯s light brushed against them. ¡°He was dying, getting to the Academy was our last choice.¡± Lucia said finally, her voice hollow. ¡°I see.¡± Leif said softly. ¡°Please help me again.¡± ¡°I already promised I would. You don¡¯t need to ask.¡± ¡°It¡¯s weird seeing you without a mask.¡± She said, sitting up and yawning. ¡°Ah, sorry. It must look unnerving, I¡¯ll make a new one now.¡± Leif said, mentally peering inside his spatial ring for any remaining wood he could use. Most of it was gone, used up in the battle, he would need to restock and prepare his weapons before fighting any serious enemies. Or maybe [Create Gilded Wood] would solve that problem for him? He hadn¡¯t decided yet. ¡°I guess it is a little.¡± Lucia admitted, rubbing the back of her head. ¡°What were you doing?¡± ¡°Contemplating life.¡± Leif said, melting down a fraction of a compressed wooden sword, then reshaping the weapon, albeit slightly smaller than it was before, then starting on the mask. He had given Lucia her wooden daggers back, though it did feel strange giving a child weapons. Well, they lived in a violent world, it couldn¡¯t be helped. ¡°Do you normally do that? Sit still and contemplate life, I mean?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t exactly sleep, so yes, it is how I spent large portions of my time. Perhaps too much, I have a bad habit of getting into my own head. Anyway, are you hungry?¡± ¡°No.¡± Lucia said, then her stomach rumbled. ¡°Yes...¡± She amended sheepishly. ¡°Well, bad news, I don¡¯t have any food.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Lucia said, glancing around as if looking for something to eat. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°My healing can nourish you, though not totally, it¡¯s how Roy recovered physically so quickly, if you remember our initial meeting on the ship.¡± She nodded, picking up the cloak she had used as a pillow, unfolding it and shaking out the sand. The morning was warm, and Leif stowed the cloak when she handed it to him. ¡°I prefer actual food, uh, no offence.¡± Lucia said after he had trickled healing energy into her hand. ¡°This feels kind of weird.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get you something proper to eat. Can¡¯t say I¡¯m a fan of feeding you my blood, no matter how nourishing it may or may not be.¡± Lucia gagged. ¡°Why would you say it like that? Now I want to throw up.¡± Leif snorted and placed his newly created mask, a plain oval of wood with three slits, two for his eyes and one for his mouth. ¡°I believe it¡¯s good for you. Assuming you''re a small forest critter. The side effects are probably harmless, though judging by how some of the initial ¡®test subjects¡¯ turned out that might not be true.¡± She rolled her eyes and started marching up the nearest dune. ¡°I told you before, but I levelled up.¡± ¡°We both did.¡± Leif said, following. ¡°You¡¯re level four now, correct?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°What skills were you offered?¡± He asked, his longer strides easily allowing him to keep pace. ¡°Uhhh.¡± Lucia said, looking away. ¡°You picked one already, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Maybe...¡± ¡°I hope this isn¡¯t you wanting to have an advantage the next time we spar.¡± ¡°No, no it¡¯s not that. I just kind of knew which one to pick, so I just did it. The choice was between [Fade] and [Patient Ambush]. The second one felt like I had to stay still to use it properly, and standing in one place is a good way to get stabbed, so I picked [Fade]. Look, I can do this now.¡± She said, then, to demonstrate, she briefly went transparent. The effect ended almost immediately. ¡°I¡¯m assuming it works better when you¡¯re not standing out in the open?¡± ¡°Yeah... the skill description says it works better in darkness. Anyway, do you have skills to pick?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Leif confirmed, guiding them around a thick cluster of shrubs. ¡°Well?¡± Lucia asked after several seconds without him elaborating. ¡°Well what? I don¡¯t want to give you an advantage when we spar.¡± She stopped in place, staring at him as he continued to walk forwards. ¡°That¡¯s stupid! It makes even less sense than me hiding my skills!¡± She shouted. Leif laughed. Chapter 182: A Little Joy Chapter 182: A Little Joy ¡°You should pick the eye power. I think someone fighting in the quadriad had something similar, she could look at people and they would lock up briefly. It won her several fights.¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± Leif said, compressing the now spherical ball of driftwood that had been his walking stick. ¡°I don¡¯t think I noticed that one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you were there when she fought. Anyway, it was only for a second, but you only need a second in a fight. It could help you close the gap between you and an opponent, or stall an attack so that you have time to block.¡± Lucia continued, excitedly chattering by his side. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s an immediate effect.¡± Leif said. ¡°The impression I¡¯m getting from the skill is one of gradual build up. [Temporal Glare] will take time to come into full effect, I suppose it''s fitting, considering the name.¡± ¡°I still think you should take it. I saw you fight against Hera, and she was too quick for you to keep up. The faster fighter usually wins.¡± ¡°That is true. You make a compelling argument.¡± They continued on, following an old path with sparse signs of travel, though nothing recent. Lucia kept talking about the different skills Leif had been offered, and he was happy enough to see that her mind was, at least for the most part, not fixated on the safety and whereabouts of her little brother. He couldn¡¯t alleviate her concerns, because in truth he shared many of them, among several others. He didn¡¯t know if the skill had taken Roy all the way to Far-Reach, and he didn¡¯t know if the boy had reached the settlement, or if he had done so safely. It had been an unwelcome surprise to learn that [The Amber Path] could be interrupted, though perhaps he should have expected it. Leif had gone into civilisation in part because he had been confident in his ability to escape if things went wrong. That had ended up almost being a critical mistake, he should have tested the skill before departing, even if it had delayed the beginning of his journey. Or, maybe he shouldn¡¯t have. If he had waited the weeks needed for the skill to come off cooldown, he may never have arrived at the Academy before the invasion. There were too many what ifs and could haves, and he knew from experience how stifling obsessing over the past could be, how the desperation to latch onto anything and anything was self destructive when taken to an extreme. For him, it had been a coping mechanism, and in a twisted sense it had been what had guided him down the path he now walked. But just because something was foundational, core to a person¡¯s being, it didn¡¯t make it healthy. ¡°I don¡¯t understand [Reconstitute Echo]. How would that even work, and why did the system even offer it to you?¡± Lucia asked. ¡°Truthfully, I¡¯ve been somewhat expecting a skill like this for some time now. The Amber, the monstrous tree¡¯s that I have become related to, their power is connected in ways I don¡¯t fully understand to the past. Blood and time, with sub-aspects of preservation, information and transformation, or maybe transmutation.¡± Leif said, slowing to stow his condensed sphere of wood and call a nearby group of aged sticks into his hand. [Reconstitute Echo] likely had the most potential out of the three choices he had been given, but it was also the greatest risk. Though risk likely wasn¡¯t the correct way of putting it. From the impression Leif got from the skill, situational and unreliable were likely more accurate. Would the skill allow him to recreate once living beings and have them, or at least a small part of them, an echo if you will, fight alongside him? Sure. But Leif tended to prefer keeping those around him alive, and somewhere inland off the western coast of the Kartinth province wasn¡¯t exactly spry with ¡®echoes¡¯ to choose from. Though maybe the war will change that. He thought dourly, his mind briefly casting back to the Academy. He hoped everyone was safe, and that the fighting was over. He trusted most of those he had met to take care of themselves, but in war you could never be sure. If some of his friends had gotten seriously injured, or even killed because he had chosen to flee instead of trying to keep helping the Academy, he wasn¡¯t sure he could forgive himself. Though maybe that was a stupid thought, maybe there had been no way for him to help after his identity had been discovered. ¡°You don¡¯t specialise in wood or plant magic?¡± She asked, squinting at the deforming sticks, their structures melting and twisting into one another. Her question pulled him back to the present, and Leif paused. ¡°Not specifically, no. I think this is more something general to the type of being I am now. It¡¯s hard to imagine a decently high levelled tree without at least some control over plants. Although my experience with such things is quite limited, the records the Academy had on magical trees indicated that they were usually passive, only reacting in certain situations. Though in the case of [Create Gilded Wood], the skill seems more specific to the Amber than general tree related magic.¡± ¡°Do you actually need that skill? Isn¡¯t wood pretty common?¡± Lucia pointed out, nodding towards a lone standing pine atop a nearby hill. ¡°Can¡¯t you just gather what you need and store them in that ring of yours?¡± ¡°It is... And I¡¯ll admit that creating wood seems like the least interesting of the options. But the impression I¡¯m getting from it is quite appealing. It won¡¯t just be normal wood, there are some properties to the skill that give off impressions of rewinding time, or maybe reversion to a past state. I suspect I¡¯ll be able to have finer control over the summoned wood as well, among a few other benefits.¡± ¡°You should still take the eye skill. It covers your biggest weakness.¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking about it, but you should always consider your options carefully.¡± ¡°Unless the choice is obvious.¡± She said, kicking a pebble off the path, then hopping forward and doing the same to another, slightly larger stone. ¡°If the day comes when you suddenly wish you took [Patient Ambush] over [Fade], maybe you¡¯ll realise the sage wisdom of my teachings, young one.¡± Leif said, pitching his voice to make it sound more severe and aged. ¡°Hasty decisions without foresight can only harm you.¡± Lucia rolled her eyes so hard they almost fell out of her skull. ¡°Don¡¯t talk like that, it sounds dumb. How old are you, anyway?¡± ¡°Thirty something. Closer to thirty than forty if I had to guess.¡± Leif said, returning his voice to normal. ¡°Why would you need to guess? Doesn¡¯t the system just tell you?¡± ¡°It does.¡± Leif admitted. ¡°But my count got reset when I... you know. I can only guess how old I was before I died.¡± ¡°What does it say now?¡± She asked. Leif didn¡¯t respond, he just kept walking. ¡°Hey, wait! Don¡¯t pretend I didn¡¯t ask! What does it say? How old does the system think you are?¡± Warning! Make selection within 12 hours or skill will be randomly chosen! Leif blinked the message away and marched on, doing his best to ignore the increasingly insistent and inquisitive presence tailing after him. The truth was fairly amusing, but he got the feeling telling his young travelling companion, who was currently latched into the back of his upper robe and pulling as if doing so would reveal the truth, would be a bad idea. ¡°Tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell meeee.¡± Lucia begged, though by her tone she had clearly sensed why he wasn¡¯t answering. With every step he dragged her along, her heels digging into the dirt as she tried and failed to stop him. She probably counted back from the start of the war. Leif thought, shaking his head. The Academy¡¯s records didn¡¯t technically name a definitive starting date for the conflict, but the war was generally accepted to have begun between fourteen and fifteen years prior. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°I know you¡¯re keeping it a secret! Does the system think we¡¯re the same age? Are you younger than me? You can¡¯t pull the wise senior act if you¡¯re not that old!¡± ¡°They¡¯re not coming back.¡± Lucia said after a minute. ¡°True.¡± Leif said. ¡°Go get that half, and I¡¯ll get the other. We¡¯ll take singular steps forward until the bits find one another.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She said, darting off. It turned out that the range was ten metres, though that became closer to fifteen after Leif infused both parts with vitality. In fact, when infused with life-force, the gilded wood expended vitality to mend itself more quickly, and then, to his surprise, the vitality slowly regenerated. The material created by his newest skill could act as a reservoir of vitality, though it would never generate any excess energy for him to cultivate. Still, if he constantly drained vitality infused gilded wood, he could slowly regenerate his reserves with little effort, and with a lot of time he could gradually expand his reserves. This revelation finally made Lucia agree that [Create Gilded Wood] had been the correct choice, which was nice because her constant complaining had gradually become less endearing, and more annoying. === ¡°It''s too boney.¡± Lucia said, spitting out a mouthful of cooked fish. ¡°It¡¯s so hard to eat, I feel like I¡¯m going to get something stuck in my throat and die.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say how good it tasted?¡± Leif asked, looking up from his current project. Night had fallen, and the two had made camp on the edge of a shallow river. They had travelled inland for most of the day, avoiding any distant signs of conflict. They weren¡¯t the only people fleeing the coast, as they had encountered several groups having abandoned their homes. Imperial soldiers roamed the countryside, with several roadways playing host to mustered units. There was a general sense of panic throughout the province, and with how many distant pillars of smoke Leif had spotted before the sun had set, they had only avoided violence due to luck. ¡°It really is tasty.¡± She said, scowling down at the fish as if it were a mortal enemy. ¡°I just can¡¯t enjoy it.¡± ¡°You are complaining about food to someone who can¡¯t eat, you know that right?¡± Leif pointed out, running two fingers along the length of the item sitting in his lap. ¡°Oh. Sorry, I forgot. I didn¡¯t mean to bring that up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not offended, I just can¡¯t relate to your inability to consume fish properly. I¡¯m sure I could find someone to teach you if it''s that much of a problem.¡± ¡°Ha, ha. Very funny.¡± She pouted, taking another bite from the river fish as if in defiance. This was promptly followed by a fit of coughs. Her face red, Lucia grabbed an empty bowl and sprinted towards the river. The crockery had been created out of gilded wood, and before she could take a swig Leif telekinetically pulled it out of her hands. The bowl zipped over to him, and Lucia gave chase with a horse cry of confusion and alarm. Leif stuck a finger into the water, and drained it of vitality. The normal way of making water safe to consume was boiling it, but this was faster. His ability to sense life-force wasn¡¯t keen enough to detect the tiny living beings that supposedly lived in and on everything, but his readings in the Academy had all but proven they existed. It turned out that when he drained life-force from soil, he wasn¡¯t just drawing energy from roots, seeds and worms, but the tiny microbial life living below the surface as well. ¡°You didn¡¯t need to do that.¡± Lucia said, having downed the entire bowl in a single swig, the action clearly having saved her life from how she was behaving. ¡°No point risking illness.¡± He replied. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just heal me if I got sick?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not certain how effective my healing would be against parasites, but if you want to be a test subject, the river is right over there.¡± ¡°Fine, fine. What are you making, anyway? Ohh, is that a sword? That looks awesome!¡± Leif nodded, sharpening the blade with [Wood Manipulation], then tempering the weapon¡¯s structure with vitality. Whenever he did so, the sword tried to sprout new branches, but they were suppressed easily enough. Lucia hovered over his shoulder as he worked, and he could tell that she was more than a little impressed. That feeling shifted to elation when Leif finally stood and presented the shortsword to her hilt first. ¡°What? Is this for me?¡± ¡°I told you I would make you a sword if I found the appropriate materials. Well, here you go.¡± Lucia opened her mouth, then closed it without speaking. She took the sword, and her lower lip trembled. ¡°It¡¯s so light.¡± She whispered. ¡°How did you get it so light?¡± ¡°It¡¯s light because it''s thin. Sharp too, and the edge should maintain itself without you needing to run back to me constantly for maintenance.¡± Leif explained, smiling at the look of pure joy on the girl¡¯s face. ¡°And this isn¡¯t a training weapon, so treat it as you would a blade made out of steel.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have to. You should have made yourself something first.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be working on myself all night, don¡¯t worry about me. Why don¡¯t you give it a test?¡± He said. Lucia shifted back and forth clearly trying to decide what to say next. He could sense a surprising amount of turmoil in her emotions, which hadn¡¯t been his intention. ¡°You don¡¯t owe me anything, Lucia. I don¡¯t need payment or a favour in return.¡± ¡°Ok... Alright. Thank you.¡± Lucia said hesitantly, then she dashed back towards the river. Amused, Leif watched as she waded into the water until she needed to hike up her trouser legs to stop them from getting soaked. Then her presence faded, and his ability to make her out against the moonlit water lessened significantly. Then she stabbed down into the river with her new weapon, spearing a much larger fish than the one she had partially eaten for dinner. ¡°It works!¡± She shouted, waving her first victim over her head. Chapter 183: War-Torn Chapter 183: War-Torn Melton fought down the urge to cough as dust and ash fell from the roof, the scent of smoke like the twisting of a knife into his lungs. One of his eyes was matted shut with blood, and the foot long splinter sticking out of his right shin made walking impossible. The barn he was taking refuge within shook, and the frightened barn animals cowering in the far corner bleated in alarm. Everything had gone wrong so quickly, so many had died, and he wasn¡¯t sure who was left. A squad of imperial soldiers had roused everyone in the village to wakefulness in the middle of the night, ushering families to grab what belongings they could carry and flee east. Melton, barely awake as he was, hadn¡¯t truly understood the shouted reasons and explanations. But when soldiers started yelling it was a good idea to listen. He should have ran the moment they showed up, because by the time most of the villagers had gathered in the centre of town the war had already caught them. Flashes of crimson flames lightning up the night had been the first sign of danger, then lumbering constructs of steel had broken free from the nearby forest, the dull crimson emitting from below their metallic chassis outlining their silhouettes in the darkness. People had run in every direction, and he had been no exception. In the minutes of pure chaos following the initial attack he had lost track of his wife, and the outer perimeter of the village was engulfed in flame. An explosion had sent him flying, and when he impacted the wall of the nearby house he had blacked out. When he came too, likely only minutes later, corpses littered the ground, and smoke choked the air. One of the four legged constructs lay in a smouldering heap nearby, and he caught sight of one of the soldiers fighting a pair of strangers. He had crawled away from the battle, trying to ignore the fact that he recognised the bodies he was clambering over. At least his daughter had left for the city early last year, at least she was safe, and would survive when nobody else would. Melton, his right leg inflamed, blood smearing into the mud, had hidden inside one of the last remaining buildings that was still standing. Even now, with the light of mid morning shining through the swirling ash, he hid, praying that someone, something would save him. At least one of the constructs was still stomping around in the ruins of his hometown, he could hear the metallic thump of its steps as it drew near. Just before morning it had ceased moving, but he could still hear it outside the barn, as if the steel monster was waiting for him to try and run. His vision spun, and the constant agony and exhaustion made it hard to stay awake. But Melton knew that if he closed his eyes there would be no waking up. He was so delirious that when a figure all but materialised by his side it took him several seconds to realise. Melton cried out, jerking away in surprise, but the movement made pain flare up in his leg. A hand slapped itself over his mouth, muffling his shock. ¡°Shhh, don¡¯t say anything, it might hear you.¡± The stranger said, the sound little more than a whisper. To his shock, it sounded like the voice of a child. He blinked his one good eye, trying to figure out if he was hallucinating or not. It was a child, a girl maybe twelve or thirteen with her dark, tied back hair that briefly reminded Melton of his own daughter, if several years younger. But her orange eyes that seemed to almost shimmer like a hearth¡¯s fire quickly broke the delusion. He grunted, both in acknowledgement and regret from having tried to move. The girl nodded and withdrew her hand, reaching into a small pouch and withdrawing an oddly white bottle. Melton didn¡¯t care about the details of the container; however, the water within was heavenly, with only a single drop seemingly bringing him back from the verge of death. He almost sobbed when she took it away, wiping the head clean on her shirt and tightening the lid. ¡°Stay there.¡± She whispered, standing and carefully stepping over debris towards the partially opened doorway of the barn. Melton¡¯s vision seemed to double, that or the girl briefly became almost impossible to see through the ash and his wavering vision. ¡°It¡¯s stuck in the mud, I don¡¯t think it can move.¡± She said a minute later, kneeling back down next to him. ¡°What¡¯s your name? Can you walk?¡± ¡°M... Melton, and no, my leg is... I don¡¯t think I can move it at all.¡± She glanced down and grimaced. ¡°I¡¯m Lucia. Sorry, I don¡¯t think I can carry you. But I¡¯ll go get help, just hold on a little while longer.¡± ¡°Help?¡± He said. ¡°The village... everyone... Girl, there is nothing, nobody. Everyone is gone.¡± ¡°No. We ran into a big group of people from this village an hour ago, they were being chased by... Well, it doesn¡¯t matter, they¡¯re safe now. I¡¯ll only be a minute, just stay... uh, I¡¯ll be back.¡± And then she was gone, darting over half charred detritus to a gap in the far wall of the barn almost three metres off the ground. She drew the shortsword at her hip, then stabbed it into the wall with little effort, plunging the blade down to the hilt. Then she jumped up, using the handle as a platform, perched briefly in the opening and reached down to try and retrieve her weapon. After a few seconds of failing to pull the sword out of the wall, she vanished. Melton was alone again, but this time his heart fluttered with hope. Other people had survived? And who was the help the oddly stealthy girl was going to find? A few minutes later a roar of flames came from outside the barn, followed by the ear piercing shriek of tearing metal. The barn door didn¡¯t open, it all but bloomed like a flower, peeling inwards and up as a tall figure strode inside. They wore odd, hooded robes of mostly grey, but with hints and highlights of colour, white greaves and bracers were streaked with what looked like golden cracks, and as they turned to survey the interior of the barn Melton saw similar armour covering their chest like a breastplate, and a wooden mask covered their face. A moment later the dark haired girl¡¯s head poked around the corner. She nodded at him, then slunk over to where her sword was impaled into the wall. Less than ten minutes later Melton was walking under his own strength through the ruins of the village, and the pain he felt was emotional, spiritual, rather than physical. But when the masked man and girl lead him to a group of over fourty survivors camped in the shade of a nearby valley he almost broke down weeping. When his wife, the love of his life for the past thirty years almost bowled him over in a crushing embrace, he did. === On the evening of the fourth day since leaving the Academy, the ground shook and flashes of silver and blue danced in and out of distant cloud cover. It was a battle, that much was certain, and it ripped across the countryside like a violent storm. The conflict, whether it was between two individuals or potentially two larger groups, painted the western horizon a blazing sapphire. Leif was fairly confident they were far enough away to not be in any real danger, but that would only be true if the battle wasn¡¯t dragged further inland. He didn¡¯t need to rest, but after a full day of constant travel Lucia did. Carrying her on his back they fled further east, their initial trek was fairly simple due to the flat and consistent terrain, but the gently rolling hills gave way to heavy forested bogland. The scion wasn¡¯t overly interested in braving the hostile environment, especially not when small figures hiding among the trees fired primitive arrows at him as he drew closer. He backtracked, but the bog seemed to cut a gash through the landscape, and without the light of day Leif couldn¡¯t see if there was a way through. Instead they camped a kilometre away, and watched to make sure the still raging battle didn¡¯t draw closer. Lucia slept in the crook of a tree, but she kept jolting awake whenever a particularly powerful flash of light lit up the world. Leif kept a constant watch, his golden eyes locked on the horizon. The longer he observed, the more confident he became that the fight only had two primary combatants. Though it was dozens of kilometres away, and mostly covered by clouds, Leif swore he made out a titanic silhouette outlined by moonlight and flashes of blue power. It was impossible to tell the true scale of the figure, but he could only assume that they were over a kilometre tall, at least. Leif had seen the scale of combat between the Blades during the quadriad, and had then gotten a firsthand look at what it looked like when those above level one hundred fought without restraint. If the distant clash was indeed between two people, he could hardly fathom how strong they must be. ¡°Who do you think is doing that?¡± Lucia asked sleepily, and Leif turned to see her staring blearily in the same direction he was. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But whoever they are, I suspect anyone directly below them is having a very bad time.¡± ¡°How strong would you have to be to fight like that, and for several hours in a row?¡± She said, shifting uncomfortably. ¡°If they¡¯re humans, well over level two hundred if I had to guess. If the battle is between monsters, probably the same, or a fair bit lower. I¡¯m not sure exactly how it all scales at such a high level.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question. I can confirm that monsters get significantly higher attributes from their classes, but humans get more classes. So it''s a difference between a sheer amount of raw stats, and a combination of class perks and more developed skills. If I somehow got my monster class all the way to level one hundred, that would be five hundred free attributes, and however many base stats such a high tier class would give.¡± ¡°Are you saying a level two hundred monster could have over a thousand points in a single attribute? That''s... that''s terrifying. Will you ever get that strong?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m on a different path, my attributes will never get that high.¡± Leif said, resting a hand against a nearby tree¡¯s trunk and leaning forward. The distant battle seemed to be dying down, though from so far away it was hard to tell if it had ended, or simply drifted away. ¡°Is it over?¡± She asked with a tired yawn. ¡°Seems like it. Rest while you can, I want to be as far away from the aftermath as possible.¡± === The crisp morning air was thick with a lazy mist that almost convinced Leif that he was back at the Academy. The energetic chirping of songbirds in the canopy drew his attention as his meditative trance faded away. Leif glanced up, and saw Lucia staring down at him with wide orange eyes. ¡°What?¡± Leif asked, flexing the vitality within him and sending it spiralling through his body like a golden river. ¡°What do you mean, what?¡± Lucia said, looking amused. ¡°It should be pretty obvious.¡± He noticed a constant tapping coming from shoulder, and slightly turned his head to see a tiny purple and red bird pecking at the pauldron he had made out of gilded wood. The bird paused, twitching as it glanced from side to side, then it returned to instantly tapping away. There were other small vitality signatures all around him, and Leif exhaled in amusement. Leif watched, arms folded behind his back as the fight continued. Lucia scrambled away from her two opponents, ducking under a poorly aimed slash from the spear wielding goblin and planting a kick into the chest of the former owner of the axe. Then she broke line of sight by dashing behind a tree, both goblin¡¯s giving chase, only for one to lose an ear as a blurred figure launched itself at them from behind cover. The now earless creature screamed in pain and fell back, dropping its spear. The scion sensed the four other goblins rapidly approaching from the side, and he stepped next to the wide trunk of a nearby tree so they wouldn¡¯t see him. There was another cry of pain, and Leif saw Lucia faint forward, then quickly alter her attack to kill the third goblin by driving her sword through its throat. The four newcomers rushed into the clearing, and she drew one of the two wooden daggers at her side and threw it in their direction, missing, but forcing the goblins to duck for cover. The earless monster was still writhing on the ground, out of the fight, and Lucia was forced to disengage, retreating into the undergrowth before she could finish it off. Leif followed the continuing fight at a leisurely pace, but something caught his attention, so he altered his destination and went left. A taller, lankier goblin was standing off to the side, misshapen staff held in its hand as it concentrated on a slowly growing orb of vibrating power manifesting at the stave¡¯s tip. The little monster was so focused on whatever skill it was using that it didn¡¯t notice Leif until the scion had come to a stop right next to it. Beady little eyes glanced up in confusion, then the half formed working detonated in a disorientating explosion of sound and force. The goblin was blasted back from its own ability misfiring, the monster slamming into a moss covered boulder and slumping to the ground, unmoving. The skill, whatever it had been, did absolutely no damage to Leif. He mentally shrugged, then kept following after Lucia. He found her a minute later backed up against a muddy slope, her sword slashing back and forth as she fought to keep a trio of goblins at bay. Two lay nearby, one with her final wooden dagger in its eye, very much dead, another was trying to staunch the blood flow from an almost certainly fatal gut wound. Lucia had done well, but backed into a corner she was now out of tricks, and Leif could tell that she was tiring quickly. One of the girl¡¯s arms was streaked with blood, but she grit her teeth and ignored the pain, using both hands to give her weapon¡¯s blows a little more power. The goblins were about her height, and likely of similar weight, if this was a battle between a human adult and a similarly sized pack of the monsters the situation would be different. Normally a human would have the advantage in size, reach, and weight, but Lucia lacked those advantages. The goblins, however, were fighting as if she was twice her size. The little monsters were so used to fighting things larger than themselves that they were slow to adapt to the fair fight they had found themselves in. One of the goblins darted forward, trying to strike low, but Lucia fended it off with her sword. At the same time, the other threw a sharpened stone, and the projectile grazed Lucia¡¯s side. Then the earless goblin stumbled out from behind a tree, murder in its eyes as it screeched and rushed forwards. The girl tried to scale the mossy boulder she was trapped up against in desperation, but while she found solid enough footing, likely thanks to her [Light Footwork] skill, her fingers slipped and failed to find purchase. The smallest of the remaining goblins jumped forward and grabbed her by the ankle, and Lucia cried out as she fell down into the monster, the two collapsing in a flailing tangle of limbs, her sword tumbling away from her as it was knocked from her hand in the ensuing struggle. The earless goblin tried to lend aid to its ally, but Lucia¡¯s boot caught it in the face as she kicked out, trying to free herself. The thing¡¯s nose shattered, and it fell over onto its ass, clutching its face and howling in agony. The goblin Lucia was grappling with, grabbed her by the collar and jumped atop her, drawing what was little more than a stone shiv and trying to stab her with it. The fight was over, and Leif was a fraction of a second away from triggering [Amber Aegis] to ward off the blow when Lucia bit down into the hand holding onto her collar, her teeth sinking into knobbly green fingers with a scream of defiance, causing the monster to flinch, the finishing blow from its shiv missing by a hair¡¯s breadth. She bucked the creature off of her and pinned the hand with the shiv against the ground. ¡°Don¡¯t! I¡¯m fine!¡± She yelled through ragged breaths, punching the goblin in the jaw, then throwing herself off of it to avoid a spear thrusting towards her back. She scrambled to her feet, glancing around for her discarded weapon. She backed up a step, then tripped over the goblin who¡¯s nose she had shattered. The next few seconds were a comical display of stubborn determination and inelegance. Lucia somehow got ahold of the stone shiv, killing another goblin with it, but cutting open her hand in the process. Another rock was thrown at her, but the goblin missed and accidently hit its friend in the forehead. The entire time the tree¡¯s shook with the lumbering approach of something much larger and heavier than a goblin. Leif could sense the bubbling font of vitality drawing closer, and he stepped out in front of it as it charged into the clearing. The troll reeked of rotting flesh and body odour, and it was practically drooling all over the undergrowth it was trampling. Everyone froze, Lucia and the remaining two goblins glancing up at the arrival of the towering monster. The troll didn¡¯t slow as it saw him, instead it roared and picked up speed, a massive club raised as if to smash him down into the ground with a single blow. Leif took a single step forward, catching the club with one hand and planting a fist into the monster¡¯s groin. It let out a squeak nothing of its size should have been capable of making, and crumbled. The two goblins gaped at him in surprise, and Lucia scrambled over to her sword in the moment their shock bought her. She decapitated the closest one with a cry, and lunged for the other, but it dodged, its spear coming up to ward her off. The final goblin glanced between Lucia, then Leif, then it made the smart decision and ran for its life. Lucia stumbled after it, practically dead on her feet, but she slumped to her knees after only a handful of metres. ¡°I... I did it?¡± Lucia gasped, planting her sword into the ground to keep herself upright. ¡°It''s over?¡± ¡°You did well, I can¡¯t believe you bit one of them.¡± ¡°Yeah...¡± She said, gagging. ¡°I didn¡¯t have any other choice.¡± ¡°Before you crash, come and finish this one off. I won¡¯t get any experience from something this low level, but you will.¡± Leif said, gesturing at the immobile troll, one of his boots planted firmly onto the back of its skull. ¡°Right... Sure, okay.¡± Lucia said, wobbling over on shaky legs. She readied her sword, then cut down into the monster¡¯s exposed back. The blade bit deeply, but the troll didn¡¯t die. She stabbed again, then again, each strike penetrating a little further, but the wounds she dealt regenerated. ¡°I... I can¡¯t do it.¡± She said, stepping back and lowering her sword. ¡°It¡¯s too tough.¡± ¡°One more try.¡± Leif said, using [Benevolent Actions] to flood her body with increased strength thanks to a temporarily boosted [Might] attribute. She almost tripped, but her final strike punched all the way through the troll¡¯s back, puncturing its heart. Then she twisted her sword and carved her way out, spraying sizzling blood everywhere. It died, finally, and Leif absorbed the remnant life-force. ¡°Ugh, I got some in my mouth, it''s disgusting!¡± Lucia said, wiping her mouth with a sleeve and spitting into the grass. ¡°Gross, gross, so gross!¡± ¡°You look terrible.¡± Leif said, grabbing her wounded arm and letting healing energy flow into her. ¡°I¡¯m going to throw you into the next pond we come across.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll stab you if you do.¡± She mumbled, slumping in place as her wounds healed over. ¡°Oh no.¡± Leif laughed. ¡°After what you did to the goblins, I¡¯m terrified.¡± === ¡°I levelled up.¡± Lucia mumbled, her chin resting on his shoulder as he carried her on his back after they returned to the road. ¡°Congratulations.¡± Leif said, his eyes searching for a body of clean, fresh water. ¡°You earned it.¡± ¡°Only one level. Why was it only one?¡± She complained. ¡°I killed... seven... I think. Seven goblins and one troll. Isn¡¯t that worth more than one level?¡± ¡°I helped with the troll, so it was only worth a fraction of the experience you would have gotten otherwise.¡± Leif pointed out. ¡°And you¡¯re fighting an uphill battle to gain levels at the moment, you¡¯ve got several modifiers reducing your experience gain. Most kids your age don¡¯t have classes yet, and that¡¯s because of the experience penalty younger people have. You also have two skills now, and combined with the age penalty that¡¯s lowering your experience even more. And, well, you¡¯re already level five, and it takes more and more to level up each time.¡± Lucia blew a disappointed raspberry. ¡°It wasn¡¯t even a good level up. I only got [Intelligence] and a free point.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll even out over time as you gain more levels. Besides, improving your skills and overall combat ability will do more for you than a few attribute points.¡± Lucia kept grumbling under her breath for the next twenty minutes, though it was half hearted. The sound of running water caught Leif¡¯s attention, and he picked up the pace. A picturesque waterfall fed crystal clear liquid into a small lake, and a rickety wooden peer jutted out from the shore. Leif stepped off the road and made a beeline for the lake, Lucia realised where they were going when they were only ten metres from the pier. She struggled weakly as Leif plucked her off his back with a pair of golden arms, then she hung limply as he dangled her over the water. ¡°You will regret this.¡± She said, glaring with as much intensity as she could muster.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Then he dropped the blood and mud covered child into the lake. Chapter 184: Outlaws Chapter 184: Outlaws The increasingly crimson light of season¡¯s cracked face bathed the old stone fortress in an ominous ambiance, the mostly crumbled fortifications were still blanketed with the evening''s rainfall, and the old and abandoned structure shimmered as if soaked in the blood of an ancient battle. An owl watched Leif from the peak of a half destroyed tower, occasionally flying away on silent wings, only to return minutes later with still wriggling prey in its sharpened beak. The derelict fortress was heavy with an intangible sense of history, it lingered on every fallen stone and seeped out of every crack. From what Leif could tell of the location, what his esoteric senses told him of its past, the fort had once been a border outpost, guarding against incursions by a rival nation. But the building was in the centre of an imperial province, and whatever country it had once belonged to was long gone, likely forgotten to time. Leif sighed and leaned back against the cracked wall, bits and pieces of white wood lay sprawled out before him, loosely grouped according to their shape and purpose. His current project was creating armour, he had already created and been wearing a breastplate, pauldrons, greaves and the like, but he wanted to combine them into a large, more complete suit. Leif wasn¡¯t an armourer, and without a model to base his creation on it was like trying to finish a complex puzzle while blind. He could effortlessly shape the individual pieces however he wished, but putting them all together in a manner he was pleased with was beyond his skillset. Segments would get caught on one another, joints would lock up, and the method by which he was holding everything together couldn¡¯t hold up to the strain of even a basic test, the whole suit falling apart within minutes. He needed a template to work on, that or more time to create and plan a proper blueprint for his project. It didn¡¯t help that his storage ring was full, and carrying around an incomplete suit of armour wasn¡¯t the most convenient of prospects. Leif had melted down his progress every morning, and reassembled it in the evening. It was inefficient, but it didn¡¯t take too much time. Besides, he was getting better at shaping fine, intricate details with [Wood Manipulation], so the practice was helping regardless of his lack of actual progress. In an adjoining courtyard that had once been separated by a stone wall, now a pile of loosely strewn about rubble, Lucia practised her swordplay. A shimmering amber clone of the girl performed an echo of the same movements, and she used it like a mirror to see what she was doing well, and doing wrong. She performed a set of thrusts, swipes, parries and steps against an invisible, imaginary opponent, then she called for Leif to swap the projection to what she had just done. He waved a hand, mostly for show, shifting the replay of the past with little effort. Focused on such a small area, and targeting only a single moving part, Leif could maintain [Sympathy from Experience] for hours, and keeping the skill active took little direct focus on his part. Lucia was otherwise silent as she trained, her brow knit in concentration as she repeated what Hera had taught her back in the Academy over and over again. Eventually she wobbled over to where he was working, planting the tip of her wooden sword into the ground and leaning against what was once a stone support pillar for balance. ¡°You¡¯re getting better.¡± Leif said, not looking up. ¡°Thanks. I still need to figure out the end of the form, it doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± ¡°Is your comprehension skill aiding you, or telling you to do something else?¡± ¡°I think it''s a bit of both. I¡¯ll figure it out soon though, probably. How¡¯s the armour thing coming along?¡± ¡°Less successfully than I¡¯d hoped, but I know what''s holding me back from making progress.¡± He explained. ¡°I attended a lecture back at the Academy about the theory behind layered defences like armour. Most people, adventurers and the like, don¡¯t wear the stuff, and for good reason. The armour can restrict movement and weigh down the wearer, but the real reason why so many choose to forgo the protection it offers is that the armour can interfere with skill use.¡± ¡°I remember most of the soldiers in Pherin used to wear armour.¡± Lucia said, taking a swig of water. ¡°Yes, well. Most soldiers aren¡¯t at an overly high level, and their skills are fairly simple because of that. Even then you¡¯ll rarely see someone in more than a chain shirt or a breastplate like I have here.¡± Leif said, nodding to where the wooden section of armour in question lay. ¡°Proper armour, full plate and other heavy variations are far rarer. I knew a guy in Ahle-ho who could conjure heavy armour, but he had a class dedicated to metal magic.¡± ¡°So it''s not worth it? Are you going to give up?¡± ¡°No, it is worth it, assuming you can overcome the downsides. Proper armour can grant a massive survivability increase to the wearer, but again, the problem is that it can interfere with skill use. You need armour that¡¯s properly aspected to the powerset of the user, fire infused metal, water aspected scales and so on. But even then there can be issues, but the solution is to enchant the armour and then have the wearer attune to it, that way you can ignore most of the compatibility issues.¡± ¡°But attuning to an item takes up a skill slot.¡± Lucia said. ¡°That, and the cost of properly made armour is too much for the average person to even dream of affording. There¡¯s an opportunity cost, and most people don¡¯t want to pay it. Or perhaps they can¡¯t. Either way, with the materials I¡¯m using there shouldn¡¯t be any of the normal issues, I¡¯m physically strong enough that the weight won¡¯t be a problem, and it shouldn¡¯t interfere with my skills because, well, it¡¯s made from one of my skills. Obviously I won¡¯t be able to enchant it, but in theory I won¡¯t need to. The problem is that I¡¯m not skilled enough to make the damn thing. There¡¯s also the fact that one of my classes increases my physical resilience while unarmoured. Right now, the perk doesn¡¯t seem to recognise the gilded wood I¡¯m currently wearing as armour, probably because it''s not made out of a traditional material like steel.But I get the feeling that there¡¯s a balancing act. The breastplate and pauldrons don¡¯t deactivate the perk, but maybe more will. Either way, the armour doesn¡¯t technically need to be for me, it¡¯s an interesting experiment regardless of how it turns out.¡± Lucia yawned, then shook her head as if to clear it. ¡°Tired?¡± He asked. ¡°Mhmm, but I¡¯m not done yet. I¡¯m just taking a break.¡± ¡°Make sure you pace yourself.¡± Leif warned. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m taking a break.¡± She pouted. ¡°Hey, is that one of your compressed orbs? Can I see how it works?¡± Leif called the sphere of gilded wood in question into his hand with more than a little effort. It was dense and heavy, practically vibrating with potential energy. ¡°Sure, we can test it together. These things were scarily potent with just normal wood, and with the unique properties of the material I can do some interesting things.¡± He stood, empowering his [Might] to ease the burden of carrying the condensed sphere. If he didn¡¯t have his spatial ring, travelling with such weapons would not be practical. The orb hummed, the golden cracks crisscrossing its ivory surface gleaming as he fed a trickle of vitality into it. Leif and Lucia exited the fort by climbing over the remains of what had once been a gatehouse, then the scion set the orb¡¯s state, and prepared to throw it. The trick to making the detonation as potent as possible was a sudden influx of vitality that made the hundreds of twisted knots within the sphere all try to grow simultaneously, the resulting violent expansion dealing a massive amount of blunt force damage to anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its radius. [Surge of Life and Growth] aided in this process by directly influencing whatever he healed with the skill to grow. Leif activated the skill in question, and the orb flashed gold. His will clamped down, preventing the expansion to come as he twisted back and threw the now vigorously vibrating sphere into the night. It flew five, ten, then fifteen metres, the further away it got the less influence Leif had over its structure, then It detonated with a sudden crack and a brilliant flash of golden light. Spasming branches lashed out in every direction, surging outwards with more force than they ever had before. A twisting and uncoiling limb of wood smashed into the ground, kicking up a massive pillar of dirt and loose chunks of grass, only to alter its course and surge upwards with blinding speed, right towards where Leif and Lucia were watching. Leif cursed and grabbed Lucia, pulling her away and down. She cried out but the sound was overshadowed by the crash of growing wood shattering the golden shield Leif conjured to protect them both. A sharp and heavy impact to Leif¡¯s back sent them tumbling into the old fort. Leif landed hard in a pile of rubble and rolled to his feet, reaching out with [Wood Manipulation] to seize the wildly flailing branch and hold it in place. He mentally wrestled with it as it writhed in chaotic patterns, with every second the twisting wood lost a little bit of energy, and he gained more ground. Finally, though in reality the process had taken less than a breath, it froze, quivering with unspent energy an inch from the right eye socket of his mask. Out in the darkness beyond the fort the world was ripped to pieces, the constant sounds of violent crunches and earth trembling impacts resounding for another ten seconds, then everything went still and silent. ¡°Gods.¡± Lucia said after several seconds had passed. ¡°That was close.¡± ¡°A fair bit more than I expected.¡± Leif said, releasing his hold on the branch as the vitality causing it to grow and expand faded away. ¡°Sorry about that. Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah... Just... just shocked I guess.¡± She groaned, picking herself up off the ground, dust and stones falling out of her hair and clothes as she shook herself clean. Leif brushed himself off, his eyes never leaving the branch before him. The test hadn¡¯t gone to plan, but if his assumptions were correct about what would happen next... The branch drew back, slowly twisting and snaking in the exact reverse of the path it had taken while growing. It shrunk, gradually at first, then picking up speed. Leif followed it up out of the fort, and watched in awe as hundreds of branches flowed back together from where they had torn up the land, shrinking back down, gathering together and then folding and knotting themselves into the same pattern they had been in prior to the detonation of wood. Within less than two minutes, a glowing sphere of ivory wood was laying in a crater of its own creation. ¡°Wow.¡± Lucia said as she stared, wide eyed, down at the orb. ¡°It¡¯s both good and bad.¡± Leif said, crossing his arms. ¡°Good in the sense that this massively reduces the upkeep on the technique. Bad in that I can¡¯t control the expansion if the wood moves that quickly and with that much force. Also bad, somewhat, is that if I want to create difficult terrain for opponents to navigate through, this type of orb isn¡¯t able to do that for very long.¡± He paused considering. ¡°Though I guess I would just need to remove the lock placed on the bomb with my skill prior to throwing it.¡± ¡°How many of these can you carry around?¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Including that one, I have two more in my spatial ring.¡± ¡°Of course you do.¡± She huffed, stomping back into the fort. ¡°What?¡± Leif asked, somewhat confused. ¡°Not related, no.¡± Leif said. ¡°But we share a common goal and destination.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The man said. The sound of murmured chatter reached Leif¡¯s ear as the group of over thirty finally arrived at the fort. They were indeed a tired looking collection of humans, their ages spanning from younger than Lucia, to needing a cane to hobble along. Among them were a handful of armed figures, and as the refugees climbed into the fort, one such person detached from the larger group, gracefully stepping over to Kurt¡¯s side. ¡°Well well, what do we have here? Two generous souls?¡± It was a tall woman with a darker complexion than the refugees she guarded. Her sharp eyes gleamed, the smirk stretching her lips playful, almost mocking. She leaned against Kurt, and the man in turn wrapped an arm around her bare waist, pulling her closer. She was slender, with several notable tattoos and piercings of various colours and designs. From what Leif could tell, she looked fully human, though as demikin bloodlines diffused over generations it could be hard to tell the difference. ¡°This is Maline, my partner in crime, so to speak.¡± The demikin said, earning an amused tutter from Maline. ¡°She¡¯s the love of my life, but don¡¯t tell her I said that, she¡¯s incorrigible.¡± ¡°What happened to your arm?¡± Lucia said, and Leif winced at the blunt question. He had noticed the woman¡¯s... lack of a right arm, but he had the tact not to immediately ask. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a cute little thing?¡± Maline asked, leaning forward with a sly grin. ¡°Hmm, I suppose a story wouldn¡¯t hurt.This little nub was a reward for a job done quietly, subtly, and without detection. Alas, my employers were fools and gave away the game, probably due to a guilty conscience. I couldn¡¯t evade the law forever, and when they caught me, they figured a light maiming was in order. To make me worse at my job, you see.¡± Lucia¡¯s eyes grew wider and wider as Maline talked, and Leif sensed the regret bubbling inside her at having asked. Maline, for her part, didn¡¯t seem offended. In fact, she seemed to relish the look of increasing discomfort on the girl¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. In the end everything worked out fine. I left the city alive when my employers did not. I met a charming family man to call my own, and the all powerful system even threw me a bone to help out with my... disability.¡± As if in demonstration, green energy swirled from the stump at her side, it was noxious and gave off a sharp impression of deadly corrosion. The toxic smoke stretched behind Kurt¡¯s back, and a hand tipped with sharpened, oozing claws, materialised over his shoulder, snaking downward to rest against his upper chest. The demikin didn¡¯t so much as flinch as a faint sizzling sound came from where Maline¡¯s conjured fingers met his skin. ¡°You¡¯re scaring our hosts, dear.¡± Kurt chided. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I only use my power on bad men.¡± She demurred huskily. ¡°Uh, okay.¡± Lucia said, taking a careful step back and behind Leif. ¡°I believe you.¡± Leif silently watched the display, though in truth his attention was more focused on the reaction of the refugees. They were tired and weary, but when Maline showed off her ability, Leif sensed a rising amount of disgust, wariness and even fear. It was noticeable, but he didn¡¯t think it indicated a larger problem, nor an outright cause for concern. ¡°Should we prepare a fire, boss?¡± A younger man shouted from within the fort¡¯s main courtyard. ¡°Or is it too late for us to bother?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll make full camp.¡± Kurt called back, detaching himself from Maline¡¯s embrace. ¡°Find a spot if you would, then I¡¯ll light this place up.¡± ¡°Sure thing boss, give us a few minutes.¡± The other mercenary said, jogging over to a fourth person who was already helping to clear away space by shifting rubble with some sort of skill. ¡°Assuming that¡¯s okay with you, of course.¡± Kurt said to Leif. ¡°It¡¯s not my old pile of rubble, you can do what you like.¡± ¡°Good man.¡± The sellsword said, clapping the scion on the shoulder. The man paused briefly, then continued on, Maline trailing close behind after giving her hosts a wink and a blown kiss. Tired refugees were gathering in small groups, unpacking their carried belongings and trying to make themselves comfortable. Leif saw a middle aged woman trying to round up her two younger children who seemed more interested in exploring their new environment than staying still. An elderly couple were glancing wearily around them, seemingly less than keen to be staying in the fort for the night. ¡°You couldn¡¯t find somewhere a little less derelict? Goblins and other foul creatures could sprout from the dust and shadows at any moment!¡± The man loudly complained. Leif watched, taking a few steps away for privacy as he sensed the worry coming from Lucia. ¡°I don¡¯t like them.¡± She whispered as she deftly hopped over a section of loose stone. ¡°They remind me of... I don¡¯t know, the kind of people I used to avoid on the streets.¡± ¡°They¡¯re a bit rough, but I doubt that they were lying about their purpose.¡± Leif responded telepathically. ¡°I think they really are mercenaries, and their charges really are refugees fleeing to the east. I just don¡¯t think that''s all they are.¡± === The sellswords had quickly gathered a pile of dried wood in one of the central courtyards. Kurt knelt next to the soon to be bonfire, holding out a callused hand and creating a stream of heated ashes, then he snapped his fingers and everything ignited all at once, the merrily dancing flames illuminating the dark and jagged interior of the fort. Lucia watched impassively as the place she had been using to train was requisitioned into temporary accommodations. Leif could tell that she was nervous, even as he made his way to where his armour project was still laid out on the ground she stuck to him like a shadow. ¡°What''s all this?¡± Came an upbeat voice. ¡°And why is it glowing?¡± Leif glanced up to see the man Kurt had directed to prepare the fire. He was on the younger side, likely in his early twenties, and he had an unruly appearance with wild scruffy hair and clothing with an endless series of patches and stitches. ¡°A project I''ve been working on.¡± Leif answered. ¡°Oh yeah? It kind of looks like armour. My uncle was a blacksmith, but he used to spend all day hammering nails into shape instead of making something cool like weapons. Probably why he drank so much. Is that metal? I¡¯ve never seen anything like it. I¡¯m Slayde by the way. Member of the Greyband company, that¡¯s me.¡± ¡°Leif, and no, it''s special wood I¡¯ve prepared.¡± He said, calling a small unconnected plate into his hand, then tossing it to the man. ¡°Greyband? I assume that¡¯s the name of Kurt¡¯s group?¡± ¡°Yeah, that''s us. Kurt¡¯s the boss man, we do what he says and get paid for it. We¡¯re helping folks now, which is nice I suppose.¡± He spun the gilded wooden piece of armour between dexterous fingers, then he brought it up to his nose and sniffed. ¡° Oh wow, this is wood, cool beans. Interesting texture, how¡¯d you get it into this shape without cracking it? What kind of magic is making the golden cracks? Why are you wearing a mask?¡± Slayde said, rapid-firing each question with no breath in between. ¡°Curious, aren''t you?¡± The man rubbed the back of his head, his grin showing missing teeth. ¡°Sorry mate, bad habit, yeah? I just like to know things, you know?¡± ¡°Slayde? We need you on the perimeter, you have the first watch!