Beneath the Dragoneye Moons - Under Ashen Skies

by Selkie Myth

Table of Contents

Cover

Copyright Information

Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Dedication

The story so far

Chapter 1 - Into the rising sun

Chapter 2 - A Yellow and Black Plague I

Chapter 3 - A Yellow and Black Plague II

Chapter 4 - A Yellow and Black Plague III

Chapter 5 - Interlude - Auri - A Yellow and Black Plague IV

Chapter 6 - A Yellow and Black Plague V

Chapter 7 - A Yellow and Black Plague VI

Chapter 8 - Interlude - Dormin - To Kill A Hummingbird

Chapter 9 - To Exterreri!

Chapter 10 - Pekari I

Chapter 11 - Pekari II

Chapter 12 - Pekari III

Chapter 13 - Immortal Hideout I

Chapter 14 - Immortal Hideout II

Chapter 15 - Blazing through the sky to Sanguino!

Chapter 16 - A polite conversation

Chapter 17 - Landing in Sanguino!

Chapter 18 - The Hunt for Night I

Chapter 19 - The Hunt for Night II

Chapter 20 - Interlude - Amber - The Endlessly Spinning Coin

Chapter 21 - The Hunt for Night III

Chapter 22 - The Hunt for Night IV

Chapter 23 - The Hunt for Night V

Chapter 24 - The Hunt for Night VI

Chapter 25 - The Hunt for Night VII

Chapter 26 - The Hunt for Night VIII

Chapter 27 - A Reunion Written in Stone

Chapter 28 - One Small Favor

Chapter 29 - A Report Out Of Time

Chapter 30 - Progress Resumed

Chapter 31 - Job Offer

Chapter 32 - Discussion Time

Chapter 33 - The Wyrm I

Chapter 34 - The Wyrm II

Chapter 35 - Aftermath

Chapter 36 - Home Sweet Home

Chapter 37 - Getting up to speed

Chapter 38 - Sentinel Dawn

Chapter 39 - Classing Up

Chapter 40 - Interlude - Small events

Thank you all! Please read!

Copyright Information

This is a work of fiction, and the views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author. Likewise, certain characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Cover Art by Kart Studios. Cover Typesetting by MiblArt.

Under Ashen Skies (Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, Book 10)

Copyright © 2023 Selkie Myth

All rights reserved.

Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Oathbound Healer

Adventures in the Argo

Ranger’s Dawn

Beyond the Wall

Moonveiled Journeys

Immortal Moments

Return to Remus

New Horizons

The Gladiator Gauntlet

Under Ashen Skies

Dedication

This story is dedicated to my wonderful wife, Lauren, without whom this wouldn't be possible. Her endless love and support keeps me going.

This story is also dedicated to my beautiful daughter Flora, whose smiles light up my every day.

I would also like to acknowledge my beta readers, who put up with my endless typos, fix my mistakes, and help guide the story, so it can be the best story possible.

I'd like to thank all the other supportive authors and writing communities, and all the kind words they have.

Lastly, I'd like to thank Royal Road. My story and success wouldn't be possible without their website.

Thank you, to each and every one of you.

The story so far

Hello! Welcome to another installment of Beneath the Dragoneye Moons! Here’s a quick recap of the story so far.

Book 1: Elaine is reincarnated on Pallos with some of her knowledge, Papilion having swiss-cheesed her memories before allowing her to reincarnate. Elaine grows up, realizes she still knows biology. Tries a little too hard to lie low, and accidentally kills her friend, Lyra. Takes her healing [Oath] and meets Artemis. When her family tries to marry her off at 14, she decides to run away from home and join the Rangers. She gets kidnapped by runaway slaves-turned-bandits. The Rangers smash the group, and Elaine asks to join. Julius denies her until she reveals the full extent of her reincarnated status. He changes his mind and lets her tag along. They arrive in Virinum, where a monster is terrorizing the locals. The Rangers come up with a plan to take down the monster, and Elaine is critical in keeping Kallisto alive. After the fight, Julius offers for Elaine to join them as a real Ranger, and she accepts. The book ends with Elaine classing up, merging her Light and Dark healing classes into a Celestial class. With the open class slot, she takes a Fire mage class.

Book 2: Elaine starts practicing with her new skills, learning her new limits and capabilities. Kerberos, her fiance, hires some adventurers to retrieve Elaine. They kidnap her, but her Ranger teammates come to the rescue, killing most of them and arresting the rest. Shaken but undeterred, Elaine continues with the team, experiencing just how dangerous life is on the road for a Ranger team. From dinosaur swarms and bandits, to twitchy teammates and deadly monsters, there’s never a moment’s rest for the team. They arrive in Perinthus, a town dying to multiple plagues. Elaine shines, healing as many people as she can while slowly building a map of the victims. It soon becomes clear that one is mundane, and the other is caused by a Classer. The Rangers investigate, determining who the culprit is, and execute him without a trial. Leaving Perinthus, the team continues on, getting into various situations as they complete their round. During this time, Elaine writes the Medical Manuscripts. After two years, they arrive back in Ariminum, the capital, where Elaine is interrogated by Priest Demos and reunites with her parents and they come to an understanding. She is told that she’ll need to attend Ranger Academy to ‘properly’ become a Ranger, and Arthur is promoted to Sentinel Toxic during the Ranger Convocation.

Book 3: Elaine attends the grueling Ranger Academy, where she meets Sentinel Night, her mentor. While she’s there, she’s brought to the front lines against the endless Formorians, in one part to directly fight them and level herself, and in another to keep an eye on Sentinel Toxic’s mass-poisoning efforts, checking that they’re not going to blow back on the soldiers. After returning from the front lines, she’s pitted in a colosseum match against her former finance Kerberos, where she blows his head off. She classes up, trading Fire magic for Radiance magic, achieving one of her lifelong dreams - flight. Upon graduation, she isn’t assigned to a team, instead being promoted to Sentinel Dawn. She goes on a failed date with Jaclyn, and learns that Night is a vampire. He teaches Elaine about the creation of the world. After starting to figure out some work and getting an apprentice, Autumn, Elaine goes off on her first Sentinel missions, shaking down her gear and experience. She encounters a weak plague and a pirate attack, and returns triumphant. A series of reports shows a few more years of Elaine’s Sentinel work.

Book 4: The book begins with the Formorians breaching the wall, and all hands are on deck. All available Sentinels, along with Priest Demos, fly out to the front lines, where they entrench themselves deep within the horde for a last desperate strike against the Formorians. Destruction channels a massive earthquake, while Demos beseeches a god to intervene on their behalf. Both go off, each killing one of the Formorian Queens, and the Sentinels split, forming a strike team to kill the last Queen. Elaine and Bulwark return back to help the remaining soldiers against the horde, and they finally succeed in winning their thousand year war against the Formorians. Elaine classes up, obtaining [The Dawn Sentinel] and building a skill to obtain in the future - Immortality. Hunting and Elaine are sent to make sure there are no other Formorian Queen eggs or anything like that in the hostile wastes the Formorians came from. The two delve deep into the Formorian territory, finding someone else was on the other side - dwarves. The two of them split, with Hunting returning to report their findings while Elaine hangs out with the dwarves. They convince Elaine that they’re not the people to talk with, and she should be brought to the capital and talk with someone important. She agrees, but while they’re traveling, they’re interrupted by Lun’Kat fighting with the Guardians. In order to stay alive, Elaine and the surviving dwarves dive down an old mine shaft, finding themselves deep underground.

Book 5: Elaine and the dwarves are trapped underground, trying to survive the monsters, traps, and orcs. Ned is replaced by a shapeshifter, but they finally find an underground dwarven city. Elaine shows off her healing prowess once again, slicing open dwarves to find out how their implanted augments work. She discovers that the dwarves have no intention of letting her go, and devises a plan to escape. She flees once again to the underground, where she is chased by the inevitable shluggoth. Running away, she finds Lun’Kat’s lair, where the dragon is injured. Elaine is sworn to heal anyone, and enters to heal Lun’Kat. She mostly resists taking any treasure, only snagging a single small, hot, red egg before fleeing back to the open air and freedom. Elaine gets [The Stars Never Fade], the immortality skill. She unfortunately has no idea where she is, and starts heading north when she bumps into a trio of elves. They’re heading in roughly the same direction, and Elaine joins up, for safety and guidance. They fight a hydra and emerge victorious.

Book 6: After pissing off some trolls, they encounter a gnoll, whom Elaine makes young again with [The Stars Never Fade], practicing her immortality skill for the first time and meeting White Dove. They travel further to Ochi, a city infested with Shimagu who can hijack other people’s bodies. After struggling with her ethics and morals, Elaine heals the people infested with Shimagu, killing the intelligent bodyjackers in the process. The action devastates her though, and being close enough to Remus, she travels the rest of the distance alone. She finds herself in a city, with a Ranger team nearby - home at last! The book ends with the egg hatching in a blaze of fire, Auri emerging from the flames.

Book 7: Elaine struggles with looking after a newborn Auri, eventually realizing that she’s one of the rarest and most legendary creatures to ever exist - a phoenix. The two make their way back home, where they find Artemis has been sold into slavery and Julius is missing. After freeing Artemis, Elaine reports back to the Sentinels, where she finally hits the level 512 milestone and unlocks her third class. Elaine has a tearful reunion with her friends and family. News of her ability to make people young again makes its way to the Emperor, who pressures Elaine into making him young again, no matter the price. Elaine negotiates - poorly - women getting equal treatment in the eyes of the law. Augustus agrees, and Elaine has a triumphant parade through the city, where Augustus announces both the change, and a war against the Shimagu. News reaches the Sentinels about where Julius went missing - a fairy ring - and Elaine, along with Artemis, Auri, and Autumn - enter the ring, intent on retrieving him. They succeed, but fae trickery and divine intervention mean they leave the fairy ring tens of thousands of years after when they entered.

Book 8: Elaine and the rest are utterly lost in this new world. They don’t speak the language, and half of what they do is illegal. They’re fortunate to meet Iona, a Valkyrie, who has a blessing to speak any language. She helps orient them to the world, and Elaine decides it’d be best for her to attend the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, to gain as much knowledge and information that she can. Julius and Artemis decide they want to try joining the Hunter’s Guild, and Autumn - now called Amber, after she sold her name to the fae for power - wants to kickstart her dream of becoming disgustingly rich. Elaine attends the School, where she learns as much as she can, and takes a ‘practice’ third class, Biomancy, in order to make modifications to herself that’ll last her entire lifetime - eternity. It also gives her a good view on the remaining classes she has. She also starts to learn the art of Wizardry, etching runes and glyphs to create any magical effect - at a steep knowledge, time, and efficiency cost. Iona and Elaine fall for each other and start dating, and the book ends with Elaine performing a massive biomancy operation on herself and Iona, permanently improving their bodies. The book ends with Elaine taking her third class ‘for real’ - [Bookwyrm].

Book 9: Elaine and Iona are continuing their School adventures. Elaine is a member of the School’s combat team, and the Gladiator Gauntlet is the main event. Elaine attends along with Iona, who discovers that Rolland has effectively disbanded the remnants of the Valkyrie order. Iona enters the tournament, intent on extracting a pound of flesh from the nobility, while Elaine struggles to win the event for the School’s glory. They’ve given her five years of free tuition, the least she can do is return with a trophy for them. Both are victorious, and return to the School. Elaine’s body is on a shorter lifespan than usual with her dramatic biomancy modifications, and chooses to get cursed sooner rather than later by White Dove, because at the School she can research mitigation tactics. She’s cursed, and graduation is around the corner. She graduates in multiple tracks, and gets recognized as the founder of modern medicine due to her efforts with the Medical Manuscripts back in the day… regardless of how many other people contributed over the eons to the book. After graduating, Iona and Elaine fly off together to Exterreri, hoping to find Night.

The Magic System Refresher

This is a simple refresher, covering the major points without getting bogged down in the minor details. Beneath the Dragoneye Moons is a litRPG magic system. There are 8 stats - Strength, Dexterity, Speed, Vitality, Mana, Mana Regeneration, Magic Power, and Magic Control. Most people have two classes, with people over level 512 unlocking a third class. Each class has an element. The eight basic elements are Light, Dark, Water, Fire, Wind, Earth, Nature and Metal. Each combination of two of the basic elements creates an advanced element - Light and Dark make Celestial, for example. Each element has things it can and can’t do, along with the class. People get experience for doing things their class wants to do. A [Lumberjack] gets experience for cutting wood, and not very much for killing a monster. A [Knight] gets a lot of experience for killing a monster, and very little for chopping wood. Leveling up a class gives stats, and raises the cap on skills for that class. Each class can have up to 8 skills, and there are 8 general skill slots.

Skills as of the start of this book:

Elaine:

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial]] Elaine’s healing class.

[Celestial Affinity] Affinity skill. Empowers all of her Celestial skills, lets her get better skills, and more efficiently uses mana for Celestial magic

[Cosmic Presence] Passive AOE improved healing speed aura. It won’t regrow an arm, but it’ll clot and passively heal at a 300x+ rate

[The Stars Never Fade] Makes a person’s body young again. Immortality skill - using it will annoy White Dove, who’ll curse whoever Elaine uses it on

[Center of the Universe] Anti-pain skill. Let’s Elaine know she’s been hurt without being debilitating. Can be broken with enough pain.

[Dance with the Heavens] The main healing skill. Practically a panacea, it only struggles with esoteric injuries, such as petrification

[Wheel of Sun and Moon] Gives [Dance with the Heavens] range, but only when Elaine and her patient are both touching moonlight or sunlight

[Mantle of the Stars] Weak barrier skill. Flexible, movable, and can be reimaged and reshaped however Elaine visualizes.

[Sunrise] Energy skill! Uses to invigorate and reenergize. Better than a cup of coffee in the morning

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance]] Elaine’s blasting mage and wizardry class. Likes exploring and learning new things to gain experience, also levels from fighting.

[Radiance Affinity] Same as Celestial Affinity, but for Radiance skills.

[Radiance Resistance] Stops Elaine from burning herself with her Radiance skills

[Nova Lance] A powerful Radiance beam from her fingers, Elaine can control the intensity, brightness, heat, and more! Uses it as anything from a kill-spell, to pointing at things far away

[Lepidoptera] Wizardry skill! Used to draw runes made out of glowing Radiance. Has a few skill enhancements folded into the skill itself - Enchanting lets her make enchantments on things (so-so - the class and the skill aren't set up for it), and the skill will also nudge almost right runes to be correct.

[Nectar] Simple mana-generating skill

[Solar Corona] Massive buff to Elaine’s offensive Radiance skills. Lets [Nova Lance] and [Kaleidoscope] hit much harder than expected.

[Scintillating Ascent] Flight skill! Can be improved by studying other flying creatures.

[Kaleidoscope] Summons butterflies of Radiance that Elaine can mentally control for a short time. Explodes at the end of lifespan (Elaine can dismiss them instead of them going boom)

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial]] Elaine’s reading books class!

[Spatial Affinity] See Celestial Affinity

[Comprehensive Speed Reading] Lets Elaine read and understand super fast, and improves how vividly she imagines things. Also lets her always know where she left off in a book, always open the book to the right page, read in the dark, and read better.

[Channeled Blink] A short-range teleport that requires a few seconds to wind up.

[Bookwyrm's Hoard] Spatial storage for books and book-like objects.

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes] Can read books when they’re closed, break through magical encryption.

[Vivid Dream Reading] Can read anything in [Bookwyrm’s Hoard] while sleeping. Combos amazingly well with [Parallel Thoughts] to read multiple books at once, as well as [Comprehensive Speed Reading]. Level while sleeping!

[Astral Archives] Perfect memory skill, also lets her organize her memories, store them, and ‘pull’ large amounts at once to the forefront of her mind.

[Hunger for Knowledge] Experience skill! Elaine gains more experience for everything she does.

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify] Gives Elaine the level and class abstraction of people

[Parallel Thoughts] Lets Elaine think about multiple things at once.

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] Bond between Elaine and Auri. Elaine gets to be fireproof and think much faster, while also being more vain.

[The World Around Me] Insane sensory skill. Sphere of perfect perception around Elaine, as well as helping her manage her super senses.

The super senses aren’t a skill, they’re the result of her biomancy.

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra] Elaine’s solemn healing Oath. Insane boost to her healing abilities, at a price.

[Sentinel's Superiority] For being a Sentinel. 25% boost to all of Elaine’s class skills.

[Persistent Casting] Lets Elaine "set and forget" skills. Primarily used to be permanently healing herself.

[Imbue] A new skill of Elaine’s lets her "attach" one skill to another. Elaine thinks it’ll be useful for healing.

Chapter 1 - Into the rising sun

Secrets, secrets, they’re no fun, unless they’re shared with everyone!

The silly little ditty was stuck in my head, running on repeat, as Fenrir flew all of us away from the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. Iona pulled on his harness, more of a way of communicating than any real control, and he obediently turned to his right, flying south.

I’d been flying on my own for years. I’d occasionally flown under the power of others. The first time I’d ever ‘flown’ was after Julius asked me to become a Ranger, and Artemis had lifted me up on a platform of stone. Another major flying experience was with Sky, as he brought us to the frontlines.

Flying on Fenrir was a whole different experience. There was a living, breathing creature under the layers of metal and leather, sheer… well, Fenrir wasn’t exactly unbridled power now, was he? We jostled slightly with every beat of his wings, then our flight became smooth as he glided for a distance.

Another big difference was we were strapped in, leather straps around my legs, Iona’s arms around me. It wasn’t feasible to get up and walk around, not with the wind and narrow, unsteady footing. A hairband stopped my hair from eating Iona’s face. I’d given myself a third eyelid when doing my biomancy operations, and they acted like a pair of goggles, keeping any little bits of dust and dirt out of my eyes, and stopping the wind from drying out my eyeballs.

Interesting that I’d never had that problem with [Talaria] or [Scintillating Ascent]. A minor effect of the skill?

With all that said, I was probably a faster flier than Fenrir. I had significantly more levels, and I wasn’t weighed down by a ton of stuff. It was one part practice, two parts making sure we didn’t get separated, one part hanging out with Iona that was why I was here, and not flying literal circles around Fenrir.

Auri was in the back, on Fenrir’s tail. I occasionally heard a delighted "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt!" as he swung his tail up and down, Auri having an utter blast of a ride.

"We’re over Suen, right?" I shouted back to Iona, unsure how well she could hear me with the whistling wind.

"Yes! And you don’t need to shout, I can hear you just fine!" She said.

I nodded and snuggled deeper into her embrace. This was nice. One of Iona’s hands started to wander, massaging me here and there. I reached down with my hand to her leg, and started to softly scratch her just the way she liked it.

I leaned back to just watch the world drift by. I had a few books for in-flight entertainment, but no. My stash of books was extremely limited for the foreseeable future, and I didn’t get that much joy out of rereading stories, not nearly as much as reading them for the first time. I wanted to savor them. I wanted to save them for the right time and place, when we were snowed in with a cozy fire or something.

Or when I knew where my next supply of books was coming from. Whichever came first.

The view was gorgeous. A beautiful summer sky with a few drifting clouds above promised a wonderful day of flying. I leaned forward, looking over Fenrir’s neck to see the ground below.

We were high up, but not too high, and my biomancy operation had done wonders for my vision. I could make out the individual corn sprouts reaching for the sky in the fields. I could make out the different rods a [Fisherman] had set up along a river. I couldn’t see through the forest canopy though. Super vision wasn’t the ability to see through walls - that’s what [The World Around Me] was for!

"Do we know where in Suen we are?" I asked Iona.

There was a pregnant pause behind me. I twisted my neck all the way around to stare right at Iona.

"We do know where we are, right? I don’t like that look on your face…" I really didn’t. Iona had the awkward ‘oh fuck’ look of someone who’d walked into class without homework, and the professor had just asked everyone to turn in their assignment.

"Could you please not do that with your neck? It’s super squicking me out." Being able to turn my head a full three-quarters of the way around was a hilarious trick.

"Whoooo, whoooo." I mimicked the sound of an owl, continuing to stare accusingly.

"You’re the one who knows where we’re going! I thought you had this all set, and could glance at a mountain and know where we are!" Iona kept protesting.

"You’re the native! You’ve literally had classes on the world, maps, and you took a cartography class! I’ve seen a few world maps, and about three inches of Rolland and Cartref Clyde!"

Iona held up her hands in surrender.

"Arguing about this isn’t going to get us anywhere. Do we want to keep flying south, stop at a town or village and ask for directions, or try to figure out where we are by looking at the map and landmarks?" She asked.

I mentally crunched through the options.

"Why not all of them? Let’s keep flying south, and ignore any small towns or villages. I doubt they’ll be on the map, and without being rude, I’m not sure if they’ll have the necessary knowledge to properly point us in the right direction. We know we need to go south. If we see a large town or city, we can stop by and orient ourselves. While we’re flying, why not check the map, and see if we can figure out where we are anyway?"

Iona nodded.

"Sounds like a plan. Also, this was a communication fail by us. We need to do better, I’ll make sure I talk more about who I think is doing what. Now, about that neck orientation…?"

I twisted my neck back to normal.

"You’re right. I assumed, you assumed, hey, at least we’re in Suen and not Phantasym."

There was another awkward silence behind me.

"...We’re in Suen, right?" I asked.

"I don’t see any wizard towers, so yes." Iona said.

[The World Around Me] let me ‘see’ inside of things, and I could look at most of our belongings that we’d strapped to Fenrir. Included in one of our chests was a medium quality world map, along with a more detailed map of Exterreri. [Comprehensive Speed Reading] let me skim the map quickly and easily from where it was safely tucked away.

"Good! Alright, I’m going to start checking out the map. Yell out landmarks you see." I said.

"Mind if we bring the map up here?" Iona asked. "I’d like to read it as well."

"Sure! Hey, challenge me, I’m working on my efficiency. How much mana and power budget do I get to bring the scroll up here?"

"Hmmmm… how about 5000 mana?" Iona suggested. She didn’t know a ton of wizardry, but she did know that it was roughly eight times as expensive as sorcery to do the same thing was - at a minimum.

"Alright, 5000 mana to retrieve the LOST SCROLL OF WHERE THE HECK ARE WE!" I boomed the last words out like a mighty [Archwizard] might.

I split my mind in three with [Parallel Thoughts]. One was dedicated to sweeping and looking around, noting places, mountains, forests, and other landmarks. The second went to reading the map, trying to find a similar place in Suen - or anywhere near the place. The third started to construct a stupidly complex array to get the map into my hands.

On the landmark front, we looked vaguely like we were in Suen. The only other real options were Ralakar or Phantasym, and both countries had distinct styles, for lack of a better word. Suen was ‘bland’, and the countryside we were flying over was equally bland. The island the School was on didn’t fly that fast.

Sadly, the [Cartographer] had taken some artistic liberties, and there were just ‘mountains’ on the map, no great detail as to what the mountains looked like. The northern continent wasn’t even on the map! Just a bunch of ocean with depictions of sea monsters.

The spell array was the trickiest one. First was figuring out what I wanted to happen. I needed to rearrange the contents of the chest, getting the map to the top. I needed to tilt the chest such that everything wouldn’t fall out when I opened it. I needed to open the lid a crack. I needed to float the scroll out, close the chest and latch it, then levitate the map into my hands.

All while on a living creature, flying high and fast. Wind shear would be an issue.

Then there was doing all that efficiently. Iona had given me a 5000 mana budget for this task, an arbitrary number that felt way too low.

The whole point of the exercise was practicing being efficient though. At the same time, we weren’t in a classroom. This was the real world, and a mistake here could have us lose our map - or an entire chest of our belongings!

I constructed my ‘brute force’ method first, and added in a half-dozen redundancies for other issues. An array to grab the chest if it fell. An array to freeze our belongings if it started to tip. An array to grab the map and yank it to me.

Worst case, I could just rip myself out of the saddle and dive for the map, or anything else. Would need to restitch my part of the saddle, along with anything else I’d broken.

Backups secured, I started to work on the main project. It was interesting to see how little things were different at each step. Take opening the chest. Instead of a quick Zoh rune to open, I needed to get into the nitty gritty. I had to mentally map out the latches. I had to figure out their mechanism. I needed to work out how they moved. I then needed to write a whole array just to target that one specific bit, and nudge the latch a tiny distance. I copied that array, changing the targeting a hair to the other latch.

Once the latches were done, I needed to lift the lid of the chest enough to get the map out, without letting it flap in the breeze. After the scroll was out, I needed to close the chest again and relatch it, instead of using a simpler Rairlik rune.

Then there was getting the scroll to me. I could just zip it across the distance, but again, efficiency. Fenrir’s body was a mass of tiny swirling eddies of wind, with some spots shaded from the wind shear and other parts fully exposed. Instead of going directly from the chest to my hands, I could see if there was a path along the side of his body that would be more complicated, but in the end, use less mana.

All the little details were annoying on one level - I had an easier solution already devised - but on another, they thrilled me. I felt like I was practicing magic. Throwing [Fireball] around was great and all, but carefully building a new spell like this? I felt very proper-witch-like. Wouldn’t want to spend all day every day doing it, but it was satisfying on a deep and primal level. Challenging myself to think and create just scratched some human itch in my psyche.

Didn’t come close to mangos, books, or healing people, but I didn’t have a surplus of any of those on hand.

"How’s it going?" Iona asked.

"I think I’ve got the arrays figured out. I need to double check them, there’s a bunch." I’d only built one spell with more arrays ever, and that had been a technical exercise to try and link as many arrays together as possible! The other issue was I couldn’t test the array, nor fix any mistakes I’d made. No, I had one try to get this done perfectly first time.

[Astral Archives] helped, but the best analogy I had was writing a sentence. I wouldn’t make any spelling errors, but it was possible that I had a grammatical error in there somewhere, and only by painstakingly checking every word could I have any confidence that it was right. Similarly, changing one word could mean I needed to change others - like how "arose" became "had arisen" when a tense was changed.

Except wizardry wasn’t that simple, oh noooooo. It would be more accurate to say the entire array needed to be edited on a single change, although the nature of wizardry meant only a single circle needed to be changed - not the other interlinking circles.

"Ready?" I asked Iona.

"Ready!" She confirmed, patting Fenrir’s neck. "Stay steady, witchosaurus is doing some magic."

I started tracing the symbols in the air with [Lepidoptera], the glowing runes stationary relative to my position, in spite of Fenrir’s flight.

Central array. Shifting array. Flight array. Chest array. Stillness array. Latching array. Movement, relative, positioning, targeting, and a dozen other arrays were traced before me in the soft golden glow of Radiance as I carefully assembled my spell.

One last glance to make sure the spell I’d cast was the same one I’d imagined, and I activated it. The runes burned in the air as mana coursed through the mandala, and I carefully watched with [The World Around Me].

The chest opened.

The scroll flew out.

The chest closed.

And I let out a triumphant shout as the map slapped into my hand.

"Yes!"

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 101 -> 102]

I’d gone a bit over my mana target if how much mana I’d spent to craft the mandala was included. Ignoring that, and I was just under.

Iona ruffled my hair.

"Nice! So where are we?"

I rolled my eyes at her as I used [Mantle of the Stars] to make a windbreak, unrolling the map.

"We’re somewhere in here." Suen was one large island, which made defining the boundaries easy enough. "As long as we keep going south, we’ll hit the border. Find the nearest city from there?" There wasn’t anything super obvious that let me instantly pinpoint where we were, not even after all this flying. A few small towns here and there, but nothing that had screamed YOU ARE HERE.

Iona traced her finger from Suen to Exterreri, then paused at the nation and tapped on it a few times.

"Why?" She asked. "Now that I’m looking at it, no matter where on the southern coast we end up, the rough direction is the same. We’re going south by south-west, and we want to be west of the Crystal Sea. Now, if it’s the end of the day, sure, let’s stop and hit a tavern, but if we’re confident this is Suen, I don’t see the need to stop."

I studied the map again.

"I guess the only question is Omospondia. Do we want to cut west across the land bridge, follow the coast but be forced east, or just fly over?"

I could feel Iona shaking her head.

"They’ll do their best to shoot us out of the sky, if for no other reason that we might be a rival’s plot. I don’t like the idea of flying the wrong way, so yeah, you’re right. Let’s land when we hit the coast, get our bearings, cross along the Omospondia-Ralakar border, then follow the coast south. Cross the Serene Bay, and we’re in Exterreri."

The flight plan looked viable and almost one of the shortest ways to Exterreri, although we weren’t going to land near Sanguino. We’d need to travel more in the country, but for no good reason, I’d feel a little better once we were ‘there’.

"Alright! Sounds like a plan." I wanted to kick back and lean into Iona, but no. Stupid saddle straps. Instead I rolled the map up and handed it back to Iona.

"Cheers, for you!" I had a cheeky grin on my face.

"Hey, wait, I don’t want to hold this the entire way!" She protested.

"Ahhh, what a shame!" I languidly stretched out. "If only someone hadn’t wanted to see the map for herself!"

Iona bonked me on the head with the map.

"Sassosaurus." She accused me while slipping the scroll into her saddlebag.

Her other hand slipped somewhere a little more fun, and the ride became a lot more interesting.

"Iona?"

"Mmmm?" Iona breathed into my ear. I swatted at her.

"Serious for a minute." I reproached her. Iona snapped up, standing up straight, one hand snapping to her lance and the other ready to form a shield out of her flowing mallium armor.

"What’s up?" All traces of playfulness and teasing were gone.

"So I haven’t gotten around terribly much."

"Yeah."

"And there’s a wide gap between theory and practice."

"Go on." Iona started to relax.

"But is that a fucking plague flag over there?"

I pointed to a sparkling harbor town in the distance. We’d finished traveling across Suen, and were approaching the southern border. I could just barely pick out the fine details - it was at the edge of my range of vision - but there was a checkered black and yellow flag flying from the ramparts.

Iona squinted in the direction I was pointing, and we flew until she could make it out.

"Yup." She grimly confirmed. "That’s the plague flag."

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 27]

[Mana: 786,000/786,000]

[Mana Regen: 451,384 (+877,695)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,299]

[Dexterity: 6,714]

[Vitality: 25,468]

[Speed: 25,500]

[Mana: 78,600]

[Mana Regeneration: 78,717 (+87,769)]

[Magic Power: 45,038 (+1,155,225)]

[Magic Control: 44,956 (+1,153,121)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 513]]

[Celestial Affinity: 513]

[Cosmic Presence: 323]

[The Stars Never Fade: 12]

[Center of the Universe: 472]

[Dance with the Heavens: 513]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 513]

[Mantle of the Stars: 492]

[Sunrise: 471]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 446]]

[Radiance Affinity: 446]

[Radiance Resistance: 446]

[Nova Lance: 446]

[Lepidoptera: 446]

[Nectar: 446]

[Solar Corona: 446]

[Scintillating Ascent: 446]

[Kaleidoscope: 446]

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial: Lv 81]]

[Spatial Affinity: 81]

[Comprehensive Speed Reading: 81]

[Channeled Blink: 36]

[Bookwyrm's Hoard: 81]

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes: 81]

[Vivid Dream Reading: 81]

[Astral Archives: 81]

[Hunger for Knowledge: 81]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 380]

[Parallel Thoughts: 102]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 456]

[The World Around Me: 59]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 513]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 513]

[Persistent Casting: 432]

[Imbue: 35]

Chapter 2 - A Yellow and Black Plague I

Iona and Fenrir wordlessly worked together to land a non-threatening distance away from the town. While they were doing that, I was double checking my amulet and deception ring settings, making sure they both displayed me at 256. Had to keep my true level a secret.

It didn’t help a ton, warning bells were ringing by the time we’d landed and guards were scrambling onto the wall. Interestingly, all the guards here were equipped with bolas, a throwing weapon that was basically a bunch of cords with weights on the end. A weapon designed for ranged capture, although usually not great inside a crowded city.

"You’d think all of Fenrir’s armor and gear would clearly indicate that he’s tamed and safe." I remarked to Iona.

She grunted at me.

"Yeah. Well, wish me luck, I’m going to go talk with them."

"Want me to come with? I’m good with guards."

Iona hesitated.

"How good’s your trader tongue, and do you want half the guards in the city checking your protections?" She asked.

I eyed Fenrir.

"Why don’t Auri and I unpack some supplies while you mollify the guard." I suggested.

Iona nodded and headed over to the gate, everything but her helmet slamming into position as she manipulated her armor.

I kept an eye on Iona and the guards, ready to dash over at a moment’s notice, while we grabbed all the chests off of Fenrir. Wasn’t fair to him to just leave them there, and I didn’t know what we’d need, or how long we’d be here.

I took a deep whiff as I unpacked, a nice seaside breeze bringing the scents of the city to me, getting a vague idea of what was going on in the town.

Fish was my first impression. A thousand and one smells of hundreds of different fish, and each of their parts, in various stages of decay. From the freshly-killed marlin brought in by a fishing trawler, all the way to minnows that had been forgotten for three weeks, I smelled it all.

There were the usual mess of port city smells, from salt, fresh fish, a subtle odor of fish that had gone bad and other unsavory things rotting, a kaleidoscope of elvenoid smells and everything that life generated, wood, and the hundreds and thousands of other scents that a town made, that I could get on a quick sniff. There were probably a thousand secrets I’d just uncovered, if only I knew the background and context of everything I’d just smelled.

Three things stood out to me.

First was the putrid scent of disease, of rot and puke, of necrosis and death. People were sick. People were dying.

That’s why we’d stopped.

The second was the accursed scent of apples. Suen wasn’t exactly close to the Silver Horde, but the Silver Horde was coastal, and Suen was the island-nation of trading and bartering. No surprise that one of their trading ports had apples.

Third was the blessed smell of the ambrosia, the whole reason for my existence. As Suen was a trading port and had apples, it also had mangos. The freshest smelled like they were picked a day ago - a preservation skill was in play. They ranged all the way down to rotten, and eh, Auri could work some fire magic to extract the flavor into something else.

I had more than smell though, and the sounds coming from the city were just as interesting as the smells.

Fishmongers were still yelling about the catch of the day. Someone was yelling how the plague was the wrath of Thanatos, who’d come to reap the city. A beggar was crying out, asking for coin or healing. There were wails of despair mixed with outrageous flirting, a funeral and a game of chance.

I wasn’t in the city yet, but I was starting to get a picture of a town in trouble, but life was still continuing. Not as bad as Perinthus had been, no large-scale disaster that was consuming the life of every person inside.

I wasn’t sure what Iona said, not speaking the language she used with the guards. It was undeniably effective, as with three sentences the guards on the wall vanished, and with two more they were nodding and beckoning her in.

Iona jogged back over.

"Good work!" I told her as the Valkyrie slung a pair of chests under her arms, and balanced a third on her head.

"Brrrpt? Brrrpt?" Auri looked back and forth from Fenrir to us. I shrugged.

"It’s your decision. I do smell mango…"

Auri shot over to Fenrir’s head.

"Brrrpt, brrrrpt." She apologized while rubbing her head up against his cheek.

"BRPT!" She shot over to us, and landed on my head. Her beak snapped towards the city.

"Brpt BRPT BRPT BRRRRRRRRRRRRPT! BrrrrrrrrRPT!" She heralded a CHARGE!, then told me, most noble of steeds, to ride forth.

Iona flicked Auri off my head.

"Be nice!" She scolded the little phoenix.

"Brrrpt!" Auri was indignant as she returned to her favorite seat on top of my head.

"Place is called Osengard. Didn’t get any unusual demands or requests from the guards. Seems like a run of the mill Suen port city." Iona gave me the quick rundown. I nodded.

We headed off towards the gates. We were almost there when Auri straightened up like she’d been electrified.

"BRRPT! Brrrrrrrrrrrrpt!"

I wanted to facepalm, but was carrying too much.

"Yes, I know I need to stay low key." I told her. "I’m well aware of how much I can show off before people realize I’m not an unusually strong 256."

"What’s your plan for that?" Iona asked, making sure to speak English so nobody could eavesdrop in.

"Hiding my Spatial class. The only obvious skills are [Channeled Blink] and [Bookwyrm’s Hoard]. Minimal use of my Radiance class, and stick to a slow and sedate pace in public. Claim a high [Oath] level and a focus on mana regeneration for my healing prowess. Add in that I’m a recent graduate of the School, it should pass muster."

Iona slowly nodded. I knew she wasn’t thrilled with the deception thing - her own [Vow] had her swear not to lie, and she considered most forms of disguises and deceptions a natural extension of that - but grudgingly tolerated the necessity of me not telling the whole truth. It didn’t mean she liked it, and I went with selectively telling the truth as opposed to crafting any lies. Kept everyone happy.

"Brrrrpt?" Auri asked. I shrugged.

"I mean, there’s nothing wrong with me being bonded to a creature higher level than I am, right? As long as I show 256? All capped healers have a level they’re supposed to be, no crime there?" Every statement was a question, because I knew the theory, but not the practice.

Iona nodded.

"Exactly. More than a few cases of healers deciding to throw caution to the wind and classing up during a disaster. Usually they’ll get a fairly strong class, then try to get out of the area once it’s over. You should be fine."

Speaking of fine, we were at the gates. The guards waved us through after Iona paid them. Three obsidian coins… pricey for simple entry!

"I’d say enjoy your stay, but…" The guard trailed off and looked meaningfully at the black and yellow plague flags. "Welcome to Osengard."

"Can you direct us to the center of the healing efforts?" I asked in halting trader-tongue. Not my best language.

The guard shook his head.

"I don’t know of one. Talk with the [Mayor]."

Iona and I traded looks.

"Alright, we’ll do that." Iona replied, then strode into the town. I hurried along behind her, narrowing my eyes as I saw the guard split our entry fee among the other guards, pocketing our coins.

I’d thought the entry fee had been a little high, and it looked like the guards were scamming outsiders. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t a Ranger anymore, that Sentinels didn’t operate here, and to let issues like this slide to tackle the more important things. Still, it rankled.

We were here and I’d gotten distracted. At the same time, I didn’t need a ton of time to prepare anymore.

I opened up my big mental book of infectious diseases inside my [Astral Archives], the memory skill letting me organize and instantly recall things I’d learned. I opened up my mental book of how to heal and cure diseases in every elvenoid species I knew. I tied all that knowledge together with [Persistent Casting], [Wheel of Sun and Moon], and [Dance with the Heavens], creating a large zone around myself of invisible healing magic.

Anyone coming within roughly 80 meters of me, who was touched by sunlight or moonlight while I was also under the sun or moon, would be purged of any diseases they had, and the scars and side-effects of the plague would also be cured. I was ignoring mundane injuries for the moment. While disease took remarkably little mana to destroy - even at a low level I was able to make a difference in Perinthus - wounds were a completely different ballgame, and I had a city’s worth of people to tackle.

My mana got chunked as I turned my healing on, a large number of people immediately falling under its umbrella, and all of them instantly healed.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 456 -> 457]

"Brrrpt!" Auri made appreciative noises that I was working hard to level her up, and that I should keep at it.

I made a little picture with [Mantle of the Stars] in front of her, miming a bird going into a cup. Wasn’t a particularly good depiction, but Auri got the message.

"This is your event. Where to?" Iona asked.

I readjusted the chest I was carrying.

"A tavern to drop our stuff off at, then let’s talk to the [Mayor] and see what the organization looks like. No sense in disrupting a working system, or missing a central location for patients." I said. "I’ve already got my healing up."

Iona nodded and pointed to a sign.

"Tavern’s right there. Do we want to hunt for a deal, or just settle in?"

I shook my head.

"Just settle in."

Well positioned tavern near the gate like that. Location location location!

We entered the tavern, and I cursed [The World Around Me]. The place looked clean enough. A few [Laborers] in the corner were eating a quick lunch. The floor was neatly swept. The counters were clean. A [Bartender] was cleaning the same glass over and over again - but I noticed that as she re-cleaned the same glass, a different glass was polished.

Sympathy magic?

Behind the clean outward appearance though, I could see everything. All the dirty little secrets. The rats in the walls. The slightly aging ingredients. The mystery meat in the stew. It also let me see that most of the rooms were empty. Not just ‘whoever’s renting the room is out for the day’, a ‘the room is ready for the next patron’ empty.

I turned the skill off. I was practical enough to know that every single place was hiding dirt and grime, that no location was absolutely perfect. Ignorance was bliss in some situations. I’d be happy enough here.

Iona approached the [Bartender].

"How much for a night?" She asked.

"Two jadeite coins a night per room. Three people per room max. Comes with daily cleaning, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, whatever’s on the pot. Each meal comes with a flagon, although you’ve got to pay for more individually. Can I sign you two up for two rooms?"

I started to open my mouth, but Iona held out a gauntleted hand, letting me know she wanted to take the lead. I was happy to let her barter, I’d been a hair away from accepting a single room on our behalf.

"The place is practically empty, and the town’s under a plague flag. I’m escorting a powerful healer who can do quite a lot. How about eight obsidian coins per night, we’ll take one room, and we’ll pay for three days up front." Iona proposed.

A quick round of haggling occurred while my eyes glazed over. It was just money! Pay the lady and let’s go!

The two finally settled on a single jadeite coin per night, paying four days up front, one room, and I’d heal the staff. I practically rolled my eyes when the [Tavern Keeper] proposed that clause, I’d do it anyway, but hey, that’s why I let Iona do the haggling for us.

Iona and the [Tavern Keeper] shook hands.

"Pleased to have you! Name’s Iwanna, shout if I can help you with anything! Grab any of the free rooms and let me know which one it is." She said.

Iona and I dropped our stuff off in one of the top floor rooms, both to have a better limited view, and to get a little away from the smell and sound of the street.

"Does she have sympathy magic?" I asked Iona as we dropped our chests off.

Iona nodded.

"Yup. Nifty application of it, and it gives the place a certain vibe." She looked pointedly at the double-sized bed in the corner of the room, sending an obvious message.

I rolled my eyes at her, sending an equally strong one back.

"Hey, do you mind if I just take off? Time spent here is time I’m not healing people, and it’s starting to bug me. We know where to find each other again now that we have the room."

Iona flapped a hand at me.

"Yeah, shoo, go. Auri, keep Elaine from getting into too much trouble before I catch up again."

"Brrrpt!" Auri gave a little salute, her claws digging deep into my hair as I dashed out of the room.

"BRPT!" Auri leaned over my head and pecked me in the eye.

"Yeow! What was that for!?" It didn’t hurt, but getting poked in the eye was startling. I’d expected her to stop and look at me.

"Brrrrrrrrrrpt!" Auri imperiously commanded me. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I am taking it easy! I am going slowly! I am acting like I should!"

Even as I protested I realized she was right. I’d been running way too quickly, falling into my natural habits too easily. My biomancy enchantments plus my speed stat and improved nervous system had me innately moving like I was a level 400 [Warrior], not a pudgy 256 [Healer].

I slowed down.

"Hey, do you know where the healing effort is organized, or where the [Mayor] is?" I asked Iwanna as I got down the stairs. She’d switched from cleaning the same glass over and over, to wiping down the same patch of countertop, cleaning the table the [Laborers] had been eating at.

She shook her head.

"Haven’t heard of any special healing effort, although the Healer’s Guild is probably taking care of that. Could just be them. [Mayor’s] official place is near the town center, can’t miss it. Don’t bother him at home."

"Thank you." Without further smalltalk I hit the streets at what I hoped was a brisk walk.

I’d never turned off my [Persistent Casting], and I noticed a small dip in my mana as I stepped back onto the street, trying to blend with the crowd. I did turn on [The World Around Me] again.

The city was a port city. I’d bought a number of tunics for Exterreri, but that wasn’t the commonwear here. At the same time, Suen had a wide variety of elvenoids present, from humans to gorgons to nagas, ogres and minotaurs, fauns and yeti, and a wide variety of both saurians and beastkin. The [Sailors] and [Deckhands] were from all over, and wore whatever they wanted to. So I was marked as an outsider, but as just another one in the crowd, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb.

The streets were somewhat chaotically laid out. I figured I’d ask directions instead of trying to find my own way to the middle.

"Hey, can I ask you where the town center is?" I asked a random vendor.

"Sure! Three coins for the information!" She held out her hand expectantly. I snorted, rolled my eyes, and walked away. I wasn’t going to pay for basic information that everyone knew like where the town center was.

Three vendors later - all charging suspiciously the exact same amount - and I reluctantly forked over a few arcanite coins for directions to the Healer’s Guild. I wasn’t going to let my pride - or the sneaking suspicion that I was getting fleeced - get in my way of healing people who needed it.

Plus, I figured that the Healer’s Guild would know for sure what was going on.

An interesting twist to my skills - I barely saw the plague at all. I was a walking zone of cleansing, purifying magic, and practically anyone infected was cured by the time I got to them. The only people I wasn’t fixing well before I got to them were people inside houses marked with a bright red cross painted on their door, or hiding out in dusky alleys.

I mentally noted the people I detected who were holed up sick inside of a house, promising to loop back to them. The brutal mathematics of a casualty event were clear - by moving, by walking through the crowd, I’d hit dozens upon dozens of people with healing, instead of the two to three people inside a home. Entering a home - a whole process in and of itself, knocking, explaining to passersby that I was trying to help, getting the people inside the home to open up, and healing everyone in the home - just took too much time. I’d lose the ability to be blasting my healing all around me. That was before the calculation of reaching a centralized healing process came into play.

It broke my heart to pass by sick people, carefully tended by loved ones. A couple was slowly feeding a man who looked so old, it was a tossup if it was plague or advanced age that was keeping him in bed. A woman, all by herself, shivering in a pile of blankets, slowly looking through a pantry that was empty. A girl no more than four was trying to feed her mom, unaware that she’d already perished.

I swore that I wouldn’t rest until I’d visited each and every one of them.

I did see the effects of my work. People excitedly showing off their hands. People stretching, jumping. Some people were nervous, certain the other shoe was about to drop, while others hugged and cried. It wasn’t everyone, and I suspected for every person visibly cured there were dozens of others in their incubation period I’d helped, but it was validating.

With all that said, when I found someone lying in the back of a shaded alley, sick and delirious, I spent a few seconds skipping over. This was a quick and easy heal, and it let me see what I was dealing with.

[The World Around Me] had given me a decent picture, but one thing it didn’t do was show color.

The first thing I noticed was his hands. Tanned skin quickly made way to pitch-black hands, fingers curled in an agonizing rictus. He was shivering in the blisteringly hot tropical summer day - almost certainly a fever. There were large egg-sized swollen blisters near his armpits and groin, and I lifted his arm up to confirm with my eyes what I suspected the disease was.

The Black Death.

Chapter 3 - A Yellow and Black Plague II

The Black Death. The Plague.

In many ways, it was good news. It was a relatively mundane disease that I knew. There wasn’t a Miasma Classer secretly attempting to murder an entire city. It wasn’t some bizarre mutation caused by magic. I knew what the reservoir and transmission vector were, namely rodents and fleas.

I healed the poor beggar and got back up, moving towards the healer’s guild with renewed speed and vigor.

"Brrrpt." Auri warned me.

"I know." I was pushing my luck with how I was moving, but fuck that. I’d take getting run out of town if I did my work first. I also struggled to imagine a lynch mob would be coming for me when I was actively fighting the plague wracking the town. Like, everyone kept telling me it’d happen, but I just could not imagine it. Would people really be that vicious? Would they really shoot themselves in the foot that hard? And even if they did… that was just more people in one place to heal!

My focus was permanently split, one [Parallel Thoughts] devoted purely to checking on the apple-status of people around me. There weren’t many, and a combination of crossing the busy street, or looking at vendor’s wares when someone passed by was more than enough to handle the issue. It was annoying, it was slowing me down, but it wasn’t a problem. My secret was safe.

Back to the plague.

It wasn’t all good news. The Black Death had devastated Europe for a reason. The lethality rate was around thirty percent, and death could occur as quickly as 24 hours from infection. Vitality and skills played merry hell with those numbers, but the disease stayed lethal.

The Black Death was classified in three different ways, depending on where a patient was infected. It was pneumonic plague when a patient had breathed in the bacteria, and was primarily located in the lungs. Coughing would naturally spread the disease further. Bubonic plague was when the cause was from the bite of a flea, or otherwise getting infected through broken skin. Someone handling fluids from an infected patient that had cuts on their hand - like the family I could see through the walls, where the dad had sliced his hand on his knife and was now looking after his sick kid - would also result in bubonic plague. The last type was septicemic plague, where the bacteria got into the bloodstream and multiplied.

That one got ugly.

Someone infected by the Black Death could get one, two, or in rare cases, all three types of plague.

The other bad news was the reservoir was fleas. Healing people was easy enough, I was doing it automatically. How did I kill enough fleas to stop the disease from coming back? My style of blast healing didn’t automatically teach immune systems how to identify the bacteria responsible - damn Papilion for erasing the name from my memory - but it did clear everything out of the body, and fixed it to perfect health. Sometimes that was enough for a patient’s immune system to build enough defenses against the plague, but that took time and resources, something in short supply in the city. Until that happened, they were vulnerable to reinfection, and with how quickly the plague acted…

I could keep people alive until the cows came home, but unless I could tackle the fundamental issue causing the plague, I’d just have a revolving door of patients.

Speaking of, I was nearing the Healer’s Guild. It was fairly obvious, a large building with the classic modern symbol of healing.

A hydra, coiled around the trunk of a willow tree. There were all sorts of metaphors and symbolism in it, most of which went over my head. The obvious ones had to do with the fantastic healing abilities of hydras, willow bark being the key painkiller, and something about the shelter of the tree.

There was a large commotion in front of the Guild as I arrived, throngs of people leaving as someone shouted at them.

"Come back! The proper fees haven’t been paid!" The shouter protested. He was standing on a crate.

"We’ll pay if you can show us who did it!" A leaving member shouted over their shoulder.

Oh.

Hmmm.

Whoops, that was probably me. Ah well.

I pushed my way against the crowd, ending up at the door of the Guild. The shouter slumped, and spoke without looking at me, a well-practiced speech.

"Patients through that door. Please have your payments ready, and we’ll get to you as quickly as we can. Getting a healer sent to your home costs extra, and we’re backlogged on house calls at the moment."

I stood looking up at the crier.

"Excuse me! I’m a [Healer]. I saw the plague flags and stopped by to help. Where should I go?" I asked him slowly and carefully. My trader-tongue was mediocre at best.

He did a double-take, and I once again prayed to the moon goddesses that my disguise was holding.

"Ah, a healer! Excellent, follow me, I’ll show you where to go. Hang on, you’re not the one who healed everyone waiting in line, were you?"

Ah, whoops, I’d been slightly obvious about that. ‘Everyone is mysteriously healed’ followed hand in hand with ‘a new healer shows up three seconds later’ was as obvious as it could get. Denying it would be pointless.

"Yup, that was me." I happily said as the man led me into the Guild.

"Brrrpt!" Auri hopped in circles on my head, showing how proud she was of me.

Controlled chaos in the midst of minimalist wealth was the guild. It was all made of varnished wood, wealth without being ostentatious about it.

That, or it was because of all the sick and dying patients filling the room. Easier to clean up all the messes made if it was only wood. A few orderlies were working in the room, talking with patients, collecting payments, and escorting them down another set of hallways.

A semi-familiar setup, except seen from the other side. It was like how Perinthus had been organized, except I’d never seen the waiting room. I was tempted to use [Imbue] with [Nova Lance] and hit everyone in the room, but no. [Cosmic Presence] already ensured everyone here would last until they saw a healer, they were going to get medical attention, and there was no sense in disrupting things right now.

I’m pretty sure I’d massacred the entire line waiting to get in already. If the room wasn’t empty on the way out I’d think about it again… although everyone here was about to be healed. Was speeding the process along worth robbing a junior healer of experience, when the end result was going to be the same?

A tricky question for fifteen-minutes-in-the-future-me.

"How’d you expect to get paid? How are you going to pay the Guild tax?" The person leading me asked, then shook his head. "Never mind, I’m not the person to be asking that. Here we are!" He pushed a door open and ushered me into an office.

I’d gotten a look before the door opened, I just didn’t know which room was the guild leader’s room. A minotaur sat like a fat toad behind a desk towering with paperwork, and a parrot was in one corner, its bright colors contrasting sharply with her grey hair.

[Long Range Identity] showed me [Leader - 341]. Interesting. It wasn’t a [Healer] tag, and being allowed past 256 implied that none of her classes were medical in nature, yet she was the guild leader.

"[Guild Leader]. This is… a new healer from out of town." I sensed the moment where he realized he’d never asked for my name. He quickly recovered and carried on.

"Had a minor issue where she healed the wait line. She said she wants to help."

The woman gave a sickly sweet smile.

"Thank you Barvah! I’ll take it from here, why don’t you be a dear and leaf?"

The crier - Barvah - nodded his acknowledgement and left. The [Guild Leader] shifted around in her chair, shuffling a few papers around.

"I’m sorry, I guarantree this won’t take long." She said. Her quill moved slowly and methodically across the paper, and I swear she was moving extra-slow.

Level 341 in a leadership and probably paperwork-related class, and working at a speed an unboosted human would work at? I dunno if she was deliberately trying to annoy me.

Auri and the parrot were glaring murder at each other, sparks practically flying between them. Auri puffed up her brightly colored feathers and started strutting around, while the parrot was preening and showing off all of his colors.

In short order she put down the paper and looked up at me.

"Well! I’m quite sorry about that! Melvinna at your service, what can I do for yew? I’m sorry, I never caught your name. Barvah said you’re new here, are you planning on putting down roots here in Osengard, or are you just branching out for new opportunitrees?"

The tree puns were getting old, and I had a decision to make.

Elaine was my name. I was proud of it. I liked it.

It also caused no end of issues, given that healer in trader-tongue was, naturally, Elaine. I had a nice title that I could use, a second name I responded to well, and even if people spoke Creation, it didn’t matter.

"I’m Dawn! I was passing by when I saw the flags, and I felt obligated to help. I figured I could see what organizational system you’ve got going on and work with that. How can I help?"

Melvinna tutted at me for some reason and frowned.

"Please tell me you’re not one of those oathbound healers? They needle me so."

Now I was utterly confused. The leader of a Healer’s Guild… who didn’t like oathbound healers?

The parrot jumped in.

"Squack! Gems for service! Gems for service!" He screeched, the infernal thing having a Sound class to amplify his words.

My confusion must’ve been evident on my face. Melvinna sighed.

"We all have things to do, there’s a plague on. Short version. About a hundred years ago, three friends settled in Osengard, oathbound all. They were strong, their skill helped with regenerating mana. Each one claimed a different plaza and marked it with their skills. Anyone walking through was healed, at no cost, at no charge. Quick, easy, efficient. Over time, they became fixtures. Everyone loved them. They wanted for nothing, were charged for nothing. A paradise." She practically spat the word.

"Issue was obvious to anyone with eyes. Other healers couldn’t compete. Why get charged a jadeite coin for medical attention when you could walk through a plaza? Who even got sick when their daily routine got them healed? One by one the other healers left town, and the three friends didn’t bother to train apprentices. They were living large, wanting for nothing while their skill worked."

Seemed like a pretty good gig.

"Sixty years. They were the fixture of this city for sixty years. Then they were all felled in the span of a week. I won’t bore you with the rumors and theories. They were dead. And the city had no healers, not even an apprentice, and people used to not paying for healing. How woad you convince someone to move here? How do you restart a critical guild? Stumped? So was the town. I was brought in to fix the issue, and I did. Let me make the rules very clear to you, young sapling. You can heal whoever you want, and charge what you’d like. Guild law - which is also city law, so no getting smart with me - is a five arcanite coin charge per patient healed, per day. Now, how you get the money is of little concern to me, but word to the wise - you’ll bankrupt yourself trying to do it yourself. If you choose to take a room here and heal at the guild hall, we’ll handle all that, and pay you appropriately, after our cut has been taken. Good if you don’t wish to tackle the business aspects of healing, and simply want to help. I understand that I sound harsh and uncaring, but you have not seen a city with no healers. I have. It will not happen again under my canopy. Am I clear?"

The woman had gone all fanaticism and steel, a true believer in her cause. I didn’t agree in the slightest, but she had maybe a third of a point. None of which applied during a fucking plague.

I could argue until she dropped dead of old age, but I doubted I’d change her mind, and there were people out there I could heal right now.

I technically answered her question.

"Yes guild mistress. You’re clear. I believe I will manage on my own, you seem to be running a tight operation here. How much do I owe for the line I healed outside, and is there anyone I can talk with regarding combating the source of the plague?"

Her greasy smile came back, and I was once again uncomfortably reminded of a toad. A competent toad, by her own story, who’d reanimated an entire guild from scratch, but a toad.

"Well! What an understanding young sprout you are. I do admire the spirit of an oathbound healer, don’t get me wrong, and it is a noble pursuit. This one time, I’ll waive half the fee. Average of fifty people in line, five coins a person, 25 obsidian coins. Half of that is 12 obsidian coins and five arcanite. Barvah can collect the tax, and it’s expected that you pay once a week. He can also direct you to Tessa, who’s working on the root causes. It stems from fleas, if you could believe it!" She sounded so shocked and scandalized at that, like she wasn’t the head of the Healer’s Guild.

That was practically daylight robbery. That was a full day’s wages for an [Apprentice], and I’d gotten the bill for seconds of work.

"Understood." I curtly agreed, unable to bring myself to making the nice polite noises I should make.

I turned on my heel and left the office as quickly as I could, Auri briefly making a subtly rude gesture in the shape of her flames, not enough for anyone to properly take offense to - it could’ve just been an accident of fire, like seeing shapes in clouds - but good girl.

I was wasting time here, people weren’t getting healed. People had probably died because I was delayed with the enormous ass of a guild mistress, instead of being out there.

The issue wasn’t the tax. It wasn’t the payment. It was the obstacle. I could literally heal people by the thousands. Needing to pause, collect payment, then move on would limit me to one or two people every few minutes. It was a fine setup when I was level 150 and gated by my mana regeneration. It was a completely different story when I was over 500, and gated by how many people I could get in range of.

Getting to know what was going on with the plague prevention issues was important, and I got quick directions from Barvah. I had a plan forming, and I chose, for the greater good, for the sake of the plan that was forming, not to heal the waiting room. There were enough healers.

I left the guild hall, and I’d never turned my [Persistent Casting] off. There was no visible line, no sudden purge to let slip what I’d done. But anyone approaching was going to find themselves miraculously healed, and I doubted they’d keep going to the guild hall.

I easily spotted Iona in the crowd, the Valkyrie a head taller than most of the other people here. She spotted me at the same time, and we quickly walked towards each other.

"How do you feel about becoming a wanted criminal?" I asked my girlfriend.

Iona quirked an eyebrow up.

"Tell me more."

Chapter 4 - A Yellow and Black Plague III

I slung my arm into Iona’s, and started walking towards where Barvah had said Tessa was working on a solution to the plague. My healing was still blasting around me, curing anyone who got near.

"First thing’s first. Going by Dawn here because I don’t want to explain my name every three seconds. Second. City’s got an interesting law. For every person I heal, they charge five arcanite coins as a fee to the guild."

Iona gave a slow nod.

"About the price of a sandwich, lets them keep track of who’s in town, makes sure that everyone acting as a healer is trained as one, and providing funding for the guild to do what it needs to do. Seems reasonable so far."

I shot her a glare, but Iona just kept looking around the crowd, not noticing my displeasure.

"How many people do you think I’m healing this second?" I asked her.

I could see the windmills turning in her head, and her mouth opened.

"Ah. Yes, I see the problem. That’s what, 100,000 coins a day? They didn’t make an exception for a plague?" Iona asked.

I shook my head.

"Not in the slightest. I don’t intend to stop in the slightest, and while I know your own [Vow] has limitations, you’re in the clear to help me, right?"

Iona thought about it.

"It’s… tricky." She admitted. "Like, yes, I’m all for you healing people. That’s fine, no issue there. I’ll remove any obstacle to that. But like. End of the day, we’ve got a bit of a nest egg."

"Brrrpt!" Auri liked nest eggs.

"All the Guild’s asking for is to get paid according to their law. If we’re broke, we’re broke, and we can’t pay them. That’s easy enough. Is it that easy to say ‘no, this is our money’ when we should pay the tax, when we do have money? We paid to enter the city, if we disliked that, should we sneak into the city like thieves? Drop in from the air to avoid the tax? We’re strangers here. We’re not going to like every custom and law we encounter. This is the most mercantile city I’ve ever encountered, doesn’t mean I’m not playing by their rules and paying people when I need to. How are we any different from adventurers if we pick and choose what rules to play by?"

Ouch. Right through the heart with that adventurer comment, and I saw Iona’s point. Adventurers ran around, doing whatever they wanted and ignoring the law because they didn’t like it. I didn’t want to be an adventurer, or anything like one.

"I see your point, but the law is basically ‘give me all your money because I said so’. There are fundamentally unjust laws, and taking your logic to the extreme, where do we stop? After they take all our money? Do we let them take our possessions as well and auction them off? A full set of mallium goes for a pretty penny. I’m unsure of the penalty if we can’t pay, do we let them jail us for a decade or three? Do we happily line up for the hangman’s noose? Even pretending the law is in place for a good reason, it is being grossly misapplied in the current situation. People who are poor can’t afford the tax, let alone healing, and that’s before they’re in the midst of their entire family dying around them. Their neighbors dying. We can’t protect the meek if we let a stupid law tie our hands. Watching people die to appease the fat toad in her office isn’t honorable, and a massive injustice. It’s hard to be the sheltering light, or generous, if we let ourselves get tied down like this."

Iona raised her free hand in surrender.

"I got it, I got it." She testily replied. "You don’t need to go down every line of my [Vow]. Why don’t we figure out an amount we think is fair to pay as a tax, pay that and only that, and heal as much as we want?"

I mulled it over for a moment, then nodded.

"That feels like a reasonable compromise, although it grates. People are usually paying me to heal them, not the other way around. Such bullshit…" Didn’t have the time to ask everyone to hand over a few coins, not at the speed and scale I wanted to operate at.

I had a few more choice words about the guild mistress under my breath.

"Brrrrpt?"

"No, please don’t repeat any of that." I told Auri.

"Brrrrrpt!!"

I facepalmed as Iona laughed. She quickly steered us off to a food vendor, flipping them a coin and grabbing an oversized gyro in a single smooth motion. My girlfriend shoved it into my hand.

"Eat." Iona commanded.

My stomach rumbled, and I became aware of just how hungry I was. Healing, using magic on this scale, wasn’t free. I was much more powerful, and could do tons more in a short timeframe.

"Thanks." I downed the food in a few quick bites.

"I’m thinking… a single emerald coin?" Iona proposed.

I shuddered at the thought, but it was only money. ‘Only’ 200 lives saved.

I’d already done more than that in my brief walk from the guildhall to where Tessa lived.

"Fine, but let’s pay it in arcanite coins. Make them count a thousand coins." I was feeling petty.

"We can do that, but whoever’s taking the money probably has a skill for it." Iona pointed out.

I grumbled a bit at that, then brightened up.

"Oh! You can find me someone who doesn’t have the skill!"

Iona chuckled.

"Sure, I can do that for you. What’s the plan?"

I knew what she was asking. The healing plan.

"I figure if I’m doing this blatantly, they’ll get mad sooner rather than later. I was going to be subtle. Go invisible and hit the rooftops. I’m thinking I’ll circle and criss-cross the city a half-dozen times to hit the bulk of people. Getting people who are in shadows, who are inside their home and can’t leave, is trickier. Figure I’ll need to sneak in after I get the bulk done and heal individuals. I don’t want to risk using [Nova Lance] to [Imbue] [Dance With the Heavens] through walls. Don’t know if people on the other side are tougher than their walls…"

Iona shot me a puzzled look.

"Why don’t you just [Imbue] your [Cosmic Presence]?"

I almost missed a step as I looked at her with an open mouth.

"Uh. Fuck, I feel stupid now."

It was the work of a moment to use [Astral Archives] to tie [Dance With the Heavens] with [Imbue] to [Cosmic Presence], then tie it all off with [Persistent Casting].

Metaskills were such incredible bullshit.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 35 -> 36]

"Yup that - shit." I swore as my mana rapidly dropped. It didn’t quite zero out, but I’d just spent maybe a quarter of my pool.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 36 -> 40]

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 457 -> 458]

I cussed up a storm.

"... MANA PENALTY!!" I screamed to the uncaring sky. [Imbue] wasn’t terribly efficient at the current level, and while I’d be rapidly raising it here, the penalty sucked. While the skill didn’t mention it, the School’s book had also discussed a ‘hidden’ penalty when [Imbue] was applied to aura skills like this. Penalty on top of penalty in a crowded area?

"Brrrpt!" Auri was pleased.

"And you!" I complained. "How the fuck are you getting a second level already!! You JUST GOT ONE! At over 450!"

"Brrrrpt." Auri’s smug look was infuriating.

Iona flicked the cocky bird off my head and patted my arm.

"Think about this. How much mana does it take to heal someone with your [Imbue]? How much mana did you just spend? How much mana do you generate a second? Do the math, and you’ll know how many people you just helped, who needed it."

I gave Iona an amused look as Auri flew back to my shoulder, loudly protesting her treatment and promising to get me mangos the next time she could.

"Because you don’t want to do the math, do you?"

She shook her head.

"Nope. I got the track, I am SO DONE with math for a while. I’m leaving that to you."

I chuckled.

"We’re here. You sticking around?"

Iona nodded.

We pushed through the door into an apothecary, my mana starting to slowly tick up. This felt better, because I knew I’d be able to use all my mana, and not ‘waste’ any. I’d be forced to take a break or slow down for regeneration reasons sooner rather than later, and at least this break was productive.

The place was typical, but interesting. There was only a small area for customers, a fence walling off from the rest of the store. Instead, we could see rows upon rows of potions, each one neatly labeled and priced. I didn’t recognize most of the potions, although the names were self-explanatory. Three cauldrons were bubbling merrily, while a fourth had frost forming along the sides. No druglord lair in the basement this time, thank the goddesses!

"I’m out of stock on Plague Potion, brewing a new lot now. You’ll have to wait if you need some!" The [Alchemist] shouted from the back of the room.

Iona and I didn’t need to communicate to know she’d take the lead on this.

"Hello! Are you Tessa? We came from the Healer’s Guild. Dawn here’s an expert and is wondering if she can lend a hand."

A human made her way from the back, dirt under her fingernails, her ponytail holder gamely trying to keep her hair back, and various stains all over her apron.

"Hi! Wow, you’re tall. I’d shake your hand, but I’ve got toxic reagents on them. Before you ask, skill. Melvinna sent you? Can you help with bees?" She asked rapid-fire.

"Bees? Not fleas?" I asked, tilting my head.

Tessa shook her head.

"Sorry, thought Melvinna would’ve filled you in. Yes, bees. Concocted poisons will only get us so far, in spite of the special license we obtained. Don’t want a reputation for brewing poisons either. It was a hard no on Miasma, not that I blame them, and we lack an Ice classer that can properly do what needs to be done. So bees. My husband’s a [Beekeeper]. Helps a ton with growing all these herbs, I’ll tell you what. He’s training them to swarm rats, and teaching them how to overheat fleas. Still think that one’s a waste, he’s got a skill for it. Helps with wasps you know. Should be another week or so before we’re ready. Think you can help?"

It took me a moment to process what she was saying and figure it all out. They wanted to use bees to find and kill a majority of the rats and fleas in the city. Unconventional, but if it worked, it worked, and the System gave everyone a big hammer. Not too surprising that everything looked like a nail.

"I don’t think I can help with that, sorry. But it sounds like you’ve got it well in hand. Anything we can do to help?" I asked.

"Brrrrpt?" Auri had her usual solution to everything. Fire.

Tessa gave a sharp nod.

"Yes. Our major concern is how many rats we need to kill, and while my husband’s got a skill around bee stings, we’re unsure if it’ll last with the scale we’re dealing with. Kill rats… if you can." She seemed to realize she was talking to a [Healer] last second, and that normally, I wouldn’t have good rat-killing skills.

Iona and I traded looks, then looked at Auri.

"BRPT! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!"

"That handles the fleas, but how are you planning on handling the pneumonic person-to-person transmission?" I asked the [Alchemist].

She smiled.

"Good question! It doesn’t. Our thinking is with the reservoir out of commission, it should be manageable from there. Normal healers can handle the rare person-to-person transmission."

It made sense. It was almost exactly what we’d done in Perinthus, although without an army ready to burn the city down and less coordinated.

"Sounds like the best thing I can do is get out of your hair, and help people." I said.

"Thank you, Tessa." Iona said, and we stepped outside.

"BRRRRRPT!" Auri demanded.

"You read my mind." I told her. "Let’s work together. I’ll spot rats and point them out to you, you burn the rats, and only the rats! Put out any flames after!"

"Brrpt!" Auri gave me a tiny salute with her wing, then started to stare around me like a bird of prey, intent on hunting rats twice her size.

"I’ll get you food. Tap me in the next direction you’re heading, I’m pretty obvious, crimosaurus." Iona half-teased me with a serious tone.

I stuck my tongue out at her, and she pulled me into a kiss. We broke and she looked deep into my eyes.

"Hey. I love you. Be careful, alright? Yell if you need help."

I kissed her again.

"I love you too. I will."

With one last quick hug, we broke apart. Auri flew out and hovered next to me. I recalled the Jiwa rune for [Greater Invisibility], and started drawing it in the air in front of me with [Lepidoptera]. In no time at all, the spell finished, and I got to watch my arm fade from existence.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 446->447! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic Power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Heck yeah! Doing new things, exploring new places, seeing a multitude of new magic and learning about it, and casting spells for unusual purposes - stealth healing - were all things [Butterfly Mystic] loved. Add in that it was life and death for thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, and I had a formula for a level!

All of my other skills in [Butterfly Mystic] leveled up as well.

[*ding!* [Radiance Affinity] leveled up! 446->447]

[*ding!* [Radiance Resistance] leveled up! 446->447]

[*ding!* [Nova Lance] leveled up! 446->447]

[*ding!* [Lepidoptera] leveled up! 446->447]

[*ding!* [Nectar] leveled up! 446->447]

[*ding!* [Solar Corona] leveled up! 446->447]

[*ding!* [Scintillating Ascent] leveled up! 446->447]

[*ding!* [Kaleidoscope] leveled up! 446->447]

I couldn’t be seen. I couldn’t be heard. Minor traces of my passing, like disturbed dust and eddies of wind, would be corrected and fixed. I couldn’t even be picked up by echolocation!

This wasn’t my city, my country, or my culture. A building was a building, but there were all manner of little bits and pieces hanging off of it that I had no idea what they were, how securely the average builder attached them to the structure, or if there were any skills at play. No hanging from the window-dressing for me, oh no!

I did have a silly amount of stats to give me a hand though.

I bent my knees and jumped straight up, half-folding against the edge of the rooftop. With a deft move, I flipped up onto the roof, getting my feet under me. I made a little arrow with [Mantle of the Stars] in front of Auri, pointing to where I was. She flew up onto the roof, managing to smack me straight in the face.

"Brrrpt!" She apologized, flying in largeish circles around me.

I shifted [Mantle] into a thumbs-up in front of her. One of the downsides to [Greater Invisibility] was I couldn’t talk with anyone. Another major one was I couldn’t fly - my Radiance wings blew straight through the illusion.

And ugh. It used a bunch of mana regeneration to boot. Not enough that I was normally concerned, but I had healing to do! I was already planning on dropping [Greater Invisibility] when it started to get dark.

I surveyed what I could see of the city from my rooftop. Wasn’t the biggest roof around, but I got a feeling that I was closer to the walls than the harbor.

I could try criss-crossing the city, dividing it up into zones, then tackling one zone at a time. I could circle the city, from the perimeter and go deeper until I spiraled into the center.

The other question was who I healed. The brutal mathematics of triage were rearing their ugly head again. People out on the street were healthier than people stuck inside their home, but healing people with [Wheel of Sun and Moon] instead of [Imbue] was much cheaper.

I ran the numbers. I could hit eight to thirteen people with the same mana using [Wheel] over [Imbue]. The [Imbue] people were generally closer to death, and less likely to be healed. [Wheel] people weren’t in critical condition, but they would be progressing to critical condition soon.

There was another twist with the Black Death. In some cases, in some species, the immune system completely collapsed. The very same immune system that was responsible for a number of physiological responses to the disease, like the fever, sweating, body pains, coughing and more. Which had a person feeling great for about a day before they dropped dead.

How many people were on their last day, out and about, feeling great? I didn’t know. They’d get pulled from the brink of death.

Save a grandmother on her deathbed, or save ten young men who were partying hard, barely sick. One sailor, drunk out of his mind inside a tavern, or a dozen street rats. Hit the outer edges of town, or cross through the center first. Dart into homes quickly and smack one person with an efficient heal, or blaze as much distance as possible, hitting as many people as I could.

Alright, fine, ‘darting into homes’ was a euphemism for ‘breaking in’. It was for a good cause! Nothing like an adventurer!

I was condemning people to die either way. It was never easy making peace with it, but I reminded myself that I was saving people who would otherwise die no matter how I sliced it.

And that hemming and hawing over how to best do it was wasting time. Time that could be spent healing people instead.

I was going to go fast. I was going to hit as many people outside of buildings as I could, since I had no plans to slow down or stop once the sun set, and then more people would be inside. [Wheel of Sun and Moon] would only be good for a short time period, at the right angles. The phases of the moon weren’t in a good spot, and I was unsure what the angles would be like here. At that point, I’d switch to hitting people inside, and hope I didn’t attract the wrong sort of attention.

I decided to cross the town, since the central town square was a familiar place where I could keep reorienting myself. In a slightly petty move, it also meant I’d keep throwing a wrench into the Healer’s Guild operation. From what I’d seen, I didn’t think they had any downtime, so I wouldn’t be taking healers out of commission. There was also something of a guarantee that a large number of sick people would be there, while some parts of town might be empty or abandoned.

It had taken me less than a minute to work through everything, my bond with Auri multiplying with my stats to increase my thinking speed to an absurd degree.

With a heavy heart I turned off the [Imbue] blast. If my mana got high enough, I’d flicker it on to drain down a bit.

I turned [Mantle] off, then made a second one in front of Iona, pointing in the direction I was going. Should’ve thought of this before I went invisible, but meh.

Then I made [Mantle] into a small little star-studded mango near me, so Auri could follow along, then I was off, bounding across the rooftops like a [Cat Burglar].

I was slowed down a bit by Auri’s speed, and I paused when I detected the first rat’s nest. A pointed arrow was all that was needed for Auri to let out a warcry, and dive in through an open window.

I pulled a face at the screaming, shouting, burning, more screams as the rats came boiling out of the walls, smoke going everywhere, a thrown pot and a broken chair. Auri came darting out of the window two minutes later, the families inside still running and shouting like there was an intruder inside.

"Brrrpt!" Auri was very proud of her work. I facepalmed. I was completely invisible, she couldn’t see me, but I did it anyway.

I pointed a [Mantle] arrow down to the street, waited for a spot open enough that I didn’t need to worry, and dropped down onto the road. Auri came fluttering down, and I dismissed the spell.

"This isn’t working well. We should split up. I’m going to find Iona, have her be in the central square. She mentioned food, she can also relay messages. I’m going to keep running around and healing. I want you to search and destroy rats. Meetup points are Iona, the central square, and the tavern. Got it?"

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt?"

I knew I was going to regret this, but I didn’t see any reason to say no.

"Yes. Burn them to your little heart’s content. Burn them all."

My heart sank into my feet as Auri flew away like a meteor, cackling madly.

"Brpt brpt BRPT BRPT BRRRRRPT!"

Chapter 5 - Interlude - Auri - A Yellow and Black Plague IV

I am fire.

I am… death.

I have the wings of a hurricane!

I have feathers of a rainbow!

I have permission!

Burn them! BURN THEM ALL!

Leave only the ashes dancing in the breeze!

A dark and cruel laugh escaped from my beak.

They would know the blazing wrath of Aoife Auri Stentor!

"Ah ha HA HA HAAAAAAAA!"

Okay, okay, alright, calm down. Small little candle flame, not a big inferno emotion. I was a big bird now. No more silly burning everything, oh no. I had a mission, a task. Focus!

Burn all the rats! Did that stupid parrot count as a rat? It was ugly enough…

Straight into the closest - wait no, there was a bakery, let’s go there! They need to be clean more than anyone! They were super duper ultra important! That window! Yes! Gaze upon me and rejoice, the [Brrettiest] thing you’ve ever seen is here! I am here to save you from the Evil Rats!

Screams of joy! Screams of awe! Adore me, for today you are blessed!

I ducked and dove under a thrown bowl and a swung pan. Everyone was doing this! People have such weird greetings in this city! Maybe I should throw a pan back at them? Would that be polite? Or was it something just for the host to do?

Okay, think, think.

No time to be polite!

"Sorry!" I yelled at them, then whipped around the room, hunting for the filthy vermin that MUST be around here somewhere.

Over counters! Under tables! Through chairs!

Ah-HA! A little hole in the wall! In I go!

Zip!

Zoom!

A RAT!

BURN!

[Flame Selection]: Divine Fire of Wrath.

[Immolate]. [True Flames]. [Domain of Fire]. [Everything Burns]. [Clinging Flames].

[Inferno Conjuration]!!

The flames erupted all over the filth, and I ignored its pitiful squeaks for mercy, carefully tending the flames.

Only burn the rat! No walls! No lint! No sawdust! No stray sparks!

Just the rat!

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 17 (Dark)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

Yes! Of course! The natural order maintained! I, Auri, was on top with Elaine and Fenrir! Iona, Bridget, Plato and more were one step below that! And alllllllllll the way at the bottom was filth!

I flitted through the gaps in the walls, paths made with base cunning, purging all traces that filth had ever lived here! Down to the droppings and the fleas! My flames burned so hot, so clean, that not even smoke was left!

Yes! Success! Another badge for me!

Clean house! Good Auri! Time to leave!

But wait! First! The chance of a lifetime for the people here to admire me!

Zoom! Zip! Up I go, back to the people!

"Admire m - NOT ANOTHER FRYING PAN!" I shouted, dodging another customary greeting of this place.

Honestly! You’d think they were ungrateful or something!

Humph! Fine! I can see when I’m not wanted!

I flew back out the window, hurling a number of choice insults that Elaine would’ve bopped me for.

Next house! No lights! Sleeping people! Yes! Perfect!

Sneaky Auri!

I went through the house, going low and finding another rat hole. I zipped! Zoomed! Into the hole! Through the walls!

No rats here…

Hmmm…

I flew back out of the hole, and started to look around.

Ahha! Rat in the kitchen!

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 54 (Decay)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

Yes, yesss, goood! I flew around more, checking for evil rats!

A RAT!

Wait! Careful!

The supreme ugly evil of filth and disease was in a cradle! There was a sleeping baby there! No system! No protection!

Except me! I protect! Aoife Auri Stentor, slayer of rats, protector of babes!

Yes! Excellent! Perfect! Beautiful!

One! Two! Three! Four [Mage Hands]! Grab the rat! Muffle its squeaks!

Bad rat! No scratching the baby!

Lift it up and off!

BURN!

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 32 (Poison)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

"WhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Oh no! Baby was crying! Water coming out of his eyes!

I help!

I landed next to the baby, because my beautiful colors could calm anyone! Even soothe crying babes!

[Mage Hand]! I pet!

"Shhhh, shhh, it’s okay! The ugly rat is gone now!" I soothed. Baby smart! Baby understands brrrrpts!

Why is the baby crying more!? Making even more water!?

The door slammed open! The parents, yay!

WAIT NO-

FINE!

I see when I’m not wanted! Humph! After I saved their baby and everything!

Next house! Whoosh! Fire! BURN!

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 22 (Dark)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

BURN!

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 11 (Dark)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

BURN THEM ALL!!

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 30 (Dark)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

Stupid pans! Why’d you smack me!? I. Am. HELPING!

BAH! Some people just didn’t want to be helped!

I ignored the meanie who’d hit me with a frying pan running away from his house, shouting something.

I flew up high into the sky, positioned such that everyone who looked up could gaze upon me and know true beauty. Unlike those people. The ones with the frying pans.

Frying pans were such a beautiful tool for cooking lovely food! Who’d ever desecrate them by hitting me with one?! Honestly. The nerve of some people.

Okay, okay, calm down, calm down, think.

I’d spent minutes on a single rat. That was no good! No! Too slow!

I needed to burn dozens of rats A SECOND! Yes! That’s how I’d kill enough of them! Then Elaine would be happy with me! I’d be a better hunter than Fenrir!

Oh! We should race! See who could kill more! Me or Fenrir! It’d be a game! Yes! A FUN game!!

The easy solution was to burn the entire town to the ground. Set the perimeter on fire, create a wall of flame, and march it into the center of the town. No more rats!

No more plague either! Two rats, one fireball! And the most glorious bonfire the island had ever seen! THREE rats, one fireball!

Okay, okay, think. How would this plan go wrong?

Sneaky dirty wet rats could slip into the harbor. The evil water would protect them, and the filthy rats would swim away. Bah!

Oh, also, most people would die. That was bad as well. They couldn’t look at me anymore! They couldn’t admire me! No admirers was bad. And! AND! They couldn’t sell me mangos anymore, OR make juice!! I’d have to do it myself!

