Beneath the Dragoneye Moons: The Phoenix Peaks

by Selkie Myth

Table of Contents

The story so far

Chapter 1 - The Arbiter of Life and Death

Chapter 2 - Shroud of the Stellar Sea

Chapter 3 - Poor Guests

Chapter 4 - The Mastermind

Chapter 5 - Extra Crispy

Chapter 6 - Interlude - Auri - Extended Relatives

Chapter 7 - The Messy Aftermath

Chapter 8 - The Long Night

Chapter 9 - Setting Up the Dominos

Chapter 10 - The Wedding I

Chapter 11 - The Wedding II

Chapter 12 - The Wedding III

Chapter 13 - Interlude - Auri - The Phoenix Peaks I

Chapter 14 - Interlude - Auri - The Phoenix Peaks II

Chapter 15 - Mangomoon

Chapter 16 - Changing of the Guard I

Chapter 17 - Changing of the Guard II

Chapter 18 - Changing of the Guard III

Chapter 19 - Changing of the Guard IV

Chapter 20 - Sentinel Meeting

Chapter 21 - Interlude - Iona - Classing up

Chapter 22 - Interlude - Fenrir - Investigative Files I

Chapter 23 - Adventurers are Good for Something

Chapter 24 - Traveling to the Jakhong Monastery

Chapter 25 - The Jakhong Monastery I

Chapter 26 - The Jakhong Monastery II

Chapter 27 - The Jakhong Monastery III

Chapter 28 - Underhanded Plots

Chapter 29 - To The Phoenix Peaks!

Chapter 30 - Alumni Visit I

Chapter 31 - Alumni Visit II

Chapter 32 - Alumni Visit III

Chapter 33 - Interlude - Susan Weaver - The Secret of the Pekari

Chapter 34 - A Tale as Old as Time

Chapter 35 - Skills, Skills Everywhere!

Chapter 36 - Fire, Aim, Ready!

Chapter 37 - Descending Upon the Northern Continent

Chapter 38 - The Northern Continent I

Chapter 39 - The Northern Continent II

Chapter 40 - The Phoenix Peaks

Chapter 41 - Valley of Myths

Chapter 42 - Reunion

Bloopers

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.

The Phoenix Peaks (Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, Book 12)

Copyright © 2024 Selkie Myth

All rights reserved.

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 fiancé 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.

Book 10: Elaine and Iona leave the School, seeing if they can find Night, Elaine's old mentor. He's the only one likely to have survived long enough to make it to the present-day, and there are hints that he exists in the Exterreri Empire, home of vampires. Journeying from the School to Exterreri, Iona and Elaine encounter the Black Plague and the ruthless Pekari, mechanized golems that terrorize villagers. They finally arrive in Exterreri, where after stumbling around in the dark Elaine catches the attention of Arachne, current leader of the Sentinels. Arachne knows Night, and the two are finally reunited. Elaine and Iona fight off a wyrm to claim a mountain as their new home, Elaine is offered a position as a Sentinel once again, and Arachne teaches Elaine enough to let her qualify as a [Loremaster] in her third class. Iona acquires a new squire, Nina.

Book 11: Iona starts training Nina, her new squire, as Elaine settles into her role as a War Sentinel. The dragon triad is handled once and for all, and Elaine goes off to investigate rumors of another person from Earth. The meeting is disappointing, and when she arrives back home, Dormin confronts them. Artemis is around, and has no tolerance for long villain monologues. Elaine, in her role as a War Sentinel, heads off to the Han Empire with the rest of the Sixth Legion. There, they engage in battle after battle, rapidly leveling and leaving their mark on the war. Elaine becomes comfortable with large-scale engagements, keeping everyone alive, and ends up killing the Great General Meng Ao. Finally, the armies push things too far, and a Guardian intervenes, smashing the armies to bits and bringing the civil war to a head. Elaine is politely asked to leave the Han Empire while Iona and Nina defend a young prince who’s requested sanctuary in a temple. Nina believes that the lives of thousands, perhaps millions when the scale of the war is fully considered isn’t worth the life of a single noble child, while Iona believes protecting a defenseless child whose requested help is a noble calling. Nina slays the young prince, fracturing their relationship and bringing a close to the war. Elaine classes up at home, taking [The Arbiter of Life and Death]. Iona proposes to Elaine when she wakes up, and Elaine says yes.

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 has just taken [The Arbiter of Life and Death], and is still selecting her new skills.

Butterfly Mystic - Adapt, learn, and evolve Radiance Sorcery-Wizardry class

Radiance Affinity - Basic affinity skill

Radiance Resistance - Prevents Elaine from burning herself with her skills. Protection form other Radiance mages and skills

Nova Lance - Finger ‘point and shoot’ Radiance beam. High precision, speed, and damage.

Lepidoptera - Wizardry skill. Lets Elaine make glowing runes out of light to cast spells

Nectar - Mana regeneration boost

Solar Corona - Radiance offensive skill boost

Scintillating Ascent - Flying skill! Can adapt and improve as Elaine studies other animal’s flight, and has a minor aspect to make her prettier every time she levels up. The second effect has only rarely triggered ever since her biomancy got her to her personal ideal appearance

Kaleidoscope - glowing explosive butterfly swarms Elaine can control

Ancient Loremaster of Legend - Know ancient secrets and preserve them class

Spatial Authority: Upgraded affinity skill

Manuscript Mastery: Lets Elaine rapidly read anything and everything

Blink: Short-range personal teleport

Loremaster’s Library: Spatial storage for books

Vault of Ages: Small personal pocket dimension. Elaine has to enter to get stuff

Rapid Reshelving: Short-range item teleport

Astral Archives: Perfect memory skill. Can organize information and knowledge into books

Lust for Lore: Exp bonus skill

General skills:

Long-Range Identify - Gets the tags and levels from other people

Parallel Thoughts - think multiple things at once

Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri - Fire immunity + faster thinking

The World Around Me - Large sphere of perception

Oath of Elaine to Lyra - Elaine’s healer’s oath

Sentinel’s Superiority - 25% bonus to skills and improved fighting

Persistent Casting - Can permanently cast spells without thinking about them. Used to continuously heal

Imbue - Meta skill. Can be used to attach one skill to another

Chapter 1 - The Arbiter of Life and Death

Several years ago, when Iona was leaving to take Nina on her first [Squire] adventure

Everything came down to geography.

The Exterreri Empire was founded near the elven lands, on the shores of the Sea of Stars. Just across the Sea of Stars was Nippon-Koku, home of, among other races, kitsunes.

Which was how Nina had found herself in Sanguino in the first place, the port city on the Sea of Stars.

Nippon-Koku’s neighbor was Vollomond, home of werewolves.

When Iona decided to take Nina to Vollomond, they naturally needed to pass over the Sea of Stars and Nippon-Koku. Given that it was directly after the discussion Iona and Elaine had about marriage and life, the thought was at the top of her mind.

She’d remembered that Jake had been from Earth like Elaine, and that he had a number of people he might’ve shared marriage customs with.

It would be a great surprise for Elaine, a fabulous loving gesture. None of the girls had been lying to her, and Iona left satisfied, with a plan for a great proposal gift.

It never occurred to her that Jake might’ve lied…

“What’s that?” I asked, my tone making my thoughts clear.

Iona started and did a double-take, looking at the collar in her hands.

A collar. I wasn’t some pet to be leashed up! Yes, we had a fun bundle of rope in a closet, but a collar was like, eight steps too far.

As I became more aware of the world and my senses and [The World Around Me] turned back on, I was able to get a detailed look at it.

It was fabulous. Ten thousand tiny stitches in it detailed dozens of scenes with the two of us. From when we met in a tavern, to the lake where we’d started dating, to montages of our adventures together, it was clear Iona had spent hundreds of hours hand-stitching the entire thing together. It ended with Auri and Fenrir each holding a moonstone on the front.

I immediately regretted my words and the face I’d pulled. It was a stunning display of love and dedication, if a little… misguided.

“A collar. Red and the rest of Jake’s girls said it was the typical Earth custom to propose with one.” Iona said. “They also talked about a red string, but I thought it was too much.”

I facepalmed, ignoring the dozens of notifications ringing in my ears.

“Jake was lying through his teeth.” I said. “We don’t use collars. Phef. We use rings. Typically two. One for the proposal, and a second for the marriage.”

“Oh.” Iona looked down at the collar, her face falling. “I-”

I didn’t let her finish. I half-leapt out of bed, wrapping my arms around her neck and planting a kiss on her lips. I could feel myself moving differently already, launching myself far faster than I’d planned, sinking deeper into her arms than intended. I’d clearly gotten a few levels - even 2 would’ve more than doubled my strength stat!

“It’s lovely.” I insisted. “I can tell it was made with love.”

Not wanting to linger over a potentially awkward moment, I broke the hug, took it, and sat back on the bed.

“For you!” I proclaimed, and used [Rapid Reshelving] to get the proposal sword I’d made onto the bed. It was Iona’s turn to look a little awkward, and she coughed.

“Elaine, moonlight of my life, I love you, but did you raid a 500 year old book or something?” Iona brought the sword up to her eyes, giving it a critical look, then experimentally flourished it.

“Hey!” I flushed as I protested. “It wasn’t that old… 400.” I muttered. “Also, be careful with it. It’s not well-forged, I did it myself. I don’t want you swinging it too hard and breaking it or something.”

Iona laughed and sat on the bed with me. I leaned over and nuzzled her.

“We’re a right pair.” I said.

She wrapped an arm around me.

“That we are.”

We spent a few minutes in bliss.

I was engaged! I had a fiancee! I was going to get married!

“Soo… do we want to talk dates? When we’re doing this? Where? What traditions are we going to use?” I wanted to know it all! This was so exciting!

“Is there anything particularly important to you?” Iona asked. “What’s critical for a ceremony from your perspective?”

We got talking, and started to hammer out various details. I shot an annoyed look towards the door as I detected footsteps pausing outside.

Some aspects of marriages transcended time and space, elements distilled down to the essentials.

A ceremony.

A promise.

An exchange.

And, of course, there was naturally a huge party. The exact details of each one different from culture to culture, and it was fun starting to figure out what we wanted and how it would go.

“Do you want rings?” Iona asked. I put my hand out, and Iona started to play with my fingers.

The recent loss of my Deception Ring occurred to me, and I grimaced.

“Yes… but also no. I end up in fairly dangerous spots, and I’d hate to lose it. I want to be with you for a long, long time, and losing the symbol of our marriage would suck.” I also didn’t have my [Lost and Found] skill anymore.

I was inspired by Arachne’s neck tattoos, the sign she had with Night. Also, Artemis and Julius had matching tattoos. That, and our earlier discussion.

We didn’t want this until ‘death did us part’ or anything. I didn’t plan on dying, and Iona was practically guaranteed to become one of Selene and Lunaris’s angels after death. Death would just be an unfortunate speedbump in our relationship, if it came for us at all.

Immortality was weird.

“What if we got tattoos instead? Got someone with the right skills to make it part of our image? That way we can’t lose them.” I said.

“Hmmm.” Iona was thoughtful. “I’m initially optimistic about the idea, but the logistics are tricky.”

“I can’t take it anymore!” Artemis yelled as she burst into our bedroom. “Eeeeeee! My little healybug’s ENGAGED! A thousand twenty-four congratulations!!” She swooped in, picked me up in a hug, and twirled me around. “And it couldn’t be to a better woman. Congratulations on nabbing Elaine!”

Artemis put me down, grabbed Iona’s hand, and started to vigorously shake it. Julius walked in, slowly shaking his head.

“Artemis, you’re going to have months to plan. They’re newly engaged. Give them a few hours.”

Julius’s implication burned my ears, but Artemis just waved him off.

“We were all piled in a heap for weeks after you proposed to me.” She countered. “I didn’t see no privacy then or anything.”

“So because we had it bad, they also have to have it bad.” Julius crossed his arms. I lightly punched Artemis’s arm.

“Yeah! What was all this about teaching youngins to live better lives, hmmm?” It was fun sassing Artemis.

Iona wisely stayed out of it, beaming at me with a silly grin.

Another ding! Went off in my ear.

My class! My skills!

“Alright all of you, celebration later. I need to figure out my new skills.”

Artemis lit up, and dashed out of the room.

“Be right back!” She yelled over her shoulder. Iona put me on her lap, wrapped her arms around me, and was a very comfortable seat while I brought up my notifications and started reading through them.

[*ding!* [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial] upgraded to [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial]!]

[*ding!* [The Arbiter of Life and Death] has leveled up! 768 -> 770. +400 Strength, +400 Dexterity, +800 Speed, +800 Vitality, +1600 Magic Power, +1600 Magic Control, +1000 Mana, +9000 Mana Regeneration 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) per level! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration from your Element per level!]

Whoof. Those were some stats and a half. A bit of a shame that it was ‘only’ two levels, but I’d finally hit the tipping point right at the end of the Han civil war.

No more outlying dexterity eating my strength!

[*ding!* [Celestial Affinity] has upgraded to [Celestial Mastery]!]

Not only would I be getting better skills, but my mana would go a lot further.

Celestial Mastery: This skill represents a profound deepening of your connection to the Celestial element. You are the master of the cosmos, ruler of the eternal sky and boundless galaxies. You’ve harmonized with the very essence of the stars and the myriad mysteries of the universe. Your abilities are not only enhanced, but elevated to a level where the Celestial and the arcane intertwine seamlessly. Improved Celestial mana efficiency per level.

Excellent! My Celestial class was high level enough that I’d really be feeling the impact from this. It was a large part of the math around ‘healing everyone’.

[*ding!* [Cosmic Presence] has upgraded to [Aurora Curialis]!]

Aurora Curialis: The Aurora Borealis dazzles the sky like the Aurora Curialis heals the body. Drawing its power from the ethereal beauty and natural energies of the aurora, this skill gently envelops all, promoting rapid natural healing and rejuvenation. The vibrant colors dance around the injured, stitching flesh back together, closing wounds, and helping the body bring itself back into peak physical condition.

The Aurora can not only help and heal, but it can also hinder. Healing can be selectively prevented within the range of the Aurora Curialis. Increased range per level. -16,376 Mana Regeneration. Mana contesting efficiency improved per level.

[Cosmic Presence] had done serious work in the Han Empire, demonstrating how a wide-ranging passive in the right situation could do some serious work. Its shining moment had been nullifying Meng Ao’s great trump card almost by accident.

[*ding!* [Center of the Universe] has upgraded to [Luminary Mind]!]

Luminary Mind: Your light and ideas have shone upon millions, elevating all different kinds. A light of a lighthouse or guiding star that has enabled many to circumnavigate difficult decisions and weather the storms to safe harbors. Shine through any storm of distracting thoughts or pain to find solitude. Effective pain immunity. Minor enhancements to memory, focus, clarity of thoughts, perception, and awareness, increasing per level. -4096 Mana Regeneration.

Oooh! My anti-pain skill just got much better!

There was a greedy part of me that wanted to just ditch the skill. I’d gone through a war no problems! I could heal quickly!

I’d also seen just how debilitating pain could be, and how even powerful Classers had been brought low by an unexpected, unhandled agony, leaving them vulnerable to those much weaker than they were.

No, ditching the anti-pain skill was a trap. I was unsure about the other buffs - [Luminary Mind] inherited a high level from [Center of the Universe], but I wasn’t feeling the other effects too strongly. Maybe a little? Then again, I’d just come from the world of my soul, it was hard to properly check the effects.

Mental skills were interesting in a way. Since it was all in my mind, the mana costs tended to be extremely low, even with the strongest of skills. The ‘low’ cost on [Luminary Mind] was almost purely anti-pain related, and was in no way indicative of how strong the mental boost was or wasn’t. [The World Around Me] was only 222 mana regeneration for comparison, yet it was one of my strongest skills. There was a chance to merge [Parallel Thoughts] in with the skill, and I was keeping both long-term. Might be nice to get a new general skill.

Artemis returned with chairs.

[*ding!* [Mantle of the Stars] has upgraded to [Shroud of the Stellar Sea]!]

Shroud of the Stellar Sea: Protect yourself by placing an entire galaxy worth of stars between you and all those who would cause you harm. Increased range per level. -65,504 Mana Regeneration.

Wow.

One of the ways skills could go ‘above and beyond’ were mana regeneration passive costs on top of active costs. It effectively let the skill ‘build up’ power that was then used later on in a big all-in-one shot. The actuality was more complicated than that. It wasn’t a skill on a cooldown, and in theory, I could ‘overdraw’ in a sense where I could block more than I’d spent improving the skill. The analogy was imperfect. The long and the short of it was - the passive drain on the active skill let it be much stronger. [The Arbiter of Life and Death] had talked about improved shielding, and I was seeing it for the first time.

“Hey Artemis, I got a new shield skill. Help me test it?” I asked.

She’d helped me with my very first shield, and now I had something strong. That, and she was an expert at killing people with shields. If I could hold against her, I could hold against most people.

Artemis snorted.

“If I can’t break your shield, I’ll streak naked through the chariot races.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

“Deal!” I said before Artemis could make it worse.

She tsked and held up a finger.

“If I do break your shield… you have to hand-feed me one mango.” Artemis grinned wickedly. “And call me ‘your most majestic royal highness’ for a week.”

“A devil!” I dramatically proclaimed, unable to throw my head back because of Iona but pointing my finger at her anyway. “A demon! Julius, quick, your wife’s been replaced. It’s totally not a fair bet.”

Julius shook his head.

“From where I’m standing, it’s more than fair.”

I whimpered but accepted.

“Back to figuring out my new skills.” I told everyone, refocusing on the notifications.

Offense tended to be stronger than defense… it’d be an interesting challenge. I had more levels on Artemis, but she was fucking good at this sort of thing.

[*ding!* [Sunrise] has upgraded to [Zenith Everlasting]!]

Zenith Everlasting: The sun peaks like your energy peaks, and takes hours to wane and wear off. -512 mana regeneration.

[Arbiter] didn’t include a whole lot of changes for [Sunrise], now [Zenith Everlasting]. Still a touch-based energy skill, but it looked like it would also create a minor buff where the energy took some time to wear off. A nice little bonus to the skill!

[*ding!* [Dance with the Heavens] and [Wheel of Sun and Moon] have merged into [Universal Cure]!]

Universal Cure: A true panacea. Increased range per level. 0.12% healing efficiency per level. Small ranged penalty per meter. -131,008 Mana Regeneration.

The healing % looked tiny, but with almost 1000 effective levels thanks to [Sentinel’s Superiority] giving me a 25% boost to my skills, that dropped my healing cost to 30% of what it should be.

Before the boost from [Celestial Mastery] came in and said hi. It was a large part of why I’d taken [Arbiter] - my healing was just so potent that the ‘decrease’ in healing power didn’t matter anymore.

Sure, there was the mana regeneration cost, but the math I’d done inside the world of my soul suggested that even under the harshest pressure, the discount to my healing far outstripped the cost.

The range penalty was described only as ‘small’, and again - my primary problem was finding enough people to heal and keeping them in range, not mana or cost.

The description was a little sparse. I knew from reading the book that it also included minor biomancy and medium curse breaking. The “biomancy” worked on a ‘System normal template’, where I could, at significant cost, make adjustments ‘towards the species norm’, with certain limitations. Excessive muscles, for example, couldn’t be removed, nor would there be problems like the infamous joke - the average human had one ball and slightly more than one skeleton. I’d also need a strong image to work off of, but no longer would certain diseases and problems stymie me.

I had a [Universal Cure].

There was one general skill trying to move around.

[*ding!* Would you like to move [Sentinel’s Superiority] from a General Skill to a Class Skill? Y/N]

Sentinel’s Superiority: The peak of humanity, you stand at the top, the best in your class, defender of humanity against the endless threats to its survival. 25% boost to all other class skills. Improved fighting prowess per level. -2048 mana regeneration.

I carefully read the description, noting that the only real change was it didn’t self-inflict its improvement. I wasn’t sure if general skills would be better than one of the class skills offered though, and it would limit my options in the future.

Like, if I ever took [The Arbiter of Life and Death] off the Sentinel path, I’d lose the skill and wouldn’t be able to get it back! The modern day [Sentinel] skills just weren’t as potent as the old one I had. I’d already declined the [War Sentinel] skill once upon a time, and [Sentinel’s Superiority] was a relic of a bygone era. Humanity wasn’t at the brink anymore, and I wasn’t the last, best defender of humanity. The new skills lacked weight.

No, the risk wasn’t worth the reward.

Then I was on to a slew of new skills being offered. There were a few major ones I was interested in, but I gave them all consideration. I had an open skill slot thanks to [Wheel of Sun and Moon] merging with [Dance with the Heavens], so I had to take one. Starting at level 1 was going to suck though.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [The Dawn Has Arrived]! Would you like to take it? Y/N]

The Dawn Has Arrived: The night is always darkest before the dawn arrives. But when the sun crests the horizon, hope and renewal spreads. Amidst the celestial light, a blazing beacon of saving light graces all those who are blessed by it. Increased range per level. -65,504 Mana Regeneration. No mana cost on cast. 1 month cooldown.

The skill wasn’t one of the big attractors to [Arbiter], and some basic math suggested it wasn’t a winner. It would take me ages to level the skill up to a useful degree, and I could simply just heal people with [Universal Cure]. The ‘costs no mana’ aspect was nice - under ideal circumstances, I could heal far more people than my mana pool suggested - but they’d have to be perfect conditions. Like, tens of thousands of people packed together with debilitating but non-lethal injuries. The month-long cooldown, with no mention of reducing the cooldown on leveling up, was another huge demerit to the skill.

The stars would have to align too much for the skill to be useful, let alone dedicating an entire skill slot to it. Bottom of the list!

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Arbiter’s Eyes]! Would you like to take it? Y/N]

Arbiter’s Eyes: [The Arbiter of Life and Death] must be able to see the entire field of battle in order to properly dispense her judgment. Increased vision per level. -512 Mana Regeneration.

The skill wasn’t that exciting to me. The most interesting aspect was if I could merge it with something. Both [Aurora Curialis] and [The World Around Me] looked like they could merge with the skill, giving me a whole ‘free’ skill if it merged with the first one, and dramatically increasing my sphere of perception if it merged with the second.

It might be worth taking it for a few days and seeing if I could make some magic happen. I wonder if the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft was nearby? The island Oddity’s magic made obtaining, and by extension, merging skills easier.

The issue was the ‘timer’ all skills were on. They’d naturally fade away if I didn’t take them, and then I’d need to re-earn them from scratch. Not impossible, since they were offered already and clearly part of the class, but annoying and time-consuming.

It’d be worth seeing if it automatically merged.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Zodiac Champion]! Would you like to take it? Y/N]

Zodiac Champion: Bestow your gifts upon a single zodiac champion from the stars, a protector. A sword and a shield for you. Dramatically increased strength, speed, dexterity, vitality, and physical prowess per level. Costs mana regeneration on the target.

The first of the offered buff skills. [Arbiter] didn’t have a lot, and they weren’t the main draw of the class, but hey, why not check them out? [Saintess] and [Savior] had better buffs, but the shield skill that was the draw of [Arbiter] was already in a designated slot.

The physical prowess part caught my attention. I wouldn’t just be buffing the System stats, but also the body itself, giving a stronger base for everything to multiply off of. It was like the skill was custom-tailored for Iona.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Astral Soul]! Would you like to take it? Y/N]

Astral Soul: Everything is present in the vast and boundless cosmos. Take it all, and stuff it into a single soul, greatly enhancing their speed, strength, reflexes, and enabling them to take flight. Improved buff per level.

Another single-target buff. It was potent and narrow, but… single target.

Hmmm. There was a certain Valkyrie hugging me tightly that could use buffs… I had to think after looking everything else over.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [The Stars Smile Upon You]! Would you like to take it? Y/N]

The Stars Smile Upon You: The [Arbiter] is a single person with an entire army at their back. The stars smile down upon them and their fellows, slightly increasing all of their physical stats. Increased range per level.

The other two buffs I’d been offered were the ‘champion’ buffs. Improve a single person quite a lot. This was the ‘War Sentinel Dawn’ buff, where I could slightly improve an entire Legion. It wasn’t a narrowly tailored one like with many of the [Centurions], [Tribunes], and [Standard-Bearers] of the Sixth, but at the same time, it wasn’t as strong.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Etheric Aegis]! Would you like to take it? Y/N]

Etheric Aegis: The stars descend from on high to adorn your clothing and armor, your weapons and amulets. With its glittering protection, your armaments are bound to you. Slightly increased protection per level. -8,192 Mana Regeneration.

The classic, the infamous, the armor skill! I’d be able to extend my vitality to my clothing and some other parts that were sort-of ‘me’, and prevent hostile Classers from fucking with it. My armor wouldn’t be tissue paper at the levels I was fighting at anymore, and it could actually protect me. [Blink] would be subtly upgraded as well, since my stuff would be ‘me’ for the purpose of teleporting around, and I’d no longer lose stuff when [Blinking].

[The Dawn Has Arrived] wasn’t interesting enough or powerful enough to take.

I’d probably take [Arbiter’s Eyes] to see if I could merge anything into it, but I didn’t see it sticking around long-term.

I’d seen enough warfare and there were enough other buffs going around that I wasn’t convinced that [The Stars Smile Upon You] was a helpful skill.

I was generally fighting against the high level Classers. That one [Great General] trying to kill me at the very start of the war was fresh in my mind, and the Eventide Eclipse, my closest friends and family, was a small group. I reread the single-target buff descriptions, and noticed that they didn’t include a species restriction.

I could buff Fenrir if I wanted.

I wasn’t sold on the single target buff over an armor skill though. I figured I’d ask my primary target about it.

“Hey Iona. Got a question for you.” I said.

“Sure, what can I help you with?” She said.

“I’ve got the option of two buff skills for you, or an armor skill. Which do you think I should take?”

I gave her the detailed breakdown of the three skills, Julius and Artemis listening in.

“Armor skill.” Artemis instantly said. “Always take the armor skill. It’ll save your life.”

“Even with my healing?” I countered. “I took a sword through the head and survived.”

Julius said nothing. I hadn’t asked him.

“I’m going to say the armor skill as well.” Iona said to my great surprise.

“Oh? Why’s that?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

“Fighting stronger and faster’s all very well and good, along with all the other fancy effects, but if you’re hitting me with that, I’m fighting close to you. I worry about you. All the power in the world doesn’t change that. With an armor skill, I can worry less about you, and fight more aggressively, and less defensively. I’m less in the protector role.”

That brought up another good point.

“Sure, but isn’t qualifying for your [Vow] to kick in worth something? Will I still qualify? No matter how good my buffs are, nothing compares to the power your [Vow] provides.”

Iona nodded in recognition.

“You still would, no question about it. A slightly harder to kill healer is still a healer, and you’re still the love of my life. Don’t worry about me so much, stay safe for you.”

Well, that made the decision easy.

I did take [Arbiter’s Eyes] first though, hoping they’d merge into one of the skills in the few hours I had before a skill faded. To my great disappointment, I didn’t get any immediate notification that they’d merged or upgraded.

With everything done, I took a look at my stats.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 31]

[Mana: 2,524,790/2,524,790]

[Mana Regeneration: 2,052,061 +(4,318,034)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,959 (Effectively: 15,672)]

[Dexterity: 26,643 (Effectively: 283,695)]

[Vitality: 64,167 (Effectively: 1,002,609)]

[Speed: 51,399 (Effectively: 1,011,687)]

[Mana: 252,479]

[Mana Regeneration: 268,618 (+ 431,803)]

[Magic Power: 260,409 (+ 10,025,747)]

[Magic Control: 260,130 (+ 10,015,005)]

[Class 1: [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial: Lv 770]]

[Celestial Mastery: 770]

[Aurora Curialis: 741]

[The Stars Never Fade: 25]

[Luminary Mind: 476]

[Universal Cure: 770]

[Arbiter’s Eyes: 1]

[Shroud of the Stellar Sea: 580]

[Zenith Everlasting: 566]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 643]]

[Radiance Affinity: 643]

[Radiance Resistance: 643]

[Nova Lance: 643]

[Lepidoptera: 643]

[Nectar: 643]

[Solar Corona: 643]

[Scintillating Ascent: 643]

[Kaleidoscope: 643]

[Class 3: [Ancient Loremaster of Legend - Spatial: Lv 256]]

[Spatial Authority: 256]

[Manuscript Mastery: 256]

[Blink: 140]

[Loremaster's Library: 256]

[Vault of Ages: 64]

[Rapid Reshelving: 224]

[Astral Archives: 256]

[Lust for Lore: 256]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 448]

[Parallel Thoughts: 294]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 768]

[The World Around Me: 174]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 770]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 770]

[Persistent Casting: 600]

[Imbue: 263]

Chapter 2 - Shroud of the Stellar Sea

“Julius, you’re fair, what are the terms of the bet?” I asked him.

I shot Iona a quick look, wordlessly sending an essay to her.

I know you’re more fair than Julius is, but Artemis would listen to him more than you.

Bless Iona’s heart, she immediately understood me, replying with a raised eyebrow.

I completely understand, and would’ve suggested the same thing.

Julius stroked his chin.

“Well. Let’s get far away from here, we don’t know if your new shield will deflect things at unusual angles. Artemis is going to throw enough firepower at you that I’d prefer a mountain between us and anything fragile. The terms are one full mana pool. If Artemis can’t break your shield with her entire mana pool, you win. Otherwise, she wins.”

“The more mana I have left, the longer the loser has to do their thing!” Artemis quickly jumped in. Iona looked incredulous. Julius shook his head.

“Nope. That wasn’t part of the bet.”

Artemis’s face fell, but then quickly picked up again.

“Oh! Iona! You’ve got some sweet archery skills, and I want to test out my shield. Try after?”

Iona grinned.

“Sure! I’d be happy to!”

We passed through the gardens, and Artemis’s eyes lit up at the trees.

“Oh! I could shoot the trees, and see if you can block them. It’ll let me go a little more aggressively, since I don’t need to worry about killing them.”

I gasped in horror.

“Artemis! No!” I protested. “I’d get better! The trees wouldn’t!”

Iona shot Artemis a dirty look, promising terrible retribution if she tried. Artemis defiantly tossed her hair back.

“You’re invincible and the closest thing to unkillable I’ve ever seen.” She said. “Your shield skill is about protecting other people. Just protecting yourself is almost a pointless exercise.”

She had a point, and Iona was stroking her chin thoughtfully.

“We could try an exercise with random trees getting shot.” The Valkyrie proposed. “You do have a point with protecting a number of targets over one.”

I was in full agreement.

“I could also test the battlefield awareness skill, and see if I can prod it to merge.” I added. It was ripe to merge with [The World Around Me], both of them being extremely similar perception skills, and extensively using it would give it better chances of merging.

Frankly, the best way of merging the skills would be high-pressure, high-stress situations. Artemis shooting at my precious mango trees was better than shooting at some random forestry I didn’t care about, and finding an orphanage to use as firing practice while I defended would be the best experience yet.

All that said, I wasn’t quite ready to line orphans up and tell Artemis “Go nuts”.

We wandered off to a more deserted section of our mountain, finding a relatively open clearing. I eyed the trees around me.

“This is a pretty good spot.” I said, pointing to a dozen trees. “Let’s call those the targets?”

Artemis shrugged.

“Sure.”

“Mind if I join in?” Iona asked. “It’ll let us escalate further.”

I eyed my mana and estimated Artemis’s, running some calculations.

Even after Iona’s contributions, I was pretty sure my mana reserves weren’t going to be the issue with my bet. It was immediate overwhelming impulse that concerned me.

“Yup.” I activated [Arbiter’s Eyes], gaining a new and different perspective.

It was like I suddenly had a minor top-down view of the world on a different ‘layer’ of sight, the skill letting me process both views seamlessly. I didn’t even need to break out [Parallel Thoughts] to think about both views!

It wasn’t blowing me away.

[*ding!* [Arbiter’s Eyes] leveled up! 1 -> 2]

My field of view expanded a modest amount, but it was literally doubling in level. Some quick calculations suggested that the view would get suitably epic in time. As it was, I just barely had Artemis, Iona, and the dozen marked trees in my view.

“Begin.” Julius said.

To Artemis’s credit, she didn’t immediately fire on the trees. This was an exercise to figure out my skill and how it worked, not a bet. She cleanly pointed to a tree, levitated a rock, spun it around her hand a few times, then fired away.

The moment she pointed I threw up a large [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] dome in front of the tree. It looked like a direct upgrade of [Mantle of the Stars], which it was. While [Mantle] had been a starry field against an image of the night sky, [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] was taking it to the next level. It was a cut of the thickest part of the galaxy above us, the stars multiplied a hundred times. It was harder to see through, but also visually looked stronger.

Artemis’s rock cracked through the air, setting my teeth on edge. It shattered against my shield, the stars in the area faintly pulsing. My mana barely twitched at the attack, but it wasn’t like Artemis had put her all into it.

“Good.” She said, bringing up her second hand and pointing to another tree. “Let’s go.”

Like some sort of [Conductor], Artemis pointed from tree to tree, launching an attack at each one. She went faster and faster, her hands flashing as she launched rocks at different trees.

To my minor dismay, I found it simplicity itself to keep up with her. She just moved so slowly compared to me. I’d gotten stronger, and somewhat left her in the dust.

It got much harder once Artemis started faking her signals. She pointed at a tree three meters to my left, and shot a rock at one two to my right. I almost stumbled on the first one, just barely getting a barrier in place, but then I was ignoring her hands, and just paying attention to the attacks themselves.

The more we practiced, the more comfortable I got with the skill. I could see the strong value in [Arbiter’s Eyes] giving me an entirely new perspective in battle, another way to keep track and see everything that was going on.

[Parallel Thoughts] let me briefly debate if I wanted to stop using [Arbiter’s Eyes] and see if [The World Around Me] was good enough. If it wasn’t, I’d have to revisit keeping the skill. At the same time, if I stopped using the skill now, the odds of it merging plummeted.

Hmmmm.

[The World Around Me] would eventually become strong enough one way or another. I decided to be greedy, and continued trying to merge the two together. There was a chance I’d get punished for the decision, but the worst-case scenario wasn’t that bad.

Iona walked up next to Artemis and stretched. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to distract me - because it was working - or letting me know she was joining in. Perhaps a bit of both?

Iona summoned her bow and arrows, and slowly took aim at a tree, firing a shot off at a leaf. I blocked it, and she quickly ramped up her pace, firing arrows as quickly as she could summon them.

Unlike Artemis’s straight and simple Earth attacks, Iona got fancy with [Trick Shot]. She fired a few arrows in high curves, forcing me to block from unusual angles. When a dozen arrows came raining down, she shot a brilliant arrow into the storm, where one arrow bumped into a second, which collided with a third, ending up redirecting half the swarm at the last second from their original targets, to an entirely new set of targets. I was forced to expand my shield to its limit to catch everything.

The second time she tried that, I stopped the ‘cascade’ arrow before it could touch anything, and glowed under Iona’s silent praise as she blew me a kiss.

I almost rolled my eyes when Artemis shot a full-powered gravel shot at my face. Teenage me would’ve flinched so hard, and gone through a dozen different stages of betrayal and grief. I was just happy that Artemis wasn’t pulling any punches, and giving my skill a proper workout.

I blocked that last shot in style, concaving my shield to get all the gravel into one spot, then dismissing the shield to have it fall right into my hand. Artemis vigorously applauded that move.

“Well done!” She said. “That was excellent! I’ve got some feedback, but let’s see how you handle our bet.”

I picked out one piece of gravel and flicked it back to Artemis. Iona started to police her arrows.

“No dropping trees on my head.” I updated the rules. That would be an easy way for Artemis to break my shield. I could hold a tree for a moment to get out from under it, but holding up a fully grown tree for any length of time with pure mana was a sucker’s bet. If I had a ‘solid’ element, it’d be easy… but then my shields would look completely different.

Celestial giveth and Celestial taketh.

“But-” Artemis protested.

“No.” Iona and Julius chorused in unison. “This is about your ability to break her shield with your skills, not about how clever you are in setting up the environment. Otherwise, Elaine can also move, and she’d outrun everything you can throw at her.” Julius said. “Artemis wins if she gets anything of hers to touch Elaine or her clothing. Elaine wins once Artemis blows her entire mana pool.”

“The two of you should back up a bit.” I said. Iona’s armor flowed over her, and she took a position defending Julius.

I smirked at Artemis, who mimicked my look right back. I then activated the shield around me, seeing it spring to life for the first time.

Artemis was sneaky. I made sure to wrap myself up entirely in the [Shroud], including the bottoms of my feet. My shield had inherited the innate flexibility and movement from [Mantle], and I briefly toyed with the idea of making it into a big bubble, then letting it bend and flex as she hit it. Like trying to punch a balloon.

I axed the idea. Artemis was going to hit it so hard that a little bit of flex wouldn’t matter.

“Ready!” I yelled, but nothing happened. I frowned.

It seemed like my shield entirely absorbed Sound as well. Excellent for blocking some attacks, annoying when it came to communication. Good for privacy though, and the skill had fundamentally, decades ago, started off as [Privacy].

It was wrapped around me like a shroud, and I shot Artemis a thumb’s up.

She walked right up to me, grinning like a devil.

Oh no.

Oh no oh no. I did not like where this was going.

My world turned white a moment later. Lightning, Earth, and Darkness all hammered at my shield, breaking through a moment later and sending me flying with the force of the Earth hitting me. My hair frazzled as Lightning played over it, and I snapped my wings open to regain control.

Artemis stopped the moment she realized she’d won, with an insufferable grin on her face.

“You got me.” I admitted as I fluttered down, Iona and Julius hurrying over.

“Uh uh uh. Is that anyway to address your queen?” Artemis wagged a finger at me.

I turned the sarcasm up to 8.

“Oh your most majestic royal highness.” I rolled my eyes at her. She looked pleased as punch.

“She’s going to be insufferable.” I stage-whispered to Iona.

She grinned at me.

“You made the bad bet!” She stage-whispered back.

Artemis turned to Iona.

“I really want to see if my new skill can handle your arrows, but, err, could you aim for a foot or something?” She asked.

Iona nodded, and the two spread out. I mentally reviewed what Artemis had done, thanks to the perfect [Astral Archives] memory.

Artemis had picked a single point on my shield and hit it with everything all at once. In theory, she could’ve brought 21 different skills and attacks to bear. In practice, Artemis wasn’t purely offensive attacks.

Just mostly.

Darkness had been the primary attacking element. It was exceptionally good at destroying things, and multiple concentrated skills in a single point, followed by an outpouring of Lightning and Earth attacks at the same point, had been too much for my shield.

Artemis was simply able to bring a lot more power and mana to bear in a single point in a single moment. At the same time, I knew her and her skills.

She’d basically blown her entire mana pool to scratch me. I still had practically all my mana left. In a real fight, she would’ve won the battle and lost the war. Unlike when I’d initially gotten my shield and Artemis had helped me test the limits, she hadn’t gone soft or easy on me. I’d gotten the full might and power of Ranger Artemis at point-blank range, and shrugged it off.

My musings and review took a fraction of a second. Iona summoned her bow and a dozen arrows, while Artemis got into position.

I swear she was low on mana… had I been wrong about that?

“You know,” Julius said conversationally, like he was talking about the weather. “You did barge in on them while they were discussing their wedding, and you did just blast Iona’s fiancée with a huge amount of magical might. She might be a little annoyed at you… I’m sure you thought of that before asking to test your shield though.”

Artemis paled at the same time Iona brought her bow up and back in a single fluid motion, the string pulled back to her lips. In a flurry of movements, Iona unleashed a dozen arrows right at Artemis.

To Twitchy’s credit, she tried to dive out of the way, aiming to save her skin over properly testing her shield. I was watching closely, and huh.

Tiny disks of Darkness automatically popped up around Artemis, intercepting the arrows and ‘eating’ them whole.

Iona’s blessing was stupid in a lot of ways. She was able to see exactly how Artemis’s skill worked, and how much mana she had left.

With expert precision, Iona broke Artemis’s shield, and without leaving a scratch on the woman, managed to fire arrows around her in a way that pinned her perfectly to a tree, not leaving any room for Artemis to move.

She didn’t have to say or do anything. Iona simply looked incredibly smug at the outcome. Julius was laughing himself sick at Artemis’s face. I walked over and linked arms to her, pretending to study Artemis.

“Hmmm, an unusual species of lightning bug you seem to have caught. Do you think we’ve got room in the entryway for the display?”

Artemis started to wriggle her way out, cursing and swearing the whole way. Iona had expertly arranged the arrows in such a tight cluster that there was barely anything to work with in the first place!

Iona looked thoughtful for a minute, then shook her head.

“No no, too foul-mouthed, what will the guests think?” She said.

“I kept your house clean for almost four years!” Artemis shouted. Julius barked a single laugh, instantly shutting up as Artemis glared at him.

Artemis’s mana had regenerated enough that she was able to use blades of Darkness to slice through a few arrows, giving herself enough wiggle room to fully extract herself.

“Impressive shielding.” Iona praised. “I would’ve expected you to need far more power and mana to pull that off.”

Artemis preened under the kind words.

“It’s a really neat trick I’ve picked up recently, and I’d love to teach it to you.” She said to me.

“Why don’t we start heading back?” Julius suggested. “Elaine’s probably thirsty after classing up, and Iona, now that Elaine’s back, please, let us be good hosts.”

Iona shook her head.

“Oh no! We should be the one thanking you! It’s our place after all, I should apologize for being a poor host.”

Without saying anything, we did all start walking back together.

“Nonsense!” Julius protested. “I’ve been on the road often enough. I know the last thing I want to do when getting home is to have a bunch of guests that I need to tend to. I know I wanted someone with a hot cup of tea, a dinner, and a bath all laid out. It’s the least we can do for you.”

Julius and Iona continued their entirely sincere discussion on politeness and hosting, along with the best way to get back home. I tilted my head at Artemis. I was all for shield upgrades. I’d just gotten one, but another one? Sign me up! [Arbiter of Life and Death] wasn’t restricted in upgrading skills like [The Dawn Sentinel] had been, and there was nothing saying I couldn’t get skills that the book hadn’t described.

“Hit me.” I said.

“Right. Remember how I told you there were two types of shields? Solid walls that you bring up, initial cost but nothing for impact, versus walls that cost no mana, but take magic power and mana on impact?”

I stared at Artemis. I wasn’t an idiot, I’d been using shields most of my life, and had gone through the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft.

“... yes.” I finally confirmed. “Yes, I know how shields work.”

Artemis had a triumphant look on her face.

“But wait! There’s more!” She said. “This only works for a few elements, but destructive shields! They cost almost nothing to conjure, and instead of stopping an attack, destroy it! It’s shit against any attacks that are vitality-reinforced, but it’ll stop anything else for a fraction of the cost!”

“Bad against swords, great against projectiles.” I summed it up.

Artemis nodded.

“Oh yeah! Most Earth attacks are focused on more projectiles, or more speed. Nobody’s trying to throw heavier rocks. Iona here is a great example, where she just shot me with more arrows, instead of going for a heavier one.”

“Two small arrows is the same effort for you to block as one heavy one that’s the same weight.” Iona pointed out. “It also does nothing about a fist to the face.”

“And it takes you twice as long to fire those two. My point exactly!” Artemis was enthused about her shield. “Now, sure, the fist is a valid point, and I’ve got protection with my Earth element, but Elaine, you don’t like being close enough to get hit in the first place, so it’s perfect!”

“If I can even get that sort of skill in Celestial.” I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high. It sounded too good to be true.

The ‘anything vitality-reinforced ignores it like tissue paper’ was a big flashing red sign on it, but my experience with Fire and Auri’s Inferno suggested a different angle. I had plenty of experience with the System and how things worked at this point to figure out a lot of the underlying principles on my own.

For a projectile like an arrow, there was the weight, and there was the speed of the arrow. My current shields needed to stop the momentum of the arrow, burning mana every time they were hit. It was the same between an arrow, and a sword swung by a soldier. As a rule of thumb, I’d need about as much mana to defend against an Earth mage’s attack as they needed to conjure and throw the attack in the first place.

For a ‘normal’ shield, not the strongly boosted shield skill I had now.

In contrast, a deletion-style shield would only need to eliminate the weight of an object. An Earth mage could spend 30 mana conjuring a rock, 3,000 sending it to my face, and I’d only need 30 mana to delete it. The offset was, of course, the fist to the face issue Iona had mentioned.

It was worth investigating.

“Bah. Dark is the primary element for this sort of thing, and Celestial’s got enough interesting properties that it should be able to get it working. The vast void between the stars, and all those sorts of things.” Artemis waved her hand.

We arrived back at the villa.

“I see no reason I can’t try to sidegrade, and see what’s offered.” I cautiously said. “Any suggestions how to change my shield like that?”

“Just like any other skill upgrade or modification. Try to destroy things as they hit your shield. If you can use your Celestial element for it, that’d be best.”

[The Arbiter of Life and Death] had nothing destructive about it. I started to work out a few different spells I could try making, along with the plain and simple ‘[Nova Lance] objects as they hit my shield’. It wasn’t a great way to get a sidegrade offered - it’d probably take me a few months at minimum, to a couple of years maximum - but it was the only thing I could think of in the moment.

First I needed to master [Shroud of the Stellar Sea], which would take quite a lot of effort. Fortunately, I had an army that was willing to help me out on that front.

My exercises hadn’t gotten the happy [*ding!*] notification of [The World Around Me] merging with [Arbiter’s Eyes]. I could absolutely see a few years of solid practice with the two skills eventually merging them together - but they were far more likely to get merged in the class skill slot over the general one.

With some reluctance for the merger not obtained, I dropped [Arbiter’s Eyes] and picked up [Etheric Aegis]. The skill was a little unusual - it was a passive, but unlike most passives that were ‘always on’, I needed to think about turning it on.

I got a vague sense that my skill had expanded to my tunic, sandals, and everything else I was wearing. It was like me, Elaine, as a person, had expanded, and the clothes were now extensions of my skin. Sandals were now the extension of my feet. It was like they were numb extensions though - I couldn’t feel anything from them.

I looked down at my feet and shrugged. No reason not to experiment! I slowly unwrapped my sandals, noting that the leather straps still felt like ‘me’ even when they were lying down. All while my foot was inside the sandal, the skill was clearly expanded and protecting it. I daintily took my foot out, slowly and carefully.

When my foot was roughly a quarter out, the skill just stopped. No warning, no feedback, no alert, just - one moment it was ‘me’, and the next it wasn’t.

“Whatcha up to?” Artemis asked. It was a fair question, given that I was staring at my foot half-out of my shoe.

“New armor skill.” I told her. “Trying to figure out where it starts, and where it stops.”

Artemis shrugged and grabbed two parts of my tunic, experimentally pulling at it.

“Yup, solid armor skill here.” She said, unable to simply rip it apart.

[*ding!* [Etheric Aegis] leveled up! 1 -> 2]

“We should get you suited up later on, and I’ll start hitting you.” Iona offered. “It’s how Valkyries level their armor skill initially.”

It sounded kinda fun to get wrapped up in armor and thrown around like an invincible pinball. I couldn’t wait.

“Sure! That sounds fun! Wanna have a contest to see who can throw me up the highest?”

Iona laughed and Julius rolled his eyes.

“Fenrir would win that every time, but that could be funny to watch.”

I grinned.

“It’s a deal! Operation: How Far Can We Throw Elaine starts after dinner!” I said.

“You’re going to lose your lunch.” Julius was being waaaaaaaay too sensible with his ‘practical comments’ and ‘rest after eating’ nonsense. “Also, you and Fenrir are way stronger than I am. I’m teaming up with Artemis.” He said to Iona.

Ahh, Julius. I knew I liked him for a reason.

We sat down for… I’m pretty sure it was dinner, but my sense of time and meals was all wonky post classing-up. Titania was a gem, and dinner was fantastic.

It made me miss Auri with a sharp pang of longing.

She’s with the Sixth. She’ll be home soon. I reassured myself. The Sixth had me idly thinking about my various adventures there, and a few items I’d given myself to do once I got back. I’d managed to find a few moonstones and charge them up with [The Stars Never Fade]. Hopefully that should be enough to lure Amber over again! I couldn’t wait to see her again.

Crazy to think that my little beanpole of an apprentice was all grown up and having her own adventures now. Why was time so unfair?! Thinking of things to do, I wanted to chat with Iona about something.

“Hey Iona, I got a really interesting class up offering just now.” I said, starting to broach the topic of [Angel of Mercy] with her.

“Yeah? Tell me about it.” She said. Artemis leaned in.

“Dish! Tell me everything! Then I’ll tell you some neat little classes I got offered relating to the School. The System seems to think it’s the same one…”

My head whirled around at that little teaser, but Artemis just leaned back in her chair and grinned at me.

Titania came in at that moment and bowed slightly.

“There’s a [Courier] for Sentinel Dawn from Sentinel Arachne.” She announced.

Shit.

Chapter 3 - Poor Guests

I’d be the first to admit, I hadn’t exactly been the model of the perfect Sentinel since returning back to Exterreri and Sanguino. I’d basically shot right home, jumped into a bath, then tunneled under the covers of my bed and stayed there.

Three, almost four years deployed in the field, and I felt like I’d more than earned it. The Sixth wasn’t back yet, and I figured I had some time. What would they need me for anyway? What crisis, what issue, could possibly need Sentinel Dawn, and not one of the six dozen other active Sentinels? My job was being attached to the Sixth.

I didn’t groan as I got up from the dinner table, waving down Iona and Julius who’d started to get up to follow me. Artemis stayed seated, but had doubled the speed she was scarfing down food.

Smart woman.

“I’ve got this.” I told my friends.

“Thank you Titania.” I said, the woman nodding and bowing slightly. I mused over what the possibilities could be as I navigated my way to the entry.

My best case scenario was Arachne politely going ‘excuse me Dawn, I was hoping you’d report back in of your own volition when coming back home, and this is a friendly reminder that I’d love to hear what happened in the Han empire.’

I didn’t want to think what other scenarios could be. A plague was high on the ‘well thank fuck’ list, all the way down to ‘war’s broken out, everyone up and at them’.

A war wouldn’t be fair. I’d just gotten back home!

I’d just spent years getting the message ‘war isn’t fair’ ground into my face.

I didn’t flinch when I saw the [Courier] with a four-man escort at the door, but it was a near thing. The only time when a [Courier] had an escort was when the missive was of critical importance.

I wasn’t polite. I quickly scanned the missive in the fancy envelope before I even entered the room. Perks of [Manuscript Mastery] along with [The World Around Me].

Sentinel Dawn,

You are summoned to appear before Sentinel Arachne and the rest of Command on a matter of extreme urgency. Details are in the form of: Book by order of which we discussed, word number.

4-9273, 7-283, 11-33894…

Do not come before decoding the message.

Sincerely,

Sentinel Arachne.

PS: Bring Valkyrie Iona with you, I have some questions for her, unrelated to the above.

My eyes narrowed. Either this was the most elaborate ‘congratulations on getting married’ prank ever, or there was something so sensitive going on that even Arachne had to put it into code.

For fuck’s sake. I spun off three [Parallel Thoughts] to work on decoding the stupid letter.

Smoke and mirrors.

If something Major was going down, everyone would be looking to the Sentinels.

Well, mostly. There were a number of other bodies and-

I shunted the thought off into [Parallel Thoughts] to happily natter on about the various structures in Exterreri and who’d be looked to for leadership and support in various positions. The [Emperor] was a big one, but…

End of the day, I had to look good for appearances sake, especially if everything was going to hit the fan. Give people confidence that they were in good hands, no matter how true or false that may be.

“Thank you [Courier].” I tried to [Rapid Reshelving] the letter to my hand, showing off a bit, but the [Courier] had his own skills protecting it. I tugged on it a few times anyway, figuring it would help him level up if nothing else.

‘Protected a package from a War Sentinel trying to yoink it’ had to be good for a few skill levels if not class levels.

With a great deal of formality, bowing, and the whole nine yards, I got the letter at last. With a round of salutes, they all left, and I went back to the dining room, muttering curses at Arachne under my breath. I threw myself into my chair when I got back.

“Bad news?” Iona asked.

“Yes!” I complained. “Arachne knows I’ve got a perfect memory. She knows I’ve got every damn word of the damn books memorized. She interrogated me over my skills. She knows I don’t have a fucking counting skill! So. Damn. Stupid!” I swore.

I could think incredibly fast, and had every word of every book memorized. It didn’t mean I didn’t have to manually count 33,894 words deep for a single word!

And that was just one word of the entire damn letter! It wasn’t a short letter!

Fortunately, Arachne was concise if not short, with minimal wasted words and no flowery language.

Trio of phoenixes looking for Auri. High level, temperamental. Appear to be under the impression that we’re holding her captive? Don’t let others know. We don’t want a panic. Strong chance that they’ll attempt to inflict harm on you when you arrive. Don’t want you thinking I’m leading you into an ambush. Come from the tunnels. Bring Auri.

[*ding!* [Luminary Mind] leveled up! 476 -> 477]

Huh. Interesting that simply thinking very hard was enough to level the skill now. I was now even more certain it could merge with -

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 294 -> 298]

Annnd there it was. Excellent! Two more levels until I could think seven different ways.

Okay, fine, it wasn’t that many words, but when I needed to count to 16,392 to get one of them, it was a goddamn eternity. At least I could see a solid reason for putting this into code - ‘phoenixes are thinking of burning down the capital’ was something to keep under wraps at all costs. The panic such a rumor could cause could be more devastating than any fire. Part of me wanted to analyze how well Arachne could, on the fly, make up a cypher that wasn’t easily broken that just the two of us would understand.

The PS at the end was also interesting.

Julius coughed significantly.

“Summons from Arachne.” I idly responded. “I’ve got to go. Iona, she’s also asking if you’d like to tag along on a separate matter. Interested?” I wasn’t going to tell my girlfriend - fiancee!!! - what to do.

I grabbed what leftovers I could as I stood up, briefly wondering if I should wear armor and deciding against it.

I was immune to fire, but I had no idea if the protection extended to my clothes or not with [Etheric Aegis], and I didn’t want to find out as metal melted around me. Sounded painful.

“Of course. We’re leaving now?” Iona asked, grabbing a pair of dinner rolls off the table. I threw half a block of cheese in my mouth.

“Yuhf.” I tried to say, not succeeding too well.

She got the message, and trying not to choke, we left at top speed back to Sanguino. After I finished chewing, I quickly gave Iona the rundown in English, fairly certain nobody could overhear us.

Not as certain as I’d been before meeting… what was his name again? I’d done my best to purge it from my memory, and the less I remembered, the better.

We found the ‘secret’ tunnels outside of Sanguino, and I unceremoniously teleported in, backtracking to open the door for Iona. The two of us wandered, hand-in-hand, the tunnels below Sanguino.

“Left.” I said, able to see Arachne’s tiny threads forming into an arrow, guiding us through the city. I tugged Iona along, enjoying our walk together and how she let me direct her.

“Do you think she wants me to spy on the phoenix’s skills?” Iona speculated, running her calloused thumb over the back of my hand. It tingled in the most pleasant way.

“Mmmmm.” I made a disagreeing noise. “She said it was for a different reason. It might be worth checking their skills for Auri though. See if there’s anything neat she can work towards.”

We continued to speculate what Arachne wanted to see Iona for as we navigated our way through the endless maze of tunnels under Sanguino. Our general consensus was Arachne wanted to ‘borrow’ Iona’s blessing to see status and skills to check up on someone.

The two of us made it to Arachne’s underwater lair without any issues, the door silently opening as we approached.

Once again I was struck by the sheer aesthetics of the place. It was a large dome of thick green glass at the bottom of Bloodmoon Bay, light barely filtering in. Fish swam by and crabs scuttled on the dome. Arachne got up from her chair, the center of the gigantic spiderweb that covered all of Sanguino. I Radiance-focused in on her neck tattoos, studying them with one part of [Parallel Thoughts]. Would neck tattoos look good on me? On Iona? Was there any inspiration to be taken there?

I was engaged! Thank fuck for [Parallel Thoughts], I’d never get any work done otherwise.

“Sentinel Dawn. Valkyrie Iona. I am so pleased to see the two of you back alive and well. No Auri?”

We traded looks. Auri obviously wasn’t around, but just as clearly I wasn’t acting like my heart had been ripped out. Arachne was practically omniscient within the boundaries of Sanguino, but didn’t have feelers all the way out to my home, so she couldn’t have known Auri wasn’t around yet. Well, technically, I suppose the phoenix not visiting her bakery was a bit of a clue, but then again, I’d dove under the covers and hadn’t done a thing.

“Auri elected to stay with the Sixth as they returned home.” I reported. “Additionally, I would like to apologize for not immediately reporting back in. I-”

Arachne waved off my explanation.

“Dear, you don’t need to explain yourself to me. I’ve been in more wars and campaigns than I can count. I completely understand the need to just… exist after such events. Night would like to swing by if you’re alright with it. He’s got some experience in these matters. I suggested waiting until you came out on your own. For that, I would like to apologize, but the situation here is delicate.”

Arachne started to pace nervously back and forth. I’d never seen her in anything but utter control of the situation.

“We can speak freely here.” She said. “First off, I would be utterly remiss for failing to congratulate you on classing up. You have successfully passed the great divide, and at your age, can be counted among the elite of the elites. If things go wrong, Dawn, know that this is a safe place. They won’t come down here, not with so much water that can threaten them. In the worst-case scenario, if you manage to get them down here, break the glass. The entirety of Bloodmoon Bay crashing down on their heads might be enough to permanently kill them, but I would not want to find out. I don’t believe it will come to that. They are an eclectic, touchy lot, with a non-stop stream of obnoxious demands. Nothing too serious. They are quite determined to talk with Auri one way or another. I believe the best course of action is to send Sentinel Spark to the Sixth Legion, and have him retrieve Auri. She is your bonded companion. Thoughts?”

I couldn’t see any reason why I wouldn’t want Auri back home sooner. I glanced at Iona, who wordlessly divined my question. She nodded.

“Sure, let’s do it.” I said.

Arachne nodded.

“The message has been sent. Hopefully Rolland has not lost an entire army.” She said dryly.

Arachne then stepped in front of Iona, half-bowing before her. Her words and tone went super formal, reminding me strongly of Night.

“Valkyrie Iona, great [Paladin] of the moons. I wish to beseech Selene and Lunaris for a small fraction of their wisdom, praying that they will grant me with an answer to a small question of mine. A question that is potentially lethal to speak, a question that is dangerous to know the existence of, and even more dangerous to know the answer. Yet, despite all this, I humbly ask for you to become a conduit between me and the goddesses. Are you so willing?” She asked.

That wasn’t what I was expecting at all. We were sure Arachne wanted Iona to peek at someone’s stats, not directly make a request of her patron divinities.

Arachne’s door opened again, and a sword was carried along by her endless threads.

“Do not think I am so crass as to ask without offering anything in return.” She continued. “Please, take this offering, for yourself or the goddesses. Forged of an alloy of Skyte, Glacium, and Starsteel, the elements of Gravity, Ice, and Celestial, a blade fit for a [Paladin] of the moons, humbly offered up to the goddesses so they might consider my question.”

Now I was getting worried. The blade was beautiful, with delicate filigree dancing around the blade. I suspected it was far more dangerous and practical than it looked, and alloying magical metals together was something only a master [Smith] could do. It didn’t come cheaply, that was for sure.

The style was in the typical short sword that the Exterreri legions favored, and wasn’t a great fit for Iona. I suspected it was an acquired blade, not one forged special for the occasion. The alloyed elements implied it was though… ah well.

Iona nodded and outstretched her hands, accepting the offering. She had to be getting some solid [Paladin] experience, if not levels, from all this. She held the blade up high in two hands, kneeling down to the floor.