¡± Called Kurt, the grey skinned man coming into view. ¡°Right, sorry boss!¡± Slayde said, activating some sort of skill to dash away, taking the piece of armour with him. Leif mentally reached out and tugged it from his hand with [Wood Manipulation], and the man stumbled, glancing back sheepishly. ¡°You keep interesting people in your employ.¡± Leif told the mercenary. Kurt grunted. ¡°He¡¯s an alright kid, got his issues but he¡¯s reliable enough. We¡¯re doing a late dinner around the fire, children get extra servings if they want. You¡¯re welcome to join us.¡± Leif gaze Lucia a questioning glance, and the girl shrugged noncommittally. Chapter 185: Company Chapter 185: Company Lucia waited until none of the sell-swords were around the campfire before she stepped into line, an empty bowl in one hand and the other resting against the hilt of her wooden sword. It took a handful of minutes to reach the two men who were cooking and serving the refugees. ¡°Ah, you must be the girl travelling with the masked adventurer.¡± One of them said, a ladle dipped into the half empty pot. ¡°Is everything okay? You look nervous.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± She said, though the back of her neck prickled from being around so many strangers. She let out a breath and tried to smile as the man filled her bowl, though it likely came out as more of a grimace. ¡°Thank you for the meal.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just heated oats, nothing special.¡± The cook snorted. ¡°But you¡¯re most welcome. Tell your father he¡¯s more than welcome to eat as well. God¡¯s know we have more than enough of this gruel to go around.¡± Lucia opened her mouth to correct the cook¡¯s mistake, but before she could another voice called out to her. ¡°Girl, come over here. Sit with us, dear.¡± She glanced to the side to see a group of older to middle aged women and some of their children resting on dirty looking blankets and a handful of chairs that they had somehow procured, though from where, Lucia didn¡¯t know. One of the kids, a girl around Lucia¡¯s age, waved at her with a hand still holding a spoon. Lucia tightened her grip on her bowl and made to head in the other direction, only for the same woman who had invited her over to call once again. ¡°Go on, girl, you may as well sit with the other kids. You¡¯ll be friends in no time, I¡¯m sure of it.¡± The server said with a comforting smile.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com Lucia felt exposed and vulnerable, and the instincts she had developed from her life on the street were warning her of danger whenever somebody shifted or raised their voice. But being around other people was good, it was normal. She was normal too, right? Lucia grit her teeth and made her way stiffly over to the group that had invited her. The girl who had waved with the spoon was being scolded by who Lucia assumed was her mother for flinging food around. She sat on the very edge of the blanket, half poised to jump up and run at the slightest sign of danger. Lucia glanced over her shoulder to see if any of the mercenaries were nearby, but they seemed to have vacated the space around the fire to give more room for the refugees. ¡°Hi.¡± Said spoon girl. ¡°I¡¯m Thani. That¡¯s a cool sword! Owch, I mean, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Lucia.¡± She replied, trying to shove as much food into her mouth at once so she wouldn¡¯t need to say anything more. ¡°Why do you have a weapon?¡± An older boy asked, a frown on his surprisingly clean features. ¡°Girls don¡¯t need weapons.¡± ¡°Yacob, that¡¯s a rude question.¡± One of the older women said with a scowl. ¡°It¡¯s true though. None of you have combat classes.¡± The boy said. ¡°I¡¯m going to be a [Fighter] one day soon. I¡¯ll battle with monsters and protect people.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have a class yet?¡± Lucia asked as she finished chewing, though only because his question had irked her. ¡°Not yet, no. I¡¯m still working on it.¡± Yacob said defensively. ¡°Why, it¡¯s not like you have one either. You¡¯re too young.¡± ¡°I have one.¡± Lucia said testily, then she took another mouthful of oats to try and ignore the incredulous looks everyone was sending her way. ¡°But you¡¯re so young.¡± A concerned looking woman said. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be working at such a young age, you need time to play and be a child.¡± ¡°Is it a combat class?¡± Thani asked excitedly, gesturing again with her spoon. ¡°I bet it is! Did the masked man teach you? Are you in training to be an adventurer? Have you fought monsters? Have you ever killed anyone?¡± ¡°Thani!¡± The girl¡¯s mother hissed, pinching her daughter¡¯s ear. ¡°Don¡¯t ask someone that, it¡¯s inappropriate. And of course she hasn¡¯t, don¡¯t be ridiculous.¡± Lucia made no effort to speak up, even when she was asked more questions. Instead she focused on her half eaten meal, for some reason she no longer felt hungry. It felt like there were a hundred worms wriggling around in her stomach, and she took a deep breath to try and fight them down. An older couple approached, and people shifted to get out of their way. They were both somewhat overweight, with greyed hair and more than a handful of wrinkles between them. The man slumped down into an unoccupied seat that seemed to have been left specifically for him, and the woman gingerly knelt onto the blanket, her smile warm but tired. ¡°I hope everyone is doing alright.¡± She asked. ¡°No empty bellies I hope.¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± The older man rumbled. ¡°Not with how much food we packed for the trip. We could have twice the numbers and not get through half of it. If it wasn¡¯t for this damn war we never would have needed to flee east. What¡¯s the army doing anyway? What are we paying taxes for if not to be defended from a bunch of bloodthirsty savages?¡± ¡°Forgive my husband. He¡¯s tired, just like everyone else.¡± The woman said, touching the man on the knee to forestall a further rant. She smiled and looked at everyone one by one, finally reaching Lucia. ¡°Oh my, look at you! So grimy and dirty. And are those pants? They¡¯re all torn up! Young lady, you need to take better care of yourself.¡± Lucia just stared blankly over her bowl, not sure how to respond. The elderly woman tutted and scooted closer, half muttering to herself, half talking to Lucia. ¡°And you¡¯re so skinny, you need to eat more if you want to stay healthy. Is that a hole in your shirt? How did that happen? It looks like something cut right through the fabric. Dear, this won¡¯t do, it won¡¯t do at all.¡± A violet and azure cloth appeared in the woman¡¯s hand, and she reached up towards Lucia¡¯s face. She flinched back, shuffling off the blanket and rising to her feet. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± She said, her voice low. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me.¡± ¡°You have dirt on your cheek. Come back here and I¡¯ll wipe it off for you.¡± Lucia swiped at her cheek with her forearm, earning a disapproving scowl from the older woman. ¡°She said she has a class.¡± Yacob said. ¡°But she¡¯s clearly lying. Tell her that lying is bad, grandmother.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not lying. But I don¡¯t need to prove it to you.¡± Lucia growled, taking a step back. The boy stuck out his tongue. ¡°You should give that sword to someone who knows how to use it.¡± ¡°Yacob, that¡¯s enough.¡± His grandmother said. ¡°You¡¯re frightening the poor girl away. Sit back down, dear, finish your dinner and we¡¯ll find some clothes that don¡¯t make you look like a scruffy farmer''s son.¡± Lucia felt her face grow hot, but half wreathed in shadows from the dancing bonfire she hoped nobody could see. How would they think if they knew who exactly had trained and clothed her? She didn¡¯t look like a farmer, these were the same type of clothes Hera wore when she was out of her uniform, she looked like a Blade of the Academy, they were just too stupid to see it. Lucia darted forward and grabbed her bowl off the ground, then, before anyone could say anything else she ran off, using [Fade] to vanish into the darkness of the fort. Below them a group of refugees had climbed out of the fort and were running down the hill as fast as they could. A woman, overburdened with supplies, dropped her belongings as she ran, and when she stooped down to collect them a panicked couple almost trampled over them. ¡°You¡¯ve led us into danger! You¡¯re a damn fool, I should never had hired a group outside of the guilds. You could have gotten us all killed!¡± The older man was shouting, his face red and his finger wagging angrily in Kurt¡¯s unimpressed face. ¡°If any of us get so much as a scratch because of you, you can say goodbye to your payment.¡± ¡°Sir.¡± Kurt said, the demikin¡¯s words oozing with forced patience. ¡°I can assure you that the monster in the forest has no interest in us. I know its species, and they rarely, if ever, leave the denser tree cover.¡± ¡°You know? You know! If you knew then you never should have brought us so close to the trees!¡± The man bellowed while his equally aged wife bustled around trying to pack up everything by herself. One by one the surprising number of luxuries that had been strewn about during the chaos disappeared as the woman lifted them. She had a gem encrusted polished silver bracelet hanging loosely around her wrist, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to identify it as a storage item. ¡°Are we really going to travel with these people?¡± Lucia asked, and Leif could tell by her tone that she was less than keen on the idea. ¡°With them? No. Alongside them, I don¡¯t see why not. They''re heading to Luriem, and unless we want to brave cutting through the woodland, the city should be our destination as well.¡± A distant roar punctuated his words, and Lucia wrinkled her nose. ¡°We would be safer without them. Quicker too.¡± ¡°Maybe. But if we¡¯re heading in the same direction the company won¡¯t hurt.¡± Leif said, stepping forward to blur back down to the ground in a streak of gold. ¡°It might.¡± She grumbled, hopping down after him and following like a short, brooding shadow. The refugees had filtered out of the fort, but their group was stretched over a hundred metres, and the mercenaries were running around as if trying to shepherd a flock of terrified sheep. Kurt had one eye on the forest, and one eye on the old man who was still angrily berating him. The demikin had a look on his face that made it clear he wanted to punch someone, but didn¡¯t have any valid targets to take his mounting frustrations out on. Maline sauntered up to him, and her sharp smile seemed to unnerve the elderly refugee enough that his rage spluttered out like a dying candle. The forest shook, loose pebbles tumbling down the hillside as if chasing the refugees. Leif stopped and waited for the leader of the Greyband mercenaries to catch up to him, much to the annoyance of Lucia who was not so subtly trying to tug him along, though to little success. ¡°I overheard that you know what the thing making all that noise is?¡± Leif asked leadingly. ¡°Aye, an old bastard named Neil.¡± Kurt replied with a sigh. ¡°Oh, you mean the monster in the forest? It¡¯s a big fucking monkey. Uh, sorry for the crass language. Not overly dangerous since they¡¯re easy to hear coming.¡± ¡°Do you know its level?¡± ¡°Probably around forty. When they evolve they grow too big for the inner parts of the forest, so they migrate outwards, and then they get butchered by adventurers or hunters. This one probably just evolved, which is why it¡¯s making such a big fuss about no longer having a home.¡± ¡°Poor little baby.¡± Maline said in a lilting tone. ¡°Kicked out of the nest. I¡¯d be upset too.¡± ¡°If it fully leaves the cover of the forest I¡¯ll eat my own shoes.¡± Kurt said. ¡°But I¡¯m just a stupid, dumb mercenary who has no idea what he¡¯s doing.¡± ¡°Hush dear.¡± Maline giggled. ¡°Now, shall we catch up to our charges before they run themselves off a cliff in their panic?¡± The two departed, Kurt jogging and Maline using some sort of skill to quickly dart ahead of him. ¡°I really don¡¯t like them.¡± Lucia whispered. ¡°I really, really don¡¯t like them.¡± Leif turned and knelt, looking her in the eye. Lucia squirmed uncomfortably the longer they held eye contact, and he could sense the trepidation within her, the growing uncertainty and fear. Her weak but uncontrolled aura was practically shouting her intention to turn and run in the other direction, without an associated skill she wouldn¡¯t be able to manipulate her soul¡¯s growing presence. ¡°You don¡¯t want us to travel with them?¡± She nodded sharply. ¡°You¡¯re certain?¡± ¡°I... It¡¯s just a hunch, a gut feeling. It feels like a part of my mind is shouting at me not to trust them, not to get too close.¡± She mumbled, looking away and kicking at the grass. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s stupid, I don¡¯t know them, so-¡± ¡°No. I trust you.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll let them go ahead, and we¡¯ll camp separately. Once we reach Luriem we¡¯ll stay away, get the supplies we need, then leave as soon as possible. Does that sound like a plan?¡± Lucia swallowed, then nodded. ¡°Yeah... Thank you.¡± ¡°Wonderful.¡± Leif said, standing and placing his hands on his hips. ¡°How about we go take a look at a big monkey?¡± ¡°Really?¡± She asked, immediately perking up. ¡°Can I fight it?¡± ¡°You did hear Kurt say that it would be over level forty, right?¡± Leif chided. ¡°Yeah...¡± She said, puffing out her cheeks and pouting. He placed a hand on her head, ruffling her already messy hair, earning an annoyed groan, an eye roll, and an ineffectual kick to the shin for his troubles. Then, once the refugees and sellswords were completely out of sight, they headed in the opposite direction. Chapter 186: Threat Chapter 186: Threat The air warped as a haymaker from a fist the size of Leif¡¯s torso ripped over his head. The giant, rust-red furred ape screeched as it followed up with its other fist, only for the blow to be deflected as Leif raised two golden forearms to guide the strike aside. The ape, expecting to have connected with the second blow, stumbled forward, off balance for just a moment. In the opening granted by its mistake, an ivory palm drove into the side of its head, blasting the shed-sized beast through a nearby tree. The ape roared as it threw itself upright, its muzzle pulled back to expose dagger-like canines and bloody gums. A mantle of white fur ringed the creature''s neck and shoulders, puffing out to make its already intimidating frame seem even larger. Maddened eyes gleaming with red, the effects of an enrage skill, bore into Leif as if the ape was trying to kill him with its glare alone. There was a minor fear effect, but it was weak enough to ignore, and Leif had enough control over his mentality that even if it wasn¡¯t, he likely wouldn¡¯t have had any trouble. The battle between person sized tree and tree sized monkey had raged for over ten minutes, and the largely one sided beatdown had destroyed well over a hundred metres of dense forest. The scion folded his real arms behind his back, and gestured with a limb of gold. The beast roared and charged forward, powerful loping bounds tearing up already loose dirt as it rampaged towards him. Something small darted out from behind a fallen log, and the ape stumbled mid charge, a small cut having opened up on its lower shin. It howled and glanced around looking for whatever had struck it, but the taunting effect of [Fists of Awe] forcibly redirected its attention back onto Leif. At first he hadn¡¯t wanted Lucia to involve herself at all. The thrice evolved beast was by no means an opponent the girl had any hope of facing in a fair fight. Even a glancing blow would have reduced her into a fine red mist, and the shockwaves from the ape¡¯s mighty blows would have been more than enough to send her flying. All of this was true, but Leif¡¯s core skill could grant over fifty points to any attribute, and more if his [Charisma] was increased, which it currently was. With that boost going into her [Alacrity] Lucia could move very, very quickly. Far faster than anyone her level should be able to. Even then, Leif had made her practise for over an hour before they had gone anywhere near the beast. At first she had barely been able to take a step without falling over, the increased balance and motor control from the enhanced attribute hadn¡¯t offset the boost to speed and reactivity. But having tripped over her own feet two dozen times in only a handful of minutes, the low levelled [Rogue] quickly got the hang of things. Having her own skill that helped with balance sped up the learning process, but Lucia¡¯s own stubborn determination was likely a greater contributing factor to her rapid improvement than anything else. Unlike when he was enhancing his own attributes, Leif couldn¡¯t maintain the increased stats active for more than a few minutes at a time. On top of that, it took a fraction of his concentration to maintain the skill. Finally giving [Benevolent Actions] a real workout was nice however, and he could already feel the skill improving as he flickered it on and off to allow Lucia to dart in, strike, then escape before getting clobbered. The ape threw itself at him again, and they clashed in a blur of fists that rocked the forest. The beast was strong, likely more physically powerful than Leif was, even with all his synergising buffs and enhancements. Leif had drained enough vitality from the nearby vegetation prior to engaging with the creature to gain the sixty percent increase to all his attributes from [Consuming Aeons], but even with the buff he still didn¡¯t quite match it for raw strength. But a dozen arms was better than two, and having several skills all working to empower his unarmed combat abilities let him pull ahead. He was simply the better fighter, though that wasn¡¯t exactly surprising. Leif had been training almost nonstop for the past few months, his nights, when they weren¡¯t interrupted by Lucia¡¯s own practise, had been spent grinding at everything from his footwork, posture and stances to the best ways to transfer force into each punch. Even with his advantages, Leif still took hits. But while his own strikes dealt devastating blows to his opponent, the enraged ape could barely knock him back a handful of steps. Despite his absurd durability, the scion took damage. But [Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess] only grew stronger the more injured he was, and that was the skill he was trying to = push over the final hill in order to get an upgrade. Leif pitied the beast, but the giant ape was hardly intelligent, it had all but thrown itself at Lucia and him the second it had spotted them. If it had possessed even the hint of intellect he may have just left it alone, but it was excessively violent to the point of being crazed, and while that may have largely been the fault of its skills, it made the decision to use it as a training aid easy. With every minute that passed, the ape slowed, its breathing growing ragged as every punch, block and grapple Leif landed syphoned away slivers of its monstrous vitality. Even on its last legs, the beast never ceased its attempts to rip Leif apart. He drove an amber fist into its chin, then blurred behind it in a streak of golden light to deliver a follow up to its lower spine. He kept its massive form airborne for several seconds, blasting waves of force into its spinning body with [Fist Projection], only for it to finally crash lifelessly to the ground, the impact shaking the nearby trees. Golden vitality boiled within Leif, and his exhale of breath hissed like heated steam. He fed the excess energy into the undergrowth at his feet, and the grass and moss began to grow at a visible rate. Congratulations! Your [Inspiring Brawler] skill [Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess] has met an upgrade threshold! Would you like to upgrade [Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess] from rank III to rank IV? Y/N Lucia jumped down from her most recent hiding place, landing with a flip. ¡°Is it dead? I didn¡¯t get anyth-¡± Leif accepted his own prompt and glanced at her. The girl¡¯s eyes had gone unfocused, and she was staring slack jawed at her own system message. ¡°Did you level up?¡± He asked, dropping [Benevolent Actions] from her now that the fight was over. Lucia stumbled in place, looking up with wide eyes after regaining her balance. ¡°I didn¡¯t. But I did earn a display of excellence for helping fight something over thirty levels higher than myself! I got two points in [Alacrity] and [Might]!¡± She explained, beaming happily. ¡°Congratulations.¡± He said. ¡°Now, should we keep heading east?¡± ¡°Can we find something else to fight? Please? I¡¯m sure there are more strong beasts and monsters in this forest we could track down?¡± ¡°I want to be out of the province before Turbulence hits. And if we want to do that, we need to keep moving instead of sticking around here.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Thanks.¡± She said, smiling somewhat awkwardly up at the tailor. ¡°You¡¯re most welcome. The offer to mend what you¡¯re currently wearing still stands, deary. I can patch up both the shirt and pants by tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°Uh, I¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s not that bad.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯ve certainly seen worse.¡± The tailor chuckled. ¡°You should have seen my sons when they were your age. But wear can build quicker than you might think. What¡¯s a small hole or tear can suddenly unravel, and the worse the damage the harder to repair it becomes. You can use the back room to get changed if you want.¡± Lucia shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t have time. I appreciate the offer though. Wait, do you have thread and a needle I can buy?¡± The woman squinted down and Lucia¡¯s hands, her brow knit in thought. ¡°I suppose you look dexterous enough. Do you have any experience with stitching?¡± ¡°A bit.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a skill everyone should learn.¡± The tailor grumbled. ¡°But if they did, then I¡¯d be partially out of business. Come round behind the counter, girl, I¡¯ll teach you the basics. If you¡¯re a quick learner, you can have the needle and thread for free.¡± === ¡°Sorry kid, the army bought all our non-perishables yesterday.¡± The burly man said, the downturn of his lips making the scar on his left cheek more prominent. ¡°They went around demanding everything we had. I think they hit every shop in the district, so you¡¯re out of luck I¡¯m afraid.¡± Lucia fought down her disappointment as she left the shop. It would have been nice to go back to Leif with her having accomplished every task, but in her experience, things were rarely as easy as she hoped. Shifting the packs slung over her shoulder, she opened the door to the butchers shop, stopping the door from closing on her with a foot as she slunk out. Taking the small flight of stone steps leading up to the building in a single hop, she made her way down the street. It was late in the afternoon, but she still had around thirty minutes to get to the meetup point. The stalls lining the sides of the road were packing up, their business done for the day, and she weaved between stall owners and late shoppers as she went. The burden Lucia was carrying would have troubled her less than two months ago, but with her class and the handful of levels she had gained since obtaining it, the weight barely hindered her progress at all. Having a class felt like it had opened doors she had hardly hoped to imagine, and Lucia could freely admit to herself that she was perhaps a little overeager to progress further. It was frustrating then, that she was struggling to gain levels. Everyone knew that the first levels one earned in their initial class came quickly and easily, with advancement growing more and more difficult the higher in level you became. But she had what felt like the opposite problem. Because she had earned her [Rogue] class at such a young age, she was being hindered by the system. Or maybe her own soul. The reasons and technical mechanics didn¡¯t really matter to her, only the fact that she couldn¡¯t progress as quickly as she would have liked. It was irritating to have power and control at her fingertips, only for it to be dangled out of her reach when she tried to grasp it. Level five is good. She reminded herself as she sidestepped two men carrying a crate of what looked like dyes between them. I just need more time. When we travel north during turbulence, I¡¯ll have more than enough opportunities to gain experience. She rounded a corner, only to need to quickly back up to let a cart pulled by a horse lumber by. Lucia waited for it to pass, tapping her foot impatiently. She took a breath to calm herself. She wasn¡¯t in a rush, not right now, there was no reason to be so agitated. Maybe it was being back inside a city that had her on edge, well, more on edge than she usually was. She made to cross the street when she felt the back of her neck prickle. Lucia knew better from her time living on the streets of Kartinth to ignore that sensation. She doubled her pace, sprinting across the road, then spinning, looking around for any sign of danger. A younger man with an unkempt appearance was staring at her from behind a stack of wooden boxes. Their eyes met, then he vanished, ducking out of sight. Her heart hammered as she stared at the spot he had been watching her from. There were a hundred reasons why being tailed was dangerous, and she had outrun more than a few pursuers in her time as a streetrat. But there was something worse than being followed. And that was being recognised. Because she had known who the man was, and he had certainly known who she was. The sell-sword with the missing teeth and overly patched clothes. Lucia didn¡¯t remember his name, though she thought it started with an s. But his name hardly mattered. Lucia felt the same feeling of imminent danger drag its fingernails against the chalkboard that was her mind. The same sensation she had felt when she first interacted with the mercenary¡¯s back at the abandoned fort. And the same sensation that had saved her life a dozen times. She didn¡¯t have time to consider what was going on. Instead, she turned and sprinted in the other direction. Chapter 187: Knife Fight Chapter 187: Knife Fight The streets emptied the further Lucia fled from the mercantile district. Those that remained on the darkening roads gave her a wide berth or otherwise ignored her completely. She darted into side alleys, backtracking and obfuscating her path as best she could. The longer the shadows grew the more effective [Fade] became, and Lucia flitted between buildings and cover, all but invisible during the brief moments her pursuer may have been able to spot her. She ran along a wall, only for the man to emerge from an alley several metres in front of her. Lucia cursed and sprinted in the other direction, juking around carts and between barrels. She vanished into the shadows, then pivoted, dashing to break line of sight, then altering her path to stay unpredictable. Lucia ducked into a doorway, sweat beading on her forehead as she fought to regain her breath. Her shoulders and back ached from carrying her burden, and if it wasn¡¯t for her [Light Footwork] skill her legs would be trembling. Her racing heart slowed as she recovered, and she strained her ears to pick up any sound. The street seemed to be silent, but Lucia knew better than to believe she was safe. She didn¡¯t think her pursuit had any stealth skills, but she also hadn¡¯t expected him to keep up. She carefully peered around the wall, only to curse under her breath as she saw a figure walking down the street towards her. It was hard to make out their appearance, and what evening light filtered down into the city between the terraced buildings wasn¡¯t enough to make it any easier. Her hand tightened on the hilt of her sword, and her body tensed, ready to make the first strike. Footsteps echoed on cobbled stones as she shifted her packs off her shoulder. They were close, ten metres, then five. Their approach slowed, then stopped, and it took every ounce of self control she had not to burst out of cover and attack right then and there. Something rattled, then light bloomed just out of sight, followed by the sound of a metallic latch shutting. The footsteps trailed away moments later, and Lucia let out the breath she hadn¡¯t realised she had been holding. A lamp lighter, of course, that made sense. She glanced out of cover briefly, but didn¡¯t spot anyone else. Re-gathering her newly purchased belongings, Lucia left her hiding spot and made for where Leif would hopefully be waiting for her. If she was too late, he might come looking for her, but that would only increase the odds of them passing like ships in the night. Lucia half jogged, half walked, her head on a constant swivel as she approached the rendezvous. The side street in question came into view a minute later, and Lucia picked up the pace, using [Fade] once again to flitter across the street, though the sharp stab of pain in her soul made her wince. ¡°Leif? Are you-¡± Lucia said as she rounded the final corner, only for a hand to smother her words as a figure lunged forwards with alarming speed. She tried to tug away but her attacker grabbed her by the arm with an iron grip. ¡°Shhhh! Don¡¯t yell, I¡¯m sorry, but both of our safety relies on this. Please don¡¯t fight.¡± The man hissed, pulling Lucia into the side-street. ¡°Where¡¯s the masked man you were travelling with? Wait, don''t answer... I mean, you can¡¯t... Stop struggling! Hey, cut that out!¡± Lucia twisted and threw herself out of his grasp, and the man cursed, grabbing for her but missing. She hopped back, both packs falling to the ground, then she kicked her foot under the strap of one of them and flicked it into the man¡¯s chest. ¡°Get away!¡± She said, drawing her wooden sword, the sharp blade glowing with a faint golden light. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me. Take another step and I¡¯ll kill you!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt you girl, honest. I¡¯m Slayde, we met at the fort. I... I need to take you to my boss. He... they... I don¡¯t know what''s going on, but they need the masked adventurer for something.¡± Slayde whisper-yelled, stumbling back a step to avoid the pack. His words were jittery, and one of his hands twitched by his side. In the subtle radiance of Lucia¡¯s sword she saw that his eyes were sunken, and the veins in the side of his head were enlarged and blackened. ¡°How did you find me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a [Scout], my perception is good. I saw you enter the city. I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have told them anything. I didn¡¯t realise this was what they wanted!¡± ¡°You mean your boss and his woman? I knew they were rotten! I knew it!¡± Slayde winced. ¡°Quiet, I don¡¯t want to restrain you but I will if I have to.¡± ¡°Try it, I¡¯ll gut you like a fish.¡± ¡°Shit, shit shit shit.¡± The sellsword said, rubbing his palms against his trousers. ¡°I was never good at this. Please come willingly, it¡¯ll be so much worse for everyone if you don¡¯t. You¡¯re not going to listen, are you?¡± ¡°No shit.¡± Lucia spat. Slayde groaned, scratching at the side of his face as if trying to scrape off his skin. He sighed, licked his lips, then rushed forward. Lucia stepped to the side, her sword flashing, and the man danced back, not eager to let himself get cut. Lucia noticed a dagger at his side, but he didn¡¯t draw it. Instead he lurched forward again, this time faster. She cut for his head but he ducked, grabbing her by the shirt. Lucia¡¯s fist drove into his groin earning a hiss of pain, but he didn¡¯t let go. Dull light built in Slayde¡¯s forearm as he raised it to block the pommel of her sword. For several seconds they grappled, Lucia using every trick and desperate idea that came to mind to break free, Slayde using his increased size and weight to try and hold her down. She managed to cut into his leg, but then he struck her wrist, the sword tumbling from her slackened grip to clatter against the cobbles. She reached for the weapon, but the man kicked it away, but it was a faint. Her other hand found the hilt of his dagger and drew the weapon from its sheath. Slayde released her and scrambled to evade as she stabbed forward with the much shorter weapon. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The sell-sword fell back with a cry, his footing disrupted as he tripped over one of the packs she had discarded earlier. In less than a second Lucia pounced, driving a knee into the man¡¯s stomach as she fell down onto him, the dagger aimed at his throat. Steel rang against stone as he jerked his head to the side, his eyes wide, almost manic. ¡°Hallow root. I was dumb and tried some as a kid. Shit makes your teeth fall out and clouds your judgment something fierce. The worst part is that your body devours itself from the inside if you stop taking, and if you take too much of the stuff over a long period of time the withdrawals are all but guaranteed to kill you. The local authorities managed to round up the local suppliers and distributors a few years back, but they didn¡¯t do anything for the users. If I didn¡¯t find Maline and Kurt, I¡¯d be dead for sure.¡± ¡°And Maline is... what? Making the drug and feeding it to you?¡± Leif asked, sensing the sincerity in his words. The anger lessened, replaced by worry. They needed to leave the city. ¡°No. Not really. She can replicate the effects of certain substances. Poisons and toxins. Her doses trick my body into not killing itself for a few days.¡± ¡°Would you leave them if you could?¡± ¡°I... Yeah, they¡¯re horrible people. But I have no choice but to work for them.¡± ¡°Get up.¡± Leif said, pulling away the blade and handing it back to Lucia. ¡°This doesn¡¯t excuse your actions, but we can¡¯t stay still if we¡¯re being hunted.¡± ¡°Th-thank you.¡± Slayde stammered as he got to his feet. ¡°I have to get back.¡± ¡°No. You¡¯re coming with us.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°I¡¯m a healer. I can keep you alive through whatever happens next. Do you know a way out of the city?¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± Lucia asked. ¡°We can¡¯t trust him.¡± ¡°Well, the alternatives are killing him or knocking him out and taking him with us. We can¡¯t let him report back, and I think Slayde here is capable of making the right choice.¡± Leif looked into her eyes for several seconds, watching her own anger and fear faded into grudging acceptance. The man in question swallowed hard, then nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll owe you twice over. Whatever you say, I¡¯ll do it. And I know how to get out, there¡¯s an unguarded gate by the western canal.¡± ¡°Fine. Lucia, did you get everything you needed?¡± ¡°Everything but rations.¡± She said, scampering over to collect the packs. ¡°So I guess everything important.¡± Leif huffed. ¡°Good. You did well. Sorry for not being here, the cartographer kept trying to convince me it was a good time of year to go to the beach.¡± ¡°Did... did they know there was a war going on?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think they did actually. The old man was definitely teetering on the edge of lucidity throughout our interaction.¡± Leif said, then paused. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I trust the map I bought.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± Slayde said, hopping from one foot to another. ¡°Should I lead the way?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try anything stupid.¡± Lucia said, glaring with enough intensity to bore a hole through his skull. The former sell-sword glanced between the girl and the masked man. He wiped at his cheek, only to blink in surprise to find that the bleeding had already stopped. ¡°You¡¯re both terrifying, you know that?¡± ¡°Better friends than enemies.¡± Leif said, placing a hand on top of Lucia¡¯s head. ¡°Do the right thing, and we¡¯ll see about changing you from one to the other. Let''s go.¡± Chapter 188: Breakout Chapter 188: Breakout The streets leading up to the western canal were silent, absent of all life except for the occasional scurrying rodent or half-drunk vagrant lying in shadowed alleys. Leif could sense the life within the homesteads they ran past, family units sharing spaces barely large enough to fit them as they sheltered from the encroaching night as much as the distant war. He had taken to carrying all of their newly bought possessions himself. The burden didn¡¯t slow him, but it was somewhat inconvenient to carry. I need a bigger spatial ring. He thought. Shame the cost scales almost exponentially with size. You could buy a small village with the money it would take to purchase the next size up from the ring I got from the Twin-Heart vault. ¡°Luriem seems too quiet.¡± Lucia said, her steps lighter now that she wasn¡¯t carrying half her weight. ¡°Kartinth was never like this, not at night.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been like this since the war started.¡± Slayde said through ragged breaths, the man trailing behind them on unsteady legs. ¡°There¡¯s no official curfew, but most folks stay home. City isn¡¯t as safe as it used to be. Well, it was never overly safe, but you get it.¡± ¡°Thanks, but I wasn¡¯t asking for your input.¡± She said, glaring over her shoulder. The sell-sword flinched, almost tripping over his own feet. Leif slowed his pace, and Lucia matched him with a scowl. ¡°Maybe ease up on the overt hostility until we¡¯re out of the city?¡± He suggested. Lucia frowned, then nodded, shooting Slayde a distrusting look. Leif let her get ahead, then dropped back, holding out a hand to the young man. He grasped it as if it were a lifeline, and practically fell forward, using Leif¡¯s hand to keep himself steady. Slayde¡¯s whole body went rigid as healing energy flowed from Leif, travelling up his arm only to quickly propagate throughout every inch of his body. The dark veins receded somewhat, and his sunken eyes changed not at all. But he was re-energised, and shouldn¡¯t slow them as much. ¡°That... that has quite the kick to it.¡± The mercenary said, blinking owlishly. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise you were actually a powerful healer.¡± ¡°And yet you agreed to come with us and let me heal you through your withdrawals?¡± Leif said. Slayde licked his lips, not meeting Leif¡¯s gaze. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have many choices, do I? It was come along or be killed, either by you, my former bosses or my own stupidity.¡± ¡°The third option might still happen.¡± Lucia muttered under her breath, but in the stillness of night her words carried. The former sell-sword noticed, but did his best to pretend he hadn¡¯t. ¡°We should... uh, keep going, yeah?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Lucia mocked quietly. ¡°You think?¡± === The sound of water steadily streaming down from a raised grate into the slowly moving canal was the only sound that Leif could make out. Well, other than the faint rustling of cloth or Slayde¡¯s laboured breaths. He healed the young man again, earning a peep of surprise, then a relieved exhale. ¡°That''s the way out. Do you see the small gate down by the walkway? Past the bridge and a little further along.¡± He said, squatting down with his hands on his knees, squinting into the darkness. ¡°I thought you said the canal wouldn¡¯t be guarded.¡± Leif said, kneeling against a low wall overlooking the city¡¯s canal. Red-tinged moonlight filtered down from above, though the streets faded in and out of monochrome as clouds drifted overhead, obscuring season for minutes at a time. ¡°It is? I don¡¯t see anyone.¡± Slayde whispered. There was a faint thrum of power as the man activated a skill, his aura spiking ever so slightly with its use. He frowned and closed his eyes, moving his head from side to side. ¡°I can¡¯t sense any guards.¡± ¡°Well, there are five people in the warehouse next to the bridge, and judging by their attempt to hide their presence, I suspect they¡¯re on the lookout for something. Likely us, if I had to guess.¡± Leif said. The mercenary blinked. ¡°You can sense that far? That¡¯s a really potent perception skill.¡± ¡°It¡¯s mostly my aura.¡± Leif replied. ¡°There are two people on the roof.¡± Lucia said as she rematerialised out of the shadows next to them. Slayde flinched at her sudden reappearance, but Leif had sensed her coming and didn¡¯t react. ¡°They have crossbows. You were right, this is definitely a trap.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t set you up, honest.¡± Slayde quickly said. ¡°You would have led us right into it regardless.¡± Leif said. ¡°I pushed myself too hard chasing the girl. My perception is compromised, and it isn¡¯t getting any better.¡± ¡°The girl?¡± Lucia repeated. ¡°The scary young lady with the sword.¡± Slayde corrected himself. ¡°Please don¡¯t stab me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make it so tempting.¡± ¡°Both of you calm down.¡± Leif said, doing the aura equivalent of flicking them in the forehead. ¡°We¡¯re not springing the trap. Is there another way out of the city?¡± ¡°Other than the main gates, or smuggling routes specifically operated by local gangs, not really.¡± The mercenary said, rubbing his head as if he really had been struck. ¡°Did you just slap my soul?¡± ¡°Focus. How many guards operate the gates at night?¡± Leif asked. ¡°Ugh, only a handful. The northern and eastern gates are less protected, but the difference will be only one or two guards. But if you want to leave the city at night you need paperwork, otherwise it¡¯ll be a fight.¡± ¡°How far is the northern gate?¡± ¡°Couple minutes in that direction. Are we going to avoid the soldiers camped outside?¡± ¡°We¡¯re under attack!¡± Another screamed, fumbling for an ivory horn at his hip. The first guard swore, turned, then placed his hand onto a stone slate up above the gate. A protective barrier shimmered into place, weaving in and out of the iron portcullis that backed the mostly wooden door. Fire detonated in front of Leif, thrown from somewhere off to the side, but [Amber Aegis] easily protected himself and the others from the elemental attack. The guard with the horn blew into the instrument, the trumpeting sound echoing through the night. Three cloaked figures burst from a tavern, their hands and weapons aglow with power. Leif ripped the tavern¡¯s door off its hinges with a brief effort of will, knocking the assailants off their feet as the heavy wooden object slammed into their backs. ¡°That shield is siege magic!¡± Slayde yelled, ducking as a lance of ice sailed over his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re breaking it.¡± ¡°Maybe not.¡± Leif said as they rapidly approached the gate. He turned mid step, sliding as his momentum carried him forward a handful of metres. He lowered his hands, cupping them before him. ¡°Lucia, deal with it.¡± Without hesitation the girl jumped up, planting a boot into Leif¡¯s hands. Then he heaved, boosting her upwards and towards the top of the gate. The guard with his hand pressed to the stone slab yelled something unintelligible, then the sound of steel ringing against gilded wood sounded from above them. Leif caught a thrust spear from another guard, twisting to throw the man off balance. A moment later the shield protecting the metal grate flickered, then vanished. ¡°Got him.¡± Lucia yelled. ¡°Stay up there!¡± Leif called, six sets of fingers wrapping around steel. He pulled, the sheer amount of strength he could output by focusing on [Might] making the metal squeal in protest as he forced it apart. Planting his feet Leif yanked with every ounce of strength he had, the portcullis parting as he tore the welded metal apart until there was a gap wide enough to fit through. The wooden part of the gate was hardly a problem, it rippled like water, eagerly jumping to obey his will as he made it burst outwards like a flower blooming. Leif reached behind him with a golden arm and yanked Slayde through the opening. Then they were out of the city, nothing but open, empty fields and the occasional farmers homestead for over a mile. Lucia jumped down, vaulting over the parapet. He caught her by the waist, lowering her along with her fall to gently place her on the ground. She laughed, hair wild, orange eyes practically glowing with excitement. Leif waved his hand, and the wooden part of the gate resealing itself, then he melted the wood into the surrounding stone, making it all but impossible to open without force. ¡°You two are crazy.¡± The former sell-sword wheezed, his hands on his knees as he let out heavy breaths. ¡°I can still come, right? Please don¡¯t make me stay.¡± ¡°Keep up.¡± Leif said, jogging away from the gatehouse and the city. ¡°If you can.¡± Lucia said, sticking out her tongue. The mercenary groaned as he forced himself to stand straight, then he made to follow. After two dozen metres he stumbled, a dull thud resounding as he hit the ground. ¡°Ugh.¡± He grunted. ¡°What the... I don¡¯t...?¡± Leif and Lucia stopped, the former sending an impassive glare at the man from under his mask, the matter squinting her eyes in suspicion. ¡°I can¡¯t feel my legs.¡± Slayde whispered, his eyes going wide. ¡°I can¡¯t feel... It''s so cold. Why is it so cold?¡± Leif knelt, sensing the life-force inside the man quiver, shaken by something he couldn¡¯t detect. Slow, rhythmic clapping sounded from the city wall, the sharp crack of palm against palm carrying in the night breeze, easily overshadowing the shouts coming from behind the closed gate. Two people jumped down from the defences, one a large man with grey skin, his physique almost a wall of tightly wound muscle. The other was a lithe and dangerous looking woman, almost every inch of revealed skin covered in either piercings, tattoos, or both, her hand of flesh making contact with a hand of poisonous mist turned solid. At Leif¡¯s side, Lucia drew her sword, but his attention was focused on the young man trembling on the ground. ¡°It¡¯s so cold.¡± Slayde whispered. ¡°Mother... I...¡± ¡°What did you do to him?¡± Leif asked. Sending a stream of amber vitality into the man¡¯s back. It didn¡¯t seem to have any effect. ¡°Poison.¡± Maline said simply, her arm of flesh linked with Kurt as they approached seemingly without worry. ¡°Not withdrawals?¡± Maline tutted, amused. ¡°Withdrawals? I cured little Slayde of that condition months ago. Obviously I needed to keep the ruse up, nobody wants to work if they know I¡¯m keeping them on a... tight leash. Should I mention I can track the location of those afflicted with my toxins? Should I have told them that, dear?¡± ¡°I hardly think it matters now.¡± Kurt grunted. ¡°We meet again, adventurer. No hard feelings, I assure you. And you, girl. Once this is over we¡¯ll let you go. We¡¯re not monsters.¡± ¡°Speak for yourself.¡± Maline giggled, raising a hand. Slayde¡¯s back arched as he screamed, his skin writhing as if a thousand insects were crawling underneath. He screamed again, the blood-curdling sound silencing all other noise. Leif grabbed the young man, hauling him up and away from his employers. He writhed and spasmed, blood pooling from his mouth as he bit into his tongue. A wooden javelin appeared in Leif¡¯s hand, and it tore through the air, aimed for Maline¡¯s centre of mass. With casual ease, Kurt stepped into the projectile¡¯s path, catching it out of mid-air and turning it to ash with an intense flare of heat. ¡°None of that.¡± Kurt rumbled. He clenched a fist, and the wooden gate behind him began to smoulder, cracks forming throughout the wood as it began to blaze with an internal heat. ¡°Will you surrender if we offer to spare the boy¡¯s life?¡± Maline asked, corrosive energy dripping from the fingers of her green, misty arm. ¡°Come with us willingly?¡± Leif didn¡¯t reply, and Maline smiled. The screaming stopped. Then the young man melted, skin boiling away as emerald energy burst from him. His muscles burnt away, his bones bubbling as they dissolved from the inside out. Within seconds there was nothing left but a puddle of blood, churning acid, and sizzling, dissolving clothes. Leif stared down at the mess that had once been a living being, his hands stained with still boiling blood, the sleeves of his robes unravelling as they were unmade by what few drops of hungry, viridian liquid had splashed against them. ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± He asked, his voice whisper quiet. Behind him, Lucia wretched. The wooden gate buckled under the force of a mighty blow, then men and women streamed out of the city, weapons drawn. Chapter 189: Lives Chapter 189: Lives ¡°What''s wrong with us?¡± Maline said with a glint in her eyes. ¡°Oh darling, if you knew how much money was being thrown around you wouldn¡¯t ask that question. Besides, the boy was living on borrowed time, he had a handful of weeks remaining as best before his body gave out and my toxins finished him off. If anything, it was a mercy to give his life value one last time.¡± ¡°You¡¯re monologuing, love.¡± Kurt said, the grey skinned man glaring impassively down at the puddle that had once been a person. He worked his jaw, the two mounds jutting from his cheekbones shifting back and forth. Dozens of people fanned out behind him, many had rough appearances, scars and old wounds lining their bodies. Leif¡¯s amber gaze flicked quickly between each one, his analysis skill confirming their ages and relatively lacking fighting experience. They weren¡¯t a real threat, thugs, gangsters and sell-swords they may be, combined they simply didn¡¯t have the numerical strength to do the scion any real harm. But he wasn¡¯t alone. ¡°Go.¡± He telepathically sent to Lucia, unshouldering the two packs he had been holding and tossing them down beside her. ¡°Run for the forest. I¡¯ll be right after you once I¡¯ve dealt with this.¡± The girl knelt in the dirt, wiping her mouth with a trembling hand. Leif could sense the shock, disgust and fear at what she had just seen, and while his own thoughts were relatively restrained, there were cracks slowly forming. It took an unspeakable amount of cruelty to murder somebody who had barely become an adult in such a vile way. Leif would show no mercy to either perpetrator, if they gave him the chance, he would end them. Wordlessly Lucia gathered her belongings, then sprinted away as fast as she could. Without looking away from Kurt and Maline, Leif sensed as she reached the edge of his awareness, then vanished into the night. He felt the intent of a few of the weaker humans moving to surround him shift after Lucia, but they quickly returned to him as he flared his aura warningly. In the city another horn was blown, and the distant sound of ringing bells roused the settlement to wakefulness. Leif saw small points of fire moving along the walls towards them, and down in the low lying farmland to the west of Luriem torches were being lit among the imperial encampment. ¡°Hey!¡± One of the criminals barked. ¡°We gotta bag the catch and get moving. I don¡¯t want the guard or army to fall down on my head.¡± ¡°The ugly fellow who¡¯s name I can¡¯t recall makes a good point.¡± Maline said, earning a scowl from the speaker. ¡°How do you feel about giving in and coming into our custody? You¡¯ll be more than safe until those guilders show up and take you, I promise.¡± ¡°Forgive me, but I doubt the value of your word.¡± Leif said, nodding down at the puddle of viscera and melted bones. ¡°In fact, you disgust me.¡± Maline raised her hand of venom over her mouth, though the motion failed to hide the fact that her eyes sparkled with amusement. Kurt ran his tongue over his upper teeth, then grinned, cracking his knuckles. ¡°A fight it is. What a shame.¡± The mercenary said, his grin turning mocking. ¡°Our... employers are going to be so... displeased with this turn of events. Too bad for them. Well then! You lot know what''s at stake, whichever team contributes the most will get a double split!¡± Weapons were raised, and intent locked onto Leif from all directions. Some were eager, others nervous. There was a glint of greed induced madness in one man¡¯s eyes, a grim determination in the tense stance of a woman. There were a thousand stories in the lives that surrounded Leif, a hundred reasons for them to attack him, to try and take control of his life. They didn¡¯t know who he was, had no idea about his true nature. Many didn¡¯t care, wouldn¡¯t care even if he told them. ¡°You¡¯re making a mistake. All of you.¡± Leif said, projecting so much sincere honesty into his words that this aura all but solidified them into the air around him. ¡°Grab ''em!¡± Kurt bellowed. Before the mass of thugs could so much as take a single step in their mad rush to capture him, Leif conjured a dozen golden arms, immediately plunging his fingertips into the dirt, grass and mud that made up the path leading to the northern gatehouse. With a flex of incredible physical strength he uprooted the world, flipping it up into the faces of Luriem¡¯s finest. Men yelled in surprise, their charge cut immediately short as a spray of earth washed over them, dust lingering in the air to block line of sight. Leif walked slightly further into the forest, finding an older tree and syphoning enough lifeforce from it to fully top up his cultivated reserves. The quality wasn¡¯t enough to advance his skill in any meaningful way, but the quantity of vitality within the nearby vegetation was nearly endless. He returned to where Lucia sat and crossed his arms, glaring back at Luriem with burning golden eyes. ¡°Did you kill them?¡± Lucia asked. ¡°No. They disengaged before I had the opportunity.¡± ¡°Pity. They¡¯re bastards. They...¡± She swallowed, expression scrunching up at the return of a certain deeply unpleasant memory. ¡°What do we do now? Should we run?¡± Leif let the question hang in the still night air as he contemplated their options. He walked over to one of the discarded packs, rummaging through it for several moments before pulling out a wooden tube. Popping the lid without touching it, Leif procured a roll of vellum detailed with a drawing of the northern empire and its landmarks. When he spoke, it wasn¡¯t an answer. ¡°The Kartinth province is split down the middle by large swaths of untamed wilderness. The great forest we¡¯ve been skirting up until now is one of several large territories the empire has little to no control over. If we head east for another half a day we¡¯ll reach its end and arrive at the northern highway. If we follow the road it¡¯ll be an almost straight path north. We¡¯ll have an almost uninterrupted journey until we reach Cerres, and the journey will take us past what few settlements are so far inland. Though they¡¯re mostly farming communities and towns that exist solely because of a local dungeon or natural resource. Beyond the northmost province is the kingdom Epidor and the Varan mountains. Even though they¡¯re named after my homeland nobody actually controls them. Well, other than local monsters and beasts.¡± Lucia nodded, hopping to her feet to get a closer look at the map, Leif lowering the vellum so she didn¡¯t have to stretch to see what was drawn. Her eyes quickly looked over what he had described, the distraction chasing away her worries, if only temporarily. ¡°So we flee north via the highway? Is that... is that wise?¡± The edges of the vellum crinkled slightly as Leif tightened his grip. He had run before, fleeing a wave of undead as they pursued him and the imperial expedition south. Ultimately they had been forced into a conflict that had come within an inch of claiming his life. He may not have been powerful enough to tackle the undead proactively back then, but the incident had taught him the importance of not allowing the enemy to dictate when and where engagements would take place. ¡°If we take the highway we¡¯ll be hounded the entire way north. Fracture has people out here looking for me, and turbulence won¡¯t dissuade them. I¡¯m not sure how far reaching the organisation is, but it wouldn¡¯t surprise me in the least if they mobilised more resources.¡± Leif said, letting the map drop to his side and gazing back at the city. The human settlement was lit, almost every window visible from over the wall was alight with inner illumination. It was as if a thousand golden eyes were looking right back at him. ¡°I don¡¯t think we should run. Why bother? If they want to try and capture me inside a forest they¡¯re more than welcome to make the attempt. Though, perhaps we should have cut through the bog immediately instead of seeking out civilization.¡± ¡°Is that my fault? We were avoiding the wilderness because it would have been too dangerous for me.¡± Lucia said. ¡°Am I... Did all this happen because-¡± ¡°No. You are not at fault. We didn¡¯t have the benefit of hindsight back when we chose our path. Besides, the bog, heavily forested as it was, would have been a pain for even me to traverse. We came here because a battle between powerhouses of unknown level lit up the western horizon. That, and we were completely unprepared for any sort of long journey...¡± Leif said, trailing off. ¡°But I¡¯m not running. If they want me so badly, I¡¯ll teach them to regret that desicion. But this won¡¯t be the end. They¡¯ll send more, try something else. These lunatics prioritised trying to capture me over protecting the Academy and its students. Their obsession cost lives.¡± Lucia looked up at him with wide, orange eyes. ¡°Do you think you can win?¡± The nearby trees groaned as their branches twisted, sharpened and pointed downwards, a dozen blades ready to fall. The forest seemed to hold its breath as energy pulsed through the ground at the scion¡¯s feet. The grass quivered, its rate of growth almost perceptible and closed buds prepared to open. ¡°Yes.