Bah humbug! NO! That was all wrong!

OH!

Elaine couldn’t get a ton of experience healing people! And if she wasn’t getting experience healing people, I wasn’t getting it! Then I couldn’t level! Then my flames wouldn’t be as big or as bright as they could be!

Burning everything down was ABSOLUTELY NOT an option!

Okay, okay, think. If I was a rat, where would I be?

Hmmm.

HMMMM.

In order to burn a rat to death, I must THINK like a rat!

Okay!

Auri-Rat, let’s go!

I’m small. I’m furry. I’m ugly.

EwwwwwwwwWWWW!

No!

I can’t do this!

Auri-Rainbow-Rat, let’s go!

I’m small. I’m furry. I’m the prettiest rat that ever existed. Yes, yes, perfect, okay, I can work with this.

I carry DISEASE and PLAGUE and DIRT! I am the carrier of grime!

Okay! Where do I go?

Well, I’m the [Prattiest] rat that ever ratted. I’d want to show off… but wait! I can’t show off to people! I have to show off to other rats!

I’d want rat-food. What did rats eat? … grains? I think? Dirty leaves? Leftover food?

And I’d want LOTS of rat-food! ALL the rat-food! YES! Tasty! Filling!

I’d want to have it delivered STRAIGHT to me! No walking! No sneaking! I was a sneaky rainbow-rat, and running around was HARD because I was tiny and WALKING because I didn’t have pretty wings!

A small tear trickled down from my face for poor Auri-rainbow-rat, who had no wings and had to WALK everywhere.

Okay, so little Auri-rainbow-rat wants to be in the biggest food section in the city! A grain warehouse! Burning it to the ground would burn lots of rats, and kill their food!

Yes!

But… other people were also smart. They didn’t want their grain eaten by rats, oh no! They’d have defenses! Protection! Maybe wards, maybe cats! If they were smart they’d have a phoenix or two defending the grain, but I didn’t think they’d be that smart.

Okay, okay, think.

Auri-rainbow-rat can’t get into the grain warehouse. She eats… I don’t want to think about what she eats. The best place to be sneaky, hide, get lots of food, and see other rats… hmmm… where was there unguarded food?

Well, the trash. But the trash kept moving around! Where did people put their trash? Nobody guarded trash.

The sewers!

Yes!

It was perfect!

Too small for Fenrir, so sad. He’d be unhappy that he missed things.

Okay, okay, think.

I know!

I’d get him a present! Yes! A shiny present! I didn’t know what I’d get him yet, but I’d figure it out! Oh yes! It’d be the BEST PRESENT EVER!

I shuddered as a bolt of Lightning hit me out of the clear blue sky. I exploded into flames, burning embers scattering across the breeze as my body disintegrated.

My good friend showed up, inky black feathers changing to pure white as they recognized me.

"Cousin." White Dove said, with none of her usual pomp and circumstance. "How kind of you to visit. How are you?"

"Great! Although, someone just hit me with a bolt of Lightning, and that sucks. How about you? How are things going? Any fun new curses?" I asked White Dove.

She chuckled.

"Well, as it happens…"

We spent an immortal moment together, frozen in time, just catching up and talking.

"... alas, I have to go. Would you like to come with me?" White Dove asked.

"Nope! I’m having too much fun!" I told her.

"Then continue to enjoy life." White Dove said before fading away.

[*ding!* Oh grand phoenix, harbinger of fire and flame, lady of all you witness and the beating heart of the sun, you have gained a level! [Phoenix Rebirth] has gone from level 4 to level 5! Rejoice!]

The glowing embers of my body stitched themselves back together, and I was once again whole and hale.

That had been so rude! I fled, not wanting to get hit by another bolt of Lightning, drawing as many rude gestures and offensive pictures as I could in the sky.

Take that! And THAT! I was trying to help your stinky city, and you bolted me!?

Humph! I was going to tell on them to Elaine! And Iona! And Fenrir!

I flew down to Iona, who was sitting on a bench in a park near the central square. She had food! Yay! Elaine was so smart making a nest with Iona!

She waved me over and uncorked a small jug of juice.

Fuel! Perfect! Just what I needed after all that hard work and adventuring!

"Thank you!" I told Iona as I started to take big, greedy gulps.

She nodded.

"You’re very welcome. Were you causing problems?"

I shook my head, little drops of juice flying.

"Nope! Just burning rats! Like we said!"

Iona nodded.

"Good job little one, keep up the good work. Why don’t I explain to the guards what’s going on, and see if I can get you out of trouble. Maybe I can even get them to help you?"

I nodded.

"Yes!" I remembered my manners, Elaine and Bridget had both told me lots about them! "Please, and thank you!"

The bag of food next to Iona got up and started to dash away, slowly fading from view as Elaine’s fancy spell made it hidden.

"Hi Elaine! Bye Elaine!" I called out. Stupid spell didn’t let her say hi back!

"Right, off you go." Iona said, and I took off like a shot.

Shouts! Blah! Thrown ropes with weights! Duck! Dodge!

"Nya nya nya nya, can’t touch me." I taunted the silly guards trying to trap me.

I ignored what they said. Unworthy! I’m not listening!

To the sewers! Down the grate I go!

Eww.

EWWW.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

People always said they were gross, but this was totally gross!! 0/10 on the baking scale! Instant fail! Throw it away!

Wait, hang on, it was all thrown away, that’s why it was here. DUH!

Some neat flames around me burned the nasty smells before they could get to me! Ahha! Clever! Smart!

Operation: Purge Every Last Rat With Cleansing Flames of the Most Beautiful Divine Auri EVER was a GO!

[I am the Brrrettiest]! [Flame Selection]: White Phosphorus, Divine Fire of Purging, Phoenix Phlame, Napalm, Exterreri Fire, Amaterasu, Zirconium, Darvaza Fire, and Goblin Fire! Yes! All the beautiful colors of the rainbow! Nine different copies of me were summoned into existence, each one composed of a different type of fire, ready to go!

Onwards!

I slowly flew down the sewers, my [Brrretiest] clones ducking down little side passages to BURN! Roast the rats! Go forth my minions and exterminate!

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 6 (Dark)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 50 (Dark)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!!!

I am fire!

I am death!

Flee little rats, flee! Run for your puny little lives!

There is nowhere to run!

Nowhere to hide!

I instill terror in the hearts of rats!

Down and through I went, tunnel after tunnel, filthy sewer after filthy sewer, purging all with cleansing fire! Notification after notification poured in like the sweet cracking of a log popping! Rats! Mice! Newts! Slimes! All purged before the glory that is FIRE!

[*ding* Elaine’s working hard! We got another level! Make sure to tell her thank you! [Phoenix of the Divine Flame] went from 458 to 459! Celebrate by bringing Elaine a mango!!]

Then!

THEN!

The dread beast himself came forth!

The mighty and powerful [Rat King], two dozen rats tied together at the tail emerged from the foul sludge! He bared his teeth! He hissed! He snapped! The dread concoction scurried forth, clad in darkness, smashing right through one of my [I am the Brrettiest] clones! A second one belched foul green smoke, the third started to fling sludge at me and more and more attacks came!

No! Zirconium! Noooooooooo!

Foul beast! Take this!

All the fire!

[Auri’s Meteor Storm] was supposed to be an open-air attack, but no! Nothing else would do!

GOOO!!!!!

Pure flames carpeted every inch of the sewer, an endless bombardment of flaming meteors raining down upon the [Rat King].

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 245 (Dark)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

…

[*ding!* Oh magnificent Auri, most divine and wonderful of all of the creatures great and small in creation, your bold and daring actions have caused you, and you alone, to slay a fierce and powerful [Rat - level 180 (Miasma)]! Fortune smiles upon you, for what other option does it have?]

Yes, praise me! I am the-

My world went red and white as a massive explosion tore through the sewers.

Elaine

I sat down heavily next to Iona in a park, dismissing [Greater Invisibility] for the time being. The sun was all the way down, and the moons were just starting to peek over the horizon. Iona handed me a plate of food larger than my head.

"Hey, how’s it going?" She asked me.

"Oh fuck." I groaned as I dug into the plate, not caring what was there, talking with my mouth full between bites. "You’re the best. How are things going with you?"

"Well-" Iona started to say, only to be interrupted by an explosion.

My neck snapped 180 degrees around towards the source of the noise, a pillar of flames erupting a dozen blocks away. My eyes spotted a tiny multi-colored source at the very top of them, and I was able to hear Auri’s shriek of delight.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!"

I sighed.

"Gods damnit, Auri."

[Name: Aoife Auri Stentor]

[Race: Phoenix]

[Age: 6]

[Mana: 2,886/916,070]

[Mana Regen: 860,132]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Pushing Power: 30]

[Fancy Flying: 16,852]

[Reactions and Reflexes/Twitchiness: 19,410]

[Zippiness: 19,530]

[Kindling: 91,607]

[New Juice: 91,583]

[Flame Size: 80,215]

[Fire Control: 80,107]

[Class 1: [Phoenix of the Divine Flame - Inferno: Lv 459]]

[Inferno Authority: 459]

[Phoenix Rebirth: 5]

[Inferno Manipulation: 459]

[Inferno Conjuration: 459]

[True Flames: 459]

[Burn Magic: 459]

[Domain of Fire: 459]

[Auri's Meteor Storm: 459]

[Class 2: [The Phoenix Everliving - Inferno: Lv 256]]

[See Magic: 256]

[Immolate: 256]

[Everything Burns: 256]

[Clinging Flames: 256]

[Burning Orbs: 256]

[Mage Hand: 256]

[I am the Brrettiest: 256]

[Flame Selection: 256]

[Class 3: [- : Lv ]]

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General Skills

[Phoenix's Perfection: 459]

[Incandescence: 342]

[Adorable: 277]

[Precocious: 263]

[Companion Bond between Auri and Elaine: 459]

[Flying: 368]

[Preening: 227]

[Baking: 304]

Chapter 6 - A Yellow and Black Plague V

I twisted back from looking at Auri’s rocketing across the sky.

"Wow." Iona commented.

"You know what." I told Iona. "I don’t want to know. I’m going to assume a ton of rats died in that."

I thought about the size of the explosion and sighed.

"I need to head over there and see if anyone got hurt." Part of the reason I was here, eating dinner and refueling, was I was low on mana. I wanted to take a break to recharge, but nooo, Auri had to blow something up.

"I’ll head on over as well." Iona stood up as I stuffed the last of my dinner into my mouth. "Want me to carry you?"

The sun was down, meaning [Wheel of Sun and Moon] wasn’t working properly anymore. I could go invisible and speed over there, or I could let Iona help me keep hiding how strong I was. There was only one question.

"Princess, shoulder, or piggyback?" I asked Iona.

"Piggyback, let’s go." She said.

I hopped onto my noble steed, and off we went!

I was still learning the layout of the town, but it quickly became clear that we were entering one of the worst parts of it. It went from a poor area, to slums, to the worst slums, to an area so bad nobody was even squatting there. The whole place smelled like sewage and worse, and it became clear that this was the area where the town dumped its waste into the harbor, which was why nobody lived here.

I kept my head on a metaphorical swivel, [The World Around Me] letting me instantly search houses we went by. Some people looked rattled or scared, while others were bored and uncaring. My heart went out to people who were sick, who were starving, to those who found it necessary to become lost in a haze of drugs just for a quick escape from the world. A number of piercing whistles came from around the town.

"Stop!" I yelled at Iona, and she promptly halted. The cobblestones on the road not getting ripped up by the force of her sudden stop was a miracle of dexterity. I pointed to a house.

"Drop me! That house! Second floor! Go now!" I ordered, and to Iona’s credit, she dropped me without a moment of hesitation and charged through the door.

I hit the ground running, trusting that Iona would solve the issue, letting me continue on to the blast zone undistracted.

There was a bunch of rubble, but not a single flame or ember, nor any water damage from a Classer dumping gallons of water onto the problem. Someone - probably Auri - had perfectly removed all the flames and heat.

I didn’t see anyone trapped in the rubble or slowly getting crushed by a falling building. Little shreds and chunks of meat were scattered here and there, but the tiny bones sticking through them suggested they were rat, not elvenoid. Guards were starting to arrive as I finished my search.

No point in me sticking around, not when nobody was hurt, and when getting stopped and questioned by the guard - was there a curfew? - could only slow me down.

"Nobody there." I grabbed a guard and pointed to a building. "Nobody there either. I can’t find anyone under any rubble. Skill." I said, forestalling his question.

"Thanks!" He said. They weren’t taking me at my word, but I didn’t care.

"No worries. I’ll be leaving now." There was no point to me being here, nobody was hurt. My mana was recharging nicely, and I was ready to get going again. A dark part of my mind whispered that somebody might’ve gotten killed in the initial blast, not injured, and that Auri had carelessly killed someone.

I dismissed the thought. None of the flesh I’d seen had been elvenoid. I’d talk with Auri later, when we met up. Instead, I started walking back into town, trying to figure out how to best approach the next part of the evening.

I wanted to hit people who were inside and sick.

I had two options. The first was to use [Imbue] with [Cosmic Presence] and [Dance with the Heavens] again. Mana regeneration was an issue there. The second was to physically enter the home, and [Imbue] [Nova Lance], [Mantle of the Stars], or [Kaleidoscope] to transmit healing.

The issue was getting inside. I could politely knock, wait for someone to answer - in the middle of the night, yeah right - explain what was going on, and heal everyone involved. The alternative was breaking in, throwing a bunch of heals around, then escaping to repeat the process in the next house. Same problem as earlier, no new solutions.

Sentinel Dawn, [Burglar-Healer] extraordinaire.

Although, wait. Fundamentally, I didn’t need to get into the building. My healing needed to get into the building. [Imbue] was good for that, but [Cosmic Presence] was inefficient until [Imbue] leveled up more, [Mantle of the Stars] didn’t have the range, [Nova Lance] was too dangerous - anything powerful enough to burn through a door or wall could harm my patient, and [Kaleidoscope] -

Wait.

That was perfect.

The sheer number of casts would ordinarily be prohibitive, and I couldn’t use it while I had [Greater Invisibility] up - damn Radiance interfering with Mirages - but right here, right now? I had all the tools I needed.

It was flashy, it might reveal my secret, but the greater good demanded it.

I summoned a single perfect butterfly onto the tip of my finger, ensuring that I’d set it to ‘nothing happens’ when it expired. It turned the normally lethal attack into a delicate lightshow. I opened the needed book in [Astral Archives], then [Imbued] the butterfly with everything needed to cure any elvenoid of the Black Plague.

Healing normally scaled on costs depending on what I was doing, but because I was "preloading" the heal into the butterfly, I had to "prepay" for it. Just one of the endless little quirks of the skill. At 100 mana total, it was a steal, even though it was orders of magnitude larger than what it would cost if I had to lay hands on them. That, and I was regenerating almost 400 mana a second. A sustainable cost at the scale I hoped to work at.

I easily identified a patient, sleeping in his bed. [The World Around Me] gave me a perfect view of what was going on inside the sphere, and it was the work of a moment to trace a twisty, turny flight path from where I was standing, to my patient. I etched the directions to my butterfly, and with silent flaps of its wings, it left.

I carefully watched it duck and weave along the proscribed path, before landing on my patient. His breathing immediately slowed, he stopped shaking and shivering, the necrosis vanished, and he settled into a deeper sleep. The butterfly dissolved into motes of light, its task completed.

A grin split my face.

Oh yes. This would do nicely.

[Persistent Casting] wouldn’t help here, each path was unique, each butterfly needing its own directions. [Parallel Thoughts] was a lifesaver as I slowly walked down the road, my mind flitting from place to place, finding people, tracing routes, then summoning butterflies, [Imbuing] them with healing, and sending them on their way. My improved thinking speed was working overtime, and my head felt like it was cooking.

Still, step after step, butterfly after butterfly, I worked my way down the street. I left a dozen butterflies flapping behind me with every step I took, a glittering show of radiant light in the dark.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 40 -> 41]

Each butterfly was a life. Each butterfly was succor from pain and disease, and nothing made my heart sing as much as seeing the kaleidoscope I was leaving in my wake.

While it was late and dark, and the streets were mostly empty, they weren’t entirely empty. Reactions were mixed, although most were positive.

"Whoa! It’s shiny! Let’s catch some!" A small gang of kids, their Systems not yet unlocked, were fascinated by the butterflies, and set out following me, jumping and leaping to try and catch a few. Not wanting to have them succeed, then needing to re-do the butterfly in question that they captured, I sent a few harmless ones near them, devoting one thought process to making them ‘dance’ around them, letting a few occasionally get ‘caught’, and refreshing them when they expired.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 102 -> 103]

More than a few adults realized what was going on.

"Healer." An old man, over level 400 - a powerful Classer, even in this day and age - respectfully nodded and deliberately stepped out of my way, doffing his cap.

I nodded back.

"Thank you." I said.

Most were like him. A quiet word of thanks. A small gesture of respect.

I didn’t mind the slightly suspicious looks, or people who looked wary but said or did nothing. I was usually one of them, when someone came through throwing big skills around. It had been my job for most of my life to look into cases like that!

A thousand positive comments or remarks were easily tainted by a few negatives. One could even say a few bad apples spoiled the bunch.

A woman ran out of her home and practically screamed at me.

"I’m not paying for that!!!" She screamed, spittle flying as her face twisted into an ugly rictus.

I ignored her, continuing to walk along. People were obsessed with money here, it was slightly disconcerting. Amber would love it here, although I’d be surprised if she didn’t already know.

A few more people fled in fear, a completely understandable reaction to a large-scale unknown skill. Extra credit to them, it was a highly offensive skill, just repurposed.

All in all, it was no surprise when a high level team of town guards showed up a dozen or two blocks into my healing spree.

Well, high level relative to the general population. The five of them ranged from a level 310 [Mage] to a 389 [Warrior]. I didn’t stop walking as they approached me, bolas already in their hands.

"Halt!" The leader ordered. I respectfully paused.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Do you have a permit for your large-scale skill usage?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"Wasn’t aware one was needed. Why do I need one?" I half-complained, half-answered.

He frowned at me, but answered. Like a guard should.

"Because unknown, large-scale visible skills like this are potentially dangerous. We get anyone who’d like to do something like what you’re doing to inform us ahead of time, clear their skills with us, then mark where they’re going to use the skill. It gives us a chance to let people know what’s going to happen ahead of time." He patiently explained.

"Why are we answering the foreigner? Let’s just arrest her!" The [Mage] griped, starting to wind up her bola.

"Because every time we need to resort to violence when we could’ve talked someone down is a loss in my books." The [Captain] replied. "Miss?"

"You realize I’m healing people, right? Healer-tagged? Each butterfly is someone cured of the plague that’s ripping through the city. It’s one body less. If I’m stuck doing paperwork, or getting you to clear me, or obtain permission, that’s another minute I’m not healing someone. It’s another person dying. Isn’t there a time and a place for enforcement? For turning a blind eye?"

My arguments felt a little weak, even to myself. I’d taken extensive classes on laws and enforcement, and for the most part, the answer was no.

In the classroom. I’d seen Julius turn a half-blind eye to the forger in Perinthus who’d been carefully minting coins to help keep the economy afloat. I’d turned a blind eye myself now and then when more important things were occupying my attention.

"You’re right, there is a time and a place. This is neither. I’m going to have to ask you to come with us now."

I sighed as he started to wind up his own bola, the guards starting to close in on me.

I had a startling moment of clarity where I understood and empathized with adventurers, of all people. Being outside the normal power structures, being outside the culture, needing to struggle to come up with the right words in my fifth-best language, came with its own set of challenges, and I was running headfirst into one of them. I couldn’t just flash my badge and be accepted.

Now I had a choice. Let the guards arrest me, or go rogue.

Honestly, it was no choice at all. I let the guards arrest me, people died. I could hem and haw and avoid some constraints on my [Oath], but this?

No.

Enough people were dying already. I couldn’t save them all, in spite of putting my best foot forward.

Heck, I arguably wasn’t putting my best foot forward, valuing a measure of peace and convenience over being as hyper-efficient as possible. There was a good argument that remaining lowkey and unmolested was better for my healing in the long run, but I was already running afoul of the guard.

"In for a coin, in for a rod. Sorry sir, I can’t do that." I apologetically told the [Captain].

"Fire!" He yelled as he threw his bola, but I was already moving. I ran backwards at close to my full speed, [The World Around Me] acting as my eyes, my dexterity giving me perfect footing on the treacherous cobblestone.

I wasn’t holding back anymore. I wasn’t the meek mild-mannered 256 healer.

I was Sentinel Dawn, modified to the peak of elvenoid condition, and with over 25,000 points in speed.

I threw up [Mantle of the Stars] to foul the two bolas that had enough strength and skills behind them to pose a threat to me, then I was gone. I deftly turned and snapped my brightly colored wings open, soaring up and above the rooftops. I ignored a barrage of sharpened stones thrown at me by the [Mage], a few cutting skin but none of them piercing through my rainbow serpent scales.

Then I was two streets over, and I was healing once again. Each home, every sleeping person, every sick babe, I made another [Kaleidoscope] butterfly, [Imbued] it with my healing, and sent it on its way. My speed turned this into a dramatically different situation though - I was simply too fast to see everyone, measure how sick they were, find a path, make a butterfly, and send it on its way. Instead, I only took the sickest cases, the worst hit people. The ones who’d I’d call triage red if they walked through my door.

The guard’s whistles were like a chorus, marking where I was, pointing me out to others. The first team was briefly left in the dust, but they gamely chased me over the roofs, blowing their whistles as they came.

There was only so much city before I hit a wall and needed to turn back, dodging through another set of futile attacks. More futile bolas, a wild grab at my ankle, but most dangerous of all - a solid brick manacle conjured around my wrist. It barely slowed me down, but enough of them summoned onto me would stop me.

Until I [Channeled Blinked] out of it. That would be mana spent on a useless exercise, when it could be spent healing instead.

I crossed the central square, and it was like Iona and I worked on an invisible wavelength. She was there, fully armored, wielding a quarterstaff instead of her usual glaive or axe.

I swooped down at full speed, and she wordlessly tossed me another wrapped gyro.

"Love you!" I shouted, high-fiving her as I passed.

"Love you too!" She yelled over her shoulder as I frantically waved my hand. Fuck fuck FUCK that had hurt, [Center of the Universe] be damned! Do NOT hit a solid 250-lbs of unmoving metal when moving half the speed of sound! I was lucky I hadn’t broken anything.

I craned my head over my shoulder, getting to see Iona ‘tug’ the five guards down with [Telekinesis]. She couldn’t force any of them to come to her, but it was like yanking on the tail of a cat, a direct assault on the guards. No way would they ignore that.

True to form, they landed around her. I wanted, oh so badly, to listen to what they were saying, and with my super hearing, I probably could.

Except I was traveling way too fast - half the speed of sound was a pain when I was getting far away, and wanting to listen, and I had too much occupying my attention. Thinking about and parsing what was being said was brainpower not devoted to sending out more butterflies.

I zoomed towards the tavern we’d settled in. I had noted a bunch of people as we’d gone through the town, and I wanted to tag them next before carrying on.

I’d made a promise to myself, one that I intended to keep.

I would not rest until they were healed.

Chapter 7 - A Yellow and Black Plague VI

My idea of a break was to fly all the way to the city walls, flip over so I hit them feet-first, then push off them to launch myself in a new direction. Like a swimmer. Maybe a breath or two of respite, a moment that I didn’t need to look at three dozen different people, and decide which eight were going to be healed, and who could wait.

I shot off across the town, continuing to trail and rain tiny healing butterflies across the city. Each one filled me with satisfaction, another person cured, another life saved. Each one broke my heart, at the three, four, five people I’d decided weren’t critical enough at this very moment to need my attention.

I wasn’t leaving them. I wasn’t abandoning them. Just… there were other people to see, people that were higher priority, who needed me more.

I was only one person. An incredibly powerful person, who could try to single-handedly fight an entire city’s worth of disease, but one person. I had limits.

I hated saying it. I didn’t want limits when it came to helping people. Limits, when those limits meant ‘yeah people are going to die’ sucked.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 458 -> 459]

I was fairly certain that one was me, although I wasn’t going to discount Auri getting into more productive mischief. I turned off notifications. I’d see what I got at the end of this.

I flew back over the town’s central square, sure that I’d need to fix up a half-dozen guards. I hoped Iona had been relatively gentle beating them up.

To my shock and surprise, they were all standing in a circle, animatedly talking with each other. Weapons were still in hands, but lowered, Iona was still in her armor, but skills weren’t flying all over the place and there weren’t broken bodies lying around the square.

I sent a single butterfly on a track to Iona’s nose, a little gesture to let her know I’d been here and was supporting her. Then I was off, deeper into the night.

Path after path, track after track, I crisscrossed my way through the city. I got to see the various sights of the city at night, the minor parties and small celebrations that went on, and the dark shape of Fenrir diving in and out of the harbor bay, fishing in the depths. As time went on, I felt my range of [The World Around Me] expanding quite a bit, letting me know without notifications that it was steadily leveling in the background.

There were only a few places I avoided. The grand houses, some more fortress than home. If they contained a local [Noble] with a purchased title, the head of a powerful trading conglomerate, or was simply the residence of a guild leader, I would never know. I did know that the buildings were large, secured, and screamed of wealth, position, and privilege.

In other words - fantastic access to healing already. Only the most miserly, stupidest idiots that ever graced the face of this planet would allow their staff to fall sick, not have them treated, then keep them in their house anyway. I felt confident enough that either everyone in the home was treated, had a healer on retainer, or wasn’t in the house, to not risk tangling with their security.

[The World Around Me] didn’t let me peek that far into the mansions in question, and they were so large that I couldn’t just [Imbue] [Cosmic Presence] or the like. Spending an hour or two breaking in just to check for healing…?

The math didn’t work out, not for the town’s oligarchs.

Dawn was still hours away as I started to encounter a new, different problem.

I had been too good at my job. I’d blazed through the city, sending out thousands, tens of thousands of butterflies, and I was flat-out running out of sick people. Where at the start I could have thrown a rock and hit seven sick people, I was now going minutes without finding anyone who needed help.

Consistent use of [Sunrise] helped keep me energized and going. I started jogging the streets in the early, early morning to check for people in basements, having frankly run out of people I could spot from high up.

A commotion from the harbor had me heading down in that direction, only to see a bleeding Fenrir in dented armor erupt from the depths, a plesiosaurus dangling from his jaws.

I was so glad we took our stuff off of him before heading into town. I didn’t want to think about all my clothes becoming that waterlogged, or how ruined our rations would be if Fenrir went diving with them attached to him.

I flew up to where Fenrir was triumphantly circling over his battlefield. He recognized me, and let me lay a hand on him, curing all the injuries he’d taken. Then it was back into the fray, walking the streets one at a time, seeing if I’d missed anyone.

As dawn broke over the horizon, and the sun’s rays refracted through Fenrir’s sparkling spray of water as he emerged once again from the depths, I switched tracks. People were out and about again, and while Iona had run interference once on the guards, it might be asking a bit too much for her to do it again, in broad daylight.

That, and I hadn’t found anyone who needed healing in the last hour!

I ducked into an alley and drew the Jiwa rune for [Greater Invisibility], once again taking to the rooftops. It was [Persistent Casting’s] time to shine again, and I was grateful for the mental break. No more calculating endless flight paths! No more holding [Astral Archive] books permanently open!

I did a fairly casual loop of the town before heading back to the inn. I dropped my invisibility before heading through the front door, taking the stairs two at a time to our room.

Iona and Auri were there, my girlfriend making a sketch of my little phoenix friend burning a pile of rats.

"Brrrpt! BRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRppppTT!!!" Auri had gone on all sorts of adventures! She couldn’t wait to tell me about her EPIC BATTLE against the evil RAT KING!

"Can’t wait to hear it." I tried to muster enthusiasm, but I was utterly exhausted. It wasn’t the physical aspect, it was the mental.

"Welcome back love! Late lunch or sleep?" Iona asked.

I thought about it for half a second.

"Sleep." I answered, taking two more steps towards the bed and passing out in it.

I didn’t even bother with [Vivid Dream Reading]. I needed rest, my brain was fried.

It took me a moment to reorient myself after waking up. Unknown bed, unknown room, unknown city. Then I remembered where I was and why, and it was easy enough to hear Iona belting out bawdy drinking songs down in the tavern below. Something about a milkmaid and her stallion. Iona had mentioned something about wanting to get good mileage out of this bed…

Auri was also trying to be sneaky, but there was no hiding things from me! I had an idea what she was up to though.

I was starving, but first, levels!

[*ding!* [Cosmic Presence] leveled up! 323 -> 328]

[*ding!* [Sunrise] leveled up! 471 -> 472]

Blah. Soon Auri would catch up to me, and I’d be able to level [The Dawn Sentinel] again. Nothing more frustrating than healing tens of thousands of people and getting no levels.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 447->449! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic Power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)!+1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

I - huh. Did [Imbue] cross experience over from [The Dawn Sentinel] to [Butterfly Mystic]? None of my activities had been particularly [Butterfly Mystic]-like. A minor amount of traveling around a town, a lightshow with [Kaleidoscope], only potentiator I could think of was it being life and death for a number of people. I wasn’t traveling, I hadn’t been using or learning new and interesting magics, I hadn’t killed monsters.

Auri had been killing monsters, but I was unsure how much experience was spilling over to me. Then again, it was a higher class, and in theory, it should be sharing experience… although no [Bookwyrm] levels suggested otherwise.

Or the experience wasn’t evenly split? That flew in the face of what I knew about companion bonds.

All of my [Butterfly Mystic] skills recapped themselves.

Nothing in [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled, which was a bit of a shame, but at the same time, I hadn’t used it at all. It was a class that would level with casual downtime, not an all-out healing sprint.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 103 -> 173]

Oh sweet! I could get a fourth thought process going! Getting so many levels so fast was a good reminder that while the School was great for getting new, improved, and unusual skills, it was a terrible environment for leveling those skills. Nothing like practical applications to hear the wonderful dings! of the System.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 459 -> 470]

Practically 11 levels in a single night! Leveling my bond was sort of a substitution for leveling [The Dawn Sentinel], and I anticipated it getting to 514. When that happened, I could level my healing class again! While the higher level I got, the harder it was to level up, it was somewhat mitigated by the dramatically increased scale I could work at. What did it matter if I needed 20 times the experience if I could work at 30 times the speed?

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 59 -> 69]

I was already getting the sense that this skill was going to be a royal pain in the rear to level up. Not quite as bad as [Oath] used to be, but a pain.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 41 -> 188]

Well, thank you very much! The skill was the heroine of the hour. Next time I encountered a plague like this, I might be able to simply [Imbue] [Cosmic Presence] instead, and be done before dinner!

Speaking of dinner, my stomach rumbled. The innkeeper had mentioned something about food…

I hauled myself out of bed, finding that none of our chests were still in our room. Given that Iona was downstairs, I was willing to bet she’d already packed things up. A simple tunic was left folded on the room’s table, and I once again thanked my lucky stars for meeting Iona.

I got changed and went downstairs. It looked like a fairly typical drinking evening, a dozen or so patrons drinking and singing. I wasn’t surprised to find Iona as the center of attention, belting out the lyrics to the same song.

She winked as she spotted me coming down the stairs, lifting her tankard to me and subtly gesturing towards the bar with her head. I headed on over and grabbed a free stool.

"Your friend mentioned you’d be hungry. Stew? It’s fresh, just made it." The innkeeper asked.

I took a small sniff to see what had gone into the stew. My eyelid twitched.

Apple. The innkeeper had, probably innocently, gotten some of the apple being sold in town and added it to her stew. A month or two ago, I would’ve loved the subtle sweet taste that apple brought to the food, but now I could only think that a delicious, hearty meal was denied to me.

It also meant my time in the tavern was limited. Two people having the tasty stew, and I’d want to make a discreet exit. The only reason I could imagine the innkeeper not having any was she’d been too busy running the front of the house to taste test the stew as it was being made.

I could also smell fresh bread baking, with no apple whatsoever involved.

"I’m looking for something a little simpler. Do you have some bread or anything I could have?"

She nodded.

"I can do that. Slice of bread, tankard?"

"Yes please." The innkeeper made her way to the back, refilling a couple of tankards on her way to the kitchen.

"Brrrrrrrrrpt!!!" Auri flew over, carrying a dozen mangos with her [Mage Hands]. My savior.

They were a ‘surprise treat’ for all the levels I’d gotten her. I could only chuckle at her antics.

"Thanks Auri! What a wonderful surprise, you’re a lifesaver."

I was starving, and the stew was taunting me with how delicious it smelled.

Who had time to peel a mango? I bit in, peel and all, and practically moaned as my hunger amplified the already potent flavor of the most precious of all fruit. It was like an orgy in my mouth, a festival for my tastebuds, a triumph on my tongue. No shred of flesh was spared, no drop of juice was allowed to fall.

I savored it, knowing Auri had brought more for me, and… there were just no words. None at all.

The innkeeper came back with two thick slices of bread with butter on them, and handed them over along with a full tankard. Iona joined me a few minutes later, dragging someone in tow.

An eternity of mango-bliss.

"Hey mangosaurus!" Iona cheerfully stole a stool and slid it next to me, sitting down on it. She quickly swapped her empty tankard for a full one, and took a deep, deep draft, draining the whole thing in a single go.

"Hey! Thank you so much for the help. How’re you doing? What did you say to the guards last night, I can’t believe you weren’t fighting! And who’s this?" I shot off as many questions as I could while Iona was drinking, getting the evil eye from her.

Hey, I thought it was funny. Like asking someone a question right as they took a huge bite of food.

Iona slammed the tankard down and let out a mighty belch.

"Ew. Charming. My heart is all a-flutter." I sarcastically told her. She flicked my nose.

"Why thank you, dearest girlfriend mine, for running around and making sure everything was easy for me." Iona sassed back, then turned more serious. "For the guards. I just had a nice chat with them, and managed to get them to see things from my point of view. I’m doing fine. As for who this is…" Iona trailed off and switched languages to English. She really, really wanted to make sure we weren’t going to be listened to.

"Right, you suck at this, but try not to have a huge reaction. As you might’ve noticed, I’ve moved all our stuff back outside. It’s firmly attached to Fenrir, who’s waiting outside the gates for us. You cool with leaving town now? I know there’s still a plague, but…"

I didn’t like where this was heading. Not one bit.

"There is, and there isn’t a plague." I grinned at Iona, fairly confident that a positive reaction wasn’t the huge reaction she didn’t want me to have. "I literally ran out of people to heal last night. I can’t promise I got everyone, but the plague is effectively dead, especially with their plans to hit the fleas in a few days, and the existing medical base here. Ideally, I’d like to see things through to their conclusion, but I don’t have to stay, either because of my [Oath] or my own desire to see things through."

"Good. Well, Bill here’s a spy for the guards. A little tricky to hide all manner of subterfuge when I can read status sheets. Given your little show last night, and his actions, I’m pretty sure they’re aiming to take you out."

I wanted to glare murder at Bill. I wanted to spit my drink out. I wanted a lot of things, but I kept looking at the same spot, schooling my expression.

"Bastards." I finally swore. "I come in, save a quarter of them, and they repay me by what, trying to arrest me a second time? All because my level’s a little too high? What kind of fucked up place…" I trailed off, shaking my head.

Iona shook her head.

"Assassination attempt is my bet. Anyway. Got food, got some rest, don’t need to stay, ready to get out of here before we find out what they can - no." The last word was said in trader-tongue, as Bill tried to make a break for it. Iona didn’t even need to get up from her stool, simply sticking out her leg and hooking Bill with her foot. He went down hard with a vicious crack.

"Clear the bar if you don’t want to get hurt!" Iona roared as Bill fell, her voice booming through the room. The mood immediately broke, patrons fleeing as Iona turned from bawdy drinking buddy to divine force of retribution, her armor snapping into place.

"Time to go!" I headed straight for the stairs, choosing to remain visible so I could coordinate with Iona. I wouldn’t say nobody would expect me to use a window instead of the front door, but the door probably had more attention on it.

I stepped on Bill’s back. He was a dick, but he was injured and I had sworn to heal. I hadn’t even stepped off of him when he ruined everything.

"She’s here! Fire!" Bill screamed, and a moment later the wall practically exploded.

A dozen bolts, crackling electricity blew through the wall in a mighty barrage, fired from outside my range of [The World Around Me]. They were entirely heedless and uncaring of the patrons trying to exit through the door. The shots scythed through them and they died, minced into bloody chunks that joined the chaos.

Iona shoved me behind her, and I felt three bolts shudder into her body, Lightning violently discharging into and around her on impact. The remaining bolts sprayed Lightning over the room and everything in it - myself included - as they passed through, exploding into fragments on impact.

Everything was violence and blood, Metal and Lightning. There had been no window to save the patrons of the bar, but I was able to snap healing up for Iona, Auri, and myself.

"Auri! Go!" Iona shouted, ripping the bolts from her body with a snarl. I tugged on her arm.

"We should go! Collateral damage!" I shouted.

Iona twisted around, shielding me from a second set of attacks and scooping me up. Then she ran.

I wasn’t going to let myself be carried around like a helpless damsel. On top of my healing permanently pulsing through the two of us, letting Iona shrug off anything that wasn’t instantly lethal, I took out one of my spellbooks.

[Comprehensive Speed Reading] let me flip the book to exactly the right page, a complex piece of work. I cast the spell on the page, a minor invisibility spell that covered both Iona and I. Nothing as powerful as the [Greater Invisibility] rune I’d used earlier, but it wasn’t intended for use with others, and couldn’t be modified that way. The downside of Jiwa.

That, and it let us still hear each other.

The deadly electrical bolts continued raining through the tavern, but the moment we were out and away the attacks on us stopped. I wasn’t sure if it was because they noticed we were out, or if they were fired from a powerful but fixed emplacement that couldn’t easily be rotated.

And just like that, we were out of danger. I mourned the dozen or so patrons of the bar that I knew had died, and however many other people were on the other side of the tavern, coldly cut down just for a chance at killing me.

The full analysis was for later.

Iona wasn’t polite, lowering one shoulder and going through the town gates. Those would be expensive to replace, but fuck them.

Fenrir was in the field outside the gates, fully armored up and with our chests strapped to him. He… I did a double take.

He was in a cutthroat poker game, using his own [Ice Manipulation] and [Ice Conjuration] to ‘hold’ his cards. The pot was piled high, and he was puffing on his pipe, surrounded by a half-dozen seedy looking people, sweating over their own hands.

"Fenrir! No time! We gotta go!" Iona shouted.

Fenrir slammed down his hand to cries of dismay, blasted the pot with Ice, freezing it into a single block, then reared up to his full height. I twisted myself free of Iona, and snapped my wings open, shattering the illusion on them. I flew up to my seat on Fenrir’s back, noting Auri streaking to her perch on his tail. Fenrir hopped forward, grabbing his loot with his legs as Iona gracefully jump-flew to her spot on his back.

All together, Fenrir flapped his mighty wings, taking off as the guards began to boil through the gate like a beehive that had been kicked over.

Chapter 8 - Interlude - Dormin - To Kill A Hummingbird

Dormin was a [Guard]. A [Trusted Guard of the City - Lightning] to be exact.

He liked his job. Challenging, but not too hard. Constant exercise, wasn’t wrecking his back hauling fish out of the ocean or throwing crates off of ships. Had a solid community of people that he saw every day.

Free access anytime to one of the guard’s healers, which was priceless when a plague was ripping through the city.

And it afforded him moments like this. On the roof of his little home in the city, tipsy, warm beer in one hand, gazing up at the vast starry sky. A moment of peace in a busy world.

He took another long drink, emptying the bottle. It joined its three brothers, already empty, next to his feet. It was part of his routine. Drink four bottles, clean them out, get them refilled during his patrol.

A newer part of his routine was waiting until he got home to drink. The [Captain] had fined him so hard. It had only been one wagon!

"One day I’ll be the [Captain]!" He shouted to the sky, uncaring if his neighbors heard him. The city was always filled with life and sounds, one of the things he loved about the place.

Dormin’s ambition for [Captain] was more than just words. He was sitting at level 256, determined to get the promotion before classing up. That would unlock a [Captain of the Guard] variant, letting him soar to new heights. Then maybe a wife, some kids. He wasn’t sure yet.

He stretched and watched the moons rise, taking a few minutes to himself before he went to bed.

Dormin was just about to get up when a distant scream caught his ear. He sighed.

He’d been drinking, but he believed a [Guard] was never truly off-duty. That, and he lived in the area he patrolled. If he stopped a murder now, there’d be one less mess in the morning, and he’d be one step closer to [Captain].

Slightly unsteady on his feet, he got up and walked closer to the edge of the roof. He knew he was drunk, and he kept a safe distance from the edge, tracking where the screaming was coming from.

There was no shouts of "Help! Murder!" or anything, and his dreams of catching a [Murderer] or [Burglar] in the act were going up in smoke

His eyes locked on the house - Tina’s home, the [Seamstress] Dormin always went to when he needed his clothes stitched up - just as a tiny blazing ball erupted from a window, burning a dozen different colors. It zipped across the street before he had the foresight to [Identify] it, burning through a wooden slat as it invaded another home.

Tina hurried out of her house, and Dormin spotted her running off in the direction of a guard station in a huff, her normally carefully-arranged hair spilling all over and the faint scent of smoke and charcoal following her.

Then the fiery menace burst out of the second home and flew up into the sky. Dormin immediately used [Identify].

[Mage - 458].

He narrowed his eyes, focusing.

The System was telling him a [Mage] tag, but his eyes were saying "monster". Either way, the flaming menace was invading people’s homes and driving them out. The night watch would eventually get here, but waiting for them wasn’t how Dormin would make captain.

A guard was never off-duty. Dormin knew he still had a little too much in his system, but he was being careful. He was shooting up into the sky, missing this time wasn’t going to cause issues.

Spending an extra moment to aim, he sent his most powerful [Justice Bolt] into the sky, hitting and completely obliterating the menace.

[*ding!* Once again the city is safe because of you! You’ve taken out a [Phoenix of the Divine Flame (Inferno, 458)]/[The Phoenix Everliving (Inferno, 256)]! Don’t forget the paperwork.]

Dormin smiled as the notification came up, then steadily paled as he read it.

A what now!?

He looked up into the sky, seeing burning embers reconstitute themselves into a flaming hummingbird. One that was potentially very mad, very pissed off, and very much looking for Dormin.

He swayed, stumbled and fell off the roof, landing on his head. Darkness claimed him.

Claire laughed herself sick at Dormin’s tale.

"HA! Best thing I’ve heard all year! Really Dormin, if you ever decide to retire, go become a [Storyteller]! You’ll do great even without a class! Hey John, you’ve gotta hear this!" She beckoned over another guard.

"What’s this now?" He asked, sliding onto a chair in the barrack’s break room next to them.

"I killed a phoenix last night. Kinda." Dormin explained.

John snorted.

"You. Killed a phoenix that just happened to be in town?"

"... It got better." Dormin defended himself.

John put a hand on Dormin’s shoulder, and looked at him.

"Buddy. I’m worried about you. Were you drinking last night?"

"Yes, but only a few." Dormin defended himself. John settled back into his chair.

Claire and John traded looks.

"And then he fell off his roof." Claire muttered to John. "Cracked his head open and everything. Needed emergency attention. Been telling everyone about the phoenix ever since."

"It’s true!" Dormin protested. He opened his mouth to say the classes, to lend evidence to his story, but -

But it had been a divine phoenix. If they hadn’t believed him before, there’s no way they’d believe him after mentioning that detail.

"If it’s true, you’d have the most epic class ever available to you." Claire pointed out.

Dormin hesitated at that. It was true…

"But I want to be a [Captain]." He weakly protested.

"Buddy…" John said, then shook his head. "You have two classes."

Mark, the current [Captain] shouted, his commanding voice echoing through the barracks.

"Everyone! Meeting room! Now!"

"As many of you have noticed, the plague grabbed its hat and hopped on a ship last night. There isn’t a single known case in the entire city. The healers are muttering something about it coming back and not to drop our guard or something, but practically it’s gone."

Mark paused his speech to let everyone cheer. Just like a miracle in the stories, the Black Death that had ravaged their town for weeks was over. Everyone knew a dozen people or more who’d died to the illness. Everyone had needed to pitch in to drag bodies out of the city.

Mark held his hand up after an appropriate amount of time. The guards slowly stopped cheering, returning to paying attention.

"With that said, it’s not all good news. A single healer did the entire thing in a night. Her level is cleverly hidden under layers of obfuscation, but our [Analyst] is estimating she’s between level 400 to 1400 or so, depending on her class quality and distribution. With how the Black Death’s weakened us, Grimond’s been chomping at the bit to wage a war. Add in the utter lack of chance of getting infected now that the plague’s gone, and the excuse of a high level healer? No way they don’t attack, and Trence and Sasall will smell blood and money, and join in."

Dormin joined in on the obligatory booing and hissing of Krita’s hated frenemy city-states. Proximity and familiarity bred contempt, rivalries, and a network of feuds, skirmishes, and wars, all of which were forgotten the moment a [Pirate Lord’s] banner darkened the horizon or a Phantasym mage tried to set up a tower in Suen.

"No healer, and it’s just going to be Grimond poking at us. One skirmish, we’ll kick the fuckers in the balls so hard their grandfather will feel it, and we’re back to making a profit!" Mark roared to approving cheers. "Now, here’s how we’re going to do it…"

Dormin was trembling as he went from bolt to bolt, empowering each one with [Justice Strike] thanks to his [Trigger]. They’d found the healer, and had set up an ambush. A few civilians might die, but more would meet an untimely end if the healer wasn’t handled. They were just waiting for final confirmation before attacking.

Dormin was shaking as he hit the last bolt, and took three quick steps into an alley. It had been a long day. He’d fought a phoenix, cracked his head open, discovered the plague had been lifted, and was now trying to head off a war. He was no good a shaking wreck, not in front of everyone. He removed a flask from an inside pocket, popped the lid, and took a quick drink for his nerves, to steady his hands.

"Dormin!" Mark roared from behind him. "What are you doing!?"

"My nerves-"

"I don’t care!" Screamed the [Captain], an inch away from his face. "You’re fired!"

"But-"

"FIRED! Get out of here!" He shouted, pointing away from the operation zone. "Go, before I have to arrest you, citizen!"

Dormin swore and stomped off.

Hours later Dormin was on the roof, a dozen empty bottles around him. The raid had been a disaster, which had only solidified Mark’s anger towards Dormin when he came crawling back to see if he’d really been fired.

"It’s all that stupid phoenix’s fault." He cursed into the air. "I know what I saw! I still have the notification! The System doesn’t lie! All that stupid bird’s fault. If it hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here now. Yeah. If it hadn’t… hadn’t… if it wasn’t around, I’d still have a job. If I’d killed it, I’d be the [Captain] by now. Yeah. If I go and kill it… or capture it… yeah, they’d have to know I was telling the truth then."

Dormin could see it now. Claire and John open-faced as he brought a phoenix corpse back. Mark apologizing, handing over the captain’s badge to him. In Dormin’s drunk state, it all made perfect sense.

And John was right. He did have two classes. Dormin closed his eyes to the stars above, lights starting to play over his body.

An [Extinguisher of Legends] awoke.

Chapter 9 - To Exterreri!

"Think they’re going to chase us?" I asked Iona as Fenrir powered over the open ocean.

She shook her head, her armor retracting.

"Nope. We’re out of their hair, and not liable to bring anyone else down on their heads." Iona said.

I grumbled under my breath.

"Why not just ask us nicely to leave?" I complained. "Same end result, lower damage and bodycount. Like, they didn’t need to kill all those people."

I was usually pretty good about shrugging off deaths other people had caused. I took responsibility for my actions, and my actions alone. I didn’t take responsibility for what other people did. Their reactions and behavior was on their conscience, not mine.

With all that said, the people who’d gotten in the crossfire weighed on my mind. I knew mortals didn’t like high level healers. I knew there’d be retribution and consequences for my actions. I’d been told that I was a walking casus belli.

I just… I just didn’t expect a round dozen people to get brutally mowed down in broad daylight by the guard just for a chance at getting me.

I didn’t take responsibility for other people’s actions. But… in this one, particular case, I had to acknowledge some degree of culpability. A degree of responsibility. I couldn’t walk around mortal lands and throw up my hands and shrug at the wake of destruction left behind me.

"In short? Appearances and politics." Iona tugged on the reins, making Fenrir turn west. "If they’re letting you off with a warning, it sends one type of message. If they’re trying to kill you, it sends a different one. That, or whoever was in charge wasn’t thinking big, complicated thoughts, and went with the easiest solution. What would your reaction be to someone twice the average level openly flouting some of your strictest laws, then giving the guard the runaround?"

When Iona phrased it like that…

"That’s so stupid." I hated that law. What kind of stupid, fucked-up thinking did the people in this world have? Knowing my luck, it was a gross overreaction to something that had happened in the past, and… ugh.

Iona nodded.

"It is. I used to think they had the right idea, before the School. Before meeting you, and a hundred other Immortals." She shook her head ruefully.

I switched mental tracks to an old, familiar, well-worn thought process.

"After action report. Everything went well, but let’s look at what we did and why we did it, and see if we could’ve done anything differently. Go."

Iona wrapped an arm around me and kissed the back of my head.

"Goddesses, this is why I love you. Right. I could’ve taken the spy out, properly out, and we might’ve been able to sneak away on our own. That’s from a cold tactical standpoint, I’m not sure I can bring myself to stone cold execute a guard trying to do his job. That’s not the reason I didn’t shoot back at them though. I was more concerned with getting you sheltered, and I can’t do that and fire at the same time."

I punched Iona’s leg.

"I’m not a delicate flower, I’m probably tougher than you are."

"Fair - for a given definition of tough. The point remains - protection and escape, over slaughtering the guards, was my priority."

"You mentioned not attacking guards just doing their job. I’d like to slightly challenge that way of thinking from both of us." I said. "If we could hit the guards before they hit the civilians, would that have been worth it? Pretending the body count’s the same, isn’t it better that involved people, the people who’ve chosen violence, to suffer the fate they’re trying to inflict on others?"

Iona thought about it - really thought about it - before giving a curt nod.

"That’s a good point, but there’s got to be a tipping point where we say it’s better for one civilian to bite the dust than sixty four guards."

I shuddered at that.

"You can work that out. I don’t - can’t - errr - I’m struggling to even try to put lives on scales like that."

"Really? Isn’t that exactly what triage is? You put three lives on one side of the scale, twelve on the other, weigh them and find a side wanting?"

I instinctively rejected the idea, but this was an after-action report. I forced myself to examine it, to force it into my mind and turn it over.

How was it different? The only thing I could immediately think of was ‘it wasn’t medicine’, and that was valid in a few ways. In others though…

"I’m not sure, but you bring up some points that are worth considering. I’ll think about it."

Iona gave me a little hug.

"Thanks. While we’re on the topic, I’d like to take a quick moment to pray for the poor souls who just died."

"Go for it." I said.

A quick moment turned into fifteen minutes of prayer, Iona closing her eyes and bending her neck slightly as she communed with her goddesses. Eventually she looked up, and we continued.

"Why be showy? Why wait for them to get in position? You’d packed up, so you had to anticipate trouble."

"Easy. I anticipated trouble, I didn’t think trouble would find us that quickly. My bad."

I nodded my acceptance of Iona’s answer.

"On my end, I should’ve been more aware. More alert. I’ve spent too much time at the School, my instincts are rusty. New place, unknown bed? After letting my secret out? I should’ve expected complications. If I’d taken the time to properly investigate the area after waking up, I’m sure I would’ve noticed the guard setting up. From there, I had a few different choices. I probably would’ve written you a note and left, meeting up with you outside of town. If I wasn’t there, the guard’s would’ve just given you a dirty look, but moved on. No Immortal healer, no reason to launch an attack. You being my protector doesn’t cause trouble, yeah?"

"Mmmm. Yeah, that would’ve worked. Live and learn. In other news, I’ve got directions! We’re near the southern end of the Crystal Sea. I’m confident Fenrir can cross it in a single go, then we’ll need to turn north, and follow the coast to the Ralakar border. Probably spend the night there, then cross through like we discussed."

I looked down at the endless waves, and leaned back into Iona.

"How long do you think it’ll take?"

"A few hours."

"Blaaaaaaaaah. I’m already bored. Mind if I go flying?"

Iona slipped an arm around my waist and gave me a quick squeeze.

"Not at all, go for it! Wanna practice flying upside down and backwards, and seeing if you can kiss at the same time?"

I could see her waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"I’ll see what I can do!"

We spent hours flying over the Crystal Sea, so named for its glorious crystal-clear waters. I was a significantly faster flier than Fenrir was, in spite of the wyvern being a supermassive flier. The tyranny of stats, combined with a strong skill and biological modifications.

That, and I wasn’t weighed down by hundreds of pounds of cargo. I’m sure I’d be significantly slower if that was the case.

Nothing bothered us as we traveled, and I once again thanked Fenrir for that. Dinosaur or bird, there wasn’t much that wanted to tangle with a wyvern. I spent my time flitting around Fenrir, flying up high into the clouds, then diving down to the sea. I put my hand in the waves, laughing as I zipped through them, making my own little waves in the surf. I made sure to always keep Fenrir in sight. If I lost him, I had no idea how we’d ever find each other again.

I flew around Fenrir in circles in all directions, like weapons-grade bonkerite.

I hung out with Auri, who wasn’t fast enough to fly on her own, and utterly lacked the endurance to do the type of long flying that Fenrir could. Fenrir would just leave her in the dust, and the endless ocean stretching down below us was one of the few things Auri truly feared. An exhausted phoenix falling into the endless depths would die, [Phoenix Rebirth] or not.

Playing anything like cards or dice with Iona was out of the question, but Auri joined us for more cerebral games. Riddles and brain-twisters, stories and jokes. Watching clouds.

"Looks like an easel." Iona pointed to a cloud.

"Huh. I see a shield."

"Brrrrpt!"

I rolled my eyes.

"You’ve called every single cloud fire." I said.

"BRRrrrRRpTT!!" Auri scolded.

"Okay, fine, all but one." I corrected.

The sun was setting when we spotted land again.

I ran up Fenrir’s neck and balanced on his head, shading my eyes.

"Land ho!" I cried out, pointing at the obvious. Fenrir snorted and bucked his head, throwing me back to Iona.

Iona took the reins and steered Fenrir north. He snorted his displeasure.

"It’s Omospondia, boy. You know that. They won’t be happy to see you."

We flew for a bit longer, Iona turning us back towards the shore as it got dark. We landed in a meadow in the wilderness.

"Elaine, can you set up camp? Fenrir and I are going hunting."

I didn’t need to be told twice, Fenrir had spent all day flying without eating a bite, the poor thing.

"Give me a quick breakdown on how hard of a campsite we need?" I asked.

She tilted her head, thinking.

"Light to medium on physical defenses, go hard on the wards." She said as she started unstrapping our supplies and Fenrir’s armor.

I nodded my understanding and started casting. A thin sheet of metal to circle where our tent would go, like flimsy walls, and a firepit right outside the entrance was only safe because of magic and Auri. It wasn't big enough to include Fenrir, but if there was anything here willing to deliberately mess with a wyvern we were in trouble.

Next up was ‘hardening’ the ground, and while I’d never gone deep on the transmutation principles or classes, merging and melding the various rocks together was easy enough, as was ‘packing’ the dirt together. I finished my terraforming with a brief little ‘leveler’ spell, so we didn’t have rocks poking into our sides all evening.

Once the space was ready, Auri leapt into action, a dozen [Mage Hands] assembling our tent at maximum speed.

Wards were up next. A lack of Arcanite meant I’d need to be the one fueling all of them for the entire night, and I was limited by my regeneration. A detection ward was the first one, to see if anyone was sneaking up on us. Issue was calibration. Too small, and mosquitoes would trigger it. Too large, and creatures with a System could sneak by. Deterrent was also a question. Better to scare off a dozen creatures that might trigger the wards, than spend all night waking up and going back to sleep.

"Auri, can you make a small ring of fire all evening?"

"Brrrrrrpt!?!?!"

"Yes, I’m asking you to burn something all night long."

"BRPT!!!"

In retrospect, I’m not sure why I asked.

Let’s see… a layer of Darkness first. It was cheaper than an invisibility illusion, and it would eat the sights and smells of our campground. I was still keeping an eye on efficiency with my wizardry, instead of just throwing power at the problem. Plus, the more efficient I was, the more wards I could add! No scent of fresh entrails to attract predators! I wasn’t making it a good barrier, and anything solid could pass through it. Cheaper that way. Inside of that I was going to put Auri’s ring of fire, a great big ‘go away’ alarm to any slithering snakes or hopping mice who happened to make their way in.

Anything crossing the ring of fire was bad news. Detection ward came after that, and I had a little bit of fun tying in all the alarms to it. Pots banging, a loud screech, bright flashing lights, rolling thunders, skunk smell and more! No way would we sleep through that sort of disturbance, and the more, the louder, the better chance we had of scaring off whatever it was. I wanted to add in a big flashing arrow, but properly localizing which part of the ward was being triggered was non-trivial. This was supposed to be a simple one-night detector. I wasn’t building a fort - or my home!

I paused at adding a barrier. On one hand, I wasn’t going to say no to another layer of automatic defense. On the other, powering a barrier through wizardry which was part of a complex multi-layered defense was asking for trouble. I could lose a large amount of mana and barely slow down whatever was coming for us.

Or wait. Derp. I was being dumb about this. [Persistent Casting] and [Mantle of the Stars] gave me a permanent shield via sorcery. [Mantle of the Stars] wasn’t impressive as barriers went, but it was still leagues better than doing the same thing with wizardry. At least when I was fueling everything. The moment a significant amount of arcanite came into play, all bets were off.

I’d put my shield up inside the sheet of metal, letting the physical barrier come into play before the magical one, then have a few holes in it for air.

I nodded to myself. Good enough for a single night. I started to plan the needed runes and sigils.

I was just wrapping up my planning when Iona and Fenrir came back. Fenrir’s head and neck looked like he was becoming a legendary pink wyvern, while Iona dragged a frog half as large as she was off Fenrir’s back. I waved her over, and Fenrir took off again, flying towards the sea. To wash off or hunt more, I was unsure.

I lifted an eyebrow at Iona’s loot.

"Beelzebufo? That’s… different. Dibs on the legs!" I cried out.

"Brrrpt!" Auri laid a claim to the part she wanted. All sixty four grams that she could eat.

Iona shrugged.

"Works for me, the ribs are the best part."

"Brrrpt! BRPT!" Auri made a tiny little flaming hat out of white flames, and officiously pushed us to the side so she could begin her art. A culinary manifes-toad.

Without further ado, Auri started a little fire, and we spent a beautiful night under the stars. Before we went to bed, I cast and arranged our ward setup.

An hour later, I was drifting off to sleep in Iona’s arms.

Iona and I shot up as a dozen blaring sirens went off, the light through the tent glowing with a dozen different colors. Iona threw off our blankets, and I threw my hand across her chest.

[The World Around Me] was busted. It let me see exactly what the issue was.

"Just Fenrir coming over to say hi." I told her, my heart racing. I dropped [Mantle], we were awake and there was no issue.

She sighed.

"Well, that’s one way to wake up. Who needs to jump into an icy spring when we have all these alarms?" She asked.

I chuckled, then gagged and wretched as the smell hit me.

"Oh goddesses, why, WHY!?" I screamed to the air as my non-existent breakfast tried to escape my stomach.

I fled the tent, but the smell followed me. Persisted. Stank. I whipped out my spellbook and cast a cleaning cantrip, but that only fought against what was on me, not the fumes in the air. I tried to cast a gust, but by the time I’d swapped spellbooks and cast it - a second or two - I’d been coated again.

I fled.

I had never regretted giving myself a super sense of smell until now. I ran through the meadow, the smell following me like an evil spirit, and it was only when I dunked myself into the sea that I got anything vaguely resembling relief.

I was entirely onboard with Miasma classers being banned.

I popped out of the surf, seeing Iona, Fenrir, and Auri approaching, murder in their eyes.

"Oh good!" Iona said with fake cheeriness. "You’re already here. I think we all need a good bath after that."

She dashed over.

"Argarbarglebaaaargh!" I complained as Iona mercilessly dunked me before starting to wash herself. Fenrir carefully, delicately - for his size - dunked me under with his mouth. He was so large I didn’t protest.

Auri flew up to me, a hand above the waves.

"Brrrpt." She chirped at me, all disappointed, without a shred of mercy.

"You as well?" I complained before two dozen burning [Mage Hands] forced me underwater again, great gouts of steam exploding around me as water met Inferno.

I wrinkled my nose as we flew north.

"I swear I cast that cleaning cantrip properly!" I complained for the sixth time.

"It’s skunk." Iona retorted. "SKUNK! It’s impossible to get out of things! Skunk doesn’t care that magic is supposed to clean it! Never. Again."

I muttered to myself as we kept going. Iona insisted I stay on Fenrir. Her reasoning was sound. "You stink the place up, you get to suffer with the rest of us."

It didn’t take long to hit the border, although identifying that we’d hit the border was somewhat tricky. There were no great flashing neon signs saying "Welcome to Ralakar!", no great wall, no guard posts or marching armies. Just a slow shift in the villages and towns we saw, until we became convinced we were in the right spot, and could turn west.

It was interesting to see the villages from the sky. Some were lively and bustling with color and life, even the poorest dragonlings showing off the most spectacularly colored saris and lungis. Other ‘villages’ were more overgrown huts, an indicator that once upon a time life had existed there, and for one reason or another, nature had won the battle.

We flew and flew and flew, and an interesting pattern emerged, one I suspected I’d never be able to see from the ground. There were dams all over the place, rivers built up into ponds, then flowing through and cascading to the next place. It almost looked like cities and roads wound around the areas that were heavily built up, while at the same time staying a distance away from them. Add in Ralakar being near the equator, and it all came together to form rich, lush rainforests and mangroves.

We made good time, and I was vaguely forgiven by Iona and Auri by the time we were thinking of landing for the night.

"I am not sleeping in that tent." Iona said as she crossed her arms. "I don’t care where we go, or how much it costs, I am not sleeping there. I’m even tempted to see if we can buy a new tent. Skunk." She muttered the last word under her breath with a pointed stare at the back of my head.

Vaguely forgiven.

"Oh look, a lovely town, why don’t we land there for the night?" A distraction!

Iona didn’t say anything, but Fenrir started to dive to a safe distance away from the town. Fifteen minutes later we were approaching the gates.

Iona started to speak to the guards, they responded, and blah. Samkra. I didn’t speak a word of the language. Instead I studied the guards.

They were dressed fancy. Everyone had colorful clothing, and they had colors to the max! Their weapons were interesting, wielding long glaives and shields, with straight swords on their belt. They were all made of ceramics which I thought was neat. The implied lethality was something else, none of their gear was suited to subdual or gentle handling.

The other odd thing was both dragonlings [Identified] as [Laborer], not [Warrior]. What was up with that? One I could understand having an unusual class, but two? Carrying weapons?

With Iona’s discussion to simply enter the city taking so long?

I started furiously praying to Selene and Lunaris.

No plague no plague no disaster no issues that need healers just let me get to Exterreri!!

No response. One of these days!

I started sweating in a way that had nothing to do with the heat, starting to preen and make sure I looked properly presentable. Guards didn’t treat people equally. Someone who looked like they’d be on the road for weeks and coated in filth might be denied entry, while a clean well-presenting person would be admitted. Eventually, Iona seemed to come to some agreement with the guards and walked back.

"Ralakar." She exasperatedly said with a note of disgust. "Right. Two big important things for us to know. First. The castoroides are sacred. Don’t harm them. Don’t bother them. Don’t even touch them. If one’s blocking your way, go around. Don’t interfere with their work. If one wants to chew up your house for logs, let them."

"If they want my firstborn, sacrifice it to them?" I sarcastically asked. Iona slid her eyes towards the guards.

"Don’t tell them you’re not sacrificing it to them around people. Auri, for you specifically, don’t burn anything."

"BRRRRRRPT!?!?!?"

"Yes, I mean it. We’re not going to be here long. No. Burning. The odds of something going wrong and another city baying for our heads are too high. I’ll buy you a bag of rice flour if we get out of Ralakar without incident."

Auri tilted her head back and forth a few times, clearly mulling over the deal.

"Brrrpt!!" She accepted… putting a stipulation on how big the bag needed to be.

I flicked her.

"Don’t be greedy. You shouldn’t be burning anything in the first place."

"Second thing." Iona said. "Caste system. They’re well aware that foreigners like us have no idea what’s going on with them and their castes, but at the same time, it’s not exactly flexible and forgiving to us. On one hand, we’re outsiders, lowest of the low, but on the other, Auri’s a [Mage] and will be treated as one, just like I’m a [Warrior] and you’re a [Healer]. Practically, this means we’re at the bottom of those respective castes, because of our foreign status. In order, it goes [Leader], [Mage], [Warrior] and [Ranger] in the same caste, [Healer], [Artisan], and ends with [Laborer]. If anyone of the higher caste shows up, we do a bunch of getting out of their way and being polite."

"Seems easy enough, especially if we’re just getting a room for the night and carrying on. What’s the catch?" It was never this easy. Never.

"Different inns - sarais - cater to different castes. Most businesses are freeform, but there’s something about sleep that they take differently here."

I threw my hands up.

"Well, great! Are you at least able to help me find a place, oh mighty [Warrior], or am I on my own?"

"Brrrpt! Brpt?"

Iona chewed her lip.

"Pretty sure I can help you out. Let’s go find a place?"

We entered the town, and two streets later I spotted a giant beaver lounging in the middle of the road. He didn’t seem to be doing anything - it was too dark for it to be sunning itself or anything - but everyone was carefully stepping around him anyway.

"That’s a castoroides?" I asked. "A giant beaver?"

"Yup." Iona confirmed.

"Explains all the dams and wetlands we saw getting over here." We carefully navigated our way around the giant beaver, and it was the work of an hour to get a sarai for everyone, and agree when and where we were meeting up tomorrow, along with a backup plan.

Poor Iona getting clam jammed again. I shamelessly teased her about it. She put a hand on my shoulder.

"Just wait until I can get you in a tavern with me." She half-growled, half-purred, half-threatened.

Ooooh boy, did that ever do things to me.

Uncomfortable, I shamelessly smuggled Auri in with me.

We settled in for a communal meal, an [Artisan] playing beautifully on a sitar. I feasted like a [Queen]! Curry! Hummus! Naan! Chicken! Sambar! Chana Masala!

They really knew how to cook in Ralakar!! Exterreri was just across the water from here, I wonder if any dishes made their way over, and how expensive a spice habit would be.

The table was filled with other [Healers], and I could barely follow a word of what was said. Didn’t really care though, I was here to eat, get out, and go to sleep.

I smuggled a bowl up to Auri, and for the first time in ages, fell asleep by myself.

Not alone though. Auri was in the room, a glowing night light against the horrors of the dark.

It took another two weeks of a slow, careful, winding route of flying, but at last (if we were reading the map properly), Exterreri was on the horizon as we crossed another body of water.

"Land ho!" I gleefully cried out, and practically jumped for joy as Fenrir crossed over a sandy beach. An hour of flying later, and I spotted a wispy column of smoke in the distance.

"Uh oh. Do you see that?" I pointed it out to Iona. She shaded her eyes and looked in the direction I was pointing.

"No, sorry. What am I looking for?" She asked.

"Smoke. Not the good type." I said.

Iona didn’t say a word, pulling on Fenrir’s reins in the direction I was pointing.

It wasn’t long before we were flying over the burning remains of a village, a dozen people running around trying to fight the fires.

"Here we go!" Iona cried out as she urged Fenrir into a dive.

Chapter 10 - Pekari I

Iona didn’t wait for Fenrir to land. She leapt off his back as soon as we were over the village, using [Flight of the Valkyries] to accelerate her downward velocity. I pulled a face as she landed, sinking up to her knees in the hard-packed dirt.

She almost blurred to my sight as she pulled herself out of the ground and started running around, moving into position to catch half a falling house one moment - [Grasp of the Moon] was stupid - and freezing a burning house with [Blizzard Shot] the next.

Iona’s [Vow] was insane to watch in action.

"Auri. Go." I pointed to the village where a few buildings were still smoldering, sending up the black smoke.

"Brrrrrpt!" She shot off like a burning arrow, fires dying in her wake. I finally leapt off Fenrir myself, having identified which part of the village injured people were being brought to, a task easier to accomplish from the sky than on the ground.

The clear line of sight made a no-damage [Nova Lance] [Imbued] with [Dance with the Heavens] the ideal choice here. There were only a few people, and I quickly played my beam over them.

My heart fell as only half of them regrew limbs and had gaping wounds close. The rest were already dead.

I landed softly near them, and started firing off questions.

"Is there anyone else hurt? What happened? How can we help?" I rapidly asked in high elvish.

I got a look like I was an idiot by one of the older women, who looked like she ate nails for breakfast.

"Yes, there are. Now, either help or get out of the way!" She curtly reprimanded me.

There was something in her tone that had me hopping to it. It wasn’t the time or the place to protest that I’d just pulled a half-dozen people from the brink of death, that I was here to help. Arguing, protesting, trying to explain or justify myself wasn’t getting stuff done.

Tying [Dance with the Heavens] to [Cosmic Presence] did get things done. The village population was small enough that I could afford the inefficiencies, and instantly healing anyone who got near, anyone who was still alive but trapped was worth the meager penalty.

Fenrir delicately landed outside of the village, trying not to crush any fields or crops that hadn’t already been devastated. My senses let me combine a few flashes I saw of him along with the noises I was hearing to figure out that he was sniffing around, searching, hunting.

I didn’t believe for a second he’d seen the ruined village and decided to go hunting. Especially not when there were thunderclouds on the horizon. I split off a mental process to try and figure out what he’d found and follow it myself, while the rest of me was focused on the here and now.

Iona was taking charge, and I let her. She knew people better than I did, and a single strong unified voice worked better than several people working at cross purposes. Kind of like how Kallisto used to help me out when I was a Sentinel!

It quickly became clear that the Pekari had, for whatever strange reasons the golems had, attacked this village. It was all the villagers were talking about. They were famous for how capricious they were and the complete mystery that was their motives.

"Dawn." Iona glanced at me, holding up an entire roof on her own. Villagers swarmed around her, quickly setting up beams, the local carpenter using a [Repair] variant to fix everything at superhuman speeds.

"Nobody left hiding, no bodies under buildings." I tersely reported. "Is there a reason we’re not going now?" I asked.

I didn’t need to expand, Iona knew what I was saying.

"The Pekari historically take prisoners, and for whatever reason, keep them. In horrifying condition, sure, but they live. They’re sheltered and fed, for a generous definition of fed. They’ll last a few more hours or days while we fix things here. Now come on, there’s a fallen tree on the north side of the village, can you handle it?"

I wasn’t sure I completely agreed, but I didn’t know how much of that was my itching to go out and do something, versus stay here and trying to lend a helping hand. [Nova Lance] was useful, letting me sear and cut through a fallen tree, turning it into logs. The wood was too valuable to simply burn away.

I was able to hear and smell Fenrir finding a trail and following it deeper into the forest. Then again, a blind toddler could’ve followed the trail. The Pekari were not exactly subtle when it came to smashing through trees and dragging their victims back. Fenrir had stopped moving a few miles from the village, and I bet we’d find the entrance to their tunnels there.

Going alone, with just Auri though, without Iona? That was just asking for disaster to strike, and Iona was the resident expert on how things worked. Pekari were a global low-level scourge, and the whole thing just confused me. How were they global, with such an aggressive stance and attacking low levels like this? How had an Immortal not gotten annoyed by them and wiped them all out?

I’d read like hell in the School’s hidden library, reading volume after volume. I’d stashed multiple books in my [Hoard], only to speed read them in parallel while I was sleeping. I hadn’t managed to read them all, instead picking up books that I thought would be interesting or would help me level. One book I’d seen but always had something more interesting to read was The Secret of the Pekari. It kept ending up on my longlist of books to read, and I had just kept finding other things to read.

Right now I regretted not looking through it.

Things moved along quickly enough, and finally, finally, Iona was ready.

"Let’s go." She said as her flowing armor covered her body. She was skipping her glaive entirely, only wielding her axe. The long polearm was suboptimal underground, without the room to properly swing it.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri charged off, and I scooped her up as I casually jogged by.

"Communication!" Iona said. "Tell me what you know of the Pekari. I’ve fought them a dozen times, I know you’ve read about them, but let’s not assume. Could get us killed if I think you know something you don’t."

Perfectly reasonable.

"Combat related. Three tiers of Pekari. Basic, advanced, elite. In a small raid like this we’re only expecting to see basic, and maybe a advanced or two. Starting at basic, we’ve got Octopuses, Poppers, and Clankers. Octopuses we can ignore, they’re just the builders. Clankers and Poppers are both elvenoid, taking on the rough form of whatever nation they’re in. Clankers also tend to use the melee weapons and tactics of the location they’re in, while Poppers are always the same, firing metal slugs. They use the same metal base, although Clankers are easier to disable. Just wreck a few joints and we’re good. Poppers we need to be careful about. Still deadly even when disabled, they just can’t move."

Iona frowned a bit.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Trappers?" She prodded.

"They’re not advanced?" I asked. "They’re rare."

"Ehhhh… I suppose you could call them advance if you’re using frequency. They tend to appear with other basics when they show up, so I think they’re a basic."

"Either way. Trappers. Rare, non-lethal. Throw metal wire nets to try and tangle or catch people, then drag them off. In a fight, I think Auri and I should go after any Poppers, while you keep the Clankers at bay, then move to Clanker cleanup?"

"Valid. At the same time, I was able to single-handedly take care of a Pekari nest 200 levels ago. It took me three days of carefully working through them and their traps, but I managed it. Pride and hubris comes a few minutes before death, so I don’t dare say it’ll be easy to let my guard down, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pekari… failed to live up to the myths and legends we’ve read about them."

"Advanced Pekari. Skitter, Crusher, Creaker, Dragonfly, Fireworm." I waited for Iona to add anything I’d missed, but she motioned for me to continue on.

"Skitters. What Poppers should be if they were smart. Slug slinger on four spider legs, able to cling to the walls and ceilings. Fast skirmishers, they shoot a few slugs from a distance then skitter away."

"Crusher. Fills the hallway with a solid wall of spiked wheels, spinning chains, whirling blades, the works. Big, heavy, practically unstoppable, fortunately rare."

Iona nodded.

"I tried to stop one once. It… did not go well. Alruna had to intervene and cut what was left of me out." She flexed. "Maybe I’ll get my chance again."

I gave her a Look.

"I can’t heal meat paste back to life. Plus, don’t you still have unfinished business with me and a tavern?"

Iona flashed me that cocky grin of hers.

"Just wait and see!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Brrrpt?"

"Good question. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t melt a Crusher, although the bigger issue would be getting past it once we’re done."

"Brrrpt!!!" Auri had a target and a goal.

"Dibs." Iona claimed.

"BRPT!"

I smacked both of them.

"Let’s not play games with the deadly golems. Creakers. Basically never seen underground, oversized mobile ballista, firing siege bolts. Am I nuts for saying that Skitters sound deadlier?"

Iona shook her head.

"You’re not. Creakers are basically city-wall exclusive. Something about their shots are particularly good against wards and stone."

"Almost makes me think that they should be high tier, not mid tier, but I’m speaking as an armchair analyst and not somebody who’s actually seen them, so I’ll shut up now. Dragonflies. Tiny fliers, with a stinger that’s mildly venomous. Hang on, how have you handled them in the past? They’re like, custom-designed to kill you."

Iona tapped her armor.

"No gaps, but yes. They’re amazing at killing lightly armored targets. And… mildly venomous?? What kind of poisons have you been researching?"

"I mean, my scale might be off, but it takes a few minutes after stinging a target for them to die. Hooked-nosed sea snake venom. How the Pekari are getting so much, I have no idea, but ehhh… minutes. Not seconds, and people occasionally survive a single sting. No big deal, and like. I’m always running healing through myself. I wouldn’t dare say my biology would resist the combination of neurotoxins and myotoxins, but they’d need to penetrate my skin first, then instantly get flushed out."

I shrugged.

"They’re frankly no threat to me or Auri, you’re sealed in your armor like a turtle, your vitality is high enough and I’m on hand, they honestly don’t seem like a threat to us."

"Famous last words." Iona warned.

I nodded.

"I’m taking this seriously, but proper threat evaluation is important as well. A Skitter and a swarm of Dragonflies? The Skitter’s the threat."

"A fair point." Iona conceded. "Fireworms?"

"BRRRRRRRPT! Brpt brpt BRPT BRPT!!!!" Auri had quite a few unkind words about them. Mostly that they had nothing to do with fire, they were taking the good name for themselves and it was all WRONG, and they were sneaky cowards that tunneled around, before popping out of floors and walls to fire a buckshot of metal at point-blank range.

I swear Auri only researched them due to their name.

"Excellent." Iona complimented Auri’s knowledge.

"We’re unlikely to see anything high tier." I concluded. "The only commonly known one are Hummers. If we hear a loud humming noise, we get out."

"We get out as fast as we can." Iona agreed.

Hummers could collapse the entire Pekari nest, and anyone still poking around would get buried under tons of dirt and rock. I was practically a cockroach, and with my extensive modifications and built-in runes I might be able to survive… but nobody else would, and if I was entirely immobilized, I would eventually die.

It took no time to cross over the trampled flat vegetation, smeared with blood, to where Fenrir was standing guard protectively over an incredibly obvious entrance. It was raised, with different color stones, etched with the word Pekari in a dozen different scripts, surrounding a staircase leading down. Multiple overlapping trails of blood left no question at all to what had happened. All it was missing was a flashing sign saying BAD GUYS HERE.

"The Pekari seem kinda…" I trailed off, not wanting to say it and jinx things, but…

"Stupid?" Iona suggested, filling in the void with the word I’d been thinking of.

I nodded, stepping into the tunnel.

"Yeah. Like. Why? Just… the smallest measure of not plastering their name everywhere, or closing their tunnels when they’re done, or skipping the Poppers and going straight to the Skitters, or… anything really. I’m just so confused." I told Iona.

She nodded.

"You’re not the first, you won’t be the last, and to be honest, I don’t know. I do know that we can’t underestimate them. They’re in there, they’re dangerous, they’re lethal, they will kill you, and you can’t rely on System notifications to know when one’s out of operation. Alruna almost died when she turned her back on a Popper she thought she’d taken out. Two of its tubes were still active, got her six times in the back before I smashed it again." Iona said the last part with evident pride. Saving her mentor as a squire clearly had left warm and fuzzy memories, nevermind the memory being filled with gore and violence.

"Kill them extra dead, got it." I said as I finished going down the stairs, ending up in an unusually tall and wide hallway, all made out of bricks in a distinct style. [The World Around Me] let me know there were additional passages on either side of me, hidden by the walls. It was pitch dark down here, but Auri was a permanent light source. As she came down the stairs, the faint light of her flames was enough for me to see like it was broad daylight. My ears twitched as the sound of the outside was muffled just a hair, and I could hear what was going on just a bit better.

Far off, deeper in the tunnels, people were yelling. A steady pop pop pop could be heard, along with the familiar twang of a crossbow.

"People fighting deeper in. I heard a crossbow, and I can see why they’re called poppers." I told Iona. I wasn’t charging in, not yet. I didn’t know if anyone was hurt, and going in alone was a good way to add another body to the pile. "Also, there’s another passage next to this one. What do we do?"

"Take it slow, unless we know they need help. Careful for traps. Ignore the side passage for now, the villagers are going to be on the main path."

Why the Pekari had such predictable patterns I’d never know. The bloody trail was making me nervous - people didn’t have that much blood in them.

"Brrrpt?" Auri asked.

"Ehhh… don’t go too far, but you should be safe flying through the tunnels, yes." Iona replied.

"Brrpt!"

We moved through the tunnel at a brisk walk. I’d read a lot at the School, and some of it was just due to random ‘hey, I think that’d be neat to know more about!’ One such book had been a primer on traps and trap-finding. Hurray for [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm]! Hurray for [Astral Archives]! I was by no means an expert, but I’d walked through traps with the dwarves before. It took a lot to hurt me, and even if I failed to stop a trap, I’d probably be fine.

Traps were a concern, but [The World Around Me] was broken. I could easily spot pressure plates through the floor and snapped tripwires. I couldn’t always see the attack mechanism - darts coming out of the far wall, for example, was outside of [The World Around Me] - but avoiding all the triggers was good enough. The halls were littered with ruined Pekari, metal limbs torn asunder, metallic gears scattered across the hall. Clankers with broken spears, Poppers with their tubes smashed, even a rare Trapper or Octopus here and there.

That, and most of the traps were disarmed.

"Hold up." I threw my arm out, halting Iona. "Pitfall trap here. Looking for the release mechanism."

Iona quirked up a single eyebrow.

"Really? We can all fly."

I smacked my forehead.

"Derp. Right. Let’s go, be careful." We could figure out how to disable the trap with people on the way back - if it wasn’t already disabled. All of the traps I’d seen so far had signs of someone else coming through before us.

We cautiously picked our way across the pitfall trap, and to my surprise, it never activated.