“Oh Selene and Lunaris. By right of gift-giving, of offering, of possession, I offer you this blade. Take it, if you should have use of it.”

In a sparkle of divine energy, the blade vanished, little motes of blue and yellow scattering and dancing around Iona in a non-existent wind.

Arachne took a deep breath in and out, then asked her question.

“Is the [Illusionist] behind the images laid upon the moons also behind the Moon Cult?”

Chapter 4 - The Mastermind

My mind wavered, [Parallel Thoughts] coming to a screeching halt and merging back into one at Arachne’s question. I quickly fired it back up, splitting my mind into two. One to look at Iona, one to think about the question.

Iona’s face was going through a rapid metamorphosis. Shocked realization as she made the connection Arachne was implying, then unfocused eyes as she communicated with the goddesses followed by a dozen complex, shifting emotions. I let her be while I did some thinking of my own.

Arachne had spent ages building up to her question, making it clear she had something Important to ask. I wasn’t expecting the sheer gravity and scope of what she was saying and implying.

I looked up above, at the hundreds of billions of gallons of water above my head. Enough to drown a phoenix or three, enough that Arachne felt like she could bad-mouth them down here.

It suddenly felt like nothing at all. Just a thin veneer that could oh-so-easily be boiled off before the full might of an ancient dragon crashed down on our heads. A pathetic barrier between us and utter destruction.

It brought home just how small and fragile I was in the grand scheme of things. I was getting a swollen head. I was practically immortal and untouchable in the Han empire, in mortal lands.

I was still one of the lowest-leveled Sentinels. My class quality made up for a lot of sins and level issues, but I’d been a big fish in a small pond. Sure, Lun’Kat was probably the second-deadliest creature on the planet - [Loremaster] education made it abundantly clear that serpent was the deadliest by miles - but she wasn’t the only one who could eradicate Sanguino with a thought.

It gave me new appreciation for Immortal wars, and how they just destroyed everything. Lun’Kat versus the Guardians had erased an entire nation, and that was arguably an evening tantrum, not a dedicated effort to murder everyone she could.

One of the things that let me sleep at night was most dragons, for one reason or another, weren’t terribly active. They didn’t burn cities indiscriminately, they didn’t demand tribute from subjects, they were effectively in their own bubbles. Sure, anyone going into their territory was likely to have a bad time, and reports of dragons eating livestock were occasionally found to be true, but they usually left elvenoids and civilization as a whole alone.

Now it sounded like one of the oldest, meanest, smartest, and egotistical dragons was stepping down off her high mountain, and putting her thumb on the scale in mortal affairs. That was almost scarier than simply rampaging and trying to burn down the world. Whatever she wanted, whatever she was after, couldn’t be done by burning and destroying. It was deeper, more subtle.

It would be terrifying and world-spanning. I’d first heard rumblings of the Moon Cult back at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, and I’d seen them here and there in Sanguino. There hadn’t been a trace of them in the Han empire, but that was almost to be expected.

What did she want?

I let the thought go. Iona, the Moon Goddesses, Night and Arachne were far more qualified to try and work out what a dragon from the time of creation was up to. In a sense, I was barely qualified to know her name, let alone guess at her motives and reasoning!

Well, all that assumed the answer was ‘yes’, and it wasn’t some ‘normal’ ancient Immortal elf running around fucking things up. Honestly, I hoped that was the case. It would make all this so much easier.

Iona swallowed a visible lump in her throat before answering.

“Yes.” She croaked out. “She is behind the Moon Cult.”

I slipped my hand into Iona’s and squeezed it, offering what little comfort and reassurance I could against the face of overwhelming might.

I didn’t despair though. My entire life I’d been trained how to handle threats far greater than I could possibly imagine.

Placate. Kill. Drive off. Tolerate.

The second and third options were right out. She’d survived from creation until now. Lun’Kat’s reach was global. She was orchestrating all this from thousands of miles away.

Placate was possible, if we had any idea what she wanted. It was also less palatable than other options. Lun’Kat was, by all indications, terrifyingly intelligent. The way her lair was arranged spoke to the fact that she was no dumb beast, no monster that could be tricked or easily deceived. Any ‘placation’ ran the real risk of Lun’Kat going ‘thanks, now I’m going to just keep doing it.’

Tolerate was looking like the only real option from my usual list. She wasn’t exactly stealing livestock and razing cities to the ground. She just… had a cult. A relatively harmless-looking cult from the sound of it.

If I reframed the issue as ‘how to handle the cult’ instead of Lun’Kat, the monster became much easier. That, and I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t on me to solve the issue.

I had a team. I was a single Sentinel of Exterreri, one among dozens. There was the entire apparatus of a nation-state that could potentially be mobilized to handle the issue.

Me and the rest of the Eventide Eclipse against Lun’Kat? Not a chance.

The entire nation of Exterreri against the Moon Cult? Yeah, I doubted many gambling houses would take bets on that.

Unless it counted as messing with her horde, her treasures? I found that difficult to believe. It wasn’t like she’d openly declared they were hers, and it was expected that mortals conflicted with one another. No, it didn’t make sense. It had been years since I first heard of the Moon Cult, and it wasn’t like I regularly heard about places devastated by a particular dragon.

I was back. I was recentered. The world was right again.

I was better about dragons, but they still struck a deep, primal fear into my soul. The thought of one of them eyeing me or the place I lived up for destruction filled me with worry and concern, and I didn’t think it was unreasonable.

I was less than a bite to a full-sized dragon. Of course I’d be concerned!

Arachne nodded, the news clearly not a surprise to her.

“Excellent.” She said, and the whiplash felt like it was going to break my neck. Excellent? Excellent!? How was any of this excellent?!?

Arachne clearly noticed my distress and cleared her throat.

“It is far better to have an enemy you know, than one you don’t, even if the known enemy is far more powerful.” She said. “I now have a model of actions that could be taken, moves that are likely feints, issues and problems that could give her leverage, potential weak points, areas of misdirection, and so, so many more.”

I had a thought, a question I should’ve asked at the start.

“What about the Moon Cult got you interested in them?” I asked. Iona looked troubled over it all.

“They appear to have nigh-infinite funding, and are attempting to infiltrate the highest levels of government. I believe it is in a bid to peacefully, through entirely legal means, take over the government itself and suborn it to the will of whoever leads the Moon Cult.” Arachne paused. “A full briefing will be prepared for all Sentinels, where we will discuss what course of action we will be taking.”

She looked at me.

“Naturally, given your recent activities in the Han empire and current duties regarding the phoenixes, you are excused from the meeting and activities should you so choose. There is enough for you to manage for the time being.”

I hesitated and nodded.

“I’ll see how I feel.” I confirmed.

I really wanted to be at one of the big meetings though. It sounded interesting, and if I wasn’t going to be directly fighting the Moon Cult myself, it could be educational.

Arachne clapped her hands together.

“Now! The Moon Cult is a distant, far-off problem. We have a trio of phoenixes who are displeased with us, and with some luck you are able to placate. A few dozen Sentinels have been activated and are in the area, and a pair of Ranger teams are standing by. I don’t think we will have cause to use them, but know - we are here. We are watching. We have your back.”

That was reassuring. I wasn’t being thrown into the phoenix’s nest with no backup.

Arachne gave me directions to a private garden deep inside Sanguino that the three phoenixes had been offered as a resting place while Auri was located, and bid us goodbye. She was still busy being The Spider, tracking the going-ons of every single activity in Sanguino. Speaking of the garden-park and Arachne, her threads didn’t extend into the area, the flames having burned them away. She was effectively blind to the going-ons in there.

Hmm. From what I remembered of the leadership rotation, it was almost Night’s turn to be in charge.

My fiancee was deep in thought as we left, and I let her be. When she wanted to talk, she’d talk.

Iona and I popped out at Castle Stormwatch, which shook her out of her funk.

“This is your show. Where do you want me, and how?” She asked.

I spent a moment thinking about it. Putting it politely, Iona and I weren’t at the level of the strongest Sentinels. If there were a dozen Sentinels already in position, Iona wouldn’t be able to do much. I needed her mostly for moral and emotional support.

“Somewhere distant, elevated, and easy for me to spot.” I said. “Inside of bow range, outside of contained fires range.”

She briskly nodded.

“I’ll be there.” The [Paladin] said.

I was soon at the garden where the phoenixes were having their every whim tended to. Expensive, annoying, but Arachne, Command, and the political bodies seemed to think this was the best solution - don’t screw with the powerful phoenixes, they’ll go away soon enough.

A ring of guards were around the scorched garden, not letting idle gawkers in. I spotted a familiar face among them.

“Atlas! Hey Atlas!” I waved to Auri’s favorite guard, some puzzle pieces clicking. He was here because he was also Auri’s minder, wasn’t he? I wondered if he had a class relating to it by now. The quality would be insane, but experience would be difficult.

He snapped off a salute, some of the other guards giving us the stink-eye.

“Sentinel Dawn!” He enthusiastically greeted me, a murmur passing through the guards in waves. “Delighted to see you back. No Auri?” He asked, looking around like he expected her to pop out from under my tunic.

Which, to be fair, was something Auri occasionally did. I shook my head.

“No. She’s on her way back.” I wasn’t about to reveal that Sentinel Spark had been dispatched personally to retrieve her. Given how fast Arachne had been able to verify my story about being at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft back in the day, I frankly expected Spark to show up any second now, my flaming friend on his shoulder.

Speaking of the Sentinels, I could see a few of them here and there. Sentinel Skater was the most visible, looping around and around on large ice tracks high up in the sky. Devour had a scaled cape on, his hands on the hood, ready to put it on. Ooze was on top of a building, bouncing up and down.

Atlas grimaced, and waved me in.

“Well, it’s all you. Work your magic.” He said.

I walked in. Stepping over the threshold was like stepping into an oven, my skin immediately prickling with the heat.

Interesting. It couldn’t all be fire then, I was immune.

The garden was torched and scarred. Once upon a time there might’ve been a [Gardener] constantly causing the flowers to bloom, scatter, fold, and bloom again, but now there were just burnt-out trees and piles of ashes around. Blinding light and flames roared in the center, clearly marking where the birds were hanging out.

The gently rolling hills quickly gave way to three birds sitting in the middle, each one on a charred tree, surveying their kingdom of ash.

Auri looked like a hummingbird. She had the size, shape, colors, and sound of one. Like Auri was a hummingbird, each one of the phoenixes was modeled after a different type of bird.

The first one was an eagle owl, burning feathers as dark as night. Dark flames danced in its eyes, an eternal blaze of Pyronox promised to all those who’d cross it. An amulet hung around its neck, a large agate gem sparkling in the center.

[Long-Range Identify] brought back [Mage - 3982].

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 448 -> 470]

Holy shitballs. The phoenix was just a hair from divinity and becoming a god. No wonder Arachne and everyone was treating them with kid gloves - the phoenix had over a thousand levels on the strongest Sentinels in the country!

Stopping my hands from trembling, I looked at the second one. A heron blazed with blinding Radiance, threatening to cap my [Radiance Resistance] for all time.

[Mage - 2814]. More reasonable, more manageable. Exterreri could, if we worked hard at it, handle this phoenix… before its resurrection came into play. Not that managing a hostile mage was ever good.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 470 -> 485]

The third was modeled after a dinosaur, but nothing said phoenixes had to only look like ‘modern’ birds. A great tupandactylus was like a pterodactyl with a massive crest on its head, burning with the more traditional Inferno flames.

[Mage - 3148] the tag said. Another massive powerhouse. The phoenixes had sent a number of powerful representatives.

My skill *dinged!* again, and I spammed it on the three phoenixes as hard as I could, spinning out a new thought process to grind out some quick and easy levels inside of a second. Why not?

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 485-> 528]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 643->645! +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!]

Huh. I suppose this did technically count as seeing new magics, and under the influence of a phoenix, it was no surprise my levels were going up.

I should check on Atlas’s level. He must’ve gotten a ton since Auri and I first showed up.

[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Kaleidoscope] to [A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers]! Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Blazing Presence of the Phoenix]! Would you like to replace a skill with it?]

[*ding!* Would you like to change [Solar Corona] to [Crowned by the Summer Solstice, Blessed by the Noon Sun]! Would you like to replace a skill with it?]

Uh.

Well, shit. Thank you [Butterfly Mystic] for quickly and easily picking up on skills I see! Nothing like a stupidly high-level Radiance phoenix to get good skills offered, and those were just the start! I had to wonder if I could pick up anything really nice from the heron…

No! Bad thought! I was here to try and resolve a problem, not see how many skills I could grab! They were tempting, I’d need to look at them properly later on…

I approached, and the owl put its claw on its amulet.

“You do not come bearing food or gifts, nor do you have the look of one of those talkers. Who are you?” His ‘voice’ came from the amulet.

I bowed respectfully.

“I am Elaine, bonded companion of Aoife Auri Stentor, the phoenix you are looking for. I-”

My world exploded into flames.

Chapter 5 - Extra Crispy

I tried to put my hands in the pockets of my tunic - it had pockets! - but alas, my tunic didn’t survive the conflagration I was subjected to. Neither did my amulet - should’ve taken it off before coming here. Stupid. I’d left it on out of habit. The heat and the flames had taken the metal and gems straight from solid to gaseous, preventing me from needing to work out how I could handle the molten metal.

Oh well. Note to self: Don’t have valuables near the phoenixes.

Instead, I put my hands on my hips and looked around, noting how big the blaze I was being subjected to was, trying to think of pithy one-liners. I noted that it was only the red flames of Inferno - the classic golden look of Radiance or black flames of Pyronox were entirely missing.

This was an almost peerless opportunity. A phoenix trying to kill me with its flames? Training, drilling, and ‘for real’ had wildly different impacts on skill gain and class levels, and just because I was immune, it didn’t mean there weren’t fantastic multipliers going on to any experience I could get. [Parallel Thoughts] went on and kicked into overdrive, each mind hitting a different set of skills, seeing which ones I could quickly practice.

Being on a Celestial skill kick, I threw out a tiny [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] bulwark, unsurprised as it instantly broke, the all-consuming flames eradicating it without a whimper. [Zenith Everlasting] got its first trial run, and my heart started to beat wildly as if I’d just ingested a dozen stimulants.

I [Blinked] in place, but there was sadly nothing intact and near enough to use [Rapid Reshelving] on. I tried to manipulate the flames themselves with the skill, but it just didn’t take. Either [Rapid Reshelving] itself wasn’t able to move flames around, or the phoenix had such strong skills that I couldn’t touch it.

I was just preparing to [Imbue] a butterfly when the Pyronox owl flew over in a blinding blaze of dark flames, smacking the Inferno tupandactylus with its wing. The flames vanished, and I stretched and yawned loudly.

“Oh! Thank you for the lovely warm-up, it was getting a little chilly here.”

The owl’s head snapped around as he stared at me, and the other two phoenixes looked at me with frank disbelief.

Rapid-fire, the three birds started talking to each other, trading whooo’s and squawks and great honking cries, wings beating and small gouts of flames erupting in their argument. I couldn’t understand a word they were saying - my phoenix-fu extended to Auri’s brrrpts and nothing else.

One part of my mind quickly checked on my level up loot from my shenanigans.

[*ding!* [Etheric Aegis] leveled up! 2 -> 20]

Damn shame. My tunic had lasted only a fraction of a second, getting only a fraction of a second of experience. If it had lasted even a hair longer, I probably could’ve skipped a few hundred levels. Interesting to know that my fire immunity didn’t extend to my clothes.

[*ding!* [Aurora Curialis] leveled up! 741 -> 743]

Oh nice, I hadn’t even tried to level that one up.

[*ding!* [Luminary Mind] leveled up! 477 -> 490]

I had a feeling this skill was going to just start leveling up all over the place. If simply thinking was enough to level the skill up, I was in good shape. My hopes of it merging with [Parallel Thoughts] were going up.

[*ding!* [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] leveled up! 580 -> 610]

Easy levels! Shame I didn’t have a way to try and delete the flames as they hit.

Ahha! That was an idea though. Use the [Shroud] to cup a bunch of water, have Auri hit it with weak fireballs from above, the ‘shield’ is ‘deleting’ matter. That would be an easy way to push the skill in that direction!

[*ding!* [Zenith Everlasting] leveled up! 566 -> 580]

Nothing to say.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 645 -> 646! +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 suppose ‘get engulfed in a phoenix’s flames’ counted as ‘new experiences and magic’ enough for the class to level up.

[*ding!* [Blink] leveled up! 140 -> 142]

The skill was a huge pain in the ass to level. I’d take it.

Seriously, it felt harder than a level 500 skill for some unknown reason. Maybe if I’d tried to escape with [Blink] instead of staying still I would’ve seen more levels.

No levels on [Rapid Reshelving], which said my skill couldn’t move flames in the first place.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 298 -> 333]

Yes! Another thought process!

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 174 -> 180]

I mentally patted myself on the back for thinking to try and level up under an enraged phoenix’s attack. The only thing that concerned me was his control - he’d kept it to just the park, yeah? Hadn’t blasted half the city? I struggled to imagine someone as high level as the phoenix hitting so many targets they didn’t intend to, but then again, I knew nothing about phoenix culture and mentality.

I pretended to brush some ash off my shoulder.

“Part of my companion bond with Auri,” I said in an even, conversational tone. “Is a complete immunity to phoenixes. Come on now, we’ve sent for her, she should be here any day now, if not later today. No need for such hostility.”

I was naturally lying through my teeth. I was fairly certain my fire immunity extended to Pyronox, but it only worked on some types of Radiance skills. That was ignoring the phoenixes potentially having some meta-magic that could bypass my immunity, or just, like, making a solid bar out of Pyronox or something and beating me over the head with it. That wasn’t fire anymore, that was a club. I was immune to a sword made out of Inferno, in an odd twist of ‘how the fuck does this work’, but I wasn’t willing to test things.

Before any one of the phoenixes, I was nothing. I was potentially durable enough to survive various shenanigans, but I didn’t want to test them or infuriate them. Perhaps I was underselling myself a little, but it was better to be humble than to have a swelled head.

The owl gripped his amulet again with a claw.

“It is not our goal to simply burn you from existence,” He glared significantly at the tupandactylus phoenix, who threw his crested head back in defiance. “But we do require answers. There are no records of a phoenix going missing that matches the description we have been given, nor are there any eggs unaccounted for. A bond with a dwarf? Preposterous!”

I looked down at my body, stroked my still-beardless chin, and back up to the phoenix. For some reason, the last part bothered me the most.

“I’m not a dwarf?” I said, the accusation so out of left field it had me dizzy. The owl squinted and looked closer, tilting his head to a degree only an owl could manage.

“Are you sure about that?” He asked. “Short, stocky, elvenoid? You meet all the criteria.”

I was willing to let Night call me an otter, but an owl calling me a dwarf? No way. I also wasn’t going to try arguing over the criteria or getting him to change his mind. It was a stupid, losing battle.

“Yes… yes I am. I’m a human.” I said.

“Hmmmmmmmmmmm.” The owl drew back and looked at me skeptically. “Now. About your bond and Auri. Explain.”

Dark flames erupted in a circle around us, reaching all the way up to the Ashen clouds far above. The pillar of flame could probably be seen for dozens, if not hundreds of miles away, and I broke out into a sweat that had nothing to do with the fire.

I snapped myself into reporting mode, wondering if Sanguino was cursed. First Arachne, now some phoenixes, maybe I should avoid going into the city at all. I was a big believer in ‘the truth will set you free’, and so far, telling people the truth had only landed me in hot water once or twice. Apart from situations like the Han empire where I really, really needed to keep my mouth shut, open honesty had only punished me with Emperor Augustus, and even that had been acceptably bad.

“Forgive some of my language, but an entity is involved whose name and species I’d much rather avoid giving voice to.” I preambled.

The heron nodded in agreement. The tupandactylus was still sulking. Over level 2000, and still sulking like a kid. Honestly.

“Skipping most of the story, tens of thousands of years ago I found myself in the lair of one of the creatures we were not discussing.” I said.

I was interrupted by a blade of pure Darkness slashing through the owl’s flaming walls, leaving a gash that rejected further fire. Night walked through, a blade of shimmering obsidian held loosely in his hand and murder on his face. He had a thick belt with seven glittering gems on it, each one larger than my fist. He spoke softly, but every word cut through the roaring flames like a knife through hot butter.

“This is my city. You are here at my sufferance. Behave yourselves.”

Night was fucking terrifying. Three against one, phoenix against vampire, and the owl had 1000ish levels on Night alone, and Night’s presence, not even directed at me, had me wanting to pee myself just a little in pure fear. It wasn’t like I was hunched over or cowering, but Night being beside me let me stand up a little straighter, a little bolder. Night was on my side, nothing could go wrong.

Upon closer examination, his blade clearly wasn’t obsidian - nor was it any material I’d ever seen before. My best bet was a magical metal alloy of some sort.

I would have questions for him and Arachne later.

The three phoenixes looked at Night, and after a brief invisible power play between the two of them, the sky-reaching pillar of flame winked out. The owl bobbed his head towards Night.

“Apologies progenitor.” He said, the four of them starting to stare at each other.

With the flames dead and my exceptional eyesight, I could see how we were utterly ringed by a dozen of my fellow Sentinels, most of them standing on one building or another in full ‘ready for shit to go down’ armor, as well as two full Ranger teams setting up. I was able to spot Iona on top of one of the buildings, shortbow in hand but pointed down. I was touched that she was willing to help, no matter how ridiculously outclassed she was and how little her skills could help if things went south. I was willing to bet there were another two dozen Sentinels either out of sight or just finishing getting ready. When Arachne wanted things to happen and people to move, they moved, and ‘city-destroying skills being thrown around’ definitely qualified.

Hells, I had to wonder if the fucking Guardians got poked when the phoenixes were acting up here. Sanguino was a dense, highly populated city - far larger than Shuixi. They tended not to act preemptively, but it was a strong reminder of the scale I was dealing with.

After a minute of the four of them staring at each other, I awkwardly cleared my throat.

“As I was saying…” I went on to explain to a skeptical set of avians about my adventures in Lun’Kat’s lair, how I’d healed the dragon, retrieved the egg, then brought it back home and hatched it. The heron let off a trumpeting blast of Radiance towards the sky when I mentioned how she looked like a hummingbird, and the tupandactylus hopped excitedly from foot to foot. The owl’s eyes went wide, and his pupils shrunk to a pinpoint as he stared at me. Guess that was something of a big deal? I carried on with the story, ending up with how we’d gotten screwed by the fae, and brought far forward.

Before they could start trying to peck apart my story, Night interjected.

“Sentinel Dawn here reported the events as they happened to me at the time.” He stressed. “There has been no foul play of the sort you suspect or are concerned about, and indeed, you should be praising her for successfully retrieving an egg effectively lost to a dragon’s clutches. One so powerful that she is still alive to this day.”

The three birds started talking with each other, clearly arguing. Wings flared and the birds postured at one another, the owl occasionally needing to shout the other two down, glancing towards Night.

Finally the owl turned towards us.

“We would like to meet this Auri as soon as possible. Bring her to us.” He commanded. To my small surprise, Night smiled and gave the tiniest of nods to the bird.

“Naturally. We all desire that the poor wayward bird be given the opportunity to meet her family, and indeed, she has expressed the same desire. As we have told you.” The last few words were pointed.

The birds fluffed themselves up, conversed a moment longer, then turned back to us.

“This is acceptable.” The owl said.

Manners, manners, I should be polite.

“Thank you for your time.” I said, sorta awkwardly leaving Night and the three phoenixes to talk. I made my way over to Iona, thankful the whole ordeal was done.

For now.

“Need a tunic?” Iona asked as she hopped down from the building she was on, casually dropping four stories like it was nothing. Credit to the roads, they didn’t seem to notice her landing either!

The rest of the Sentinels were dispersing, some nearby with a friendly word my way, most back to whatever they did day to day.

“Yeah, give me a moment.” I said. A quick trip to [Vault of Ages] later, and I had one of my cheap ‘clothes got destroyed again’ tunics on.

[*ding!* [Vault of Ages] leveled up! 64 -> 65]

Oh nice.

“That could’ve gone better.” I idly commented. Iona shrugged.

“It seemed to go swimmingly from where I was standing.” She said. “No major incidents, nothing went outside the boundaries, nobody’s dead, they’re not flying away in a huff, you’re uninjured… given your record, it’s practically a divine miracle.” Iona teased.

I blew a raspberry in her direction.

“Fine, fine, yeah. Let’s go shopping?” I proposed.

Iona slung her arm in mine.

“Let’s!” She agreed.

[Parallel Thoughts] once again to the rescue! I had three new interesting skills offered, and given they were from the strongest Radiance [Mage] I’d ever seen, on top of being a legendary phoenix, there could be some nice goodies.

A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers: A single flap of the majestic phoenix’s wings summons a blinding tempest of razor-sharp golden feathers, filled to the brim with destructive potential. The feathers appear to move under their own consciousness and power, their mystical fluttering confusing to those who behold it. In truth, they are controlled by the summoner, each one going exactly where directed. -8,128 Mana Regeneration.

I squinted at the skill, sure there was some catch to it, something I was missing.

But no, it just looked like a straight-up upgrade to [Kaleidoscope]. Stronger, more powerful, a sharpness aspect, and instead of butterflies, I’d have feathers. It had the same ‘passive regeneration drain makes it stronger when used’ aspect that I’d started to see in [Arbiter], hinting at how deadly it was. It didn’t quite have the insane numbers that [Arbiter] skills did - I suspected I was getting a ‘halfway’ skill, not the full-powered version - and it was fun to see how the regeneration was a perfect number.

Really, the only ‘issue’ was I was moving away from the ‘Butterfly’ theming of the class, which would influence the theming of future evolutions. If I entirely replaced all my skills with phoenix-related skills - or killed all the butterfly ones with phoenix ones at least - I’d get offered [Phoenix Mystic] as an upgraded class over [Butterfly Mystic]. Which wasn’t the worst thing to have happened. Probably be rewarded a little more for being noble and phoenix-like over wandering around, but that wasn’t the end of the world. Especially not if I upgraded a number of skills now.

Well, that and the new name was a mouthful and a half.

Unable to see a true downside, I accepted the new skill.

[Blazing Presence of the Phoenix] was less interesting. It was an aura/domain skill, and it was the reason the place had felt hot when I’d entered the garden. It amplified Radiance skills and abilities, and implied a whole host of minor things that I was frankly uninterested in. I liked my current skills and set up too much. The fact that it’d been offered as a level 1 skill, as opposed to an upgrade, showed how far off it was.

If I was a triple-Radiance Classer, I’d have jumped on the skill in a heartbeat, making it one of my crowning accomplishments and the center of an entire build. I wasn’t though - I didn’t have the spare skill slots to entertain the aura.

[Crowned by the Summer Solstice, Blessed by the Noon Sun] left me feeling smug as a bug in a rug. I dismissed it.

[Solar Corona] was already better in virtually every aspect. It was why the System had offered a change, not an upgrade.

All in all, I had strongly upgraded one skill without even trying, and I was a happy panda.

The two of us went through the city on an idle date, just browsing the thousands of sights to see. Deadly encounter one minute, shopping the next, being a Sentinel was weird as heck at times.

The chatter I was picking up all around me was another indicator of how weird things were at times. A good number of people were talking about the pillar of Pyronox flames that had reached the Ashen clouds above us, but it wasn’t like that was all people were discussing. A good number shrugged and said something along the lines of ‘so what?’ It wasn’t like they were unused to casual displays of huge skills, although they were frowned upon.

Two [Alchemists] were arguing with each other across the street. One was distinctly scaly, while the other had a bone theme going on.

“All you sell are poisons!” The bone-alchemist accused the scaly one. He hissed in laughter.

“Yesss, yesss, but I label my poisons properly! I don’t slip laxativesss into healing potions!” He accused right back.

The two were high-level and probably Immortal, and were bickering like an old couple. They were driving away all sorts of business from the two of them, but seemed to enjoy shouting and arguing across the street more than making a living.

It took all types.

“Lettuce! Cabbages! Get your produce here!” A devil shouted from behind his stall, effortlessly juggling a dozen different fruits and vegetables. I instantly spotted my favorite treat.

“Oooh! Mango!” I cried, bounding over to the vendor. He grinned at my approach and clear eagerness.

“I’ll buy all your mangos!” I declared, Iona facepalming behind me.

Ehhh, I was probably breaking a dozen of Amber’s rules about ‘how to buy and sell in such a way to squeeze every last arc out of a body’, but I was getting mangos!

Not even Iona’s silver tongue could stop me from getting horribly fleeced, not with how eagerly I’d approached. Eh, I had almost four years of pay that I hadn’t spent in the bank, I was fine. It was practically a rounding error. We left with a sackful of mango, and I took one out. I lovingly gazed at it, admiring the soft skin and beautiful colors. The smell! The touch! Oh blessed perfection that was mango, how I missed you so.

“Can I borrow a knife?” I asked Iona. She started to hand me hers, but pulled it up at the last second. I tilted my head, wordlessly asking the question.

She wagged a finger at me.

“I know you haven’t forgotten your bet with Artemis.” The Valkyrie said. “I’m not going to stop you, just reminding you.”

My face fell. The evil sadist grinned at the look on my face and the dilemma I was facing.

“Fuck.” I swore with feeling. Any mango I ate would be the first mango.

“Artemissssss!!!” I screamed at the sky, shaking my fist dramatically.

Naturally, that was the moment Sentinel Spark skidded to a halt in front of us, Lightning crackling around him in a great halo.

I only had eyes for the little bundle of flames cupped delicately in his hands.

“Brrrpt!”

Chapter 6 - Interlude - Auri - Extended Relatives

Life was good!

Life was great!

I was suspicious.

That meant life had an ambush waiting behind a bush somewhere.

Old Auri would’ve spotted a tree and burned it to destroy a dozen ‘ambushers.’ Old Auri would’ve pretended that the dozen notifications from birds and the nest of badgers at the base of the tree would’ve been a success. That the snake was filled with deadly poison, and that I’d just saved the day.

No more! I’d turned over a new feather!

I held my beak up high, sitting on Wren’s spear. All the fancy banners and symbols of the Legion had gotten packed away. Something about ‘diplomacy’ and ‘not being an invading army’. Bah humbug! That meant less attention on us! Fewer people to admire me! Fewer flames to show off!

How could I possibly show off my fire before adoring crowds of thousands if - oooh, honey!

“Brrrpt!” I told Wren, fully knowing he couldn’t understand a word I was saying, so I said brrrpt to mess with his head. Then I flitted off through the woods to find the delicious smell!

Honey, honey, an excellent reason for not burning flowers! More flowers meant more honey!

I made it to the hive and hovered, studying the flight patterns of dozens of busy bees buzzing around, trying to find a way in.

I could just burn them all, but no, no, I was no lumbering bear. Mass murder for a snack?

Old Auri would’ve said yes. Old Auri would already be beak-deep in honey, drops of it crystalizing on my wings.

Better Auri couldn’t find an easy way to get that sweet, sweet honey, and the poor baby bees needed it as well…

Better Auri went home with no honey.

Sometimes being better sucked.

Spear or wagon, spear or wagon… hmmm… who was carrying me today…? Purple-hair always had a pouch of treats he was willing to share, while Ms. Deerkin liked singing. Elaine’s [Batteries] were good for showering praise on me, but Legata Katerina sometimes had fun missions and things to Properly Burn…

Belly hungry! Time for second breakfast! Treats it is!

I flew over to Purple-hair and landed on his spear.

“Food?” I asked, doing my best to look cute, hungry, and feed-able. I knew he couldn’t understand me, but the way I stared at his sugary snacks made what I wanted clear.

Purple-hair laughed, and soon I was eating honey-encrusted sweets with no issues about how it had been obtained.

A crackle of Lightning made all my feathers puff out, and I turned my head to try and follow.

Quick! Fast!

A man in black armor was talking to Katerina, and a woman was sitting on his shoulders, holding an umbrella angled in a way to keep the sun off him.

Interesting! Fun! I wanted to know what was going on!

I zipped over! Zoom! Yay! Flying was great!

One of Katerina’s aides pointed to me, and everyone turned and looked at me.

Uh oh.

There was being the center of attention, and there was being the Center of Attention. This did not look like the good kind.

UH OH. That was a Sentinel. Looking for me?

Elaine was okay, right? RIGHT?

I pulled up my status sheet, letting off a relieved ember when our bond skill was still there, still intact. She was alive, at least.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Sentinel Spark, this is Auri the phoenix.” Katerina quickly introduced us. “Auri, Sentinel Spark would like you to go with him.”

The man nodded as he turned to me. The woman riding on his back flawlessly kept the umbrella between him and the sun.

“You’re needed urgently back in Sanguino… ma’am?” He hesitated over the last part.

I looked at Katerina, who nodded at me.

“Alright! Let’s go!” I said.

The Sentinel opened a bag, and I gave him a disgusted look before remembering just how fast he was. Maybe the bag would be a gentler trip? At the very least I’d be sheltered against the wind…

Four barfed-in and burnt bags later, we made it to Sanguino. The spinning top of the bag opened. Up, left, right, it just wouldn’t stay still.

Stupid moving bags! Every effort of mine to get out resulted in me hitting the sides, and I burned the bag in pure frustration.

He clearly had spares, it wasn’t special.

I was getting better at this, but I wasn’t perfect.

“Elaine!” I said, trying to fly to her and hitting the wall instead. “I’m back!”

Elaine laughed and stepped over, picking me up off the ground.

“I want to get off this ride.” I moaned. More Elaineisms!

“There there.” She put me on my favorite spot - the shoulder! - and looked to Sparky.

I sunk my talons in so I’d stay on.

“Sentinel. A thousand and twenty-four thanks for your assistance in this matter.” She said, half-bowing.

Noooooooooooooooo why did you have to tilt like - hurk.

This suuuuuuuuuucked.

Sparky rolled his eyes.

“Piece of advice to you. Never become the fastest Sentinel. Sentinel Arachne and the rest will have you running ‘critical missions’ all over the world instead of doing what you actually want to do, and ignoring half the support staff dedicated to the task!” He complained.

Bah humbug. He got to see me! Not only that, but he got to run around and see the whole world!

It kinda sucked being so small at times. There was no way without Fenrir and Elaine that I could see nearly as much as I did.

Elaine and Sparky talked for a little longer, the woman who’d been riding on his shoulders sliding down and leaning on him. How come she was fine?! This was totally unfair!

Elaine’s eyes went wide.

“Wait. Nobody told Auri!?” She said.

“Tell me what?” I asked.

“There’s a trio of phoenixes that came looking for you!” She explained.

“WHAT!” I shouted into her ear. “Why didn’t anyone tell me!?”

Quick! Time for next-level Auri thinking! Burn away the nausea! Why hadn’t I thought of that before?!

Maybe because the room wouldn’t stop spinning long enough for me to think…

It sadly didn’t work. Elaine and Sparky stopped talking, and Elaine started jogging through the city with Iona.

“Tell me everything! What class did you get? What have you been doing? What are the phoenixes like? Are they nice? Are they hummingbirds like me? What flames do they use? What kind of fire? How long have they been here? Who…?”

I had ALL THE QUESTIONS! I needed to know it all! Learn it all! Elaine was smart. She started talking and answering my questions as I asked them, the two of us flawlessly communicating over each other.

“[The Arbiter of Life and Death]. Sentinel Dawn upgrade class. Mostly moping around, classing up, and getting engaged. They’re… interesting. A little arrogant. I don’t want to color your perception too much. They’re not hummingbirds. One’s an owl, one’s a heron, and the last one is a tupandactylus. Pyronox, Radiance, and Inferno. I couldn’t tell if any of them were a particularly special type of flame, but I suspect the heron was using sun-fire. I don’t know how long they’ve been here. Atlas-”

One of Elaine’s answers made its way through my flaming brain and connected two sparks together.

“You got engaged!? YAAAY! Congratulations congratulations CONGRATULATIONS!!”

I summoned a ton of [Mage Hands] and started clapping.

Yay! They were getting married! Tying the knot! I couldn’t wait to see it!

I had to remind myself - it was going to be their day. Subtle! Hidden! Out of sight! That was the goal for me. Make everyone pay attention to Elaine and Iona!

Oh, it was going to be so much fun! It was going to be great! What would Fenrir do? How would he participate? Was there something interesting for him to do?

AHHHHH! My bakery! I could make the cake! I was totally going to make the cake!

“Dibs on making the cake!!” I yelled. “I’m making it! Please? Pretty please with a flower on top?” I asked, fluttering my eyes at Iona.

The couple traded an amused look, Iona’s shoulders shaking with barely-contained mirth.

“Of course you can.” Elaine said. “I couldn’t imagine anyone else for it.”

“YES!” I did a little happy flip, somehow landing back down.

Oh. Hmmm.

Humans tied the knot. How did phoenixes do it? Did they mingle the flame or something?

I was going to meet some phoenixes! At last!

It… it was a little lonely sometimes, being the only one of me.

Ahhh it was unfair! Too many exciting things happening all at once!

“We’re here.” Iona said, halting at the edge of the park. “You two ready?”

Was I ready? WAS I READY!? I wasn’t ready! Not by a long shot! My sparks were dull! My talons needed sharpening! My beak wasn’t shiny enough! My…

“As ready as we’ll ever be.” Elaine said, stepping into the park, completely blowing past my concerns.

Mmmm, yes. There was wisdom in those words. I was as ready as I’d ever be.

The moment we stepped into the park, I felt it. There were powerful auras at work here. The flames that were my body flared up, eagerly responding to the call of fire that was going on. My entire body felt lighter and stronger, and I felt like I could fly a million miles an hour.

I felt more. I felt great! Amazing! Wonderful!

We arrived without fanfare. There were no trumpets declaring that they were here. No heavens opening up.

Just… we went over a small hill, and suddenly, I could see them.

Three flaming birds, sitting up in a tree. An owl, a heron, and a tupandactylus.

They looked at me.

I looked at them.

“Hi!” I said.

“It really is a phoenix…” The heron squawked.

“A hummingbird too.” The owl said.

“Higher level than the story suggests. Perhaps it was a lie?” The dinosaur suggested.

The owl shook his head.

“No, from my understanding companion bonds keep the two at the same level. It is only natural that her level is close to the human’s.”

“Hey!” I protested. “Elaine isn’t some human! Elaine is the best!”

“Truly?” The owl asked. “How are you certain that is the case? From our understanding of the story, she was the first one you met. The one who hatched you, who fed you. Are you absolutely certain that there was no underlying influences on you to create a bond between you two? No clever manipulations?”

I started laughing at the idea of Elaine manipulating anyone, let alone me.

“Ha! No way! She couldn’t manipulate her way out of a stack of dry twigs if she tried!” I said.

The underlying thought worried me though. The manipulation? No way. The impression?

I… couldn’t say no.

“Hmmmm. Well, that matter can be put aside for the moment. We should leave for the Phoenix Peaks, where we can discuss further and introduce you to all the others. This is no place for a phoenix to live, and we’ve been here far too long already. The sooner we can leave, the better.”

“Agreed, agreed.” The heron said. “They’ve blocked out sunlight here, the heathens.”

The dinosaur shuddered.

“Far too cold. Let’s return to a civilized place.”

Hmmm.

“Can Elaine come with us?” I asked. We’d just come back from an adventure, but it was time for another one! Bit of a quick turnaround - my poor bakery was going to get even more ruined - but hey! Phoenixes! New friends! Distant relatives! Let’s meet them all!

The three looked like I’d suggested we all go for a swim or something.

“The phoenix lands are primarily for phoenixes.” The owl explained slowly, like I was some idiot child.

“But the wedding is soon!” I protested, then turned to Elaine, who’d been an utter saint this entire time. I knew how hard it was for her to just stand still like this, especially when we were talking about her.

It just confirmed what I said earlier - Elaine was the best.

“When is the wedding?” I asked her. She shrugged.

“We got engaged today.” She said. “We haven’t had time to start discussing it.”

Ooops.

Wait! This wasn’t my fault!

“The wedding doesn’t mat-” The tupandactylus started to say, but the owl cut him off with a wing.

“Is this… wedding… hugely important to you?” He asked.

I nodded.

“Of course! Elaine and Iona are getting married! It’ll be so much fun!” I said. “Oh!! You should all meet Fenrir as well!”

An idea came to me. A brilliant idea!

“Hey Elaine, can the phoenixes be invited to the wedding? They’re kinda like distant relatives of mine, of a sort. Please?” I asked.

Elaine promptly nodded.

“Of course they’re invited!” She said. “I’d be happy for them to attend.”

“Hmmmm.” The owl mulled it over for a moment or two while the other two shifted from talon to talon. “I would be willing to attend, under one condition. Come to the Phoenix Peaks for a time after the event, and see what life is like there. I am confident that once you are among your own, you will find it a paradise like no other.”

I did want to see the Phoenix Peaks and meet other birds like me.

There were others just like me!

I quickly explained it all to Elaine, who slowly nodded.

“Yes, I’m fine with that.” She said, then switched to English, which was like our private language!

“I’ll need Iona to sanity check me, but something I’m worried about - if they don’t want to help you come back, what happens?”

I repeated Elaine’s answer back to the phoenixes while I mulled over her question.

That made two deeply disturbing questions I’d been given.

Chapter 7 - The Messy Aftermath

I was a tree. A serene, unmoving being, swaying gently in the wind. I was not - hang on. A tree was a terrible thing to be near four phoenixes.

This was possibly the most important meeting of Auri’s life. Possibly? Maybe?

It was super important to her. There were stars shining in her eyes, even without a Celestial element, as she gazed adoringly upon the three phoenixes, talking as fast as she could. She was practically hopping from foot to foot!

When they offered for Auri to visit the homeland, I knew the trip was set in stone.

In fire? That made no sense… eh, whatever. She’d be going, and I was super excited for her! It would be like if Papilion had reincarnated me as a golden crow, and I finally got to hear about humans somewhere. I’d have to go check it out.

The broad strokes settled, Auri asked me a difficult question.

“Brrrpt?”

I shook my head. No way.

“I think it might be better if Atlas and the rest of Sanguino managed the phoenixes.” I delicately suggested. “They seem happier here than they would in our place.”

Three demanding phoenixes? I could see it now. I’d probably snap by the end of the week. Fire, chaos, destruction, Ranger squads, Sentinel teams, the whole works.

However, it wasn’t just about me. Auri had equal say in things, and I did want to try to be somewhat flexible and accommodating.

“Why don’t they come to visit, and you can show them around?” I suggested. “Show them your nest, bake them some food. Plus, you can come down here as often as you’d like and have them pamper you.”

“Brrrpt?”

“Both the phoenixes and the team to keep them happy.” I clarified.

Yikes. I’d been hoping that some time back in Sanguino, working in her bakery, would help deflate Auri’s ego a hair. It had gotten a little swollen from all the attention in the Sixth, and now even more people were going to be paying attention to her and hanging onto her every word and whim? I had hopes that she’d stay reasonable, but who knew?

Auri communicated it all back to the phoenixes - now that she was here to translate, I wasn’t quite sure where I stood with them. I could see my status being anywhere from ‘holy savior who extracted a phoenix from the clutches of a dragon’, all the way to ‘evil human who bonded with a phoenix and is keeping her captive.’ There could also be elements of ‘ewww humans we’re so much better than they are’ elf-style arrogance. Given how they had the entire capital dancing in the… talons of their feet.

The tupandactylus’s reaction when I’d mentioned I was Auri’s bonded suggested more of the second than the first, but that was before I’d told my story.

I tried to let my mind wander to better help my body keep still. I was basically window dressing here. If only the phoenixes would do some flying, I could covertly study them and see about improving [Scintillating Ascent]. I’d probably be seeing more of them at some point, and I’d try to study them then.

Actually - what was I doing here, besides potentially annoying the phoenixes by showing my face?

“Hey Auri, mind if I leave? The four of you can stay here as long as you’d like, and you know the way back. I don’t want to intrude.”

The three dismissive looks I instantly got helped settle where I was in the pecking order, and with barely a word, I was out of there.

I naturally picked up Iona, and given the late hour, we headed home. There was no need to push the System and our stats to the extreme to get home as quickly as possible. We just walked along, a newly engaged couple on an ash-lit stroll.

Despite the hour, the streets were only slightly less packed than daytime. The strong vampire culture and the ashen skies making the distinction between day and night less important meant almost as much business occurred at night as during the day. Carts and horses were tied off to poles while [Farmers] unloaded their goods, causing elegantly dressed vampires to dodge around them with a laugh.

Arachne wove a few questions out of threads as we left the city, mostly asking me what the status of the phoenixes was, what they were planning, thoughts, impressions, etc. Basically trying to get as much information as possible, since her threads had been burnt out of the phoenix’s park.

“You mentioned something you wanted to talk about…” Iona suggested leadingly.

“Ugh.” I moaned. “It’s important, but not that important… ah fuck it, let me explain before anything else happens.”

I quickly went over [Angel of Mercy], the chance to divinely ascend, and the portfolio of offers I’d glanced over. Iona’s eyes were shining at the end, and she seized my hands.

“Elaine! This is amazing! It’s fantastic! It’s the best engagement present you could’ve ever given me!” She was almost babbling she was talking so quickly. “You can join me one day! Ooooh, but… hmmmm.” She went quiet as all the implications around how I’d join her, and all the prerequisites were made clear. She’d need to be dead, and I’d need to hit a class up.

“Will you join me for eternity?” Iona asked quietly. I squeezed her hand.

I answered her question with a question.

“Didn’t we just get engaged earlier today?” I said. “Yes, I’ll follow you.”

Iona squeezed my hand back.

“Goddesses, that was today?” She asked rhetorically. I nodded, and my jumping-around addled brain made a few insane leaps of logic to end up at a decent idea.

“Do you have any objection to me turning the collar you made into a bookmark? I do need one.” I said. “Or a bracelet?”

Iona furiously shook her head.

“No, no, go ahead, I’m mortified over the whole thing.” She said. I side-headbutted her affectionately.

“It was made with love, and that’s what counts.” I said.

We had a lazy lie-in. Given that we made it home a little before the sun was peeking over the horizon, we’d more than earned it. Auri wasn’t back yet.

“So many things to do.” I complained to Iona after we’d spent a few hours getting up and ready. A really lazy morning. “Need to check in with Arachne. Need to bring Artemis and Julius up to date. I think today’s one of the War Sentinel dinners, but I’m not sure exactly when they are anymore. I probably need to visit Harper for another set of gear, and get a few practice sets we can wreck. Night wants to talk… blah. How did I end up with all the social arrangements, and you’ve got nothing?” I demanded of my outgoing, social paramour.

Iona hugged me.

“Why don’t I handle Artemis, Arachne, and Harper for you?” She suggested. “We’re a team, and I think I’ve got all the information needed. That frees you up for your fun activities.”

I looked up at her.

“You’d do that for me? Really?” I asked.

Artemis barged into the dining room with a meat skewer in one hand and a mug of beer in the other.

“I heard my name!” She announced, plopping down at the table. Two sets of glares from Iona and I had her feet staying firmly on the floor.

The Lightning mage could be tamed!

“Yup. Bunch of stuff happened with Auri last night. Wanted to bring you up to speed. We might be having some phoenixes drop by as guests now and then.” I said.

Artemis froze.

“High level phoenixes? Here?” She started scarfing as fast as she could, not even waiting for the answer.

“One’s pushing 4000.” Iona confirmed.

“Fuuuuuuuck me.” Artemis said. “Elaine dear, I love you, but I hope you understand when I say I don’t want to be anywhere near wild monsters that strong.”

Julius walked in with his lunch.

“Strong wild monsters?” He asked.

Iona brought the two of them up to speed. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

“I spent my entire life hunting monsters.” He said. “I think it’s a bad idea for us to interact.”

I couldn’t blame him too much. Julius had been a Ranger lifer, a true believer in the mission and cause. He’d been an old man in a career most died young, and since the fae, he’d taken up a job as a monster hunter. Not wanting to be near phoenixes so strong there was nothing he could do about it wasn’t the craziest thought.

“I don’t want you to feel like we’re bailing out on you though.” He said. “Do you need us around?”

Iona and I shook our heads in unison.

“We’ve been looking to visit the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft for a while.” Julius mentioned. “This might be a good time for us to visit. When’s the wedding?”

“Julius!” Artemis had her best scandalized voice going. “They just got engaged, they haven’t had time to set a date yet!”

“I’ll place 1,024 arcs on it being during a full moon.” Julius offered.

We laughed at the bet, and nobody took him up on it. It was too likely.

“No chance you can just… stay in a nearby tavern?” I suggested. “I’m more than happy to pay for it, just to keep the two of you nearby.”

“It’s a touching gesture.” Artemis said. “But we’ve been here too long. I’ve been itchy for the last year, and it would’ve been terribly unfair to abandon the place before you came back. I’ve wanted to see the School for a while, and frankly, this has been planned for months. I didn’t want to spring this on you when you first came back, but our stay was only ever going to be a few more weeks, tops. This has simply accelerated our timetable.”

Julius nodded in agreement.

“I’m sorry to be dropping the announcement and the action at the same time.” He said. “We’d discussed waiting until you’d perked up a bit before telling you, then giving you a week or so to say goodbye - unless you were sick of us and kicked us out early. The phoenixes are simply a really good reason to be heading out a little earlier.”

Booo. Hiss!

“I’ll never forgive you if you don’t make it to the wedding.” I muttered into my lunch.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Artemis said.

“Yeah, we’ll bring a lake with us if some phoenixes try to stop us attending.” Julius joked.

Artemis hugged me at the end of lunch.

“Healybug, I’m so proud of you.” She said. “Know that you can always swing by, and I’m always thinking of you.”

I hugged her back.

“You mean more to me than I can ever say.” I said. “You saved me a dozen times over.”

Artemis ruffled my hair.

“Nah, you did that all yourself.” She said. “I just happened to be around.”

“We’re not planning on spending forever at the School, but there’s a slim chance that’s where we’re going to settle down. Otherwise, we’ll give it a few months, maybe pop by during the wedding, and if the phoenixes leave then, we’ll be back to visit. Life’s only so long, there’s nothing like spending it with friends. That said, we’ll send you a letter if we settle down!” Julius said. “Don’t be a stranger, come by to visit!”

“Yeah! Whenever the island’s nearby, we’ll hop over!” I enthusiastically agreed. “Here, before you leave, let me write you a nice letter of introduction. It should help smooth things over. See if you can get it to a Flora, or really, anyone high up in the administration.”

But, just like that, Julius and Artemis made themselves scarce. It was unfortunate, but understood.

Iona stretched as she got up, and I spent a quick moment admiring the view. Again.

“Time to get things done?” She suggested.

“Yeah, let’s get going.” I said.

As I stepped into the Celestial Supper, I was made aware again of Immortality, and all it entailed.

Normally, being gone almost four years from a place would have it looking different. Nothing huge, nothing major, but perhaps some of the interior would be shuffled around. New decorations would be in place. The tables would be rearranged. A dozen little or big things would have changed, letting me know without a doubt that time had passed, and life had gone on without me.

Not the Celestial Supper.

They catered to Immortals and those who wanted to join their rarified ranks, and had kept the place looking exactly the same. Some places chose to constantly change things up, constantly wanting to be the ‘new delight’ to indulge in ever-changing tastes and the desire to have things be fresh and interesting.

Even the scratches and stains on the tables were the same! The occasional dent and nick in the candle holders were still there, but fortunately it avoided being uncannily off by at least having those slightly rotated and different from the last time I’d been here. Signs of life, of the place being well-used - apart from the patrons, of course, and bustling waitstaff - and not a creepy stasis field.

I entered and approached the hostess, who I didn’t recognize from before. Another new aspect.

The trappings might last, but the people, the mortals? They didn’t.

“Excuse me. I’ve lost track of time a bit. Is the War Sentinel meeting happening today?” I asked.

I got a bit of a skeptical look, which I wasn’t too surprised by. I lacked the canines and pale disposition needed to be a vampire, although my level was pulling a lot of weight. Her eyes widened a hair after a moment of thinking.

“Sentinel Dawn! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Yes, Tyrannus and the rest are in the back. Would you kindly follow me?”

She led, I followed, and wow [The World Around Me’s] expanded range in a restaurant that catered to the rich and powerful revealed a lot of interesting secrets from the other diners. It made me happy that Arachne was content to simply listen, observe, and not interfere with most dealings, savory or unsavory.

“Here you are.” The [Hostess] bowed slightly and gestured to the door. I strode through without a care in the world, most of the other War Sentinels on the other side. A quick glance showed Calamity and Depths were missing.

“Dawn’s back!” Tyrannus bombastically greeted me as I walked through the door, hoisting a bloody horn in my toast.

“Little Dawn made it back!” Queen gestured, all the cards snapping back to her hands.

“Oi! I was winning that hand!” Legion protested.

“You had a mismatched trio with no overlapping suits.” Queen primly replied.

“What does it matter? Dawn’s here, that’s far more interesting than any card game.” Calm didn’t bother grabbing his share of the pot back, simply spearing an extra-bloody steak with a knife and eating it directly. “Three and a half years? Her first deployment? She’s the only one who’s going to be talking in a minute.”

“All due respect Dawn, I’m more curious how your Legata performed.” Flood said.

“No offense taken. She had a brilliant maneuver around a Guardian I think you’d love to hear about…” I trailed off, knowing I was teasing them with the mention of a Guardian.

It had all happened recently, and Iona and I were some of the fastest people who’d been there, it wouldn’t surprise me if the news hadn’t hit Sanguino yet. Predictably, the room stilled.

“You had a Guardian called down on you all?” Flood asked with naked disbelief. “And you’re still alive to talk about it?”

“One of Queen’s cards helped.” The woman in question looked incredibly smug at the mention of her gift being used. “Let me start at the beginning. It didn’t start particularly well, as a member of my team - my fiancee now!! - had an emergency literally as we were deploying…”

Snacks were handed to me as I explained what I’d done, and my glass of wine never dipped below half. The Sentinels rarely interrupted, except to ask for a minor point of clarification here and there, little details that I’d forgotten or they found particularly interesting.

Queen was clapping at the end.

“Excellent use of my cards!” She praised. “Beautifully done! It’s a shame you can’t practice more often with them, because there’s some neat tricks around them, but that’s exactly the type of situation they’re for! Let me see if I can rustle up a few more for you.”

“The assassination was good. I wonder if I can replicate it somehow.” Legion wondered. “An illusion of healing people… don’t need it to last particularly long, as long as I can draw the target out…”

“I wasn’t trying to assassinate anyone!” I protested. “Plus, how haven’t you thought of that before?” I asked.

“Dawn’s right Legion.” Tyrannus said. “Don’t try to fluff her ego by pretending it’s something you haven’t thought of before. It’s not part of her specialty, and it does nobody here any good.”

“I’m more concerned with the start of the mission.” Flood was frowning at me. “Simply up and leaving like that? It’s a poor move.”

“Let’s discuss that.” Tyrannus said. “The Legion versus the team. When push comes to shove, and the two have competing interests, which one should take priority and why?”

Legion and Calm quickly broke for ‘Team above the Legion’, while Tyrannus and Flood went hard on ‘It’s about the Legion’. Queen took a delicate and nuanced take to it, where the multitude of competing interests had to be balanced.

The Guardian got a lot of discussion, and Flood was thoroughly impressed by Katerina’s quick thinking and decisive action.

Eventually, we wrapped up, and Tyrannus dropped one last surprise on me.

“Dawn, to celebrate most War Sentinel’s first missions, we host the Feast of Shadows. All the Sentinels are invited, it’s basically a big party. Are you interested in us doing this for you?”

I hesitated a bit. A big party wasn’t my thing, but Iona would like it, and I didn’t spend a lot of time around the other Sentinels. It could be good to get to know them more. Arachne’s method of sending messages when we were needed was extremely efficient in some ways, but it kept us out of touch in others. Only little groups like the War Sentinel’s meetings had me meeting other Sentinels with any regularity.

“Yes please!”

Chapter 8 - The Long Night

There was always something new. Someone asking for attention, someone knocking on my door.

Knock knock knock.

Iona and I traded looks.

“I’ll get this one.” I hauled myself out of my far too cozy couch, idly wondering if I needed to stash some of my books somewhere else before Auri arrived with the phoenixes.

Made me wonder if the two were related. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Arachne had sent over some reinforcements my way, like Atlas and his team to help keep the phoenixes happy. She knew my social reputation, and if they were left in my care…

Well, we’d be lucky to have an Exterreri Empire still standing before the next Immortal war. Might as well grab a pair of pointy ears and practice my High Elvish.

The woman naturally entered my view of [The World Around Me] before I could get to the door. Didn’t recognize her at all, but I could tell she was human. I opened the door.

“Hello? Can I help you?” I asked.

“Yes! Are you the lady of the house?” She asked brightly.

Uh oh. I had a bad feeling about this.

“I am…” I said warily.

She clapped her hands together.

“Oh excellent! I’m Flavia! This home of yours looks wonderful! I sell enchantments and enchantment services to make living at home much easier and more comfortable! We offer a wide range of-”

Ugh. I knew it. I KNEW IT!

Door to door salesmen. A scourge in any reality, in every world. There was no escaping them! There was no getting away! I started to close the door in her face, with a quick “No thank you”.

“Wait!” She said, throwing her arm in the door.

Risky move - my level suggested I could accidentally crush her arm off if I wasn’t careful or slightly unbalanced. Thank goodness for dexterity.

“OneOfOurFavoriteItemsIsASlideToEjectUnwantedSalesmen.” She blurted out in an impressively fast go.

I paused closing the door.

The idea of feeding a tiny bit of mana to an enchantment and watching door to door salesmen go flying was awfully tempting…

I opened the door a hair more.

“Tell me more.” I said.

The beaming look on her face told me I’d been got, hook, line, and sinker.

Iona handled most of the negotiation, and we agreed to review a contract a week from now for a ‘slip and slide salesman-be-gone’ that would, with a little trigger enchantment by the door, make a narrow friction-free slide from our door, all the way down the mountain to the road. We declined the optional ‘stink them up’ package.

Mostly because it sounded like a fuckton of fun for us to use ourselves. A magic slide almost an entire mountain long? Yes please!

I was reading a book the slow way, halfway through the climax, when another knock came on our door.

I whimpered in faux-pain. Iona glanced at how far I was through the book - only a bit left! - laughed, and patted my leg.

“Alright, I’ll get this one.” She said.

“Love you too!” I replied without ever taking my eyes off the page. I closed my ears and didn’t listen in on what was going on, I had to know!

Page after page flew by as I ‘cheated’, reading far faster than I was supposed to in order to find out what happened next.

“Noooo!” I cried out as I got to the end, Iona entering at the same time. I looked up, my eyes brimming with tears.

“He got home sixteen years later after defeating the evil, but that was right when his girlfriend decided he was dead, moved on, and married his friend! It’s not faaaaair!” I said. The book had been like a punch to the gut. True love was supposed to win! He was supposed to get it all! I’d been rooting for the two of them! Sure, it was entirely unrealistic and unfair, but I was a bit of a sucker for the ‘love against all odds’ stories.

Iona paused, rapidly shifting gears back and forth.

“Atlas sent a runner. They’re wondering what the optimal accommodations for them in this area are, since the phoenixes are going to be here. I was thinking we’ve got the room for all of them?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, but food and cooking is going to be interesting. We should have a meeting with them to figure it out.”

I was getting oooooold. I was the one planning out meetings and arrangements, and the best ways to get things done. What had become of me!?

“Good plan.” Iona said. “I think I heard something rattling on the roof, I’m going to go check it out.”

I tilted my head and listened, filtering through the thousands of small noises I could always hear until I got to the sound Iona mentioned.

“Maybe?” I agreed. “I could believe we’ve got something loose up there.”

Iona laughed.

“All the skills and levels between us, and neither of us have a [Repair], [Home Owner], [Handyman], or [Fix] skill between us.”