¡± DiiSco?ver new stories on Chapter 190: Hunting Party Chapter 190: Hunting Party Norman had been having a bad month. The quadriad and the many preparations that needed to be completed prior to its commencement were a pain, though necessary. While Fracture boasted several powerful members and branches all across the vast territories of Merkys, they were far from the only power. For one of their own to hold the position of Spire Head at the Academy was a massive boon for their organisation, and much of that came from the direct increase in recruitment. He had been scouted during his own tenure as a student, and after a brief stint as part of the adventurer retinue for a noble family, had ultimately accepted Fracture¡¯s invitation. His story was not a rare one. His home, a small town in the capital province, had been attacked by monsters during their rushed harvest prior to turbulence. Norman still remembered how the ground had trembled, and stingers attached to scorpions the size of cows had burst up from under the feet of fleeing farmers. As a boy of fifteen Norman had wet his blade for the first time, the sizzling blood of the monster he had taken down with four other men melting through the rapidly rusting iron of his sword. It had been the first time he had ever fought the hated enemies of humanity, the monsters who ate away at their territory, killing in an indiscriminate rampage across civilised lands. A week later two teams of adventurers had arrived from the capital, and together with the townsfolk who had fought back the scorpions, had found and exterminated the nest. The memory of sounds of angry chittering echoing off the geometric walls of the vast network of caverns they had delved into to hunt down their quarry had been etched into Norman¡¯s mind. How the smell of acrid blood had stained the cave¡¯s floor, and how the soles of his boots had been melted through only an hour into the extermination. The day had earned him several levels, and his rapid rise had ultimately earned him a spot in the Empire¡¯s most esteemed institution. The Academy, while a place of education whose primary purpose was the raising and fostering of the Empire¡¯s, and their allies'' youth, was no stranger to politics and schemes. When the ancient and powerful families of the Empire arrived to spectate their spawn compete in the quadriad the unseen aspect of the Academy had burst to life. A warrior he may be, but during the competition his role was little more than a messenger. Vevosis wanted something important delivered, Norman would be the one given the task. The trust was flattering, but the work was not. When one day he and the other Fracture members currently on the islands were brought into a meeting and told to prepare for the possibility of an attack, he hadn¡¯t known what to think. Surely the Republic was incapable of such a feat. He had been on his way to give instructions to the Academy enforcers, men and women who¡¯s association was with the Academy, not the order that sought to protect all of humanity, to heighten their alertness during patrols and personnel checks when a bald student had climbed through a window right before him. And then everything had gone mad. A monster had infiltrated the Academy, which was unheard of. But the creature had also integrated itself into several aspects of life on the archipelago. It had somehow gotten wind of the expedition, joined without rousing any suspicion, then aided in the excavation of the temple complex. When Spire Head Vevosis had led Norman and several other Fracture members to the expedition site, it had managed to flee underground. While the monster¡¯s presence had lingered in the depths of the temple, another incident had drawn Norman and his allies away. The attack they had been preparing for in secret had come at the worst possible time. Caught flat footed, they had needed to scramble to defend Dimid from the invaders, even if it allowed the monster roaming the island to temporarily escape. But during the battle Vevosis¡¯s priority had suddenly shifted, and having located the monster the Spire Head had directed them to capture it at all costs. He hadn¡¯t understood the reasoning, hadn¡¯t understood why they would abandon their duty during a crisis. But Norman now knew. The prize was worth almost any sacrifice, and the ends would justify the means. So letting the creature escape after they had all but abandoned those they were supposed to protect had almost unmade them. In the investigations that had followed in the days after the invasion Norman had lost contact with Vevosis and several other key members of their organisation. It was possible that their failure would cost them everything. When a blood copy of his master had appeared one evening with a set of written instructions, Norman hadn¡¯t hesitated to depart. Strings had been pulled, favours turned in. They had to find the monster with amber blood, if they did, and if they could prove its value, then there would be no punishment. Leaving the Academy had been the first challenge, and he and the few agents who had escaped most of the ire of the Academy¡¯s council were unable to move freely. The imperial navy patrolled the seas, and traffic to and from the islands were heavily policed. But a ship had come for them regardless, Norman wasn¡¯t sure how his master had orchestrated the ploy, but he had managed. A week after the incident he and his team had arrived on the mainland, and had reunited with several more of their people. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Utilising private portal networks they had jumped from city to city, skipping north with frightening efficiency. Only when the blood clone they were travelling with had sensed the vague location of their quarry to their south had they started their hunt in earnest. The demikin shrugged. ¡°What can I say, we failed.¡± Norman¡¯s fist connected with the other man¡¯s nose, the lantern hanging from the ceiling snuffing out, plunging the room into darkness. With a flex of will he returned the flame to its proper place, and glared at the demikin with unhidden hatred. The large man had taken a step back, and he didn¡¯t raise a hand to wipe away the blood slowly oozing down over his lips. The demikin didn¡¯t react, but his companions did. A curvaceous, one armed woman lounging against the back of a couch raised a hand, and the tension in the room turned acrid. Norman felt the hairs stand on end, and he tasted death in the air. Palen drew steel, and the handful of thugs in the meeting did likewise, though whether that was to try and fight against them or the woman Norman couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°Don¡¯t touch him.¡± Maline drawled, her eyes gleaming. ¡°His beautiful face has already taken enough punishment tonight.¡± ¡°Another word from you and I¡¯ll burn the venomous tongue out of your mouth. Norman spat, kindling dark fire between his fingers. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll learn your place with both arms missing.¡± Kurt tensed, the threat causing him to react more than the physical blow had. He opened his mouth, only for his teeth to clack together as the blood clone shifted in place. The demikin, his traitorous woman and every other sell-sword and thug in the room stiffened, and Norman knew from experience that an icy cold had lanced through their veins. He glanced at the clone, and it messaged him through gestures. He nodded, turning back to their esteemed company. ¡°No more games. You were offered a substantial amount of coin to provide information as to the whereabouts of the target. You were not asked to capture them. But you did anyway, and now the army is sniffing around where it doesn¡¯t belong. You have wronged us, and that was a mistake. We will give you a chance to replay the debt you now owe.¡± Fury built in the demikin¡¯s eyes, but he remained still and silent even after regaining control over his body. ¡°Gather the strongest among you, retrieve your weapons and armour. We have no need for the weak, they will only serve to empower our target and make our task more difficult. You will join our hunt, and this time you will not fail us. If you do, there will be consequences. If you don¡¯t, there may still be a reward.¡± Norman said, crossing his arms. There was an elongated moment of silence as his words were processed. Palen¡¯s communication crystal pinged, and Norman felt anticipation build in his chest. Finally, after almost a month of nonstop travel, this would soon be over. He glanced at the clone, which made a gesture that it had repeated several times over the past hour. ¡®Unmoving. Close.¡¯ ¡°Fine.¡± Kurt said, rolling his shoulders. The demikin glanced around the room, earning reluctant nods. ¡°When do we depart?¡± ¡°Immediately.¡± Chapter 191: Fractured Chapter 191: Fractured Kurt held the canal grate open as the last of their skulking party ducked through, exiting the city without alerting the authorities. They had lost little time in gathering the few members of Luriem¡¯s seedy underbelly that both met the power threshold, and owed him favours or debts. An hour after the meeting with Fracture they had gathered, the three red robed guilders now thoroughly outnumbered by the eleven gangers and thugs they had conscripted. Kurt itched to resist their demands, to spit in their face and storm off. Unfortunately, such an action would be unwise, especially with the third, silent figure that had frozen his blood without so much as a gesture. Well, he had intentionally misinterpreted their request. Had luring half of Luriem¡¯s cutthroats into getting themselves killed or arrested been worth a broken nose? Sure. Had it been worth losing an eye? Almost certainly not, but there was still a chance he could get it fixed. The real question. He thought, letting the grate fall shut as the last of their little company of misfits, criminals, and pompous dickheads exited the city. Is this little charade worth risking my life over? Our lives over? Kurt glanced to the side, meeting Maline¡¯s amused twinkle with his one good eye. ¡°At least one of us is having fun.¡± He grumbled under his breath, noting with more than a little irritation that the robed figures had all stopped to ensure that he wouldn¡¯t try slipping back into the city. They walked for several minutes through the darkness, keeping low and silent as they carefully made their way further from the city¡¯s walls. He felt a presence by his side, then a hand rested against his shoulder. ¡°How¡¯s the pain?¡± Maline asked, her words like honey. ¡°Fine.¡± He lied, but he could tell by the way her fingers tightened that she hadn¡¯t believed him. He did have a skill for pain suppression, one he made very good use of, but the skill had its limits, and he was quickly reaching them. ¡°Well, if you need a top up, just say the word.¡± She demured, leaning in closer with every word. ¡°If you¡¯re worried about what too much dosage might do to you... well, there¡¯s no need. I would never let what happened to poor little Slayde happen to you, my love.¡± Kurt gave her the side eye as they walked, earning a playful smirk from the [Venomancer]. Dangerous was an understatement when it came to describing Maline. The deadly potential of her classes combined with her peculiar eccentricities and habits didn¡¯t make for the most reliable company. But... they were partners, and it wasn¡¯t like Kurt didn¡¯t have his own suite of incongruities. ¡°Poor kid.¡± He said, not wanting to get into the weeds about what she, they, had done, but he couldn¡¯t ignore it either. Maline had brought it up for a reason, if she had something to say it was better to let her say it. But instead of speaking further she just hummed, linking her one arm of flesh and blood with his. One arm and one eye. Kurt mused, enjoying the contact despite their situation. There¡¯s something poetic about that. ¡°We¡¯ll need to leave the city after this. There will be too much heat.¡± ¡°Leave? After all the work we¡¯ve done?¡± ¡°How many of the idiots we tricked today do you think told the authorities who put the idea in their heads?¡± He asked. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if the guards are at the doors to our public residence as we speak.¡± ¡°They¡¯re in for some nasty surprises.¡± Maline giggled darkly. Kurt missed a step. ¡°Did you booby-trap our house?¡± ¡°Of course. The place had a vermin problem before we moved in. Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡± He didn¡¯t want to know what, or more likely; who the vermin had been. He kept walking, not wanting to give their ¡®employers¡¯ an excuse to accuse him of desertion. Seven hooded figures crested over a nearby hill, their mounted silhouettes highlighted against the night sky. ¡°We¡¯re in the shit.¡± Kurt said, his voice low. ¡°Whoever it is we¡¯re hunting is a lot more trouble than they let on. They¡¯re not telling us everything, which is understandable, but there is clearly something off about this whole ordeal.¡± ¡°You felt his aura, nobility of some kind, no? Powerful as well, possibly over level one hundred, though I think his skills would be more potent if that was the case.¡± Maline said. ¡°A challenge, how fun.¡± ¡°How dangerous.¡± Kurt corrected. ¡°Even if Leif is in the high nineties, I don¡¯t trust Fracture. If it comes down to a fight, they won¡¯t hesitate to throw us to the wolves, so to say. Bunch of bastards.¡± ¡°It is also interesting that they only seem to care about the man, not the girl.¡± She mused, leaning against him as they waited for the approaching figures to arrive. ¡°If he¡¯s nobility, then who is she? A daughter? Servant?¡± ¡°Apprentice.¡± Kurt said, wincing as the pain in his eye grew. ¡°Or at least that was the impression I got. Not uncommon for those in the higher levels to take on students. Teaching another your path is a way to eke out a few extra levels. Probably why so many retired adventurers join training programs in guilds or take on apprentices.¡± Maline hummed thoughtfully. ¡°Maybe I should take on a few students. We could pick some up from an orphanage.¡± ¡°No.¡± He immediately shut down. ¡°Aww, why not?¡± She teased. ¡°Because our bottleneck isn¡¯t more levels, it''s money and resources.¡± ¡°I suppose that is true enough. In theory, this little job will solve that for the immediate future.¡± ¡°It will.¡± Kurt nodded, turning his attention to the nearby gathering. ¡°Assuming it doesn¡¯t kill us.¡± ¡°Leif is moving.¡± Norman cursed from up ahead. And he¡¯s close. Kurt thought, the ash in his hand flared with heat and he crouched, trying to ignore the growing pain in the side of his head. A javelin made of white wood, shining with an inner golden radiance flashed through the darkness. It took one of the hooded figures through the chest, pinning them against a fallen log, killing them instantly. A second projectile streaked through the night, but this time nobody was caught unawares. A bolt of lightning cracked, singing the air with the smell of burnt ozone. The lightning collided with the javelin, knocking it off course. Something shone gold in the distance, then the attack stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Silence fell over the group, nobody sure how to react. Kurt wanted to turn and run in the other direction, and judging by the looks the non Fracture members were shooting at each other he wasn¡¯t alone in having that potentially suicidal desire. A distant roar shook the forest, the dull thud of approaching footsteps making the leaves on nearby trees rattle. The silent figure made a series of gestures, and moments later orders were being shouted and groups were made. Then they charged after their target. === Leif projected his aura far and wide, using it to call out to all the living things around him as he ran. He placed a palm onto the bark of a young willow, flooding the plant with syphoned vitality. The relief was immediate, the sensation of vitality burning him from the inside waned as he fed it all into something else, guiding the power with [Suge of Life and Growth] and a spoken command to: ¡°Endure.¡± The tree shook, then began to expand upwards, the life-force coursing through its trunk causing an explosion of growth. The nearby ferns and bushes received the overflow, and then the grasses and fungi after them. Within moments golden vitality was washing through the local region of forest, setting the beings that were living nearby into a frenzy of wakefulness. Rodents scurried through the undergrowth chasing swarms of scurrying insects. Birds, ordinarily roosting at this time of night were wide away, several chirping as if trying to call the dawn to come sooner so that they could hunt in the light. Leif extended his perception, and felt several humanoid figures approaching. Ever since he had launched the first attack they had been chasing him, and this wasn¡¯t the first group to get close. More would be nearby, so an outright engagement wouldn¡¯t be advisable, at least not yet. He was untiring, his enemies were not. The scion pulsed his aura, calling the nearby critters to his location. There wasn¡¯t anything big and scary nearby, but his pursuers were unlikely to take kindly to the swarm of newborn snakes he was coaxing out from a gap between two moss covered boulders. He sensed another group converging from his left with his outstretched perception. The dangling branches of the willow were almost entirely covering him now, but he didn¡¯t need to hide. Tracking the first group he readied a gilded wood bomb. It sat heavily in his hand, pulsing with barely contained energy. Using [Wood Manipulation] he parted the branches of the willow tree and threw his destructive weapon as hard as he could. A second later it detonated, and both plant and person were torn apart. The forest shook, the sound of splintering trees echoing through the night. With a final pulse of his aura Leif projected his will onto all the surrounding animals. Then he turned and melted into the trees, literally in some cases, all but walking through some with [Tree of Respite] instead of going around them. It was much easier to do with living plants, though getting the exit right and the whole process fast enough had at first required spellcraft. Golden limbs shot from his back and sides, grabbing branches and pushing Leif up off the ground as he went. He rarely used this technique, it wasn¡¯t subtle, but it was quick. Screams came from the direction he had come from, though the sound didn¡¯t fill him with joy. This was grim, but necessary work. He couldn¡¯t leave an enemy at his back when moving into the unknown. The hill he had been climbing ended with a sheer drop, several much larger trees grew from the valley below. Leif jumped, falling against the trunk and vanishing into it. A heartbeat later he stepped out from the base of the trunk, not losing stride. He slowed, then turned, glancing up the rocky and overgrown cliff that he had just been standing atop. Hooded figures dressed in red appeared one by one, each staring down at him. Their uninformed counterparts materialised from the forest a moment later, and Leif recognised two of them. That did make him feel joy. He wouldn¡¯t miss out on the opportunity to rid the world of murderous scum afterall. But there was a larger obstacle in his way before he could do that. Because one of the hooded figures wasn¡¯t human. ¡°Tell me, Vevosis. Did Zane make good on his promise? I can¡¯t imagine any other reason to come after me with such fervour!¡± He called up to the blood clone. ¡°Actually, can your creator even see this far? Assuming he didn¡¯t manage to escape the Academy and come after me himself. Do I need to point out that there¡¯s a war going on, there are better things for a bunch of high level imperials to be doing.¡± A man stepped forward, pulling back his hood to reveal a set of severe features. Dark flame swirled between his fingers as he glared down at the scion. Leif recognised him from the Academy. He likely wasn¡¯t the only one. ¡°What could be more important than securing you?¡± He asked. Leif shrugged, taking a seat on a nearby log, crossing one leg over the other. ¡°What could I possibly offer someone like you? Don¡¯t you have vulnerable children to indoctrinate?¡± ¡°Quiet. You know not our purpose.¡± ¡°You were at Far-Reach, weren¡¯t you? I recognise your face from the sky skimmer Khan brought for the evacuation. You didn¡¯t seem interested in serving humanity back then either. Does Fracture only allow cowards who abandon others to join their esteemed ranks. I¡¯ll admit I don¡¯t really know anything about your organisation.¡± The man¡¯s already severe features darkened as he scowled, his fists clenching, umbral fire flaring out to either side of him. Robed figures quickly stepped back, avoiding the flames as they blackened the stone at their feet. The blood clone however, did not move. Black fire jumped to its robes, unravelling its sanguine, but otherwise relatively human looking features. The flames danced around its form, seemingly doing no damage. It grinned down at Leif, its teeth an unnerving shade of red. It raised a hand, and Leif tensed, ready to resist any attempt to magically restrain him, despite his otherwise casual stance. But instead of attacking, the clone made several complex gestures. The severe man¡¯s eyes flickered from Leif, to whatever his master was communicating. No communication or recording crystal. Vevosis must really not be nearby. Leif thought, that knowledge relaxing him somewhat. It meant he wasn¡¯t outmatched, even if he was outnumbered. But the words that were spoken next froze his blood as if it had been constricted. ¡°We know who your family is, monster. If you run, we will get to them first.¡± Leif stood, his casual act dropping instantly. ¡°What would the powerful house Vin think if they knew what had become of one of their heirs. How would they react, do you think? Do you think you would enjoy being hunted by your own blood?¡± Chapter 192: Sacrifice Chapter 192: Sacrifice There were several ways one might react to having the connection to their family threatened. Shock was expected, anger understandable, fear reasonable. Since his rebirth, Leif had experienced all three, but the mental smothering on his emotional state due to his inhuman physiology had largely kept him in check. From what snippets of his past life Leif could recall, his younger, human self had been tutored in a manner that would tame emotional outbursts. Of course, that hadn¡¯t stopped that version of himself from being banished from his family due to an emotional decision, a decision that had left three young men dead on the ground of the house Vin estate. Leif had already decided that none of the men and women who had pursued him into the forest north of Luriem would be leaving alive. The choice to cut down the threat hounding him had not been made lightly, but he had made his peace with the idea of delivering death onto the deserving. Was it self defence if you orchestrated the scenario in which you were attacked. No. Was the killing of another living, thinking being a moral and sustainable solution to problems? No. But they lived in a violent world. Over the past month he had guided, and partially tutored another in how to navigate their reality. Training, protecting, discussing the unfortunate ways of the world. On the blood-strewn beach near the imperial city of Kartinth, Leif had told Lucia that killing shouldn¡¯t be the first course of action one considered. He still stood by what he said, if given the opportunity, ending another''s life should be a last resort. The girl was far away now. Safe, hopefully. A history with Fracture she might have, this wasn¡¯t her fight. This was war, and it was no place for a child. It was interesting how a sudden flash of intense, primal anger could sharpen the thoughts in one¡¯s head. How clarity could dawn as all background distractions vanished over the cognitive horizon. Leif didn¡¯t speak as a condensed sphere of gilded wood appeared in his hand, didn¡¯t hesitate as he stepped forward, blurring upwards in a streak of gold, the sheer weight of the object he was carrying sending a sharp pang of pain through his soul. He appeared atop the cliff, among the still reacting humans that had chosen to come after him. The sphere slipped from his hand as he released it, already sending a [Might] enhanced punch right for the nearest man¡¯s face. Cartilage broke, the skull fractured, the brain was instantly pulverised, and a life blinked out, snuffed like a candle. But what had once animated the body, sustained the mind and intermingled with the soul to allow for existence was drained away, syphoned in through wooden knuckles, washing down each finger and into the palm, then flooding down past the wrist, forearm, bicep, shoulder. Down into the chest, settling into the vague location that all cultivated energy dwelled. Ideally this would have been the end of somebody Leif had a personal grievance with. Unfortunately he could only teleport back to the spot he had been standing, and he hadn¡¯t intended to take this fight. If he had, he would have spent a handful of seconds placing more anchors along the edge of the cliff. Then the bomb exploded, stone shattered, the air screamed, wood ripping outwards in every direction in an expansion of force as violent as it was devastating. Men died, some impaled, others dying from blunt trauma. Others still were sent flying, crashing into nearby tree¡¯s or plummeting down off the cliff to have their bodies land broken on the ground below. Defensive skills flashed, shields, barriers, body enhancements and movement techniques employed. For the half a dozen individuals closest to the detonation, their attempts at self preservation were pitifully lacking. Some fortunate ones several metres away from where Leif appeared managed to disengage. The scion didn¡¯t have the time to identify which opponents were still alive, because nobody had been closer to the explosion than he had been. Not that he suffered from the same weaknesses as the humans that had made themselves his enemy, but that hardly made him immune to the effects of enough expanding force to punch a hole through layered steel with ease. Fortunately, Leif wasn¡¯t caught off guard by his own sudden attack. A forest of golden limbs cocooned him, and beyond them a layer of protective amber. He pushed outwards with his will, smoothly transitioning [Benevolent Actions] between [Might], then [Intelligence], then [Willpower]. Leif endured the onslaught for long enough to take a single step, but in the second it took him his chest was caved in, an inch thick groove was carved through his head, and one of his real arms was severed just above the elbow. Leif appeared back where he had been standing only a moment prior, his descent faster than the raining chunks of stone and viscera. The repeated uses of [The Amber Path] seared his soul, but it was easy enough to ignore. He dashed through the forest, pulsing his aura in time with every step, pumping a spike of vitality down into the ground with every footfall, newly created golden arms reaching out to syphon away whatever he expended from nearby foliage. In the forest, Leif was the closest thing to being physically unkillable, his soul would give out long before his body did. The danger was being restrained, bogged down in so many skills that he couldn¡¯t so much as twitch. The blood clone was the threat, and he needed to keep moving to avoid a prolonged confrontation. Leif had felt the sanguine tendrils of icy control seeping into him in the instant before his retreat. The attack had been reckless, foolish even, but over half of the people who had entered the wilderness seeking to impose their wills upon him were dead or crippled beyond the ability to fight. He leapt over a small hill, vanished into the trunk of a tree only to appear on the other side a heartbeat later. His wounds were healing, and his arm was already regrowing, ivory wood twisting out from the wound, reshaping itself back into the limb he had carefully moulded months prior. Except, it wasn¡¯t regrowing like it should. The forearm was elongated, far longer than it should be. He spent vitality to restore the limb, while at the same time expending a fraction of his focus on trying to wrestle it back into shape. The hand came next, jagged and enlarged, each of the five fingers inhumanly protracting. Leif slowed, his run turning from sprint to jog as he raised his malformed arm. [Wood Manipulation] altered the limb¡¯s structure, restraining it back into its proper form. He flexed his fingers, now correctly proportioned. The arm no longer resembled ivory armour, but the deceptive aesthetics were hardly his largest concern at the moment. A series of ear piercing screeches echoed through the forest, followed by a hundred presences flying through the overhead branches. Giant bats, an entire swarm of them, their evening hunt no doubt distracted by the sounds of battle. They largely ignored him, though several darted down, their leathery wings battering Leif as their claws and teeth scraped off of his wooden body. No, there was prey elsewhere, and the scion directed the oversized beasts in the proper direction with an application of aura control. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. There would be a feeding frenzy tonight. If it meant calling every beast and monster out of the deep wilderness, he would happily do so if it resulted in the death of his enemy. He found himself repeating Palen¡¯s words, though he had to spit out a mouthful of blood every few seconds. ¡°We live to protect, and in death we serve. For the survival of our species. For humanity.¡± The sound of meat being flensed mixed with their words as the four surviving members of Fracture all picked up the chant. Even as their consciousness faded from the lack of blood flow and their words grew desperate they didn¡¯t stop. Norman¡¯s vision swam with red, his heart felt like it was on the verge of bursting and his veins felt like they were trying to rip themselves free from under his skin. His chanting was no longer audible, coming out more like a wheezing burble, the sound an infant would make when trying to speak. He didn¡¯t notice when Palen was dragged away, nor when he had become the final survivor. Everything was peaceful. Everything was alright. He would do his duty, and he would die proud. He just couldn¡¯t remember why. What was he even doing? Why had they come to the forest? Was his family safe? A deformed hand rested atop his head, pulling his eyes skyward and causing the hood of his robe to slide off his scalp. A creature of violence stood over him, its inhuman mouth filled with several sets of teeth. Wings sprouted from its back, leathery and batlike, though entirely red. The blood filling his mouth trickled down his throat, choking him as the being¡¯s aura crushed his own completely. It was so beautiful. So perfectly human. ¡°Please... my lord.¡± He wheezed. ¡°Save us. Save humanity.¡± For several seconds he stared up at the deformed blood clone, and it stared back down at him. Clawed fingered tore skin and scraped against bone, but Norman didn¡¯t feel any pain. It leaned forward, mouth widening, rows of teeth shifting as the underlying structure of its face was altered. The creature took in a single breath, and then exhaled, the haunting whistle contorting into a single, ravenous word. ¡°Humanity...¡± Then it began to laugh. === Leif waved away a cloud of overly curious moths as he stepped out into a small clearing, a shallow stream flowing from one side to the other, following the subtle sloping of the ground. Blades of wood were impaled into the dirt, their hilts sticking up out of the grass and ferns. There were well over three dozen evenly spread through the open space, and though they were not his greatest work, his proficiency with [Wood Manipulation] had allowed for their forging to be fast and efficient. There were several other locations he had prepared, but this was the closest, positioned between where his hunters were located and the edge of the wilderness. Out of immediate danger, Leif finally turned his attention to the system notification he had received just after his clash with Fracture. Level up! Class [Scion of Aeons] is now level 26! For using a multitude of abilities to quickly and decisively dispatch several foes all of equal or higher level than yourself you have gained a level! +1 to [Alacrity] +1 to [Charisma] +5 free points! Mana reinforcement progress 50%! Not too bad. He wouldn¡¯t complain about an increase in power, no matter how minor. Leif was just about to allocate his free points when the forest fell silent. Everything from the chirping of crickets to the croaking of toads disappeared. His awareness was pulled towards the direction he suspected his enemies were in, and something brushed up against his perception. It felt like something had smeared blood across his soul. In that moment he knew everyone was dead. It brought him no joy, no sense of relief or flicker of disappointment. They had been butchered, and their killer was on its way. Something resonated inside of him at the realisation, but he couldn¡¯t spare the attention to figure out why. Leif called two nearby swords into his hands, trickling amber vitality into them. Then he waited as death approached. He knew it had his scent. Chapter 193: Bloodbath Chapter 193: Bloodbath Leif awaited the inevitable arrival of his enemy in the clearing of swords, sensing the uncomfortable prickling against his aura as it grew closer and closer. A family of birds roosting in a nearby tree panicked as the overbearing scent of blood washed through the forest, only to fall to the ground, dead seconds after taking flight. Even the grass seemed to shudder, the tiny creatures living among the verdant blades and below in the moist soil shrivelling up and dying, drained of vitality. A swarm of rodents dashed out from the undergrowth, paying Leif no mind as they sprinted, panicked into the clearing, only to succumb moments later, their small bodies withering as they died, tiny trickles of blood running in a river back towards the direction they were fleeing from. Leif¡¯s perception was being battered by the sanguine aura, but he could still sense every tiny life being extinguished. It was an appalling sight, the unnecessary slaughter. Laughter, base and haunting reached Leif, each sound was like the crunching of dead leaves. The approaching presence was gleeful and eager, and its malicious intent battered against him like the tide against the shore. The thing melted out of the tree line, loping on all fours, its front limbs twisted replicas of human arms, the back two that of clawed beasts. Bat-like wings sprouted from its back, though they seemed too small to allow for flight. The monster was all bulging muscle pressing against crimson skin, and its madness tinted eyes stared down at Leif like a predator eying its next meal. ¡°Hideous.¡± Leif said, raising both wooden swords, each weapon blazing with amber energy. The laughter stopped. Then an invisible vice grip grabbed him by the neck, tugging him forward with such force that Leif stumbled several steps. He resisted, surging vitality through his body, layering his aura like a shield before him to block the things control over his body. It worked, though only with significant effort. What happened? Leif thought, deliberately backing away with careful steps. This is far more powerful than when I faced it back on Dimid with Marcus. Is it this strong because it killed and ate the hunting party? Is the clone actually multiple skills working in tandem? He raised a hand and pushed the sword towards the monstrosity. The construct of blood didn¡¯t attempt to move, its glowing red eyes tracking the projectile as it slammed into its middle. It didn¡¯t flinch, instead its gaze flicked back to Leif, its unhinged, inhuman grin spreading. Leif cursed as the golden radiance of the blade faded away, the construct lowering itself and shuddering with pleasure as it consumed the amber life-force. He had suspected as much, and was glad he had only infused two such weapons prior to the fight. With a brief effort of will he made the sword vanish into his spatial ring, though the task was made much harder as the aura of the monster sharpened into dagger-like blades, raking down his projection of self like nails on a chalkboard. Leif had one gilded wood bomb left, but the weapon may end up feeding the beast more than harming it. ¡°Hideous...¡± The clone rasped, the sound oozing out of its misshapen mouth. Leif didn¡¯t want to think about where it got all those extra teeth. ¡°Hideous...¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you can talk. Were you pretending to be mute back at the Academy, or did all the extra blood change you somehow?¡± The clone hissed and stalked forward, its bat-like wings morphing into a dozen gravity defying tendrils. Leif mentally ripped a pair of nearby blades up out of the ground, sending them flying towards the clone. One skidded off the creature¡¯s side, dealing little damage. The other sank into an eye, causing it to freeze mid step. It then grew another dozen eyes all over its face, each swivelling in their newly created sockets before locking in on him with dilated fury. It charged, blindingly fast. An icy grip clenched around Leif¡¯s chest, and the blood flow in his ivory body ceased. [Amber Aegis] sprung up before him, a half dome of protective energy that shattered mid formation as the clone crashed through it, one deformed human arm lancing out for the scion''s throat. Leif blocked with a golden forearm, slapping away the extended limb. A tiny trickle of vitality flowed through the conjured arm, but at the same time the energy that had created the amber limb flowed into the clone. Then the rest of its body slammed into him, engulfing him entirely in a sea of blood. Leif lashed out, ripping and tearing, shredding the construct apart from the inside, his every blow syphoning away more and more life-force. But the clone was draining him right back, blades of blood stabbing into him from every side, carving thick indents into his outer body. He wove together several golden limbs, punching a hole through the side of the construct. For a brief moment he saw the forest, only for the gap to close up an instant later, a wave of crimson liquid flowing into place to make up for the chunk Leif had blasted off into the night. Leif struck a hundred times, each blow made to prevent him from being restrained, destroying the clone¡¯s body from the inside out. In retaliation, the creation of blood redoubled its offensive, ripping and tearing into Leif with a frenzied intensity. ¡°Drain.¡± Leif commanded even as tendrils of blood lashed around his mouth, the mask covering his face having been lost in the opening moments of the fight. The world warped as his spell took hold, and the power he was drawing from the clone doubled, tripled, then halted completely as a wordless cry countered his working, twisting it to serve another purpose. The energy Leif had absorbed suddenly grew spines, the blood he had yet to convert lacerating him from within. There was no pain, just a deep seeded knowledge that severe damage had been dealt. Leif focused his aura and steadied his will, wrenching back control of the vitality, only for his body to freeze as the clone took advantage of his lapse in concentration to spear into him from behind. Blades of blood punched up and through Leif¡¯s torso, only to dissolve as his physiology and innate power ate away at what made them stable. The scion punched out, trading damage for damage. With every blow the harmful resonance of [Consuming Aeons] took root inside the construct¡¯s body, he could feel it ramping at a pace he had never achieved before. The clone felt it too, its form exploding outwards to create distance, its silhouette bubbling and frothing. Leif frowned internally as he sensed the damaging resonance shift within it, only to be ejected as a blackened globule of blood splattered onto the ground. The scion¡¯s body healed, though not as quickly as he would like. Some manner of lingering effect was reducing the efficacy of his recovery. Fortunately, even half functioning, his body could keep going, and the closer to death he drew, the more damage he sustained physically, the harder it would be to ultimately claim his life. It was an interesting paradox, where the more physically healthy he was, the more susceptible he became to being obliterated by a single powerful attack. Not that the clone seemed to have such capabilities, and thank the gods for that. Both combatants took a moment to size one another up, circling each other in the already thoroughly destroyed clearing. Then they charged, invisible aura¡¯s slamming into each other, weaving into shapes and patterns that blocked, struck, defended and endured. The physical battle was no less complex, and for over a minute they grappled, pummelled, lacerated and tore. Then they broke free from one another to recover, only for the violence to commence once more with explosive fury. Wooden swords carved through the night air to stab and impale, the malformed blood clone shifting its form as it dodged and weaved. Leif felt drained, though his reserves had barely been dented. It was the back and forth trade of vitality, the clone¡¯s sanguine mass being absorbed and quickly converted into amber energy, and his own golden essence being consumed in return. The construct howled and lunged, any sense of restraint or tactics having been thrown aside as a primal desire to devour had overtaken its mind. Leif pulled himself away from its charge, golden limbs shooting out to grasp the branches of a nearby tree, hauling his body up and away. The clone smashed into the trunk, its form breaking around it like a wave against a rock. It rose, an oozing blanket of crimson snaking around the tree like a snake constricting its prey. Leif kicked off, and something snapped inside him from the motion. He ignored it and reached out mentally, willing the wood to rupture, to expand and impale. The tree did so with groaning effort, its structure being unmade as its smooth and natural trunk erupted into a forest of spears. The clone froze as a dozen holes were punched through its form, shuddered as it fell, remaking itself from a coagulating puddle. The scion landed heavily, one of his legs giving out as he stumbled, unable to maintain his balance. He willed vitality into the most damaged parts of his body as the partially destroyed tree tipped, unsteady. Leif willed it to topple, holding out a hand to guide its inevitable fall down onto his enemy. With a crash that shook the forest the construct of blood was crushed, its howl of indignant outrage silenced by the deafening impact that blasted chunks of loose grass and dirt in every direction. Leif backed away using several golden arms to support him, rolling his shoulder to try and work mobility back into his battered body. The healing was taking place, but it was too slow. The sanguine presence of the clone had shuddered as it was pulverised into the ground, but it was growing once again, hungry and violent. Something within Leif resonated with that feeling, his blood boiling in response. He needed to quash the remnant of the clone¡¯s blood that was still within him. [Surge of Life and Growth] was activated, the vitality within his body becoming supercharged as it rushed forward with renewed vigour, seeping into his every wound and mending his ravaged internals. The rate of healing more than doubled, but the aspect of the skill that encouraged growth seemed more than eager to do its own part, even if the results were less than wanted. ¡°Steady.¡± Leif commanded his own body as he began to change, expanding upwards and outwards as the compact weaving of wood he had created to limit the size and shape of his appearance was partially unmade. His working restrained the changes, but only partially. His arms extended, widening in inhuman places and narrowing in others. His legs lengthened, his worm boots being ripped apart from the inside as his feet changed, sharpening, losing any resemblance to the human equivalent he had worked so hard to make them imitate. The [Scion of Aeons] clamped down his will and ended the rampant growth, but he was changed. [Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess] helped him to quickly find his balance, but there was something distinctly unnerving about the sudden change in his physicality. He was a foot taller, the joints of his altered body felt unnatural, the way they could move was restricted and increased in different ways. Why is this happening now? He thought, flexing his fingers, clenching both hands into fists. Is it mana reinforcement? Or is this a consequence of compressing and condensing my body for so long? The blood clone reformed, having shed much of its unnecessary features. The wings were gone, and in their place was a newfound rigidity to its physique. It was as if it were made of- Leif pulled back and fired off a [Fist Projection] that rippled through the air between him and the clone. It dodged, but he had already prepared a second, then a third. The clone screeched as a wave of projected energy slammed into its side, and Leif¡¯s body froze for an instant. Then it was on him, pouncing, tendrils of blood lashing, maw extended. Stolen novel; please report. They fought, leaving the clearing behind, carving a swath of destruction through the wilderness. Their coming was heralded by the sound of ferocious battle, and the aftermath of their presence left withered husks of beasts that had stayed too close, and the lifeless forms of trees that would slowly rot until they fell. Pools of rancid blood were left in their wake, splinters of ivory wood littering the ground. It was a grinding, endless battle between two beings on the very edge of being unkillable, neither having the strength to decisively end the confrontation. Leif found it harder to focus the longer he fought, his soul ached, screaming with pain with every skill activation, and the hungry blood he consumed ate away at his mind, infecting him with bloodthirsty urges and alien instincts. He blocked, punched out, teleported backwards and created weapons of wood, and it was never enough. He was barely aware of himself as he fixated on the thing in front of him, a rich source of energy that could bring him to heights of power unseen in forgotten centuries. He just needed to reach out and claim it, rip it to pieces, consume, devour and control. For displaying a capacity and inclination towards savagery and violence against those you consider enemies and possessing a mastery over blood in both a magical and physical sense you have gained the opportunity to gain the [Attuned: Slaughter] class! Class slots: 2/4 Accept? Y/N Another message, another irritating tapestry of worthless information. The scion exhaled, the sound coming out as more of a rumbling growl than a hiss. With every passing moment his mind was clearing, and the words before him made more sense. His eyes flicked back to the very first window, the details of a corpse. Unimportant, with a thought he closed the popup. The second held numbers, a level, close to thirty now, though he couldn¡¯t remember why that was important, only that it was. A memory came unbidden, of two men trapped underground mistaking his level for something higher than it was. One half of his fractured awareness writhed in agony and fury, while the other peered closer, remembering... An office, decorated with gaudy ostentation, a position of authority earned over generations of scheming and plotting. Words used to torment, goad and radicalise, creating willing victims who would fight and die for a hopeless cause. It was him, his memory, wasn¡¯t it? Desperate to distract himself from the twin senses of self tearing him apart, the scion looked at the final message, of the offer of power, the tempting allure of more extreme violence. Both parts of him revelled in the idea, one with savage delight, the other with resigned acceptance. Victims in a dark alley, bloodstained sheets, voices forever silenced. A struggle for survival, of brutal, savage, unarmed combat that tore limbs and shattered bodies. The class was a necessary power, and unfortunately fitting option. A path to greater heights, a road travelled at the cost of those weaker. A violent path, fitting a violent, confusing world. A nearby city full of victims. Yes! No- ¡°Leif? Leif, is that you? What happened?¡± The scion turned, suddenly aware of the presence that had appeared behind him. It was a human, a child, small and thin. She took a step back, orange eyes going wide. She had spoken to him, and her words had resonated with something. It was so hard to think, doubly so when a fragment of his consciousness raged against his budding comprehension. He rose to his full height, his full stature greater than it had ever been, his shoulders brushing against the lowest branches of the nearby trees. He wanted to speak, to ask a question, but the words were a jumbled mess, his will to fully form them rattled by rising, irrational bloodlust. He stepped forward, the motion both heavy and unstable. The little human stumbled back, fumbling for something at her side. She drew a blade, ivory wood streaked with golden cracks, pointing it towards him tip first with trembling hands, fear and concern clear on both her expression and quivering aura. The scion looked down at the weapon and finally remembered. A life saved, a fate altered, a talent fostered, and a sword gifted. Amber life burned in his chest, silencing the screams that didn¡¯t belong. What was he doing? How had it gotten this bad? Soul deep exhaustion weighed him down, bucking his legs, making him slump to the ground with a dull thud that shook nearby leaves. ¡°Yes... It¡¯s me.¡± Leif said. Lucia swallowed, half lowering the sword. ¡°Promise?¡± ¡°Yeah... I promise. Sorry... Sorry for scaring you.¡± ¡°You changed.¡± She said. ¡°Not willingly.¡± He looked down at himself, finally taking in the full extent of the stark alterations that had been made to his body throughout the night. He raised a hand, where was his ring? Leif reached out mentally for the enchanted storage item, and felt his mind connect with it. It was still there, and on further examination he saw that it was embedded into the wood of his finger, grown over by his expanding finger. ¡°Why are you here? I thought you agreed to stay away?¡± ¡°It had been hours. I was worried.¡± ¡°About me? Leif chucked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Lucia pouted, sheathing her sword and crossing her arms. ¡°I could have helped.¡± ¡°You did. Don¡¯t worry, you did.¡± A silence stretched between them, and for the first time that morning the chirping of birds greeted the day. Leif closed the system windows, looking in disgust at the class he had almost chosen. Walking willingly into that dead end was not wise. Even if his current path was one of partially self inflicted challenge, it was still better, still more right than the alternatives. He let out a breath, looking at the morning sky partially hidden by the canopy of non monstrous trees. His enemies were dead, they were safe, at least for now. He would need to work on his body, try to wrestle down and condense his form so that he could move through civilization once again. Something told him it would be a tedious, slow process. ¡°Do you still have the things we bought?¡± ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re back at the camp I made. Are you alright?¡± She asked, eyes darting to take in the aftermath of the battle. ¡°That''s... that''s a lot of blood.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll live.¡± He said, slowly rising to his feet. ¡°Though we should leave before anyone sees up. I¡¯m not in any condition to fend off another manhunt.¡± Lucia nodded, guiding him back through the forest. Signs of devastation littered their path, it wouldn¡¯t take long for the locals to discover what had happened. The girl kept glancing up at him, a mix of worry and fascination etched onto her presence, even if she tried to keep her expression neutral. She was a good kid, worthy of a lot more than what life had thrown at her. Leif stopped, finally coming to a decision. He wasn¡¯t sure how to do it, or even if it was possible, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try. ¡°Lucia, how do you feel about learning an auxiliary class?¡± Book 2 Epilogue Book 2 Epilogue Hes¡¯cilla awoke from her dream of a world of endless grass to the smell of smoke and of a red, ash filled sky filtering down onto her seated form through wide windows that lined the ceiling of her personal chambers. She knew that she was about to die, could taste the certainty like an animal sensed the moment before an arrow was loosed from the bow of a hunter. There were things she needed to do before that could happen. Her death wouldn¡¯t matter if she could fulfil her self imposed duty. Hes¡¯cilla wove magic between her fingers, her spellcraft wordless after centuries of continuous practice. Her eyes, a deep amber, flickered as she worked, pulling on a thousand golden threads and weaving the magic to last for as long as possible. The sound of steel on steel rang through the halls of her home, distracting her from her task. She tried to ignore the sensation of lives being lost, and tried to remain focused. But the walls of her chamber closed in around her, a cloud of ash and smoke drifting overhead to block out the evening sun. Hes¡¯cilla rose from her throne, aged green moss and languidly draped vines that encircled her arms and legs reacted to her will as she stood on shaky legs, the cool tiles of the vast chamber juxtaposed with the growing heat that suffused the air. A human body she may have, but it had been some months since she had last moved. She walked, the amber blood within her body awakening to slowly churn through her limbs, returning feeling to them like the prickling of a thousand needles. There were no attendants in sight, but that was hardly a surprise, she had sent most of them away months prior. Only the most loyal, or the most desperate had remained. She wished they wouldn¡¯t fight, wouldn¡¯t lay down their lives for her, not when it was hopeless. Hes¡¯cilla could sense the vague signatures of vitality flittering through the adjacent halls, a profound sense of loneliness overcame her. In her time within the world of grass she had been alone, none of her kind having so much as dropped in to say hello. Now, at the end, she would be alone in the physical as well. Companionship was not something she craved, in truth, she didn¡¯t really understand it. But the connection to others, the relationship between mentor and student, that was something she did understand. She stepped up to the far side of her chamber and brushed her hand through the white and gold fabric separating the room from the balcony that largely surrounded it. She heard distant screams, and the smell of smoke was joined with that of blood. Hes took a breath, the heat and ash parching her throat and settling uncomfortably in her lungs, then she stepped out and took in the end of her world. A garden, more an untamed forest than pruned hedges and flowerbeds, stretched out below her. Small buildings were dotted through and around the garden, with a larger complex of buildings on the far side. She beheld it as it burned, small figures garbed in steel and furs laying waste to the trees within, the blades of their axes carving through bark with little effort. Golden sap oozed from a hundred wounds as Hes¡¯cilla¡¯s children were butchered. She watched dispassionately as what could very well be the last of her kind were cut down, the juvenile amber trees being harvested for what little power their bodies contained. One of the trees had uprooted itself, its golden leaves shaking as it awkwardly fled from danger, only to run right into another party. The young monstrous tree made no sound as it died, made no attempt to call for help or defend itself beyond trying to flee. Hes¡¯cilla stood, emotionless, as a gust of smoke and ash tinged wind brushed through her dress and set the curtain fluttering. She reached out a hand, splaying her dark fingers as if to smother the column of flames rising from a distant section of half collapsed palace. She let her hand fall, there was nothing to be done. At least the inevitable passage time would wash away any evidence of this tragedy. ¡°Lady Hes¡¯cilla!¡± Came a panicked voice from behind the curtain. ¡°My lady! My lady, they are coming, we can¡¯t hold them back!¡± The awakened tree in human garb turned to see the blurry silhouette of a person running towards her. They were no guard, no fighter or mage, but it did make Hes¡¯cilla¡¯s heart flutter to see that at least one of her people would be by her side at the end. She recognised the girl by her voice, they were someone she had nursed back to health personally after a wave of sickness had ravaged the land not five years prior. ¡°My lady, we must go! They¡¯re-¡± The voice cut off with a gasp, a moment later a wet thud came from behind the curtain as the corpse hit the floor, blood slowly pooling under the fabric, another gust of hot air revealing the attendant¡¯s reaching hand, now still. ¡°Not longevity.¡± The man said, his smile twisting into something lacking even the facade of mirth. She finally recognised him, those dark eyes and silvered hair, the shape of his face and the stature of his build. Hes¡¯cilla had known his family for generations, aided them in their rule. ¡°We seek eternity. Immortality, and the time we need to seize it.¡± Hes studied the man, then slowly scanned the others arrayed before her. They were all aged, all powerful in their own rights. But none of them would have a chance of reaching the threshold of eternity, let alone crossing it, even with the extra lifespan her blood could grant. They were fools, grasping for a prize they would never truly possess. She saw in their hungry, greed filled gazes that they knew the truth, that the path they had chosen would eventually lead them to ruin. But she also saw that they didn¡¯t care, that the allure of personal power had consumed their reason. ¡°Do you truly fear death that much?¡± Hes¡¯cilla asked, her tone flat. ¡°Will you unmake the future to hold onto your lives for just a little longer?¡± ¡°If you think we are incapable of reaching the heights of power, then perhaps you are not as wise as you would imagine.¡± The woman in silks murmured thoughtfully, sounds of angry agreement coming from those around her. ¡°Time tempers wisdom.¡± Hes¡¯cilla said. ¡°When your kingdoms and empires crumble around your descendants, they will wonder how you failed them so badly.¡± The crowned man blurred forward, the tiles beneath his feet shattering as he kicked off. He raised his sword, a crescent blade of power building above him in a fraction of a second. The air around Hes¡¯cilla turned gold, and the man¡¯s movements slowed, his passage through the streams of time brought to a crawl. She stood, brushing down her dress as death descended. She could step out of the way, maybe even fight back. But no, her power was limited, and her oaths of non-violence would weigh her down like chains. Hes¡¯cilla was no warrior, no tyrant or conqueror. She was a teacher, one who raised and nurtured the young and growing. In her mind¡¯s eye a thread of golden light manifested, connected to a realm of endless rolling hills cand clear blue skies. She thought of all those who had been lost, purged from the world by the very people they had chosen to protect. Vilyta, Morethsan, Aei¡¯lesh, and Haborate, all had vanished over the past several years. But she thought most fondly of those who had shared her vision, joined her in the creation of a working that would span the ages and give their kind one final hope. As Hes¡¯cilla¡¯s aura was ripped apart by a flare of power and the sword arched downwards to cleave her in two, her mind slipped back into the world of grass. Ideally she would have had more time, would have been able to craft a message that would explain everything to those new lives the system may choose to bestow their power upon in the coming centuries. Instead the lesson would be one she had taught a thousand times before. A memory etched in time and solidified from repetition printed itself onto the place that had once connected their kind. As she died, she spoke words that no living being would hear for centuries. ¡°Welcome awakened. I am so glad to see so many of you safe and eager.