"Weird." I paused at the end, looking back at the trap.

"It’s not the time or the place to get distracted." Iona reminded me. "It might’ve already been disabled by the other people you’re hearing." We kept walking.

"Octopuses in the walls." I said a minute later. They were called octopuses for the obvious reason that they looked like one, a metal ball with six tentacly legs coming off it, one in each direction.

… Maybe less obvious. Why weren’t they called Hexapuses?? Whatever.

It gave the little construction golems unparalleled movement and efficiency, able to squeeze into tight places and do… whatever it was Pekari did. They were harmless, only building the various structures that the Pekari used.

Then again, looking at it from that angle, they were also the most dangerous.

"Ignore them, unless it looks like they’re up to something." Iona said.

"They’re golems, do they ever look like they’re not up to something?" I asked.

Iona paused.

"Fair point."

"Brrrrpt!"

"We’re almost to the other group." I said. The sounds of fighting had stopped, and a bunch of banging had started.

"What can you tell me about them?"

I cocked my head and listened.

"Three- no, wait, four of them, one’s real quiet or not moving much. Two wearing metal boots, the other two have leather boots. All sound roughly like adult elvenoids."

Iona put her hands up to her mouth and shouted.

"Hello down there!"

A moment later a voice called back.

"Hello! Here to help with the Pekari?" A man’s voice echoed back.

"Yes! Mind if we approach?" Iona asked. I fractionally tilted my head at her.

"Would you want armed high level people you don’t know approaching you without warning in a dark tunnel?" She murmured to me.

I gave a tiny nod of understanding. We soon met the other group.

Four humans, all between level 210 and 302. On the younger side. Two men and two women.

"Paris." The [Warrior - 302] of the group said, giving us a wide smile and a happy nod. His hands were a little full with a banged-up tower shield, and interestingly, he was using an intact leg of a clanker as a club, instead of the spear on his back or the sword on his hip. He was sensibly armored, although there was no rhyme or reason to what he had, a messy patchwork. An expensive breastplate that looked like it should belong to some [Lord] was matched by a leather cap, shining boots and beaten bracers. "B-Rank adventurer, leader of the Sterling Six team. I’d shake your hand, but mine are a little full!" He chuckled like he’d told the best joke ever. I wanted to roll my eyes.

Also. Adventurers. Ewwwwww.

I mentally shook myself. I was biased. I knew I was biased. I’d just gotten a first hand look at the adventurer’s POV in Osengard. While a lawless, rule-breaking bunch, maybe, just maybe, sometimes they had a reason. Plus, this wasn’t Remus anymore! Maybe, just maybe, they’d successfully reformed themselves. What little knowledge I’d gotten about them via osmosis implied that most were hired and retained by a local [Noble], which surely moderated their actions somewhat. Right?

And! AND! They were in the Pekari nest, grinding their way through the metal golems to save the villagers. That was worth something in my book.

Not all adventurers were the same, and tarring them all with the same brush was a bad idea. I’d give the Sterling Six a fair chance.

Time to put my best foot forward! Although there was one weird thing about what they’d said.

"Hi! I’m Dawn! Nice to meet you all! Although why the Sterling Six, when there’s only four of you?" I asked.

With horror I realized why there were four of them while their name was the Sterling Six just as the words left my mouth.

Iona slightly slapped the back of my head.

"Iona." My girlfriend stepped forward, hooking her axe onto her belt and showing empty hands. Still armored like a [Knight], and she was deadlier than any weapon, but the gesture was there. "Sorry about my friend, she’s a little obtuse at times. Valkyrie. We were passing through when we spotted the smoke, and here we are."

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt?"

My jaw dropped open at Auri’s comment, and I switched to English to scold her.

"No! They can’t just rename themselves to the Lucky Leftovers! No!"

Iona steadfastly pretended not to hear either of us.

We continued a brisk round of introductions.

"Hadriana! Nice ta meetcha all! I’m a [Ruin Trapfinder], so if I tell ya not to step on a spot, don’t!" Hadriana was the first [Trapfinder] I’d ever met, and was ironically the most heavily armored of the lot - except for her hands. Her hands were completely bare. All the better to disarm traps? She was missing a finger and a knuckle, and unless that was a genetic defect - in her line of work, I doubted it - I could fix that right up.

"Antonius." The dude just stared past us. He was the lightest of the bunch, wearing only a simple brown tunic and was bald. He held a crossbow pointing down, and his knuckles were bruised and bleeding.

"Zoe. Fire [Mage]. Would like to trade notes with your bird at some point." The red-haired teen said as she eyed Auri hungrily, the lowest level of the bunch. Sensibly ensconced in mismatched armor like the rest, I could smell blood coming from a nasty puncture on her leg.

"Brrpt!" Auri was back on my head, and she made flaming letters appear above her.

Hello! I’m Auri! The prettiest thing you’ll ever see!

"As you might’ve guessed, I’m a healer. Mind if I patch you all up?"

People basically never said no to free healing, and a moment after I’d briefly touched everyone, we were fighting fit.

"We’re all here to kill Pekari and rescue people. Let’s go." Iona said.

Quietly, in Creation, Iona subvocalized a few words to me, knowing that I’d be able to hear them and the adventurers wouldn’t.

"Careful. Hadriana is a [Burglar], but more importantly, Paris has the [Murder] skill."

A cold chill went through me at that.

Like they’d been waiting for us, I heard the distant sound of Pekari clanking through the tunnels towards us.

Chapter 11 - Pekari II

Iona continued subvocalizing to me as the adventurers scrambled to get into position.

"We’re all in it against the Pekari, and I doubt they’re a threat to us. Paris’s skill is low level. Still, keep an eye out. People don’t intentionally take the skill unless they mean to use it."

My eyes drifted to Auri, who probably hadn’t heard any of that. I hadn’t quite mastered the fine art of speaking super quietly, but it only took a moment to think of the right thing to say.

"Go Iona! Go Sterling Six! I’ll watch your backs!" Iona would be able to figure out what I was planning.

It was tactically advantageous - I had the best senses and could prevent any ambushes. It kept the Sterling Six in my view as well. I was the designated backup - Radiance could instantly respond to any issues, and I could heal anyone who needed it.

It also didn’t put our backs to the Sterling Six and tempt them to try anything. Granted, even if we were leading, I would see if they tried to pull any nonsense, but they didn’t know that. Better to be obvious about keeping my eyes on them to prevent temptation.

I didn’t need anyone to spell it out for me. What happened in the deadly golem lair stayed in the deadly golem lair. Frankly, I wasn’t worried about us. I was worried about them committing suicide by Iona. I’d had my fill of death, if we could all get out of here alive, I would be a happy camper.

I’d managed a full year with only the occasional random, nonsense nightmare. I didn’t want to start again. Watching the civilians getting turned to a fine pink mist in Osengard was already weighing on my mind.

"On me!" Iona roared, hefting her shield up to her shoulder and standing tall in the hallway. She cut an imposing figure, a solid bulwark that none could pass, an indomitable pillar.

The Sterling Six somehow, by whatever Adventurer God they prayed to, managed to work around Iona. Paris thunked his shield down next to her, helping defend Iona and the rest of his team. His armor glazed over with frost, and a thin sheet of Ice layered over his shield and club, adding a layer of physical protection on top of whatever skills were specifically empowering his element.

Hadriana took two steps back and started to juggle knives, an impossible number appearing out of nowhere. She juggled a dozen, two dozen, three dozen without issue.

Zoe had a [Fireball] roaring between her hands, and a bead of sweat slid down her face as she scrunched up her eyebrows, staring at the flames. Clearly working on something - and did she not have [Fire Resistance]? Auri hovered over her shoulder, looking at another flame artist work.

Antonius kept it simple. He took a step to the side, and put his crossbow up to his shoulder. I was going to be keeping an eye on him - a little jerk to the side, and he’d be perfectly poised to put a crossbow bolt through the back of Iona’s head. Sure, Zoe and Hadriana also had access to Iona’s back, but I wasn’t nearly as concerned with knives and fireballs against her armor.

The Pekari turned the corner, marching in a thunderous lockstep that would be the envy of any Remus [Drill Sergeant]. Twelve Clankers turned the corner, followed by six Poppers.

As efficient as the elvenoid form was for… well, elvenoids, it was subpar for golems, which made the Pekari form of Clankers and Poppers all the stranger. The Clankers were properly overlapping their shields, with spears sticking out of the shield wall, marching with mechanical precision. The poppers had short tubes, but everything I’d heard said they could perfectly fire their metal slugs through the gaps in the shield wall.

Kind of reminded me of the Remus legions, shield walls and artillery mages. I had a brief moment of distraction, and I let part of my mind go nuts with [Parallel Thoughts]. I could think about four things at once, why not?

The two sides fired at almost the exact same moment. Metal slugs filled the air, but Iona and Paris stood firm. The slugs hit their armor and shields.

For the most part, Iona’s armor simply got dented, plain metal slugs meeting reinforced mallium and found wanting. Occasionally a slug would get deflected by [Selene’s Grace], but Iona was good. None of them got deflected into us.

Paris was struggling a bit, the level disparity between the two frontliners making itself known. The Ice covering his shield chipped and cracked, the occasional shard breaking free and spraying towards us in the back. He also needed to hunker and cower down behind his shield - his subpar armor wasn’t up to taking the punishment, and it was only a matter of time before his Ice layer was broken, and the slugs started to go through his shield. Explained why it was so banged-up.

The three ranged attackers of the Sterling Six let loose. As quickly as the knives fell, Hadriana flicked them out, each knife’s blade turning black before spinning out. It cut through the Pekari shields like they were wet tissue, but that clearly spent whatever she’d used to empower them. Just as obvious was Hadriana had experience fighting the Pekari - each knife was aimed for a joint hiding behind the shield, expertly fouling the gears and disabling joints. Three perfectly placed knives would disable a Clanker enough to put it out of the fight, but it took an average of five knives per Pekari before they fell over.

Disappointingly, one falling over didn’t foul the rest. The Pekari just kept uncaringly marching over the body.

Zoe and Antonius kept it simple. As Hadriana made a brief gap in the shield-wall, they fired in unison. Their shots went past the Clankers, before hitting the Poppers. Zoe’s fireball sort of… fizzled, for lack of a better word, flames wrapping around the popper before contracting into a tiny point of flame. The popper melted and twisted, warping around the point the fireball turned into.

Neat trick.

"Brrpt, brrrrpt." Auri was appreciative of it, from one pyromaniac to another. Not that Zoe understood her, not unless there was some language that all pyros spoke in common.

Not that I would know anything about that. Nope. Not me. Totally not a pyro.

Antonius continued to keep it simple. His bolt smashed through a Popper, destroying enough of it that it couldn’t march anymore.

I kept an eye on the fallen Poppers. My academic understanding of the Pekari suggested that the Popper could still be live and lethal. They didn’t need to be able to march or swing a spear to be lethal. Just have one of their firing tubes live, whatever senses they had working, and a target to cross in front of them.

No plan survived contact with the enemy, and as predictable and mechanical as the Pekari were, they were still dangerous. The air was filled with projectiles of all sorts. The flying knives going one way, the slugs coming back. The Ice chipping off of Paris’s shield flew in all directions, and the bricks along the walls weren’t reinforced at all. When a strong blow hit them, they were just as likely to break as to absorb the impact. The slugs Iona occasionally deflected with [Selene’s Grace] had to go somewhere, and the only place to go were the brick walls all around us.

One among dozens plowed into the ceiling, and shards of brick went flying, more shrapnel filling the air. One unlucky shard hit Hadriana in the eye.

I pulled my lips back. Ouch. I was already moving, taking the three steps forward to lay hands on her and fix everything. Not too fast, she wasn’t in imminent danger and someone blurring up from behind could cause all sorts of twitchy reflexes.

If she’d been in mortal peril, I would’ve just [Imbued] a [Nova Lance].

Hadriana started to scream, forgetting her knives and clutching at her eye. The knives fell down around her, indiscriminately slicing, and of course with the way she grabbed at her eye she drove the shard in deeper.

"What?!" Antonius shouted, snapping towards us, crossbow and all. Zoe’s fireball wavered as Hadriana’s scream pierced through the air, and honestly.

Adventurers. It was like amateur hour, had they never seen someone lose an eye before? She was fine.

"Auri!" I barked the order, and the hallway where the Pekari were in turned into a blazing Inferno of solid flames. I snapped up [Mantle of the Stars] across the hall to stop Auri from suffocating us all, the two of us working in perfect tandem.

The flames died, [Mantle] cutting Auri off from her magic. They persisted a while longer as knives rained down around Hadriana. I grabbed her and pulled her out of the way, no need to get cut more.

For a brief moment the only thing we could hear was the steady plink plink of Paris’s melted Ice falling to the floor, the clatter of Hadriana’s daggers hitting the floor, and the sizzle and popping of the melted metal that used to be the Pekari.

Auri and I were fine, I was mostly curious about the Sterling Six’s reaction.

"What." Zoe said stupidly after a minute.

"Why?" Paris asked in confusion, looking back and forth between the Pekari and us. "Why not start with that, save us the trouble?"

Iona shrugged.

"You weren’t in any danger, you’re clearly competent enough to handle Pekari, did you want a pair of high levels to just waltz right in and clean everything up? I’m sorry if I got the wrong read on you all, I thought you’d appreciate the chance to level. The conditions are ideal for it."

The Sterling Six traded looks. Paris shook his head.

"Nope. No, thank you. Appreciate it, but we’d rather just clear the Pekari out, grab what we can, and get out."

It was Iona and I’s turn to trade looks. I gave a small frown and tilted my head, communicating in our own way that I’d noticed the glaring oversight.

"Right, let’s go then." Iona gave me a look, and I started to stride forward, checking for traps by looking for hidden mechanisms in the walls. I came to the melted slag that used to be the Pekari, still radiating heat, and snapped my wings open, flying over the remains. Auri and Iona followed, with the Sterling Six trailing behind.

They were talking with each other quietly, but I hadn’t biomancied myself to the almost-literal gills for no reason.

"Do you think…?"

"Maybe."

"The bird’s cute, I didn’t know a hummingbird could live long enough to level that far."

"Should we…?"

"Shh! The big one can probably hear us."

That wasn’t suspicious at all. I dedicated an entire thought process to doing nothing besides watching them, and Iona, ever the consummate people person, struck up a conversation with them.

"So where are you based out of? And do you have a contracted patron, or are you enjoying the freelancer life?"

"Freelancers, lady Valkyrie." Paris politely answered. "Exterreri rarely has individual patrons sponsoring teams, it tends to be on the city-"

I interrupted their small talk.

"Stop!" I shouted, throwing my hands out. "Trap. Pressure plate."

Everyone grinded to an immediate stop. Hadriana took a few steps forward, ending up next to me, and kneeled down on the ground. Her finger traced the hairline crack of the plate.

"Well spotted. Let me see if I can disarm it." She said.

"Race you!" I replied. I was already staring at the gears and mechanisms behind the trap, tracing each one through. I was no expert, but there were only so many parts of the puzzle, each one connecting to only two other bits. I was spending most of my time making sure I was looking at the right set of gears for the right trap, and the whole thing wasn’t some elaborate decoy that would trigger the trap if I set it off.

I mean, I could probably walk through any trap the Pekari had, but where was the knowledge? Where was the learning? I was no thuggish [Brute], content to force my way through life. I wanted to know, to understand, to have experience for the day where I met a trap I had to disarm.

All this, while a parallel thought process kept a careful eye on the Sterling Six, eyes in the back of my head thanks to [The World Around Me]. It gave me a great view of Hadriana subtly putting her finger on the pressure plate and pushing.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 69 -> 70]

The faint pops were barely at the edge of my hearing, and would’ve been entirely silent to everyone else. Still, with the forewarning and my Kirin nerves, I was able to lash my hand and arm out, intercepting the slugs before they plowed into the rest of us. Two of them bounced off my reinforced skin, four of them burrowed in uncomfortably, only to be popped out a moment later by my healing.

"Whoa! Careful! Don’t try to disarm traps if you don’t have experience!" Hadriana instantly accused me.

I narrowed my eyes at her. The rest of the Sterling Six shifted, preparing for a fight.

"You realize the same skill that lets me see and disarm the traps also lets me see behind me? I watched you press the pressure plate."

"I don’t-" Hadriana started to protest, but what I’d said was clearly enough for Iona. Zoe was closest to her, and she grabbed her head, ramming it into the nearest wall and blowing her skull into a thousand pieces like an overripe tomato.

[*ding!* Your party has slain an [Incendiary Arcanist (Inferno, 215)]//[Flameborn Explorer (Inferno, 190)]]

She then lashed out at Antonius, her shield still on her arm. A large plate of metal was a large plate of metal, and the top of her shield went through and pulped his chest. No kill notification, but he was down and out.

Auri immediately caught onto what was happening, and Paris turned into a pillar of flame and ash.

[*ding!* Your party has slain an [Icebound Champion (Ice, 304)]//[Hoarfrost Legionnaire (Ice, 256)]]

Hadriana had the reflexes and speed to stumble away from Auri and Iona. I was [Oath] bound not to murder someone trying to run away from me… and I wasn’t quite able to bring myself to attack the adventurers with lethal force over Hadriana’s stunt.

Bless Iona.

She stumbled right onto the pressure plates.

"No - NO!" She screamed in despair at the massacre. A stone pillar collapsed from the ceiling, pasting her flatter than a pancake. The irony was not lost on me.

[*ding!* Your party has slain an [Swift Lockbreaking Burglar (Void, 285)]//[Phantom Thief (Void, 266)]]

And I knew it! There had been a second set of traps!

In two seconds, we’d gone from peacefully going through the Pekari lair, to blood and violence, and back to peace. I quickly looked at Antonius, lashing out a [Nova Lance] to heal him before he perished.

"Ugh. I fucking hate doing this." I swore to nobody in particular. Antonius’s eyes went wide as his mangled chest was restored. "Stupid low level non-threat, bloody [Oath]!" I yelled to the sky - a solid brick ceiling.

Iona lifted an eyebrow.

"Would’ve been much easier to just let him die." She said.

"Yeah, tell me about it." I grumbled. "No big escape skills, right? Nothing I need to worry about?"

She shook her head as I started tracing runes in the air. I wasn’t caring much for efficiency here; I just wanted a strong binding.

"Want to tell me more?" Iona asked. Auri landed on Antonius’s bald head.

"Brrrpt, brrrpt…" She tried to menace him, putting her beak practically on his eyeball, and with the way his pants darkened and an ugly smell filled the air, her attempt to intimidate had worked.

"The Sterling Six are completely neutered at this point, he’s still alive, we can make sure he doesn’t do anything more, and turn him over to the guards. [Oath] is pretty generous when we’re in a fight or I need to defend myself, but right now I don’t need to defend myself or my patients at all. Sure, he was reasonably plotting to murder us, but there’s some minor doubt. Too weak to be a credible threat, and sadly it means he gets to live."

Antonius started blubbering.

"Oh graceful lady, oh kind lady, thank you, oh thank you, I’ll be your eternal servant for-"

I glared at him.

"Shut it. I don’t want to hear it. If the circumstances were even a little different, I would’ve put a hole through your head myself."

Iona looked unhappy, but then her face morphed into a wicked grin.

"Not the way I’d do it, but we’ve all gotta make compromises. If Exterreri justice is as good as I’ve heard, he might end up wishing he’d died instead."

My spell finished, and iron manacles appeared on his arms and legs, connected by too-short chains. I squatted down in front of him.

"Now, listen carefully. If you escape, I’m not going to bother trying to chase you. I’m just going to let Iona do it, she could use a few levels in [Relentless Pursuit]. I won’t be around to save you a second time."

He nodded furiously, and I started a second spell, one to bind the iron manacles to the floor.

That done, I went back to studying the mechanism in the wall. Having seen the traps in action, and being able to compare things before they were triggered and after they were triggered made it a breeze to solve.

I could solve it myself, but why not spread the love?

"Auri, I need hot flames here, here, and here. Or… actually, honestly, trying to half-melt the entire wall would also do the trick."

I hadn’t even finished my sentence when Auri ignited everything. Iona stepped back from the fierce heat, but there was no point for me. I was immune, on top of being too close already. Antonius moaned and turned away from the vicious heat. I just put my hands on my hips.

"Aoife Auri Stentor!" I yelled at her. "We do not have an unlimited supply of money and clothes! Let me get out of the way next time."

Auri took a look at me, then a double-take.

"Brrrpt!" She apologized, landing on my shoulder and nuzzling my cheek. "Brrpt brrpt?"

I sighed.

"Yes, I can make it better. You’re right that it’s nice to get all the muck and gore off. Give me a moment…"

There had been enough incidents with Auri, combined with what happened at the Gladiator Gauntlet, that I had an entire spellbook dedicated to conjuring up clothing for myself.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 81 -> 82. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

If only all levels were so easy to get.

"You could say the Sterling Six have a bit of a tarnished reputation now." Iona joked.

I dutifully groaned at the pun and punched her arm.

"BrrrrRRRRrrPT." Auri made retching noises.

"That was terrible." I said. "Simply awful."

"Thank you." Iona grinned at me. Goddesses, that grin.

With that, Iona and I went deeper into the Pekari lair.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 27]

[Mana: 790,550/790,550]

[Mana Regen: 455,245 (+888,728)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,316]

[Dexterity: 6,818]

[Vitality: 25,762]

[Speed: 25,794]

[Mana: 79,055]

[Mana Regeneration: 79,174 (+88,873)]

[Magic Power: 45,437 (+1,165,459)]

[Magic Control: 45,353 (+1,163,304)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 513]]

[Celestial Affinity: 513]

[Cosmic Presence: 328]

[The Stars Never Fade: 12]

[Center of the Universe: 472]

[Dance with the Heavens: 513]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 513]

[Mantle of the Stars: 492]

[Sunrise: 472]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 449]]

[Radiance Affinity: 449]

[Radiance Resistance: 449]

[Nova Lance: 449]

[Lepidoptera: 449]

[Nectar: 449]

[Solar Corona: 449]

[Scintillating Ascent: 449]

[Kaleidoscope: 449]

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial: Lv 82]]

[Spatial Affinity: 82]

[Comprehensive Speed Reading: 82]

[Channeled Blink: 36]

[Bookwyrm's Hoard: 82]

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes: 82]

[Vivid Dream Reading: 82]

[Astral Archives: 82]

[Hunger for Knowledge: 82]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 380]

[Parallel Thoughts: 173]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 470]

[The World Around Me: 70]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 513]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 513]

[Persistent Casting: 432]

[Imbue: 188]

Chapter 12 - Pekari III

Adventurers. Just when I was starting to see some potentially redeeming traits, they had to pull a stunt to remind me why they ranked lower than thieves and brigands. They were at least honest about their desire to rob everyone!

"We should almost be there." Iona said as she strode deeper into the lair. Auri and I followed.

There were hundreds of little noises all around us, and I simply lacked the knowledge and experience to properly interpret them all. Was a little scratching sound a Pekari working on something, or a mole scratching a rock? I heard dripping water, but was it from a leak or an underground stream? Were a few pebbles falling from an Octopus drilling, or nature?

A trio of barrels peeked around the corner at the end of the hallway. The unusual nature of the barrels combined with my sheer inexperience with the Pekari had me questioning what, exactly, I was seeing, trying to work out what the barrels were. A trio of soft pops answered the question, metal slugs flying towards us. I reacted on a well-trained instinct, my hand snapping up with three fingers pointing out. A [Nova Lance] arced out of each finger, melting through the slugs and slagging the Skitter’s barrels.

An object in motion stayed in motion, and for all the nice things I had to say about Radiance, it didn’t stop things dead. The metal slugs turned into a deadly spray of molten metal.

I snapped [Mantle] around Iona, hissing as some of the spray landed on me. I healed as quickly as it tried to burn me, the angry red metal slowly turning orange as it cooled.

"Good reflexes, but I have to ask - why’d you shield me, and not yourself?" Iona asked.

I started to peel the metal bits off of me as they cooled, tossing them to the side.

"First, didn’t think my shield would hold against all the slugs, and it’s better to know which ones will land than have them randomly hit. That’s the worst of both worlds. I figured I’m easy to fix and repair, but I was worried about your armor. What would happen if a bunch of molten - is this iron? - landed on your gear, then cooled off. Wouldn’t it screw with your armor and weapons? None of us are a [Blacksmith] or [Armorer], and trying to use wizardry to fix it would take forever, compared to just healing."

I knew Iona was giving me a Look through her helmet. Just the way she was staring at me, combined with her body language.

"Elaine, I love you, that’s a wonderful thought, but no. Just no. Protect yourself, don’t mind my stuff. It’s mallium. Watch. Auri, if you would?"

Iona scooped up a few cooled chunks off the ground, holding them in her hand. Auri dutifully burned them, quickly melting the metal back down to slag. The iron melted in her glove, forming a pool. Iona then ‘squeezed’ it like a stress ball, the metal mixing in with her mallium.

"See, my gear’s been horribly contaminated. Annnnnnnnnd - poof!" With a mental flex, all of the iron popped out of her glove.

"I control the mallium. It’s easy enough to isolate and throw out something that’s not mallium, even if it takes a moment or two." Iona explained. "Don’t worry about my stuff. I don’t like seeing you get hurt."

I held up my hands in surrender.

"Alright, gotcha. Let’s keep going."

Fireworms and Dragonflies tried to ambush us, but their short range and my ability to literally see through walls completely neutered any assault they tried.

"Fireworms. There, there, and there." I rapidly pointed to the three almost-invisible holes that had the small worm-like golems hiding in them. Auri, with malicious glee, burned the three out, melting them in such a way that the hole was permanently dammed up.

"I’m probably going to jinx it, but this seems…" I trailed off, not daring to finish my sentence.

"Easy?" Iona finished.

"Dragonfly." I pointed to the spot. "Yeah. I didn’t want to say it out loud, but like. The Pekari don’t seem to be living up to their hype."

I got another Look from Iona.

"Dragonfly." I pointed again.

"Most people venturing into a Pekari lair are like the Sterling Six. Most stories are from people in that level range, or lower. I was entering lairs as a squire. Level 128. We’re both over 512, with a third class. Yeah, this should be this easy."

Right as Iona finished speaking the entire place started to rumble.

"I just had to open my big mouth!" I wailed as what could only be a Crusher rumbled up.

It filled the entire corridor perfectly, like the two were designed for each other. There was barely a centimeter of space between the Crusher and the walls and ceiling. The front was a nightmare of metal. A roller with thick spikes on the floor, followed by whirling chain flails and slicing blades up high. I had no idea how long it was, but everything I’d read suggested it was long, giving the Crusher near-unstoppable momentum once it got going.

"Back round the corner!" I shouted the usual counter to Crushers, stepping lively backwards with Auri.

"Brrrpt!"

Iona crinked her neck and glanced over her shoulder. She rubbed her hands together as the Crusher started to pick up steam.

"You two should get out of the way."

I swore and sped back, grabbing Auri as we fled back towards the entrance. I wasn’t going to try to argue with my girlfriend, indecision was a fantastic way to get someone killed. Iona crouched down like a wrestler, putting one foot back and to the side, bracing herself. The Crusher was rushing towards her, going faster and faster, the blades and chains spinning so quickly as to be a blur even to my eyes. The stones around her feet cracked as she made herself heavier with [Lunar Mass].

I got to where the tunnel sharply turned, and stopped, staying in the same path as Iona and the Crusher.

"Love you! Good luck!" I yelled as I pushed Auri to safety.

The Crusher came rumbling down, and Iona met it with a lowered shoulder. She ‘punched’ her arms through the spiked roller, the sheer impact and momentum pushing her back as she grappled with the Crusher. Iona dug a mighty pair of furrows into the floor with her boots as she strained against the Crusher, pushing back against its momentum.

The clever thing about her hitting the roller was she was cleanly under the flails and blades. The sound of screeching metal filled the hallway as Iona stopped the Crusher like a runaway train.

She was coming fast, and I started to try and think of any quick magic I knew that could help. It’d have to be Jiwa, and [Levitate] was the-

Nope, never mind. With one last shudder, Iona and the Crusher came to a halt.

"Ha! I knew I could do it!" Iona cheered as she ripped the roller off the Crusher, using it as an oversized cudgel to smash through the flails and the blades.

I put my hand over my heart.

"You had me worried for a second there." I told her.

"Yeah, that was a bit heavier than I remembered." Iona cheerfully told me through an unending cacophony of her just smashing the remains of the Crusher to bits. There was a lot of metal just hanging out, and while I was no merchant, that amount of iron or whatever it was had to be worth a pretty penny. If we could somehow drag it out.

And if the Pekari let us. They tended to get agitated when people tried to drag their bodies out. Grabbing other stuff in their lair? They didn’t care. Dragging the golem bodies out? A sure-fire way to get a lot more Pekari breathing down our necks… according to the books I’d read.

"Yes! A level!" Iona crowed as she finished smashing another internal piece of the Crusher.

"Woo! Levels! Nice!"

"Brrrrpt!!"

It took a few more minutes to finish turning the Crusher’s remains into something we could cross. Iona did most of the grunt work, and Auri then melted and smoothed the metal so we weren’t walking on sharp beams pointing up at our feet.

As we walked down, I found a new, different part of the lair behind one of the walls. I narrowed my eyes at the wall.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 70 -> 71]

"Danger. A bunch of Clankers and Poppers on the other side of the wall." I pointed, getting on the balls of my feet, ready to run, to fight, to fly, whatever was needed. I tilted my head, trying to interpret what my senses were telling me. "I saw them carrying Vorlers…"

Iona tensed at that, her hand snapping to her axe and hefting her shield up.

"...although they looked dead. I think I hear… a furnace? Haven’t spent enough time around different furnaces to be sure."

Iona relaxed at that.

"Let’s leave them be. If they’re fighting Vorlers, well. They’re the great enemy of life everywhere, and I’m not going to get in the way of Pekari eradicating Vorlers. In fact…" Iona paused, thinking a moment. "I wonder if the Pekari were created to eradicate Vorlers? They’re unusually well-suited to killing them, given that they’re golems and immune to poison."

I shrugged.

"Well, if that’s your take, I’m not going to argue. Let’s keep going?"

We turned a corner, and that was that. We were at the end of the Pekari lair. A vast, horrifying room stretched in front of us. Clear glass vats dotted the room, the captured villagers suspended in a murky green liquid. Strange growths were coming off of some of them. One had fuzz all over his chest, a second had a fleshy tentacle mass coming down from one knee, like her lower leg had been twisted and warped. Three villagers were unconscious, strapped down to tables with all manner of bloody instruments above them, like the tools for a giant [Dentist]. A bloody bone saw, rusty meathooks, large sharp picks with drying flesh on them and more all hovered over the villagers. The only thing I could imagine that could be done with the tool was straight dismembering, and I suppose the Clanker form was ideal for manipulating tools like that. One mystery solved?

But why delay?

I started to look around for… I didn’t know what, something obvious that would clear the glass tubes. Iona had no such hesitation. She walked up to one and punched it, the glass shattering into ten thousand tiny harmless pebbles. The liquid splashed out, draining down to goddesses-knew-where, and Iona caught the woman before she could crash to the ground, who was just waking up.

She started coughing violently as Iona held her, keeping her upright.

"There was a Pekari attack. You’re safe now." She said. I flicked a heal over, and the bottom half of her leg morphed, turning back into a whole, healthy limb.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 188 -> 189]

Auri flitted over to another glass container, and started pecking at it like she was a woodpecker.

"You go, Auri!" I encouraged her. She needed all the encouragement she could get whenever she found a solution that wasn't fire and was actively trying to help others.

Iona worked her magic. In four sentences, she managed to calm the panicking woman down, reassure her that everything was going to be alright, and was moving on. We worked as a team, breaking the glass, healing the villagers, and getting them all organized. A few of them joined in helping us, grabbing the oversized meat hooks and smashing the glass. A couple couldn’t wait, choosing to flee back to the entrance than stay in the Pekari nest a second longer.

Iona and I traded looks the first time that happened, and it was like she read my mind.

"We cleared the path in, and the Pekari tend not to chase people escaping. They’ll be fine." The Valkyrie said without prompting.

It took about a quarter of an hour for us to free everyone, and I noticed something interesting during that time. A room on the other side of one of the walls, not in the Pekari’s style.

Iona clapped her hands together, sounding like thunder.

"Alright, everyone listen up! You’re safe now. We’re going to leave the Pekari nest, and your home is nearby. Do not try to take any part of the Pekari with you. Follow me, and you’ll be safe. Don’t bother the fire bird. Elaine, can you take the rear?"

I nodded.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri wanted to patrol between us.

We slowly shambled out with the biggest incident being one kid slowing down, and another villager scooping him up before I needed to ‘catch’ him. There was something nice about a close-knit village.

I heard Iona grab the adventurer we’d tied up, and quickly reassured the villagers of why he was tied up - regardless of the protests and vile lies he spat, claiming that Iona was a cold-blooded murderer, entirely twisting the story to say that she’d killed his entire team in a surprise ambush.

Iona roundly rebutted him, and between the level 520 armed and free Valkyrie who’d just rescued them, and the low-level adventurer in chains, it was easy to pick a side.

Regardless of what the truth was. It was on our side though! They’d attacked first!

We saw them off at the edge of the tunnel, and thank goodness Iona was there to be the recipient of all their thanks, hugs, small gifts, yada yada yada. All the people stuff that I wasn’t too interested in. Iona was in her element, asking after people, having memorized their names and half their life stories in the short time they’d known each other, and generally being the ultimate people-person. I liked my skills, but [Social Lubricant] and to a lesser extent, [Adaptable and Flexible] were crazy skills to watch in action.

Iona had Fenrir fly the adventurer to the nearest town and drop him off. I suspected that Fenrir would be taking it literally, but eh. He should survive. I wrote a quick note, burning them into the chains with [Nova Lance] explaining what had happened.

She even managed to get the villagers to laugh off Fenrir dropping a half-dozen bloody carcasses when he returned right in the middle of the village. Iona had the skittish, nervous villagers back to their normal lively selves, and it was a miracle to watch.

"Are you sure there wasn’t a miracle there?" I suspiciously asked Iona.

"Would Selene intervene in something like this?" Iona asked, her tone making the answer obvious.

I grumbled.

"I just don’t get how you do it!" I complained.

"Well, it’s easy. Listen to people. Watch people. Understand them. Everyone has wants and needs. Right now it’s easy. Security. Safety. Reassurance. You just… do it." Iona shrugged. "It’s that easy."

"Auri." I said with a flat tone.

"Brrrpt!!!" Auri knew exactly what to do. She landed on my head, flashed her wings out, then did a backflip.

Iona slowly shook her head at me.

"What now? You looked like something caught your attention back in the lair."

I nodded.

"Yeah, something weird behind one of the walls. Mind if we check it out?"

Iona shook her head, and before long we were back in the room, broken glass coating the floor.

"Here." I knocked on the wall in question. "Looks different behind. Not the same… bricks? Any issue with checking it out?"

Iona punched the wall, and the bricks came tumbling down.

Chapter 13 - Immortal Hideout I

Pekari bricks tumbled with carved stone as Iona finished punching through the wall. I slapped my forehead as I stepped back.

"Oi! That could’ve been structural or something! I was going to [Blink] through it!" I said.

Iona shook her head.

"I’ve made myself very, very familiar with what’s structural in underground lairs and what isn’t." She firmly said. "That was nowhere close to being supportive. Plus, I wanted to come as well!" Iona stepped over the rubble, Auri zipping over her shoulder.

"BRRRPT!" Auri staked her claim as First… and also dibs on whatever we found. I was dead curious, and hurried through with them.

Auri’s natural flames lit up the room, and it was immediately obvious that we were in a chapel, and Iona looked a little unsteady on her feet.

"Whoa! Are you alright? What’s wrong?" I took a few experimental sniffs to see if the air was bad or something, if Iona and Auri were being poisoned.

I flared healing just to make sure, but Iona still gripped my shoulder for support.

"You didn’t mention this was a holy place!" She hissed at me.

"How was I supposed to know! The altar’s on the other side! Who’d we just piss off anyway?" I asked.

I looked around the room, taking in the ethereal aesthetic. Colorful clouds were painted on the walls, giving way to swirls of colors. Tapestries had been preserved, no little insects available to nibble on them, and they were filled with whirling colors, forming bizarre and unreal shapes. A deer with eyes on the ends of his antlers, a yawning maw with gemstones for teeth, a ruined city clearly hanging upside-down. It was like they went to great lengths to make the pictures nonsensical. The seating was deep and plush, like people were expected to sit for hours on end, and a pair of heavy incense burners were still hanging next to the altar. Runes of a long-dead language dotted the walls at regular intervals, positioned in a classic lighting arrangement.

Not that I’d trust the arrangement to tell us what the runes did. Lighting arrangement spacing was the same as murder spell bolt arrangement. Not that I’d expect to find that in a chapel. Not unless it was dedicated to the god of psychedelic slaughter or something like that.

"Icelus, goddess of dreams." Iona told me, striding to the altar. She didn’t take a knee at it, unlike when she was praying to Selene and Lunaris, but bowed her head respectfully.

‘Don’t desecrate places of worship’ was one of the Divine Decrees, and I didn’t think accidentally breaking into a long-deserted chapel counted, but hey. Why take the risk? I joined Iona in front of the altar and bowed my own head.

Hey Icelus!

Sorry! Didn’t know it was a chapel! Please forgive us. We’re going to see if we can find out what happened to your faithful worshippers who made this place.

Cheers!

Elaine!

I wasn’t great at the whole prayer thing, double when it was an unknown and strange goddess. Still I hoped my prayer helped and counted.

The world… didn’t quite twist or anything, but it was like there was a heavy, wet, unhappy sensation dribbling down my back.

"I think we’re off the hook." Iona said. "Might have a bad nightmare but that’s it."

"Do you think I should avoid [Vivid Dream Reading] or am I good?" I asked the resident religion expert.

Iona shook her head.

"Avoid using the skill for a few nights. If Icelus thinks you’re dodging her displeasure, you’ll end up actually pissing her off, and that’s a bad place to be. Please don’t make me fight other [Paladins]."

I nodded my understanding. Embrace one or two nightmares, let the goddess get her pound of dream-flesh, move on with life. I wasn’t some meathead who’d spit in a god’s eye out of a misplaced sense of pride or anything.

"Let’s keep exploring?"

We left the chapel, and ended up in what was obviously a large dining hall, the room dominated by three large tables around a central area. A couple of kegs, big enough for Iona to comfortably stand in, were strategically scattered around the room.

It was also where we found the first skeleton, a skull and arm on the table, hand still clutching an ale mug even in death, with the rest of the bones a fallen mess under.

"Interesting." I went over to investigate.

"Brrrpt?"

"A few things don’t quite add up for me." I explained. "What this place is. Why. But more interestingly, how the body decomposed. Need airflow, usually pests, otherwise it would’ve just mummified." I got close enough for [The World Around Me] to completely envelope the skeleton, and studied it from there. "But there’s no bad air, no horrid stench, implying airflow and cleaning. The body didn’t get cleaned up, and the tapestries are intact. Half of what I’m seeing says this place should be open, the other half implies the place is sealed. It takes effort to remove a full body worth of flesh, but I don’t see any bite marks on the bones, from rats or anything else."

"Do you know how she died?" Iona asked.

"He." I absently corrected. Enough of the pelvis was intact for that. "Elf. The most obvious sign is the horns. Which is also weird, elves are hard to bump off and he just died… at the table? And to answer your question, no, I don’t know how he died. I’m mostly a [Healer], not a [Mortician] or [Investigator] or… who tries to find the cause of death usually?"

Iona gave me a Look.

"Usually it’s pretty obvious. Monster stepped on a person, hanging, the fact that their chest is missing, the dozen arrows sticking out of them…"

I winced.

"Alright, fair point." I conceded. "I don’t see any freshly broken bones, although there are some minor cracks that imply the bones were cracked a long time ago, and healed naturally."

"Not gross violence." Iona said.

"Aye. What direction do we want to go next?"

There were four doors to the dining hall, one of which had been the chapel we’d come out of.

Iona pointed to a door.

"Let’s go there next."

We kept exploring the underground home, which rapidly morphed into an underground fort in my mind. Skeletons were found in various places, in various positions, all elves, each telling a story. A skeleton curled up in a corner, arms around legs like they’d just curled up and waited for the end to come. A skeleton on the floor, next to a stool and a noose. She’d clearly known the end was coming, and had decided to go out on her own terms. A pair of skeletons on a bed in a loving embrace.

Iona poked the mattress they were on, and pulled a face.

"Still full of… fluids." She said.

"Yeah, decomposing bodies - wait, I’m an idiot." I smacked my forehead. "If stuff is defeating my common sense, it’s because there’s a bunch of magic involved."

"Castle Valkyrie has - had - a number of self-cleaning runes. Complete lifesavers, I’ll tell you what. Most large buildings have them… we just spent five years living with them, remember?"

Auri did a backflip without me saying anything. I stuck my tongue out at Iona.

"I think I know what this place is." Iona said. "It’s an Immortal’s hideout. They built this place far underground to try and sit out an Immortal war, or something. Large enough to support a number of people. Not sure on all the details, but that’s the initial vibe I’m getting."

Made sense. If people who could throw cities were fighting, the best defense was to be invisible and hidden, out of the way. The dwarves and I had dived underground to avoid Lun’Kat fighting with the Guardians, and it looked like I wasn’t the only one with that idea.

The rooms were just as interesting as the people, and told a story on their own. The kitchens had a dozen ovens and three firepits, which was an excellent way of guessing how many people were expected to live here. They were next to deep granaries, buried even deeper into the ground. Auri and I flew down one, and to my great surprise they were still filled with wheat and potatoes, and it was the first of three. I had no idea how far down the stores went, but given the size of the fort, and the number of skeletons we’d seen, I had to imagine it just kept going and going and going, enough for a few hundred people to last decades.

Living quarters held the bedrooms we’d seen the couple in, and a couple of rooms just had a few chairs or games in them, clearly meant for leisure. Then we started getting to the interesting rooms.

By interesting, I meant they had loot. I’d needed to remind myself quite a few times that I was no longer a Ranger, no longer a Sentinel, and I didn’t have the responsibilities or rights as one. I couldn’t just flash a badge and have all my troubles go away.

The inverse was true as well. I was no longer a Sentinel. The prohibition against looting no longer applied, and nobody was going to miss anything I grabbed.

"This stuff has to be valuable, right?" My eyes were practically sparkling as I looked through what had to be the fort’s armory. Racks of full plate armor, barrels of arrows, rows upon rows of small, heavily inscribed balls, swords and bows and pikes and spears and way more weapons than I’d expect a place this small to have.

Unless there were layers to the place, but the kitchens and granaries had implied a single layer, and we hadn’t seen any stairs one way or another and [The World Around Me] showed solid stone turning to solid dirt, and-

I spun that thought process off to go enjoy musing about the place, while the rest of me refocused on the armory.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 173 -> 174]

Iona looked at the armor critically, her gauntlets retracting as she knocked on them experimentally.

"Ish." She replied. "I think there’s some magic metals in all this that are extremely valuable, and they’re obviously not conjured. At the same time, armies in this part of the world like consistency in how they outfit their troops, so unless we want to found our own mercenary company and use this as a start, they’re basically worth scrap metal. A smith will pay a pretty penny for them, then melt them down and reforge them. Oooooooooorrrrrrrr…." Iona drew out the last word. "Adventurers and the like would buy them as-is, with a significant premium because they’re already made and formed into a useful shape."

"BRRRRRRPTTT!!!!" Auri flew in front of Iona and started shaking her head back and forth as hard as she could. "BRPT! Brrrpt! Brrrr…rrrrpt?"

I smacked my forehead as Auri either concussed herself, or made herself dizzy with her shaking, and took a step forward to catch her as she started to careen around the room.

"Also, I don’t know local rules about bringing lots of weapons to a place. That’s generally a restricted behavior, and of course, Fenrir doesn’t have unlimited carrying capacity. No, what might be more useful is if I can find anything for myself…" Iona trailed off, moving deeper into the armory. She picked a weapon off the shelf, hefted it a few times, shook her head, put it back, and moved on.

"Need any help, or should I keep exploring?" I asked.

"Ehh… on one hand we shouldn’t split up. On the other, I’m going to be here a while, and the place is clearly empty and deserted. Don’t get lost."

I tapped my head.

"[Astral Archives]. Perfect memory."

"Right. Meet back at the chapel in about an hour or so?"

"Will do."

The rune for light had been the first spell I’d ever cast, and I cast it again, giving Iona a hovering ball of light to help her see.

With that, I went off, cradling a dizzy Auri in my hands.

I retraced a few steps, then went off in a different direction. Large imposing mostly empty room, large imposing room filled with tapestries, oh hey, was that a book!?

[The World Around Me] let me spot the spine and a glimpse of the pages of a book through a wall, and I took a sharp turn in that direction. The place was a little maze-like, but it also had a practical layout, because a bunch of people used to live here.

What was nice was I didn’t see a single trap in the entire place. Nobody wanted deadly swinging blades going at a kid running around, there was no point in poison dart traps hitting the [Maids] cleaning up. Traps and practical living spaces just didn’t mix.

I quickly found my way to the solar, the private office of whoever used to live here. A quick skim of the surviving books let me know they were almost all written in High Elvish, although the turns of phrase and spellings of nearly every word threw me for a bit of a loop.

No sense in letting good books go to waste here, and it wasn’t like we had logistical concerns like with the armory.

[Imbue], [Cosmic Presence], and [Bookwyrm’s Hoard] let me yoink the entire bookshelf in one go.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 82 -> 86. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

I - what? Why’d I get so many levels!?

It took me three minutes of thinking and reviewing my actions before I facepalmed with understanding.

I wasn’t a [Bookwyrm] anymore. I was [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm]. I considered the modifier to be mostly fluff, but I’d just eaten an entire bookshelf of books. Of course the System rewarded me for it!

Martin would’ve had my head on a pike if I tried that at the School’s library. Even if I took them all out after, someone would still need to reshelve them all, and I didn’t think I could reshelve a book with the same combination of skills.

That, and the System just knew when I was doing stuff for experience and levels, and when I was doing it ‘for real’. Yoinking an entire library shelf and immediately putting it back wouldn’t be worth nearly as much as claiming it all for myself.

Just to try, I picked the first book in my [Hoard] and tried to ‘teleport’ it back to the shelf. To my great surprise, it sort of worked. It appeared near the ceiling on the other side of the room, and I quickly pulled it back into my [Hoard] before it could fall.

Alright, interesting. It worked, but best I could guess, since [Cosmic Presence] was an aura, it just made things appear anywhere in the aura. I tried a few more books, getting the same result. Random spot in the room.

I tried with [Kaleidoscope], and it worked! The butterfly flew over to the shelf and popped the book out. [Imbue] plus Spatial being an expensive element made the move expensive… relatively to what it would cost otherwise.

I fucking loved having tons of stats. In the time it took me to breathe, I’d regenerated all of the mana I’d used.

Also, wow. Looting stuff was AWESOME! Just… walk into a room, use a skill, and BOOM! A couple dozen books were mine. Just like how we walked into the armory and, finders keepers, we could take as much of it as we wanted.

This place had to have more books! Oh! Or even a library!

Just… bam! A few hundred, a few thousand books would be mine!

I took a deep calming breath, and blew it out explosively.

Alright. Calm down.

I could 100% see why there had been a ban on looting as a Ranger. It was a heady experience. Just all of that stuff was now mine, and it was all too easy to imagine becoming… aggressive in my enforcement if stuff just went straight to my pocket. An amazing way to open the door to corruption. How horrible would the guards be if they could simply seize and confiscate goods and money from people? They’d make up whatever crime and accusation they thought they could get away with!

Goddesses curse it, why was I empathizing with adventurers so much!? If this is how they felt every time they nicked something, no wonder things being nailed down was only a minor deterrent to them!

The thought almost had me put the books back.

Almost.

With my head screwed on a little straighter, with the heady drug of LOOT gone, I allowed myself to get excited again.

Books! Books for the taking! Books that were all mine! Books to read!

I let myself have a small cackle, one that echoed through the dead stone passages.

"Brpt brrrpt!!" My good mood was infectious, and Auri flew around the room. "Brrrpt?"

"Yeah, we’ll get you something if you like."

"BRRRPT!!!"

With LOOT on the line, our exploration pace stepped up, became faster. A row of cells, designed to hold people who weren’t being good community members. I approved of their forward thinking nature - not everything could be easily solved, not in a large community, and cells implied a mindset of rehabilitation and correction, as opposed to more… permanent measures. The skeleton half-hanging out of one of the cells was a grim reminder that somebody needed to be alive to let people out.

Hallways and rooms eventually led to a large garden-like place. We were still deep underground, but this segment was dirt, not stone.

It’s also where most of the bodies were. Skeletons were strewn thick upon the ground, dozens of picks, shovels, and other digging tools mixed in liberally with the decayed clothing and bones. Piles of rock and dirt were pushed against the sides of the ‘garden’. I hovered with [Scintillating Ascent], slowly drifting over the skeletons to see what they’d been working on.

A passage. A tunnel, sloping steeply up, collapsed only a handful of feet into the digging.

"What do you think, Auri? Did some Classer create an earthquake and bury them, and they couldn’t dig out fast enough?"

Auri tilted her head, then shook her beak.

"Brrpt. Brrpt, brrpt, brrrpt."

"Good point." Auri had brought up the granaries, but more importantly, the fact that there were no windows anywhere. This place had been built underground.

With nothing else to explore here, we went back in. More rooms, more books, and the holy grail itself.

A library.

I had enough mana and power to mass-[Imbue]-yoink the small office worth of books earlier. I didn’t dare try it here. Slowly, reverentially, like I was walking up to an altar, I walked down the length of the bookshelves, my finger trailing over the spines of books. I had time to see what each book was, but why discriminate? As quickly as I moved, as quick as thinking, I pulled each one into [Bookwyrm’s Hoard], rapidly filling up my collection with dozens, hundreds of books.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 86 -> 90. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

Om nom nom nom! Tasty books! Delicious levels!

Too soon, I was rudely interrupted when my skill stopped working.

Chapter 14 - Immortal Hideout II

I looked at the book I was failing to pull into [Bookwyrm’s Hoard], getting unreasonably excited. I couldn’t bring non-books into [Hoard]! Secret hiding spot for valuables!

By some divine grace, by some miracle of the moon goddesses coming down and touching me, nudging fate in the right direction, I managed to turn off [The World Around Me] before I peeked inside the book, and managed to compartmentalize what I’d already seen thanks to [Astral Archive’s] manipulation.

Books were cool. Books with secrets inside of them? That was fun!

The spine was ornate, and the letters were bold on it. The Lore of the Sword of Betrayal.

"Brrrpt?"

"Everything’s alright, I think there might be something special about this book!" I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri flew over to my shoulder and perched there, leaning over to get a look at what I was doing.

I flipped it open to the first page, eyes briefly skimming over the words. Next page!

More paper. Well, it probably needed a bit of paper on either side to hide whatever was being contained.

Slowly, page by page, like I was unwrapping a present, I flipped through the book. As I got deeper and deeper into it, my face fell.

Nada.

I flipped through the book at high speed, not seeing a single thing. I held the book by its spine and shook it, a single leaf of paper falling out.

"AhHA!" I shouted with triumph as I grabbed the falling page. I furiously drank it the secret contents.

… and yet the temptation of easy power, of easy advancement was too much for Gwilithon the Seditionist. Maethedir was an old, forgotten friend, a supporter of Thraximundar’s reign, and it was all too easy for Gwilithon the Seditionist to justify his first betrayal with the sword, growing its power while removing a supporter. With this first taste of power, Gwilithon quickly thirsted for more…

I turned [The World Around Me] back on, to search the book cover to cover, spine to front. I easily identified where the page had fallen out, and put it back. Then I tried to move it into my [Bookwyrm’s Hoard] again.

I smacked myself as I realized the issue. Then I smacked myself again.

"I am an IDIOT!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Brrrpt?"

"I have a MAX STORAGE CAPACITY!" I roared in frustration. "I can’t take all the books with me!!!" I tried another random book just to make sure, but no. I was filled to the brim.

Auri took her wing and comfortingly patted me on the back of the head with it.

"Brrrpt, brrrpt…" She soothed. "Brrrpt?"

I gave her my best Evil Eye.

"Don’t you dare burn the books for fun. It’ll be water and melons for a week for you if you do."

"BRRPT!"

Dejected, I started the process of kicking out less interesting books, and replacing them with more fun stories to read. I had what I thought was a reasonable set of priorities. Anything I could read in the modern day, I didn’t bother grabbing. Stories, as fun as they were, were just stories.

No, the true treasure here were histories and diaries. I didn’t know how long this place had been here, but I didn’t imagine it was a short time. Anything they believed about the past, anything they’d written about their modern day, was invaluable. I had a dream about returning here and continuing to empty the place out, but practicality reared its ugly head. There was a very good chance now that we’d found the place that others would find it, and it’d be stripped bare by the time we got back.

Adventurers were a locust-like plague after all. For all I knew, they’d see a bunch of books, and in their tiny, gem-addled brain go "Og no see money. Og see kindling. Og make fire!", although with fewer words and more grunting.

Then they’d, I don’t know, drink while burning all the books and suffocating themselves down here or something equally stupid. Look, it was hard to imagine how bad they could be. They always found a way to sink themselves lower.

… I was particularly down on adventurers today. Something about them trying to murder me had me poorly disposed towards the lot.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 90 -> 98. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

"I can’t decide!" I wailed after a few hours, one of the tables creaking dangerously under the weight of all the books I wanted to take, my [Hoard] already filled up with even more valuable books. I’d swept back and forth through all the books a few times, helping level up [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] before diminishing returns and running low on mana stopped me.

I’d even debated getting rid of a few of my spellbooks to make room for more. All of my casual, pleasure books were out, but there was no way under every star and moon on Pallos that I was leaving any of the love letters Iona had written to me behind, the books she’d written about us, or the prayer my parents had left behind.

That was eternally safe in my storage.

"Brrpt. Brrrppt, brrrrrrrpt brpt brpt, brpt brpt brpt. Brpt! Brpt brpt brpt."

My mouth slowly dropped at Auri’s speech. In a nutshell, the books, practically speaking, hadn’t existed until today. Anything I managed to bring back now was a boon to society and history. They were marked, and anyone coming after us might recognize that they’d been isolated, and they had value. I was already helping, there was little sense in bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t help more. Even empowered by the System, there was only so much one person could do.

"All those lessons really paid off." I said admiringly.

"Brrpt!" Auri preened herself.

With a force of will only possible due to my time during the Hell Months at Ranger Academy, I forced myself to walk away from the pile of books.

Then I had an Idea, and skipped back.

"BRPT!" Auri flew in front of me, trying to steer me away. She was trying to not be an enabler, trying to get the bottle away from the alcoholic.

"No no, I have a good idea! I promise!" I told her.

"Brrrpt…" Auri did her best to growl a warning at me. It failed, mostly due to how high pitched her voice was.

I kept it quick and simple, using an already-established warding pattern I’d learned at the School. It wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot, and it wouldn’t last long, but trying to fix both those problems would have me here for hours. It wasn’t worth it.

I circled around the table of books I thought would be extra-interesting to [Historians] and the like, burning runes into the stone floor with [Lepidoptera]. I tied it all off with a generous heaping of my own mana to the runes, but it wouldn’t last long.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 449->450! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

I needed to find more abandoned fortresses in the middle of nowhere if this was how quickly I leveled up walking through them! [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveling up was improving things in more than one way. First was the obvious stat growth, but less obvious was [Hunger for Knowledge] leveling up. It was a 2.5% boost in my experience gain per level, and that was "feeding" on itself so to speak.

"All set?" Iona asked from the door. I jumped. I’d been so focused on the books, the runes, and my levels that I hadn’t noticed her coming at all, improved senses or not.

"Yup! Sorry this took so long."

Iona nodded.

"I understand. I found the core room, it’s interesting, want to check it out?" Iona jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

"Yeah!" We left the library together, Auri fluttering around and following.

I turned to her, tilting my head at what was on her waist.

"Those… are interesting. What are they?" I asked, nodding to the two blades she had at her hip.

Iona looked crestfallen at my question. She patted the blades.

"They’re twin blades. Made out of dreamsteel. They’re supposed to be invisible." Iona said that last part pointedly.

I shrugged.

"Eh. They’re like… completely clear, but I can see that they’re there." My biomancy struck again! "Are you going to be changing your style?"

Iona shook her head.

"Nope. What do you think is better. Picking up an entirely new weapon, or reforging the blades into a weapon I commonly use?"

"Makes sense. Not a lot of metal there, and if you’re swinging your hand, it makes it clear that you’ve got a weapon there. Would it work better as a throwing knife or an arrow?"

Iona patted the twin blades again.

"Arrows need a bit of flex and fletching. Good point on the axe, and a glaive head would be a nasty surprise once or twice. Although…" Iona trailed off, pondering. "It would let me display a quarterstaff most of the time, and the fact that one end is much longer and significantly more lethal than people expect from a quarterstaff is one heck of a surprise. Only need to get one good blow to kill most people. Yeah. I think I like that idea. I’ll talk with whatever [Smith] I find to reforge the blades and see if they have a better idea, but right now I like that."

"Sounds neat! Finding a [Dreamsmith] isn’t going to be easy." I liked the idea quite a bit, and was wondering if there was any way I could incorporate that into my own equipment. Then again, it wasn’t everyday we found magic metals just lying around, and dreamsteel was frankly on the weaker end of the spectrum.

"Here it is." Iona pushed open a heavy, reinforced door.

I’d just been rolling with things when Iona had said a core room. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, and I figured all my questions would be answered when I saw it.

And yes, it was immediately obvious what a core room was. The room was dominated by a fat cube of arcanite, with a few dozen skeletons scattered around it. A few runes were still glowing, providing light and other effects in the room.

Arcanite grew more potent the more of it there was in a single spot. Two crystals of arcanite were weaker than a single stone of similar mass. It behooved places to merge all their arcanite into a single massive block, then run enchantments from there.

The School was so wealthy it had multiple blocks running different things, along with a few redundancies, but the fundamental idea was the same. A single large block of arcanite let people do more than multiple chunks.

This block of arcanite, the core of the fort, had broken. Big cracks ran through it, shattering the stone into six smaller blocks. They were still stacked on top of each other, but they were no longer one whole.

"Think this is what killed the place?" I asked Iona. She nodded.

"It’s as likely as anything. Here’s what I think happened. A war was coming. A big one, a proper Immortal dustup. Surviving one takes a miracle. I think this group knew trouble was coming, and built this place deep underground to hide out the conflict. They’re elves, what does it matter if they spend a decade or a century underground, if they’re alive at the end? Everything was going well until something cracked their core. Maybe they didn’t have the proper Arcanite Classer with them, maybe there was another accident. Either way, the life-saving runes and enchantments no longer had enough mana to run. They tried to dig themselves out before time ran out, but…"

"That clearly didn’t happen." I finished, looking at the bodies strewn around the room. I shuddered as I imagined their fate. The air slowly becoming thicker and heavier as people panted and exerted themselves to try and escape, their very efforts sabotaging how long they had to live. Or we hadn’t seen any water here, perhaps whatever hit the core also ruined the water generating runes, everyone slowly becoming more and more parched, licking the sweat off each other until there was no more sweat, filtering pee while small bits evaporated. It was the danger of using conjured food and water - it did vanish back after a time, and it didn’t care if it was in a puddle or a bloodstream when it did so. Or maybe the person who was locked up had accidentally unleashed some horror, slowly stalking through the hallways as - no, wait, there was negative evidence for that one.

"How much arcanite do you think we can carry out?" I asked, eyeing the literal fortune in front of us. Arcanite was the cheapest crystal, forming the backbone of the world’s currency. A single gram of arcanite was found in every coin, and were traded freely. There was no true way to figure out exchange rates or anything, but two arcanite coins bought roughly as much as a single Remus coin. They were inexpensive.

That was also for a single gram of a moderately dense crystal. The huge mass we were looking at had to be worth millions, if not tens of millions of coins.

Which also meant it was correspondingly heavy. A million coins worth of arcanite was, by definition, a thousand kilograms. Iona could lift… quite a bit more than that, but there was also getting it out through the hallways, up through the Pekari lair, onto Fenrir, and having Fenrir be able to fly it a significant distance.

Value per pound, arcanite was likely to be less valuable than what we’d found in the armory. It was the sheer quantity that made it attractive.

"I don’t think -" Iona started to say as I shook my head.

"Never mind, I did the math myself. I do want to mark this place, and get back as soon as we possibly can though."

Iona gave me a brisk nod.

"Agreed. This… this can change everything for us. Look, I know it’s stupid to be discussing this here and now, but we probably should. Equal shares?"

I punched Iona, then kissed her shocked mouth.

"No, stupid. We’re a team. We’re together. What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. What’s this ‘equal shares’ nonsense?"

"BRRPT! BBBRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPTTTTTTT!!!!" Auri loudly protested. She wanted equal shares to build her PERFECT nest. Mostly made out of gigantic blocks of arcanite.

Iona wrapped me in a hug, not letting me get a word in.

"Auri, we’re going to be building something nice for all of us. Of course you’re involved, and will be helping us out, and of course we’ll be figuring out your wants." Iona reassured the bird. She then nibbled on my ear in a way that made my knees go weak.

"I love you so much right now." She breathed into my ear. I gave her a hug.

"Is there anything else we want to see or grab to make sure we get it before we leave?"

Iona’s eyes unfocused slightly.

"Yes… yes, there’s one thing Selene wants me to do. Let’s go!"

I’d rarely seen Iona so animated or full of energy, and I had to hurry up as she tore through the hideout.

She stopped at one of the bedrooms, a larger skeleton curled around a smaller one. Iona motioned, and with [Telekinesis], delicately extracted a small little music box from the small skeleton’s hands. Iona respectfully closed the door, and kneeled down in the hallway.

"Oh Selene, great goddess of the moon, by right of salvage, by right of divine impetus, I gift you this instrument. May it find and soothe the tiny soul on the other side."

With a glimmer of divine celestial lights, the box was gone.

Iona stood back up.

"Right, that’s all. Let’s go?"

Chapter 15 - Blazing through the sky to Sanguino!

I frowned as we walked back through the halls of the fort, back to the exit we’d made.

"Hang on." I said as it clicked what was missing. "Something’s wrong here."

Iona paused.

"What’s wrong?"

"Money." I said, the one thing I hadn’t seen any of finally bringing itself to my attention as I’d thought of Amber and how she’d go nuts over this much wealth.

"This place is worth a lot, what do you mean?" Iona asked.

"We haven’t seen a single coin or gem anywhere. No coin pouches. No gems in goblets, no defensive arrays utilizing a gem, no stashes, nothing. Unless they were living in a coinless utopia," I gestured around me at the obvious displays of wealth all over the walls, pointing out how absurd my premise was. "They would’ve needed, and had, money. Why isn’t there a single bent coin, gambling chits, anything here?"

Iona’s eyebrows scrunched up as she realized the issue.

"Brrrpt!" Auri agreed that something was weird.

"That… is unusual, yes. The only thing I can imagine is the coins were all… made from some sort of biodegradable material…?" The Valkyrie didn’t even sound convinced by her own argument.

"Weird."

She shrugged.

"Weird indeed, but what can we do about it? We can complain about the lack of easy money until we’re blue in the face, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not here."

I grumbled at leaving the mystery unresolved as we exited the ancient Immortal’s hideout, back into the Pekari’s butcher room.

"You know, things were kind of hectic before, and this is going to sound like I’m an idiot, but there’s another exit to the room. One the Pekari made. Do we want to go deeper?" I asked Iona. One mystery was bugging me - what happened to all the coins? - and now there were even more mysteries abounding. Like what was going on with the Pekari. "I figure if we go deeper, we might be able to, I dunno, hit a place where the Pekari are manufactured and throw a wrench into future operations."

Another nice thing about the Pekari? I didn’t feel a shred of guilt blasting them. There was no [Oath] to worry about, no chance of a living, breathing creature being harmed. Just pure point, blast, and melt. It was mildly cathartic.

"Yeah, sure, I don’t see us getting much further today, and we might as well do something with our day instead of sitting around." Iona agreed.

We started walking down the tunnel, and I was on high alert for traps. This was new, untread territory.

At the very edge of my super biologically improved hearing, I started to hear a faint buzzing. It was just one sound among many, but it was putting my teeth on edge. I didn’t bother asking Iona or Auri if they heard it, I could barely hear it.

As we walked the tone slowly increased, both in pitch and volume. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore.

"That damn buzzing!" I swore. Iona froze.

"Buzzing?" She said. "Like humming?"

"I suppose you could call - OH FUCK!" I swore as I realized what Iona was saying.

"GO GO GO!" Iona yelled, grabbing Auri and turning on her heel. We started to sprint out of the lair, trying to get out of the place before the Pekari Hummer collapsed the tunnels on us. I could see Octopuses in the walls fleeing, heading deeper as we tried to escape.

Almost like it knew we were escaping, the volume and intensity of the humming grew dramatically. The tunnel started to shake at the pure bone-rattling intensity of the sound, and bricks and rock started to fall from the ceiling. Iona and I were both fast and agile, able to nimbly run around the detritus and deflect anything from braining us.

[Telekinesis] from Iona was invaluable, the tall blonde able to deflect and move the occasional rock out of the way. We moved in beautiful tandem, just knowing what the other person was going to do and not fouling each other’s movements. No rocks telekinetically thrown into me, and I knew Iona would shift some rubble but not others, letting me dexterously and nimbly run.

"Brrpt! BRRPT! Brrrrpt!!!" Auri was the slowpoke of the group, and everyone knew it. She stuck to cheering us on as hard as she could with her beak, occasionally throwing out a [Mage Hand] to clear out little bits of rubble, smoothing our path that much more.

Then we were out, exploding into the glorious sunshine as the humming reached a crescendo, the ground rumbling and slumping slightly as it collapsed.

"Oh come on, that wasn’t worth a level?" I complained at the same time Iona did a fist pump.

"It was worth a level for me!" She cheered.

I made a disgusted noise.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrppppppppppttt." Auri joined me in making noises at Iona’s celebration. She also wanted some levels.

"For real though, congratulations!" I told Iona. She grinned at me.

"Come on, let’s go see if the village needs any help."

Iona didn’t waste any time to see what my reply was, bounding over to the village.

The village threw a party that evening. The Pekari assault had, among other things, resulted in a number of dead livestock. There was no sense in passing up the food and letting it rot, and it seemed like every other villager had a skill that worked with food, and made it still whole and edible even after it had sat out in a field for a few hours.

Magic was wild. There was a skill for anything and everything, and it made me curse the System’s limitations once again. Why was I limited to three classes!? Why couldn’t I take more than thirty-two skills!? Goddesses, it was so unfair.

I sat upwind of the cooking. Among other creatures, the villagers raised pigs, and the smell of roasting pork still turned my stomach like nothing else. A specialty of the place were llamas, and I expanded my culinary experience. Iona was in her element, talking with people, letting them see the sunny side of things, seamlessly integrating into a brand new culture and tight-knit community with no effort at all. She had them laughing, singing, and dancing, and even made it look like it was their idea!

Best of all, it mostly kept them from bugging me.

Auri was literally in her element, bathing in the campfire flames, ‘secretly’ doing all the cooking. She’d surprised people the first few times, but they quickly got used to a little white hat of flames fluttering around the fireplace, and a long beak just hovering there. Auri was made of flames in the end.

Adaptable lot. I suppose living out in a small village like this, people had to roll with the punches.

In spite of trying to hide somewhat out of the way, and not really being in the party, a woman sat down next to me.

"Hi." I said, trying not to be unfriendly.

"Thank you." She took a bite of her food, and my nose wrinkled.

Why did I leave myself with the ability to smell pork? That had been a mistake on my part.

"You’re welcome," What else was there to say?

She shook her head.

"My name’s Viria. You fixed my knee. It’s been bad for years. I can walk again, run again, all thanks to you."

She gave me a quick hug, then skipped - skipped! - away back to the rest of the party.

I had a slow smile as she joined the party, throwing herself into the dances with a decade of repressed joy and exuberance. It wasn’t that much longer until the pipes came out, the villagers communally smoking some herb I wasn’t familiar with. Weirdly, it was an activity that immediately got Fenrir accepted as a temporary member of their community, as he loomed over them with his own pipe. After a moment of terror, someone laughed, stuffed his pipe full, and he joined them, contently taking up an entire road with his neck as he puffed on his pipe with the rest of them.

Thank fuck for biology. There was no way he could get high off that little of what the villagers were smoking. A wyvern of Fenrir’s size without all his faculties was a terrifying thought.

They politely offered it to me, and I declined. Iona had some, and I watched Auri try to get the ‘magic smoke’ and failing miserably because she was a phoenix and it just didn’t work on her the same way.

Which naturally had the villagers curious. I turned in for the night as they started to see what effects happened as Auri burned the herbs with different flames.

We left the village the next day, and I was only slightly smug about my lack of hangover and general feeling-good-ness.

We headed to the nearest town, got directions, and after an evening where Iona finally got me into a tavern, started to head towards Sanguino.

The town was interesting, and we rapidly encountered an unusual feature of Exterreri. I’d read about it, but it was one thing to hear about it, and another completely to experience it.

Ash.

Exterreri was the land of vampires, the creatures forming the upper crust of society. Since vampires could only make new vampires by turning mortals, Exterreri had a whole system of picking out their best and brightest - best connected was my ungenerous, suspicious take of it - and making them Immortal. Like Marcelle.

Vampires had some minor issues when it came to sunlight. Instead of crippling themselves for half the day, their solution was ‘simple’.

Coat the towns and cities with massive, billowing clouds of ash. Classers had to be involved, people burning wood or just flat-out generating Ash with classes, then controlling and keeping it above the towns and cities, darkening the skies and keeping the pesky sunlight off the vampires.

Not every city and town had an Ash cloud, and I had a thousand speculations why that was. A lack of Classers able to handle it, or a lack of vampires in the town was the simple solution, but it could easily be more convoluted than that.

The prevailing wind often grabbed and blew the ash downwind, and the air was filled with little specks of ash. It gently fell down onto the vast swathes of farmland, helping nurture and fertilize the crops, letting the farmers grow far more than they otherwise would.

Also landing on the tree farms used to grow the wood, continuing the cycle. My mind boggled at the amount of mana and coin required to keep the cycle running for every single city, but I guess I just wasn’t used to the scale that Immortals could operate at.

Hell, at level 513 I cleared an entire city of a plague in a single day and night. What could someone at level 1000 do? 2000?

Iona coughed as we flew through one stream of Ash, and pulled Fenrir up.

"Blasted Ash." She cursed as she directed the wyvern up and over the bulk of it.

"Brrrpt…" Auri liked the Ash. It was a sign of HUGE FIRES going on somewhere, and she wanted in.

"Maybe you can get a job burning wood?" I suggested to her.

That immensely cheered her up, and she spent the whole trip speculating about different types of furnaces and methods. Byproducts, furnace shapes, different woods and dryness, and hundreds of other factors I had never considered even when I’d been a Fire [Mage].

"We should have a name." Iona said during one of our endless hours of flying.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Like the adventurer group. A name for our little group."

I pulled a Face at that, letting my disgust be known. Iona rapped me on the head.

"Oi. You’re not being nice or reasonable here. I’m not suggesting that we become adventurers or anything, just that having a name would be nice."

"Brrrpt!" Auri hopped to the front of Fenrir’s head, and burned letters into the air.

Auri and her Sparks.

I was impressed that she managed to hold the letters relatively still against the wind. That was some fine, fine control.

Iona shook her head.

"Nope." I said.

"Brpt…" Auri muttered about traitors, and gave a new suggestion.

Auri’s Embers.

We didn’t dignify that one with an answer.

"The Duet Duet?" Iona suggested.

"What?" I asked. Auri shook her head, and Fenrir growled his displeasure.

"Well, there’s two pairs of two, and… yeah alright it’s a bad name." Iona conceded.

"Mango Seekers! What? I thought we were doing silly names." I defended myself against Iona’s disgusted noise, although Auri was minorly approving.

Auri’s Colors.

"The group is for all of us, not just you." I gave Auri a pointed look.

"Day’s Turn." Iona suggested, and we were off to the races.

The Moonlit Flame of Kindness.

"Sunset Aurora."

Wings of Fire and Ice!

"The Bells."

Auri’s Aurora.

"Twilight Terrorists."

"Hey!" I objected to that one.

Auri & Friends.

"The Wings of Twilight."

Auri’s Pest Extermination and Quality Baked Goods.

"The Flock!"

"That’s an oddity, let’s not."

Auri’s Adventurers Against Apples.

"Order of the Mango!"

Auri and Company.

"Celestial Spheres."

Auri’s Angels.

"Lunar Knights."

"Hey, that’s not terrible…" I said at Iona’s suggestion.

Auri shook her head, and Fenrir growled unhappily.

Team Inferno!

Fenrir had a limited ability to speak, and rarely used it. He finally spoke.

"Eventide Eclipse."

Auri trilled unhappily, but Iona and I looked at each other.

"I like it. Dawn and Dusk, the moons over the sun. A blazing fire hidden by something cold." The last part was aimed squarely at Auri, who no matter how much I loved, was getting annoying with her suggestions.

"It’s a nice name. I could be happy calling ourselves the Eventide Eclipse." Iona agreed.

Fenrir obviously liked his suggestion, and we stared at Auri.

"There’s three votes for it." I pointed out.

Auri conjured up a little black hat of flames, and mimed throwing it down onto Fenrir’s head and jumping on it.

"Brrpt! Brpt." She conceded that it was a fine name after working out some of her frustration.

"That’s that! We’re the Eventide Eclipse!"

Iona naturally wanted to celebrate in a fancy way that eventide.

The sights as we soared through Exterreri were gorgeous. From fields of golden wheat, to lush forests, sparkling lakes to shining city walls, from rich orchards to wide, well-maintained roads, Exterreri was beautiful.

Some of the cities had interesting features. One had a tower in the shape of a metal fist rising far above the rest of the buildings, another had what looked like marble angels patrolling the streets. I wasn’t sure if there was some sort of civic pride, inter-city rivalry going on, or just plain old bored Immortals finding something to do with their time.

One city was laid out in the stylized shape of a bat! It was incredibly obvious from the sky, the black roads carving out an impressive look. The shanty town and sprawl away from the walls sort of ruined the look though. It was still a nice effort.

We weren’t the only ones in the sky. Harpies were the most common by far, and the only thing we steered to avoid was a quetzalcoatl - the feathery snake type, like an extra-large coatl. We also saw a quetzalcoatlus flying around with a rickety house on its back, which was like a pteranodon stretched to the size of a giraffe.

I wanted to throttle whoever had named the two species so close to each other. Why!? Just why!? Give things distinct names!!

"Is that a flying fortress!?" I eagerly pointed to a half-sphere lazily floating through the air, armed to the gills.

"Looks like." Iona steered Fenrir just a little away from it, not that we were on an intercept course.

"I want to live in a flying fortress some day."

Iona laughed.

"Sure, we just need a few billion coins and we can afford one."

We did get one scare as we were flying over Exterreri though. A roc, with a wingspan nearly as large as Fenrir’s, flew up next to us. A team of eight people were variously on the roc’s back, or hanging onto one of the dozen leather straps coming off of its side. They all had obsidian badges of a bat on their chest.

"Oh! Rangers!" I grabbed Iona in my excitement as they started to come closer. "They’re Rangers! Just like I used to be!"

I sort of forgot myself in my excitement, standing up to wave at them, balancing on Fenrir’s back. Hilariously, some of them were still throwing on pieces of armor, helping each other strap into their gear while they approached.

"They don’t look thrilled to see us." I pouted a bit. Iona gave me a no shit look.

"Annnnnnnd your reaction to a fucking wyvern flying over Remus would’ve been…?" She said as she started to nudge Fenrir into a slow dive.

"Ah." I promptly sat back down, the roc coming next to us.

"Please land!" One of the Rangers hanging from the straps ordered us in High Elvish. [Mage - 344] my [Long-Range Identify] came back. He was the lowest leveled of the eight Rangers, but clearly had some skill that let him be heard at the windspeed we were going at.

I cupped my hands over my mouth.

"We are!" The wind snatched most of my words away from me, but our intent was clear.

Also! Also! One of the Rangers was [Healer]-tagged! Interestingly, one was [Artisan]-tagged as well. An enchanter?

While I was getting strong Remus vibes from Exterreri in some ways, in others it was remarkably clear that this was a different country, a different culture. Leather skirts, galea helmets and vambraces were out. Heavy scale over mail, turning into a long split shin-length skirt, goggled hard helmet with mail protecting the face and neck, plate pauldrons, gauntlets, and boots were in. Trimmings were black whenever possible, and they were all sporting kite shields and slightly curved blades. The roc had a full complement of lances, and was almost as weighed down with gear as Fenrir was. It was clear that at least two of the Rangers were women, but I couldn’t tell anything about the ones who’d already finished getting their gear on.

Finding a spot to land was always a little tricky. Roads were off-limits, we didn’t want to block traffic. Field were off-limits, something about crushing tons of produce had people unwisely waving pitchforks and torches at us. Forests had lots of pointy bits aimed at us, and in theory we could just crush through the trees. In practice, who walked barefoot over nails?

Fortunately there was a small meadow, and we easily landed. Iona kept her armor off, but manipulated her ever-present mallium to present the symbol of her order, a small pair of wings near her ears.

"Let me do the talking." She said.

I nodded furiously.

"That was the plan!" I wholeheartedly agreed. I knew I’d stick my foot in my mouth in some way, shape, or form. "Although, I am hoping to ask if they know anyone called Night…" I trailed off hopefully.

Iona squeezed my arm.

"Don’t worry about it, I’ll find a tactful way to ask. Should be a member of the organization, yeah?"

I nodded.

"Around the Sentinels."

I popped my random utility spellbook and summoned a comb. We had one packed away, but we had no time to go hunt it down and fish it out!

The roc landed a distance away, and we all hopped off our respective rides.

"How do I look?" I asked Iona, furiously trying to tame my hair from the windswept mess it had turned into. We were meeting the Rangers! I had to look good! I had to look presentable! I knew it was Auri’s influence, but damnit, it was right! I had to put my best foot forward! I didn’t want them to think of me as an ugly mess. That was a terrible first impression!!

And that was just my hair! I had dirt and scuffs on my tunic, I’d been wearing it and sweating in it for hours, I didn’t have a single earring or anything on, it was all wrong!

Iona put her hands on my shoulders.

"You look lovely. I want nothing more than to ignore the Rangers and drag you off to a bush, but we need to go meet them."

Iona knew just how to flatter me and get me to refocus, and we went to meet the Rangers in the middle of the field.

Chapter 16 - A polite conversation

We - Auri, Iona, and myself - stopped a polite distance away from each other, the Rangers just barely outside my sphere of perception. It was close enough that we could easily hear and talk, given our System-enhanced abilities, but far away that we could have a fraction of a second to react if anyone started anything.

Not that we were planning to, but I suspected they were acting out of an abundance of caution. Iona was displaying as a level 520 [Warrior]... riding a wyvern.

I’d spent years studying anatomy. Women held themselves slightly differently, had a lower center of gravity, and just plain moved differently. The differences were subtle, but I hadn’t studied medicine for years for nothing. Did let me see that three of the Rangers were women, including the [Leader], and the rest were men.

Weapons weren’t out, skills weren’t flying, but armor was on and the Rangers had their hands on their weapons. There was clearly a standard set of weapons, but one of the dudes had a golden hammer glowing with the familiar light of Radiance, and a second had an unusual segmented sword. It would be pointless for stabbing, excellent for slashing, and I mentally categorized him as a speedster. I was in a simple tunic - not that armor did much for me these days - and Iona had very deliberately left her weapons behind, only using a small part of her mallium to form the classic wings of the Valkyrie order on her head.

Of course, with a thought she could morph the rest of the mallium into armor and weapons, immediately arming and armoring herself. She was about as close to fully ready to fight as the Rangers were, and I gave a little approving internal nod at their readiness. They didn’t know she was a hair away from fully ready, but were treating her like she was anyway.

Auri was preening herself on my shoulder, trying to ‘subtly’ show off and make the Rangers look at her. She was about as subtle as a brick, with all of the dancing, hopping around, flashing her flaming wings and the like. One of the Rangers kept having her eyes dragged back to Auri’s colorful show, which was only encouraging her.

I noticed a trio of tiny mouse golems slip off the roc, and a subtle rustling of grass showed where they were going, spreading out through the field. Interesting skill! I wonder what they were for. I kept half an eye on them, sure that they didn’t know I knew about them.

"Lady Valkyrie." The [Leader] of the group respectfully said, giving a small nod to Iona. "I hope you understand why we’ve intercepted you."

Iona gave a big smile, holding her hands out to her side. It was probably more the symbology of it than anything, but I was rapidly getting out of my people person nuance depth.

"Naturally! Big flying armored wyvern, not flying any banner known to you, of course you’d come round and ask us what was going on. As you can see, we’re more than happy to cooperate."

The leader nodded.