“Really good on the battlefield, less great with the domestic stuff.” I joked.

Hmmm. It might actually be something of a problem that neither of us had more mundane day-to-day life skills. Like, I had some skills, just not the Skills.

A wave of sadness and grief unexpectedly hit me.

I missed my mom.

I missed my dad.

They were supposed to be here. They were supposed to be the people I could talk with. They were supposed to be around. Dad and I should’ve been on the roof together, him showing me how to fix things. Mom should’ve been able to walk me through my first pipe leak, giving me the basics on how to repair it.

I didn’t have that. I’d been robbed of my time with them by the fae. I couldn’t ask them simple questions about owning a home, or ask for life advice from them. They wouldn’t be at my wedding, they wouldn’t see me married. The seats of honor for them would be empty, a glaring absence from what should be a joyous occasion. There would be a family-shaped shadow on the event.

“What’s wrong?” Iona asked, stepping up and wrapping me in a hug.

“I miss them.” I whispered, not needing to explain more. “I miss them so much.”

Iona didn’t say anything, but she was there for me, comforting me.

A third knock came at our door that night. I was about ready to throw the book I was reading into the fire in sheer frustration. It didn’t help that the opening was pretty weak.

“Quoth the raven, nevermore.” I practically snarled, getting up. Iona let the non-sequitur brush over her.

“You want me to get this one?” She asked. I waved her down; she’d just gotten a fresh cup of tea and was halfway through a sketch.

“Nah, you got the last one, it’s my turn.”

That, and I was fantasizing about all the different ways I could non-lethally eject a door to door salesman. The grease spell was a classic, and what the earlier person had suggested regarding ‘make them slide all the way down the mountain’ was ringing in my ears. Two [Parallel Thoughts] were spun off, trying to work out the best way to modify the spell on the fly, while also making sure it was non-lethal and non-harmful enough that I didn’t accidentally violate my [Oath] half-pranking, half-rejecting random salesmen.

Then I saw who it was, and my pace tripled in my haste to get to the door. I flung it open, caring a little how badly it banged. My mom’s voice echoed in my mind across the ages.

Don’t slam the door!

“Night!” I cried out in happiness at seeing my old mentor once again. He had a toothy grin at my obvious excitement.

“Dawn. I would normally ask if I were welcome, and making sure that I was not intruding upon you, but it seems as though my question is already answered. Would you perhaps find the time additionally to walk with me? While I have nothing in particular to discuss with you, I do believe you have a few things that I may help you with.”

Oh right! Arachne had mentioned something about that.

I turned my head and yelled into the villa.

“Hey love! Night’s here, we’re going for a walk.”

A moment later her voice echoed back.

“Have fun!”

“Why don’t we start heading back to Sanguino?” I suggested. “Don’t want you getting caught out in the daylight.”

Night slowly nodded.

“A most admirable consideration.” He clasped his hands behind his back, and the two of us slowly walked down the mountain side by side as I organized my thoughts.

War. Death. Tragedy. The sheer horror and pointlessness of it all. So many had died, for what? For Bob to be declared [Emperor] over Billy?

I was still trying to process it all. I’d compartmentalized so much of it, and I needed to let some of it out in little dribs and drabs before it started to cause me real problems.

Night, bless his heart, was willing to give me time to think before he said anything.

“The first return from a war, a true war against other thinking, living beings, is a rough transition, to say nothing of the war itself.” Night said. “Indeed, it was the end of the Formorian War and the start of the Shimagu War where I noticed a marked difference in a number of commanders, generals, Ranger teams, and yes, even Sentinels. Now, I must add the caveat that with how my memories are currently filtered, there could’ve been an earlier timeframe in which the events and reactions were brought to my attention, but as of this moment I am unaware of them. It is of no importance. The observation I had was a number of Sentinels and soldiers who were able to handle the rigors of battling the Formorians utterly failed to adapt to the shimagu.”

Night paused at that, letting me think it through. We were trying to set a slow pace, and yet, the trees, rocks, and bushes of the mountain flew past us as I pondered.

If the Formorian War to Shimagu War was the first time Night had noticed a problem or not with people wasn’t important. It was good to have an example I was almost intimately familiar with.

It also made sense that different wars and battles would hit people differently. I had absolutely no issues throwing as many [Fireballs] as I could into the endless formorian hordes, but even when directly confronted by the shimagu I’d struggled on a deep and personal level with what I should do. Even today it made me stop and think, made me wonder if there had been another, better solution somewhere.

I suppose, in a way, history had borne me out. The combined races of the world had banded together to eradicate the shimagu to the last.

“I can believe that.” I said after a few minutes of quiet pondering. “Are there any specific examples?”

Night nodded.

“Oh yes. Sentinel Ocean in particular struggled deeply with the problem, and quickly requested retirement from the front lines, to better manage the issues and problems around the Nostrum Sea. Monsters did not care nor understand that we were in a war, they continued to rampage and cause problems just as they do to this very day. I will say, I do believe we have quite a bit of a better grasp on the issue now than we had back in the day, but that is simply a function of where we are at in the great cycle of Immortality. Unimportant for the moment - unless you wish to have a discussion along the lines of monster hunting to briefly distract yourself?”

I wanted to immediately shake my head, but instead I thought about it for a minute.

Did I want to talk about monster hunting instead of the Han Civil War?

No, not really. I’d spent a good amount of time running and dodging the problem for a bit, this was the time to tackle it head-on.

Hang on, wait, no.

I was being a huge idiot.

Night tended to have a policy that basically boiled down to ‘I’ll keep my hands off things unless I need to’ combined with ‘let people make their own mistakes and discoveries’. He’d try to guide me and give me advice, letting me think through things, but what if I just cut straight to the heart of the issue?

What happened if I just asked him what the best, most successful way of dealing with this was? He probably had the most lived experience of anyone ever, and he dabbled in a thousand and one different things.

“What would you do in my sandals?” I asked Night. “I’m… I don’t even know all the right words to describe how I’m feeling. What I’m feeling. Just that war sucks.”

Night flashed an approving grin my way, a sparkle of acknowledgment that I’d asked the right question glinting in his eyes.

“Excellent.” He said, and the single word filled me with joy. It lightened my steps, and was like a cool balm filling my heart.

He gave me half a minute to bask in the feeling before carrying on.

“There is no one magical skill to solve all your problems.” He said. “There is no singular solution, and I do not promise that any advice I give shall work. Indeed, if you simply go through the motions of the steps I suggest, that could be worse than doing nothing at all, for at the end you shall not find catharsis, but instead a deep and gaping disappointment as your work has borne no fruit. It is something you must go into with your eyes open and your heart ready to bear a heavy burden.”

I spent a minute digesting that, idly noting we were on the road to Sanguino, the glittering stars above half-coated by the ashen mantle of the city.

Basically, Night wasn’t offering me a shortcut. Simply a roadmap. One I’d have to walk myself, and I couldn’t try to skim or cheat it.

Seemed fine to me. Better than just wandering in the dark.

I chuckled at my own bad joke. Night lifted an eyebrow, and I waved him off.

“Stupid joke I thought to myself.” I said. “Alright, I think I’m ready to hear it.”

Night let the joke pass - he’d probably heard it a thousand times already - and started to speak.

“First is an acknowledgment of what has happened. Of what was done, and to who, by whom. It is my understanding that men and women were left behind in the Han Empire. It is no failing to acknowledge that, and the feelings that stem from the events. It is no issue to review what happened, when, and why. Understand, review, learn, and grow. But do not fall into the trap of wondering what you could’ve, should’ve done, and obsess over it. Analyze. Think. Learn. But do not stay trapped in the past, for the past is inaccessible and will kill you. It will seep and suck all life and joy out of your existence. On that note, you may find it valuable to talk with the families and friends left behind from those who are no longer with us. Should you choose to do that, remember to look at the other side of the coin as well. Find those whose lives you saved, who you pulled from the clutches of Black Crow himself, and talk with them. Eat with their family, get to know their friends, for the lives you saved are just as valid, if not more so, than the lives no longer with us. Recognize both life and death.”

That… I hadn’t thought of that. I’d been so focused on the people I directly knew in the Sixth that I’d forgotten about… well, arrogantly, almost everyone else.

“You did not fail. Not in the small, not in the large, not in the slightest.” Night seemed to sense and know that now was the time and the place for the words.

They meant more than I could say.

Ten minutes passed as I processed, as we walked along. I gave a tiny nod, letting Night know I was ready for more.

“The next part is both easier and harder. Live.” He suggested. “Enjoy planning your upcoming nuptials. I have a minor suggestion for that, another time. Work on your classes. If you would like to discuss them further with me, I always have an ear for you. Indeed, I am quite curious about your options and offerings in your most recent class up, as you have potentially tread new ground that not even I am familiar with. Explore your hobbies, indulge in them, but beware of excess. Do not pick up gambling, drink, or similarly destructive vices. I believe you are in better control of yourself than most, and are less susceptible than others, but I have been wrong before. The greatest [Paragon] I knew fell to gambling, while some of the seediest and least stable individuals have managed to entirely avoid vice when presented. Go to Phantasym, learn magic and spells from the [Witches] and [Wizards] there. Find out how you want to grow and evolve your classes. You have wealth, perhaps commission a [Runesmith] to create a new rune with the singular purpose of generating an entire set of the Medical Manuscripts. I can recommend a few in the Bhutai Provinces.”

Night grew uncharacteristically silent near the end, perhaps having a thought of his own that he needed to mull over.

His ideas were good.

I had no idea where I was taking my [Loremaster] class. I liked the idea of it, I loved the stats, power, and skills. I was blessed that Auri’s shared experience had quickly maxed the class, I found learning about all the cool little secrets and hidden niches in the world, but I wasn’t a [Loremaster]. Where did I want to take the class?

Similar question with [Butterfly Mystic]. Right now it was a sort of cobbled-together ‘here’s some neat abilities, OH, by the way, here’s a touch of wizardry, right, let’s go!’ class. What was my plan for it? Did I want to keep it as a hybrid class? Did I want to focus on the sorcery or wizardry? What was my upgrade plan?

Auri’s level suggested it was time to start thinking about it.

“I hesitate to add this last item, for I do not believe it will help, but is certainly a distraction and a great headache which, in large part, is entirely due to your actions so my sympathy is limited.” Amusement tinged Night’s words, and I swear he was grinning in schadenfreude. “Pay attention to Auri and the phoenixes. Work with them. See what you can learn and level from their presence. I do think, in the balance of things, that working with them will be beneficial, but not to the extent you are concerned about the aftermath of the Han expedition. However, I would be remiss in failing to mention your friends. Do not simply work with the friends and family of the fallen and the alive, but pay attention to your own life as well. Your own people. Auri. Artemis. Julius. Your friend with no name, and of course, your new fiancee.”

We were approaching the gates, and I sensed our talk was nearly at an end. Night was amazing. He’d somehow managed to pace his walk in such a way that I thought we’d slowly been going down the entire time, and yet, we’d crossed twenty miles in the span of our discussion.

“These are all good things to think about.” I said. “Speaking of Iona and our wedding, two quick questions. Would you be willing to give her a similar talk that you gave me? And you mentioned a detail about the wedding?”

Night stopped and turned to me, grinning.

“Why, yes. I would be more than happy to have a brief conversation with Iona, should she choose to bend a willing ear to this old man’s words. I have had many opportunities throughout the years to explore various professions. Have you found a priest yet, and if not, may I offer myself up as one to perform the ceremonies for your wedding?”

Chapter 9 - Setting Up the Dominos

I got poked in the side.

My consciousness briefly flickered to [The World Around Me], letting me know I was safe in my home. I groaned, rolled over, and stuck my head under the pillow.

I was tired. I’d spent most of the night awake, and I’d earned my rest. I didn’t want to get up, and I didn’t-

I got poked again, more insistently. I paid a little more attention this time, noticing the hand was disembodied.

Oh. It was Auri’s [Mage Hand].

Wait.

I fully woke up, helped along by a generous dose of [Zenith Everlasting] helping me wake up. I threw off the covers and dashed to the door of the bedroom, where Auri was politely peeking in.

“They’re here?” I asked.

“Brrrpt!” She confirmed.

“Okay, okay. What do you need me to do?” I asked.

Auri looked up at me with plaintive eyes.

“Brrrpt?” She’d hoped I had an answer.

Iona chose that moment to emerge from the breakfast room.

“Want me to handle this?” She offered.

“Absolutely!” I was more than happy to throw this problem to the gorgeous woman who had [Social Lubrication] as a skill and thrived on solving these sorts of problems. I didn’t quite think I’d end up getting the phoenixes to burn our place down, but worse things had happened when I needed to do highly social things.

Iona stretched and cracked her neck.

“Alright, show me where they are.” She told Auri. “Elaine, I need you sitting down by the fire, visibly reading a book. There’s a kettle of tea ready, and Julius left us with some fine porcelain cups with flames on them. We’re going to be emphasizing a calm and relaxed atmosphere, with a love of fire in our day to day lives. Show that we like what they like. As they get a little more used to us, we’ll relax a bit.”

Iona’s eyes flickered a moment, and she grimaced.

“Auri, can you quickly turn off the water for the pool and eliminate what we’ve got there? A ‘murder phoenixes here’ room isn’t going to go over well, even if they’re understanding. I’m going to find Titania, I’ve got some more ideas to run by her. Chop chop, they’re here now, let’s get into position.”

Chop chop! I was happy to follow Iona’s orders, they seemed to make perfect sense. I would’ve… I dunno, probably had Auri bake them some food and given them a tour. Iona’s way of trying to align everything was beautiful, and I took some mental notes.

I wouldn’t have thought of our bath at all until walking into the room, and I’d imagine it wouldn’t have gone over too well.

Breakfast sounded nice, and I had no issues with ‘go relax and be an ornament’. If that was my job here, so be it! If it was always my job, that would be a problem, but now and then, for Auri? Yeah, I could make it work.

Tea was acquired almost as quickly as a book, [Rapid Reshelving] getting me everything, dressed, wood in the fireplace, and a quick spell encouraged the embers into a cozy flame. I settled in to read, and realized I had way too much energy to ‘only’ slowly read. I split my mind into a half-dozen parts, each thinking about something else.

One was obviously reading the book, while another was focused on listening to what was going on. Where were Iona and the phoenixes, what were they doing? Two more parts were working on what Night suggested - looking at my classes and thinking what I wanted to do with them, and while I was on the topic of Night and his suggestions, I was working on a few new spells to add to my spellbooks.

Where did I want to take [Butterfly Mystic] when it evolved? On one hand, I was really happy with the skills provided. [Scintillating Ascent] for flight, [Nectar] was an amazing mana regeneration skill, [Solar Corona] had a stupid amount of work put into it, an unreplicatable passive, and [A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers] was strong. It had started as a sorcery class, and was still going strong as one. Sticking to a path was rewarded in many ways.

On the other, [Lepidoptera] and wizardry itself offered me endless options and possibilities, limited only by my understanding, imagination, and ability to find and write new spells. I could use an entire class for it! It scratched the itch of ‘all the spells and all the elements’ nicely.

At the same time, I was thinking about [Loremaster]. I liked the skills, I liked reading, but actually being a [Loremaster] was a little too much extra on my plate. I had enough things I was doing already - an entirely new job was just too much. I didn’t have the time or ability to properly work on the class, and be one. Like, learning everything was fine and dandy. I was happy with that, I liked that part. It was the ‘go out and actively warn and ward against the threats’ part that I was less than thrilled with. The knowledge wasn’t going away, the learning was fun. It was like… teaching. The time in class was fun, but the prep work and lesson planning wasn’t. I was lucky my companion bond with Auri meant I hadn’t stagnated at a low level forever, unlike poor Julius and his classes. Dodged a [Pebble Toss] there.

Usually, most of the time, my [Parallel Thoughts] were compartmentalized from each other, but this time, a spark hit. A connection was made between the two.

I leaned fairly heavily on some of [Ancient Loremaster of Legends] abilities for my wizardry. [Loremaster’s Library] was filled with my spellbooks, and [Manuscript Mastery] was most often used to instantly flick to the right page to cast a spell. It wouldn’t be insane to evolve the class to a wizardry one.

[Solar Corona] didn’t benefit wizardry spells, not even Radiance ones. The major loss I could see was writing spells. Spatial wizardry was awkward. By awkward, I meant slow and tedious.

Radiance was great for on the fly casting. I could carve runes out of glowing light in the air in front of me, or rapidly inscribe them at the speed my fingers could flick onto the page of a spellbook. Earth wizards could easily mold granite or other rocks like putty, easily putting down long-lasting enchantments. Water mages could conjure or manipulate water into the shape of runes. Fire mages could shape the flames of a fireplace, Dark wizards could manipulate shadows, etc.

Spatial wasn’t the only odd-duck element when it came to wizardry, but it was one of them. In theory, at the highest levels, with the right skills, I could bend the fabric of the world into the shape of a spell. More than a little expensive just to create the runes for a spell, which would then need additional mana to cast and create the effect.

No, Spatial had the plan B of almost all elements - quill, ink, paper, and the right skill. Spells would be harder to cast on the fly, but I’d still be able to do it.

Night had mentioned a few people he knew, and his ideas around getting a rune made explicitly to generate a set of the Medical Manuscripts was genius. I wondered if any of them happened to also be Spatial wizards? Meeting and discussing things with them before upgrading the class could only do good things. The combination was incredibly rare - Spatial Wizardry with Runesmithing? - but Night had been around forever, and Immortals tended to stay alive until everything went sideways. If he didn’t know a person directly, he’d know someone who did.

Wait - wasn’t Archmage also a Spatial Wizard? I should talk with her some more. She didn’t seem to like me too much for some unknown reason, but persistence and some [Social Lubricant] from Iona might make things work. Interacting with a few Spatial Wizards, learning from them, getting some spells, could be just the ticket I needed before upgrading [Ancient Loremaster of Legend].

Also, I wanted to sit and think on the upgrade for a bit. It sounded good today, but I’d been visited by the Bad Idea Fairy masquerading as the Good Idea Fairy before.

Speaking of Iona and her social skills, I was listening to her giving the phoenixes a tour. Not all of my ideas had been terrible!

“... over here we’ve got Auri’s hall of mirrors, and her arcanite nest.” Iona was saying.

“Brrrpt! BRPT! BrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRrrrpt!” Auri was super excited to show it off. The owl hooted, and I mentally added in another reason Iona was perfect for this - she could understand them perfectly.

Her blessing was frankly stupid.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 646->648! +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 nice. Showing off one’s nest was clearly a very phoenix-like thing to do. Enough so that it was worth a pair of [Butterfly Mystic] levels.

Perhaps I’d get lucky and get an [Arbiter] level as well?

…

No such luck.

I stuck my nose even more firmly in my book, and did the only thing I felt might help in the moment:

Prayed like heck to Selene and Lunaris.

I had ‘pray to Ciriel’ on my todo list, but I felt Iona’s patron goddesses might be more useful in the current situation.

By some divine miracle of silver tongues, only a single frying pan was the casualty of the phoenix’s first visit. I’d heard what was going on, but I’d only understood half the participants.

“Do I want to know?” I asked as I tried to pry the cooled lump of slag off the kitchen floor without bringing the rest of the kitchen with it.

Iona sighed.

“Apparently, baking is ‘below’ a phoenix, and there was a big argument over it. The owl had to smack down the tupandactylus and the frying pan got the worst of it.”

That… was pretty tame, all things considered.

I’d had another thought rattling around in my head, one I’d gotten while staying out of the way.

“I’d love to see the heron cast more Radiance skills, but I don’t know a polite way of asking or going about it. I suspect if it comes out wrong, a melted frying pan could be the least of our worries.” I said.

Iona nodded, eyeing a sharp knife and the remnants of the mess on the floor. She knelt down and started scraping at it, her long hair falling around her as she talked.

“‘Let me steal your secrets’ can come off very differently than ‘I admire you and I’d like to know all about the glory and splendor phoenixes have to offer’.” She said. “Personally, I’d go the Auri route. Ask her to ask for Radiance lessons, or for a demonstration of skill, and simply watch with her. You should’ve seen the way they’re fawning over her, it’s a little worrying. If she asks nicely - wait, cancel that. If she asks in a way to have the heron prove he’s ‘superior’ to you, you’ll get the biggest, flashiest display in history.”

Iona clicked her tongue twice at the end there.

“Haaaang on, I gotta think that one through a little more. Where’s the closest village? The blast and danger radius might be a little larger than I thought…”

I snorted. It wasn’t funny, but for some reason it tickled the ‘inappropriate laughter’ bone.

Iona chuckled along weakly.

“On that note, congratulations! You’re officially no longer socially inept.” She said.

I spluttered at that.

“Wait, what do you mean?!” I asked.

“Well, you saw a delicate situation, identified it, then went to ask someone else how to handle it. All signs of someone with actual social skills and abilities. You’ve graduated. Cheers. I’ll buy you a drink at the tavern.” She said.

I preened under Iona’s praise. I was getting better! I knew it!

“On a radically different note, we need to do some wedding planning.” I said. “Since the phoenixes are here until then, and I think everyone wants the looming disaster gone.”

Iona briefly looked unhappy, and I held up a hand.

“I’m not suggesting we rush anything! Just that there’s a strong impetus to plan and execute, instead of waiting a few weeks to start planning. I’ve been looking at the calendar. Late summer next year perhaps? There’s an eclipse then, and if we send out invitations to Alruna and the rest of the Valkyries now, they should be able to make it by then.”

Iona, to her credit, shifted gears quickly and with grace.

“Can also get a message to Julius and Artemis at the School. Heck, if we’re quick about it, our letter will beat them there. That’d be quite something, wouldn’t it?” She said.

I met her grin with my own, and the two of us got Plotting.

“Brrrpt brrrpt!” Auri asked.

“Yeah, I think it’ll be a good idea if we’re around when the phoenixes meet Fenrir.” Iona agreed. I stretched and got up.

“Right now I assume?” I asked.

“Brrpt!”

We all got ready, Auri joining the three phoenixes flying high above us. I stole the moment to once again study their flight, hoping to improve [Scintillating Ascent]. I’d studied the heck out of Auri, and I tried with the birds whenever I could, but I didn’t know how many improvements I could squeeze out of them. Why not?

Auri was clearly talking Fenrir up to her new friends, explaining how he was her ‘bestest friend ever’ and ‘totally cool’, and I noted that with all of her descriptions, she was leaving out a few critical details about what Fenrir was. Not terribly important most of the time, but these phoenixes felt a little more… wild? Feral? Unused to other species?

I traded a worried look with Iona, who’d noticed the same thing. We picked up our pace, breaking into a run.

“Brrpt!” Auri said, and Fenrir poked his massive head out of his cave.

Things almost predictably went to shit. The owl phoenix cried out a harsh hoooooot!, then thick beams of pitch-black Pyronox lanced from the bird straight to Fenrir’s heart.

Fenrir had triple spellblade classes, decent but not amazing at both magic and physically fighting. ‘Decent’ plus ‘the bulk, strength, and scales of a wyvern, plus a suit of armor on top of it’ translated to ‘fucking terrifying’.

Almost three thousand levels and pure mage gave a massive edge to the Pyronox owl, and my weak understanding of the northern continent implied these were the sorts of fights the phoenix regularly engaged in. The flames burned straight through Fenrir’s scales, through his muscle and bone straight to his heart.

I’d already engaged my healing, and Iona was diving headlong into the battle, shouting for everyone to stop.

Auri was screaming to stop, but Fenrir wasn’t going to take the attack lying down. He opened his mouth and roared in angry pain, firing Ice and Lightning up at the owl. The tupandactylus somehow intercepted both with his flames, the Fire and Ice exploding into a thick, hazy steam that coated the area.

It took time for cooler heads to prevail, but I was [The Arbiter of Life and Death], and I’d said everyone lived.

Even with my steep discounts on healing, and only needing to heal a single person, the sheer size of Fenrir, combined with the innate inefficiency of healing him, with the pure output of the phoenix had put a massive dent in my mana pool.

As the steam cleared though, I realized something -

I’d stopped a direct attack from a nearly-divine being cold in its tracks.

[*ding!* [The Arbiter of Life and Death] has leveled up! 770 -> 800. +400 Strength, +400 Dexterity, +800 Speed, +800 Vitality, +1600 Magic Power, +1600 Magic Control, +1000 Mana, +9000 Mana Regeneration 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) per level! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration from your Element per level!]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 648->666! +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!]

The heron - the phoenixes were real jerks, not even dignifying us by telling us their names - was impressive, and I’m pretty sure the top of the mountain we’d claimed was glassy smooth by the time his demonstration of his skills was done. Iona had given me the heads-up on his abilities, letting me know what to look out for, and what I could ditch. Thanks crazy blessing! I had a dozen new skills to pick through as well!

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Radiant Golden Sunfire Halo]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Blazeheart Phoenix Aura]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Nova Lance] to [The Rays of the First Dawn]? Would you like to upgrade the skill? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Infinite Lightfeather Illumination]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Searing Dawn Solar Wave]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Scintillating Ascent] to [Wings of the Mythical Sunbird]? Would you like to upgrade the skill? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Luminous Starfire Veil]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Divine Rising Dawn Burst]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Cosmic Flame Resurgence]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Ethereal Firebird Essence]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Mantle of the Sunborn Phoenix]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [The Glorious Rising Destiny of the Eternal Sun]! Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

I accepted the two upgrades on my skills.

[The Rays of the First Dawn] upgrade was pretty simple. It got flat-out stronger, I no longer needed to point with my finger, but I lost a little bit of control on how narrow and surgical I could make the beam. It was ‘stuck’ at roughly thumb-sized cross-section, and it did throw off a huge amount of excess light.

[Wings] had the minor downside that it no longer grew and evolved by studying flight, and the [Pretty] aspect was gone entirely. I traded it for raw speed, mobility, endurance, and they’d ‘last’ even when hit. The theming went from ‘butterfly wings’ to ‘heron wings’, but they still sprouted out of my back, giving off a faint glow as they did so.

I looked like an angel.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 31]

[Mana: 2,841,420/2,841,420]

[Mana Regeneration: 4,679,904 +(8,996,062)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 12,689 (Effectively: 101,512)]

[Dexterity: 37,348 (Effectively: 397,682)]

[Vitality: 89,830 (Effectively: 1,403,594)]

[Speed: 77,062 (Effectively: 1,516,811)]

[Mana: 284,142]

[Mana Regeneration: 540,304 (+ 899,606)]

[Magic Power: 303,864 (+ 12,154,560)]

[Magic Control: 303,585 (+ 12,143,400)]

[Class 1: [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial: Lv 800]]

[Celestial Mastery: 800]

[Aurora Curialis: 750]

[The Stars Never Fade: 25]

[Luminary Mind: 495]

[Universal Cure: 800]

[Etheric Aegis: 21]

[Shroud of the Stellar Sea: 615]

[Zenith Everlasting: 580]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 666]]

[Radiance Affinity: 666]

[Radiance Resistance: 666]

[The Rays of the First Dawn: 666]

[Lepidoptera: 666]

[Nectar: 666]

[Solar Corona: 666]

[Wings of the Mythical Sunbird: 666]

[A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers: 666]

[Class 3: [Ancient Loremaster of Legend - Spatial: Lv 256]]

[Spatial Authority: 256]

[Manuscript Mastery: 256]

[Blink: 142]

[Loremaster's Library: 256]

[Vault of Ages: 65]

[Rapid Reshelving: 224]

[Astral Archives: 256]

[Lust for Lore: 256]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 530]

[Parallel Thoughts: 335]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 768]

[The World Around Me: 180]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 800]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 800]

[Persistent Casting: 600]

[Imbue: 263]

Chapter 10 - The Wedding I

Time had passed, both too slowly and too quickly. Too slowly, in that the three phoenixes kept finding new and interesting ways to give us all grey hairs, and too quickly in the sheer excitement and anticipation of getting married!

It was like I blinked, and my wedding was going to be the next day.

I couldn’t sleep a wink. I spent the first half of the night with my Phoenix party, sipping wine, nibbling on cheese, and playing stupid games with my friends. Then I headed off to bed for the big day, put my head on my pillow, closed my eyes, and willed sleep to take me.

It. Would. Not.

There’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to sleep, needing to sleep, knowing sleep was critical for the next day, and being completely, totally, and utterly denied it. It was so unfair! I was doing everything right! Good sleep hygiene, going to bed at the right time, leaving enough hours in the night to be well rested - everything. And I was betrayed by my overexcited brain that refused to let me sleep!

Iona was far luckier than I was. She staggered back home from her Wyvern party with a number of other Valkyries, muttered ‘love you’, flopped into bed and was out like a light.

I tapped her with [Universal Cure] so she wouldn’t be hungover, and continued to stare at the back of my eyelids as the hours dragged by.

Then it was the day! The big day!

Our wedding day!

I was brimming with too much nervous energy, and a liberal application of [Zenith Everlasting] didn’t help in the slightest. Auri was already up and about, baking a few quick things before making her way back over to her industrial-scaled operation in the city.

She had initially wanted to do all the baking for the wedding, but the cruel realities of math and logistics had reared their ugly heads. She’s settled for doing only ‘some’ of the wedding baking, including the prized centerpiece - the wedding cake itself.

“Oh! You’re up!” Amber popped out of the kitchen, her hands smeared with flour. She was my maid of honor, and her long hair was done up in a braid as always, glittering with dozens upon dozens of gemstones woven into it. “Give me a moment to fix you breakfast.”

“No need, I can-” I started to say before the woman interrupted me.

“No no no, this is your big day. Sit!” She commanded.

I wasn’t going to argue. I sat down, and a sleepy Iona joined me a minute later, yawning the whole way.

“Isn’t it supposed to be bad luck for us to see each other before the event?” I asked. Iona popped something in her back.

“Ooooh, that hit the spot.” She slumped down into a chair. “It is, but then again, I’m supposed to kidnap you back to… right here, so it’s not like we’re bending a few traditions already.”

“More like the two of you are making everything up wholesale.” Amber came back into the breakfast room with a tray for me. A cup of tea, a cup of milk, a slice of heavily buttered bread and slices of a half-dozen fruits, mangos included. “Iona, can I get you the same?” She asked.

Iona accepted with good grace.

“I know I sprang my wedding present on you a little last minute,” I said. Iona snorted and interrupted me.

“You gave it to me three days before the wedding, in nobody’s world is that last minute.” She said.

“Yeah, but I’m just checking. It fits well? No issues? You’re comfortable with it? I’m just a little worried here.”

Iona put her hand over mine and lightly squeezed.

“It’s fine. I love it. Everything’s going to be alright.” She said.

Amber came out a moment later with a little tray for Iona.

“Where’s Goblin Slayer?” She asked. “We need to coordinate, and make sure everything is set.”

“I think my maid of honor is still sleeping off last night.” Iona said.

Amber tsked and vanished back into the kitchen. Auri passed her in the doorway.

“BRRPT! Brrrpt? Brpt? Brpt? Brpt???” She asked rapid-fire. Iona held up her hands.

“We’re fine, we’re fine, thank you.” She said. “Good idea though, I’ll ask Goblin Slayer to help you with moving the cake.”

It was one of the most hilarious issues I’d never thought of. Moving a regular cake was easy enough. Just throw it in a little box or something, and carry it from one place to the next. It can tilt a bit, it can slide, and worst come to worst? No cake.

A wedding cake was an entirely different problem.

The party had grown far beyond our expectations, and at a certain point (and with some angelic - errr vampiric - funding making it a big old ‘not our problem’) we’d just thrown our hands up and went along for the ride Arachne was planning. Sure, there was always the option for a private little ceremony, but Iona wanted the Valkyries, her sister-in-arms, with her, and there were quite a few Sentinels I wanted to celebrate with. Auri had her group she’d like with her, and the whole thing had quickly become a large affair.

We’d put our feet down hard when Arachne suggested it might even become a State Affair. Full on Sixth Legion parading through the streets, the [Emperor] blessing our marriage, making a big deal of a Sentinel getting married off, making it a whole diplomatic thing.

No. Absolutely not. I wasn’t going to start having random [Diplomats] and the head of every other guild in attendance. It would end up becoming stupid, and I didn’t want my wedding to be like that. Not at all.

Iona was in full agreement.

Bless Fenrir for having no additional guests.

Back to the wedding cake!

Auri took the large guest list as a challenge, and had magnificently risen to it, baking a 12-layer monstrosity. There were all sorts of fancy little tricks inside it to stop it from collapsing under its own weight, but cake wasn’t exactly a strong building material, nor were the layers cemented to each other with anything stronger than frosting. Tilting the cake a little risked the entire thing toppling, and it wasn’t so small that it could fit easily inside a box. Moving the cake from Auri’s bakery to the wedding venue was a significant challenge.

We had hired a [Courier] special to get the cake from one place to another, preservation skills saving the day. Goblin Slayer would be a solid added layer of security, helping if there was something as wild as a runaway cart or anything else nearly as crazy.

A spoon rapped my knuckles. The only harm was emotional - mom used to do that all the time - and Amber was standing over me, arms crossed and glaring.

“No! Bad bride!” She scolded me. “I know that look on your face. You’re thinking and plotting. Absolutely not. Your job is to be happy and get married. My job is to make sure it all happens.”

“And Arachne’s. And Goblin Slayer’s. And -”

I got another harmless spoon across the knuckles.

“You’ve got 64 minutes to have a bath and get ready for the getting ready stages.” Amber said. “How you use that time is up to you, but that’s the timeline we’re working on.” She sighed dramatically.

“If I’d known what type of insane markups weddings could command, I would’ve gone into that business instead of the skill selling one. ‘Weddings’ are intangible enough for my class, I could’ve made an absolute fortune.” She said.

“Unlike the massive fortune selling skills?” I teased her around a slice of orange. “The sheer bounty of the gems I’d charged in the Han wasn’t enough? Coming right as the three phoenixes were feeling extra-generous and charged a gigantic gem each for you didn’t do it? You gotta move into the wedding industry now as well?”

Amber rubbed her fingers together in a universal gesture.

“Yes.” She said without a single hint or shred of shame. “Money is money.”

I rolled my eyes and popped the last, the only slice of mango in my mouth to finish up my breakfast. It was pure bliss, the sweet fruit practically melting on my tongue as the explosion of flavor echoed through my mouth.

Even though today was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, it was also one of the more stressful and regimented.

The bath was quick and perfunctory, no matter how I wanted to lounge. We’d refilled it after the phoenixes had been around a few weeks, Iona judging that they were comfortable enough that we could have the luxury back. Iona shouted through the house that she was leaving for the city, and I felt my heart rate spike.

The next time I saw her, we’d be minutes away from marrying. It was like a dream come true.

Soon I was ready to go.

“All set?” I asked Amber, invoking a rune to instantly dry my hair. Beat having it up in a towel for hours by miles!

I grabbed my ‘day of’ bag, prepacked the week before. Jewelry, under-dress clothes, nice shoes - basically everything except the dress. My vanity insisted that I double check it all.

“Yup, let’s go!” She said.

“Want me to carry you to Sanguino?” I asked. “No need to burn a good gem on the trip on my account.”

Amber internally warred with herself for a minute before agreeing.

“Auri! We’re going!” I shouted through the house, my little hummingbird friend zipping over a moment later.

The three of us headed over to Sanguino, where I had my first appointment with a [Hairdresser]. One so good, she’d been turned into a vampire for it, and it turned out we hadn’t started making plans a minute too soon - she’d been booked for months, and it was only thanks to a generous payment that we’d gotten squeezed in for ‘a quick five minutes for the lovely Sentinel’ instead of ending up years down the waiting list.

We walked into the salon.

“Hi-” I’d barely gotten the word out before a finger with a long nail was pointed at me.

“Elaine. Waist-long hair, modest curls, volume on top. Preserved for a day.” She snapped her fingers, and my hair morphed and changed all around me to the predetermined hairstyle. A wall flipped around, revealing a full length mirror.

“Thank you, come again.” The woman said before I even got a word out, turning back to another client of hers, one that she was spending excessive amounts of time and chatter on.

I didn’t mind - it was the difference between being a regular slotted in permanently, and someone who’d taken the ‘back door’ for a ‘quick session’. The lady knew her work well - it was absolutely perfect. I bounced the curls around a bit, the System-enforced vanity from my companion bond finding it just right.

“I’ll never get over how fast some people can use their skills.” Amber said with a shake of her head. “Come on, let’s get your makeup done.”

“Brrrpt!” Auri was equally impressed with the speed and skill used.

“Shouldn’t you be at your bakery by now?” I asked her.

“Brrrpt, brrrpt.” Auri protested. This had been on the way, and she wanted to see the cool skills and support me on my big day. The few minutes now was worth it.

“Need you back before I’m done with my makeup, remember?”

I supposed it wasn’t that much different from my healing. I had the longer sessions where I teased out the issue and educated my patient about what was going on, what I was doing, and why - often to help train someone else - and when I just needed someone healed and to move on.

“Makeup!” Amber decreed next. “Let’s go!”

The makeup was slightly less fancy, and I sat down in a chair, letting the couple - a man and a woman - fuss over me and apply everything needed for the big day. Foundation first, and I was secretly pleased that I needed no concealer. Permanently running healing on myself left my skin absolutely flawless. Some artful blush helped highlight my cheeks, and only the slightest touch of primer was needed. I was almost certain they did that just because they felt the need to do something. Setting powder helped lock everything in - it was going to be a long day - then mascara, eyeliner, and eye shadow were applied.

I briefly debated going fancy with the lipstick - either some combination of blue and gold for the Moon Goddesses, a single red streak down the middle, or some other fancy pattern, but elected for ‘only’ red. I kept a stick in my bag - I’d apply it later, there was no keeping it on easily all day, and no sense putting it all on now.

A number of skills were used the entire time, giving it all a mystical look. It was good. I approved!

We half-walked, half-hustled - Skills or not, I didn’t want to ruin any of my prep work - over to the temple where the wedding ceremony was going to be held.

There was a little chapel-like house just across the street from the temple, and that’s where we were headed.

It felt weird. So many people were moving and organizing on our behalf, and I was mostly oblivious to it all, having been hustled away by Amber to get ready. I bumped into Julius and Artemis on the way in, but they seemed to be having their own issues.

“We are going to be late!” Julius hissed at Artemis.

“We’ve got plenty of time!” She retorted.

“Not if we need to go all the way back!”

I smiled and waved at the two bickering like an old married - wait.

They were an old married couple.

We were guided into a little room where I got ready, and one of the key items of the ceremony was there - The Dress.

“You ready?” I asked Auri as I got changed into my under-dress outfit and asbestos shoes.

“Brrrpt!” She confirmed.

Starting at my head, then slowly flowing down, Auri dressed me in flames.

The door opened.

Chapter 11 - The Wedding II

The dress was something special, something only Auri and I could do. We’d practiced it in her hall of mirrors, working on getting something just right that I loved.

My little phoenix friend’s utter mastery over flames of every color gave me infinite possibilities and variations. Interestingly, white as a wedding color hadn’t caught on, or at least hadn’t been the Exterreri fashion for hundreds of years. They took the approach that brides looked much better in black, which seemed strange to me - but not getting married in black seemed strange to them.

Took all kinds.

Either way, red had always been my color, and red was the primary color of fire.

My wedding dress was predominantly red, going from my shoulders, sweeping all the way down to my ankles. We could’ve gone for a super fancy train or ridiculous dress - Auri’s mastery of flames could let us do silly things - but that just wasn’t me. It was a tighter, closer dress that I would’ve described as ‘clingy’ if it wasn’t made out of fire.

From that base, Auri showed off. Subtle threads and laces were woven throughout in dozens of different colors. Blue streamers, orange ‘wings’ against my back, a trim of green around the hem, and finally, a tiara of golden flames on my head.

Auri needed to be close to me in order to keep the flames going, and so she was hiding in the tiara, the flames the exact color of her beak. As my bonded companion, it was only right that she spent most of the day with me.

The doors flew open, music from the temple across the road blared, and Iona marched in with a dozen other Valkyries, a barbaric grin on her face.

She looked fantastic.

A Valkyrie first, she’d elected to get married in their tradition, which in her case, meant getting married in her full plate armor. The very same full plate I’d gotten for her as a wedding present.

I was well-paid. I thought an entire oversized villa was expensive.

It was nothing compared to a suit of three-alloy magical metal.

Crucible smiths were rare.

Magic metals were rarer, every scrap desired.

Crucible smiths that could alloy magical metals were about as rare as healers that could grant Immortality to others.

And then I needed a smith that could alloy exactly the metals I wanted, which was like getting the exact type of Immortality-granting from a healer.

In the end, I’d needed to settle a hair for a [Crucible Alloy Smith] that actually existed, as opposed to getting my dream combination done. The combination was arguably more amazing than what I’d planned, given that the smith actually knew their stuff, versus my doodling and daydreaming.

Adamantium. Famous for being practically indestructible.

Arcadium. Famous for slowly regrowing itself, with an emphasis on slowly.

Aegea. Utterly useless on its own, it amplified any other magical metals it was alloyed with.

Alloying metals together naturally made their individual properties ‘weaker’ - an adamantium alloy wasn’t quite as indestructible as pure adamantium - but the aegea blended in reversed that, making the suit even stronger than pure adamantium.

The mango on top - the entire blend came out dark blue, and Iona looked amazing in it. I felt my knees go a little weak as she came in.

She suddenly stopped as she locked eyes with me, almost causing a pile-up as the other Valkyries behind her weren’t expecting her to stop.

“Wow.” She said breathlessly. “You look fantastic.”

I blushed at the compliment, and felt my normally confident tongue getting all tied up.

“That’s why we’re here to kidnap her!” Goblin Slayer shouted, Iona’s maid of honor keeping things moving along.

Technically, she wasn’t called a maid of honor, but the role translated well enough.

The rest of the Valkyries roared in bloodthirsty approval, the six of them quickly surrounding me. Goblin Slayer moved to pick me up, then hesitated, looking to Iona.

“Uh, Dusk, is it safe? She’s got 400 levels on me and those flames look hot.”

That snapped Iona out of her daze and she stepped forward, holding out a hand for me.

“If the poor victim will come this way?” She gallantly offered.

I fluttered my eyelashes at her.

“Oh no! I can see no other option here but to go along with this dastardly plot!” I exclaimed, taking her hand and letting her lead me out of the chapel. There was a palanquin waiting for me, and I gracefully took my seat, Amber climbing in behind me. Goblin Slayer and the rest of the Valkyries picked it up, and with much hooting and hollering, paraded us around the temple once, Iona triumphantly in the lead.

Thank goodness for good skills - a clever, strong weapon skill Goblin Slayer had let her protect the palanquin, stopping me from getting a hot seat and smoking us out. The image of the Valkyrie picking up a palanquin and beating someone over the head was amusing.

One of our original plans had been for Iona to ‘kidnap’ me back at the villa, then have Fenrir fly us over for the ceremony, but landing space and ‘gigantic fucking wyvern coming into the city, causing a panic’ had nixed that plan. Instead, we did more of a ‘victory lap’, since the entrance was right there but what was the fun in only crossing a street, when we could enjoy the moment a bit?

Auri had cleverly hidden a basket of flowers under the palanquin, and was busy using her [Mage Hands] to grab and throw handfuls of flowers to the various people near the temple - most of whom I recognized as members of the Sixth Legion, who were cheering me on.

We’d tried to keep the invite list manageable, but Katerina had decided that this was a good ‘teambuilding exercise’, and what good soldier was going to say no to celebrating one of their own, followed by a huge party with an open bar?

Thank goodness most of that activity would be going on somewhere else, and my party wouldn’t be crashed by 5,000 people.

It was all Katerina’s mess, and I was happy to leave her to it. I didn’t mind all the extra people cheering for us on our big day - it was fun!

We made our way around the temple, the Valkyries putting us down at the front. Iona and I traded a quick kiss.

“Love you.” I said. “Good luck on the trial.”

Iona hugged me back.

“Love you too.”

We entered the temple hand-in-hand to great cheering and fanfare from all of our friends, the place utterly packed.

There was no ‘Iona’s side, Elaine’s side’ nonsense. Valkyries stood shoulder to shoulder with Sentinels, squires were next to centurions, and flowers - love, devotion, romance, beauty, and courage in the Pallos flower language - seemed to endlessly cascade from the ceiling.

Night and a shrunken Fenrir were at the altar. It had been dressed up in the regalia and symbols of the moon goddesses, their symbols everywhere, the candelabras glowing with soft blue-and-yellow lights, and a delicate red ribbon was on the altar.

The only person conspicuous by her absence was Arachne. The demands and duties of safeguarding Sanguino and the empire unfortunately outweighed her desire to attend our nuptials.

Iona and I waved, then split off to our respective aisles.

Doing things ‘in order’ had seemed strange to us - why should someone walk down first, and someone walk down second?

“Detail! Present! Arms!” Katerina ordered, and select men and women of the Sixth Legion in their full gear - may the gods have mercy on their souls in this summer heat - thrust their spears up and over, creating an archway of steel for me to march through.

Grizzly was at the head of the line, along with the surviving members of ‘Legionnaire Bunny’s’ line.

The look on his face when he’d found out - priceless.

A great clashing of steel rang out through the temple, killing the music, and that was my signal to go. I slowly walked through the steel arch, keeping an impressed half-eye on Iona.

The Valkyries did things a little more… violently.

The Sixth presented arms, letting me walk through them.

The Valkyries had a complex and intricate weaving of flashing blades moving at superhuman speeds and strength. If Iona walked at exactly the right pace, she’d pass through them all without a single nick.

Worst case, she’d lose her head entirely. Literally.

In their tradition, it was a test of resolve, commitment, and bravery. Anyone could pass through, and the idea was simple. If they weren’t willing to test their lives against the steel, if they weren’t committed or brave enough to weather the storm, what sort of spouse would they make?

They were a little more understanding that I had my own set of traditions and people who wanted to respect me, and that was the excuse given why I had the ‘easy’ way through.

Nobody was willing to give voice to the real reason - there literally weren’t enough Valkyries. Most of them had decided to come attend this event - our place was rapidly becoming the new nerve center of the Valkyries, being all wandering [Knight-Errants] wasn’t great for communication, who would’ve guessed. Even with nearly all of them being here, they needed to spread out quite a bit more than was normal just to fill the entire aisle, barely giving Iona a passable trial of blades.

I was grinning like an idiot the entire way up, even when the men and women of the Sixth turned into a number of Sentinels providing an honor guard. Devour and Queen, Tyrannus and Skater, Ooze and Calm.

My eyes caught Artemis and Julius sitting in a seat of honor, the two of them filling in for my parents for the ceremony. Mirroring them was Alruna the Perpetual and Sigrun the Grandmaster, filling in for Iona’s parents.

We didn’t have parents, and yet, at the same time, we did. Seeing them sitting there and beaming filled my overflowing heart with joy and love.

They were here for me.

Night was the priest for the event, dressed in a simple cloth raiment. Iona and I stepped up before him at the same time, the two of us trading a loving glance.

It was here! It was now! It was time!

A pair of trumpets quickly blasted out some high happy notes before falling silent again.

We paused a moment, and the room darkened as the predicted solar eclipse hit, one of the moons blotting out the sun. An auspicious time for our ceremony. A subtle influence and presence from the moon goddesses - the ashen skies above Sanguino entirely blotted out the sun. The eclipse shouldn’t have done anything.

It was a fairly brilliant maneuver, and I mentally praised them. The wedding was attended by a lot of high level Classers, and as a subtle flex it was great. They would all notice.

Night spoke softly, but his words carried. I had no doubt that even the soldiers suffering from tinnitus with a padded helmet on in the back of the temple could hear every word clearly. Not that anyone was, I was blasting my healing throughout the entire section of the city.

“Welcome one and all, welcome humans and vampires, welcome old and young to this auspicious event, the marriage of Elaine, the Dawn Sentinel to Iona, the Dusk Valkyrie. On this day…”

My heart was racing too fast and I only had eyes for Iona. Night’s speech washed over us. A message of love, of commitment. Of two becoming one, of facing challenges together as a team.

“... and now, if the two of you would please link hands.” Night asked.

Iona and I clasped hands together, my right with her left. Night turned to the altar, took the red ribbon, and tied it around our hands and wrist. We were bound together, and it’d be bad luck if we broke it before the end of the night. Cooperation and teamwork were required, and while nobody could tell if we’d used a skill to reinforce it and make it harder, it wasn’t classy to do so.

“The vows, if you would.” He said, nodding subtly to me.

I’d worked on them quite a bit, but I was no poet. In the end, I’d gone for shorter and sweeter.

“Iona, my love, as I stand in front of you, I’m reminded of the day our paths first crossed, a moment that forever altered the course of my life. In you, I found not just a partner, but a soulmate, a companion in both sorrow and joy. I vow to be your sanctuary, your place of peace and understanding. I vow to listen with compassion, speak with kindness, and act with love. In health, I will celebrate and walk beside you, basking in the light of our shared joy and triumphs. I will be the steadfast hand that holds yours, the gentle voice that soothes your fears, and the unwavering spirit that supports you. In sickness and in health, through blessings and curses, in wealth and poverty, not even death can do us apart.” I swore.

The crowd was silent as Night turned to Iona.

“I have faced countless challenges, but standing here before you and pledging my heart is the most significant and joyous battle I could’ve ever undertaken. I vow to protect you as your eternal guardian, in both life and death. I promise to be your sword and your shield, to fight for our love with the utmost fervor. In the quiet moments away from battle I will be your gentle companion, listening and learning from your wisdom. Come weal or woe, come famine or disaster, come cataclysm and destruction, blessing or curse, I will be by your side. I promise to respect, cherish, and love you, for all that you are and all that you make me, and not even death can do us apart.” She swore.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Wedding Vows with Iona]. Would you like to replace a General Skill with it?]

[Warning: Vows are binding]

Iona clearly got the same notification, and we locked eyes, thinking the same thing. A tiny shake of her head, a flicker of my eyes, and we mutually dismissed the notification.

We didn’t take the skill. Why would we?

“Now. Please bow to each other.” Night said, which was our first challenge. We were close enough for our hands to be tied together - if we didn’t execute it well, we’d bump heads and look bad. We’d practiced, which was fortunate, and executed the bow flawlessly.

“Bow to your parents.” He said, which was another small challenge. We needed to shuffle in a circle to keep our ribbon unbroken, but we pulled it off.

“Bow to the moon goddesses.” Night said, and the two of us had to shuffle around once again.

“Before Selene and Lunaris, before all the gods and goddesses in the pantheon, before the heavens and earth, before the vast and boundless sky, before friends and family, with the power vested in me, I declare you two married as wife and wife. You may kiss.”

We kissed.

Chapter 12 - The Wedding III

My cheeks burned as we kissed in front of everyone, the crowd cheering and clapping at our display. Iona fearlessly pulled me in closer, heedless of Auri’s flames, to get a better grip on me as she kissed.

One of the Valkyries shouted out a crude suggestion in Sanglo, and the soldiers of the Sixth got the tone, even without understanding the words. They immediately tried to one-up the Valkyries, shouting their own suggestions in High Elvish. A harsh glare from Night and Sigrun quieted them, but didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd.

Our kiss was deep and thorough, and I never wanted the moment to end. I tried to stretch it out, splitting up my thoughts and having them all focus on the moment, on my love.

Alas, it had to end.

Iona picked me up and twirled me around - the quick way for getting around with our hands tied together - and triumphantly raised her hands in front of everyone. In a stunning display of wedding guest coordination, they shifted over, making a new aisle for us to walk down and out of the temple hand in hand, Amber and Goblin Slayer trailing behind us. The palanquin was waiting for us outside, and the two of us got in, our maids of honor and a much-argued over mix of other guests lifting us up. A sized-down Fenrir flapped after us, circling around.

He’d been shrunk down size-wise, but he still weighed the same. I was pretty sure he’d break anything not super specially reinforced. Even if the palanquin was somehow reinforced, the spines of our bearers were not that buffed.

“Brrrpt!” Auri quietly tweeted her congratulations from my tiara.

“You’re doing great.” I told her, without tearing my gaze away from Iona. She just looked so happy. Her pupils were gigantic as she stared unblinkingly at me, a goofy grin plastered across her face. She squeezed my hand.

“Yo Dusk, you two lovebirds ready to get moving?” Goblin Slayer asked, breaking the moment. “It’s your day, your wedding, but I carved my name into a keg, and if we don’t hurry, the locusts will have drunk it all dry by the time we get there.”

I snorted at the unbidden image of Goblin Slayer swimming in a keg of beer, drunk as a skunk. Iona didn’t break her loving gaze as she answered.

“Yeah, let’s go.” She said, and we were off!

Most of the guests were going to the big wedding party, but we had a different destination first. They could get the fun and games started, and we could come in at the height of the party.

It was nice being carried around! We were carted off to our next destination - a tattoo parlor!

It was easy for me to get out of my wedding dress, into my under-shift. Auri simply turned off the flames.

Iona and her suit of armor was not nearly so simple. We had to stand there while Goblin Slayer and another Valkyrie slowly peeled enough layers off to reveal the area Iona wanted tattooed.

We sort of had matching tattoos. They were each personalized for ourselves and each other, and the two combined made an image greater than the sum of the parts.

We’d both elected for a full-back tattoo of the other’s companion in delicate white ink, with the design going all the way down our arms to our fingers. There was some minor day-of adjusting with how, exactly, our fingers were twined together that the [Artisan] would have to work around.

“Are you two ready?” He asked. I wiggled a little more into the face-down holder I was in, still looking at Iona. She squeezed my hand then slightly readjusted her fingers into a better, more comfortable grip.

“Ready!” Iona said.

I… wasn’t.

I spent a silent minute checking every little minute thing I could sense around me, from a bird five blocks over singing its morning song, to a pair of rats arguing over a breadcrust down in the sewers. Only when I was satisfied that no assassins were lying in wait, that no disaster was about to hit me did I drop [Persistent Casting] of [Universal Cure], two [Parallel Thoughts] dedicated to watching for danger around me.

It unfortunately paid to be paranoid, even on my wedding day, even with Arachne keeping her vigil.

“Ready!” I said. Unfortunately, I’d waited a little too long, and my silence had gotten awkward. Oh well.

Iona clearly understood, and mouthed the words ‘it’s alright’ at me. I blew her a little kiss, and the two [Tattoo Artists] started working.

[Luminous Mind] prevented me from feeling anything, and stats and skills worked together in harmony to quickly get the design on our skin. Fenrir would dominate my back, as Auri dominated Iona’s. Phoenix and wyvern representing us. A setting moon, representing the end of night and hence the coming dawn, went onto my back, while a rising moon, the dusk, went onto Iona’s. A thousand more patterns and small details went into both of our designs, the two artists we’d paid to do the work having outdone themselves by miles. Lightning bolts and triceratops, fairy rings and a tribute to the moon deities, the Remus Sentinel sigil and the Valkyrie wings and so many more little symbols that were important to us.

And of course, on our fingers, the shape and pattern of the red ribbon we had tying us together were imprinted on our skin in red, a permanent reminder that we were bound and committed to each other, mind, body, and soul.

They were quick, but I was a little nervous at the end.

“You’re sure they’re imprinted properly?” I asked them. Getting the ink as part of our System ‘image’ so healing wouldn’t remove it was hard, and it wasn’t like Iona and I had standard biology or low vitality.

“Aye, or my name isn’t Atramentum!” The [Artist] said.

I raised a skeptical eyebrow and turned [Universal Cure] back on, impressed that none of the ink faded.

A quirk of [The Stars Never Fade] was some imprinted things - like tattoos - would come with the reversion. Magic was just weird like that. I’d used it on myself a little before the event just in case it changed in the future, and would always aim for an ‘older’ age.

Amber threw her hands up in triumph.

“To the party!” She announced.

“To the beer!” Goblin Slayer enthusiastically agreed.

We found ourselves bundled up again and hauled off to the big party.

Amber and Goblin Slayer opened the doors with a dramatic flourish as Fenrir flew overhead, making a beeline for the buffet table.

“The brides have arrived!” They each announced in different languages, and the party turned to focus on us. We smiled and waved our way over to our table.

It had been impossible to sort out who would sit with us and who wouldn’t. Iona had eventually come up with a genius solution.

“This table is perfect.” I gushed again as we shuffled around to sit down. “Just us, so it’s intimate, then a guest chair for anyone to sit in and briefly chat? It’s so good!”

Iona beamed at the compliment.

“It’s also supposed to represent all the guests here sitting with us.” She said.

“It’s genius.” I repeated. “I probably would’ve done something dumb like sit Sigrun next to Katerina.”

Iona shuddered in mock-horror as we took our seats. For whatever reason, the two got along like oil and water.

The party was epic. Tables dominated a third of the room, with a huge, practically endless buffet against one wall. Fenrir was busy destroying the four whole cows labeled ‘For the Wyvern, don’t touch’, and there were meals from all over the world on offer. A dance floor covered another third, with a four-man band performing music on request. It was almost entirely confined to the dance floor, but a second band - a flutist and a violinist - were providing ambient happy background music to the rest of the party. The last third was half-games, half-bar, with rows upon rows of kegs holding both alcohol, and a wide variety of fine blood for the vampire guests. The party was rowdy and in full swing, but it was still early enough and the people involved sane enough that nobody was drunk off their tits and throwing skills around.

Yet.

It was only a matter of time before our damage deposit was wiped out.

A young waitress stepped up to our table.

“I’m here to-” She got three words out before I snaked my free arm out and grabbed her in a crushing hug.

“NINA!” I practically shouted. “You made it!”

Iona looked like she’d been stabbed.

“Nina? You’re sure?” She asked. I grinned back and forth, not letting go of Nina.

“Absolutely! There’s no fooling these senses. Why are your tails tucked in? What are you doing here? How are you here? I thought you were uncontactable! The courier said there was nobody at the Eventide Establishment’s address!”

Nina struggled a moment longer, then gave up and sat down, her illusion dissolving around her.

“I am so busted.” She complained.

Amber swooped in.

“Everything alright?” She asked. “Anything wrong?”

Iona was almost crying. I shook my head, then paused.

“Well, I think we need a new waiter.” I said. “We’ve kinda hijacked the first one.”

Amber nodded her understanding and vanished to go fix the issue.

“Tell us everything!” I demanded.

Nina started talking.

She’d gone to the Eventide Establishment on Sigrun’s recommendation after the war, to better work on her Mirage talents and learn a whole new set of skills. The Eventide Establishment - nothing to do with the Eventide Eclipse, AKA me, Iona, and the rest - broadly, was a shadowy, under-the-table organization from Nippon-Koku that dabbled in espionage, blackmail, poisonings, assassinations, and the whole lot.

Reductively, they were ninjas.

Training and adjusting had been intense, and Nina regaled us with her adventures. She hadn’t exactly had a ton of time - it was approaching the one-year anniversary, and normally, she’d still be in training.

“... then we got told we’re doing a mission here. An easy one, for trainees.” Nina explained. “I’m going to be in so much trouble since I got caught.”

She paled.

“So much trouble.” She whispered.

Just then a letter arrived at our table, flapping through the air like a bird before neatly unfolding itself in front of me.

Dawn,

Please take Nina’s presence at your wedding as my gift to the two of you. I know how much she means to you, and reassure her that she’s at no risk of getting in trouble. Her handler has already been caught and neatly trussed up, and reminded that if he wants to cause any grief, that he was far more obvious than she was.

I hired the Eventide Establishment to ‘spy’ on the wedding, asking them to bring trainees. Everyone wins. The trainees get experience and paid, you get to see Nina, she gets to see you, and the Sentinels get to have a bit of fun playing ‘catch the harmless spies’.

I do hope I’m not overstepping by having Nina here as a surprise, nor by arranging some fun and games for some guests in the background.

Congratulations again! The ceremony and vows were beautiful.

Susan.