¡± Book 3 Prologue Book 3 Prologue Being blind had its benefits. You couldn¡¯t see those you worked alongside wither away, turning into husks under the beating sun, how their skin was flayed and muscles atrophied as weeks turned to months, to years, to over a decade. And while it could easily be construed as a negative, It also meant that you needed to learn to use your other senses. Hearing to know when arguments arose among your peers or when the overly zealous guards made their rounds, a failure to respond to either could result in injury or death. Smell helped to avoid the corpses that lay forgotten in the fields, or detect pockets of almost odourless gasses deep underground. Taste would let you know if the gruel served every sunrise and sunset had been pissed in, not that one could afford to skip a meal. The lucky ones lost their sense of touch over time, had the ability to feel pain beaten out of them. It was a small mercy, the final mercy someone could have before death finally grabbed them lovingly by the throat and choked one last breath out of their bruised lungs. And while time could beat calluses into every inch one¡¯s body, touch was not a luxury the blind could afford to lose. But losing one¡¯s eyesight was also not as big of a detriment one may initially imagine. It wasn¡¯t like the labourers were often given torches or lanterns when they went underground, so the tunnels of the old mine, stretching downwards like the roots of a particularly greedy tree, were pitch black at the best of times. Crystals and other sources of illumination were too valuable to be left down in the depths, and so, deep below the ground, all men were made equal. Strange things happened in the depths of the world, especially during turbulence. While above ground the winds may howl and the rain may fall in acidic sheets, under hundreds of metres of stone phenomena ancient and unknowable made themselves known. Vast geometric chambers of stone would shift, crystals forming on every available surface only to shatter at even the smallest touch. Intense heat or cold could permeate the tunnels, and images could dance as the shadows came to life. Heff the blind hadn¡¯t personally seen the last thing, for obvious reasons, though he believed the stories he had heard from those who had. Mostly. His pickaxe chipped away at the vein of ore half revealed by a recent surveying team. He kept his aim true, listening for the small change in sound as his pick struck stone. To his side another man worked in silence, the ringing of their own pick against the tunnel wall sounding half a second after Heff¡¯s own. The melody was rhythmic, almost soothing, if one could ignore the thousand aches and strains, and a reminder that another was down here, sharing his sorry fate... well, that fact wasn¡¯t overly comforting, reassuring maybe? Was he a bad person for not wanting to be left alone down in the bowels of the earth? When, finally, the last chunk of rock fell away Heff let out a sigh of relief. He ran blistered fingers along the surface of the stone, experience allowing him to search sightlessly for any trace of the ore vein he had been working away at for the past few hours. There was nothing he could feel, but maybe his partner was not quite done. Heff groaned and stretched, his back popping and neck cracking. His knuckles bumped the tunnel¡¯s ceiling and he flinched in surprise. Sometimes he could forget just how claustrophobic the mines could be, the mind numbing repetition of hard labour lulling his mind back to more happy times, back when there was light. Hopefully a collection team would come by soon, assuming they hadn¡¯t fallen into a hole and vanished like what had happened a month ago. The man to his side didn¡¯t stop, pickaxe meeting stone over and over. Heff would have asked him why he even bothered now that they had met the mornings¡¯ quota, but his partner never spoke. It was something the blind man admired, too many of the people working in the camp did nothing but flap their lips and waste their breaths. Having the strong and silent type as a companion was far better than listening to inane and partially insane stories about what someone would do once they escaped. There was no escape. Not after their skills had been crippled, their ability to gain strength from the system was stolen from them as a way to appease the grieving and deflect blame from the powerful. It hurt to pull up the system window into his minds¡¯ eye, not physically, but the reminder of what he had lost could be more crippling than a lifetime of backbreaking labour. He hadn¡¯t even lost that much, barely sixteen levels. Some in the prison had lost several times that. Not for the first time Heff wondered what the quiet man had lost. Had he been strong? Or just another pawn, sacrificed in a failed gambit? He would likely never know, and that was alright. What you didn¡¯t know couldn¡¯t hurt you. ¡°We should head back, partner. The collection team will be around at some point, but I don¡¯t fancy being down this deep for any longer than we need to, even with turbulence winding down.¡± The only reply was metal striking stone. Heff sighed, waiting several moments to see if the other man would stop. He didn¡¯t, endlessly chipping away as if the task was the only thing that gave their life meaning. He could be more forceful, impose himself with an arm, but frankly he couldn¡¯t be bothered. He was just so tired. ¡°Alright. Well, I¡¯m heading topside. I got a shift sifting through the flats after sundown.¡± In the sudden, painful silence Heff heard a distant sound drawing closer. It was the rhythmic rump of footsteps, a single set slowly approaching, unhurried, almost casual. ¡°Warden?¡± One of the men murmured, his confidence fleeing. ¡°We dun nothing wrong.¡± Another whispered. ¡°We ain''t killed him yet. Even if we did, they wouldn¡¯t really mind.¡± ¡°Shut up you fucking idiot.¡± A third hissed under his breath. ¡°Who is it? Who was down here with you?¡± One of the men whispered, his voice horse and nasally. He, or maybe someone else, grabbed Heff, hauling him upright. In response the blind man spat out blood, but he probably missed. A moment later his face was violently reacquainted with the wall. The footsteps drew closer, never once picking up speed. Callused hands released him, and Heff slumped, no longer pinned to the wall, his dwindling strength failing to support him. The prisoners, convicts just like him, debated running, but the decision was taken out of their hands as the newcomer came into sight. Or so Heff assumed, he was guessing based on their reactions. ¡°Shit.¡± A man hissed. ¡°Not this fuckin freak.¡± ¡°We gotta get outa here.¡± Another said, his tone low. ¡°This aint nun of ya business, how about you be a good little slave and piss off.¡± The third, presumably the leader of this particular gang, said. ¡°We ain¡¯t scared of you!¡± ¡°His kind can¡¯t talk, boss. But they eat babies, I know a guy who saids so.¡± The stranger kept walking closer, steps unchanging. With a curse, one of the men turned and fled, and with that, the nerve of the rest of Heff¡¯s assailants broke. He listened to them flee, the thousand aches all over his body making him unable to take pleasure at the sound. There was a clink as something metallic met the ground by Heff¡¯s feet. He rolled his neck, the effort causing a spike of pain to lance down his spine. ¡°What would I do without you, eh, partner?¡± He groaned, chuckling despite himself. The silent man didn¡¯t say anything, and after a moment, he kept walking, leaving Heff alone in the bowels of the earth. No?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 194: Trouble Chapter 194: Trouble Hylon pushed his way through the gawking crowd of townsfolk, moving his way towards the source of the morning''s commotion. Most stepped aside as they noticed him, their heads dipped in greeting, others he had to gently move out of the way with a hand or the occasional shoulder bump. Most of them recognised him, he had lived among them for months, but even still they shot wary glances at the spear strapped to his back. He stifled a yawn with a fist as he broke free from the crowd, not wanting to let the fact he had only just woken up to be too obvious. It probably worked, most people were looking at the corpse of the beast that had been carted into town. Not that he realised what it was right away, at first glance the thing looked more like a large bolder than any living being. Only the eight rust red coloured legs, and two shovel shaped pincers poking out from under the rock, that itself was as tall as his shoulders and almost as wide, made him finally comprehend what he was seeing. It was a Summit Hermit Crab, a beast local to the Varan mountains that flanked their homeland to the west, a natural barrier that divided the northern kingdom from the empire to the south. Hylon hadn¡¯t personally seen its like before, but having been forced to study the local bestiary¡¯s by his grandfather, it wasn¡¯t a completely alien creature. With an affinity for the rocky landscape of the mountains, the beast, while not a monster, had a habit of causing trouble for itself whenever it wandered from its natural habitat. But why is it here? Did a hunting party from the mountains bring it back? He thought, his bleary eyes taking in the scene. Did this species migrate? Hylon was pretty sure they used ancient water filled caldera to lay their eggs, so there wasn¡¯t any reason for it to be so low in elevation. ¡°- with well over a dozen more spotted in and around the fields.¡± A man was saying, his appearance unkempt and wild, his tanned skin and hardy physique common among those who lived along the border. ¡°We only just put our livestock back out to pasture, and already three are dead. Things are already bad, if they get any worse we¡¯ll starve!¡± ¡°How on earth does something like this kill a sheep?¡± Said someone from the far side of the beast''s corpse, Hylon only noticing them for the first time as they stood and planted a solid kick into the animal¡¯s rocky side. Their voice was familiar, and not in a good way. Hylon wanted to turn around and go back to sleep, he already knew this would end in some sort of disaster. ¡°Goats, not sheep.¡± The first man corrected, one of the local farmers from the look of him. ¡°Same thing man, who cares.¡± Said the second with a dismissive snort. ¡°The question still stands. What did the crab do, roll on top of them?¡± He kicked the massive boulder atop the crab¡¯s back once again. It didn¡¯t budge. Hylon pinched the bridge of his nose. It was too early for this. The kicker was Jed, a man half a dozen years Hylon¡¯s senior, and an adventurer just like him. Though, technically the man was in the employ of an official guild, while Hylon was not. A fact the more experienced adventurer enjoyed reminding him of. Hylon had shared a turbulence shelter with the man, alongside some others of similar background, and it was three months of his life he would never get back. He took a step back, retreating into the agitated crowd so as to not draw attention to himself. ¡°-You need to get rid of them. Quickly, before they do any more damage.¡± The farmer said with more than a little urgency, the conversation having continued while Hylon¡¯s mind wandered. ¡°Sure thing, my party and I will take care of it. For a price, of course. My guild¡¯s services are not cheap, I¡¯m certain you understand?¡± Jed said, turning to the farmer. The adventurer puffed out his chest as if to show off the metal badge in the shape of a flower pinned to it. His grin was as wide as it was fake, his eyes sparkling with a heroic amount of greed. Jed¡¯s smile turned to a sneer as the farmer looked away, several of the other village folk surrounding the crab¡¯s corpse not meeting his gaze. Murmurs started up among the crowd, and Hylon could understand their worry. They couldn¡¯t pay, not after their harvests were pilfered by raiders in the days leading up to turbulence. This village was lucky in that not everything had been stolen or destroyed, since the roads had opened up, news had spread that several settlements further south were far less fortunate. ¡°We cannot afford the Sunflower guild¡¯s dues, we pooled everything we had for protection over these past months.¡± A woman said, and the murmuring continued, growing in volume. ¡°You have a duty to protect us.¡± Another villager called. ¡°We pay our taxes to the count, shouldn¡¯t that be enough?¡± ¡°You may not have heard, but there¡¯s a war going on down south.¡± The adventurer said, leering at those who had spoken. ¡°Resources are tight, we can only offer handouts to those who provide the kingdom... value.¡± Bastard. Hylon thought, clenching his fist. It¡¯s trash like you who have no value. He stepped forward, anger chasing away the better part of his common sense. A confrontation here wouldn¡¯t do anyone any good, let alone him, but the injustice before him mixed with a series of bad memories spurred him to action. Hylon pushed forward, but before he could speak up the older adventurer continued. ¡°What? Nothing to say? You¡¯re all a bunch of lazy, good for nothing cowards. I knew being stationed here during turbulence was a waste of my time but wow, you¡¯re all truly worthless.¡± Jed laughed, slapping the nearest farmer on the back. ¡°Maybe we should feed all your sheep to the crabs, I¡¯m sure they taste nice when cooked.¡± Hylon saw red, his heart pounded in his chest and adrenaline spiked as he resolved to intervene. His awareness sharpened as his body reacted to the imminent confrontation. He opened his mouth to draw attention to himself when he paused, something catching the edges of his perception. The sound of rhythmic tapping pierced through the growing worry, and those in the crowd turned their attention towards its source, their faces shadowed with anger and despair. An older man approaching his later years with grey hair and a face lined with wrinkles strode down the street, his weight partially supported by the wooden cane he struck against the cobbled street with every step. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Grandfather. Hylon realised, letting out a breath and forcing himself to relax. The silent crowd parted around the newcomer, the older man¡¯s presence washing over them like a warm breeze. ¡°Well then, something appears to have caused a commotion. Would somebody enlighten this old man?¡± He looked down at the dead crab and sniffed. ¡°Other than the obvious, I mean. Let''s not waste time.¡± ¡°Ah, geezer.¡± Jed nodded, though it wasn¡¯t a respectful gesture. His posture shifted from arrogant overconfidence to wariness over the course of a few seconds. He looked around, meeting the gaze of a handful of other adventurers watching off to the side. ¡°We were just talking about things that lacked value, wonderful of you to join us.¡± ¡°Insults so early in the morning? How charming of you. Has the quality of adventurers fallen so far here in Varan that they no longer respect their elders, hmm?¡± ¡°Respect?¡± Jed scoffed. ¡°Since when did you start making the mistake of thinking you deserved respect? Or have you forgotten about your failures in your old age?¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Hylon yelled, stepping forward before he had time to think. ¡°You go too far, Grandfather is three times the man you will ever be!¡± Jed sneered, his hand lowering to the hilt of his sword, but Hylon¡¯s grandfather spoke before the adventurer could speak, his eyes creasing with amusement. ¡°Ah, there you are, boy. Fear not, I am not offended by the words of children, there is no need to jump to my defence. Besides, I believe there is something more important to discuss than any injury my pride may or may not have suffered.¡± ¡°Our livelihood is under threat, Sir Silas.¡± The farmer said, shooting a filthy look at the younger adventurer who himself looked as though he was bottling up barely contained anger. Fortunately one of his party members moved forwards to whisper council into his ear. ¡°We would appreciate your wisdom in this matter.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s likely worse than that.¡± Silas said with a frown. ¡°I¡¯ve lived around these parts for over a decade now, and I¡¯ve only ever witnessed these beasts migrate from their homes on one other occasion. They¡¯re stubborn creatures, you see.¡± ¡°What is that, grandfather?¡± Hylon asked, similar questions were murmured from the crowd behind him. ¡°It¡¯s bad, I¡¯m afraid.¡± SIlas said, giving Hylon a fond smile. Then his expression turned serious as he faced the villagers. ¡°Is the term ''dungeon break'' familiar to those gathered here?¡± Hylon¡¯s heart sank. Jed laughed, everyone else was dead silent. === ¡°Are you certain it''s a break, grandfather?¡± Hylon asked as he walked alongside Silas, moderating his speed so as not to pull too far ahead. The older man¡¯s steps were uneven even with support from his cane. The two were making their way through the village, heading towards the turbulence shelter on the settlement''s outskirts. ¡°Have I ever been wrong?¡± Silas asked, raising a greyed eyebrow. ¡°Uh... not about this sort of thing, at least not to my knowledge- Owch!¡± He cried, rubbing the side of his head. ¡°Wrong answer, brat.¡± The old man scolded, though the blow hadn¡¯t been anywhere near hard enough to truly hurt. ¡°What have I taught you about dealing with your elders?¡± ¡°To placate their fragile egos?¡± Hylon mumbled, this time ducking away from the strike, Silas¡¯ cane whooshing over his head. ¡°Correct, but you¡¯re not supposed to say it so openly.¡± ¡°Right, right.¡± He grinned, catching an amused twinkle in his grandfather''s eyes. ¡°But a break, that¡¯s bad, really bad.¡± ¡°Not if we catch it in time. But yes, with most of the kingdom¡¯s adventurers pushing into the wilderness to the west to reclaim it, we¡¯re dangerously undermanned down here near the border. Luckily, I doubt the dungeon we¡¯re dealing with is too old. It¡¯s likely only been alive for a handful of years, if we¡¯re lucky, though locating the thing may prove to be a challenge.¡± ¡°What if the break happens before we can do anything? If monsters flood down from the mountains...¡± Hylon said, trailing off as his imagination ran wild. People would lose their homes, that was for sure. ¡°Brat... recall what I¡¯ve taught you. Surely your thick skull helps keep what few pieces of important information are rattling around up there safe and secure.¡± ¡°I¡¯d be less stupid if you stopped hitting me.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± Silas growled, lifting his cane menacingly. ¡°Nothing, nothing.¡± Hylon laughed, then he frowned, trying to recall what he knew. ¡°Dungeons usually break in stages, right?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°And the first is usually... an alteration of the surrounding environment. I think.¡± ¡°Dungeon¡¯s naturally affect the world around them regardless of if they break or not, but yes, you are correct. The first stage is an enhancement of that effect, usually resulting in an exodus of beasts and monsters living nearby as the landscape changes. This can take months, or even years.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why the crabs are migrating down from the mountains?. ¡°Perhaps, perhaps not. As I said before, they¡¯re stubborn beasts. What is the second stage?¡± Silas asked. ¡°Monster manifestation. Outside the dungeon, I mean.¡± ¡°Hmmm.¡± The older man said. ¡°And what happens when such creatures emerge into the outside world?¡± ¡°They displace the local animals, even more so than before, you get beast migrations, monster waves. Like what happened in the west? The undead dungeon people say was in Pherin City caused the creatures that lived in the former territory to crash east and south when it broke?¡± ¡°So they say. Information about that incident is fragmented at best, but from what I¡¯ve heard from my sources, that is indeed what appears to have happened. And it is likely what will happen here along our border with the empire if nothing is done to prevent it. Though the scale of deviation will be nothing compared to an undeath aspected dungeon.¡± Silas came to a stop outside a rundown clinic, tapping his cane against the wooden steps leading up to the front door. ¡°Go and get your sister, then we¡¯ll collect the others. I suspect that we will have a week, perhaps two, to gather up the forces needed to challenge the dungeon.¡± ¡°Will the proper guilds prevent us from joining in?¡± Hylon asked, his mind drifting back to the scene in the village centre. ¡°They won¡¯t have a choice.¡± His grandfather said, smiling mirthlessly. ¡°It¡¯ll be all hands on deck, we¡¯ll even get volunteers with non combat classes joining us due to the lack of personnel at hand. And if any try to block our rightful access, they will learn that I am not as toothless in my old age as they believe.¡± Hylon grinned. He liked the sound of that. Both seeing Silas teaching a bunch of arrogant clowns a lesson, but also finally doing something worthwhile. Despite the danger, despite the risks, there was no quicker way to grow stronger than a gauntlet of powerful monsters. Chapter 195: Warnings Chapter 195: Warnings The cart rattled under Hylon, the wooden vehicle seemingly purpose built to rock, sway and jump whenever its wheels met even the smallest pebble or pothole. He grumbled, but kept his eyes focused ahead, his fingers firmly wrapped around the reins of the too skinny ox that was pulling his cart along. He saw the small stick a moment before the front wheels rolled over it, and hopped in place to avoid the worst of the impact. A curse came from over his left shoulder, followed by a hand slapping his back. ¡°Hy, you suck at driving.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not me, it''s this shit cart.¡± ¡°Bullshit, swap with me.¡± He shrugged and did so, handing over the reins to the beast to a girl his age as she vaulted over the divider that separated the front of the cart with the larger section in the rear. She shoulder checked him to make space on the bench, almost causing him to tumble out of his seat. ¡°It isn¡¯t that hard. Watch, you just need to ease-¡± She said, cutting off as the cart hit another bump in the poorly maintained road, her teeth clicking together. ¡°Ugh, nevermind take it back.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± Hylon laughed, accepting the leather strap. ¡°The perfect Cerri fails for the first time in her life. Woe is her.¡± ¡°Shut it, Hy. Any more from you and I won¡¯t heal your ass once we stop.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want your boney fingers anywhere near my ass.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± she asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°You don¡¯t want to have your aches mended by a healer?¡± ¡°Healer? Sis, you¡¯re a bone mage. Healing is a byproduct of your magic, and you¡¯re not even good-¡± She extended a hand and Hylon felt his arm twist unnaturally, he yelped, fighting back against her skill by inexpertly imposing his aura against her own, resisting the effect. If it wasn¡¯t for his recent increase in physical strength from newly gained levels, she may have seriously injured him. ¡°What was that for?¡± Hylon hissed. ¡°You trying to break my arm?¡± ¡°I could just fix it, don¡¯t be a baby.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll show you what being a baby is-¡± ¡°Both of you, shut it!¡± Silas roared, his cane striking Cerri in the back of the head. She yelped, ducking, her hands immediately moving to shield her skull from any further attacks. But the hard-wood object hadn¡¯t been swung, it had been thrown, evidenced by the fact it clattered down into the gap between the cart¡¯s seat and their lower backs. He grabbed it and gingerly tossed it onto the pile of bound packs. ¡°I¡¯m old. Let me rest without having to listen to your childish prattle.¡± ¡°How can you rest at all with how bumpy the ride is?¡± Hylon said, glancing over his shoulder at the elder, the man lounging almost casually on a bench, a blanket rolled up behind his head. The back of the cart was filled with their supplies, so the old man was taking up far more space than was economical. Silas opened one eye. ¡°Benefits of a higher level.¡± ¡°Benefits of being too old to feel anything.¡± He mumbled. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Nothing!¡± Hylon said, quickly returning his attention to the road. ¡°How far until we reach the next town?¡± Cerri asked, poking him in the ribs. ¡°I dunno. An hour or two.¡± He replied, scooting over so he wouldn¡¯t be in poking range. ¡°Lame. Who thought building these settlements so far apart was a good idea?¡± He shrugged, listening with half an ear as she ranted about how cities were more efficient and how if everyone moved into one life would be better. They passed by fields that were in the earliest stages of being seeded, and it took more than a little willpower not to bring up the fact that most people would starve if her ill conceived plan ever came to pass. Hylon and Cerri called each other siblings, but they couldn¡¯t look any more different if they tried. He had short blond hair, and a physique that was just transitioning from wiry and thin, to more broad as his teenage years filled him out. His eyes were an ordinary brown, his face a little too angular. Cerri on the other hand had a fiery crop of orange curls and piercing blue eyes. She was short and thin with limbs she hadn¡¯t quite grown into yet, and her face was rounded and soft. They looked different because, despite the familial nature of their relationship, they were not related. None of Silas¡¯ charges were, just one big family of orphans all out for one another. Hylon winced as another pothole rocked the cart, one of the front wheels whining and creaking. He glanced back to see if any of the trailing vehicles were suffering as badly as his was. Another three carts trailed along, most with one or two more passengers than the one he was driving. Three younger kids were racing up and down the length of the convoy, and Hylon shook his head as their antics spooked one of the oxes. He may not be directly related to any of these people, even his grandfather, but being with them was home. They fought, played and had grown up together, and while their origins were different, war had brought them together. And while it was potentially a grim thought, Hylon knew it was infinitely better than being alone. === The town, Hylon wasn¡¯t sure what it was called, came into view as they rounded a bend in the road. A collective cheer rose up from each cart in sequence as the occupants of each spotted drifting smoke trails and the distant peaks of buildings. ¡°Hey, grandfather, we¡¯re here.¡± He said over his shoulder. The old man perked up, running a hand through his grey hair, his dark eyes darting to the settlement. ¡°So we are...¡± He murmured. ¡°Sit tight for a little longer, we¡¯ll find a spot to rest once we¡¯re inside- nevermind then.¡± Hylon said, watching as Silas hopped out of the cart with agility that belied his advanced age and fading health. His grandfather landed with a slight stumble, but was otherwise okay. The thud of his wooden cane striking the road came in rhythmic taps as he walked along besides the cart. ¡°This old man needs to keep up appearances.¡± Silas said with a wink. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t want anyone to think I¡¯m weak, now would I?¡± Cerri glared down at their grandfather from where she sat next to Hylon, her expression unamused. ¡°I could always try and heal you, you know? It might help.¡± ¡°I appreciate the offer as always dear, but as I¡¯ve already told you, the wound is as much muscle and tendon as it is with the joint. Besides, it''s an old injury, it¡¯s damn near a part of me now, magic can only do so much.¡± The old man turned, then waved back at one of the carts further down the line. ¡°It¡¯s only part of you because you¡¯re stubborn.¡± Cerri muttered under her breath, and Hylon placed a hand on her shoulder. He could, and would, tease her about pretty much anything, but he knew that her inability to restore the man who had saved their collective lives weighed heavily on her. Hylon watched his grandfather out of the side of his eye, noticing how a ripple of energy ran down the man¡¯s body and how its steps became less stilted. It was only after receiving his class and having gained several levels that he truly understood the benefits the system could bestow upon those who sought out challenge and growth. If Silas was a lower level, his injury may very well have been crippling. Attributes and skills could make up the difference, and Hylon knew from his time training under the man that his grandfather could move when he needed. As they approached the town several guards on the earthworks surrounding the settlement spotted them, though with how a handful went running off further into the town he hoped they hadn¡¯t mistaken his family for bandits or worse, invading soldiers from the west. ¡°They seem agitated.¡± Cerri commented. ¡°Yeah. Do you think there will be any trouble, grandfather?¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Silas was digging through his pockets, and it took him several moments to reply as he procured a small silver badge and started fastening it to his shirt, though his jacket shifted to cover the design. ¡°Probably monster attacks if I had to guess, even without an imminent dungeon break the conclusion of turbulence usually sees one last flurry of activity.¡± ¡°One of them has a bow. I think he might shoot us.¡± Cerri said, squinting into the distance. ¡°Probably a perception enhancing skill when aiming with a bow.¡± Hylon commented, turning his attention back to the road as the cart shook from a particularly nasty bump. ¡°Huh, sounds neat. You want a skill like that?¡± ¡°Why would I want a bow skill? I use a spear.¡± ¡°I mean a perception enhancing skill in general, dummy.¡± ¡°I already have [Combat Awareness].¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean.¡± ¡°It''s a perception skill.¡± ¡°You¡¯re being obtuse!¡± ¡°How? It¡¯s a perception skill?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the kind I was asking about!¡± ¡°But it helps me perceive things!¡± They both cursed as the cart jolted below them. ¡°Focus on the road, dumbass.¡± Cerri muttered. ¡°I would if you stopped distracting me.¡± Off to the side Silas chuckled. ¡°Ah, to be young and foolish.¡± ¡°To be young and have two working legs.¡± Cerri sniped, something hard impacting the back of her head a moment later ¡°Owch!¡± Their grandfather laughed, then started jogging towards the town, no hint of his limp in his stride. Hylon and Cerri exchanged a meaningful look, then Hylon leapt down off the cart and ran after him. His sister cursed as she scrambled to catch the reins he tossed at her, a tirade of insults following as he chased after Silas. Hylon had gained strength over the past year since he had received his class, dedicated much of his time to training and conditioning, even still his crippled grandfather was effortlessly faster. Skills are cheating. One moment he¡¯s crippled, the next he¡¯s as spry as can be. He thought, amused as he tried to pick up speed. Hylon pushed himself, and despite Silas¡¯s gait not changing, the older man pulled further ahead. By the time he arrived at the base of the town¡¯s earthwork Silas was exchanging casual words with a particularly hairy individual in gambison and an armoured skirt that likely pre-dated the war with the enslavers. He wasn¡¯t sure if the guard hated pants, or simply didn¡¯t need them with how insulated his legs were. ¡°-Seven trained and ready adventurers, and a warning of an imminent threat in the Varan mountains.¡± ¡°You a guild?¡± The guard asked, his bushy monobrow knitted into a frown. ¡°Of a sort.¡± ¡°Fine. Bring your people around to the eastern entrance, I¡¯ll meet you there.¡± ¡°I request a meeting with whoever is in charge. This is a matter of some urgency.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll expedite it.¡± The guard said, waving Silas away. ¡°We¡¯ve already received a warning from another source.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The old man said, turning to Hylon. ¡°I suppose we should do as the gentleman says.¡± ¡°How¡¯s your leg?¡± Silas sniffed, grinding his cane into the worked soil. ¡°Since when did you all start treating me as something delicate? I¡¯m stronger than all of you combined. Always have been, always will be.¡± Hylon shrugged, then gestured back at the approaching train of carts to head along the eastern path. He received a rude gesture from Cerri , but their convoy adjusted course. His grandfather was already moving, so he hurried to catch up. ¡°Who do you think noticed the dungeon break? Another guild maybe? Did the Sunflower guild beat us here?¡± ¡°Those lot needed to get permission from their lord before doing anything. One of many inefficiencies we as independents we don¡¯t need to worry about.¡± Sure, but not having to worry about funding or a lack of legal recognition would be nice. Hylon thought, but didn¡¯t say. ¡°It was before my time, but the guilds and noble houses used to be less intertwined.¡± Silas continued, his tone shifting into one that Hylon recognised as his ¡®I¡¯m about to lecture you so you better listen closely voice¡¯. ¡°Uh, huh.¡± He said, nodding along as they circled the perimeter of the town. His eyes were glazed over within less than a minute. Who cared about the history of what had once been. Focusing on the future was always more effective. True to his word, the incredibly hairy guard met them at the eastern entrance. The man directed them to where they should park their belongings, then gestured for them to follow. ¡°There¡¯s currently a meeting taking place to discuss... the threat.¡± The guard said. ¡°Your presence may prove useful.¡± Silas grunted, his gaze sweeping around the street. He turned to the approaching line of carts. ¡°You kids unpack! And stay out of trouble, we won¡¯t be long.¡± He called, glancing at Hylon, his voice lowered. ¡°Let¡¯s go, boy. Time to impose ourselves on the lovely people of this town.¡± ¡°Wait! Hylon, this is your cart!¡± Cerri yelled. ¡°Come back, I¡¯ll go instead.¡± He gave her a rude gesture and followed the guard and his grandfather further into the town. Silas engaged the man in conversation, but Hylon found his attention drawn to the hardy buildings, streaked with damage from Turbulence, some roofs having collapsed, wooden window shutters broken. Townsfolk worked to repair what was damaged, many with grim expressions. But that was life outside of the larger cities, you built and grew what you could in three months, then hunkered down to survive the following months of chaos. The countryside bred hardy people, but the immaterial nature of their lives and the lack of tangible progress was something he had always found frustrating. They quickly reached a large stone temple, weather and timeworn pillars that the townsfolk hadn¡¯t gotten around to repainting yet stood like monolithic sentinels to either side of the arched entrance. People crowded around the entrance, and echoing voices could be heard from within. Hairy, the guard had probably introduced himself but Hylon hadn¡¯t heard him, marched right on up the steps to the temple and started pushing his way inside. Silas raised an eyebrow, then smoothly followed the passageway created by the other man¡¯s forceful entrance. Hylon hurred to fall in step behind his grandfather, and a minute later they found themselves in a large circular room. Several older men and women sat around in a loose ring, several arguing animatedly, others looking as though they were about to fall asleep. A haggard looking man who looked no older than Silas pinched the bridge of his crooked nose as if fighting away a rising headache. He noticed the new arrivals to their meeting, and raised a hand, ushering the room to silence. ¡°Captain Drus, I take it you have news for us as to the nature of the current... incident we are facing?¡± ¡°I do, magistrate.¡± The hairy guard, Drus Hylon supposed, said with a brisk nod. Silas straightened his spine and hobbled forward, dipping his head, but not bowing to those who were likely the town leadership. His attention turned to the leader of the meeting, the man Drus had acknowledged as town magistrate. ¡°This is a waste of our time.¡± A man with a silvery braided beard that reached his ankles huffed. ¡°We should employ a guild surveying team, not trust the words of children and cripples.¡± Hylon felt his fist tighten by reflex, and shot a look at his grandfather. He didn¡¯t care about being referred to as a child, it was technically true, but hearing any insult towards Silas that didn¡¯t come from his, or his sibling¡¯s mouths made protective anger flare within his chest. For his part Silas was seemingly unphased as he impassively met the eye of everyone in the room, his chin tilted slightly upwards. Long beard grunted and looked away dismissively, muttering something about tall tales and fanciful stories. ¡°I am Silas Forde, and I swear on my name that the following is true.¡± Silas said, shifting his coat to reveal the metallic badge pinned to his breast. ¡°Over these past few days I have witnessed evidence of beast migration that suggests an imminent, or ongoing dungeon break in the Varan mountains.¡± Several members of the meeting suddenly sat up straighter, including the magistrate. They likely had never met his grandfather before, but some had clearly heard of him. A noble demanded respect, even a fallen one. ¡°And you are certain of this?¡± The magistrate asked. ¡°If so, this crisis is coming at a very poor time.¡± ¡°I swore, and will swear again. I once oversaw a half tamed dungeon on behalf of the royal family, the signs are clear. With the chaotic Mana of turbulence coming to a rest, the dungeon, wherever it may be, has likely reached a point of maturity where it now poses a threat to the surrounding region.¡± ¡°We had no records of any new dungeons spotted in the mountains, not that there wasn¡¯t historical precedent of such a thing occurring in the past. Or we didn¡¯t until yesterday.¡± The magistrate stroked his chin thoughtfully, then twisted in his seat to look behind him. He gestured towards a hooded figure partially hidden from sight by several spectators. ¡°Please.¡± He said. ¡°Come forward and tell those here what you told me.¡± The figure seemed to hesitate, then gingerly stepped up next to the magistrate. Hylon squinted, as did several others in the room, his eyes struggling to make out more than a vague outline of a person. The effect shrouding their appearance faded as they pulled back their hood to reveal a face covered in a mask of ivory-white wood, and a head of dark locks tied back into a short tail. Hylon frowned, leaning forward slightly. Was the mask some sort of fashion statement, or was it meant to hide the adventurers identity? Whatever the reason, she gave off the sort of intimidating, experienced air that those like Jed had to force. He was far from a perfect judge of strength, but he¡¯d be willing to bet that his instincts were correct. ¡°This adventurer arrived late last evening.¡± The magistrate said, placing a hand onto the masked stranger''s shoulder. ¡°Go on, girl. Tell those here what you told me. Have you seen the dungeon with your own eyes?¡± The masked adventurer scanned her surroundings, her gaze lingering on Silas, quickly brushing over Hylon and several others before returning to the magistrate. She nodded, then spoke, her words clear even with the sound partially muffled by the mask. ¡°I have. And I know where it is.¡± That earned a round of muttering among those gathered in the temple, many whispering to one another in a mix of worry, or in some cases disbelief. The magistrate raised his hand again, and once more the room fell into silence. ¡°For the record, I believe her.¡± ¡°If we set out to subjugate the dungeon, would you be able to guide us, girl?¡± Silas asked. The adventurer nodded again. ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here.¡± Chapter 196: Mountains Chapter 196: Mountains Hylon¡¯s eye twitched as an hour of pointless back and forth bickering and inane arguing turned into a second, then a third. He found his gaze wandering the inside of the temple, trying to distract himself from the growing boredom of standing behind his grandfather as those too scared to act bickered with one another. His eyes unfocused as he reached out with senses he wasn¡¯t overly familiar with, the stagnant auras of those in the temple who had stalled on their progression brushed up against his own, and Hylon zoned out, pressing his own fledgling aura up against them. It was only rank one, having been the most recent skill he had acquired. For the past few years his life had been little more than training, then chores, then more training. Not everyone who Silas took in pursued the life of an Adventurer, but those who did found themselves the subject of an almost cruel training regime. But it was effective. It had been an almost indescribable relief when he had finally obtained the [Trainee] class, Hylon had almost cried at the thought he could finally rest. He had actually cried when he found out the main way the class earned experience. Hylon poked his aura inexpertly into those around him, but nobody seemed to notice. It wasn¡¯t unexpected, most non combatants never bothered to train the emanation of their soul, never learned how to control it, and just like a muscle one¡¯s aura senses would atrophy if unused. He was fairly sure that if Silas wanted, the old man could flatten everyone in this room into the ground with just the weight of his presence. It was power and control that he aspired to, even if he knew it would take decades, maybe even his entire life to reach. Poke. No reaction Poke. Nothing. Poke. A slight tremble, but little else. Poke. His awareness slipped away from the room, a sudden bout of dizziness overtaking him. Hylon rocked in place, blinking owlishly as he glanced around. What had he just done? He was flexing his aura, but then... Someone reacted. He thought, shaking his head. The fog of unexpected disorientation fading now that he focused. Hylon studied those within the temple more closely. It wasn¡¯t Sharp Nose, not Spotty Cheek, not Long Beard, his aura was like a barely aflame fireplace, nothing disorientating. Frilly Dress, nope. Shiny Scalp? Not him either. He had been going around the room in order, but had had the good sense to skip over the magistrate. Hylon squinted, and suddenly he could see the masked adventurer standing behind the town¡¯s leader. She was in a similar position to himself and his Grandfather, just behind and off to the side. Hylon hadn¡¯t really thought much about the strange girl, though now that he thought about it wasn¡¯t that strange? It wasn¡¯t every day you saw someone walking around with a mask made of smooth, white wood. Nor did most adventurers wear such ragged and patchwork clothing. And she had seen the dungeon? How? What on earth would somebody be doing up in the mountains during turbulence? Indignant at being rebuffed so easily, and more than a little curious, he poked forward with his aura. The mask shifted slightly, orange eyes locking onto his own. A wave of disorientation washed over him, but it was far less impactful than the first time it had happened. He exhaled, shrugged and grinned slightly, rubbing the back of his head. The adventurer held his gaze for another few moments, then looked away. Sheesh. Intense. He thought, refocusing on the conversation taking place. ¡°-This is foolish! In what world do we act before amassing more information and seek council the guilds and the noble houses?¡± Long Beard yelled, slamming a bony hand down onto the armrest of his chair. What part of his face that wasn¡¯t covered in wisps of greying hair was bright red. ¡°The news is already being disseminated.¡± Silas explained, having stolen the seat of a council member who had left to relieve themselves, and then had never returned.. ¡°But we have limited time, swift action is required to save lives.¡± ¡°Attempting subjugation without proper preparation is a foolish endeavour.¡± Another member of the council said. ¡°We should wait for reinforcements.¡± ¡°But time is of the essence!¡± Another called. ¡°We should consider evacuating the town!¡± ¡°Our homes are defended by walls! Let the break come, we¡¯ll withstand it!¡± ¡°These people...¡± Silas grumbled under his breath, grinding his teeth together. ¡°Fools, the lot of them.¡± Hylon stifled a yawn and tried not to shuffle in place, but damn this was boring. What on earth was so complicated about this whole situation? It needed to be dealt with, so they should just go out and do it. He worked his jaw, then he yawned for real. Stretching he looked around, only to see half a dozen glares aimed in his direction. Silas tapped his cain onto the ground, making a sharp crack reverberate through the temple. ¡°It appears this meeting has gone on for too long. Reach a resolution on your own time. Magistrate, do I have your blessing to recruit from the local populace and prepare for subjugation?¡± The magistrate considered, then nodded, earning several outraged cries from some of the more stubborn council members. ¡°Yes, and you may procure supplies enough for a two week expedition. We¡¯ll send runners to the nearby villages asking for more volunteers. With any luck, the adventurers who were staying in them throughout turbulence will answer our call.¡± ¡°Wonderful. I would have hated to have needed to seize control over your lovely town to ensure its safety.¡± Silas said, standing with little effort. He glowered at all those present, then pointed at the masked adventurer. ¡°Come, girl. You¡¯ll need to show us where the dungeon is located, and any more information you may have will be invaluable.¡± ¡°S-seize control?! Who do you think you are?¡± Long Beard screamed, standing with far less grace. He opened his mouth, spittle flying in outrage, but before he could make another sound the man¡¯s eyes bulged, his limbs locking up and he stumbled. Silas just raised an eyebrow as his presence rose to tower above all present in the temple, then he turned and marched out. ¡°N-noble?¡± Long Beard gasped, suddenly looking stricken. Hylon tried not to laugh as he followed his grandfather out of the temple, their footsteps and the clack of wood against the smooth stone floor a rhythmic accompaniment to the melody of anger and confusion they left behind. A third set of footsteps, these much softer, joined them a moment later, and Hylon looked over to see the masked adventurer. He hadn¡¯t noticed back during the meeting, but she was actually shorter than him. She also didn¡¯t seem to be armed, which wasn¡¯t too unusual, he had left his own weapon back with his other belongings. ¡°Hi.¡± He said, holding out a hand as he walked. ¡°I¡¯m Hylon. The old bastard is my grandfather.¡± ¡°Lucia.¡± She said, not taking his hand. ¡°We¡¯ll do proper introductions later.¡± Silas said, glowering at a moss covered statue that they passed depicting a god of some sort lifting a plow and horseshoe. ¡°Getting information back there was like pulling teeth. What was the situation with the dungeon? How active was it? Monster composition?¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°The dungeon is located in a series of ravines and canyons.¡± Lucia said after a moment of consideration. ¡°It was quite active when I last saw it, several earth and stone elementals in vaguely humanoid shape were just beginning to wander free from its influence. The worst part was the shifting rock, entire paths could become opened or closed with little warning, and rockslides were common.¡± ¡°I see. Fairly standard ground aspected dungeon, though dangerous. The monsters and beasts that call the mountains home are rarely as weak as an oversized crustation, and conflict between them and the dungeon¡¯s spawn will cause a sharp rise in levels for any survivors.¡± ¡°But there sure were a lot of them. The crabs, I mean. We had to clear about a dozen of them off of the road a few hours out of town.¡± Hylon said. ¡°Not that it was a problem, of course.¡± He continued, shooting a look at the masked adventurer. She didn¡¯t seem to notice, her eyes facing directly forward. Silas grunted, leaning into his cane as their family came into view. ¡°I hate to pull rank, but I¡¯m going to need to do just that to get things moving in time. Anyone of able body and mind will be highly encouraged to join the subjugation. I assume this isn¡¯t a problem, girl?¡± Lucia shook her head. ¡°Wonderful, we¡¯ll assign teams on the road. Hylon, relay everything to your siblings. I want you and Rou testing the fighting abilities of those I send your way.¡± A large, bald boy unloading one of the carts by himself perked up as he heard his name. He saw them and waved, taking a large box into one arm as he did so. ¡°Hi pops, Hy, what¡¯we doin?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll try and be ready to depart first thing in the morning, but these things often take a while.¡± Silas said with a sigh. ¡°Try not to kill anyone, but don¡¯t go easy on the volunteers either. We need bodies, but the fewer liabilities the better.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Hylon nodded. Then Silas turned and marched away, the old man¡¯s posture changing visibly as he did so, his figure becoming more dignified. There was a thud, then Rou plodded over to where he and the masked adventurer were standing. ¡°What¡¯we doin? Was there trouble in the-big-building? You guys were gone for a long while.¡± Rou was a head and shoulders taller than anyone Hylon had ever seen, and twice as wide. He wasn¡¯t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he had a good heart. Well, he assumed it was good, it pretty much had to be to pump enough blood around such a large body. ¡°Grandfather is going to collect volunteers for the dungeon raid. We need to test those that arrive.¡± ¡°Aight.¡± Rou said, taking the task in stride with a lop sided. The boy turned to Lucia. ¡°Do you need a weapon?¡± It was an innocent question, but Hylon saw the girl¡¯s posture tense, her stance shifting in a thousand minute ways to prepare for an outbreak of violence. It was all he needed to know that they didn¡¯t need to test her fighting abilities. ¡°No, no. We¡¯re testing the townsfolk, to see how much training they have, who¡¯s strong enough to bring along. We don¡¯t need to test an adventurer.¡± He said quickly, raising his hands. ¡°You an adventurer?¡± Rou asked Lucia, his eyes going wide. ¡°That¡¯s awesome. We just play pretend, it¡¯s a lot of fun.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still in training.¡± She said, relaxing slightly. ¡°I still have a long way to go. I¡¯m nothing compared... I¡¯m nowhere near where I want to be.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Hylon said. ¡°But that¡¯s part of the fun, right? Progressing up the levels. Getting new skills. And dungeons are the best sources of experience, or so I¡¯ve heard. Honestly I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± She inclined her masked head slightly in his direction, then started sweeping her gaze over the mess of carts and belongings. Rou jogged back over to the cart he had been unloading and got back to work, a squeal of laughter coming from a pair of younger kids as they watched him heft two barrels, one under each meaty arm. Hylon suddenly felt self conscious. Such a ragtag group of children and teenagers were likely a far cry from any disciplined guild the masked girl was used to. ¡°It¡¯s not much.¡± He found himself saying. ¡°But we do our best. Grandfather trains anyone who wants to fight, but we all have our place. Some of us trade or do odd jobs around whatever town or village we visit.¡± He glanced at her to see if there was any reaction to his words, but she had vanished. Hylon sighed. Whatever, I¡¯ve got a job to prepare for. === ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe you should wait until you actually have a class.¡± Hylon told the dejected looking boy with hair the same colour as the mud that covered his face. ¡°But I can fight.¡± The kid said, brushing himself down as he staggered to his feet. He couldn¡¯t. ¡°Right, but dungeons are dangerous, you know? You need a heaping of stats just as much as you do training.¡± Hylon said, trying to sooth the disappointment that would come from rejection. ¡°I need to train harder.¡± The kid said, nodding to himself. ¡°Sure.¡± And a few more years of waiting. You can¡¯t be older than twelve. He thought, but didn¡¯t say. His smile didn¡¯t falter, even if it tried to as he looked at the next in line. It was... not somebody he would ever expect to volunteer to face the manifestations of a concentrated pile of Mana. ¡°Ma¡¯am, can I help you?¡± He asked the middle aged woman with a babe strapped to her chest. ¡°I wish to offer my services.¡± She said, completely serious. The baby gargled something. ¡°Ugh, right. I don¡¯t want to be rude...¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not offering to fight.¡± The woman said. ¡°I wish to cook for those who will. Help out around the camp, you¡¯ve already accepted my husband, you see. This way we won¡¯t need to be apart.¡± Hylon just looked at her, processing her words for several moments. ¡°Um, okay. Go... go talk to her.¡± He said, throwing an already harried looking Cerri under the cart. She was running around trying to stop their younger siblings from causing too much trouble, all the while taking notes from a handful of non combatants who¡¯s aid had been accepted already. The woman smiled and shuffled away, only to be intercepted by a man around the same age and ushered away. The sound of their growing argument rang in Hylon¡¯s ears as he let out a sigh. His eyes almost rolled up into his skull when he saw the waving figure of the elderly man who stumbled forward next. ¡°No, sir. I¡¯ve already sent you away twice now, you need to be able bodied.¡± The man scratched at his cheek, fingertips meeting unkempt stubble. ¡°I¡¯m not drunk no more. I drank water from the well.¡± His voice was slurred, and he wobbled on his feet. Hylon glanced down at the growing spot of dampness around the man¡¯s crotch, then mimicked one of Silas¡¯s ¡®unimpressed¡¯ looks as best he could. It didn¡¯t work, and the inebriated elder launched into a rant about how he had once defeated a hill troll unarmed. Hylon tuned the man¡¯s rambling speech out, glancing around the area his family had disembarked. Town guards loitered around, but none seemed to have been sent by his grandfather, instead they were more interested in making sure the scene taking place in the middle of their home didn¡¯t escalate into an incident. Many of them kept shooting distrusting glances at Rou, which was unfair. His brother might struggle to fit through most doorways, but he was no threat to anyone. There was a cry as Rou tackled an older boy to the ground, pinning him in place with more mass than technique. Rou laughed, his victim was purple in the face from a mix of panic and suffocation. ¡°Na bad!¡± Rou laughed, rolling off of the shaken looking teen. ¡°You-c¡¯n come along if ya want.¡± The other boy staggered away wordlessly. Rou watched him go, then turned a sheepish look towards Hylon. Their eyes met, and they shrugged in unison. It was probably a good thing they were sending most people away, Silas could get quite picky, his standards more exacting and strict than anyone Hylon had ever met. Not that they could afford to send away everyone, there would need to be concessions made to the quality of their recruits in order to reach the desired quantity. The old drunk was rambling about how he had choked a wyvern to death, and Hylon nodded away as if paying keen attention. Out of the corner of his eye he was a figure move, but only after forcing his vision to focus did he notice who it was. The masked adventurer stood off to the side, watching impassively with her arms crossed. One of her boots tapped the ground, but he couldn¡¯t tell if it was impatience, or nervousness. She shot a worried glance westwards, and Hylon followed her line of sight. The peaks of the Varan mountains could be seen just over the town¡¯s rooftops, and he found himself wishing he was among them, fighting for his life against a tide of monsters and beasts seemed preferable to slowly getting accustomed to the scent of piss. ¡°But the best way to deal with southern merfolk is like this.¡± The drunk slurred. ¡°Sir, please put your pants back on.¡± Hylon begged, giving a pleading look towards a pair of nearby town guards. ¡°Ya need to show em who¡¯s boss. They might be mostly fishy, but no true man would give up an opportunity- GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME! I AM AN UPSTANDING MEMBER OF SOCIETY!¡± He screamed as he was dragged away. Chapter 197: Real Adventurers Chapter 197: Real Adventurers The morning of the next day came and Hylon was awoken to the uncomfortable sensation of a wooden cane being jabbed into his ribs. His sleep deprived mind tried to ignore the repetitive jabs, but their insistence and force increased with every second he did so. ¡°Ugh.¡± He groaned, rolling over to try and escape. ¡°It¡¯s too early.¡± ¡°It¡¯s never too early for training.¡± ¡°It¡¯s never too early to grow a conscience.¡± By reflex Hylon twisted, bringing an arm up to catch the hardened length of wood aiming for the back of his head. He caught Silas¡¯ cane, but at the cost of a jolt of pain shooting through his hand and down his arm from the force of the blow. ¡°Damnit old man, that would have caved my skull in.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good then that it didn¡¯t.