"Aye. Can you tell us about why you’re here? We don’t have the usual issues mortal lands have with monsters and bandits. If you’ve gotten a cry for aid, please, let us know and we’ll be happy to handle it."

I was just so curious! I took a little step forward so the Rangers would be inside [The World Around Me], letting me get exact details and information about them.

"Crimson eyes." The [Artisan] said from the back of the formation. The [Leader’s] head snapped to me, along with two of the other Rangers. She immediately became officious and commanding.

"Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to take a step back." She ordered. Iona shot me a glare over her shoulder, and I meekly stepped back.

Had the [Artisan] somehow known what I was doing? Nothing else made sense. Auri flew from one shoulder to the other, still showing off for the one Ranger tracking her. I caught a few flickers behind the Rangers' helmets, Auri temporarily distracting a few more of them.

"Sorry, my friend’s a little starstruck." Iona chuckled, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell if it was a real chuckle, or a fake one. "As for what we’re doing here, well, immigrating I suppose. Looking to move to Sanguino and find work. I’m Iona, she goes by Dawn, and this is Auri. Fenrir’s my companion back there. We recently graduated from the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, and I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but the Order Valkyrie was recently made, ah, more nomadic than we’ve been in the past. Dawn’s School advisor is from Exterreri, and when she’s not hiding her level she’s a little less than welcome in mortal lands."

Iona’s pointed words reminded me that I was still wearing both my amulet and my Deception Ring.

"Whoops! Hang on!" I took the amulet off - it only had one setting in the end - while mentally fiddling with my Deception Ring to fix my level. It was still hidden, I didn’t see any sense in letting them know I had two ways of playing with my level.

"Ahhh, yes, that would do it." The [Leader] said while the [Healer] in the background nodded understandingly. "Elaines."

I almost flinched at my name, before remembering for the umpteenth time that it was now the word for healer. Something about the whole situation had me jumpy and nervous, like I was a teenager on a date again.

"I’m Livia, pleasure to meet you." She stepped forward, extending her hand, and Iona stepped forward to meet her. Which also brought her into range of [The World Around Me]! There were… sadly no deeply interesting secrets in the armor, but it was interesting to see how much arcanite and how many gems were woven into her gear. Quite a bit more than we’d gotten back in my days as a Ranger! Her gear was also packed with runes, although I wasn’t familiar with the language. More enhancements and powerups!

Maybe if I had specialized runes and gear armor would be useful for me again. Something to look into when my finances were in a better spot. Armor was expensive. Enchanted armor?

Ooof.

Oh no, I was turning into a grumpy old woman. Good for them! Good for the current Rangers! Having better gear and a higher survival rate was good! They even had a roc to fly around on and transport their gear! Much better than a wagon and some horses.

They still better have the Hell Months or something like that. Weed out the people not committed enough. Humph!

"It’s always a delight to meet the famous Rangers in the flesh." Iona warmly said, happily shaking Livia’s hand.

"Also, forgive me, but ‘goes by Dawn’? Is that not her real name?" Livia asked. We were using the Creation word for Dawn, and this was one place where people might recognize it as a Creation word, and not just a name. Then again, names and words from other languages overlapped all the time so they might just chalk it up as a coincidence.

Iona glanced over her shoulder at me, and I gave her a tiny nod.

"Nope. She’s got one of those unfortunate names, and goes by a nickname."

"Ahhh, yeah one of those. If you don’t mind…?"

"Elaine." Iona answered, and thanks to [The World Around Me], I could see the puzzled look on her face slowly morph to understanding.

"Elai- OH! She’s got one of those names, right, yeah, I see what you mean. Any family name or cognomen or anything?"

I shook my head.

"Nope. Closest thing I’ve got is Dawn."

The [Artisan] coughed loudly. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to send another coded signal, or was really just trying to get some phlegm out.

Probably just phlegm. His crimson eyes earlier clearly told us that they had a way of signaling each other, and weren’t afraid to use it in public.

"Elaine, Elaine… recently graduated from the School…" Livia was clearly thinking about something, but I had no idea what. "This is going to sound completely random, but you’ve never claimed to be a Sentinel, have you?"

That question was out of the blue.

"I’ve never claimed to be a Sentinel of Exterreri, no, but I’ve held a similar title in the past, in a completely different country and language. Exterreri doesn’t have a monopoly on the word, does it?" I ended up sounding maybe a little defensive there.

I could see behind Livia’s mask, and she wasn’t looking pleased.

"Well, no, but-"

The [Artisan] interrupted. Was Livia really the boss here?

"Sundown. Claws in." He barked out, and the Rangers stiffened. Hands reflexively went to weapons on the first command, runes started to flare to life, then, like it was physically costing them, they all dropped away. Livia’s face went through a whole gauntlet of emotions, before settling on a smooth blankness. Even more interesting, she had no way of knowing I could see her, that was simply her natural reaction.

"Excuse us. I need to talk with my team."

The Rangers quickly huddled up, flashing elaborate hand signals to each other. Another thing that had changed - the hand language was nothing like I’d seen before, unless their sudden conversation was about Formorian mages running the Senate.

Auri took it as a challenge. She fluttered around more, creating tiny little puffs of flame in dozens of different colors.

"What’s all that about?" I asked Iona quietly. I had no illusions that they couldn’t hear us, but it was more about having a polite volume of voice. Nobody wanted people shouting next to their ear, not when they were trying to have a private conversation.

"I honestly have no idea." Iona shook her head like she couldn’t believe it. "Only thing I got was claws in suggests they very much want to avoid any sort of physical confrontation."

We stared at them, and at one point three of them quickly turned to look at us, before a round of head-smacking from Livia got them to pay attention again.

They finally came to some sort of consensus, and approached us again. I let Iona take the lead.

"Auri. Lady Valkyrie. Dawn. Welcome to Exterreri. I can’t promise that no other Ranger team is going to bother you, but it’s unlikely. If you mention you spoke with Livia of Ranger Team Gale, they might leave you alone. Might. Dawn, whatever else you were previously, do not call yourself a Sentinel here. We take a dim view of such things, and I’d hate to arrest you so soon after you arrived. The title has a special meaning here."

Iona smiled her best charming smile. I’d know, she’d used it on me often enough when she wanted something.

"We’ll do that! I have a quick question, and I apologize if it seems random. Do you know of anyone called Night associated with the Rangers? Probably not a Ranger, but tangential to the organization?"

"Night Night…" Livia clearly went deep into thought, then snapped her fingers.

My heart leapt into my throat, and I took an eager step forward.

"Yes! Our [Armorer] has twins. She named them Day and Night, should be about five or so?"

My face fell.

Iona gave a polite smile.

"I appreciate your help, but I don’t think that’s who we’re looking for. Thank you though! Good wind under your wings."

"A steady breeze under yours." Livia replied.

It was like they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. They efficiently, expertly climbed back onto the roc, and with a mighty, System-empowered flap of its wings, they took off. They quickly veered south, and were off like a shot.

"That wasn’t the direction they came from." I noted out loud.

"Nope." Iona agreed.

"And it’s heading the same way we want to."

"Yup. Let’s take a break, something spooked them and we don’t want them to think we’re chasing them."

It was nice just lying in the meadow with Iona and Auri, enjoying the sunshine, watching the clouds pass. Fenrir convinced us all to play a game of cards, which was hilarious. Auri thought she was sneaky with her ‘not an elvenoid’ bird beak poker face… entirely ignoring the fact that her flames got all energetic and extra-colorful anytime she had a good hand. I’d been around some cutthroat cheating with Ranger Team 4 and the Sentinels, which helped me not at all.

Iona couldn’t lie, yet somehow skillfully kept managing to play the game and stay in, claiming that she was playing us, not playing the cards. Half the hands we played she didn’t even bother looking at what she had! It was an eye-opening experience.

Yet, in spite of all that, Fenrir somehow managed to win all the chits we were playing for. I didn’t know how it happened, but his pile steadily grew while ours shrunk. The beast was a natural-born card shark… errr… card wyvern?

We didn’t spend the rest of the day there, eventually getting started again. We didn’t encounter anything interesting until the Ash cloud of Sanguino came into view, a Classer shaping it into the form of a flying bat, pulling any number of acrobatic tricks over the capital of Exterreri.

We had made it.

Chapter 17 - Landing in Sanguino!

The massive bat made out of Ash was the clear calling sign of Sanguino, and seeing it on the horizon let us know we were almost there. A few other cities occasionally had their own Ash cloud in a different shape, but there was a degree of civic pride. Nobody had the same symbol.

We were moderately high up in the sky, and we could see several other city’s Ash clouds from where we were. Iona pulled the reins on Fenrir, steering him slightly towards our final destination.

We flew and flew and flew, our destination being in sight causing an illusion of time slowing down.

That, and…

"Just how big is that bat?" I exclaimed in disbelief. We’d spent over an hour flying towards it, the bat steadily growing… and still no sign of the city shaded under it.

"Yes." Iona answered with an amused grin. I rolled my eyes and lightly punched her thigh, followed by a ‘no I really still love you’ caress.

"How far out of the city do you think we’re going to need to land because of Fenrir?" I asked.

"Hmmm… first suitable tavern. We’re going to be alarming the watch, the guard, and whatever army they have here, and I fully expect we’ll need to talk with each of them. They’ll be happiest if we’re far from the city and not near the roads, and you’ve seen how many taverns actually want Fenrir nearby. I anticipate we’ll be there a while, mind if I negotiate for a monthly rate?"

I shook my head.

"No, that’s fine. But I don’t want to end up 50 kilometers from the city and have to walk that every morning either." I pointed out. Thinking through the logistics of the problem made me realize another potential issue.

"We’re going to have to live outside the city limits." I frowned. "Possibly far outside the city limits."

Iona weakly chuckled.

"Yeah. Why do you think we had our own castle with everything that entailed? Why do you think my biggest concern is feeding him? Fenrir’s a super massive, there’s a reason you almost never see wyverns. Not just food, but water, location, neighbors… honestly a little jealous of you and Auri at times."

"Brrrpt!" Auri preened herself at the compliment.

"...until I see the kitchen. Then, not so much." Iona teased the little phoenix.

Auri slapped a wing over her heart and pretended to fall over.

I looked around in an attempt to distract myself. I didn’t dare take books out of my [Bookwyrm’s Hoard] to try and read them - way too fragile to be trying that on top of a wyvern. Plus, I’d been binge reading all of them thanks to [Parallel Thoughts] and [Vivid Dream Reading]. Gotten a few levels out of it to boot!

Passed level 100, and got offered [Scales of the Bookwyrm].

Scales of the Bookwyrm: A wyrm must protect her hoard, just as her hoard must protect her. For all the [Knights] of the world wish to slay the fierce wyrm, and what good is a perfectly preserved hoard without a wyrm to safeguard and treasure it? With this skill, your precious treasures will leap out to defend you, intercepting attacks like a perfect set of scales. Books compress further per level, decreased cost per level.

It had taken me half a second to realize what it was saying. My precious books in [Bookwyrm’s Hoard] would act like a set of scales, like a set of armor. There was a mention of miniaturizing the books as they formed armor, which was slightly interesting, implying that my class could do some Spatial size modification shenanigans.

Books were famously bad at being armor, and the thought of my wonderful books getting shredded was too much. I could heal! I had my own scales! I didn’t need to sacrifice unique scrolls and ancient journals to protect myself. The thought was sacrilegious.

The other aspect that I’d considered before making my decision - I could always keep it and not use it - was what it would mean for my future classes and evolutions. It was the first outwardly draconic skill, and it would evolve my class further in that direction - and in a more combat-oriented direction. First armor skill I’d seen!

I briefly imagined it. I could end up able to half-morph, half-pilot, half-control a book golem shaped like a dragon, or something like that. It was an interesting path to take, but the more I thought about it, the more it looked like a combat or golem controlling class - if not an outright polymorph class - rather than a reading class.

Books would get destroyed by the dozens or hundreds if I did that. I’d want cheap books I didn’t care about printed by the thousand, lug them around, and then sacrifice them. I suppose I could always order metal-cover books, and as long as they were still books it would count, but…

Yeah, no. The skill wasn’t exciting me, the path it was offering didn’t excite me, and I dismissed the level 100 capstone skill without taking it.

The School was one of the best places in the world to develop skills, and I was only a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to acquire better skills quickly after leaving. I’d worked hard to improve the skills I could, and the lack of better skills being offered was a fairly good indicator that I hadn’t wasted my time.

Instead of reading any of my not–scale armor books, I looked around at the area that was going to hopefully become my home. A few more clouds of Ash on the horizon marked where more cities were located. Farms clung to a spidery network of roads, like they were clinging to them for safety, while deep, ancient forests and meadows spanned between waterways and across rolling hills that occasionally pretended they were small mountains. Herds of dinosaurs could occasionally be seen, grazing on ferns and trees. Now and then the dinos would be inside a farmer’s pen, being raised for the slaughter. Occasionally we’d see tracks of something large marking its territory. Large swaths of dirt overturned and paths where some massive creature - or a herd of them - bulldozed dozens of trees like they were twigs. An area that perpetually had tiny snowflakes falling, never mind that it was late summer. A third territory was a little more subtle, but I thought there might be a skill at play - everything was just so much more lush, green, and vibrant than its surroundings.

Then we were close enough to see the city.

Ironically, the first thing I really noticed was the gigantic cloud of Ash, shaped like a bat, that we’d been following the whole time. I hadn’t quite appreciated what the giant bat-shaped cloud would be like up close. It was dense and thick, seemingly stretching from horizon to horizon. We couldn’t see the shape of the bat itself from how large it was and how close we were. It had to be dozens of miles long, if not longer. It was hard to properly measure how big it was - how large was a cloud? How large was a cloudbank that blotted out the entire sky?

My eyesight was amazing, but it took until we were closer for me to see the next layer of the cloud. The entire thing was shaped as a bat, the symbol of the Exterreri Empire, but the cloud itself was formed out of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tiny little bat shapes, all swooping and swirling together in an intricate display, giving the entire thing a shifting look like a flock of bats at play. A strong, strong Classer was casually keeping this up. I had to wonder what level they were at, how much experience they were getting for this.

Repetition wasn’t great for experience, but ‘single-handedly keeping the sun off of millions… for decades’ was another story entirely. That had to be fantastic experience, even at high levels.

Kind of like a certain lizard and her moon shenanigans. Although she was at the max level, yet not ascending, so why…

I spun that thought process off into its own thread, letting that part of me wonder over Lun’Kat and her lack of godhood.

Naturally, the entire area was in deep twilight, the sun’s rays simply lighting the cloud, none of them penetrating to the ground below to properly light things up. The same as the rest of the cities we’d passed, but Sanguino was on a different level. There was very little growing in or around the city, the plants strangled by the lack of sunlight.

Not that cities fed themselves by what was grown inside their limits. Sanguino was another port city, although it was on Bloodmoons Bay, attached to the Sea of Stars. The sea only touched a few other countries, and didn’t have any direct connection to the ocean. Good and bad news there - no mangos, no apples.

I wondered what happened when a rainstorm rolled through. That much ash getting dumped into the bay had to be catastrophic for the environment, yet it seemed to be healthy and thriving from what I could see.

No horrors from the depths of the ocean. "Only" what one sea could provide. The horrors in the deep couldn’t be that bad, fishing boats groaning under their heavy cargo flooding into the port alongside trader’s ships in four distinct styles, with different types within the styles. One towering vessel was even crewed by giants; it floated in a specially-designed berth as they went about their business.

Weirdly, there was an aqueduct system leading from the sea to the city. Was the Sea of Stars freshwater? Or did the aqueduct system have some sort of desalination runes? Either way, fresh, easy water for everyone. Somehow I doubted free would enter the equation.

Lastly, there were the roads to the city itself. Four wide highways led to separate gates - one going north, one north-west, one west, and one south-west. It was well organized and directed, with at least six distinct types of lanes that I could see. The widest type was for heavy traffic, wagons pulled by triceratops and mules alike, and one was for pedestrians, chattering to each other as they made their way to and from the city. The third that I could easily figure out was a lane reserved for speedsters or couriers, men and women blazing down the path with unnatural speed. I couldn’t figure out the other three lanes, but they were clearly marked with different color stones. In spite of how it would help decongest traffic, nobody moved into them.

Roads were fun! Fliers crisscrossed the ashen airways above Sanguino, the boundless sky having more than enough room for everyone. Most people were flying under their own power, only a few riding a steed like Iona and I were. One seemed to be ice-skating! Rails of Ice formed under her blades as she skated through the air, and she nimbly flipped around, creating footing even when sideways or upside down. She didn’t seem to be doing anything other than enjoying life.

[Warrior - 1629] [Long-Range Identify] brought back. A vampire?

Less fun were the rows of crucifixes on the road in an X-shape, condemned criminals nailed to them. My heart jumped into my throat as I desperately scanned for anyone alive, anyone who’d need help or saving, condemned criminal or not.

I had sworn an [Oath], and dammit, even if it would destroy all my plans, I would uphold it.

"Give me a moment, need to drop off." I urgently told Iona.

She had barely nodded before I finished unbuckling myself, my hands moving in a blur. I snapped my wings open and launched myself off Fenrir’s back to Auri’s encouraging brrrpt. I quickly moved up to my max speed, my eyes scanning and analyzing every single last body on the roads.

I ignored anyone pointing up at me, and that I hadn’t picked the best tunic for flying over a city. There were people to help, criminal or not.

Blessedly, it looked like each and every one of them had their throat slit. Condemning someone with a System to death, then leaving them unattended for days on end while they slowly expired by the side of the road was a perfect formula for them escaping. Their bodies had simply been left out in various states of decay as a warning to any would-be criminals to what their fate would be.

Interesting. I guess they weren’t worried about predators? I didn’t like the death penalty, but that was a topic for another day. I flew back up to where Iona and Fenrir were, regaining an excellent view of the city.

Then there was the city itself! What looked to be a castle keep, of all things, dominated the center of town, rising tall above the buildings. The military center? Large interlocking walls were all patrolled, the flag of the Exterreri Empire flying proudly. Soldiers patrolled along the walls. I saw a colosseum - there was a chariot race going on. At least three amphitheaters were scattered around the town, a few dozen obvious, large temples, and uncountable big, fancy, important-looking buildings. All this was before the markets, homes, parks, apartments, gardens, businesses, and the thousand and one other parts that made up a whole living, breathing city.

"I found a spot to land." Iona said, pressing on Fenrir with her knees. The two had a strong communication system worked out, and the mighty wyvern dove down to the spot Iona had found. We landed a distance away from a tavern, Fenrir spooking the nearby horses.

Iona nimbly leapt off his back and strode towards The Drop of Blood - I assumed that’s what the single red drop meant the name of the place was - to talk with the innkeeper. I started unpacking, the division of labor now routine.

It took a few hours to get settled in. Iona, bless her honest heart, had to bulldoze the innkeeper to not automatically put feeding our animals into the price. Fenrir would’ve eaten him out of house and home, and figuring out how to keep him fed was going to be a challenge and a half.

We got a small room in the corner of the inn. A bed, table, and three chairs, and enough room for four chests.

"Brrrpt…" Auri wasn’t thrilled with our new digs.

"It’s temporary, and I’m sure the [Innkeeper] would love help in the kitchen. See what local specialties there are!" I encouraged her.

"Brrrpt!! Brrrpt…?"

Iona and I traded looks.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead. I know I’d skip out on all the paperwork if I could."

Iona shuddered in sympathy.

"Speaking of, do you need me there, or can I stay here? It’s time for the daily ‘no no Fenrir’s not a threat’ speech."

"You’d think they’d know better by now, especially in a place like this. No, I don’t mind, probably easier for me to process in on my own." I rummaged through our chests, finding the letter of introduction Marcelle had written for me.

"I’m looking for an Aulus, who works at the Healer’s Guild. Should be easy enough to find, right? What could go wrong?" I said.

Auri conjured a [Mage Hand] to slap over her forehead. Iona put a hand on my shoulder and slowly shook her head.

"Elaine, you should know better than to say that." She tsked at me. "Remember what happened at the last Healer’s Guild we went to?"

I threw my hands up in the air.

"It was only a little tax evasion! Look, if they have a rule like this here, as long as they’re not in the middle of a plague, I’m happy to pay." I made more incoherent grumbling noises while Auri laughed at my misfortune.

I spent a good twenty minutes or so getting ready. Changing into a fresh tunic, fighting the mess that my hair had turned into, and the hundred and one other tasks needed for me to be properly presentable when I asked for help, or if I was lucky, got all the way to ask permission to be allowed to live in Exterreri.

No sense in dressing like a slob and looking like I didn’t care about this, or thought it was unimportant! Great way to annoy the people who were potentially in charge of my future.

"Right, I’m going to head off. Please leave the place standing when I get back."

Auri and Iona traded looks.

"Brrrrrrrrrrpt. Brpt brrrrpt."

"Traitors! The lot of you are traitors!" I complained, grabbing the letter, filling my pouch with a reasonable number of coins for a day in the city, along with any fees I might need to pay, and leaving the tavern.

It wasn’t quite clear what the proper protocol was for crossing the various lanes in the big roads leading to Sanguino was, so I just blitzed across it when I had a moment, joining the throngs of pedestrians in the pedestrian lane. Better safe than sorry!

"Hello!" I waved to a small group of young men heading to the city. All level 150, give or take 10 levels. They eagerly replied back.

"Hey! New here? Want a tour? We know Sanguino better than anyone!" One of them boasted.

I mentally rolled my eyes.

"I’m mostly interested in the fast lane. What are the rules for traveling down one?"

As I asked, a courier blew past us, his legs seeming to step three times for every step he took. Probably [Triple Step] or something neat like that.

Brash dude pointed at him.

"Be faster than he is, and you can travel in the fast lane." The rest of his group sniggered at that.

"Alright! Thanks!"

My skin started to glow with the anti-friction runes I’d carved into them as I took a step into the fast lane, and I was off. I just got to hear an "Oh shi-" behind me before I left the group in the dust.

It only took a few seconds before I was behind the courier.

"On your left!" I shouted before overtaking him. [Laborer - 280]. Interesting! A speedster who was focused on running, with nothing on fighting, wasn’t a [Warrior] anymore, but a [Laborer]. He did a double-take as I passed him - my [Healer] tag was hilariously deceptive at times - and pumped his arms as he tried to keep up.

I jogged with him for a few seconds - an all-out sprint from how hard he was working - before giving him a cheerful wave and zooming to the city gates. An even faster runner passed by me before I made it all the way there. I slowed down and crossed back into the pedestrian lane as I got to the back of the line. The six different paths in and out of the city had different guards checking, and while I was pretty sure I was allowed to use the fast lane for running around, I doubted it was so easy to use their checkpoint. Otherwise, why wasn’t everyone here going through there?

I kept to myself, eventually making it to the front of the line. The guards here had an interesting take on equipment. A solid helmet, but a thick tunic was their only ‘armor’. They all carried spears, with a short sword and a whip tucked into their belt.

[Warrior - 197]. [Warrior - 320]. One was clearly more senior than the other.

I guessed, if push came to shove, that if your guard needs armor, something has gone very wrong. Maybe it was also an extra layer for the guards in a sense, a way to remind them that they needed to police well, and aim for non-violent solutions, because they didn’t have any more protection than anyone else?

I was speculating wildly here, although I was always interested in the guard.

In a twist, the guard was leaning against the wall, and activated an array in the wall instead of saying anything. The array had its own Sound magic.

"Name, purpose of visit, are you a citizen, resident, or foreigner, and do you have any goods to be inspected?" It asked.

Wow… just wow. That was a level of efficiency that I wasn’t sure if it turned into laziness or not. An array just so the guards didn’t have to ask the same question every time?

"Alright, this is going to sound terrible, but my name’s Elaine. A foreigner, hoping to move here, got a letter to an Aulus at the Healer’s Guild. No goods to declare."

The guards gave each other a skeptical look and I sighed heavily.

"Yes, it’s Elaine, no, there’s no other part, no, I don’t know what my parents were thinking, and no, the irony of needing to go to the Elaine’s Guild isn’t lost on me." All technically true. The best type of true!

One of the guards laughed.

"Yeah, alright, I believe you. You should get a nickname."

I groaned.

"I have one, Dawn. Figured I’d give you all my real name."

"No goods, prospective citizen. 10 coins please." The other guard asked, holding out his hand.

[The World Around Me] was great for the big moments. For seeing Immortal hideouts behind walls. For seeing traps and gears hidden in the floor. For detecting treacherous adventurers trying to activate traps.

It was also nice for the mundane. Finding a single obsidian coin inside my pouch, so I didn’t need to fish around in it.

The guards thanked me and I stepped inside the city, taking in all the sights from the street level, through both my eyes and through [The World Around Me].

The one thing that jumped out at me though, only visible thanks to the incredibly high fidelity of detail that [The World Around Me] provided.

What were all the hundreds of tiny strings doing all over the place?

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 72 -> 73]

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 27]

[Mana: 846,920/846,920]

[Mana Regen: 505,860 (+953,876)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,115]

[Dexterity: 8,686]

[Vitality: 27,696]

[Speed: 27,728]

[Mana: 84,692]

[Mana Regeneration: 84,789 (+95,388)]

[Magic Power: 50,372 (+1,292,042)]

[Magic Control: 50,263 (+1,289,246)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 513]]

[Celestial Affinity: 513]

[Cosmic Presence: 328]

[The Stars Never Fade: 12]

[Center of the Universe: 472]

[Dance with the Heavens: 513]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 513]

[Mantle of the Stars: 492]

[Sunrise: 472]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 450]]

[Radiance Affinity: 450]

[Radiance Resistance: 450]

[Nova Lance: 450]

[Lepidoptera: 450]

[Nectar: 450]

[Solar Corona: 450]

[Scintillating Ascent: 450]

[Kaleidoscope: 450]

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial: Lv 105]]

[Spatial Affinity: 105]

[Comprehensive Speed Reading: 105]

[Channeled Blink: 40]

[Bookwyrm's Hoard: 105]

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes: 105]

[Vivid Dream Reading: 105]

[Astral Archives: 105]

[Hunger for Knowledge: 105]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 380]

[Parallel Thoughts: 174]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 470]

[The World Around Me: 73]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 513]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 513]

[Persistent Casting: 432]

[Imbue: 188]

Chapter 18 - The Hunt for Night I

[Parallel Thoughts] was my new favorite skill. I could do four things at once! I could navigate the streets of Sanguino, drinking in all the sights. I could work on my spellbooks, designing new spells. My immediate need for a comb had gotten me thinking about all manner of tools that I’d want on hand. Didn’t matter how specialized they were, I had the time to make them. Lastly, I could think about those threads I was seeing.

They weren’t quite omnipresent, but they coated most surfaces. Dozens on the road that we were stepping on. A few creeping up every wall I could see, although [The World Around Me] wasn’t big enough to tell if they were on the roof or not. Each door I passed had a few tendrils snaking onto them.

I could sense the outlines of tunnels and sewers below me, and they also had little threads snaking along the ceiling.

I stopped at a food stall, watching for a fascinated moment while the threads crept up the temporary stand, the owner entirely oblivious to them. That told me more than hours of staring at the threads ever would.

Namely, that there was a powerful skill or magic behind it. I couldn’t discount that an ancient Immortal had set up a complex mandala in ye olde days of antiquity - far, far in the future from Remus from my point of view - and the spell was still running off arcanite, but it was…

… was it more likely that there was a Classer running the skill? A single Classer, here and now, versus centuries if not millennia of history for a Classer to set something up? I suppose with how people talked about Immortal wars that would probably reset and wipe out old, powerful enchantments, but we’d just seen a hideout that had somewhat survived an Immortal war, and…

Even with [Parallel Thoughts] I was getting stupid distracted! The skill mostly let me devote a thought process to my thinking side-quests, but I was full up. Speaking of…

Tools! I had one of my spellbooks out and open in front of me, tracing in a new comb spell while I walked. [The World Around Me] made it so I wasn’t walking blind, having a perfect view of what was in front of me, while using my eyes and fingers for useful purposes.

I was also thinking about what other tools I might want. I had spells for a hammer, nails, and saw ready. A shovel was always good, not sure why I didn’t have one already. Scissors were tricky with the joint, but it wasn’t an impossible challenge; a crowbar was one of the simplest spells to make; an anvil was terribly impractical but I wanted one available just on the off-chance I could drop it on someone; I wanted lockpicks but had no idea what they looked like; a pair of tongs was probably useless with my fire immunity but I never knew when someone else might need them; a file…

The only downside to my ‘three things at once’ method was I looked terribly distracted. A hand with a tiny little thumb-knife snaked towards my purse, moving in an unnatural way I associated with skills, but far, far, far too slowly for my enhanced perception and massive stats. It felt like I had all the time in the world to study the two human teenagers, barely out of the kid stage, trying to rob me. A boy and a girl. Boy had been crying, and the girl’s hair was filled with dirt.

Didn’t mean I was going to let them rob me. I needed my money!

My finger blurred as I finished tracing the mandala I was working on, the runes sinking into the pages of my spellbook. I teleported my book back into [Bookwyrm’s Hoard] without even closing it, freeing my hands up. I shot my hand to my purse, catching the boy’s hand as I spun my head around in a half-circle, staring directly behind me like an owl.

[Laborer - 128]

[Leader - 32]

Pair of low level kids with no idea what they were doing. Heck, the girl might not have even known what the boy was up to!

"Go bother somebody else." I gave the hand one last warning squeeze with enough force that he knew I had the strength to break it - although I entirely lacked the ability to do so thanks to [Oath], but he didn’t know that - and let it go.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 73 -> 74]

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 174 -> 175]

Sweet!

I scanned the contents of my pouch, ensuring that everything was still there, and nothing had been added before doing an awkward from-behind ‘shoo’ motion, then fixed my head so I looked less like an abomination or that someone had broken my neck. I was getting Looks.

I hurried along the street, not wanting to get stopped by the helpful guard. I know I’d be asking ‘are you alright’ to anyone whose neck just did what mine did!

The city had a solution to the heavy shadows it was perpetually cast under. Namely, burning torches on top of long poles everywhere, each one reinforced and protected with magic. The air was remarkably clean and clear, far beyond what I would expect with [Silversmiths] ([Artisan - 337], the levels in general seemed to all be higher but not insane) openly working in the town, on top of all the other businesses in town. My first assumption was it was a side effect of the massive Ash clouds - perhaps there was a secondary set of spells going on to keep the air clean?

One aspect I hadn’t considered fully was how pervasive the smell of blood was in Sanguino. It was everywhere, and thanks to my super sensitive nose, I was even getting vaguely familiar with the different scents and picking them apart! Soothing herbs, ocean breeze, petrichor from being exposed to dirt, tingling spices, and more! A particularly sickly sweet scent made me think someone was a diabetic, and it was horrifying to imagine that could be a plus in vampire land.

Some of the more complex blood mixtures implied that blood could be flavored, if not flat out turned into a wine. Cinnamon and lavender, nutmeg and lemon, honey and sage, garlic, and thousands of subtle flavors mixed into the pervasive, overpowering smell of blood.

Businesses were freely mixed in with villas and homes in Sanguino, and I had to imagine the real estate prices of homes next to tanneries were rock bottom. Who wanted to smell that all day!?

I found my way to the Healer’s Guild with the same image of a hydra under a willow tree. Sanguino was big, and had multiple branches of the Healer’s Guild. They were helpful, and directed me to the right branch where Aulus could be found.

A dozen totally normal and natural interactions later, with only the bare minimum paid in bribes and fees, and I was talking with Marcelle’s contact, Aulus.

He was a surprisingly tan vampire, unsurprisingly tagged as a [Healer - 904], and was wearing a rich purple toga that looked terribly impressive and difficult to walk around in. Then again, the right skill, even at a low level, could make it as easy to move in as air. His eyes sparkled with the telltale sign of a Celestial element attached to his primary class.

Aulus was kicked back on a chair, embroidering a scene of a whale jumping out of the ocean, overseeing the main hallway for this branch of the Healer’s Guild. A half-dozen [Healers] were hanging around, each by their station, and as people came in, the staff was directing them to one healer or another.

"Hello!"

The man didn’t look up from his embroidery.

"Greetings. Do you need my assistance specifically?" He asked. His accent was unusually refined, with a strange, lilting cadence.

"I’m a recent graduate from the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. Marcelle was my advisor, and she wrote me a letter of recommendation and suggested I give it to you, and that you’d be able to help me move to Exterreri." I deliberately chose to change languages to Creation, showing off a bit.

"Marcelle, ah, yes. A most talented young lady. I personally turned her myself!"

Aulus beckoned, and I handed the sealed letter over. Hadn’t stopped me from reading it ahead of time thanks to MAGIC, but it was the look of the thing. Glowing letter of recommendation extolling my virtues and how Aulus should help me get settled no matter the price. She also hinted at the Medical Manuscripts books, but didn’t outright say anything, given how unbelievable the claim was. Good stuff.

Aulus read through the letter, his face betraying none of what he was thinking. He folded it back up and stuck it somewhere in his toga.

"Remarkable." He commented, putting his embroidery away and standing up. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Elaine. It is relatively simple to become a citizen of the great Exterreri Empire, most of which relates to discussing with the proper authorities who you are, where you plan to live, and, most importantly to the vaunted halls of power, how to best tax you."

He grinned at the last part, and I groaned.

"The only constants in life. Death, the System, and taxes." I good-naturedly groaned. Okay, sure, I was well aware of a few places that didn’t have a System - the fae lands, for one - but that wasn’t the Pallos expression.

Aulus patted my shoulder.

"And death is optional! Right, I am familiar with the proper authorities, and would be more than pleased to guide you to them. I hope you will indulge an old man, and listen to the many reasons why working with the Healer’s Guild is in your best interests." He winked at me. "And why working at my branch specifically is just right for you."

Aulus started talking, and while [Parallel Thoughts] was great for some of my distractibility issues, it did not make staying focused and on-task for boring activities any easier. I found a little hack where I could have each one of my parallel thought processes ‘tag in’ on the conversation. Gave me more time to see the sights!

A building with a maple tree growing in the front, surrounded by dozens of kids had to be the Maple Orphanage. I should maybe donate some money to them once I was stable. Harper Hall was the name of the bard’s guild. We passed a squad of vampires coated from head to toe in solid armor of deep red. The Bloodsworn Order. Vampires-only, an Exterreri special. Wondered how they were funded. A branch of the First Bank, and I found the name hilarious. There were probably thousands of banks before them! A pair of elven Wardens wearing faceless silver masks with enchantments so powerful that I couldn’t peek behind them. Over level 2500 each, I gave them a wide berth. Technically, the sort of mess I’d made in Suen was the type of Immortal meddling they tended to take a dim view on. They were also the first elves I’d seen in Sanguino. Humans were the dominant race, with little pockets of other mortal races here and there. Immortals were rare and far between, but if I included the giants I’d seen unloading their ship when I flew over, I’d seen at least one of each now. The Big Thirteen had four entire city blocks claimed for their ‘small’ manufacturing branch, forges bellowing, hammers ringing, saws chewing through wood, and enchanters carving runes into each piece they made.

They had the best furniture by reputation, along with basically everything else. Weapons, wards, enchantments, doors, minor constructions, the list was endless.

I frowned at some members of the Moon Cult offering personality tests on the corner. I didn’t like them at all, but they weren’t doing anything obviously offensive.

Aulus didn’t like the look of them either, and I finally had a break in the conversation.

"Hey, I’ve got a dumb question and it’s a long shot." I started with a preamble. Aulus nodded.

"Go on."

"Do you know any vampires called Night? Really old, possibly involved with the military or Rangers?"

Aulus tapped his finger on his lip.

"The only one that comes to mind that vaguely meets your criteria at the moment is a puppeteer called Nyx. I saw one of his shows, but it was nothing special or particularly good. I’m sorry that I’m not able to be of more assistance."

Damn. That didn’t sound like Night at all. Well, nothing for it. I’d just keep trying and asking different people. I’d get a lead eventually!

Then again, Aulus was an old, high level vampire in Sanguino. I struggled to imagine if Night was here, Aulus had never met him in all his years. It was a crushing thought.

Also, there was another angle to consider. Night was the progenitor. I could simply ask…

"Hey, sorry if this is a rude question, I’ve got a million of them, but can I ask who turned you? You mentioned you turned Marcelle, and I’m a little curious about the whole vampire lineage thing. It sounds fascinating, like a second family."

Aulus gave me a beaming smile.

"A second family is an excellent way to describe it! Yes, Marcelle and I are quite close, as am I with the other vampires I have turned. It’s a little more complex than a simple family, as Marcelle and Claudia - another one I have turned - aren’t particularly close, nor is Marcelle close to Nero, who turned me. Yet we try to meet up when we can. Stay in touch. Our mortal families are long dead. Ah! Here we are!" Aulus stopped before a robust building built of marble.

I mentally filed away the lead. Nero. It would be a long, almost impossible task, but I could find him, ask who turned him, and just keep going up the chain until I found Night. Or if records were good, if some [Bloodline Chronicler] or [Lineage Scholar] had written everything down, I could just find that book and look it up.

That might be easier than playing ‘hunt down a dozen different elusive vampires and interrogate them’. I’d keep that as Plan B.

Oh! I should sic Iona on them! She’d get them escorting her around personally! That was perfect!

I followed Aulus, and being escorted by a high level vampire was great! No lines to stand in, no paperwork, just cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

Aulus made introductions that went in one ear and right out the other, then politely excused himself.

Interestingly, she wasn’t a vampire.

"Right, let’s get straight to it, I don’t want to miss what little light’s left. Name?" She didn’t bother gesturing, but a quill started to hover in front of her, ready to scribe.

"I have one of those names." I prefaced. "Elaine."

The scribe’s eyebrows lifted a hair, the quill unmoving.

"Really? Do you have-"

"Nope, just Elaine, only Elaine, nothing but Elaine. I know." I sighed with exasperation, and the quill started scribbling.

"My sympathies." She said. "Age?"

"Twenty-seven."

"Species?"

I hesitated a moment, deciding that the truth was the best option.

"System has me marked as Chimera (Elvenoid)."

That got her eyebrows trying to escape into her hair, and with a sigh, I twisted my neck almost a full circle to demonstrate.

"Believe me, answering human would be so much easier and believable." I fixed my neck as I said that.

"Reason for immigration?"

Boy, this entire thing felt like it was designed to make me look bad. I barely believed the words coming out of my mouth!

"I got utterly fucked by the fae and I owe no allegiance to any country in the world. Someone I trust suggested I settle down here, and I figured, why not?"

"Income?"

"I plan to work as a healer. Aulus has suggested that we still make decent coin."

"Mortality status?"

"Immortal."

Her eyebrows had almost recovered before that answer.

"Seizing Immortality before your 30’s? Impressive. Still hoping one of the vampires will turn me. Sorry, enough about me, this interview’s about you. Political entanglements? Favors owed? Powerful enemies?"

"Errrr… Rolland’s minorly displeased with my girlfriend, and by minorly, I actually mean minorly! She embarrassed their under-30 team at the Gladiator Gauntlet, but it’s not like they’re sending assassins after us or anything."

The scribe snorted.

"I’d love to see Rolland try. Our legions would utterly crush them." She said with obvious patriotic pride.

"No favors owed, no powerful… enemies…" I trailed off as I remembered one particular lizard who might’ve been unhappy that I raided her lair… then again, she’d let me go, and I’d seen her recently, and I hadn’t gotten bathed in dragon fire or chewed and swallowed in pieces.

I doubted Lun’Kat had survived so long by making amateur mistakes like swallowing people whole. Unlike the wyvern Iona had slain.

I got a quill pointed at me, and I raised my hands defensively. She didn’t even need to ask.

"Look! There’s one creature that might’ve been annoyed at me, but she’s had plenty of chances to kill me and hasn’t, so I don’t think that counts."

The scribe nodded and her quill went back to scribbling.

"Fair enough. Can I see the elements for your second and third class please? I hope you understand we don’t want a Forbidden Four Classer."

I happily demonstrated [Scintillating Ascent] and teleporting a book out of my hoard, and the questions continued. Family - Iona and Fenrir got included, Auri was naturally a member, and I was basically now the head of the household. Whoops. I’d see if I could figure out a way to pass the buck onto Iona, she’d love that sort of thing. Where we intended to live, looping back around to the whole ‘figure out how to tax you’ thing. What members of the pantheon I worshiped, and any associated blessings.

Then we got into a blitz of bizarre questions. Strange voices, ethereal whispers, secondary Systems, messages from the void, shadow entities, warlock pacts, contact with oracles, prophets, or other future telling and more!

"But telling the future’s impossible." I said.

The scribe gave me a heavy sigh.

"I know. You know. The people who made the questions know. The issue is, sometimes people believe the Oracle of ——’s crazed ramblings, and those people are scary. Complete fanatics, and when the prophecy isn’t coming to pass quickly enough for their taste, they decide they’re the chosen instrument to make it happen. Utter lunatics. Don’t want ‘em."

The Oracle of long pause had to have the most aggravating name, and I wasn’t convinced it was by accident. The true believers claimed they could hear their true name in the pause. I was of the opinion that they were just trying to make themselves look good.

Like everyone claiming the emperor was wearing clothes.

Then again… the System had challenged my assumptions and knowledge time and time again. I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss them. Maybe there was something there… it was weird not knowing if something was true, or utter bunk, and the world being filled with things like that.

In a similar vein I was asked about overthrowing governments, subverting the senate, if I’d ever engaged in smuggling, if I’d ever attempted treason, would the Wardens have any cause to talk with me, and a whole host of questions where the answer was obviously no, and if I said yes to any of them, it wouldn’t surprise me if a squad of armed guards was behind a door waiting to throw me into a dungeon.

Or more practically, nail me to a crucifix and slit my throat.

"Well! That’s everything. I’m pleased to, on behalf of the Exterreri Empire, invite you to stay. Not only that, but I’d like to invite you to stay as a citizen!"

What.

WHAT!?

It was THAT EASY to get citizenship now!?

Chapter 19 - The Hunt for Night II

[Parallel Thoughts] was brilliant for situations like this. I split my mind in two, one focusing on the scribe, the other processing all the outrage and other feelings I was having. Much healthier.

I thanked the scribe, she welcomed me to Exterreri, all good stuff. Back to what I was feeling.

I was mad because of how easy it was. I’d spent two decades fighting to be acknowledged as a person, much less a citizen. It just felt so unfair that I could be declared a citizen within 30 minutes of meeting the administrator, while it was a big deal otherwise.

Then again… the fact that I was offered citizenship as well as being allowed to settle implied it wasn’t that easy. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was some arcane amalgam of my level and Immortality status, possibly with my profession, that had citizenship extended to me.

I noticed it wasn’t extended to Iona, but perhaps she’d need to show up in person?

In one sense, it was too easy. In another, I didn’t want to be the old grump who insisted that everything be just as hard for the people coming after me as it was for me. The whole point was to make things better and easier for others. I couldn’t exactly complain when it was exactly that.

I collapsed the thought process, bringing my full undivided attention back to what I was being told about the laws I needed to know.

"Brief legal overview. I’m not a solicitor, but one has prepared the following statement to read to new residents and citizens. Ahem."

She cleared her throat, and started to recite from memory. Her quill started to work furiously on a scroll next to her. I wonder if she had [Parallel Thoughts] like I did, or a weaker [Multitasking] or similar.

"Whereas it is incumbent upon any society, regardless of its structure and constitution, to promulgate and disseminate its governing principles and statutes in such a way that its citizenry may be apprised thereof in no uncertain terms;

And whereas, the maintenance of public order and the promotion of the commonwealth demand that the subject matter of any given law be thoroughly and precisely communicated to the populace, so that ignorance and misunderstanding do not lead to chaos, injustice, or unrest;

It is worth noting that this summation of law represents only a small fraction of the total body of law to which each and every citizen is subject. It is the responsibility of all individuals, irrespective of their familiarity with these laws, to abide by the full extent of the legal code. Ignorance of any given law will not be accepted as a defense against any charges levied against an individual who has violated that law.

This is to ensure that all citizens and residents of our fair land are able to enjoy the full protections, benefits, and privileges that our laws and institutions afford, and that they may participate in the democratic process of governance with informed consent and understanding, as befits the dignity and worth of each individual being."

Kill me. KILL ME NOW.

At the same time, this was critically important information. I pulled every single bit of willpower I had just to half-focus, while rotating rapidly between different thought processes.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 175 -> 176]

Condensing a small novella of legal half-truths and ass-coverings, it came down to a few relatively simple twists.

The usual laws applied. Don’t murder, steal, rape, commit arson, etc. The common sense laws, and even those were simply brushed over in a quick thousand words.

The unusual ones made me perk up and pay attention. They were twists on ‘normal’ living that I had to know, and frankly the heart of the entire conversation.

First, Exterreri didn’t tax income, they taxed wealth, and even then only certain types of wealth. There was even a note in the speech strongly suggesting I spend what I made on the excluded items.

Land, property, businesses, cold hard cash, and other income-generating sources were taxed at a higher rate… but that was the short version. The long version had small common-sense exemptions - a little plot of land to have a small house was free, the taxes started once we wanted something larger, they went down if it was a farm, then rapidly climbed to a level that was clear the Powers That Be wanted no one household to own lots of land. It was recommended I talk with someone ahead of time, because when the tax collector came around they wouldn’t have any mercy.

There were, weirdly enough, rules on expanding into the wilderness. I couldn’t just burn a swath of forest down, stick a sign down saying The Wyvern Bites, and call it home. Had me concerned with Fenrir. The rest of the Eventide Eclipse could be perfectly happy with a small space, but the wyvern needed significant room to hunt and stretch his wings.

I was vaguely regretting my choices, but no. I reminded myself that any society filled with Immortals who’d never die had to carefully manage resources, and the rules were hopefully there for a good reason. Regulations were written in blood. I’d done some reading before I’d come here, so not all of this was new, but there was only so much I could get with scattered reading from a distance. There was a huge gulf between academic research on a flying island, and living it on the ground. The theory, and the practice. There was an ancient law on the books about not tying giraffes to taverns, but given the lack of giraffes I’d found, it seemed like one of those laws that was a relic, instead of an active problem that was enforced. Nothing like living in the country to understand what the laws truly were.

I just hoped that the rules were for the benefit of all, and Exterreri hadn’t reached the point where those in political power were making the rules to benefit themselves. The laws seemed fair, but there were loopholes. There were always loopholes.

There were a bunch of rules around blood and consent. In short, a vampire couldn’t feed on me without my permission, unless it was in a life-saving emergency. I didn’t get told what would happen after, but there were a whole hundred words reassuring me that it would be taken seriously and investigated, and that I’d be entitled to a generous portion of the fines.

And more. The poor scribe looked like she was suffering as well as she recited the entire thing from memory, and I wasn’t surprised. It had to be a whole book’s worth of content.

Hurray for the System! Hurray for memory skills!

I wanted to cut it short and spare both of us the misery of dealing with carefully crafted legalese, but no. That would be short sighted and dumb on my part. I was tired of needing to pack up and move, of needing to find and make new homes. I was determined to get a home, stick up a sign that said Beware of Hummingbird, and blissfully live there for the next dozen centuries or six.

There were all sorts of laws around finding old questionably-abandoned locations and salvage rights, and I had a brief guilty moment flash through me as I realized we’d broken like half of the short version of the laws when looting the Immortal hideout we’d found.

At the same time, they never knew, so… all mine?

Wait!

No!

That’s how adventurers thought!

Argh! But I didn’t want to get arrested and tried for doing mostly the right thing! The whole place had collapsed behind us! I saved and preserved countless histories!

I changed my thought process instead of admitting to myself once again that adventurers might have a point, and a reason why they acted.

Finally she was done, although it took me a few seconds to process it.

The scribe coughed into her hand, and I startled, jumping up as my eyes refocused on reality.

"I can’t answer any questions you might have, but I can repeat any segments." She said with a tone that begged me not to ask for any repeated segments.

"I’ve got a perfect memory, I think I’ll spare both of us the pain. Do I need to do anything else…?"

She shook her head and gave me the scroll.

"Nope, you’re all set. Welcome!"

I was about to leave when a thought snagged me.

"Do you know any vampires called Night?"

She promptly shook her head.

"I know three vampires, none of them are called anything like that. Sorry!"

I staggered out of her office, a thousand thoughts and ideas whirling in my head. I wanted to grab lunch. Stop by the library, both to research Night and to drop off my loot. I wonder if they’d pay me for it? I’d have to keep the source a secret, but…

I should just get Iona to handle the selling and conversion. Also, needed to update her on how things were going, and I could grab lunch while I was at it.

Just hoped that being a citizen made getting in and out of the city cheaper. Didn’t want to keep paying just to check in with Iona. Maybe I could sneak over the walls? Easy enough to go invisible and…

No! That was more adventurer thinking! What was wrong with me!? I needed to go find another [Mind-Healer] like Linnet and see what was wrong, or check with a [Curse breaker] to see if someone had cursed me, or…

Hang on, we had just basically raided a tomb, hadn’t we? And sto- liberated - a bunch of their stuff?

Visiting a [Curse breaker] jumped high on my list of things to do. I hardened my resolve, and determined that I’d pay the damn toll every time I crossed the gates. Better than being an adventurer.

First! Iona!

"... and that’s the situation. Fancy piece of paper saying I’m a citizen, and we’re all good." I told Iona, polishing off the last bite of lunch at the inn. "How about you?"

The poor windows in the inn weren’t doing much to let light in. The sky was too dark and overcast, but it was a nice effort. It did let us see people walking up and down the road, occasionally seeing an interesting skill in action.

"Ugh. Don’t ask. Short version, we’re good to stay here for a bit, but we’ve been politely asked not to fly over the city or through the Ash cloud. Since it sounds like we can stay here a bit, let’s talk finances and logistics?"

I nodded, and let Iona take the lead.

"Fenrir’s the major concern. We need a consistent source of food. Given Sanguino, that mostly means a consistent source of money. I’ve done some poking around." Iona looked guilty, and almost nervous.

I reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Hey. Together. Always. Okay?" I reassured her.

She squeezed back.

"Together. Forever." She agreed. "Onto the damages. Fenrir, without hunting, at the cheapest prices I could find in half a day, is going to be about 2000 coins a week in food."

I pulled a face at that.

"Really got your money's worth out of the scholarship at the School, with them feeding him and all."

Iona nodded.

"Yeah. He’s slowing down in his growth rate, but he’ll probably need more in the future. Did you get anything on the legalities of hunting? I was surprised to hear that wilderness territory was protected."

"The short version I got told said nothing about the hunting laws. I know we were a little cavalier on the way over, but we didn’t know. Something for us to look into. Do you have all our coins on us?"

Iona shook her head.

"Another 15 ruby coins upstairs. Everything else is on me."

"Brrrpt!" Auri flew over to the bar, was given a single obsidian coin, and flew back with it, dropping it on the table. She puffed up, pleased as punch with herself. "Brrpt!!"

It was a drop in the bucket. 10 arcanite coin equivalent, or arcs.

I did a quick scan, totaling up everything Iona and I had on ourselves, and adding in the rubies.

"154,281 arcs total." I surmised, the vast bulk of it being in Iona’s 15 rubies. Usually just called coins. A large chunk of money when home purchases and feeding the voracious maw that was Fenrir wasn’t included, nor the high prices of an inn. It was enough to get various enterprises off the ground, and someone living frugally could survive a few years on that amount. "This isn’t counting selling any of the loot we got from the Immortal hideout, but let’s not sell the dreamsteel blades." I was still waffling a bit on the books I’d acquired.

"What’s the plan?" Iona asked.

"Well. Best I can figure is I start working as a [Healer] to start. That’ll slow the bleeding, and if I’m lucky, turn us around. If we make enough money off that, great. I sent a few letters off to Amber, and I hope she’ll come around soon. I’ll need to talk with an [Accountant] or something to see if my stake in her business is taxable or not. If she comes soon, great! I think I’m in a position to sell my skill. Why not, right? Exterreri explicitly protects people like me, it can make us money. I don’t want to put you on the spot, and it’s fine if you don’t have a plan, but what are you thinking?"

"Brrrpt!" Auri jumped in, and started to regale us with her plan.

"Brrpt brpt BRrrrrrrrrrrrrpt! Brpt, brpt!"

She went on and on, laying out one of the most detailed business proposals I’d ever heard. In short, she wanted to grab a prime shop location, open up a bakery, and sell goods by the thousands. She had fantastically precise costs, from rent, to supplies, a good portion on overhead, estimated costs on ovens, pots, pans, and the like, to foot traffic, marketing, advertising costs, and sales. She laid out the profit per good, and even had a small allowance for food waste!

It was almost perfect. Just a few small issues with it.

"The percentage of our starting capital as an investment is a little too large to be comfortable."

"Brrrpt…" Auri pointed out that if it worked, all our money troubles would be solved.

"... and I don’t think you’re going to make 10,000 sales a day."

"Brrrrrpt…" Auri was doubtful, given the foot traffic projections and how her stuff just smelled that good.

"I’m no expert, but I’m going to agree with Elaine on this one."

Iona took a breath, then continued.

"The way I see it, I’ve got a number of options, all of which I’m willing to entertain but none which happily click. The best of the lot is joining the Hunter’s Guild like your friends did. Plenty of targets to go after, most of them in the wilderness, gives Fenrir and I a chance to stretch our wings and eat plenty. Gives me a ton of freedom, I don’t need to swear allegiance to anyone, and even if I only manage to keep Fenrir fed, that’s 100,000 arcs a year in expenses we avoid. Primary downside is it's a huge sidetrack from what I want to do in life, and I’m not sure if my [Vow] would be content long-term. Working as a guard would fix that, but I’d need to swear allegiance and Fenrir probably wouldn’t make it. Joining the army, or heck, the vaunted Rangers you’re always talking about would let Fenrir stretch his wings, but tie me tightly here. I’m a Valkyrie, first and foremost, not a Ranger or legionnaire. No disrespect."

I nodded.

"None taken. I’d have the same reaction if the shoe was on the other foot and my main option was becoming a Valkyrie. I’m not a Valkyrie, I’m a… well, you know." I was mindful of Livia’s stern warning about not calling myself a Sentinel.

Which was something else to check on. If Night was still around, he’d probably be near the Sentinels. Find the headquarters, sneak around, find the meeting room, boom! 50-50 chance of finding him. He’d be there or he wouldn’t be there.

‘Sneak into the headquarters of the nation’s special forces’ was such an astoundingly bad idea that I was saving it for when I got truly desperate. I also had no way of knowing if the current Sentinels did anything like the old bunch, and if there even was a secret meeting room or anything.

Heck, I didn’t know if Night was in Sanguino or not! All in all, not the best of ideas.

"It gets worse from there. Private security for the First Bank or similar isn’t the best pay and would be mind-numbingly boring, before my job and my [Vow] conflict when I need to save someone from a banker or some nonsense, private investigators don’t get paid, private enforcer would run into my [Vow] issue even before they inevitably dragged me into shady business." Iona drummed her fingers on the table.

"I suppose I can ask the local temples for assistance though. I’m one of Selene and Lunaris’s [Paladins], that’s usually worth a small stipend, and keeps me doing what I want to do. Yeah. Maybe mix in some Hunter’s Guild work into that… and I won’t need to sign up as an adventurer." Iona gave me a cheeky wink at that last part, and I mock-gasped in horror.

"We’re entitled to a share of the ruins we found, especially if we can mark exactly where it is. Do we want to get a small finder’s fee, or sit on it to excavate later?" I asked. "I’ll be honest, I want it all for myself if I can manage it. I’m struggling to figure out how."

Iona frowned.

"Let’s stick to what we’re good at. I could easily take a trip up north and show a team from the Delver’s Guild or - and don’t give me grief, it’s exactly what they do - the Adventurer’s Guild exactly where the ruins are. It won’t fix any of our problems today, it’s not long term, but for a day or two of work we’ll get a nice payday down the line. Do we really want to spend months digging, or organizing and paying a team to dig the ruins out?"

Blah. I hated the idea of not getting all that money, but Iona had a point. Damn logic! Damn common sense!

I suppose I’d make more money for the effort working as a healer.

"Alright, let’s give it to the Delver’s Guild." I agreed. "We seem to have a plan for money and the short term, any thought to where we’ll live and settle down?"

"Nope. I’ve got some ideas. Clearly not in the city itself, so we’ll have to be nearby, but I think that’s putting the cart before the dinosaur a bit. Let’s figure that plan out after we know we want to live here long-term? Like what if Night is living somewhere else?"

I frowned at that, mulling it over, but Iona had a good point.

"You’re right. We can start imagining what kind of place we want, yeah?"

Iona grinned at me, and pulled out a notebook.

"Well, I’m no architect, but I’ve got a few sketches of ideas…" She said, flipping open the first page. A dazzling castle with a keep, walls, spiraling towers and more was beautifully sketched on the page.

I lifted an eyebrow.

"A castle?"

"Hey, I’m having fun. Yeah, a castle, why not, if we can afford it?"

I laughed at that.

"Alright, sure, shoot for the stars and all that. A castle, why not, if it works it works. What’s next?"

"Well…" Iona turned the page to a tower, reaching for the clouds, and I leaned in.

"Brrpt brpt BRPT!" Auri had her little chef hat of flames on for some reason, while she officiously pointed to various points on her flaming structure. She’d gotten enthusiastic about the planning, and at this point none of it was practical, but it was fun. Auri was showing off her latest idea, which involved a mansion made almost entirely out of glass built directly over an active volcano, and clever tricks with light and refraction to make it both incredibly hot, and shimmer with all the color of the rainbow.

We’d determined long ago the answer to any issue in structure or habitability was ‘magic’.

I could still see the crowds moving to and fro, and I kept a half eye on them, looking out for cool skills or interesting magics, still filled with wonder and fascination for all the things the System could do.

Light was a common one, the great Ash cloud throwing everyone in shadow to start. Someone was laughing with joy as they exactly paced a courier, the two flashing by in an instant. A Mirror element letting him copy someone else’s speed? Cool! A wagon made entirely of Ice, a sphere of silence, Steam coming off of clothes, the road fixing itself under the slow-moving footsteps of an entire crew of workers, and more!

A limping woman flipping a coin caught my eye, and my mouth dropped as I recognized Amber. What was she doing here?!

I got up to leave the inn and call her over, but she stopped of her own volition, looking at the coin in her hand, then abruptly turned and limped across the road to the inn.

"Amber!" I called out as she came in, wildly waving my arms so she’d see us. "Hey! Long time no see!"

Her face lit up as she saw us, and she limped over at full speed to our table, her mismatched eyes gleaming with joy.

"Elaine! Auri! Iona. It’s so nice to run into you here!"

Chapter 20 - Interlude - Amber - The Endlessly Spinning Coin

3,539. The number floated above Amber’s map, letting her know the global average of what the map was ‘worth’.

The coin spinning on the map had no number, no displayed value. Given the unusual way it interacted with the world, Amber wasn’t quite sure it was real, for a given definition of real.

Worth and value were strange concepts, intensely personal. The detailed map of the entire southern continent was worth far more to Amber than its displayed value.

A more extreme example would be a loaf of bread to someone starving, firewood to someone who was freezing, or a horse to a [King] being overthrown. Amber’s job, fundamentally, was to find people who undervalued what they had - usually because they had an utter excess of it, like a farmer after a harvest - and bring it to people who needed it. Hungry people in a city.

Some parts of the world reviled her as a leech, a useless parasite on society that contributed nothing. Others recognized that she was a valuable matchmaker, a person who saved others time and energy to better focus on their craft.

The second set were naturally the correct ones.

Amber tugged her braid, mostly a nervous habit reassuring her. It was still intact.

It still had her literal fortune of gems tied into it. It was only part of her stash, her [Fae Trader of the Intangible] class dedicated to gemstones, helping her know exactly where each one of her gems was - and what skill they were charged with.

Amber glared balefully at her lucky coin from over the edge of her well dog-eared book.

1.

The book wasn’t the best in the first place, and the years of travel Amber had put on it had it falling apart at the seams. Honestly, 1 was a generous assessment, Amber’s special eye struggling a bit with items worth less than a single coin.

Speaking of coins - her lucky coin was still spinning over the best map money could buy, refusing to fall hours after she’d set it spinning. Sun, Snow, Sun, Snow, the two sides of the lucky fae coin endlessly flashed at her. Refusing to fall, refusing to give Amber a hint where the next lucky place to go was.

There could be a thousand reasons why, but in the end, Amber trusted the coin and stayed right where she was. In the fabled City of Dreams.

Luck was when preparation met opportunity. Amber had loaded herself up with skills after her last trip to Shahrazad, the great auction city of Urwa, then started walking south, flipping her coin at crossroads to determine what direction to go next. She’d been daydreaming about wealth and riches when she stumbled into the fabled City of Dreams.

And oh, what luck it had been! The city was created by Genie in a wish, and people could only occasionally stumble into it. The city had its own thriving community, set apart from the rest of the world, and people knew if they left, they probably would never be able to come back. Yet it was a known safe haven, an impenetrable fortress, a stronghold against the problems and wars of the outside world.

Nobody looking for the city could find it. People could only stumble into it while daydreaming.

The parallel economy had morphed far beyond what the rest of the world considered common sense, and it had been an age and a half since a merchant had last stumbled in. Even longer since a merchant had arrived with all her wares intact.

The city’s separation had let the language drift fast and hard from anything Amber knew, but she had [Let’s Make a Deal], helping cross the linguistic barrier when negotiating deals. It also helped her pick up the language enough to get by.

The inhabitants of the city were also accustomed enough to drifters wandering through to have a protocol, and all in all, things went smoothly on that end.

Where Amber felt her lucky stars were shining on her was how different the economy was. Arcanite was extremely valuable in the City of Dreams, while they didn’t care nearly as much for diamonds, rubies, and emeralds as the outside world. Amber happily made a dozen trades on the gems alone, useless for her levels but fantastic for her pocketbook. Then she switched tracks, and offered skills that she carried, and purchased some of the city’s unique skills, provided by ancient Immortals who’d wandered in eons ago and never left.

Amber would be surprised if she’d ‘only’ tripled her total assets.

Which led to the current dilemma. Where to go next? Amber’s lucky coin wasn’t saying anything, continuing to spin over her map, defying every known coin physics in the process. The merchant knew better than to push her luck though, and if it meant staying in the fabled City of Dreams another week, it meant staying in the City of Dreams another week.

Maybe the coin was continuing to spin because the exit to the city was currently in the northern continent, or even the vast Danelantic Ocean.

Amber sighed and flipped back to the first page of the book. Time to read it all again.

The coin stopped, landing sun-side up on the map. Amber eagerly shot up, studying the map where it landed.

Sanguino. Deep in the Exterreri Empire, capital city of the vampires, Amber had debated traveling through the country to get to Shahrazad, but flipping her coin on that versus taking a boat had landed snowflake-side up for a ship-based travel.

Normally, after Amber’s coin suggested a lucky destination, Amber would do her research. Figure out what skills or needs the destination had, and work out what could be bought and purchased from her current location to fill that need. Luck was only one small part of the equation - hours upon weeks of hard work were needed to capitalize on that luck.

Amber didn’t have the luxury of research this time, or really any good ability to change anything about what she had. It was easy enough to pack up all her belongings. Amber traveled light, relying on the hundreds of gems she had and the skills inside to provide and solve issues she might find on the road.

Luck only went so far.

"Thank you." She told the kind couple who’d opened their house to her. No travelers meant no inns, but friendly families were found the world round.

The elderly couple fussed over her like she was their daughter, speaking so quickly that Amber didn’t get the words, but got the message.

With one last dinner - they insisted - Amber slung her pack on her back, grabbed her gem-encrusted cane - most wizards would insist it was a staff - and started to limp down the only road the City of Dreams had. The only exit, the only entrance.

378,000. Her walking stick was easily the most valuable item she owned. Amber personally thought it should be worth more than that, but she trusted her eye.

Where would she end up? She’d never know.

But the coin had stopped spinning, suggesting this was a lucky time to leave.

There was no clearly defined border between the City of Dreams and the rest of the world. No swirling mists, no twisting trees, no mushroom rings. The world just subtly shifted around Amber, until she was sure she could no longer find her way back.

Fortunately, either due to Amber’s own luck or the sheer design of the City of Dreams, their road became a road in Pallos normal. The road was clear, and there were no obvious signs of where she was. Which suggested, from the stories she’d heard from other travelers, that she wasn’t in Exterreri.

The empty road had goosebumps going up and down Amber’s arms. She knew exactly what she looked like. Alone, limping, and loaded with money. A prime target for both bandits and monsters, all who sensed an easy payday.

Amber wasn’t a fighter, and she knew it. She didn’t have the stats to fight. She didn’t have the skills or the Skills, the reflexes - any of it.

"Rule 3. Not everything can be bought with money." Amber muttered to herself as she chose which gems to activate. No sense in being coin-wise, rod-foolish.

Amber mentally shook herself, and fixed the idiom. She was in diamond-Pallos now, not rod-Pallos. No sense in being arcanite-wise, diamond-foolish.

Two gems and a skill were all she needed.

[Diamonds Are Forever] helped slowly recharge the skills she was about to use, letting her still sell the skill-infused gemstone later. Then she activated a defensive gem, and a movement gem.

[My Shining Aegis Will Stand Against All Foes, My Brilliant Barrier Shields Me From All Threats, Witness My Resplendent Protection] sprang up around her, a dazzling fortress of Brilliance that was practically impenetrable. [The Fleet Hooves of the Celestial Kirin] lent wings to Amber’s feet, speeding her along the road.

No sense in trying to cross the wilderness.

She quickly arrived at a crossroad - 58 was the value of the sign - and took out her coin.

"Sun, left, snow, right." Amber quickly muttered before flipping the coin. Sun, snowflake, sun, snowflake, the coin spun through the air, entirely contained within Amber’s aegis.

The snowflake side landed face-up, and Amber turned to her right, continuing to travel down the road.

Amber continued her explorations and trades, continuously moving towards Sanguino. She wasn’t going to pass up any opportunity that she found, the journey just as likely to be the lucky aspect of what the coin was telling her as the destination. Merchants with false smiles tried to rob her, a sketchy adventuring team was as honest as could be and helped her with one of the longest, most dangerous legs of her journey, and thieves discovered to their dismay that Amber’s [Mine, Mine, they’re all MINE!] skill was stronger than their stealing skills.

[Jaded] kept her focused and mentally there when other traders tried to pull fast ones on her, and her ability to detect lies and see value meant she’d never gotten scammed.

Yet. It was bound to happen one day. Trust the wrong person, rely on an ability that got fooled. Perfection wasn’t possible. As long as Amber followed the rules, her losses wouldn’t be too bad.

An aspect to her eye that she hated was it showed the value of everything.

Leaf - 0.

Pebble - 0.

Stick - 0.

Log - 3.

Road - 802,000.

Jill - 42,500.

Including what people could be sold for as slaves.

Amber had grown up in Remus. Her values had been shaped by the culture of her upbringing, and she hadn’t quite understood why Elaine was always complaining about slavery, and why it was so bad.

Until she got to diamond-Pallos. Until she’d seen Urwa.

Then Amber had understood. Not all forms of slavery were the same, and it was oh so easy to move from one to another. She hadn’t been interested in the slave trade in the first place - too difficult, and not at all what her class wanted to do - but after Urwa she’d sworn off being involved with slaves in any way, shape, or form.

The ashen skies above the cities of Exterreri were fascinating, and Amber did brisk business, moving from city to city, finding powerful vampires and paying them to infuse her gems with their best skills that they were willing to part with. They were equally and unusually eager to purchase skills from her as well, making cryptic comments about how their money was worthless in coin, and so much more valuable as a powerful skill.

Amber liked Exterreri! Loads of Immortals willing to sell their skills, and freely parted with their hard-earned money? Cha-ching! As long as she could avoid any [Tax Collectors] she’d make another fortune!

She was in line for the gates of Sanguino when she did another check with her coin, a standard one.

"Should I enter the city? Sun, yes, snow, no." She whispered, giving the coin a small flip. Someone in the crowd snatching her coin was one of her greatest fears. Her skills could help defend it, but Amber knew it only took one bad slip, one skill that could overpower hers, and she’d lose it.

Trading skills gave Amber an interesting perspective on skills and how they stacked up against each other. There was always a stronger skill. Always a counter skill.

To her great surprise, the coin landed snow-side up.

Amber paused. She’d been directed to the city by the coin, and now it was telling her not to enter. She barely hesitated, checking her lanes before crossing the road, and starting to head away from the city.

"Forwards, sun, back, snow." She whispered to the coin as she flipped it.

Flip!

Sun. Forward.

Flip!

Sun. Forward.

Flip!

Sun. Forward.

Flip!

Edge.

Amber stopped, looking at the coin miraculously perched on its side in the palm of her hand.

The inn right on the side of the road was the obvious location. Amber checked the road, and crossed again, entering the inn.

"Amber!" A familiar face called out to her from a table, waving her arms wildly to catch her attention. "Hey! Long time, no see!"

Amber’s face lit up as she saw them, and she limped over at full speed to their table, her mismatched eyes gleaming with joy.

"Elaine! Auri! Iona. It’s so nice to run into you here!"

Her eye tried to give her a value, but Amber dismissed it. She knew what her friends were worth.

Priceless.

Chapter 21 - The Hunt for Night III

Amber was back! Hurray! What a lucky coincidence.

"Sit! Sit! We were just talking about you! Did you get my letter?" I asked, before realizing the timing didn’t work out at all. We’d just barely arrived, and we came almost directly from the School, forget a letter making it to any of its destinations.

Amber sat down with a grateful sigh, rubbing her leg. She idly flipped her coin, and it moved oddly, landing sunny side up.

"Letter? No, I didn’t get a letter. Heard Exterreri might be good for the kind of trading I do, and wow! It has not disappointed at all!"

I felt a brief moment of disappointment at that. Hope against hope, I was wondering if she’d gotten my letter and found a way to quickly make her way over. If she had, there was a strong chance that Artemis and Julius would be a day or two behind her.

I missed them. I wanted to see them again. But this wasn’t the time or the place to mention it. Now it was all about Amber!

"I hope you were only saying good things about me!" Amber finished.

I took a moment to look at my former apprentice. She was looking well. Long hair was bound into a tight braid, and I could see dozens, if not hundreds of gems woven into and hiding in her hair. Well-traveled practical clothing was hiding more gems, and her boots were thick and had seen hundreds, if not thousands of miles. Amber looked well-fed and healthy, with a face that had seen a thousand sunrises on the road.

My beanpole apprentice looked like she was accomplishing everything she wanted in life and more. I couldn’t imagine a better criteria for success.

Amber probably could, and it had to do with how many rubies away she was from a swimming pool full of them, but to each their own!

I gave her a grin at her question.

"Oh yes, only good things, like how I’d invested some money with you a few years ago for a share of your profits, and another small matter that might need your [Confidential Negotiations] skill."

I looked at Iona with an evil grin, and she immediately got what I was thinking about. The Valkyrie leaned forward as Amber smiled.

"It’s [Totally Confidential Negotiations] now! I managed to upgrade the skill!" She said proudly.

"Brrpt! Brrpt!" Auri made a half-dozen [Mage Hands] clap for Amber, and a half-veil surrounded us.

"Elaine here has a rare and powerful skill, able to grant Immortality and make the recipient of the skill young again. It works on all elvenoids, and we haven’t found a cap on how many years it can reverse. We’re in Sanguino, the capital city of one of the major Immortal countries. Why should she use you as our preferred skill broker, over one of the more established and better connected brokers existing in the city already?"

Iona opened up by going for the throat.

Amber looked shocked at first, then quickly rallied.

"I can offer a better cut as a percentage than anyone here. See, I don’t plan on finding someone in the city to trade with. Elaine’s skills are indeed top tier, and I’ve been traveling the world a bit, deep in this market, so I know what I’m talking about. I’m going to bring the gems and skills personally to Shahrazad and get them auctioned off there. If anyone else here offers the same thing, well. They’re going to be paying for all sorts of transportation and escort costs, none of which I need. On top of that, as an investor in my business, Elaine’s also entitled to a cut of my portion of the profits, giving an additional cut above and beyond what anyone else is offering."

Iona grinned.

"Let’s talk hard numbers and percentages…" She said, and the fierce negotiations were on.

I loved having an agent.

"Dice?" I asked Auri.

"Brrrpt!" My little fiery friend joined me as my lover and apprentice briskly haggled.

Iona struck what sounded like a fantastic deal on my behalf. I know I would’ve settled for a lot less, and while I liked Amber, I knew I was terrible with negotiations and having an agent made everything smooth.

"...80% after reasonable fees and expenses, which is defined as the costs incurred from Sanguino to Shahrazad and back, using a weighted division by revenue per gem sold." Amber concluded. "Deal!" She held out her hand, and Iona gestured to me.

"Oh? Uh, yeah, deal!" I quickly agreed, shaking Amber’s hand.

"Excellent!" She beamed. "If we put too many gems up at once for auction, it’ll depress the value of all of them. We’d only like to put a few up at once."

I snorted.

"You’re also forgetting I have a stupid cooldown on the skill. Stick around for two weeks and I can get you two. Any interest in my other skills, or Iona’s?"

I could see the gems whirling behind Amber’s eyes - the metaphorical ones, not the shining gems in her eyes indicating her [Merchant]-class element - as she categorized and calculated what I had and what they were worth.

"There’s nothing wrong with a few cure-alls. They’re common, but the demand for them is so high they’re guaranteed to sell. Unfortunately, I have my own cure-all skill that I sell. I don’t think it’s as potent as yours, but they’re rarely distinguishing between different high level cure-alls. I’d be unfairly shooting myself in the foot selling yours over mine. Hit me with the rest of your skills, I’ll let you know if I’d like to buy anything."

Iona looked at me and I nodded. A quick overview of all three of our skills later, and Amber was frowning.

"[Nova Lance] and [Channeled Blink] are the only skills of yours that someone might be interested in. I think your [Nova Lance] relies a little too much on your [Solar Corona] to really be interesting as a skill. [Frost Wyvern’s Fang] could be interesting, but again, only in the small scale of things. I’d love to test Auri’s [Phoenix Rebirth] to see if it’s workable, but testing the skill is difficult."

Iona barked a laugh at that. Auri preened herself.

"That’s that. You’ll be here for a few weeks if I need to find you?" Amber asked.

"Yes, but stay! Have dinner! Come round! Don’t be a stranger!" I said. "It’s been far too long since I’ve seen you."

Amber laughed.

"Of course I’m sticking around! By the way, do you need any part of your profits? I have good use for them, but we did strike a deal, and the five years you’ve given me has been more than enough for me to grow my operations."

I’d been so excited to see Amber I’d practically forgotten all about that!

I held my hand out with a wordless grin, flexing my fingers in a gimme motion.

"Business is DONE!" Iona declared. "Tell us what you’ve been up to since we last saw you! I want to know everything. What’s the best deal you’ve made?"

"Best deal? Still the one with Elaine. After that… have you heard about the fabled City of Dreams? Not such a fable as it turns out…"

We spent the rest of the day catching up, trading stories and tales. Dinner came, and we ate around our storytelling.

"No way! That was you!? I heard about that!" Amber gasped when Iona told her about the Gladiator Gauntlet. "Gave me quite a scare! One moment I’m looking at the moons, and the next they’re gone!? Thought the world was ending or I was trapped in a Mirage. Spent six skills before I realized that someone had just removed the moons. Then I spent a week convinced the moons had exploded! Don’t do that again!"

Iona and I roared with laughter, and my brain did that weird thing where it jumped from thing to thing.

Moons -> Gladiator Gauntlet -> My time at the School -> I worked at the Library -> Books! Tasty books! -> I was [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] -> I’d gotten a ton of levels recently! Share that! -> Oh wait I still had a full [Bookwyrm’s Hoard] of loot I wanted to get rid of -> Amber was perfect for that.

"Speaking of, I’ve got some books I’m hoping you can sell for me?"

I got Stares from both Iona and Amber.

"What? I’ve got to get rid of some books. The ones from that one place. Oh! Are you interested in coordinates for a buried ruin? I think you’ll pass near it on your way to Shahrazad. That’s in Urwa, right?"

Amber facepalmed while Iona gave a sad, slow chuckle while shaking her head.

"Love you, scatterosaurus." She gently teased.

"How you get from the moons to selling books I’ll never know, and I can actually complain to you that you make no sense as a client, instead of needing to smile and nod and pretend not to act confused." Amber griped.

"Do you want my money or not?" I shot back.

"Yes please, and thank you!" Amber instantly replied.

"80% again?"

Amber fell out of her chair laughing.

Iona and I traded looks, and she shook her head at me. Auri hopped over to the edge of the table and looked over, making sure Amber was alright.

Amber climbed back up onto her chair.

"If it wasn’t clear - heck no. That is such a bad deal. Do you have any idea how hard books can be to sell? With questionable provenance? With such tiny amounts and margins? 20%, and that’s me being generous. Negotiate, and I’ll start from 5%."

I thought about it. Disposing of a few hundred books, one or two at a time… yeah okay, Amber might have a point.

"Really, if you just donate them to the library or something I’d be happy… You can claim you bought them off some sketchy -" I couldn’t bring myself to call myself an [Adventurer], even as part of a plausible backstory. "[Delvers] or something. I dunno, you’re the merchant."

"Oh, if it’s just dropping off some books, I can do that no worries."

"Should we do the coins now?" Iona prompted.

"I need to run some calculations." Amber’s eyes unfocused, and started to flick rapidly as she performed all manner of arcane [Merchant]-math.

After a few minutes she came back to Pallos.

"It’s close to, but not quite 500,000 arcs. Call it 50 diamonds and rubies, and I’ll round the change out for the next time we meet?"

Iona and I looked at each other, thunderstruck. That was a lot of money.

"... no way you’ll let me buy out your share, is there?" Amber asked hopefully.

I hesitated.

"Maybe. Exterreri doesn’t like these sorts of deals… I think. We’re still new here… but I’ve gotta admit that it’s very nice, and has fixed a lot of our problems."

I thought about it a moment, and snapped my fingers.

"Wait! If you find an old vampire called Night, I’ll happily sign over my entire share, no arguments or anything."

Amber grinned and held out her hand.

"Deal!"

We quickly shook on it, and I had a second realization. With how much our deal was worth - 500,000 arcs in 5 years was INSANE, and I had to imagine it was only going to snowball from there - combined with Amber’s lucky coin, I had a real chance at fae magic leaning in my favor.

Only right after it had screwed us over so badly in the first place. There was a sense of karmic justice to the whole thing. It would feel somewhat unsatisfying, and I wasn’t going to rely on it, but it was worth a shot. I was never above using every resource at my disposal.

Amber looked back and forth between us, then her eyes widened.

"Wait. Don’t tell me you’re worried about money?"

"I mean, we did just get here. Literally this morning. Still settling in." I said.

"Yeah, but like. Phoenix tears are worth triple their weight in diamonds, and don’t get me started on wyvern blood and the ludicrous price people will pay. Especially since you can verify with the wyvern in question right there." Amber punctuated the last two words by slapping the table.

We looked at each other. Iona shrugged.

"Sounds like a problem for tomorrow." She said. "Are you going to stay here?"

"Let me see…" Amber fished her coin back out, flipping it once more. It moved oddly again, in a way I couldn’t quite understand.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 73 -> 74].

It landed snowflake-side up, and Amber shook her head.

"Going to try somewhere else. I’ll swing by in the morning with a hand cart for your books, Elaine, if that’s alright?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, sure. Don’t be a stranger!"

The next day rolled around quickly enough. Iona managed to re-negotiate our rate with the [Innkeeper] - Fenrir dozing in the rear was one heck of an attraction, and the inn had never been so busy.

Amber gleefully rolled up with a hand cart after breakfast, raving about the place she’d gone to and the great deal she’d made.

Damn lucky coin. I wish I had one of those! I should make a shirt or something. ‘I got screwed by the fae and all I got was blasted through time.’ Then again, Amber had taken insane risks, and traded heavily to get the coin. Her limp wasn’t fixable, even by a powerful [Biomancer] like Marcelle.

I carefully deposited my findings from the Immortal hideout into her cart.

"Great to see you again! Dinner?" Amber asked.

"Of course! Our treat!" Iona smiled at Amber.

"Excellent! Well, time is money, I’m off." My mercantile friend waved at us, then picked up the cart and started to limp back to the road.

"What’s the plan today?" I asked Iona.

"I want to put our money into the bank. It’s making me nervous how much we’ve got. A thief will go after our room for 500 arcs, forget 600,000. It’s too much. After that? Let’s have a date in the city, it’s been too long. I want to explore with you!"

"Woo! Date day! I love it! Also, I’m calling dibs on opening the bank account. DIBS!"

I don’t know why that struck me as THE thing to do, but I had never gotten the chance in Remus. There just hadn’t been a need to, and there was a gulf between the Emperor decreeing a new law, and all the institutions updating, then everyone changing from the existing status quo.

Now? Now I could open a bank account!

"Brrrpt?" Auri asked.

"Yeah, sure, come along! The more the merrier!" I didn’t even feel the need to warn Auri about committing minimal arson. The years at the School had matured her somewhat.

Somewhat. Enough.