Iona and Nina read over my shoulders at the same time. I smiled at the two of them, aware of the tension between them.

“Normally I’d leave and let the two of you catch up a bit, but…” I raised my tied hand with Iona. “I’m a little stuck here.”

Iona grabbed Nina’s hand with her own, making a circle around the table.

“Nina, Fox, I’m sorry.” She apologized. “I didn’t mean to drive you away. I just…”

Nina flicked an ear.

“No, I understand. I did something terrible, and we were in a bad spot. I…”

I faded back a bit, letting the two reconcile. They both wanted it. They were both earnestly baring their hearts to each other, looking for the connection once again. The relationship.

I could ask for no better present for my wife on this joyous day. Amber circled back round to me.

“Everything alright here?” She asked.

“It will be, but…” My stomach growled. “I’m starving and both my hands are occupied. Feed me?” I asked.

I swear, fucking Artemis had her ears tuned to my frequency or some nonsense like that. Perhaps a skill to improve her hearing. She bounded over across the entire party, skidding to a halt beside us.

“Dibs!” She called out, only to dash to the buffet table and back. “Alright, catch!”

Artemis tossed - was that goat curry? It smelled divine - up at my mouth.

I snaked my head over and caught it, trying to protest.

“Artemis, I can barely-” I said, before she tossed another chunk.

“Brrrpt!” Auri found the whole thing hilarious, and it was kinda funny. Also keeping me nicely distracted from Iona and Nina’s heartfelt conversation.

The party raged on. Iona and Nina made up with a ton of tears, and my new wife turned to me, sniffing.

“This is the happiest day of my life.” She said. I put my head on her shoulder, wordlessly telling her the same.

Then I caught a durian fruit Artemis had somehow located and thrown my way.

“Durian!? Durian!? How did you find durian!?” I yelled at her. “No! Take it away! Come on Artemis.”

I did my best ‘Sentinel Dawn is displeased’ face, and Julius was right there a moment later.

“Not cool.” He said. “This could’ve really caused an issue.”

Artemis looked pale.

“But… that wasn’t a durian when I grabbed it.” She protested. “Come on, I have some sense.”

The five of us traded looks, and Iona turned to Nina with a sickly sweet tone.

“Nina, my dearest friend. I believe we might have a minor issue with some ninjas at our party. Is there a chance you could handle the issue for us?”

Nina looked positively feral at the suggestion.

“Oooh, I know exactly who it is as well.” She snarled. “Akushu was talking about stinking up the wedding the whole way over. I am going to get him.”

“I am right there with you.” Artemis had murder in her eyes.

“No killing people at my wedding!” I protested. Artemis paused.

“What’s the radius on that order?” She asked Julius. “How far away until I’m no longer at the wedding?”

Julius seriously thought about it.

“Three blocks.” He decreed. “If it’s three blocks away, it’s not the wedding anymore.”

Artemis and Nina traded a look, the two of them on exactly the same wavelength. They nodded once, and went hunting. I groaned and headbutted the table.

“We are not living in a culture where a wedding is boring if there are no deaths!” I complained.

“Brrrpt! Brrrpt?” Auri agreed, and at that moment, the three phoenixes decided to make their own entrance.

I shot wary looks at them, fully expecting some degree of antics, perhaps demanding the central spotlight, but they simply found spots high up in the rafters to hang out and watch the events. Mostly Auri.

“...brrpt?” She asked softly, almost embarrassed.

“Yeah, go enjoy things with your friends, you don’t need to spend the entire time on my head not having fun.” I told her. I wasn’t a huge fan of how close Auri was with the phoenixes and how much time they’d spent together, but I wasn’t about to start being an ass about it. Not at my wedding.

Not when Auri was leaving tomorrow to the Phoenix Peaks.

“Also, give them my thanks for behaving and not making a scene at our wedding.” Iona said. “I know it was all you asking them nicely, but it doesn’t hurt to pass the message along.”

After a few minutes with the phoenixes, and doing a quick drink run for them - to my surprise, the three phoenixes were all fans of the vampire’s bloody drinks - Auri returned to us and our table.

The day flew by and turned to night with no decrease or slowing down of the activities. People came, sat at our table, and chatted for a bit before going off. Iona and I danced and ate, reveling in the party. A relieved Julius escorted a disappointed Nina and Artemis, while Sigrun and Wren broke a table arm-wrestling. Amber had made sure a slow but steady supply of mangos made their way to our table, and just as I finished one, another freshly sliced mango would arrive on a tray.

The lucky waiter ended up with thousands of arcs in tips, mostly from Iona.

[Zenith Everlasting] provided me with endless energy, and Iona had her own skills helping out.

Then it was time for The Cake. A 12-layered monstrosity, one for each of our classes plus our companions. Auri’s new Lava element class included a [Molten Sugar] skill, which had let her do utterly impossible designs on the cake and figurines to top it.

Naturally, there was a beautifully detailed and colored version of Iona and I topping the cake.

Iona and I split the top layer together, a rich chocolate layer with oversized sugar crystals inside, supposed to be Celestial for our shared element.

“Auri, you’ve outdone yourself, this is divine.” I gave a second compliment by diving right back into my half of the cake, inhaling it as fast as I could, no matter my already-bulging stomach.

“I’ve never eaten a better cake.” Iona confirmed.

“Brrrpt.” Auri made a relieved noise, then jumped over to a glass of wine. “Brrrpt! Brrpt?”

“Yes, go nuts. Just don’t get so hungover that the phoenixes tease you tomorrow.” I said.

Sadly, all good things come to an end, and our wedding was one of those.

“Hey, as a twist, do you want me to carry you all the way back?” I offered Iona. She adamantly shook her head.

“No, no, I’ve been literally dreaming and fantasizing about this ever since we got engaged.” She said. “It’d mean a lot to me.”

To one last round of very drunk cheers, Iona lifted me up in a princess carry, then grinned wickedly at me.

“Well, hang on, if this is supposed to be a kidnapping…” She said, shifting me around until I was over one of her shoulders.

“Hey!” I protested, more in jest than anything serious. If she found it fun, sure, I’d go along for the ride.

To one last cheer, Iona waved at the remaining guests, and we were off.

Iona was highly motivated to get me back home for obvious reasons, and in minutes we were barging through the door.

“Oh, by the way…” Iona trailed off meaningfully as she carried me to not-our-room. “Surprise!”

I gasped.

Iona had, obviously with help from the other Valkyries, converted one of the rooms into a reading nook. Floor to ceiling shelves dominated every inch of the room that wasn’t window or door, and they’d been stuffed with thousands and thousands of books. I slid down, tracing a finger over the spines, skimming the titles.

“I love you.”

Chapter 13 - Interlude - Auri - The Phoenix Peaks I

I couldn’t sleep a wink.

The wedding had been a blast! Tons of fun! Endless mango juice! Even the three grumps loosened up and seemed to have fun! Petri still had his beak waaaay up in the air, but Ra and Sasha had some good conversation with Night and a few of the older vampires!

They were so old! How did anyone get that old?!

Sasha’s flames were still burning strong, which was a huge relief. When I got that old, my flames would be just as pretty as they were today.

No! Prettier!

I paused a moment, examining the thought. Was I being too selfish? Too self-centered? Was I making everything about me again?

Hmmm… no. It was okay to think of myself now and then, but it was good to double check.

Bah! Stupid no sleep! Dawn was only a little ways away - we’d partied through most of the night - and while Elaine and Iona were clearly awake and having a ton of fun, I didn’t want to just stare at myself in the mirror until the phoenixes decided it was time to leave.

Hmmm. I wondered if Titania was up yet? I should run around, see about making things a little easier for everyone, maybe get some last-minute baking in.

Apparently, there were no ovens in the Phoenix Peaks, which sounded like a travesty. Thank the gods and goddesses, when I’d told Elaine, we’d gone out together to the library, and read books on how to make primitive ovens. Add in Lava, and I felt comfortable sculpting my own!

Yeast and other baking supplies would be more of a challenge. At least I could make it feel a little more like home?

I hadn’t even left and I was already starting to feel homesick… Was this really a good idea?

I fluttered over to the smaller kitchen, and magically started to put everything together with a half-dozen well-practiced [Mage Hands]. Water, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, flour - keeping it as simple as possible today, my mind was elsewhere. I didn’t want to try for a ~fancy~ loaf, only for it to go wrong because I was distracted. It was the last loaf I was making for Elaine and Iona before their honeymoon trip - what a silly name, it should be called a mangomoon, mango for Elaine, moon for Iona - and before I left.

They were going to Jurcor! Tropical sun, sandy beaches, little fruity drinks!

I thought as I stirred everything together, before I started kneading the dough.

Exercise time! Exercise day! Use the feet! Work it!

YES!

Yes it was!

I was going to meet all sorts of other phoenixes! I was going to meet others just like me! I was going to see how we lived! What life was like! I had a whole WORLD just waiting for me, that I knew nothing about!

It was a trip, an adventure. What was the point in staying home my entire life, and never sticking my beak into new and interesting things?

I half-prepared more food for everyone, half-cleaned up as I went, trying to make things as clean and nice as possible. I wanted Amber to go ‘wow I miss having Auri here’ when I left. I wanted Titania to feel my absence. I wanted…

I wanted to be felt. To be remembered. To leave an Auri-shaped hole in everyone’s heart.

I took the loaf out of the oven - where had the time gone!? - and put it on the table to cool. I used my claws to write a little Love, Auri on the bread.

The sun was starting to rise, and it was a good time to say goodbye to Elaine. I fluttered over to the door, and pushed my way in with my beak, making sure I wasn’t intruding on a private moment.

They were taking a break. Good.

“Hey… I’m going to be leaving soon.” I said.

Elaine flew up, her eyes widening comically.

“Oh! Let me see you off!” She sprang out of bed, magically dressing herself.

It was too soon, too fast, and we were all outside as sunlight steadily marched down the mountain.

“Are you prepared?” Sasha asked, the owl turning his head to observe us all. After thinking a bit, he hastily added another question. “Have you said all your goodbyes?”

“Yeah! You ain’t coming back!” Petri squawked.

“Plblblblblblbl.” I did my best impression of blowing a raspberry at Petri, which infuriated the tupandactylus phoenix to no end.

He had a baaaaaaaad superiority complex, and was so easy to wind up. Just had to do anything vaguely elvenoid, and he’d fly into a rage. I’d started off being nice to him, before realizing he was an irredeemable jerk and I could be mean to him after all.

Now it was just hilarious winding him up.

To my concern, he just looked smug.

“Roll in the mud with them all you like.” He sneered. “Once you feel the beauty of the peaks you’ll never want to leave, and that’s a fact.”

Iona was staring at him with an unimpressed look, and stage-whispered what Petri had said to Elaine. The three phoenixes snapped their heads around to Iona, Petri’s beak dropping in shock. Ra started to laugh.

Iona shrugged.

“What? I’ve got a blessing to understand everyone.” She casually mentioned with a slow grin.

A little fact she’d asked me to keep quiet, and had never mentioned until now.

“Oh she got us!” Ra laughed. “She got us good! Come on Petri, you’ve got to admit that was beautifully done.”

Ra didn’t actually say Petri. The phoenixes had weird names. A lot of bird noises that no natural elvenoid tongue could ever say, each one that was a complex description of various types of fires or flames. Ra’s was something along the lines of ‘Radiant Midday Sun-Burning-Sacred-Oil at the Ultimate Zenith of the Warmest Summer’, but with various additional connotations on how things were burning and the like.

As his public name. He had two more - one for friends, and an intimate one that was shared only with a special partner.

He was cool, so he was Ra for short.

Sasha was named after the owl who’d met Elaine at one point when I was an egg - that was close, she’d almost been her companion instead of me!! - and Petri was the name that annoyed Petri the most.

Fenrir came down to say goodbye, a long banner waving from his tail. Elaine and Iona both looked surprised at that. Atlas and his crew dragged themselves over, his eyes alight with the fire of anticipation.

Soon, soon, his great headache would be gone! He’d go back to a mostly normal life! With like, 200ish new levels and a bright new shiny class under his belt - tending to the phoenixes for months had been hell on the poor guard.

I’d never been as bad as they were.

I shuddered.

I hope I didn’t revert back to how I’d been, or even worse, like the phoenixes were now.

We said goodbye for now. It was tearful and heartfelt.

Iona shot me a thumbs up, the crisp, bright red lines of her hand tattoo super neat.

“You got this little pyro.” She said. “You’ll be back before you know it, and by Selene, I am going to miss your baking.” The Valkyrie patted her stomach. “I don’t know how I’m going to avoid starving.”

Yes! I was going to be missed!

Fenrir gently booped me with his nose, which sent me flying halfway across the mountain before I regained control. The phoenixes looked horrified.

“That was fun! Let’s do it again!” I said, uncaring of how I wasn’t acting ‘like a proper phoenix’ or any such nonsense.

Fenrir entertained me once more, then growled low and settled down.

Elaine brought me close to her face, every word a quiet whisper but spoken just as solemnly as her wedding vows.

“Six years.” She said. “It’s a perfect number, and perfect for you. If you’re not back in six years, I’m going to the Phoenix Peaks myself and getting you. Is that a deal?”

“Yes!” I said. Six years sounded like waaaaaay more than enough time.

Elaine sniffed as she nodded, and we both pretended she wasn’t crying.

“I’m going to miss you.” She bawled. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

I tried to give her a hug with my wings. Stupid short wings! Stupid big face!

I made them just a little bigger, hugging Elaine back.

“I’m going to miss you too.” I said.

I loved being a hummingbird. Tiny! Zip! Zoop! Get into flowers of all sizes to drink their sweet nectar! Able to slip into small cracks and go exploring! The world was an incredibly accessible place to someone my size.

The world was also incredibly inaccessible when it came to covering long distances. I had a lot of points in zippiness, so I could go super fast when I wanted to, but my pushing power was stuck at 30. I didn’t have the stamina to cover long distances, and no Elaine to give me unlimited energy.

I didn’t have the vast wingspan to carry me great distances, which was why Fenrir was so awesome! He could carry all of us and months worth of supplies without breaking a sweat!

He was awesome for so many other reasons, of course.

All that to say, I found myself clutching Sasha’s back feathers as I squinted my eyes and leaned forward into the gale-force winds from his flight. We were covering ground fast.

Half a day and we were already over Ralakar, heading north to the Phoenix Peaks.

“I don’t want you to think we’ve deliberately kept anything from you.” Sasha said, and I got a little nervous. That sounded like they’d kept something from me. “But the timing of you finding out wouldn’t matter one way or another, but could potentially give the vampires some extreme leverage over us, so we didn’t want to explain until now.”

I squinted at him. This better be good… I was still close enough to home that I could hop off and fly back to Exterreri. Just needed to make it to a single city, make a fuss, and get a nice Ranger team to escort me home, in exchange for a dozen levels. The first thing Petri had done upon meeting Elaine was trying to burn her to cinders, and I still held that against him.

Asshole.

“As you must be well aware of, each phoenix follows after a similar bird that can be found somewhere in existence. I take after the noble eagle owl, while Ra takes after the mighty bennu heron. Exactly what offspring a pair of phoenixes will have is up to fate, the gods, the System, or the Essence of the First Flame, depending on your belief. I myself was a surprise between a pelican and a red-tailed hawk, although my mother recalled a great-great-great-great ancestor of hers might’ve been a masked owl.”

“Yup, alright, I’m following.” I said. I knew phoenixes came in all shapes and sizes - because we were the best - but I wasn’t aware of how random offspring could be.

“Some lineages are lost.” Ra said. “Just… gone. I’ve never seen a swan. There hasn’t been one in living memory. I can only imagine how beautiful she’d be.”

“The entirety of the hummingbird line was believed to be extinct. Your presence, your existence, gives hope that we will see not only more hummingbirds in the future, but hope that many other lineages might still be out there. As such, your presence, even should you choose to stay only a few years, would greatly revitalize the community.” Sasha said. “It is also why we didn’t want to tell you earlier. Knowing of your importance could have resulted in additional demands. I hope you don’t feel like there was an unacceptable level of deception involved.”

Hmmm.

Okay, it was fun to know I was extra-special! Yay! Old-me would’ve obsessed over the idea endlessly.

New-me just made a little tiara and slapped it on my head. Because I was indeed the brrrettiest princess ever.

The knowledge stuff was… fine, I guess? It wasn’t like it impacted my decision at all, they hadn’t lied, it wasn’t some false pretense stuff, just a little extra ‘you’re a bit more special than you might think’. The timing was fine, better now than getting it sprung on me when I was there, and it wasn’t like they waited until we were over the ocean to tell me.

“Yeah, leave some eggs behind!” Petri crowed at me. The rest of us shot him a disgusted look.

“Why is he with us?” I asked. Sasha looked like he had regrets.

“He’s one of the strongest fliers, and was comfortable making the distance. Then he won the lottery of who would come with me. A method of selection I deeply regret.”

We flew on, with some good-natured bickering, and some less well-meaning insults occasionally traded.

Then we hit it.

The ocean.

The great ocean dividing the world into two halves. It glistened from horizon to horizon, as far as my eyes could see. I’d crossed large bodies of water before - we’d gone over the Sea of Stars a few times - but this was different in a way. I knew just how far it was, and it put a chill in my feathers.

So much water was just unnatural. The antithesis of life! How could so much of it exist in one place? It made no sense!

“Higher.” Sasha said, and my ride along with the other two phoenixes soared up, up, up into the sky, up past the clouds, up to the point where the flames making up our bodies started to flicker weakly in the thin air.

I gazed down at the ocean, not wanting to miss this view. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen it - I’d occasionally seen it from the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft when it flew over - nor would it be the last.

Largely, it was boring and dangerous, a vast blue expanse of gently rolling waves. Occasionally the wind would pick up, topping the waves with whitecaps and whipping up a howling gale, or the waves would crash into each other, making ship-killing mega-waves.

Near the shore there were plenty of sea monsters, but deeper in there were fewer.

Ooh! A pod of whales! Amazing creatures, able to live in the water like that.

Oh! Speaking of the School! There it was, floating north!

Ha! Poor Artemis, it’d take her weeks to make it back!

The phoenixes kept flying powerfully over the ocean, and the light of an erupting volcano against the horizon was our first clue that we were near land again, near the northern continent.

We’d made it.

The Phoenix Peaks were in sight.

Chapter 14 - Interlude - Auri - The Phoenix Peaks II

Sasha was fast. It didn’t take long until we were over blessed dry land again, and no longer over the killer water.

The Peaks were interesting. A whole range of mountains, with a few of them glowing with active lava. My totally expert eyes from seeing the Tears of Vulcan up close and personal suggested that most of the mountains were volcanic, but most of them were dormant.

I hoped I got to see one go boom while I was here!

Errr…

In a totally safe and not ruining anyone else’s day way, of course.

Gouts of purple flames from one mountain clashed with the orange flames from a second. I couldn’t see the phoenixes in question yet, but their impact was unmistakable.

Some mountains were rocky, some were fresh and green, and others were coated in burnt trees and a thick haze. Interesting! My claws tightened in anticipation.

I was about to meet more phoenixes!! What were they like? Were they nice? Were more of them like Ra, or like Petri?

Oh holy mango juice. If they were all like Petri I was out of here.

“As I’ve mentioned before, each phoenix has their own peak.” Sasha explained. “You can move to another mountain if you’d like. You don’t need a reason. Perhaps the view is nicer, or it’s about to erupt. The golden eagle likes to hunt a herd of deer, and will try to muscle out any phoenix who gets in his way. The crane is feuding with the albatross, and relentlessly chases her off her peak whenever she settles down and claims a place.”

“Some are just wet drips.” Petri said.

No.

Really.

I am so surprised.

That was awfully rich, coming from him. I half-expected he was one of the wet wipes who went around bullying everyone.

“There are a number of traditions and customs around the practice.” Ra said. “Suffice to say, there is both a grace period after moving away from a mountain, and more peaks than there are phoenixes. You should never find yourself without a home.”

The mountain range took on new meaning.

From countless peaks, there suddenly weren’t nearly enough.

That was it?

That was all the phoenixes in existence?

More people went through my bakery on a given day than there were mountains here, and that was a single bakery in a single city. Yes, it was the best bakery in a major capital, but…

There were just so few of us.

Ra started to explain some of the cultures and traditions, but I was lost in thought, trying to count how many mountains there were.

Petri shot forward, the flames on his body surging as he got about three miles ahead of us. He threw his beak back and let out a triumphant shriek.

“Home!” He shouted.

How - OH!

Sasha passed some invisible line a moment later, and both of our fires flared up as well.

The Phoenix Peaks felt incredible. Like I’d been a banked fire my whole life, and now the vents were open to let air in. Like I’d been a dimmed fire, and a fresh log was thrown on. Like a bunch of wet logs had been replaced by perfectly dried ones, I felt like a million rubies.

“Whoa!” I put words to my feelings. “This is great!”

Petri chose that exact moment to fire off a half-dozen fireballs into the sky, punctuating my statement. The three of us started to dive down towards the Peaks.

“Bye! Auri, I’ll see you around!” He said, speeding off into the distance.

Ugh. If I could never see him again that’d be great.

A blue flame caught my eye and I peered down, hoping to catch my first glimpse at another phoenix!

A penguin phoenix was standing at the very edge of the shore, looking forlornly at the waves lapping the shore. The waves receded, and he waddled forward a bit, then the wave crashed back in as he darted back, flapping his flippers as gouts of steam erupted where water met fire.

To go swimming would be a death sentence.

Ooof. I knew each phoenix reflected another bird, but I’d never imagined what would happen if one of us became a water bird.

Wait. WAIT! Wasn’t there a special type of fire that burned underwater? Yes, yes there was! I’d seen it at the School! In the Museum of All Things that Burned! I should tell the penguin about it! Maybe he knew already, maybe it would help!

Sasha clearly noticed who I was looking at. Somehow. Even though I was on his - who was I kidding, the owl was almost level 4000, of course he could know what I was up to on his spine.

I noticed he had slowed down a bunch, and I hopped off his back, spread my wings, and flew under my own power.

“Naturally, one way to be uncontested on your peak is to have an undesirable one that nobody else wants.” Was Sasha’s only comment on the phenomena. “An empty peak has been picked out for you to initially find your wings as you settle down, but naturally, you are more than welcome to move to any one you wish to. As long as a nesting couple isn’t there, you are welcome to contest it.”

“Are any of the active volcanoes empty?” I promptly asked. I wanted flowers, yes, but I’d just gotten [Molten Mythwing], and wanted to work on the class for a bit before my next upgrade.

Ra chuckled.

“Little one, you’re not the only one with a Lava element. You can ask nicely and see if anyone’s willing to share, trade embers, or see if you can kick anyone else off the peak. There aren’t many active volcanoes, and Lava is one of the more popular Fire elements here.”

I looked to my left again, seeing the faint glow of the burning lava. Made sense. If the phoenixes were living their entire lives here, being drawn to Lava was only natural.

Ra threw off a few powerful beams of Radiance into the clouds, his eyes narrowing at something he saw up there.

“Golden crows.” He was practically spitting fire at their name. “Auri, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go teach those upstarts who the true ruler of Fire and Radiance is.”

Not waiting for an answer, he spun and wheeled off into the sky, where a few three-legged crows were circling near a cloud. A cloud with a fresh hole in it.

The eight birds started to light up the sky as Fire, Radiance, Gale, and a few other elements were thrown around, the seven golden crows fleeing before the stronger phoenix - but not without getting their licks in. At the same time, while clearly stronger, Ra wasn’t going for any killing moves.

Hmmm.

It didn’t make sense that he was bad at fighting. Well, it did and it didn’t.

It… almost made more sense to skirmish for levels and position for everyone, than to try and kill them. Levels for everyone! Unless the fight was ‘serious’, a murder of crows picking a small fight with the phoenixes and everyone surviving let everyone improve. Maybe that was why the phoenixes dueled each other for peaks?

No Fenrir here, so I had to be Detective Auri! I’d just cracked the case! I ditched the tiara and changed my hat to Fenrir’s fancy brown one.

Some phoenixes flew up to greet us. A flamingo with bright pink flames flapped up next to us, peering at me curiously.

“So this is the lost hummingbird?” She asked. I puffed my chest out, letting all my feathers burn a little hotter, a little brighter.

“I wasn’t lost.” I primly informed her. “I knew exactly where I was. Really, from my point of view, you were the lost ones!”

Her flames rippled through several shades of pink as she gave me her name. Something complex, involving the sun seen at exactly the right time and place through clouds to create pink, and the Essence of the First Flame.

“I can’t go over this peak, but come visit! That one over there is mine!” She threw a ball of fire onto a mountain with a number of shallow lagoons and lush tropical trees, then winged back in that direction.

“Bye! I think I will!” I called after Magenta. A much easier name!

Wait, with what everyone was saying about peaks, control, and visiting…

“How are you able to fly over everything?” I asked Sasha. “And how do people move around if they’re not allowed to cross certain peaks?”

“I welcome anyone to challenge my right to fly over their mountain.” Sasha’s reply was serene. “As for lower level phoenixes, the lowest part where mountain meets mountain are considered the safe passages between the peaks, where any may travel without fear of interference. There is some argument that one throws away their dignity when doing so, that it is unbecoming of a phoenix to lower their head such, but let us be frank. That is sheer puffery, meant to incentivize the youngest to grow and strive to become stronger. The idea occasionally takes root among those who should know better, but such is life. I don’t doubt that, for a few decades at least, nobody will bar passage to you, out of a desire to get to know you better.”

One part of me wanted to say the phoenixes sounded like a bunch of wet water.

On the other… what did I know? Remus did some things Elaine thought were pretty bad, and it wasn’t like the School was all sparks and bonfires. Every place had its unusual or bad customs, and it was a question of ‘is this really bad, or am I just different?’

Thanks Iona! Your talks were useful!

“What’s this?” Sasha said. “Oh no no no, we can’t have that. [Dark Flame].”

The name was simple, but sometimes the simple names had great power. Not everything could be top-tier like [I am the Brrrettiest].

He flicked a single black-burning feather deep into a particularly dense valley, then nodded once in satisfaction.

“On occasion, some more undesirable creatures can be found. I’m unsure how civilized the lands you came from are, but there’s a creature called Vorlers.”

I rolled my eyes, then realized who I was rolling them to.

Oops.

“I’m familiar with Vorlers. Burned a few of them myself!”

Sasha nodded.

“Good. While you are custodian of a peak, you are its [Hearth Tender]. Its [Fire Keeper]. Be a good [Lady] of the peak. Manage it as you see fit, but manage it. Don’t let problems fester.”

A few more phoenixes came to say hi. A toucan had a beak almost as colorful as my body, and we spent some time comparing colors. A raven swung by, but he seemed more interested in talking with Sasha, both of them using Pyronox. A quetzalcoatl - a phoenix, not the actual bird - came by. Her fangs looked deadly, I wondered what poison they could have. Was there such a thing as fire-poison? One of the peaks that I thought was a volcano from the burning afterglow against the clouds was actually an enormous roc, contently dozing.

Their wingspan would be measured in miles if they took flight. I didn’t have [Identify] - maybe an oops - but its size alone suggested I shouldn’t fly overhead.

“Here you are!” Sasha said as we approached yet another mountain. “Not too close to the center, not thrown to the edges, this peak hasn’t been claimed in quite some time. I hope you settle in and enjoy. I’ll come around in a few days to see if you’re having any problems, but some of your neighbors and the more curious among us might come by before then.”

My lessons with the phoenixes hadn’t just started now, we’d been discussing things for months. One discussion had been around courtship rituals and the like.

The long and short of it was numbers. There were only so many of us, and it was extremely looked down upon to ‘rob the nest’ so to speak. If I wanted to do anything - not that I did, I had no interest in the topic at all - there was an extremely small pool of ‘acceptable’ phoenixes. If I didn’t like anyone in that pool? Well, tough luck to me - and tough luck to them. I’d be eggless forever.

It helped explain why there were so few of us, and why the rules around protecting mated couples were so fierce. Woe be unto any creature who tried to rob one of their nests.

Similarly, we were THE BEST, but not in a great way. Every part of a phoenix was valuable. From our tears and feathers, to simply being near us, to capturing us to use as lighting, heat, or anything else a dragon could imagine, our existence conveyed levels galore and class quality almost beyond compare.

Hmmm… what was a good hat for a phoenix that granted things to wear? Detective Auri was still on the case.

I studied the mountain that was now ‘mine’.

It… didn’t look too special. In a lot of ways, it was like the little patch of land the Eventide Eclipse had claimed in Exterreri. A bare top of hard granite, good tree coverage, mostly pine, and a good meadow.

Pine was fun! It was a little harder to ignite than most wood, thanks to its high resin levels, but that also made it burn slower, and it had a nice smell! It didn’t make a lot of ash, which was great for cleanup!

I flew down to the meadow, and was suddenly hit with a wave of… I didn’t have a good word for the emotion. Adulthood maybe? It was a strong sense of ‘oh Elaine, what do I do now?’

Or… was it ‘By the Embers of the First Flame’ now?

I had a mountain. It was mine. I was expected to do phoenix-y things with it.

What did phoenixes do all day?

I flew to a nice big tree that overlooked the meadow, perched in a nice branch with a good view, and started thinking.

I had no idea what phoenixes did all day. Burn things? Tend to their peak?

… Thank goodness for Bridget, my teacher and caretaker at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. She’d helped me get the idea of becoming a [Baker], and I had no idea what I’d do with myself on a daily basis without it and my friends providing structure.

… I had no idea what to do with myself. I was supposed to be the [Lady] of this area, maybe I should fly around the mountain and look for problems?

WAIT! I needed a nest! I had no nest! No lovely arcanite reflecting me from a thousand angles, no hallway of mirrors showing me a million times over. How was I supposed to get any of that?

Oh! Obsidian could be nice! I just needed to find a nice patch, melt it with my flames, then [Lava Manipulation] it into a nice shape.

Was there any obsidian here?

… What was on my mountain anyway? I should do a patrol, just to see what I was working with. What resources I had. Where I could find some nice flowers to drink nectar from, and what insects were tasty.

I took another look around, remembering something else.

It was late summer in Exterreri. Meant it was deep winter here. At this temperature, winter was wonderful. I put another point in favor of the Phoenix Peaks being so close to the coastline, even though there was so much water there.

Then I should make an oven! Or maybe a kiln, depending on the material. Uhhh… was there a difference between the two? They were both decent for baking…

A kiln it was!

Okay!

Explore! Strategize! Make a nest! Make a kiln! Don’t starve! I had a PLAN! I had things to do!

I zipped around the mountain, trying to take notes about what I saw. Trees! Blackberries! Bears!

Wait. Something didn’t make sense. Pine trees and tropical weather? What? My bond let me steal some of Elaine’s knowledge, and that didn’t sound right at all.

I missed her. I wish she was here so I could ask her all these questions.

… ah well, mysteries of the Phoenix Peaks. Carrying on!

Rabbits, owls, raccoons, foxes, dinosaurs of all stripes! Archaeopteryxes, compys, gallimimi, pegomastax and achatina! Badgers and songbirds, fruit trees - with no fruit, booo the season - and a big stream with fish. The sabertooth salmon looked delicious! Ant hills and termites, some troodons and oh! There was a tiny herd of wild horses! I zipped into some natural caves and found bats and axolotls. Clever-me followed some bees around, finding hidden flower patches. A few small ponds had fowl. Hare-brained hares darted out of their holes when I went in to explore. I was just saying hi! A skunk was warding off a curious bear cub, and I had to wonder - did I really want skunks on my mountain?

OOooooh! Clay! It had clay! I needed clay to make a kiln!

Or… was it that I used clay in a kiln?

This ‘survive in the woods alone’ thing sucked. Maybe I’d be returning sooner than I thought…

No! That was Quitter talk! I wasn’t a quitter! I wasn’t going to let the first obstacle drive me away! Everyone else lived like this and made it work! I was going to make it work as well! Who knew, maybe I’d find it fun.

I summoned my [Mage Hands] and got to work.

The moons were up as I finished my work, patting the last of the clay in place.

Perfect! Beautiful! I was the best!

Okay, okay, now I had to fire the clay!

FIRE!

The kiln exploded spectacularly, shards going in every direction.

[*ding!* Whoops, [Phoenix Rebirth] leveled up! Let’s not tell Elaine, okay?]

But… but I wanted to tell Elaine about it…

In the shattered remains of my first big project, I started to cry a little.

It was just so unfair! It was just so hard! I just wanted a little oven to pretend I could bake here! Just a little slice of home away from home! Was that too much to ask for!?

A pair of flames came over the peak in a nearby mountain. From where I was in the meadow, I could see them blazing down the mountain, then back up my mountain.

Oh! Visitors!? I was having visitors!

I looked around the utter disaster of the mess I’d made.

Quick! Clean up before guests come over!

BURN THE EVIDENCE!

[Auri’s Meteor Storm]

A second later, and the only trace of my ill-fated adventure was a smoking crater.

Two phoenixes ran up, one black and white, while the other had feathers of green and blue. An ostrich and a velociraptor. They tilted their heads at me in perfect unison.

“Hi! You must be the hummingbird we’ve heard so much about.” The ostrich said. The raptor snapped at her.

“Of course she’s the hummingbird we’ve heard so much about!” She snarled. “Better question is - want to go to the Dungeon with us?”

Chapter 15 - Mangomoon

Auri

The Dungeon sounded like a ton of fun! Endless levels of puzzles and traps, fake-real monsters and TREASURE! It was one of the Things To Do around here!

From everything I could tell, The Dungeon was what Elaine called an Oddity, something that just Didn’t Make Sense. It played by its own rules!

I wanted to be an Oddity. I wanted to play by my own rules! Like be able to be here and be with Elaine and the rest at the same time. That would be fun!

The Dungeon was apparently a huge blast, a source of endless levels and amusement. Some places were fixed, the same for everyone. Some levels ‘overlapped’ where we could meet other Dungeon divers. Other rooms were random, but everyone agreed - go deep enough, and the experience started to get really good.

Getting in or out of The Dungeon was a bit of an adventure, given how many other creatures lurked near the entrance. It was worth knowing who was around, who’d gone in, and when someone had too much treasure for their level, and could spark an argument.

Leave with a few gems, some nice nest material? Sure, whatever. Sasha’s translation amulet was apparently a Dungeon reward, although one he’d traded for.

Leave with a few dozen level up obelisks because those were somehow a thing!?

Well, the high level creatures that lurked around the entrance would want to get their hands on it, or protect their youngsters who’d just gotten one. A kirin wouldn’t steal an obelisk from another kirin, but might be willing to snatch it from a phoenix, and…

“The whole stealing treasure thing is stupid.” I declared to my new phoenix friends. Magenta the pink flamingo, Chompy the velociraptor, Weavy the ostrich, and my latest friend, the fifth member required to go to The Dungeon, Four-Wing, a phoenix modeled after a thunderbird. She was alright with Lightning, but not as good as Fenrir.

“Go as deep as we can!” Four-Wing proclaimed. “Level as much as we want! Return with all the treasure we find, and dare them to take it from us!”

Chompy roared in approval.

“The bonfire for all the embers, and all the embers for the bonfire!” Weavy proclaimed.

“Burn down all obstacles!” I added in, fluttering my wings as we got ourselves hyped up.

It wasn’t Elaine. It wasn’t Fenrir and Iona. It wasn’t Exterreri or The School.

But I was determined to have fun here, make the most of things, and who knew?

Maybe I’d like it more.

Shouting and screaming, blasting Fire and Lightning around in all directions, we barrelled to the swirling purple mists in an ancient archway, vanishing into The Dungeon together.

Our flaming bodies lit up the dark cave we found ourselves in, the portal on the other side swirling red. A tiny snake hissed at us from the middle of the floor, baring its fangs at us.

[*ding!* Welcome to The Dungeon.]

Hmmm. I should change that notification.

[*ding!* Oh wise and beautiful Auri, we would like to once again welcome your august presence to The Dungeon!]

Much better. There was no harm in getting things to display nicely.

Four-Wing and Chompy wasted no time, both of them throwing attacks at the helpless snake.

[*ding!* Your party has slain a dungeon creature. Experience rewarded.]

Huh, another new one. The creature really wasn’t alive, was it?

Having ‘solved’ the room - the first room was always the same for everyone - the portal at the end turned green, signifying that we could leave.

“First!” Weavy yelled, sprinting full-speed to the portal.

“You have to say go!” I protested, zipping after her.

The rest of my friends followed, and we delved deeper into The Dungeon.

Elaine

I waved goodbye to Auri until they were out of view, and kept waving for a minute later, just in case. My mouth cracked open in an involuntary yawn. Iona waggled her eyebrows salaciously.

“We’ve both been up more than a day, and it was a super high level day at that.” I said. “Buuuut… I do need a bath if you want to join me. Then bed.”

Iona looked far too excited at that.

“Sleep.” I corrected. The incorrigible rogue - my wife now!! - looked unrepentantly happy, her grin not fading a hair at my correction.

I went and did exactly that, waking up that evening to Iona gently shaking my shoulder.

“Hey wifeosaurus.” She teased me. “I figured you didn’t want to miss dinner, and start getting your sleep schedule back on track.”

I sniffed, detecting that dinner was just starting to warm up as Iona slipped into bed next to me. I cuddled up to her.

“The leftovers smell divine.” I said. “Shame we…”

I facepalmed as the obvious realization hit me. Iona grinned and quickly pecked me.

“Remembered preservation magic exists?” She said. I burrowed deeper into the blankets.

“Yes.” I muttered. “Be real easy to apply as well.” I yawned again, wanting to get up naturally and not use [Zenith Everlasting] to get going. There was a slim chance I wanted to go back to sleep later to fix my sleep, and if I zapped myself now, that would never happen.

I slipped out of bed, and instinctively called out.

“Hey Auri, want to do a flame bath?” I asked.

The wave of wrongness, of loss, of emptiness hit me before the echoing silence did. Iona came up behind me, slipping her hands around me and giving me a surface to lean on.

“She’ll be back in no time.” My wife said.

“I know. The place just feels so… empty.” I said. Iona gently squeezed me.

“That would be because you missed breakfast and lunch.” She informed me. “Now, let’s go fill that gaping hole of yours with food.”

“Food!” I agreed, bounding off to the kitchen. “It would’ve been wrong last night to eat it, but I am going to eat all the garlic dishes!”

Iona pulled a face at that. I had a demonic grin.

“Then kisses!”

My wife looked unimpressed.

“Alright, I didn’t start this fight, but I know how to end it. Where’s the spicy food…”

I mock-shook a fist at her as we kept walking.

“You might win this round, but you’ll lose on the other end!”

Laughing, we went to sit down and eat our first home meal as a married couple.

“We should leave tonight.” I said.

“Only if you roll me to Fenrir.” Iona groaned, putting a hand over her stomach. “I don’t think I can move an inch.”

“We can’t exactly change our reservation at the Stellar Oasis.” I plowed on, heedless of my spouse’s self-destruction. “From everything I’ve heard, each minute is unbelievable. Why delay?”

Iona picked up the last rib off her plate, examined it, and decided she didn’t want to explode.

“Okay.” She groaned. “Just so long as you’re rolling me.”

I grinned, the imp of perverse mischief overcoming me.

“Challenge accepted!” I declared, leaping up and prodding Iona. “Okay, lie down on the floor for me.”

Iona was a good sport about it, and slumped over onto the floor. I started rolling her, realizing that she was too tall for the door - and some of the hallways! Who asked Iona to be so stupidly tall?! - and turns would be extremely difficult. Her arms flopped over every time I rolled her over, needing to be tucked in so I could roll her again. It was frustrating and difficult, and I thought I saw another way. I started to pick her feet up to drag her instead.

“Uhn uhn uhn.” Iona tsked me. “Rolling only, no dragging.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Fine then.”

I took three steps over to get in range, then [Rapid Reshelving] a length of rope from our room to my hand. Fun little tidbit about the skill - I only needed part of the item in my range, not the entire thing. I shuffled her limbs around, tucking her into a medium-sized ball, then secured her with rope.

“This is way more uncomfortable than just walking.” I pretended I couldn’t hear Iona’s muffled voice.

She was far more maneuverable like that, and I wheeled her past Titania, who’d gotten used to our antics. Our [Caretaker] had a stoic, unflappable look on her face, and bowed slightly as we passed by.

“We’re probably heading out for our honeymoon! Thank you again for taking care of everything!” I called out over my shoulder.

I eventually got Iona out through the front door.

“Alright, alright, you win, untie me before I break the rope.” She said.

[Rapid Reshelving] to the rescue! The skill was really, really, really neat with rope. I was practicing tying knots with it, but there were all sorts of fancy stuff that could be done.

Iona got up and crinked her neck.

“No longer so full you’re going to pop?” I teased.

“Any more of that rolling and I would’ve. You won.” She gracefully conceded. The two of us started to walk up the mountain to Fenrir’s cave. Before long we were in the air, flying under the moons, headed to Jurcor and one of the best luxury tropical resorts in the world.

Fenrir was less than welcome in many parts of the world, and Jurcor, being an Immortal land run by devils, was no exception. The country had provisions for him to stay… if we filled out all the paperwork in triplicate. To apply. Then get rejected, because Jurcor also didn’t want huge wyverns hanging out. They’d happily take our application fee though!

Heavens help us if we didn’t fill out all the forms though, and it wasn’t exactly clear which ones were needed… it was kept deliberately vague, although we could pay a solicitor that specialized in the case to find the proper paperwork and-

“Fenrir, go have fun. Fight some whales and find some cold caves to sleep in.” Iona patted Fenrir’s neck affectionately. “We’ll find our own way back home, but I’m sure there’s stuff you’d like to do on your own.”

Fenrir roared his agreement, his voice traveling for miles. I slapped on a fast poker face to hide how I felt about that. Iona grabbed a pair of chests off his back, one full, one empty.

“Ready?” She asked, and I grabbed my own pair.

I glanced over Fenrir’s back, confirming that we were over the resort. “Ready!” I confirmed.

The two of us stepped off Fenrir’s back in tandem, dropping miles down to the ground.

“I need to look at the saddle!” Iona scratched her backside. “It is so uncomfortable without armor!”

“I was wondering why you kept shifting around!” I shouted back, hoping I could be heard over the wind. Thank goodness for the little enchantments in the dress I was wearing - the hem of the skirt was staying down.

What had my life come to? Casually skydiving off a wyvern, holding two trunks. I should grab an umbrella to complete the look.

“Shopping or exploring first?” Iona shouted back. I looked down; the ground was rushing up at us.

“Exploring!” I said, snapping open my new wings.

Goddesses, they were pretty. They stretched far further than my outstretched hands, and were made out of shimmering, golden light. There was an argument that the size of them was suboptimal for combat, but screw that - they were gorgeous. I’d been worried when I lost my butterfly wings that I’d get a crude replacement, worse-case looking like a harpy, but no, they were everything I wanted and more.

The world swam, and we slipped past the privacy illusion the Stellar Oasis had. A few seconds later, I gracefully landed, Iona crashing down with one bent knee next to me a moment later.

I looked around. Beautiful tropical sun, gently swaying palm trees, and a deep breath brought the salty smell of the ocean. The entrance to the Stellar Oasis was nearby, and Iona and I walked past a minotaur [Bellhop] with curled horns who didn’t look the slightest bit fazed at our arrival. He gracefully opened the door for us.

“Welcome to the Stellar Oasis.” He bowed. “Can I take your luggage?”

We happily handed our luggage off to the minotaur, who seemed to have an extra spring in his step as he followed us over to the front desk. We quickly confirmed our reservation, who we were, and to my great surprise, the bill was already taken care of.

“A note was left for you.” The devil at the front desk handed over a small slip of paper. I finished reading it before getting it.

Elaine,

Congratulations on getting married!

I footed the bill as my present to you. Surprise! Hope you don’t mind - you’d planned on the spot anyway.

Enjoy your stay!

Amber

I passed the note to Iona, who raised an eyebrow.

“That was exceptionally kind of her.” She said. “I’ll have to see if we can get her a nice basket of flowers to say thank you.”

“We just have a few waivers for you to sign please.” The devil at the front desk said, taking out a comically large binder and putting it on the desk with a thud. “Just the standard stuff.”

It had to be at least two feet thick. Iona stifled her laughter beside me, as I shot the receptionist a frosty glare.

Then I got reading, as Iona knew I would. [Manuscript Mastery] would’ve gotten a dozen or so levels if it wasn’t already capped as I speed-read my way through the document, pushing [Parallel Thoughts] to the max.

While I could easily read the words, understanding the dense legal jargon being used was a different matter. There were cases and precedents referenced that I lacked the proper context to understand exactly what it meant.

All in all, no matter what happened, the Stellar Oasis was off the hook. That’s how I was reading it at least. No subtle clauses that we suddenly owed them our souls, or were signing up for eternal servitude, or any number of other obnoxious tricks Jurcor devils and [Lawyers] were infamous for pulling. I suppose enough [Partners] came to the resort here that they didn’t want to pull any tricks.

Well, any beyond the usual.

The receptionist coughed softly.

“She’s got skills for reading paperwork without even opening it.” Iona explained. “Give her a second, this is the longest I’ve ever seen her take.”

We were a team now, and the entire thing looked fine enough. I signed with a flourish as Iona finished her sentence, mostly to punctuate her words.

The devil waved her hands, the paperwork vanishing and replaced by a pair of ornate keys with a glittering gemstone in the middle.

“You’ve got the underwater rooms as requested.” She said.

“If you’d please follow me, I’ll show you to your rooms.” The [Bellhop] offered, moving off with a spring in his step.

“I swear he reminds me of a rabbit somehow.” I whispered quietly to Iona.

“Shhh!” She shushed me while trying to restrain her own laugh.

“A few of the doors with the gold and silver inlays are portals.” The minotaur said, and my jaw dropped. “There are a few different buildings that you can go to, but right now I would like to direct your attention towards the sapphire, which will link you to the underwater rooms, and the central diamond, which will bring you to the Stellar Oasis’s hub. Simply press on the gem, and witness!”

I was only half paying attention to his words, my mind frantically studying the detail, enchantments, and inlay. Portals?! They were insanely expensive! Having them as an enchantment to boot, that anyone could activate!? That was extra expensive!

The modular nature was a non-issue, and it probably helped that they were all going to fixed locations, but just how much mana and arcanite was this place sitting on!?

[*ding!* [Butterfly Mystic] leveled up!]

I’d shortened my notifications at long last. Yay for [Butterfly Mystic!]. If this place lived up to half its reputation, I’d get another half dozen levels just by studying all the cool and interesting magic. Weird how I could sort of pay to level up… but wasn’t that basically what [Students] and [Apprentices] did?

Iona nudged me, and I realized I’d zoned out a little. I stepped through the portal, [The World Around Me] going a little wonky as I split through. I briefly ended up with two ‘fuzzed’ spheres as my body was ‘split in half’ as I moved through the portal.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up!]

We were underwater. Properly, truly, underwater, in a vast hall that was all rooms on one side, and pure glass on the other and ceiling. Underfoot was warm, tropical sand, and I immediately slipped my shoes off to let my toes sink into it.

“Your rooms are right over here.” The minotaur gestured. “Let me reassure you that the soundproofing on the rooms is quite sturdy, and there are no ‘quiet hours’ or anything of the like. One of the Classers running the Stellar Oasis has [Party All Night], an aura that will leave you feeling constantly refreshed and invigorated, no matter how little sleep you might get, effectively adding days to your stay.”

Oooh, that sounded like a great aura! I think my [Saintess] class had a similar aura offered in its endless set of skills, but with a different name and theme.

We got to our room. The side away from the door was dominated by more floor to ceiling windows, giving us a beautiful view of a colorful coral reef and the thousands of tiny fish swimming around in it. There was one large bed that was literally made out of clouds.

“The glasses will teleport any drink we have directly to them. Do not fear, we are not conjuring material, but at the same time, I would beg you to have caution. With no [Bartender] keeping an eye on you, and the ability to summon substances of varying strength, it is possible to partake too much. While the glasses are resistant to breaking when dropped, they are nowhere close to indestructible.”

“And we’re billed a small fortune if we do break them.” I whispered quietly to Iona. It had been in the paperwork I’d just signed. Page 289.

“The bubble tour is a popular first experience at the Stellar Oasis. It can give you a good overview of all the amenities offered. If you need any assistance, simply request assistance out loud. We will promptly be at your side.”

Interesting! And maybe a little spooky.

“Thank you.” Iona said, tipping the man generously. He bowed and left. Iona’s eyes drifted to the cloud bed.

“You are insatiable.” I replied to her wordless request. “Let’s go try that bubble tour that was suggested.”

“One moment!” Iona dove into her trunk, retrieving a fresh notebook and her drawing pencils. “Alright, I’m ready, let’s go!”

The heat hit me in a wave as we portaled to the central hub. It was wonderful. Blue skies, a few white clouds drifting through the sky, some birds cawing on the wind. A few other guests were walking around, Immortals from all over. A demon held hands with an elf, while a pair of devils were merrily bickering by a pool.

It was easy enough to find the bubble tour, and there was a devil giving away ice cream to anyone who wanted some. The place was all-inclusive, we’d paid enough at the start that everything inside was free. I got mango flavor, while Iona got a chocolate-vanilla-fruit mix.

I mock-shuddered at her choice.

“What?” She licked her treat. “I like tasting everything. It’s not like I’m a one-noter like you are.” She teased.

We sat down in the staging area, and a great bubble of soap popped into existence around us, including a little love bench for us to sit on. I sat down and crossed my legs, aware that the bottom of the bubble was transparent.

“There’s something nice about going with the old familiar comforts.” I flirted back.

We took in the sights as the bubble lifted up, getting a good view of everything going around. Waterways crossed through the air, a lazy river that went up. The beaches were made out of sparkling white sand, and every incoming wave was huge, right until the moment it was about to hit the shore. Then it decreased in size to a more reasonable amount. Guests of the Stellar Oasis were playing games on the beach, there was an amphitheater, a buffet hall, and so much more!

I rested my head on Iona’s shoulder.

“I love you.” I said.

“I love you too. Now, stay just like that, I want to capture this moment forever.” Iona said, her pencil moving over the page at high speed.

The Stellar Oasis was amazing. The bathrobes were so soft I wanted to weep when I took them off. There was a snow section, with a downhill ski slope that seemed to never end, and the snow was warm enough that there was no discomfort. A potion hot tub had all sorts of interesting effects, and the [Bartender] had taken a potion to transform into a dilophosaurus… or so she claimed.

“She’s actually a dinosaur!” Iona whispered urgently into my ear, able to sneak a peek into her stats. “A dinosaur is mixing our drinks!”

That was far cooler than ‘oh I took a potion to look like this.’

The beach was eternally perfect, and I could even somewhat control how ‘solid’ the sand was, letting us make an epic sand castle with some of the other guests. Iona was half of a competitive spirit, and some “famous” general - I’d never heard of him - was the other half of a competitive spirit, and the two ‘teams’ built the largest castles we could, then fired harmless sandballs at each other.

One of the buildings had all sorts of ‘tinker toys’, including a set of runes engraved in stone that could be rearranged in various orders to make different fun effects, letting anyone play at being a ‘wizard’. It was briefly novel for me then boring, since I could do my own wizardry - and they did it all wrong!! - but Iona had a blast.

There was the most skillful ‘skill-less’ performance I’d ever seen. Someone had decided to turbo-charge their initial class by not accepting anything, and was still level 8 at 150 years old. The benefits of being Immortal. He had a wonderful stage act and performance, made all the more novel and interesting by the fact that there couldn’t be any ‘true’ skills on display.

Level 100+ [Actors] and [Thespians] were a dime a dozen. But someone who could stand, act, and joke better than one, while clearly not having any skills or classes for it was fresh and revitalizing.

Iona did not like the instant painter. She wanted - perhaps a little jealously, she freely admitted - to have all of our pictures and memories of the place made by her. I had no strong feelings about it, and if it made her happy, sure, why not?

A trampoline section sent us to dizzying heights, made manageable only by the fact that both of us could fly. A few of the other guests looked a little green, which was pretty funny.

One of the only things that was truly limited at the resort were transformation tonics, where we could drink them and experience being another animal for half an hour or so, limited to one per person per day.

A [Hundred Hand Massage] followed a trip in the ‘every direction is down’ room, where we could easily walk on the wall, ceiling, or innumerable little fun ‘obstacles’ that littered the room. Iona was nearly as glued to it as I was to the innumerable enchantments I found all over the place, studying them and adding them to my list of spells I knew.

One thing I had to be careful about - I didn’t know the runic language they were using, and until I did and spent time studying it, I was basically casting blind.

A gang of super intelligent racoons tried to rob the resort, and there was mutterings of a Pekari assault going on nearby. Iona and I needed to remind ourselves that we were on vacation, and that other people were paid to fix these problems.

Didn’t stop me from scruffing one of the racoons I found in my belongings though.

“Now listen here you.” I said, staring at the dangling raccoon at eye level. “I am here on vacation. I don’t want to have to deal with you and your gang’s shit. Go bother somebody else before you become enough of a problem that I need to handle you. Now shoo.”

Fortunately for us, they didn’t see it as a challenge, instead causing mischief everywhere else.

We went diving in the sea, and with a mix of potions and enchantments, were able to walk and freely swim among the coral reefs with no problems.

Jurcor was weird about their fashion - in my opinion. The devils put way too much stock on who was wearing what, and had whole things about fine clothing. That I could tell, there were clearly hidden depths to it all.

The short of it was a ton of clothing shops in dozens of different styles, cuts, and makes, and was the whole reason both Iona and I had brought an entire extra empty trunk.

Shopping and souvenirs! I spent an unwise amount on dresses and trinkets, while Iona liked custom-tailored suits. She also spent an unbelievable amount on a set of paints.

Well, unbelievable to me. The artist believed she’d gotten it at an absolute steal.

I didn’t know it was physically possible to charge that much for paint.

Iona, with her brilliant silver tongue, somehow managed to talk the management of the resort into giving us an extra two weeks stay.

For free.

I had no idea how she managed to do it, only complaining about how stupid charisma was. Quietly.

Sun, sex, food, and alcohol, it was the perfect mangomoon for us.

Chapter 16 - Changing of the Guard I

Vatius

Vatius believed he played one of the most important roles in the Exterreri Empire.

Sure, the Senate passed laws.

Sure, the Emperor ruled.

Sure, the guards, Rangers, and Sentinels took care of problems.

Sure, the various guilds ran the economy.

Sure, merchants made the whole thing run smoothly.

Sure, they’d all starve without farmers.

But!

All that paled in comparison to his work. His art.

Who would know of the Sixteen Trials of Sentinel Invincible if it were not for him?

Who would know of the great triumph of Sentinel Devour against the near-mythical typhon, if he didn’t tell the tale?

Who would ever hear of the greatest romance between Sentinel Dawn and Valkyrie Dusk, the two names oh-so-poetic, if he didn’t shout it from the rooftops?

Vatius was a [Bard], both best and worst of his type, and credit where credit was due:

Vatius was extremely well organized, and his favorite subjects were the Sentinels.

One day his genius would be appreciated and noticed, and he’d gain an official position - along with vampiredom - on his songs. Until then, he’d continue writing and studying the movements of the Sentinels, getting as many songs and inspiration as possible.

[Year 28,267] - The Twilight Romance - Sentinel Dawn and Valkyrie Dusk getting married.

Notes: Couldn’t find much about their early years together. It was like they just saw each other, said ‘let’s get married’ and went from there. Only the wedding is factual - the fights, duels, and feuding families are made up. Popular with the ladies.

[Year 28,268] - The Undying Legion - The Sixth Legion eliminating an entire Pekari army without a single casualty.

Notes: Not only did nobody in the Legion die, none of the ancillaries died either. Verses 3, 5, and 6 about them are unpopular, cut from further iteration. Extremely popular with soldiers.

[Year 28,269] - Bid for Immortality - Sentinel Dawn holding an auction in Sanguino.

Notes: The wordplay in this one’s excellent, but nobody’s interested. Use as reference. Might find more success in mortal lands. Look into translating into Yayoi.

Today was an important day.

It didn’t mean I was going to slack off.

Immortality, eternity, an easy source of income and a somewhat relaxed job made it all too easy and tempting to sit on my laurels, grab some mangos from the garden, kick up my feet, grab a book, and indulge myself. All day, every day.

I woke up to the smell of frying eggs, with salt, pepper, and a tiny dash of cayenne peppers. I inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent, and happy that I didn’t need to worry about how ungodly expensive spices were on Pallos.

I slipped into the small private kitchen, where Iona was expertly frying fourteen eggs. Two for me, a dozen for her. I grabbed a mango and orange out of the bowl, and started peeling both. [Rapid Reshelving] got me plates directly out of the cupboard and onto the table. The Valkyries that occasionally passed through the place got the large-scale kitchen, but our private domain was just for ‘the family’.

“Morning love! Sleep well?” She asked as I arranged the slices of orange artfully onto her plate.

Eh. I was up, I was functioning, I had a full day ahead of me, [Zenith Everlasting], go!

[*ding!* [Zenith Everlasting] leveled up! 600 -> 601]

Oh nice. It’d been a while since I’d seen that one level up.

Iona expertly flicked her knife out, slicing off two slices of bread. With a deft twist of her wrist, she sent them my way. [The First Rays of Dawn] was complete overkill for toasting bread, but it was fun getting both sides done completely evenly before they landed on our plates. I frowned at mine.

“Overlapped a hair here.” I pointed to the spot as Iona sauntered over with the hot frying pan filled with delicious dinosaur eggs.

Chicken, of course.

She squinted at the spot I was pointing to.

“I think I see it.” She removed any further analysis of my aim by dumping two eggs onto my toast. “Eat up! Big day today.”

“Thanks! They look great!” I chowed down with gusto. Iona started eating as well, eventually grabbing a pitcher of water and starting to pour it onto the table. Without a word I teleported a cup right into the stream, smoothly intercepting her pour before it could be a problem.

I loved our teamwork.

“Are you up for hitting my armor after breakfast?” I asked.

Iona hummed and nodded.

“Yeah, I can make that work. Sharp weapons? I’ve got something I’d like to try, and dulls could ruin the effect.”

Titania was the only ‘squishy’ person around, and she knew to stay far away from the sparring room. Some Valkyries might also be using the salle, but this early in the morning they were likely doing other activities. A few little chores that helped keep the place running, alleviating the impact of their stay here. Iona and I cleaned up entirely after ourselves, and our housekeeper never entered. It was a safety thing, and it made it a little easier on us all.

I teleported into [Vault of Ages], mentally checking what my to-do list had.

Ugh. At some point I still needed to sit down and plot out the contents of every room at the level 85, 90, 95, and 105 markers. One thing I’d never considered with the skill - how often I’d need to manually pick up a bunch of stuff and move it around to a better storage layout when it expanded.

It was always worth it long term, but it sucked in the moment. The first half-dozen times I’d needed to replan and remodel had been fun, then it turned into a chore. Who knew a gigantic pocket dimension for storage could be such a chore?!

I passed through a nearby ‘broken and destroyed’ room, filled with armor sets that were battered and broken to the point of uselessness, and found one of my last remaining intact sets. I’d need to visit Harper soon, she had a [Smith] that repaired the sets for me. Good experience for everyone!

[Rapid Reshelving] was such a fun skill. I wasn’t finding huge amounts of use in ‘instantly move things from one spot to another’, apart from little gimmicks like Iona pouring herself a glass of water this morning, but it was incredibly useful for ‘getting things in the right configuration immediately’. Case in point - putting on a whole suit of armor took a thought, not thirty minutes and a [Squire]. I grabbed a short sword - swinging against an unarmed target was pointless, and it helped keep Iona mindful of her own openings - and I was set.

I popped back out into our sparring room, Iona slowly moving through a few katas with her glaive.

I hated the glaive.