¡± Silas said, and even as Hylon¡¯s eyes slowly grew adapted to the half-light of not quite dawn, he could tell that his grandfather was grinning by the tone of his voice. He pulled off the blanket that had gotten tangled around his feet, then stood, taking a quick swing of water from his waterskin to parch the thirst brought about by the night. Four shadowed figures milled around, having already been awakened, five if he counted Silas. Quietly, though not silently, they followed the old man away from where their siblings still slept, and began the morning''s training. Not all of Silas¡¯ charges were aspiring adventurers, many were too young to seriously consider that particular path. Hylon and Rou had taken up their adoptive grandfather''s offer of training immediately when he had made it, with Cerri having initially declined, only to belatedly join in a month later. Shen and Claude, the final two misfortunate enough to have been tricked down this path of pain and misery were both boys of thirteen, and not quite old enough to gain their first class. Still, they joined in on the training, just as Hylon had done two years prior. Silas directed them to an open yard next to what had once been some sort of stables, though the wooden structure hadn¡¯t survived turbulence unscathed so it was hard to be sure. Then they trained, group exercises, paired spars, weight lifting and lap running. It was nothing unusual, but the pace Silas demanded they maintain was taxing to the extreme, even if the old man did tailor their exercises with their limits in mind. Hylon did the motions, the movement of his body waking him even if it was uncomfortable, the crisp morning air staving off sleepiness. By the time the sun rose, the first light of dawn cresting the horizon, it was all he could do not to fall over. He was so damn tired, even if it was mostly his own fault. He and his siblings ate breakfast among their carts and animals, a slow trickle of the past day¡¯s volunteers arriving in small groups. Hylon stifled a yawn as he directed a pair of stocky men in their mid thirties on proper footwork for fighting with a spear. They were [Labourer]s, their levels and experience working in the fields giving them an advantage in raw [Might] over several of the other volunteers. They improved quickly in the short time he instructed them, and he made a mental note to recommend them to Silas once they hit the road. === The morning passed as everyone prepared to depart, a trickle of people arriving from nearby villages bolstering the ranks of the subjugation force. The town guard handed out weapons, two elders made a speech with thinly veiled complaints about how things were moving too quickly for their liking. Hylon¡¯s excitement built, they were actually doing this, and he and his family had helped make it happen. It was a real difference. They were making a real difference. It was everything a much younger version of him would have wanted. And then a party of a dozen adventurers from a guild Hylon didn¡¯t recognise rode into town, a middle aged woman with a streak of silver running through her jet black hair at their head. She proclaimed herself the daughter of a local count, and everything fell apart. Their departure was delayed by a day as the newcomers restarted the debate about the best course of action. Then the wasted day became a second. Restlessness grew, both within himself and those around him. He trained, it was all he could do. The mountains seemed to loom larger with every wasted hour. ??No??bE?S === Hylon snuck away from the part of town his family had commandeered once he was fairly sure everyone was asleep. Spear wrapped and tied to his back, he slunk through town and up over the earthen bulwark that defended the settlement. He slid down the other side, the pale moonlight of season illuminating his way, though much of its unmarred side was obscured by clouds. He jogged away from the town, seeking out the location he had used every night since arriving. Rain began to shower as he reached a cluster of trees several hundred metres from the settlement¡¯s outskirts, the sound of water gently striking the canopy overhead mixing with the usual ambiance of the evening. Insects chirped, nocturnal birds hooted, small mammals scurried through the undergrowth. Having found privacy, Hylon unwrapped his spear and begun his evening training. It didn¡¯t matter how tired he felt in the morning, how difficult pushing himself so often was, he had to push himself to reach his goal. His spear whirled through the night air, the weapon¡¯s head blurring forward in a series of quick jabs, then an overhead block against an imaginary opponent with its haft. Hylon went faster and faster, picturing every lesson he had ever learnt from Silas as he spun and struck. The world fell away as he danced alone, nothing mattered except the strain of his muscles, the exertion of his breath, the sweat staining his brow. He lunged, lancing the spear through the heart of a monster only he could see, and then he slumped, exhausted against a nearby tree. With a mental command the system window of beige and greens appeared before his mind¡¯s eye, but there was no progress to note. He sighed, but wasn¡¯t disappointed. The journey couldn¡¯t be rushed, he had known from the beginning that it would take years, if not decades for him to reach his destination. But he was so close to taking the first real step, he even had a promotion seal, in Silas¡¯ possession, for when he finally reached the level cap. Unless the dungeon changes that. He thought, the back of his head thumping against smooth bark. Silas knows too. He wants this opportunity for all of us, maybe even himself. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Hylon closed his eyes, breathing out as his racing heart slowed. Five minutes, then he would do another set. The night was still young.. A furred form burst from between two nearby bushes, teeth glinting, eyes aglow with madness and pain. Hylon yelped, leaping to his feet, only for the thing to crash into the ground, sliding several metres before coming to a stop, its body unmoving. Hylon blinked down at it, his spear slack in his grasp. Then he glanced up at the masked figure crouched atop the creature¡¯s back, white blade embedded into the spine of the beast. Brown eyes met partially hidden orange, the two staring at one another for several seconds. ¡°Uh, hi?¡± Hylon said, breaking eye contact to look down at the beast, an evolved wolf by the look of it. ¡°Hello.¡± The masked adventurer said, her voice hesitant. She pulled her sword from the wolf¡¯s back with a flourish that sent an arc of blood splashing into the ground. It looked to be made of some sort of off-white metal, but he couldn¡¯t think of what it might be. ¡°What... what are you doing?¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± She replied. ¡°Training...?¡± ¡°Right. Same here.¡± There was an awkward silence. ¡°That¡¯s cool. Do you... hunt evolved beasts often?¡± He asked, but that wasn¡¯t the only thing he was curious about. Where had the wolf even come from? Relatively strong it may be, he knew that its kind never drew close to human settlements. ¡°I prefer monsters.¡± ¡°I see. Did... did you see any more of them around?¡± He asked, nodding at the wolf. She shrugged one shoulder. ¡°This one ran after I killed the others. You should be safe.¡± Hylon stared. There had been others? He swallowed thickly, maybe he had been too casual with his choice of location to train in. The adventurer brushed a lock of dark hair back behind her mask. Then she turned and walked away without a word, vanishing from his senses the instant she broke line of sight. Was this what it took to be a real adventurer? Even though one of his classes was [Trainee], was he wasting his time not actively using his skills in real combat against real foes? The pitter patter of rain grew in intensity. Hylon waited over a minute, then looked at the corpse the adventurer had left behind. ¡°Shit.¡± He cursed. ¡°I forgot her name.¡± === The group that departed for the mountains numbered over fifty individuals, with two thirds being combatants. They snaked through the countryside, angling to visit as many villages as possible on the journey to the Varan Mountains. It took three days to reach the base of the range, snow tipped peaks towering over the landscape. A basecamp was created, adventurers and those volunteers that had joined them creating the fortified position alongside a bubbling stream being fed a constant supply of snowmelt. They now numbered over a hundred, and more were coming. Hylon didn¡¯t see Silas much since they departed from the town they had been staying at, the old man having firmly cemented his place among the expedition''s leadership. Though he was far from the only one with influence over the upcoming subjugation, a fact he loudly complained about during his short visits to make sure his charges were staying out of trouble. ¡°Hey.¡± Cerri said as she sat beside him around one of the camp¡¯s large communal fires. ¡°Think we¡¯ll be on the same team? For the raid?¡± He had to finish chewing a mouthful of bread and mountain crab stew before he could answer. ¡°Probably. Why wouldn¡¯t we be together?¡± He scooped up another spoonful of stew, blowing on it briefly, sending the steam dispersing into the air. ¡°I dunno.¡± She said, ¡°I overheard some guildies saying that due to the lack of healers they would need to prioritise who goes where.¡± ¡°Silas won¡¯t let it happen to you.¡± Hylon replied, his eyes absently scanning the crowd. ¡°You know he won¡¯t.¡± Cerri sighed. ¡°I hope so.¡± ¡°Mhmm. Get some stew, it¡¯s pretty good. We have so much meat from that massive herd of crabs we encountered back in the foothills.¡± ¡°Nah, I ate earlier with the kids.¡± Hylon nodded, continuing to eat. He wasn¡¯t nervous, not quite, excited was probably the correct word, though not a complete description of his thoughts. Tomorrow. They would ascend the nearby slope and navigate to wherever the dungeon was. The masked adventurer knew its location, but he hadn¡¯t seen her since the night outside of town. Though he couldn¡¯t say he wasn¡¯t interested, it took a certain type of person to hunt and fight by themselves. Something nudged his side, and he jolted in surprise. ¡°What?¡± Cerri rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re too distracted, what''s up?¡± ¡°Huh? I¡¯m not distracted.¡± ¡°Oh? Then what did I just say?¡± ¡°...That I¡¯m too distracted.¡± ¡°Before that, idiot.¡± Hylon frowned. ¡°That you ate with the kids?¡± ¡°You can admit you didn¡¯t hear me.¡± ¡°Fine, fine. Sorry. What did you say?¡± Cerri pursed her lips. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°So what were you thinking about?¡± She asked. ¡°Nothing much. Just about the dungeon. I wanted to find the masked adventurer and ask her about it, but I haven''t seen her at all.¡± ¡°You mean the girl that¡¯s hard to look at?¡± ¡°Yeah, she has a skill of some kind. And what do you mean ¡®girl¡¯? She¡¯s an experienced adventurer.¡± Hylon said. ¡°And not the Jed kind of experienced, real experience. I saw... uh, I mean I can tell.¡± Cerri raised an eyebrow, giving him a disapproving look that he didn¡¯t think was justified. ¡°She¡¯s around our age, moron.¡± ¡°What? No way, she¡¯s significantly stronger. She¡¯s easily a year or two older.¡± ¡°Yes way. Are you blind?¡± ¡°Are you going to tell me that you know because of some weird bone magic thing?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m just not an idiot.¡± ¡°Hey guys!¡± Rou called as the large boy awkwardly navigated around several full benches. He somehow had two bowls of stew in each hand, and a loaf of bread tucked under his arm. Cerri stood. ¡°Rou, you ate when I did! Put that down.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m hungry?¡± He said, tilting his head to the side, almost spilling one of the bowls in the process. Cerri reached for two of the bowls when the world suddenly shook, the ground rumbling, small stones jumping as they were loosened by the onset of powerful vibrations. The shaking didn¡¯t last for more than a handful of seconds, but the whole camp fell silent. A dozen bird-like creatures took flight from a distant ridge, their haunting cries echoing as they fled skywards. Dust rose along the mountainside as several boulders tumbled down the rugged slopes. They were out of time. The break was happening. Somewhere in the mountains, a disaster that threatened the lives of thousands loomed. Hylon took off running towards where he had left his spear, and as he did so, the camp exploded into frantic activity. Chapter 198: Rumbling Earth Chapter 198: Rumbling Earth The shaking of the ground didn¡¯t become more violent, but it did become more frequent. Over the next two hours the subjugation camp was a flurry of panicked action, its defences being bolstered with sharpened stakes, and outrider teams were sent to scout for any imminent threats. When the first shakes had occurred, Lucia¡¯s stomach had tightened in fear, the knowledge that she had failed stabbing her like a blade. She should have been here with aid over a week ago. Her mentor had sent her on a mission to warn the locals while he delayed the break, but she taken it upon herself to do more, to bring help, but she had been too slow, too timid, too lacking in any of the ways that could have made an actual difference. She wasn¡¯t overly worried about his safety, even if the dungeon was, by his own admission, a poor matchup. There was a risk, nobody was unkillable, and with every hour that passed that risk only grew. There were only a handful of people in the world she truly cared for, and for the first time she was separated from all of them. She felt hollow, anger and shame mixing together into an unhealthy concoction that only fed her anxiety. Lucia clenched her fists and grit her teeth, her frustration largely hidden by her mask, and the stealth aspect of her aura. If she had been better with people, more insistent as to the dangers of the imminent break, things may have gone differently, thousands of lives may not be at risk. The command tent was crowded, and the press of so many people in such a confined space made her uncomfortable, a year of scrambling to live on the streets, fighting for every scrap, struggling to evade danger to keep her and her little brother safe and fed had ingrained instincts that even now were screaming at her to find a corner and keep everyone within line of sight. She fought to calm herself, methods and techniques developed during months of travel helping her stabilise, ¡®the spiral¡¯ as her mentor had called it, was easier to combat when she could recognise the effects it had on her mind. It was okay, she shouldn¡¯t let what she couldn¡¯t control distract her from what she could. One person couldn¡¯t shoulder everything, it was impossible, and she reminded herself of that, a mental mantra mixed with an aura technique that could help ground one in the moment, slowing her racing heart and stilling her spinning mind. The ground trembled, and those gathered fell silent to wait for it to pass, a tome on the edge of the table in the centre of the tent fell to the dirt floor with a thud. Someone tripped and fell outside the tent with a curse, but nobody moved to check. A woman with black hair and a streak of white cleared her throat once the world had stopped rumbling. She stood with a dignified posture, but to Lucia¡¯s eyes her confidence seemed almost performative. ¡°As I was saying, we should be expecting guild reinforcements within the next twenty four hours. Red-Fist, Honourborne, Sunflower and Azure-Veil adventuring parties should be arriving within that time frame.¡± ¡°Are you suggesting that we wait, Lady Eire? Have we not discussed the importance of immediate action?¡± Another woman asked, her graying hair the same colour as her well worn mail, the symbol of the town she guarded emblazoned on her breast. The count¡¯s daughter sniffed, turning up her nose at being addressed by someone she clearly considered beneath her. Lucia watched the back and forth between the two grow increasingly heated, less than impressed at the display. The illusion that adults always knew best had been shattered for her years prior, but it was an uncomfortable reminder that even those in charge of over a hundred lives were far from infallible. Silas stepped forward, slamming his open palm onto the table. ¡°Enough! Bickering gets us nowhere. Establishing a perimeter should be our priority, as was the conclusion we had already come to. Whether we initiate the subjugation now, or tomorrow is something we can decide after we have acted to contain the first wave.¡± ¡°You speak like we¡¯re children.¡± Lady Eire snapped, crossing her arms. ¡°That¡¯s because half of you might as well be.¡± The old man grumbled, letting out a breath. ¡°Did you not agree to defer to my experience during our operation here? Did all of you not do just that only yesterday?¡± ¡°We did, sir.¡± A man with a bow slung over his back said. ¡°But it is wise to consider all our options now that the situation has changed.¡± ¡°We have spent the past half a week wasting time doing just that.¡± Silas said, giving the man a glare that had a physical weight behind it. Though, perhaps that was his aura. She didn¡¯t like the old man, he reminded her too much of her grandfather. It was perhaps a fairly unsubstantial connection to make, they only vaguely looked alike, but the natural sense of authority that hung around Silas reminded her of long nights hiding in her family¡¯s borrowed estate, trying not to attract the wrong type of attention. Regardless, he, and perhaps the town magistrate, were the only ones who had immediately taken her seriously. Lost in memories, Lucia almost missed it when Silas gestured her forward. For a moment she panicked as every eye in the room turned to her, their presences brushing up against her own. Ordinarily her aura would disorientate or confuse, but she was suppressing that aspect of her skill with an application of [Willpower], it wasn¡¯t like anyone present was weak enough for her to affect. ¡°This one knows where the dungeon is located, and she took it upon herself to warn us of the imminent break. Lucia, would you be able to guide our teams to the entrance from this location?¡± She was glad there was a mask on her face, it likely made her look as though she was contemplating his question, rather than freezing up like a frightened animal in front of the expectant crowd. ¡°I believe so, yes.¡± She said, by sheer force of will not stumbling over the words. Why were they all staring so intently? ¡°But there isn¡¯t only a single entrance. The dungeon, at least when I last saw it, was a network of ravines and valleys.¡± ¡°So there should be multiple entrances.¡± The adventurer with the bow said, running a hand through the stubble on his chin. ¡°And how did you initially access this dungeon? Did you require rope to descend?¡± Before Lucia could reply Lady Eire spoke. ¡°And how did you find it in the first place? I find it highly suspicious that a child was wandering around the mountains. It would have still been turbulence.¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be beyond the republic to deliberately sabotage a dungeon.¡± Said an officer off to the side. ¡°Nor would they shy away from using children. This could be a trap.¡± Lucia felt her face heat under her mask. She went to speak, but her mouth felt dry, the words falling apart as they formed. Silas raised a hand, and the continued murmuring of accusation and suspicion trailed off. ¡°It does not matter why or how, only that she did. You¡¯re all acting fools casting doubt on our only reliable source of information. Why would an enemy agent intentionally warn us of danger?¡± Lady Eire scoffed. ¡°Says the man who barely escaped the headsman''s axe. Don¡¯t think we¡¯re all ignorant of your past, sir.¡± Silas bristled at her words. ¡°Perhaps it was wrong to put somebody so unreliable in charge? Feel like stepping down?¡± ¡°My mentor is an adventurer from an Ahle-ho guild, I was travelling north with him when we discovered the dungeon.¡± Lucia said quietly, but in the silence that followed the noblewoman¡¯s words everyone heard her clearly. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Ahle-ho, eh?¡± The archer said, leaning forward. ¡°Interesting. My condolences for their sacrifice.¡± ¡°We were just trying to get home. Avoid the war.¡± Silence fell once again. ¡°Congratulations on bullying a child, Lady Eire.¡± The armoured woman with grey hair said, knocking her knuckles onto the table. ¡°If we¡¯re done here, I¡¯m going to get my teams ready, I suggest the rest of you do likewise.¡± ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll create at least ten teams of our most capable combatants and leave within the hour.¡± Silas said. ¡°Anyone who disagrees can take their people and leave, we don¡¯t need cowards on this expedition.¡± With that the meeting adjourned, though not without mutters of disapproval from several attendees. The old man looked at Lucia and nodded, indicating that she should follow. With hesitation she did so, taking note of his hobble as she followed him out of the tent. She had noticed it was an inconsistent addition to his gait, but she didn¡¯t think it was fake. He probably had a skill that helped him walk if he activated it. ¡°By your assessment, are they likely to be alive?¡± Silas asked without turning. There was so much frenzied activity within the camp that it took her a moment to register the question. Lucia nodded, then realised the old man couldn¡¯t see her do so. ¡°Yes. He... he¡¯s strong.¡± ¡°Strong enough to delve into a dungeon alone for an extended period of time?¡± She didn¡¯t respond. The only secrets she had the right to reveal were her own, and she had no intention of doing that. It was safer to keep her mouth shut, the old man was deceptively sharp. The only reason none of this had come out earlier was only because he didn¡¯t care to ask. Silas turned his head slightly, giving her an assessing look. ¡°Is your silence worry or confidence?¡± ¡°Confidence, sir.¡± ¡°Hmmph. Good. It means we might have a chance to avoid this from turning into a major tragedy. We won¡¯t let this place turn out like Pherin, we can¡¯t, people still live here.¡± Lucia¡¯s heart skipped a beat at the sudden mention of her former homeland. He was right though, they couldn¡¯t let a repeat of that tragedy occur. One day she would be strong enough to ensure just that, but for now she had to let others do their parts. Silas stopped by a group of seven, informing their leader to prepare teams for deployment. He answered a handful of questions, then gave words of reassurance. They kept moving, and the same thing happened two more times. Lucia was beginning to wonder why exactly she was being brought along, when Silas finally turned to give her his full attention. ¡°I have a suggestion for which team you should join.¡± He said. ¡°They just so happen to be missing a stealth specialist.¡± Lucia could guess what team he was referring to, and immediately shook her head. ¡°No. I¡¯m more effective alone.¡± She couldn¡¯t slip away to reunite with her mentor if she had to drag a team along. ¡°I understand that. But I must ask again. Please.¡± Silas said, dipping his head. Lucia blinked, stunned. She had thought he would try to force the issue, not beg. Her grandfather never would have... Damnit, I misjudged someone again. She thought, scowling behind her mask. ¡°I...¡± ¡°They¡¯re good kids, and I trust them. But I¡¯m not going to be able to watch over them during this operation. I can tell how well trained you are by the way you move, and it would be a boon to my worries if you could aid them. They¡¯re more likely to accept an outsider who¡¯s closer to their ages, and it might do them good.¡± She went to turn him down a second time, a dozen excuses and reasons running through her mind. But they all felt hollow. He would want me to do this. Had she not spent the past three months learning that she couldn¡¯t do everything by herself? She would need to figure out how to work with others eventually, her homeland wouldn¡¯t reclaim itself. And maybe this was why she was struggling to learn a certain class. ¡°Sure.¡± Lucia said quietly. ¡°Wonderful. Thank you. Once this is all over I will owe you and this mentor of your¡¯s a debt.¡± The old man cleared his throat, straightened, a mask of irritated indifference returning to his features. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to them now. You¡¯ve met most of them already, so that should make things easier.¡± She trailed behind the aged nobleman, breaking out into a cold sweat. She didn¡¯t remember their names, not even the boy with the spear she had accidentally ran into outside of town. Lucia¡¯s nerves grew the closer they got to the familiar sight of carts clustered together. She spotted several small children, and that made her feel even worse. What would she do if Roy was in this situation? Would she have taken him and run away? She wasn¡¯t sure, and not knowing was unnerving. A towering figure spotted them, and it took Lucia¡¯s brain a moment to see the massive youth for what he was. If she had to guess, the boy probably had some giant¡¯s blood in him, or maybe another demikin bloodline was making him so oversized. Had he introduced himself when they had first met? Maybe? Did his name start with an R? ¡°Hey gramps. Da beasties don like the shaking. Hy keeps pacin, I think he¡¯s worried.¡± ¡°Come with us, Rou.¡± Silas said, and the large boy nodded happily. He had bracers made of what looked like scrap metal around his forearms, and other strange pieces of almost armour on his shoulders and shins. It reminded her to go get her own armour put on before they left. She wanted a sword in her hand, or at least by her side, but keeping the weapon hidden with a skill was optimal. But that did mean she wasn¡¯t sure what to do with her hands when two other teens, maybe a year older than her approached. She recognised both of them, the blond boy with the spear was plain looking, but his gaze had a sharpness it hadn¡¯t possessed back when they had first met. The girl had a forced smile on her round features, and tension was obvious in her posture and frown. She was fidgeting with a lock of orange hair and one of the straps of her breastplate, which in turn made Lucia want to fidget. ¡°What¡¯s up, Gramps?¡± The boy, Hy-something, said. ¡°We av a new friend.¡± Rou said with a laugh. ¡°I knew she would be back.¡± ¡°Greetings.¡± The girl said with a polite bob of her head. ¡°You were... um.¡± She glanced at the blond boy. He seemed to panic for a moment, shooting Rou a pleading look. ¡°This is Lucia, she will be guiding our forces to the dungeon entrance, and has agreed to join the three of you as a stealth specialist for the subjegation.¡± Silas said. ¡°And these are three of my oldest. Hylon, Cerri and Rou. The others are too young to fight or don¡¯t have combat ready classes.¡± ¡°Hello again.¡± She said. ¡°I suppose we¡¯ll be a team.¡± Hylon let out a breath. ¡°Thank the gods. We might actually survive this if we have you.¡± Cerri gave him a strange look, her lips pressed into a line. ¡°Are you strong?¡± Rou asked, squinting down at Lucia. That felt like a loaded question. Physically strong? Likely not when compared to him. ¡°She is.¡± Hylon said, his words trailing off, a thoughtful expression coming over his face. ¡°And if you know the dungeon... Hey, did you see any treasure while you were down there? What are the best monsters to fight? Do you know what level they are? Are the experience gains good?¡± ¡°Here we go.¡± Cerri said, rolling her eyes. ¡°From shaking in his boots to giddy with excitement.You¡¯re such a child.¡± ¡°This is our chance.¡± Hylon said. ¡°If we do this right, we¡¯re guaranteed to level up a bunch. I might even reach level twenty five before I¡¯m sixteen. That¡¯s prodigy pace, the advancement speed that guild elites level up at!¡± ¡°Focus, brat.¡± Silas snapped. ¡°If you get killed because you¡¯re too busy focusing on the future to see the present, I¡¯ll kill you again.¡± ¡°Right.¡± He said, sheepishly looking down at the old man¡¯s cane and rubbing the back of his head. The ground shook again. This one far longer than any before it. ¡°Prepare yourselves and gather at the muster point in thirty minutes.¡± Silas said, I have other duties to attend to, and I¡¯m trusting you to handle yourselves.¡± ¡°No fear. I will protect them.¡± Rou said, clapping his hands together. ¡°And I¡¯m good at punching rocks.¡± The old man smiled slightly, then turned and marched away at a brisk pace, his limp vanishing. ¡°I need to collect my things.¡± Lucia said, disappearing from sight with a mix of [Fade], [Aura of Distraction] and a burst of speed before any of her new teammates could speak. Chapter 199: Walking Stone Chapter 199: Walking Stone The thirty odd figures carved of jagged stone and in the vague shape of humanoids loped down the mountain side towards the line of waiting adventurers, soldiers and volunteers. Their steps shook the ground, but no sound escaped from their jagged maws as they advanced. A wave of skill empowered projectiles crashed against them, causing the frontmost monsters to stagger, some falling, others shattering into chunks of rock as their bodies were ripped apart. The charge slowed, but didn¡¯t break, moments later the wave of stone men crashed against a wall of defensive skills and raised shields. Stone dented metal, force buffeted rock, the line of humans was forced back. Then, as a skill empowered shout rose from among them that surged their strength, they struck back. Lucia¡¯s vision was mostly obscured by the broad back of Rou, the large boy taking the brunt of the elemental¡¯s charge with raised arms wreathed in scrap metal. He grunted and took a single step back. To her side, Cerri had her hands raised, a look of intense concentration on her face. She was doing something, but Lucia couldn¡¯t tell what, perhaps a support technique. Whatever she did, Rou held easier than the frontliners to either side of him, and then as a team they struck back. Her sword of ivory wood stabbed into the lower torso of the elemental Rou was facing as it materialised in her hand with an effort of will and a warping of air. The effects of [Hidden Weapon] combined with [Empower Blade] as well as her sword''s natural strength pierced solid stone and punched cleanly through out the other side. To the large boy¡¯s left, Hylon made a similar attack with his spear, his first strike dealing minimal damage as it glanced off a jagged chunk of rock, but his second and third blows to the same area dealt escalating damage. The elemental crumbled as Rou¡¯s metal wrapped fist crashed into its misshapen head, but a second monster took its place a moment after. There was another shout, and Lucia felt a small surge of vitality enter her body, but it did little as she wasn¡¯t wounded. There was a flash of light to her left, and a brilliant hammer made of lightning fell down onto a trio of elementals. She wasn¡¯t sure who had used the skill, but she felt its impact with the ground through her knees, and on the top of her head and tiny fragments of stone rained down from the monster¡¯s that had been obliterated. A minute of fighting turned into a second, and then as suddenly as the clash between man and monster had begun, it ended. People fell to their knees, some calling for healing, others cursing their fallen foes. A man who she assumed was a guard was hauled away, one of his arms twisted unnaturally, a shard of sharpened stone embedded into his chest. Lucia willed her sword to return to the personal spatial storage [Hidden Weapon] created, and let out a sigh as she felt its weight settle somewhere not quite physical inside of her. ¡°We won.¡± Rou said, his cheer making those closest to them wince from the volume of his shout. ¡°I knew we¡¯wud.¡± He slapped Hylon on the back, the blond haired boy almost falling over onto his face. ¡°Rou, come here.¡± Cerri said, ushering the massive teenager towards her. He did so, and the girl frowned in concentration as she grabbed one of his arms. ¡°You have hairline fractures, hold still.¡± ¡°R¡¯lly? Can¡¯t feel a thing.¡± ¡°Yeah, your bones are still reinforced by my skill. Hang on, I can fix it.¡± ¡°Anyone level up?¡± Hylon asked, shouldering his spear. They all shook their heads. ¡°Shame. More monsters where they came from though, we¡¯re not even to the dungeon yet.¡± ¡°How many more of these attacks can we handle?¡± Cerri asked, looking nervously up the mountain. ¡°How many more can we expect?¡± ¡°We¡¯re halfway to the dungeon.¡± Lucia said, though she wasn¡¯t sure why she bothered. ¡°This is our third encounter, but the number of elementals will increase the closer we get.¡± ¡°And these are the smaller ones?¡± Hylon said, nodding at the piles of rock. ¡°You said there were ones a lot bigger.¡± ¡°There are. I don¡¯t know if they will leave the dungeon though.¡± Silas and the guard woman walked among the crowd, the old man having put on a set of plate with decorative silver patterns on the shoulders and breast. He saw that his kids were all fine and nodded in their direction, moving along as he talked to the armoured woman. ¡°Are they flirting?¡± Cerri asked as she watched them go. ¡°Gramps has still got it.¡± Hylon said, a thoughtful expression coming over his features. ¡°Will we have to call her grandma?¡± ¡°Gross.¡± Cerri said, wrinkling her nose. Hylon laughed. Rou laughed too, but the larger boy clearly didn¡¯t understand what was funny. Lucia ignored them and adjusted her own armour. Like her sword and mask, it was made of carved, off-white wood, the material light and as tough as steel. It was also self regenerative, but she hoped that nobody would notice. If she never got hit, they never would, and she didn¡¯t plan to. Once the wounded were tended to and everyone had a moment to catch their breaths, the call went out to continue the trek up the mountain. It was her queue to head to the front of the subjugation force. They couldn¡¯t get lost on the ascent up the slope, but the valleys, gulleys and crevasses were a natural maze. From what her mentor has said about the interior of dungeons, the magic that comprised them had a strange effect on their spatial dimensions. From the few days she had spent exploring the dungeon of rock and stone, she knew it was true. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The exact boundary between dungeon and natural landscape was somewhat of a blur, but once you were inside, there was no mistaking your surroundings for anything that had been naturally carved from time and rain. An outrider team approached them some twenty minutes later, reporting on an approaching stampede of local beasts through a nearby valley. The ground shook moments later as a plume of dust rose into the air. The humans formed up their defensive line, but the goat-like beasts with jagged stone running along their spines and growing around their twisted horns detoured around them, breaking like water as the herd split in two, then carried on down the mountain. ¡°Should we have engaged them?¡± An adventurer asked. ¡°No.¡± Silas said, the old man pulling off his helmet and running a hand through grey hair. ¡°We must save our strength and pick our battles carefully.¡± === Shadows lengthened as the sun dipped below the peaks of the mountain range, chilling the air and giving the network of ravines the subjugation force stood above a sinister, almost ethereal ambiance. The light from the torches and lanterns some of the humans carried seemed to glint off gemstones of a thousand different colours in the darkness below, but Lucia knew from experience that it was an optical illusion. Both her and her mentor had initially hoped that they were mana shards, and had been disappointed to discover that they simply didn¡¯t exist. Lucia wasn¡¯t at the level where she had access to skill fusion, people only obtained that ability once they reached level twenty five, but she would one day, hopefully soon. Somebody threw a rock down into the ravine, and the sounds of it bouncing off the angular walls echoed back up to their ears. ¡°How do we get down there?¡± Lady Eire asked, the noblewoman glancing nervously around at the shadowed recesses of the mountain. Several eyes turned to Lucia, and she had to resist not reflexively pulling her aura up around her like a protective cloak. The ground trembled. She looked back down into the darkness, hoping to catch a hint of gold. Nothing. She told herself that it didn¡¯t mean anything. ¡°Follow me.¡± === ¡°And remember!¡± Silas called. ¡°Our goal is not to destroy the dungeon, but damage it in such a way that it can no longer sustain the break. While we do this, our containment teams back on the surface will try to catch and kill whatever monsters slip past us. For lack of any better words to use, we¡¯re going to beat the crap out of whatever this place creates until it goes back to sleep. And we¡¯ll reap all the rewards we can out of it while doing so!¡± There were a handful of cheers, but most people were subdued. The rock formation the subjugation party was standing on reminded Lucia of an unevenly built switchback stairway, only if they had been constructed for people twice the size as Rou. The humans had only descended some forty metres, but the abyss they found themselves glittered like the night sky, faint rays of light filtering down through a massive gash in the ceiling easily a kilometre or higher above their heads. Things moved in the darkness, and already they had been assaulted twice by beetle-like monsters made of obsidian stone that clacked their mandibles as they moved for the skill, the rock around their six sharpened legs rippling like water. The creatures had erupted from a series of cracks in the walls, and had defied gravity as they descended on their would-be victims. They were the size of small dogs, and while likely threatening in large numbers, had failed to break the human¡¯s defensive formation. The subjugation force spilled out into the large round chamber they found themselves, seven person sized ravines that ran from floor to ceiling invited both danger and exploration, while a far wider crevasse led further down into the dungeon. The teams were each distributed among the passages, with several that had sustained injuries being broken apart and remade on the fly. The main chamber being designated as an advanced camp, and several support personnel that had braved the mountain scurried around to set things up. They were ordered not to travel down any one tunnel for more than thirty minutes, and to return to the entrance at regular intervals. Lucia wasn¡¯t sure if that would be enough to stop some teams from being separated by the dungeon¡¯s shifting walls, but it was better than anything she could come up with. Most of the information she knew about the dungeon had been wrung out of her, and she was thankful for it. The less time she spent in the presence of those in charge the better. A [Scout] that had been sent down the largest passage returned, materialising in a shimmering, if slightly blurry haze of light as their stealth skill dropped. They reported spotting two of the larger stone elemental variants, and the three strongest teams were dispatched to deal with them. This messed up the distribution of ravines, which quickly devolved into a shouting match between competing parties as much of the subjegation¡¯s leadership had also left, being among the strongest people present. In the confusion, Lucia¡¯s team were left behind as people filtered out, eager to complete their duty, or earn the rewards that would come from doing so. Those with non combat classes, but with supplemental skills and attributes that would allow them to fight anyway, were likely hunting to complete the requirements to earn such a class. It was these who would see the most immediate gain in strength, if they survived. ¡°Do we wait for Silas to come back, or should we go?¡± Cerri asked, shuffling nervously. ¡°We should discuss strategy. We had a plan going in, but fighting may prove difficult in the smaller passages with how... uh, large, Rou is.¡± Hylon said. ¡°They open up the further in you go.¡± Lucia said, the three teens turning to look at her. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll defer to your experience.¡± Hylon suggested, getting two nods from his two siblings. ¡°Just don¡¯t leave us behind, yeah?¡± A distant, echoing crash sounded from the main passage, followed by the sound of steel against stone. ¡°Fine.¡± She said, not liking the way they stared expectantly at her masked face. ¡°We¡¯ll focus on the mission, but I also need to find my mentor. He¡¯s down here somewhere. I... I don¡¯t want to lose anyone else.¡± ¡°We help how we can.¡± Rou said, lurching forward to try and slap her on the back. Lucia side stepped his attempt, not wanting her face to meet the ground, or for her shoulder to get sprained. ¡°Let''s do this.¡± Hylon said, lacing his fingers together and cracking his knuckles. ¡°This dungeon won¡¯t know what hit it.¡± A weight Lucia didn¡¯t like settled onto her shoulders. Responsibility she didn¡¯t think she deserved. She regretted not being more forceful when Silas had asked for her assistance. Think of it as a test. Lucia told herself. Don¡¯t fail, no matter what. Chapter 200: Subjugation Chapter 200: Subjugation In retrospect, Hylon had been too eager to dive headfirst into danger, but in his defense, he hadn¡¯t expected to almost be eaten by a giant mole. ¡°Hold still, dumbass.¡± Cerri said, wrapping the gashes on the outside of his right thigh with bandages. ¡°It¡¯s just a flesh wound. I¡¯m not an invalid, Cerri, I can bandage it myself.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the healer, shut it and stay still.¡± ¡°It¡¯s skin and muscle, you¡¯re not healing shit.¡± She pinched his cheek and pulled, stretching his face. ¡°Ow, ow! Stop it you crazy bi-¡± Hylon¡¯s words cut off as Cerri twisted his arm. Magically. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to be healing me! That means less pain, not more!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do my job if you¡¯re being an idiot.¡± She hissed. Several minutes and countless muttered curses later Hylon stood on his slightly injured leg. He glanced over to the corpse of the thing that lay still off to the side of the stone passage, specifically its half a metre long claws. He shuddered, only a combination of several skills working in tandem having saved him from a much bloodier fate. He hadn¡¯t wanted the [Guard] class, but he wasn¡¯t complaining about it now. You were right, old man. Staying alive through fights that would otherwise kill you is a sound plan. He¡¯d wanted [Fighter] for the offensive potential, but Silas had insisted on his current path. A more defensive fighting style suited one who fought with a spear, which is something he definitely would have figured out on his own. Definitely. ¡°Is monster tasty?¡± Hylon heard Rou ask, and he glanced up to see him crouched over the second giant mole. ¡°It¡¯s a beast, not a monster.¡± The masked adventurer said. ¡°Also, don¡¯t eat it.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m hungry...¡± ¡°You¡¯re carrying our rations, Rou. Just snack on some dried meat or whatever.¡± Hylon said, wincing slightly as he tested his mobility. The big lad started rifling through his pack, but paused, his arm buried up to his wrist. ¡°Wh¡¯ts difference between monster n beasties?¡± ¡°Not much. They have the same system progression track. Monster¡¯s just aren¡¯t naturally born, or only born with the help of magic.¡± Lucia said offhandedly. She conjured her strange white blade and did a few practice swings, then made the weapon vanish again. ¡°Huh.¡± Hylon said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that.¡± He copied the masked adventurer, doing a series of test thrusts and slashes with his spear. ¡°Wait, how do you know about their system progression?¡± Lucia froze, and he could practically see her body tense. It lasted for less than a second, coming and going so quickly that Hylon questioned if he had really noticed anything. ¡°My mentor spent time at the Imperial Academy in the Mekrys Empire. He told me.¡± ¡°I thought you said he was from Ahle-ho?¡± Cerri asked, brushing herself down as she stood. ¡°He... He¡¯s from Varan, but he¡¯s well travelled.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll say.¡± Hylon said. ¡°Most of us have never left the kingdom, or come from just outside of it.¡± The masked girl shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s make our way back to the entrance, then strike out deeper into the dungeon.¡± He saluted, Rou copying him a moment later, a strip of jerky hanging out of his mouth. === The giant obsidian beetle twitched, then died as Hylon¡¯s spear punched through the carapace between its eyes. He wrenched the weapon free, then backpedaled to fall in line With Rou. The large boy kicked out at one of the attacking creatures, sending it flying off into the darkness. ¡°Hy, above you!¡± Cerri yelled, and he glanced up to see a shadowed mass dropping down towards him. He cursed and dived away, but he wasn¡¯t fast enough. Suddenly he felt a vice grip around his arms and legs, and the speed of his dive doubled as an invisible force threw him to safety. His hands had locked up when Cerri had temporarily taken control, and his spear clattered to the ground. The obsidian beetle landed, the stone ripping below it like the surface of a pond. It Skittered forward, its sharpened legs sending the weapon sliding out of reach. Hylon cursed and drew the short dagger at his side. From experience he knew that he needed two solid hits to the same area to punch through the creature¡¯s natural defenses. [Repetitive Strike] was not a fancy skill, but he was glad he had it for situations just like this. The beetle dashed towards him, as he climbed to his feet. Hylon¡¯s dagger slashed out, and the beast backed away. There was a crunch from off to the side where Rou had spattered another of the things against a wall. Hylon lunged, pulled back as the beetle snapped at him, then stabbed his blade into its side. Sharpened iron met earth empowered chitin and sparks flew. He became aware of the place he had struck as he scrambled back, like a small weight on his perception. The beetle rushed forward, and he lowered himself to meet its charge, blade out. [Drilled Stance] helped distribute his weight and prepare for the coming clash. He felt strength flow through his fingers and forearms, the bone being reinforced thanks to Cerri. The beetle¡¯s back split open, and a deafening drone of its wings beating faster than he could see made him wince. But [Combat Awareness] helped him keep focus through the distraction, and his dagger found its mark, penetrating carapace and cutting down into vulnerable tissue. The beast died, and Hylon let out a ragged whoop of victory. Then death descended as yet another beetle fell upon him. The air to his side rippled, and a streak of white arced over his head, cutting the creature in half. Its gore splattered over his head, and he spluttered as he wiped blood and viscera out of his eyes. The masked adventurer was like a ghost, flitting between shadows, her white sword appearing and disappearing in a disorientating flicker of light and darkness. Lucia killed a beetle clinging to the outside of Rou¡¯s scrap metal covered arm, moved in a blur to put down a creature Cerri was keeping at bay with a shaking hand outstretched, then vanished further down the tunnel to kill another. To his eyes, she looked damn near unstoppable, a blur of death that carved through their foes with an ease that made his stomach twinge with jealousy. He spat out what little acrid tasting beetle blood had splattered into his mouth, then took in their situation. Rou was bloodied from a dozen cuts and gashes, but Hylon knew that the massive boy could take more punishment than that. Cerri shook with exertion, sagging in place, and while she didn¡¯t look visibly injured, she winced with the soul deep ache of skill overuse. They were all exhausted, several hours having elapsed since the subjugation force had descended into the earth-aspected dungeon. Their eyes met, and he nodded in gratitude, appreciating just how much she was doing to keep them alive. Her gaze flicked over his gore covered features, and he swore that she paled slightly, though it was hard to tell in the low light of the dungeon. Hylon shook his head like a dog, spraying beetle blood and guts everywhere, then he hooked a foot under the shaft of his fallen spear and kicked it up into the air, catching it with a flourish. Cerri rolled her eyes, Rou clapped two meaty hands together, and Lucia... Lucia sprinted towards them, darkness boiling behind her. ¡°Run!¡± She yelled, blurring next to Cerri and scooping the exhausted girl up over her shoulder. The masked adventurer didn¡¯t stop, dashing down the passage that led back the way they had come. A tide of beetles followed behind her, the scratching of hundreds of insectile legs skittering over the floor and walls like nails on a chalkboard. Within the swarming mass of beasts was an obsidian clad behemoth that dwarfed the others of its kind. ¡°Big un!¡± Rou bellowed, rushing after the two girls. ¡°O-crap!¡± Hylon sprinted after his siblings and the adventurer, [Combat Awareness] making it impossible for him to ignore the tide of creatures slowly gaining on them. He was quicker than Rou, and slipped around the large teen, chasing after Lucia and Cerri. The dungeon walls seemed to shake, and the passage before them was more narrow than he remembered it being when they had passed it prior. Maybe it was his panic addled mind playing tricks on him, maybe- Oh shit, it really is closing in. He thought, alarm spiking. The dungeon was shifting right before his eyes, as if the damn thing was trying to trap them in with the mass of flesh eating beetles. He yelled for them to speed up, and Lucia shot a glance over his shoulder. Hylon almost screamed at her, what was she doing? The masked girl did something, and for a brief moment he felt her dizzying aura rush past him. Unlike back at the temple, it had no adverse effects, at least not on him. The beetle swarm, practically nipping at Rou¡¯s heels, stumbled, tripping over one another as if struck with a sudden bout of disorientation. Hylon felt hope surge within his chest, then the feeling doubled as Cerri and Lucia disappeared through where the dungeon passage was trying to close. He dashed through a breath later, skidding to a stop to help Rou through, his body turned sideways as his shoulders were too broad to fit otherwise. A dozen stalagmite of sharpened stone erupted from the ground, and the dungeon trembled as rock melted together above their heads. Hylon held out a hand to Rou as the massive boy slammed into the narrowing tunnel, shattering stone, but getting stuck half way. Rou¡¯s hand wrapped around Hylon¡¯s forearm and pulled, and it was all he could do to not get wrenched off his feet. Rou bellowed in pain and fear, tears welling in his large eyes. Hylon heaved, but the walls closed in around his adoptive brother. He grabbed the boy¡¯s arm with his other hand, pulling with all his might. So close. He thought, muscles straining. So damn close, only a little more. Please, please don¡¯t die on me. A second pair of hands wrapped around Rou¡¯s, and with a disconcerting screech of scrap metal against stone he fell free, the passage crashing together a moment later. Hylon was bowled off his feet as Rou fell on top of him, and he wheezed for breath as the massive youth¡¯s weight smooshed him into the floor. There was a groan to his side, and he strained to turn his head, seeing a half askew mask of ivory wood. ¡°T-thanks.¡± He groaned out, wincing as Rou shifted his weight above him. ¡°I wasn¡¯t... wasn¡¯t strong enough.¡± ¡°D-don¡¯t mention it.¡± The dark haired girl replied, her one free hand adjusting the mask to cover her face once again. Huh. Hylon thought. Cerri was right, she really is around our age. === By the time they stumbled, exhausted, back to the subjugation force¡¯s advanced camp within the dungeon, a sizable portion of those that had initially entered the dungeon were gathered, as well as some groups Hylon was fairly sure hadn¡¯t climbed the mountain earlier that day. Several well equipped adventurers facing away from them were seated around a bubbling pot of stew, but there was no fire under the large piece of iron cookware. Magic bullshit. He thought tiredly, collapsing down among the belongings and supplies they had left behind when venturing deeper into the dungeon. Why would anyone enchant a cooking pot? Isn¡¯t that a massive waste of money and power? His hands were shaking, and had been ever since his body had run out of adrenaline, his head and soul throbbed from skill overuse. Hylon felt as if something within him would be on the verge of snapping in two if he had to fight again. They hadn¡¯t been lucky enough to return without danger after fleeing from the beetles, the four of them having run into a roaming elemental similar to the ones they had encountered on the mountain side. He and his part had been enough to handle it, but in the tight confines of the dungeon, and with the elemental having the home ground advantage, it had been a struggle. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He wiped sweat off his brow, and his palm came away sticky with blood. I don¡¯t remember taking a hit to the head. He mused, half delirious. Must have been when the elemental threw chunks of rock at us. The cut wasn¡¯t deep, and it had already mostly stopped bleeding. ¡°What time is it?¡± Cerri asked as she flopped down beside him. She sounded exhausted, and looked worse. ¡°Not a clue. Probably around midnight. It doesn¡¯t look like the light filtering down from above us doesn¡¯t care if there¡¯s sunlight around or not.¡± He replied. Cerri stretched and sighed, but it quickly turned into a yawn. Hylon yawned, and then Rou yawned. ¡°Where gramps?¡± The large boy asked, sitting cross legged on the ground, almost crushing a burlap sack. ¡°I bet he¡¯s hungry.¡± ¡°I have no idea.¡± Hylon said, closing his eyes. ¡°He¡¯s tougher than nails, so he¡¯s probably fine.¡± There was a burst of laughter from nearby, but he ignored it. Instead his mind¡¯s eye was fixated on the level up notification from the system. Level up! Class [Trainee] is now level 10! For using the skills and techniques you have been taught against the denizens of a dungeon you have gained a level! +1 to [Might] +1 free points! You have gained the capstone class skill [Martial Specialisation]! Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Trainee] class! [Trainee] experience earned is evenly distributed between your other classes! Foundation tier general classes can be promoted using a promotion item! You may directly promote this class into an Advanced class, or merge it with another Foundation class to create a Union class! ¡°I did it.¡± Hylon mumbled, a smile stretching across his face even as he sprawled on the ground. ¡°Finally.¡± ¡°You finally figured out how to tie your own shoes?¡± Cerri asked. ¡°Very funny.¡± ¡°So... you still haven''t?¡± He grunted, too tired to rise to the bait. ¡°Well, well. What do we have here?¡± Came an irritatingly familiar voice. ¡°Whoever thought letting a bunch of children into a dungeon was a good idea? Say, where is that old failure? Did he finally realise that an invalid playing at being an adventurer was foolish?¡± Hylon didn¡¯t open his eyes, but he heard the clink of metal plated footsteps get closer. Why him? Couldn¡¯t the sunflower guild keep to their own business? He had thought he might have recognised the new arrivals to the subjugation force, but he had been too tired to bother checking. ¡°What do you want, Jed?¡± He asked. He couldn¡¯t see, but he practically heard the sneer in the older adventurer¡¯s tone. ¡°How about you give up some of your supplies to your betters? We¡¯ll make better use out of it. For example, we could feed it to our dogs.¡± ¡°Hy, this man see¡¯s hungry.¡± Rou commented, and Hylon winced internally. ¡°If he forgot to bring his own food, we can share.¡± ¡°Oh? The fat and stupid one can actually speak? How amusing, I had assumed it was a pet. Say, how many points of intelligence did you need before you had the mental capacity of a three year old? Ten? Twenty?¡± ¡°I dun understand.¡± Rou said, sounding confused. ¡°Could you leave us alone?¡± Cerri asked, her voice strained with barely contained anger. ¡°Surely you can see you¡¯re not wanted?¡± Hylon opened his eyes to see the smirking face of a man he positively hated. Jed¡¯s adventurer badge in the shape of a sunflower gleamed as if he had spent two hours every day polishing it. Not the only thing he polishes daily. Fucking wanker. ¡°I could say the same for you and your little band of misfits.¡± Jed said, glaring down at Cerri. ¡°At best you¡¯re an experience thief. At worst, your death will increase the strength of whatever does you in.¡± ¡°Says the man who hasn¡¯t fought anything yet.¡± She snapped back. ¡°You sound jealous that we¡¯re showing you up, it isn¡¯t flattering. Actually, it¡¯s sort of pathetic.¡± Jed laughed, it sounded cruel. Hylon loved Cerri, but he wished his sister knew when to let things go. She had the sharpest tongue of everyone he knew, besides Silas, but there was a time and place to pick one¡¯s battles, and the smug adventurer armoured in as much arrogance as steel wasn¡¯t worth it, no matter how much that fact pissed him off. ¡°Think you¡¯re better than me?¡± Jed said, voice low. Then he turned to the other adventurers around the self heating cooking pot. ¡°Did you hear that, fellas? This brat thinks she¡¯s better than us! We who are real adventurers, not some urchins with no parents.¡± The sunflower guild adventurers jeered. A handful of other groups in the chamber looked over, but quickly lost interest. The anger already smoldering in Hylon¡¯s chest threatened to flare up, and from the way Cerri clenched her fists, she was equally, if not more furious. ¡°How about you try and prove it?¡± Jed suggested, pitching his voice so that it carried. ¡°Feel like taking part in some friendly spars? Some perfectly fair one on one bouts?¡± Hylon laughed, but even to his own ears it sounded forced. ¡°Are you seriously challenging a bunch of injured children to a fight? Do you realise how pathetic you sound? And I thought you said you were real adventurers?¡± The jeers from around the cooking pot turned hostile, as did Jed¡¯s glare. Hylon glared back, but he didn¡¯t move to get up, he wasn¡¯t sure his legs were functional after all the hours of running and fighting. A figure moved between them and squatted down to fish through a pack. Hylon saw Jed¡¯s glare shift from him, to Lucia¡¯s masked face. The girl pulled out a small pouch of salted nuts, then stood, not once looking in Jed¡¯s direction. She went to walk off, then paused. ¡°Want some nuts?¡± She asked her three temporary party members. ¡°Oh? Who¡¯s this?¡± Jed asked, sauntering forward. ¡°Another orphan? Or did you trick someone into joining your little group?¡± Lucia glanced at the adventurer for the first time, and even with her face hidden, Hylon could practically see the mix of disgust and disinterest radiating off of her. ¡°Nice armour... Is that a custom commission set? And what¡¯s it made out of, petrified wood? Very unique, I approve.¡± ¡°It was custom made.¡± Lucia said, her voice absent of emotion. ¡°Nice, nice. How much did it cost?¡± ¡°It was a gift.¡± ¡°Fascinating... fascinating. Say, why don¡¯t you ditch these... failures, and come work with us? You¡¯re clearly cut from a different cloth, no need to sully yourself. My friends and I are much better company anyway. We could even have some fun.¡± Hylon felt sick, he had known the man was as slimy as they came, but this was something else. To his surprise, Lucia seemed to relax, her slightly tensed muscles unwinding and her somewhat defensive stance slipping away. ¡°Ah, I see.¡± Was all she said. Jed seemed to take that as an invitation and stepped forward, putting a hand around her shoulder in an overly friendly manner. He blinked as if something had suddenly drawn his attention, his eyes going unfocused. Hylon barely even saw the fist that crashed into the man¡¯s face, Lucia had moved so quickly that her arm was a blur. Jed howled and stumbled back, clutching his broken nose. Cerri shuffled forward and stretched out her leg. The adventurer tripped and crashed to the hard ground with a series of clangs and curses. ¡°I¡¯d rather die.¡± Lucia said, orange eyes blazing within the slits of her mask. Jed screamed a series of slurs at her as his party ran over to pick him up. The adventurers shot the four of them death glares, but didn¡¯t start anything as they dragged their man away. Lucia turned back to Hylon and his siblings. ¡°Nuts?¡± Hylon stared at her with open mouthed shock. Cerri grinned. ¡°Yes please.