We grabbed our stuff, and I threw [Mantle of the Stars] around our heavy, heavy coin purse. Between our respective skills and stats, and [Mantle] blocking sneaky indirect magic - like a [Thief] flat-out [Teleporting] our money away - I felt like we were secure enough to walk to the bank.

I slipped my hand into Iona’s, and practically skipped down the road to Sanguino.

Auri protested at each jump, as she dug her claws into my hair to try and stabilize herself against my mad skipping.

So I added a few little bumps and shakes, just to mix it up.

"BRPT! BRPT! BrrrrRPT!" Auri tried to protest, but my shakes just made her… yodel, for lack of a better word.

"Don’t bully Auri, it’s not nice." Iona said, squeezing my hand lovingly.

"Alright, alright." I stopped bouncing Auri around so much… but kept skipping.

We made it to the gate guard soon enough, and I reminded myself that paying them was good, that it was the proper, non-adventurer thing to do.

And that I was now a citizen, and that had to count for something.

"Name, purpose of visit, are you a citizen, resident, or foreigner, and do you have any goods to be inspected?" The automatic Sound inscription asked us.

"Dawn, Iona, and Auri, visiting for a day of fun, I’m a citizen and they’re in my household, no goods to declare." I promptly rattled off, one of my [Parallel Thoughts] having pre-worked out the answer while I waited in line.

"Right, why don’t you-" The guard started to say, then did a double-take at Auri.

"Please step off to the side for a moment." He asked, and I groaned.

"Half the time I don’t get into a city unmolested." I complained as we complied.

Fortunately we weren’t waiting too long before another guard hurried over. He looked extra-fancy.

"Atlas, pleased to meet you all." He started off with an unusual greeting. I gave Iona a small kick in the shin to get her talking.

"Iona, Dawn, and Auri. What can we help you with?" She asked.

Atlas shook his head.

"Other way around. We were told to look out for Auri. I’m your guide and escort today to make sure nothing goes wrong."

We traded surprised looks, and Auri puffed herself out, pleased with the attention.

"Brrrrpt! Brrpt brrrrrrrpt!!" She happily flew around Atlas, then carefully, gingerly landed on his helmet.

"Brpt BRRRPT BRRRRRRRRPT!" She heralded a charge deeper into the city.

Atlas looked star-struck and tongue-tied.

"Oh don’t mind her. Auri’s a huge goofball." I said. Iona took the initiative and started to lead us into the city.

"I’ve been blessed." He practically whispered.

"Brrpt!" Auri agreed, then smacked his helmet with her wing. "BRPT!" She ordered, conjuring up a [Mage Hand] for Iona and I, pointing at us through the crowd as we started to move down the main lane.

Atlas got the hint and hurried through the street, quickly catching up with us. It helped that the crowds parted for him.

"We’re looking for the First Bank to open an account. Think you can guide us?" Iona asked. I was busy eyeing up all the stores, and mentally taking notes. I needed a dozen new tunics, a couple of sandals would be nice, that place looked tasty for a cute lunch with Iona, that toyshop looked like it would be fun to browse, and dozens more!

Atlas was a solid guide, knowing exactly where to go, and while we walked I asked Iona a question that was bugging me.

"Can you see the threads?" I asked her.

"Threads? The ones you were talking about?"

"Yeah, they’re everywhere. Tiny. Pretty sure I’m not going nuts, but wondering if you’ve got the ability to see them."

"Are you seeing them with your eyes, or only your skill?"

I clicked my tongue.

"Only my skill, you’re right."

Iona shook her head.

"Your vision’s better than mine. If you can’t see them with your eyes, no way I can."

I did a double-take at that.

"Wait, really? Don’t you have triple vision skills, and more vitality?"

Iona nodded.

"Yes, and you have literal eagle eyes. I’ll take mine for seeing through and around things, but I can’t compete for picking out tiny details."

"Dang."

Atlas was as good as his word, and we made it to the First Bank.

"I’m doing it!" I called out again, stepping to the front of our little group. "Also, I’m going to have some fun with them!"

Atlas looked worried.

"Is this the sort of fun that’s going to give me a hard time?" The guard asked.

"It… shouldn’t?"

Atlas had enough bells and whistles on his minimal uniform to look very important. Regardless, he looked like he was developing an ulcer.

"Welcome to the First Bank! What’s your account?" The friendly [Banker] asked me as it was finally our turn.

"Well! Honestly, I have no idea. I had an account at the temple in Remus some 20,000 years ago or so. You’re the First Bank, I’m wondering if my account’s still active? And maybe has a little bit of interest?"

Honestly, it was a wild shot among wild shots. How would I even prove who I was? Or… anything really.

Everyone around me had an awkward look on their face. Auri slapped a wing over her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

The [Banker] coughed nervously.

"Forgive me, but it is with my deepest regret to inform you that the First Bank has a 128-year policy. If nobody touches your account in that timeframe, you’re assumed to be dead or ascended, with no heirs to claim your account. At which point, it is absorbed back into the Bank. Additionally, the history of the First Bank, while vaunted and distinguished, unfortunately does not reach back that far. Perhaps the temple where you had an account would be a better venue to pursue?"

I shrugged.

"Eh, no big deal. Right, we’d like to open a new account…"

Nearly an hour later, and our coins were safely stored and secured in the First Bank’s vault. It wasn’t impossible for thieves to get into the vault - no such thing as perfectly secure - but it was a heck of a lot better than leaving it tucked under our mattress in an inn.

It brought a literal tear to my eye when it was all done.

"Everything alright?" Iona asked. I sniffled.

"Yeah. It’s just… I don’t know, it’s stupid, I’m so happy."

She threw an arm over my shoulders.

"May every day be happier than the last!" Iona proclaimed, steering us out of the bank.

My mental list reshuffled a bit as we exited, and I had the presence of mind to throw out a question.

"Hey Atlas! Do you know a vampire called Night? Really, REALLY old, dawn of creation sort of old. Literally older than dirt. Possibly involved with the military. Looking for him, dunno if he’s even in Sanguino… or even still alive… but I’m looking for him! You’re a guard, you seem to know things, places, and people, got any tips?" It was a WILDLY long shot. A city of… what, millions? Asking if they knew someone with a particular name and minimal other qualifiers was a loooooooong shot.

But no reason not to make the long shot.

"Let me think about that for a moment." He said.

"Brrpt! Brrrrrrrrpt!" Auri patted the top of his helmet in an encouraging way. I gave her the side-eye.

"Are you as concerned with what a minion following Auri’s every whim is going to do to her as I am?" I stage-whispered to Iona.

"Oh yeah. Like giving Fenrir his own building to hang a shingle on." Iona stage-whispered back.

"I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head, but I can ask some questions. Will you three be back tomorrow?" Atlas asked.

I nodded.

"Yup!"

"Hey, let’s go walk through that park!" Iona pointed to a wonderful park, filled with swaying willows and other large, flexible plants, courtesy of a small blazing ball of light hovering above the park, and the two of us were off.

It was a little awkward having Auri and Atlas follow us around on our date, but Auri saved our bacon.

"BRRPT!" She demanded Atlas go investigate the first bakery she saw, and after a brief farewell, the two of them went on their own adventure. Mostly Auri scoping out the competition.

Iona took me on the most wonderful impromptu date ever. The gardens were enchanted, the air itself practically thrumming with all the magic. From mundane protection keeping plants safe to accelerated growth letting us watch a flower bloom, wilt, then bloom again, to dazzling displays, to elemental plants burning and freezing, the garden was a treat. We visited a [Tailor] and a [Cobbler] and got new clothing for the city, to better fit in. Was it still a [Cobbler] when they made sandals?

The local [Alchemist] had some ‘just for fun’ potions, one of which had the hilarious side-effect of me hiccupping heart-shaped bubbles for an hour after. A -I didn’t even know the name of the job - was offering magic carpet rides, and we got to soar, cuddled up together.

Iona wanted to do a lot more than cuddle.

"Down, girl!" I turned her down with a laugh. "I know it’s dark with all the Ash, but people can still see us!"

Iona pulled a pouty face, and I winked at her.

"Later!"

That got a smile back on her face.

Lunch was at an underwater restaurant, skills letting us breathe like normal. Played hell with my hair, but snapping around like a fish to grab bites of food more than made up for it.

Sanguino had baths. Proper baths. I gratefully slipped into a special super-heated pool, made far hotter with a strong skill, designed for Classers with large amounts of vitality who could take the heat. Iona slowly slid in next to me, giving me a knowing look. She knew exactly what she was doing to me, and how I wouldn’t do anything in the baths.

I got some revenge of my own, and from the look on Iona’s face made it all worth it.

Regardless of the cruel tease next to me, I was able to relax, floating on my back in the boiling water, feeling properly clean for the first time in years. It wasn’t a physical thing, it was a psychological one. Baths had been my safe space in Remus, a place to unwind. The School had many things, but good, proper baths hadn’t been one of them.

I floated, letting my hair spread out around me, gently bobbing as the bubbles boiled around me. Iona floated near me, her eyes closed, one hand slipped into mine.

Too soon we’d been fully lobsterized and prunified, and Iona had more plans that didn’t involve dissolving.

We went to the amphitheater, where there was a hot new play being performed.

We got alright seats, and settled down. It started off normally enough.

"Long, long ago, before the last Immortal war, there lived an old bamboo woodcutter."

Slowly, line after line, the story built, and with it my disbelief.

I knew this story.

I knew this story! It had a dozen minor twists to adapt it to Pallos, but I knew it!

"Iona!" I hissed, not wanting to interrupt the play.

She tilted her head, clearly listening.

"Iona! This is The Tale of Princess Kaguya!"

She tilted her head a little more, not getting what I was saying.

"It’s from Earth! My Earth!"

"Oooooh." She was interested, but not getting it. Not like I did.

"I never told the story here! And they’re saying it’s new! There’s someone else from Earth here!"

Chapter 22 - The Hunt for Night IV

I could barely sit still through the rest of the play I was so excited. I spun off a [Parallel Thought] to pay attention while I practically vibrated thinking over the implications.

I’d never fully read through The Tale of Princess Kaguya, also known as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter or Taketori Monogatari. I was familiar with it, but not enough to fully tell the story. I’d had dozens, hundreds of other stories that I’d told instead.

It didn’t come from me.

It was always possible that the story was independently created, but it matched too closely. There were too many similarities for it to be a coincidence.

There was someone else from Earth here!

I’d accepted that Pallos was my home. I wasn’t super hellbent on getting back to Earth or visiting or anything - the loss of the System would be brutal, and I frankly didn’t know if I could adapt, if the year was anywhere close to the same, if people I knew were still alive… anything really.

But there was something about finding someone else who shared a common background. Who understood what it was like to be thrust into Pallos, who had the same frame of reference I did.

I was already looking for someone though!

I once again thanked [Parallel Thoughts]. I wasn’t missing anything.

Prioritization time. I’d run it past Iona.

Settling into our new home was first. Everything was going smoothly so far, but I never knew when a hiccup would occur.

When it came to putting my time, energy, and effort towards finding someone, Night took priority over the unknown Earther.

At the same time, it cost me practically nothing to make the lightest of inquiries about the new person. See if I could send them a letter or something, or if they were in town.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 470 -> 475]

"Uh. Curses." I quietly whispered to Iona.

"What now?" She asked, a little exasperated. She was trying to watch the show.

"Auri just got five levels. In one go."

Iona knuckled her forehead.

"Until we hear alarms, let’s enjoy the rest of the show. Auri’s a big bird. I have to imagine with her guard escort that Auri’s levels are someone else’s problem, and not hers."

Iona’s logic was flawless. Auri getting a ton of levels at once most likely meant someone else was having a really, really bad day.

The event ended, and I stayed in my seat as the rest of the audience cleared out.

"What’s up?" Iona asked. We were both ignoring, by unspoken agreement, Auri’s level up notifications. Hadn’t heard any alarms, and she did have a member of the guard with her.

"I want to see if they know the author. Trying to push against the crowd is stupid, so I’m just going to wait a moment." I said.

"Makes sense! What are you thinking?"

I gave Iona the quick rundown of what I’d thought about during the play.

"Sounds good. Let me do the talking?"

I nodded, and Iona worked her magic, getting a meeting with the important people with minimal waiting.

"Hey! My friend and I absolutely loved the play! Do you know anything about the [Playwright] who made it?" She asked.

"Ahh, I wish I knew!" The… I totally missed what his job was answered. "It’s the newest thing out of Nippon-Koku. Those kitsune know how to make a good story! Always good for filling seats. We’ve got the best crew in Sanguino, but if you can afford a trip across the Sea of Stars, you should see one of their performances."

I looked at Iona. She slowly shook her head.

"Thank you." Iona said, and made some more polite noises. We left the amphitheater.

"Something to look into later." I said with a little shake of my head. "We need to finish getting settled in first."

Iona patted my head.

"Yeah. We’ll get there eventually. I don’t see anything on fire, let’s head back to the inn for dinner with Amber?"

"Sounds good. Then again, it’d be hard to spot something on fire with all this Ash."

The Eventide Eclipse all managed to make it back to the Drop of Blood inn in one piece, although Auri didn’t want to dish on what she’d been up to. Amber joined us, and had interesting information.

The [Innkeeper] had made a lovely stew, and we ate it outside in the late summer air. Amber was the only one who looked slightly squeamish at Fenrir eating a whole raw cow, with a side of goat.

"Dropped your books off, no problems at the library. It’s really nice! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it." Amber said. "Speaking of books, the Medical Manuscripts are bulky and large, and they’re more tangible than anything I’d like to carry around and sell, but I’m sure I could sell a few copies signed by the original author here in town. If anyone would believe it."

She made the money motion with her hands, blindingly transparent about her motives and desires.

"I don’t see why not! Give me a quill and a stack of books, and I’ll be happy to sign."

Amber held one finger up.

"Just… keep in mind the more often you sign copies, the less valuable they are."

I snorted.

"Yeah, but I’d get more each time, right? As long as I did it slowly, what do I care about resellers?"

Amber groaned.

"Because of perceived scarcity and… you know what, if you want to sabotage yourself, I’m not going to stop you." She said.

My eyes were metaphorically sparkling along with the literal sparkling they did thanks to my Celestial element. Teasing Amber was fun!

"I want my part of my business back." Amber said more seriously. "I was heading to the local [Information Broker] to check on anyone who might have sweet skills to sell. Went to the highest leveled one in the city! While I was there, I asked after Night. Guess what he said?" Amber said with a mysterious smile.

"No." I gasped. It couldn’t be that easy?

Maybe it was!

Iona leaned in, and Auri stopped stuffing herself for a minute. Fenrir’s pipe came out of nowhere, and he was contently puffing on it, ready for the great denouement of the mystery.

"He said…" Amber paused, riling us up. "He didn’t know."

I groaned. Iona threw a rib at Amber.

"Brrrrppppptt…"

Auri wasn’t mad, just disappointed.

My mercantile friend held her hands up defensively.

"Whoa! Hang on, remember the gifts I got from the fae?"

[Astral Archives] made recalling them a breeze, and I gasped.

"No."

Amber grinned.

"Yes! He was lying. He knows Night."

"And if he’s lying about it, it means he’s relevant. Which means alive." Iona quickly concluded.

Fenrir snorted and started to get up.

"Whoa! Fenrir, this is Elaine’s hunt. You don’t like others muscling in on your investigations, are you going to do it to Elaine? When she’s not asking for help? When you’re not hired?"

Fenrir snorted, and settled back down.

"Case?" He asked me.

I had a quick vision of Fenrir, pipe in mouth, hat on head, bulldozing through the streets of Sanguino, knocking over buildings, and generally getting into trouble.

The thought made me sad. How was Fenrir supposed to pursue his love of investigations and mysteries with his size? How was he supposed to engage in shady deals?

I spun that thought off into its own [Parallel Thoughts], and refocused.

"If I can’t manage it, I’ll give it to you." I promised. Now I had to do it, just so the entire city’s militia wouldn’t come down on Fenrir like a ton of bricks. He was strong… but still so low leveled.

Iona gave me a little kick under the table, and I tilted my head at her. The Valkyrie’s eyes flickered to the city walls and back, and I sort of got what she was suggesting.

The [Information Broker] could be enough of a lead for her [Relentless Pursuit] skill. She didn’t want to tip Fenrir off though - he’d want in too badly.

Now I was feeling bad all over again. Amber was still grinning at me.

"Well beanpole, I suppose I should charge one of those gems for you. Hand one over… and you’ve clearly researched this, how many years should I preload into it?" I asked.

"138 is optimal." Amber promptly answered, fishing out a moonstone. "But due to various superstitions and the like, 128 years sells better."

Made sense with the System and all. People really liked their powers of 2.

I focused on the stone, charging it with [The Stars Never Fade], idly wondering if White Dove already had a curse picked out for whoever would receive it, or if she’d figure it out when it was used.

[*ding!* [The Stars Never Fade] leveled up! 12 -> 13]

Just like that, I’d probably made something like 300,000 arcs, after Amber did all her wheeling and dealing and traveling. A real letdown from Emperor Augustus’s initial offer, but it was a decade of work for a common laborer. Made in a minute.

And I could do it again in two weeks.

I shook my head. Why had we ever been worried about money again? Apart from the difficulties of finding a trusted intermediary, negotiating the deal, and finally collecting the money of course.

"Well, I’m so hungry I could get seconds. Anyone else?" Iona asked.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri insisted she was starving, never mind that I thought I could see the food sticking out of her stomach. How did that work anyway?

I poked my fiery friend.

"Careful! It might just be the gluttony talking. Wouldn’t want you to get so fat that you can’t fly anymore!"

Auri waved off my concerns, and we had a wonderful evening. Good food, good friends. Shame the night sky was filled with Ashes, instead of stars.

"Plans for today?" I asked Iona.

"I’m going to explore. I’ve got a whole list of things I want to check out or get done."

"Alright, sounds good. My to-do list is getting a little long, let me see if I can knock some things off it. Are we still in the ‘wait and see’ phase, or if I see the chance to rent a spot for a healing business, should I take it?"

"I’m feeling pretty rich right now. Rent it for a month or two if you find a nice spot, although frankly there are either too many spots open and it doesn’t matter, or the competition’s so stiff it doesn’t matter, or the best answer is to work at a Healer’s Guild… at which point it doesn’t matter." Iona shrugged. "So go for it, but it can probably wait a day or two."

I nodded and we walked to the gate, once again pulled off to the side as we entered.

"Brrrrpt!" Auri was pleased with her VIP treatment.

"Can we just go while Auri waits for Atlas?" I asked the guard.

She shook her head.

"Nope. Only have your word about what’s going on."

I sighed, and Auri patted my head.

Atlas showed up a few minutes later, this time with a whole squad of guards with him.

My eye twitched.

"What did you do?!" I asked Auri.

"Brrrrrpt!" She chirped, not telling me, flying away to her new best friend.

"Should I be worried?" I asked Iona.

"May the goddesses give you the grace to accept that which you can not change." She replied. I lightly punched her arm.

"Fat lot of good that does me!"

Iona gave me a quick hug and a kiss, and we went our separate ways.

I had two items on my agenda today:

First - figure out what I needed to do to work as a healer here. My recently revitalized income stream had me eyeing up more charity-style work, but I was still cognizant of Osengard, and the story the [Guild Mistress] had told me.

I wanted to heal people. But if I went out and healed so many people so fast, I could cut the knees out from other healers trying to make their own way, and overall reduce the total amount of healing that could be done. I should think of others, and see if I could work with whatever systems Sanguino had. I was an Immortal now. I needed to take the long view. This wasn’t a plague. This wasn’t a war.

Those would come soon enough.

Fortunately, I knew someone at the Healer’s Guild, and I found my way back to Aulus again. Making a long story short, as long as I was keeping my healing ‘reasonable’, nobody would find issue with me. Kinda explained why there were no powerful Immortals crisscrossing the city as fast as they could, doing stuff like making sure everyone’s clothes were permanently mended, or scrubbing everything clean, or repairing every structure.

"We live in a community." Aulus had said. "Which means we need to be aware of the smallest of us as much as the large."

He’d suggested I work directly with the Guild, but also mentioned I could set up shop in various places. Near an Adventurer’s Guild was a popular spot, the idiots constantly getting themselves hurt, and I shuddered in distaste. I could try my hand in the wealthier districts, but it was hard to break into that market - everyone wanted to be the personal healer to someone rich. It was a ticket to the easy life… as well as requiring significant interpersonal skills for the personal touch. There were a wide range of other options, but in a fit of altruism, I decided to hit some of the poorest slums to set up shop.

I was making bank off my arrangement with Amber and selling my Immortality gems. What need did I have to make even more money? Why fight and struggle for 100,000 arcs a year, and deal with the whole business aspect and customer service and accounting and marketing and all the other nonsense that went with running a business, when I could just do no-fee feel-good help for the poorest segment of society?

That, and Aulus had mentioned there was tax nonsense around that sort of work.

I wasn’t going to do something as stupid and impulsive as go out and find a place and sign any sort of deals on the spot. No, I’d get Iona to help me with that.

The second thing?

I had a date with the library.

There were a thousand-and-one things to do now that we’d gotten to Sanguino, and I was finally checking off ‘visit a library’.

The library. Sanguino had a dozen of them, some small, little local things, others larger. This was entirely disregarding the little tiny "libraries" that were glorified shelves on the side of the road, scattered around here and there, filled with children’s books.

And oh, what a library it was. Sanguino, for all its blessings and nice roads, still hadn’t mastered the concept of a city block. I recognized the library as one of the larger rectangular buildings I’d seen from the air, about 2/3rds the size of the colosseum back in Remus. It towered over its neighboring buildings, and had a direct line from the aqueduct. The facade was all tasteful marble with various trimmings, and a plaque on the front listed thousands upon thousands of donors to the library, with a note at the bottom that these were only the top-tier donors, and the full list could be found upon request.

The entrance was a grand archway with ornate drawings along the edge. I felt a little shiver go down my spine as I recognized some of them.

An eagle on a crib. A baby strangling a snake. A toddler writing poetry. A boy killing a lion. A young man in a colosseum.

They were all scenes directly out of A Nearly Complete History of the Exterreri Empire, the book that had named Night as the founder and first [Emperor] of Exterreri, the book that had led me to believe that Night was possibly in Exterreri, even if not currently the ruler. They were a powerful reminder. I wasn’t looking for Night, my friend, my mentor.

No, in Exterreri, he was so much more than that.

I was looking for the person revered as the mythological founder of the nation. I was looking for a living legend, praised and practically worshiped by the citizens of Exterreri.

Perhaps I should work on being a little more discreet about my inquiries. Possibly give Amber a heads up, especially if she’d already annoyed one [Information Broker].

The entry hallway was filled with frescos, and they seemed to move away from Night and the country’s founding myth. They looked mostly like vampires, although it was hard to tell on a few. An imposing man with a dark and stormy face, foes slain at his feet without a weapon or magic shown. A laughing man surrounded by Lightning bolts. A woman swimming under the sea. A… I had no idea what was going on, it was a bunch of green blobs and… confused enemies? Weapons?

I didn’t know, I was as confused as the people in the fresco.

A woman styled as a spider, a red hourglass on her black clothing, lying in a web. A man with a cloak made out of feathers.

A woman skating on Ice in the air.

Hey! Wait! Didn’t I see her when I came to Sanguino? Were all of these people still alive now?

I mentally recategorized the pictures I’d seen from "Interesting historical figures" to "potential contemporaries".

Then again… I shook my head.

Immortality. Just because they were one, didn’t mean they couldn’t be another. Wasn’t I looking for one myself?

Focus.

I reoriented myself before getting to the main hall of the library, and wow.

The books! Every wall was coated, and they went four stories tall, shelf after shelf after shelf. Long ladders were on little wheels, but only a few poor patrons were unfortunate enough to need them. Books spun through the air, moving to and from rows of tables on the floor where people were crammed elbow-to-elbow reading. Now and then one would finish with a book, and it would move back to its shelf.

Assuming one of the flocks didn’t get it.

Some of the books looked positively feral, flapping around the room in small flocks, looking anything like birds. Perhaps it was a collection of editorials with biting commentary. They swooped and snapped at the books flying to and from the shelves, and a harried-looking [Librarian] on a broomstick was sweeping after them, silently engaging in aerial combat for the integrity of the books.

I had no idea if the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft simply had a better handle on their library, if the library here had special enchanted books let loose, if someone was screwing around with a skill, if there was a curse, if this was supposed to be Sanguino’s idea of entertainment, or what.

I figured as long as I didn’t end up wrestling my books I wouldn’t need to worry.

The entire place was oddly quiet, too quiet, and I figured there were enchantments or skills at work.

There was an obvious vampiric [Librarian] gatekeeping who could be let in, and I quietly walked over, letting my dexterity soften my footsteps to nothing. Hey, there were enchantments, but I could at least make an effort.

"Hi! Can I come in? And can you direct me to what I’m looking for?" I whispered.

I got a stern look from behind a pair of glasses that I swear were decorative.

"Citizen?" She asked.

"Yup! Looking for information on vampire lineages. Can you direct me?"

"East wing, third story, 29th section." She promptly rattled off, gesturing for me to enter.

It was easy enough to find the east wing, but the third story confused me for some time before I realized it was the third set of levels. Annoying that, but once I realized I managed to find the 29th section.

There were a good number of books here, the topic obviously popular in vampire circles. I had to wonder if there was any other library in the world that had nearly as good of a collection of books on the topic.

This was the seat of vampiric power. In theory.

I skimmed over a few of the titles.

The Vampire Chronicles.

Blood and Brotherhood.

Bloodline: The Vampire Files.

With a sigh I grabbed four books, stacked them in front of me at a desk, split my mind into four with [Parallel Thoughts], and started [Comprehensive Speed Reading] all of them at once.

Even with my speed, skills, and ability to read four books at once, this was going to take a while.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 105 -> 110. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

Chapter 23 - The Hunt for Night V

"How’d it go?" I asked Iona. We were back at the inn after a long day of getting shit done, sitting around a lovely meal.

This [Innkeeper] was great! Being right on a major road to a major city had to help with their levels.

She was all smiles, it must’ve gone well.

"Excellent! No leads on Night, but I might have an answer to our housing."

"OOooh! Do tell!" I squirmed happily in my chair, eager to hear what Iona had to say.

She pulled out a blank piece of paper, and began expertly sketching an outline of Sanguino and the surrounding area.

"I spent the day talking with different people, getting a feel for what the rules are in practice. To make a long, complex story short, with our levels, if we can successfully settle in one of these three places, we’ll be allowed to homestead." Iona circled three spots on her increasingly-detailed map. "Now, they’re all wilderness, and we’ll need to build, or more practically, protect builders while making our place. We can’t wreck the local wildlife too badly, the colosseum has something of a claim on them, although it sounds like Fenrir would be allowed to become the local apex predator. We also need to stay out of these areas because we’re too high level, whereas these places will utterly murder us." Iona circled several different places as she spoke, using fancy twists of her quill to easily distinguish the areas.

She grinned at me.

"Now, that’s the simple part. Here’s where it gets nice. There are bonuses for growing crops."

Iona paused, looking me in the eye, a smile dancing on the edge of her lips.

"Like mangos."

"YES!" I pumped my fist in the air. "I knew I loved you for a reason!"

Mangos! A whole grove of mangos just for me! Sure, they were going to be a ton of work, especially with my lack of skills dedicated to growing them, but MANGOS! All mine!

Well, okay, not all mine. I needed to share them with the rest of the Eventide Eclipse.

Goddesses, it sounded like a dream.

I didn’t exactly have a deep suspicious streak in me, but it sounded too good to be true, to the point where even I had questions.

"What’s the catch? We can’t be the first people looking to settle down in the area. There’s a whole damn city of people right there."

"Levels, relative risk, and price." Iona said. "The local apex predators in the area are hovering around level 600. Need to be punching up significantly to be allowed, the zones we’re not allowed to try have creatures that are almost our level. You think the average person can strike it rough in the wilderness with a level 460 vine Ent, when they’re required to fight them at 256 or 300? Heck, do you think the average person wants to fight for their life?"

I nodded.

"Excellent points."

Iona wasn’t done though.

"We also need to pay a hefty amount just to attempt to cut a slice of it out for ourselves, and that’s before construction costs come in. Here’s my estimate, after I’ve padded the going rates generously then doubled them."

Iona wrote out a number with seven figures in it, and my eyes practically bugged out of my head.

"I thought we weren’t going to be building a castle." I said.

Iona snorted, and changed the leading 1 to a 7 with the stroke of her quill, and added an extra 0 to the end.

"We’re not. This is what a castle costs… before we take upkeep and maintenance into account."

I stared at the numbers and sighed.

Easy come, easy go.

I reviewed the map.

"This is going to sound completely insane, but… I want to live forever."

Iona gave me a bit of a side-eye at that. She knew that, and I knew she wasn’t the biggest fan of the idea. I was convinced I’d turn her to my way of thinking before she died of old age, so I wasn’t too concerned about it. I’d already gotten her to see Immortals in a mostly neutral light, even moving to Sanguino with me! Just one small step left.

"I wonder if we can also build a, I dunno, reinforced bunker deep underground to help survive the next Immortal war? Like the hideout we found in the Pekari lair."

Iona’s side-eye intensified.

"I thought you’d be out there, helping people."

I nodded.

"I probably will be. But there’s no reason not to also create a bolthole for ourselves, for Auri and Fenrir, for anyone who can’t protect themselves. If we can offer a small measure of shelter to others, why not?"

Iona clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

"I’m willing to entertain the idea, but keep this in mind. You’re going down the exact path, following the exact logic that starts these Immortal messes in the first place. First is a home. A large tract of land for you and yours. Alright, that’s reasonable, everyone wants that. Food, water, shelter, all the necessities. But then you’re looking to the future and claiming conflict is inevitable, and you’re taking steps to prepare yourself. When you, and everyone else, is preparing yourselves for this conflict, it’s guaranteed to eventually generate it. What’s next? A larger bunker? Prepared weapons? Gems acquired from Amber for defenses? Getting your own private set of guards? One step leads to the next, and soon you’ve built a whole fortress, warily eyeing all the other fortresses that have been built out there, wondering which one you’ll end up fighting."

She had a point, but I disagreed.

"So instead we should do nothing? Watch as all the other so-called fortresses rise all around us, and wonder which one will end up putting a sword to our throat, demanding we cooperate or die? I feel like my position and proposal is being misrepresented. I’m not proposing a castle, fortification, or base. I’m proposing a hidden underground bunker where we’ll be explicitly out of the way, letting the titans pass overhead, praying that our structure is sound and that we can still leave to help those who need it. Better than rolling over and dying, yeah?"

Iona held up a hand.

"Peace. Your position isn’t entirely without merit. I just wish…" She trailed off, looking to the sky where the Ash clouded the moons.

Iona sighed heavily.

"I just wish for peace. That we could live together in harmony. That Immortals wouldn’t find the need to try and knock over each other’s sand castles, or if they did, that they could confine themselves and not hit the rest of us in the collateral."

"Well, that’s simple." I flippantly replied, trying to direct the conversation in a less contentious direction.

"Yeah?" Iona asked with an amused smile and a quirk of her eyebrow. "How’s that?"

"Take over the world!"

That got a smile back on Iona’s face, and we laughed.

"Enough about my day! How was yours?" Iona asked.

"Blah! Terrible!" I said, giving her the quick rundown of where I’d like to start working, and my logic behind it.

"Then I got to the library, and I got nowhere. Everyone writing these lineage books seem to be interested mostly in their own particular branch. If I see one more Valerius, the Kind, turned by Calpurnia, the Heart of Magic, turned by Drusus, the Shadow of Darkness, I’m going to go insane."

"What’s wrong with Drusus?"

I groaned and held my head.

"He’s one of five what I’m calling terminators that I’ve found so far. There’s no record of who turned him. Or her. Records are spotty, and my attempts to find anything out about Drusus or any of the other terminators get ancient stories where they’re an old vampire already. The one book I found more directly addressing him… or her… speculated that they didn’t exist, the records are that bad. A few of the genealogies I’ve found terminate on Calpurnia. It’s a mess."

Iona patted my shoulder, and gave me a side-hug.

"Hey, nobody said this would be easy. Keep at it! I’m sure you’ll find something."

I groaned.

"And this is one of those things that I just frankly don’t trust someone else to do properly. Gotta do it myself. I have annoyed the [Librarians] asking for directions to various places, so it’s not like I’m being dumb at it. I just wish this was easier."

I shrugged.

"Hey, at least the levels are solid. No complaints there."

I looked doubtfully at a decrepit, practically falling apart foyer. It was at the bottom of an apartment building that had to be run by a high-level [Slumlord].

If they didn’t start at a high level, simply owning the place would’ve power-leveled them to untold heights. The building was broken in a few places, and the few windows that had been given attention were boarded up instead of repaired. The door across the street was half-broken, barely an impediment against either people or the elements. A swirling long blue… snake with whiskers and five legs… was artfully graffitied along all the buildings in the row.

I checked the address, and checked the location again.

Yup. It was a match.

The street was about as promising as the building. A group of teenagers were loitering on the street, all wearing blue headbands. A beggar wasn’t even trying to ply her trade, simply resting on the side of the street, out of the way. I could see an addict passed out in an alley, and the local tavern was doing… I wouldn’t call it a brisk business first thing in the morning, but it was certainly open for business and being patronized. A few ladies were walking back and forth on a corner with a light out, plying their trade. The light being out really helped their chances, or so a little mean corner whispered to me. The air reeked of desperation. A small community was huddling in one of the omni-present city tunnels almost directly under me, ekeing out a living.

I mentally readjusted myself.

I’d volunteered to work in the slums. In the poorest part of the city. It wasn’t like I could expect it to be bustling and looking great. It wasn’t like I could expect space and luxury, of clean buildings and patrolled roads. I wasn’t going to shy away at the slightest hint of adversity. This was how a significant number of people lived their lives.

I shuddered as I went through the door, spotting some roaches bailing as they detected me.

[The World Around Me] was a cursed skill. It gave me a perfect picture of the walls.

Of what was living inside the walls.

‘If you can see one roach, there’s a hundred you can’t see’ was an understatement.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 74 ->75]

Bless the giants. All praise the mighty [Runesmith] Jiwa, and their ceaseless work on crafting a peerless magic system.

I knew the rune for [Immaculate Purification], but I resisted the impulse to whip out one of my spellbooks and simply cast it. Instead, I quickly, carefully, and accurately traced the rune out in the air with [Lepidoptera], funneling power and mana through it once it was complete.

Cleansing magic washed through the space. The dust was cleared from the air, small breaks and splinters were repaired, screws were tightened, animal scat purged, and a thousand and one other things done that saved me hours of scrubbing and sweeping myself.

Unfortunately, the cockroaches in the walls were left with gleaming, shiny-clean shells. I shuddered again.

How much would I need to pay an [Exterminator] to make a trip out here, today? Could I get a high level [Exterminator]?

Time to find out.

I ended up paying way more than I expected to get rid of the bugs. In one part because the [Exterminator] demanded extra for the location, and three parts due to the sheer scope and size of the issue, along with paying him to prevent bugs from coming back.

Fun. But now roaches wouldn’t be running over my foot while I worked.

I went outside and made a construct with my wizardry, a glowing sign advertising my business.

Dawn’s Healing! Free of charge.

I didn’t mention the donations part. People here were poor, needing every penny, and a request for a donation might be seen as a demand. That, and they needed their money a LOT more than I did. I was rolling in funds, to the point where I was planning on how to build my own mansion. People here were planning which meal they were skipping if they were lucky.

It wouldn’t be fair or right to take even a single arc from them.

I added some pictures indicating what I could do, including the classic symbol of healers - the hydra under a willow tree. I wasn’t sure if everyone here could read, and I wanted to make sure I was accessible.

It wasn’t like I could make any direct money here.

I went back inside, and took stock again.

The place was clean, but it wasn’t nice. It was now a mostly empty room, without a chair, desk, bed, or anything. I was going to look into furniture once I let things settle out a bit, see what was needed, and critically, test if I could leave a chair in here overnight or not.

I popped four books out of [Bookwyrm’s Hoard], carefully put three of them on the floor in a stack while I held the fourth, and split my mind into three.

The first book was almost entirely blank, and I was calling it my big book of signatures. The only ‘payment’ I was asking was for anyone I helped to sign the book. According to Iona, that would create a record for the taxman, which is how I’d get ‘paid’ in the end.

Sounded ripe for fraud, but I wasn’t going to poke at that too much. One thought process was looking at the door, trying to look alert and ready for whoever decided to poke their head in first.

To my utter lack of surprise, I went daydreaming instead of focusing on… nothing really.

Iona featured prominently.

The second was a single book I’d been allowed to checkout from the library. I could do four things at once, why not take a fat book from the library and continue my research?

The third was another one of my spellbooks. I briefly contemplated making a ‘poisons and miasmas for getting rid of bugs and mice’, buuuuuuuuuut that could be easily misconstrued. And was more than slightly illegal.

Plus, I’d never been taught how to make poisons with wizardry. Wasn’t one of the commonly taught classes for obvious reasons.

Instead I looped back round to a long-term project of mine - armor in a book. A sheet of metal was easy enough to conjure. A curved sheet was a little more complicated, then there was the entirety of armor construction theory…

Which was the fourth book I had. I’d gotten a detailed look over my years as a Ranger and a Sentinel on what armor should look like, but I didn’t know how much of it was critical, and what were compromises to construction. If I knew which little bolts and rivets were simply for fastening, and making sure they weren’t serving a secondary purpose, I could make a simpler design.

Screws and rivets were hell to properly design into a magic mandala.

My goal was to end up with a book filled with multiple sets of gear for myself, and a few spares for Iona and possibly Fenrir if I got that far, along with noting a few easy runes I could slap on each one. It wasn’t as good as owning a whole set of gear myself, but we frankly didn’t have the money for it.

My attention snapped back to Pallos, out of my daydreaming, as the first person entered my little clinic. A middle-aged woman, looking tough as nails and like she could spit fire.

With the System, maybe she could!

"Hi! Do you need something?" I asked with my best cheerful friendly voice. New place! New people! Hopefully I’d be here a while!

She made a little twitch as if to spit on my floor, but didn’t.

"Free healing? What’s the catch?" She practically growled.

I held out my big book of signatures.

"Just sign here!" I said.

I got another round of suspicious looks before she relented.

"Fine." She said.

I felt like I was barely getting her to agree in the first place, and a detailed, thorough investigation as to what her issue was wouldn’t be welcome. Instead, I pulled up all my knowledge of human anatomy and healing up to the forefront of my mind with [Astral Archives], [Imbued] a [Nova Lance], and hit her with it.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 110 -> 111. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 475 ->476]

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 176 ->177]

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 188 ->189]

Yay! Levels!

Some of the stress lines around her eyes vanished.

"Thanks." She muttered, immediately turning around and leaving.

"Wait!" I shouted after her. "My book!"

I swore as she completely ignored me, heading down the road. I wasn’t going to chase her to collect her signature… but this looked like it was going to be harder than it sounded.

At least I’d gotten a solid number of levels, and I was one step closer to finally being able to level [The Dawn Sentinel] again! Auri’s leveling rate was insane, and I was looking forward to getting free levels off of her sooner rather than later.

It was a few hours before my next patient came in. Dude was old, hunched over in clothing that had been worn for months on end, trembling slightly. His beady eyes darted all over the place as he came in.

"Hi! How can I help you?"

"Heal me!" He demanded, not mincing his words in the slightest.

"Make your mark in my book first!" I demanded right back, opening my big book of signatures to the first page, jabbing at the top. I offered up the quill with my other hand.

He snatched the quill from my hand, looking over it.

He then bolted for the door.

I sighed, rolled my eyes, and moved.

The floorboards creaked as I took three steps forward, deftly snatching my quill back from him. Adding insult to injury, I opened the door for him, brushed his arm slightly to heal him just in case he had some serious issues, then gently ‘helped’ him the rest of the way out.

"And don’t come back!" I yelled as he stumbled through the doorway, slamming the rickety wood shut behind him.

Humph. Good riddance.

His shakes were still there, and that was enough to distract and interest me from a medical perspective. I’d smashed healing through his entire body. Whatever was causing that either had to be degradation from old age, mental, or some flavor of curse or other System effect that I couldn’t break just due to healing magic.

I should keep an eye out to see if other people had a similar issue.

A roughly 10 year old boy came in next, far higher level than he should be. I wasn’t going to let a poor initial impression stop me.

"Hi! Do you need healing?" I asked.

He mutely nodded, and I held out my book and quill.

"Alright. Just make your mark right there, and I’ll get you patched up."

He scribbled in my book, a small, neat, almost hesitant mark, and I healed him.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 476 ->477]

I narrowed my eyes at the notification. That wasn’t just me. Auri was up to something again. Wasn’t going to complain, I was on final approach to leveling [The Dawn Sentinel] again.

He nodded his thanks, and bolted out the door.

I smiled.

There was good to be done here. There were people to be helped.

Nothing would stop me.

A week passed by, and we were all starting to get settled in. I’d leveled [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] a few times to 115, although the [Librarians] refused to let me try and ‘eat’ the entire shelf, no matter how much I promised I’d put them all back. I cursed myself for asking first, instead of begging forgiveness… although I was going to be here a long, long time, no sense in getting myself banned from the library. Iona made her arrangements with the local temples, and saying she was delighted to find that the moon goddesses had a dedicated temple in Sanguino would be putting it mildly. It was a small one, the two of them not super popular in a city with an eternally overcast sky, but they had one.

Having a powerful class dedicated to reading let me blitz through the entirety of Sanguino’s genealogical section, and related texts. Most of my time was frankly spent searching for the next pile of books to read. It helped that I was building out a ‘network’ of vampires so to speak, and once I hit an already-known vampire, I could scrap the rest of the trail.

All terminators. Not a single ‘full’ legacy, stretching back all the way to one of the three progenitors that had existed in my time, let alone Night himself.

I had two options that had a strong chance of succeeding that I could think of, before I went to one of my more desperate long shots… or gave up entirely.

The first was to suck it up, and start going over tax and financial records, what little existed and were public. Night was old, and in Remus had enjoyed a privileged position of near-endless wealth. Exterreri seemed to have laws against that, but I was gambling that he was still near the upper crust of society. That was a rarefied circle, difficult to find and break into, but he should be there.

I could try to, say, consult property records or the like to see if I could find unusually well-placed people or families, and then poke around them to see if Night came crawling out of a coffin.

The other was a bit more dangerous, but perhaps faster. I could just flat-out walk to Ranger Headquarters, poke around, and see if I could find the Sentinel meeting room… or wherever Night met with people. Even if I couldn’t find Night, if there were underground tunnels, I could follow them - often from above ground, thanks to [The World Around Me] letting me see the edges of underground tunnels - to see if I could find Night’s residence, and Night.

Cross-referencing the addresses the tunnels went near with the property records could be a nice one-two punch, but the whole thing sounded daunting.

If I got lucky and managed to see a Sentinel in the wild, I could ask them to pass a message along to Night that Elaine of Arminium, known as Dawn, was looking for him. That might, hopefully prompt something. That relied entirely on luck, and I wasn’t going to sit on my laurels and wait for it to happen.

Not that I had laurels anymore. Left behind in Remus, like everything else.

On a more exciting note, the Eventide Eclipse were gearing up to try and claim the stretch of land that looked ideal. There was just the minor issue of a level 600 or so wyrm living there.

Iona and Fenrir were still doing recon, and I’d changed gears on what spellforms I was designing and making.

We were planning to stake our claim in three days when a group of men, all wearing blue headbands, came into my clinic.

Chapter 24 - The Hunt for Night VI

"Hi! Can I help you!" I asked the group of blue headband-wearing men who’d just come into my little clinic.

They spread out through my sparse clinic, looking a little lost. It wasn’t like I had anything here yet, not really giving much ambiance or… anything really. Only thing I’d done were a number of runes to help with privacy and reinforcing the walls. The endless threads going round the city had crept into my space as well.

I was tempted to start experimenting on them in my spare time. I had [Parallel Thoughts] and a full wizardry education.

"Hello [Healer]!" The obvious leader of the group said, coming over and offering his hand. I figured why not, and shook it. He tried to do that stupid vice-grip thing, and while he was stronger than I was, I was much tougher than I looked.

"We noticed you were new to the area, and we figured we’d stop by and say hello. Be good neighbors, you know." He continued.

"Well hello again!" I said, not quite knowing what to say. This was by far the friendliest interaction I’d had since opening up my clinic. "Always good to know my neighbors."

"The name’s Billy. We’re the Three Dragons Triad. If you need to acquire anything, no matter what the guards say about it, we’re the people to talk with."

My face fell at that. It was like a ballista bolt to the heart. It was some of the worst news I’d gotten since I discovered what had happened with the fae.

The Night I knew wouldn’t tolerate a gang calling themselves the Three Dragons Triad in his city. He’d ruthlessly stomp them out, then hang their corpses from the city gates to send a signal.

Well… I suppose in Sanguino, they stuck them on crucifixes on the side of the road instead of hanging them off the city gate.

A few tears sprang to my eye, and my entire expression was entirely misinterpreted by the [Gangster] in front of me. He grinned viciously at me.

"See, if Dreamflower’s your vice, we can get you that. If it’s not Dreamflower, you can let us know, we’ll tell you the price. Poisons? We’ve got you covered. Have a taste for the exotic? We run the best brothels in Sanguino. Rare creatures are more your thing? Just say the word. A small raptor could be great for a woman like you in a place like this. Or if that’s not your speed, we can get you a spear. Don’t worry about the guards, they don’t come here."

He paused at that, looking me up and down in a slow, deliberate fashion.

"Of course, the best, cheapest, and easiest protection is to just pay us. Our rate’s 400 arcs a month. We’ll be round next week to collect."

I put my hands on my hips. I opened my mouth to start arguing, looked at the various [Gangsters], realized I’d get absolutely nowhere, and in a rare moment of social graces, shut up.

There was absolutely no question in my mind which way this fight would go if it came to it. I’d slaughter them all in a heartbeat. Maybe two, if my adrenaline was up and one was particularly twisty or tricky.

I didn’t want to fight. I didn’t want to kill. I didn’t want to explain to the guards why there was a pile of corpses coming out of my clinic, I didn’t want to deal with a never-ending stream of enforcers from the gang coming round, trying to avenge the last set. It promised to be a mess and a half.

Especially the ‘here’s the latest set of enforcer bodies, please don’t make me stand trial for murder again.’ part. I was enjoying Sanguino. I wanted to stay here.

I also didn’t want to pay 400 arcs a month, no matter how I could afford it. Fuck that noise. Forget how many mangos I could buy. So many mango trees. Okay, fine, maybe only a half-dozen saplings a month with that, but still! No. Way.

I was the daughter of a guard. I’d grown up around them, I’d joined the Rangers and the Sentinels. I was firmly on the side of law and order. I knew paying them would simply embolden them, cause them to slowly squeeze and up the pressure until they found my limit.

I had a whole week to figure out how to get the triad off my back, a task that others with as much or more political and social power than I had probably tried and failed at, before I’d need to resort to more drastic measures. Guards were the obvious choice, but there had to be a reason the Triad was still operating. Bribes? The Rangers were next… if the Rangers here held the same role as the Rangers in Remus. A bit of a stretch there, but I saw no issue in asking them to help. What did I have to lose?

A problem for another day.

I was gearing up for a much easier problem. One that I could punch in the face, one that I could burn with searing Radiance and get patted on the back instead of hauled up before a [Magistrate].

We had a wyrm to slay.

"What do you want on this one? And forgive my ignorance, but what part is it?" I asked Iona as she handed me a narrow, sharp piece of armor. We were in the field behind the Drop of Blood inn, enchanting Fenrir’s gear while the wyvern watched closely. Auri still wasn’t back from her day trip.

I’d already told Iona all about the Three Dragons Triad, and she said she’d think about the problem.

‘Armor’ was being generous, and the only difference between armor and a weapon was how it was used. I doubted this did much protecting.

"Talon-sheaths for Fenrir’s hindlegs. Got something to make it sharper and pierce more?"

I eyed the piece, and its size.

"I can do sharper, or I can do pierce. I doubt I can get both on, not with how small the piece is, and are you sure? He walks on his legs, with all that weight, I’d imagine durability is more important." I said.

"If Fenrir’s grounded, we’ve got bigger issues than durability, and he’s got an armor skill." Iona pointed out.

"Wouldn’t he be grounded if he’s using the enchantments proposed anyway?" I asked.

"Big dive." The wyvern in question answered with a rumble.

Ahhh, that made sense.

"Alright, big dive it is. I’m going to go for sharpness, unless you think you’ll land on your toes?"

Fenrir gave a minuscule shake of his head, which was a much larger movement than it sounded like.

I went back to studying the talon-sheath, trying to figure out how to best enchant it. Enchanting a large piece of gear was easy. Take the standard sharpness runes, slap it on with the right skills, call it a day.

Enchanting a small cone like this? Tricky, tricky.

I could just enchant the entire set of armor with a few runes, but individually enchanting each piece was better overall.

The School had lessons on circular enchantments, but we’d learned and practiced on large tubes with a small bend, not tiny cones. The theory was the same, but the execution…?

This was going to take some brainpower. The alternative was a very small rune that couldn’t have as much mana flow through it, and wouldn’t be nearly as effective. Still better than nothing.

"Got any more ideas for your arrows?" I asked Iona as another part of me was busy solving the curved cone problem, while a third was carefully drawing an enchantment on another piece of Fenrir’s gear. A fourth was reading a checked-out library book off to the side. Wasn’t hunting for Night through library books anymore, not for some time. I was getting a fun reading break in.

I’d be back to the grind soon enough.

How did I ever live without [Parallel Thoughts]!?

"I changed my mind on a light enchantment." Iona said. "One arrow with it could be a lifesaver."

I mentally added it to the list.

"Yeah! Also, I think I can make one so bright that it hurts to look at. That’s one heck of an attack."

"Right, so far I’ve got a wide range of elemental arrows, from Fire to Lightning, piercing arrows, long-flight arrows, shadow arrows, and thunderclap. Also, explosion, void, splinter, whistling - we should make a code on those, be great to talk at a distance - fake dull arrows, growth, binding arrows in an array of different elements, and… that’s it for now."

Seeking wasn’t an option, along with phasing, good magic nullification or mana draining, teleporting - either the arrow or the caster, at least not at my skill level and actual level - transmutation - including petrification, although the arrow itself could be changed, arrows that drew their own skill as they landed, and frankly the list of options was endless.

I wish I knew more about curses. A curse was the perfect thing to send over an arrow. There was just the tiny issue of a huge knowledge gap, both on curses, and on making them.

I was disappointed with myself for not thinking of enchanted arrows earlier, especially since Maximus had suggested that type of archery build for myself in the past. In my defense - it was Iona’s class, not mine.

Shrinking arrows was a possibility, but… why?

"Poison?" Iona suggested, and I shuddered.

"I can’t do poison, and do we honestly want poisoned arrows hanging around? An enchantment that requires thought and effort is one thing, but I have no idea how to coat an arrow, or properly store a poisoned one. Or keep its potency. What about a… double-hit arrow? It hits you once, then the momentum hits them a second time?"

Iona flicked my chest.

"That’s about as hard as an arrow hits. No, the damage is all in the barb, and how nasty I can make it. That’s why explosion arrows were top of the list. Shatter into a bunch of pieces and just stick inside someone."

I thought about that for a bit. Arrows as a means to deliver nasty effects. Made sense why poison was so high up on the list, and why ‘punching’ a second time wouldn’t do much. I looped back round to ‘transmuting arrows’.

I couldn’t do terribly complex transmutations, and I wanted to change after it hit, so I didn’t slap someone with a wet noodle.

Actually, a wet noodle arrow sounded like a hilarious prank arrow, and I made a whole new book in my [Astral Archives] dedicated purely to prank arrows. Wet Noodle went in at the top. Underlined.

A wrap-around arrow was next, one that looked like it’d hit but didn’t actually, and an apple-arrow came after.

Focus. Prank arrows were an interesting idea, but not what I was here for.

Although, a wrap-around arrow could make it look like a person was lethally hit, and…

FOCUS!

I thought a little bit more about substances that made for bad arrows, but were terrible if they managed to get inside you, and I came up with an ugly one.

"Glass." I said. "An arrow that conjures barbed glass when it hits."

Iona winced.

"Yeah, alright, let’s put that one at the top of the list."

I shot Iona an unamused look, and lifted my hands, still enchanting a piece of Fenrir’s armor.

"Oh great and mighty [Paladin], far be it for a lowly mortal like me to complain, but have you noticed there’s no time to do that much enchanting if we want to fight as planned? I already feel like we’re squeezing things a bit with Fenrir’s gear. I’m just not a world class enchanter, and there’s a world class city filled with them right there."

Iona dismissed my concerns with a wave.

"Yes, there’s a world class city of enchanters right there… with an eight month waiting list. I checked. They wanted six figures of arcs for Fenrir’s enchantments, and let’s be honest. We’d get comfortable. We’d settle."

I nodded agreement. I was too comfortable living in this inn already, paying way too much for a room every night.

"Heeeeeeeey! Did you save dinner for me?" Amber called out as she approached, a familiar flaming phoenix sticking to her staff. The vain little bird was admiring herself in the reflection of all the gems on Amber’s staff, keeping carefully perched as she let Amber carry her around.

I wanted to snap my fingers as an idea came to me, hitting me over the head like a mango dropped from a tree - honestly, what was it doing in a tree and not in my hand already, that was just rude and damnit I couldn’t spin the idea off into [Parallel Thoughts] because I was already doing too many other things.

Focus.

"We did, then Fenrir wanted to have a small bite." Iona called back with a laugh.

Amber groaned.

"Tasty." Fenrir growled with contentment.

Seeing Amber’s staff gave me an idea.

"Hey, why don’t we borrow a dozen gems or two from Amber and just make this fight easy?" I proposed.

Amber snorted.

"Even with the ‘you're my friends and I don’t want to see you die’ discount, not charging you a use fee, completely ignoring the significant risk of never getting any of my gems back and you dying in a way that means you can’t pay me back-"

"Hey!" I protested.

"Brrrpt!!"

"Auri would like to point out that she can’t be killed in the first place."

"And have it stick." Iona pedantically corrected.

"- you couldn’t afford to just use the gems." Amber finished, then got a predatory grin. The same type she had when she knew she was about to fleece somebody, and there was nothing they could do about it. "Of course, you could borrow my staff and freely use it for giving up your stake in my gem business."

I gave Amber a flat look.

"I think we’ll be fine." I said, and Amber dramatically gasped.

"Dang! Honestly, most of my skills are defensive or for getting out. I’ve got a few interesting offensive skills in my inventory right now, but if you want to live there after, well… they’d be a bad idea to use. A very bad idea. Yeah… no… I don’t think I’d want to swing by Sanguino for a few years if you used that one… or… yeah." Amber was nodding to herself as Iona and I traded concerned looks.

"Brrrrrrrpt…" Auri flew off Amber’s staff, back to her spot on my shoulder. She didn’t like the sound of Amber’s skills either.

"Look, the neat murder spells are a dime a dozen, it’s the big, fancy, city-ending ones that are worth the trip!" Amber protested.

"Who sells that!?" Iona asked.

"Uh, well… I probably shouldn’t tell you. Would you look at that, it’s been two weeks, I should probably get that last gem from Elaine and start heading towards Shahrazad!"

Amber was less subtle than I was about changing the subject, but I didn’t mind. I’d seen how smooth she could be, and we were all allowed to lead our lives.

As long as she didn’t drop a meteor on our head or anything.

"While we’re wildly changing the subject, I want to talk about our timeline. Iona. An assault in three days is not going to work. We need to shakedown our gear. We need to shakedown our armor, our tactics, our teamwork. I haven’t sparred in a few weeks, I need to get back into the habit. I’d like to do some research on what we’re fighting. Isn’t Fenrir thinking of classing up? Is he really going to class up and get into a big fight immediately? Come on, that’s dumb. I get your argument about sitting around forever, but don’t let your impatience and enforced idleness cause a mistake."

Iona got a small unhappy look on her face before she sighed.

"Fine. Shakedown first, but we’re going to do it properly. Four hours of sparring a day, minimum, and I’m going to be working on the rest of my gear. Can you take a stack of arrows with you when you go to your clinic to enchant them? I’d like to test the enchantments before I use them, which is going to mean a lot of destroyed arrows."

I nodded.

"Seems fair. Did you give any thought to my issue?"

Iona stood and stretched, and I took a moment to appreciate the view. Goddesses, I had lucked out. Hard.

"It’s not easy," She admitted. "If taking out an entrenched gang could be solved in three sentences, they’d be gone. I’m not in the good graces of the Exterreri legal or armed forces. It’s not like I can go hunting, and even if I did, there’s deeper reasons for their presence. If they went away, someone would replace them. On the shorter, narrower end of the spectrum though. I can hang out next week when they swing by, which should be a deterrence. You’ve ‘hired security’, after all. And go to the Rangers. Talk with them. See what they say. You wanted to swing by their headquarters in the first place to look for Night. Kill two dinosaurs with a single stone. Gives you a legitimate reason for wandering around there in the first place."

I nodded along with Iona’s explanation.

"That sounds pretty good. I’ll go tomorrow morning?"

Iona grunted.

"Afternoon. We’re sparring in the morning, remember?"

Chapter 25 - The Hunt for Night VII

I sat on the sidelines, sore, and thoroughly thrashed after our light sparring exercise. It was no surprise that Iona utterly outclassed me, I just hadn’t expected to be outclassed so hard. A good reminder that physical Classers, true physical [Warriors] at my level were better than I was. That I only had one direct fighting class, that I only had [Sentinel’s Superiority], compared to the round dozen or more skills a [Warrior] had.

That, and I was out of practice. I wasn’t doing this every day. I didn’t have sparring exercises I practiced every morning. I was focused on a hundred and one other things, and sparring wasn’t one of them.

A poor decision, one I was fixing, when we were planning on fighting a wyrm in the near future.

For now, I was watching Iona practice one of her katas, her proper forms and positions with her brand-new shiny glaive. I could just barely make out the dreamsteel blade as she moved from form to form. Iona started off excruciatingly slowly, making sure every muscle was in the right place, that the pose was utterly perfect. Then she slowly transitioned into the next one, making her full way through the entire dance before the last position seamlessly merged into the first one, repeating the cycle.

She sped up slightly on each repetition, eventually turning into a whirling, blurry storm of flashing metal and striking blades. Thrusts and sweeps, blocks against invisible opponents and strikes to vital points, Iona’s dance was a thing of glorious beauty.

I lied to myself, calling it training and practice to watch, that it would help me better coordinate with her.

In truth?

I simply enjoyed the display.

I stared up at the gates of the castle.

The castle was frankly one of the weirdest parts of the city. There was the rest of Sanguino, which faintly reminded me of Remus in the style, culture, and more.

Then there was this great big honking castle plopped down at the end of the water, stone walls triple the height of the city walls, patrolled by heavily armed guards, with the occasional Bloodsworn knight taking a stroll along the walls.

Interesting that. The Rangers and the Bloodsworn Order shared a building? I suppose the castle was pretty big…

The guards at the gate were similarly well-armed, looking like they were ready for a fight, overdressed for the weather, and eternally grateful for the shading Ash keeping the hot summer sun from finalizing their roasting.

The castle had a classic moat. Given how trivial a water barrier was to most Classers, I wasn’t quite sure of the point.

Then again, my point of view was skewed. Maybe to some people it’d be an impediment.

What was a ton of fun was I could detect two tunnels dipping under the moat! Secret entrances!

There was a large plaque near the end of the drawbridge, and I scanned it as I passed by.

In commemoration of the glorious triumph of the Exterreri Empire over the Punic Lands, let it be known that the valiant soldiers of the Exterreri Empire stood tall against the invading Punic hordes. Through their unwavering strength and courage, they secured a decisive victory that shall echo through the ages.

May this plaque stand as a testament to the bravery and sacrifice of those who fought and died for the glory of Exterreri, and as a reminder to all that Exterreri shall always stand strong against the forces of tyranny and oppression.

Stormwatch Keep was the crown jewel of the Punic Lands. After their defeat, the legions of Exterreri demolished it stone by stone, carted it 700 miles, and rebuilt it here, as a reminder to those who would stand against us.

Nihil Sine Sanguine!

Most of the plaque was in High Elvish, with only the end being Creation.

I looked up again at the castle, and whistled.

Building a castle was impressive enough. Architecture, quarrying stone, the logistics of building it… I could only barely scrape the edges of what went into building a castle with my imagination, and I was boggled at how they did it with a bonus carting the 700 miles and building it in the middle of a crowded city.

Talk about making a statement.

Enough delaying. Time to get a move on.

I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t taken a look earlier. Fear, perhaps. That it would all come to nothing. A sense of loss. That I wasn’t a Ranger anymore, that these weren’t my people. It was a little too close to home. A little too close for comfort.

Yet it was where I found myself now, on one of my last, strongest attempts at finding Night. Amber’s [Information Broker] had known something.

I steeled myself and approached the guards.

"Hi! I’m Dawn! I’m looking to talk with the Rangers, if I can?" I asked the guard.

She didn’t even look at her partner.

"Want to file a complaint about something?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Yup! Got an issue with [Gangsters] that I thought might be appropriate."

"Through the gate, enter the bailey, go down the main entrance, second hallway on your left, third door." She answered, like she’d said it a thousand times before.

"Thank you!"

I entered the castle, awed at the thought of not only someone building this place, but picking the whole thing up and moving it. The gates were well and properly reinforced, looking like they were more than merely decorative, and they anticipated use. Every brick was enchanted, and I made way for a pair of Bloodsworn knights moving across the field before entering the keep proper.

The grand hall was obvious. A hundred trophies lined the wall, each one neatly encased in glass with a little card explaining which wanna-be despot Exterreri had slain and why, an epic mound of the defeated that the empire was built upon. A broken great sword as long as I was tall, a melted crown of silver and gold, a shattered staff that was still trying to grow a little sprout, only for it to wither again, a cracked ring filled with jewels, each display was its own.

I found the room in question, and after waiting - damn the realities of bureaucracy - I was invited to chat with one of the [Scribes].

He sat ramrod straight, half his face melted and missing an entire arm.

"Name, issue?" He barked at me.

"Dawn, [Gangsters] running an extortion racket, would you like me to do something about…" I made a small gesture towards him.

"Nasty curse. Don’t bother. Tell me more."

I gave him the quick rundown on the [Gangsters], the location, their threats, everything, trying to keep it concise and to the point.

Like I’d been trained to give Ranger reports. Thinking about how Artemis and Julius had drilled me on it nearly brought a tear to my eye. I wanted to see them again. I wonder if they’d gotten my letter? If they could even come?

Maybe I should send another letter offering to pay for their travel or whatever they needed to make it happen.

"... I came here because I’m not concerned for my safety, but I don’t want to injure them. If it was as simple as asking the local [Guards] to intervene, they wouldn’t be a problem."

The [Scribe] paused.

"You haven’t talked with the local guard first?"

I shook my head. He frowned.

"We are not unsympathetic to your plight." The [Scribe] said. "But we’d like to ask that you let the [Guards] have a crack at the problem first, especially with what you’ve said about lacking concern for your personal safety. Please do not kill anyone, or look to put yourself in a position where you need to self-defense others to death." He gave me a pointed look at that. "If the guard is unable to handle the issue, then return."

Disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. The Rangers seemed to fill a slightly different, but similar role - escalation. Let the guards have a crack at the issue, then they’d step in. Saying I didn’t feel threatened by them was true, and… yeah, okay, I could see why I was considered low-priority. Only so many resources for so many problems.

I felt like [Gangsters] semi-openly operating was a significant enough problem… but what did I know?

"Thank you. Um. I’m Oathbound. Are you sure you don’t need me to take a look at your injuries?"

I got a Look from the [Scribe], then he sighed.

"I do not request your healing. I do not want your healing. I do not believe your healing would manage to improve my situation, and has the potential to cause me harm. Go forth, be free of your obligation with a clean conscience." He paused a moment. "That good enough for you?"

I nodded. I was in the clear now, and could leave without a devastating System-penalty.

I thanked the [Scribe] and left, figuring this would be a good time to get conveniently lost. Wander around a bit, see if I could identify any hidden rooms or secret passages that indicated the Sentinel’s meeting room - if it still worked that way - and see if I could backtrace it.

Or… wait, no, I was being dumb. I’d already seen tunnels from the outside. I should trace those. Walk around the castle and see if I could spot anymore. It was in the middle of town, I wouldn’t look that strange.

Much better than wandering around a military outpost where I didn’t belong. I wasn’t a Ranger. I didn’t know the laws and penalties. For all I knew a Bloodsworn knight would run me through and leave me to die, and it’d all be legal.

The similarities Remus had to Exterreri was luring me into a false sense of knowledge and confidence. The two were not the same.

I left, and found the two tunnels I’d noted. I took a casual stroll along the outside of the wall, shooting the occasional admiring glance up at the walls.

They weren’t idiots. They knew I was circling around and looking at the castle. If I tried to hide it, that looked terrible. By showing that I was actually looking at it, I hopefully looked like a tourist. Which wasn’t wrong, I was fascinated by the castle.

I wonder if it had a library? I’d certainly smelled enough parchment and ink while inside.

I noted three more tunnels, bringing the total to five. I remembered that Ranger HQ in Remus had an underwater tunnel to the training island, and given that Stormwatch Castle was on the bay, it wouldn’t surprise me if they had underwater tunnels as well.

I could dive down easily enough, all my biomancy and runes could potentially give me days of survivability underwater, but that went from ‘tourist’ to ‘secret spy squirrel up to no good’ and Iona would next find me crucified on the side of the road.

No, I had enough leads already. I picked one tunnel at random, and started to follow it along the city. I might’ve looked a little strange at first, leaving the castle along a road with one of the secret tunnels… but then again, so were other people.

I followed the twists and the turns, crossing through rows of buildings, making educated guesses where it was on the other side, and generally trying to follow a single string in a maze.

I was feeling proud of myself when I traced the tunnel to the city walls. I couldn’t go over the walls, not without pissing off the guards something fierce, so I simply noted it, and went through the gates. Once on the other side, I picked up where it continued on, getting dirty looks from the guards on the wall. I traced the path, feeling their stares boring into my back - after all, there was no good reason for me to be at this part of the wall, not when it was so far from the main roads - and followed the tunnel.

I gave myself a silent fist-pump when I found the end of the tunnel in a boulder, a hidden, cleverly designed door marking the other end. It wasn’t Night, it wasn’t anything I could use, but it worked. There were secret tunnels coming from the castle, and I could trace them with [The World Around Me].

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 75 -> 76]

Should go digging for more secrets if I wanted to level [The World Around Me]. The question was, what to do next?

I could go back to the castle, find another tunnel, and trace that one through, rinsing and repeating. Or I could sneak into this tunnel, and explore from the inside.

Sneaking into the tunnel was likely to happen if none of the surface-level exploration panned out. See if there were side-branches I’d missed. I couldn’t imagine Night making it this easy to find him, I couldn’t be the only one who could see underground, and besides, I’d seen people living and traveling in the tunnels. They couldn’t be that off-limits, right?

Yeah, it couldn’t be that easy. Why trace all the tunnels out, only to start going ‘wide’ on each of them, when I could just go ‘wide’ on each tunnel as I found it? They might even intersect with each other, which would make my job easy.

I looked down at everything I’d brought with me, and shook my head. I went to the inn, dropped off everything except a tunic and my sandals in our room, then returned to the stone door.

I had no confidence in my ability to pick a lock, but walls were only a minor impediment. I followed the tunnel back towards the city a bit, found a nice big bush growing over the tunnel, and crawled into it. Hopefully it’d hide my clothes and sandals well enough, and I could pick them back up on the way home.

I focused on [Channeled Blink], building mana as I selected the spot to end up in. With a slight pop of displaced air, I ended up in the tunnel.

[*ding!* [Channeled Blink] leveled up! 41->42]

It was completely dark, which came as absolutely no surprise. [The World Around Me] gave me excellent ‘vision’ of what was going on around me, and my hearing would let me know if there was anyone else in the tunnel with me.

That, and whatever light source they used. True Darkvision was rare, and not a particularly useful skill. Seeing with low levels of light was much more common, and I’d stack my ability to catch a tiny amount of light against most skills any day of the week.

If someone came, if I was at risk of getting caught, I’d just teleport back to the surface and… well, I couldn’t exactly mix in the crowd completely naked, but it wasn’t like I’d be making a huge disturbance. I’d gotten a few pieces of clothing in my spellbook for situations like this, but if I made clothes, they would stay behind when I blinked back out. Giving strong evidence for the next few years that I’d been down here.

No, better to leave no trace.

I started down the tunnel, noting what the bottom of it looked like. Much rougher, a mixed dirt and stone path with the occasional overlapping boot prints in the dirt. The tunnel was in occasional use. Whoever dug out the tunnel didn’t bother paving it or anything fancy. If it was supposed to be an emergency escape, or discreet exit from the castle, who needed it to be ‘proper’?

Interesting that it was dry though. I wondered how that worked?

I almost laughed as I crossed under the city walls, and one of the omnipresent threads was there. I hit the first branch in the tunnel, and decided to take a left. It was sloping downwards, promising new areas I wouldn’t be able to see from the surface.

I opened up a new book in my [Astral Archives] and started making a mental map of the place. Easy navigation! I continued down the path, cross-referencing the tunnel to what was above me.

I noted a few more threads working their way through the tunnel, and-

Wait.

I stopped, turned around, and bolted with everything I had. I lit up my anti-friction runes to help give me speed, trying to get out of the city section of the tunnel as quickly as possible.

I’d seen the threads moving before, but always on new things. Always on temporary things.

Never in a well-established stationary location. And the threads I’d seen were all ‘stopping’ their creeping the same distance from me. I didn’t know what they were, but it couldn’t be good news.

The threads came alive like some monster, no longer subtly creeping along the tunnel walls, no longer silently integrating into every part of life.

There had to be a powerful Classer at the end of them, one hostile to law-abiding citizens checking out the… how secret could these tunnels be?

Given the sheer pervasiveness of the threads throughout the entire city, I was outclassed by multiple orders of magnitude. The System allowed for all sorts of crazy nonsense, I wasn’t going to let even a single thread touch me.

Easier said than done. The one thread that had been on the ground snapped around my leg. It bit deeply into my shin, some crazy skill letting the practically-invisible thread not break against my full speed and momentum, flexing and moving with me instead.

A shame really. With just a reinforcement skill it might’ve sheared clean through my leg, which would’ve removed the thread as an issue, and barely caused me to slow.

I stumbled, and started to trip. I pointed a finger at the part wrapped around my leg, and let a full-force [Nova Lance] rip.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond Between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 477 ->480]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 450->460! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)!+1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Oh fuck I was so fucked 10 levels for burning a single thread? That was nearly outside my Class’s wheelhouse?

Fuck fuck FUCK!

Not the time to get distracted, notifications off.

[Nova Lance] managed to burn through the thread, the end of it curling into a blackened crisp, and severing the rest from the source. I used my training and dexterity to turn my stumble-trip into a somersault, and came back up running.

Not fast enough.

Too deep into the city.

I split my mind into four, ready to fight in any way I could. Sorcery. Wizardry. Physical. And any other means I had available, which included healing and shielding. Each mind was tasked with a job to fully focus on, entirely confident that the other parts would properly handle their role.

I was intercepted by threads coming the other way down the tunnel right as the ones chasing me caught up.

It was like a tidal wave of silk crashing over me. I used [Mantle of the Stars] to create a little ‘sheath’ around my arm, letting me slip through, giving the seeking threads my shield instead of my arm. I targeted and aimed my fingers at the tightest knots and clusters of threads, using [Nova Lance] to burn a few threads, hacking away at the wave. Physically I twisted and turned, contorting and dodging to avoid a few threads I couldn’t handle, all while twisting my fingers unnaturally to keep the [Nova Lance] flickering to the right spots.

On the wizardry front, I went with Fire. Lots of fire. I teleported the appropriate spellbook out of [Bookwyrm’s Hoard], instantly snapping to the right page thanks to [Reading]. Mana coursed through the runes, burning the page and creating an inferno centered on me as I sent the book back.

Why not? I was immune to Fire, it was a nice trick.

My wizardry fire wasn’t nearly at the same tier of power, heat, burning, or oomph as my Radiance was though, and the threads were clearly not just plain silk or whatever they were made out of. They shrugged off the flames. Even when I dodged a thread, it twisted in the air, wrapping around me. I could burn some threads, but each one took time and mana, and I could only launch 10 [Nova Lances] at a time. No matter how they spun around me like a crazed lightshow, I could only do so much against the unceasing assault of threads.

At least they weren’t injuring me. They started to wrap around me, dozens, hundreds, thousands, encasing me like a bug inside a cocoon.

I summoned a different spellbook as I started to cast [Channeled Blink], aiming for a spot above the tunnel, praying desperately that I’d be allowed enough time to channel the skill.

Unlikely, but I was out of options. My mana was dropping rapidly, and I was losing even before I ran out. The second I went out of mana, the fight was OVER over.

I snapped the second spellbook open, and went for one of my less-tested spells. Blades of pure Darkness erupted out from around me. Some cut through the strings, but they were quickly muffled and smothered. The threads forced my fingers closed as they all yanked, pulling me down the tunnel at high speed.

I didn’t bother screaming, but to my horror, I noticed my mana rapidly draining away. I stopped [Channeled Blink], but it still dropped to 0.

OVER over. But I would not go quietly into the night.

I struggled with all my might, pressing down the fear rising up in me. Had I finally fucked up one time too many? Had I poked my nose in the wrong place, and was about to die for it?

Was this it? Was this the end?

I would not go quietly into the night.

I bit. I twisted. I snarled. I struggled. I put every last muscle to work, fighting against the relentless bindings as they dragged me through the tunnel at a speed I couldn’t hope to match. I mapped each twist, each turn of the tunnel, noting where I started to get pulled deep underground, trying to keep some semblance of direction and orientation. My biomancy augmentation prevented me from becoming dizzy, helping me know exactly which way I was going at any given time.

At last I came to a stop. I was still wrapped in threads, hung from the ceiling by my ankles.

I got a solid look at where I was.

I was deep under the Bloodmoon Bay, in a large domed room made out of glass. Dim light lit the room, pretending like it was from the sun above, but there was no sun above us. Just hundreds of thousands of pounds of water, and a gigantic cloud of Ash blotting out the light. The view was fantastic. Fish swam nearby, nibbling and darting through coral reefs, while a shark lazily swam nearby.

The setting was nice, the rest of it, not so much. I continued to struggle against my bonds, determined to find some way to escape. My mana was being drained as fast as it regenerated, but thanks to a little quirk in the System, I could channel the mana into a skill before it was whisked away. I had ‘dibs’ so to speak. Utterly worthless… except for [Channeled Blink].

It would take about 20 minutes to channel enough mana for me to blink out and escape. Maybe a little less. I was hung near the ceiling, and I was aiming for the bottom of Bloodmoon Bay. I was entirely confident in my ability to swim through the water with all the modifications I’d made, and it was a better shot than trying to run through the threads.

Speaking of threads. Countless numbers of the tiny buggers were throughout the room, vanishing into various tunnels that all centered here. Sitting at the center of them all, wearing a black outfit with a stylized bat in red, was a woman, looking up at me with a sardonic grin. Her eyes were red, with the tell-tale indicators of a Forest element. Her hair was predominately silver, with flashes of other bright colors here and there throughout. Combined with her pale complexion and the hint of fangs, she was obviously a vampire.

[Long-Range Identify] gave me [Artisan - 2145].

I was so fucked.

She spoke with an accent I’d describe as posh and clipped.

"Oh my, it appears that a little butterfly has fallen into my web."

Chapter 26 - The Hunt for Night VIII

I continued to slowly sway from the ceiling, focusing on [Channeled Blink]. My improved biology was stopping the blood from rushing to my head, letting me think clearly.

I just needed to keep this vampire talking for fifteen, twenty minutes tops, and I’d be out of here.

Time to take stock of what I had. First, levels.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 380 -> 400]

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 76 -> 80]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 460->490! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

I already knew I was screwed. Well, here’s to another thirty levels before I bite the dust. Most notably, my mana regeneration got the strongest bump thanks to [Nectar]. Also split a good amount of the experience with Auri.

Hopefully not my last present to her.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 115 -> 117. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

Fighting for my life was not what [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] wanted to be doing as a class. Best I could imagine was saving my spellbooks had gotten me the levels, and that was it.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 480 -> 508]

SO CLOSE to Auri’s third class!

[*ding!* [Center of the Universe] leveled up! 472 -> 473]

Anti-pain, yay.

[*ding!* [Mantle of the Stars] leveled up! 492 -> 495]

Right. That was it for levels. Stats.

[Mana: 0/904,360]

[Mana Regen: 554,429 (+1,109,372)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,361]

[Dexterity: 9,967]

[Vitality: 31,508]

[Speed: 31,540]

[Mana: 90,436]

[Mana Regeneration: 90,561 (+110,937)]

[Magic Power: 55,399 (+1,420,984)]

[Magic Control: 55,277 (+1,417,855)]

Magic power went hand-in hand with magic control for being completely useless, since I had no significant amounts of mana to use. I was too tied up for dexterity or speed to matter, and I wasn’t even going to think about my strength stat being useful here. I was out of mana.

Vitality and mana regeneration were my two big resources, magic-wise. I didn’t have enough to pop a spellbook out of storage, let alone activate any of the spells I’d prepared.

My healing and [Channeled Blink] were my two main useable magical abilities. I was completely tied up, negating my physical abilities.

That left my social skills.

I’d just be my normal, chatty, friendly self. That should do the trick! Just channel Iona and her amazing tongue.

I wonder if the System would give me a skill to help me out here? I liked my general skills, but I could dump [Persistent Casting] or [Imbue] if it gave me a chance. I sent a quick little prayer to the System.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Arachnid Acrobat]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Entangled Escape Artist]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Trapped Troubadour]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Sticky Sleuth]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Webbed Wordsmith]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Captive Comedian]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

Better than the usual offerings, all utterly worthless. One day I’d get a clutch skill to get out of here.

"Hello! Mind letting me down so we can have a more comfortable chat? It’s a little awkward staring at you like this, and I don’t think you’re looking to outright murder me because it seems like you could’ve done that ages ago."

Wait. Shit. That wasn’t what I wanted her to do at all. Maybe reverse psychology would work? Perhaps I should start talking about my deep-held fear of drowning at the bottom of the sea.

She studied me for a few moments longer.

"If only to stop you from teleporting out of here." She conceded, and the strings dropped me, twisting and forming around me to form a chair. I was still bound to the chair, but now the lady in front of me was right-side up… and my [Channeled Blink] had been completely broken, putting me far out of range of teleporting out of here.

My mouth opened in shock. How had she known!? I had a nasty reminder of how annoying it must be to fight Iona, who had an inside line to people’s skills thanks to her divine blessing, but I didn’t think those were being handed out like candy.

The woman rolled her eyes.

"Please. I’m Sentinel Arachne. A little level 500 wandering around that tunnel, completely naked? Without the door being disturbed? I didn’t need to have seen you teleporting books out of your personal storage to work out that you’ve got a Spatial element, and it’s frankly elementary to work out that you teleported in. At your level, weight, and displayed power, you can’t have a true teleport or blink, which implies either a gem or a channel. There are no gems on your person, making a channel the only viable option."

When she put it like that…

Also, I started to get excited. She was wrong! I had a single, tiny arcanite crystal inside of me. It was practically nothing, an emergency in case I was ever trapped long-term by a canceler and needed to pull on it to heal myself of biological toxins and impurities. It had been made mostly redundant by my further modifications, but I hadn’t seen the need to remove it. Just in case something went wrong. It wasn’t enough arcanite to do anything really… but Arachne didn’t know about it.

She wasn’t omniscient.

The woman in question narrowed her eyes at me.

"You do have a gem on you. Please do not make me vivisect you to find it."

How had she known!? I nodded furiously. I did not want to be vivisected, not for something that was entirely worthless.

Arachne started to slowly pace around me, hands clasped behind her back. I saw a small black widow crawling over her chair. I swear it sent me a jaunty little wave.

[Black Widow - 2145]. No bets on it being her bonded companion. I was frankly impressed that something so small had survived so long. Then again, being small meant it was hard to be hit… but area of effect skills were a thing, from the classic [Fireball] to skills like the Erosion-aura the spinosaurus had.

I started working out various ways I could try to fight my way out of this, and was coming up entirely blank. I’d failed at the very edge of her range, and now I was in the heart of her lair, at the center of her web.

My efforts would be better focused on how to talk my way out of this. I spun one thought process off on how to break out of various jails, especially with only a trickle of mana available. Also tried to work on figuring out how she knew so much.

"You are something of a puzzle." Arachne said after circling me a few times. "Human, which implies your country of origin is likely Rolland or Exterreri, with an outside chance that you’re from The Great Tang, Lithos, or one of the other places where humans are a small, but present minority. Yet your accent isn’t placeable. You speak Creation with an archaic bent, placing you in Exterreri, but again. I do not know of any vampires with that exact inflection, and I know all the old ones. Even combining their accents with secondary influences gets me nowhere. You’re comfortable in our clothes, our cultures and customs… somewhat. You accept some things like they are natural, but other items that are utterly mundane baffle you, and there’s no rhyme or reason that I’ve been able to find. Yet. You will give up your secrets before I am done with you."