I didn’t stretch or limber up, simply making sure [Etheric Aegis] was up and active. Most enemies wouldn’t give me the chance to prepare and warm up. Why should I practice under unrealistic conditions?

That wasn’t to say we were completely abandoning all sanity and reason.

“Ready to spar.” Iona said.

“Ready to spar.” I confirmed.

As the last syllable left my lips, Iona lunged at me with her glaive. I tried to dodge, but she’d been prepared and ready, and she promptly ran me through the gut. A fast jerk to the side ripped my entrails out, my healing reforming my body into perfect shape behind her, but my poor plate clanged against the far wall.

Iona grinned savagely at me, her eyes burning with unholy light. Naturally, she continued swinging. With the little bit of extra momentum from getting impaled, I was able to dodge the first few swings, anticipating with the familiarity of long practice where she’d move next and what blow was coming.

The Valkyrie quickly closed the momentum gap by sheer virtue of being faster than I was, and right before she was going to get me, changed her style anyway and slammed the shaft of her polearm over my shoulder.

My collarbone broke and my pauldron had it even worse, and we spent the next 20 minutes systemically wrecking every piece of armor I’d put on.

[*ding!* [Etheric Aegis] leveled up! 201 -> 202]

Woo! Today was a good day! It had been a while since my last level up on the skill. I was getting a sense of deja-vu…

Iona managed to destroy my greave with style.

“Glaives aren’t supposed to bounce off walls.” I complained, yanking the polearm out of my foot. We were going to need to re-tile the room soon enough - we kept wrecking the floor. Who knew a good sparring room would be so expensive? My wife winked at me.

“You know I love you, right?” She said.

“I know.” I confirmed.

“Need a hug?” She opened her arms, and I wordlessly took her up on it.

I loved Iona for asking. Every day, every time we sparred, every time she spilled my blood, in the end she affirmed her love for me, and looked after my mental and emotional wellbeing if needed.

The room was coated in bits of torn metal and way, way too much blood. Fortunately, I had a handy spell for that!

Except I was going to do it the hard way.

First I teleported back into [Vault], and dropped off my now-shattered gear into the collection, then grabbed an inkpot and quill from yet another room. I let the fact that blood was still dripping from my outfit roll off my back - I was used to handling it by now.

Back in reality, I grabbed a practice spellbook out of [Loremaster’s Library], and opened it up to a fresh page. Iona was performing maintenance on her own gear, and the two of us worked in companionable silence.

One of the things I was working on was using [Ancient Loremaster of Legend] to do more-wizardry-ish stuff, and some of the best practice was ‘mimic’ practice. Doing what I wanted to do ‘for real’ in practice.

In this case, the exercise was threefold.

First, I dipped my quill in the ink, and drew out the Jiwa rune for [Immaculate Purification] on the page. It was the wrong way to use [Lepidoptera], so it wasn’t actually a rune - it was simply a pretty picture. The intent and the exercise was there.

[*ding!* [Technical Drawing] leveled up! 55 -> 56]

[Parallel Thoughts] had indeed merged into [Luminary Mind], and after a short stint with [Visualization] that got merged with [Astral Archives], I picked up [Technical Drawing] as a ‘boost Spatial Wizardry’ skill. A little bit to help the class evolve in the right direction, additional skills and weight to help with the class quality.

I traced the rune over with my Radiance, ‘reinforcing’ the exercise, and more importantly - giving me a usable rune! I promptly activated it, cleansing the sparring room of all the body parts I’d left behind.

All hail magic. I turned the page of my notebook.

The second was a different, possibly more clever use of my skills, and I felt like a huge idiot for not thinking of it sooner. [Rapid Reshelving] was good for arranging things quickly, and I teleported a blot of ink onto the fresh page in the perfect shape of the same Jiwa rune again. It was Spatial, it was magical, and tracing over the rune again got me a usable rune, which I promptly used to clean out [Vault]. There was no question that I was getting a Spatial Wizardry class offered. The only true question was the quality offered, and I was working my butt off to make it a good one. Black quality stats were like a drug, one I was reluctant to quit. No way I’d get black, not on a side or downgrade to a class archetype I had little experience with, but I was hoping for at least green, especially with how long the 256 to 768 gap was. At the same time, part of my experience was suggesting that I’d get far better than green, but…

Eh. Set expectations low, be happy when they’re met. Secret to happiness in life.

[*ding!* [Rapid Reshelving] leveled up! 235 -> 236]

Okay, wow. Once happened, twice was a coincidence, three times was a conspiracy, and four was utterly undeniable. I faithfully practiced my skills and Skills every day, getting a bit of progress in here and there, but clearly the first time special weight of today was influencing my experience gain.

Speaking of [Rapid Reshelving], I had another exercise I wanted to try.

“Can you shoot me with your bow?” I asked.

Iona summoned her bow and arrows as an answer.

“Lots or a few?” She asked.

“Start off with a few slow shots, see if I can even manage it, and from there let’s either ramp up, or take notes for future practices.”

The blonde clicked her tongue.

“It’s getting later in the day, and I do have some plans. Can we make it a ‘notes’ session?” She asked.

“Yeah, I can do that.” I said

“Ready to spar.” Iona said.

“Ready to spar.” I confirmed.

She smoothly drew her bow back halfway and released a ‘slow, lazy’ arrow at my foot. To most other people the arrow would’ve been impossibly fast, but things got weird at high physical stats.

I was just barely able to track the arrow, and managed to get a ‘grip’ on it with [Rapid Reshelving] and teleported it to my hand, bleeding out the momentum entirely.

“Yes!” I triumphantly thrust the arrow over my head. “I did it!”

Iona lifted an eyebrow.

“Impressive!” She said. “I can see how that would need thinking on.”

I lowered the arrow in front of my face and studied it while thinking out loud.

“I wonder if there’s a way to preserve the speed, and just, like, teleport it back to you.” I said.

If I could do that, my efforts at changing my shield could be entirely futile, since it would work entirely on non-vitality boosted abilities, just like an ‘annihilation’ shield worked on non-vitality boosted abilities. Still, there was the whole ‘throw everything and see what works’ aspect that I’d be entirely vulnerable to. Flames and sandblasts came to mind immediately, and-

Iona coughed, bringing my attention back to the real world. Shit! Right! She had things to do today, and I was delaying her by staring at an arrow, lost in space.

“Is being back here an hour before the ceremony suitable?” Iona asked. I nodded.

“Yup, that should work for everyone.” I confirmed.

A quick kiss later, and Iona was off. If her schedule didn’t change, I knew she was doing a clothing drive for the rest of the morning, helping in a soup kitchen over lunch, then acting as an escort for one of the [Priests] who was investigating a ‘thorny issue’. It was confidential enough that Iona didn’t know, but she promised that if it was something the guards should be looking at, that she’d loop them in. My personal bet was mediating a family dispute.

I walked outside to my orchard, and spent a bit of time tending to the trees. The mangos were growing well. A branch was starting to die on one of them, and my skill guided my hand to prune it. The bird’s nest was abandoned, the babies having grown up and left. I was reluctant to mess too much with the insects, not quite knowing which ones were beneficial, and which ones would be eating my precious mangos.

Soon they would be ready! Soon they would be ripe! And then I would feast, a monstrous beast coated in juice, surrounded by pits, a great devourer of all things mango!

Patience, patience… their time would come.

[*ding!* [Gardening] leveled up! 97->98]

I’d dropped [Imbue] after it became clear that [The Arbiter of Life and Death] had increased my healing to absurd degrees. I could heal at almost twice the distance my feathers could reach, which made the skill entirely dead for healing-related purposes. At which point, the question was - what did I take?

I went for something fun, for myself - [Gardening]! One day I hoped to expand it, but for now, it worked. It was a nice, peaceful moment.

A weak leaf fell off a tree, and struck by a moment of inspiration, finally remembering a test I wanted to run when I was in the right place, I summoned [A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers]. Well, the skill was a bit of a misnomer when I was only summoning one feather, but it was what it was.

In memory of Auri, I summoned a hummingbird’s primary feather, activated my anti-friction runes to not make a bunch of complicating wind gusts, and quickly moved it into position. I held it sideways, letting the leaf fall down onto it. The feather was so sharp, the leaf cleanly sliced itself in half.

[*ding!* [The Arbiter of Life and Death] has leveled up! 840 -> 860. +400 Strength, +400 Dexterity, +800 Speed, +800 Vitality, +1600 Magic Power, +1600 Magic Control, +1000 Mana, +9000 Mana Regeneration 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) per level! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration from your Element per level!]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Butterfly Mystic] has leveled up to level 706->740! +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!]

[*ding!* [Companion Bond Between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 840->860]

My heart missed a beat as the notifications flared in front of me, the blue boxes somehow taking an ominous tint.

Auri.

Aoife Auri Stentor.

What were you doing?!

Twenty levels in a single go!? What was going on!? It wasn’t like I’d delayed the notifications or wrapped them up myself, she’d done one thing and gotten twenty levels from it!

I started to pace, nervously chewing on my thumb.

I’d promised her six years before I went to get her. Was she in trouble? Should I go now? Did she need me? Was she just having the time of her life, and would she resent my intrusion? Was she alright?

Questions, questions, a thousand questions. I reassured myself that my companion skill still existed - whatever she was doing, she was alive. I couldn’t stop worrying about her though!

I distracted myself by going back inside, and finding one of the endless moonstones Amber had placed all over the villa ‘as a reminder’, and charging it with [The Stars Never Fade].

[*ding!* [The Stars Never Fade] leveled up! 50 -> 51]

There was no surprise there. For whatever reason, every time I used the skill, I got a level. I wasn’t complaining.

Ugh, it was still morning. I was too excited and nervous to properly focus.

I took off and flew over to where the Sixth Legion was camped, the trip taking up a nice chunk of time. Katerina and I had a good system worked out. I checked my mail, seeing if she needed me for anything, or if she had any messages to pass along. There was one, and I quickly scanned it.

Dawn,

We’ve finished dismantling the [Battery] line, as per your request. Nike has remained with the Sixth, while the rest have been redistributed to the other Legions as per their need.

I hope we don’t end up regretting this.

Legata Katerina.

Short, simple, and thankfully no ‘our scouts have found traces of a monster. Standby for extermination’ messages.

My job done, I flew back home, the trip having calmed me down. I took the time back to simply enjoy life, enjoy flying. How the wind whistled around me. How the air seemed to wrap around me like an old friend.

It was wonderful. Why couldn’t life always be like flying?

I suppose the lows and the boring parts highlighted the fun parts, and made them all richer. There was no such thing as light without darkness, after all.

Back home I shaped [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] into a cup, poured some water into it, then flipped open a spellbook to a simple Fire spell, which I shot into the water.

Steam hissed and the water frothed and roiled, and I sighed at the exercise.

It was boring, but I wanted to see if I could get a neat shield skill out of it, to study the effects and the offered power if nothing else. I glanced at the sun, and almost had a heart attack.

Moldy mangos! I was going to be late!

I dropped my spell and shield, uncaring of the spilled water that went everywhere - Sorry Titania, I didn’t usually leave my messes uncleaned, that was unkind of me - and bolted out the door at top speed, flying to Sanguino with my anti-friction runes glowing blue against my skin, in stark relief against the marriage tattoo on my back.

I had a meeting with Night, and if it didn’t happen today, it could be months before I had another chance to talk with him.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 35]

[Mana: 3,494,560/3,494,560]

[Mana Regeneration: 9,983,821 +(20,085,302)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 34,398 (Effectively: 275,184)]

[Dexterity: 58,974 (Effectively: 627,955)]

[Vitality: 143,144 (Effectively: 2,236,625)]

[Speed: 130,376 (Effectively: 2,566,191)]

[Mana: 349,456]

[Mana Regeneration: 1,085,692 (+ 2,008,530)]

[Magic Power: 392,514 (+ 16,878,102)]

[Magic Control: 392,235 (+ 16,866,105)]

[Class 1: [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial: Lv 860]]

[Celestial Mastery: 860]

[Aurora Curialis: 770]

[The Stars Never Fade: 51]

[Luminary Mind: 588]

[Universal Cure: 860]

[Etheric Aegis: 202]

[Shroud of the Stellar Sea: 640]

[Zenith Everlasting: 601]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 740]]

[Radiance Affinity: 740]

[Radiance Resistance: 740]

[The Rays of the First Dawn: 740]

[Lepidoptera: 740]

[Nectar: 740]

[Solar Corona: 740]

[Wings of the Mythical Sunbird: 740]

[A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers: 740]

[Class 3: [Ancient Loremaster of Legend - Spatial: Lv 256]]

[Spatial Authority: 256]

[Manuscript Mastery: 256]

[Blink: 181]

[Loremaster's Library: 256]

[Vault of Ages: 81]

[Rapid Reshelving: 235]

[Astral Archives: 256]

[Lust for Lore: 256]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 530]

[Technical Drawing: 56]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 860]

[The World Around Me: 203]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 860]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 860]

[Persistent Casting: 640]

[Gardening: 98]

Chapter 17 - Changing of the Guard II

Night was a gracious vampire, my mentor, my friend. He’d spent quite a lot of time with me, helping me settle in when I first came back.

But he was a busy, busy man.

During his ‘vacation’ from leading the Sentinels, he still had a full social calendar. Not only did most of the Sentinels seek to bend his ear on occasion, but he was the vampire. He seemed to know everyone, have connections to all the movers and shakers, was mentoring at least three people in wildly different arts and pursuits, that I knew of, and entirely bucked the notion that Immortals were stuffy, boring, and didn’t keep up with things.

The idea of an Immortal staying in a cave and not noticing thousands of years were passing was laughably absurd. Time passed for them like everyone else, if perhaps a hair faster than normal.

Stacking on top of that, Night was about to resume command of the Sentinels, giving Arachne a much-deserved break. Susan wouldn’t be tied into every single thing that occurred in Sanguino. She wouldn’t have feelers in every room, she wouldn’t hear every whisper that occurred, nor feel every footstep, every movement, every skill. She didn’t need to stay on top of every conspiracy, nor would she need to let most criminals go.

The months leading up to the transition of power were busy for both Susan and Night. In spite of being married, they managed to not bring work home with them too often, and Night had years of catching up to do.

In time, when the hourglass turned and the two traded off again, they’d need to do the same thing. Only… much faster, given Arachne’s heavy focus on all things knowledge and information.

When I brought my question to Night about what Aion had implied about ‘fight against the encroaching darkness that threatens all life on Pallos,’ he hadn’t immediately known. He needed to spend some time unlocking the proper, relevant memories, and with everything else going on?

Well, that had taken time. While I had a moment of his time, I’d also included a list of other questions. Questions that, mere hours from taking over, he finally had an hour to answer.

No longer was I sneaking through a weird tannery and making my way down through tunnels. Instead, I walked right up to Castle Stormwatch, the Bloodsworn Order looking extra-spiffy today.

Hey, the Sentinels were about to go all-out, and we had a friendly rivalry going on of sorts. I didn’t interact much with them - I barely knew the names of three members of the Bloodsworn Order - but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a professional rivalry going on.

A few members of each group took it way too seriously. It wasn’t my problem.

A few guards, a lot of hallways and uncountable art displays later, and I was knocking at the appropriate door, having already confirmed with a pair of guards that I belong.

“Enter.” Night’s familiar voice was brusque and promised no nonsense. I quickly slipped into the meeting hall.

Night had a pair of powerful Immortals by his side - an elf and a devil - a third one - a dwarf - slipping by behind me to deliver another stack of papers. I couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the papers. It wasn’t like they could be top-secret.

List of Sentinel Candidates was written at the top. Each candidate had exactly five sheets of paper dedicated to them, and it seemed like they cast a wide, wide net when vetting candidates. Maxlin, Wren, and Katerina from the Sixth all had their own files. To my surprise, the notes on Wren’s implied he was the most likely of the three to make it - but even that wasn’t super promising.

Night’s aide carefully moved a few files around, clearing a little spot on the table and placing the list of candidates where they belonged.

“Dawn. Welcome.” Night looked up as he put down the paper he was reading. “I would like to apologize for the nature and timing of this. The information was important enough that it warrants a direct conversation, but I find myself lacking in the time to have a full, proper discussion as usually marks our meetings. Come, sit, I will introduce you to my personal team along with everyone else at the ceremony later.” Night said with a hint of amusement.

Sentinels were rarely recruited. I was still the newest recruit, and the only one ‘obtained’ during Arachne’s most recent tenure. I don’t know why it came as a surprise to me that Night had his own personal team assisting him - and that only one of them was a vampire!

“First, ‘the encroaching darkness that threatens all life on Pallos.’ Addolorata, Daku the Five-Hundredth and Thirty Sixth, Talathil, you may leave the room if you do not wish to be cursed with knowledge.”

To my great consternation, the room cleared out in moments. Just how badly had Night traumatized those three that their curiosity had been replaced by caution!?

… How badly traumatized was I about to be!?

Eh… couldn’t be worse than what I learned as a [Loremaster]... could it? Well, if it was, it’d be great fuel for class rarity!

I sat down next to Night, deciding to suppress my curiosity on all the reams of paperwork and not potentially traumatize myself with more knowledge, or distract myself from Night’s information.

“It is fortunate that I was able to regale you with my tale of finding myself trapped on Aetherion.” Night started.

I nodded. I remembered that! It was the story of when Night got yoinked by a portal mage onto another planet. That idiot hunting Auri had crashed the party, but Artemis had fixed things.

“For narrative purposes, I cut a number of aspects to my tale, parts that wouldn’t add to the story yet were part of my adventure. Nobody needs to hear the mundane details of how I fed on blood for the sixty-fourth time, nor did every trip between a city require a ballad on how an axle broke and we helped a farmer along the way. Mundane details. There are other parts that I passed over, such as the complexities of the magic available there, and the intricate details and research into spells that we needed to do. Fascinating to a [Researcher] who would like to know how other schools of magic work, but boring from a narrative perspective.”

I nodded again, slowly, unsure how this all came together. Starting to get an unfortunate picture of possibilities.

“One aspect I didn’t delve deeply into was how difficult it was to locate Pallos in the grand scheme of the multiverse. We found ourselves engaged in sympathy, like calling to like, my blood and the vampiric offspring I’ve left behind acting as a beacon to find home once again. At the time, not knowing better, we simply assumed it was difficult to find a single needle in an infinite haystack. I now know better.”

Night tilted his seat back, a nostalgic smile playing on his lips.

“The gods on Aetherion were entirely different from the gods here on Pallos.” He said. “It is only natural. I witnessed most of them ascend. Solaris isn’t the Goddess of All Suns. She is the Goddess of the Pallos Sun. Edor is the god of this Ocean here on Pallos. Your wife’s very own Selene and Lunaris are the goddesses of these moons. On Aetherion, the gods and goddesses were inactive, for lack of a better word. They rarely answered prayers, and miracles were a once-in-a-century event from the entire pantheon. Cutting to the heart of your question. I have asked a few of the gods whom I am on good terms with for clarity and other potential answers, but all of their responses were the same. I unfortunately do not have a strong enough connection with Aion to directly ask her what she meant, but I believe my speculation has some merit.”

Yeah, if Night made his ‘best guess’ saying A, and a thousand [Scholars] told me B was the answer, I was still probably putting my money on A. Night had been around a few times. Night knew things.

“I believe what Aion was referencing was how the pantheons do not get along. They war with each other, protecting their domain and attempting to steal power from others. You might have borne witness to how the gods bicker and argue with each other here on Pallos,”

I had, more than once. With how gleeful Iona was in offering up other god’s divine implements to her patrons, I’d have a hard time being convinced that they mostly got along.

“But my understanding is the fighting reaches a whole different level of viciousness in the battles between divine realms. The pantheon headed by the Big Five, to my understanding, have taken a ‘hidden’ approach to the war. It is probably less shocking to you than to others, but nearly 30,000 years after Creation, we are still a young world. A young pantheon. Newcomers still have multitudes of easy opportunities to ascend. From here on out, my speculations grow a little wilder. A little less sure. I could be entirely wrong. There is a veil over Pallos, one that tries to keep its existence and exact location secret, even while the gods wage war and gently skirmish with others. I believe as well that is why the Divine Decree against ‘tearing the fabric of reality’ exists, for each shred weakens the veil, risking our exposure to the greater multiverse, and the factions to which our existence is simply the blink of an eye.”

Another thought connected for me, and I snapped my fingers.

“The Big Five!” I said. “They had to come from somewhere, they didn’t just spring into existence out of nowhere and started creating.”

Night slowly nodded.

“A decent speculation.” He agreed. “My personal speculation is perhaps five minor deities from a larger pantheon decided to break away and try their own hand at things. Now, that is my best guess. A second guess I have on the matter is related, yet different. Things exist in the void, in the spaces between universes. Unfathomable existences. Should one find Pallos, we would find all of existence in a fight for survival, if there even was an ability to fight. It is possible that it would caress this world, and we would all drop dead. Then it would feast upon the corpses of the gods.”

I shuddered. Night shrugged.

“It is no use worrying about such an event. If we should die in such a manner, we die. I have a few more speculations, but each one is less and less founded on fact and observation, and I have little to recommend or support them, and time flies by quickly.”

Fruit flies like a banana. The bad joke popped into my head unbidden, and I suppressed an inappropriate laugh.

“It sounds like the offer to battle darkness is a relatively noble one, no matter how things are sliced.” I cautiously offered.

“Indeed.” Night quickly agreed. “It is like taking the role of a guard or a Ranger in the greater cosmos, and I could only hope the brave men and women who have found it their calling in life have gotten a chance after death to once again take up the mantle.”

Ooof. Thinking about it - noooo thank you. When I died, I planned to rest.

Ugh… but if I could keep things safe for everyone…

A debate for another day.

“Was there anything unclear about what I said, or any questions you might have?” Night asked without a characteristic pause for thinking.

“Ehhh… okay, so yes, I’m going to have a bunch of questions when I think about it, but no intelligent ones at the moment.” I said.

“Then I apologize, but time is short. Fame and Identity-based classes. I have held a number of them over the years, and apologies if I don’t tell you what I currently have, but the walls have ears, even with Arachne’s presence. Broadly, I have found them to be pure upside. Passive experience gain, and most every action rewards modest experience. The downside is worth keeping in mind. Your scope will rarely expand when you have one in your possession. It will encompass everything you have been and done, but rarely will it point you to new horizons and new trails to travel. When you have lived a long and varied life, that is less of a concern than when one is young and still exploring.”

Night sounded distinctly smug at the last part. Made sense - a [The Long Night] class for him would encompass almost literally everything, while mine would be a little more restricted. He rolled his fingers on the table, then slapped it.

“Your third request. Yes, I am familiar with a Spatial [Runesmith]. He specializes in Jiwa, which is arguably something of a misnomer of tongues and languages that I will not get into at this moment. Kunchenjab can be found at the Jakhong Monastery. Here is a letter of introduction. I recommend you manually walk up the Giant’s Stairway and take a contemplative journey through the Valley of Echoing Prayers. It will endear you to them, and likely grant you an audience in the first place, after which you can present my letter to them. However, I must be clear. I am simply opening the door a little wider, they may make their own requests or simply deny you.”

“Thank you Night, I understand.” A little social bird that sounded suspiciously like Iona was whispering in my ear, telling me to reciprocate. How to do it, how to do it… ahha!

“If you ever need to send someone my way, my door’s always wide open for anyone with a letter from you.”

Night smiled at me, a twinkle in his eye.

“Ah my dear, how you’ve grown! It’s such a joy to see. Now, I believe that covers everything. I apologize once again Elaine, but the timing of your query is most unfortunate.”

I nodded and stood up.

“No, thank you Night, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I won’t disrupt you anymore. Thank you for your time.”

Night smiled, letting his fangs show.

“Then I will see you at the ceremony later.” He picked up another stack of papers, and I recognized a dismissal when I saw one.

Success!

I got up, saluted, spun on my heels, and left. Night’s team was just outside the door, and they efficiently piled in behind me the moment I’d left.

Today was shaping up to be an odd day. I figured since I was working on the various questions that had been brought up when I last classed up, the day was all off-kilter. As it wasn’t quite time for me to start getting ready, I hunted through the city until I found a temple dedicated to Ciriel, Goddess of Healing.

She was relatively popular, as far as goddesses went, although less popular in a major city like Sanguino. Gods could grant miracles to their faithful, and out in small villages and other places where there weren’t well-trained [Healers], begging Ciriel for a miracle of healing was one of the only options. The closer a miracle was to a goddess’s portfolio, the more likely it was to be answered.

Of course, out in little villages, there were good arguments to be made about praying to harvest gods, wood, sheep, wheat, stone, clay…

I took a seat in one of the benches, bowed my head and clasped my hands. I don’t know why I’d put this off so long.

Hi Ciriel.

It’s me, Elaine. I’m not too good at this prayer thing, but-

My prayer was interrupted by a voice in my head.

Elaine!!! I’m so happy you finally reached out! You have no idea how anxious I was when I didn’t hear from you. I thought I’d done something wrong. Alright, I hope I’m not being too excited and forward, but I am so impressed!

I’ll be honest, I thought for sure that you were another elf when I read the Medical Manuscripts. With Lumornor being the famous spreader and all that. Imagine my surprise when you weren’t!

Huh, Ciriel… I guess that was a pretty elvish-sounding name.

I’m so curious! How’d you write them? How’d you know?

Trade you a question for a question! I teased back. I don’t know a lot of gods and goddesses. Do elves lose their arrogance when they ascend? What got you into medicine and healing in the first place?

An embarrassed laugh came back to me over the connection.

By my books, ascending was the greatest dose of humiliation and embarrassment ever. Ciriel said. An Immortal’s lifetime worth of memories of being far too arrogant and condescending hit all at once. I almost died from sheer mortification when I realized what I’d said and done. It was the WORST. I’ll freely admit I took a few decades to stew over it and try to make some amends, but in some ways, making amends just amplified the problem and - yeah, let’s not talk about that anymore.

My ears perked up at Ciriel’s swear. By her books? Another bookworm? Another part of me told me not to laugh at the goddess. Not because she was a goddess, but laughing at someone who’d just revealed a private embarrassment was the wrong thing to do. It just wasn’t kind.

Well, my turn! You’re probably familiar with Papilion…

I leaned back as I started to give Ciriel the basics of my story, a smile playing over my face as we chatted. I felt like I’d met a kindred spirit, another healer, one who’d gone the whole distance.

Another friend.

Chapter 18 - Changing of the Guard III

The ringing symphony of steel on steel greeted me when I returned home, a pair of Valkyries sparring in full gear. I poked my head into the salle, watching a display of skill and magic, seeing once again how an utterly alien style of fighting worked. A longsword and kite shield wielded by a pachysaurus type saurian against a bearkin wielding a greatsword almost as tall as she was - and she towered over Iona by a full head.

On one hand, combat was combat. Trying to kill someone was trying to kill someone. On the other, gear and tradition informed optimal movements. Remus and Exterreri favored ‘lighter’ armor - relative to what Valkyries used - strong tower shield, spears and short swords. There was a fundamental assumption underpinning our drills and tactics that we’d have someone on either side of us, covering us as we fought in tandem.

The Valkyries didn’t. They had much heavier armor, and the fundamental assumption that they were alone.

Of course I’d seen Iona sparring thousands of times, but it was different as an ‘outsider’, and it was rare to get two heavies clashing against each other.

There was one odd thing I was noticing though… I wasn’t familiar enough with the style to be certain, and the last few years had helped me grow socially a bit.

Just a little. Better than I was before.

I was aware that I was the [Lady] of the house. The owner, the person with the purse strings who made it all happen. It gave me a somewhat uncomfortable position over the Valkyries. They thought, in the back of their mind, that if they annoyed me too much that they’d wear out their welcome. That they’d be evicted once again.

On one hand, absolutely not. I wouldn’t do that to my wife.

On the other, if they were absolutely terrible guests and constantly trashed the place or casually demolished walls - neither Iona or I had the classic [Fortification] skill, a popular skill for reinforcing buildings housing powerful Classers - then yeah, they’d probably wear on my patience and temper enough that Iona would be the one caught in the awkward position between us, and would probably make the Valkyries find alternative arrangements.

The bearkin smashed down with her greatblade, the saurian being forced down to one knee as she blocked. A swift kick from the bear took out her support, and the saurian tried to roll. The greatsword came down with more than enough reach to trap her before she could finish her roll, and the two paused their duel, the winner obvious.

“You’re favoring your right leg a bit. Everything alright?” I asked the longsword-weidling Valkyrie. The bearkin offered her hand, the other Valkyrie taking the assist to get pulled back up.

“Well, if you’re noticing it, there’s no way Brute didn’t.” She said. “No offense.”

The bearkin - Brute, obviously - snorted.

“Like I couldn’t see that bait a thousand fathoms away. Come on, make it more subtle. Last round, loser buys drinks?” She offered.

With a flick of her sword, the saurian got back into position.

“Beer tastes sweetest when bought by the loser.” She agreed.

I left the two of them to it. I’d tried to help - turns out I was only seeing a trap being laid out. It was better to ask, than assume.

While there was no need to get changed into my ceremonial Sentinel gear in a particular place, it was my ceremonial gear. I felt like some pomp and ceremony was required for gearing up.

I went into my [Vault] - By the goddesses - errr, Goddess? Ciriel was cool, maybe I should start swearing by her - I don’t know what I’d been thinking when I nearly didn’t take the skill. Easy logistics was so cool.

Oh by Ciriel, I was getting old. I was geeking out over storage! Next thing I knew I’d be happy we had good trash!

… oh no, I was old, I was excited about how easy our trash was.

Putting that aside, I ‘swam’ through my [Vault of Ages], mentally making a note that whatever Spatial class I took, I had to make sure I kept the skill.

Then again, there was a strong argument that I should empty the [Vault] out before classing up. If I got an irresistible offering, I wouldn’t want to lose everything contained in my storage. I’d need like… two months of effort to slowly clear everything out. That classup wasn’t going to be an impulse one. Needed to talk with Night’s friend first.

The location of my ceremonial gear was interesting. Storage! I didn’t want it in my armory and taking up space - everything in there was ‘fight for my life’ equipment- but I also wanted it close to my armory in case I was out of all other gear, and had to use it. My black armor, along with the other ceremonial trimmings, got an entire room to themselves, letting it have the weight and gravitas required for the moments I needed it. I briefly debated putting it on manually, but in the end - nah. Who had time for that?

Full scale, tastefully trimmed with red. Enchanted to always catch the light just right and shine - even when ashes clouded the sky. Gauntlets, enchanted to help me hold my grip on things and stay on my body. The enchantment was neat, I could hold things upside down for a brief moment before gravity took over. Greaves, enchanted to ring a little louder when I stomped down with them.

My cape. Red, of course.

My sigils were emblazoned onto my chest. The right was my personal sigil, the golden eagle of Remus bright gold against the black scale, and the ‘fangs and wings’ sigil of the current day Sentinels on the other side.

A few quick cantrips - I didn’t do a full practice for them, not for something this serious - made sure everything was spiffy. I went through my vault, making it to walk-in closet #3 - the Jurcor shopping dress one.

Look, making sure I had a nice collection of clothes and dresses wasn’t purely due to Auri’s vanity. They were nice! A good remembrance from our mangomoon!

It had a full-room mirror in it, and I spent some time admiring how I looked, fiddling with a few clasps and tucking them in.

With a nod and grin to myself, I left the [Vault], almost landing on top of Iona.

“Hey! Fancy meeting you here!” I said. “Need a hand with your armor?”

“Please.” Iona asked. The fancy outfit I’d gotten for our wedding wasn’t like her mallium, which she could equip with a thought, nor did she have a fancy teleporting skill. She could get it all on herself with [Telekinesis], but a second pair of hands made it much faster.

We got everything on, and without asking, to my delight, Iona grabbed the tabard with my personal Sentinel sigil on it, clearly indicating her affiliation.

I looked her over with a critical eye, smoothing out a practically invisible wrinkle while Iona looked on with an amused grin, her helmet under one arm.

“Got it all?” She asked. “We’re going to be late at this rate.”

“Alright, let’s go. Is Fenrir coming?” I asked.

“He’s off on some investigation.” Iona said. “Plus, I don’t think he’s super comfortable at these sorts of events. His size, even with the shrinking runes…”

I hadn’t heard any storms rumbling in, but maybe the ashen clouds counted? Or it really was a coincidence that a storm whipped up every time Fenrir had a ‘case’.

The two of us set off, Iona greeting a few of her fellow Valkyries on the way out but not stopping to chat. We made our way to Sanguino, whipping up a breeze behind us as we ‘lightly jogged’ over to the meeting point.

The meeting point was fun! There was a subtle beacon letting me know where it was, a small pull on my Sentinel sigil leading the way. One moment, nothing but an overgrown field and a few people resting by the road near it, the next, we were through an illusion, nearly every Sentinel getting ready for the parade.

Just one of those little things adding to our mystique. Having the entire procession appear out of thin air.

Naturally, we didn’t have all the Sentinels. Arachne was eternally paranoid, even in the seat of her power, and a good number of Sentinels - mostly ones off-rotation, but I knew Calamity was also part of the list - had been tapped to not attend the event.

We didn’t want a single decapitation strike to take us all out.

It was fascinating to see so many different Sentinels and teams all in one spot. A few were loners, animatedly talking with each other and trading notes. The typical team was between three and seven members, and I had to imagine many Sentinels being lifted up from the Rangers and the size of their team was a contributing factor. A full forty people were wearing the same Sentinel sigil, and my eyebrows went up as I tried to imagine the finances of supporting so many Classers.

I hadn’t met all the Sentinels before. A number had rotated out since I’d joined, and an equal number had rotated in.

One group I couldn’t quite make heads or tails of. All eight of them were wearing the same sigil, but were all dressed in Sentinel gear. I spotted Queen with her support team, and Iona and I made our way through the crowd.

“Heya Queen!” I waved to her.

“Dawn! Welcome! This is your first event, yeah?” She asked. I nodded.

“Yup! I was wondering, what’s going on with that group?” I gestured to the eight Sentinels in question. Queen laughed.

“Oh, Sentinel Ranger!” She said. “Funny story. They-”

“Sentinels! Form up!” Tyrannus roared. “We’re going in two minutes!”

Everyone started bustling around, and Queen cut a clearly long story very, very short.

“They were a Ranger team together, and operated so well as a team that the leader got promoted to Sentinel. But it wasn’t the leader’s performance that made them so good, it was a group effort. Then they all got promoted as a group.”

A little blinking light appeared in my vision, someone’s clever Mirage pointing me to exactly where I needed to go. I grabbed Iona’s hand, and she let me pull her through the milling Sentinels until we arrived at the right spot. I didn’t recognize the Sentinels ahead or behind me, but I did see Devour three ahead, one of the other Sentinels that had a non-standard cape. Given how they were literally a large part of his abilities, it made sense. A number of banners made an appearance, a mix of the Sentinel symbol, and a number of personal ones mixed in. Tyrannus assembled one of his bone monstrosities, a gigantic bat that had no business flying, and took a seat on its back.

“Sentinels of Exterreri!” He called out. “For glory! Forward! March!” He ordered, and the parade was on.

We quickly passed through the gates of Sanguino to the thunderous applause of the crowds. Iona was in her element, blowing kisses left and right, while I marched with a silly grin. Flowers rained down on us, and skills of all sorts were blasted into the sky.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Parade Marching]. Would you-]

Yeah, yeah, just another random general skill offered. They were a dime a dozen, only worth noting when I was actively trying to get something new.

When a level 1500 Sentinel wanted to show off a big skill, they could show off some really big skills. Devour went from shape to shape, eventually catching my eye with a wink, turned into a phoenix, and fired a jet of flame into the sky to an admiring ‘Ooooooh!’ from the crowd.

I kept my effect subtle but powerful.

Everyone within a kilometer of my location was brought back to perfect health. Every disease, from a cut finger to deadly cancer, from the sniffles to the plague, was entirely eradicated. Given the population of Sanguino, the city density, and the long parade path we were going down, I was basically putting half the healers out of a job for the next few weeks, barring the occasional emergency.

It wasn’t something I wanted to do all the time, namely because I was screwing over the entire next generation of medics, but now and then as a flex? Yeah.

It was also nice to see exactly how much mana I was burning doing this. It gave me a solid baseline to work off of - if I ever needed to actually go ‘nobody in Sanguino dies’, it was nice to know ‘normally it costs X mana, but now it’s costing X + Y mana, so the saving cost Y.’

I caught a thrown lily, and turned to Iona, walking backwards as we continued down.

“Here!” I said, tucking it behind her ear. Her blossoming smile was all the reward I needed.

“Love you.” She said, and I knew exactly what would make her day. I kissed her, in full view of everyone, my ears burning as the cheering redoubled in volume.

Drums beating in slow time greeted us at the stadium, and Iona broke away from me, joining a number of Ranger teams and the other team members in the stands. As public as the parade had been, the ceremony itself was for Rangers, Sentinels, and their support only. The [Emperor] might be able to get in if he wanted, but that was about it.

The eight members of Ranger Command were on top of a dias, elevated above Arachne sitting on a throne in the middle. A clear reminder that, while Arachne was commander, she still reported to a higher authority, the Senate itself. We were no rogue operation, we were no law unto ourselves. We had responsibility and accountability.

Unlike advent- I cut the thought off. It was intrusive, biased, and unproductive… if a little true.

I filed into my spot, appreciating that someone’s skill was keeping the stadium cool and pleasant. With a final flourish, the drums fell silent. Arachne got up to speak.

“Rangers, Sentinels, Command, and most importantly, all those who work in the shadows to make everything possible. Welcome! You have trusted me these last few years to lead and guide you, and today, as mandated by the Senate and my own burning desire for a vacation, I am stepping down as leader of the Sentinels. I will not give an extended farewell, as we all know it is likely I will be back in this position in a few years.”

Arachne kept it short and sweet, and ceremonially took off her Sentinel badge and cape of office, and handed it back to Command. She kept her spider-like personal sigil on, stepped off the stage, and cheerfully strolled out of the room.

[The World Around Me] let me see the thousands of threads Arachne had everywhere, and I got to watch all of them getting ‘raveled in’ as she stopped her unending surveillance of Sanguino.

It was her turn to rest. She’d earned it.

Command got up and started their speech, and while I was a fan of accountability and the like, that didn’t mean my affection extended to the actual [Politicians] and [Senators] holding the role.

I swear, most of them had to have their own long-winded speech, like they were in front of a crowd. Only two kept it extremely short and sweet, and their [Ranger] and [Warrior] tag implied they’d served in the army or even as a Ranger before eventually turning to a political life. Bless those two.

Long story short - Night was taking charge. Oh, sure, they put it in a thousand flowery terms, but it was nothing more than a simple changing of the guard.

Then the drums rolled, and Night himself came in, armed to the teeth. Four of his teammates followed him in, three I’d already seen before and a medusa. A slow chant started, one I quickly joined.

“Night. Night. Night. Night.”

His simple presence was enough to whip centuries-old vampires into a frenzy. He reached the stage, turned around, and held his hands out. We quieted down. Two of the Commanders put the cape of office on Night, and sat back down. He began his speech, putting every ounce of his powerful oration to work.

“Friends, Rangers, Sentinels all, I am pleased to once again be in your presence, that you have chosen to once again trust me to lead you all through these times.”

I was ready for a boring speech. I wanted a boring speech.

My wish was not granted.

“We are at war.” Night spoke, and the entire stadium, already quiet for the charismatic leader’s speech, went absolutely still.

“We are at war!” Night said a second time, louder. “Our enemies circle the border, testing us in a dozen different ways. Urwa attempts to flood our streets with opium. An unknown actor, believed at this time to be the Golden Courts, are interfering with our weather patterns, causing drought in an attempt to create a famine. Protectionism is on the rise! Those fantastical materials belonging to the Crucible and Sylvan element are hoarded, vanishing into smithies and armories. Elven hunts are becoming bolder, freely crossing into our territories. Jurcor attempts to extend their reach into our nation under the guise of laws and contracts, trying to shackle and cripple us with debt. A second unknown actor is trying to drive a firm wedge in human-vampire relations, attempting to divide us and trigger a civil war.”

Someone snickered. Night got Radiance-focused on him.

“Make no mistake!” Night shouted. “These events, while seeming small, herald the end of an era of peace and prosperity. They signal that the greed of our neighbors is boundless, that they wish to devour our territory and people! All this has happened before, and all this will happen again! This is not the time to be complacent. This is the time for vigilance!”

A thought suddenly struck me.

If everyone was trying to throw various wrenches into our country… weren’t we also likely trying to throw wrenches into theirs? A lot of the attacks had various degrees of plausible deniability, and even Arachne couldn’t properly trace who was trying various bullshit. It would be naive to assume that Exterreri was the global punching bag, and we weren’t doing our own nonsense. Nobody would ever admit to it of course, but it made too much sense for me to ignore.

“A simple word of warning is far from enough for the events occurring.” Night’s tone had calmed down, but we were still hanging onto his every word. “Starting tomorrow, I am reinstituting daily stand-up meetings. I predict before this Immortal Era heats up into a deadly war conflagrating the world, that we will see a number of assassination attempts. Our enemies will try to silently pick us off one at a time. They seek to weaken us, from our foundations to our top, searching for any crack in the pillar of support that enables us all. Vigilance is key!”

Night went on in that vein for a bit, but the end was a surprise to me.

“One final note. While there is a bill passing its way through the Senate at this time to similar effect, as leader of the Sentinels I am able to make additional proclamations and rules. The latest enemy to have thrown her hat into the ring is both one we can not afford to fight, and yet, one that is easy to battle at the same time. The Moon Cult is hereby outlawed. No member of the Rangers, no Sentinel, no member of any team or group connected in any way to us can participate. They seek to usurp control of the entirety of Exterreri, and we can only thank our lucky stars that our opponent lacks either proper subtlety, or vastly underestimates elvenoids.”

A few of us shuddered as we understood the implication, and a few more went pale. In the audience stands, someone was getting up with a red face, looking like he was about to start yelling at Night. A very embarrassed-looking Sentinel darted out of the crowd, up into the stands, and grabbed their teammate’s arm, gently guiding them out of the stadium.

I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on them. Super hearing sucked at times, but at others it was so nice.

“... embarrassed me in front of everyone!” The Sentinel hissed. “When Sentinel Night, the fucking progenitor, is declaring war on a cult, that is not the time or the place to be kicking up a fuss! No! When Night is saying that your good friends are plotting the overthrow of the government, you have to seriously consider what direction to go in!”

“But-”

“No buts! Give yourself a week to get over it, but break it off.”

Gossip was best when it didn’t interfere with me at all.

At the same time, this was a Night I hadn’t seen before. I’d seen Night, the calm leader of the Sentinels. Night, my friend, my mentor. Night, the ruthless killer who did what needed to be done.

I wasn’t sure if this was a new facet to him, or if this was his way of impressing upon us the very real challenges we were going to be facing. I had to wonder why Arachne hadn’t brought all this up.

Maybe it was the slowly growing intensity level? An opium war wasn’t exactly worth an all-hands-on-deck alert, nor were mean contracts or slow changes in export law worth noting. However, once all of them were put together, it started to paint a different picture. ‘Saving’ them for a change in tenure and with it, a change in tone, made sense.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [The Ten Thousand Rules of Society]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N].

The Ten Thousand Rules of Society: With painful observation, by stepping in every mistake possible, you’ve slowly learned the rules of social etiquette and interaction, and have started to see how other’s words, motivations, thoughts, and actions are all linked. With The Ten Thousand Rules of Society, you will always have the current rule and interaction for every situation at the front of your mind, no matter the situation.

I skimmed over yet another general skill notification. Everyone got them all the time - the big difference was how big the name was. It implied it was significant, and my eyes opened wide.

This… this was a genuine, at-long-last, social skill. I liked my general skills as they were, but it seemed like I’d finally broken the curse.

I was almost happy declining the skill. I’d spent so long working and categorizing the rules myself, I didn’t need the help anymore. Plus, I liked my general skills, and I had a book in my [Astral Archives] dedicated to social rules already.

“We face challenging times! But, we are Exterreri! When have we not faced challenging times? From the very moment White Dove cursed vampires, we were doomed to struggle! From ancient Remus, we have fought for our survival! This conflict is in our blood and bones, and we shall prevail. Exterreri Eternal! Nihil Sine Sanguine!” Night raised his fists over his head as he shouted the last words.

“Nihil Sine Sanguine!” The crowd roared back.

Chapter 19 - Changing of the Guard IV

Night knew when he finished a speech strong.

“I am passing off further matters to Addolorata. While not a Sentinel herself, she is a member of my team, and speaks with my voice.” Without further ado, he sat down, and a devil stepped up to the front of the stage.

Night had four visible members of his team, and I was willing to bet there were a few more that weren’t public-facing. I’d briefly met some of them when I’d met with Night earlier, but took the chance to study them now.

First was the devil who’d stepped up.

[Artisan - 1423] her tag revealed, and her eyes suggested an Ash element as her highest level.

I wasn’t going to judge on the relatively ‘low’ level. If she was on Night’s team, there was a reason for it. A gap that she filled. At the [Artisan] tag as well, it could be harder to level than simply battling others.

Class quality could also factor into it. I punched way above my weight with two black classes under my belt, and it was possible she’d undergone numerous resets. As an Immortal - well, everyone on Night’s team had to be Immortal, including the medusa and the dwarf - she had infinite time to cycle and get something good.

[Ranger - 3584] was the elf’s tag. She must’ve known Night a long time. Tiny swirling leaves in her eyes suggested a forest element, and her impossible gracefulness suggested a stupid number of stats in dexterity at the very least. Shame she didn’t carry a bow or anything obvious, but I suppose if Iona could get a skill to simply summon her weapons at any moment, the elf could as well.

The dwarf was also strong. [Artisan - 3410], with faceted eyes speaking to the gemstone element. I could faintly sense thousands of gemstones woven into his beard and all over his body, from diamonds so tiny I couldn’t believe they could hold a skill, to a massive obsidian shield nearly as large as he was. I shuddered to imagine what type of Dark skill could be held in such a gigantic reservoir, and I failed at calculating just how much mana such a skill could hold - especially with a Gemstone Classer potentially able to magnify it in a multitude of ways.

There was a tiny chance it was a fake-out, but… eh, at Night’s level? I could believe the dwarf was hauling around a ‘delete city’ spell.

A tiny part of me wondered if the elf and the dwarf got along.

[Warrior - 3332] was the last member of Night’s merry band, a male medusa with the bone-white eyes of the Fossil element. His hair squirmed with sea kraits, the black and white rings promising a swift death to anyone who got close. A pair of scimitars were strapped to his waist, and he stared at us with folded arms and a bare chest.

Part of my attention - thank you [Luminary Mind] - had stayed on the devil as she began addressing the crowd. “Thank you. Sentinel Depths, Spark, Invincible, Unmoveable…” Addolorata continued rattling off a list of Sentinels, and I couldn’t quite see what tied them all together. “Talathil would like to speak with you all regarding mobility and deployment.”

Hmmm. Thinking about it, they were some of the less mobile Sentinels, weren’t they? Wait, no Spark was one of the fastest, that couldn’t be it. The fastest and the slowest…?

Eh… it wasn’t really my business was it?

The one ‘low level’ Sentinel was included in the list, but I wasn’t.

Addolorata rattled off two more groups of Sentinels, and included a few Ranger teams that were present, before assigning them to receive additional instructions from either Daku or Irro.

“Sentinel Dawn, please see me after the event.” She finished.

Oh boy. I wasn’t in a group - I was being singled out explicitly. That was never fun. “Now that’s out of the way, we’ve booked a feast! Appetizers are going to be held on the third floor while catering sets up a buffet here. Those of you without other assignments are free to mingle until then. Those who’ve been asked to meet with one of us - don’t worry, we’ll get you back here before everyone else finishes eating all the food!” She joked. “Alright, dismissed!”

I caught Iona’s eye burning with curiosity in the crowd. I tilted my head, letting her know she was more than welcome to come down and see what was going on. We were a team after all.

Addolorata gestured, and we followed her, the devil sashaying over to one of the smaller rooms that gladiators occasionally used to prepare themselves right before a match. She closed the door without a gesture once we were in, spinning on her heels to face us.

Definitely not a combatant.

“Dawn! First things first, no need to worry. I only singled you out because you’re the newest Sentinel, and haven’t gone through a rotation before. If there had been more Sentinels recruited, you’d all be here! I’m here to answer all your questions, and just give you a general briefing of what to expect. Now, Night mentioned your unique circumstances, but not all the details. Have you attended Sentinel daily meet-ups before?” She asked.

The question brought me back in an instant. The hours spent in an underground room with the rest of the Sentinels, sometimes listening to another report, usually bullshitting about something. Brawling had a favorite chair, and Magic kept seeing if he could get a rise out of someone by ‘appearing’ in odd locations, like walking on the ceiling. A nostalgic smile played over my face.

I missed them.

But time and grieving had done a lot to heal the wound. No longer was it a bleeding raw and open injury on my heart. There was a scar, sure, but there was no longer a hot knife ripping through me.

I kept my answer professional.

“Yes, the new system of ‘Arachne sends a message when she needs something’ is unusual to me.” I said. I could see Iona thinking hard - I bet it was about the Valkyries and their communication.

“Oh excellent, that will make this much easier. We meet at Castle Stormwatch for lunch. It gives time for early morning reports to come in, late night reports to be decided upon, and a bit of time for everyone to settle in and commute to Sanguino if needed. Talathil is handling shuffling around a few of the Sentinels, such that those deployed to a border can make it to Sanguino for the daily update. Nothing for you to worry about, I hear your mobility is fantastic, and that you’re living near Sanguino in the first place. Is this still correct?”

I nodded, and Iona verbalized my answer.

“Yes we are.” She said. Addolorata twitched a finger, like she was checking an item off a list.

“Excellent! Now, Night’s speech. You’re possibly wondering what it means for you, and what changes? What needs to be done?”

Iona and I traded looks. It was like the devil was reading my mind.

“Yeah, I was wondering about that.” I hadn’t been on a ‘war is coming, but it’s here in subtle ways’ footing ever… frankly, I hadn’t even trained for something like this. All of my training and experience revolved around ‘this person with a spear and the System is trying to end your life’, not ‘good orators are attempting to create a classist rift and spark internal issues’.

“In your case, and most Sentinel’s cases, absolutely nothing.” She confidently said. “Low level sabotage and drugs are an issue for the guards, and rarely, the Rangers to handle. The legal and financial challenges are for myself and the nation’s [Solicitors]. You might occasionally be called upon to support the Sixth Legion if a hunting party of elves comes near, but we’re not at the ‘open warfare’ stage yet. They should be avoiding you and any patrols the Legata issues, but some of the younger, dumber elves might not be so restrained. If they’re invading, they’re invading, and feel free to dispose of them.”

I didn’t let a wince show on my face at the devil’s casual disregard for life.

Right. Part of Night’s team.

“You’re almost done with your first rotation. You’ll be rotating off as normal, although I do ask that you keep us informed where you’re going to be if you go on a long trip.”

She paused, pointing a finger up for attention.

“With that said, when things do inevitably explode in violence, our ability to get messages to far-off Sentinels is practically non-existent. Do you need the ‘renewal’ speech?”

“Please, I don’t even know what the renewal speech is.” I said.

She tsked slightly. I don’t think she was annoyed at me, just at all she had to do.

“I’ll be sending you a full briefing later, it’s not something that can be properly covered in a quick chat. ‘Renewal’ is what we call the end of an era and the start of a new one. When civilization collapses, and we need to rebuild from the ashes. Preserve yourself. You are an irreplaceable asset. As long as you are alive, there’s infinite possibilities and rebuilding possible. Forget about being a Sentinel, you preserve language and culture. You’re capable of accelerating rebuilding and forging a shelter against the apocalyptic wasteland and wilderness that presses up against the shallow shred of humanity. Look at Sentinel Sta - pardon, Queen. She single-handedly rebuilt so quickly and so well that Exterreri ended up in a particularly rich and wealthy position this era. The empire will survive, and rise again from the ashes!”

Her fervor was a little off putting. Then again, nobody at the level I was operating at arrived here without strong convictions, and the drive to see them through. She clearly read my emotions, and backtracked a bit.

“Oh, but you don’t need to worry! We’re in the early, early stages. We’ve got a few more decades at least! This era’s unusually stable, we might even get two whole centuries!”

On one hand, two centuries was a mind-boggling amount of time. So much could happen. A technological breakthrough could radically change the face of the planet, and it was a full ten generations.

On the other, Immortal timeline, it felt like no time at all.

Did all Immortals live with this creeping sense of dread? This knowledge that whatever we were building was going to get demolished? That no matter what I built, it was a sandcastle that a bigger bully was going to knock over?

It was a lot to think about. At the same time… it didn’t need to happen now, by myself.

“Thank you, Addolorata. Your help is invaluable.” Iona said. I nodded, reinforcing the sentiment. She beamed.

“Excellent! Well, moving right along…”

“By Ciriel, I never thought we’d get out of there.” I groaned. Iona glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Found a goddess you liked?” She asked, her tone incredibly neutral, smooth as glass.

Wait. Shit. Was she going to be mad that I liked someone more than the moon goddesses?

Well, it was what it was. I didn’t think Iona would have a problem with it, but sometimes there was no telling.

“Yes! Ciriel, Goddess of Healing!” I tried to keep my tone happy, but a little bit of worry came through.

Iona cracked a huge grin.

“Elaine, that’s great! I know a temple that does a mixed service that includes both of them! We can go together!”

Oh no.

Oh nooooooooooooooo!

It was even worse than Iona disliking it! She wanted to drag me to weekly church events! Standing still for an hour listening to other people talk was not my idea of fun! Why did I have to open my big mouth?!

I took a deep breath, and smiled.

“Sure! I’d love to spend more time with you, and get to know Ciriel better.”

We made one of our usual stops on the way back. One of the Courier Guild’s buildings was where mail heading towards me - and the Valkyrie Order - ended up. Iona grabbed three letters - two to the Order itself, one to a specific Valkyrie - and to my surprise, I had mail!

I ripped the letter from Artemis open, reading it as quickly as I could.

Healy-bug!

I’m not sorry at all for sending you this letter that’s just teasing you. We’ve got super exciting news, news that we want to personally tell you! Come visit us at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft! It’s not urgent or anything, but I have to see the look on your face when I tell you.

See ya soon!

Artemis

PS: Julius here. We’re both safe, happy, and healthy, and no, Artemis isn’t pregnant. I-

The rest of the letter was an unreadable mess of scribbles and spilled ink, and not even [Manuscript Mastery] could decipher the intent.

“Hey, Artemis wants us to visit. Want to go once I’m on break?” I asked.

“If Auri’s back.” Iona said. “I don’t know how you’re so calm over her still being gone, without a word from her. If it was Fenrir, I’d be biting my nails off.”

“I got a bunch of level up notifications from her today.” I tried to hide my anxiety. Iona knew how I felt. “Plus, her ‘due back’ day is during my break. At sunrise, if she’s not back, I’m going to immediately leave and go find her.”

The two thoughts together clicked.

“Oh! The School’s an easy way to get to the Northern Continent, isn’t it?” I said. I knew that, but I’d never had Auri and the School in my mind at the exact same time when debating the logistics of how to go rescue Auri from the Phoenix Peaks if needed.

A timeline was starting to emerge, one that I shared with Iona.

Go on break.

Go see Night’s friend in the Bhutai Provinces. Work on my Spatial wizardry a bit, get a fancy rune made.

Go home.

Go to the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft.

If Auri was around, great! We’d have a fun little trip.

If Auri wasn’t, then we’d go to the Phoenix Peaks and pick her up.

“...I know I’m asking a lot, and it’s all centered on me.” I finished. “After all that, let’s do a few things and explorations you want to do?” It wasn’t about being fair, necessarily - I didn’t think because we spent a week doing my thing we should do a week doing Iona’s - it was more about balance and ‘yes I’m thinking of you’.

“It sounds like a good plan, but I’m unsure if I’d be any help in the Bhutai Provinces.” She said. “From what I know and understand of the culture, you’d be better served going alone, rather than bringing a bunch of people in tow. Depending on how long you’d be, I might go on another [Knight-Errant] round after classing up. That, and I’d love to see if we can smash the Pekari once and for all. Let’s have some ambition.”

“Oh, you’re ready?” I asked. Iona had been sitting on triple 768 for a while now. I wanted to discuss more about the Pekari thing, but was distracted by her classing up declaration. [Luminary Mind] letting me think about multiple things didn’t mean I could talk about three things at once.

“I think it’s time.” She said.

The two of us lovebirds chatted about Iona’s classes and the likely directions she’d take each one as we headed back home. Unless something amazing was waiting for her in her first class, she was going to take the Valkyrie upgrade. For her third class, she was naturally sticking with [Paladin], even if a black class was offered to her. It was simply too important to her, too core to her identity, to leave it behind. The middle one was up in the air. There were a number of different directions Iona could take with it, and she’d see what was offered.

“You should take the third classup first.” I suggested. Iona agreed.

“That one’s a lock, and the added stats will improve the quality on the other two.”

“Then the Valkyrie class, followed by the Archer class.” I suggested. “Gives you the widest range in the middle.”

“But see, I doubt my quality will be as good there, so I think taking the second class first would optimize my offerings on the Valkyrie class, which is more important for me…” Iona said.

We cheerfully went back and forth on the various pros and cons as we headed home.

Iona’s classing up was super exciting!! I couldn’t wait to see what she got!

We got home, found Titania had fixed us dinner - the woman was an absolute gem - and sat down to eat, still talking over her class choices.

“...there’s got to be something good about Fenrir.” I said. “Frost Wyvern, Ice as an overlapping element, I have to believe there’s going to be a strong offering relating to him. It even has skills referencing him!”

It felt like a natural extension to me.

“It feels like a massive departure from what the class currently is. I-”

I held my hand up, rudely interrupting and wordlessly asking for silence. [The World Around Me] was fantastic for detecting everything. Including sneaky ninja-trained Valkyries trying to climb over our roof and ‘surprise’ us. I grinned at Iona, planning all sorts of mischief.

“One moment.” I said. I stood up on my chair, jumped up to the ceiling of the room, then [Blinked] onto the roof, where Nina was trying to sneak in.

“Ahha!” I yelled as I grabbed her in a headlock. “I caught you!”

Nina sputtered in disbelief.

“Your skill is so unfair!” She complained. “I was trying to sneak up on Iona and surprise her! You had to ruin it!”

I ruffled her hair.

“Good to see you too kiddo.” I said. “Come on, Iona’s going to die of happiness when she sees you.”

“M’not a kiddo.”

Chapter 20 - Sentinel Meeting

Night was back!

I practically bounced through the streets, my cape fluttering around me as the citizens got out of my way with nothing more than a respectful “Sentinel.” greeting, or similar.

I deliberately restrained myself and slowed down, Iona catching up a moment later, an amused look on her face. I had a distracted thought that wondered how well her new armor would catch sunlight - hadn’t had a proper chance to see it, not with the ashen clouds over Sanguino.

“Trying to start a panicked stampede?” She teased. “Nothing scarier here than a Sentinel running.”

I muttered a deflection, my stomach twisting and turning in knots. Iona had no mercy, possibly due to the savagery aspect she got from Fenrir.

“We’re only an hour early.” She effortlessly dodged a sandal thrown across the road, a heated argument underway.

I slowed down, and went around a cart instead of over it, just to prove my point.

“Look, it’s been tens of thousands of years since I was at one of these.” I countered - poorly. “Let a girl be a little nervous, yeah?”

I then utterly betrayed my earlier attempt at slowing down and trying to prove I was calm and collected by ducking down and speeding up to pass under a palanquin, instead of waiting for it to pass by. I gave it the stink-eye as Iona waited a heartbeat, and then continued walking.