¡± Rou said. === The second day in the dungeon was a grueling, if less dramatic affair. Hylon and his team were joined by a party of five volunteers to hunt down a newly opened passage. They encountered a variant of stone elemental with quartz protrusions growing from their hunched backs like long quills, and the monsters seemed to prefer moving on all four limbs, though they were capable of frighteningly quick bipedal motion. The monsters acted as ambush predators, drawing the humans into firing lines before unleashing a barrage of stone towards them. The main flaw in the elemental¡¯s plan to kill them all was that one of the volunteers had a [Labourer] skill that allowed him to protect himself, and by extension the rest of them, from falling debris. The otherwise deadly projectiles simply turned transparent as they approached the humans, passing through them to deal zero damage. Hylon had never heard of such an ability, but when the man explained his twenty years of experience working in a marble quarry he just shrugged and accepted it. Asking others the specifics about their classes and skills was something only done with close friends or family, and nobody pushed the [Labourer] to explain. In the privacy of his own mind, Hylon suspected that the man had promoted his class once, if not twice. It was a fairly remarkable feat for a non combat or magical class. Speaking of promotions, when Silas had finally returned looking weary, but otherwise unharmed, the old man had advised Hylon to wait on his [Trainee] class promotion. Of all the martial classes, [Trainee] was both the most generic, while also being the most diverse. His newly acquired [Martial Specialisation] skill was an example of such, with the skill having the rare [Adaptable] aspect. Infact, the only class Hylon had ever heard of also having skills with the aspect was [Labourer], though he suspected [Crafter] or [Scribe] would also be likely candidates. Regardless, Silas had advised that Hylon wait until the skill had gained its full suite of adaptable traits, which in the case of [Martial Specialisation], would require him to fight in a specific way. If the skill became spear specific, then his odds of promoting into a spear focused class would spike. Well, he would be able to choose what class he picked for his promotion, he just couldn¡¯t pick which classes he would be offered. They pushed through a series of twisting ravines, light filtering down from overhead as far above them the dungeon¡¯s limits brushed against the outside world. Hylon and the others huddled around their group¡¯s defensive anchor, rushing forward to engage the elementals once they had expended their stone quills. They advanced, destroying another ten of the monsters, then retreated back to the advanced camp to recover. The tip of Hylon¡¯s spear was chipped in several places, and the weapon¡¯s wooden shaft was missing strips of wood where he had blocked several attacks. I¡¯ll need a replacement soon. He thought, trudging along at the rear of the group. His spear was nothing special, one of several Silas had stockpiled over the years. But they had handed out most of their weapons to the volunteers, so he wasn¡¯t sure if there would be any spares available. He left the others to go poke around the camp¡¯s supplies, there was a pile of broken weapons, and more than a handful shattered spears. That¡¯s not good. Hylon thought, dejected. He found some cloth strips, and wrapped them tightly around where his weapon was at risk of breaking. He walked back to the others, detouring to grab some freshly cooked meat wrapped in flatbread that had been prepared by some of the support staff who had come down into the dungeon with them. Hylon wasn¡¯t sure if he would have been brave enough to do so if he were in their position, having to rely on others for protection was not something he had enjoyed having to do. Rou was entertaining himself with a collection of mostly cube shaped rocks he had been picking up as they explored. The large boy looked up as he smelled the meal Hylon was holding. ¡°You know, if you carved numbers into each face of that one you could make a decent dice.¡± He said, handing his brother some food. ¡°Yeah, I tried. Fingers are too big.¡± Rou replied, happily taking the offered heal and shoving it into his mouth. ¡°Give me one, I¡¯ll try.¡± Hylon said, pulling out his dagger as he placed the food onto a small box. Rou ate another wrap as Hylon sat next to him, concentrating on carving each face of the rock. He got three sides done when he looked up, only to see Rou eating the last wrap. ¡°Those were for Cerri and Lucia.¡± He said, and suddenly Rou looked guilty. ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± ¡°All good, I¡¯ll get more. I should have clarified. Do you think these numbers are readable?¡± Rou squinted. ¡°Maybe?¡± Hylon moved the small stone so it caught the light of a nearby lantern. The large boy nodded happily, and he got back to work. It wasn¡¯t the best dice, the stone hadn¡¯t been properly balanced. Rou kept rolling sixes, which seemed to amuse him. Hylon tried, and rolled a two. Well, that¡¯s a bad omen. He grunted and stood, heading back over to where the food was being served. The lady who was in charge gave him a withering look as he asked for more. She muttered something about growing boys, and gave him three more wraps. Cerri and Lucia were sitting off to the side, the red haired girl chatting animatedly and waving her hands. The masked adventurer could have been asleep for all Hylon could tell. At least Cerri likes her. He thought. Ever since their escape from the tide of giant insects, Cerri started making an effort to actively engage with the other girl, and after Lucia had broken Jed¡¯s nose his sister had only redoubled her attempt to get to know her. Hylon wasn¡¯t sure if Lucia liked the awkward attempt at friendship making, but it was probably fine. ¡°Hey.¡± He said, approaching them with wraps held out before him. ¡°Hungry?¡± ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡± Cerri asked, leaning forward. ¡°Meat.¡± ¡°What kind?¡± ¡°Uh, lamb, I think. Maybe pork. Both?¡± Cerri grabbed two wraps, then offered one to Lucia. The masked girl looked down at it for several seconds. ¡°Oh, do you not like meat?¡± She asked. ¡°If you don¡¯t we can get something else.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m just not very hungry.¡± Lucia said, hesitantly taking the wrap. She lifted her mask a little, then took a bite. Cerri tilted her head to try and sneak a peek, then stopped once she realised what she was doing. The masked girl¡¯s foot tapped nervously, and she kept shooting glances around the camp. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Hylon asked after he chewed his own mouthful. He paused. ¡°Oh, your mentor, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Lucia shrugged. ¡°I... It¡¯s been two days, he should have found us by now. I don¡¯t know why he hasn¡¯t.¡± Hylon and Cerri shared a look. Nobody could survive alone in a dungeon for over a week. Not unless they had an inhuman amount of strength. He didn¡¯t want to bring it up, he didn¡¯t know how. ¡°We¡¯ll find him.¡± Cerri said, hesitantly putting a hand on the adventurer¡¯s shoulder. Lucia froze for an instant, then kept eating. ¡°Yeah. We will.¡± Chapter 201: The Stillness Before Death Six dead men were carried into the advanced camp several hours into the third day. They were laid side by side and covered by sheets. They weren¡¯t the first fatalities of the expedition, but they were the first full party wipe. Hylon felt bile rise as he watched several people argue and shout over the bodies. He wasn¡¯t a stranger to death, though neither was he completely used to it. No, what made his guts feel like they were twisting around as if trying to strangle him from the inside was the state of the corpses. The worst of them were almost unrecognisable as having once been human, their armour, bones and muscles smashed into a bloody pulp. One of the corpses, he wasn¡¯t sure if they had been male or female, was missing the top half of their body, only two twisted and broken legs remained. To his side Cerri gagged, and he grabbed her shoulder and led her out of the camp. Whatever he was feeling upon seeing the bodies would be infinitely worse for her. Cerri threw up until there was nothing left, and then she sobbed, dry heaving as she gasped for breath. Hylon handed his sister a waterskin, and she grabbed it with trembling fingers. ¡°Gods.¡± She whispered, her voice sound hollow. ¡°I felt it, oh gods.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, you¡¯re okay.¡± ¡°So many broken chunks of bone.¡± Her pupils dilated and she started hyperventilating. Hylon grabbed her and pulled her close, telling her to focus on him, to not think about what she had sensed. The bone mage shook, her hands flexing unconsciously, her grip tightening until it was almost painful as she squeezed him. Rou and Lucia found them, and for several minutes the party huddled just out of sight of the camp. When she had finally calmed down, Cerri took a deep breath. ¡°One of my skills ranked up.¡± She said, laughing despite herself. ¡°I¡¯d rather not have it at all.¡± ¡°We should go.¡± Rou said. ¡°Camp is bad.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, big guy.¡± Hylon said. ¡°They¡¯ll take the bodies away I¡¯m sure, but until they do we should stay away.¡± Lucia¡¯s masked face glanced down at what had once been Cerri¡¯s breakfast and lunch. She vanished, then returned a few minutes later with some dried rations. Lucia glanced back towards the camp. ¡°Apparently, they¡¯ve discovered a way further down into the dungeon. The monsters in the deeper level are far stronger. Lady Eire is preparing a force to explore.¡± She wasn¡¯t explicitly saying it, but Hylon could tell from Lucia''s posture that she was agitated. ¡°You think he might be down there?¡± The masked adventurer shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Silence hung in the air for several seconds. Finally Cerri broke it. ¡°Was that where those people died?¡± Lucia nodded. ¡°It was.¡± ¡°Did you know about the deeper levels?¡± Hylon asked. ¡°No, I¡¯ve spent more time down in the dungeon with you than I did with my mentor.¡± ¡°We should go.¡± Cerri said, gulping down a mouthful of water. ¡°Maybe we can stop others from dying. And I get the feeling that you would go down there by yourself if we didn¡¯t follow.¡± ¡°I... Thank you.¡± Lucia said. ¡°Danger...¡± Rou said sadly. ¡°N¡¯one die, okay?¡± They nodded. === ¡°Why on earth did you volunteer for this?¡± Silas snapped. ¡°You should have known better. I know this because I was the one who taught you three!¡± ¡°Half the subjugation force is involved, and we¡¯re stronger and better trained than a good portion of them.¡± Hylon countered, but his grandfather''s anger had taken most of the wind out of his sails. Silas rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. ¡°It is an unnecessary risk, the monsters further down above level twenty five, some even have proper auras, and from what we¡¯ve scouted the dungeon¡¯s layout is more prone to shifting at random.¡± The two of them stood off to the side, their conversation hushed as several dozen men and women prepared around a massive gash in the stone. Hylon shot a glance at his siblings and Lucia, and he grimaced. ¡°Gramps, the three of us have all leveled up more than once, and our teamwork is better than ever. With you and some of the other elites we will be safe.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as safety in a dungeon, brat.¡± The old man grumbled. ¡°You should have at least counselled with me first. Tell me true, why are you being foolish?¡± Hylon glanced at Lucia. She saw him look, and he shrugged. ¡°Damn boy, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re acting suicidal to impress some juvenile crush.¡± ¡°W-what? No, what are you even talking about?¡± Silas gave him a flat look. ¡°It was Cerri¡¯s idea!¡± ¡°Uh huh, you think my point changes?¡± He felt his face grow red, and he slapped his brow with a palm and ran his fingers down over his eyes and mouth. ¡°Lucia wants to find her mentor. We... we want to help.¡± Silas grunted. ¡°Fine, I suppose I can accept that, even if I think the risk is far greater than it should be. Promise me that when you find the body you¡¯ll retreat.¡± ¡°Body... You think he¡¯s dead?¡± Hylon whispered. The old man placed his helmet over his head and adjusted the sheath of his blade. ¡°I¡¯d put money on it. The [Scout]s found several week or so old remains of some destroyed elementals when we first arrived, but nothing since. Whoever he was, his actions likely delayed the break by a handful of days, his sacrifice was not in vain.¡± ¡°I... I see.¡± ¡°Promise me.¡± ¡°Fine. I promise we¡¯ll leave if we find the body.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Silas squeezed his shoulder, then hobbled past. Hylon watched his grandfather go, his limp vanishing as he crossed the crescent shaped chamber and headed towards where the other elites were waiting by the entrance to the lower level. ¡°Shit.¡± He swore. Rou waved him over. Hylon jogged over, but tripped as the ground trembled. The murmur of conversation within the chamber died as the shaking earth and falling dust drowned them out. It went on for over a minute, and by the end everyone was looking around, posture tense. ¡°We descend!¡± Lady Eire shouted, blue flame dancing around her raised hand. ¡°Victory and glory await!¡± Hylon couldn¡¯t help but notice the adventurer teams that gathered around her, but chose to ignore them. He ran over to where his party was waiting. ¡°Gramps was fine with us going. But he wants us to be careful, and retreat when we... find your mentor.¡± Hylon couldn¡¯t look Lucia in the eye, or mask, whatever. She took in his words, and he could only imagine the expression that was hidden from the world as realisation and grief kindled in her half hidden eyes. ¡°When we find him.¡± Hylon nodded and shouldered his spear, then marched towards the groups disappearing deeper into the dungeon. The others followed, the sound of three sets of footsteps echoing as they descended. Lucia slipped past him, held up a hand to indicate she was scouting ahead, then vanished in a dark blur, disappearing into the crowd ahead of them. The way down quickly led to a set of natural steps similar to the entrance they had used to enter the dungeon itself, but unlike when they were closer to the surface, faux sunlight no longer filtered down from above. A dozen motes of light, either from torches, lanterns or skills showed the subjugation force descending in single file, armour and weapons glinting. The steps circled an abyss that nobody could see the bottom of, and even when Lady Eire shot a jet of blue flame down almost fifty metres nothing was outlined except the spiralling steps and the jagged stone of the wall. Rumours worked their way back to Hylon and the others, apparently this wasn¡¯t the same passage that had been scouted, the dungeon had shifted once again. He was just worried that beetles would swarm them from the walls. Hylon shuddered, he hated those things. There was a cry up ahead as one of the lead adventurers fell, but he didn¡¯t fall down the steps, instead he slammed into the wall with a grunt of pain. Everyone stopped, watching in awe as the man stumbled to his feet, now standing on the wall as if it were the floor. A deafening crack sounded from behind Hylon, and he spun to see the way out closing, the gap vanishing from almost ten metres wide to less than five in only a handful of seconds. The few members of the subjugation force, both combatants and support personnel who hadn¡¯t descended, were backing away, leaving the entrance shrouded in darkness. There was another deafening sound as stone shifted, and something massive fell away into the depths. It was the highest step. ¡°Run!¡± He hissed, pushing Rou forward, Cerri hot on his heels. ¡°The stairs are collapsing!¡± His shout was one of many, and within seconds everyone was racing down the steps. People reached the point where gravity flipped and stumbled into the wall, but the disorientation from having their world flipped prevented many from getting to their feet fast enough to not have those hot on their heels fall on top of them. A pile of yelling and struggling people formed, with those already on the wall moving to pull them away to let others reach the needed step. More stone fell away, and Hylon felt a woosh of air passing as one of the steps passed not three metres away from his head as a massive chunk of rock bounced off the wall as it passed by. They fell faster and faster, quicker than the humans were descending the stairs. Someone screamed as they were pushed, their body toppling off the steps and into the abyss, their flailing limbs and wide, terror stricken eyes quickly disappearing into the darkness. Hylon looked over his shoulder, less than ten steps were between him and his siblings sharing the same fate. Even as he looked, another step fell away. Twenty odd people now stood on the wall, and they were close to being safe. A soldier hesitated to make the small jump to the final step, and he was shoved from behind by those who didn¡¯t fancy plunging to their deaths. The man overshot the step that changed gravity and hit the next one head first. His body fell to the side, hitting the wall with a crunch of bone. He didn¡¯t move. The step just behind them shifted, then fell loose, falling into the abyss. Cerri screamed and grabbed his shirt, then Rou¡¯s massive arms wrapped around them both as the large boy yelled and jumped forward, bypassing the six people in front of them. He didn¡¯t aim for the first available step since it was contested with people, but instead leapt for the next. Rou¡¯s legs hit rock and buckled, then the world spun and the three of them tumbled sideways, landing atop the still unmoving soldier. A strong grip grabbed Hylon by the shoulder, and he winced as metal plated fingers dug into his skin. ¡°Regret coming yet?¡± Silas asked, his helmet half raised and his scowl fierce. Hylon was pulled to his feet, but his mind didn¡¯t comprehend the new direction down was, and he fell backwards. He wasn¡¯t the only one struggling, over a dozen men and women looked like they were trying to stay upright on a dangerously rocking ship. Silas hauled Cerri and Rou up, the other two teens having a lot less trouble than he did finding their balance. There was still a pile of humanity off to the side, and Hylon looked around for the fourth member of their team as he sat up. Lucia wobbled over, shaking her head, her dark hair having fallen loose to hang around her upper back. ¡°I... I heard dungeons could do this.¡± She said, sounding breathless. ¡°But I didn¡¯t think we would experience it.¡± ¡°I would find it more fascinating.¡± He said. ¡°If we weren¡¯t trapped. Also we lost two people, maybe three.¡± ¡°His neck is broken.¡± Cerri was saying, the girl having knelt next to the soldier. She held out her hand and concentrated, but Silas put a hand atop her head. She looked up at him under red locks, and the old man shook his head. Cerri shuddered and backed away, wrapping her arms around herself. Several people were ranging down the passage, their light sources illuminating where the steps bisected the way forward, still lining the wide tunnel even though nobody could use them. There were small gaps between each rock platform, but most people, Hylon included, would need to climb over them. Shouldn¡¯t be too hard with how the tunnel curves. He noted, watching a pair of leather clad adventurers trying to scale the curved walls, they got a few metres up before sliding back down to where the dungeon had decided gravity would be. ¡°My head hurts.¡± Rou said as he looked back towards the entrance. ¡°Mine too.¡± Hylon sighed. He dusted himself off, ignoring the anguished yelling of a group that crowded around the soldier¡¯s body. He turned to Silas, who was looking down the passage with a grim expression. ¡°What do we do?¡± ¡°We break out of the trap the dungeon sprung on us.¡± ¡°Wait, dungeon¡¯s are intelligent?¡± He asked, failing to keep the alarm out of his voice. ¡°Instinctual.¡± Lucia said. Silas grunted. ¡°The young ones, yes. From what I¡¯ve heard, the dungeon below the imperial capital is... frighteningly aware.¡± Hylon shook his head. ¡°So... we¡¯re inside a living thing?¡± Lucia shrugged. ¡°No, not really.¡± ¡°Dungeon¡¯s are condensed energy. Mana, the will of the world, suffuses them with intent, purpose, and that gives them control over their surroundings. And before anybody asks, I don¡¯t know how, or why. Scholars have been researching and debating the phenomena for centuries, perhaps millennia.¡± Hylon glanced between his grandfather and the masked adventurer. Lucia was nodding along as if it made sense. He groaned. ¡°Is any of this stuff actually important to know about, or can I skip learning it?¡± Silas gave him a cruel grin, then marched towards the head of the group. ¡°Mana isn¡¯t important unless you gain the ability to invoke spells.¡± Cerri said. ¡°Silas already taught me about it.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have a skill that lets you cast spells.¡± He pointed out. Cerri pouted. ¡°Yeah, but I will. It¡¯ll be my capstone skill for my [Attuned: Bone] class. Probably.¡± The redhead turned her attention to Lucia. ¡°Can you cast spells?¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Nope.¡± The masked adventurer said. ¡°Not me.¡± Rou said. ¡°We know, Rou.¡± Cerri said, patting his arm. ¡°Members of the subjugation!¡± An adventurer with a bow slung over his back called, grabbing their attention. He stood on a step thirty metres or so down the tunnel. ¡°Please give us a few minutes to come up with a plan to overcome this challenge!¡± Murmured conversation already filled the passage, and it only got louder with the announcement. Hylon saw Silas reach where the expedition¡¯s leadership was gathered. The old man said something that none of them could hear, and the noblewoman with a streak of white through her otherwise black hair flinched. === Minutes passed, and most sat or lounged around while the force¡¯s leadership came to a decision. Hylon wasn¡¯t sure what exactly they were choosing between, they only had one way to go. An adventurer with stone magic had already tried to open the way back to the upper level, and it hadn¡¯t worked. ¡°If this was a trap.¡± Cerri said, chewing on a bar of oats and dried fruit. ¡°Then why hasn¡¯t the dungeon sent monsters after us?¡± ¡°Good question. Ask it to someone who has a clue.¡± He replied. ¡°I already did.¡± The bone mage sighed. ¡°Lucia doesn¡¯t know either.¡± ¡°Her mentor probably fell into a similar trap.¡± Hylon said idly, then panicked as he shot a glance at the masked adventurer. She hadn¡¯t heard him, instead she was making non committal head movements as Rou showed off his stone dice. The little object clattered to the floor, rolled on the uneven surface for a breath, then showed a six. Rou beamed in pride. ¡°You got any plans for after we subjugate the dungeon?¡± Hylon asked, shaking his head in amusement. ¡°Like what? We¡¯re just going to keep travelling with gramps.¡± ¡°Sure, but, what comes after?¡± Cerri frowned, her brow creasing with her consideration. Rou¡¯s dice nudged the side of Hylon¡¯s shoe, and he glanced down at it. Six again. ¡°Rou, this thing is definitely weighted.¡± The die hopped in place, rolling over to show a three. He blinked. What the...? The cube shaped rock bounced again, flipping over to show the face he had carved a one into. The ground shook. ¡°Oh shit.¡± Hylon said, jumping to his feet, accidently kicking the die away. Rou scrambled after it, but the world rocked from side to side with more violence than he had ever felt it do before. Rubble and dust fell from the ceiling, and several who had stood staggered in place or even fell over. It felt like the passage was moving, as if its position underground was being forcibly altered. A crack split down the middle of the tunnel¡¯s sealed entrance, and the world went still. Then the passage was peeled open by two massive fists, an arm wider than the trunk of a mature tree burst through the small gap, blasting shards of stone over the gathered humans. It pulled back, and Hylon realised he had been holding his breath, his arms raised to shield his face. ¡°Pull back!¡± Silas bellowed. ¡°Parties one through three, create a defensive line!¡± And then a dozen of the large elementals the expedition¡¯s elites had often dealt with climbed into the passage. They didn¡¯t fall, their gravity was aligned with that of the human¡¯s. Hylon just gawked for several seconds. If those are the large elementals, then how big is the one who¡¯s arm we just saw? He had no time to think, instead he grabbed Cerri and sprinted down the wide tunnel. Skills flashed in a multitude of colours towards the charging elementals, but he didn¡¯t look back to see how effective the attacks had been. He cut left, slightly ascending the passage¡¯s curved wall, attribute enhanced legs carrying him forward. Hylon reached the step that was blocking their way and knelt, hands cupped. Without missing a beat, Cerri planted a foot into his hands and he boosted her up onto the step. She reached down and pulled him up, then the two of them hauled Rou up as the large boy scrambled to reach them. Lucia landed beside them, and extended an arm to help. Suddenly she yelled and ploughed into Hylon¡¯s side, sending both him and Cerri sprawling atop the step. A heartbeat later a chunk of stone larger than his entire body whizzed over head. Hylon¡¯s blood ran cold, that would have instantly killed anyone it had hit. ¡°Thanks.¡± He gasped, working with the two girls to pull his brother up onto the step. Over half the adventurer¡¯s had scaled the obstacles, several fleeing further down into the passage with as much speed as they could manage. Hylon searched, but in the dim light of the tunnel he couldn¡¯t find his grandfather among those that had made it. With skills flashing and several light sources having been discarded in the rush, the stone passage danced with a chaotic mix of a hundred colours. The elementals reached the hastily made defensive line of humans, and he watched with horror as a stone fist wider than his torso turned a woman with bright, pastel-green hair into paste against the floor, her armour providing no defense against the sheer force of the blow. Another man was grabbed and squeezed, and he thrashed wildly as the monster raised him up to its jagged maw. It was only thanks to the hundred other loud noises that Hylon didn¡¯t hear the sickening crunch, but he still imagined it. Most people were over the line of steps now, and many groups were deciding if they would run, or use the terrain as a makeshift wall. ¡°There!¡± Cerri yelled, pointing to where the strongest among them were clashing with the earth elementals. A familiar man in ornate metal plate raised his blade, then blurred forward, cleaving a monster in half with a single empowered swing. The elemental that was slowly chewing on the dead adventurer topped backwards, the pulverised corpse falling from its too large mouth. Silas moved, the old nobleman grabbed an adventurer and pulled him out of danger, battered aside a groping palm, then stabbed upwards to impale a monster¡¯s head through its jaw. A third elemental lunged for him, and Silas pulled back his free hand and met it fist for fist with a shout of defiance. The monster¡¯s arm exploded, but Silas went stumbling back, his own arm falling limp. Cerri gasped and went to leap down off the stairs but both Hylon and Lucia grabbed her. ¡°I can help him!¡± She cried. ¡°Let me go to him.¡± ¡°He¡¯ll retreat!¡± Hylon shouted over the din of battle. ¡°Trust him!¡± As he did so, the old man¡¯s sword took off the elemental¡¯s head. The air screamed overhead, and two dozen flaming arrows fell among the approaching monsters, carrying significantly more force than Hylon had expected. They detonated on impact, not dealing lethal damage, but causing several of the vaguely humanoid constructs to stumble. The archer twisted and lowered to a crouch as he drew another arrow, this one glowing with intense heat and power. He loosed, and the projectile melted through the head of one of the larger creatures. A jet of blue flame washed over several monsters, followed by a detonation of lightning in the shape of a hammer. The visibly injured were dragged back, and Hylon ran over to help haul one up over the wall. An energising warcry echoed off the walls of the dungeon, strengthening all who heard it. The first wave of elementals was being pushed back, but at a massive cost. At least three more bodies lay on the stone floor, making the number of fatalities from thirty seconds of combat total five. The last of the monsters engaging the adventurer¡¯s fell, then the elite members of the subjugation force retreated. More elementals were coming, and the ground shook as the gargantuan one reached back into the passage, its palm slamming into the floor. Silas was among the last to ascend over the wall of steps as he casually leaped up onto one of the platforms of stone. He held his unblemished sword casually, but blood trickled through the gauntlet of the arm that hung limply at his side. ¡°Grandfather!¡± Cerri yelled, and he turned towards them. Silas nodded down at the other side of the steps, then jumped off. Cerri climbed down after him, and Hylon and the others followed. His sister ran over to where Silas was addressing a group of adventurers, and she grabbed his wounded arm, making him wince. ¡°Get rid of it.¡± She snapped, and he looked amused for a second before making all of his body armour vanish with a skill that warped the air around him. ¡°Why did you try and punch it? Your arms and hand are broken!¡± ¡°My sword was stuck.¡± Their grandfather protested. ¡°This is an important lesson, sometimes you just need to punch something.¡± Cerri looked like she was about to punch him, which probably wasn¡¯t what they needed at the moment. Another volley of flaming arrows screamed through the air. ¡°Do we fight? Do we need to kill that massive elemental?¡± Hylon asked. Silas grimaced as several disconcerting popping sounds came from his arm. ¡°With any luck- Shit, girl, be more gentle! With luck, the dungeon is putting everything into this assault.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be lucky if we all die. I don¡¯t think any of us can scratch that thing.¡± One of the adventurers said. His teammate slapped him upside the head. ¡°Owch. I was telling the truth.¡± ¡°We should go deeper.¡± Lucia said. ¡°It¡¯s our only chance.¡± ¡°Girl.¡± Silas said. ¡°Sometimes you need to play the hand you¡¯re dealt, not the hand you wish you were dealt. We can¡¯t gamble on your mentor being alive.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°But even if he was, what are the odds of him being in any state to fight? Be realistic.¡± Lucia clenched her fists, and she glanced down the passage as if trying to will him to appear out of the darkness. ¡°Silas!¡± Lady Eire shouted, her hands wreathed in blue fire. ¡°The third wave approaches!¡± ¡°Pull back to behind the wall.¡± He replied, shaking out his newly healed arm and flexing his fingers. The flesh was still raw and bloodied, but it was better than nothing. ¡°We¡¯ll hold them here instead of letting the bastards run us down.¡± The noble lady looked stressed, and sweat ran down her brow, but she nodded. There was a deafening roar, and everyone backed up, looking towards the entrance. The gargantuan elemental was forcing its way inside, two massive hands dug rivets into stone, and a second pair pulled it forward by digging into the floor. Four arms, and the thing was bigger than most building¡¯s Hylon had ever seen in his life. The elemental was too big to fit standing, so it hunched like a beast hunting prey as it crawled forward, its eyeless face moving to loom over them. Silas made his armour re-appear, the old man barking orders. Several adventurer¡¯s turned and ran, fleeing for their lives, and Hylon couldn¡¯t blame them. The last few humans on the wall dropped down and ran to take up firing positions. They formed a loose line, Hylon finding himself next to Rou on the right flank of their formation. The large boy smiled as if trying to console him, his wide eyes glistening. It damn near broke Hylon¡¯s heart. ¡°We¡¯ll survive this. Together.¡± ¡°Together.¡± Rou agreed. ¡°I need new dice.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make you all the dice you need.¡± ¡°I¡¯m behind you guys.¡± Cerri said. ¡°Try not to take a direct hit.¡± Both boys nodded in affirmation. Lucia stepped up beside them, her weapon nowhere to be seen. She adjusted her mask, fidgeting nervously. ¡°Hey, we¡¯ll be fine.¡± Hylon said. She looked at him, but didn¡¯t speak. ¡°They¡¯re just a bunch of massive rock monsters. Nothing to worry about.¡± ¡°I have a little brother. I¡¯m not dying until I return his home to him.¡± ¡°How little?¡± Rou asked. Lucia laughed, her shoulders sagging. ¡°I missed his ninth birthday. I won¡¯t miss any others. I can¡¯t.¡± Hylon was about to ask a question, more to distract himself than anything else, but the first elemental reached the wall and climbed over it. ¡°Shit. here we go. Stay alive everyone.¡± He said, rolling his neck. A second, then a third monster appeared, then a forth and a fifth. Skills flashed, arrows flew, several people with melee weapons projected beams or slashes at the enemy. By sheer luck the elemental closest to them survived the volley unscathed, as did the ones immediately behind it. ¡°Kill what makes it past me.¡± Lucia said, and before any of them could register her words, the masked girl blurred forward. Her ivory white sword materialised, stabbing into the leg of the closest elemental. She danced back as it struck, ducking under its blow. The monster¡¯s shadow fell over her, and Lucia faded away, appearing behind it, her sword vanishing and reappearing to slice a gash down its back. The monster stumbled forward, and Hylon and Rou pounced, raining blows onto its stone body until it broke apart. All down the line similar clashes took place as adventurer, soldier and volunteer dismantled individual elementals. But more came, and the wall was already buckling under their weight. Lucia engaged a second monster, cutting its hand twice, then disengaged in a blur to strike at a third. She menaced the slow moving monsters with lightning quick strikes, and given enough room to move around it didn¡¯t look like they had a chance of hitting her. But she could only tie up one mass of animated stone at a time, and even then only barely. Hylon stabbed his spear into the centre of mass of a monster, pulling back to stab a second, then a third time. Rou, just shorter than the large elemental, grabbed it around the neck and pulled, giving him time to build up strength in his blows. Finally his spear punched into the elemental¡¯s middle and out the back ,the thing¡¯s stone body shuddered, then fell apart. Hylon didn¡¯t have the spare energy to cheer, and even if he did he probably wouldn¡¯t, their situation was growing increasingly grim by the second. A third and forth monster were already upon them, their massive arms swinging to crush them into paste. In the chaos of battle he lost sight of Lucia, but he didn¡¯t have time to worry. Rou took a blow to his forearm, and while the large boy cried out in pain, the limb didn¡¯t break thanks to Cerri¡¯s intervention. Strength flooded Hylon¡¯s body, and he lunged, leaping forward to lance his spear through the head of another. He and Rou pulled back as the line of defenders buckled, giving more space for the elementals to gather. It seemed like there was an endless number of them, with every monster they killed two more took their place. Lucia slid between the legs of an elemental, her sword materialising as she cut at its knees. Her mask was cracked, and her leg was half flayed, tiny chunks of sharpened rock still embedded into flesh. Hylon reached out and pulled her behind the line, and Cerri yelped in panic when she saw the state of the other girl. Suddenly, the pressure on them doubled, and what was an almost impossible battle seemed utterly unwinnable. The elementals that reached them were no longer suffering from structural damage inflicted by the masked adventurer, and unharmed they were too strong to deal with quickly. Rou was grabbed around the middle and pulled off his feet, his meaty arm protecting his head as a monster tried to crush his skull with a maw of jagged stone teeth. Rou screamed as his arm was pulverised, but there was nothing Hylon could do. His spear snapped as he stabbed forward, and a rocky palm slapped him across the torso, sending him flying. Hylon saw stars as his vision swam, and he blinked rapidly to chase them away. Weirdly enough, he didn¡¯t hurt at all. Actually, he couldn¡¯t feel anything, it was as if his entire body was numb. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cerri slide to a stop next to him, her trousers tearing as her knees met rough stone. She shouted something, but he didn¡¯t hear. She touched his chest and her hands shook, tears filling her eyes. Humans ran past him as they fled, most were injured, and they left the bodies of their fallen comrades behind. From so far back, Hylon could see that a good chunk of the large elementals had been destroyed, and for a moment he couldn¡¯t figure out why they were fleeing. Then the gargantuan being of stone¡¯s hand crashed down onto the wall, its head scraping against the ceiling as it pulled itself closer with earth shaking strength. Cerri gave up trying to heal him and started dragging his limp body away from the monsters. She wasn¡¯t fast enough. Hylon¡¯s hearing slowly returned, but it did him little good, all there was to hear was screaming and the horrible groaning sound of rock grinding against rock as the titanic monster raised another hand. It¡¯s presence covered him, crushing him, like the dispassionate majesty of a falling mountain. It didn¡¯t care about him, didn¡¯t care about any of them. It would kill them with the ease of a boot squashing a bug. Gods, we never stood a chance. He thought, watching numbly as the creature¡¯s hand almost crushed Rou¡¯s unmoving body into the floor. It seemed to grin down at him, or maybe at the running or dying humans in general. It¡¯s hand descended, and time seemed to slow. Hylon thought that was cruel, why was his brain trying to prolong his final moments? Lucia appeared before him, moving slower than normal, her sword drawn and pointed upwards as if to defy the massive construct of stone. It looked almost comical, the girl was bloodied, and her mask was missing, dark hair billowing behind her. She stood alone, the only person in Hylon¡¯s field of vision that still dared to fight back against their fate. It was beautiful, in a suicidal sort of way. Lucia yelled in defiance and fury, orange eyes blazing as they locked onto the descending fist. The world seemed to tint gold, and the moment stretched. So this is what death is. Hylon thought, smiling in spite of everything. This must be the moment of clarity before one¡¯s life was snuffed out, his internal wounds must be worse than he had feared. Why then was there a strange, almost indescribable sense of hope brushing against the back of his mind. The weight of the mountain pressing down on all of them seemed to lessen, stones that were falling from the ceiling moved as if caught in molasses, and his vision grew golder still. Gold. He mused. I thought death would be darker. Gold. Like the newly glowing hairline cracks in Lucia¡¯s sword and armour. Gold, like the power that flooded down the passage, resplendent and glorious as it washed over everyone present. A new dawn rose as an unfamiliar presence made itself known, and every ache and pain seemed to retreat before it, vitality suddenly present where before only flickering lifeforce had been. Rou¡¯s body twitched, as did the forms of several others Hylon had assumed were deceased. The massive stone fist moved so slowly that it appeared as though it hung, frozen in midair as if suspended by an invisible force. In the eternal moment before the end, Hylon watched in awe as the elementals flinched. All of them. Then a towering figure in white armour and tattered cloth shot past them, eyes pinpricks of amber rage, fist drawing back, a dozen golden arms weaving around the limb. The figure struck, a single punch aimed right at the descending fist of the titanic elemental. Hand met hand, and the monster blasted backwards, its arm shattering into a thousand pieces of stone, the force of the blow parting the air and making cracks appear along the walls of the dungeon. The figure in white twisted, and a forest of arm thick golden spikes rose from their back. They fell, stabbing down into elementals by the dozen, punching cleanly through stone as if it were little more than butter. The world of gold seemed to fade, and with it time returned to its normal pace. But stillness remained, nobody moved, nobody dared breath. Lucia stumbled forward, her sword falling from between her fingers, and the stranger vanished in a streak of golden light, appearing an instant later by her side to catch her. The blade¡¯s fall stopped just before it hit the ground as if suspended by unseen strings. ¡°Where were you?¡± She asked, her voice shaking in either rage or relief, Hylon couldn¡¯t tell which. ¡°Trapped.¡± The man said, his voice a rich baritone. He looked back at them, and Hylon saw the plain ivory mask that covered his face. ¡°The dungeon decided it didn¡¯t like me breaking its toys. Luckily I sensed a little bit of myself when everything started to shift.¡± Lucia grabbed his tattered cloak and visibly struggled to speak. It looked like she was trying desperately not to cry. ¡°And I see you brought help.¡± He said, his tone warm. A hand wreathed in an ivory gauntlet gently landed atop her head, and he ruffled her hair. ¡°You did fantastically. I¡¯m so proud of you.¡± Chapter 202: Pride Leif felt the weight of anxiety and fear fall away from Lucia as his power healed her wounds. He also felt himself relax now that he knew she was safe, but with how much pain was lacerating his soul it was hard to find comfort in their current situation. She wasn¡¯t the only one present who was injured, several were in far more critical situations, and vitality faded from the dozen corpses of those he had been too slow to save. He tapped the gilded wood bracers around his arms, drawing the last scrap of lifeforce from them to feed the last dregs of his cultivation. Leif hadn¡¯t felt this weak in... perhaps forever, usually he faced the exact opposite of the current problem. His soul was on the verge of tearing itself apart with the burn of constant skill overuse, and even his aura felt faint and dispersed from how he had strained it to delay the killing blow of the elemental. But what was worse than his current condition, was that even having reunited with his self-appointed charge, a gnawing sense of frustration and anger of how close things had come to disaster bubbled within him. If he had teeth, or a working jaw, Leif knew he would be grinding them. He and Lucia had only found the dungeon by accident as they climbed the Varan mountains, and he had been overly arrogant in assuming he could march into a fight that largely countered him in every way, and come away unscathed. A week of barely avoiding being crushed to death in an increasingly claustrophobic series of tunnels that the dungeon isolated and trapped him within had not been a fun experience. If anything, his conviction to never go underground was proving to once again be a perfectly reasonable choice. Leif just wished he didn¡¯t keep forgetting. Well, not forgetting, it was hard to do that with his enhanced memory, more breaking the promise he had made to himself repeatedly. First it was the Mythhold below Pherin, then the dungeon that had claimed it. The sewers and cavern system below the town of Klos where he had hunted down three Republic operatives fleeing after their act of terrorism, and finally the temple complex buried below one of the Academy¡¯s four islands. The scion grumbled internally, before turning his mind back to the task at hand. His thought process slowed back to normal as he shifted his focus from [Intelligence] to [Spirit], feeling the strain on his soul wane slightly as he did so. There were things to do, and he had an audience. One powerful enemy, twenty some lives. ¡°Lucia.¡± He said, stepping away from her and towards the gargantuan stone elemental. He gestured towards the smaller monsters he had impaled with conjured limbs of golden energy. ¡°Finish them off for me, would you?¡± The wooden sword he had created for her returned to her hand as he commanded it with a thought, and Lucia nodded as she wiped her fringe out of her eyes. Leif targeted her with his core skill, [Benevolent Actions] making her [Might] attribute surge as it more than doubled, tripled, quadrupled. Then he echoed the effect, switching his skill over to empower her [Alacrity] as well. Lucia¡¯s orange eyes widened as strength flooded her, then she grinned wickedly and shot forward. Off she goes. Leif thought, watching proudly for a few seconds as the girl butchered her way through four elementals in the time it took for someone to breathe. It wasn¡¯t perfect, one needed a certain balance of their attributes to effectively move and fight, and Lucia would strain herself mentally and physically as her body and mind struggled to keep up. But they had tested this extensively over the past few months of travel, and even with his constantly escalating [Charisma] attribute and the growth he had achieved in only the past few days, Leif was confident that she could handle it. Blood stained the floor of the stone passage, and it seemed to flow towards his feet. He drew it up into himself, feeling the energy of the recently fallen trickle up his leg before spreading through the rest of his body. It was like trying to put out a burning house with a cup of water, but every drop would help. Next he shifted his attention to the wounded, even though it caused him great pain, golden limbs racing towards them, weaving around fallen chunks of stone. He touched over a dozen of the worst off, then activated [Surge of Life and Growth]. He deliberately didn¡¯t enhance the skill with any cultivated vitality, but the effect was immediate and potent even without it. Leif¡¯s soul screamed in protest, and he mentally noted that particular skill as being off limits for the time being. Well, they should all be off limits, but he couldn¡¯t in good conscience let these people die when healing them was within his power. He strode forward, plucking a manifesting Mana shard from one of the elementals Lucia had just destroyed out of the air and sending it to his spatial storage ring. The massive creature of stone who¡¯s arm he had just shattered was quickly recovering, the broken limb reforming from the remains of its younger, and weaker siblings. This was why he hated elementals, killing them was almost impossible. Instead of death, they broke apart, knowing that in time the materials that constituted their bodies would reform. Maybe it was ironic that a creature like him would complain about near immortality, but Leif was too tired to care. The scion hopped up onto the strange barrier that circled the chamber and pulled the very last javelin made of compressed gilded wood from his ring. Leif made it hover above his head and just off to the side as he reached up and sent cultivated vitality in the weapon as it began to spin, its tip aimed at the elemental. The projectile shone with a blindingly golden light as his will tightened around it, preventing it from detonating from the sudden rush of healing energy that made its structure want to rapidly expand. Then, switching his focus from [Spirit] to [Willpower], Leif used [Wood Manipulation] to shoot the javelin with enough force to punch a hole through the walls of Ahle-ho. The dungeon shook with the force of the impact as the projectile slammed into the monster¡¯s centre of mass, but he didn¡¯t think for a moment that it was dead. He ran forward, punching an ivory fist through the chest of a monster Lucia hadn¡¯t gotten to yet as he did so. The titanic mass of rock roared and reflexively swung down at him, the air parting around the massive hand with a howl. He didn¡¯t consider himself particularly speedy, nor was he faster than several tonnes of stone with enough power and mass behind it to deal enough damage that, with most of his defenses down, would likely end in his death. He wasn¡¯t fast enough, but he could be. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Leif focused on [Intelligence] to give his mind the time he needed to calculate the trajectory of the attack, then he switched to [Might] and kicked off the ground, cracking the stone beneath his feet as he leaped to the side. [Alacrity] came next, and with [Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess], when Leif landed he was more than capable of keeping his balance as he kept running. The sound of the elemental¡¯s blow impacting the floor of the dungeon just behind him was like a clap of thunder, and the stone ground bucked up as a new crater was formed. Ranged attacks from the adventurer¡¯s rained down onto the monster, and he felt their intent and emotions, though they seemed further away, more diffuse than he was used to. Leif also felt the attention of the titanic monster shift off of him for an instant as distractions impacted onto its head and torso. Leif burst forward and struck at the elemental¡¯s leg, his fists cracking stone as he hit once, twice, three times. He moved again as a barrage of sharpened stones whistled past his head, wishing he could activate [The Amber Path] without ripping his soul in half. With the suppressing pressure of the dungeon monster beginning to bear down upon him, doing so would likely result in his death as the aftermath of breaking a skill rendered him incapacitated. The creature activated a skill that caused a forest of stone spears to erupt from the ground. Leif felt the attack in the elemental¡¯s intent, but he didn¡¯t have time to dodge. The spikes broke against his body as he retreated, at worst leaving inch deep gashes across his legs and arms. His wooden body was styled to resemble armour, but that illusion would quickly fall apart if anyone studied him closely. Leif switched to [Spirit] and broke free from the hundred stone spears, buying himself time to recover. The elemental tried to crush him twice more, but he dodged each time. It''s learning. He thought, barely escaping the colossal fist that crashed into the ground next to him. It was disconcerting to be so small compared to what he was fighting, Leif knew his body had been growing as he had leveled over the past three months, and it had become increasingly uncommon for him to be dwarfed by opponents. He would still pass for human, hopefully, but that was only with him compressing his form to keep it down to size. He shattered one of the elemental¡¯s arms at the elbow, making the hulking creature let out a deafening roar. The monster backed up, but he could already see it beginning to absorb the fragments of its defeated kin to restore itself once again. Leif mentally tallied his options, but it was looking grim. A bomb of compressed wood could devastate his current opponent, but he had used up his last one breaking through a dungeon wall. It was behind them, maybe a kilometre down the tunnel, the magic he had infused into its creation having returned it to its pre-expanded state by now. Assuming the dungeon hasn¡¯t buried it, it could work. Leif thought, jumping up and over the wall of steps. He quickly assessed the human forces, noting their injuries and their fear. Lucia was panting heavily, and Leif could tell that the massive amount of bonus attributes he had bestowed onto her had worn off. Three teens, probably around her age, were staring between her and himself in nothing short of stunned awe. Lucia stumbled on a loose stone, and one of the teens, a girl with curly red hair, held out her hand and somehow caught her even though over five metres separated them. Lucia nodded in thanks. That¡¯s good. Leif thought. He¡¯d been trying to get the orphan to open up around other children, but Lucia usually distanced herself. A boy, his hair was also red, but that was due to most of his head being covered in blood, said something to Lucia as he grinned. ¡°Retreat down the tunnel!¡± Leif yelled, running towards the group. Thankfully the elemental didn¡¯t seem interested in pursuing, though that would change once it had reconstituted from the damage it had sustained. It likely doesn¡¯t care to rush, it knows we¡¯re trapped down here. He thought, sensing an almost amused presence brush up against his own. ¡°Retreat?¡± A woman with a noble aura said, sounding both exhausted and offended at the same time. ¡°Now is the perfect chance to bring it down!¡± ¡°No.¡± Leif barked. ¡°Move, now.¡± She spluttered, and he felt her aura prod his own. The sheer difference in their power made the analysis skill she used fail, which was amusing considering how diminished he currently was. He would like to check the relative experience of the people arrayed before him, but using any skill, even one as relatively light such as [Sympathy From Experience], was not a good idea in his current state. Leif summoned a tattered cloak from his storage ring and slung it over his shoulders. ¡°Who... No, nevermind. What exactly is your plan?¡± An older man in battered plate armour said, half dried blood coating the side of his face. His aura also had traces of nobility, which immediately put Leif on guard. That¡¯s probably not fair. He thought, looking back at the still recovering elemental. I don¡¯t know any of these people. They came down into the dungeon, so I probably shouldn¡¯t jump to conclusions. ¡°My plan.¡± He said, striding forward as the crowd parted around him. ¡°Is to retrieve a weapon I left deeper in the dungeon. It¡¯s our best chance, any questions?¡± ¡°Other than why you didn¡¯t bring it with you?¡± The old man asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°I was in a rush, and you¡¯ll see why when we find it. Besides, I passed several of your more cowardly compatriots on the way down this death trap of a passage, we should reunite with them.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t know why we¡¯re not staying to fight.¡± The younger noblewoman said, hurrying to keep up. The whole group was moving now, none eager to wait for the elemental to return its attention to them. ¡°Because.¡± Leif said, trying not to let his exhausted irritation into his voice as he picked up speed. He probably failed. He found that he didn¡¯t care. ¡°When the elemental decides to detonate its body, sending a wave of stone blasting in every direction, you will all die.¡± ¡°T- they can do that?¡± ¡°Only the strong ones.¡± Leif said. ¡°You¡¯ll have to trust me when I say that it isn¡¯t a fun thing to experience.¡± Lucia materialised beside him with a burst of speed. Her sword was gone, likely in her skill created storage, and her broken mask was clutched to her chest. ¡°I knew you were alive. I just knew it.¡± She looked ragged, her eyes bloodshot and her usually neatly tied hair was a mess. Leif was just glad she was alive. ¡°I appreciate the confidence, but it¡¯s been a closer call than I¡¯d like.¡± He laughed, draining his bracers of what little vitality they had recovered. ¡°I miss sunlight. And grass.¡± She smiled, but he could tell she was worried. ¡°I¡¯m glad.¡± ¡°Chin up, we¡¯ll be fine.¡± Leif said. He hoped he was telling the truth. Chapter 203: Detonation They found the first group of adventurers who had deserted the fight standing around in a circle, loudly arguing as to whether they should go back and help, or keep running for their lives. One man was shouting about how everyone was likely dead, so they shouldn¡¯t risk returning. His voice cut out mid word as the group turned towards Leif and the people trailing behind him. ¡°Damn fools. They¡¯re a disgrace to the adventuring profession. This rot has infected Varan for generations, and it¡¯s only getting worse.¡± The man had introduced himself as Silas, and he seemed to wince in pain with every step. His comment about the group with flower shaped pins on their chests was loaded, and Leif didn¡¯t answer right away. Lady Eire started screaming at the deserters, who all winced as if her words were causing them physical pain. The man in the group who had been shouting grew redder and redder as the noble lady berated him and his companions in front of everyone. Leif sensed a spike of hostility targeted at the adventurers, and he turned his head slightly to see the source. The three teens glared openly at the deserters, though the large boy didn¡¯t seem to know why, as he was just copying the other two without any of their intent. Lucia stood next to him, and a mix of disgust and anger was emanating from her as well. He noted the new information, then mentally decided that whoever these idiots were, he wouldn¡¯t lift a finger to try and save them. ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this. Whatever punishment they deserve can come later, for now we have to move.¡± Leif said, infusing his words with an intangible weight. His order was punctuated as the tunnel shook, and people started running up to the next wall in preparation to scale it. The next group of deserters they discovered were dead, their corpses were being feasted upon by dozens of obsidian beetles. Newly formed cracks lined the walls and ceiling, indicating where the creatures had descended upon the unfortunate humans. The emptiness inside Leif twinged at the sight of a fresh source of vitality, and he charged forward before those around him could react. The beetles died as he crushed them, their oozing blood flowing towards him, drawn in by his all but empty cultivation skill. A handful of the beasts skittered away, retreating up the walls of the passage, and he let them go. As much as he needed their lifeforce, using skills to hunt them down would only be trading one problem for another. The humans ran up behind him, and Leif pushed down [Font of Life]¡¯s desire to be satiated. Some life wasn¡¯t his to claim, and the skill¡¯s insistent tugging faded as it acknowledged that fact. He sighed and rolled his shoulders, stepping over the pile of bodies. Skills flashed, striking the fleeing beetles as they wriggled back into the stone, but they had little effect. Nobody said anything as they passed by the fallen adventurers, but a growing sense of dread grew. In the darkness behind them, the massive elemental began to move, pursuing them down the tunnel. ¡°We¡¯re being shepherded.¡± Silas said. ¡°It thinks we can¡¯t escape.¡± ¡°It¡¯s wrong.¡± Leif replied. ¡°We need to keep pushing forward.¡± The world shook once again, and the sound of stone grinding against stone came from up ahead. Leif extended his aura forward, seeking out the source of vitality he had left behind. It felt more distant than it should be. He grimaced internally, the dungeon was too intelligent, from what he had read of them back at the Academy, they should operate on a series of rules. Not that this one seems keen on following any of them. Leif thought darkly, jumping up onto the next wall of steps. He turned and helped several people up after him, noting how exhaustion was making their bodies flag and their speed falter. He supposed he should be grateful that his own inhuman physique suffered from no such weaknesses. A meaty hand grabbed onto his wrist, and Leif hauled up the large boy with scrap metal covering his arms. He seemed surprised that Leif had done so without much effort, and smiled widely in thanks. ¡°You big.¡± The boy said with a slight slur to his words. He was right, Leif almost stood as an equal to the youths height. He wondered if the kid had a skill altering his physical body, or if his size was some sort of inherited trait. ¡°It is our duty to help those smaller than us.¡± The scion said, patting him on the shoulder. ¡°Help me bring them up.¡± The boy¡¯s eyes went wide, and he nodded seriously at Leif¡¯s words. Lucia bounced up with little effort, and they shared a look. They had a lot to talk about, but little of it was wise to say out loud around strangers. ¡°Holding up alright?¡± He telepathically sent her. She inclined her head slightly. Leif was empowering her [Spirit] with his core skill, and she was recovering quickly because of it, though even that attribute being increased for a significant time above its base would end up doing more harm than good. Lucia shot a worried look back down the tunnel. ¡°Can you beat it?