She continued to slowly pace around me. That was quite a lot of information she had, but I guess the accent thing sort of made sense?

"Your application has your name as Elaine, which is either the worst disguised name, or the best. Or… no, it really is your name, isn’t it?" She mused out loud.

I wasn’t quite sure why she was talking out loud like that, but I figured trying to be stoic about this wouldn’t help me.

"Do you want me to tell you?" I asked. Arachne stopped in front of me.

"You already are. Are you from Exterreri? Rolland? Lithos? Vollomond?" She interrogated me, rapidly cycling through all the countries, not giving me a chance to answer. There were a few countries I didn’t know. Ekada Ruh? Who were they?

"Fascinating. Minor reactions to a few that let me know you have a connection, but it’s plain as night that you’re not from any of them."

"How-" I started to ask, and she cut me off.

"Expressions and reactions. You’re in my cocoon, I can sense everything, every minute tensing of your biomancied muscles, every twitch on your face. It is possible that you’ve got two distinct sets of biomancied signals going on, one for show, and one specifically designed to throw me."

Arachne crossed her arms and started to drum her fingers on her arm while I processed what she was saying.

She was cold reading me!? I suppose with stupid high level skills it was possible, and I’d already thrown her once with my arcanite, so it wasn’t invincible. How did I beat it?

… Did I want to beat it?

Right, thinking it through. She had told me about it. Which meant normal countermeasures like trying to control my facial expression was completely useless, it might even help her. What if each [Parallel Thought] focused on something different? The conflicting signals would hopefully obfuscate anything…

I tried it. First straight to mangos, and how good they felt in my mouth. How I peeled them, how their succulent flesh melted on my tongue, how tender and juicy they were, how their sweetness was divine in a way nothing else could match, how…

The second went to Iona. How lucky I was to have her in my life. How she made every moment feel special and magical. How getting a random glimpse of her made my heart skip a beat, how she inspired me to be a better person. How the sound of her laughter was music to my ears, how she was an omnipresent ray of sunshine. How beautiful of a person she was, inside and out. How…

Auri was third, my dastardly little pyromaniac. I wonder if she thought I was in danger due to all the levels I’d sent her way? If she’d raise the alarm, find Iona. If they’d try to find me, and if they’d succeed.

The fourth stayed on Arachne. I wasn’t going to stop paying attention to the lethal vampire who had me tied up in an underwater base.

"[Many Minds, One Brain]?" She asked, studying me closely. "Or some variant? Clever. Do cease your attempts, else I’ll end this conversation and simply execute you as a nuisance."

Good to know it worked. I promptly stopped, refusing to tremble at her threat.

"Execute me? Why? Simply for looking in the tunnel?" I shot back.

She laughed.

"I can’t tell if you’re naive, or one of the best spies I’ve ever encountered. Utterly fearless as well. No - not fearless. You’ve simply mastered your fear. Not a fool then."

I stared her straight in the eyes, and would’ve straightened my back if I could. She was speaking of executing me in a matter-of-fact way, any claims of being a Sentinel wouldn’t matter at this point. I’d die with dignity, staring death straight in the eye.

Would it be White Dove who came to claim my soul, or Black Crow?

"I am Dawn. Last Sentinel of an ancient empire, mentored by one of the vampire progenitors. I braved the endless Formorian hordes, their black bodies coating the horizon. I stole from dragons, parlayed with elves and dwarves, and brought wrathful justice to the shimagu. I witnessed emperors rise and kingdoms fall, traversed worlds and visited the realm of the gods. I endured dragon fire and bathed in the flames of a phoenix. I witnessed a god splitting the skies and smiting his foes, and brought an angel back from the brink of death. I’ve been stabbed, sliced, burned, beheaded, impaled, crushed and more. I fought Black Crow in his manifested form, and defied White Dove to her face. You may hold my life at the end of your thread, but you are far from the scariest thing I’ve faced."

Arachne smiled at me, a sinister gleam in her eye.

"Good to know beheading won’t work, and it’s fascinating that you consider parlaying with elves and dwarves to be notable enough to mention. You offered to tell me your story, very well, let me hear it." A thread shot from Arachne to her chair, pulling it to her. She sat down, crossing her legs and leaning forward, giving me her full focus as her spider scuttled up onto her shoulder. "Do make sure to fully include why you’re looking for Night, and who sent you."

I started at that. She knew I was looking for Night!? That was the most important thing for her!?

She had to know something. Full cooperation mode engaged! Never mind the kidnapping and imprisonment, all water under the bay if she could lead me to Night.

The thought briefly crossed my mind that perhaps she was against Night, a member of some rival faction of vampires. But, even assuming that was true, that would mean she knew who Night was, possibly where he was. I was possibly deluding myself, but I was hopefully worth something to Night, enough to be kept alive rather than dead.

"Somewhat abridged?" I offered. My full tale was long.

Arachne thought about it a moment.

"Your age? Your real one?"

"27." I said, looking her in the eye, trying not to control my facial expression too much. If she wanted to use it as some sort of truth-detector, I wasn’t going to try and stop her… but thinking too much about it was making it all change and different and…

"Mmm. I believe I have the time for your full story. Entertain me, little butterfly. Ah, but first, I would like you to lie to me. Tell me something outlandish and false."

I looked down. My first instinct was to say ‘I wasn’t wearing clothes’ but the threads were so thick and everywhere that it sort of counted. Uhhh… finding an obvious falsehood was hard.

Oh! I could say I hated mang- no wait, that was so blasphemous that I couldn’t even say the words. Uhhhhhhhhhh…

"I think adventurers are… no I can’t say that." I shuddered with disgust. Arachne looked highly amused at my indecision.

"I have a Water element class." I said at last. Except I knew I was lying, and she was reading it, and wouldn’t that foul a read, and how could she be so sure, and…

I was tying myself in knots. I was going to do my best to tell the truth… but only as much of the truth as she wanted.

"Excellent. Do try to keep to the salient points, there’s no purpose in stalling. Your friends won’t be able to locate us. If they managed to accomplish that, I doubt they’d fare much better. Carry on."

I randomly got some nostalgic vibes off of her. Weird.

"Skipping over a few things, my tale properly begins when I met Papilion in the realm of the gods. Best I can tell, I was a disembodied soul, and he was fixing some issues…"

I spoke quickly and articulately, leaning on my speed stat and her obvious ability to keep up. I didn’t want to annoy her by dragging things out too much, and as much as I loved Auri and Iona, I mentally stacked the Eventide Eclipse up against Arachne, and found them wanting. The level disparity was too much. Just as I leaned on stats and levels to win even impossible matchups, I had no doubt Arachne could do the same.

Why hide anything? I was so utterly outclassed by a Classer ready, willing, almost eager to murder me, that I might as well see if the truth would set me free. No more secrets.

Her eyebrows steadily rose as I wove my tale, and she leaned forward, engrossed. Reading all the books I had, retelling stories for an age had given me something of a storytelling bend.

I first hesitated at the Guardian fight.

"Um. What’s your take on… large flying apex predators with scales and fiery breath?" I asked.

"Dragons? Well, given that you’re placing yourself 20,000 years ago, I doubt it’ll be an issue. Fascinated to hear what yarn you’ll weave."

"Wellllllll… the dragon in question is still alive. Today. And active. And I’m entirely sure about this."

Arachne pondered the question a moment.

"A few names spring to mind. Be cautious and do not name the dragon, and continue."

"Moons?" I suggested, and a knowing light went on in Arachne’s eyes.

I carried on, telling about the guardian fight, and my adventures after. In no time at all I was at Lun’Kat’s lair.

Arachne looked on in open disbelief as I explained how I acquired Auri’s egg, and the rest of my adventures back to Remus. Then the fairy ring, the School, and Immortality.

"...I’d like to not go into details on my curse." I said.

"Unfortunately, I’m going to insist." Arachne’s tone and the situation made it clear that it wasn’t optional, no matter how politely she phrased it.

I mentally cursed and dished, then carried on with my story, sticking to the facts without adding any speculation as to why White Dove had chosen that particular curse. Graduation, acknowledgement as the creator of the Medical Manuscripts - which got Arachne pausing the conversation for a few silent moments before gesturing for me to continue on, and my decisions leading to my current capture.

"...and then I got dragged here, terrible whiplash on the ride, and you were here for the rest of it." I finished. "Also, I don’t know if you’ve got a bathroom around here, but I need to pee. And get some water."

"Remarkable." Arachne gave no hint as to how she felt about any of that. "But yes, I have been a poor host, one moment."

Two minutes of being awkwardly whipped around by threads later, and I was back in front of Arachne, one hand free and drinking from a cup.

"I would like to ask a few questions."

"Naturally. Thanks for letting me get it all out. Just curious for a moment, sorry. Why the hospitality, when you seem determined to execute me?"

Talking ‘normally’ with someone who wanted to execute me was weird, and coloring the tone and every interaction.

"Manners maketh the Immortal." She primly replied. "Either I execute you, and the entire thing is moot, or by some miracle, you survive. At which point, in the future, you will recall the interaction more favorably than if I had employed… other methods. You claim to be among the ranks of Immortals, and if your claim about the authorship of the Medical Manuscripts alone is true, I will be forced to simply exile you from Exterreri, instead of stringing you up next to the murderers and rapists. Now. Did you encounter a vampire named Vitus at any point during your adventure?"

Vitus, Vitus…. Ah!

"Yeah! He was the vampire who translated for my entrance exams. How’d you know?" I asked, but Arachne didn’t seem to be in the mood to entertain any more of my questions. I shut up.

"What are the 12 cranial nerves for elvenoids?" She asked next.

I stared at her blankly. What did that have to do with anything?

Well, when the ‘I’m going to murder you when you stop talking’ Immortal asks me what the price of mangoes in the third plaza is, I’m going to give her the price of mangoes in the third plaza. Or in this case, the 12 cranial nerves.

"In humans the 12 cranial nerves are olfactory, optic, facial…" I listed them off, then expanded my answer.

"Elves have an additional one for their horns, as do demons, satyrs, minotaurs, and the rest of the horned elvenoids. Mermaids have two extra, no similarities to elves, and they are…"

I went through the exhaustive list of all cranial nerves in different elvenoids, all while Arachne stared on impassively.

"Good. The myotome for finger adduction?"

I answered a few more of her biomancy questions, getting more and more confused by her line of questioning.

"Excellent. You claim to have a perfect memory skill. Are there any holes in your memory? Any unexplained spots? Anything that doesn’t match up?"

I promptly nodded.

"Oh yeah!" I said, sweating as the threads started to tighten around me in a constricting way, starting to dig into me.

"No, wait, I told you! Papilion!" I choked out.

Arachne had narrowed her eyes at me.

"Do you find yourself having any holes in your memory, unexplained spots, discrepancies, or anything that doesn’t properly match up since your claimed reincarnation into Pallos?"

I gulped.

"Fae realm was pretty weird and doesn’t match up." I squeaked out. Arachne frowned.

"That is… unfortunate. I wished I could rule out a [Biomancer] fabricating memories and inserting them into you. For my next question."

Arachne interrogated me for what felt like hours, intensely picking at one aspect of the story, then seemingly switching to utterly unrelated items, like the seating arrangement of the chairs in the School library's forbidden section.

I felt a little like I was betraying the School’s confidence as I told Arachne about it, but I’d worked out my list of personal priorities a long time ago. My life versus the School’s trust in a relatively minor matter? No contest.

"Fortunately for you, there is enough corroboration of your tale that I will stay the headsman’s axe for now. Not that such a device would stall you for long, by the sound of it." Arachne concluded the interrogation.

I tilted my head a bit, the threads having loosened enough. I didn’t want to ask, to bug her, but she could read me like an open book.

"Vitus sent a letter a few years back mentioning a woman, speaking Creation, who claimed the title of Sentinel." Arachne said, and I paled at how badly that could’ve turned out for me. "Marcelle is your biggest defender. My agent has already spoken with her, and she confirmed your claims of writing the original Medical Manuscripts. You have my personal thanks for that, the book has saved my own life. Ranger Team Gale reported a fascinating encounter with a phoenix a few weeks ago, heading towards Sanguino. There were quite a few moments of consternation until I was able to observe Auri. Such a darling. Your mercantile friend is filled with strangeness, one well-explained by time and trades with the fae. Then there is your badge."

One of Arachne’s many threads came into her room, my Sentinel badge on the end of it. The same badge that had been safely tucked away in my room.

"Hey!" I instinctively protested, but Arachne only laughed at me.

"It is yours, but an interesting artifact nonetheless. And it will prove, one way or another, if your story is true."

I made the connection, the implications electrifying me like Artemis’s bolt.

"You know Night!?" I tried to shoot up out of the chair, entirely forgetting that I was tied to it.

She gave me a puzzled look.

"Naturally. After all." She indicated the intricate tattoo around her neck. "I married him."

Arachne walked out of the room, the threads puppetting me and forcing me to walk along when it became clear that I was too shell-shocked to respond.

Night?

Night was married!?

Who - wait, I knew that. HOW!? Why - wait, that one was obvious as well. WHAT!?

I had the presence of mind to at least trace where I was going through the tunnels, and they abruptly morphed. From crudely hewn stone to perfectly straight and smooth stone of a single material, the tunnel changed.

Then we were at the end, passing through a set of doors.

"Hey love! Got a few minutes?" Arachne called.

Slow footsteps echoed through the underground house, and in just a moment, my friend, my mentor, my boss, walked through a door.

Night.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 27]

[Mana: 0/904,360]

[Mana Regen: 554,429 (+1,109,372)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,361]

[Dexterity: 9,967]

[Vitality: 31,508]

[Speed: 31,540]

[Mana: 90,436]

[Mana Regeneration: 90,561 (+110,937)]

[Magic Power: 55,399 (+1,420,984)]

[Magic Control: 55,277 (+1,417,855)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 513]]

[Celestial Affinity: 513]

[Cosmic Presence: 328]

[The Stars Never Fade: 15]

[Center of the Universe: 473]

[Dance with the Heavens: 513]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 513]

[Mantle of the Stars: 495]

[Sunrise: 472]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 490]]

[Radiance Affinity: 490]

[Radiance Resistance: 490]

[Nova Lance: 490]

[Lepidoptera: 490]

[Nectar: 490]

[Solar Corona: 490]

[Scintillating Ascent: 490]

[Kaleidoscope: 490]

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial: Lv 117]]

[Spatial Affinity: 117]

[Comprehensive Speed Reading: 117]

[Channeled Blink: 42]

[Bookwyrm's Hoard: 117]

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes: 117]

[Vivid Dream Reading: 117]

[Astral Archives: 117]

[Hunger for Knowledge: 117]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 400]

[Parallel Thoughts: 177]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 508]

[The World Around Me: 80]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 513]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 513]

[Persistent Casting: 432]

[Imbue: 189]

Chapter 27 - A Reunion Written in Stone

Night looked both different and the same. There was an ageless quality to him, pieces of him that hadn’t changed, that made him instantly recognizable across the eons. The white hair and red eyes were the same. The face. Other parts were different. While the tattoo around his neck, similar to Arachne’s was the most glaring, there were other, more subtle changes around him that were tricky to put my finger on. The biggest change of all though was how he held himself. No longer did it look like he had the subtle weight of the entire world on him. No longer did he look like Atlas, single-handedly holding up the sky.

He stood tall, brimming with energy and vigor. Maybe married life agreed with him? Or was it something else?

[Artisan - 1120] was his displayed level, and I did not believe it for a fraction of a second. Not Night. Not with his age.

Not with his prior profession being an assassin, and skills to disguise levels existed, along with items like my ring and amulet existing.

A little dog with curly black hair scampered round his legs. He had a little snaggletooth and a blue eye. He saw us, promptly sat back on his hind legs, and started to beg for treats.

What a good boy.

"Marley, down. Susan! My cloud on a sunny day, I am delighted to see you. Who might this be?" He peered at me curiously.

I last knew that he’d had a delayed memory skill, locking the majority of his memories in a mental vault so he wouldn’t get lost in them. I had built up a brief fantasy in my mind that, somehow, against all odds, he would’ve kept me active and at the forefront of his mind, but no. It was just that, a fantasy.

It still hurt.

"Night, this young lady claims to be Sentinel Dawn. She said that you were her leader back in the day, and she’s been looking for you. We were hoping you could verify her claims, one way or another." Sentinel Arachne - Susan, apparently - said. The threads wrapping me shifted and changed, turning from dreadful bindings to a simple tunic. Another set of threads wrapped around my feet, giving me makeshift shoes.

Night’s face fell at the use of his name. I wondered why?

"Ah." He peered at me. "Tell me more."

I threw a quick dirty look at Arachne for still holding onto my Sentinel badge, snatched it back - she obviously let me - pinned it to my chest, and saluted in the now-ancient manner of Remus.

"Sentinel Dawn of Remus. Present at the destruction of the Formorians, one of two Sentinels to make first contact with elvenoid races outside of Remus, I brought back news of the shimagu and the low experience zone. I was there when Emperor Augustus overthrew the Senate and declared himself emperor for life. I was sent on a mission to rescue Commander Julius from the fae realm, and it went poorly to say the least. I only recently emerged, and after spending some time orienting myself in this new world, came looking for you." I kept it short, hitting the high points that would hopefully trigger something and get the correct memories recalled sooner.

He looked at me thoughtfully.

"Come." Night turned on his heel and strode through his underground house with those slow, measured steps I knew so well. Arachne and I followed. His dog, Marley, kept running around excitedly underfoot, somehow knowing how to avoid tripping anyone. The whole time his tail was wagging wildly, and he kept looking up at the three of us like one of us would give him cookies.

Well, it was an improvement, and I’d take it.

"I distantly recall the era of which you speak, but only in the broadest strokes." Night said as we navigated through his… well, it was far too large to be a mere house. Mansion? Underground village? "You must forgive me if the specifics are not immediately available. Ah, here we are." Night opened yet another endless door, and it was like being punched in the gut.

The Indomitable Wall was no more.

No, it was an entire grand hall, filled to the brim. I could barely see the end of it, and every inch was filled with tightly packed names. Night paused at the entrance, and I wasn’t about to go blazing past into such a sacred cemetery.

He gave a slight bow to the hall.

"Beloved friends, I am here to visit once again. Please grace me with your presence." He softly murmured before entering.

I gave a small bow as well. It only seemed to be the right thing to do.

That, and I hoped I had dozens, if not hundreds of friends of mine on that wall. A strange thing to consider, but the alternative was oblivion, eternally forgotten.

A person died twice.

Once when their body gave out and their soul returned to Samsara.

And a second time when their name was spoken for the last time.

The great hall was a form of Immortality. As long as their names were here on the wall, as long as feet walked and remembered the people, remembered their contributions, remembered who they were, how they laughed, how they smiled, they would never die.

Night stopped and looked at a part of the wall.

I looked as well, and I instantly jumped to a name, painstakingly carved by a sharp finger in the stone, that made my heart skip a beat.

Sentinel Dawn.

There were no words to properly describe what I was seeing. I was looking at my gravestone, preserved across millennia. There was a tiny mark next to my name.

Somewhat. This wasn’t the same wall that had been present in Remus, no. This wall was newer. I could only imagine how often it had been shattered and broken, only to be rebuilt.

Surrounding my name were the names of my friends.

Sentinel Magic. Sentinel Sealing. Sentinel Sky. Sentinel Nature. Sentinel Destruction. Sentinel Hunting. Senti-Null. Sentinel Toxic. Sentinel…

It was like being punched in the gut. I’d known they were dead. I’d made my peace with it. But to see them, here, on the wall?

Still remembered, not forgotten?

It brought tears to my eyes.

Night’s stoic gaze bloomed into a beaming smile, happiness and joy of the like I’d never seen before on my mentor’s face showing without reservation. He turned to me, practically looking like he wanted to hug me.

Night wasn’t a hugger.

"The architect of the Pastos incident! Yes, I remember now."

I squeaked in outrage, some of my grief fleeing at how utterly absurd his first words were.

"THAT’S what you remember first!?" I protested. Night was still grinning at me, the look entirely unnatural on his face. He plowed on despite my protests.

"Sentinel Dawn, what else did you think I would recall first? Nonetheless, it is a most joyous day! Returned from the dead, returned from the fae, I can not begin to express my delight at seeing you here and whole once again! This is a most wonderful day, Susan, we simply must invite Elaine to dinner. We have so much to discuss."

He paused a moment, clearly making a connection.

"Ah. AH! the phoenix you were telling me about. Elaine’s bonded companion! Yes, it all makes sense now."

Arachne looked utterly poleaxed.

"If you’ll forgive me for saying so, I can’t believe it. Elaine was telling the truth?"

Night nodded, and pointed at my Sentinel badge.

"Indeed. It has been an eon since I last saw the badge, but the symbol can not be mistaken."

I started to tear up, and impulsively hugged Night.

"Missed you too." I said.

The next two hours were a bit of a mess. Finding the rest of the Eventide Eclipse. Arachne arranging for a powerful mage - a tiny vampire gnome - to throw a ton of runes onto Fenrir, letting him shift down in size. Night commandeering a private room in a fantastic restaurant, run by a [Chef] over level 1500. The six of us sitting down, ordering enough food for a week, a portion so blood-soaked that it was clearly meant to be vampiric fare.

I’d wanted to exclude a few rare dishes that had apples in them.

Arachne shook her head.

"I understand the impulse, but it’s a poor decision. I am not the only [Thinker] in existence, and I can’t assume there isn’t a better, more subtle one around. There are ripples to you avoiding the apple dishes, ripples that others might correctly use to divine your curse. No, better to accept the dishes and dispose of them in some other manner."

Auri perked up at that. Clean apple disposal was her specialty.

Then ordering literal cows for Fenrir, as it became clear that he’d been compressed, not shrunk. Which meant he still ate insane amounts. It was like watching a small icy blue void eat a mountain. Interestingly, there were shenanigans going on around his weight, and I made a mental note to study the runes later.

Iona wasn’t quite her normal outgoing self. She told the right jokes, she laughed and winced at the right moments, but I knew her. She was tense. [Social Lubricant] must be dinging in the background for her like mad, and her [Allure of Winter] was sadly capped. Didn’t see it uncapping anytime in the future.

"I have so many questions." I said once it seemed to be the right, polite moment for it. Arachne - Susan - seemed to put a lot of stock on politeness and manners, and I was trying hard to see what rules she had, and how to follow them.

"Ask! Ask!" Susan enthusiastically encouraged me, swirling a glass of wine dramatically. "I’ve got a couple of my own."

"I am most glad to see that your curious mind is entirely undiminished by the passage of time, no matter how brief." Night had rapidly moved back into familiar form, and I wasn’t sure why. Was the Night earlier the real Night, when he was at home? Had he pulled on a ton of memories from Remus, causing his thoughts and behaviors to mold more to the Night I knew? Was it simple joy at finding me once again?

I had so many questions. Remus. The present. Everything in between.

"Why don’t we do this chronologically. What happened after I vanished? My parents? Family? The rest of the Sentinels? What happened with the shimagu?"

Night paused, looking deep into his own glass. I’d just sent him down a long trip back down memory lane, and it made me think about my own [Astral Archives] skill.

When would I want to start getting locks to not get lost in my own memories? Given that they shaped who I was, at what portion of memories being artificially suppressed did my personality change?

At what point was I effectively a different person?

Could I truly say the Night before me was the same Night I knew?

Arachne got a distant look in her eyes, briefly no longer mentally here. Was she like me? Or with all the strings subtly attached to her, I wondered if there was something else going on in the city that required her personal attention. Or maybe…

"I shall begin with your family. They missed you terribly. They grieved. Your mother and father never gave up hope that one day you would return. They died of old age, surrounded by their grandchildren. Your brother went on to become a successful senator, strongly helped by his avoidance of the assassination of Emperor Augustus. A number of senators got together and simply stabbed the man to death, hoping to break the power of the Triumvirate and restore power to the Senate."

Night gave one of his customary pauses as I tried not to break down in tears.

My parents.

They had remembered. They had always held out hope. They had never given up, and in a sense, they’d been right. I had been alive and well, in the land of the fae. I’d completely failed them though. I’d failed to return home, to hug them, to let them know I was alright.

I couldn’t imagine the grief and the worry I’d put them through. Iona slid her hand under the table, and put it reassuringly on my thigh, giving me a gentle little pat before resting it there to reassure me. Providing comfort and care when I needed it the most.

Auri flew up to my shoulder and patted me with her wing, not saying anything.

Iona saved the conversation before it could get awkward.

"I’m sure there are many more aspects to Remus and Elaine’s friends and family that you’d like to share, but Night! What are you up to these days? I’ve heard much about Arachne, but nothing at all about you. I’m curious, what are you displaying your level as?"

Arachne’s head snapped to Iona so fast I swear she must’ve dislocated her spine. Iona gave her best charming smile.

"I’ve got a blessing to directly see status sheets from Selene and Lunaris. Ironically, since I dropped [Identify], I can’t tell what people are pretending to be, only what they are."

Night stared at Iona, then closed his eyes and gave a slightly sinister chuckle.

"Oh, Arachne is going to have so many jobs for you, young [Paladin]. As for me? Why, right now I’m just a harmless little 1140 [Puppeteer] called Nyx." He held out his hands, and Susan was in sync with him. A flurry of strings appeared around his hands, and he was miming nine little people, surrounded by barricades, fighting off swarms of ants as large as they were.

I was broken out of my funk. He was Nyx!? The puppeteer I’d been told about!? Fuck! If I hadn’t dismissed it as being totally un-Night-like, I would’ve found him just like that!

He’d even emphasized the importance of being well-rounded, and mentioned how eternity gave him endless time to master any and every skill! At almost 30,000 years, assuming 5 years to become ‘moderately’ proficient at a skill, ignoring how they could build on each other, that was 6,000 different skills he could’ve mastered.

Iona gave him a doubting look, but was too polite to say anything. Arachne chuckled.

"We take the law about rotating positions seriously, in letter, if not in spirit. We trade off working with the Sentinels, and vacation. I’d apologize if I thought I did anything wrong, but I don’t bother Night with mundane going ons or little spies and assassins hunting for him when he’s on break, and he doesn’t let me know about all the conspiracies brewing when I’m on my decade of vacation. Keeps us sane, and from burning out."

"It is a most unpleasant experience, and I am most grateful for the current methodology." Night paused, and expanded after letting us digest.

"To properly answer the unasked question, I am level 2988, looking forward to breaking into the realm of the 3,000’s in short order. I do believe there will be the most spectacular celebration when it occurs."

I sniffled, wiped my nose, and finished getting myself under control.

"Could you tell me more about Remus, and what happened?" I softly asked.

"Naturally. Mmmm, it is somewhat difficult with perspective to explain what small events snowballed into catastrophes that shook the empire, and what events that, in hindsight, were entirely unimportant. Allow me to attempt to recreate your prior report, and hit the highlights…"

Night pondered a moment, and began to speak.

"Your meeting with the dwarves had both a smaller and larger reaction than anticipated. The removal of the Formorians was a greater catalyst than the meeting, as it allowed Remus to focus its resources on more than surviving on the brink. These events paired with a large, well-trained military was crucial. We expanded, hitting the shimagu from an unexpected direction, and the existence of the low experience zone, combined with the veterans from the Formorian war meant that our soldiers leveled quickly, and had powerful classes waiting for them. A number of other factions were displeased with the shimagu, and thus we joined an ongoing campaign."

Night paused and nodded to himself, clearly content with the details he’d given, allowing us time to process.

I gave him a small motion to carry on after a few moments.

"The low experience zone, it turned out, was caused by the very plant inside the Nostrum Sea that was preventing large monsters from growing in the depths. A bit of a pickle that was. Did we slay the plant and free ourselves from the tyranny of poor experience, allowing monsters to flourish and grow, giving invitation to all other parties that Remus was now one of the better places in the world to settle, or did we stay content in our hole, protected? Naturally, one day the choice to exterminate the plant was taken, and the low experience zone was no more."

"Brrrpt?" Auri asked, and I translated. Night shook his head.

"Sadly, in spite of my reputation, I did not know every single individual. I am unaware of Plato, or what happened to him."

Auri’s beak drooped and her flames dimmed.

"Did anyone you’re familiar with from Elaine’s time make it to the present day?" Iona asked, properly forming a comprehensive question.

Night drummed his fingers on the table, while Arachne started to manipulate Fenrir’ food, grabbing it with strings and making it into little ‘prey’. He had great fun stalking and pouncing on it, the two of them getting along like a thunderstorm.

"Jaclyn is the only one I can think of who was not only in the time of Remus, but is still known to me to be alive now. There are a few other Immortals that were alive at the time, but I do not know if Elaine was aware of them or not, and their names would mean little to you." He said.

That was one of the most depressing things I’d ever heard. Jaclyn had survived? Of all the people, she was one I wouldn’t have been sad to see go. And she lived.

Of course. The world was so unfair.

"Do you know the origin of the healer prejudice in mortal lands?" I mostly asked to complain about all the ways the world was unfair.

Arachne laughed.

"I’ll take this one!" She said. "In short, after every big Pallos-shaking war, it takes a few decades or centuries to pick up the pieces. Eventually, we start to form civilization again, and every time, a dozen treaties and agreements are hammered out. Every time someone is picked on. I don’t think it’s deliberate, I think it’s pure elvenoid nature. There was a time where wizards and mages of all stripes were banned, there was an era that forbade the Dark element in all its forms. Golems ate a treaty ban at one time - this was right after a big war that had quite a few self-replication golems trampling everything underfoot, there was a weak attempt to ban social classes and skills at one time. [Leadership] classes has been limited to just the nobility in the past, and there was one hilarious attempt to ban [Priests]."

Arachne started laughing at that one, and Night joined her.

"Oh gods, that was a riot. The representatives supporting the motion proposed it, and promptly got smote by at least two dozen different gods and goddesses, who left their smoking ashes on the table for the rest of the assembly. We didn’t dare touch it, priests were enshrined as very important people, and we put a protective barrier over their warning."

"Fire mages were forbidden at one point in history." Night added. "The military applications did not outweigh the potential for arson, and there was no good reason for them that was not ineffective or horrific."

"Merchants." Arachne added in. "Honestly, it’s a toss up in any given era if their value is seen before the agreement is formed."

"Yes. A few of the older Immortals will always insist that we ban Void mages. Never again." Night said.

It sounded like there was some significant history there.

"As you can see, healers granting Immortality is an… inspired one, and less damaging than the usual nonsense that comes out of these agreements. I, personally, think that Acid will be added next to the list of forbidden elements, and Poison might see a resurgence in acceptance. It is simply too useful for the eradication of vermin."

I… think she was talking literally there, and not metaphorically. I hoped.

"Thank you for still calling them Sentinels and Rangers." I quietly said. "The tribute to their memory… it means a lot."

Arachne laughed.

"We tried a few other names now and then - Empyrean was a personal favorite of mine - but tradition and weight has meaning, both to people, and the System. I would be surprised if we operate in the same way as your day." She looked to Night as if for confirmation.

I had a moment of realization. She was looking at Night for us. There was no way they didn’t have a way to privately or quietly communicate. The realization was like being hit with a sack of bricks. I expected to get hit with a ding!, get level up notifications, unlock social skill, something.

[*ding!*]

Yes!

[You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Captain Obvious]. Would you like to replace a skill with it?]

Captain Obvious: Notice the obvious. State the obvious.

Honestly, I should’ve expected this.

Night shook his head.

"No, the system and the process has been refined over the centuries, and indeed, there is even an interesting cultural component. Exterreri has been destroyed and reformed, oh, a round two dozen times, and it never quite comes back the same way. At times the culture has formed in a way that Sentinels are present in every team, leading a group of six. On occasion, we find them to be distributed far and wide, each one responsible for rapid response to a small geographical area. Each system and method has its various merits, its strengths and weaknesses. Currently, each Sentinel has their own personal hand-picked support team, allowing them to properly apply force in the manner in which they are supreme."

Auri’s flames flared brightly.

"BRRRRRRRRRRPT!???" She demanded.

"Auri! That’s… actually a really good question." I straightened up and saluted Night, hand-over-heart, picture-perfect in the way I was trained in Remus.

"Sentinel Night! Sentinel Dawn reporting back after 23,461 years on deployment. Where do I collect my pay?"

A fine spray of wine met my question, and Iona started cough-laughing.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 508 -> 509]

Chapter 28 - One Small Favor

Night and Arachne traded amused looks.

"I do believe a full debrief and discussion is warranted under the circumstances and conditions." Night said. "However, I am not the person to make the decision, in any respect. That falls upon Arachne, and the greater command."

There was barely a pause before Arachne spoke.

"I’m in agreement with Night. This is a strong opportunity to level for all involved, and I’ve just sent out the signal to meet in approximately two hours. Now, if that’s enough business, I do believe the [Chef] has a new subtlety he would like to present for dessert."

Auri perked up at that, and a few minutes later dessert was presented. A fully rigged ship made out of fruits and chocolate was ‘sailing’ on a sea of blood, blown by an invisible wind created by a skill. A dozen germanodactyluses made out of spun sugar were harassing the ship, and little sailors made out of glazed pastry were running across the deck, tossing lines, spinning wheels, and waving tiny swords and spears at the birds.

Auri’s eyes were almost as big as her head as she took the whole thing in.

"BrrrRRRRpppt!!" She trilled in impressed appreciation.

We couldn’t just eat it, oh no. We ooohed and ahhhed at the dramatic fight. Iona shouted encouragement to the sailors, while Fenrir gave her a Look and started to growl commands at the birds.

To our amazement, the little figurines somewhat obeyed the orders. Fenrir was very grumpy that his side ‘lost,’ and Auri was devastated that they’d almost all uniformly fallen into the blood sea and dissolved.

Then we all dug in with gusto. The blood ‘solidified’ as Night and Arachne served themselves, turning into a jello-like substance for a brief moment on their plate, before going down the hatch. The Eventide Eclipse split the boat and the sailors, a few of them defiantly waving spears at us before meeting their end.

I found it a little grisly, but Fenrir had an utter blast, staring them down and snapping them in half before chewing and swallowing.

Good boy. He’d never get stabbed from the inside-out like that.

"By the way, Night, I just wanted to say - thank you for the advice to wait on my third class. Got three black-quality options as a result!"

Night gave me one of his slow, toothy grins.

"Most excellent. I trust that you selected the class that was best-suited for you, and not simply the one with the most power?"

I nodded.

"Oh yeah."

"Elaine, Auri, Iona, Fenrir. I can’t believe how quickly time has passed. It’s been a pleasure, we must do this again sometime just for fun. Oh! Fenrir, you might want to visit the Crooked Crown inn. Tell the bartender there you’d like to do the Saurian Shuffle." Arachne said.

Iona and I traded bemused looks, as Fenrir looked thoughtful, pulling out his prized pipe from somewhere. Hilariously, it hadn’t gotten shrunk along with everything else, and instead of being too small it was now comically large on him.

I figured whatever Arachne was suggesting to Fenrir was… well, if not harmless from a place called the Crooked Crown in a country who made national sport out of demolishing crowns, at least not horribly outmatched.

Iona recentered herself and beamed at Susan.

"Oh no, the pleasure’s all ours! This evening has been such a treat. I would’ve never found this place on my own. Let’s plan another get together soon."

Arachne looked pleased with herself.

"I feel like we have hours of conversation more, but alas, duty calls. Elaine, I need to do some work on my end briefly before the meeting and report-in. Can I leave Night with you, and we’ll meet at the gates of Stormwatch Castle in a few?"

That didn’t feel like a question, and I nodded.

"Sure!"

Susan and Night made some more polite noises with Iona and the rest, then left.

Iona waited a few moments for them to properly be out of earshot - I noticed even Arachne’s omnipresent threads had left the room - before she burst out and crushed me in a hug.

"Elaine! Goddesses, I was so worried. When Auri came screaming I just didn’t know what to do, how…" Words failed my normally eloquent girlfriend, and she just hugged me tighter, saying everything that needed to be said. All her fears, her worries, her joy at seeing me again and everything being alright, at Black Crow having failed to claim my soul yet again. That we were together again, safe and healthy.

She patted me again, and separated, holding me at arm’s length. She grinned at me.

"Well, hey, you found Night! How are you feeling? Everything alright?"

I mirrored Iona’s grin back.

"It’s all still a bit of a whirlwind. I’ll tell you later. For now, I think Night wants to have a quiet word with me before the big meeting."

Iona hugged me again.

"Well, come back soon! I’ll be at the inn, practicing with Fenrir."

We left the restaurant and split up, Auri sticking with me. Night loomed out of a darker shadow, and fell into step beside me. Auri flapped over to the shoulder further from Night and shrunk down, doing her level best to hide from the ancient vampire.

"Dawn." He spoke in Creation, and I felt a shiver at the weight of his words, the weight of the title. "Forgive me for imposing upon you at this time, but there is a minor matter in which I would like to clear up. The favor I owe you."

He paused his speech as we continued to walk, and I was suddenly tens of thousands of miles and years away, on a small island on the Nostrum sea, taking yet another evening walk with Night as we discussed yet another matter. Where Night spoke in slow, careful sentences, giving me the time to digest and understand.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. The more I lived, the more I experienced, the more I appreciated his style.

"Yes. The one you gave as a birthday present. Just before I went to the fae."

Night crisply nodded.

"Indeed. Since I have been made aware of your return and brought forth the memories involved, it has weighed heavily upon my mind. I no longer offer favors, not even to my most beloved Susan. The weight and meaning of them is too great, and my top regrets all involve fulfilling a favor owed to another. Now, my reputation is paramount. The circles I travel in, the other Immortals who know of me, who can claim a fraction of my age, is small. I will fill your favor, no matter what you ask or when. Nor will I pressure you to make a request now, and know, whatever your decision, that I will vigorously assist you in your return and integration. With all that said. It would make my heart most pleased, would be a great weight off my mind, if you were to request a favor sooner rather than later, and in the spirit in which it was given."

Night had casually given me a favor as a birthday present when I’d first brought back news and notice of how Immortals did things. A little gift, one that now weighed on his mind, one that was causing him no small measure of distress.

I could barely imagine. A few casual words, spoken centuries upon centuries ago, now threatened to upend his entire life if I asked for the wrong thing. The brief flash of power was heady, but no. I couldn’t do that to Night, to my friend, my mentor, my one-time leader.

I started to open my mouth, and had a better idea. A minor adjustment, a few added words.

Was it too much? It might be, but it could also be something Night would do anyway, as per his earlier words. I didn’t want Night to resent me, for me to ask for too much, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

I wasn’t great at social stuff, but I was learning. I could put myself in someone else’s shoes and ask ‘how would I feel’?

I put myself in his shoes, asked myself that, and came up with ‘not great.’

It was too much. Night’s good grace and friendship was worth more than… I wasn’t going to say anything. I loved Iona too much. Auri was too important to me. If it was Night or my [Oath], I knew which one I’d pick. I wouldn’t risk asking for every time, simply for this once.

But I would make sure to include the rest of the Eventide Eclipse.

"Just help us settle in this one time. Help us find our feet, smooth our path. If that’s not too much to ask for?"

I’d almost been greedy and asked for help every time we needed to settle again near Night. I was trying to think long term, to think about the future. About the inevitable upheavals I’d need to deal with, the tales of civilizations upending and collapsing, and needing to rebuild from scratch. To have to invent stone tools again, just for the chance at solving bronze and iron. To rebuild the bricks of civilization one at a time.

Having an old hand at the task around to help would be nice, but it might be too much to ask for. To have him be required to help each time?

No. I couldn’t imagine Night turning the Eventide Eclipse away, refusing to help. The obligation to help might sour things though.

I didn’t know if I was making the best choice. Heck, I didn’t even know if I was making a good choice! I should talk it over with Iona, see what she thought… but that was the cold, calculating side of me. The moral side of me was screaming to relieve Night now, to lift the burden he was clearly feeling. That it was just the right thing to do.

Yeah, maybe I was missing out on my chance to become [Empress of Pallos]. But I never wanted that job in the first place.

Night slowly smiled at my request.

"Naturally, nothing would give me greater joy. If you or your friends or lover should find yourself requiring assistance of any sort, please let me know."

My mind immediately jumped to a problem I didn’t know how to solve.

"Like a minor issue with the Three Dragon Triad?" I asked.

Night chuckled. Given the context, and the dim lighting, it was extremely sinister.

"Yes, like a minor issue with the Triad. Now, if you would like to request my assistance with them, I would be delighted to help. With that being said, you know my methods. The streets would run red with blood, and the crucifixes would need to be extended another mile. I would also gain no experience, no levels from such a conflict, and the fundamental issues that caused the rise of the Triad in our august city would lay unaddressed. Instead, if you would like the Triad to cease their harassment of your establishment, I propose that I request Arachne to arm you, but more significantly, people who would benefit and level from such a conflict, with the necessary tools and information to best tackle the issue."

I was fairly flexible with my [Oath] at times, but I still couldn’t - wouldn’t - give kill orders. ‘Please solve the Triad for me’ was asking for a lot of murdering done on my behalf, and from what I’d been thinking and what Night implied, just murdering the entire gang wouldn’t fix the issue. A new one would rise to fill the void.

Actually. That was a really good question, and Night was probably the second best person to ask.

"Why are there gangs in the city? Couldn’t you and Arachne just, you know…" Find and murder them all, the same way she’d almost killed me?

Night didn’t answer for a long time, almost so long I thought he wasn’t going to answer, that he was going to run out the clock on our short little meeting strolling through the streets of Sanguino.

"People are sadly imperfect." Night finally said. "As you may have noticed, Arachne could exercise total dominion over the city. I could too, and on occasion, have found myself forced to resort to reigns of utter terror to control multiple cities or small countries. I implore you to look around at the world though, and ask yourself - is there any place that is currently doing this? Can you name a single significant faction utterly ruled by a single Immortal who knows and controls all?"

I… huh. No, there wasn’t. Not even in mortal lands, with a level gap large enough that an Immortal could, in theory, try to take over and control, was there a single Immortal ruling in that way.

I mentally reviewed all the places I knew, just to double check.

"Unless there’s one in secret, in hiding… closest I can come up with is Urwa, unless there’s a secret ruler in Kalea hiding in the depths."

Night nodded.

"Exactly. Fundamentally, it does not work. I have seen many try. Most die. No matter how the System empowers us, there is always a crack. A weakness. Poison in a cup, a knife in the dark."

Night would know all about poison in cups and knives in the dark.

"Now picture this city of ours, and imagine. Arachne is watching. The moment you violate a law, she knows. You are instantly punished by an omniscient, unfeeling arbiter, the single Immortal judge, jury, and executioner all. What do you believe would happen?"

That sounded miserable.

"I’d leave the city." I said. I wasn’t going to fool myself by thinking I could fight across so many levels.

"Exactly. The city would die, one way or another. Hence Arachne and the other powerful Immortals not exerting themselves like that. That, and the matter of levels. Say, by some miracle, people found the city peaceful and enjoyable. Arachne restrained herself. What guard would level? What experience could a soldier get? Where would the next generation come from, when all the potential is stifled?"

I digested that thought for some time as we walked.

"Root causes?" I asked, knowing Night would understand. Night used so many words to say anything that one of us had to be conservative with our words.

"Yes. As I have mentioned, none of us exercise total control. Instead, it is left to systems. Systems of governance, of rule, of leadership. I have briefly found myself in command at times, when all has collapsed, and each time I have attempted to lay strong foundations for what comes next. For proper leadership, for systems and rules that I believe have worked, for those that I have consulted with the most learned scholars throughout history to build. I am aware it is not my strength, so I attempt to find those who have it as a strength, and empower them to build and create. This current iteration is one of our more successful ones, and yet we can not simply demand that jobs appear."

Night gave one of his customary pauses as we walked down the road, the ancient vampire still willingly giving way to carts and other people who had the right of way.

"That people have the means to ply their trade, that success will be found. We have found that some vices are better left banned than grudgingly tolerated, that the void and demand for certain indulgences create crime that has a lesser impact on society than openly permitting, or harshly taxing said debauchery. With that said, I have no control over the members of the Senate, nor the House of Blood. Those who find themselves in the hallowed halls of governance are often those with powerful convictions, who believe they are right. Who wish to reshape the world into a better place. On occasion, they are correct, and find ways to improve the lot of all citizens and denizens of Exterreri. On others, they are simply repeating the mistakes of the past, cycling history through an unpleasant era once again. If the mistake is not too large, too catastrophic, if it does not threaten the very fiber of our nation or give the gods cause to smite us down, it is allowed. Permitted. For we are not dictators, no matter what our enemies may portray us as. And it is impossible to tell when an idea has merit, when it will properly work out for once. I always remember shields."

Night’s comments on shields was a good reminder that I didn’t have a monopoly on non-sequiturs. People were allowed to be stupid, in other words. I couldn’t imagine trying to keep more than one or two people alive from their own bad ideas - mostly Auri as a hatchling, for example - let alone an entire city or country.

"Hence the Three Dragon Triad. They fill the niche, the demand. They create friction, opportunities for all involved to level. I do not like it. I wish people were more perfect, that darker natures wouldn’t develop tastes of the sort that the Triad can fill. Our ears are always open. If you can find a permanent solution, I suggest you take it. If you would like me to relieve the pressure without killing them all, I can. Simply speak the words, but again. I would suggest moving, if such an action is feasible in your mind. I can easily get you in the good graces of those who would pay handsomely for your services, who are of the kind and understanding sort. If you would prefer to be working at scale, I can recommend a dozen locations where you would be able to do great justice, where you would thrive and level. A portion of your current issue is location, although I shall admit to admiring the spirit in which you attempt to serve the least fortunate members of society. As for the Triad. It is worth letting those better suited, who would benefit, tackle the case. Yes, the Triad themselves will level in the process, but at the end of the day, when calamity comes to visit, as it always has, the levels and experience shall be useful. Even if not in their lifetime, then their successors. Why, you recall Sentinel Acquisition? He came from similar stock in Ariminum."

Ugh. I didn’t like it at all, but it sounded like Night and Arachne had given it a lot of thought. Time to change direction.

"What about, I dunno, setting Auri up with a bakery or a job burning Ash?" This sounded a lot simpler than the fundamentals of gang activity… which I suppose if Night had a solution to, he would’ve executed already.

Glad I wasn’t keeping tabs on the entirety of an empire. Sounded painful. I’d stick to my corner, and do what I could for people.

Night smiled.

"Ah. That is far easier to arrange, if that is her wish."

"Brpt." The tiniest little squeak came from Auri, still perched on my shoulder.

"She’d like that quite a lot, yes." I translated for Night, just in case he wasn’t fluent in brrrpt.

Frankly, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t.

"Most excellent. Iona had mentioned your goal of territorial conquest, I can subtly assist with that if you wish. Once again, I will point to the fantastic leveling opportunity presented to all of you if you should decline, along with properly engaging in the spirit and letter of the law."

Yeah, Iona had mentioned something about that. Let’s not ask Night to start committing crimes on our behalf… no matter how exempt he may be from them. Felt like bad juju.

"On an easier note, I have a connection with the architect Vitruvius, and I could bypass his normal 7-year queue if you would like him to design your new home after your success. I have another with Linus, a top [Accountant], who’ll be invaluable in managing your finances if you so choose. I can recommend a round dozen other professionals, [Builders] and the like, and assist with your connection to them. Simply ask." Night said.

I nodded.

"Thank you. For your favor, but most of all, for still being alive. For being here. For telling me about my family, and what happened. It… I just don’t have the proper words." I was tearing up again.

Night smiled.

"The same to you. What a joyous day it is, that one of my own has returned from the grave. Now. I believe we are here. Never fear, keep in mind that during the meeting I am on your side."

With those ominous words, we entered Stormwatch Castle.

Chapter 29 - A Report Out Of Time

Night was wearing a simple outfit, yet was clearly a known commodity. Guards snapped to attention as he approached, and he slowly paced the halls as if they were his own home.

For all I knew, it had been his home, once upon a time.

I also noticed he’d ‘fixed’ his level, and was displaying as a [Warrior - 2988]. That probably helped us get through most obstacles. Maybe that’s why the guards were snapping to, instead of them knowing him? Asking anyone if they had known Night hadn’t paid off…

Auri was surprisingly tame and calm, not brrpting at people or trying to show off.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 400 -> 415]

I cast that sucker on Night until it stopped giving me levels. Why not, right?

We soon arrived at an imposing set of doors, three members of the Bloodsworn Order in full plate armor standing before it, hands on their weapons. Magical runes glowed red, and the leading member of the Order held their hand up.

"Halt." He ordered.

[Warrior - 1003]. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Bloodsworn Order yet, but the fact that he was willing to tell Night to stop gave them some marks in my books. Brave, but potentially suicidally stupid. Jury was still out on which it was.

Night politely stopped, and tilted his head.

"Menelaus. Command and the rest are awaiting us. Indeed, I bring the very subject of their meeting to them. If you would kindly do the honors?" Night asked in High Elvish.

Didn’t surprise me that he knew the guy’s name. Wouldn’t surprise me if he knew literally every single vampire in existence.

Although… it kind of would. I’d asked around a bunch for Night, and nobody seemed to know anything.

Focus.

He quickly peeked into the room. He exited a moment later and nodded to Night.

Night gestured for me to take the lead. I straightened my back, held my head high, and walked into the room like I owned it. Auri puffed up her chest and held her beak high, not wanting to be shown up or cowed in the slightest.

I was immediately smacked by the sheer grandeur of the place. The room itself was so-so, nothing terribly special. Probably the throne room of Stormwatch Castle back in the day. Glowing glyphs covered the walls, written in a runic language I was unfamiliar with.

No, it was the rest of it.

Two rows of a dozen powerful [Warriors], [Rangers] and [Mages] formed an aisle, only a few of them not vampires. Most notable was a clear gnome-vampire, the tiny [Mage] bearing distinct fangs, pale skin and red eyes. Same one that had done the runes for Fenrir, now that I thought about it. There was a troll, and no amount of ceremonial armor could stop him looking ugly as sin. Each one was in full ceremonial armor - the capes were a dead giveaway - in gear that looked similar to the Rangers. They were all sitting on uniform curule seats, well-padded. A pair of attendants or retainers stood behind each one. Each one had two symbols on their chest - a bat-vampire hybrid that each one had in black and red, and a personal symbol.

The Sentinels.

Their levels were all over the place, from a level 420 sitting near the front - hey, everyone had to start somewhere - all the way to Arachne and Night’s levels. The bulk of the Sentinels were hovering around level 1000, give or take 200 levels.

I remember someone mentioning the last big Immortal war had been 800 years ago. It made me wonder - were all the vampires clustered around level 1000 the ‘new crop’? Did the few significantly over that mark survive the last war? Did the level imply that they could get a mortal close to level 1000 before needing to turn them? Or did I have it in the wrong order, was it people who could get that high in a mortal lifespan those considered for turning?

A chicken and egg problem that I’d work out some other day.

Behind them, near the edges of the room, leaning against the walls, were another few dozen vampires, looking interested but clearly not in the same tier as the Sentinels themselves, no matter that their levels indicated no difference between them. Again, mostly vampires clustered around level 1000, a few non-vampires mixed in.

Lastly, there was the end of the aisle. Arachne sat on a throne, in what I had to imagine was her full ceremonial outfit - armor just like the Rangers, but all in black, trimmed with red - and above her were eight people seated in a semicircle, four mortal, four vampires.

I strode forward with confidence, shrugging off the assembled weight of everyone’s gaze, of their full attention. I was Sentinel Dawn. I belonged here.

Somewhat. For a given definition.

My confidence flagged, but like he knew it would, Night was there, behind me, silently providing the support I needed. Auri’s little flame on my shoulder was a comfort, a reminder that she was with me through thick and thin.

The room was almost completely silent as we passed by Sentinel after Sentinel, ending up in front of Arachne and what I imagined was Ranger Command. I really hoped these weren’t how meetings were normally conducted, it looked miserable.

"Welcome. Thank you all for attending on such short notice." Arachne began. "This is a special opportunity for all present, which is why I have invoked my authority as Prima to pull in Sentinels currently off rotation, Shadow, War, and Core alike, and requested full ceremonial gear. The reason for this will be made clear soon."

Huh. I spun a quick [Parallel Thought] off to think about that, and really consider it. Arachne had enough pull to make an important event, the sort of event that people could level in. Given the right conditions. It made sense - if this was an important event, the sort of event people could level at simply by participating, pulling out all the stops added weight. Gravitas. Improved the experience, the levels. Full ceremonial outfits in the throne room beat a bunch of Sentinels loafing on the sofa in a secret meeting room. Clever!

"The history of the Sentinel and Ranger organization is a storied one, reaching back nearly to the dawn of time. We have Night to thank for this. Time and time again, from the ashes of ruination and calamity he has, like the glorious phoenix sitting on Elaine’s shoulder, brought back and restored the profession of Sentinel and Ranger. Each time weight has been added to the organization. Each time the System recalls that we are Sentinels, and properly dispenses its blessings upon us, magnified by the weight of history." Arachne declaimed, pronouncing the truth to all in the room.

I could tell Auri was doing her utter best not to completely flip out, restraining herself to ‘only’ puffing out her chest, filled with a few flaming medals. I swear she didn’t have that many last time I’d checked.

I held my head up high and proud, feeling the increasing weight of Arachne’s words and the whole situation.

"I will now yield the floor to Night, who has shepherded us since the dawn of time." Arachne concluded.

Night stepped forward, and had a trick to project his voice, to let everyone hear him without shouting - or needing a Skill. Just pure skill!

"Welcome, one and all, friends, Sentinels, and those who help our most noble protectors fulfill their sacred duty." He said. "Arachne is not exaggerating when she described the age of the Sentinel organization. Let me walk you all down memory lane, to the time of the famed Empire of Remus, the first nation that ever conquered the world, the first to fall, the hallowed name that reverberates to this day in myths and legends, the Empire that all others claim succession to, and draw inspiration from. Now, I would like to take you back even further, to when the grand Empire was a mere Republic, eking out a meager existence in the world, besieged by foes and monsters on all sides. Indeed, the language of the time was still pure Creation, untainted by the grand melding of cultures that came together to form Remus."

Night paused a moment, letting all take in the scene he was setting. He began to slowly pace up and down the aisle, looking each Sentinel in the eye before slowly stepping on. A little thread of Arachne’s wrapped around my ankle, letting me know to stay in place.

I was impressed with the discipline shown. No shouting, no yelling, no interruptions. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that… but then again, the Sentinels from my time knew when we had to shut up and look good or listen, and I suppose to them, this was one of those moments.

Night described a good amount of Remus as it was then. Formorians. Humans as the only known elvenoids. The typical levels, and the unknown low experience zone. Mighty flocks of dinosaurs that ruled the sky, that had humanity scurrying for shelter.

"Then along came a girl. Yes, this very one right here, named Elaine, just Elaine. Why would someone name a child that? Who would condemn her to such a fate, such a word? Is that not restricting her into a predetermined life?" Night gave another pause, and in an unusually cruel twist, changed the subject.

6,000 skills, and dramatic storytelling clearly had made the list at some point. I was hooked, and it was about me!

"Ranger at 14. 14. Even in that time, it was an accomplishment, and most of you will be shocked to learn at the levels of discrimination Remus had at the time towards Elaine, for the simple crime of being born a woman. Yes, as vaunted as Remus now is in our histories and legends, they too were made of mortal men and women, people with flaws and misunderstandings nearly as great as those we see today. At the tender age of 18, Elaine earned herself a new title."

Night paused a moment. Everyone knew what was going to happen, the first word of what he was going to say.

"Sentinel Dawn. The first time the title was put into use, the original, Dawn was a forerunner for many things that you now experience and take for granted today, things that would be good to learn another time." Night paused a bit, doing a full walk up and down the aisle.

[The World Around Me] let me see behind myself, see that everyone inside the range was thoroughly entranced. No secret games of rock-paper-scissors under the table, no tiny card games used to pass a boring meeting.

"The detail is less relevant to this discussion than others, but back then, we declared a Sentinel to be missing in action after disappearing for a full decade. I have a private, secondary system used to mark when a Sentinel disappears under conditions that, even after a decade, I believe they may return one day. Very few of your elders have ever been graced with such a mark. When a Sentinel is sent on a mission, almost without exception, it is dangerous. It threatens the very fabric of the nation. We do not deploy lightly, touching once again upon the weight that Arachne spoke of."

Night paused again, but it was a short pause. A quick one. Everything in his last sentence was a recap of the day to day lives of every person present.

"Each Sentinel has a storied history. Each Sentinel can boast of thousands of lives saved, of monsters contained or slain, of nations saved, gods defied, and epic tales that would make a bard weep. I shall not bore you with all of Sentinel Dawn’s exploits, save for one. A single exploit that has reverberated through history, that each and every single one of you standing here today are alive because of."

That refocused everyone’s stares on me, and I got a round muttering from the otherwise perfectly-disciplined Sentinels.

"Impossible." One breathed.

"What?" Another one gasped.

A third one was wiggling their fingers in calculation, their eyes widening as they came to some realization or another.

I could feel the tension in the air ratcheting up as Night left them all to stew on that, and I had to wonder what he was specifically crediting me with.

The low experience zone? I’d simply been the first to deliver the news. If it wasn’t me, it would’ve been someone else.

The end of the Formorian War? I’d been there, but again, I think Night was giving me too much credit.

Dwarves? Hunting had also been there.

Twisting Augustus’s arm? From what I’d gathered, there’d already been a significant movement in that direction… but maybe…? I shouldn’t sell myself short.

Lun’Kat? Unless something wild had happened, I didn’t see how everyone today was alive because of it.

Ah.

Wait, yes. That was it.

"Sentinel Dawn is the original author of the Medical Manuscripts, the foremost resource on medicine and the elvenoid condition on Pallos. It is no exaggeration to say that she founded medicine in its current state, and with a singular exception in this room, each and every one of you have required the tender care of [Healers] in your lifetime, their knowledge and power directly traceable to Dawn’s contributions to the field."

"Elaine. Healer. The title of the profession is no accident, nor is the name of the oath that many have taken since she first spoke it. In many ways her legacy could be considered comparable to that of Remus, and inarguably exceeds it in the minds of the common folk who care not for ancient empires, but call out her name in times of sickness and danger."

Even the Commanders looked like they didn’t believe him. Also, unrelated, Night’s statement earlier implied a Sentinel had managed to go their entire life without needing healing? I was incredibly impressed.

"Now, we will get to the final segment of the story, the last piece of the puzzle that you all are missing before this will make sense. In the twilight of the Republic of Remus, Sentinels were far more militant than we are now. After all, we were beset on all sides. Monsters needed slaying, and the solution of the day was to find the best way to murder the threat. It was a more primitive era. Dawn was one of the earlier iterations into trying less combat-focused Classers, to experiment and see if a dedicated healer could work as a Sentinel. As you all know, today we have the Moonlight Medics that we dispatch to major areas of concern, that fill a similar role. They did not exist then. More critically, however, we lacked [Thinkers]. Top to bottom, in the entire organization, we did not have a single one, nor am I even sure if we examined every citizen in Remus that we would find a single one! [Philosopher] was the closest Remus had, and as such, we had no warning to the folly that was about to occur. Sentinel Dawn. Please report your mission, in the ancient style in which you were trained."

I saluted, fist over heart, and bowed my head slightly, glad for Night’s subtle encouragement to fall back on my normal training, and not to change anything.

"Is Creation an acceptable language to all present?" I asked, mentally cursing how Night’s manner of speaking was infecting my language… and thoughts!

One of the vampires at the table above Arachne spoke up.

"I will translate for those not fluent in the Vampire’s Tongue." He said.

"Mission was an unusual one." I began. "Aren’t they always?"

No reaction. Tough crowd, it wasn’t like home.

The thought briefly made my heart fall, but I shoved it away. This was the time to be professional.

"One of our Commanders, a Commander Julius, had gone missing, along with his entire escort. No traces or evidence of what had removed him could be found, and he vanished just outside the capital city of Ariminum. Eventually, we determined that he’d been taken by the fae, and we came to the decision to attempt a rescue. I entered the fae realm with as many precautions as possible, along with a few others. The fae realm was… bizarre. Let me explain."

A large part of reporting in, of explaining everything that had been done on a mission was to share experience and knowledge, to warn others of pitfalls and traps. An experience like mine, a trip like mine? The knowledge was priceless.

I detailed the strange dual/triple nature of both the realm and the fae, how the clover had given me sight. How the crown of holly had bailed us out of a tricky spot, but arguably had given the fae a chance to turn the tables on us. How I’d worded my request, and how it had been twisted.

How Amber had ignored so many precautions, paid a terrible price, but benefited in return. How she’d returned with magic that not even the System could perform.

"... in the end, we emerged somewhere in the forests in the southern portion of Rolland. Unless things have gotten really weird since we left - and I’m not discounting someone having shifted continents or rearranged seas in the interval - we returned fairly far from the ring that we entered. To say we were lost was an understatement. If it wasn’t for the System notification telling us we were in Pallos, we wouldn’t know if we were even in the same realm. The fae pulled an additional prank on us, dumping us in the depths of a spider’s lair. By myself, I wouldn’t have had too many issues, but Commander Julius might’ve struggled to escape, to say nothing of Amber, the trader girl who’d come along."

I detailed the fight, Artemis’s impromptu shelter, and the whole nine yards. I touched lightly on Amber’s secrets and what she’d gotten from the fae, enough for the broad strokes, but her secrets were hers to keep. That, and I didn’t really feel like I belonged here. Sure, Night was standing right there, but I’d never met or known any of these people before, or even known about them until recently.

If - IF - I joined this group, I’d need time to build up anything close to the same level of trust and understanding I had with the Sentinels. Heck, I was still debating if I even wanted to join! Back to the report.

"Then we reached a road, and figured it was better than roughing it. We followed it, and I suspect Amber’s lucky coin started to bend events in our favor. We encountered a grievously injured [Paladin] with a blessing to speak any language, and she was able to help us find our feet. We traveled together to Lyon, encountering a minor band of Vorlers."

I went into great technical detail about the fight, figuring it was an area that I could get guidance on.

"Our whole lives had just been upended, overturned. Remus didn’t exist. We split up to forge our own paths, taking the actions we felt would be best for our futures. Amber continues to travel around, building her merchant empire. Artemis and Commander Julius became engaged, and figured Lyon was as good a spot as any to start settling down. They started to work for the Hunter’s Guild, and last I heard, were doing fantastically well at it. It’s extremely similar to the work Rangers did, with a little more emphasis on clean kills that preserve material, and less on ‘just get it dead by any means possible,’ but they’re thriving. I’ve sent them letters recently that I’m here, by the way. Iona, the [Paladin], was heading to the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. I wanted to know what the world looked like. I wanted to research, if possible, what happened to Remus. To me, it wasn’t the ancient Ur-empire, it was home."

I paused for the inevitable question that never came. Awkwardly, I continued.

"I managed to gain admittance on a combat scholarship. After all, I was trained by the elite of Remus, forged in a deadly war. The competition was fairly weak, and I crushed my way through the event."

I got a couple of grins at that.

"I’m going to mostly skip the events at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, simply going to the end where I graduated with multiple tracks, and got hints that Exterreri could be home to Night. Given the similarities in organization, the founding mythos of the nation, and superficial cultural similarities, we decided to try and see if we could find Night. He’s always been a survivor, and he was the only person I imagined who could’ve made it to the present day. We came, and having no true leads, I started to fumble around. Asking people if they knew Night or any really old vampires, poking around Ranger HQ…"

I was getting various looks of barely-contained mirth or utter disbelief from the Sentinels and their support. One of the people leaning on the walls in the back had to bite on their sleeve to keep from laughing, just barely maintaining the decorum of the event.

"I’d noted how many tunnels were around thanks to one of my skills, and decided to go exploring. That was too much for Sentinel Arachne, who’d been aware of me the entire time. I have quite a few thoughts as to her process, but I’ll leave that part of the tale to her."

I finished my report, but nobody moved. Auri’s claws suddenly dug into my shoulder as her beak lifted even higher.

We’d just gotten a bunch of levels! I would look at them later, but Night tensed behind me. I checked his level.

[Warrior - 2990]

Chapter 30 - Progress Resumed

"Questions." Arachne declared, and the floor was open. Black Sentinel badges had the bat’s eyes burning red, and Arachne’s threads twitched.

"Sentinel Invincible." The troll stood up and rumbled. With a name like that, he was just asking for it. Then again… troll, famously difficult to kill without direct sunlight, and Exterreri had a grudge against the daystar.

It was a great title until it wasn’t.

"The timeline of events suggest that you predate Vorlers, and grew up without their scourge. Why were you so confident that your healing could handle their venom?"

I thought about his question a moment before answering.

"I had no reason to believe their venom was anything special, and I’m Oathbound. As Night alluded to, not only am I Oathbound, I’m the originator of the [Healer’s Oath]. I’ve survived a glancing blow from a level 3400 Spore Guardian. Returning to Pallos from the fae realm, my [Oath] immediately capped out, and I’m currently sitting on 1.5 million points of magic power. I didn’t know scorpion venom sac capacity at the time, but it couldn’t be that large. I believed I could brute-force any venomous injections."

I thought about expanding to how I’d been ignorant returning to Pallos, and how I simply hadn’t known that Vorler poison was especially potent and nasty. At the same time… it didn’t matter, I had the ability to brute force it either way.

The troll gave a brisk nod and sat back down.

Arachne acknowledged one of the people leaning in the back of the room, a high-level [Mage - 1889].

"Off rotation. War Sentinel Tyrannus when I’m on. Why did you choose to join the fae dance, when you had the chance to wait for Julius to leave?"

"At the time, I thought…"

On and on the questions went, strangely formal. Interestingly, the occasional question was directed to Auri, who always spent an uncharacteristic moment pondering the question before giving a single brrrpt of response, leaving it up to me to translate for her.

Crafty bird. I knew she could make her answers in flaming letters - she was making herself look more wise and worldly than she was. I let her have her fun. Why not?

I was more fascinated by the various Sentinel titles, levels, and implications.

Sentinel Skater. The woman I’d seen skating on Ice rails high above Sanguino when I first arrived - and who I recognized from the fresco!

Shadow Sentinel Terminus loomed. Sentinel Spark kept fidgeting. I felt like I understood him. Sentinel Devour was the one with a cloak made out of feathers. War Sentinel Depths looked enthralled with the proceedings, the woman’s eyes boring into whoever was speaking at the time. Sentinel Mirror kept running her thumb over a glass vial at her hip. War Sentinel Calm I suspected had one of those fake names - nobody was lauded for being calm, not with a War Sentinel title.

Sentinel Archmage was the gnome. Vampire? What was the right name when a gnome got turned? Probably vampire… I didn’t call people human vampires. Shadow Sentinel Springsteel was an illusion - not that I was going to call out that I could tell. The ‘real’ one was lurking invisibly in the room, and I suspected Arachne could tell. Shadow Sentinel Shatterpoint seemed to be studying me, taking me apart with her eyes. Shadow Sentinel Malice leaned on a back wall, looking vaguely like a crone out of a story.

And so many more, each one introducing themselves briefly before asking me a question, making me wonder - what did the new titles mean? It just emphasized how out of my depth I was. That no matter Night standing beside me, giving me courage and bolstering me, this was a new organization. A different one.

It was like seeing a famous painting in a different art style. It was both the same, and terribly different.

The last question was asked, and answered. Arachne stood up.

"Sentinel Dawn was lost, and is found again. A Sentinel out of time, out of space, returned once again to the fold. Blessed is this night by the System and gods alike, that Sentinel Dawn has returned from the dead. For now, all information about her, and her return, is under seal. Moonless Night protocol. Thank you all."

I had an awkward, panicked look on my face. I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to be ‘returned to the fold.’ These Sentinels were not the group I had left. Was not the organization, the country, the people, the… well, I couldn’t say anything. There were clear lines of succession, starting from Night, threading through culture, System… but yeah. Point remained.

"Command, Night, Sentinel Dawn. If you would please stay." Arachne asked as the rest of the Sentinels began filing out. A few stopped by, briefly clasping me on my shoulder with a knowing nod and a smile, or offering a few welcome words.

"Welcome back."

"Pleasure to meet you."

The whole thing felt a little awkward. Night placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

The last Sentinel filed out, the doors closed and more runes lit up.

"That was not the ending I had anticipated or been told about." One of the Commanders said. Arachne stood up and saluted them.

"I apologize. Sentinel Dawn was about to outright reject the entire idea and premise, which would’ve shattered the event. I chose a premature ending over trying to force things."

I had been about to reject it all?

Yeah, I had been about to reject it all. Arachne’s ability to cold read people and gather intelligence was fucking terrifying. I suppose she’d just gotten my whole life story out of me, so it was a little easier to tell, but fuck. It was a strong reminder that she had literal thousands of levels on me, and was in her own specialized domain.

"Sentinel Dawn, is this true?" A different Commander asked.

I nodded.

"Yeah, like. Think about it from my perspective for a moment. This morning, I woke up trying to find Night, not knowing if he’s alive or not. And in the span of a single day, I’ve been beaten, tied up, interrogated, dragged around the city, met Night again, had a small party, then was promptly dragged here and was about to be told ‘here’s your new job!’ Don’t I get a say in any of this? I’d like a chance to see how things work, to see if I’d like to be a Sentinel again. It’s just… so different."

The Commanders started to bicker a bit, and Night stepped forward.

"The Sentinels of today bear little resemblance to the Sentinels of the past. Indeed, it is no surprise that Sentinel Dawn is having reservations about becoming one of us once again, especially if done in a manner without her buy-in or consent. She is famously prickly, and one of the surest ways to make sure she will not do something is for a person she does not trust to simply decree that she will."

A third Commander snorted.

"How did that work with military discipline?" She asked in a mocking tone.

"Because I trusted those giving me orders. I knew them. I knew the culture, the people, the country, everything." I snapped back.

"I would ask you all to consider yourselves in Dawn’s sandals, please." Night said, starting to pace back and forth. "You find yourselves lost. Exterreri is no more. A new nation comes forth and claims that you are naturally one of them, and to report to work the next day. What is your reaction?"

I was no good at this people thing, but I could see Night’s words hit home with at least three of them.

Arachne turned and studied me more.

"Fool that I am." She half-whispered to herself, then brightened up and clapped.

"Well! Sentinel Dawn, know that whatever else happens, you’ve earned the right to the title, and I’ll make sure you’re able to use it if you’d like to. You’ll confuse people, but the Rangers won’t be knocking down your door anytime soon over it. With all that said, I’d love to sit and chat, and alleviate your concerns and worries. I trust you’re at least open to the idea, to being persuaded to come and rejoin?"

Auri gave me a tiny little nod, letting me know she was fine with the idea, and I went deep into thought on the subject.

Fundamentally, Arachne wanted to invite me to a job. A dangerous job, one with risks, but it wasn’t like I was being forced to do anything, and it was abundantly clear I had the ability to say no, and simply walk away.

I felt like it was more than a little weird at how badly they wanted me back in. I’d more expect them to say ‘nope, too bad, completely different everything, if you’d like to join the Sentinels please start from square one and work your way back up the ladder.’

I should figure that out.

There was no harm in hearing her out, then heading back to the inn and talking it all over with Iona.

Hang on - I should make sure that this wasn’t a limited time offer.

"I can talk it over with Iona, right? I don’t need to make a decision now?"

Arachne shook her head.

"Take as long as you’d like. On that note."

She turned back to Command and saluted.

"I believe we’re all done here? Sentinel Dawn will be presented at a later time for evaluation should she choose to return."

There was a bunch of grumbling, some arguing, but eventually they all left, and the four of us left behind them.

Arachne seized my hands in a gentle and friendly way.

"It’s late, and I haven’t been thinking properly. I apologize. You’ve had an incredibly difficult and stressful day. Why don’t you have a good sleep, then come by whenever you feel ready and comfortable with whoever you’d like, and we’ll talk about it more at your leisure?"

That all sounded like a fine idea.

"Brrrpt!" Auri was reading my mind, and officiously agreed with Arachne’s proposal on my behalf.

"Thanks, yeah, I think I’ll do that. It’s been… one heck of a day." I surmised. Probably understating it a hair.

Auri nuzzled my cheek. Good bird.

Night nodded.

"Indeed, it has been quite the eventful day for all of us. Dawn, let me tell you how we can meet tomorrow, so I may deliver on the promises made today."

Night gave me directions to a dye shop, along with instructions on how to be allowed into one of the rooms, and where the passage was located. Seemed elaborate, but I wasn’t the ancient Immortal here, and he’d clearly been alright with living in semi-public in Remus. Clearly, something had changed over the years.

We left, and Arachne had a litter waiting for me, manned by four burly, shirtless men.

"If you’d like. They’ve got skills for it. Tragically, the office for handling fliers is currently closed, otherwise I’d be giving you a permit to fly over and through the city."

"Thank you."

I decided to take the late night taxi. Why not? I’d never experienced being carried in a litter, and anyone Arachne was tapping had to be trustworthy enough. She could see everything they did, I didn’t doubt I was getting the absolute best… that still carted people around at midnight.

The ride was gloriously smooth, the four people somehow carrying me without a single bump, slipping and sliding through crowds without pause. I swear the litter stretched at one point to keep everything moving smoothly.

[Parallel Thoughts] let me do multiple things at once, and while I was being carried around and paying attention to that, I was also going over my level up notifications!

The easiest ones to the more complicated ones.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 415->417]

Nothing special there. The skill was moderately hard to level up, and I’d hit all the Sentinels just now. Maybe I should’ve hit them all a second or third time, tried to see how many levels I could get.

At the same time, the skill was impressing me less and less as time went on. Well - to be fair, it was impressing me less the more I hung out with Iona. Why be content with a simple level and archetype display when I had the full details of every last thing they could do a single question away?

At the same time, I wasn’t always near Iona. It bore more thinking.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 177->178]

I might’ve missed a good chance to abuse [Parallel Thoughts] for all the levels. Damn. Live and learn. At the same time, I don’t think three thought processes going off to dreamland was exactly the best idea during a large ceremony. Ah well.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 80->81]

Slow but steady. Had to wonder just how crazy the skill was going to end up. Would I be able to see everything going on in a city at once like Arachne could?

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 508 -> 514]

Yes! FUCKING FINALLY! At long last, I got Auri over the 512 barrier! We were now the same level!

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 513->514 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

YES! I let the normally suppressed notifications fly.

[*ding!* [Celestial Affinity] leveled up! 513 -> 514]

[*ding!* [Dance with the Heavens] leveled up! 513 -> 514]

[*ding!* [Wheel of Sun and Moon] leveled up! 513 -> 514]

[*ding!* [Oath of Elaine to Lyra] leveled up! 513 -> 514]

[*ding!* [Sentinel’s Superiority] leveled up! 513 -> 514]

I was back in action! [The Dawn Sentinel] could level again!

And! That wasn’t all! I’d spent literal years carrying Auri’s level up to mine, now she could help me level. Companion-related leveling was a little tricky to explain, and it even shifted once our levels matched.

There were quite a few different theories to experience and classes. I personally liked the ‘lens’ theory, even though the ‘worthy experience’ theory was just as sound… and that was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to different schools of thought on experience.

The lens theory stated that all activities gained experience, no matter what they were. Sneezing gained a little bit of experience. Killing monsters triple my level was a lot of experience.

All of that experience was then ‘filtered’ through the lens of the classes, hence the name. Activities that closely matched the class kept all the experience, or even magnified it. Activities that didn’t match the class - like chopping wood for my [Butterfly Mystic] class - didn’t give much, or anything.

Companion bonds put strange twists on things.

Whenever Auri got experience, it was split after the lensing portion. Then half of it went to her classes as normal, and the other half was sent to me. Crucially, the experience wasn’t re-lensed… which, honestly, was a pretty good argument for the ‘worthy experience’ theory.

The experience was then evenly split among my three classes.

Putting some random numbers on it - nobody had quite been able to quantify experience yet, although some [Researchers] at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft were hard at work on it - if Auri baked a cake with her flames and it was worth 100 experience, she might only get 60 experience after the lensing effect. Her class did like her using and manipulating flames, and she was using them to change things… but it wasn’t like she was burning a forest to the ground or anything.

Out of that 60 experience, we’d split it half and half. 30 would go to Auri, and 30 would come to me. Out of that 30, I’d get 10 experience to each of my classes.

Auri burning things to the ground would make me a better reader. Magic was fucking wild. Only on Pallos was such logic perfectly natural.

The natural effect would be that my 2nd and 3rd class would get a nice, solid helping hand up, and my medical efforts in the world would let Auri burn things better. Teamwork. Companionship.

There was no ‘bounce’ effect on experience, and that was easy enough to check for. What that meant was none of my experience that Auri gave me would go back to her. It was a single split.

So many exciting plans for the future! I wondered what Auri was going to take as her third class? A good conversation to have when we didn’t have a million listening ears.

Almost literally. Auri seemed to know as well, and didn’t bring it up.

Or was just too distracted by everything else! She’d obviously noticed during the Sentinel meeting, and that was almost a whole hour ago that she’d been told. Forever in bird-land.

The porters were great tour guides as well, pointing out all sorts of interesting things in the thriving Exterreri nightlife - possibly a significant source of Auri’s distraction.

Honestly, it was vampire heaven and coated in Ash. I don’t know why I expected anything other than an amazing nightlife.

"Theater of Spectacles can’t be beat." The dude I mentally dubbed ‘tour guide’ said, pointing out the place in question. "The Dark Haven. Best place to grab a pint of whatever your favorite drink is, or to be the drink. Pits. Excellent fights, you can see whatever your heart fancies. To the death? Got those. Bloodless? Got those. Slaying monsters? You bet. Your Money Or Your Life. The owner’s got the best anti-cheating skills in the nation. Feel free to gamble, knowing some [Card Shark] isn’t going to cheat you."

Huh. I wondered how that would fare against my perception skill, and if I could level it up there.

"Brrrpt?" Auri asked.

"Wait, you haven’t gone to see them yet?" I asked her. I thought it would be the first thing she’d do with Atlas!

I translated.

"Auri’s interested in seeing the Ash-burning furnaces." I suggested.

The guide nodded, and the four of them turned in perfect unison. I didn’t quite want to go on a detour, but that was the thing about bonds, about companions. Sometimes, it wasn’t about me. Auri had been a champion the whole day, and I’d worried her sick. She deserved a little fun.

We made it to one of the four great furnaces, standing just outside a bright red line. It was cool here, a contrast to the raging flames barely contained in a large cast iron building. A whole log was being fed by a dozen individuals into the flames, and that seemed terribly inefficient to me. Wouldn’t it be better, easier to chop up the log then throw the pieces in?

Thick billows of Ash plumed from the top of the furnace, spiraling up into the air in a clearly skill-influenced way, joining the rest of the ashen cloud above in the skies.

The flames reflected in Auri’s eyes as she gazed upon the most beautiful display of industrialized pyromancy we’d ever seen.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt." She trilled in appreciation.

"It is amazing." I agreed with her. I wasn’t a [Pyromancer] anymore… but I’d be lying if I said the flames didn’t speak to me at all.

I waved my hand over the red line, not feeling any difference.

Ah. Right. Immunity to fire.

We let Auri gaze upon the flames for a bit, until I reluctantly gave the order to keep going back to the inn.

It was late, and only the most die-hard patrons were still up, drunk as a skunk. I slunk up with Auri to our room.

"Elaine! You’re back! How’d it go?" Iona asked. My eyes snapped to a little table we had.

"It was fine. Is that…?" I asked, not daring to believe.

Iona beamed.

"Yup! Figured my Sentinelosaurus was having a hard day. Managed to track one down, literally the last one they had in stock."

I gave Iona the biggest hug I could. Somehow, literal thousands of miles away from where they were grown, she’d managed to track down a single mango.

"Goddesses above, I love you so much." I told her. Then since her love language involved physical touch, I kissed her deeply.

Then I sat, and slowly savored the mango as I recapped my crazy day for Iona. Piece by piece I cut the mango up, sharing half with my gluttonous little friend. Sliver by sliver I placed each slice onto my tongue, letting it melt in an explosion of divine, sugary flavor.

I carefully saved the seed, trying to figure out the best way to preserve it, to let it start growing. The start of my very own orchard. I wanted to give it some profound blessing, like from this seed ten thousand more shall grow or something suitably grandiose, fitting for the forerunner.

"What’s the plan?" Iona asked as I finished telling her about the Sentinel meeting, still basking in the afterglow of the rare mango.

"Well, Arachne brought up enough good points that I think it’s worth hearing her out. After morning sparring, let’s go visit her together?"

Iona nodded.

"Yeah, seems entirely reasonable."

Chapter 31 - Job Offer

Auri and I never did get a solid chance to talk about her plans. I promised myself that we’d talk before the day was done.

We sat down to another lunch, the entire Eventide Eclipse, along with just Night and Arachne.

Iona and Arachne made various small talk while Fenrir took a few obligatory bites of meat. He then curled up to sleep off the large meal he’d had yesterday. Auri’s curse of gluttony came into full effect and she went utterly hog-wild on the food.