I tried to keep myself humble, and I wouldn’t start shit over it, but I seriously had to wonder who had the gall to see a Sentinel, fully fledged in armor and badges, going down the road and say ‘nah, I’m going to cut them off and hope they’re in a good mood.’ Seriously?

I reset my thoughts, trying to prevent myself from growing the sort of ego that could be problematic, that ended up with me demanding everyone bow, scrape, and clear the road every time I passed.

Law and order held sway in Sanguino and Exterreri. Rank, status, and level didn’t mean as much as rule of law, and a palanquin with right of way was fully entitled to cut me off.

I was so full of energy. I bounced my leg up and down as I waited for Iona to catch up with me. I swear my wife was going at normal speed just to fuck with me, and her grin suggested that was exactly what she was doing.

I almost - almost - whined at her to hurry up, but that would’ve been going too far. Instead, I tried to burn off some of the frantic, restless, excited energy somehow. Without making the Sentinels look bad.

After an agonizing eternity of six minutes, we made it to Castle Stormwatch, where the guards let me through with a smile and shot cold looks at Iona. We made our way through the vaunted halls, past the displays of various trophies from Exterreri’s conquests.

I took a careful look at them, paying special attention to the dates. All of them, without exception, were from the ‘current’ era, after the latest rounds of violent Immortal wars. The timeline spoke to near-constant conquest up until around fifty years ago.

Gods. Goddesses. Ciriel. There we go.

Things were… well, I couldn’t say things were peaceful with a straight face, not after leaving the Han Empire. But things were relatively stable. Border skirmishes were the biggest thing I was hearing about. Urwa was lightly raiding all their neighbors, but were mostly content to stay in their lands and make themselves obscenely wealthy. There was a long-standing sibling rivalry between the Golden Courts and Tympestshard Council that occasionally erupted in bloodshed but was at a low simmer. The demons of Draakveld didn’t allow anyone to stay more than a night, but didn’t try to murder their neighbors.

In a word, peace.

If only everyone could be content. It only took a few greedy guts to spoil it for everyone. A few people pushing for more and more and more, consuming everything and never dying, never releasing their chokehold.

I’d sworn to do no harm, but right now Nina’s [Creed] was looking mighty tempting. Command’s use of the Shadow Sentinels to quietly keep the peace was sounding… reasonable.

I shook my head as I arrived at the room, a dozen servants carrying heavy trays of food getting out of my way. I pulled a face as I darted in, Iona laughing behind me.

“I couldn’t even tell them to ignore me, no, go on ahead!” I complained to her, eyeing up the grand buffet being set up along the wall, trying to mentally mark some choice pieces. If the meetings were a third as chaotic as the Remus ones had been, there’d be an absolute free-for-all for the food at the end, and I didn’t want to waste any time hesitating over what to get. Proper prior planning prevented piss poor performance! For everything from battling for my life, to battling for lunch.

Farmed hypsilophodon legs - the skin was so tasty crisped and herbed - and barbequed lesothosaurus ribs that made my mouth water just looking at them were my top picks. Garlic rice, a salad with walnuts and a jug of dressing that smelled divine, and cupcakes for dessert.

All hail Night! All hail the new world order! If this is how we ate during Sentinel meetings, I wanted to have them three times a day.

Iona and I grabbed a bench to share near the food. The seating here was interesting. A large number of benches, each able to seat roughly three people comfortably or four if they squeezed together, all facing a slightly elevated platform near the ‘front’ of the room. There were no windows in the room at all. I suspected security took precedence over comfort and light… then again, maybe it was because most of the Sentinels were vampires, and Sanguino might not always have an Ashen cloud cover.

Or heck, maybe this was Meeting Room #14, and whoever administered Castle Stormwatch had decided it was the right room for us. We weren’t the only military power in Exterreri. There were the Rangers, Command, the Legions, and the Bloodsworn Order, to name a few.

Adventurers didn’t count.

“Do the Valkyries ever have meetings like this?” I asked Iona as I mentally debated if I could [Rapid Reshelving] a particularly tasty-looking cookie directly into my mouth. There should be enough of a gap if I opened my mouth wide enough… maybe fake a yawn.

She shook her head.

“Never like this. Occasionally, in the winter, when the grand hall would fill with us all, Sigrun would make a quick announcement.” Iona’s voice was tight, the echo of old pain etching itself into her eyes as her hand tightened around her winged helmet.

I felt bad asking. Even if every single Valkyrie alive constantly had a squire, and all of the squires made it and raised their own, it would be decades before she was in another hall of warrior women.

I patted her armored leg, silently letting her know I understood.

Sentinels with a few members of their team started to trickle in. Archmage, the tiny gnome-turned-vampire was one of the first members in, floating along on nothing. A pair of hulking orcs providing muscle to the fragile mage. She tsked at the arrangement, and with runes flashing faster than I could see, transfigured one of the front-row benches into something like a tiny tower.

Yawning, I made a mental note to talk with the Sentinel after the meeting. She was one of the Spatial wizards, and even though I’d gotten a bit of a cold reception from her before, there was no reason not to keep trying. I wanted Kunchenjab to help me out making a rune, but if she could, I don’t know, give me exercises to do or something, that could help my class quality become more potent. Or just have neat tricks.

I stealthily munched on a cookie, debating the best way to ask her as various Sentinels trickled in. I waved to Queen, who smiled and waved back, and lamented Tyrannus being off-rotation.

“Dawn! Great! Just wanted to let you know the War Sentinel meeting is still on. The days of the week we meet up, it’ll be immediately after this one.”

I shot a quick look at the buffet table, swallowing too much at once to hide the evidence of my crimes.

“Do we just eat all day?” I asked incredulously. Iona started to shake with silent laughter. “We’ll be as round as a pig!”

Queen’s amused face was utterly perfect. The only reason I knew it was the byproduct of a skill was being on the wrong end of her perfect poker face one time too many. It only made sense for a noble to have a skill like that, although I wasn’t going to ask Iona. The card dealer laughed politely.

“Not at all! We simply order lunch when Arachne is in charge, to maintain something of the tradition. Oh! Sabre! Over here!” She waved to an ogre, his muscles larger than Iona’s and so ram-rod straight I swore someone had surgically implanted a Legion standard up his ass.

I recognized some Sentinels, didn’t recognize others. There were a pair of members of the Bloodsworn Order here. When Iona locked eyes with them, there was a sort of electrical tension going on between them as the [Knights] from rival Orders sized each other up. I’d bet they’d want to spar after, then go out drinking and become fast friends. The beauty of the rotation - we’d all work with each other at some point. While Night’s method was significantly more time-consuming than Arachne’s ‘you’ll get a letter when we need you’, the fact that I couldn’t name about a third of the Sentinels here felt like a problem.

Difference in leadership styles. I could make long, elaborate arguments in favor of either one, but at the end of the day, the balance was probably getting the best of both worlds.

Night entered, escorted by his team, and the casual conversation quickly petered out. One last lingering servant making sure everything was just right had a dozen eyes boring into him, and he decided that the plates could be at the other end of the table instead, fleeing under the combined pressure.

“He got three levels just now.” Iona murmured to me out of the corner of her mouth. I stifled a laugh.

Night walked to the front of the room, commanding everyone’s attention with his mere presence. He stood on top of the small stage, turned around, and opened his arms.

“Sentinels, friends, and all. Welcome again. While I know some of you have the long view, treating the recent passage of time like the blink of an eye, to me, it has been far, far too long since I’ve stood here in front of you all. It is my humble pleasure to be here. Now, before we get too deep into the proceedings, there is a slightly urgent matter that we must obtain a consensus on before we go any further.”

Tension lanced through the room like a lightning bolt. The room went from relaxed and casual, the first meeting again after eight years, seeing old friends and generally having a grand old time, to a room filled with hardened killers, ready to apply as much violence to a problem as needed for it to go away.

“Valkyrie Iona, if you would please approach.”

Iona and I traded mutually shocked looks before my wife stood up, and walked over to the stage. Night smiled at her.

“I recently presided over Valkyrie Iona and Sentinel Dawn’s wedding, and Arache and I regularly meet with Dawn and her team in a social capacity. I have the utmost faith in Sentinel Dawn, and my trust in her judgment extends to her closest family members. Valkyrie Iona, also going by the title The Dusk Valkyrie, has a unique blessing from the gods, a divinely granted gift that all should be aware of.”

Night paused, letting the anticipation build - and possibly let people relax. Tension visibly bled out as the urgent matter wasn’t some crisis requiring intervention.

“She is capable of seeing all status, skills, and abilities. Nothing can hide from her keen eye. As I have mentioned, I have complete faith in her discretion, and Arachne has found use for her abilities at times. With that said, if any Sentinel is uncomfortable with her presence, we will politely ask her to leave and invite Sentinel Dawn to bring other members of her entourage around. With that said, should anyone choose to speak up at this time, do note that I politely request that you never ask Dawn for assistance from her wife. Thank you.”

I saw Addolorata slip a piece of paper to Iona as small discussions broke out around me. I did my best to listen in on all of them, because fuck not listening in when it directly impacted me.

“If Night has nothing to hide…”

“Clearly good at discretion if we’ve never heard of this before.”

“I’m not comfortable with this.” A member of a Sentinel’s entourage complained.

“I am, and Night was clear - Sentinels objecting. You’re free to leave, but I think it’d be a bad idea.”

“The inability to request assistance is devious, a genius social move. Take a note, bring it back to…”

Okay, okay, good, nobody was objecting, so I didn’t have to object to them. Anyone complaining about Iona I’d take serious beef with, and we were Immortal - a grudge could last a long, long time.

Night clapped his hands together, bringing the attention of the room back to him.

“With no further objections and a busy agenda, I declare Valkyrie Dusk able to continue attending the meetings. Moving on. Nominations for any Sentinel who would like to join Arachne and I in taking up the burden of command, as the late Sentinel Titan used to.”

Half of me listened to Night while the other focused on Iona, speed-reading the letter she got from Night’s devil teammate the moment it came in range.

Dawn, Dusk.

I apologize for springing this on you at the last moment. I have no excuse for the lapse of thought, and I apologize again for any awkwardness that has resulted. Dusk’s abilities potentially being problematic to the other Sentinels only occurred to me as we were arriving today, and given its potentially sensitive nature, I wanted to clear the air immediately. I believe you are capable of imagining the negative reactions should Iona’s capabilities be revealed after weeks or months of close contact, how some would consider her to be a spy, or for the lack of information to be a deep betrayal of trust.

Thank you for your understanding,

Sentinel Night

The letter made me significantly less grumpy, and when I remembered the stacks upon stacks of paperwork Night was going through to prepare for his rotation in command, and how many Sentinels there were, each with their own team, and how many tens of thousands of different interactions there could be, I could see how this one could’ve been a small oops. A little out of character for Night, but he’d never claimed to be perfect - indeed, he often claimed the opposite.

Iona was looking displeased as she stomped back, the unhappy look on her face decreasing as she read Night’s apology. [Rapid Reshelving] blatantly and openly stole some of the dessert table.

Hey, after being called out like that in front of everyone, I was more than willing to jump the line, and dared anyone to say something about it. Queen mimed a laugh at my theft.

“Cupcake?” I softly whispered to Iona, offering it to her.

“With a brownie.” She affirmed, using [Telekinesis] to flagrantly snatch a second desert off the table.

Calorie therapy secured, we listened to Night speak.

“... and Sentinel Archmage, we have deployments for the four of you. Addolorata has the details.”

Dammit! I swore as Archmage and three other Sentinels got up, walked or floated to the front of the room, and got a set of notes from Addolorata. There went my chance to chat with Archmage! I’d have to do it when she was back.

I knocked on the wood of my bench. I hoped I hadn’t jinxed it.

The four Sentinels were gone in less than a minute, swiftly striding out to whatever disaster required the presence of Exterreri’s hardest hitters.

“As many of you know, each rotation I try something a little different. This time, I believe an after action report, no matter how aged, is appropriate even if no Sentinel has recently returned from their mission. Lastly, we will discuss the missions the Sentinels who have just been dispatched are on, debate the finer details of the deployment, and, should we come to a consensus that either additional resources are required, or the wrong Sentinel was dispatched, we will send a second Sentinel to assist. Fortunately for today, Sentinel Sabre, who would like to be called the Sword Saint, has recently had a battle that he has requested to share today. Sentinel Sabre, if you would take the stage please?”

Night offered, and the ogre stood up, marching over to the stage. He lacked a few of the traits that marked vampires, and I wondered if he was one of the rare mortals who’d seized Immortality on their own.

If so, I was starting out super impressed. Seizing it as a [Healer] was difficult enough, but doing it in a combat class was damn-near impossible.

I leaned forward as he started to speak, wanting to catch every word.

“Hello. I am Sentinel Sabre. I am of the opinion that we should constantly be on the road, like members of the Bloodsworn Order, close enough to problems that we can react immediately. Each and every one of us has sufficient power to handle most issues, even if we are not perfectly suited to it. To date, Command has not seen fit to deploy us in this manner.”

He sounded sour about that last part, and I thought he was making good points. Iona was nodding along with him. It only made sense - it was how [Knight-Errants] operated, it was kind of like how Rangers operated, but our heaviest hitters needed to know where to be. Simply scattering people around and hoping could work for 95% of our problems, but the remaining 5%...

Plus, then the War Sentinels and Shadow Sentinels ended up in an awkward spot, and there was a lack of knowledge cross-pollination…

But the rapid response to problems could significantly reduce those issues, and-

Thank goodness for [Luminary Mind].

“In my personal attempt to demonstrate the validity of this proposal, I go on a daily patrol around Exterreri, hoping to stop problems in time. Three days ago, I encountered an elf and a demon fighting, high level powerhouses both.”

There was a ripple of murmurs at the prospect of a demon powerhouse, and what I quickly got from listening to literally everyone in the room was concern. Concern that the demons of Draakveld, who’d held themselves to a rigorous standard and kept to a ‘simple’ life, were starting to see rogue elements breaking free. Rogue elements that could result in them rising again, and this was bad for… reasons I didn’t quite know in the moment.

“They were throwing around skills that could wipe out a fraction of a city if aimed poorly, and given how Exterreri was neither’s home, there was no care for collateral damage. I…”

Sentinel Sabre started to tell his story.

An elf from Tympestshard Council was aggressively attacking a demon. The elf had Gemstone, Radiance, and Mirror elements, and was aggressive at using all three. Gigantic seraphims made out of diamond, wielding burning ruby swords and firing Radiance from their hands and mouths chased the demon, who freely wielded Darkness, Gravity, and Brilliance. He hid in the darkness, and shadows reached with hungry mouths, the Brilliant light amplifying their strength. Force and Brilliance panes snapped into existence whenever the Darkness was pierced through by the Radiance attacks, stopping the latest scattering of razor-sharp sapphire shots.

When attacks missed, fields burned. When one of the ‘angels’ was deactivated or cut off from its creator, it fell like a rock, destroying sheds before breaking into a million sharp pieces of high-speed shrapnel.

When the demon had his forearm burned off, he descended down on some shepherds, briefly enveloping them in further Darkness before taking off again. Nothing was alive when he left, a series of dried-out bodies on one side, a restored arm on the other.

“... I am not good at protecting things.” Sentinel Sabre freely admitted. “My best solution was to end the fight, one way or another. My logic at the time was simple. If one of the two combatants was dead, the fight was over. I saw no true reason to attempt to keep both alive, not when they so casually disregarded our sovereignty and citizens. I briefly weighed the elf’s life on a scale, balancing a near neighbor with positive feelings towards us, versus removing a powerful Classer who will undoubtedly one day turn against us. The second weighing I did was the aggressor. It is far easier to join in a hunt for prey, than to attack the predator. There was a strong chance, should I attack the elf, that the demon would continue to flee, leaving me alone in single combat. The potential rise again of Draakveld, I will admit, did not cross my mind, but further analysis now suggests my decision to attack the demon was correct.”

Sabre continued on, describing his abilities and how he used them. [Skin of Steel, Bones of Iron] was his defense, and [Battle Meditation] let him continuously ramp up as he fought, a rare skill in Mantle. His duel, probing moves, feints, and getting himself into a position to stack a number of devastating active skills at once. [Mantle-Breaker], [Cutting Wind], [Blade Storm], and [Punish] all came together with [Perfect Parry] to strike down the demon in a single blow. The demon dying, and what classes he had, along with Sabre’s speculations on what they meant.

“... I was deeply concerned that this was the start.” He said. “With Sentinel Night’s announcements, a pair of Immortals carelessly fighting over Exterreri? I saw the start of the end flashing before me, and it was clear the elf was considering starting a second fight after I prematurely ended his battle. Instead, he chose to simply lecture me on everything I did wrong, then ran away.”

There were some disbelieving laughs at that, mine included.

Night took the stage next to Sabre.

“Thank you Sabre!” He said. “Who would like to be the first to comment? Yes, Eruption?”

Sentinel Eruption stood up.

“Well done Sabre!” She said. “Brilliantly executed. Now, I have some questions about the deflection skill you mentioned…”

It wasn’t the barely-contained chaos of the Remus Sentinels, but in many ways, it felt… familiar. I smiled as the warm comfort of the after action report settled over me.

Chapter 21 - Interlude - Iona - Classing up

Iona knelt in the chapel, her head bowed in prayer, her hands clasped around the shaft of her axe.

Selene and Lunaris, I pray for your guidance and grace. Light the way forward, and help me through the trial I am about to undertake.

A raspberry blew in Iona’s ear. Selene wasn’t amused by Iona’s prayer.

You know exactly what you’re doing! Have faith in yourself! Selene said.

You know yourself as well as we do, and nobody knows your own heart and offerings better. Lunaris added. We can’t give you good advice here.

Yeah, you’ve got this! Selene chimed in.

Iona’s heart was serene, and she continued praying, explaining herself a bit.

Believing I have all the answers and not seeking counsel is pure arrogance. Down that path leads me in a direction I don’t want to go.

Well, check us off the list! Selene answered back. You’ve talked with us, we believe in you, there’s no need to worry. She said.

You should worry. Lunaris’s words sped Iona’s heartbeat right up. Selene’s been up to mischief with your [Paladin] offerings. Don’t read too much into them, she just wants a laugh.

Hey! Selene protested. Don’t tell her that! I wanted to see her reaction without it!

For all you know, she’d actually take it! Lunaris argued back.

Iona smiled, at peace with herself once again, as the two goddesses argued in the back of her mind. Her future was secure, her way clear. The goddesses had indirectly reassured her of one of her deepest unspoken fears.

She would still be a [Paladin] when she woke up from her classing up. It was a small fear, a silly one, but one she harbored anyway.

We should tell her. Selene said.

Well, after you’ve directly messaged Iona that, of course we have to tell her now! Lunaris sounded annoyed. Which was fair.

Iona lifted an eyebrow, her stomach clenching in fear. The goddesses had been nothing but open and kind with her, seemingly keeping no secrets. What more could they possibly add? What was a secret?

The air above the altar shimmered, and the two goddesses partially descended into Pallos, creating a pair of small avatars, the size of a doll, of themselves on the altar. Iona’s heart started to race.

This wasn’t a casual ‘hi hello’. Whatever this was, it was serious.

Selene in yellow and Lunaris in blue held hands together, starting to Speak. The words were for Iona’s ears only, their divine might preventing anyone else from getting the message. They spoke at the same time, their words and voices overlapping in perfect harmony.

“Iona, our blessed, our chosen. We believe in you. We have faith in you. You have strong potential to go the distance, and one day in the future, when your strength has finished maturing and you are at your peak, we will make a request of you.”

Iona’s heart felt like it was going to evict itself from her chest it was beating so hard.

“What is it?” She whispered.

“We have asked many to try over the millenia, and clearly none have succeeded. Know that failure won’t diminish you in the slightest in our eyes. Know that simply trying will elevate you to the highest position of esteem. We don’t expect you to try today, this year, or even this century. Wait until the end of your long life, and try then.”

It sounded like a suicide mission. At the end of her life? Iona had no problem going out in a blaze of elderly glory, versus slowly declining into dementia and more and more problems. Sure, Elaine would do her best, but Iona didn’t want to be an old dottering lady who couldn’t even feed herself. It felt wrong to her.

They paused a moment, letting the tension rise. With one last blast of light and noise, they laid down a sacred quest for their [Paladin].

“Free the moons.”

Without any fanfare, the two of them vanished, divine sparks slowly falling to the altar.

Iona continued praying and meditating over the quest the entire evening, not shifting even when her joints started to protest. The goddess’s divine mandate continued to echo through her mind.

Free the moons.

There were so many ways it could be interpreted, but the most obvious one was also the hardest one.

Slay Lun’Kat.

Slay a dragon.

The fact that the goddesses had declined to even mention her name wasn’t lost on Iona. The first thought her imagination jumped to was Lun’Kat simply flying over and eliminating the potential threat before she had time to grow and level.

That was merely the first thought. It wasn’t lost on Iona that she hadn’t been ordered to slay the dragon - simply free the moons. There were other ways that could be accomplished. Her first thought was an equally powerful Radiance classer dispersing the illusion - although the distances involved were intimidating. Persuading Lun’Kat to stop it? Iona had faith in her silver tongue, but she doubted it was that good. With time, maybe, but if Lun’Kat was open to persuasion, it was likely someone would’ve succeeded by now.

Other plots, other plans danced their way through the Valkyrie’s head throughout the night as she continued praying. She’d need to talk with Elaine about all of this.

When dawn came she stood up, stretching her joints out, then briskly turned on her heels.

Iona was a little surprised to see her wife snoozing in the back of the chapel on one of the benches. Elaine could be sneaky when she wanted to be, and not everyone had overpowered perception skills like she did. Iona smiled and unclasped her cloak, trying to wrap Elaine in it.

She stirred, her eyes snapping open.

“It’s time?” She asked. Iona clicked her tongue - she’d hoped Elaine would keep sleeping. Rest was important for everyone, and if she wasn’t safe here, where was she safe? There was no point in arguing it.

“It’s time.” The Valkyrie confirmed. She debated not telling Elaine, but no. It was too important.

She took a deep breath in.

“Elaine, I’ve got something important to tell you. Something the goddesses just told me. Are you ready?”

Elaine shuddered, and patted the seat next to her. Iona took it.

“Glad I’m already sitting down for this.” She joked. “Alright, hit me with the bad news.”

Iona explained everything. The Goddesses’s mission. Lun’Kat. Her thoughts about it not mattering right now, but at the end of a long life.

Elaine got very quiet as Iona finished, and the Valkyrie recognized the look. Elaine was thinking hard, working through everything Iona said, and all the implications she could figure out. It was one of the things Iona loved so dearly about Elaine, although she found it adorable how Elaine could utterly miss some things that were so obvious and clear to her.

Finally she shook her head, and cracked a forced smile.

“Well, I’ll just have to come with you, won’t I?” The funsized healer couldn’t fully hide the tremor in her voice.

“You don’t have to.” Iona’s heart was breaking a little bit. Her life was one thing, but her lover’s as well?

Elaine nodded, the stubborn set of her jaw showing she wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.

“Forever and always.” She said.

“Forever and always.” Iona echoed, then went to the most basic of Elaine strategies: Distracting her with something new.

“Classing up time!”

Elaine jumped up.

“Hang on! I need to finish my prep work!” She shouted. Iona chuckled and walked slowly to their bedroom, giving Elaine a little more time. As Iona arrived, she saw Elaine moving so quickly she’d be a blur to basically all mortals, rapidly throwing down a few dozen more wards around their bed, getting them all hooked up to the villa’s core.

Iona took a few steps, quickly speeding up before doing a beautiful dive over the layers upon layers of overlapping wards, hitting the bed in full armor like a shot out of a trebuchet. Elaine winced as the boards creaked.

“We really need more reinforcement skills.” She muttered before shooting off, putting down another ward.

Iona made herself as comfortable as possible while being in full armor, making sure her shield was over her body and her axe was in her hands. It was overkill, and they all knew it. At the same time, classing up was a time of incredible vulnerability, and it was worth being prepared. Just in case.

“Love you! Can’t wait to see what you get! Look around and tell me the other options offered!” Elaine waved Iona off as she fell into the world of her soul.

Iona opened her eyes in the grand temple, quickly picking herself up off the floor. Her guide was there, herself as a [Priestess], one of the potential futures Iona had once had.

“Third class. Can you show me the [Paladin] options?” Iona briefly thought of Elaine’s request. “And one more?”

Priestess bowed.

“Follow me.”

They began to walk through a grand hallway, a dozen altars offering various classes tucked into nooks along the walls. Iona murmured a brief prayer to various gods and goddesses who were represented at the altars, politely paying her respects to the divinities in question.

It cost her nothing to do, and was only polite and respectful.

They arrived at a room with three altars, each one dedicated to the Moon Goddesses. Light grey cloths were on the central and left ones, while blue braziers burned on the center and right altars. The name of the class was etched into the stone of the altar, and upon each one was a small prayer book that offered deeper insights into the class in question. Iona stepped directly up to the central one, the burning lamps and cloth clearly indicating that this was the natural upgrade to her [Paladin] class.

[The Relentless Paladin] spoke of valor, bravery, and never ever giving up. It was how Iona had been trained by Alruna, a fighting style that let her just keep on going and going and going. One of her skills, [Relentless Pursuit], was called out. It was the easy, obvious upgrade, the one Iona came into the class up expecting to take. The stats were nice as well. +140 Strength, +140 Dexterity, +220 Vitality, +140 Speed, +120 Mana, +120 Mana Regeneration, +280 Magic Power, +280 Magic Control per level.

Barring a literal miracle, it was the class Iona was going to take. She took a brief look at her other two offerings, making sure she wasn’t passing up something interesting.

[Nymphomaniac Paladin - Ooze] was obviously the joke that Selene had been working on, and Iona barked a laugh at seeing it. She wasn’t wrong. She spent a little bit of time flipping through the book, appreciating how there was a strong element to drawing involved. A custom-tailored class for everything Iona enjoyed doing.

The other offering was clearly due to Iona’s request to see a little more, and she got the general gist of it to share with Elaine.

[Champion of the Meek] revolved entirely around Iona’s work in the Han Empire, protecting villagers and other innocents against the endless soldiers marching through the lands. Feng featured prominently, her actions given praise in spite of her failure. Nina was also mentioned, but not as the slayer of Feng, but as yet another member of the meek that Iona had protected, raised up, and championed.

It was a strong class for Iona, and reading it filled her heart with pride. She wanted to remember and keep the words for Elaine to write down, so she could read it back again. A little like her drawings.

[Unyielding Zealot] would take Iona’s devotion and fanaticism all the way to 11, making her entire life about the goddesses. They hadn’t mentioned the class to her, and it wasn’t blue.

Iona loved her goddesses, but there was more to life than religion. Elaine, for example, Fenrir and the Valkyries. Drawing and good meat. She didn’t want to lose those parts of herself and her life.

End of the day, her choice was easy and obvious. Iona became [The Relentless Paladin], and after joining Priestess in a short prayer of thanks to the Goddesses, moved directly onto her second class up.

There was a fine line to walk between pious and practical, and Iona had just spent the entire evening in prayer to the goddesses.

“I’d like to see my Valkyrie offerings now.” Iona said. Priestess gestured, and Iona stepped through another room to get to her offerings.

Six altars burned with lights of various colors, from yellow to light purple. Five cloths on the altars were entirely black with stars studded on them, indicating that every offering was Celestial, and the last one was layered red-and-black. Iona initially thought it was Lava, but on closer examination it was a Crucible offering.

[Legendary Realtor] was easily the worst class offered, although it was related to the Valkyries. In short, it was about how the Order Valkyrie was now housed at Iona’s home, and completely changed how she operated from a warrior, to a keeper, administrator, and protector of the home. If she was a [Lady] of Rolland, Vollomond, or just generally in charge of a castle, fort, or other fortification, the class would be perfect.

[The Flexible Knight - Crucible] leaned into how Iona had used a solid mass of mallium for over a decade as her armor, and occasionally her weapon. It was a weak side-step, the only saving grace being the elemental change. Iona was entirely uninterested in changing from Celestial, so the class stayed.

[Champion-Errant] was a less Valkyrie-focused knight class. It was effectively the ‘I don’t want to be a Valkyrie anymore’ class, and Iona was perfectly content being one.

[Fury of the Moons] was a second [Paladin] offering, focused on doling out brutal vengeance on behalf of the goddesses. Iona suspected part of the offering was the quest the two of them had just laid upon her. She was already their [Paladin], and while devoted, knew that life was more than religious, fanatical devotion to a pair of goddesses. She was faithful, but she was no [Zealot].

[Valkyrie’s Hope] was starting to get more like it! A pure Valkyrie warrior class, it was about Iona being the bright and shining hope of the Valkyries, the strongest of the destroyed generation. The one who was forging a future for the Order, not simply clinging onto the remnants of the past. It immediately went to the top of her list.

[The Valkyrie Paragon] was the final offering, the one Iona had saved for last. A pair of burning purple braziers promised power, and it was another ‘direct Valkyrie upgrade’ class. Less so about being the hope blazing forward, the class was about Iona being the Valkyrie’s Valkyrie. As Sigrun had dubbed her, ‘one of the best of us, the one we all hope to be.’

Iona frankly felt more comfortable as a [Paragon] than a [Hope]. Maybe one day she’d take up a greater burden, but for the moment, simply being the best of them was enough for her. [The Valkyrie Paragon] offered strong stats - and merged in her [Vow] into her main class. It wasn’t something she ever intended to give up, and the minor boost was nice.

With a brief apology to the Goddesses for not taking [Fury of the Moons], Iona took [The Valkyrie Paragon]. +200 Free Stats, +400 Strength, +400 Dexterity, +1000 Vitality, +400 Speed, +100 Mana, +300 Mana Regeneration, +50 Magic Power, +50 Magic Control per level.

“Onto the third class!” Priestess grabbed Iona’s hand, and the two of them cheerfully walked over to the third room. Under different circumstances, if it wasn’t a temple, the two of them would’ve probably been skipping. The most recent class Iona had picked had felt good. It had felt right. She was happy with it.

The last room was the most complicated one. Iona had gone into the class up with a strong idea of what she’d wanted for her first and third class, but the second was a little more up in the air.

[Frozen Huntress] was a natural upgrade of [Traveling Archer], focusing on tracking down large monsters and slaying them. The class’s name was deceptive for how powerful it was. Full credit for killing an adult wyvern boosted the quality to an incredible degree. It was a little more focused on the ‘huntress’ aspects, but that wasn’t the worst. The [Paladin] and [Valkyrie] class got a little more credit for fighting elvenoids and other intelligent creatures, while [Frozen Huntress] focused more on killing monsters.

[Rime Battle Mistress] was all about fighting in a dozen different styles.

[Justicar of Ice] was a more bow-focused sniper and rapid-fire class, where Iona would lean into her bow and archery a little harder than she had been.

[Dragonslayer Aspirant] was almost immediately rejected by Iona. The goddesses had said at the end of her life, and Iona was still at the beginning of hers. If, by some miracle, she made it to old age, she’d look at dragonslayer classes again with a critical eye.

[Wyvernrider Frostlady] was the Fenrir-related class, and the one that caught Iona’s eye. Her companion bond would move up into the class, and it was all about fighting in tandem with her partner. It clearly distinguished the class from the rest of them, and made her decision easy. +300 Strength, +300 Dexterity, +300 Vitality, +300 Speed, +300 Mana, +300 Mana Regeneration, +300 Magic Power, +300 Magic Control per level.

[Hailstorm] sounded like a fun upgrade to [Blizzard Shot] to boot.

Looking over her selection once more, Iona gave a brisk nod of satisfaction.

“Right then. Let’s wake back up.”

Iona still needed to select all her skills, but a quick look at her stats made her smile.

[Name: Iona]

[Race: Mostly Human]

[Age: 35]

[Mana: 1,141,850/1,141,850]

[Mana Regeneration: 174,591]

Stats

[Free Stats: 2,536]

[Strength: 163,809 (+3,503,055)]

[Dexterity: 164,084 (+3,508,936)]

[Vitality: 324,897 (+1,887,652)]

[Speed: 185,912 (+3,975,728)]

[Mana: 114,321]

[Mana Regeneration: 114,321]

[Magic Power: 162,964]

[Magic Control: 162,964]

[Class 1: [The Valkyrie Paragon - Celestial: Lv 830 ]]

[Class 2: [Wyvernrider Frostlady - Ice: Lv 820 ]]

[Class 3: [The Relentless Paladin - Gravity: Lv 790 ]]

Chapter 22 - Interlude - Fenrir - Investigative Files I

It was a dark and stormy night. Detective Fenrir, Private Weyevern, was deep in his office-lair, surrounded by piles of unpaid bills. He’d done a few favors for the [Landlady] over the years, and was at no risk of being evicted.

The fact that none of the bills had Fenrir’s name on them never once crossed his mind. His teeth delicately wrapped around a barrel of whiskey, and with one quick tilt of his head, he swallowed the entire thing whole.

The whiskey was just like life. Full of splinters, and it burned the whole way down. Burned like his old flame, who’d left with nothing more than a tip of her hat and a promise she’d be back one day.

That had been months, nay, years ago. He despaired of ever seeing her again.

Thunder rumbled, and a bolt of lightning crackled down right in front of the opening of his cave, briefly blinding and illuminating. When the bolt faded, a soaked dame, dripping water onto his floor, was inside his office. Her presence cast shadows that danced along the walls with a life of their own. Her dress clung to her like a whispered secret, her eyes holding the depths of the night sky. Mysterious, inscrutable. Her hair cascaded down like the waves of the endless ocean, promising naught but fathomless depths that all would get lost in, and stories untold. Her lips were painted with the first blush of a blood moon, and she smelled of expensive wines and cheap perfume. She was danger and desire, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

Her composure briefly flickered like the last light of day when she saw Fenrir, but she quickly put herself back together. She boldly strode forward, her shoes clicking against the stone floor like the ticking of a clock counting down to disaster.

“I’ve got a case for you.” Her voice was a mix of desperation and determination. “Man I work for - Mendaxus - is an up-and-coming politician with enemies. The kind of enemies lurking in shadows deeper than the ones we’re in. They didn’t like what he was saying, and tried to silence him - permanently.”

Fenrir worked a splinter of the barrel between his teeth. He’d heard all this before. It was just how the world worked.

“I need someone who isn’t afraid to navigate the murky waters of the city’s underbelly, someone who can find out who’s behind it and why. The guards are a dead end, they’re just as entangled in this as everyone else. I need someone else. Someone different. Independent. Someone who can get to the truth of the matter.”

It wouldn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but a case was a case. For all Fenrir knew, tomorrow the parties trying to silence the politician would be knocking on his door, asking for his help. It was all the same.

As long as the money was good, he’d do it.

It was clear that The Spider’s absence had emboldened the criminal elements. They knew they could get away with it, and without The Spider to keep them in line, it fell to Fenrir.

“I don’t care what it takes or what houses you need to burn down,”

Fenrir snorted, letting an Icy blast coat the dame, instantly stiffening her dress as it froze. Her teeth chattered as she finished her plea. Her voice softened, but the iron in her eyes never dimmed.

“Just find who’s trying to kill hope in this city before it’s too late.”

She straightened up, the distant lights of Sanguino backlighting her like the last flickering candle of the city.

Fenrir grabbed a second barrel of whiskey, throwing it back with a motion as sharp as the broken glass that littered the streets of the city.

“Alright.” He growled, activating the runes etched on his body, shrinking himself down to a more manageable size. “Show me.”

Chaos and Order had both visited the scene of the crime. An unnatural stillness lay over it all. The podium, once a beacon of hope and change, now stood silent and splintered, a solitary witness to the violence that had pierced the morning’s calm. A sniper’s shot, aimed with deadly intent and malicious intentions, had shattered more than just the speech; it had shattered the illusion of safety in a city teetering on the brink.

The ground was littered with debris of panic. A doll, dropped in haste from a child’s arms then ruthlessly stomped on by the careless members of the city fleeing the violence. A lunch wrap, starting to rot from the inside out like the city itself. Splashes of water coated the place like there’d been a rainstorm, and flecks of blood were everywhere, from a thousand different bodies. A tribute demanded by the city, a tribute unwillingly given. Fenrir sniffed at a bottle that had been carelessly tossed, judging whoever had left it behind for their poor taste in alcohol.

Still, he couldn’t afford to be discerning, and his favorite beer had always been free. A snap of his teeth, the biting sting of broken glass the only way he could feel alive once again.

There was nothing to be found in the remnants of the crowd, scattered like their hopes had been.

He flapped up to the podium, noting circles upon circles of runes engraved into the stone, a central spot dedicated to an arcanite core. It was as empty as the city’s soul. The runes were written in an elaborate, curving script, a language only the elites knew and deliberately kept to themselves. Just another way the rich and powerful could screw over everyone else.

Fenrir snorted, looking around more. There were no traces of the bullet that had been fired, but his race and element let him know deep in his bones what had happened.

It had been an Ice spear. A crafty weapon from a crafty assassin, who knew the evidence would melt away just like he would once the sun came up. Fenrir got down on his feet and wings, closely examining the traces of the Ice, working out the pattern written in water and blood. He traced spot after spot, working out the angle the spear had come from, then looking down a wide and straight street.

Either the shooter was an expert shot, or he’d curved the attack. Fenrir would work out which it was.

Something bothered him about the whole thing. Something was wrong about it all. A part of it didn’t make sense, and Fenrir couldn’t put claw nor tooth on the issue.

With a flap of his mighty wings, Fenrir took off, his keen eyes looking for any detail off. Anything wrong. An open window, a smoking ring.

The road was long and straight, and three miles away he hit the end, in a wall of apartments in a part of town that couldn’t quite be described as bad, but somewhere nobody who had other options went to. A few sparks of hope glimmered among the overarching miasma of poverty and despair.

There was an open window, runes still shining in the light. Fenrir dove down, trying to unobtrusively get in to take a look before some overeager guard ruined the entire scene.

And speak of the guard - they were here, barring his access. Almost like they’d been told to expect him, and deny him entry. Like everything else in this city, it smelled.

Their reasoning was flimsy and weak. ‘Too high level.’ ‘Not an elvenoid.’ ‘Children live here’. ‘What’s a monster doing here?’ ‘Call the Rangers!’ ‘No, call the Sentinels!’

Hanging his head and his hat, Fenrir stalked away, knowing a setup when he smelled one. Everything they said had been an excuse. Calling him a monster, bah. The real monsters were the ones they saw in the mirror every day.

He’d just have to find another way to get in.

Fenrir figured he only needed a minute to pick up the scent then be gone. He was no stranger to breaking and entering. It was half the reason the dame had picked him. He’d get to the bottom of this, he’d bring the ugly truth to the surface kicking and screaming, and damn everyone who got in his way.

He flew up, up, up, into the Ashen skies that displayed the city’s soot-coated heart to anyone looking from miles away, a glaring warning of what dirty deeds went on in the city’s center. Not even the sun could bear to see the ugliness of the city.

With a screaming dive, he shot down, breaking through the window and wall, into the sniper’s nest. Screams and alarms sounded, and Fenrir knew he only had a few precious seconds before the fuzz would try to take him out.

A room with no furniture. Doubtlessly rented under a false name and abandoned. Tobacco stubs littered the room, another mandala with elegant runes, and the sweet scent of ink, sweat, and blood.

A vampire had been here and feeding. The plot thickened like sewage. Fenrir was sniffing around, making sure he got the scent properly as the door slammed open, the coppers yelling.

“Stop the monster!” ‘Kill it!”

Of course it was a hit. Arrest? Due process? Couldn’t due process a body - nor did dead men tell any tales. Naturally they wanted to silence him, and stop the truth from ever getting out.

Fenrir jumped out the open hole in the building, trusting that a passing hay bale could take his weight… and that his wings would let him fly.

The guards hadn’t been able to silence him, but he hadn’t been able to track the assassin very far. The list of people who could take a three-mile shot was as slim as his leads.

It was time to call in a few favors. The dame wasn’t worth it, but his reputation was on the line, and he had bills to pay.

It was time to visit The Spider.

Red embers glowed on a secluded stretch of sand, a private beach where every seashell whispered secrets. Those in the know saw it just like a spider’s web, catching all manner of things - secrets, lies, and people looking for both.

She was stretched languidly on a chaise longue, an oasis of calm in the sweltering heat of the afternoon. Her name was Susan, but nobody called her that. She wore a wide-brimmed hat that shielded her from the embers and the world, a barrier and an accessory. Her swimsuit was a bloody shade of red. It was rumored that it had started off white, and every time she killed a man, she added a single drop of blood to it. The heat simmered, yet appeared not to touch her in the slightest.

She was The Spider, and a mouse couldn’t sneeze in Sanguino without her knowing about it.

Fenrir landed nearby, his figure casting a long shadow as he watched her. There was no surprise on her face, no indication that his arrival was unexpected.

“You’re standing in my light.” She said, not taking her eyes off the endless Ashen clouds above them. “Move.”

Couldn’t refuse a reasonable request, not when Fenrir had come hat-in-claw to cash in a favor. He shifted over, and explained the problem.

The Spider laughed when he was done.

“Oh, that! Well, I’m not going to spill all the secrets just because you asked nicely. I will point you in the right direction. Ask yourself this - who benefited? Now shoo, I am on vacation, and I’m not letting oversized lizards ruin it, protege or no.”

Fenrir stalked away, pulling his hat low down over his eyes. It hadn’t been an answer, and The Spider as much as said that she did know who did it, but it was a direction. An angle to play.

Who benefited?

The obvious answer was the political rivals. The other ones running for the same senate seat as the politician. An easy way to win an election was to make sure he was the only one in the running. Long live democracy. Assassinate rivals until ‘democratically’ elected dictator for life.

The attempt was still bothering Fenrir.

He had a lead now, and it was time to talk with the man in question whose life had almost been snuffed out like a desperately guttering candle. It was time to find out who the other players in the game were, the hidden puppet masters pulling the strings. Who else could make sure the guards were in the right place at the right time, than another politician greasing the right palms?

It was all starting to come together, and it painted exactly the type of picture Fenrir expected to see.

It took some tracking down to find the man in question, but Fenrir was able to get it done. Private guards swarmed around his headquarters, quadruple the usual number. Unsurprising, given how many people were trying to silence his voice in the world.

Naturally, they barred his path.

“You can’t come in.” They said, spears crossing the door and physically barring his entry. “Mendaxus is in an important meeting.”

Ha. More important than his life? Fenrir muscled his way past them, ignoring both their protests and sharp steel that broke against his scales, like a toddler trying to punch a gladiator. He slammed the door to the meeting room open, witnessing a heavy pouch of gemstones trading hands between two men.

Corruption. Of course. It was no surprise to Fenrir, and it didn’t bother him at all. The one in the fancy toga was Mendaxus, who smelled of expensive oils and indulgent lifestyles. The fat vampire didn’t have a single callus on his hands, and he smelled of ink and blood.

“Who are you!?” The vampire yelled, the pouch of gems vanishing into his clothes. “Help! Monster!”

Hang on. Ink and blood? Fenrir growled as he prowled forward, sniffing the man deeply. A spell started to get drawn in the air, but with a sharp bite Fenrir snapped it like a guard beating a protestor. He pounced, pinning the assassin.

“He did it.” Fenrir growled, his teeth opening wide over the vampire’s head. “I can make this all disappear if you don’t want to involve the guard.”

“HELP!” The vampire screamed. “Murder!”

“The only murderer here is you.” Fenrir growled. Mendaxus was sneaking along the edge of the room, a coward to the end. No surprise there. Politicians were great at making sure everyone else spilled their blood first.

“I didn’t murder anyone!” He blathered, trying desperately to buy his life with words. “The secretary hired me! It was supposed to be good advertising for my barriers! Save your life against anything! I get more business, Mendaxus gets the popularity from being an almost-martyr, everyone wins!”

Fenrir reeled back like he was struck, a few oddities that hadn’t made sense suddenly falling into place for him.

The assassination attempt. It had only been one shot. Any assassin who’d graduated beyond drinking milk knew about shields and barriers, and would fire at least two attacks. One to break the shield, and a second to get the job done.

The Spider hadn’t suggested who would’ve benefited. She’d asked who had benefitted, and from a failed assassination attempt, Mendaxus had been the clear winner. Mendaxus, and whoever this enchanter was.

Fenrir roared in frustration and realization, a blast of Lightning and Ice taking off the top of the headquarters. With furious flaps of his wings, he flew back home.

The case was over, closed. Done. Finished.

There was nothing left to do.

It had been a setup. The whole time, from the start, the dame had set him up! Fenrir didn’t know why, the twisted minds of the political class and those who served them too tortured for even him to follow, but it was obvious he’d never been meant to succeed. Perhaps he’d been meant to take the fall for the attempt, the guards waiting at the scene of the crime primed to arrest him and pin the blame on him. He would’ve made quite the specimen - infamous Private Weyevern attempts to slay local hero would’ve been quite the headline - but he’d avoided that trap.

He didn’t care about reporting it to the fuzz or running the information to others. Not his case, not his problem. When things cooled off a bit he might be able to use the knowledge to call in a few favors, open a couple more doors that would otherwise be shut in his face.

There was one last part that stung to the whole thing, one last bit of knowledge that frustrated him as he sipped on a barrel of cold whiskey on the rocks.

Truly, the city’s heart was as empty as his bank account. He definitely wasn’t getting paid for this one.

Chapter 23 - Adventurers are Good for Something

The great wheel of time meant nothing stayed the same, no matter how much I wanted it to.

This too shall pass. Both a happy and a sad statement, an ode to the relentless march of time and change.

My little clinic was one of the places that had undergone numerous changes, no matter how much I resisted and tried to prevent anything from being different. My new healing ability to ‘fix’ minor defects bordered on biomancy, and the fact that I was handing out ‘free biomancy’ was quite a draw to the poor citizens who had no other recourse.

The Healer’s Guild knew about it, and directed people to me if they had no means to afford a normal biomancer. I was a little suspicious of the arrangement at first, but Aulus, my primary contact in the Healer’s Guild, had explained it to me.

In short, I’d destroy a large number of livelihoods. Aulus, along with a number of other high-level healers, were all in a position where they could offer free healing to practically the entire city, at which point they’d be in a gigantic race to the bottom as well as neutering any other up-and-coming medics. Same with a number of other industries - there existed Immortals capable of single-handedly destroying every job in the city, but they didn’t because it was a terrible long-term idea. Stunts like me healing most of Sanguino every decade or so were okay, because it was a government flex - ‘look what we can do’ - but doing it regularly was a no-go.

At the same time, the Guild under the Willow & Hydra symbol wasn’t heartless. If people truly had no hope of ever affording a biomancer to fix their baby’s blindness, or a kid had a complex digestive allergy to milk, strawberries, and a host of cross-reactive fruits, they were sent my way, to camp out in my clinic hoping that today would be one of the rare days I showed up.

Today promised to be a busy day, and I was going to be gone for an unknown amount of time. I swung by my clinic, there being a bit of a crowd, but nothing too gigantic or unmanageable. An issue with me semi-randomly healing the poorest people who otherwise couldn’t afford help was most of them couldn’t afford to spend even an hour walking across the city, then hanging out effectively doing nothing until I showed up. The other nice part was the parade during the changing of the guard. I’d fixed up so many invisible long-term problems that it was mostly people who’d been outside of my kilometer-wide moving radius on that day, or who’d been born since then.

Of course, since the world was cruel and the poorest parts shoved to the sides of the city while the parade path was in the middle, many of the people who’d needed my services the most hadn’t been inside my range. I seriously had been considering going rogue at some point and saying ‘fuck this, everyone go forth and be in perfect health forever.’

I was focusing more and more on my wizardry, hoping to get a strong class offered when I upgraded sooner rather than later. My wizardry was being so focused on spellbooks, and having a ‘history’ of [Bookwyrm] in the class along with the strong reading elements, that I believed I could get a hybrid wizardry-reading class. It should be an option. Either way, with a prepared spell for my voice and an on-the-spot spell for a hovering stone platform - it took seven awkward minutes as people watched - and I was ready.

“Hi!” I waved to the watching crowd. “I’m Elaine. I’m going to fix you all up in a moment. Before I do, two quick things. First, when I’m done, if you could please make your mark in my book, that’d be great.”

I hated the taxman. Hated, hated, hated, and every signature made him gnash his teeth and kept more gemstones in my pocket. He even could figure out the rough value of what was in [Vault]!

I’d been strongly pro-taxman until a number of my exemptions and special statuses had run out, then the sticker shock had done bad things to my opinion of the profession. I retained enough sanity not to take it out on the man doing his job, because giving him grief was a sure way that he’d squeeze every last coin out of me, versus doing the slightly more generous check.

Long experience had taught me that if I didn’t ask people ahead of time to sign my book, they’d pretty much all leave the moment I was done. Asking ahead of time at least got a percentage of them to stick around and make their mark.

“Second! I’m going on a trip. It’ll be a month or two at least. If you know anyone waiting for me and have missed me - sorry.”

The massive wave of relief I saw nearly guilted me into staying and continuing to help.

By Ciriel, this was impossible at times. I was split in so many different directions, so many competing interests. How much self-sacrifice was enough? When did I say ‘I’m done for the day, time to go home and look after myself?’ How could I look at the person next in line and say ‘goodbye?’

Well, at least I didn’t have that problem. The issue of ‘how proactively should I be seeking out people to heal’ did haunt me at times. Would it really be so terrible if I looped all over the world, catching the millions upon millions of people who’d fallen through the cracks and improving their quality of life? Would it really cause that many problems? Besides personal ones for me, being on the Warden’s shit list.

I knew that one day I’d have had enough, and do it. Today was not that day.

It only took a thought, and everyone was healed. Allergies cured. Eyesight restored, tinnitus removed.

My new ability to perform ‘mild’ biomancy straddled the line between healing and biomancy. I had no doubt that by itself, it would be flagged as a [Healer] class, and my bonuses to power, control, and healing efficiency all applied. At the same time, I had to fight past the vitality defense every time. I was operating on a tiny enough scale most of the time that it didn’t matter, but it chunked my mana far more than I would expect.

Fortunately, kids who hadn’t unlocked the System yet tended to have 10 or less vitality, making the multiplier insignificant for them, and even at 1000 vitality I could easily brute-force the problem with my other skills decreasing the costs.

My work done, I checked briefly for apples, sniffing the air.

They were primarily grown literally halfway around the world, which was why I’d had the occasional problem with them in the Han Empire, but here in Exterreri they were a luxury. I avoided fancy parties that the [Emperor] and some [Senators] threw, no matter how many times I got an invitation, and the potential presence of apples was only part of it. Here in the worst part of town, my biggest risk was someone had found some digging through the trash.

Fortunately, today, there wasn’t any, so I didn’t need to make an excuse and fly away. I mentally decided that today wasn’t going to be a day I flew away ‘random’ just to throw off the scent of anyone meticulously observing me. I descended, pulling my big middle finger to the [Taxman] out of [Loremaster’s Library] and opening it, a quill and a capped ink bottle already on my belt. I was hit with a deluge of gratitude and complaints from the people who’d stayed behind.

“Thank you for restoring Primus’s foot!” A woman was practically sobbing into my tunic. Thank goodness for the System helping me keep my book safe! I handed the quill and book to another man, who quickly signed it - fancy, he was literate, rare in this population - and he handed it back.

“Why are you leaving? My cousin needs your help, can’t you stay a single day longer?” A man was going beet red in rage. Normally I’d wonder if his blood pressure was alright, but I’d just fixed him up. It was so unfair of him to guilt trip me right after helping him out.

I wish Iona was here. With three sentences she would’ve had the crowd forming an orderly line.

I sent a prayer to Ciriel.

Argh! Ungrateful patients! They always get on my nerves. How do you handle them? I asked.

I always wanted to wring their scrawny little necks. Ciriel confessed. But as I got older, as I saw more, I realized more that everyone is fighting their own demons. Fear often manifests as anger, and eight minutes from now you’ll be free and focusing on yourself and your own happiness. The fear and pain will linger with whoever’s giving you grief until they break free from its shackles or learn to handle it. Pity is a good emotion.

“I can walk again! I CAN WALK!” A teenager was jumping acrobatically in the back, going far higher than a systemless human could manage.

“If you keep jumping like that, you won’t be able to for much longer!” I good-naturedly shouted back.

“Excuse me.” A quiet voice would have usually been drowned out by the crowd asked. “My grandpa’s not better.”

[The World Around Me] let me immediately identify the issue, and I [Blinked] over to where a young woman was dragging a stretcher. An old man, hair as white as snow, was laying on it, half covered by a blanket. I threw up [Stellar Shroud] around us, giving us some room from everyone else as I pulled the top of the blanket over his head.

“I’m sorry.” I quietly said. “I think you need a [Gravedigger].”

“Oh.” She didn’t sound too surprised or shocked. Just absorbing this week’s disaster. “Alright then.”

Without a word of complaint she started to drag her family member down the road.

I wrapped up quickly enough, and went to one of my least favorite places in the world. A place that was at least vaguely useful now and then, as long as I interacted with it minimally and with thick armor on.

The Adventurer’s Guild.

I walked in, ignoring a few of the idiots, and went to one of the [Receptionists].

“Hi! What can I do for you today?” The lady asked, clearly having a number of skills around appearances, outreach, and being friendly and social. The perfect set of skills for both the job and life.

“Hi! I posted a request a few weeks ago, I was told a group had taken it up, and they’d completed it. It was a D-ranked book collection quest, by Elaine?”

Naturally, I got a funny look at my name, but the lady went digging.

“Elaine, Elaine… ah! Here it is. Yes, it’s complete. By the requirements you posted and the Guild’s fee, you owe 15,628 arcs. You put down a 1,000 arc deposit, but we have to ask that you put up the rest before we give you the goods.”

Ooof, that was a lot. At the same time, needing to pay that much suggested the team that had taken the quest had succeeded beyond my wildest imagination.

“Just checking - what happens if I reject some of the books?” I asked. “Like, they’re no good or something.”

“The Adventurer’s Guild takes pride in making sure only the highest quality goods come through.” She said, checking over my quest again. “In your case, three different sets got rejected already. If you’re unhappy with any of the other results, let us know and an [Arbiter] will help decide.”

I wanted to pull a face at that - I was the [Arbiter], both in class name and on the subject matter, but I wasn’t going to argue right now. I paid, and was led to a room. Another member of the guild was given a slip, and he scurried off to a room to collect my request. I tracked his footfalls the entire way, letting my anticipation build as he spent an inordinate amount of time in the storage room, moving piles of books around.

Was that the sound of bones clicking on each other? Oooh, I was getting excited!

“Tea?” The receptionist asked.

“Please.” I gratefully accepted the cup, taking a moment of peace and calm for myself after earlier while eavesdropping the whole time.

Soon the delightful tones of squeaky wheels on a groaning cart reached my ears, and I stopped myself from wriggling with anticipation. The minion came into the room with the cart piled high with books, tablets, fans, scrolls, a pair of agate gems, and a half-dozen other ways of writing. My eyes went wide at the bounty.

I was heading off to Bhutai to visit Night’s friend, and ask him to make a rune to generate a set of the Medical Manuscripts. Having a sample of ‘this is what I’d like to have generated’ would dramatically speed up the process, especially with how technical the Medical Manuscripts were, and I was equally unsure on the best language or form.

Going out and collecting dozens of copies of the Medical Manuscripts sounded tedious in the extreme, and with great reluctance, I’d turned to one of the only organizations that prided themselves on doing the odd, random jobs that didn’t have an easy market for them.

The Adventurer’s Guild.

Given that I was asking for a collection of books that were widely printed and distributed, it wasn’t like I’d asked for anything high level or challenging - simply tedious.

I started with the books, noting that all sixteen volumes were there. As I was studying them, a word caught my eye in a portion of the book I usually skimmed over and ignored. A now-familiar name in the list of contributors.

Ciriel. The now-Goddess of Healing had been a contributor to the Medical Manuscripts.

Hey Ciriel! What was your contribution to the Medical Manuscripts? I asked her.

It took a moment for the goddess to respond.

A large portion of what I added was later found to be wrong, and removed. She admitted. The process of getting the Medical Manuscripts to their current form has been a long one. Two steps forward, one step back.

I silently nodded to myself. I’d noticed even a few of my own contributions to the original manuscript had silently been removed, and it didn’t surprise me in the slightest that, even with my Earth knowledge, it wasn’t perfect and people then and there didn’t have all the answers. We knew we didn’t have all the answers.

My biggest lasting contribution is how the divine and medicine can interact. Ciriel’s pride in her addition oozed through the connection.

I can’t imagine anyone else ever has been in a better position to contribute that knowledge. I said.

Knowledge is often requested, but is disproportionately expensive to answer. A simple plea for healing is easier, if enough mana is provided, but the ratios…

Ciriel gave me the basics, most of which I’d skimmed in the Medical Manuscripts. It was more an area of curiosity, since most [Healers] who’d read the Manuscripts and had the right elements could just do the job themselves.

I had to admit, despite myself - I was impressed. They’d gotten the books in thirteen major languages, although a number of them were suspiciously identical in some ways. The same paper, the same cover, heck, even the binding glue smelled the same. I rapidly made the connection between that and the price I was paying per set, and laughed.

“The rascals!” I half-shouted. “They took a copy to a local [Translator] and had them do the work!”

The [Reception] looked a little nervous at that.

“There was nothing in the brief saying they couldn’t-”

I waved her off.

“No, no, it’s fine, it’s the end product I care about, not how they did it. I’m happy.”

With an unnecessarily dramatic wave of my hand, I pulled all the books into [Loremaster’s Library], moving onto the scrolls. There were fewer sets here, all the volumes in seven different languages - six of them major languages, and only one obscure one - and noted that for each set of scrolls, they’d industriously gone out and found someone who could make a single gigantic scroll containing all the same information.

“I’m happy to accept both forms.” I said, sweeping them into my [Library]. I didn’t know if it would be better if the spell I was asking for made a bunch of little scrolls for people to read and study, or if a single gigantic scroll would be easier. My own wizardry theory had pros and cons for each method, and I’d never even gotten into the fundamentals of [Rune Smithing]. Best to give Night’s [Rune Smith] friend Kunchenjab as many options as giantly possible.

The scrolls and the books were the only ones the [Adventurers] had been able to get quite a lot of duplicates of. The two agate gems had Sound recordings of the entire Medical Manuscript on them, which was an excellent point in favor of doing things that way. If the rune would explain everything, there was no need for the [Apprentice Healer] to be able to read. The counterpoint would be I couldn’t just drop it and run - only listening to the Medical Manuscripts once at a low level was unlikely to engender enough understanding to do what I wanted, and it was only for an audience that was immediately present. Plus, there was so much information.

Still, it was an option.

The gemstones themselves wouldn’t work too well for my purposes. If I was going to record an entire lecture, I’d probably need to work with Kunchenjab directly and probably verbally say the parts. Amber had swung by recently, claiming that ‘it finally wasn’t unlucky to visit’ which was absolutely charming, and she might like the gems for her collection. Or just as a little gift. Why not?

Two separate events connected themselves. Amber had shown up after the [Taxman]. No wonder it would’ve been unlucky for her to show up earlier!

One aspect that had occurred to me and threatened to simply undermine the entire process was linguistic drift. Short-term it didn’t matter, but I was asking for an entire rune to be made, a permanent, unchanging way to generate a set. Sure, Creation remained unchanged from the moment the gods had stuffed it into their first creation’s head, but everything else had drifted and changed over the years. I was primarily hoping mortals would be the beneficiary of the runes, but a hundred years from now, a thousand after civilization was shattered and rebuilt, would anyone still be speaking Hakka? Altaic was popular now, but Godae was liable to shift a bunch. Was there a good language to put this all in? Was it worth making three or four different sets per cast, each in a different set? Would languages drift too far, too fast?