¡± ¡°Yes, assuming the dungeon hasn¡¯t swallowed my weapon.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you just make another?¡± She asked. When he didn¡¯t reply right away her brow furrowed. ¡°Are you actually okay?¡± Leif chuckled at the worry in her voice. ¡°I¡¯m right up against my limits. Don¡¯t look at me like that, I¡¯m still more durable than the rest of you combined.¡± ¡°Is this really your mentor, Lucia?¡± The young spearman the large boy had just pulled up onto the wall asked. ¡°How the hells did you punch that thing?¡± Leif gave the boy an assessing look, he seemed tired but still hopeful. ¡°A whole lot of skills working together.¡± ¡°Really? What level are you?¡± ¡°Hylon, that¡¯s a rude thing to ask someone.¡± A red haired girl chided. She gave him a strange look, as if trying to puzzle out something. ¡°Uh, right. Sorry, sir.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Leif waved them away. ¡°I¡¯m at a higher level than most, I¡¯ve been lucky. Now go, don¡¯t fall behind the group.¡± The teens climbed down off the wall and continued running, and Leif heard the girl ask Lucia how she had moved so quickly. He didn¡¯t hear her reply, his attention focused on the way they had come. The stone surrounding them was trembling in a constant rhythm, it was approaching. He flexed his fingers, then clenched them into a fist. When he was the last one still on the wall, Leif hopped down and followed, quickly catching up with the rapidly tiring group. ¡°Hey! The passage splits!¡± Someone yelled. Damn. He thought, picking up speed. The passage should continue for another five hundred metres or so at least. It was his understanding that a dungeon needed to have a direct connection between its core and the surface, with its rooms, chambers and passageways being linked together. Apparently this dungeon had discovered a way to skirt those rules, though whether it was doing so as a result of some malevolent intellect, or whatever instincts the strange magical phenomena possessed, he couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°Left.¡± Leif said, using his aura to part the crowd before him. ¡°How do you know?¡± Lady Eire asked, sounding dubious. ¡°If I have to stop to explain myself every single time, we¡¯re all going to die.¡± He snapped, then immediately regretted it. Being trapped underground was eroding his patience, he took a breath and centred himself. ¡°I can sense what we need down the left passage, but there will also be a fight. There are things lurking in the walls.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°More beetles?¡± Silas asked with a grimace. ¡°Unfortunately not, I sense no vitality, so they¡¯re probably elementals of some sort.¡± The old man grunted. ¡°I do not wish to demand more from you, but is it possible for you to heal those who are still wounded?¡± Leif could, but he needed the strength to protect them, and to defeat the mountainous presence he could feel approaching them slowly from behind. He shook his head. ¡°No, at least not yet. I prioritised saving those closest to death, but it cost me.¡± Silas looked grim. ¡°I see. How much further do you think we need to go?¡± Leif sensed outwards with his aura, the condensed ball of vitality seemed to be getting further and further away. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but things will only get worse if we wait for the dungeon to change again. I¡¯ll lead and point out dangers as we come across them, the rest of you need to keep up.¡± Without waiting to see if they were all in agreement, Leif charged down the divergent passage at a sprint. It took less than thirty metres for a being of stone to burst from the wall and try to grab him. Leif¡¯s ivory fist met the monster¡¯s face, and the force of the blow shattered it into fragments of debris. Another elemental tried to fall atop him as it broke free from the ceiling, but he sidestepped and kicked it in the side, turning it into rubble. The hostile intentions coming from two more sources came from up ahead, and Leif called out a warning. A moment later a storm of quartz quills fired towards him. The humans behind him cried out as they went to defend themselves, but he knew it wouldn¡¯t be enough. A golden barrier flickered in and out of existence, catching the projectiles and sending them clattering to the floor. Leif winced internally as pain lanced through his body, his soul taking another beating at the use of the skill. ¡°Lucia, your sword!¡± Leif said, and an instant later the weapon of ivory wood was spinning towards him. He lifted a hand and caught it without looking, then spun without missing a beat, hurling the weapon down the tunnel with enough force that the stale air cracked with its passing. One of the monsters died as the sword impaled it through the chest, the other growled as more stone spines grew from its hunched back. Before it could fire, Leif ripped the sword from the first elemental with his mind and carved it through the second. He wasn¡¯t close enough for the blow to have the strength behind it to be lethal, but he was hot on the sword¡¯s tail, and his fist crashed into the rheeling monster a heartbeat later. ¡°Three more on the right!¡± Leif shouted, and the group of humans braced with weapons ready as his words and aura directed their attention. The monsters fell quickly, but their pursuer was catching up. They hurried as quickly as was safe, but an arm of stone emerged from the ground to catch a man by the leg, hurling him against a nearby wall where he impacted the rock with a crunch. Leif hadn¡¯t sensed the attack, his awareness was too frayed. He focused and spun out his aura, wrapping elementals in his presence to slow and suppress them, even though doing so diluted what little strength he had left. He led them down the passage, guiding the humans as the tunnels split, then split again into winding, if still alarmingly wide passages. Two more humans died, and injuries mounted. They were running out of time, and his awareness was flickering as it all became too much. It caught him by surprise when he felt something embedded into the wall by his side, and doubly so when he realised his hand was resting against the stone as if it had been attracted there by his subconscious. ¡°What is it?¡± Lucia asked, having materialised by his side. Leif didn¡¯t reply, but he did hand her back the wooden sword. ¡°Did you find it?¡± The world shook, but not from the approaching elementals. The scion¡¯s fist crashed into stone, embedding his arm up to the wrist. He pulled back, then struck again, then again. He reached up to his elbow, then shoulder, then his fingers brushed against the condensed orb of wood-bound lifeforce that the dungeon had buried a metre into the wall. ¡°Does anyone have earth magic?¡± He yelled, and a man stumbled forward. ¡°Help me pry it free.¡± ¡°It¡¯s coming!¡± Lady Eire screamed, and suddenly Leif was aware of the looming presence that filled the tunnel. Sharpened stones thundered down the passage, men and women cried out as they fell, sharpened rock puncturing armour and flesh. The floor erupted to stab and impale, and more fell, it was a miracle than nobody died. The earth mage wobbled on his feet, and Leif directed him to work faster, widening the hole he had created. ¡°Go!¡± Leif yelled. ¡°All of you, get around the bend of the tunnel!¡± He pushed the earth thaumaturge away and punched into the wall once more, grabbing the sphere and pulling it free. ¡°That¡¯s the weapon?¡± Lady Eire said as she scrambled past him, her expression a mix of horrified and hopeless. ¡°What on earth is that supposed to do?¡± ¡°Get your people around cover.¡± He said as he stood and raised the sphere. It weighed so much he needed to support it with [Wood Manipulation] to do so. Lucia lingered by his side for a moment longer, but he nudged her with his aura and she dashed off to help a wounded woman get away. Out of the darkness loomed the eyeless head of the gargantuan elemental, the contours of its face illuminated by the increasingly bright golden glow emanating from the orb of ivory wood. He waited as long as he could for the humans to get to safety, then Leif pushed every last drop of cultivated vitality into the sphere. He checked that he was the closest one to the titanic monster, then pulled back the ball of wood and shoved healing energy into it with [Surge of Life and Growth]. A hand large enough to flatten him swung down with the inevitability of a mountain. ¡°Expand.¡± Leif commanded, and the world paused as vitality suddenly drowned out the lingering earthen will of the dungeon. The most destructive technique he had ever created did just that. It expanded, beginning to tear the elemental apart as if it was made of paper. Leif reached out with his mind, then he was sent flying as a branch of wood thicker than his torso crashed into his chest with literally earth shattering force. Everything went black as Leif felt several somethings in his body fracture and break. When his vision flickered back on, he found himself embedded into the stone wall. Off to the side, over a dozen stunned faces looked back at him. Then a wave of dust and debris washed over everything. Level up! Class [Scion of Aeons] is now level 36! For waging a protracted war within a dungeon of earth and stone and destroying its most powerful guardian you have gained a level! +1 to [Willpower] +1 to [Charisma] +5 free points! Mana Reinforcement progress 100%! Congratulations! You have gained the Innate Trait [True Persistence]! === True Persistence: The duration of all skills and their constituent effects may be doubled at will. Your skills gain increased effect for every decade you live. You gain experience for every year that passes. === The system notifications populated his vision, which was fine by Leif, he couldn¡¯t see anything else with how many chunks of rock and stone were being blasted in every direction. I hope the tunnel doesn¡¯t collapse. He mused darkly, feeling as the icy sensation of power trickled through his body. Leif read over the effects of his finally completed Mana Reinforcement.It had been a solid nine months coming, which on one hand was agonisingly slow, even if on the other he knew his rate of advancement was terrifyingly quick. It was gratifying that nothing it provided would have been immediately impactful in keeping him alive, except for maybe the increase to skill effect. But the system only thinks I¡¯m thirteen years old. He thought bitterly. I¡¯m over thirty, why are you punishing me like this? He wasn¡¯t sure If the system overseer could read his mind, but he hoped that whatever that entity was had received his complaint. A massive chunk of stone broke against Leif¡¯s head, which probably would have hurt if his body wasn¡¯t made of hardened wood. Leif just watched as the chaos unfolded, literally, before him. It really was fascinating watching the mass of wood writhe and spasm as it expanded. He went to lift his hand to brush rubble out of his face, when he noticed that one of his arms was missing. The scion did his best approximation of a blink, then looked around to see where it was. With an effort of will that made his soul groan in protest, he levitated the limb out of a pile of rocks and attached it to his torso. When the world finally stopped shaking Leif detached himself from the wall with a grunt and walked over to where skill created barriers fitfully flickered, protecting those who huddled behind them. He tested the mobility of his arm and kicked away a large boulder, sending it down the tunnel to where the now remains of the elemental rested. ¡°Effective enough?¡± He asked, receiving mostly stunned and dust covered expressions. Lucia just closed her eyes and slumped in place. The large boy started clapping, but nobody copied him. ¡°Gods.¡± Silas said, shaking his head. ¡°No gods here, just me..¡± Leif said. The old man chuckled. ¡°I truly hope that was enough to stop the break.¡± Something intangible shifted, and the weight of the world suddenly seemed less oppressive. ¡°It was.¡± He said. Chapter 204: Recuperation Chapter 204: Recuperation The biggest mistake anyone in the subjugation force could have made was assuming that just because the break had ended, the dungeon was no longer dangerous. It was simply no longer trying to actively kill its invaders, but that didn¡¯t mean that the traps and monsters that still lurked within its cavernous tunnels stopped existing. The expedition rested for three hours as they recovered from the running life and death battle, and it was the first time in almost a week that Leif could finally afford to stay still. Life had been so peaceful back when he had been little more than an oblivious sapling. No, wait. No it wasn¡¯t. It was more simple, there¡¯s a difference. He thought, remembering the days where his awareness had slowly returned, and how steeped in conflict they had been. Just because he didn¡¯t have the olfactory and ocular senses to truly grasp the breadth of violence, that didn¡¯t mean it hadn¡¯t happened. Leif let himself drift through memories as the vice grip agony had on his soul slowly receded. It would take him more than a few hours to fully recover, but his overly inflated attributes sped up the process significantly. It could take some people days to fully recover from skill overuse, so he considered himself lucky. His body healed, the gashes and dents smoothing over, but as it did so it tried to regrow to the size it would be if he didn¡¯t compress it down to roughly human shape. If he had privacy, it would be simple, but Leif kept feeling the constant prickling of both intent, interest and analysis brushing against his presence. He set his mind, and worked to hide his monstrous origins from keen and interested eyes. Lucia had stalked over to where he was seated against the wall of the passage and had slumped down next to him, her knees tucked to her chest. Her eyes were closed, but he could tell that she wasn¡¯t asleep, her senses on alert for any danger that might arrive. Leif felt an amused sort of fondness, but while it was flattering that she would choose to be with him instead of her own kind, it was also somewhat worrying. They hadn¡¯t been entirely alone during the three months of turbulence they had travelled north, but Leif still found it worrying that the girl was so unwilling to open up around her peers. They had stopped at several small towns and villages, encountered communities living off the land that the empire had forgotten, but she had rarely interacted with anyone more than the bare minimum. If he was feeling vain, he could perhaps credit himself with being such august company, but in truth he feared that she was developing an unhealthy dependence on his presence. Time passed, and they hadn¡¯t engaged in combat during the time of rest for the subjugation force, attacks came from roaming monsters every ten or so minutes, though rarely from more than one direction at once. Small groups ranged out in search of an exit or to engage the dungeon inhabitants that drew too close, while others tended to repairing damaged equipment or prepare meals. Eventually he stood, careful not to jostle the small human by his side who had at some point nodded off, and collected the sphere of compressed wood, returning it to his spatial storage ring. He could lock any object he created from gilded wood, utilising time magic he didn¡¯t truly understand; they would return to their original configuration after some time when altered or damaged. Initially he had planned to create an entire suit of armour out of the white and gold material, but the benefits he received from his [Inspiring Brawler] class while unarmoured were too strong to give up on. Leif made his way over to the still resting adventurers and healed those who were still wounded. He received thankful nods and polite compliments, but most were wary of him. Or rather, his strength. It was difficult to put his finger on just how strong he was considering that his progression track as an awakened monster was different from that of humans, but at this point in time he most likely possessed the power of someone at, or above level one hundred. Some of the strongest people in the empire were only around level one hundred, including the Academy¡¯s Blades. During his time on the archipelago, Leif had fought with one, and trained with another. Hera excelled at fighting at range, and she largely countered him, but a combatant like Mouric with his close range ice magic was somebody Leif thought he could realistically beat. Not that I plan on fighting any of them. He mused, his masked face watching dispassionately as chunks of stone fell free from where they had been embedded into a man¡¯s upper back. The man grunted in pain, but he likely would have been fine even without Leif¡¯s intervention. People could get tough when their levels rose high enough. The red haired girl who was maybe fifteen or sixteen, was helping to fix a soldier¡¯s broken ankle, and Leif knelt, lending his own power as he saw the girl begin to struggle. ¡°T-thanks.¡± She said, frowning slightly and not meeting his eye. ¡°Can you heal anything other than bone?¡± He asked, genuinely curious. ¡°No. Not yet, anyway.¡± ¡°I see. You should heal what you can, it''s good experience.¡± She nodded, then went to open her mouth. The girl paused as if unsure what words to use, then clicked her teeth together. ¡°What is it?¡± Leif asked, standing. ¡°Uh- umm, nothing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, don¡¯t be afraid to ask what you want.¡± She swallowed, looked around nervously, then whispered. ¡°Sir, why don¡¯t you have any bones?¡± Leif blinked, his thoughts coming to a sudden stop. He was immediately thankful that she had asked in a way that nobody else could hear. She must have noticed when my aura was largely dispersed. He noted, quickly tallying the list of lies and excuses he had prepared well in advance for whenever someone questioned his nature. r?a?§à¦¢E?S? ¡°Well spotted, I take it that you have a skill that lets you sense bone?¡± The girl nodded, looking nervous. ¡°I have a skill that changes much of my physiology. It makes my skin tough like bark, blood thick like sap, and bone into a wooden substitute. That¡¯s likely why you can¡¯t sense anything. It has certain synergies that I won¡¯t get into, but I¡¯m sure you can guess some of them.¡± He said smoothly. ¡°Though I would appreciate it if you didn¡¯t go around sharing what I just told you with others.¡± She twirled a lock of red hair around a finger, then spoke. ¡°That makes sense. And I won¡¯t, I was just curious I guess. I¡¯m Cerri, by the way. Me and my brothers were on a team with your... um, apprentice?¡± Her words trailed off into a questioning tone. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°I take it Lucia hasn¡¯t talked much about herself?¡± ¡°N-no, not really. It¡¯s okay though, I don¡¯t want to pry.¡± Cerri said. ¡°She struggles with strangers for reasons that are hers to tell. Give her time, and don¡¯t take any standoffishness personally.¡± Leif said, sensing the question behind the girl¡¯s words. ¡°Hey, healers!¡± Someone called, their voice abrasive. ¡°One of our guys has a broken arm, get over here.¡± They both looked over. One of the men with a sunflower pin was glaring at them openly, and his outburst drew attention. His nose looked slightly crooked as if it had been recently knocked askew. ¡°That¡¯s a shame. You should have thought about the consequences of your actions before abandoning your comrades.¡± Leif said flatly, turning and walking away. The adventurer spluttered with indignance, but Leif had already turned and was moving towards where the force¡¯s leadership was gathered. Cerri said something that made anger bloom, but he didn¡¯t pay attention as to what. ¡°-Seem to have stopped shifting, at least for now.¡± A armoured woman on the older side of middle age was saying, the tip of her sword was planted an inch deep into a flat chunk of stone that had what looked like a map of the nearby tunnels etched onto it. ¡°We need to head up, but the question is, which way is up?¡± A rugged looking man with a bow slung over his back said, his arms crossed. ¡°We have two [Scout]s, but they¡¯re contradicting each other as to which direction they think the surface is.¡± ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t our hero.¡± Lady Eire said as she saw him approach. ¡°We must thank you for your timely assistance. And I suppose for sending your daughter to help guide our forces. We are in your debt.¡± ¡°Lucia isn¡¯t my daughter, but I¡¯ll relay your thanks on to her nonetheless.¡± Leif said, studying the map. ¡°If the dungeon knows what is best for its continued survival, it will have an exit tunnel somewhere nearby to the upper levels. It won¡¯t want us to find its core, so I would be willing to bet that our exit is somewhere in this direction.¡± The elderly swordswoman moved her blade¡¯s tip to where it was pointing. ¡°I¡¯ll send one of my people to check. I only hope that we dealt with this crisis before the effects on the surface became too severe.¡± ¡°The personal forces of the nearby nobility will have mustered. Fear not.¡± Lady Eire said with a self satisfied smile. ¡°My father''s house guard was mobilised, of that I can assure you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m worried about the small villages and towns. I doubt your house guard will move in their defence.¡± ¡°And why would they? The economic impact of most settlements near the mountains is limited. The soil isn¡¯t fertile enough and most ore deposits were tapped dry centuries ago. No, my father¡¯s forces will be guarding the merchant roadways, as they should.¡± She smiled beatifically at Silas, then Leif as if she expected them to fully support her callous disregard for the lives of her most vulnerable subjects. The scion felt disgust bubbling up from the old noble, and the same emotion was practically radiating off of the elderly soldier like a heat haze. Leif tightened his aura and the noble lady flinched. ¡°I see house Eire is lacking in several key areas. Perhaps you should keep your comments to yourself.¡± He said. ¡°Oh, and which house do you hail from?¡± She snapped, quickly regaining her composure. ¡°I can¡¯t help but note you haven''t introduced yourself in a manner befitting a nobleman.¡± ¡°I have not, because I do not care to.¡± Leif said. ¡°I let my actions speak louder than any family name. Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I can sense enemies approaching.¡± He spun and marched away, but a second set of footsteps followed. He could tell who it was by the way vitality passed through their body in slow loops, sense where age had taken its toll and the locations where injuries had accumulated. Silas didn¡¯t speak, just slowly followed, his cane tapping with each step, his limp slight but noticeable in the cadence of his footfalls. Leif didn¡¯t stop or slow, he headed down a smaller passage and waited in the middle of the tunnel, his arms behind his back. A heartbeat after he arrived, a dozen beetles charged out of the darkness. He conjured two golden arms, the limbs bursting from his shoulders to extend towards the leading creatures. Open hands surged forward, and he drained the first two within seconds, then pulsed his aura to slow the approach of the next. He didn¡¯t express the full extent of his power as he turned the beasts into lifeless husks, but his silent spectator had seen much of what he could do already. There was wisdom in keeping one¡¯s abilities secret, but in Leif¡¯s experience the truly talented were always willing to share and learn. The final beetle died, having never gotten within striking range, and he took a moment to enjoy the sensation of cultivated lifeforce settling within his body. Without a healthy reservoir of power to tap to empower his abilities he had felt exposed and vulnerable. Well, as vulnerable as a being as durable as him could feel. ¡°Impressive, truly.¡± Silas said as Leif let his golden arms dissipate into motes of light. ¡°I would never have expected somebody so strong to be wandering the wilderness. You are aware of how it looks?¡± ¡°With the war going on, I am. My intentions were to enter the country without causing a scene. A bit late for that, but I hadn¡¯t expected my return to Varan to go smoothly.¡± He replied. ¡°Little chance of your presence going unnoticed now, not after what you¡¯ve done. Not that I¡¯m complaining, as that brat of a woman said prior, we are in your debt. I am in your debt.¡± A handful of mana shards manifested over the bodies of the largest insects, and Leif collected them into his ring. He was earning a tidy sum, risking his life in the depths of the earth had its advantages, though he was reluctant to repeat the experience. Not having seen the sun for a week really was getting to him. ¡°Do you need something?¡± He finally asked, turning to face the old man. Silas¡¯s eyes bore into him, as if trying to drill past his rags and faux armour. To the man¡¯s credit, he didn¡¯t even try to use an analysis skill. ¡°I do.¡± He said, rubbing his chin. ¡°But I also have something to offer. I am Silas, formerly the patriarch of house Forde, though now I am just an old man trying to raise the next generation to be better than the current one. I may be assuming too much, but I suspect that my own situation is not so far removed from your own.¡± He was wrong, but Leif wasn¡¯t going to reveal that. Instead he inclined his head. ¡°I have been gone for some time. This land is my home, but I haven''t visited since the early years of the war. There is much I do not know about the current political landscape.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t lie and tell you that my information network is as extensive as it once was, but if it¡¯s knowledge you need, I can be of assistance.¡± ¡°And in return?¡± The old man shrugged. ¡°There are some weeds I intend to pluck. A last gift to my country before I¡¯m too old to act. One final good deed, if you know what I mean.¡± ¡°I assume you¡¯re not talking about gardening?¡± Silas smiled, but it wasn¡¯t an expression of joy, his eyes glinted with an intensity born of spite and loss. Leif considered him, the implication, and the offer. Finally he shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t commit to anything, and frankly I¡¯m surprised that you brought this up at all. You don¡¯t know who I am. You don¡¯t know my house.¡± ¡°But I have witnessed your actions. Does your family name matter?¡± Leif paused, mentally reassessing his impression of the old man. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about this later. For now, let¡¯s focus on returning to the surface in one piece.¡± Chapter 205: Surfacing A team of four, three volunteers from local villages and one guard, were slowly making their way back to the advanced camp with tired steps and weary eyes. They had been away for longer than the recommended time, but the team had gotten lucky that no dungeon movements had trapped them or majorly altered the ravines they were traversing. Unfortunately, a pack of three small earth elementals that moved on all fours like dogs with malformed limbs were stalking them, but the group lacked the means to fend them off. Their hunched stone bodies moved easily through the twisting passageways, out manoeuvring the humans and cutting them off. ¡°We need to find an alcove and rest.¡± A young man with a mop of sandy hair that was already receding groaned as the party backtracked once again to avoid the danger. ¡°Ty needs to get off his wounded leg.¡± ¡°If you think the monsters will give us the chance, feel free to take a nap.¡± A woman snapped, her sword was bent where an elemental had fallen on it. ¡°At least we haven''t run into anything but the things currently stalking us. The dungeon seems lighter in activity than usual.¡± Another woman said, her steps spry, full of energy despite the hours of climbing, crawling and fighting she had endured. ¡°Don¡¯t jinx us.¡± The blond man said. ¡°Don¡¯t be such a baby-¡± ¡°Quiet!¡± The woman with the broken sword snapped. ¡°Do you hear that?¡± ¡°It sounds like someone is beating a drum against a wall. Is the ground shaking?¡± An instant later an ivory fist punched clean through a solid rock face only a dozen metres in front of them. The party all screamed and raised weapons, scrambling back to put space between them and whatever had broken through the wall. All except for Ty who just screamed and fell over, the man¡¯s leg giving out as he tried to retreat. A bone white monster with the shape and stature of a tall man pushed free of the hole it had created, golden eyes glowing through the cloud of dust that partially obscured their features. It waved its hand, clearing away the floating particles of debris, revealing a face masked in smooth, unadorned wood. Another, smaller figure emerged from behind it, this one also wearing a mask. Then another, this time maskless, and another. The party of humans stood frozen in fear, then shock, as not monsters, but two dozen people from the elite subjugation force spilled out into the tunnel. ¡°Bloody hells.¡± Ty said, wincing. ¡°I damn near pissed myself.¡± The masked adventurer knelt before him and wordlessly placed a hand on the wounded man. He hissed in a breath of surprise, then relief. ¡°Where is the advanced camp?¡± An older man in ornate but dented armour barked, making the group of four jump. ¡°Um, that way, uh, sir. But there are monsters and...¡± The now healed man said, trailing off as the shorter masked figure vanished in a blur. A heartbeat later the sound of rocks shattering echoed through the cavern. ¡°Never mind, it''s just that way. I think.¡± === The expedition departed the dungeon a day later. They marched up the natural steps leading to the surface in high spirits, many sporting several new levels, skills and in some cases new classes. Many laughed and joked, the relief of finally being able to see the sky again lifting their spirits as much, if not more so than victory. Leif could feel their bubbling emotions as he followed at the rear of the adventurers, soldiers and volunteers. Even without looking he could make out the snaking column of ascending humans, the weight of their minds, auras and lifeforce painting a clear picture for the Scion. While he understood their cheer, and even felt much of it himself, Leif couldn¡¯t help but notice the underlying grief and sorrow many in front of him were feeling. While the dungeon had been subjugated, though not destroyed, he knew the official death count was thirteen. And that was just those who had descended to face the dungeon, he knew that many more fought on the surface against beasts displaced by the break, and the dungeon spawned monsters that now roamed the mountains. In a way, Leif felt as though he had failed. These people had died because he hadn¡¯t been strong enough to subjugate the natural phenomena personally. It was irrational in a way, but not totally unrealistic. He had almost done it, and if he and Lucia had discovered the dungeon a week or two earlier, he wouldn¡¯t have felt compelled to rush. He may have been able to prevent the break altogether, though maybe that was wishful thinking. Leif had grown prodigiously since his first evolution back in the wilderness in the northern countryside of Varan. If he compared himself to the very best of humanity, he was almost a decade ahead of what many would consider optimal leveling speed. And that was with him having spent ten years as a barely conscious tree. Being terrifyingly strong was comforting, but in a sense it was also unnerving. There was no way he was unique, at least in terms of relative power for time spent leveling. Just what other inhuman entities existed way out there in the wider world with skill sets and physiology that matched, or even exceeded his own strength. The enslavers came to mind. Leif wasn¡¯t sure exactly what level the awakened ant that had rained destruction down onto Far-Reach and Pherin had been, over one hundred surely, but how many more like her were out there, lurking just beyond humanities borders? Were there more armies preparing to invade for gods knew what reasons. But there was more, what of the undead, or the orcs... Or the blight. He thought, reaching up to haul himself up a particularly steep step. Leif wasn¡¯t sure what the more sinister half of his monstrous origins were, but considering that at least one member of the species had been close enough to human territory to make his rebirth into a plant possible, it was likely there were more. These were not original musings, far from it. Over the past months of travel he had had more than enough time to get lost in his own mind, the winding forest trails and rolling hills that disappeared day by day as they journeyed north put Leif more often than not in a contemplative mood. At least when the dangers of turbulence or that of sparsely populated areas didn¡¯t require his attention. Needing neither sleep nor much rest gave him far more spare time to just think, and he considered it the largest boon of his new life. Leif turned and glanced back down into the depths of the earth. He felt something brush against his awareness, tingling against the back of his perception. It was most likely the dungeon itself, or perhaps the earthen Mana, the will partially animating it. Whatever it was, it seemed far more still and weary than only days prior. The stone walls of the ravine twinkled, and a faint breeze rustled the edges of his ragged cloak. There was a cheer as the first person stepped up and out of the darkness. === It was a crisp, early morning that greeted the subjugation force as they began their descent of the Varan mountains. A faint blue mist hung in the air, slowly dispersing as more and more sunlight shone between distant peaks and filtered down into valleys and across slopes. Leif felt his body relax all at once as he climbed the final step, and for a moment he felt a spike of alarm as he tightened his [Willpower] and control over his form with [Wood Manipulation]. It felt like every inch of him wanted to expand, to reach skyward and soak in the first light of day. But those were tree instincts, and they wouldn¡¯t serve his current situation. Eventually he slackened his mental grip over his body, confident that he wouldn¡¯t accidently sprout an extra arm. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Half a dozen partially eaten carcasses met the group an hour outside the dungeon, the large, almost person sized birds with long crooked necks and sharp bony protrusions from the tips of their sizable wings flew off in a series of panicked squawks and shrieks as soon as they saw how outnumbered they were by the approaching adventurers. The piles of torn sinew and blood were thankfully not human, instead some variety of bear and two cubs. A few minutes later a [Scout] spotted a pair of big cats as long as horses and with white spots miring their slate grey fur that were watching the subjugation force from a nearby ridge. Piercing green eyes bore down onto the subjugation force, making several of the weaker willed among them shudder or flinch back. The beasts were a known quantity among the mountain range, and they seemed to melt into stone only to appear elsewhere a moment later. It was a nerve wracking handful of minutes as they were silently followed down the mountain, at least until a hammer of lightning fell from the sky with a deafening crash, sending the two beasts fleeing back up the slopes. The third encounter of the morning was infinitely more positive. A group of twenty men and women at the base of the foothills were taking hammers to a scattered pile of rocks, shattering them down into smaller pieces and carting them away. It was immediately apparent what they were doing, by taking apart the destroyed earth elementals they would delay their reconstitution, perhaps indefinitely. Two boys, barely in their teens, worked among those breaking apart stones, and Leif watched as Silas and the three youths he had taken into the dungeon move in their direction as the two groups began to mingle. There was laughter and celebration, and someone kicked a head shaped rock so hard it flew off a nearby cliff. In pairs and small clusters they quickly finished the work, then started making for a surprisingly large camp a kilometre or so off in the distance. Leif followed until they reached the campsite, but he didn¡¯t enter, instead he stood back and watched, having no reason to join the growing celebrations, especially considering the lacking state of his disguise. He needed time to get things back to how they should be, not to mention the fact he needed to remake much of his arsenal of weapons that he usually had stored within his ring. But he wasn¡¯t the only one keeping their distance. Lucia sat on a small boulder, her mask in her lap and her legs crossed. She watched the camp with a mix of trepidation and hesitation, and he could sense deliberate control over his aura. He stepped over to the boulder and stood with his arms crossed, his head almost reaching her shoulders. ¡°You can go be with them, you know.¡± He said after half a minute had passed, looking off in the same direction she was. Lucia shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to celebrate a victory you helped make happen?¡± She scoffed. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°We both know that¡¯s not true. Don¡¯t underplay your contribution.¡± Leif laughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything compared to you.¡± ¡°Such a fair comparison. You should stop drinking water because fish are better at it than you.¡± She half heartedly swiped at his head, but he moved before she had even fully begun the motion, making her hand miss by an inch. ¡°That doesn¡¯t even make sense.¡± ¡°Should you stop running because some people are faster than you? Stop eating because some people can eat more? Stop fighting because others are stronger?¡± Lucia glowered down at him. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything like that. I¡¯m just pointing out- Hey!¡± Leif plucked her mask up with his mind and made it hover over her head. When she reached for it he simply moved it higher. Lucia jumped to her feet and snatched for the smooth piece of wood that he had repaired a few hours prior, but he made the object swoop down, spin around him once, then land in an open palm made of amber coloured energy. ¡°You didn¡¯t.¡± Leif admitted, spinning the mask, then balancing it on the tip of a golden finger. ¡°But you felt it. Stop feeling inadequate, we¡¯ve talked about this so many times over these past few months.¡± She sighed, muttered something under her breath, then flopped back down onto the bolder. ¡°I was just being realistic.¡± Leif made the mask vanish into his spatial ring. He sensed the spike of anxiety that his action caused, and gave the girl an assessing look. ¡°Lucia, do you remember back when you asked me to make you this mask?¡± She flushed and covered her face with her hands. ¡°No... Yes. It was like two months ago.¡± ¡°Fifty one days.¡± He corrected. ¡°Anyway, reasons as to why aside, do you remember what I made you promise?¡± ¡°Yeah...¡± She mumbled. Leif waited until Lucia continued on her own. It took a minute, but he could feel her mustering herself, and he didn¡¯t prompt or rush her. ¡°That by putting it on I would work on being the best version of myself. That I wouldn¡¯t use it as an excuse to lie to myself or others.¡± ¡°And so when you tell me that you didn¡¯t contribute to the dungeon subjugation?¡± He asked leadingly. ¡°This is dumb.¡± ¡°Are you selling yourself short? Again¡± ¡°You¡¯re dumb. I hate you and that stupid mask. I only wanted it for aura training anyway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s my partial lie, don¡¯t steal it.¡± He joked, poking her aura with his own. It was like parting a bubble with a finger, so he didn¡¯t press too hard. ¡°But since you can¡¯t admit it, I guess I¡¯ll need to tell you. Lucia, you did a good job spreading word and guiding everyone to the dungeon.¡± ¡°They already knew most of it!¡± ¡°You did good, kid.¡± ¡°Stop that.¡± ¡°If you acknowledge it I will.¡± She tried to kick the side of his head, but he blocked her strike by summoning the mask and catching her foot with it. He returned it to his ring a moment later, much to her annoyance. Her wooden sword appeared in her hand and she stabbed at him, but he mentally commanded the object, tugging her attack off course and making the weapon zip upwards, striking her in the forehead with the flat of the blade. The impact made a small thwap, though it hadn¡¯t been hard enough to actually hurt. Lucia recoiled in surprise and lost her balance, tumbling backwards off the boulder. She landed in a pile, cursing and spluttering. The girl launched herself at him around the boulder, but he blocked or parried her with little effort. After a few moments she started laughing, and it was like a dam breaking. ¡°Ready to admit it?¡± He chuckled, grabbing her arm and spinning her away. ¡°Not out loud.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the best you¡¯re going to get. Saying it is embarrassing.¡± ¡°My student is such a disappointment. I¡¯ll have to return to the Academy to get another one.¡± She threw a rock at him. It struck him right on the forehead and bounced off his own mask. Leif shook his head as if saddened. ¡°And this is how she treats masks. Kids these days, so little respect.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the most annoying tree in the world.¡± ¡°Most can¡¯t talk, so I have a sizable advantage.¡± Lucia squinted at him, then kicked her wooden sword up off the ground and caught it. She lowered her stance, then lunged. She made the weapon vanish the instant he grabbed onto it with [Wood Manipulation]. Instead she punched at his middle, but he caught her with one of his real hands. Lucia struggled to pull free, but he kept her in place. ¡°Do you want your mask back?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± He raised a hand, then dropped the wooden object onto her head. ¡°Very well. I shall return to you the mask of self improvement and happiness.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what it¡¯s called!¡± ¡°I made it, I can name it.¡± Lucia pouted, but her expression was quickly hidden as she adjusted the mask to cover her face. She brushed herself down, then orange eyes met his own. ¡°Where are we going now? What are we doing?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question.¡± Leif said. ¡°There are some things I need to do in this country before we go west, and truthfully I¡¯m not sure how long it will take. For now though, we¡¯ll stay a few days with the subjugation force, there¡¯s some information I want, and I can probably get most of the supplies we need from the camp.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Ah, okay.¡± ¡°Something wrong?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I want to get to Roy, but if he arrived where you said he should, then he¡¯s probably safe.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get there eventually, don¡¯t worry. In a few months I can teleport us there, but I¡¯d rather not if I can help it.¡± Leif said, turning to the camp. ¡°Now then, do you think you could go get me a new cloak?¡± Chapter 206: Potentials In three months Leif had gained eight levels, three of which having come from just the past week. His [Scion of Eons] monster class had jumped from level twenty eight, all the way to thirty six. Leif¡¯s other classes hadn¡¯t changed, [Noble] had long ago reached its level cap of ten, while [Inspiring Brawler] and [Adept of Self-Restoration] were both still at twelve, as he was employing a technique to suppress their ability to level up. His next milestone would be capping his monster class at level forty, which would result in his next evolution. From there he would need to reach level fifty in the evolved class, which, according to the system, would finally allow him to attempt the transformation into a humanoid body that all awakened could undertake. In an ideal world he would have reached that point already, but now that he was exiting the stretch of wilderness that separated the Empire from its northern vassal kingdoms, Leif suspected his opportunities for experience gain would plummet. He was fortunate that his monster class could gain experience through methods other than combat, but there really was nothing like ripping one¡¯s way through a dungeon until the thing gave up trying to fight back fairly. When he had reached level thirty in his monster class, he had finally gained the long awaited aura skill that all monsters and beasts received upon rising to that level. It was a way humans could, at a glance, tell the power of a beast or monster; a sharpened, focused presence indicates that they possess an aura. Almost two years ago Marcus and Siegfried had initially mistaken him for a much higher level than he had been. Leif¡¯s [Aura of Nobility], which at the time was his only aura skill, had convinced the two academy students as to the validity of his identity as a man turned monster. The sounds of the nearby crackling bonfire and distant shouts and song as the subjugation force celebrated their triumph pulled Leif from his contemplations. It reminded him of a similar scene when members of an Academy expedition had met a clan of white haired, horned demikin. That encounter had ended up being just as fateful as his prior one in the depths of Pherin¡¯s mythhold, with the demikin¡¯s bloodline patriarch having become a friend in the aftermath of the battle at Far-Reach. Leif¡¯s system window, a mostly opaque grey box with gold and red trimming partially obscured the scene before him, the new cloak Lucia had managed to find wrapping around his off-white body. He didn¡¯t feel the cold of the night, nor the warmth of the flames, but he could sense how the people around him reacted to both. Their discomfort at the biting night air, the relaxation of heat as they drew closer to the bonfire. He found it interesting how once this situation had sent his mind into a spiral of negativity, while now it simply was. He felt more in control now, more comfortable in his own body, and the calmness brought about by that fact was present in his aura. An aura was a projection of the soul, and while every living being possessed one, it was aura skills that allowed for an individual to bestow upon their presence additional effects. [Aura of Nobility] had given Leif the ability to project his intent, or a version of his intent outwards. [Aura of Recovery] reduced the feeling of pain and hastened the physical recovery of those within his presence. When Leif had combined them, fusing them into a single skill, the result had been [Aura of Benevolence]. While the skill¡¯s name was somewhat self flattering, its effect had been nothing short of a boon. It had allowed him to project honesty and authority, conferring many of the benefits from [Aura of Recovery], just enhanced. At level thirty he had received two options, [Aura of Blighted Sanguinity], and [Aura of Amber Cadence]. The former had given off the impression of blood, a predatory, almost brutal imprint coming from the system''s limited glimpse as to what the skill would grant. A life of bloodshed he may live, it wasn¡¯t a path he intended to pursue beyond necessity. [Aura of Blighted Sanguinity] was perhaps a skill that would have served him well, but its counterpart had all but drawn his full attention. Leif had been given a choice between extreme violence, and something altogether more interesting. Time. In the end it had never been a choice. [Aura of Amber Cadence] had fit him like a glove, its ability to slow those within his presence at the cost of taxing his aura had not only been incredibly potent, but downright fun. [Temporal Glare] had been a skill Leif had been offered back at level twenty five, but he was glad he hadn¡¯t picked it. With how much he had invested into [Charisma], and the training he had undergone with Lars at the Twin Heart guild in Ahle-ho, he had accidently frozen a small songbird mid-flight when he had first tried to use his new aura. Naturally with practise and experience the skill had grown, jumping from rank two to three in less than a week. When [Aura of Amber Cadence] had reached rank four, matching his other aura skill, he had begun the skill fusion process immediately. It had been incredibly expensive to hasten the merge, a large chunk of the Mana shards he had collected had vanished in only a few minutes, their power entering his body and soul like a trickle of icy water. There was an argument to be made for keeping the aura skills separated, that if he taxed [Aura of Amber Cadence] he could swap to the other. There was wisdom in that, but skill slots were at a premium, and the time and effort needed to raise two separate aura skills into the higher ranks were incalculable, though likely titanic Regardless, the fusion had succeeded. And what a success it was. === Aura of Prolonged Influence IV: Aspects: Aura (Time)* (Life)*, Social* The generous presence of your being holds authority over time and restoration. Those held in the sway of your aura may be slowed, their perception warped, their ability to physically interact with the present reduced. Doing so lowers the efficacy of the users aura for an amount and duration proportional to the strength of the targets. The speed and efficiency of healing effects bestowed to those in your presence may be increased, or reduced. You may project a lingering knowledge of your noble sincerity, honesty and intent to those within your aura. You can control your aura in ways that are impossible without an aura skill. === When skills were merged a portion of each constituent skill was often lost during the combination. The end result would be a mix of both more and less than the sum of its parts, and in Leif¡¯s experience this rule was true no matter what type of skill was fused. One¡¯s intent created the shape for the new skill, but the new creation could never exceed, for a lack of a better term, the size of the pieces used to make it. That was true, until now. He wasn¡¯t sure how or why, but this aura skill was somehow more than he had expected. From the skill¡¯s description, and the weeks he had spent testing and experimenting, it was clear not only that it hadn¡¯t lost anything in the fusion process, but it had likely gained. It was times like these that Leif wished he could be back in the Academy library. He had spent days absorbing as much information as possible from the countless theses, essays, hypotheses and records he had read and studied, but it was like trying to drink the ocean with a spoon. It was entirely possible that this was a known phenomena, that it was well studied and understood, but he didn¡¯t know. There was a thud as someone flopped onto the log Leif was using as a seat. The Scion turned to see a man with a short scruffy beard, little better than stubble, his gaze unfocused and mouth open as he poured the last drops of a bottle down his throat. It took a heartbeat for Leif to recognise the adventurer, one of the subjugation force¡¯s leadership, though without his bow and armour he looked more like a vagrant than the formidable warrior he actually was. Leif tried to remember if the man had ever introduced himself, but no name came to him, so it was likely he never did. ¡°Ahh, that hits the spot. I don¡¯t usually work sober, so this past week has been a real pain.¡± He said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. ¡°Though I suppose I have nothing to complain about, we¡¯re all alive after all. Well, mostly, cheers to the heroic dead!¡± He raised his now empty bottle, and several nearby people did likewise, though none had actually heard what the man had said. ¡°Glad to see you¡¯re in high spirits.¡± Leif said, turning his attention back to his system. The screens, while visible to him, could not be seen by anyone else. Displaying one¡¯s system information to others was an ongoing project the Academy was working on, or it had been before the archipelago had been invaded. ¡°Nah, I¡¯m out of spirits. Look.¡± The adventurer said, turning his bottle upside down. ¡°My condolences. If I had any on me, I would share.¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s all good. Shouldn¡¯t get too drunk anyway, I¡¯m on watch later. Name¡¯s Vanis by the way, but most people call me Van.¡± ¡°Leif.¡± Leif said, wondering exactly what the adventurer considered too drunk. ¡°You know, I heard they party like crazy down in the Empire. That there are festivals in Mekrylis that last for three days and nights, with trains of food and drink moving through the streets.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know, I never visited the capital.¡± ¡°Shame, shame. Thought you might have since you jumped into that dungeon headfirst by yourself. What¡¯s the imperial dungeon called again? The... crucible, I think?¡± ¡°The crucible is right. And no, I¡¯ve never had the pleasure. I¡¯ve met people who have though.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Damn, really? I¡¯m so jealous, there¡¯s almost no way to make the push for one hundred out here.¡± Van frowned down at the bottle in his hand, as if suddenly remembering it was empty. Without a word he leapt to his feet, almost fell over, and stumbled away. Leif watched him go, as much with his esoteric senses as his vision. Drum beats were coming from further into the camp, clapping coming in time with every thump. There was jubilation and excitement emanating from the direction of the sound, so he stood and moved towards it. Sure enough, a circle of some twenty people had formed, the centre of their formation open enough for the three pairs within it to... He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what they were doing, it was some sort of dance, though it involved more jumping and stomping than it did twirling or swaying. The pairs moved in unison until they were so red in the face from exertion that the surrounding people in the circle pulled them out. The duo that lasted the longest received a cheer that echoed through the camp, then the rhythm of the drums and clapping changed, this time faster, more frantic, and three more pairs entered. This tickled at the back of his mind, a not quite memory forming, distant and ephemeral. Leif felt as if had seen this before, perhaps even participated, but if he had then it had been a lifetime ago. The familiar weight of loss settled onto his shoulders, but it was a light burden compared to the crushing force it had once been. The pressure built, then broke like a wave against the shore as he acknowledged its existence. He watched for a while longer, then returned his attention to the system. At thirty five, a level he had reached only days prior, Leif had gained the penultimate skill he would receive from his [Scion of Aeons] class. He had been trapped in a series of ever tightening caverns by the dungeon when the level up had come, but frankly the skill options had been disappointing. Not in that they weren¡¯t potentially powerful, but that they hadn¡¯t presented a solution to his then problem. Leif had ended up picking [Echoed Generosity], and based on the skill¡¯s description he leaned towards it being the correct choice. === Echoed Generosity: Aspects: Empowerment (Time)* (Life)* You may duplicate any empowering, protective or healing effects on a target other than yourself, increasing their potency or granting an echo of those same effects to another target in your presence. Echoing an effect restores any expended duration of the effect. This skill has a delay on its re-activation depending on the potency of the echoed boon. === At the skill¡¯s most simplistic, it effectively allowed him to duplicate his core skill, bestowing the attribute bonus an additional time. Leif still needed to explore this use of the skill, since it could result in him boosting a single attribute so high that it could potentially cripple, or even kill a recipient. When he had used [Echoed Generosity] for the first time, he had immediately swapped the attribute he was empowering, allowing the increase to [Might] he had bestowed to Lucia to linger while he likewise boosted her [Alacrity]. This use of the skill had been predictably effective, but there were other uses he wanted to test. Specifically; would [Echoed Generosity] carry over the bonuses of spellcraft or cultivation infused skills. If so, the effects could be frighteningly potent. He could put everything he had into a [Amber Aegis] shield, then duplicate it. Hopefully the skill would upgrade in the future to allow Leif to target himself. If it did... Well, he would have to wait and see. Level thirty five had come with two other options. [Grove of Hope] had been tempting in that it may have allowed him to quickly replenish his vitality even while trapped underground. But the impression he had gotten from the skill was that it required an existing ¡®grove¡¯, and there had been nothing of the sort in his immediate surroundings. [Gilded Mark] had been the final choice, but he hadn¡¯t been sure exactly what it offered. It had felt like a long lasting healing, and potentially debilitating effect he could bestow through touch. And while it likely would have been a fine choice, there had been no reason at the time to pick it. ¡°Umm, excuse me, sir.¡± Someone said, and Leif turned to see two women, likely support staff for the subjugation since they lacked the physiques of combatants. They seemed nervous, and immediately Leif feared the worst. He¡¯d hoped that wearing a mask would stop any advances short, but after an instant to sense their intentions he relaxed. They were after something else. Well, the one who had spoken was. ¡°Yes? Can I help you?¡± He asked, stepping away from the circle of clapping people to make it easier to hear. ¡°Umm, yes. We¡¯re collecting omens from those who fought, and we were hoping to get yours.¡± The first woman said, the second nodding along in agreement. ¡°Omens?¡± Leif asked, for the second time that night a familiar tingle of memory brushing the back of his mind. ¡°Do you not know?¡± The second asked, looking puzzled. ¡°Are omens not something people care about in your homeland.¡± ¡°This is my homeland, but it¡¯s been years since I¡¯ve returned. Please, remind me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s how lucky your last level up was.¡± The first explained. ¡°The more attributes, the better luck.¡± ¡°Your luck can carry over into other things. Good weather, financial fortune, even love.¡± The second added. Leif crossed his arms and looked down at them. Neither woman was particularly tall, so it came off as more of an intimidating loom than he had intended. ¡°Seems personal.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to if you don¡¯t want to.¡± The first said, waving her hands as if to ward away any anger their question may have caused. ¡°We had just hoped, since people are saying you saved the expedition...¡± He exhaled in amusement. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m not offended...¡± Leif was about to insist that he hadn¡¯t saved anything, but it would have been hypocritical to do so after what he had just told Lucia. ¡°The answer is two out of six.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good!¡± The second woman said, smiling up at him. ¡°Is it?¡± Leif asked, sensing that she likely would have said that no matter how poor his answer had been. ¡°It¡¯s not bad.¡± The first amended. ¡°Most people only get one, and sometimes even nothing. So two is good.