I was aware that we were going to have a big conversation, so I kept myself neat and clean, using my best table manners to make sure I didn’t drop sauce on myself or ended up with jam on my face.

Iona masterfully steered the conversation to more and more pertinent topics. Bless her heart, I’d been too tired yesterday but I was going to make tonight Special for her.

"Do you know anything about the [Playwright] of the latest theater play?" She asked Arachne.

Arachne hmmmed and tapped her lips.

"You’ll have to be a little more specific than that, given how many plays there are. Right now there’s three boys reenacting the siege of Cosa… poorly… in their own style. Which is technically the latest theater play to hit Sanguino, but I doubt it’s the one you’re asking about. Do you mean the Tale of Princess Kaguya, the one the two of you went to see?"

I didn’t know if Arachne was being totally open, or subtly reminding us that she knew everything that happened in the city, or if there were some layers to the game of subtext that generally went blissfully over my head but Iona caught, or what. It was a little spooky.

"That one! Yeah!" Iona said, entirely unfazed. Again… possible subtext I was missing.

"All I know is that it came a few months ago from Nippon-Koku. There are literal hundreds of new items coming to Sanguino, and tens of thousands of old ones. I sadly lack the ability to track down and investigate everything; simply staying on top of what’s going on in the city is difficult enough. Why, is there a pressing reason that it should be high priority?"

"It’s from my world." I briefly explained. "It makes me think that someone else has come over, and call me curious. I’d like to meet other people from Earth."

Arachne nodded.

"That is perfectly understandable, and something I’ll be discussing with the others if we’d like to investigate or not. You revolutionized medicine, perhaps they could revolutionize some other field?"

I didn’t think the average person could revolutionize anything… but then again, I’d thought the same thing about myself.

"Yeah, that does sound possible."

"Perhaps you could be the one to search for this mysterious [Playwright], with all the resources of the Rangers and Sentinels at your disposal?" Arachne suggested.

With that, we got into the meat of the conversation.

"The thing that’s bugging me the most about all this." I started the discussion. "Is how badly you seem to want me to become a Sentinel again. It’s just not making sense to me, and makes me feel like I'm missing something big and important. Makes it all feel wrong, somehow. Help me out?"

Instead of directly answering my question, Arachne turned to Iona.

"How would you feel if one of the earliest Valkyries suddenly appeared? What would that mean for your Order?"

Iona chewed the question over - quite literally, as she’d taken a nice bite of stegosaurus - before answering.

"Ah. I see the issue. There’s a legitimacy question." Iona said, and I opened my mouth in outrage, to protest. I was legitimate! We’d all proven it!

She shook her head, reading my mind.

"Not like that. Organizationally. Night’s a big part of the Sentinels, and why it’s got the weight needed to function, to offer the powerful skills and classes it has. The chain isn’t exactly unbroken over the years, yeah?"

Night nodded.

"Indeed. The Sentinels as a group have been shattered countless times, the organization founded nearly anew just as many. Yet, my presence assists in quickly bringing it up to par."

"Right." Iona said. "Now, take your weight. You’re just as much of a Sentinel as anyone else, come out of ancient history. You have a stronger claim to Sentinel than anyone but Night does. What happens to the organization if you declare they’re not the ‘real ones’ and you’re on your own, you’re the last one? That you are the superior Sentinel?"

I gave Iona a confused look.

"I… frankly have no idea. I imagine it’s bad."

Arachne frowned, but made an assenting gesture.

"‘Bad’ is understating it. You could potentially move a lot of the ‘weight’ away, and that could have a devastating impact. Oh, nothing so large and obvious that you’d see right away. This is all going on at a very high level of analysis. I doubt anyone would notice immediately. But over time? Class qualities would go down, class skills would weaken, the general skill around being a Sentinel wouldn’t be as potent. Honestly, you’ve got us something over a barrel."

Arachne shrugged. "Figure I’d tell you outright, since subtle hints don’t seem to be your forte, and you seem to value honesty and not keeping secrets."

I appreciated that. She was right.

Hey! Wait!

Most subtle things went over my head, but I recognized that as the minor insult it was!

More seriously, was she trying to manipulate me? Well… she was trying to get me round to her way of thinking, so, like, in a way, yes, but was it still manipulation when people were completely open about their motives and explaining clearly what they did?

Eh. If it was, it was acceptable. I’d check with Iona after, she was much better at sniffing out underhanded dealings than I was.

"A more pressing, immediate rationale that I see as cause for concern would be morale." Night stated, leaving a pause for digestion.

Literal as well as figurative for once!

"Go on?" I encouraged him.

"I know you as you are Dawn, ever since you were a scared teenager having freshly arrived at Ranger Academy. You know yourself, and are at times blissfully unaware of how the world perceives you. Let me set the scene for you, as the other Sentinels have just witnessed. They are aware that they are the latest in a long tradition of warriors. They are aware of the tens of thousands of names written upon the wall, and that it is only a matter of time before they join them. Yet, here comes one of the Sentinels of ancient times, a figure out of literal myth and legend, to stand beside them. Their senior, one who has literally shaped history, who strides in with a legendary phoenix perched upon her shoulder. One whose [Oath] and name is so impactful, it has shaped most languages upon the continent."

Well. When Night put it like that, I sounded like quite the badass. I thought they’d look down on me, given my level and tag. There hadn’t been any other [Healers] in the room.

"Yet, you were lost. You too fell victim to a force beyond your control. If it could happen to you, oh, it becomes too easy to imagine it happening to them. Take the silver lining, the good that can come. If you return, reintegrate, take your position as the second-most senior Sentinel, it sends a clear and powerful message. There is a home. We support our own. No Sentinel will be forgotten. These are just three of a hundred, nay, a thousand different messages that are spoken loudly and clearly by your mere presence, your acceptance. It is powerful. It is invigorating. I hope that you can see the sheer value your mere presence brings, and why Arachne and I are so eager for you to officially, formally return to the fold."

Okay, okay, I was buying what Night and Arachne were selling. It had been really weird to me at first how desperate they seemed to get me to sign up to the Sentinels again, no matter how far off I was from the rest of the current ones, but now it made sense. They had strong motives to get me to agree to join, and were letting me know just how strong my position was. Now I didn’t feel like I was being bamboozled in some way.

I was a lot more open to the idea.

"Tell me more about how the Sentinels currently work." I asked, and Night beamed in delight.

Arachne and Night traded a quick look, silently communicating.

"You are the current commander of the Sentinels. While Dawn is one of mine, I will not infringe upon your leadership. I have already done too much." Night said.

I guess… clearly telling us why Arachne was doing the talking?

Threads started to spin in the air, forming pictures and diagrams, making the explanation easier to follow.

"Sentinels, right. Forgive me for starting from the fundamental basics, enough has shifted from your time. We are our own organization in Exterreri, funded by the government. We handle problems that require precise amounts of force, both within and beyond our borders. We’re headquartered here in Sanguino."

Arachne’s threads made a map of Exterreri, showing little red threads striking from Sanguino to all over the country - and occasionally past the borders.

"Problem solving starts at the guard level. Rangers don’t step in unless the guard asks them for help, and Rangers tend to be stationed in cities, one to four teams per city. We’ve got a couple of roving teams, including Team Gale that you encountered, who handle the trickier threats that would otherwise fall between the cracks. One nice benefit is that Rangers get to work closely with guards, and recommend the best of them to come join our ranks. The stability also allows them to have families, allowing us to draw upon a much greater pool of recruits than in your day."

Night was nodding along.

"While not strictly kept, we try to have a mental line between Rangers and Sentinels. Rangers handle mortal problems, and Sentinels are sent for Immortal issues. Now, there’s significant overlap between the two. Rangers who have the perfect counter to a problematic Immortal have free rein to try and tackle it, and occasionally some mortals will be problematic to the extent where Rangers can’t deal with the problem, and we need to send in one of the Sentinel teams. I’ll save my speech about levels, and matching the right person to the right job for another day." Arachne said.

I’d never really been in a position to appreciate how badly Ranger life destroyed any ability to have a home or family life. Only a week or two a year in a fixed spot? Kallisto had gotten lucky, marrying the daughter of a powerful family, one with enough sway to very gently pull a string to get him one of the only permanently stationed jobs, but the rest of the Rangers? Out of luck.

Night jumped in.

"If I may add, the dramatically decreased casualty rate has done wonders for the organization. No more are we replacing Rangers before they can hope to gain any experience. No longer are they scurrying from fire to fire, extinguishing the greatest blazes before moving along. No, with the current structure and order, problems are handled before they can grow to a threatening size. Support networks are in place, ensuring that no team is ever without resources. Replacements are prompt, ensuring that no team is underpowered, and shall not enter into one of the infamous death-spirals of Remus. It is a far better environment in which we now find ourselves."

The whole time Night was talking, Arachne was illustrating. A little group of eight standing on the walls of a city, the population of a city cheering them on. The same group breaking up at the end of the day, going home to their spouse, kids, and pet dinosaur. A big X over a large graveyard, with a mini-Night shaking his finger at me.

It suddenly clicked for me why Night had been practicing puppeteering. A sort of love letter to his wife.

That sounded amazing. I was a little curious about the anti-corruption measures, which was one of the main talking points about why Rangers kept moving around, but all in all it sounded much better than Remus. However, the bulk of the conversation was about Sentinels.

"Sentinels are called upon when the threat is too large, or when we need a single, powerful, covert individual. We’ve also rolled up the Legion’s movers and shakers, turning them Immortal if they wish, so they can serve for eternity."

Arachne’s words were unintentionally chilling, and reframed my desire for Immortality in a different light.

Fundamentally, I didn’t want to die.

At the same time? It was like I had a mental sign going on in my head. Don’t forget, you’re here forever.

Something must’ve shown on my face, and Arachne hurriedly added.

"Naturally, service isn’t mandatory. People can quit and try to find other pursuits in life. Now and then some decide they’re done with it all and go live in a hut in the woods, or a cave in a mountain. We don’t bother them, no matter how dire the situation is. There are certain expectations that people will serve out a given term, but trying to force a Classer to perform is unwise."

Arachne had more little pieces of art to accompany her speech, and there was definitely some bias going on. Two little vampires with cute fangs went to a mountain cave and a forest hut respectively. The one that went to the cave spent tons of time walking around, trying to find prey and staring ‘bored’ at the walls, while the one that went to the forest huddled up in a poor hut, shivering in the rain.

A little biased, a little cruel, but I couldn’t say Arachne was entirely wrong. Someone who was used to civilization, with skills focused and dedicated to fighting and killing, didn’t exactly have the best skillset to live in the wilderness. Granted, I’d been trained how to make-do, but that was always quick and temporary while I tried to get back to civilization. Nothing I wanted to live long term with.

"Enough with the basics. Onto the meat of the topic. Sentinels. Currently, each Sentinel works with their own hand-picked team, within a reasonable budget. We provide all the supplies, but virtually nobody arrives at the level and status required without assistance. We don’t mandate anything about the team, nor are they Sentinels, but we’ll help train and equip them. You will be provided a generous budget on top of your pay to provide for members of your team. It allows Sentinels to patch their own holes in how they operate without any bureaucratic oversight. It has its flaws, yes, but we’ve found the benefits outweigh the flaws. You’d be allowed to pick your own team as well!"

Arachne made a not very subtle image of the entire Eventide Eclipse flying together. I glanced at Iona, who looked interested in the little ‘show’, and Fenrir was practically hypnotized.

"Sentinels are divided into several groups. The first is on-rotation and off-rotation. On-rotation means they can be actively called to any missions or duties that come in. Off-rotation means we almost pretend they don’t exist, unless we’re all going to die, or a harmless chance to level comes along and we’d like to offer them the opportunity. Off-rotation Sentinels are called up maybe once a decade, and it’s almost always optional. Unless, of course, the above mentioned ‘we’re all about to die’, at which point it’s less about having an option, and more that, well, we’re all going to die."

I had a feeling this wasn’t the usual speech, or the knowledge was supposed to enter everyone’s understanding via cultural osmosis.

Oh! Or Arachne was sort of distracted by something else happening in the city that she was tending to at the same time. She had to have a super-powerful, high-level variant of [Parallel Thoughts].

Night chimed in.

"I am currently off-rotation, which is why Arachne is taking the lead on these matters. I am here due to our long history together, to better help reassure you and offer guidance as your mentor, along with the favor you requested of me. If these events were transpiring as I was on rotation, I would be doing the majority of the conversation, and Susan might not even find herself in the same room!"

Susan - Sentinel Arachne - nodded vigorously.

"Oh yeah, I wouldn’t be involved at all. I’d be on a boat in the Bloodmoon Bay, either fishing or swimming."

Yeah, that sounded pretty good.

"Most of us currently do sixteen years on, eight years off, to get everyone a chance to work and interact with everyone else, while also having a nice break, and follow the laws around high level individuals not holding positions of power too long. That’s not including the significant downtime between missions, since the Rangers tend to handle nearly every threat before it becomes large enough to become a problem, and the right Sentinel to the right problem system we have going. Frankly, there’s usually some Sentinels who only do a single mission a year."

Arachne continued her little puppet show, showing a Sentinel lying on a beach, drinking out of a flowery cup. Halfway into her presentation, a little bat appeared on the Sentinel’s chest… who just kept right on drinking.

I knew that wasn’t exactly how it went, but dang if it wasn’t a compelling pitch. Much better than Remus’s ‘you’re here till you die’. Usually violently.

The part about better low-level management of problems resulting in fewer high-level interventions required made sense as well. I’d even seen the long periods of downtime myself in Remus. A few months of being paid well to do whatever I wanted, two weeks of pulling as many people as I could back from the brink of death, repeat. It sounded like that was still the case when ‘active’, never mind the years of true vacation in the middle.

"The second grouping is the subcategory title. We’ve varied over the years, and right now we’ve got three groups. War, Shadow, and Core. The designation is almost purely internal, and Core doesn’t even prepend their title with the designation. They are most similar to the Sentinels you’re familiar with."

Night gently coughed.

"In that respect, I must politely disagree. Dawn is familiar with the different types, even if they were not formalized at the time. Sentinel Destruction and Sentinel Toxic would both be classified as War Sentinels these days, while Acquisition and I would firmly fall under the Shadow classification."

That helped a ton, and Arachne’s explanation clarified the rest of the details.

"Core is what you’re used to. Powerful Classers who can shine in specific situations, off to handle whatever monster or Classer is threatening the peace and prosperity of Exterreri."

Arachne had a little picture of a vampire giving a devastating uppercut to a manticore. The description reminded me of the bulk of the Remus Sentinels - Brawling came first to mind with the punch, along with Hunting, Ocean, Sealing, Magic and Nature. The core Sentinels, so to speak, with the easy job description.

Night felt like he fit in there, but he’d described himself as a Shadow.

"War are the heavy-hitters, those who usually have an entire Legion as their support team. The line of where they’re supporting the Legion, versus the Legion supporting them, is blurry. Often, their skill set isn’t tuned to hitting harder than their level suggests and slaying problems bigger than they are, but instead are tuned to broadening the impact they can have, and hitting lots of people, fast and hard."

Arachne had a little diagram of a bone tyrannosaurus rex stomping along next to proud [Legionaries], the two fighting together.

Night had mentioned Destruction as being a proto-War Sentinel, and I could see it. He was brought in to handle large problems of low to medium level people, not go after the biggest, baddest monster around. He probably could kill the biggest, baddest monster around, but there were better Sentinels for that.

"Shadows are the sneaky ones, the ones that are off-the-books. The ones that don’t regularly attend meetings, that I’ll subtly let know what they need to do. They take care of the things that need to be done, that we don’t necessarily want people to know we’re doing."

Arachne mimed Night slipping into a tent and quickly, cleanly beheading a sleeping figure there. A little gruesome when she could’ve picked planting a letter as a much more innocent use, but hey, she wasn’t trying to shield things from me. We all knew Night was my mentor, we all knew what he did for a living.

I was no stranger to black ops and sneaky Sentinel things. There was a naive part of me, the Healer Elaine part, that protested that assassinations in the dark weren’t good.

I reminded that part of me that patients with gangrenous limbs needed amputation, and just how many people had tried to murder me in my short lifespan. I could absolutely believe that cold pragmatic math dictated that someone knifed in their sleep saved hundreds more.

I wouldn’t - couldn’t - ever give that order, but I wasn’t going to balk at the Sentinels doing it.

"Historically, we’ve experimented with various other titles. Logistical. Support. Defensive. We’ve found that it doesn’t work terribly well, and it splits the ideal and focus of the Sentinels a little too far. We are a military organization. We slay the enemies of Exterreri. We leave disaster and recovery missions to the other organizations dedicated to that task."

That made me feel like something of an odd duck, and it was clearly on my face.

"You would not be the only misplaced Sentinel." Night said. "We have a few other Sentinels who would be considered to be more in the utility segment of the Sentinels, who in the current era would not find themselves among our hallowed ranks, but historical weight permits them to still be in the organization. We do not remove our own, we do not say ‘thank you for your service, but the door is located over there’. This ties back into our desire for you to formally and officially rejoin our ranks."

Who was - oh.

Arachne was one of the other not-direct-combat Sentinels. From what little I’d seen, she was all about knowledge and information, and less about directly fighting. Was also nice to see that I wasn’t being given super special treatment because that also felt weird.

"Alright. I’d be a Core Sentinel then?" I asked.

Arachne looked excited.

"Oooh, I was thinking, if you were alright with it, that I’d love for you to be a Shadow Sentinel. You’re almost the perfect candidate that I’ve theorized about! Loyal to Exterreri, although I’ll accept mere devotion to the Sentinels, come out of nowhere, with minimal traces or connections to the organization that others can divine, powerful, qualified, with strong training and background, and independently wealthy to boot? You’d be perfect! Nobody would figure out you’re one of us, giving us an ideal card hidden in a boot to - why are you all laughing so hard?"

Night had lost his composure halfway through, and started to chuckle. That had set Iona off, who’d gone with a throaty, full-body laugh, and even Auri had gotten out of her food coma to start brrpting with amusement.

Adding insult to injury, as she was rolling on the tabletop, she made a few [Mage Hands] and started clapping at the ‘great show’ Arachne was putting on.

"The lot of you are traitors." I pronounced.

Night regained control of himself.

"I apologize Dawn, but the thought of you acting as a Shadow Sentinel was far too amusing. I would place a large bet on the Shadow designation not standing up until your first mission, and I am certain that it would be completely blown by the end of it."

He turned to Arachne.

"No, dearest love of mine, declaring Elaine to be Shadow Sentinel Dawn would backfire in the most spectacular fashion. Unless you wish to deliberately undermine the public perception of Shadows - which we still deny exist - Sentinel Dawn is one of the singularly worst Sentinels to have as a Shadow. If I may politely suggest, however, Sentinel Dawn would make a fantastic War Sentinel. While she lacks the ability to rapidly eliminate large swathes of enemies, no soldier under her aegis can die while she still has mana. It is less conventional, to be sure, but I believe it neatly leans into her skills in an optimal manner. Any failing in personal power, any issues with assassins is easily handled with her support team, or the Legion’s own guards. The only other aspect is her mana regeneration, which can be further augmented by adding a [Battery] to her team, if that is her desire."

Night knew me. Not as well as Iona did, but ‘your job is to keep thousands of people alive who would otherwise die’ resonated with me. I wasn’t a fan of the ugly implications that the army would be deployed against other armies, other people, but I wasn’t naive enough to believe that they wouldn’t be deployed if I wasn’t there. But as a War Sentinel, I might be able to mitigate some of the harm.

Keep people alive.

Nobody said anything for a minute. Iona broke the silence.

"Is that your final pitch? Or do you have anything else to sweeten the deal?"

Goddesses, I loved Iona. Always looking out for me. I might’ve accepted as-is… except I was so fucking bad at negotiating.

I mean, I wouldn’t have accepted here and now. I wasn’t going to do anything without Iona’s buy-in. I frankly hoped that she’d be part of my life forever, and if she didn’t like it, well. Between the current generation of Sentinels and Iona, I knew who I’d pick in a heartbeat. Wasn’t even a question.

"If we’re having you be in the more utility role as Night mentioned, your third class has an interesting usage I’d like to propose. A second part of the job, a fairly easy one. At the same time, it has the weight needed to offer you a powerful class on your next class up. Might be able to bump you to dark purple or further, while still keeping the aspects you enjoy."

My ears perked up at that. A more powerful version of [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm]? Yes please!

"I propose that, on top of your duties as a War Sentinel, that you become one of our [Loremasters]."

I tilted my head, offering her to continue. Night did instead.

"Over the course of history, we have fought endless powerful beings. Great cities have risen and fallen, towers have been built only to vanish overnight. The most powerful of beasts build nests and establish territory not marked on any map, entirely ignoring the conventions of elvenoids. Our [Loremasters] learn them all. They learn the deep secrets of Exterreri, where cities have been buried, where dragons make their nests, the bindings placed on otherwise-unkillable monsters, and how they can be rebound should some fool unleash them. They must study the ancient treaty between the Wardens and the Kirin, the [Oath] of the last giants, and the hidden redoubts of the vampires. When Immortals are no longer content to live their lives, when they choose to unsheathe their blades at each other once again, these secrets must be preserved and remembered, to help avoid the very worst. As the pieces fall, it is incumbent upon the [Loremaster] to mark the forbidden places, to steer nascent civilization away from unleashing horrors that would wipe them out. I can see why Arachne believes you are perfect for the job. A class dedicated to knowledge and learning, combined with Immortality and being exceptionally difficult to kill for your level, your odds of surviving an Immortal war would be excellent were it not for your [Oath] to heal. Regardless, you are a strong choice to take on the mantle of [Loremaster], and I personally recommend it."

That had started off sounding super cool, but Night had a way of adding gravitas, of making it clear what the stakes were and how important the job was.

I was fascinated that he was willing to mention dragons. It didn’t pass my notice that he only said it once, otherwise dancing around the word and topic.

Knowledge was power. It was better to know that a particular mountain was home to a dragon and completely off-limits, rather than innocently try to mine it. I had a feeling more than a little of the knowledge was completely cursed, and would give me unending nightmares at everything that was out there and could end me. Ignorance was bliss.

But knowledge was power, and I had a weird relationship with secrets.

Secrets, secrets, they’re no fun,

Unless they’re shared with everyone!

"What’s the full breakdown of pay and responsibilities?" Iona asked as I mulled over everything Night said.

"War Sentinel Dawn. Same budget as any other War Sentinel. I am unsure which Legion we will attach you to, if any, and might rotate you through. [Loremaster]. Pay is 50,000 arcs a month, with another 100,000 arcs a month to manage your team. Runners will be sent when War Sentinel Dawn’s assistance is required, so no daily stand-up. It is strongly recommended, but not mandatory, that she practice with the other Sentinels and [Trainers] we have. It will be required that she become familiar with the standard codes and laws of the Sentinels of today, but all other training can be waived. Naturally, all the privileges and powers of a War Sentinel will be made available. How does that sound?" Arachne offered.

Iona and I traded looks, reading each other’s mind.

"We’ll have to talk about it." She smoothly said.

Chapter 32 - Discussion Time

"Hey, instead of the inn, why don’t we do this in a bath?" I suggested.

"BRRRRRPT!" Auri loudly protested at all this ‘water’ stuff being proposed.

"I’m sure they’ll let you burn things as much as you’d like." I reassured her. "Why don’t you try to see how much water you can turn into steam?"

"Brrrpt…" Auri knew exactly what I was doing, and was less than amused… but she also kinda wanted to see if she could drain the baths.

The entire Eventide Eclipse made their way over to one of the bathhouses, stripped, and settled in.

Bathhouses had several different segments, and I was never terribly interested in the cold water portions, even though using them was part of the ‘correct’ way of doing things. On the other hand, Fenrir, in his shrunken form, found the coldest one they had, and contentedly sank to the bottom.

"Doesn’t he need to, I dunno, breathe?" I asked Iona.

She looked down at her companion.

"Yes… but not that often, I guess. I’m resistant to the cold, but I’m not that insane. A warm tub?" She proposed, and we quickly found ourselves in the hot baths, great gouts of steam giving us something vaguely resembling privacy.

I mostly turned off [The World Around Me], because yikes, there was a need for the steam and some knowledge was utterly cursed. Baths were, fundamentally, where people went to get clean.

I cuddled up on Iona’s lap as Auri tried to figure out the best way to boil water off. As powerful as she was, flames inside the water didn’t work well, flames above it, in the steam, didn’t radiate well, she couldn’t conjure flames in the walls… it was actually an interesting puzzle that Auri was getting more and more into as we chatted.

"Thoughts?" I asked Iona, leaning into her. She was just the right mix of soft and hard, making me all tingly.

She slowly massaged my thigh as she answered.

"I’m… not thrilled." She answered. I tilted my head back to get a better look.

Goddesses, her eyes were like emeralds. Dazzling emeralds, sprinkled with stars.

"Tell me more." I said.

"The Shadows." Iona was being careful not to mention Shadow Sentinels out loud. Arachne had mentioned at one point that they weren’t publicly acknowledged, might as well not be openly talking about a job offer from them, no matter how quiet we thought we were.

These were public baths.

"I don’t like the idea of working with assassins. It’s dishonorable in a way I’m struggling to come to terms with." Iona said.

"Right. Just so we’re clear and communicating well, before we dive into that aspect, is there any other portion of the offer that you’re struggling with?"

Iona didn’t say anything for a while, simply continuing to think.

"This is stupid, but it bothers me that it’s you, and not me." She finally said. "I know you want me to be part of your team, but it’s bothering me that you’re the one getting the offer, not me. I know, I know, it’s dumb, but we can’t always control how we feel."

I patted her leg.

"Well! There’s nothing stopping you from applying the normal way to become a Sentinel, although I doubt you want to swear to anyone else, or be ordered what to do by relative strangers?"

Iona shook her head.

"Oh no, I told you, it’s dumb. I don’t want to be a Sentinel, it’s all wrong for me. I’m a Valkyrie. It’s just… frustrating that you got the offer on some level."

I gave her a quick kiss.

"I get that. I really do. I’m sure I can find a way to… work out that frustration?" I wiggled in her lap, letting her know exactly how I planned to do that.

She gave me a deep, throaty growl, and I waggled my eyebrows at her.

"Onto the serious part." I enjoyed her face falling maybe a little too much.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 117 -> 118. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

I split my mind in half to think about the level up notification while continuing to talk with Iona.

I’d just leveled up [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm]? What? I was talking with Iona in a bath, not reading. I shouldn’t be getting any experience - ah.

My eyes drifted over to Auri, who was looking very pleased with herself. I didn’t see any obvious flames, but I bet she’d figured out a good way to ‘burn’ the water.

And we were now equal levels. I was getting half of her experience, and what a level 514 phoenix could do worked on a scale to easily help pull up my weakest class.

All those years of stunted experience was now starting to pay off! Not that it was about that - I’d take stunted experience for the rest of my life if it meant Auri was in it.

While one mental thread was working that out, the other had been continuing the conversation with Iona.

"Let’s talk about the assassin thing." I felt like an idiot, and switched my language to English. We could have a private conversation if nobody spoke the same tongue! "We’re not going to be directly working with them, nor are we going to be the ones murdering people in their sleep or slipping poison into cups, yeah?"

Iona nodded. "Agreed. Even in my less than generous interpretations, we wouldn’t be assassins. We might end up helping them out though, be fair."

I rolled that idea over in my mind.

"Yeah, you’re right. I was on a mission with Night once, the big Formorian war. At the same time, Shadows want to be quiet and sneaky." I said.

I wanted to stare at Fenrir to make a point, but he was likely terrorizing people in another bath. Instead I lifted a single eyebrow at Iona, staring at her eyes to make my point.

The Eventide Eclipse was not quiet or sneaky at all.

"Alright. But we’re still actively working in the same group as assassins." Iona pointed out.

"Sure, but they’re still there if we’re there or not, right? Our existence isn’t changing how many Shadows the Sentinels have, or their decision to be deployed."

"Riiiiiiight." Iona slowly said, drawing out the word.

"But if we’re in the Sentinels, we give them more options. They might find the option to deploy us instead of a Shadow, and we fight and act honorably."

Iona frowned, her fingers starting to tap impatiently against my side. It was almost ticklish. I decided to go for the obvious, logical argument. Clearly that would work in this tricky emotional situation!

"It’s not like living in proximity or indirect support is an issue. The Valkyries paid taxes and supported the nobility of Rolland, and there’s no way they’re not assassinating people. Heck, if I remember correctly, they don’t even need to be particularly subtle about it if they’re not other nobles!"

"Brrrrpt." I heard Auri’s dismayed trill, followed by the sound of her wing slapping over her eyes. Iona flicked my nose.

"Just no." She said. "Looping back to you for a minute, wouldn’t you becoming a War Sentinel violate your [Oath]? If they’re sending you with a Legion to fight other people, aren’t you sworn to heal everyone?"

I nodded.

"Yes, but it’s complicated to say the least. First, I have very few illusions that they’ll be sending people around just because I exist. A single healer at my level, at my power, is rare. Combine a few healers that have seen battle, and I don’t doubt they could replicate me well enough. In that respect, I don’t think I’m going to trigger anything. As ugly as it is, battles are one of the more predictable places where I can do good, where I can save hundreds, if not thousands of lives. I’m alright working in the slums, but I see maybe a dozen patients on a good day. If they all came in at once I’d be done before I entered the door! I’ve seen the casualty tents, I’ve been on the frontlines. I know what good I can do, the lives I can save."

I stared at Iona, having enough social graces not to bring up the Valkyrie’s Doom. She’d mentioned one time too many what a difference a healer would’ve made.

"As for healing both sides, yes. On one level I do. On the other, I know they’re trying to kill me, and if I’m working at full power trying to save my side, I don’t need to help the people actively battling. When the fight is over and the aftermath comes around? That’s when I can step in. That’s where I can insist we drag everyone off the field, no matter the affiliation. That’s where I can lay hands on every man, woman, and child who’s still alive, and bring them back from the brink. Frankly, from what I’ve seen, when push comes to shove there’s more time spent cleaning up the aftermath than there is actually fighting! As a War Sentinel, I imagine I have some say in how the Legion operates, and I can insist on mercy. I can insist we try to save people. I’m not strong enough to force changes or policy as I am. I’m offered a position where I can help people. We were talking about visiting the Han Empire after graduation. Frankly, what’s the difference between me working with a Legion, and us being in the Han together, trying to shield the innocent and the meek from the ravages of their civil war? I struggle to see the difference."

I had an Idea.

"We could even ask Arachne for support going to the Han Empire once we’re settled in. Get some practice with the full resources of the Sentinels behind us. Don’t think you’d even need to swear or anything. Everything I hear though sounds like they’re going to enable us to do exactly what we want to do in the first place!"

More inspiration struck. I was on a roll.

"Well-" Iona started to say before I cut her off in my excitement. Really, we both tried to speak at the same time.

"Actually, better idea. I love you, you know that. Why don’t you and Arachne get a cozy corner somewhere, and negotiate like you’re channeling your inner devils. You can make all the demands and concessions you’d like, I’ll sign off on them, then we’re both happy? It sounds like they want me quite badly. Sorry, I cut you off, what were you going to say?"

Iona laughed and squeezed me lovingly.

"I was about to suggest the same thing! Alright, look. I can tell you’re passionate about this. It’s the closest thing to your old home that you can see, and believe me, I get it. I get the desire to be welcomed and accepted back in. Goddesses, what I wouldn’t give for the Valkyries…" Iona trailed off and shook her head.

"Never mind that, this is about you. What I’m trying to say is, I understand. Right now, I don’t like it, but I promise, I’ll think about it. Mull it over. Pray for guidance. Then I promise, we’ll tackle this problem together."

I gave Iona a big squeeze.

"That’s all I’m asking! I’d be lying if I said no pressure, because, yeah, there is some pressure, but if you asked me to walk away from it all, as long as it’s with you, I’d be happy to."

I -

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 118 -> 119. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

Wow. At this rate I could just sit on a beach and sip on fruity drinks, and Auri would cap me out in no time!

Dammit that managed to completely distract me. What was I thinking about??

"Hang on, just lost my thread of thought."

Iona laughed and picked me up, standing up out of the baths.

"I think we’re good, don’t you?" She asked, princess carrying me as she waded through the water.

My train of thought was utterly obliterated.

"Buh. Yes? I guess. Auri, we’re heading out, want to come?"

"Brrrpt!"

We got dressed and headed back to the inn, where a riled-up Iona had some taming to do.

Three hours later, I went back to working on enchanting Iona’s arrows. Regardless of the Sentinel job or not, we still wanted to evict the wyrm, and get a patch of land for ourselves. The Sentinel thing would be nice, but it didn’t do anything about us getting land like this.

Well, it might. But there was something about earning it ourselves that was clearly appealing to Iona, that resonated as being right with me.

That, and the size of the potential real estate. A little house in the city would be expensive and cramped, with no room and not enough sunlight to grow the most blessed and holy mangos. Priorities!

Every arrow I enchanted but wasn’t used would still be good for the future, for whatever other conflicts we found ourselves in. We didn't chat a ton. I enchanted, while Iona moved through her forms, probably doing some thinking of her own.

This was also a good time to chat with Auri about her third class options.

"Hey Auri?"

"Brrrpt?"

"What are you thinking for your third class?"

"Brrrpt!"

I blinked in surprise, touched.

"Are you sure? You could be waiting a long time."

Auri furiously nodded, her beak going up and down so fast her eyes started to roll in her head.

"Brrrpt, brrrpt!" She explained.

Well, I had waited a long time to start my third class selection, I couldn’t blame Auri for pausing for a bit to wait and see. To try and gain some cool accomplishment or feat that would grant a turbo-charged third class.

I extra couldn’t blame her when she was looking up to my example and how I’d done it.

End of the evening, we were getting ready for bed.

"Iona?" I asked.

"Enchantosaurus?" She echoed back.

"Can you wrap me up like a burrito?"

Iona laughed, picked me up, and wrapped me up in the blanket, twisting it so I was nice and cozy.

"Mmmmm. Love you." I said as I wriggled myself over to her, putting my head on her very soft chest. She wrapped an arm around me.

"Love you too."

Chapter 33 - The Wyrm I

Fenrir classed up, and a week quickly passed. I was focusing most of my time and efforts on the upcoming battle we were planning, entirely skipping my work in the slums. I’d handle the Triad at a later date. I had a brief moment wondering if they thought I’d run away or not, but eh. End of the day, I didn’t care what they believed.

Arrows were prepared, strategies were discussed, and a few literal sacrificial goats were acquired. They were tied up in the stables, munching on hay and constantly trying to escape.

I didn’t think they knew what was coming. They were just escape artists, and Iona even laughed when she saw one of their skills was related to getting out of things!

Auri had promptly and unwisely named them Hakram, Baelin, and Alan. Baelin was the slippery one, and I hated that I knew that.

"Don’t get too attached." I warned her.

"Brrrpt!" She protested, pointing out that she was already very attached to the idea of using them in a pie filling.

"That’s… unlikely, given what we’re planning."

"Brrrpt."

Sometimes there was no winning.

Iona and I continued to talk and laugh, plan and prepare. I didn’t bug her about the Sentinel thing, but she made it clear that she was thinking about it, mulling it over. Occasionally she’d dash back to our room, scribble something down in one of her notebooks, then dash back out.

I was polite and didn’t peek.

The Ashes above Sanguino brightened, showing that it was the start of a new ‘day’, as Iona and I worked on finalizing our preparations.

"I’m going into town." Iona said as she tightened the last strap on Fenrir’s gear.

"What for?" I already had three different thought processes going, so I could easily continue reviewing the spells I had prepared, mentally running through different scenarios that I’d want to use them in.

"I’ve worked out what I want to ask Sentinel Arachne, and it’s bugging me like an itch. I don’t want to go into battle distracted, and while you haven’t said anything - thank you for that - I think it’d be a weight off your mind as well."

It was a weight off my mind, and I jumped up, teleporting my books back into [Bookwyrm’s Hoard].

"Brrrpt!!" Auri cheered happily from my shoulder. She wanted to be in the Sentinels, quite badly. I think the one mission I’d gone on and left her behind on had left a deep, lasting impression… or she just wanted to add another ‘badge’ to her collection.

A dozen thoughts flitted through my mind, my filter somehow working. In the end I kept it simple.

"Thank you." I kept it short and sweet.

She grinned at me. Goddesses, that grin.

"No, thank you. For not pressuring me. For letting me think about it. I think I managed a reasonable list that’ll make everyone happy."

Her grin turned wider and predatory.

"It was so nice of them to let us know how over a barrel we had them."

I facepalmed, mostly for dramatic effect.

"Do I want to know?"

"Mmmm…" Iona trailed off.

"That’s a no. Don’t get any of those assassins sent after us!" I called out to her.

Iona gave me a jaunty wave as she sashayed back to town. I went back to reviewing our preparations.

"Auri, you’ve got a bunch of knowledge from me. Can you look over the enchantments on Fenrir’s armor, and see if I’ve missed anything? A second pair of eyes would be great, thank you."

"Brrrpt!" Auri saluted, fluttering off to Fenrir. I was fairly confident in my work, but hey, free pair of second eyes, critically with a different thought process entirely, what was there not to like? Especially with her ability to [See Magic], I hoped she could spot any malformed enchantments, thanks to her knowledge due to our companion bond.

I got immunity to fire, she got some of my knowledge, we all won.

Also, it was hilarious watching her flit around Fenrir, examine one place, then peck at him to shift over so she could look at another spot. Good times.

Arrows were good. Time to go over our potion stocks, and to confirm who would use which to buff up for the fight.

We weren’t risking anything on Auri and Fenrir - at first. Potions were broadly brewed for elvenoids, and while some could work on the two, there was only a few emergency potions we were risking for Fenrir, as a measure of last resort.

Potions didn’t follow the normal rules. A dose for a human was the same as a dose for a gnome, was the same as a dose for a giant. Same effect on all three - there was clearly something extra going on.

Both gnomes and giants had issues drinking potions. Gnomes could literally bathe in a normal potion dose, and drinking a full bathtub worth was difficult. Giants had the opposite problem - getting the teeny-tiny dose into their mouth was tricky if they didn’t want to also eat the vial.

To start with. Four potions were set aside for Fenrir - a general broad-spectrum antidote potion, which wouldn’t hit anything strong and made no sense to me how it could possibly work, antidotes didn’t work like that -

Focus.

A generic potion to stem bleeding and scab over wounds, a more specific potion for blood loss, and the big one, a Brew of Lasting Breath, which promised to stave off death for just a few seconds after being drunk.

It was incredibly niche, but if we got separated or I ran out of mana during the fight, it might keep him alive long enough for me to reach him, or fix any critical areas with the small amount of mana I’d regenerate in the timeframe, which should let him turn the corner and live.

We were going to stuff them into his jaw, and he could crack and drink them as needed, and we’d pray to the goddesses if that happened that the potions would work on him, and he wasn’t drinking sludge. The local [Alchemist] had simply shrugged when we asked if the potions would work on a wyvern.

They’d never interacted with one before, so how would they know?

I’d been forced to give myself a budget when I went shopping for my own potions. I didn’t have too many other monetary expenses - I was skipping armor entirely, convinced it wouldn’t do a thing to help me, and blank spellbooks were cheap. Prepared spellbooks were expensive, and generally the good spells had a bunch of obfuscating skills and fake runes that did nothing, designed to stop people like me from simply copying them over into my own spellbook. Bah, the audacity of some people, wanting to be paid. Just let me copy them! The expensive part of a blank spellbook was the endless hours needed to fill them in with mandalas.

Thank the System for [Parallel Thoughts], I’d quite literally compressed four weeks of prep work into one.

The most interesting potion I had was a Concoction of the Sun God, which promised to boost how powerful my Radiance skills were. I’d hoped it was multiplicative with [Solar Corona], but even additive would be a nice boost to my skills.

An Astral Ambrosia promised to boost my effective Celestial Affinity, which wasn’t quite as potent as the Concoction of the Sun God, but was still nice. My set was finished by an all-in-one stat booster, and a small barrel of mana potions.

I had no idea how I could possibly drink that much fluid in a single go, but better to have it and a stuffed stomach that literally couldn’t take another drop, than to want it and not have it.

Speaking of mana, we weren’t bothering with massive amounts of arcanite. Just a little here and there, mostly poorly integrated into Fenrir’s armor.

I swear Iona better have included an armorer for Fenrir on her list. I’d be disappointed if she didn’t have a few selfish requests like that for Arachne.

Thanks to [The World Around Me] I didn’t need to manually crack open the mana potion barrel to check that it was still there and good. It had a fancy straw-like thing that would let me drink from it, even if we were all upside down or some other craziness like that.

There were a number of thought speed improving and intelligence potions offered on sale, but the warning label had scared me off.

…in rare cases, repeated use of this potion may cause insanity, especially in those with an established history of mental instability. Discontinue use if you experience any of the following symptoms:

Persistent hallucinations

Paranoia

Extreme mood swings

Losing touch with reality

Memory loss

Vivid, intense dreams that appear to be real

The sensation that nothing exists beyond your immediate vicinity

If symptoms persist for more than eight hours, consult with a professional, if you can still remember this warning and find the appropriate [Healer].

Yeaaaaaaaah, no. I was fairly well grounded… relatively… except for some minor thought process drifting… and lack of focus… but I wasn’t risking it. I was pretty sure my healing could manage the side effects - we’d studied it at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft - but I also knew my healing wasn’t the best at mental effects, and it wasn’t entirely clear if it was a side-effect that could be cleared out with magic, or if it was simply the natural result of the brain going a little nuts. In other words, I was concerned about the effect of the experience, which my healing had nothing for, as opposed to the composition.

My head already ended up in the clouds now and then, what would happen if it ended up in the clouds even harder?

The reward wasn’t worth the risk.

Iona’s potions were a little different. She had the same general all-rounder stat booster, along with a Serum of Sharpness which promised to make all her weapons sharper. I had no idea how that worked, but hey. Alchemists were a crazy lot, and the whole field was fairly interesting. There was a reason I’d almost picked it to study at the School!

A Whiskey of Whimsical Weightlessness promised to do exactly what it said, freeing Iona from the grasp of gravity. Combined with [Flight of the Valkyries], she’d have complete freedom to fly at almost no cost for the hour or so that the potion lasted. Cool how potions could interact with skills to make strong effects!

A Radiant Rosehip Remedy was similar to Fenrir’s Brew of Lasting Breath, promising to briefly hit the pause button on death. Ice Tea Tonic was going to boost her Ice skills, a Prickly Pear Precision Potion would improve her eyesight and steady her hands, letting her make crazier shots.

I closed the satchel back up, nodding to myself. Potions were good.

For my healing, I went over all the images I had prepared. I had one for Fenrir, a hyper-specific one tailored to exactly the wyvern. However, I was going to hit him on an as-needed basis. The wyvern was so massive that all my mana could easily be drained in a careless moment.

For Auri, I set up a [Persistent Casting] with [Wheel of Sun and Moon] through our bond, ensuring she wouldn’t need to level up [Phoenix Rebirth]. She was so small that it’d take a miracle for her to drain me of mana.

I had my own permanent healing on, dialed into my own chimeric image, and I had Iona’s [Persistent Casting] set as well.

In a bit of a weird twist, any other [Healer] trying to work on Iona would find their efficiency plummeting, as she didn’t follow the normal human standards. It wouldn’t be enough to cause issues, just a larger chunk of mana than normal.

Healing set, I grit my teeth and did the next necessary job - cutting my hair short.

I liked my long hair, but it was a pure liability in the upcoming fight. We were in Sanguino, so finding someone to fix me back up after the right would be trivial.

I pulled out my knife, grabbed my hair, and gritted my teeth.

It was just so hard to cut it short. I blamed the companion-boosted vanity. I had to force an image in my mind of someone grabbing my hair and pulling me around by it into my head before I could get my knife to move and slice it off.

"Auri, how’s it looking over there?" I asked. "I’ve got some hair here for you to burn cleanly if you’d like."

Before I was done talking the little bird was zipping over to me, my chopped-off hair igniting without a shred of smoke.

"Brrpt! Brrpt, BRPT!" Auri had a couple of spots she wanted me to check. I got up, stretched, and walked over to Fenrir.

"Hey, how are you doing?" I asked the huge wyvern, patting his armored wing. "Nervous?"

Fenrir growled as he turned his helmeted head towards me, his head and eye getting close to me. He then growled something that sounded like an assent, as he bobbed his head.

I patted his armor. There were no scales to touch.

"Hey, yeah, I get it. Been a while since you fought something big, hasn’t it? We’ve planned and prepared for this, we’ve got this."

Fenrir bobbed his assent again.

"Pipe?" He asked.

"Pipe - oh yeah, hang on."

"Brrrpt!" Auri protested my distraction as I crossed the field back to the inn, grabbing another pile of herbs for Fenrir, walked back over, and packed his pipe full.

"Brrrpt." Auri flipped in front of me, and made the most exaggerated eye roll before igniting Fenrir’s pipe. The wyvern settled down comfortably as he started puffing on the pipe.

"Alright, show me." I told Auri.

"BRRRPT!" She shrieked in protest. Half the things she wanted to show me Fenrir was now lying on!

I patted my shoulder, letting Auri know her favorite perch was open.

"Come on. You burn flowers, Fenrir smokes, we all blow off steam and pre-fight jitters in different ways. Now, show me what you were concerned about."

"Brrpt!"

Iona came back less than an hour later, looking both worn out and elated.

"How’d it go?" I asked her.

She was beaming sunshine and rainbows.

"Fantastically! Arachne mentioned she needed to clear a couple of my requests with her Command, but she thinks it’s all doable. Might take a week or two to finish sorting out."

I pumped my fist.

"Yes!" Remembering the architect of all this, I jumped into Iona’s ready arms, and planted the biggest kiss I could on her lips, wrapping my legs around her.

Iona kissed me deeply back, then broke it.

"Unless you want to put this off until tomorrow, we should get going." The Valkyrie said with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows.

I wiggled my way out of her embrace.

"We should get going."

I felt my mental walls slam down, my focus narrow. Iona had been right. Getting the conversation out of the way with Arachne had been important. I felt reassured now that I was Sentinel Dawn, that I could proudly say who I was, that I didn’t need to keep it hidden like some dirty secret.

Because it wasn’t a dirty secret. I was proud of it, and I’d be able to let everyone know.

The entire Eventide Eclipse were fantastic, and I loved them all. Okay, Fenrir a little less than Iona and Auri, but I’d still follow them wherever, no hesitation. They asked me to do something dangerous, possibly illegal? I was there for them. They were my family, and I knew they had my back.

But we were like a small comet, spinning through space together. An inseparable group, but a small one.

With Iona’s decision, with Arachne’s likely acceptance of whatever her terms had been, I now felt like we were on a planet. That there was a large, reassuring presence behind our back. I briefly dissected the feeling, drawing it out of myself the way Linnet had helped me learn how to do.

In Remus I’d always been part of a greater whole. One person in a nation. I hadn’t realized just how much the ‘of Remus’ part had meant to me, of having the broad support and working for a common good, had meant.

Exterreri wasn’t Remus. I didn’t think it would ever be Remus.

But it was a home, a place I was starting to put down roots. Night was here.

I had solid footing again. It was a weight off my mind. At the same time, it was a subtle pressure, a comfortable mantle settling around my shoulders once again.

I was Sentinel Dawn.

Chapter 34 - The Wyrm II

We all boarded Fenrir and took off towards where the wyrm had made its lair.

Hakram, Baelin, and Alan were clutched in Fenrir’s claws, bleating with terror. They were in the grip of a predator, of course they were terrified.

Their end was soon, but not from Fenrir. They had a right to be nervous.

The rest of us?

In some ways, this was the most comfortable situation for us. Iona was trained from childhood to be a Valkyrie, to go forth and slay monsters, no matter what form they took. Fenrir was a natural predator - I’d believe it if his instincts were constantly screaming at him to snap up and eat the small, tasty, unguarded morsels that were constantly running in front of him. I was trained as a Ranger and a Sentinel.

Auri was the only one a little out of place in terms of how natural this all was… but then again, we were asking her to set a lot of things on fire.

What more could she ask for?

"Want to tell me what you asked for?" I’d been patient. I’d been good.

I was dying of curiosity.

Iona grinned, knowing I could see it even though I wasn’t facing her.

"Oh, this and that." She replied.

I made a small, pained whimpering noise.

Iona laughed, and it just filled me with light and warmth. I was so happy that I could make her laugh, it was like sunshine and mangos all wrapped up in warm fuzzy feelings.

"Alright, alright. I did ask for the backpay thing." Iona said. "Night pointed out that your family had been paid the entire time you were gone, and ended up inheriting it all when you were officially declared dead, and when dead, you were sort of out of commission. Arachne mentioned that while you were at the School, you weren’t known to them or available for missions, but that it could be considered your off-cycle years, and Sentinels still get paid then. Does Night have a sense of mischief?"

I thought about Night, cheating at cards with the rest of us.

"A slightly terrifying one, why?" I asked with no small amount of trepidation.

"Because he got a huge fangy grin in the middle, and completely pivoted. Said that they’d be more than happy to give you the backpay if that’s what it took to get you to join up, and they’d deliver it to us as soon as we’d confirmed we were joining, direct to our home."

The image of a monkey’s paw curling briefly flashed before my eyes.

"Uh oh. I’m almost wondering if this is a bad idea." I said.

Iona nodded.

"Yeah… I have a feeling we’re going to regret it, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. Money is money. They also mentioned needing to work out exactly how many years of pay you were owed. Sixteen is the highest they’ll go, with two and a half on the low end. Something about Sentinels getting half-pay when they’re off-cycle."

Two and a half years of stupid amounts of money was more than enough for me. I’d gone from destitute to ‘how do I spend this much money??’ in weeks.

Then again, I knew how to spend that much money. It wasn’t just for me - it was also for my team. The rest of the Eventide Eclipse. Armoring and gearing Iona and Fenrir more than they had now would cost a fortune - a fortune roughly the size I was acquiring. That was before the home we wanted to build was factored in, which would be another fortune’s worth of money.

"Anything else?"

"Oh yeah, tons. One thing I knew they’d reject was full support for the Order Valkyrie, to let us recover in their lands, and form the Order with all the rights and privileges."

My mouth dropped open.

"What?" I asked, kinda stupidly.

Iona shrugged.

"I needed to give them some things to negotiate on, some obviously poor points that they could reject. Arachne understands, she even hinted at it to us! All part of the game. We’re all elvenoids, we all have ego. Giving her something to happily reject. When she goes to Command and they ask about it, she can truthfully say she bartered me down, and got themselves an excellent deal, making everything else look more reasonable and sane in comparison."

My head hurt.

"Wait, how is that not violating the deception part of your [Vow]?" I asked.

"Because… it doesn’t?" Iona answered, puzzled. "I’m not deceiving anyone. I’m not lying. I really would like Exterreri to support the Order Valkyrie. I just recognized that it would be rejected, and everything else accepted."

This. This right here. This is why I didn’t want to interact with people.

"Anything else I need to know about? At this point, skip the things I don’t need to know about." I was almost regretting asking.

"Yeah. The big, easy one, that I think you should’ve asked for is that you’ll be on relief or defensive operations. No being the tip of the spear as we invade someone else, no need to be part of an army pillaging someone else’s city."

Wow, yikes, yeah, that was a great concession. This was why I had Iona helping me out.

"I’ve asked for a list of Shadow operations in the last two decades, along with rationales and results. That’s going to be the big sticking point for me, and the main reason why they can’t immediately give me an answer. I might also recommend we don’t join if I don’t like it."

Well, that was a lot to process all at once.

"Recommend?" I settled on.

"Recommend." Iona confirmed. "I don’t control you. I don’t control what you do. You’re a free woman, if you want to join the Sentinels, I’m not going to stop you or force you not to."

I nuzzled the back of my head against her chest, which was smooth armor at this point.

"We all know what I’ll do though. With that being said, after getting the last 20 years of Shadow operations, do you really think they’ll let us live?"

Iona nodded.

"Yes. I swore I wouldn’t reveal the contents to anyone else, and Arachne had some binding language. On its own, it wouldn’t mean much, but I’m [Vowed]. It’s possible that they’d betray us and murder us, but that slightly defeats the whole purpose, yeah?"

I put it out of my mind entirely. It would only be terribly distracting, and I didn’t need that right now.

We kept flying, and before long, we broke out of the ashen shadow that darkened Sanguino. I leaned back, letting the light hit my face.

"Sun. Glorious sun. Goddesses, this was the right move, I hadn’t realized how much I was missing the light." I basked in the light, shifting my face around to get more sunshine.

Bonus of having cut my hair! Nothing to flick out of the way.

"Brrrpt!" Auri appreciated the light as well.

"I’ve been feeling almost itchy, not being able to see the moons at night. This is right." Iona had all the conviction of a religious fanatic, which was a little scary on one level.

On the other hand, ‘see the moons now and then in the evening’ wasn’t the worst of religions.

We weren’t alone in the air, and I gave a very armored, very armed, very scary-looking airship a leery look. I didn’t recognize the symbol on the side, but I would be willing to bet it was from the elves. What they were doing over Sanguino, I hoped I’d never find out.

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how airships worked. It had to be a powerful classer or three doing nothing but lifting, but they were just so damn heavy I struggled to envision how. Arcanite weighed a ton and a half, and the amount needed to just lift itself perpetually was mind-boggling.

"There!" Iona pointed, changing the subject. I immediately looked where she was pointing, turning off my notifications in the process.

It was a large hill, or small mountain, depending on one’s point of view, in a forest. Large swaths of trees had been bulldozed, and I recognized the place. Somewhat.

"Hey! We flew over this on the way to Sanguino!" I said. Then again, we’d been able to see a lot on our way down.

I scanned the mountain, not seeing any obvious wyrms, not even with my massively enhanced eyesight.

"Can’t spot it, can you?" I asked.

"Brrpt." Auri shook her head. I hadn’t been asking her, and I’d honestly be a little surprised if her tiny hummingbird-phoenix eyes could see in detail that far away. Still, her participation warmed my heart.

Iona didn’t answer, but I saw her eyes scanning the ground.

"Not yet. Let’s circle around."

Fenrir was clearly listening in, and did a long sweep around the mountain, the four of us staring down for any signs of life.

"Deploy the goats?" I suggested.

"Deploy the goats." Iona grimly confirmed.

Fenrir snorted unhappily. He’d had first dibs on eating them if we didn’t need to use them.

"Brrrpt!" Auri chirped a too-cheerful goodbye to the goats as Fenrir swooped a little low, releasing them over the top of the mountain.

"BBBAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaah" The goat’s plaintive bleating protests at being dropped from cruising height was rapidly lost as they fell and we continued flying.

I twisted around Iona, looking over the back of the wyvern to watch them fall. I didn’t hear them land, but I pulled a face as I watched two of them splatter on the rocks.

The third one, miracle of miracles - Baelin, I think - somehow survived the fall, and started to slowly drag himself away from the crash site using its front hooves, the back two dragging uselessly.

I couldn’t resist. [Long-Range Identify] brought back [Goat - 256].

"Did the goat just get 30 levels for being dropped?" I asked Iona in disbelief. Fenrir banked around, and Iona took a look.

"Yup." She confirmed.

We circled a bit longer, the crippled goat nearly tugging on my heartstrings. I was fine eating goat, I was fine using them as bait or sacrifices. Letting them clearly suffer like this though?

I was just about to suggest we go down and do something about the goat one way or another when the ground seemed to warp. Without a big explosion, without any massive fanfare, the wyrm came through the rock, swimming out of it like it was water. Its gigantic jaws snapped around the dead goats, poor Baelin losing his rear hooves and getting spun through the air.

[Wyrm - 620]

It was about as thick as Fenrir’s body, and there was no telling how long it was. Its long teeth were a dark grey, looking nothing like ivory, and more metallic colors swirled around its skin.

"Mantle, Mountain, Radiance." Iona rapidly reported, scanning it with far more powerful abilities than anything the System could hope to offer. "It can swim through rock, its got skills for thick plates of armor, reinforcement skills, it can manipulate both stone and metal, it’s got skills to slowly heal, it’s got skills around hitting things hard, with both its body and its bite. Wyrm also has some blinding Radiance skills, and it can fire off what looks like the mother of all Radiance explosion attacks. How are we feeling about this?" Iona rapidly gave the breakdown of the important skills, skipping over unimportant buffs, passives, and skills that wouldn’t apply to a fight like this.

"Brrrrrpt!!" Auri was raring to go.

"Radiance?" I said with no small amount of surprise. "I’m all for it. We’ve got all the advantages over it. We’ve planned, we’ve prepared, is there anything in the wyrm’s skill list that’s a good reason to abort?"

Iona shook her head.

"Armor skill looks potent, but we should be alright. Fenrir?"

Fenrir didn’t answer, but I felt the metal plates under me swell as he took in a deep breath. Then he let out a deafening roar, a territorial challenge from one beast to another, letting the wyrm know that he, Fenrir, Lord of the Frozen Skies, was now the ruler of the mountain.

The sound was deafening, and I clapped my hands over my ears to try and tune it out. I was attached to Fenrir though, and the vibrations and noise went through me, rattling my entire body.

The wyrm screamed defiance back, contending in its own primitive way that it owned the mountain.

"Fire. 20%." Iona declared, and it was on.

I had nothing to do at this range. Nobody was injured, and my Radiance couldn’t reach that far. My butterflies might, but them against the wyrm’s armor? No contest, wasn’t going to waste my mana. Sure, I could use wizardry to summon some rocks and let gravity do its thing, but that was both inefficient and weak. Best that I sit tight.

Auri opened up the fight with [Auri’s Meteor Storm], dozens upon dozens of flaming meteors, each one burning a different color, rained down in the general area of the wyrm. From how high up we were, it was hard to perfectly aim, the little phoenix instead choosing to fill the entire area with flames.

Fenrir and Iona’s joint assault came a moment later, dozens of sharp javelins made out of Ice forming around the wyvern. Gravity would’ve been enough for the weapons, but Iona quickly flicked them out with [Telekinesis], giving them all some initial speed and aiming them roughly in the direction of the wyrm. At the same time, she summoned her short bow, pulling out a few normal arrows and letting them fly against the wyrm.

All of our attacks broke against the thick armor of the wyrm, who roared back, pulling itself out of the mountain. It didn’t shoot anything back, simply declaring itself the king of the hill.

It had something of a point. We were high up in the sky, and it had the mountain.

"Any objections to close combat?" Our fearless leader asked.

"Brrrpt brpt brpt BRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!!" Auri declared a charge. She wanted to get up close and personal and show the wyrm what we could do.

Nobody objected. I broke out the potions, handing Iona’s to her, then drinking my own.

I was slightly judging Iona as she tossed the empty vials off Fenrir’s back. I packed mine away back in the satchel, but it wasn’t the time or the place to discuss it.

"Elaine, sit behind me. Break into pairs when we’re closer." Iona said. I unbuckled myself, and Auri flew over to my hands. I split my mind into four, each part tasked with something different. Healing. Flying. Wizardry and Radiance. Situational awareness and the general ‘other’. I’d been able to track everything even before [Parallel Thoughts] entered the picture, but there was no reason not to apply every bit of force, every skill I had to the upcoming battle.

I held Auri close as we dove.

It was terrifying and exhilarating to be on top of Fenrir’s back as he went in for a full dive. His mouth opened as we approached at terrifying speed, and the wyrm started its attack. Razor-sharp shards of obsidian and metal tore into us, the difference in relative speeds making it all the worse. Parts of the assault were blunted and turned by Iona and Fenrir’s armor, the enchantments and reinforcements empowering them, a poor angle turning the blow. Others hit dead on, shredding through delicate wing membranes coated by only a thin layer of armor, and entering through Fenrir’s unguarded mouth.

Auri and I were sheltered behind Iona’s broad protection, shielded from the storm.

One particularly large and heavy rock hit Iona’s head in an ugly way, snapped her neck back with a sickening crunch.

[Persistent Casting] saved the day. It had been set up before we left, every injury instantly reforming and repairing itself as it happened. Fenrir’s flight was barely changed, instead of being grounded. Iona’s head snapped back, the Dusk Valkyrie still in the fight instead of crippled for life.

My instinct was to bail off of Fenrir, to dodge out of the lethal hail, to split off and hit the wyrm from a different angle. I had to fight that instinct - in the moment, right here, right now, I needed to stay.

Then Fenrir got close enough, and he breathed.

Wyverns weren’t dragons, not by a long shot; they were their smaller, weaker cousins. Nothing that could be compared to a dragon was weak, and I hadn’t seen Fenrir’s breath attack before, for real, for one very good reason:

It was too strong for most things we fought.

A solid beam of freezing Ice magic, like a dragon’s flames but cold, roared out of Fenrir’s mouth, Lightning arcing all around it. It hit the wyrm dead-on, the Lightning playing all over the monster as the Ice chilled and cracked the armor.

The wyrm screamed in pain.

Fenrir kept going, and Auri and I split off. My wings snapped open as I leapt off of Fenrir’s back, and he and Iona hit the wyrm at full speed like a comet strike. The three of them ended up in a twisting, snarling, fighting mess as Auri and I got to work.

The world exploded. Burning Radiance washed over us as the wyrm clearly used the powerful explosion skill Iona had warned us about, and my [Radiance Resistance] wasn’t quite up to the task. Loose rocks blasted out from the epicenter of the explosion, trees were flattened, if not outright vaporized, and the whole world burned.

I cooked very slightly, becoming entirely blinded as the brightness and relative skill level worked against my super-sensitive eyes.

Healing pulsed through Auri and I, keeping us safe. Healing was also going through Iona and Fenrir, thanks to [Wheel of Sun and Moon] - assuming Iona was still touching sunlight in some way.

I pumped my wings, flying closer to the spinning, snarling mess that was Fenrir and the wyrm locked in mortal combat, the two of them having enough combined mass and muscle to level a large town or small city. I spotted Iona, sunlight gleaming off the shaft of her Dreamsteel glaive, stabbing down to the wyrm’s head.

Auri was trying out a bunch of different flames, different colors flaring to life, only some of them ‘sticking’ to the wyrm. Of those, a number of them simply ‘shed off’ as the wyrm discarded that part of its supernatural armor.

I checked my mana levels, and found I had over 97% of my mana left. When I spotted the occasional hole, when I got a clean shot, [Nova Lance] was the name of the game, striking at an eye or an exposed piece of flesh under the metal. The wyrm had its own [Radiance Resistance], especially with the large-scale Radiance ‘bomb’ skill it had, but it was better than doing nothing, better than staring at my full mana and waiting. When my mana levels were down to 90% of my max, I stopped, saving for any healing that might need to be done.

There was a lot of healing that needed to be done.

The battle raged, the wyrm fighting with all it had, the monster having a hundred level advantage on us. Significant, but class quality became the greater question at the relative difference. The battle didn’t stay in one place, the five of us rolling down the mountain, crushing everything that got in our way. Flesh, blood, bone, and metal went flying in every direction as the battle raged. Metal spikes flew with deadly accuracy, punctuated by the occasional Radiance explosion, like a nova bomb going off. The wyrm’s own mass and armor was deadly, but there were four of us. Fenrir was also coated head to toe in armor, and had the mass and bulk to fight with the wyrm, his armor not only reinforced by his skills, but by my enchantments. For every Radiance explosion, Fenrir blasted the wyrm with Lightning. For every set of metal spikes, Fenrir responded with Ice. He was slightly out of his element - tangled on the ground was inferior to aerial combat - but Iona was right there with him.

The wyrm was a little large for Iona, who didn’t quite have the skills to punch up that hard. From what I’d seen, the wyrm’s skill-based armor, the thick plates of metal it had around its tough skin, was thicker than the blade on Iona’s glaive. It didn’t mean she was useless - she sped and skated along the wyrm, keeping her balance with one of her skills as she made sure she was never in a position to become completely flattened - one of the only blows that would likely be lethal, even with me in the picture. What Iona lacked in raw penetrative damage, she made up for in sheer consistency. Every second saw a half dozen or more powerful blows by her glaive on the wyrm’s armor, peeling and carving away at the protections. Individually they weren’t much, but they added up fast.

I was darting and flying around, flitting like a butterfly around a rose, shifting with the roiling mess of limbs. I was constantly shooting out [Nova Lance] that was [Imbued] with [Dance with the Heavens], healing injuries as they occurred, ignoring the shrieks, snarls, and yells of battle. [Sunrise] kept me invigorated, letting me move at full-tilt the entire battle. The wyrm crushed Fenrir’s legs, and a moment later they were healed. Iona took a shard of obsidian longer than her leg through the gut, and I fixed her up before her severed spine could betray her.

The whole time Auri was burning, experimenting with different flames, until at last she hit whatever the magic formula was for her. A whole section of the wyrm’s armor erupted in sinister pink flames, and no amount of rolling and thrashing could extinguish them - although it also caught Iona’s armor on fire as she tried to leap over a line of flames. It was that, or be crushed by the wyrm’s roll.

After minutes, maybe hours, of deadly battle, the wyrm screamed and dove directly into the ground. No amount of trying to grab or hold onto it worked - none of us had hands large enough - and the wyrm didn’t leave a tunnel in its passing.

We didn’t need to say anything. I immediately flew up into the air, and Fenrir took a moment to right himself before joining us in the sky. I flew over and intercepted the two, the Eventide Eclipse reuniting.

Iona was panting and sweaty, and Fenrir was flagging. I hit Fenrir with [Sunrise], knowing Iona had her own energy skill.

"What now?" I asked. "Are we concerned about its healing skill?"

Iona took a few more deep gulps of air, and nodded.

"Yeah…" It looked like she wanted to say more, but she focused on breathing instead.

We circled around for a few minutes, then for twenty, our eyes focused on the ground, waiting to see where the wyrm would emerge from next, where the battle would result.

"Is it over?" I finally wondered.

Iona frowned.

"Maybe. Feels weird."

I thought about it for a moment.

"Fight for dominance, it decided it wasn’t worth it and left?" I almost didn’t want to believe what I was saying. It sounded too easy.

"Brrrpt."

But then again, it had been a monster that knew when to leave things be. It hadn’t been executed by Rangers or Sentinels yet, and not all fights had to end in death. A creature knowing when it was time to bow out was more likely to survive, and continue, and the wyrm had been fairly high level.

Fenrir roared, and without prompting dove back down. He alighted on top of the mountain, took a deep breath, and bellowed once again that he was now king of the hill, and all he saw was his domain.

Or something like that.

Some movement caught my eye, and I laughed. I nudged Iona with my elbow and I pointed, all while forming a [Kaleidoscope] butterfly [Imbued] with healing.

I sent it off as I spoke to Iona.

"Look. The goat survived!"

"Brrrpt!!"

Chapter 35 - Aftermath

A rock tumbled, and we immediately snapped back into fighting mode, looking all around. We were tense for a long moment, just waiting for the wyrm to erupt out from the ground and resume the fight. My bet was directly under Fenrir’s legs, and I was standing up, light on my feet, Auri in my hands, ready to go. Ready to fly, ready to fight, ready to pit all my skills, experience, and magic against the best the wyrm had.

As time passed and our mana regenerated, I started to slowly relax.

"You can’t run away and come back with a sneak attack in a fight for dominance, can you?" I asked Iona.

She shook her head.

"No. Animals rarely fight to the death, and the battle was going poorly for it. Why continue to fight us, when it could move somewhere else, and fight something weaker for its territory?"

The wyrm wasn’t coming back. We’d won!

"We won!" I shouted out, feeling like I was on top of the world. It was like I could see again, the world no longer the cold clinical mathematics of combat. I could appreciate that I was almost literally on top of the world, standing on the back of an armored wyvern, who in turn was on the summit of a mountain. The glorious sun shone down on us. The breeze was soft, the day was warm, and life was just full of color. A few fluffy white clouds, drifting through the air. The red of blood, all over Iona and Fenrir - only some of it theirs. The orange of the fires Auri started, steadily chewing through a patch of the forest. The yellow of the beautiful sun up above. The green of the leaves on the trees. The clear blue of the sky, inviting us all to go fly. The purple of the shadow the mountain was casting. The brown of fallen trees, and the black of heavy smoke. The day was wonderful, and had it all.

"We won!" Iona’s helmet retracted, the warrior mentally manipulating her mallium. She approached me, and my eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen.

I tried to escape. I really did.

"Not the-" My words were cut off as Iona wrapped her arms around me and gave me a huge hug.

"We did it!" Iona cheered, saying a few more things, but all I could think about was how much grime and gore was getting rubbed into my clothes, my hair, my…

I shuddered, and pushed Iona away, my face twisted in disgust.

Iona’s jubilant expression fell.

"What’s wrong?" She asked, all concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Oh I’m fine, it’s just…" I gestured down to myself.

"BRRPT!"

Auri had heard a problem - and the solution, as always, was Fire. Cleaning flames erupted around me, fixing the blood everywhere issue.

"Thank you Auri." I said without a trace of sarcasm. The gore had just gotten to me in a way I hadn’t felt before.

"Levels?" Iona asked.

Before I could answer, Fenrir twisted his head around, grabbed a damaged plate of armor by his hip, and tore it off, spitting it down the hill.

"Better." He sighed, settling down.

Iona jumped down off Fenrir’s back and started patting the massive monster, whispering reassuring words as she started to look over him and his armor.

"Auri, you good?" I asked.

The little phoenix puffed up her chest, and I noticed she’d given herself a new ‘medal’, a slightly different color of flame on her multicolored body.

"Brrrpt!" She reassured me that she was all good, and that I should totally go check my levels!!

I jumped off Fenrir and gave Iona and him some space, opening my notifications.

The first ones made me wince.

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Rabbit (Wood - 13)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Aquilops (Water - 36)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Deer (Wind - 140)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Minmi (Metal - 50)]

[*ding!* The Eventide Eclipse has slain a [Squirrel (Wood - 6)]

The list went on and on, detailing the absolute carnage we’d performed on the local woodland wildlife.

We’d bumped off a lot of critters.

I filtered them out, and went to my level-up notifications.

The first one made me beam.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 514->520 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Whoa! That was more than I expected! Then again, I think what I’d been doing had been almost exactly in [The Dawn Sentinel’s] wheelhouse. Fighting within Exterreri’s borders, home of the current Sentinels, against a higher-level monster. I suddenly realized that as much as they needed me to acknowledge them, it worked both ways. I’d also been acting primarily as a healer in that fight, keeping Fenrir and Iona healthy, restoring their bodies as quickly as they were torn. It wasn’t quite there yet, but [Hunger for Knowledge] was another strong boost.

That, and I was splitting experience with Auri. I wasn’t quite sure what portion of [The Dawn Sentinel] leveling was from what I did, and from what Auri did.

My capped skills remained capped.

[*ding!* [Cosmic Presence] leveled up! 328 -> 330].

Honestly, I felt lucky I’d gotten two levels, and a little bad. Meant I hadn’t been on point, that I hadn’t been quick enough, to heal up Iona and Fenrir, and my passive aura had kicked in.

[*ding!* [Sunrise] leveled up! 472 -> 475].

Levels for the level god!

Was there a deity of levels? I knew some people worshiped the System itself, but was there a god of the System?

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 490->498! +8 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +70 Speed, +70 Vitality, +70 Mana, +70 Mana Regen, +70 Magic power, +70 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Strength, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Okay, that had to be almost all Auri. I hadn’t used much Radiance during the fight, just hitting the wyrm with a few [Nova Lances]. Hadn’t even gotten a good chance to bust out any good wizardry!

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse: Unleash the cataclysmic power of the cosmos. The wielder of this spell calls forth the unparalleled energy of the stars, converging the essence of celestial light into a singular point of unimaginable intensity.

As the cosmic energies spiral and merge, a dazzling maelstrom of Radiance forms, crackling with the very essence of the stars. At the moment of critical mass, the Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse is unleashed, erupting in a breathtaking explosion of raw power.

The devastating shockwave created by this celestial outburst expands in a rapidly growing sphere, engulfing everything in its path with the unstoppable force of a supernova. The searing light of the Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse incinerates all it touches, reducing even the most formidable foes to mere ashes and leaving a trail of scorched devastation in its wake.

This apocalyptic display of power is a testament to the unfathomable power of the stars and cosmos.

Use this skill wisely, and you may harness the power to reshape the battlefield and turn the tide conflicts in your favor. Beware! For the celestial fury unleashed by the Starfire Lightstorm Apocalypse is as merciless as it is magnificent, and its devastating force is not easily controlled.

Butterfly Mystic’s tendency to pick up skills I saw strikes again! Maybe that was also a chunk of the experience? I’d gotten up close and personal to a brand-new Radiance skill.

The description was quite something, and I wanted to roll my eyes at how Iona had boiled it down to a ‘big explosion’. Talk about an understatement!

The skill was terrible for me. Massive indiscriminate explosion? Unfocused power?

Collateral damage?

No, as cool as it sounded, as powerful as it looked, it was not for me. While I found myself fighting far more than I ever would have believed as a kid, while I was an elite member of the military, there was a single line at the heart of me, whose beat drove my life.

First, do no harm.

This skill was the very essence of harm.

Cool to see though!

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 118 -> 128. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

YES! I was ready to class up! All my levels here were from Auri, but hey, I was also feeding her half my experience that I was getting. It was a fair trade.

I wasn’t going to class up until I’d finished the deal with Arachne, and found out if I was going to become one of the [Loremasters] or not, because that sounded like a sweet and easy way to get a stronger class.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 417-> 418].

If I ever found an amazing general skill, I was dropping [Identify]. Assuming I was still dating Iona - or more.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 178 -> 200].

Oh nice, I could have five thought processes going at once now!

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 81-> 85].

Slow and steady. I’d noticed this one leveling up during the fight, as my sphere of perception grew in size.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 189-> 195].

Nothing like saving people in a life or death fight to level a skill!

"How’d you do Auri?" I asked my little fireball.

"Brrrrpt!!" No complaints at all on her end, all the FIRE. "Brrrpt?"

"Yeah, wait. If we end up becoming Sentinels again, that’ll unlock something solid in your second class. Shouldn’t be more than a week or so."

"Brrrpt!" Auri gave me her flashiest salute, then buzzed over to Fenrir and Iona. Having determined that Iona had gotten some quality time unbuckling Fenrir, and that he deserved to be out of his armor now, she summoned a dozen [Mage Hands] and got them to work. In short order, Fenrir’s surviving armor was in a neat pile, and Iona was looking him over, scratching and rubbing various places.

He let out a low rumble of contentment, settling down to bask in the sun.

"Classing up." He said, and the sparkling lights of a new class started to dance around him. I gasped and whirled to Iona.

"He hit 512?" I squeaked with joy, running over to her.

She gave me a tired grin.

Goddesses, that grin.

"Yup!" She confirmed, sounding as proud as ever. "Sorry about earlier, here."

With a mental flex, she ‘shed’ all the blood and gore, her armor folding up along her back like how she usually kept it.

"Better?" She asked.

I jumped into her arms, trying to hug her tightly enough to let her know that, yes, it was all better, trying to apologize for my earlier revulsion.

"It’s the skill. The stupid skill." I murmured into her hair.

She stroked my hair, whispering back into my ear.

"I know, I know, it’s alright. I don’t blame you." Iona replied.

Love once again blossomed in my chest, and I felt like the luckiest woman alive to be with Iona.

We spent a second, a minute, an hour, a timeless moment there together, locked together, simply enjoying each other’s company, delighted to be with one another.

"Brrrrpt!!" Auri’s reprimand eventually brought us back down to Pallos. She was perched on Fenrir’s head, looking around before making a little quarter-circle hop on his head, checking out the next direction for ‘threats’.

Like anything would try to threaten Fenrir after the stunt we’d just pulled.

Iona’s eyes were sparkling, and not just with stars.

"Hey, devastationosaurus." She started.

I squawked in protest.

"That was mostly you two!"

She lightly punched my arm.

"Yeah, yeah, all my notifications are saying your party so I don’t wanna hear it."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"What’s up?"

"This is going to sound stupid, but this mountain’s home now. I know we’re planning on talking with architects and getting some real builders here, but I want to build a shelter here, now, today. I want to sleep in it. I want this to be home."

Something in Iona’s tone had me looking up at her, taking her words seriously.

"Alright, let’s do it. What’s the plan?"

Iona held out her hand, and her axe snapped to it, pulled along by her [Telekinesis].

"How hard can stacking some logs in a block, then chopping out a door possibly be?"

I looked at the sheer number of fallen logs strewn about the mountain. I looked at Iona’s axe.

"I’m not hauling them up here. No way. Let’s build it down there." I suggested, pointing to a slightly flatter spot that had a couple of trees.

Iona kissed me, and it took a few minutes before we got started properly.

"How hard could it be." I grumbled again, glaring balefully at the log that had just rolled off the pile. I’d needed to move quickly to avoid my foot being crushed again.

Famous. Last. Words. Neither of us were big on building. My education had been limited to basic wilderness structures that I could quickly assemble with local flora, bolstered by [Mantle of the Stars]. Just enough to help keep the elements off of me while I grabbed a quick nap.

Iona’s education in the subject was both better and worse. Growing up in her little village, she’d helped out now and then as a kid with the basics - like thatching - and watched the adults do the heavy lifting. At the same time, civil construction wasn’t a high priority for the Valkyries. Like, yes, now and then they’d be helping someone rebuild a house, but that was usually as the manual labor that could make it happen in a day or two, not the designer and architect.

We were good at a lot of things. We weren’t good at everything, and directly building houses seemed to be on that list.

For now. I was Immortal, like Night. I had a long, long time to pick up skills, and building simple log cabins was rapidly rising on the list.

With our powers combined… we’d figured out a few things.

Like, getting the ground properly level was important.

Like, getting notches and joints carved into the end of the trees was critical, otherwise the log cabin was literally more air than wood for walls.

Like, flattening the logs so both ends were the same thickness was needed.

Iona looked so frustrated that she could punch another tree over.

"This is supposed to be easy!" She shouted.

I studied what we had.

"Idea."

"Anything." Iona practically growled. I knew she wasn’t mad at me.

"This isn’t going to last, isn’t supposed to last. You see those three trees there?" I pointed to three sturdy-looking trees in a line.

"Yeah?"

"Let’s pile up some logs against it, then lean more against them. It’s not perfect, it won’t last, we’ve got nothing for the gaps, but it requires no engineering knowledge, and I can close both sides with [Mantle]."

"Fine." She growled, glaring murder at the logs like they’d personally affronted her.

With a new plan in mind, we got to work.

With our new super-simple design, we got things going. It wasn’t amazing, and I was frankly a little terrified to sleep under it - logs were heavy, and that much weight crushing down on me promised a mild inconvenience - but it was coming together, and I felt my heart singing as it did.

Ours.

We had a home. A home, together. A home the two of us built with our own hands.

Right then and there I swore to work with the building crews on our new home. There was something indescribable about building my own home. I wanted to live there for a long, long time, how would it feel to pass by a brick, and know I’d placed it there with my own two hands?

Yeah, I wouldn’t have skills, I wouldn’t have experience, but I had to imagine the builders could use a willing and eager pair of hands, combined with a decent physical baseline. I couldn’t hurl logs around like Iona could, or - okay, any comparison to Iona in the physical department would find me wanting - but I’d stake my physical abilities against the average mortal [Builder] any day.

Fenrir joined us as we were placing the last few logs, Auri perched on his head, looking as smug as anything. The two of them had flown off a few hours ago after he’d finished with his class-up. Iona looked at him, and her eyes widened.

"Whoa." She said.

"Want to share?" I asked.

A small breeze whipped around us, and a tiny rumbling cloud formed in front of Fenrir. A few flakes of snow and hail fell out of it as lightning occasionally crackled from the cloud.

Then it all dissipated. My mouth dropped open.

"You took Storm?" I was shocked.

Fenrir made a pleased growl.

"[Lord of the Frozen Skies]." Iona shook her head in disbelief. "Fenrir, that’s amazing. Elaine, do you mind if Fenrir and I take a few minutes?"

"Nope! Not at all, go have fun. Auri, want to help me finish this?"

"Brrpt!"

Auri and I kept working at it. The two of us couldn’t easily move logs around like Iona could, no matter how Auri strained with a legion of [Mage Hands]. However, enough logs were in place that we focused our efforts on other things.

Auri gave the whole thing a light cleanse with her flames, perfectly charring the wood to help seal it up and preserve it, killing the legions of bugs and termites living in the wood. We then went on a hunt for all the soft ferns and leaves we could find. I conjured up some simple bags with my wizardry, and we stuffed them full of the bedding. [The World Around Me] assisted in locating some of the still intact rabbit and deer corpse that we won't mind being kind of smushed. They were fresh enough, especially after [Chef] Auri was on the case.

Iona and Fenrir eventually returned, and her eyes gleamed at the sight.

We settled in for a nice little evening barbeque around a campfire.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" She asked, stroking my hand. I leaned my head on her shoulder.

"Everything." I whispered back.

She laughed, picked me up, and carried me into our lean-to.