It could destroy the entire project.

I still felt it was worth it.

After the gemstones with the recordings on them came the more esoteric versions, where the [Adventurers] had really earned their pay. A fan from Nippon-Koku was written in Yayoi. They’d gotten their hands on a set of bones from Penujuman Necrocracy, with the Medical Manuscripts written in Kra-Dai. Clay tablets from Ralakar written in Samkra, and a set of wax honeycombs from the reclusive Gwyllt.

I hadn’t known it was possible to write Buzz down, and I doubted it would be any good… still, it fit the letter and spirit of what I asked for, and there was nothing wrong with having my own personal collection of Medical Manuscripts.

A quipu from Tonzaltzintli was easily the most exotic and unusable one I had, but that was just plain fun to own now.

A few of the formats I had issues with. The fan in particular I was torn on.

“This one’s missing too much.” I tapped the fan in question with my finger. “I see that it’s multi-layered, which is nice, but it’s a loose primer at best. It’s fancy, but I couldn’t give it to an [Apprentice] and have them learn the Medical Manuscripts properly. Same with the clay tablets. They’re sturdy, but they’re a light overview, not the full set of texts.”

The [Receptionist] frowned, and I quickly came up with a compromise. Thank you Amber!

“How’s this. I doubt you want to have them, and I doubt the party that took the quest is interested in getting them back. I’ll take them, but at a quarter price.” I proposed.

“I’ll need to discuss with an [Arbiter].” The [Receptionist] said.

A few minutes later, and I got a couple hundred arcs refunded. I waved my hand again, dramatically pulling everything - honeycombs and all - into [Loremaster’s Library].

[Adventurers] could be occasionally useful, if used properly and in small doses. I’d still keep a wary eye on them if they swung by my place, and remain downright paranoid if I encountered one in a place where civilization was a distant word, but… they’d come through on this one.

“Thank you.” I said.

“The Adventurer’s Guild appreciates your patronage, and hopes you think of us if you have any additional needs.” The [Receptionist] said.

A few polite noises later, and I was heading home.

An art supply store was between me and home, and I stopped by there, picking up a notebook filled with outrageously expensive paper that Iona had been staring at with doe eyes the last few times we’d been in the store. I had no idea how paper was nine arcs a sheet, but it had something to do with tooth density, durability, and lack of acidity.

The things I picked up from listening to my lover rave about her hobbies.

Casual ‘because I love you and I can’ present secured, the last item I needed before heading off to the Jakhong Monastery in the Bhutai Provinces, I headed home to say hello, and then once again,

Goodbye.

Chapter 24 - Traveling to the Jakhong Monastery

I woke up to Iona bolting upright in bed, swearing up a storm. I jumped up, snapping my wings open, a flood of information entering my mind from [The World Around Me], looking for the fire, looking for the [Assassin].

Were the gnomes back to finish the job?!

After a few heart-pounding moments of adrenaline flooding my system, my fingers poised to catch a spellbook and [The First Rays of Dawn] on the tip of my tongue, and Iona slowed down a moment, shaking her head at me.

“Sorry love, didn’t mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep?” She offered weakly, knowing I wouldn’t accept.

I loved her for it anyway.

“I’ll literally die of curiosity if you don’t tell me. Not just a nightmare?” I asked.

Iona shook her head, throwing off the covers and slipping into her slippers. I used [Rapid Reshelving] to teleport her bathrobe on, and she stretched, cracking her neck.

“Appreciate it. Divine mission, urgent enough to wake me up now but not so important I need to dash out of the house this instant. I figure I can spend eight minutes freshening up, eight on breakfast, four on getting ready, then I need to leave.”

I shot Iona a distinctly Unamused glare, and she dished more details as she walked to the bathhouse.

In a spur of inspiration, I brought out a spellbook, cast three different horrendously complex spells out of it, then flipped around, walking on the ceiling backwards as Iona talked.

Gods, Magic would’ve laughed himself sick if he saw me.

Walking as annoyingly as I could, I quickly processed what Iona was saying. As we passed by the small kitchen on the other side of a wall, [The World Around Me] plus [Rapid Reshelving] got half of breakfast out on the table. Iona talked fast.

“A vampire’s messing with the fabric of reality in a big way.” She quickly explained. “I’m not the only one being tapped at the moment, but the gods would like them stopped sooner rather than later. They’re in Sanguino.”

“It’ll be a paladin party.” I joked, then got a little more serious. Iona stripped and stepped into the bath, and I used my magic to grab soap and a cloth, immediately getting to work on Iona’s back. Goddesses, she was so strong, it made my heart flutter and stuck a kaleidoscope of butterflies in my stomach. “I’m pretty sure Exterreri takes a dim view on people messing with reality, especially a vampire. Given how fresh the news is, should I talk with Night about maybe deploying a Ranger team?”

Hang on. It was a vampire messing with stuff, and they were usually the most successful mortals turned. Maybe it was a job for a Sentinel squad.

Iona pursed her lips then nodded.

“Sure. It’ll stop Susan from making pointed comments about ‘rogue vigilanties operating in Exterreri’ and giving me the stink eye next time we have dinner.”

Iona sounded genuinely frustrated, so I didn’t laugh at her. I knew better than to suggest other Valkyries go along with her - it just simply wasn’t how they operated.

“Can you meet a team at Castle Stormwatch?” I asked her.

She clicked her tongue, then nodded.

“Yes. I’m so sorry this is happening right before your trip, the timing’s awful.”

I shrugged.

“It’s a trip for fun. It’s not like I’m incurring huge expenses or anything. I can delay a day or two.”

Iona furiously shook her head.

“No, no, go. Shoo. I’ll be upset and disappointed in you if you stay. Have fun.”

I decided not to argue, and finishing her back, I sped off to the kitchen, finishing a quick breakfast for Iona, and buttering a slice of bread for myself. I popped into [Vault], speeding through but not too fast - haste makes waste - and grabbed a few moonstones already charged with [Universal Cure]. Was four gems enough for her, or should I add a couple more?

Better safe than sorry. I grabbed a second handful of the gems, then I teleported back into reality, dropping them by her plate. Running at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound and eating at the same time wasn’t recommended, but I did it anyway as I sped off to Sanguino.

I hit a minor snag as I wasn’t an active-duty Sentinel, but I was able to get in front of Addolorata soon enough, and explained the situation.

“Known levels?” She asked.

“Unknown. We do know it’s a vampire.” I reported.

She asked a few more probing questions, then snapped her fingers.

“Right, let’s get this to Night.” She said, and in less than a minute we were in front of the ancient vampire. I had a mental clock ticking along for when Iona would arrive at the gates of Castle Stormwatch. I doubted she’d wait more than a few seconds before carrying on in her divinely-mandated quest to mete out justice.

Addolorata quickly explained the situation to Night.

“Mmm. A decisive call to action. Very well, this appears to be as good of a mission as any for us to remind ourselves how we work together. In addition, it will be a good opportunity for me to familiarize myself with how your wife fights, Elaine. Addolorata, would you be a dear and rouse Ranger Team Gale? We might need them for perimeter management if nothing else.” The devil nodded and vanished.

He shot me a cheeky wink as my jaw dropped. Night was going to personally go on the mission? I didn’t think I’d ever seen him deployed!

Night drew his sword from his shadow, and started to walk at a brisk but still mortal pace to the entrance, letting me keep up with him.

“If a vampire is tearing the fabric of reality, I am responsible.” He explained without me asking, the rest of his team falling in behind us as we walked. “All vampires spring from me, and while I am not so arrogant as to believe their every action is my responsibility, in either credit or blame, when something has gone this wrong with my systems and procedures, I am bound to intervene.” He lifted an eyebrow at me.

“Elaine,” He stressed my name, not my title. “To my understanding, you are on vacation. Why are you here? Please do not tell me that you are one of those Sentinels that we need to physically throw out in order for them to take a rest.”

The medusa gave me a look.

I held my hands up.

“Well, when my wife wakes up swearing in the middle of the night and starts throwing on armor to handle a problem in the city, I kinda think the Rangers and Sentinels would like to know. Think of it as a concerned citizen thing.”

I rapidly saw excuses to tag along with Night and Iona vanishing. Iona wanted me to go on break, Night was heavily hinting that I wasn’t welcome… would it be the worst thing ever if I just… went?

We left the castle gates right as Iona rushed up. Night and Iona didn’t need to exchange a single word, she just turned while running at an unnatural angle, and Night and his team shot off behind her.

“Do you have the gems? All of them? Love you! See you in a few weeks!” I shouted as loudly as I could. In a deft display, Iona turned around, ran backwards, and used both hands to blow kisses at me.

“Love you! Enjoy your trip!” She shouted, not slowing down in the slightest as she ran backwards over a cart.

By Ciriel, Iona was getting to the point with her stats where she could do some really funky stuff. I bet she could’ve walked upside down on the ceiling without any spells!

Just like that, they were off. It was the middle of the night, but after all the excitement I wasn’t getting back to sleep anytime soon.

It wasn’t dramatic, there wasn’t a prolonged goodbye, I just… opened my wings, turned to the south-west, and took off with a blast of air.

I had some time to think while traveling to the Bhutai Provinces. The mountainous sorta-nation - they didn’t exactly have a centralized government or anything, just a bunch of giants with similar culture and background - was one of Exterreri’s neighbors, dominating most of the southern border.

The wonderful thing about living in a civilization was the easy access to books, and by extension, information. Not all books were created equal. There tended to be only one author and their particular point of view on a subject, and their experience, prejudice, and views colored everything they wrote. Nothing was perfect, not even my beloved Manuscripts.

A well regarded book was better than nothing, and it was almost as interesting to read what the detractors had to say. With all that in mind I’d spent 45 minutes at the library thoroughly reading three separate tomes about Bhutai. Amitabh, Traveler: Teachings of the Enlightened One, by Tsering Jigme; War of the Giants: Formation of the Bhutai Provinces by Ruindaer; and lastly, a critical piece, The Tragedy of the Atheist by Glowor.

There was endless bickering over the fine details, but everyone agreed on a few things. The [Monks] of Bhutai were literally gentle giants, who spent most of their days in quiet meditation when not performing some of the endless chores needed to live. They led simple lives in many ways, but at the same time their daily practice and meditation included basic quarterstaff moves.

A giant’s quarterstaff was literally a tree.

A few times their neighbors had tried to nibble at their borders, only to find that the giants were ferocious when it came to defending themselves.

There were villages of course, and the capital was a small town near the largest monastery. Giants, being roughly ten times the size of the typical human, required so much more space per person that large populations just weren’t a thing.

As for what they meditated on - existence. The great cycle of Samsara was well-known at this point. When people died, their soul reincarnated somewhere else to continue life, if they weren’t one of the extremely rare individuals recruited to become an angel, or somehow achieved divinity.

The [Monks] of Bhutai were seeking to escape the cycle, believing if they attained enlightenment that their souls would be free to… I wasn’t exactly clear on what they thought would happen to their souls after enlightenment and escaping the great cycle of Samsara.

Some gods - and from the tone of The Tragedy of the Atheist, Glowor - took an exceedingly dim view of the monks. Seemed to me it was a them problem. They weren’t hurting anyone, what did it matter that they didn’t worship a god?

Hey Ciriel! What do you think of the Bhutai [Monks]? I asked my new friend. At first I thought her silence meant she wasn’t going to answer.

A bit odd. She replied two minutes later. They don’t pray much, and I’m rarely interested in taking a look at what’s going on there. I do know almost all of them enter back into Samsara, so like… what was the point? Hope you’re not thinking of joining them! She joked.

Nope! Heading there on a trip, was thinking about them, figured I’d see what you knew. I said. Oh! Hang on! I think I’m there!

To the south of me rose the mighty Rimounan Mountains. They stood testament to the planet’s ancient majesty and the god’s abilities at Creation, a colossal range that whispered the secrets of the ages through its snow-capped peaks and shadowed valleys. It was a place where the earth reached up and kissed the sky, a land of gigantic proportions and equally large inhabitants. The rugged spires were like the spine of the world, cloaked in white. Forests of cedar and pine dotted the cliffs and released fresh scents into the air, only failing when the air got too thin.

The border of Exterreri and Bhutai was at almost the exact point where the rolling plains sharply turned into gigantic mountains, as the Legions of the era were able to win every engagement until they reached the mountains, then broke against them like an egg thrown at a cliff. Hopefully the engagement had been decisive enough that none of the giants involved carried a grudge to this day.

Weird how “ancient history” to me was someone’s current lived experience.

I could spot a few monasteries and villages from where I was, each one far larger than the mortal equivalent. Giants all had mostly standard elvenoid proportions, if a little thicker on the leg bones than normal, just scaled to ten times the size of a human. Ten times the size one way, ten times the size a second way, and suddenly a village was literally a hundred times the size of a human one.

I went so high up past the clouds that I needed a pair of spells to help me fly. An air bubble for oxygen, and a heating spell for comfort. Then I continued to fly through the Rimounan Mountains, still needing to navigate around the occasional extra-tall peak, waving to a pair of [Gurus] who were peacefully meditating high in the sky. One waved back, the other didn’t seem to notice me.

As I got deeper into Bhutai, half the plants changed. Cedars and pines still grew, but an ancient [Biomancer], [Horticulturalist], [Farmer], or related class had gotten to them and changed them. They were as gigantic as the inhabitants of the land, and I spun off a thought process with [Luminary Mind] to be impressed. There was some serious chops going on with the change to the trees. I’d learned quite a bit about trees thanks to needing to work on treants, and I ‘knew’ that most trees had a hard physical limit on how large they could be thanks to moving water from the roots to the top. Redwoods and the like were able to bypass the limitation by absorbing mist from the air, letting them become gigantic but stifling the environment in which they could grow. Whoever had modified the trees had to be some sort of genius - I couldn’t imagine a way to get it to work.

Then again, it wasn’t like I’d gone super deep on tree knowledge and modifications. I was willing to bet - no, scratch that, I simply hoped - whoever had worked on the trees and other flora to supersize them didn’t know how to make subdermal scales on a human. Or an elvenoid chimera, as it may be.

A few times I needed to stop, pull out a map I’d copied out of [Loremaster’s Library], try to match where I was to the map, then continue to navigate my way onward. The map wasn’t particularly good. I couldn’t tell if there was no commercial desire to properly map Bhutai, the [Mapmaker] hadn’t been that good, if it was ancient and out of date with how Classers - especially giants - could literally pick up mountains and move them around, or related but subtly different, if the mountains got moved around fairly frequently.

The last one felt unlikely, but what did I know? I’d seen a mountain literally stand up and be a giant. Which was something I hoped to ask about here. Giants didn’t seem to be that large - so what had I seen? Hopefully it wasn’t like asking a dwarf if they knew about gnomes…

Without significant difficulties, I found the huge, sweeping Valley of Echoing Prayers, and below me, the Giant’s Stairway leading up to the Jakhong Monastery.

Whoops. Slightly wrong direction.

I could just drop onto the Monastery with my letter from Night and go from there, but he’d suggested approaching with humility, and walking through the valley. I was asking one of their eldest [Monks] and [Rune Smiths] Kunchenjab for a huge favor, and if Night suggested that swimming in acid would be good for me, I’d probably make sure my clothes were in a safe spot before I took a dip.

I flew to the other side of the valley, then dropped like a great heron or angel descending from on high. I was tempted to see how deep of a crater I could leave when I hit, but that could be rude to everyone else.

The chants the valley was so famous for reached my ears before I landed, dozens, if not hundreds, of [Monks] chanting sutras that echoed beautifully through the valley. A single sutra could bounce around for minutes, giving time to contemplate the teachings within.

The ground just kept on coming and coming and coming, and I realized it was both further away and larger than I expected, a trick of perception when everything had been enlarged. It was almost like I was a gnome, living in the world of humans.

I hit the ground as another sutra started, and stared up at the path I needed to take.

It was miles long, and speeding it was probably only marginally better than flying straight to the place.

Three long roads wove through the Valley of Echoing Prayers. A golden one, a regular cobblestone road, and a broken game trail. If I was remembering my readings properly, there was a ‘right’ road to take and a wrong one, a symbolic measure of the path I should take.

Then again, perhaps I only had a juvenile understanding of the meaning, and any path, every path, was the correct one? Or did I need to keep switching which path I was on as they wove between each other?

Plenty of thought, plenty of contemplation, simply for selecting the road I was to walk on. Of course, the roads themselves were sized for a giant, far larger than I needed.

Well, better to be thought I was earnestly trying to understand as a novice than actively being rude.

With one sandaled foot, I took my first step on the cobblestone path, the one I metaphorically understood to be the middle way.

Chapter 25 - The Jakhong Monastery I

I’d already decided that I’d take the journey through the Valley of Echoing Prayers slowly. It served three purposes.

The first was that Night had recommended it. The second was to work on my grasp of the Kanauri language, exclusively spoken in the region. A good number of giants might be fluent in High Elvish, but the region was so insular I doubted it was widespread. Then again - giants, practically Immortal lifespan, and -

I spun off a thought process with [Luminary Mind] to ruminate on the approximate percentage of the population that spoke High Elvish, and a second one to think about the meaning of ‘the middle way’ and how it applied to the road.

Being able to speak the native language would endear me to the locals, and hopefully Kunchenjab would appreciate it. Plus, the chance to learn something new!

Speaking of learning new things - this was a prime opportunity to learn more about their religion and philosophy. A new way of thinking, a way to unwind. Perhaps there was wisdom in their words, a way to find peace and tranquility.

With nothing better to do at the moment, I started to walk down the cobblestone path, noting that I was not the only traveler on the road. The majority of travelers were giant [Villagers], using the convenient and secure path to move up and down the valley. A few giants clad as [Monks] were either walking to the monastery themselves, or meditating under a tree.

Other non-giant Elvenoids were rare, but we existed. I was walking along, contemplating the meaning of the three different roads when a foot came down on my head. It had nearly reached me when I realized the giant wasn’t going to change their stride for me, and a quick [Blink] off to the side stopped me from entering a contest of my strength versus their weight, also known as the ‘Elaine doesn’t get turned into paste’ maneuver.

My eyes narrowed at the villager who had to have seen me, but just didn’t give enough of a shit to try and avoid stomping me. Most people were considerate enough not to step on cats, and the size difference was roughly right.

Jerk.

At least I knew to be careful of the other giants.

The part of me thinking about the road had come to a number of half-conclusions. More questions than answers, but simply thinking about the questions was enlightening in and of itself.

One big thing I noticed was everyone else traveling along took their own path. Some stuck to the same type of road, while others were more practical and simply took the fastest path to where they were going. A few people deliberately seemed to be aiming for the most winding route possible, which had to be a choice.

Yet, at the end of the day, did we not all arrive at the same place, the destination we were heading towards? Was the path not taken simply that - a different path? Was there wisdom in following what I’d mentally dubbed ‘the middle way’ no matter how it weaved and wound around the other two paths? Or was part of the lesson saying that I should stick to the middle path, and occasionally the middle path was paved with gold, and at others it was a poor beggar’s game trail?

Thoughts and questions, forcing me to actually think in a different way for the first time in years. I appreciated it. Too long I’d been staying in the same thought patterns, the same reactions, and this was a solid way to force flexibility back into my thinking.

My mental evaluation of the mandatory breaks Sentinels had to take went up quite a few notches.

One of my own thoughts, a phrase I’d read in a book a long time ago and worlds apart came back to me. I could learn more from a single footstep than a thousand books.

I’d been [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] and devoured a thousand books. Now I was taking some steps myself.

The giants started up a new low chant, voices as deep as the ocean, and I paused, stepped off the road to the side, and listened. My Kanauri was entirely theoretical - I’d literally memorized a dictionary before coming here, thank you [Astral Archives] - so translating the words was a slow process, as I painstakingly worked out which word was being said, no mean feat with accents and the like, tried to figure out if there was any grammar attached to the word, looked it up, and bit by bit constructed a single sentence. It was helpful that the words continued to echo throughout the valley, letting me hear them again and again.

Be who you are; otherwise you will miss your life.

Once I’d pieced the sentence together, I started walking down the road, thinking on the words, practicing saying them myself. It was a bit of a shame that [Ancient Loremaster of Legend] was capped, along with [Astral Archives] and [Lust for Lore] - this would be amazing experience for them. Hopefully it would help with my class quality when I upgraded soonish. Then again, a good chunk of this trip would improve my quality.

I mostly agreed with the philosophy, but perhaps that was because everything had worked out well for me. I’d generally taken classes that resonated with me, that I felt were very me, and found joy in my levels and my work. I’d taken classes for fun, I’d gained skills for the joy of it, and I’d been rewarded through life.

I found it difficult to fully endorse the idea. There were some people who just weren’t all that, and striving to be better or different from how they currently were would be an improvement. Yet, if someone went into a job they disliked because their true passion was laying around doing nothing, and ended up finding joy and improvement in that way, was becoming a better person like that being ‘who they were’?

I was starting to wrap up my thoughts when the next prayer hit. Another translation-and-practice session later, and I had the essence of the thought.

The root of suffering is attachment.

I spent way too long checking the dictionary for how exactly the language handled ‘suffering’, and what connotations it had. It didn’t seem like there was anything radically different, which had me disagreeing with the thought strongly.

If someone ran a sword through me, if a dinosaur took off my arm, if a pterodactyl tried to eat my eyes out, I’d be suffering quite a bit, attachment or not. If I was enslaved and beaten - suffering. Lots of it.

I suppose if they were as hardcore over their beliefs as other religious people they’d point out I was attached to my body and sense of integrity. Maybe I was supposed to release my attachment to my body? I suppose part of the foundational beliefs of the [Monks] involved ‘we are a soul, we’re trying to escape Samsara’, so I guess in that respect they were consistent. Alternatively, I was horribly mistranslating ‘suffering’ and the subtle connotations, history, culture, and meaning behind the word were radically different. If only language could be an easy one to one translation!

I checked another assumption of mine - that the dictionary I’d picked up was good, and the [Author] both had a talent in multiple languages, and a talent for writing clear, concise definitions. All a challenge, and that was before I hit any idiomatic expressions.

I was enjoying myself. It wasn’t a book, it wasn’t a mango - my mind inevitably drifted to [Vault of Ages] where I’d stored a number of dried and sugared mangos, and involuntarily started salivating at the thought of eating them - but it was peaceful and nice. I spent the entire day slowly walking the valley, and realized the giants didn’t stop even as the sun set, continuing to bellow out their wisdoms.

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

I could quickly and easily agree with the idea, although the concept of ‘moderation’ could use some examination.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

I’d always believed in seizing my own fate and captaining my own ship, even from an early age. Nobody else was going to do it for me.

Love is a gift of one’s innermost soul to another so both can be whole.

My mind jumped to Iona and Auri, a silly smile on my face as my heart burst with love for the two of them. I couldn’t wait to see my little fiery friend again, it had been far too long. I could only hope she’d be waiting for me back home when I got there.

Eight pillars, thick as a giant and eight times as tall, dotted the valley. On each one a single word was carved, clearly an ideal to be strived for. Each one had an unusual number of [Monks] gathered around it in quiet contemplation.

View. Aspiration. Words. Action. Effort. Mindfulness. Concentration. Lifestyle.

An interesting take on the important aspects to life. I struggled with the seventh one, and I filed away Words, Action, and Effort for my upcoming meeting with Kunchenjab.

It took a day and a night to traverse the valley, pausing only to enter my [Vault] for a modest meal of flat bread and plain water. The right food for the occasion. When I tried to exit, I found to my brief panic that I couldn’t, that my skill was activating but nothing was happening. I wasn’t being let out. Fighting back blind panic - I don’t want to be stuck here forever oh gods no what went wrong?! - I tried again, teleporting back to the real world with a giant’s sandal in my face. Fortunately, it was lifting up, and I was able to quickly realize what happened.

The giant had stepped into my ‘return’ spot for [Vault of Ages], and with a physical, vitality-reinforced object blocking my way, I couldn’t teleport back.

I shuddered. That had been close.

I could’ve blitzed the length of the Valley in under a minute, but the meditation, mindfulness, and language acquisition were important. Plus, I was on vacation.

Journey before destination.

At the end of the Valley of Echoing Prayers was the Staircase of Giants. Each step was hewn out of the mountain rock, and generations of enormous giants walking up and down the stairs had worn them down.

They were still stairs for giants, each step taller than I was, even after the worn-down depression. There was no concession for us smallfolk, no elvenoid staircase carved in the side.

To be fair, I didn’t make any concessions to gnomes when I’d approved the design for our villa.

Carved into each stair was a saying, another set of philosophy that the [Monks] believed in. A few of the phrases overlapped the chants I’d heard echoing throughout the valley, some were different. I suspected if I spent long enough in the valley, I’d hear every message carved into the stone steps.

The doors of the Immortal are open.

Let those who can hear respond with faith.

The two sentences, carved in letters taller than I was, was the first step’s solemn creed.

When in Remus, act as the Remans. I sat down cross-legged in front of the words on the stairs, mindfully not going to the center where a passing giant would turn me into a red stain on the steps - probably sacrilegious, but their relationship with death seemed a little iffy from what I could understand. The next great journey and all that.

While tall, I could still jump up and grab the lip of the stair, even before the System had improved my physical capabilities, and before my biomancy came into play. On one hand, I wanted to take it seriously, to show the proper reverence for the almost-religious stairs. On the other, there were no accommodations for me, and no way to combine graceful, elegant, and humble. The last one was the sticking point - there were all sorts of fancy moves I could pull off, but none of them were humble.

With a small jump, I grabbed the lip of the stair, and did a full-body pull up to bring myself up and over, like how I’d get out of a swimming pool. Probably the most humble move I could pull off, but not exactly graceful or elegant.

Everything in moderation. The words from before echoed back. Well, I might as well try a different way of getting over every step.

I looked up, my face stoic as I rapidly counted how many steps were left. There were 125 steps until I hit a thick bank of clouds, and I remembered the Jahkong Monastery being higher than that. Each step was also long, large enough to comfortably fit a giant’s foot and then some.

According to who one follows, so does one become. Like one’s associates one becomes.

Ooof. That one hit hard. I thought about all the people I’d spent my life around, starting with Artemis. I hadn’t exactly been around the best role models, and they’d undeniably shaped and influenced my thoughts, which in turn shaped my actions and ethics.

While only the second step, I found the message profound enough to spend significant time meditating over it, trying to trace influences of different people on me and how it shaped my views.

What would I have been like if I’d spent more time around gentle healers? If I’d worked with people who used violence as the last resort, instead of quickly picking up a blade, or reflexively casting?

The thoughts moved onto how I shaped others, and it reframed Night’s reluctance to be heavily involved in everything in Exterreri in spite of his ability to literally rule the country as [Emperor]. If he knew his tendencies, thoughts, philosophy, and actions rubbed off on others - I had no doubt he was crystal aware of it, not at high age, experience, and willingness to learn and do everything - did he not want to shape everyone into an ancient relic with certain thought patterns and behaviors? It put his willingness to step back, to let people make mistakes and figure things out for themselves in new light.

Should I step back myself? Or did I have a bright and shining light to offer, one that I should help radiate from the mountains and see if I could shape others onto a kinder, gentler path and way of life?

Was my life one to be envied and emulated?

I’d spent significant time working my way through the valley, but this one step, this one ideal, triggered so many thoughts and self-examination that I stayed for hours, contemplating the thought.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Meditation]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Thoughtful Contemplation]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Serenity]. Would you like to replace a skill with it? Y/N]

As usual, the System was offering me quite a few skills, none of which I was interested in taking in the moment.

After enough time I got up and stretched, then did a standing jump to get over the next stair. Step after step I tackled with acrobatic excellence, striving for beauty and perfection in all things. I jumped up, grabbed the lip, then kicked into a front flip over the step. I ran at the wall, using momentum and obscene amounts of dexterity to simply run up the side of the wall.

200 steps. 200 lessons. The [Monks] didn’t stop chanting, although after 50 steps I wasn’t getting solid echoes anymore. The laws of Sound didn’t change just because there were giants chanting. Step by step I made my way to the top, eventually reaching the Jahkong Monastery. A single [Monk] was waiting at the door, and immediately spotted me.

“Amitabha, traveler. What brings you here?”

Chapter 26 - The Jakhong Monastery II

I slightly bowed to the [Monk], in a similar manner to how I’d seen the occasional giant greet each other in the Valley. The gates he was in front of were enormous. They were modestly sized for the country, but they were larger than even the grandest city gates I’d seen. My head went from shin-height to ankle-height, and he was too far away for me to see anything from [The World Around Me].

Aspiration. Words. Action. Effort. Mindfulness. The eight pillars I’d passed helped inform my words. I didn’t know how successful I’d be, I was a rank amateur and this was the first time talking to anyone from the culture, but hopefully the effort and mindfulness parts would lend me a hand.

“Amitabha. May the light of the benefactor illuminate and guide you. I was told that the [Runesmith] Kunchenjab lives here, and I have a request to make of him, one that I believe will ease suffering. Does he still live here, and may this one make a polite request of him?”

I straightened up at the end, not wanting to talk to his feet the entire time. The giant had an awkward look on his face.

“Ahh, traveler, this is unfortunate, but Kunchenjab has requested that we turn away those he does not know. I am sorry that your long journey has failed at this final step. Could we offer some hospitality?”

Welp, so much for talking my way in.

I held out my hand, summoning the letter of introduction Night had written. It was on a scroll, the short dimension as long as I was tall.

“A letter from Night, Night, or occasionally as Nyx. He claims Kunchenjab as a friend.” I said, mixing Night’s Creation name with the Kanauri word for it, and throwing in his sometime-title. I was missing the correct word for close or personal friend, unsure of which word in Kanauri was correct, given the various shades of meaning and how the language had four different words for it.

I missed my [Learning Languages] skill. Sometimes. Digesting a dictionary was not the same as a skill to guide my learning.

“I do not know this ‘Night’ person, but I will trust your word and deliver the message. Would you like to come in for tea?” The [Monk] invited me.

I bowed again. Seemed to be the right thing to do.

“Please.”

The giant casually opened the door with one hand, the gates opening smoothly.

“This one’s name is Chodak. Come this way.” He rumbled. “Stick close to me, as some of my brothers and sisters do not tend to look out for small ones.”

He sounded most peeved at that, like it was some fundamental failing on their end. Perhaps it was? It didn’t sound like proper compassion for all living things, great and small.

The [Monk] was slowly striding with his staff through the open courtyard of the Monastery, and yet, I had to jog with my enhanced speed just to keep up.

Giants, in an inverse of gnomes, benefitted massively from physical stats. They already had such large base numbers that even a small multiplier did fantastical things for them. An interesting lesson from my comparative anatomy lessons at the School was that giants were the weakest ‘magical’ race. Attempting to simply biomance myself into the size and shape of a giant would fail. My bones wouldn’t be able to support my weight, and I’d need either the faintest touch of magic - like how Auri was made out of living flames - or [Giant’s Grandeur] to stand up without snapping my legs like a lumberjack using [One Swing, One Tree]. The type of peaceful meditation ‘regular’ giants (not frost giants) were known for didn’t require any magical stats. Add in Immortality and stupidly long legs, and voila - I struggled to keep up with even the simplest of [Monks].

Monks were practicing in the courtyard, a single mentor calling out strikes and poses, and the rest of the giants following suit. Some calls were fast, and others moved with glacial speed, like they were engaged in a contest of who could finish last without ever standing still. I could see most of the concepts idealized by the eight pillars in the movements… or maybe I was really stretching my imagination, having a hammer and everything looking like a nail.

We entered the monastery, and the idea of being a gnome redoubled. Everything was ten times the size, from the bricks to the doors. To my great surprise, it was brightly and brilliantly painted, with gorgeous repeating patterns, elaborate designs, and colored columns. I’d expected a severe and plain environment, with only the bare minimum present, but I guess that wasn’t properly part of the Middle Way? It wasn’t opulently luxurious, nor was it bare and plain. A bit of life and excitement in the daily necessities of living.

Why not surround oneself with art and joy, when it comes at minimal expense?

Chodak occasionally paused and greeted other [Monks] as they passed each other, but never stayed for a long conversation. I could hear songs, hymns, and chants coming from various other places inside the Monastery. We arrived at a set of stairs, and the [Monk] paused.

“I apologize, little one. Do you have much difficulty with the stairs?” He asked. I shook my head, then realized he might not be able to - who was I kidding, of course their vision would be good enough to see.

“No! Keep going, I can keep up. I’ll fly if I have to.”

“Mmmm. This is good.” He said, then went up the stairs, leading me to a “small” - larger than most kings’s throne rooms - room with a simple table and chairs.

I didn’t bother trying to scale Mt. Chair. The legs were three times my size, and I snapped my wings open, flying up. When I realized that, even sitting in the chair, I wouldn’t be able to see over the edge of the table, I just kept going, feeling a little like I was a fairy or pixie. Just needed a pitchfork and an attitude.

“Tea.” Chodak rumbled, presenting me with a simple cup. “Please wait here while I deliver your message to Kunchenjab.”

The ‘simple cup’, of course, was so large around I could just barely touch my fingertips on either side, and came up to my collarbone. I could, with a bit of squeezing, take a bath in the teacup. I was thirsty, the gesture was kind, and I doubted the tea was going to be reused or anything. Quickly tying my hair back, I leaned in and took a drink. I tried to be a good guest and not eavesdrop on everything that was going on inside the monastery, no matter how tempting it was.

I was undisturbed in the little room, and Chodak came back a few minutes later.

“Kunchenjab has a small mote of time he can spare for the letter-bearer now.” His odd inflection hinted strongly that he was simply quoting Kunchenjab directly.

I followed Chodak around, the [Monk] soon knocking on another door.

“Enter.” Kunchenjab said, and we did.

Books! Books everywhere! Every wall was filled floor to ceiling with books! In a strangely considerate move - or perhaps that was simply how his organization was best done - a large number of human-sized books were at my level. I couldn’t tell what was going on top of the tables and desks, but the ones I could see all had signs of heavy use, fingerprints and an utter lack of dust betraying heavy, considerate use.

Kunchenjab himself was quite a sight. Bald with an orange outfit like most of the other giants, he had two halos of large stones, each one half my size, whizzing around his head. He had another set of stones rotating around his wrists, like granite bracelets. Each stone had a Jiwa rune carved deep into it, and I imagined he could channel huge amounts of mana before the stone cracked. His eyes were as deep and rocky as the mountains we were on, and between that and the stones circling him, his primary class’s element was as clear as the stone we were standing on. Age had clearly started to touch him, a rarity among giants who were so long-lived as to be classified as Immortals.

[Artisan - 3792] [Identify] brought back. Friend of Night’s with that age and level? Kunchenjab was deceptively powerful, and I had no doubt he was fully capable of using all his runes.

The giant paused his work, putting down a brush nearly as large as I was.

“You know Night?” He asked without any preamble, jabbing at something on his desk I couldn’t see - I assumed it was the letter I sent.

Chodak quietly bowed - wow, giants could be super sneaky if they wanted to be, it was a little terrifying - and left.

“Yes! I’m a Sentinel of Exterreri, and I’m proud to call Night my mentor and my friend!” I badly wanted to shout, but it wouldn’t be polite. “He officiated my wedding!”

Kunchenjab slapped the table and stuck a finger in his ear, working it back and forth.

“Come up here, I can’t hear you down there.” He pulled out a disgusting hunk of wax from his ear.

There didn’t seem to be a huge amount of consideration for how I could get up there, but maybe he figured between my level and Night being willing to write a letter on my behalf that I wasn’t too vertically challenged. He was right, and I flew up to his desk, feeling more and more like I was a fairy.

If I never, ever, saw or heard of a fairy again in my life, that would be fine. Only knowing the stories of how they would viciously retaliate against anyone deliberately going out to harm or hunt them stopped me from doing the same. I was still upset over the whole thing, even more than a decade later.

“You wish for me to make you a rune, correct?” He asked. The [Runesmith’s] desk was neat. Scrolls tidily tucked away in one corner, an open scroll half-painted in the middle, a single open book off to the side, brushes neatly lined up and the ink bottle was capped.

I bowed again, trying to be mindful of my words. I wanted to keep my request earnest, from the heart, but at the same time try to speak to the religion.

“Honored Kunchenjab, that is correct. I believe making the rune will greatly assist in reducing suffering and helping those in need who I can.”

He snorted. Maybe my attempts weren’t so good.

“For Night, I will hear out the full details of your request. Prepare to be rejected.”

I straightened, organizing my thoughts. Without any dramatics, I summoned all the copies of the Medical Manuscripts I had in [Loremaster’s Library], neatly arranging them on the table.

“I’m hoping to get a rune that can generate a copy of the Medical Manuscripts, a thorough text on all currently known medicine and capabilities. With the created rune, I hope to be able to rapidly distribute copies of the Medical Manuscripts all over the world, during times of both prosperity and famine, and assist the world in letting the medical arts flourish. I know there are a number of problems with my request. Language barriers - which language to write them in? Literacy problems. The ones who could be helped the most by my writings may not know how to read and write. Knowledge issues. Once the rune is created and sealed, my understanding is that it’s impossible to edit and add new knowledge to. Anything wrong with the current version will forevermore be preserved incorrectly. Natural decay of conjured material gives each copy an extremely limited lifespan, and in some conditions, a large portion of the book being decayed can turn into wrong information, potentially causing more harm than good. Yet, in the net, I believe the project is worthwhile.”

Kunchenjab didn’t look impressed.

“Little healer, do you have any notion how complex such an undertaking is?”

To answer him, I quickly drew a large, complex mandala in front of myself, an entry-level one I’d learned at the School and never done anything with after practicing it for my lessons a few times. Kunchenjab didn’t blink an eye when I finished and activated the array, the word Hello! Briefly appearing in front of me.

“Like that, times 300,000 words, then properly linked.” I replied. “If needed, I can attempt to work out the entire sequence for you?”

Just that one word had taken me nearly an hour back in the day at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. I’d get much faster with experience, but mandalas started to get funky with so many connectors and modifiers running around, and…

My backup plan was doing it ‘the hard way’ and creating a gigantic mandala that would make a single copy. It could take me literal years, and more importantly, I could never share the result with anyone. The ability to quickly and easily spread the Manuscripts would be toast.

The giant rumbled in thought.

“Tell me, what else are you hoping to get out of your visit here?”

I’d spent a bit of time thinking about my goals, but decided to editorialize them a hair and reframe them through the religious aspect.

“Honored Kunchenjab, I’ve already gotten much of what I was hoping to get out of my visit here.” I said. “I wanted to see the country and Monastery. I wanted to learn more about the religion and philosophy, and turn my knowledge of the language from theoretical to more practical. All this I’ve accomplished to a small extent, and if I were banished, I would be content on those fronts. I would never dare say I know enough, but a small amount to sate my curiosity. My main goal is to make a rune that can easily be spread, learn a small amount of Spatial wizardry from you, as my class is getting ready to move in that direction, and ask if you know anything about giants the size of a mountain. They are petty reasons, but I hope you are willing to enlighten me.”

Kunchenjab stared at me, his massive eyes boring into my soul. I swear, if he had a beard he’d be stroking it.

“I am disinclined to alter the tapestry of reality for you.” He finally said. “The mission is noble, yes. The Medical Manuscripts is a collection of broad knowledge from a number of different people, and I’d be more inclined to help a contributor than a mere healer.”

I suppose he didn’t recognize the title of Sentinel. It didn’t mean much here, although I suppose that was fine - neutrality was far better than ‘hated enemy’. I was excited by the notion of ‘help a contributor’ - there could be some leeway to his refusal! He continued on.

“You are asking me to create copies of the second most successful piece of literature of all time, second only to the System Book. There is no need to assist the Manuscripts to spread further. Copies are scattered across the world in a thousand forms,” Kunchenjab gestured to my impressive collection that I’d gathered in a relatively short timeframe. “And are constantly copied. I have known old [Wise Women] to teach letters by having students copy the Manuscripts, the texts heavily annotated through the ages. I’ve known an Immortal who made it their life’s goal to spread the word, desiring like you that none should suffer. The continued success of the book and the knowledge it contains tells me it needs no further assistance, and spending my time on such a project would be a waste.”

Ouch. I could see his point, but if three sentences could deter me from a project I’d set my mind on, I would’ve never left Aquiliea. I’d come this far, and while I wasn’t going to fight to the bitter end - I was still hoping for some tutoring in Spatial Wizardry - my hopes and dreams were rapidly crashing down around me. It wasn’t looking good.

I did have at least one more card to play.

“This is going to sound a little unbelievable, but I did write the Medical Manuscripts. The basis at least, that everyone built off of. I’m Elaine.” I said, pointing to my name featured prominently on the front.

“You’re right. I don’t believe you.” Kunchenjab’s response was swift and brutal. “The claim makes absolutely no sense.”

I quickly weighed my options, [Luminary Mind] splitting my thoughts to better… honestly, it was so when one thought process got distracted, I’d still be working on the problem.

It seemed like getting Kunchenjab to create a rune for me was right out of the question. That boat had sailed, hit stormy weather, sunk onto a kraken, and was currently acting as a fine set of matching toothpicks.

“I understand.” With a thought and a few skills, all my books vanished back into [Loremaster’s Library]. Hey, at least I had a decent starter collection, and there was nothing stopping me from writing my own mandala to do the same thing. It’d just be a lot larger, complicated, and extremely time-consuming every time I wanted to cast it. The bigger issue was other people couldn’t use it themselves, but I suppose that wasn’t the worst. Only I’d be able to cast it easily and reliably, and I could make updates as new knowledge was discovered.

Although… at that point just writing the book would be much faster, less resource-intensive, and it wouldn’t fade and decay like all conjured material would. Alternatively, I could try to do what some Immortals did, and play the super long game. Sponsor a promising up-and-coming [Runesmith], make him Immortal, wait until he was good enough to do it for me.

Yeah, that could work. It had a timeline measured in centuries, and I wasn’t quite ready to start executing century-long plans, not when I was about to have a decade-long plan work out for the first time ever, but my dreams weren’t ruined. I’d just need to go about it a different way.

Thank goodness for [Luminary Mind]. I’d been able to reference my big book of social rules and ask myself ‘what would Iona do’?

“Is there anything I can do to observe your Spatial Wizardry at work?” I asked.

“I would like to hear your questions about titans.” He said. “As for staying and observing, I am not quite the person to ask, but I can tell you this. All who wish to stay at the Jakhong Monastery must contribute in some way to the upkeep and wellbeing of all who live within its walls. What do you offer?”

I immediately discarded the idea of money. From what I understood so far, simply offering to pay to stay would be an insult, and I felt like I was on thin ice with Kunchenjab not believing my claims about being the author of the Medical Manuscripts. It burned me deep inside that I was so casually dismissed and disbelieved, but my chart and ‘What would Iona say?’ kept telling me to swallow my pride and deal with it later.

Most physical work was outside of my expertise as well. Getting a bucket of water up the stairs would take me a day, and be a small, human-sized bucket. A giant could carry a bucket large enough to flood out my villa up the stairs in minutes.

Healing was naturally on the table. I was probably the strongest healer in the Monastery, and possibly the strongest in the country. It might be enough, it might not be.

Another benefit I brought to the table was my small size. I could get in and reach areas that might be difficult for a full-sized giant to reach. I also had [Gardening].

I quickly explained how I could contribute.

Kunchenjab looked thoughtful, then nodded.

“Very well, traveler. I believe that will do. Now, about the titan you claim to have seen.”

“Literal mountains. Most of the giants I’ve met are ‘only’ about ten times my size, and…”

I explained about the battle between Lun’Kat and the Guardians, how a stray blow hit a mountain that stood up and smacked Lun’Kat. As the tiniest bit of petty revenge - not Iona approved - I saved the best part for last.

“... unfortunately, timeline wise, this happened about 23,000 years ago.” I explained. Kunchenjab did not look amused at that, the stones whirling faster around his head to the point where they started to hum.

I had to wonder - was Kunchenjab bad at being a monk?

“You jest.” He frowned at me. I gave him a great big shit-eating grin, then modulated it a little as I remembered I still wanted his help with Spatial wizardry.

“Nope! Witnessed it personally. I was born a long, long time ago.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, then peace and calm descended on his face, turning it smooth like glass.

“Amitahba. Very well, I will permit karma to dictate the outcome of your life. Should you be virtuous and speaking candidly, with truth, may the light of the benefactor shine down on you. Should you be spinning yarn for your own reasons, may you get tangled in them and choke. I will treasure the knowledge you have brought about our greatest ancestors. You should find Chodak, and have him direct you to the gardens. Come visit me when the sun sets.”

I bowed and hopped off the desk, plummeting the height of a five-story apartment building down to the floor. It absorbed my impact without complaint - it had been built to survive literal giants - and went to find Chodak.

I figured I’d stick around as long as I wanted, and when I missed Iona too much or got bored, I’d head back home.

Vacations were weird.

Chapter 27 - The Jakhong Monastery III

About a month later, I woke to the grand humming of the giants, greeting the rising sun in their own way.

I spent a brief moment disoriented, having changed where I was sleeping a few times now. The first night I’d slept in a giant’s shoe, not realizing what it was. After a great amount of embarrassment, I’d tried sleeping in [Vault of Ages], but the looming sense of dread, the complete deadness of the [Vault], and occasionally peeking into the vast nothing beyond the walls urged me to find alternative arrangements.

And alternative arrangements I found!

The Jakhong Monastery wasn’t built with non-giant elvenoids in mind, but there was a small population living here that managed to make it work. Most were also [Monks], contemplating the vast mysteries of the universe when they weren’t contributing to the Monastery’s upkeep.

My bedroll was in a corner, and I jumped out of it in pure habit, quickly scanning the room for threats, my senses extending all around me as my heart raced.

There’s no threat. I’m not under attack. I’m exactly where I expect to be. Nothing’s wrong. Calm down.

My racing heart slowed down as I fought down the sudden surge of paranoia and anxiety. It was rare these days that I woke up thinking I was under attack, but every once in a while my subconscious was a massive bitch and got me all riled up.

It didn’t help that I’d been attacked in my sleep multiple times throughout my life.

Embarrassed at the display, but unwilling to show it or have it slow me down, I rolled up my bedroll with the other [Monks], stashing it away in a closet. I paused as I saw a small crack past the wall thanks to [The World Around Me], and called out to Uirphen, the elf who helped organize all of us ‘little ones’.

“Hey Uirphen, I think there’s a crack developing back here. I’d be surprised if my skill was the first one to detect it, but I’m just letting you know in case there’s a real issue.”

The elf took the news with serene grace.

“Thank you Elaine. I will bring it up with the [Monks] later.”

On one hand, with all the Immortals running around, someone had to have a [Fix Cracks] skill, or even passive. On the other, the ‘little one’ rooms were basically mouse holes, parts of the Monastery that had crumbled a bit, then hollowed out and expanded to create additional rooms. I was no [Architect], but it seemed like a bad idea to me. Then again, it had stood for decades at the very least, so what did I know?

I teleported a scroll out of [Loremaster’s Library], rolling it open. I carefully examined the 7-circle array inside for any trace of degradation. I’d painted the rune just yesterday, using extra-thick lines, so there shouldn’t be any issues, but it paid to be safe and to practice.

Satisfied that the rune wasn’t going to cataclysmically explode in my face, I used [Lepidoptera] to actually make the rune, not yet having the skills to use ink and paper to create runes. It was all practice for when my skills shuffled around. I activated the spell, a combined cleansing/cleaning spell on myself, combined with summoning a jar of ink, a fresh sheet of paper, and a simple brush. Having ‘bootstrapped’ my supplies, I turned the page in the spellbook, recreating the exact same rune I’d just cast. One of my lessons and spells from Kunchenjab. A neat little trick, a set of circles I could add to any spell, giving me the supplies to remake the spell - including the ink, paper, and brush to write it out.

Being made purely out of conjured material, it would decay, and [Loremaster’s Library] wouldn’t stop the process at all. It was why I had to be extra-careful and check the runes over before casting them.

My morning ablutions handled, I scurried along the side of the walls like a mouse, making sure I wasn’t getting in the way of the giants stomping through the halls. It was like the road system in Remus in a nutshell. They had their lanes, I had mine, and as long as everyone stuck to them, traffic moved smoothly.

I made it to the kitchen, where another [Monk] was handing out bowls and spoons. I took mine, and lined up for the teacup the giants had placed on the floor for us. Their teacup was enough soup for all the ‘little ones’ and then some - I could literally take a bath in it, let alone get a solid breakfast. The soup was vegetarian, like all their food. Since Samsara and the cycle of reincarnation was a known thing, they took the logic a step further and said that any animal could have any soul, and it was an act of cruelty to cut their life off short. Given how they had a System, I was sweating a little at the implications and how right they seemed.

I remembered reincarnation. According to the [Monks], my soul had been reborn thousands of times and would die thousands of times until I finally achieved enlightenment and escaped the bounds of Samsara. Any animal I ate could possibly have contained my soul, or the soul of any one of my friends or family.

My socialization reserves were at stone-cold zero. I didn’t feel like making small talk with the other [Monks]. I quickly ate my food and returned my licked-clean bowl to the [Monk] who’d been handing it out in the first place. As I got near, my bowl finished cleaning itself, and almost as soon as I’d returned it, it was handed out to the next person in line.

It was weird being able to turn things around so quickly, but hey, a cleaning aura seemed like one of the most generically useful day-to-day skills a person could have. I was a little jealous.

Curse the System for only granting me 32 skill slots! I wanted EVERYTHING! Thank goodness wizardry let me tap into quite a few fun things, at a price.

I hustled out to the courtyard, grateful that the monks had their daily conditioning. I grabbed my quarterstaff from where I’d leaned it against the inside of the door yesterday, and exited into the courtyard.

A number of giants were already up and about, slowly moving their staves in sync with the leader. A form of physical meditation. I found a spot off to the side, near the front, where I could actually see the leader and not endless feet and calves, and started to move along with the same exercises.

“Let your body become one with the mountains.” The leader called out as she moved into Mountain Pose. “Let your breath become one with the air.”

The exercises were suspiciously similar in spirit to Iona’s katas, if not in form. The poses, positions, and slow movements that were called out were strenuous and complex enough that they were straining even my muscles, forcing my entire body through a moderate exercise. I re-discovered muscles I’d last known during Ranger Academy, and while we’d done this particular morning routine before, I memorized it anyway, intending on bringing it back home with me.

Iona would enjoy doing something similar with me every morning. It was a wonderful warm-up, and we could still spar after.

The chants from the [Monks] quickly picked up as more and more of them finished breakfast, not all of them choosing to join in on the morning meditations.

“Strength lies in knowing one’s self.”

The mentor slowed way down at that chant, moving us through a series of exercises that hit every muscle group in our body once. She finished just as the next chant started.

“Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices, those in small channels flow noisily, the great flows silent. What’s not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.”

The exercises changed, moving to a series of rapid strikes and movements. The courtyard felt eerily quiet, the only noises the whistling of quarterstaves and the occasional rustle of cloth, resulting in embarrassed looks for whoever had broken the silence.

“There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.”

There was no lunch. The culture and language didn’t have a word for it. I went directly to the gardens, where, in utter defiance of every botanical rule I knew, cantaloupes taller than I was were grown. They were two meters in diameter, and no amount of [Gardening] was going to make them more manageable. Even if I had the strength stat to lift them, I lacked secondary skills to prevent myself from ‘punching through’ their tough skin.

There was a certain satisfying fulfillment to physical labor, to the simple joys of growing food and being largely unconcerned with the greater world. I’d experienced some of it at home, with my own garden, but there’d always been the lurking and there’s stuff to do later behind it. It didn’t ruin anything, but the looming obligations shaded everything.

Here? There were no looming obligations, no quests, no jobs, no missions. There was a peace and tranquility to it, and I could understand why the monks chose to live this way in pursuit of enlightenment.

The unusual size and shape of the cantaloupes made my [Gardening] skill go a little wonky. It kept ‘expecting’ normal fruits, not the modified monstrosities here, and the little nudges and advice it tried to give me, trying to guide my hand like most normal skills, were a little suspect. It wasn’t completely unreliable, but I needed to double check everything against my own knowledge. It was a little like trying to grow trees with a [Lumberjack] skill. That skill would want me to chop trees down, not grow them, so it’d give me great advice - for chopping them down.

I didn’t sigh. I just got to work, patrolling around the boulder-sized fruits, looking for traces of insects or anything that needed pruning.

Thank Ciriel, the insects were not supersized, but it did leave the giants with the occasional pest control issue. One I wasn’t exactly well-equipped to handle, but it was a way I could contribute.

I noted a fruit was at full ripeness, and used [The First Rays of Dawn] to cut it off the stem. I flew up on the wings of a heron, the wings of an angel, and lightly burned an X into the top of it, marking it for one of the other monks to take back to the kitchens.

[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade the General skill [Gardening] to [Giant’s Gardening]?]

Once again I declined the offer. It would be more useful here and now, but long-term I planned on growing normal-sized plants. [Giant’s Gardening] would probably tell me that everything was stunted and too small, and I should prune them all and let the ‘real’ plants get the proper water and nutrition.

Even the prospect of growing gigantic mangos didn’t appeal. Thanks to math, making a mango ten times as large in one dimension would make the entire thing a thousand times as big. I didn’t think I could manage a tree of that size, and the thought of all the wasted mango that I couldn’t eat practically made me want to cry.

Now, double-sized mangos for eight times as large… there was potentially a long-term project for myself. Why do it with skills? It could take me centuries of selective breeding to get there, a wonderful project for an Immortal.

It was thirsty work, and it wasn’t like there were easy watering holes for little ones scattered around. Instead, I channeled my inner healy-bug, went to find a watering can, and tying my hair back, floated upside-down over it while getting a deep drink.

It was good enough for the plants, it was good enough for me.

The shadows were growing long as I finished the last row of the garden, content that I’d done my part to contribute to the Monastery’s upkeep for the day.

Dinner was garlic bread, cheese, and to no surprise, cantaloupe. There was something deeply satisfying about seeing part of the X I’d burnt into the skin of the fruit showing up on the rind when the giant placed ‘a small slice’ for us on the floor. Direct from garden to my plate, all the work made me hungry and I happily went for a second slice.

After dinner I went to Kunchenjab’s lair, and politely knocked on the door larger than every town gate I’d ever seen. The giant was a Classer, and probably heard me walking down the hallway by sheer virtue of his stats alone, ignoring any absurd super-condensed passives he might have.

“Enter.” Even through the door, his bellow was like a physical force pressing down on me. I didn’t bother trying to open the door. [Etheric Aegis] extended my vitality to my clothes, and I [Blinked] through. Far less effort than trying to open the door.

“Little Elaine. Do you believe you have contributed to the Monastery on this day?” The [Runesmith] asked in a ritual fashion.

“Yes, mighty Kunchenjab.” I replied, keeping it simple.

“Then come here and ask your questions.” He patted his desk with a hand nearly as large as I was, and I flew up. His desk was already cleared, and I teleported out of [Loremaster’s Library] the project I’d been working on for the last month. A scroll that would be considered a hefty book for a giant unrolled itself in front of us, the entire thing filled with a dense script in my smallest handwriting.

Kunchenjab had refused to make a simple rune that would generate the entire Medical Manuscripts - so I decided to do it myself, under the guidance of one of the best wizards in the world.

I’d decided on a set of scrolls, because all the fiddly nonsense with book bindings, covers, glue, different materials, double-sided pages, and all that other nonsense was a huge increase in difficulty without any true practical payoffs. The sharp decrease in difficulty once I’d decided to do scrolls had been promptly undone when I decided to make it in three different languages at once. High Elvish, Hakka, and Altaic. A shame Trade-Tongue was so limited it didn’t have most of the needed words.

A set of runes teleported themselves out of Kunchenjab’s personal storage with a faint pop, creating a ring around one eye. They flared with light, the wizard casually activating three dozen different methods of enhancing his vision.

I quickly took mental note of every rune he was using, and their order. This was one of the subtle lessons Kunchenjab had. I was embarrassed it took me three days to notice he was doing it. Every time I came in and visited, he had a different set of runes, a different set of functions. Careful observation and study would expand the repertoire of spells I had, and I suspected many of them were unique to the giant, or otherwise not broadly spread.

He was a [Runesmith] after all. He was the one making the runes the rest of us used.

Once he’d seen that I was taking notes on his runes, he’d started to display more, the set of stones curling his head and wrists constantly changing.

I’d come prepared with questions. The first day I’d been unprepared, and Kunchenjab had kicked me out in a minute, telling me not to waste his time.

I was sure he was terrible at being a [Monk] at this point, shiny bald head or not.

“You’ve told me how spells fail when written at this scale, because the mana takes time to process through the channels, and has finished burning up earlier sections before the mana’s made it to the ends.” I said. I hadn’t learned this at the School, but then again I hadn’t taken the most advanced wizardry classes either, and the size of my spell array was measured in square meters. “You gave me a solution to use both booster-capacitor arrays and multiple mana input circles, but I ran the math and it looks like it’s still too large, and will burn out. What’s the next stage in super large arrays?”

“Well spotted.” That was literally the highest praise Kunchenjab had ever uttered. “The next and final step…”

I furrowed my eyebrows in concentration, my dismay growing as I realized I’d basically need to completely start over again.

Nobody said this project was going to be easy, but as I mentally traced out the supporting superstructure for the mandala, I realized I might finally have all the pieces of the puzzle to finish my project.

Kunchenjab continued to lecture for thirty minutes, detailing all the ins and outs of the method he was describing, ensuring I had all the details and twists down. At the end of his lecture I bowed again.

“Thank you, mighty Kunchenjab, for imparting your wisdom to me once again.”

The giant snorted.

“You’re one of Night’s. Let him know next time you see him that I might send a request or two his way.”

I noticed that Kunchenjab had carefully avoided using the word favor, and I knew how Night felt about those.

“Now, I believe our time tonight is at an end. Shoo.” Kunchenjab unceremoniously kicked me out of his lair, and I found myself wandering back to the quarters.

I was lonely. Kunchenjab’s two sentences at the end of his lecture was more than I’d talked with anyone else here. In the darkness and silence, my heart ached for Iona, ached for home.

I’d failed in my primary quest, but was successful in my secondary objectives.

What was I still doing here? I had the last piece of the puzzle to complete my huge spell - which had to be worth at least a modest achievement when I classed up - and Kunchenjab had implied something similar when he gave me a message to pass to Night.

I wandered the hallways, past the sleeping room - I quickly let Uirphen know I was leaving - and grabbed my staff before heading straight out the doors. Once there, under the baleful crimson glare of the twin moons, I opened my wings and took flight north.

It was time to go home.

Chapter 28 - Underhanded Plots

Flying back home was a joy, eager impatience warring with my enjoyment of flying. I redoubled my resolve - shortly after Auri was back home, the Eventide Eclipse should go exploring around the world. Problems for Iona to fix, people for me to heal, and sights to see. Iona was fully mortal, and as long as I didn’t draw too much attention to myself, we shouldn’t have any problems. If I contained myself to healing sick children in villages who needed specialized care, and not flexing by mass-healing entire cities all at once, I should stay entirely off the Warden’s radar. Night might be a little annoyed that I wasn’t easily contactable in case of emergency, but I was on vacation. I was allowed to…

Actually, I kinda wasn’t allowed to do anything I wanted. I was a special military asset, and I assumed there were a number of countries and nobles who’d be unhappy at me poking around at sensitive things, plus there was image and reputation to concern myself with.

As long as I was discreet and didn’t cause problems, I could do what I wanted.

Exterreri was much better mapped out than Bhutai was, thanks to a strong central government and me living here, and I was able to easily navigate my way back home. A smile blossomed across my face as I spotted Iona from several miles away, sitting on top of our villa with her sketchpad in hand, quietly drawing out the beautiful vista.