¡± ¡°I doubt somebody as strong as you has ever gotten nothing.¡± The second said, stepping forward. ¡°I have, actually.¡± Leif said, and it was true. ¡°But you¡¯ve caught me at a bad time, I have things I must take care of. Enjoy the rest of the night.¡± And then he spun and walked off. It wasn¡¯t the greatest departure, but it also wasn¡¯t a lie. With his soul back in good health, he needed to recreate his arsenal of wooden weapons, and it was preferable to do so sooner rather than later. He left the camp, passing the palisade wall that was its perimeter with little difficulty. He pretended he hadn¡¯t noticed the two people being intimate behind a tent, and found a spot where he wouldn¡¯t be interrupted. [Create Gilded Wood] was a relatively recent addition to his collection of skills, but in combination with [Wood Manipulation] it was one of his favourites. With an effort of will he created a spinning sphere of ivory coloured wood, it manifested into thin air right above his palm, magical matter made from nothing but the skill nested within his soul. The material wouldn¡¯t last forever, nor would it persist for very long without his presence. Leif hadn¡¯t determined the exact length of time it would take, and it was now double whatever it had been thanks to his [True Persistence] innate trait gained from Mana reinforcement. He pushed more wood into existence, weaving it into a tightly packed shaft, then he shaped a spear tip. The material flowed like water, eager and willing to obey his every minute command. Leif made a second, then third javelin, pulling each into his spatial ring once they were completed. He made two swords next, these far heavier than the weapon he had created for Lucia. It was simple, repetitive work, and it was relaxing in a way he couldn¡¯t put a finger on. His attention drifted as he let the skill settle before he began to weave one of his compressed wood bombs. He looked over his attributes, classes and skills, and found himself content. Progress would come, growth was inevitable. While spending another few months to half a year in the wilderness to reach level fifty in his monster class was tempting, he had other obligations. For the moment, he simply read over what he had. === Name: Leif Vin Race: Scion of Aeons Age: 13 Awaiting manifestation: Emblem Attributes: Free: 8 Might: 95 (+20%) Alacrity: 74 (+20%) Intelligence: 90 (+20%) Willpower: 91 (+20%) Spirit: 90 (+20%) Charisma: 196 (+130%) Total Level: 70 Core Skills: 1/1 Benevolent Actions Mana Reinforcement: True Persistence Monster Classes: 1/1 Scion of Aeons: 36/40 Skills: Gold Iron Physique / Sympathy from Experience / Consuming Aeons / Font of Life IV / Tree of Respite / The Amber Path / Amber Aegis / Wood Manipulation / Meditations on Eternity / Create Gilded Wood / Aura of Prolonged Influence IV / Echoed Generosity Classes: 2/4 Inspiring Brawler: 12/20 Skills: Inspiring Tenacity and Prowess III / Fists of Awe / Fist Projection Adept of Self-Restoration: 12/20 Skills: Surge of Life and Growth / Delay the End Auxiliary Classes: 1 Noble: 10/10 Skills: Legacy Attuned Items: 1 Large Spatial Ring Chapter 207: Regency Two oxen leaned into the scritches they were receiving as Leif knelt next to the old, poorly maintained cart. The animals were mostly skin and bones, and had both woken up when he had trickled healing energy into them. Nobody else was up in the earliest hours of the morning, which meant the Scion could snoop around without being interrupted or noticed. He reached under the cart and lifted it with only a minor effort, [Wood Manipulation] helping to keep it stable as he observed the underworkings of the battered vehicle. Two golden arms snaked up and around, scritching both beasts under the chin as he worked. He hadn¡¯t started the evening after the party intending to go around fixing things, but he had to keep himself entertained somehow. Leif had started by straightening out baskets full of arrows, reinforcing the shafts and improving the overall craftsmanship of the projectiles. Next had been a box full of bent and broken spears, and besides it had been a makeshift table with splintered shields. His power couldn¡¯t do anything for broken metal or other non wooden materials, and that was somewhat of a problem now. The steel spring serving as the cart¡¯s suspension was a rusted, mangled thing. The vehicle must be a nightmare to drive, let alone ride in, every pot hole or bump in the road would send a jarring pain through every passenger¡¯s spine. Leif let healing energy trickle into his fingers, not to use on the cart, it would have minimal effect other than temporarily strengthening the wooden parts of its underside. No, he just used it for light, the golden glow revealing the extent of the damage to the spring. The wood rippled, parting even as it partially fused together, and the spring fell free into his waiting hand. Leif stood, letting the vehicle fall gently back into place. Memories of a life half forgotten played through his mind as the Scion went to find one of the barrels of oil used for weapon maintenance. He cleaned rust off the spring as best he could, then used raw strength to bend it back into shape. Finally he coated it in oil, then tested the elasticity. He completed the work quickly, quick enough to teleport back towards the carts with [The Amber Path], the skill allowing him to recall himself back to a previous location with a step. To Leif¡¯s surprise a muffled cry came from off to the side, he turned to see a shadowed figure stumbling away from where he had just appeared. The light from Season filtering down through the cloud cover was just enough for Leif to make out who they were. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re one of Silas¡¯s kids.¡± He said, projecting a gentle wave of non threatening intent towards the boy. ¡°Sorry for surprising you, I didn¡¯t think anyone was up.¡± ¡°Uh...¡± He said, his voice low as he fidgeted nervously, his eyes darted around, searching the darkness of the nearby camp. ¡°Is... is anyone else awake?¡± Leif gave the boy an assessing look, a name coming to him a moment later. Worry radiated from Hylon, a concern that seemed to indicate that even though he had been discovered, he was more afraid of a specific group finding out that he was still up. A faint sheen of perspiration lined his brow, and from the cycling patterns of his life-force he had more than likely been engaging in physical activities. Leif let his awareness settle over the camp like a thin blanket, but nobody but those on watch around the perimeter were awake. ¡°Nobody else, but if you act like that, anyone would think you¡¯re suspicious.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell them, please!¡± Hylon whisper-shouted, his voice trailing off as he realised he was being too loud. ¡°Well then, now I¡¯m curious. What exactly am I not telling anyone?¡± Leif said, walking past the boy and kneeling down next to the cart. The two nearby oxen shuffled eagerly at his approach, but he soothed them with his aura instead of conjuring more limbs. ¡°Umm, well... What are you doing?¡± ¡°Maintenance.¡± ¡°W-why?¡± ¡°Keeping myself busy. It becomes important once you lose the need for sleep. But I¡¯m still waiting for my own question to be answered.¡± He said, the underside of the cart rippling as he returned the spring to its proper location. The Scion moved the pieces of wood back into place, then infused them with an even distribution of his healing energy. Technically he could do a much better job by replacing critical parts with gilded wood, but that was likely going overboard. ¡°I... It was nothing bad, promise.¡± ¡°Right. A young man sneaks off in the middle of the night, only to return in the early hours of the morning flustered and nervous. I¡¯m not judging, it¡¯s your life.¡± Hylon blanched, his eyes widening and heart rate speeding up. ¡°What! No! It wasn¡¯t- Nothing like that!¡± He clamped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from shouting. One of the ox¡¯s let out a startled huff. ¡°Sure. It¡¯s none of my business anyway, sorry for asking.¡± ¡°No! I was training! Honestly, it¡¯s nothing like you think.¡± ¡°Training. In the middle of the night?¡± ¡°I... It¡¯s not that weird, I do it all the time.¡± ¡°Were you training with a weapon?¡± ¡°Well, no... my spear broke and I haven''t gotten another. I was just doing physical conditioning, honest.¡± ¡°I believe you.¡± Leif said, waving dismissively. He¡¯d known immediately, but it had been funny to insinuate otherwise. Maybe that made him a bad person. ¡°Though that doesn¡¯t mean I understand why you¡¯re bothering to do it in secret. Your grandfather doesn¡¯t strike me as the type to care.¡± ¡°He would.¡± Hylon blurted. ¡°I don¡¯t want any of them to know, I don¡¯t want them to think they¡¯re not doing enough or that I¡¯m not satisfied with the training we already do.¡± ¡°That reason doesn¡¯t make as much sense as you probably think it does.¡± The boy sighed. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it.¡± He was right, Leif was baffled. But the mind¡¯s of teenagers worked in strange ways, their logic often meandering down paths that made little to no sense to any outside observer. Though he was more than familiar with the burning desire of self improvement that could overtake people. The number of times he had needed to force Lucia to take a break was too numerous to count. Leif shrugged. ¡°Perhaps. But you¡¯re clearly motivated, there¡¯s no fault in that.¡± ¡°I... yeah. That¡¯s my cart, by the way.¡± Hylon said, nodding at the vehicle Leif had just fixed. ¡°You should take better care of it, the suspension was broken.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Leif turned his attention to another nearby cart, this one quite a bit larger. ¡°I have business with your grandfather, I¡¯ll find him some time after dawn. Try to get some sleep, or your nightly outings will be obvious.¡± ¡°Right. I¡¯ll try.¡± ¡°Goodnight.¡± Leif said, running his fingers along a broken wheel spoke. === The bustle of over a hundred people gathering their belongings and packing up supplies from the subjugation camp was perhaps more sluggish than it otherwise would be if most people weren¡¯t sporting headaches and bleary eyes. Leif¡¯s magic was as efficient at healing drunkeness as something like water or light aspected healing skills would be, but it was very effective at removing the symptoms of excess drinking. He intentionally didn¡¯t offer his services however, he had things to do now that day had arrived, and an endless parade of people wanting to sidestep the consequences of their actions wasn¡¯t overly appealing. Instead he helped a group of larger men carry what nobody else either could, or was willing to attempt. The large boy, Rou, was among those putting their strength to work, though he seemed somewhat put upon by Leif¡¯s apparent ease. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He reassured the boy that he would get much stronger with levels, and that he shouldn''t compare himself to someone with so much more experience. He didn¡¯t seem to entirely understand, but he was quickly distracted by his work. Leif spotted several more of the children Silas had taken in as the camp slowly dissipated. They were easy to make out, often being the youngest people present. He considered the wisdom, or lack of, of bringing so many young people to the heart of a dungeon break. Most of them had been in the camp rather than fighting, so they would have only been in direct danger if both the subjugation and containment forces had failed. A certain amount of risk was necessary for growth, but that was only true for those old enough to actually gain a class. Lucia was an outlier in that regard, but her relatively slow advancement rate when weighed against the effort she was willing to put into leveling up was indicative of her being still too young for the system. Well, perhaps it wasn¡¯t a limitation put in place by the system, it could very well have something to do with the maturity of the soul. There were a thousand theories for anything to do with the system and its inner workings, and the age humans tended to gain their first classes was perhaps the least of them. As if summoned by his thoughts, Lucia materialised at his side with a half eaten bowl of porridge in her hand. ¡°Morning.¡± She said, the spoon still in her mouth, her mask half pushed up so she could eat. ¡°Keeping busy?¡± He asked, having sensed her coming. ¡°The party was too loud.¡± Leif huffed with amusement and put down several rolled up tents. ¡°Oh! Mask girl.¡± Rou said, waving happily and almost dropping the cooking supplies he was carrying. Lucia nodded in his direction, then slunk along beside Leif. ¡°Have you talked to the old man? Can we go?¡± ¡°No, not yet. We need more supplies as well, and there was a rumour going around last night that one of the local noble families is interested in offering a reward to those that fought.¡± ¡°Reward? What will it be?¡± ¡°Money, maybe. Your guess is as good as mine.¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer a promotion seal.¡± ¡°I imagine most would. But they¡¯ll be in high demand, especially up so far north. I think most of the artificers and enchanters are in the Empire, or further west in Ahle-ho. You didn¡¯t reach ten in your [Rogue] class, did you?¡± ¡°Nine.¡± ¡°Almost there.¡± ¡°Mhmm.¡± She mumbled, finishing her porridge and holding out the bowl and spoon. ¡°That isn¡¯t ours, go put it back where you got it.¡± He said, motioning with his head. ¡°It¡¯s just a bowl.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll get more [Rogue] experience putting it back without being seen than stealing it. Now go.¡± Without a word she vanished, her presence quickly diffusing into the crowd, though not so much that he couldn¡¯t track her progress. Leif mentally sorted through his spatial ring, then pulled out the tattered cloak he had placed within. It had self repair enchantments, but he was fairly sure they were dead, there would be no saving the piece of clothing. One of many victims over the past few months of travel. He glanced towards Rou and saw the large youth being admonished for something he hadn¡¯t noticed happen. Leif walked towards him, seeing the slump in the boy¡¯s shoulders and the downcast expression on his face. ¡°Rou.¡± He said, interrupting the middle aged woman he didn¡¯t recognise mid lecture. ¡°Could you bring me to your grandfather?¡± ¡°Uh, yup.¡± He said, suddenly looking eager. ¡°Not so fast.¡± The woman said, crossing her arms and glaring up at the boy. ¡°This bumbling fool almost knocked into me. He...¡± She trailed off, finally turning to look at him. ¡°Oh, sorry sir. Please, I won¡¯t keep him.¡± ¡°She was angry.¡± Rou said sadly, watching her scurry off. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to do anything.¡± ¡°Her anger wasn¡¯t real, she just wanted to yell at someone.¡± Leif said, completely unimpressed. ¡°Now, where is Silas?¡± Technically he didn¡¯t need the boy¡¯s help since there were only two other noble aura¡¯s in the camp, and only one of them had the feeling of age and steel, but it didn¡¯t matter. Rou led him around mostly packed carts and partially dismantled tents, chatting away in the stilted way he talked. He didn¡¯t have the sharpest mind, but he more than made up for it with earnest enthusiasm. Someone who could be happy even with the turbulent state of the world was lucky as far as Leif was concerned. Silas was standing atop the cart Leif had fixed, his cane waving in the air as he barked a stream of orders that sent children scurrying in every direction, groups racing one another to get things ready. His armour was gone, though whether it was stored in one of the carts, a spatial artifact, or if the aged man had a skill that would allow him to stow it at will, Leif wasn¡¯t sure. Their eyes met, and his faux scowl softened into something less severe, but more serious. He carefully got down off the cart and marched towards Leif, his cane supporting his steps. ¡°I noticed you were injured back in the dungeon, is it an old wound?¡± Leif asked, accepting the older man¡¯s proffered hand and shaking. ¡°Aye, it''s old. As old as the war. It¡¯s not as debilitating as it looks.¡± He replied, grinding the but of his cane into the dirt. ¡°Apparently not, I saw you fight.¡± Silas¡¯s expression twitched into a faint smile. ¡°I may be grey and going senile, but I have a good few years left before I¡¯m an invalid. Rou, go wake your lazy brother, he¡¯s still sleeping over there.¡± ¡°I¡¯d ask where you found so many kids without a family, but I suspect I already know.¡± Leif said, walking alongside the aged noble as they moved away from the controlled chaos. Silas grunted. ¡°The damn war, or the years of sickness that followed after. Most of the towns that just managed to scrape by ended up being culled by a blood disease. We¡¯d find entire settlements filled with nothing but dehydrated husks, only those who managed to isolate themselves lived.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t imagine.¡± Leif said honestly. He had seen devastation brought by war, but nothing so horrific. ¡°It was, if you¡¯ll excuse my language, the worst fucking years of my life. You said you left Varan during the war?¡± ¡°In a sense.¡± ¡°Lucky, it was a damn mess. Not to mention all the political infighting and finger pointing. We couldn¡¯t unify to prevent a tragedy, nothing would bring us together to help rebuild afterwards.¡± He spat to the side. ¡°I imagine it was a free for all to claim power in the vacuum left by the dead.¡± ¡°The ants tore through this country, even with the Empire¡¯s help. We...¡± He trailed off, his eyes going distant. ¡°We lost so much. I lost so much.¡± ¡°During the war, or afterwards?¡± Leif asked. Silas didn¡¯t reply, he led them out of the camp and part way up a nearby hill. Leif recognised a familiar boulder, and indicated that they should head in its direction. The short grass that covered what emerged from in between smaller stones was hardy and stiff, it barely swayed in the gentle breeze that blew in from the east. Two black birds circled overhead, their wide loops slowly bringing them closer to the distant camp, their occasional caws bouncing slightly off the rugged terrain. ¡°I lost everything of value during the war.¡± Silas finally said as he leaned against the large stone. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much you already know about me, but what I¡¯ll say is this. Losing my title and land was damn near a blessing. It was freeing in a way I¡¯m not sure how to describe. I took what little I had left and rode north, and I¡¯ve been travelling around the country ever since.¡± ¡°Did you lead troops in a pitched battle on the edge of the northern wilderness? Our forces made a night attack against the enemy as they were trying to fortify the valley between two hills.¡± Leif inquired, his aura flexing slightly to read any reaction. Silas shook his head. ¡°No, though I believe I know of what battle you speak. I was positioned at an eastern fort with some three thousand troops.¡± As far as Leif could tell, the man¡¯s words were truthful. ¡°I take it you participated in the battle you mentioned?¡± ¡°I was a squad captain.¡± He said. ¡°Ah, one of the brats they trained at the capital? Common enough story, lots of third and fourth sons were groomed for leadership. Though I am impressed, you¡¯ve come a long way if that¡¯s where and when you started.¡± ¡°Life has given me several interesting opportunities.¡± Leif replied flatly. Silas chuckled, shaking his head. ¡°I won¡¯t ask how you managed to leave the country. Frankly I don¡¯t give a shit.¡± ¡°Good, it¡¯s not a story I¡¯m willing to share.¡± They lapsed into silence once again. The first groups were departing the camp, snaking their way north. ¡°I¡¯ve only had a handful of correspondences with my family since I left, so I¡¯m largely ignorant as to the current political situation of Varan. I don¡¯t plan on diving head first into politics. I have a single goal, and then I¡¯ll be leaving.¡± Leif said. ¡°But since you offered information I¡¯m willing to listen. Ignorance is not something I enjoy.¡± Silas grunted, pointing his cane northward. ¡°Where do I begin? The old king is dead for one. He was a useless fucker, and from what I hear his son has even less of a spine. King Theodore Skarn has had almost no public appearances, so I have no way of confirming that claim, but I think his absence speaks for itself. Though he¡¯s still quite young, early twenties I think, so maybe he¡¯ll grow into the position. House Larit, Neive and Volen are ash, their bloodlines all but burnt out. Yerl is on the rise, so is Syre to a lesser extent. Kossia also has more of a foothold in Varan, though they¡¯re still mostly situated in Epidor.¡± He took a breath, scowling as if the words had a sour taste. ¡°Lots of minor houses rose and fell, though there are less of them now after the kingdom¡¯s borders shrunk. The big winner, if one can be crass enough to crown one, is of course house Vin. Their holdings have grown more than any other, eclipsing even the Royal family. It makes sense I suppose, their old patriarch is the Lord Regent. Leif Vin is the most powerful man in the country, and everybody knows it. If house Skarn still holds power in a decade I¡¯ll eat my cane.¡± Chapter 208: Rewards of Duty Silas¡¯s words left Leif feeling... strange. Most of the information the fallen noble had told him meant little, names of houses he had never heard of or simply didn¡¯t remember. But house Vin was his house, and the Lord Regent was his grandfather. They even had the same name. Leif had hoped that he would be able to reveal himself to his sister, and maybe father, but if they were as involved with the country''s current politics as he feared... ¡°I see.¡± He said finally. ¡°What you¡¯ve said has been... informative. Thank you.¡± Silas grunted. ¡°I¡¯m not as informed as I would like to be, but that was just a quick summary of what I know. If you want more specific information there¡¯s a good chance I could help.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s enough for now.¡± Leif said, holding up a hand. ¡°But your request, what exactly do you have in mind?¡± The older man crossed his arms and looked skyward. ¡°There¡¯s a lot wrong with this country, with the world, really. And I¡¯m not delusional enough to think I can change it all. But there are three things I intend to destroy before time claims its due.¡± He grinned sardonically. ¡°Three people?¡± Leif asked. Silas laughed, a bitter and hollow sounding thing. ¡°Gods, wouldn¡¯t that be easy. Though in truth, knocking out the leadership of the factions I¡¯ve taken issue with wouldn¡¯t harm my cause.¡± ¡°You intend to wage war against three groups? Respectfully, I don¡¯t plan on pitting myself against any organisations, the risk is too high.¡± ¡°Yeah... Trust me kid, I know. But I don¡¯t need your help, if you leave and move on I wouldn¡¯t blame you. But at least listen to what I have to say. I don¡¯t want to recruit you for some righteous crusade against injustice, just having somebody of your strength aware of what¡¯s killing this kingdom is enough for me.¡± ¡°Fine, tell me.¡± Silas let out a long breath, then his eyes sharpened. ¡°The first group on my shit list is a Lashivite doomsday cult masquerading as a charity. They¡¯re not so influential down here near the border, but they¡¯ve been growing in influence at an alarming pace in the more populated parts of Varan. They¡¯re called The Bloodied Hand. They¡¯ve been around for centuries, but they just so happened to receive a massive windfall right after the war. They¡¯re Lashivites, but they take the usual fetishising of suffering to an extreme. They offer charity to those in the most need, then turn around and demonise those who accept their aid, demanding they join the faith. The Bloodied Hand believes that suffering is the only way to fight back against the inevitable end of the world and the tyranny of the system.¡± ¡°End of the world.¡± Leif mused, finding the idea absurd. ¡°Mhmm, but these aren¡¯t the usual ¡®humanity going extinct¡¯ believers. They think the planet itself is going to crack apart, that all things will come to an end. How they fathom that the struggles of mortals will in any way protect them is beyond me. But their beliefs aren¡¯t what matter, even if they are nuttier than a tree full of squirrels. The problem is their attacks against those they call ¡®Unearned¡¯. Those who have somehow stolen power they don¡¯t deserve, or so the cult says. It just so happens that these ¡®Unearned¡¯ are independent farmers and businesses that survived the war largely unscathed.¡± Silas spat to the side and continued. ¡°It''s too complicated to get into fully, but after the war the remaining noble houses and merchant families bought devastated land for extremely cheap. Farms and mines that used to be owned by the families that worked them had no choice but to sell themselves and their land, it was that or starve or go homeless. The estates were rebuilt, but they no longer profit those who work them. It was a disaster, is a disaster. Our kingdom is being pillaged by the same people who were supposed to rule it, and the price of food has been steadily climbing ever since. And now the Bloodied Hand are attacking and burning what few estates aren¡¯t being exploited for everything they earn.¡± ¡°So it''s a religious organisation acting as attack dogs for those who stand to profit? And I suppose that this group are being funded by the noble houses wanting to buy up the land.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if the cult¡¯s leadership actually believe what they preach, but whatever the truth, it''s contributing to the death spiral of Varan. Desperate people will reach for any helping hand that gets offered, and then they go off and deliberately create more desperate people. It makes me sick.¡± Leif considered what he had just heard, and felt a grim resolve settle onto his shoulders. A part of him had hoped that Silas had picked his enemies poorly, or that he was wrong about the state of the kingdom. ¡°And this is just the first of three groups?¡± ¡°It gets worse.¡± ¡°Of course it does.¡± Silas shrugged. ¡°The second group is the noble adventurer¡¯s society. Frankly I don¡¯t want your help with them. I have a personal, long standing hatred of the guilds, and I¡¯ll gladly see the whole corrupt system burn to the ground.¡± ¡°I take it that they¡¯re nothing like the guild¡¯s of Ahle-ho?¡± ¡°Only the name is the same. If you saw how the guild¡¯s operate in the Empire, it¡¯s a hundred times worse here. At best they¡¯re hired thugs, a bunch of completely useless bastards. At worst they¡¯re actively suppressing the growth of those who live within Varan. They extort and bully, cripple and kill, all the while being backed by the authority of the noble houses. It didn¡¯t used to be like this, the adventurer guilds used to be institutions of integrity, but it''s been a steady, gradual decline ever since the creation of the society, and I hate it.¡± ¡°Sounds like a personal grudge.¡± Leif commented. ¡°How many within the subjugation force were guild affiliated?¡± ¡°Only a dozen or so. But the ones who did arrive were almost useless. You saw those sunflower adventurers?¡± ¡°The ones who ran from battle?¡± ¡°The same. One of their members has decided to make the lives of some of my kids miserable. It¡¯s a tragedy that the guild¡¯s backing is too much for me to deal with him personally.¡± ¡°The three you brought into the dungeon are being targeted by an adventurer?¡± Silas nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll handle it.¡± The old man pressed his lips together tightly, and he almost succeeded in hiding the upwards twitch of his mouth. ¡°I see. Thank you.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°And the last group?¡± Leif asked. Silas sighed and fidgeted with his sleeves. ¡°One of the noble houses. Yerl was given royal dispensation after the war to deal with... undesirable members of society. They have several forced labour camps, most of which border Epidor or the mountain range that leads to the northern pass. It turns out that when you burn through most of the kingdom¡¯s traitors and prisoners, you start to... become creative with the people you put to work.¡± ¡°Sounds like slavery. That¡¯s disgusting.¡± ¡°Yeah, it is. Its industrialised slavery with the crown¡¯s seal of approval. Any crime, no matter how mundane, risks being put to work out on a plantation or down in the bowels of the earth digging for rare metals.¡± === ¡°There¡¯s a town two day¡¯s from here.¡± Silas said from the back of the cart. ¡°Most of the subjugation force will be heading there. It''s the one your apprentice went to to warn us of the dungeon.¡± They were moving along as the rear of a procession of other carts and groups, the last of the convoy having departed the mountains only an hour prior. The path was little better than packed dirt with the occasional stone, and according to Silas, the state of most of the southern roads were in poor shape. The old man kept shooting confused looks down at the cart he was riding in, his brow furrowed. ¡°Hylon, is this really ours? You didn¡¯t accidently steal somebody else''s vehicle?¡± ¡°Nope, it¡¯s ours.¡± The boy said from where he was driving the cart. ¡°What''s the matter?¡± ¡°The matter is that my ass doesn¡¯t hurt.¡± The boy glanced over his shoulder and looked at Leif, the Scion was easily keeping pace beside them. ¡°Maybe someone fixed it?¡± Silas barked a laugh. ¡°Who would do such a thing? We both know you didn¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°Tell him nothing.¡± Leif telepathically sent. ¡°It¡¯ll be funnier if you don¡¯t tell him.¡± Hylon¡¯s shoulders tensed with surprise, but quickly relaxed. Leif could sense the boy trying to focus on sending back a reply, his intent sharpening clumsily. ¡°It¡¯s one way, unfortunately.¡± Leif continued. ¡°Two way telepathic links are fairly obvious and are intuitive to use.¡± Hylon nodded, but Silas had half turned and saw the action. The old man started grilling the boy about what he was doing, and Leif left them to it, walking up the convoy to where Lucia was perched on the back of a donkey that was completely unaware of her presence. She had her wooden sword across her lap, her legs crossed, and was balancing atop the beast with little difficulty. ¡°You¡¯re getting better. It feels like your aura control jumped leaps and bounds.¡± He told her, speaking out loud. Lucia shrugged, and he could tell that her eyes were closed even with the mask she was wearing. The donkey swayed with every step, but she countered each movement with instinctual precision to not fall off. ¡°Probably due to all the people you¡¯ve encountered. I have some exercises I can teach you once we get to our destination, ways to move a crowd around you.¡± She perked up, bright orange eyes locking onto him. ¡°Teach me.¡± Lucia said excitedly, but her distraction made her steed suddenly aware of her presence. The donkey bleated in alarm and started bucking, alerting its owners who were walking ahead of it. Lucia dismounted by rolling off to the side, vanishing off the path and into a nearby crops of short gangly trees. Leif calmed the startled animal with a hand on his back, then apologised on Lucia¡¯s behalf. They hadn¡¯t even noticed she was there, which was a testament to her growing skill. He fell back to Hylon¡¯s cart, and Lucia materialised out from behind a shrub. She fell in step with him, and Leif tutored her for over an hour, the girl periodically dashing off to test what she had learned. Leif¡¯s prodigious aura control was both a mix of his relentless training, but also the fact he was cheating with the raw attribute amounts monsters got from their classes. His [Charisma] stat was obscene, and it had gotten to the point where it was as much a deadly weapon as any other abilities he had access to. They passed through an old forest, the trees reaching up on either side of the path to arch over the heads of those below. Sunlight filtered down through the canopy in small patches and tiny clusters of glowing mushrooms lit up the most shadowed corners of their surroundings. There were creatures in the woodland, but they were wise enough to keep their distance. Well, most of them were. A pair of juvenile foxes scurried up to Leif, paying no heed to their surroundings as they wove between his legs. Several of Silas¡¯s children were overjoyed at the sight, but their excited shouting and pointing finally made the foxes realise that they had run into a band of humans. The beasts fled, but Leif was soon distracted by the barrage of questions as to how he had lured two foxes, and if he could do it again. He demonstrated to a little boy and girl with muddy brown hair and the same squinted green eyes how he could beckon to a songbird, the small creature fluttering down from a nearby branch to land on Leif¡¯s finger. The life he emanated would attract life in turn, but using the ability made him miss home. Bam, Lani and the other animals were back at Far-Reach, and not a day went by that he didn¡¯t miss them. He couldn¡¯t see a world where he didn¡¯t leave on his journey, but he did regret the necessity. He wondered how they were doing, how everyone was doing. It had been the better part of a year since he had left and much had changed. Did the domain tree still stand, he assumed that it did, the connection to the plant he had left behind was as stable, if distant as ever. They did not breach far into the forest, the path curving to bring them up over a ridge, then down into a gully between two hills. A ten minute march later the tree¡¯s became sparse, and rolling fields lay before them. Leif turned and looked back, the Varan mountains towering over the forest, the foothills now several dozen kilometres away. He was back in Varan, the place where his old life had both begun, and ended. === Banners fluttered in the wind, held aloft by four armoured figures mounted on horseback. Two neat rows of fifteen soldiers lined the road leading up to the distant town, its earthen bulwark teaming with easily a hundred locals spectating the scene taking place outside of their home. It was a humbling, dignified sight. Or it would have been, but the subjugation force was so spread out on their return that its members awkwardly trickled up to the town, then were made to wait off to the side for everyone else to arrive. A quartet of officials worked their way through the waiting adventurers, volunteers and soldiers who had participated in the dungeon raid, taking notes and gathering accounts. It was likely because of this that when Leif and Silas finally arrived, a man in flowery, colourful clothing rode forward to meet them, two banner holding riders flaking him on either side. The man cleared his throat for several seconds longer than was necessary, puffed out his chest, then yelled in a shrill voice. ¡°As his lordship, Duke Narell of house Wrest¡¯s herald, I hereby deliver a message and summons to one Silas Forde, and... unnamed masked stranger. Please step forward!¡± Leif gave Silas a look, which the older man met. He looked like he had just bitten into a lemon, and he was clearly fighting hard to push down a growing scowl. Lucia materialised by Leif¡¯s side, looking up at the peacock on a horse, derision and wariness spooling off her mind in palpable waves. ¡°Did you never share my name?¡± He sent to her, and she shook her head. ¡°I may need to pick a new one, Leif is a potentially foolish name to go by, especially considering my last name.¡± ¡°Where were all these soldiers when we needed them?¡± Silas muttered as he stepped forward, lowering his head in the shallowest display of respect possible. ¡°And why are they being led around by a clown?¡± The herald sneered, his angular features scrunching up as if an invisible hand was pinching his nose. Leif bowed deeper than Silas, though only barely. ¡°You¡¯re the one who assisted the subjugation of the dungeon?¡± The herald asked him. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Good. I was getting tired of waiting. As too, I¡¯m sure, is my lord.¡± He gave a disgusted look at Silas, but turned back to Leif. ¡°You are hereby invited by Duke Narell to a feast in celebration of our victory over the dungeon. Attendance is mandatory, and it is there that rewards will be doled out based on contribution. Your dedication to the defence of our great kingdom, and the duty you have performed are to be recognised.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the dress code?¡± Leif asked. At the same time Silas hissed. ¡°Our?¡± The herald sneered again. ¡°Just don¡¯t show up naked.¡± Chapter 209: Be Grateful Over a thousand refugees lived on the western hill with double that in the valley below. At first it had been only a handful, a few families from an overrun village, then more from a town that had partially burnt down. Some big coastal city had been sacked, a casualty of the distant war rumbling to the south, and then the trickle of disheveled and weary humanity arriving at Far-Reach had turned into a flood. Ram grumbled under his breath as he chewed a stalk of grain. The stuff could be processed into bread, but he preferred it raw, something likely caused by his less than human origins. The old goat turned man put a second stalk into his mouth, grinding it between his molars as he contemplated, for the third time that week, going on a massacre. He wouldn¡¯t do it, of course. Not after it was his decision to let the outsiders live on the outskirts of Far-Reach, but he couldn¡¯t help himself from fantasising about blowing down the rickety wooden houses so he wouldn¡¯t have to hear their occupants complaining about everything and anything constantly. Seriously, teach a human how to not get themselves killed and they¡¯ll start whining about the weather or the economy or the fact that their friends and family had been killed in senseless violence. ¡°Damn annoying.¡± Ram muttered, swallowing the stalks of wheat. ¡°Uh, sir?¡± ¡°It¡¯s annoying, don¡¯t make me repeat myself, kid. Hate that.¡± ¡°I... I know.¡± The other man said, a snivelling cringing thing wrapped in a stained brown robe. ¡°You were just silent for two hours, so I didn¡¯t expect you to say anything.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been waiting for two hours?¡± Ram asked, surprised. ¡°I thought you pissed off ages ago.¡± ¡°Patience is a virtue I have cultivated.¡± He said, dipping his head. ¡°If I must wait a day or a week to help those in need, then by the grace of the gods, I will do so.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Ram grunted. ¡°W-what?¡± ¡°Name?¡± He sighed. Honestly, some people couldn¡¯t take a hint if it hit them between the eyes. ¡°S-sir, I¡¯m Nazan, I told you that already. Twice.¡± ¡°I forgot.¡± Ram said, waving dismissively. ¡°And it¡¯s a terrible name, so I¡¯m not going to remember. I¡¯m going to call you ¡®Priest¡¯ from now on. Easier to remember.¡± ¡°I... I will bear that name with pride, honoured patriarch who knows infinite benevolence.¡± Honoured patriarch who knows infinite whatevers, I like the sound of that. Ram thought, rubbing his chin. ¡°Yes, yes. Priest, you may compliment me more.¡± Wind picked up, rustling the rags Ram wore and making his mane of fluffy white hair billow behind him. He ran his fingers through the cloud-stuff he was sitting on, making electricity dance between each, darkening the platform slightly as power built. ¡°Priest, I do not like the look of that one.¡± He said, pointing down at one of the newly built homes. Priest shuffled slightly closer to the edge of the cloud and squinted down at the scores of buildings dotting the hill. ¡°I am not sure which one you are referring to.¡± ¡°That one.¡± Ram repeated, doing nothing to help the human with his deficient eyesight. ¡°It is too tall.¡± ¡°I thought all the homes built on that hill were only a single story?¡± ¡°What do stories have to do with anything?¡± The priest was silent for several moments. ¡°Nothing, sorry venerable one. I see now, and completely agree.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Ram grunted, pulling another stalk of grain out of his pocket. Priest shifted uncomfortably from side to side, wrapping his robes tightly around him as he shivered from the cold of being so high up. ¡°Is... is the honourable sir willing to hear out my request yet.¡± Ram didn¡¯t reply for over a minute, then he nodded slightly. Priest jumped on the opportunity and started rambling about several things Ram couldn¡¯t care less about. Something something supplies, something something tension, something sick. ¡°- so I propose an offer to allow those who are suffering from illness direct exposure to the tree, in exchange for services rendered.¡± ¡°Always the damn tree.¡± Ram grumbled. ¡°Tree this, tree that. Please let us touch it, please let us take a stick or carve our names into the trunk. None of you deserve it. If the... man who planted it knew what you sickoes were doing to it he would...¡± He wasn¡¯t sure what Leif would do. Whatever it was, it probably wouldn¡¯t be to wipe out an entire town. Ram sighed, which the human took as an indicator to speak. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°It may be true that in the past some have shown... less than adequate respect towards the great tree.¡± Priest conceded. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t change the fact that proximity to it will change lives for the better. I hope that you did not accept these people into Far-Reach, only to leave them to suffer and die?¡± Ram gave the human his most withering stare. To his credit, the man didn¡¯t flinch, instead his expression firmed and his fists clenched. Ram snorted, then reached forward and flicked him in the forehead. Priest howled and rolled away, kicking up cloud-stuff as he did so, cursing several gods that Ram was only somewhat sure actually existed. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll mention it to my kids later, they¡¯ll finalise things.¡± ¡°That... that is wonderful news.¡± Priest said, his expression brightening as he awkwardly stumbled to his feet. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°T-thank you.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°May... May I please go now?¡± Ram frowned, turning to look down at the man. ¡°Just leave.¡± ¡°With respect, I would die from the fall. It¡¯s why I didn¡¯t leave back when you were ignoring me.¡± The goat leaned over the side of the cloud, making Priest flinch forward as if to grab him. ¡°Did you forget I can fly?¡± He asked. ¡°Maybe...¡± The human mumbled sheepishly. Ram chuckled, a low, rumbling sound, and the cloud below his feet rumbled with him. Priest¡¯s eyes widened, then he began to laugh as well, though his sounded at least two octaves higher and slightly manic. ¡°Even if I couldn¡¯t. The fall would not harm me. It would take-¡± He cut off, head snapping towards the east. Ram¡¯s perception accelerated as he pushed outwards with a field of nearly invisible energy, the air warping, churning, spinning away from him to reveal whatever it passed over and relay information back to him directly. A form shimmered some twenty metres off to the side, and a form was revealed hovering in mid air, dark tassels from her tight fitting robes rippling in the wind. It was a human woman with dark hair and piercing green eyes that were as sharp as the halo of serrated daggers that hung over her head. She stepped against the air to push herself away as a whip of lightning cracked into the place she had just been. ¡°Try it, human.¡± Ram growled, waving a hand in Priest¡¯s direction as lightning crackled between his horns. A hole opened up beneath the man¡¯s feet, and he fell screaming out of the sky. His fall would be buffeted at the last moment. Probably. The woman tilted her head to the side, her slowly spinning halo of blades orienting themselves to point down at his heart. She circled him, form occasionally flickering and reappearing. He didn¡¯t recognise her, though that was perhaps less of an indicator of her being a stranger to him than it should be, most humans looked the same after all. But Ram liked to think that he would have noticed if somebody this powerful had been living under his nose. Though now that he considered it, he hadn¡¯t noticed her until she had gotten within striking distance, her slightly hostile presence brushing up against the edge of his aura. Twenty metres was nothing, the gap between them could be closed within a blink. But neither moved, tension building. ¡°What is this, beast? Answer me true, I am a gold ranked adventurer of the Twin-Heart guild.¡± She finally said, her whisper quiet words carried to his ears. Ram raised an eyebrow. He had never heard of this supposed guild, but that wasn¡¯t surprising with how limited his exposure to human society had been. ¡°It¡¯s a cloud. It may not look like it, but it''s actually made of water.¡± It had been a world shattering revelation when he had finally figured that one out. It had been cold too. The human drew her lips into a line and narrowed her eyes. ¡°Not what I meant.¡± Ram stared at her, and she stared back. For over a minute they locked gazes, two predators sizing each other up. Finally, cautiously, Ram opened his mouth again. ¡°You mean the houses?¡± She nodded stiffly. The old goat shrugged. ¡°I am not human. You would know more about them than I.¡± ¡°Why are they here?¡± She snapped. ¡°Because people like you built them. I¡¯m just a goat, lady.¡± Ram replied, growing confused. The human, for her part, looked equally lost for words. She let out an annoyed sounding chirp, then her halo of daggers pointed upwards. ¡°Why is there a settlement here? I thought this was past the imperial cordon?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t that fall apart?¡± Ram asked after a few moments to recall exactly what that meant, scratching the side of his neck now that the possibility of a fight was largely fading. ¡°Because of the war?¡± ¡°War?¡± ¡°Yes, the one you humans are fighting.¡± She just blinked once, half turning to look south. ¡°Oh. Oh no. So these are refugees?¡± ¡°Yes. Be grateful that I part with such valuable information so easily.¡± Ram grumbled. Before he had finished speaking she was gone, a dark streak carving down towards the ground. A heartbeat after the human had landed, she was gone, her form blurring. Ram clicked his tongue. He had been looking forward to the fight. It wasn¡¯t every day you encountered a human above level one hundred. He wondered who she was, then decided that now that she had gone it didn¡¯t matter. The goat pulled a bottle of booze from his pocket and took a swig. Every day was different down here, he regretted spending so much time alone on that mountain. He let himself drop, noticing a crowd of humans surrounding a man who had fallen face first into a field of barely sprouting somethings. They parted as he landed beside the figure, his worn boots sinking over an inch into the worked soil. Ram reached down and grabbed Priest by the back of his collar, then hauled him up to sling him over his shoulder. He kicked off with a blast of wind, heading straight for Leif¡¯s now quite large tree. He would need to leave the human under its canopy for a few days to heal all the broken bones. The group of kids seated cross legged next to the wide trunk watched with wide eyes as he dumped Priest¡¯s unconscious and bleeding body to the ground. He waved at the class, some were his descendants, most weren¡¯t, and one was a prim looking deer. ¡°Keep this one safe for me would you.¡± He told them, then blasted off before the old woman with iridescent grey hair could yell at him for interrupting her lesson. He was bored, and the near fight from earlier had awoken instincts that he usually kept buried. Time to go kill something. Preferably something that could fight back. He should check to see if those ice elementals were reconstituting. Chapter 210: Under the Tree ¡°Is... is he going to be okay?¡± Roy asked, his voice a whisper as he leaned over to speak into Han¡¯s ear. The other boy shrugged one shoulder, his wide eyes locked onto the bleeding and broken body of the priest the guardian had just dumped at the foot of Leif¡¯s tree. They weren¡¯t the only children completely captivated by the scene, as almost everyone in attendance was no longer paying attention to the lesson. Kala, the matronly old woman who had taken it upon herself to teach the youth of Far-Reach how to read, write and count, let out a long, suffering sigh. ¡°That beast will be the death of me, I swear.¡± She shuffled over to the now twitching man and placed a hand on his forehead. ¡°My grandma¡¯s a healer, watch.¡± Han whispered into Roy¡¯s ear, pointing at Kala as blue light began to glow from her hand. The priest¡¯s eyes fluttered, then he seemed to relax, falling into a deep sleep. ¡°I know.¡± Roy said. ¡°Everybody knows.¡± ¡°Yeah, but it''s cool so I need to remind everyone.¡± ¡°I thought you said that healing was lame?¡± Han scrunched his brow in consternation. ¡°That was last week.¡± ¡°Is it different now?¡± He asked, confused. Han shrugged again. ¡°She gave me candy so healing is cool.¡± ¡°There¡¯s candy?¡± Roy said, his voice rising slightly. Han nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out a sticky ball half covered in fluff and dirt. The boy offered it with an outstretched hand and a wide grin. ¡°Um, no thanks.¡± Han licked the ball of sugar, and Roy winced. It was unsanitary, but it wasn¡¯t like there was much of a risk of anyone getting sick. Being so close to the domain tree was like being bathed in warm sunlight at all times, its presence nourishing both the body and soul. There was a reason Kala chose to host her lessons below its canopy, and most were more than happy to have their children attend, even if the small plateau it grew from was home to an entire forest''s worth of animals. Kala clapped to gather everyone¡¯s attention, but it was too late. Conversation had openly broken out among the children as they speculated about what guardian Ram had been doing, and how the priest had gotten pulverised. ¡°Han, that is filthy.¡± A feminine voice said, though not out loud. Roy and Han both turned to see Lani sitting, her four legs tucked under her body. The deer had no hands for obvious reasons, but she held a piece of chalk between her teeth with surprising adroitness. A faint, silver-blue light circled her head, and her thoughts gently brushed against their minds to convey words and meaning. ¡°But it¡¯s tasty.¡± Han said. ¡°How?¡± She asked. ¡°It¡¯s covered in dirt.¡± ¡°If Bam can eat it, then so can I.¡± ¡°Bam is not a good role model.¡± Lani chided. ¡°She is the exact opposite.¡± Roy found it strange, even after all these months, to be able to speak to an animal and have it be able to respond. But life had been different from what he could have possibly imagined ever since he had fallen from the sky. ¡°We should focus on the lesson.¡± He said, running a thumb to clean chalk off the plank of wood that was on the ground before him. ¡°Indeed.¡± Lani said into his head, followed by an encouraging sensation that tickled the back of his mind. Roy shuddered, though not entirely out of discomfort, it was pleasant, if unusual. ¡°Oh, I did it again.¡± The deer sent, her mental voice sounding morose. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± He said, patting her on the head. ¡°You¡¯re still practising.¡± It was odd to be sharing a class with a talking, sort of, animal. But what was weirder was that, other than elder Kala, Lani was easily the strongest person here. None of the human children had a class, or skills, or anything like that. And sitting next to him was a creature that had once accidently put over twenty people to sleep when she sneezed. Kala, despite being a patient woman, was now shooting small streams of water out of her extended finger into the foreheads of anyone still chatting. Han shouted and waved, then tried to catch the jet of water with his mouth, which earned a scowl from his grandmother. Like many of the children around Roy, Han was a demikin, though you wouldn¡¯t immediately know he had a bloodline from just looking at him. Like his grandmother, Han had a faint iridescence to his hair that made it shimmer with rainbow colour when lit under certain conditions. Some of the other children, like the pair sitting in front of him, had more distinct characteristics. Fluffy white hair with small horns was a common sight among those living closest to the domain tree, and those who possessed such features were clearly marked as the descendants of the guardian. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Roy wasn¡¯t sure what to think of Ram. If he was totally honest, the large man scared him a little bit. He felt like the goat in human guise was always a wrong word away from lashing out in violence, though Roy had never actually seen him do such a thing, at least not to anyone close to his family. Not that his tales of his conquest against nearby monsters wasn¡¯t legendary. The sounds of chalk scratching against wood filled the air as he and the others copied down math formations Kala was projecting out of water, her control over the element enough that the liquid held in place above her extended hand until she no longer needed it. Roy hastily scribbled down what he thought was the answer, and he ended up getting it correct, though he wasn¡¯t the one called on to present their answer. There were other normal human children taking the lesson, refugees mostly from the south. But Roy found himself struggling to relate to many of them. On the surface they were similar, too skinny and distinct signs of poverty in their clothes and ragged appearance. But they had grown up on poor farms, villages or in refugee camps set up by the empire. For most of Roy¡¯s life he had lived in a palace, and then an estate in the imperial capital. His year of life living on the streets of Kartinth with his sister was a point of comparison. The suffering was real, the starvation and sickness was real. But it wasn¡¯t the same. How could it be? He was royalty, if displaced, and while nobody in Far-Reach but himself knew that, it created a near impenetrable, if self made, divide between him and the other refugees. Many of them had once lived in the kingdom his family had ruled. Many of them had family members die because his hadn¡¯t protected them. Roy was nine, his very first memories were of his parents fretting over the impending invasion while they thought he was asleep. Any guilt he felt was irrational, but it was still present, still real. He wrote down his answer to another question, but ended up getting it wrong. It was embarrassing, he was a year or two older than some of the other children around him, Han included, but he felt years behind. He had occasionally had tutors or lessons from Lucia, but most of his education had atrophied while living in squalor on the streets. The next question was harder, and he wasn¡¯t confident in it at all. Of course, that was exactly when elder Kala called upon him to share his answer. Roy suddenly found his mouth dry as he went to speak, and the longer his silence went the more and more people shuffled to look at him. Lani leaned over his shoulder to look down at his answer, then mentally nudged him. It was all the prompting he needed as words soon tumbled out of his mouth. ¡°Eleven, uh, I think.¡± Kala nodded. ¡°Correct, well done. Did you remember to carry the numbers?¡± Roy nodded, and she smiled at him. Nobody clapped or cheered, but as the attention of the other kids turned to the next question, Roy found himself struggling not to grin like an idiot. It was such a little thing, to be surrounded by peers. Even if it was scary, or if some of them treated him strangely for having been dropped from the sky in a streak of gold. This place, Far-Reach, felt more like home than anywhere else he had ever lived. He loved it, truely. If only Lucia was there with him. === The leaves of the domain tree were a deep, crimson red, but they shone gold around the edges when they caught the light. On top of the feeling of warmth being near the tree gave, occasionally time felt as though it moved in strange ways, it would move slower, a distant flock of birds suddenly speeding up as they flew by, only for things to return to normal soon after. It had been a recent change, and when it had happened for the first time people had initially gone to him for answers. Or, those who knew the tree¡¯s history did. It was somewhat of an open secret that Leif had created the domain tree, or maybe he was the tree, it was confusing. Whatever the case, anybody in Far-Reach who knew Leif, or knew of him, had immediately known who had been the cause for Roy¡¯s sudden appearance three months prior. Despite the strangeness, the war he had flown over had caused people to flee north, and there was no better sanctuary than this one. It felt like growth in this place was... inevitable, almost endless. They didn¡¯t have many farmers or fields, but what little they did have produced in abundance. It was a problem in some ways too, grasses and weeds were just as likely to grow as anything else, even the homes made of wood nearest to the domain tree had a habit of sprouting new twigs with budding leaves. And the tree... even personally knowing its origin, even knowing the strength and power Leif had, Roy could hardly fathom it. As Leif had been saving him and his sister, on the other side of the world he had simultaneously been sheltering and healing hundreds, if not thousands. And the tree just kept growing. Roy had been in Far-Reach for three months, and it felt like every day it reached further into the sky, its canopy of shimmering crimson leaves casting their shadow across more and more of the ground. It was approaching maybe fifty metres tall, though it was hard to count. As he climbed down the stairs woven from roots leading down from the plateau, Roy¡¯s stomach rumbled loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. Han, his face scrunched with concentration, fingers on his temples as he was staring at Lani, turned to give him a dubious expression. ¡°I offered the candy.¡± ¡°He needs proper food.¡± Lani sent, gingerly hopping down at step. ¡°I swear, you somehow eat more than Bam.¡± Roy flushed, he couldn¡¯t help it. Near starvation made his body crave nutrition constantly, and being near the domain tree only helped somewhat. ¡°We¡¯ll eat at my place.¡± Han said, jumping two steps at a time and almost falling over. ¡°We¡¯ll steal some of my brother¡¯s food. He¡¯s a stupid idiot, but he keeps a lot of snacks in case his friend comes over.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t call him a stupid idiot.¡± Roy said instinctually. ¡°But he is one?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about that. But he¡¯s your older brother... so it¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°But older people are always the most dumb.¡± ¡°Is guardian Ram dumb? He¡¯s the oldest person in Far-Reach.¡± Roy asked. Han frowned, then nodded. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s also an idiot. Everyone knew not to give Bam alcohol, but he did anyway.¡± Lani let out an audible sigh, though it sounded more like a chuff. ¡°I hope one day we can meet your sister, Roy. She sounds great. The only one I¡¯m related to keeps setting things on fire.¡± They had reached the bottom of the steps, but Lani paused, her head tilted and nose twitching. ¡°Oh hey.¡± Han said, pointing. ¡°She must be over there, look at all that smoke.¡±