Our house.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 27]

[Mana: 948,700/948,700]

[Mana Regen: 594,518 (+1,182,650)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,335]

[Dexterity: 10,946]

[Vitality: 33,142]

[Speed: 33,174]

[Mana: 94,870]

[Mana Regeneration: 94,992 (+118,265)]

[Magic Power: 58,527 (+1,521,702)]

[Magic Control: 58,392 (+1,518,192)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 520]]

[Celestial Affinity: 520]

[Cosmic Presence: 330]

[The Stars Never Fade: 14]

[Center of the Universe: 473]

[Dance with the Heavens: 520]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 520]

[Mantle of the Stars: 495]

[Sunrise: 475]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 498]]

[Radiance Affinity: 498]

[Radiance Resistance: 498]

[Nova Lance: 498]

[Lepidoptera: 498]

[Nectar: 498]

[Solar Corona: 498]

[Scintillating Ascent: 498]

[Kaleidoscope: 498]

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial: Lv 128]]

[Spatial Affinity: 128]

[Comprehensive Speed Reading: 128]

[Channeled Blink: 42]

[Bookwyrm's Hoard: 128]

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes: 128]

[Vivid Dream Reading: 128]

[Astral Archives: 128]

[Hunger for Knowledge: 128]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 418]

[Parallel Thoughts: 200]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 520]

[The World Around Me: 85]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 520]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 520]

[Persistent Casting: 432]

[Imbue: 195]

Chapter 36 - Home Sweet Home

I woke up cold.

Damn natural laws. No matter how much biomancy I had, no matter what my stats were, my surface area to volume ratio dictated that, at night, with minimal shelter, I got cold.

Also, wait, cold?

I looked with [The World Around Me], and spotted Iona on a stump outside, looking into the lean-to with her sketchbook and a quill.

I banished the thoughts of cold from my mind. I’d powered through worse, and I wasn’t in a critical life-or-death ‘oh gods I’m going to freeze to death’ situation. Simply uncomfortable.

"Like what you see?" I called to Iona.

She glanced up from her book and grinned at me.

"Morning, love! Yes, that’s perfect. Just stay right like that while I finish up."

If I was going to be immortalized in one of Iona’s drawings, I was going to be immortalized well. I threw an overly dramatic pose I’d normally never make but Iona loved, then held it as Iona’s hand blurred.

Forwards and back, Iona occasionally flipped the quill over to ‘brush’ parts off, her skill acting as an eraser. She dipped the quill back in the inkpot occasionally, perfectly controlling everything such that no errant drops ever spilled.

"Annnnnnd done!" Iona blew carefully on the paper, then flipped it over.

It was our little home, with the stunning view behind it, and me posing in the middle of the lean-to. It was so lifelike I half-expected to see it jump off the page.

It gave me all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings. Which I needed, because I was still cold.

Our home.

"How do we preserve it?" I got up and walked over to Iona, then the second, more obvious question.

"Wait. How did you get your drawing stuff here?"

I was cold, and Iona looked warm. I snuggled up to her, then half as punishment for leaving me in bed to get cold, and half to warm up, I stuck my hands on her stomach.

Iona would’ve hit the roof if there was one.

"Lunaris’s tits THAT’S COLD!" She swore as I stuck to her like a bug.

"Well, it’s your fault!" I protested, flipping my hands over to warm the back of them.

Iona swore again, and stood up with me still glued to her back. I stuck my feet on her back, because it was warm, and just stayed attached as she carefully walked over to Fenrir, put her sketchbook in a bag near him, then walked back to the lean-to.

"Wait." I had a sudden realization, filled with dawning horror. "Wait, no."

"Too late!" Iona grabbed me in a headlock, started tickling me, and we fell back into our little home in a failing pile of joyous limbs.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

"How did you get the writing stuff?" I asked as I extracted myself again.

"Oh, that? Fenrir and Auri decided to make a trip back to town. They picked up most of our stuff, and brought it back."

Wow.

"That was nice of them."

Iona stretched where she was lying down, touching both sides of the lean-to.

"Well, it’s their home as well now. Speaking of, we’ve got to register that this is now ours, and other paperwork."

"Sounds good. I can go talk with Night, and see about those introductions."

Iona looked like she was about to say something, then closed her mouth and nodded.

"Alright, let’s do that. Don’t go making any commitments until the diamonds are in the bank though, I don’t want to end up making promises we can’t fulfill."

"Sure, seems perfectly reasonable. Let me throw on some clothes and we’ll get going?"

"Right after I get a basic sketch of the mountain."

With all the things to do, and with how bureaucracies tended to operate, I was worried we’d be in for a week of paperwork.

It didn’t take a week of paperwork. It took two hours.

Night was taking his favor to me seriously. The moment I mentioned ‘paperwork’, he was walking down the road.

"Come, my dear little otter. Let us see if we can not speed this process up." Night said.

I smiled as I hurried after him, Auri clutching onto my shoulder. It felt like it had been an eternity since he’d called me an otter, back at Ranger Academy. An unexpected nickname from the past.

Then he just… made things happen. Gatekeepers recognized him and opened the door. Schedules were cleared, and Night was welcomed into any party or entertainment needed, smoothly inserting himself into conversations. We were introduced to Linus, the [Accountant], Mesophiles and his devilish firm of [Jurisconsults] - Exterreri’s version of lawyers, and more!

I swear, if Iona’s interactions with Arachne hadn’t capped all of her social skills, watching Night at work would’ve finished it, as we picked her up along the way.

Or rather, not Night, but…

"Nyx! You old bloodsucker, I didn’t know you were still up and kicking!" A decently high-level vampire gave Night a hug, slapping his back with great gusto.

"Vitruvius! I hear you’re planning another city, do you have a place in mind for it, or are you just letting your imagination run wild?"

He snorted.

"The crusty farts in the House of Blood don’t see the point, and the young idiots in the House of Bone don’t want to spend the coin. Bah! I’ll stick it in my notes, and maybe one day it’ll see the cool kiss of the moon’s crimson gaze. It’s all about water. Water for streets! Can you imagine it, everyone uses a boat to get everywhere? No need to carry things, everyone’s got a boat!"

The [Architect] went on a long, passionate rant on the subject, a mad gleam in his eye as he detailed all the ways such a thing could work. Looping streams, easy waste disposal, and a thousand and one other interesting aspects to such a city.

Such was his passion that we found ourselves being sucked in, Iona, Auri, and I all nodding along.

"Vitruvius, such a project sounds fascinating. I would love to see it come to fruition one day. Do you believe a river, a bay, the shallows of a sea or the depths would be best?" Night - Nyx - asked.

Vitruvius did a double-take, and smacked his forehead.

"The depths of the sea! Why, I never considered such a thing, but yes, it would be possible. I’d need to redesign half of it, but yes…"

Nyx politely coughed.

"I have a small desire of mine that I wish you could fulfill. My friends here have recently completed a minor conquest, and would like your advice and expertise on the best place to build. Indeed, it is ideal. A pair of clients with significant funds, a land practically untouched, and a modest set of desires. I believe this is a most excellent chance to allow your creative wings to soar, with the added knowledge that your creation will see the light of day."

Vitruvius gave Nyx a flat look before breaking into a huge smile.

"Ah, Nyx, you wily old fox! Alright, alright, I’ll do it. What have you got? Location, budget, style, requirements." He asked Iona.

She grabbed the map out of her bag, shoved a few cups of wine over on a table, and unraveled her drawing.

"We evicted a wyrm from this mountain and the surrounding land. Budget is 2.5 million arcs for the home, we’ll handle the road. The nearest roads are here and here. We’d like to have a quality villa in the Exterreri style, enough room for an orchard, a lavish bathing room, a training ground - if you think [Gladiators] you’re close enough - and enough rooms to shuffle around. Slightly related, Fenrir, my bonded wyvern, would like to dig out a cave in the mountain, but we simply need a location for that, we’ll handle the digging on that ourselves. Thoughts?"

Vitruvius pointed over the map, and it seemed to grow, a Mirage forming over Iona’s paper.

"Is this an accurate representation?" He asked.

Iona pointed at a few spots, having him raise or lower them, and we started to draw a crowd. Vitruvius working in public was something of a spectacle.

Auri, of course, thought it would be great fun to try to get the crowd to admire her instead. At least she did it in an unobtrusive mode.

"You’ll want to focus on this area." Vitruvius highlighted a portion of the north side of the mountain. "Build here. Grove here. Cave here. Road like this… the perimeter of the villa should look like this…"

I was good at healing, and could fix hundreds of people at once. Iona was good at archery, and could pull off the craziest trick shots.

Turns out, a high-level [Architect] could completely design a house, innards and all, in just a few minutes, and I strongly suspected most of that was explaining it all to the client.

The biggest, most obnoxious issue was water. We weren’t near aqueducts, we didn’t have a stream, and a well was going to need to be dug deep into the ground. Conjured water was right out, it was no way to live long-term, and rain collection would require enormous catchers.

"... and this tower here houses the water. I will leave filling it as an exercise for you, as there are nearly as many ways to fill it as there are skills in the System. Is this satisfactory?"

I looked at Iona with my jaw open.

"Brrrpt!" Auri was all about the ‘room of mirrors’, and hey, I had nothing against it. We all needed something for ourselves.

The house was fucking amazing. She looked at me, and I started to nod furiously, remembering to close my mouth.

"Vitruvius, you are even more talented and skilled than I’d heard. I will sing your praises for as long as I live, and I will see what I can do to make your dream of a floating city become real." Iona praised.

He looked as smug as a peacock, and the entire Mirage warped, sinking back into her paper. Instead of Iona’s original drawing, however, an intricate and detailed set of blueprints was left.

How did that work!? I mean, skills, obviously, but I wasn’t aware Mirage could make lasting changes like that!

Well, we had a blueprint now.

Night said his thanks, and we were off to the next hurdle to easily clear, the next barrier destroyed.

Mundane administrative barriers weren't the only thing Night handled. Apparently, Arachne’s meeting with Command went quickly and well, the same day we found ourselves deep underwater, in Arachne’s… control chamber? I wasn’t sure what she called it, but it was the lair under Bloodmoon Bay that she’d dragged me to.

The view was still amazing, and if I had the funds, desire, protection, and ability to easily escape, I’d love my own underwater lair.

Wait, no.

I was going about this all wrong.

This was just like a boat.

I didn’t want an underwater lair.

I wanted a good friend with an underwater lair. All the fun, none of the hassle.

Focus.

I held Iona’s hand, and Auri was on her traditional place on my shoulder. Night was standing slightly behind me, a pillar of reassurance. Arachne’s eyes were slightly glazed over, and I could see why she situated herself in such an isolated spot when doing her… spymaster? Thing.

She had to be doing a lot. Normally, it looked like she could handle a dozen conversations at once while tracking everything, only showing the briefest of distractions.

Or maybe it was some sort of social power play thing?

Ha! I was utterly immune to those! I couldn’t be weirded out or analyze dynamics if I had no idea what they were!

Less than a minute after we arrived, Arachne ‘snapped’ back to the present.

"I’m so sorry about that, the [Lord Commander] of the Bloodsworn order was causing a minor spot of bother. It’s all resolved. Now, Iona, I believe you wished to know about Shadow Sentinel operations over the last 20 years?"

Iona’s fingers slowly curled up.

"Yes." She said.

"Good. Here are redacted copies of the records. Unfortunately, I can’t let you leave with them, and the Sentinel’s name, title, and abilities are redacted, but they should be sufficient for your needs. Oh! We also need to burn them before you leave,"

Auri looked way too excited about that, stars practically gleaming in her eyes.

"But feel free to review them while I give the quick rundown."

I relaxed. I didn’t think they’d bump us off if we said no, and redacted records indicated that they’d be fine if we said no.

I split off a [Parallel Thought] and started reading through all the detailed records. Hey, I had a reading class, why not abuse it to sneak a peek at super confidential information? I was at a class-up point, every little bit that could help my quality was nice.

"First. Faking Emir Sahar’s great-to-the-seventh granddaughter’s death. She’d fallen madly in love with Emir Ramil’s great-to-the-fourth grandson, and the two families hate each other. Half the people involved were utterly incompetent, and if we just let it all go, they’d probably end up warring in such a way that had an unacceptably high risk of triggering the next Immortal war. Framing Patriarch Penpa for cultivating demonic techniques. The man was a warmonger, his sect destroying its rivals and quickly growing. In a hilarious twist, the Shadow Sentinel in question reported that he didn’t need to frame Patriarch Penpa, the man was already cultivating demonic techniques according to the Monastery's own definition!"

I chuckled slightly at that one, and Arachne continued giving us the list.

A stolen ring, intended to frame someone, returned to its rightful owner. A rigged election. A subtle nudging of a powerful Immortal who’d lost it all to seek forgiveness and help, instead of directly seeking revenge. Sabotaging a budding relationship that could’ve made a superpower. Detouring a religious order. Smuggling out a town’s worth of Ekada Ruh changelings. A rebellion neutered in its infancy by one Shadow, who apparently kept them all busy bickering among themselves instead of executing any plans. A young Void mage, who was deliberately trying to trigger one of the city-ending explosions.

"I’ll be honest." Arachne said after detailing that one. "That one was me, and we’d usually let the local Ranger team handle it. I didn’t want to run the risk."

Iona looked briefly unhappy, then nodded.

"Completely understandable. I would’ve taken the same action." She said.

Iona was a little frustrating at times. It wasn’t okay to execute someone like that… except when it was. I got that there was nuance to it, and I imagined I had to be just as irritating when I looked like a hypocrite with my [Oath]. Let’s blast the adventurer! Wait, no, never mind, let’s heal him and save him. The ruleset was internally consistent, and I knew what was going on in Iona’s mind, but that only helped with the frustration a bit.

"... and, lastly, we had to lightly poison one of the elven clan leaders. Given how upset they’d be over the incident, I hope you understand when I say I can’t tell you who. They needed to miss an important meeting, and that’s all I can say on the topic."

Iona nodded.

"All this seems more than reasonable. I’ve got no issues with Elaine joining, I just need to do some thinking if I want to be on her team." Iona started to pace back and forth, reading over the detailed notes of each operation Arachne had shared.

Auri started hopping around in delighted little circles on my shoulder.

My reading speed was unfortunately high in some respects. I was already done.

"Honestly my dear, you don’t need to make a decision now. Indeed, while Sentinels operate as the head of a team these days, the members of the team are a little more on the flexible side. Whatever assistance and help you give to Sentinel Dawn is between the two of you, on a case-by-case, mission-by-mission basis. With that said, while I have you here, I’d like to propose a special job just for you, my dear [Paladin] of the moons."

Iona stopped her pacing, put the papers down, and looked at Arachne.

"I’m listening."

"As you can see, broadly, we aim to uphold stability and peace, not just in Exterreri, but in all places that could end up spilling over to our Empire. There are a number of people I would like to get your eyes on, that I suspect have skills that are massively destabilizing, or are primed and ready to flat-out murder hundreds of thousands. I’m not asking you to spy, you’ll never be asked to give details on political opponents or people of that nature, I’m not asking you to report every detail of what you see back to me - although, I won’t lie, that would be appreciated - simply… take a little peek at people who could be an issue, and confirm if they are. Much better than simply wandering around, hoping you encountered an [Assassin] in the wild, no?"

Iona gave a little jerky nod, and Arachne beamed.

"Excellent! Again, I’d like to reiterate. If at any time you don’t want to participate, or if you feel what you see is harmless enough, you don’t have to tell me! Simply looking at the person is enough for me. Ah! Remuneration. How does 10,000 arcs per person sound?"

"I’ll need to think about all this more." Iona said. Under her breath, in English - still loud enough for everyone to hear what she was saying, but the tone was clearly private, along with the language, she muttered to me.

"What was that saying you told me about again? The road to hell is paved with good intentions or something? Yeah, I’m feeling that pretty hard right now."

I doubted Night or Arachne knew what Iona was saying, but there was always a chance, especially with Arachne’s ability to cold read. Then again, that was more tone, body language, and general feelings rather than deciphering new languages… I hoped. If they did, they didn’t say anything, and were polite enough to pretend Iona hadn’t said a thing.

Arachne clapped her hands together.

"Wonderful, simply wonderful! Now, Dawn, I must ask formally. Would you like to be formally instated to active duty, to once again take up the mantle of Sentinel Dawn?"

I didn’t need to know what Auri was thinking, she was throwing a silent fit on my shoulder, bobbing her head furiously, jumping up and down. Staying remarkably quiet, she knew it wasn’t her moment.

Iona though?

I looked at her. She locked eyes with me, then gave me a grin.

Goddesses, that grin.

She nodded once, and I turned back to Arachne, saluting in the ancient style.

"Of course. What happens next?"

Chapter 37 - Getting up to speed

"Excellent! The first matter is that of your personal symbol. Each Sentinel has their own distinct mark, as well as the unified symbol of the Sentinels. It helps us know who’s helping which Sentinel, a personalized banner if you will. Now, it’s almost entirely up to you. The rules are fairly basic. Don’t copy someone else’s sigil. That would entirely defeat the point! Don’t have a symbol that’s too large or complicated, that would make it impossible to quickly duplicate and remember, and please, don’t be too crude. A Sentinel who shall not be named wanted to use a pile of poop as their symbol."

Arachne’s forehead scrunched up in consternation, remembering the event. The fact that they were unnamed suggested they were one of the current Sentinels… and it strangely gave me hope.

Hope that this was another group that was just as goofy in private, just as relaxed, that I could fit in with and feel at home with. Also, hope that the voice of sanity and reason prevailed at the top.

My mind immediately went to the obvious symbol for me to use.

"Night, if it’s alright with you, do you mind if I use the old Remus Sentinel badge as my symbol?"

He smiled warmly.

"As far as I am concerned, at this time, you have a far stronger claim on the badge and the symbol than I do, and there is no other who would contest you. Feel free."

Arachne nodded eagerly.

"Yes! Perfect! Marvelous! That’s a beautiful symbol. Now, we’re going to have a large official ‘welcome back’ ceremony. The primary purpose is to get your face shown to most of the other Sentinels, Ranger Command, and a number of the Ranger teams that think they can make it to the event. Exactly what I wanted to do earlier, and almost realized too late that it would go wrong. Forgive me for that dear, I let myself get too excited."

I nodded.

"That seems fine. Anything else?"

Arachne gave a dramatic sigh, and looked at Night. The two of them had perfected nonverbal communication over… a long marriage.

"There is a second, minor, unfortunate matter that you will need to attend to." Night started to speak, and I craned my head back to look at him. "As time has gone by, the procedures and methods of communication have changed. You will need to relearn a new set of protocols, hand-signs, verbal signals, and expected behavior. It is unfortunate, but we have seen time and time again that Sentinels work together more often than expected, and if you find yourself needing to take command of a Ranger team, it would not do for you to misunderstand each other. Entirely separate, but just as critical, is we are proposing the War Sentinel designation for you, as that most closely fits your skill set, ability, and use. While it is rare for a War Sentinel to come from positions other than the Legions, it is not unheard of. There is a similar set of training that you will need to undertake such that you understand your role and responsibility when operating with a Legion."

All of that sounded perfectly reasonable. I nodded.

"Got it. When are we doing this?"

"The Autumn Equinox is in sixteen days. I think that’s sufficiently auspicious for those who follow that sort of thing, while being enough time to communicate the event to the various Ranger teams, and allow enough time for them to return if they see fit. Does that work for you?"

I looked at Iona, who shrugged. Auri was pitching a silent fit on my shoulder, but that was more due to the delay on being admired than any real complaint.

"Yup, that works. What now?"

Arachne gave me a terrifying smile.

"Well! Now we work on bringing you up to speed on everything that you need to know before the event. Most of the Sentinel teams include a [Healer] or two, and if you’d be willing to give them some personalized instruction, that will help them level, possibly saving someone’s life. Lastly, it probably comes as no surprise to you that I’m one of the [Loremasters], although without the class, and Sentinel Devour will manage the general education, if you don’t mind?"

It’d be nice if Arachne did it all, but she was busy - she was the leader, and still running her absurd city-wide network, and I should start to get to know my other coworkers.

Plus, what reason did I have, if any, to object?

"Sure! When and where do we start?"

"Sentinel Devour can meet you at the entrance of Stormwatch Castle in an hour, and I’ll let the two of you know when I’m ready."

I nodded.

"Alrighty!"

Iona split after a hearty round of congratulations, having paladin-y activities to do. Something about making a ton of sandwiches and delivering them to the elderly members of a temple. Hey, not every job was related to smiting evil - sometimes smiting a hungry belly was good enough.

I went back to Stormwatch Castle, and Sentinel Devour waved to me.

Tall with a mass of shockingly dark hair on his head, he was another vampire with a light tan as opposed to the pasty pale look most sported. I recognized him from the report I gave - he was the one with the raven-feather cloak, and he was wearing it now.

"Heeeeeeey!" He waved at me with two hands. "Over here!"

That was a much better introduction than a stuffy and formal event, and he was already giving off a woodsy, outdoorsy vibe. His personal symbol looked like a carnivorous jaw. I hurried over, Auri still on my shoulder.

"Devour?" I asked.

He briskly nodded.

"Yup! That’s me! But in a more casual setting, you can call me Nibble."

My face must’ve shown what I thought of that, because he laughed at his own joke.

"Ha! Ah, the look on your face. Dawn, right?"

I smiled, and stuck out my hand.

"Yup! That’s me. I think I saw you during the report, yeah?"

He vigorously shook my hand.

"Oh yeah! Good stuff! I got a pair of levels, good stuff! It’ll be a while before I see that next magical ding."

He sighed dramatically.

"Wait as long as you can before you let them turn you. Get as many levels under your belt as possible."

I winked at him.

"Already seized it on my own, no need to worry about that!"

"No shit?" He said, gesturing into the castle. "Wanna tell me about it?"

His eyes opened wide at that, and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Wait, nope, never mind, don’t tell me a thing about it. I don’t want to know."

"Brrrpt!" Auri finally found her voice again - I was starting to wonder if I’d misnamed her Stentor.

"Auri says hello."

Devour beamed at Auri.

"Hello to you too! You are just the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, you know that!"

"Brrrpt!!" Auri had a new MFSE - Most Favorite Sentinel EVER.

We continued walking through the halls of the castle, Devour clearly knowing where he was going and most people making way for the Sentinel.

"Now, I dunno how close you are to Arachne and all this cloak-and-dagger stuff she’s got going on, but me? I’m a simple man."

I wanted to snort in disbelief and call bullshit - no Sentinel was ‘simple’, not even Brawling who worked hard at cultivating such an image. But this wasn’t the time and the place, and I wasn’t going to judge people today on the standards of the past.

"Yeah?" I asked, encouraging him to go on.

"See, I figure it’s no coincidence that she asked me to team up with you. Did she tell you my skillset?"

I shook my head.

"Nope. I didn’t think that was something we did?"

"Ah, right, from another time, another place. That’s going to take some getting used to, although your accent makes it obvious."

I didn’t have an accent! HE had an accent!

"But to answer your question, nope! Anyway, long and short of it is - I’m a [Devourer] and a [Shapeshifter]. I get stronger every time I hunt, kill, and eat a monster, and I’m not talking pure levels here. I’ve got skills that literally improve my stats, and it lets me take on some of their skills. The other half of it is using their skins to make cloaks, letting me transform. Now, don’t get the wrong idea here. I’m not interested in using the [Devourer] half of my skills. But little Auri there? If she’d lend me a few feathers, I could make a phoenix cape. That would be something. Which is why I figure Arachne asked me to teach you the basics, bring you up to speed. She figures we spend time, we like each other, Auri’s willing to give me a few feathers. But all this back-alley skulking and manipulation and shit isn’t for me, so I figured I’d tell you straight, so you didn’t feel like I’ve done you wrong. Sounds good?"

I didn’t need to say anything, I just let Auri speak for herself.

"Brrrpt! Brrpt, BRPT brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt? Brrrpt!"

"As long as it doesn’t make her ugly, she’s fine with that. Auri would like you to pay her back in kind though."

"Yeah? Anything for the pretty little bird." Devour said. I looked at Auri.

"Well?" I prompted.

"BRRPT!" She demanded.

I facepalmed.

"Noooo… you can’t ask for that." I protested.

Auri did her best impression of folding her wings.

"Brpt." She insisted.

I was dying of secondhand cringe and embarrassment.

"Don’t judge me. This is all Auri. She wants a parade." I translated.

Way to go and make a good first impression Auri.

Devour laughed.

"A parade!? I don’t think I can do that. But what do you say to an exhibition match in the Colosseum? Or I can ask Spark if he’d like to take you with him when he does one of his chariot races. The man’s a fan favorite! You get more people turning out to see him than for the latest Triumph!"

Auri thought for a moment, her beak going back and forth.

"Brrrpt!" She agreed.

"Yup, that works for her."

"Excellent! We’re here, take a seat."

Devour indicated a small room, with a table and some chairs.

"I swear the castle breeds these rooms like rabbits." He said as he sat down. "Can never find the same room twice, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the castle was alive, shifting the rooms around. Sometimes, at night, you can hear the grinding of masonry, and the faint echoes of the Punics."

"Brrrrpt…" Auri shivered, scared of the ghosts haunting the castle.

I gave him a flat look. I believed in a lot of crazy things, but ghost stories? Come on, that was one too far.

He caught the look I was giving him and laughed.

"Alright, alright, you got me! There’s no moving castle, it’s just an annoying layout. Before we begin, got any questions for me?"

"I do! Crimson Eyes, Sundown, Claws In? Do those phrases mean anything to you?" I was remembering the encounter I had with the Rangers on the way over.

Devour nodded.

"Codewords! Yes, we use them to quickly and openly communicate information to each other in the field. Each one has a set of words or phrases, and we need to situationally figure out what part is important. Crimson Eyes is a caution, lookout, moderate danger word. Sundown’s a big one. That’s disaster, major event, major warning, everything’s gone to shit. Claws In is almost self-explanatory. That’s no violent actions. The direct counterpart to that is, of course, Fangs Out, which is violence recommended, required, or imminent. Oh! Do you need to take notes or anything?"

I shook my head.

"Perfect memory skill."

"Ah, perfect! This will be easy then. In no particular order, the rest of the codewords are…"

I met Arachne a few hours later in the castle’s grand library, my head still spinning from everything Devour tried to stuff into it. As nice and friendly as he was, the man was not a good [Teacher], and just went rambling through each segment as he thought of them. [Astral Archives] paired with [Hunger for Knowledge] made it easy to re-catalog and organize it all, but it could’ve been easier.

Auri went off to plot with her new MFSE, the two of them trying to figure out how she could give someone a feather. She was made entirely out of flames, which didn’t exactly scream ‘pluck here’.

Arachne wasn’t alone. Another woman, with half-black, half-white hair was with her, the two of them playing a complex board game, a stack of books next to them. I realized that it was literally just the three of us in the entire library, the place not having a single other soul present.

"Dawn! Welcome! So glad you could make it. This is War Sentinel Flood, who expressed an interest in learning the same things once she heard we had another [Loremaster] in the making. I’m sorry we’re not done, I thought this match would’ve wrapped up by the time you arrived."

"It’s because someone’s not respecting the clock." Flood grumbled as she moved another piece.

Arachne frowned at that, and knocked over three of her pieces.

"Well then! If you had simply mentioned it, I would’ve conceded earlier."

Flood snorted.

"Right. Where do we start?" She asked.

Arachne knocked her knuckles on the stack of books next to her. I skimmed a few of the titles, seeing what I was in for.

The Eternal Night Rift and you: Where the crack in the world lies, and why you should ignore its whispers.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

"Dawn, Flood, both of you are able to process multiple streams of information at the same time. Would you mind starting to read through the books while I lecture?"

We looked at each other, and Flood shrugged, grabbed eight books, opened them up and stacked them in front of her. I suspected she could’ve grabbed more if the pile wasn’t almost to her eyes already.

I didn’t move. She gave me a questioning look.

"I just need to be near a book to read it." I explained as I split my mind into four, three to read the books, and one to pay attention to Arachne.

The woman in question gave me a brisk nod and started.

"We’re going to start with how we rate dangers. Scale is from white, which is harmless, going through the full class color spectrum, ending at black, which could literally rip the planet apart. Guardians obviously intervene on the higher end, and anything rated blue and above usually would have them showing up. With that said, figuring out what something is can be extremely tricky, and is more of an art than a science, a simple rule of thumb to help quickly communicate disaster levels."

She paused, mostly for breaking the conversation up a bit. I had to imagine Flood could process information better than I could, and I was keeping up just fine.

"A fairly simple example would be a yellow-rated project Exterreri is running in the Sea of Stars. A Classer is convinced they’ve unlocked the secret to controlling Void magic, and naturally we don’t want that anywhere near anyone when that inevitably goes wrong and he blows himself and the island up. I’ll show you where it’s marked in a minute."

I nodded. Made sense, and I was almost glad to see that city-shattering explosions rated near the middle of the scale… at the same time, I was a little terrified about anything above that.

Erasing an entire city in a heartbeat was yellow!?

"Now, moving on, before delving into the deeper mysteries." Arachne said. "If you want to bow out after seeing the first real one, I won’t blame you. This isn’t an easy job."

A map came from part of the library, carried on Arachne’s strings, while all the pieces of the board game were quickly and neatly put away.

A beautiful, high-detail map of the world - north continent included! - unfurled in front of us. There were no cities labeled, no borders, but there were thousands upon thousands of brightly colored groups of dots covering the map, some of them with extra annotations. More of them were in the northern continent than the southern, but it wasn’t terribly weighted one way or another.

"This map and what it details is a little hard to classify, due to the differing natures of what’s shown. Arguably, there’s a whole range of red to purple here, although individual locations aren’t categorized. Commit this map to memory, and never let another soul know you’ve seen it. Sanguino would get razed to the ground if certain powers knew we had it."

Arachne paused for a long moment, to the point where it was getting awkward.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Flood barked.

I was getting ‘grandmother that took no shit’ vibes off her, and I was all for it. Interestingly, I was pretty sure Arachne was older than she was. Immortality was weird.

Arachne simply gave Flood a flat look, the pause extending out more.

"Ah." I said as I realized what was going on. I looked at the map again and shivered.

There was a single dot, a little isolated from the rest, in the mountains deep in the Silver Horde. The dot had three sections like most of them - a black with silver sprinkles, black with red accents, and a rainbow segment.

Welp, the Silver Horde was already near the bottom of my to-visit list given how much they loved apples there. Now it was even less likely that I’d visit… but as my eyes roamed over the map, I realized that, ironically, it might be one of the safer places.

"Every known lair, by element, and hatching status." Arachne confirmed.

"I can say it, since you didn’t?" I asked. Flood’s eyes were slowly getting wider.

Arachne nodded.

"Dragons." I whispered.

I was looking at a map of every single known dragon.

Chapter 38 - Sentinel Dawn

The days passed in a blur. Between jumping back and forth from the site of our new mountain home, Devour’s rambling lessons, Arachne’s terrifying reveal of all the barely-contained horrors that might kill us all - there was a fucking black threat sealed under the Tympestshard Council capital - Night’s steady introduction to all the different people I should know, the rest of the Eventide Eclipse’s shenanigans that I kept getting dragged into, and more, I was kept so busy I barely had any time for me.

Let alone my clinic. Which made me sad on one level, but I also knew it was temporary, and it’d be much easier to handle the Triad with the full backing and weight of being a Sentinel.

A bit of a cop-out, a bit of a cheat, but hey. Life wasn’t fair. Any way I could stick it to gangsters. Iona was asking some worrying questions about what legal protections members of a Sentinel’s group got when it came to the Triad.

On the endless list of people to meet and things to do was the [Quartermaster], who needed to issue me multiple sets of gear and armor - both ceremonial, and practical.

She was nothing like what I expected.

"Oh my gosh! You’re the new Sentinel! I have heard SO MUCH about you! I just can’t believe you’re here! Eeeeeeeeee! This is so exciting! Oh! Right! I’m Harper. Okay, okay, you HAVE to tell me EVERYTHING. Well, you don’t have to tell me EVERYTHING, but you know what? I want to know! Dish, girl!"

The whole time the [Quartermaster] was dancing around me, tape measures flying all over the place as she held my arm out.

With all the questions she was asking, I didn’t get a chance to get a word in edgewise. Even Auri was looking on with wide eyes.

"Okay, okay, more importantly, I have to know your usual armor and style. What do you use? What do you like? How potent is your armor skill, on a scale from 1 to 8? Any, like, exotic weapons, or are the standard ones fine? What was the fairy realm like? Was it totally cool? Did you really get magical hearing? Do you know what your team needs? Our rates on team member gear is very reasonable! Hey cutie, what do you like? What skills or gems do you think you can charge? There’s this new drink at that cute place down the road. It’s, like, to die for. You HAVE to go and try it. Girl, have you worked out your symbol yet? So, um, have you figured out where you’re staying yet? How…"

Nothing at all like what I expected. The gruff [Quartermaster] of Remus that I had known and vaguely loved was mentally obliterated. There were going to be no mental comparisons between the two. No parallels to be drawn. No wistful longing for the past, as I saw echoes of him here.

Not. At. All.

I left fairly dizzy, having gotten maybe a dozen words in while she talked and talked and talked. Even Auri was looking a little dazed at the whole thing.

The other issue was - we didn’t have a home yet! Vitruvius had gotten us plans, and what Amber had paid up combined with Night’s introduction was enough to get some builders interested and scheduling us, but I still hadn’t gotten any of my pay - I wasn’t a Sentinel on paper yet! - and it took time to make everything happen. Builders weren’t just lying around waiting for us to give them a job, and we weren’t exactly next door. The first task was getting a road to our little mountain redoubt, then construction could start.

Iona had cleared the entire plot of land in a single afternoon already, which was nice. She’d stacked all the stripped trees off to one side, and I’d laid down a half-dozen runes to help preserve the wood. Digging the stumps out was another challenge, then leveling the ground, making sure there were no surprises for the diggers, then making sure we had security for them, and…

Building a home, a good home, even with a ton of money to throw at the problem, was hard. There was something magical about cuddling up with Iona in our little shabby lean-to, even if the elements did their level best to wreck us every night. Thank goodness for the mild autumn air, we’d be in trouble if it was winter.

That got me thinking of Immortal wars, the big ones that apparently destroyed nearly everything. I should learn how to rebuild a vague semblance of civilization for myself before my opportunity to do so vanished, and I ended up in the school of hard knocks instead. Just another thing to add to my ever-expanding list of things to do! Better than being bored, honestly.

Just like that, time flew by, and it was time for Exterreri to officially recognize that I was a Sentinel.

The [Quartermaster] stepped back and clapped her hands.

"Oh. My. Gosh. You, like, look totally badass in that! Girl, you are going to, like, totally BLOW THEM AWAY! There’s a set of enchantments in the back that’ll make you slightly glow, and given that you’re the star of the show today or something, you should totally use it!"

I felt badass. Harper was good at her job, crazy stream of consciousness with no brakes on her mouth or not.

The ceremonial set of armor was done. It didn’t have gems, arcanite, a helmet, spear, or shield, but I did have a short sword and a cape. The whole thing was made out of some pitch-black metal - I swear there was a skill involved somewhere along the line - tastefully trimmed with red.

I was going to need to drill a lot with the new gear once I got it. In some ways, the armor was similar to Remus’s, but like… only if I looked into the sun after getting a massive concussion. Armor was armor, and it was meant to keep us safe and protected. There were only so many ways that could be done.

It was full scale, extending all the way down to my hands, where I had a pair of gauntlets. It went down past my waist, past my knees, flaring into a long skirt for mobility. Thick greaves went up to almost my knees, minimizing any potential angles of attack.

My lack of a true armor skill was being felt. Harper was trying to figure out if it was even worth equipping me with true armor, or if a different configuration would work.

My sigil - the Sentinel badge of Remus - was emblazoned on my right breast, a stark gold against the dark void. There was a second spot on my left breast, ready to accept the official Sentinel badge of Exterreri.

I’d asked for, and gotten, my cape to be red instead of the standard black. It had always been my color, and I was too used to the fashionable red capes of Remus, instead of the black of Exterreri. That had taken some wrangling, but it did otherwise fit the color scheme the Sentinels had going.

My ‘real’ armor was still being worked on, every Sentinel having custom-made gear, and I was working with Iona and Fenrir to see what, if any, gear they wanted as part of my ‘team’.

"Brrrpt?" Auri asked.

"Didn’t we discuss you turning your flames just so?" I reminded her.

"BRRPT!" Auri half-jumped in realization.

I wanted to smack my forehead at her antics… before remembering that we were bonded in large part due to how similar we were to each other, and it was exactly the type of thing I’d do.

With a flicker, Auri’s flames changed, mimicking my black, gold, and red design. She proudly lifted her beak up.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! You two are, like, totally perfect for each other! It’s so cute!" Harper squealed with delight, then got serious again.

"Right! I think it’s time! Go, like, knock their socks off or something!"

I nodded but didn’t leave, instead going through a set of stretching exercises to make sure I knew how to properly move in this gear. It’d be embarrassing to fall on my face during the ceremony because everything was so new to me. Even worse, it’d make us look bad.

Us.

I was starting to think of myself as one of these Sentinels. Time and exposure to Devour, Arachne, Flood, and a few more was starting to ease me into it.

One of the practically-invisible, omni-present threads reached up and tapped my gauntleted hand lightly.

"I think that’s my signal to go." I apologized to Harper.

"Go get em! I’ll be cheering from the stands!" The woman told me.

Naturally, awkwardly, we both left at the same time and started to go in the same direction. Sentinel Mirror - or if it wasn’t her, it was one of her [Clones] - met me at the gate of Stormwatch Castle.

"Dawn! Excellent, you all set? Got everything? Nerves, jitters, anything wrong?"

"I’m all set! Hey, at least they don’t spring the promotion on us as a surprise anymore."

Mirror gasped.

"No. Did they seriously do that?"

We started walking and talking. I immediately started to get stares, looks, and people parting way for us on the road.

On one hand, I was somewhat used to it from Remus. On the other, it had literally been over half a decade since I’d last experienced it, and it was all sorts of strange and unusual.

"Oh yeah. End of Ranger Academy, they were announcing teams, which was also when people found out they hadn’t made the cut. Nasty stuff. My name never came up, thought I was being kicked out. Instead, they promoted me to Sentinel. Scariest twenty minutes of my life." I confirmed.

Mirror shuddered.

"Wow. I’m glad they don’t do that here."

"How is it done here?" I asked.

"Well, depends on the designation they want to give you. Core is straightforward. I got a letter one day, asking if I was interested in joining the Sentinels. I replied that I was, and four months later everything was arranged and organized. Took me another two years to finalize building my team, and here we are."

We continued to chat about some of the more mundane aspects of Sentinels in the modern day and age, before finally arriving at one of the many arenas Sanguino had scattered all around. Iona was waiting for me at the gate, wearing her own armor and tabard.

"Hey badassosaurus!" She gestured, and I happily skipped into her arms. She kissed me, uncaring of the look or image, and I kissed her back, my butterflies suddenly turning into flutters.

"You good? Everything alright with Fenrir?" I asked.

Iona nodded.

"Oh yeah. Gave the event [Organizer] one heck of a heart attack and two levels, so I think he’s happy. Devour is trying to make friends with him, and I think he’s succeeding. Every time Fenrir snaps his jaws at the Sentinel, Devour snaps back. The dude has no fear."

Or he knew he could single-handedly take Fenrir apart if he needed to - but I wasn’t going to say that part out loud.

Things started to move very quickly, and I once again thanked my lucky stars that I’d remembered medicine from my prior life, and not event organization.

"... and now, back from the dead, can we please welcome - Sentinel Dawn!" The [Announcer] called out.

That was my cue, and I stepped out onto the floor of the arena.

A new voice barked orders, crisp and high.

"Sixth Legion! Present! Arms!"

The [Legionnaires] of the Sixth were forming a corridor, all the way from where I entered the arena to the stage I was expected to go to. In resounding unison, they banged their spears against their shields once, then thrust them upwards and slightly towards each other, forming a corridor of steel for me to march through.

I started to march through, remembering to start with my right foot not my left - another one of those little differences Devour had taught me in the past two weeks - and kept mindful of my appearance. Who I was. What I looked like.

Eyes straight. Shoulders back. Auri on my shoulder, looking dignified. The little rascal was secretly delighted to be the center of attention for so many people, and her flames glowed a little brighter, a little hotter.

That reminded me of my own glowing enchantment Harper had said was in my armor, and it started to softly glow as I activated it.

While I was keeping my eyes forward, not scanning the crowd, Fenrir was impossible to miss. He was curled up in the arena, taking up almost a quarter of the sandy floor himself. A few exceptionally bold fellows had climbed up on him, and were using him as seating, but I couldn’t tell the rest of what was going on.

Then I was at the stage. The eight Ranger Commanders were there - four vampires, four humans - along with almost all of the active Sentinels, in their own full regalia. Same color scheme, except for the cloaks. I was starting to recognize them. Skater. Mirror - the one earlier had definitely been a [Clone]. Invincible, the troll standing tall. Archmage, the gnome. Devour, his cape also being a minor variant with the crow feathers. Blob, who had to have one hell of a story behind that as his title. Terminus. Spark. Depths. Malice. Flood, and so many more.

And, of course, standing before them all, in the place of honor, Arachne. She gave me a little encouraging smile and nod as I stepped onto the stage.

"Sixth Legion! Order! Arms!"

The Sixth, in neat, almost-perfect unison - they were comprised of normal people after all - retracted their spears back, banging them once against their shield, and returning them to their side. Whoever was giving commands - the legata, probably - then ordered the soldiers to turn towards the stage, and assume parade rest.

Ah, death by speech. At least the Ashes were blotting out the sun, preventing the entire arena from becoming an oven.

Night was conspicuously absent. I made it to the front, and one of the vampire Commanders stepped forward.

"Many thousands of years ago…" He started to drone on, giving a big long speech about my history.

Again.

Instead, I took the chance to scan the crowd, and see if there was anyone I recognized.

Iona was on Fenrir’s head, and my heart practically exploded for joy as I saw that she’d managed to secretly copy my Sentinel badge, and had it on her tabard, along with a secondary copy on Fenrir’s head.

I loved that woman. I had to figure out how to ask her to marry me.

I scanned through the crowd, and Night wasn’t the first familiar face I saw. I grinned as I saw a shocked Livia, the leader of the Ranger team that had stopped us on the way to Sanguino, finally putting together that I was indeed a Sentinel.

I mentally filed the look on her face away under ‘priceless’ in [Astral Archives], and resolved to figure out how to bump into her later during the party. Oooooh, I was looking forward to that conversation.

She was sitting with the rest of her team, who were all excitedly chattering with each other, fingers pointed my way.

I wanted to wave but didn’t, aware that nearly every eye was on me.

I finally managed to find Night, sitting in an average seat, slightly apart from anyone else. He clearly noticed that I’d found him, and shot me a cheeky wink.

He was technically off-rotation, and so ‘didn’t count’ as a Sentinel, which also meant he didn’t need to dress up and present. I imagined a number of other Sentinels were scattered through the crowd, either off-rotation, or with the Shadow designation.

The speeches went on and on, and I was being painted as way larger than life than I actually thought I was. Founder of medicine, savior of humanity, protege of one of the progenitors, without me nobody here would be alive today, and those were the simple claims. They had some utterly wild and outlandish ones in there, like how I’d single-handedly wrestled a bull.

At last Arachne got up, and she was mercifully short and sweet.

"It is my greatest joy and honor to welcome Sentinel Dawn back to the fold. The endless sands of time have changed how we operate from the glorious past, and in her return, a slightly new position has been found for Dawn. Please all join me in welcoming War Sentinel Dawn back to the fold, to be attached to the Sixth Legion when they are on maneuvers."

Arachne turned and saluted me, and I turned to her, and almost fumbled. I almost gave the Remus salute, instead of the Exterreri one. I caught myself just in time, gave the right salute, then Arachne pinned the Exterreri Sentinel badge onto my chest. Black and red bat against a black armor background, the two little red eyes were all that was visible until someone looked closer.

That had to be by design.

[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Sentinel’s Superiority]to [War Sentinel’s Resolve]? Y/N]

War Sentinel’s Resolve: The bastion of strength and determination on the battlefield, you are one of the elite of Exterreri, unmatched in the art of war. The legions cry your name as you pass on the battlefield, and your enemies scream in terror at your presence. You are one of the major forces of war. With this skill, you’ll be the last one standing in any battle. Increased endurance, resilience, combat prowess, tenacity, courage, mental and physical fortitude per level.

The skill covered an amazing amount, but I noticed a few differences from [Sentinel’s Superiority].

First, I was no longer described as the pinnacle of humanity. ‘Only’ an elite of Exterreri.

Second, while the combat prowess overlapped, the skill went from a 25% boost to my class skills, to a wide range of physical and mental buffs. All good stuff – but was it really worth losing the insane boost.

Third, the System didn’t ask on pure upgrades. It simply made it so. The fact that it was giving me a choice was a subtle alert that the skill wasn’t strictly better.

I didn’t think of myself as [War Sentinel Dawn] yet. I thought of myself as [The Dawn Sentinel], and frankly, I liked [Sentinel’s Superiority].

I declined the upgrade.

No ding on my class though, damn. Maybe it was splitting the experience with Auri, maybe it was that I’d already reported in, maybe it was simply that I was pretty high level and dings didn’t rain down from the heavens every day anymore. A little disappointing, but not the end of the world.

The crowd, having been masterfully worked up by the speeches and event, started screaming and cheering. Iona was hooting and hollering, waving her arms at me, and even Fenrir was cracking a huge, toothy grin, unnerving the people suddenly standing next to rows of 8-inch daggers. The members of the Sixth Legion enthusiastically banged their spears against their shields.

I suppose I’d just been hyped as their guardian angel that would ensure they never died.

The weight of my role hit me then. Every member of the legion banging their shields, every one of the soldiers in front of me was now my responsibility. I’d be with them in the thick of battle, throwing out my skills, trying to keep them all alive against another army trying to kill us all.

I knew the math. I knew the numbers. I knew how powerful I was, and how much I could heal at various ranges.

I knew, one day in the near future, I’d be deciding who lived, and who died. Who I’d spend my mana on, and who I’d let fall. Each death would be a betrayal, a failure of the trust the legionnaire had placed in me.

Some of them would die, in spite of my best efforts, and they would cheer me the whole way.

"I hope you don’t hate me for saying that party sucked." I complained to Iona once we were back home, for a very generous definition of home.

She patted my leg.

"It’s the social meet and greet. Now you’ve met a bunch of the people you’ll need to know, you’ve got a dozen appointments to learn more, and it properly established you as War Sentinel Dawn. All in all a win, yeah?"

I cracked an eye at her, the Eagle pinned in her hair making me smile. I wrinkled my nose at all the smoke. Auri was not going for a clean burn, and the wind was blowing the wrong way. She was having fun, doing what she wanted, and was clearing out all the stumps in the zone.

"Yeah, alright. Just wish I enjoyed it, or had [Social Lubricant] or something to make it easier. Instead, it’s just painful. Like chewing nails, except the pain just doesn’t stop."

Iona patted my leg again.

"Well, a bunch of people just had fun at a party in your name. Even bailing out early, they’re still there, still having the time of their life. Seriously, it’s good for you and your reputation."

I groaned again.

"A million things to do tomorrow." I complained.

"Better than nothing to do." Iona retorted.

"I can’t win with you, can I?" I said. I was feeling a little cranky from all the social things, the high of being recognized as a Sentinel again not quite making up for everything after.

Iona snorted.

"Not with this, nope. What’s next?"

I thought about the thousand different things I’d seen and been told. I shrugged.

"Get settled. Figure out what being a War Sentinel means. Beat up the Triad. Support you with your goals. Build a home. See about that bakery for Auri. Hope Amber makes it back alright. See if Julius and Artemis got my letter, maybe visit Rolland."

I looked Iona in the eyes and thought about the last thing, the one thing I really wanted to do.

But this wasn’t the time or the place to ask her. It wasn’t the moment, and I had nothing prepared.

A different thought flitted across my mind.

"Oh!" I said, sitting up.

"Yeah?" Iona asked.

"I should totally class up now. [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] is 128, I officially got Arachne to finish giving me all the [Loremaster] details, and now that I’m a recognized Sentinel again, I can’t see anything in the near future that would help me improve the quality. Think this is a good time?" I asked Iona, checking if I was missing anything.

She shook her head.

"This is perfect."

Well, no time like the present. I laid my head down in Iona’s lap - best pillow ever - and fell into the world of my soul as she started to lovingly stroke my hair.

Chapter 39 - Classing Up

I opened my eyes in the world of my soul, a grinning Librarian sitting on the checkout desk.

She was… frankly, looking a bit of a hot mess. I wouldn’t be caught dead looking how she was dressed.

The robes from the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft went alright paired with the new Sentinel cape, but the gauntlets completely ruined the look. The Sentinel Eagle was pinned on her chest, and the colors just clashed horribly. She closed the book she’d been idly paging through, grinning at me.

"Uhhhhhhh…" We were the same person, so I didn’t want to be rude, but like… I’d want to know.

Librarian shot me a dirty look.

"This is your fault, you know!" She protested. "We’re in the middle of redefining our identity, I don’t get to choose how we see ourselves, and I can’t fix it. Watch."

She shook off one of the gauntlets, the metal ringing strangely as it hit the floor. Then it seemed to practically dissolve, reforming on her hand.

Librarian shook a fist at the ceiling, then hopped off the desk.

"Anyway, that’s the situation. Let’s get right to it? Want me to prune out the side-grades?"

I nodded, barely glancing at the tens of thousands of books that made up the first level of the library. I had access to real books now, I had the ability to read a dozen in my sleep every night. No more was I so starved for content that I’d spend days here, reading as many books as I could, drinking in their meager stories.

No. I had the real thing now, and I could spend my time and energy focusing on what was important - selecting my next class.

Librarian clearly knew, because we hurried up the flight of stairs with minimal chatter. We got to the floor, and I was once again blown away.

Each time, the books that were on offer were displayed differently. This time, the floor was dominated by a massive apple tree.

I suspected shenanigans on some level. Related to my curse? Or was it because I had a knowledge and information-based class, that there was some reference to the tree of knowledge and forbidden fruit?

But hey! One of the only places I could eat apples to my heart's content, and not be in mortal danger.

If it had any apples!

Instead of apples though, the tree had class books, each one artfully secured by the branches. A spiral staircase went around the thick trunk, the path to the next level clear. For the next time I classed up.

Instead I looked more closely at the forbidden fruit - errr - class offerings.

Each one had the purple cover that indicated a Spatial element - the lack of any side-grades made me think Librarian had done some careful pruning of the offerings - and with a gesture, Librarian grew a chair made out of wood for me to sit in.

"Thank you." I said, taking a seat. "What’s up first?"

The tree’s leaves rustled as a branch grew, the book hanging heavy on it dropping into my lap. The branch then retracted back as I looked at the book.

[Archaeological Adventurer] the blazingly bright green text was practically shouting at me.

I gave Librarian a Look as I tossed it over one shoulder. She started to laugh.

"Oh, the look on your face! I wish you could’ve seen it. Wait, wait, you can, hang on."

Librarian’s face then twisted into a horrified rictus, looking like a dead slug had just been dropped down her robes. She then burst into laughter again.

I weakly chuckled at the face she pulled. It was funny.

"Alright, hit me with the… hmm… four best options I’ve got, that still stick vaguely within the theme I’ve got going." I asked.

Four books landed in front of me, and I skimmed the titles and basics.

[Scholar of the Scale] - For twenty thousand years, you have contemplated the dangers, history, and lore of dragons. You have witnessed the devastation of an irate dragon, and lived to spread the word. You possess in excess of twenty thousand years of history, and remember ancient magics long forgotten. You saw nascent forms of wizardry, and know the language of Creation itself. You have read scrolls older than any civilization currently on Pallos. Yet you are malcontent to merely remember history, as you actively seek it out and even shape it, with every language bearing your mark. You have delved into the depths of the earth to find long-lost manuscripts, returning the memories of a past life to the light. In memory of the battles you saw in ages past, you have bathed yourself in the blood of wyverns and coated yourself with the scales of mighty serpents. Rise, scholar, and carry history ever forward into the future. +125 Mana, +125 Mana Regeneration, +250 Magic Power, +250 Magic Control per level.

I was less than impressed. A quality downgrade to blue, a focus just on history, and so-so skills? The only weird thing was it came with an armor skill, of all things, purely on the basis of my rainbow serpent subdermal layer.

Flipping through the book was… not terribly impressive.

Oh, how my standards had changed that a blue class, mostly doing what I loved, was simply ‘meh’.

[Scholar of the Scale] had me spending hours upon hours in the library, occasionally finding traces of a lost empire or civilization, then slowly, steadily, painstakingly going out, finding various remnants and accounts of said place, and stitching together a tapestry of what had happened before. At times, they’d be diaries adventurers had found in old ruins, at others, I’d be interviewing Immortals who had been there, who had lived the experience. Now and then I’d be taking field trips to dusty catacombs, getting a first-hand view of what life had been like.

I could see that the class could appeal to a certain type of person, but I wasn’t sure that was me.

I had asked for the four best books, and I was hoping this was a bad outlier, and not representative of the rest.

[Ancient Loremaster of Legend] - You stand triumphant, a legend in your own right and steward of countless more. Through your own efforts, your name is synonymous with wisdom and caring, knowing and compassion. You are the custodian of timeless wisdom and the keeper of myth, folklore, and calamities, mandated to help rebuild civilization from ashes. You have dedicated your life to the pursuit and preservation of knowledge across the eons. In an era lacking books, you persevered. Nothing brings you more joy than reading a book. From dragon’s dens to libraries in the sky, from the most common and mundane novel to secret chambers housing terrible secrets, you have collected, read, and mentally stored them all. You share knowledge with a phoenix, have learned from the first vampire, crossed realms in the pursuit of knowledge, and your first task when finding yourself in a strange world was to seek more knowledge. You have borne witness to the devastation of an ancient dragon, the birth of the cradle of civilization, Remus, the realm of the gods, and the true face of the moons. You have attempted to warn others of the dangers of dragons, the threat of the shimagu, and the terrors of the fae realm. You have taught: a phoenix, medicine that shaped the world, stories that the whole world has heard, your apprentice, and the Sentinels. Direct divine censure was required to stop you spreading even more knowledge. You inspired the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft to be founded, and know the secrets to Thraximundar’s prison. You know where Valytheria the World Sunderer; The Shrouded Pestilence; the Rift of Eternal Night; the Whispering Madness; the Winter of Unending Sorrow; Nalara, the Voidstorm; the Pillars of Uncreation; and the Primordial Maelstrom, among others, are sealed away - and how to unseal them, should the need arise. You know the Secret of the Flock, the location of the River of Forgetting, and have seen the Ship. You are a legend, a myth, and a guardian of knowledge great and terrible.

Now take this class, and become the herald, the teacher, the living library, the [Ancient Loremaster of Legend]. +100 Dexterity, +100 Vitality, +800 Mana, +800 Mana Regeneration, +1600 Magic Power, +1600 Magic Control per level.

Well.

Fuck.

That was one hell of a black quality class, and I wasn’t exactly seeing any major downsides to it at first blush. But… seen the Ship? I had no idea what the Ship was, and my classes didn’t work here.

I read through the tales of what I’d do if I took the class, what life could be like. Lots of reading. Some high-level discussions with others, a careful feeling out of what they knew, what they didn’t know, and if we could or should trade information and knowledge. There was an interesting tension, where [Loremasters] wanted to know where all the dangerous spots were… but at the same time, we didn’t necessarily want to broadcast it to the world. Was the other person truly interested in protection and preservation, or were they delvers and adventurers, uncaring of the dangers presented, intent on breaking into the place and looting them dry?

Arachne’s desire to pass the knowledge on made a little more sense, and I had to imagine it wasn’t every day someone with a knowledge-focused class that she could reasonably trust almost literally fell into her lap.

I wasn’t thrilled with the idea that I’d need to chat with other [Loremasters] now and then and engage in potentially dicey situations… but it was a small part of the job, it wasn’t mandatory, and I had Iona, who could just peek at someone’s status and instantly know their classes and skills.

Seemed fine.

Still, I hadn’t gotten to where I was by snapping up the first good class I saw, and if this was the second one offered, how much better were the other two?

[Daring Dungeon Draco Delver] - More ancient than many dragons, your hoard is books and your treasure is knowledge. From the depths of the earth to the pillars of the sky, you have delved in search of knowledge. You leave no stone unturned in your quest, ever hungry for another scrap of information, another morsel to hold for yourself or share when the time is right. The secrets you hold could spell doom for a nation, or reshape history in your image. You have learned from the fae, from the first vampire, from the web weaver, from the gods and legends alike. You have seen the true face of the moons, the inside of a dragon's lair, the Indomitable Hall, the Ship, Faerie, the realm of the gods, and four different realms. You have beheld the birth of the Empire of Remus, the wrath of a god, and three different instances of major divine intervention. Your treasure is immeasurable, with knowledge of the Forbidden Archive, to the Den of the Dreamthief, the Lost Codex of Chaos to the Enigma of the Shattered Minds, from the Whispering Tomes to the Cursed Library of Ebonheart, from the Fractured Mirror to the Wailing Codices, and more. Go forth, little dragon, and build your hoard as you guard your tree of knowledge. +100 Strength, +100 Dexterity, +200 Speed, +200 Vitality, +200 Mana, + 200 Mana Regeneration, +200 Magic Power, +200 Magic Control per level.

This class was almost a betrayal of the [Loremaster] ideal, but there was an argument to be made that I could safely do the raiding. Most of the calamities sealed away couldn’t be released by accidentally tripping over a rock… but at the same time, most people didn’t leave gigantic piles of gems next to said calamity.

It was mostly looking to unseal them for whatever purpose they had at the time. Overthrowing a kingdom or something. That was nice, but ‘the king is overthrown because everyone is dead’ was generally considered a fail.

Not that it stopped utter idiots from contemplating it, according to Arachne. And the occasional Sentinel mission report she’d sent my way.

I’d gotten the course on [Loremaster], Arachne sharing tomes upon tomes of knowledge. We’d started with dragons, and I hadn’t quite realized the weight and significance of many of the things she’d shared with me until they started to appear by the dozen in my class offerings.

Now I was starting to get a little nervous. They were clearly significant, and knowing that the Tomb of the Last Emperor was near Sanguino was suddenly giving me pause.

The class was strong though, and looked to be in my wheelhouse, doing the things I wanted. I was almost sad to see it wasn’t dragon-themed though.

I was enjoying that.

The last one of the four Librarian had selected for me was the standard straight upgrade.

[Wyrm of Myth and Fable] - From ancient lore of dragons and how the world came to be, you are a scholar and bibliophile without peer. Before the world even knew what books were, you desired them, and no force upon Pallos could keep you from them. From the lair of a dragon to an island in the sky, you are the [Very Hungry Bookwyrm] unsatiated. Be they the most inconsequential of bedtime stories or the epics of the ancient Empire of Remus, you seek them out from the realm of the gods to Faerie itself. As a result, you often know firsthand the origin or story behind each legend. Those which you do not, you insatiably devour all the knowledge you can find from them, be they the secret tomes of Exterreri or the hidden library of the School of Spellcraft and Sorcery. Knowledge is power, and you attempt to seize all the knowledge of the world. +100 Strength, +100 Dexterity, +100 Speed, +100 Vitality, +400 Mana, +400 Mana Regeneration, +800 Magic Power, +800 Magic Control per level.

There was a lot more to the description, but so much of it was a repeat and an overlap with [Ancient Loremaster of Legend]. My offerings this time round were all pretty similar to each other, with slightly different directions.

[Scholar of the Scale] and [Daring Dungeon Draco Delver] were both right out. I didn’t want to become a [Historian] over a [Bookwyrm], and the class offered nothing interesting. Similarly, I was no adventurer. I wasn’t going to disturb the rest of the dead, or poke at disasters in the name of wealth and profit. I had both of those in spades, doing much more ethical and fulfilling work.

It came down to [Wyrm of Myth and Fable] versus [Ancient Loremaster of Legend], and frankly, the two of them were extremely close to each other, when viewed through certain lenses. [Wyrm of Myth and Fable] was a hair more up my alley. It was going to be easier to level, and didn’t have any tricky aspects to it.

At the same time, it was undeniably a ‘popcorn’ class, so to speak. It was purely for my own entertainment. There was no bettering the world.

I could do most of the [Loremaster] responsibilities with it.

On the other hand, [Ancient Loremaster of Legend] was potent. It would be a little harder to level - ignoring the companion bond force-feeding it levels - a little more outside the ‘natural’ wheelhouse of what I wanted to do, but not terribly so. It was like a tunic that was slightly too large, versus the perfectly fitting [Wyrm of Myth and Fable]. It was a bath that was a little too cool, versus one at the perfect temperature. It was a sandal one size too large.

The slight mismatch came with power, and I was more aware than before about how utterly outclassed I was on the world stage. How a single Immortal had idly plucked me out from millions, and forced me to dance her tune.

Comparing the two classes as a poorly sized tunic wasn’t right.

One was a tunic, perfectly fitting my body.

The other was a suit of armor, just a little too large.

But I could adjust the armor. Stuff a rag or two in to make it comfortable. I might level slower than I otherwise would, true, but my levels would be stronger. I was Immortal, I had the time. I could afford quality over speed. Again, Auri would be helping me level now, and the little phoenix was a potent source of experience.

I had to wonder if there were more secrets Arachne knew. More information I could gather. That would be perfect to level, far faster than [Wyrm of Myth and Fable], with the understanding that I’d slow down when it came to normal books in the library. The alternative was I might need to go to new lands, new places, and see if any of the [Loremasters] were willing to trade.

I suspected that was far harder than it sounded. I had to imagine that had been done ages ago, secrets swapped, new sealed horrors shared.

A tradeoff. A new lens.

It was good enough for me.

Best of all?

This was my 128 class-up. I - wait, I could just confirm it.

"If I had [Ancient Loremaster of Legend], I could swap back to a class more like [Wyrm of Myth and Fable] at 256, right?" I asked Librarian.

She nodded, with a bright and cheerful smile.

"Yup! The two are close."

That was good enough for me.

"[Ancient Loremaster of Legend] please!" I said.

"Let’s go checkout." Librarian said.

We went downstairs, quietly enjoying each other’s company, knowing it wasn’t going to be for long, knowing we’d see each other again all too soon.

I checked out.

"See you soon!" I gave Librarian a big hug, and she returned it, patting my back.

"I can’t wait!" She smiled the whole time the world of my soul dissolved, until I was waking back up in the real world.

I woke up to a flood of notifications, and immediately noticed that we had a visitor outside. I figured I’d check my notifications later, and went to see what was going on.

Our visitor was Sentinel Archmage, the vampire that used to be a gnome. She was about two inches tall, and was floating at eye-level with Iona.

"Archmage. Can I help you with anything?" I politely asked.

"Dawn. You’re awake, good. Ahem." Archmage cleared her throat, and started to recite.

"To Sentinel Dawn,

In recognition of your unwavering commitment and exceptional service to the Empire, we, the members of the Ranger Command, do hereby acknowledge and rectify the oversight concerning your due compensation for the period of six years."

Fuck yes! I was getting back pay! Six years of backpay! That was… literal millions of arcs. That was almost ‘how tall do you want your castle’ levels of pay! Not quite there… but most of our normal people money problems went away.

Six years felt a little weird. It was in the range that Night had mentioned - between no pay, up to sixteen max - but - ah!

That was it!

Sixteen was the max because it was ten years as a Sentinel in Remus, one for the fae realm, and five after exiting. Had to be that the ten years as a Sentinel in Remus hadn’t counted, but the rest did.

I quickly realized why it hadn’t counted.

They’d given it to my family. To my mother and father, a minor recompense for a daughter lost in the line of duty. It would never have come close to replacing my presence, but hopefully they never had to worry about coins for the rest of their days.

Archmage’s declaration continued.

"Upon thorough review of your accomplishments and steadfast dedication to the protection of our lands and people, we extend our deepest gratitude for your invaluable contributions. Your tireless efforts in maintaining the security and stability of our Empire have not gone unnoticed, and we are proud to count you among our ranks.

In accordance with the regulations and guidelines set forth by the Ranger Command, we shall provide the rightful payment for the aforementioned six years of service. The sum shall be settled in the form of the ancient coin of Remus, as was your method of pay for all those years of service."

Hang on.

Wait.

No.

Archmage plowed on.

"Please accept this declaration as a token of our appreciation for your unwavering loyalty and outstanding service. The Ranger Command is honored to rectify this matter promptly and continue to support your endeavors as a Sentinel of our great Empire.

May your path remain true, and your courage never falter.

Sincerely,

Hecate

Commander of the Ranger Command"

As Archmage finished her declaration, she took a tiny pouch out from her waist, and turned it upside down. Iona stepped back as coins started to pour out of the bag, warping weirdly as they went from sand-grain sized to full-sized. Thousands, tens of thousands, millions of coins tumbled and jangled as they fell out, forming a small mountain twice as tall as Iona was of pure iron.

As the last one tumbled out, Archmage pulled out a letter, and gently floated it over to me.

"Letter from Sentinel Tyrannus. Bye." Archmage said, teleporting out without another word.

Iona and I stared at each other with open mouths, wordlessly turning back to the now utterly obnoxious pile of iron in the middle of nowhere, and back to each other. Worst of all? That much iron was extremely valuable. Not as much as six years of pay, but enough that we couldn’t just ignore it. It was just going to be a huge pain converting it to cash. Finding a buyer, convincing them we were legit, bagging it all up, hauling it to Sanguino, bringing it through the city, dropping it off… and that was just what I could think off the top of my head! There were probably a dozen more tricky aspects to the whole thing.

Auri landed on my shoulder.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt." She half-whistled, half-lamented how we’d ever move that much iron, wishing us the best of luck.

That helped me recenter myself. I stomped my foot and shook my fist in the general direction of Sanguino, where I was sure Night and Arachne were having a good laugh.

"I just knew Night had something up his sleeve with the backpay question!"

Chapter 40 - Interlude - Small events

Amber was irritated. Irritated by the slightly itchy mask. Irritated by the omnipresent sand that was impossible to get rid of. Irritated by the obnoxious snobbery of the elves.

Amber wasn’t sure what was worse. The elves that sneered slightly and looked down on her for ‘only’ being mortal, or the ones who felt bad that she’d been unfortunate enough in life to be born a human, and took it upon themselves to ‘help’ her as much as possible.

What was extra-grating was how often they were right, and their help was invaluable. Amber had needed to double check her rules, swallow her pride, and accept their assistance more than once.

Didn’t mean she couldn’t fume over it.

The auction was going briskly, and the longer it went on, the more excited Amber was getting. She’d put up a number of skills for sale here, watching most of them go for a tidy profit, but she couldn’t wait to see the Immortality gems Elaine had charged for her go up.

The Golden Lamp Emporium front-loaded the auction with a few high-value items, then dropped way down to the least valuable ones, slowly ramping up the value of the items as the auction went on. The most valuable items were saved for last, and the longer it took the moonstones to come out, the higher the price the auction house thought they’d command - and they were usually right.

Amber’s eye was a massive cheat in a place like this, and also sucked all the fun out of it. Any given item, Amber immediately knew the value of, and unless she wanted it herself, she promptly bid 70% of what it was worth. Without exception, she was outbid, and Amber merely contented herself to cashing in months of trading skills gems, instead of finding any hidden treasures that weren’t properly identified or valued.

A smaller auction house was probably better for that sort of thing, but as the Golden Lamp Emporium got further and further into its offerings, Amber stopped being so irritated and started to get excited.

"... and now, for our second to last offering of the evening! Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed collectors, and seekers of the extraordinary, I stand before you today with an unparalleled opportunity that is sure to dazzle and astound. Please, allow me to present to you a pair of gemstones that possess the power to defy the very essence of time itself, a pair of moonstones that can reverse the flow of time and bestow Immortality upon the user, it is my great honor to present the skill gems - [The Stars Never Fade!]"

The [Auctioneer] revealed them with a flourish, and Amber sat back in her seat, cursing. She’d wanted them to be sold separately, the first one drawing in hype at being one of a kind, driving the price up, only for the second one to appear and wow people. The market for one person getting two of the gems was slim, and Amber was going to get screwed over on the smaller market.

The [Fae Trader of the Intangible] quickly mentally reviewed the contract she’d signed. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she could imagine the minor loophole they’d used to allow this.

Bastards.

She just knew it was because she was a human. Or, technically, because she was a non-elf.

The other way she was getting screwed over was a lack of private deals. If three dozen people bid on the gems, Amber could try to find them later, and negotiate a private sale in the future. Then the trip would be easier - the buyer would already be lined up!

Now the only people she could get lined up were those interested in two Immortality gems, or worse - resellers.

Amber fumed as the price didn’t quite match what she’d wanted to sell the two gems individually for, then reminded herself that her cost of goods sold was minimal, and her overhead was already neatly covered by everything else she’d done, and they had still gone for over half a million arcs.

Which raised a question in her mind - what had the auction house found that was more valuable than a pair of youth-granting skill gems?

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished collectors, and esteemed connoisseurs of the arcane, the time has come for our grand finale. Tonight, I present to you an artifact of such mystery and enigma, that its very existence defies the known boundaries of our world. Behold, this marvel of otherworldly craftsmanship—a device of unparalleled intricacy and bewildering origin.

This object, which hails from a realm far beyond our comprehension, stands as a testament to the wonders that lie hidden within the infinite tapestry of the cosmos. While its true purpose remains shrouded in mystery, we have been told that it possesses the astonishing ability to harness and project Radiance without the need for any skill or incantation.

Though its form may appear mangled, do not let that deceive you, dear patrons. Within this seemingly disheveled exterior lies an intricate mechanism of astonishing complexity, the likes of which our world has never seen. None of us here at the Golden Lamp Emporium knows quite what is contained inside, simply that there is no arcanite or other gems fueling the device!

So, as we prepare to open the bidding on this final, mesmerizing item, I invite you to ponder the mysteries of the universe and the unimaginable possibilities that this otherworldly artifact represents. Who among you will be the proud owner of this enigmatic relic, the seeker of truths that stretch beyond the stars themselves?

Let the bidding commence, and may fortune favor the bold and the curious, as they step forth into the unknown and embrace the promise of untold wonders."

The [Auctioneer] finished with a wild flourish, unveiling the object of curiosity to all. Amber leaned forward, looking at the silvery device cut in half, with one section clearly for a hand.

The value her eye was displaying went wild, the numbers jumping all over the place.

"Bidding starts at 50 million arcs." The [Auctioneer] announced.

Artemis slammed the door of the local Courier’s Guild open, half the people inside jumping at the sudden noise and violence. She scanned the room for threats, noting where exits were, people, locations, levels, and threats.

Julius was behind her, his strong, solid, reassuring presence letting Artemis know her back was safe and secure.

It didn’t matter that this was ‘civilization’. It didn’t matter that this area was ‘safe’. Artemis had been attacked more often in ‘safe’ areas than in dangerous ones, and it held true even after the fae had utterly fucked them over.

Deciding the room was safe enough, Artemis started to limp inside, uncaring of the bloody footprints she was leaving behind her, of the gore shedding in her wake. Most of it wasn’t hers.

"You know, they’d like us more if we didn’t drag in a half dozen different raptor guts in here every time we visited." Julius commented in Creation.

"Hush, you. We cleared out that vorler nest for them." Artemis retorted. Life returned to the Courier’s Guild, people returning to their business. Artemis and Julius weren’t that unusual patrons of the place.

They made their way to the counter when Artemis suddenly whirled, rocks rising around her as Lightning crackled from her right hand, Darkness swirling around her left. The teenage [Runner] that had been maybe approaching her jumped back, a pile of letters spilling out of his bag. He stammered something unintelligible as he fell back.

Artemis narrowed her eyes, then finished making her way to the counter.

"Letter?" She half-asked, half-demanded. The man at the counter was a little more used to how hyper-vigilant some of their patrons could be, and didn’t bat an eye at Artemis’s earlier display.

Long familiarity with the pair helped.

"Please save your stunts for outside the guild." He said, starting to leaf through a pile of letters. "Artemis, Artemis, I know I have something for you here…"

Artemis snorted.

"Yeah, the one time I don’t react is the one time they’re going to turn me into a bloody smear on your floor. That’d be a lot harder to clean up than some scared kid. He’s gotta toughen up at some point."

The man didn’t reply to that, instead finding the letter he was looking for.

"Ah! Artemis, yes, here you go." He said, handing it over.

Artemis squealed when she saw it.

"Julius! Julius! Look! Elaine wrote to us!" She tore the letter open, uncaring that she was holding up the line, studiously ignoring the [Post Officer’s] pointed cough.

Julius put his chin on her shoulder while he read.

"How do you feel about a trip to Sanguino?" He asked as he finished the letter.

Artemis snorted.

"Of course we’re going. I think we can be on the road before tonight!"

The air was filled with hopes and dreams.

Specifically, countless families' hopes and dreams that had been torched, burned to the ground and now formed an omni-present haze over the Han Empire.

Sigrun leaned against Serratrix, her bonded companion and spinosaurus having seen better days. He’d gotten a little too skinny at one point, but a steady diet of Han soldiers - Sigrun didn’t really care which of the five factions they were from - was doing him good.

The two were resting in a half burnt-out village that Sigrun hadn’t quite been fast enough to get to.

It was the weak who suffered in this damned civil war. The poor, the innocent, and the vulnerable. They could do nothing to the armies marching back and forth, various bands of soldiers sent to nearby villages to ‘requisition’ supplies… and whatever else they wanted from the villagers. Half the time, the soldiers would find some excuse to declare the villagers supportive of one of the rival factions, either because they couldn’t hold the territory and wanted to deny it to their enemies, or they just wanted an excuse to murder, pillage, rape, loot, and burn.

That’s where Sigrun and Serratrix came in. The two of them couldn’t fight an army, no matter how hard they tried, but little raiding bands? Trickles of soldiers detached from the main army?

Oh, the two of them could fight those for days on end. In one notable case, quite literally, as they single-handedly chewed up almost an entire 500-man company, one raiding party at a time until they fell apart.

The sound of clattering metal on metal reached Sigrun’s ears, and she sighed, picking up her sword once again.

"Come on, Serratrix. No rest for anyone." She said, redonning her helmet with the classic wings.

Order Valkyrie might’ve been shattered, but it wasn’t broken. It wasn’t dead.

Not so long as one of them still drew breath, not so long as at least one of them fought the good fight.

Dormin coughed into his wet mask, cursing Exterreri once again.

Criminals were sentenced to a variety of tasks, hard labor being one of them. In this case, the person he was looking for had been sentenced to work in the asbestos mines, extracting the valuable material.

Everyone knew it was a death sentence. The only slaves that lasted more than seven years had dedicated skills to surviving whatever it was about asbestos that gave people a short lifespan, and in any other circumstances, the [Extinguisher of Legends] wouldn’t be caught dead here.

But this was where the trail led. To a single slave, deep in the mines.

It felt… fitting, somehow. A man on the brink of death having the critical secret, to both his revenge and Dormin’s.

"Here." The [Overseer] grunted to Dormin, then yelled.

"Oi! Antonius! Someone’s here for you!" He shouted as Dormin passed him the agreed-upon compensation.

No, not a bribe, never a bribe from a former member of the guard.

Antonius sighed and walked over, pickaxe still in his hand, shoulders slumped, head down. A man waiting to die.

"Best of luck!" The [Overseer] was in a good mood. Dormin had given him a month’s salary for the little chat.

Dormin figured there was no point in beating around the bush.

"I heard you had a run-in with a phoenix?"

Nina was a street rat, and that was the kindest thing anyone had ever called her. She nervously licked her lips as she stared at the casino, one paw on her poisoned dagger, the other carrying a metal bar.

Everyone knew the casino was run by the Three Dragons Triad. It was one of their biggest known fronts, a place where people could meet with the members of the Triad if they had business.

The dagger was for Nina’s own protection. She was growing up, getting older, and was all too aware of what people would do to get their hands on a kitsune with ginger fur. Especially one who’d been ‘blessed’ with the full array of nine tails.

An auspicious number, some said.

Blessed by the gods, others would comment.

Nina privately thought it was a curse. Interest like that didn’t come with anything good.

Her illusions and Mirages were good enough for now, but it would only take one less-scrupulous [Slaver] seeing through her disguise, one lapse in concentration, one of her so-called friends in the gang of kids she ran with ratting her out for the poisoned dagger to be worth it.

Nina was 12, and had lived her entire life on the streets. First running with gangs of other kids, trying to rummage through scrap and garbage to find enough to eat. Acting as bait for some of the older gangs, kids who’d unlocked their System and had taken up working as [Pickpockets], [Muggers], and other such [Rogue] classes.

Nina’s System had unlocked at 8, and she’d first taken an [Illusionist] class, working well with the innate ability all kitsune had to play with Mirages. She’d wanted to be a [Pickpocket], but a bad encounter with a rival gang had seen most of her fingers broken. Unable to afford a proper healer, she’d lacked the fine dexterity when it came time to pick her second class, and she’d gone with [Mugger] instead, trusting her life to a broken bar of metal that had served her so well so far.

But she was growing up. And she knew that without protection, without a larger aegis to shield her, that she’d be forced to perform work she didn’t want to.

In an ironic twist, the Three Dragon Triad, the unofficial rulers of the city’s underworld, were the ones most likely to force her to work in that way.

Nina’s reasoning was simple. If she joined them as an [Enforcer] or something of her own free will, she’d be one of ‘them’, not one of the merchandise. She’d automatically be protected.

The logic made perfect sense in the street rat’s mind.

Walk in, under an illusion to make her look like a proper [Tough]. Find whoever was in charge of recruitment. Ask to join.

Why would they be picky?

Nina took a deep breath, hardening her nerves like the trusty bar she was holding. She took two steps across the street before her instincts and [Street Sense] screamed at her, making her scurry back to the shadows.

A warrior, a [Knight] was approaching the casino. Not a member of the Bloodsworn order, no, and that was the most curious thing. Nina had never seen a [Knight] of this order before in the city, and she briefly studied him.

A stylized eagle in gold against a sunburst, two crossing crescent moons, and it was when she saw the helmet Nina gasped in recognition.

A Valkyrie.

The Order wasn’t one of the big movers and shakers of the Empire, but stories about them had reached even Nina’s kiddie gang. Something about them appealed to their imagination, the fact that they’d take any girl who wanted to as a squire. They were supposed to be twelve feet tall, breathed fire, and could never, ever die.

A few of Nina’s older friends had boldly proclaimed that they were going to go out and find a Valkyrie of their own, and become a [Squire].

Nina had only ever encountered one of them again after they left the gang to find their fortune, on the street outside a brothel.

The Valkyrie strode into the casino, bold as brass, and Nina didn’t know what to think.

Was the Three Dragons Triad so powerful that they had a Valkyrie at their beck and call? Was she a member? Did she simply want to gamble, to try her fortune?

Then the screaming started, and the blood started to flow.

Nina stayed crouched in her shadowed corner, [Invisible], knowing she should run, but fascinated. Rich patrons ran screaming from the doorway, some of them clutching chits, others taking a moment to bend over to grab carelessly spilled coins. There was a brief moment after the exodus, then [Thugs] clutching bleeding stumps stumbled out of the door.

A few more doors were made when people were bodily thrown through some of the walls, piles of broken masonry falling around their equally broken bodies.

Nina briefly considered running over to them and finishing the job with a quick swipe of her trusty bar, then grabbing whatever she could off their cooling bodies. It would be perfect [Mugger] experience, and she’d be able to eat for a week just selling their bloody tunics to a [Fence]!

But no. Something about the scene kept her bewitched, kept her watching at the edges of the trail of destruction. A morbid fascination, perhaps, or not wanting to get between the Valkyrie and her victims.

That was a bad place to be.

The screams slowly faded, and the famed Valkyrie appeared once again in the doorway. Her armor was dented, burned, and misshapen, her tabard torn and ripped. Her axe still dripped blood, and her shield was covered in gore.

With a ripple, the armor was reforged anew, once again perfect.

Nina seized the moment. She dropped her [Invisibility], and ran over to the Valkyrie.

Her heart practically stopped as the Valkyrie hefted up her shield and raised her axe. The one-day mistress of illusions realized exactly what this looked like. She immediately threw down her trusty bar, and dropped the illusion of a hardened [Thug], dropping down to her knees and bending her head.

"Please!" She half-begged, half-shouted, seeing her salvation just a single word away. Seeing a shield against the world, a way to carve her own path. "Please let me be your squire!"

The [Valkyrie] said nothing for a long time, staring at the girl. Nina finally risked a little peek up, unable to see anything behind the faceless helmet.

Finally the warrior sighed.

"You’ll have to drop the [Mugger] class."

Nina’s poor heart was protesting so many shocks in such a short timeframe.

"And we’re going to have our work cut out for us otherwise, but yes."

Iona held out a hand.

"Welcome Nina. You look like you need a good meal."

Thank you all! Please read!

Hello everyone!

After months of blood, toil, tears, and sweat, I'm pleased to deliver this installment of Beneath the Dragoneye Moons to you! Hurray! I am so grateful to you - yes, you - for making the investments needed to make this story happen.

Thank you!

It's your support that makes it possible for me to write Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, and your involvement just means so much to me.

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Cheers,

Selkie Myth