Chuckling to myself, I retracted my wings and activated my [Greater Invisibility] rune on my chest, having new appreciation for how many sub-variants of the rune existed, and by extension, how long it had taken to get the rune down perfectly. Kunchenjab had shown me a wrist full of dozens of different variants one lesson, and I’d explored them one by one. It was a little hard to properly understand them when I was both casting them on myself, and had [The World Around Me] to pierce all but the best-crafted illusions.

I invisibly fell through the sky, utterly unconcerned with my landing. I was pretty sure I could simply absorb the impact with my body, and if I landed badly and sprained my ankle going from terminal velocity to zero, my healing would fix me right back up. I glanced down as I was about to land and swore.

Fuck! Sheep! I was falling like an anvil, and dense enough to utterly ruin some poor [Shepherds] day. They’d instantly know there was a problem as well, what with that global wish letting them all know where their sheep were at any time.

Fully trusting that the sheep would do the stupidest, most suicidal thing possible, I snapped open my wings, killing my invisibility, and tumble-rolled to the ground, where I had the presence of mind to immediately recloak. I ended up with my eyes inches away from a sheep’s teeth, getting a close-up view of chewing, and a hot blast of sheep breath in my face.

Baah.

I picked myself up, and jogged down to the road, dodging the few travelers who were out this far, not even leaving a trace of myself like the morning breeze. I made it home at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound, feeling a little like the rest of the world was stuck in molasses.

I snuck up on my wife, waiting for the perfect moment. When she paused her drawing for a moment, putting her pencil up to her lips, I struck. I wrapped her in a hug from behind as I dropped my invisibility, resting my chin on her shoulder.

“Hey love, I’m back.” I said. She didn’t jump up, much to my disappointment. I snuck a peek at what she was drawing.

Iona was going for the full vista view, but with a little twist. With her skills, she was able to manipulate and control her pencil so finely that she could draw tiny details on the extra-nice paper I’d bought for her.

Ahhh. That’s what the fancy paper did. It let her make details at a level only a Classer could manage.

She reached a hand up and stroked my cheek.

“Missed you love. Give me just a moment to finish this, and I’ll greet you properly.”

I flushed at the words, and couldn’t wait.

“You have been on the road quite a bit…” Iona hinted, and I got it.

“Meet you in the baths!” I shouted, teleporting through the roof to get to them faster.

Praise Titania, there were fresh-ish mangos waiting for me in the kitchen, and I blitzed through the house at top speed to better eat them in the bath. I stripped down and slipped into our large, hot bath, billowing clouds of steam giving me some minor privacy from the Valkyrie I knew was also taking advantage of the place.

Hey, it was the semi-public one, and we’d invited them into our home. I wasn’t going to begrudge them using the place. I made my way over to the far corner, and let myself float in the hot water, letting the warmth seep into every bone. In a hidden display of economically using every part of the fruit, of the very essence of waste not, want not, I sunk my teeth into the skin of the most beautiful of fruits, the blessed and holy mango.

The sweet juice exploded in my mouth and ricocheted across my brain, lighting up every nerve. For one brief, glorious instant, I was utterly blissed out, wrapped in the sweet embrace of hot water and mango. Alas, cruel mastication and sensory adjustment quickly dulled the pleasure, and I was forced to take yet another bite.

This was the life.

The only disappointing thing was I couldn’t do it forever, all the time. It’d lose its effect if I tried. Sweet, delicious things had to be done in careful moderation, unless I wanted to forever ruin them for myself. Had to be a little more aware of that as my timeline and horizon stretched longer.

Such a thing would be a nightmare, if I somehow managed to ruin mango for myself forever more.

Iona came in less than a minute later, the timing suggesting she’d finished a tiny part of her sketch then came down here as quickly as possible, stopping only to store her art supplies. Even after all these years, even after all this time, seeing her made my heart race and butterflies flip in my stomach.

She spotted me, and a look of pure love and adoration lit up her face, the silly smile never leaving as she slipped into the bath next to me.

“Love you.” I whispered.

“Love you too.”

I’d just finished tending to my mango grove when the distant sound of falling trees reached my ears. I paused, focusing in a bit, hearing some voices celebrating.

Huh. That didn’t sound right.

I took to the air, scanning around our mountain, and saw a small group chopping down trees by the base of the mountain. It didn’t look like a small operation, nor did it look like a bunch of teenagers screwing around.

Actually, if a bunch of teenagers wanted to ‘screw around’ by getting in several good hard day’s labor cutting down trees, I’d be all for it. Tell me where to sign. It’d be good for them, and the bulk of the reason we hadn’t done a ton with the mountain was to encourage enough game to flourish that feeding Fenrir wasn’t a logistical nightmare. Kids learning valuable skills and gaining experience by chopping a few down? Yeah!

Oh no. I think I was officially getting old. The prospect of seeing kids working hard was exciting and the potential highlight of my day! Help! Help! Turn back the clock! Let me party all night with no consequences in the morning!

I spun off an extra thought process with [Luminary Mind] to ruminate on age, and how at least I didn’t hurt myself by sleeping wrong, thank you magic. There was something interesting in there how I matured mentally at a similar pace to what I expected, and vitality not slowing down the evolving thought process…

I folded my arms and pursed my lips.

They were not supposed to be here, but it wasn’t exactly like this spot in particular was the easiest timber for anyone except maybe exactly one crotchety old farmer, and he was content to do his own thing. If - big if - if he decided to pull some bullshit, he wouldn’t be doing it openly in broad daylight. I briefly debated confronting them myself, but no. I was acceptably good at social work, but the mistress of silver tongues herself was around.

She was up with Fenrir in his cave, reading him a story and scratching a spot under his chin. The wyvern puffed his pipe in obvious contentment, barely cracking an eye open as I approached.

“Hey!” I waved to Iona, sitting down gratefully on an overstuffed chair Fenrir kept in his cave.

“What’s going on?” Iona looked up from her book and paused.

I waved my hand at them.

“Nothing that can’t wait until you’re done.” I settled deeper into the chair, enjoying Iona’s storytelling. She did the voices so well - velvety for one character, then seamlessly switching to the smoke-scarred voice of another. I’d missed half the story, and I quickly caught up thanks to [The World Around Me] and [Manuscript Mastery], resisting the urge to read ahead and simply listening to Iona.

The book ended on a nice plot twist, and a quick re-read through the entire story reframed a number of items I hadn’t put together before, which was nice. It had been there the entire time - if only I’d seen it.

Iona snapped the book shut, and gently headbutted Fenrir.

“How’d you like that one?” She softly asked, the mighty wyvern puffing an extra-large cloud of smoke in response.

“What’s up?” My wife asked me a moment later.

“Bunch of people are logging at the bottom of our mountain.” I said. “I know the accursed [Tax Collector] wanted us to sell off a good portion of the land and we’d get significant benefits for it, but last I checked it was all ours, and I can’t imagine why anyone would pick here to log trees. Want to come check it out with me?”

Fenrir’s eyes flew open, the cave shaking as he moved his bulk around.

“Case!” Iona’s bond shouted as he carefully moved his pipe to the rack, where a dozen more pipes rested. The wyvern charged out of the cave with a roar, taking to the skies where he reigned sovereign. Iona facepalmed, and muttered to herself.

“Auri burns flowers and Fenrir takes cases. It’s fine. It’s all fine.”

My ears picked up the sound of distant thunderclouds.

“I swear it wasn’t supposed to rain today.”

Iona got up and stretched.

“Well, let’s go see what they want, shall we?”

The two of us made our way down the mountain, and I had a sudden pang of loss, of something wrong.

Auri wasn’t on my shoulder, gleefully chirping up a storm into my ear. I missed her. Only 413 days until she was back - worst case. For all I knew, she could be back any minute now.

We spotted the [Lumberjacks] with a bit of distance to go, and they spotted us. There were six men and two women, all of them between level 120 to 320, the only one who might possibly have a combat class tagged [Leader]. Given that he was level 230 and the deadliest thing he had was a standard knife at his belt, I suspected it was more focused on civilian life.

To my surprise, the [Leader] looked excited to see us, and like he recognized me. He thunked his axe down in a stump and waved at me as we approached.

“Heeeey! Elaine! Great to see you!” He cheered at me, the rest of the group choosing to take an impromptu break. Waterskins and lunches were broken out, and their sandwiches smelled good.

Iona shot me a wordless look with a single eyebrow raised past her bangs, almost to her hairline. I went down [Astral Archives], trying to match his face to anyone I’d met before.

There were a lot of near-matches to people I’d seen on the streets of Sanguino here and there, but that was true for everyone. I couldn’t match him to anyone I’d met and talked to enough for them to be familiar with me.

And, terribly, the ball was in my court. I’d hoped to have Iona do most of the talking, but now it was on me, by the ten thousand unwritten social rules. The interaction was friendly so far, and there was no reason to change the tone. It was easy to escalate to unpleasant, it was difficult to go from mean to nice.

Okay!

“Hi! I’m Elaine, yeah. I think you’ve got the advantage of me, what’s your name?” I asked.

His face froze, and I could almost see his heart dropping into his shoes. He got clammy, and his hands started to tremble a little.

“I’m Kalesius?” He asked, almost like it was a question. “We met last week, you sold us some land? Hey! Alektryon! Bring over the contract!”

Iona and I traded stunned looks as Alektryon hurried over, pulling a scroll from a satchel. I didn’t need to full see it to read the whole thing.

In short, it was exactly what Kalesius claimed. A contract between me and him, selling a modest portion of the mountain for a reasonable sum. Naturally, the date was when I was at the Jakhong Monastery in Bhutai, far, far away from Sanguino. I’d been meditating and gardening that day, not signing contracts and selling land.

Alektryon unraveled the scroll, and Iona leaned over it, taking a quick look. The mood was starting to turn… I wasn’t quite sure, but things were a lot less joyful and happy. My wife hooked her arm in mine.

“Whoops!” She steered me back to the woods, and I was inclined to let her drive. “We’ve got to chat a bit ourselves! Sorry for disturbing you!”

Iona and I slowly hiked until we were a respectable distance away from Kalesius, then picked up the pace and moved at high speed until we were back home, far away enough that they couldn’t hear us.

“That wasn’t me.” I said. Iona held up her hands.

“I know. It’s obvious we’re a target of a scam, fraud, or some other bullshit. It’s possible they’re trying to pull wool over my eyes, but with my skills, it’d be exceptionally hard for all of them to fool me. I pulled us away because you had the paper memorized already, and anything we said would either escalate the problem, or cause them to start covering their tracks better.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I’m pretty sure the Rangers have [Jurists] that could help us out here. We’ve got resources, no reason we need to solve everything ourselves.”

Iona shot a baleful glare in the direction Fenrir had flown off. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, nevermind the wyvern being far out of view.

“You hear that!” She yelled. “People can work together to solve mysteries!”

I couldn’t tell if Iona was serious or cracking a joke, but it put a smile on my face and lightened the mood.

“It’s a good idea. Let’s go bring someone who does this for a living into the loop.”

A bunch of bouncing around later, and we found ourselves alone in Addolorata’s office, eating a pair of wraps. Marley, Night’s dog, had followed the sweet smell of chicken, and was busy sitting on his hind legs and begging for scraps. Iona and I were suckers, and he knew it. Each step in the process had seemed logical, but I wasn’t sure how we ended up with one of Night’s team members, instead of one of the Ranger’s [Lawyers] or [Solicitors].

Then again, she was a devil, and at the risk of stereotyping too much and getting myself in trouble, they did tend to have an unusual fascination with law, order, and rules.

“I miss Arachne.” I said. “Just go to her, and ZAP! Paperwork problem solved.”

Iona swallowed an extra-large bite, eyeing my half-eaten wrap hungrily. I passed it to her without a word.

“You also miss Night’s meetings and being able to regularly chat with him.” She pointed out, attacking my half-wrap like it had done something wrong.

“Sure, but who knew paperwork could take so long to handle, even with Classers dealing with it.”

“Cross city paperwork filed in six different spots?” Iona pointed out one of the things we’d learned on our merry-go-round. “Pure logistics dictates it takes time, and we’ve ended up with one of the best helping us out. When someone needs a healer, they go to you. When someone needs an injustice righted, they come to me. When a lot of wood needs to be burned, Auri’s the one to ask.”

I crossed my arms, none too happy with the answer but accepting it. I wish it was Night directly helping us out, but in spite of his vast skills, he did know when to delegate, and I couldn’t insist that he directly fix problems for us, not when he had someone dedicated to fixing these sorts of issues. A bit of a shame that both Iona and Night overlapped on the ‘fixes problems that can be punched’ axis, it’d be nice to work directly with him more often.

I was having a sudden realization and medium-sized crisis about my mentors and preferences in partners - both Artemis and Iona were fit, blonde, and with green eyes to start - when Addolorata walked in through the door, a stack of files in one hand. She tucked her wings in to not bump them, and sat down on her stool behind her desk.

“It’s all bad news, but it’s about a one on the disaster scale.” The devil said without preamble. “We’re all busy people, so I’ll get right to it. A [Saboteur] or related class has impersonated you, Elaine, and sold off a considerable amount of your property. Given the timeline, you’ve discovered it about as quickly as possible, which helps. We have more options than we otherwise would. Now, it can all be unwound, but the [Saboteur] was clever. The property was sold to upstanding up-and-coming citizens of Exterreri, each one well-considered by their peers. In addition, each one is relatively well-connected with a strong [Solicitor], and while we’d eventually win the case, everyone would be spending vast sums to work it all out, all while your name and the Sentinel’s reputation is being dragged through the mud. It’s an impressive piece of work, and if I’m ever able to work out who’s behind it I’m going to send them the exact same problem, but with a twist. In the end, I have to give them credit. This is a successful sabotage on the part of our enemies, a sign that people are taking the impending war seriously, and are already starting to act.. It’s far, far easier to throw rocks than repair windows, especially when you throw them at intangible situations that a skill and a wave of the hand can’t fix. We’re either forced to fight each other, causing deep resentment among the population, or you need to take a significant blow to your personal finances and holdings, which only the most generous of [Saintesses] would be able to accept without sour feelings or resentments.”

I wasn’t sure if Addolorata had noticed my fists curling in my lap, and even Iona had an angry spark in her eyes.

This sort of thing was technically possible with the System, but given the vast chaos that could be caused by impersonators and the massive miscarriages of justice that could result, it tended to carry the death penalty. Civilization ran on trust, and if the trust was shattered, everything would collapse.

“We should tell Nina about this, it’s the sort of thing she lives for.” I muttered out of the corner of my mouth.

Iona caught herself in a laugh, turning it into a snort instead.

“All this ignores the sums of arcs that are undoubtedly far gone from Exterreri at this time.” Addolorata continued on. “Another aspect I hate saying is the tier of this case is a little below me. It would be taken up by the Ranger’s finest [Lawyers], and I have no doubt they’d succeed. Naturally, the Rangers would be footing the entire bill, although there is only so much budget for fixing sabotage. There are only so many arcs in circulation. As the wronged party, the decision is yours. What do you want to do? Please let me know when you’ve decided, but time is sensitive on this matter. The sooner we move to fix it, the better. I need to draft several laws to present to the Senate to fully lock down Sentinel’s and Ranger’s property to prevent similar issues from occurring again.”

On one hand, Addolorata wasn’t even a [Senator], and being a non-human, non-vampire probably worked against her. On the other, she spoke with such easy confidence that I had no doubt I’d be hearing about the new law next week. Maybe I could even sneak into one of the Sentinel meetings to see everyone’s reaction.

We made some polite noises and excused ourselves, taking a walk around the city to figure out what we wanted to do. When Iona got a sparkle in her eye and bought me an extra-large mango-banana smoothie, I knew I was being mangoed up.

I lifted an eyebrow as I greedily slurped the drink down, not wanting to waste precious mouth space talking.

“I think I’ve got a solution!” Iona was grinning, her charismatic energy flowing off her in waves. “Alright, the money doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

I shook my head. Supporting the Valkyries in our small way barely put a dent in my Sentinel pay, let alone the occasional bonus I got selling Immortality gems. I had some loans, yes, but they were being paid off, and I had beer tastes on a champagne budget. The finances didn’t matter.

“Well! Let’s mentally reframe this a little. We’re not losing chunks of the mountain - we’re finally getting a bunch of new neighbors! We can meet them, we can socialize, we’ve got people we can say hi to. Auri can bake them cookies, and the endless drama will keep Fenrir working as a Private Weyevern forever. Let’s flip it around! We’re getting friends! We could host parties twice a week - uh, once a week,” Iona hastily amended her sentence at my horrified face. Her terrible suggestion almost made me spit out my drink! It would be a crime against creation to waste rare mango like that! “Maybe have some more people around, be the start of a village or even a small town! What’s not to like about it?”

I gave Iona the old stink-eye while I seriously thought about it, the gears turning in my head.

“I want significant room between us and the closest people.” I laid out my demands, noticing how Iona was guiding us back to Castle Stormwatch. “I’m also worried about Fenrir and his food.” I chewed over the idea.

It… frankly sucked. The entire situation was extremely frustrating. I’d gotten some diplomatic-related training, but it more revolved around ‘how to not make absolutely everyone hate my guts when I needed to deliver unpleasant news’ sort of thing, along with the elements that were associated with investigations. Rangers and Sentinels were generally pointed at problems that required overwhelming violence or System skills to solve. A mess like this? I couldn’t snap my fingers and solve it, nor could anyone else. Unraveling it was going to be long and painful, no matter who I decided was going to get the short end of the stick, and there was going to be no shortage of hurt feelings. Such bullshit. I mentally elevated Arachne’s protection high up - I had no doubt there were dozens of plots every year that she quietly removed in the background. Now that she was on her break, they were actually coming to fruition. Made me wonder how they had anyone qualified to do it - or if they were watching and waiting for the guardian to leave before striking. I wasn’t happy about it, but it was hard to deny that I’d been had. Someone had to absorb the loss, and I was frankly in far better of a position than almost anyone to absorb the loss. I could always ask the government to cover it for me - a discretionary fund had been mentioned - but I was self-aware enough to know Rangers and other ‘smaller’ members of the organization were also getting hit, and once the fund was empty, it was empty. I didn’t want to donate to it and supplant our enemy’s funding, but simply not tapping it when I had Sentinel-level pay and significant alternative income was possible.

The frustrated feelings bubbled up inside me, and I mentally marked that I needed some significant self-care time to feel alright. Just after a calm vacation to boot. It was insult added to injury - come back after a long vacation, and WHOOPS! Something’s so wrong at home that I ended up more stressed than I started.

Silver lining though - next year the [Tax Collector] would only be getting a tiny fraction of what he’d scalped from us this year.

Iona had a bounce and a gleam in her eye after we informed Addolorata, who looked relieved that we weren’t about to tie up a bunch of resources on something stupid. With my demands that we get a certain distance, there was one sale that needed to be unwound, and the fact that we weren’t suing everyone was going to be a demerit to our case, and-

[Lawyers]. There was a reason everyone hated them until you needed them, and EVEN THEN it was such bullshit that ‘trying to be nice’ was translated into ‘AHHA! We can try to fuck them over!’ in legal-ese.

I had a brief surge of desire to be like a pampered [Noble] where my word was law and I didn’t need to have any of these pesky ‘court’ things. Alas! We were all believers in the rule of law, even when somewhat weaponized and turned against us.

By Ciriel, it was a devastatingly effective attack in some ways. It was absolutely trying to worm its way into my brain. I had to wonder if whoever orchestrated the attack knew about the Valkyrie's history, and was trying to also get them evicted again for a trauma redux.

I made a mental note to bribe Night to tell us the after-action report of Addolorata doing the same things to our enemies. Maybe see if a Mirage Classer could be close enough to see and reenact the whole thing later.

Iona picked up an entire keg on the way back home.

Literally.

“Hey, think I can get a ride on that?” I asked Iona, who slapped the side of the keg she was one-handedly carrying.

“Hop on! No way to make faster friends than the two magic words.”

I accepted my ride, and joined Iona in chorus.

“Free beer!”

A little less free when I was the one paying for it, but eh. Silver linings! Do my best not to think about how I’d been screwed!

I had no fucking idea how Iona had managed to invite a bunch of our new neighbors we hadn’t met yet to the party - I’d been with her all day! We traveled through the city together! SHE NEVER HAD A MOMENT TO SEND INVITES! Agarblogag, it didn’t make sense! - but she had, and the party was in full swing.

Auri would love this many people to eat all her baked goods. I was coming round to the thinking that ‘someone else had spent a ton of time and effort to make a whole village and get us a bunch of new friends.’ I was still frustrated over the whole thing, but trying to stare at the positives helped.

We had more money than we knew what to do with, what was losing a bit? Ugh, if it was just that, it’d be fine, but it was the violating feel that drove me nuts. It was like a robber breaking into my home and stealing the spare change and the cat litter. It wasn’t about the cat litter, it was about the invasion.

Iona had been tasked with explaining the situation to people, and had somehow turned that into loyal pledges and steadfast outrage on our behalf, our new neighbors chomping at the bit to obtain JUSTICE, however they could. She was being loaded up with quite a few promises and gifts, and somehow making heaps of gold out of spun thread.

It was a miracle to watch.

I wasn’t a fan of blood sports, but I had a brief moment of thanks towards how popular they were in Exterreri when Fenrir dropped half a bloody elven body into the middle of our party. Laughs and drunken cheers greeted the wyvern and the dead body he’d dropped in the middle of the dance floor instead of screams and shouts. Fenrir happily puffed on his pipe.

“Case closed.”

Chapter 29 - To The Phoenix Peaks!

412 days later, I woke up with a start, my jaw aching from grinding it all night long. I wanted to angrily throw off the covers and stomp around without a care in the world, but I held myself back. Iona would end up bearing the brunt of my bad mood, and that wasn’t fair to her.

That was it. It was going to be six years and a day tomorrow, the moment the sun crested the horizon, and Auri wasn’t back. She was obviously still alive and doing fantastically well for herself - the never-ending levels she fed back clearly indicated she was alive and active - but I knew her. We’d promised, and no matter how bird-brained she could be at times, I didn’t believe for one second that she’d forgotten. Even if Auri had decided to stay at the Phoenix Peaks, it was entirely unlike her not to come back and at least say something, and our companion bond existed and was strong.

No, something was wrong, and I’d spent the last three months preparing for the eventuality that I’d need to go to the Phoenix Peaks personally to figure it out and fix things.

I started to stomp-sneak over to the kitchen when I heard Fenrir just outside the villa. My curiosity stronger than my stomach, I turned on my heel, changing directions, and went to see what the wyvern wanted.

He was fully decked out in his custom armor, ready to go to war. Sharp sheathes covered his claws, a thick breastplate covered his chest, and his wings had a light chainmail draped over them. He turned to me and growled as I left.

“We leave now? Auri?” His voice held a faint note of begging as he said more words strung together than I’d ever heard. I shook my head, patting his leg.

“Tomorrow. First thing. We’re going to go get her.”

Fenrir roared at the sky, the leaves and branches on nearby leaves bending back at the sheer force. I clapped my hands over my ears.

Well, now everyone was going to be awake.

I stormed back inside, bringing my bad mood with me. There was only one Valkyrie with us at the moment, and she pressed herself against the side of the wall as I passed, then hurried on out, muttering something about ‘time to get going again.’

I bumped into Iona right before I hit the kitchen, my wife’s hair all frazzled.

“Everything alright? What’s got Fenrir worked up?” She asked, her hands flexing like they wanted a weapon.

“Auri.” I half-growled, half-cried. Iona’s face softened.

“We’re going to get her, alright? She’s alive, she’s fine. It could be as simple as she forgot to keep track of the time properly, or couldn’t get a ride. Maybe the living storm is acting up, and it delayed their travel plans.”

I shot Iona a foul look that said exactly what I thought of her ideas, then closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.

I wasn’t being fair to people. I should eat, drink, try to fix my head, and be nicer to everyone who was trying to lend me a helping hand. It wasn’t their fault. I shouldn’t be this cranky to them.

Fourteen eggs and half a pitcher of water later, and I was still a bit of a nervous wreck. Less angry with life, and feeling a hair contrite about it.

“Idea. You might not like it.” Iona suggested.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Let’s go to the Warden’s embassy in Sanguino, and ask for permission to visit the Northern Continent.”

I side-eyed her and sighed.

I knew her [Vow] wouldn’t demand that we listen to them if they said no, and it was something that could make our trip a little easier. It just felt like a waste of time.

Time that I’d otherwise fritter away with the jitters, and it could be productive. I’d finished the grand spell array to make copies of the Medical Manuscripts, a project I’d thrown myself into with endless enthusiasm to try and distract me, and it was done. I had a gigantic, working mandala, with a single copy in my storage and the entire thing memorized if I wanted to spend laborious hours copying it again.

Frankly, it was far better to have a copy myself, and cast a basic clone spell on the books. Ugh. It was one of the first spells I’d learned in School, a literal entry-level ability. It almost never came up on exams, it was so simple.

Making copies without using the language’s default ‘make a copy’ spell was on exams, and it just… blah.

Keeping my books in [Loremaster’s Library] and pulling them out and duplicating them was just so much easier than anything else.

“Alright, let’s do it.” I reluctantly agreed.

The two of us headed into the city. The Warden’s primary directive was preservation and protection of the Northern Continent, and as part of my [Loremaster] education, I knew why.

The short version was another agreement, between the highest levels of elvenoids and creatures like dragons, kirin, phoenixes, rocs, and the like.

They got the Northern Continent, unmolested, and we got to build civilization down south. Of course, they could still fly around and wreak havoc down here if they wanted to, while elvenoids were mostly barred from the North, and there were a few other details that made me think we got the short end of the stick.

At the same time, it did seem to mostly prevent dragons from pillaging and burning everything in sight, which also helped explain why they’d been so terrified of dragons in Remus and now they weren’t the ungodly terror of the skies.

They enforced ‘No Immortals fucking around in mortal lands’ because they were asked nicely at the Treaty of Kyowa, and for reasons known only to them, they’d accepted. They claimed it was to keep sharp at their current job, but I wasn’t sure if I believed it.

While the Wardens were headquartered in the Golden Council, they did have a small outpost in each Immortal nation’s capital. Lucky us, that was Sanguino.

The capital was large, sprawling, and it wasn’t like there were signs on every road saying ‘Warden Embassy this way.’ We could search the entire city if we had to, but fortunately, the Warden Embassy was well-known to the local guards, who always had a solid contingent near them.

All hail the local guards! They fixed most issues if given the chance. If only I could pay guards to do random tasks, they’d entirely replace adventurers overnight.

We had to cool our heels a bit - I wondered if mentioning I was a Sentinel helped or hurt our cause - but eventually the [Majordomo] elf came out with a sniff. Level 768 - I bet he was cycling his classes through. There was no telling if he was on his first, early cycle, or deep into the process. The difference could be huge in terms of stats and abilities.

“The [Wardens] will see you now.” He said slowly in clear, perfect High Elvish, like we might not understand him if he spoke at a normal speed.

Elves were on an axis. Mormerilhawn, the [Referee] from the School and Awarthril were on the nicer end of things. They had a tolerable grasp on their curse, and actively tried to be kind.

This jackass probably would’ve been a dick even without his curse.

Iona and I stood up, and he still managed to somehow look down on her, even as she towered above him. Frankly, it was almost impressive.

“This way.” He gestured, almost like we wouldn’t be able to walk through the door if he hadn’t pointed it out to us.

The only thing I could say in his defense was members of the general public were occasionally that dumb.

“Sentinel Dawn and Valkyrie Dusk for the [Wardens]!” He announced. We were hoping being recognized military elites, especially of the host country, would grant us some courtesies, one warrior to another.

Wardens didn’t have titles, names, or any other identifier besides their silver, impenetrable mask having animal shapes. Their masks were impossible for me to see past, and even disguised their body. It wasn’t like I could pick out a scar and identify the Warden based on that. It was a thorough, impenetrable disguise.

For mortals.

“Skinwalker!” Iona hissed, her mallium instantly flowing around her into protective armor. I reflexively took a step back, positioning myself behind Iona in the way we’d drilled so often.

One of the Wardens lifted his hands in a universal gesture, while the other one stepped forward, hands held out placating. Neither of them reached for their twin blades, slightly curved and on their waist. The poor [Majordomo] looked like he was going to pass out.

“Peace! We are aware of Anti’jhnii’s nature!” The Warden said. “They have their nature well under control, and would not have been inducted into our ranks otherwise.”

The [Majordomo] passed out. I reluctantly caught him with [Shroud] before he could crack the tiles with his thick head.

Several tense moments passed before Iona relaxed a fraction. I was pretty sure in a fight the Wardens would beat us black and blue, having over a thousand levels on us, but it was better it never happened.

“Fine.” Iona agreed, narrowing her eyes. She straightened up and stepped back, keeping some distance.

The Warden tilted his head. The skinwalker-Warden remained near the back of the room, hands clasped obviously in front of him. If he was a skinwalker though, it was a deceptive move, given how freely he could transform.

I understood that most skinwalkers had murderous instincts, like a stronger version of a changeling, but I could also believe one had managed to get a handle on it, perhaps with a skill.

“If I may be so bold, can I ask how you discovered Anti’jhnii?” The Warden asked. “We do not wish to cause undue panic, and any flaw in our protection could bring harm to millions.”

Iona smirked.

“It’s not warded against divine blessings.”

The skinwalker threw their hands up in obvious ‘oh what is this shit’ frustration and stalked out of the room. I tried to repress a few silent laughs, but my belly shaking was probably a little too obvious.

I couldn’t tell what the other Warden was thinking, not with their mask and lack of expressive body language, but I’d guess he wasn’t too amused.

“Divine blessing. I see. Many thanks to you. I will pass the information along. What did you want to meet for?” He completely ignored the elf passed out on the floor. Must not be a fan.

Medically, he was fine.

Iona smiled winningly, and I was confident in her silver tongue.

“Well! One of our friends, a phoenix, bonded companion to Sentinel Dawn here, went to the North Continent. She was supposed to be back by now, but hasn’t arrived. We’d like permission to go there and bring her back.”

“Denied.” The Warden said without a moment’s hesitation. His voice softened a bit. “I know it’s rough to hear, but a single lost soul doesn’t come close to qualifying under the rules. The fact that your friend is a phoenix actively hurts your case, as she’s considered to be in the ‘correct’ spot. I’m sorry. I hope she’s safe and makes it back.”

I wanted to scream and rage, throw things and break delicate vases. Intellectually, I knew it was a fear-anger reaction, but it didn’t make it any less visceral and real.

I had just enough self-control to let Iona drag me out of there before I could do something I’d really regret.

“Let’s go shopping.” Iona diplomatically suggested, successfully steering my mind off things. “I’m sure we can find one or two more things to store in your [Vault] that’ll be useful.”

“We need more juice.” I promptly answered, starting to tick items off my fingers. “Different kinds of juice. Auri’s tastes might’ve changed. Also, I was thinking about our kindling stockpile. Twigs, dried wood, and the like are fine, but what if we need something really hot? Let’s see if we can find any magnesium. We’ve got a few barrels of water, but let’s get a few more fireproof buckets. I’m sorry, I know these are crazy unlikely, I’m just…”

Iona hugged me from the side.

“Why not a couple of extra shovels, in case we need to hide a few bodies?” She suggested. “We’ve got a half-dozen, but hey, a few more can’t hurt.”

“Yeah! Also, let’s double check where the School is going to be, and triple check our intercept course math.”

Bless Iona a thousand times over. I was something of a nervous wreck, and I could see her carefully guiding and steering me to more productive, or at least not self-destructive, activities. I let her. Why not? I knew what she was doing was for my own good, and no matter my training, no matter my mental fortitude, something being wrong with Auri was a subtle knife slipped through all my defenses. A chink in my armor, the same way I’d go mad with worry if something happened to Iona. I knew, deep in my bones, if something happened to me Iona would plow through all obstacles to fix it.

“Sleep?” Iona suggested. “It’s better to be well-rested before we go out.”

I paced back and forth in our bedroom, chewing my lip.

“No, I won’t be able to and I’ll just drive you insane.” I said. “Might as well not sabotage both of us.”

“Want to do a vigil together?” Iona said.

I couldn’t stop the pained look that crossed my face. Sitting still for hours? I could barely sit still on a good day after dinner!

Iona’s smile at the look on my face was pained.

“I’d suggest reading a book or something, but I think I know how well that’d go. Wake me up an hour before sunrise, please, so I can get ready?”

“Sure.” I said.

We were waiting, hoping against hope, that Auri would make it back a hair before the deadline. There was a hefty letter waiting for her if we happened to miss each other, but I felt that was unlikely.

Something had happened.

In an attempt to distract myself, to not make an utter nuisance of myself as I waited, I chose to fly at top speed around the mountain, resisting the urge to throw out [The Rays of the First Dawn] at poor unsuspecting trees.

I still had enough self-control that I wasn’t going to blindly lash out at things. With the power I had at my fingertips, I couldn’t.

Dawn was just starting to be a suggestion on the horizon as Iona boarded a yawning Fenrir. I quadruple-checked my calculations, and oriented myself east, where we’d intercept the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft.

“Let’s-”

mana

I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before Fenrir took off with a mighty blast of Lightning and Ice, leaving a frosty patch behind him.

We were off to the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, where Artemis and Julius were.

Where we’d be able to cross the ocean in safety, before arriving at the Phoenix Peaks.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 38]

[Mana: 3,674,600/3,674,600]

[Mana Regeneration: 11,402,681 +(23,649,101)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 40,261 (Effectively: 322,088)]

[Dexterity: 64,805 (Effectively: 690,044)]

[Vitality: 157,948 (Effectively: 2,467,938)]

[Speed: 145,180 (Effectively: 2,857,578)]

[Mana: 367,460]

[Mana Regeneration: 1,231,724 (+ 2,364,910)]

[Magic Power: 416,668 (+ 18,250,058)]

[Magic Control: 416,389 (+ 18,237,838)]

[Class 1: [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial: Lv 876]]

[Celestial Mastery: 876]

[Aurora Curialis: 771]

[The Stars Never Fade: 55]

[Luminary Mind: 602]

[Universal Cure: 876]

[Etheric Aegis: 222]

[Shroud of the Stellar Sea: 650]

[Zenith Everlasting: 609]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 768]]

[Radiance Affinity: 768]

[Radiance Resistance: 768]

[The Rays of the First Dawn: 768]

[Lepidoptera: 768]

[Nectar: 768]

[Solar Corona: 768]

[Wings of the Mythical Sunbird: 768]

[A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers: 768]

[Class 3: [Ancient Loremaster of Legend - Spatial: Lv 256]]

[Spatial Authority: 256]

[Manuscript Mastery: 256]

[Blink: 195]

[Loremaster's Library: 256]

[Vault of Ages: 92]

[Rapid Reshelving: 256]

[Astral Archives: 256]

[Lust for Lore: 256]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 532]

[Technical Drawing: 79]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 876]

[The World Around Me: 216]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 876]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 876]

[Persistent Casting: 650]

[Tender Gardening: 108]

Chapter 30 - Alumni Visit I

My energy levels crashed almost the second we took off towards the flying island where the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft was located. I hit myself with [Zenith Everlasting], then briefly split off a thought process to work out why.

The solution hit me like a pie to the face. It was because I was doing something about Auri’s situation now, instead of restlessly waiting. All of my restless pacing around had done me no favors.

To my mild surprise, Fenrir was now faster than I was. When had that happened? I used to be able to dominate him in speed contests with my greater stats, but I suppose the brutal realities of physical ability and his stats catching up was bound to eventually tip the balance.

I strained myself, flying faster to catch up, trying not to shed a tear.

They grew up so fast.

How much different would Auri be when we reunited?

Iona shouted something at Fenrir, who slowed down enough for me to grab onto some of the netting over his armored body, then he sped up again.

I climbed hand-over-hand over the ship-inspired netting that was keeping various bags, chests, and other luggage secured - we never knew when we’d need extra stuff, and there were situations and possibilities where [Vault] wasn’t accessible - reaching Iona and her saddle there in no time.

She lightened the mood with a smug look on her face, not needing to say anything about Fenrir’s flight speed.

“I was thinking about what we should say to the people at the School once we land!” Iona shouted over the wind. I held up a finger, and a spell later, we could talk at normal volume.

“I think you should do the initial talking. Now, mentioning we’re both alumni will open a number of doors, and…”

We continued to discuss our plans as we traveled across the Sea of Stars, Nippon-Koku, and Vollomond. The travel was most uneventful - not many creatures could catch us, and wyverns stood at the top of the food chain. Our biggest risk was rustling the feathers of a dragon, and I still had the map of known lairs memorized. Our speed was a clear indication of ‘just moving through’, which could tweak someone’s tail, but hopefully not enough to start anything.

We did steer clear of a pair of rocs engaged in a mating dance. Nothing made people and animals stupid like sex did, and they regularly included elephants in their diet.

On the elvenoid front, we were big, high level, armored, and moving fast. They’d need to see us - a challenge at the height we were flying at - scramble a response team, and more than that, want to scramble a response team fast enough to catch Fenrir.

Everyone here was content to let flying wyverns be. I was honestly concerned about Fenrir in the North - I suspected he was a medium-sized fish there, but without the necessary survival instincts. He’d be a great big shining ball of experience and food for half the monsters there.

“Is this the place?” Iona asked, circling over a town. I felt a tiny bit bad for any panic or worry we might be making.

I checked the position of the sun against the map, squinting down at the town. My eyes shifted and refocused, letting me see the signs outside in clear detail, [Manuscript Mastery] helping me read the ridiculously-tilted letters.

“Yes, this is it. I think- Ahha!”

I shouted and pointed towards where I’d spotted the School, speedily flying along.

“There!”

I reflexively grabbed onto Iona as Fenrir turned on a dime, speeding on an intercept course to the flying island. The School was much harder to get onboard when it hadn’t slowed down.

Fenrir matched pace with the island, and we started to move in for a landing at the School’s designated spot. I smiled as I looked over the rings of buildings dominating half the island’s space, feeling a surge of nostalgia.

This was where I’d found my feet again after getting fucked by the fae. This was where I’d met Iona, where we’d started dating. I’d gotten my third class here, learned biomancy and applied it in a practical fashion to myself, and been cursed by White Dove.

My smile faded at the unpleasant reminder.

I could almost ignore apples in Exterreri. The Silver Horde, where most apples were grown, was half a world away.

The School, on the other handed, prided itself on its diversity. Not only were apples semi-regularly on the menu, Bridget, Auri’s main teacher, was a dryad of an apple tree.

There was a small landing party waiting for us at the skyport. A number of black-robed students - ooh, one purple robed student! - and a green-robed professor were waiting for us as we landed.

I jumped down from Fenrir’s back first as we’d planned, putting on a cheery smile like Iona had recommended.

“Hi! I’m Elaine - no really, that’s my name - and I’m a graduate of the School! We just came by to meet some old friends. Hope that’s fine?”

The students looked to the Immortal professor, whose jaw dropped. He pointed at me.

“Are you the same Elaine that graduated with Platinum in Medicine!?” He almost shouted. I shot him my best cheery grin as Iona dropped next to me like an anvil.

“Yeah! That’s me! Hope it’s fine for us to stay here for a short time?”

“Yes! Uh, well, I need to double check the rules for that wyvern. It’s been a long time since we had someone that large here. Ah. Awkwardly, we’re about to head north. That might interfere with your plans a bit?”

One of the students leaned over to another and whispered.

“Who’s she?”

“No idea.”

I didn’t roll my eyes at them, but I was a little hurt. Clearly, among the faculty, I was remembered, but to the students? I was multiple lifetimes ago. I also hadn’t exactly been famous among the student body.

It was a short microcosm how the wheel of time turned, grinding fame and accomplishments to dust. Only the rarest and most famous of events continued to echo and reverberate through time, gaining strength and potency with each retelling. Which was, I suppose, the entire reason for my fame in the first place - the Medical Manuscripts.

‘Famous student graduated with the highest honors over a decade ago’ didn’t mean much. But-

Iona pointed over her shoulder with her thumb at me.

“She wrote the Medical Manuscripts. The original ones.” My wife explained with merry cheer, then shot a cheeky wink over her shoulder at me.

Most of the jaws dropped.

“No way.”

A bunch of unruly students seemed to have snapped the professor out of his stupor. He imperiously clapped his hands together.

“Oi! What are you lot standing and staring here for? Don’t you remember the rules? You knew how to behave when one of Jurcor’s [Supreme Justices] was here last week! Dylan! Find room for the wyvern. Nathan! Word with the rider for food. Elaine, do you need an escort to the Wandering Inn, or would you like to go there on your own?”

Iona and I traded a quick look, wordlessly communicating. She wanted to make sure they didn’t mess with Fenrir - they wouldn’t do anything deliberate to him, but he could be tricky, plus all the armor - and I’d get us settled into the inn. Then we’d go looking for Artemis.

“No thank you, I’ll find my own way!”

I made it to the Wandering Inn with only a few stares dogging my steps, mostly because of my clothes. I wasn’t dressed in the classic witch and wizard robes that most members had. I hopped onto the ramp leading into the inn, the building still scuttling around on dozens of crab-like legs. It swayed slightly, like I was onboard a ship. I supposed a slightly moving building was more accurate than the completely still ones, given how the island was flying around and all that.

After checking into our rooms - I’d sprung for a nice suite, but not the super luxurious ‘the [King] is visiting’ - I popped into [Vault], changing my outfit from my tunic to the purple robes I hadn’t worn out in public since the last time I’d been at the School.

I smiled as I looked over the intricate stitching, marking me as a graduate, in what fields, and what tiers of mastery. Platinum for Medicine, of course, Silver for Jiwa, Bronze in Anaconda, Gold in Radiance Sorcery and Bronze in Biomancy.

I did not agree with that Bronze in Biomancy. After all this time, after how well everything performed and continued to perform, I really thought I deserved Gold.

After having studied under Kunchenjab, I felt a little embarrassed about my wizardry grades. Seriously, that had been the standard for a degree in Jiwa? Who on Pallos had let me think I had any sort of mastery in the language!? I’d been a rank amateur who’d memorized a few neat tricks!

I let the frustration go, figuring I should visit a [Tailor] and get myself a set of robes in blue, for when I crossed the 1024 threshold and earned the right to wear them.

Iona showed up a little later, a pair of trunks in tow.

“Everything settled in alright?” I asked, recognizing the look on her face.

“One of those idiots is going to get bitten by Fenrir if they’re not careful.” Iona complained. “We weren’t that stupid when we were students, right? We had self-preservation instincts?”

I snorted.

“Yes, we did. Like taking on seven noble elites without shields by yourself. The self-preservation instincts were shining like the sharpest bulb in the shed.”

Iona was nodding along, then her eyes opened.

“Hey!” She protested, grabbing at me. I skipped back with a bratty grin. “No! There was a good reason for that!”

I mimed getting shot by an arrow.

“I’m hit! I can leave and preserve my life! But no! I’m going to press on! Must! Get! Revenge!” I mimed getting hit with a bunch more arrows, then fell over, my tongue sticking out dramatically from my mouth.

Unfortunately for me, that gave Iona the perfect chance to jump on me, pinning me down with her weight, amused murder in her eyes.

“Arrow death is far better than… DEATH BY TICKLES!”

We left a few minutes later to the fancy administration building, to see if we could find a hint of where Artemis was. Most cities didn’t have a big list of who lived where, and the School and the island town attached to it were no different. The letters Artemis and Julius had sent to us had been suspiciously devoid of a return address, although everything we sent to “Artemis and Julius, The School of Sorcery and Spellcraft” had gotten delivered. That and the ‘big news’ they wanted to share had me deeply suspicious that Artemis had somehow wrangled herself into a bigshot position, and finding her would be as easy as asking for directions.

If that didn’t work, I was going to mail her a letter, and stalk the [Courier] who took it.

It was fun blending in again! Iona and I walked arm-in-arm down the wide paths, admiring the magic that filled every facet of the School. A student was on a levitating, plush armchair, furiously reading while Lightning crackled off it, propelling it dangerously down the path, students flinging themselves out of the way. Iona paused and dared the chair to hit her, and I had visions of tragedy. Luckily, he noticed at the last minute, pulling on the controls and crashing by the side of the road. He got up, and started to yell.

“You IDIOTS! Watch… where… I’m very sorry.” His tone took a dramatic turn as he took in Iona’s outfit, level, and stature. She lifted an eyebrow at him, pointing a finger.

“You are not the only one on this road. I fully expect you to be more considerate of others. Don’t let this happen again.”

The full force of her charismatic disapproval had the student muttering at his feet. Iona nodded, twirled the two of us as we turned down the road, and we carried on.

One student cast an extremely basic fire-breathing array, throwing flames up into the air to impressed oooohs from his friends.

That was impressive!? I supposed they were just students.

Most students got out of our way with barely a glance, and one [Healer]-tagged student’s jaw dropped when she properly read the graduation inscription on my robe. She elbowed her friend.

“Look!” She hissed.

Why’d I ever leave this place? The ego boost was amazing.

A student hurried by, cradling three open books in her hands. I was hit with a sudden surge of nostalgia. I’d seen something similar when I’d first arrived at the School, wanting to be able to do it myself.

Now I could.

I peeked over her shoulder, flash-reading the title, table of contents, and first chapter. Acid element studies, economics, and a spicy bodice-ripper that I’d hesitate to read in public.

Was I sure that turning my third class into a Wizardry class was the best move? I loved reading, and I had excellent logic for a hobby class dedicated to things I loved.

Things for [Luminary Mind] to ponder over.

We made it to the fancy administration building, which was almost entirely devoid of people. Made sense, the School wasn’t in a slow-down phase so the number of people who’d be in here would be at a minimum. I let Iona take the lead, confident in her silver tongue being able to get us through anything.

Plus, I could take notes and ask her about it later. I’d never be as good at it as she was, but there was no reason for me to utterly abdicate learning social rules.

“Hi! I’m sorry if this isn’t the right place, but we’re looking for Artemis, a friend of ours. She’s been a bit cagey about what she does and where she lives, and I’m taking a wild shot in the dark here, but do you know anything about her?”

Iona got a slow, skeptical look. In slow motion, almost like she was cursed or something, the [Clerk] asked Iona a question.

“Are you Yamana Utzuki or Jarl Kalmar?” She asked, each word excruciatingly painful.

I furrowed my eyebrows as Iona answered in the negative. Jarl I recognized as Lithos pseudo-nobility - the power structure was flat enough that it was hard to justify, given the lowest peasant would be able to semi-regularly talk with the local Jarl, tempered by their, well, temper and disposition towards violence - but where had I heard Yamana before… Yamana, Yamana… I searched through [Astral Archives], eventually finding the name in the geopolitical section as opposed to the people section.

What did Artemis have to do with the ruling clan of Nippon-Koku!?

Wait, hang on. That wasn’t the important part.

How did the first person we asked for help not only know who Artemis was, but had a guest list immediately available?!

“Iona and Elaine? Ah, yes, you are on the list. High priority too. Wow. That’s quite something.”

I had no idea if the [Clerk] was fucking with us or not, her tone was so slow and emotionless.

“Here’s a token. It’ll get you onto the water basin island. Have a nice day.”

Iona and I traded identical shocked looks.

Artemis was on one of the orbiting subislands!? The same ones that the White Witch and Long Zhi had!?

I was starting to suspect that the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft was the School Artemis had founded.

Nothing else made sense to me.

Chapter 31 - Alumni Visit II

As I looked at the little token that would grant us permission to visit Artemis’s sub-island - I couldn’t believe Artemis had an entire island - I realized a little problem.

“Wait. How do we get to the islands?” I asked the [Clerk]. I mean, I supposed I could probably fly over there, but with the School’s defenses and a token implying the island had additional protections, it was possible there was a special method.

I hadn’t heard any concrete information about the islands when I’d been a student here, just crazy rumors. Like if someone flew upside-down on the night of no moons in the sky, while singing a particular rowdy song and drinking, they’d be able to get in.

Watching someone try it and epically fail had been the highlight of that month.

“There’s a ferry when the weather is good.” The [Clerk] said.

“Thank you for your time, we appreciate it.” Iona said.

Getting to Artemis’s little island was an adventure in and of itself, but we finally made it. I eyed the villa built on the edge of the lake that dominated the place, seeing some people swimming in the water.

“Do you think they copied our villa?” I asked Iona. “They did spend quite a few years there, maybe they liked the layout.”

She squinted at the place as we approached.

“Maybe? On one hand, we had a really good [Architect] build the place, and I’m not sure I’d trust the students here on their first real project, best school in the world or not. On the other, the people teaching the classes are unparalleled, and the two of you could’ve drawn similar inspiration from Remus. I think we’d need to go inside to see, but the swimming dock is new at least.”

“Let’s go find Artemis!” I tore through the air towards the compound, only to hear a high-pitched whine a moment later.

“Heeeeeeeeealy buuuuug!” Artemis tore out of her home, surfing on some rocks up into the air. “You finally made it!”

My senses and significantly higher speed and vitality made it trivial to get a good look at Artemis as she was flying towards me.

She was looking great! A few more laugh lines around her eyes and mouth suggested that time was taking a slow toll on her, but the time was filled with joy. She had a relaxed appearance, a far cry from the utterly paranoid Artemis I’d grown up with, the one who was looking for danger behind every bush - and, to be fair, usually finding it. A pair of orbs hovered over each shoulder, one solid Earth and the other made of swirling Darkness. My old mentor hadn’t bothered to wear a school robe, instead having a tunic with an apron over it, handprints made out of flour all over it. She hadn’t gained too many levels, a strong indicator that her life had been peaceful, and she wasn’t constantly throwing around [Lightning Bolts] to stay alive.

I slowed down and grabbed my hat as Artemis tackled me, letting her carry us to the ground. Iona followed behind us.

Artemis put me down, and dusted off my shoulders and arms, looking delighted like she’d just won the biggest pot at cards. A few black-robed students peeked out curiously.

“Look at you! You don’t look like you’ve aged a day since I last saw you!”

An awkward look froze on my face, and Artemis shot me a cheeky wink. She twisted her head around at the gawkers.

“Oi! This is my friend, Elaine, and there’s nothing interesting going on here!”

I mean. Saying there was nothing interesting was a guarantee that they’d all be eavesdropping like mad… but maybe Artemis was aware of that.

“Artemis! I’m so glad to see you again. How’s life at the School treating you?” Iona asked, confidently holding out a hand for Artemis. They shook, and Artemis looked thrilled.

“Fantastically! I-”

“Hey love! Is that Elaine!?” Julius emerged from the house, dusting flour off his hands. He traded a curt respectful nod with Iona.

Artemis whirled with me.

“Yes! Our little healy-bug’s back!”

Julius cracked a grin.

“Excellent! Cookies are in the oven. I swear keeping this lot fed and happy is harder than any Ranger tour. Everything alright with Auri?”

My former Ranger leader still had his sharp eyes.

“Weeeeell, that’s part of why we’re here. She-”

Julius flashed me the ancient Ranger hand-signal for quiet, and I shut up. Artemis clapped her hands together, a massive skill-based thunderclap roiling throughout the miniature island. Students spilled out of the villa, assembling poorly in the field.

“Alright all of you! I’ve got some friends over, and we’d like some private time to catch up together. Today’s lesson! When the teacher has old friends swing by, sometimes she wants to chat with them! Get out of here, see you all tomorrow.”

There were no complaints or grumbles, although the looks on their faces suggested they wanted to. A few envious looks were shot our way, and a few eyes widened as they caught the notation on my robe.

“Thank you for your teachings, instructor.”

“Thank you for today.”

“Appreciate it.”

Most of the students had some variation of a courtesy they extended Artemis as they filed past us, towards the edge of the island where there was a ferry waiting for them.

I froze as they passed me.

Two of them had eaten apples recently, and the full force of their healer-repelling field hit me. Trying to run, dodge, flee, or otherwise act would simply draw dramatic amounts of attention to me, attention I could mostly avoid just by standing very still.

Artemis narrowed her eyes and shouted, her voice magically amplified.

“Roofus! I can fucking count, you ingrate! Don’t make me fucking drag you out!”

One last black-robed student came sprinting out of Artemis’s home, trying to shove his way into the crowd like it would disguise him from Artemis’s wrath.

“What’s the story with them?” Iona asked. Artemis laughed, like a grandmother amused by the antics of her small grandchildren.

“Oh, it’s quite the tale, let me tell you! Here, come on in, we’ve got milk, cookies, and good beer. Come on in!” Artemis said.

“Not as good as Auri’s cookies, but we’re working on it!”

Three hours later, Iona and I were stuffed to bursting with delicious cookies. Sugar, peanut butter, chocolate chip, lemon, snickerdoodles - I swear, Artemis had gone from ‘hardened killer’ to ‘industrial-scale cookie maker’.

“... and now I live here. I carefully select which students I let ‘work’ here, aiming for the newer ones that still have a [Student] class evolution in the future. Being here, working for me, and letting me teach them a little every day supercharges their class offerings, setting them up for the future nicely. Now and then I’ll teach a practical combat class, and that Shirayuki keeps trying to recruit me as a coach for the combat team. Bah! No offense to you two, I know you were on it, but the little kiddy games called ‘combat’ here aren’t for me. Lining up, knowing your opponent, and getting told when to start, it’s so unrealistic!” We didn’t bother correcting Artemis about Iona’s participation on the combat team.

Artemis’s story was a wild one.

The short version was hard for me to wrap my head around. Artemis and Julius had, upon leaving Exterreri and wanting to check out the School, gotten into their fair share of trouble, mischief, and mayhem. Once they’d gotten here, after extensive poking around and a frankly unbelievable sequence of events, Artemis had managed to prove to herself that this was the same ‘legacy’ of the School she’d initially founded back in Remus - with some twists about it being burnt to the ground a few dozen times and rebuilt, prompting interesting philosophical ‘School of Theseus’ questions - and then managed to prove it to the School itself.

Which had been accomplished via a bizarre mix of Artemis personally mentoring a dozen promising young students from the low-level children educational facility to demonstrate it via potent class offerings, a divine blessing, and a dragon.

With how Julius flinched at the mention of the dragon, I wasn’t sure if Artemis was pulling my leg, or dramatically underplaying the whole thing.

I wordlessly offered Iona the last cookie. It was one of my favorites, but I wanted her to have a chance at it. Artemis shamelessly stole it before Iona could grab it.

“Surely it’s better practice than nothing.” I defended my participation on the team, believing what I said. “Yeah, it’s not ‘real’, but it’s the closest thing you can get to throwing abilities at other people to get some training in before needing to do it for real for the first time. Is it that different than sparring?”

Julius rolled his eyes, the subject clearly one of long discussion.

“What Artemis isn’t saying is she offered to coach under certain conditions that they found unreasonable.” He added in.

“Three hours a day of real combat training with those oh-so-fancy shields was reasonable!” She protested.

“Why not train the free-for-all segment?” I asked.

“Not enough dedication.” Artemis and Julius chimed together, one indignant, one resigned.

Iona leaned forward, using [Telekinesis] to snap half the cookie back to her hand, staring Artemis in the eyes as she bit down on it.

“Julius! What have you been up to?” She asked.

He stretched languidly, like a feral cat that had been domesticated, an old, loyal dog laying out by the fire.

“Frankly? Enjoying life, mentoring a few of the students Artemis has running around, and generally being actually retired. On one hand, there’s a part of me that itches to go out and fight monsters, but the other knows I’m in the rarest company. Rangers retiring? We don’t get to retire. The School is fantastic though. I’ve got as many challenges as I want to engage in, the answers to any question I might have at my fingertips. My biggest worries in life are you lot, and a few of my proteges that have graduated and are busy making their mark on the world. You? I got the sense that Elaine was about to say you two were up to something highly illegal before I shut her up.”

“It’s not highly illegal!” I protested. “Only one organization thinks it’s illegal!”

Julius cocked an eyebrow at me.

“I know Ranger training went over laws, legalities, and enforcement of them. What’s the only part that actually matters?” He grilled me, like I was 18 again instead of 38. I sighed.

“Their ability to enforce the rules.”

Iona looked less than thrilled at the explanation, but had the practicality and experience to recognize it as a valid way of thinking.

Artemis leaned forward.

“So! Tell me more, and more importantly, tell me how we can help.”

I explained the situation with Auri, our agreement, the Phoenix Peaks, and the rest. Artemis looked thoughtful.

“You’re going to struggle with the shields and protection around the School.” She said. “They perform multiple functions. There’s obviously the barriers and protections, both passive and active. There’s the nets, which stop idiots from jumping off the School. They also make it difficult for people to leave the island while it’s over the North, given how easy it’d be to smuggle people with the island.”

We got a pair of pointed looks.

“Any easy ways around the protections?” I asked.

“Your [Blink] should do it.” Artemis said. “I’m unsure about Iona, and I assume Fenrir’s here as well, yeah? Yeah, I literally can’t imagine them letting him go… unless…” Artemis got a devious look on her face. “Unless you were ‘returning him home’ to the north pole. Releasing a wyvern like that ‘back where he belongs’ would be allowed, and I seem to recall a certain story about someone being swallowed whole by a wyvern.”

I wanted a funny look on Iona’s face, but she was serene.

“If that’s what I have to do, that’s what I have to do.”

I didn’t know it was possible to fall more in love with her, but I did.

Artemis clapped her hands.

“Great! Fantastic! Onto the next subject! Elaine, I’m almost disappointed in you. You haven’t asked about lefty and righty at all! Where’s your sense of curiosity? Where’s the inquisitive brat that wouldn’t stop pestering us?”

I opened my mouth in outrage.

“Wait! It’s a crime to be polite?! It’s a crime to listen to your story without interrupting!? It’s a crime to wait for the right time and place?! Yes, I’m curious about righty and lefty, assuming you mean those two orbs! Goddess forbid I wait a bit!”

Artemis mimed wiping a tear away.

“Julius!” She mock-sobbed. “They grow up so quickly! Where did the time go!”

“I’m 38!” I protested. Iona patted my arm, slowly shaking her head, then viciously ganged up on me like the rest.

“I know you’re 38, but Artemis, Julius, I think we should consider the alternative: With all the messing around Elaine’s done with her body and her age, maybe she’s just gone senile early?”

There were no cookies left to steal, so I just crossed my arms and pouted.

“I hate you all. Artemis, be careful, if I ever get the chance to make you Immortal I’m also going to make you eight.”

Threatening to turn someone eight wasn’t something I’d ever imagined before, but it was a potent threat.

“Is that any way to treat the person who’s going to teach you cool new magic?” Artemis asked with her impish grin. I blew a raspberry at her, knowing I’d lost the battle of words, but knowing I could still be petty.

“I think Elaine’s had enough.” Iona said. “Anymore and she’ll break.”

“These orbs are great.” Artemis pointed to them. “It’s a passive-active skill with a modest mana drain, but any attacks coming my way are automatically intercepted.”

“It’s done wonders for her mental state.” Julius said. “She’s not throwing Lightning bolts every time someone drops a plate.”

Artemis socked Julius in the arm.

“That was once!” She protested.

“Fine. Once on a plate, three times on cups, four soup bowls…”

Artemis shot him a look that promised he’d be sleeping in another room if he continued the list, and he shut up.

“Go on! Try something!” Artemis said. Iona flicked a plate at her. A bolt of Darkness shot out from the Dark orb at the same time a shield of Earth materialized in front of the plate. The bolt annihilated the plate before it could even reach the earth, which flew around Artemis three times before merging back with the Earth sphere.

“Tada!” Artemis said. “Elaine, speaking of shields, have you managed to upgrade your skill yet?”

“No.” I frowned. It hadn’t been for a lack of trying, but all these years later and I still hadn’t succeeded. I didn’t know if I was doing something wrong, if it wasn’t a ‘natural’ evolution it wanted to go through, or if it just plain wasn’t in [The Arbiter of Life and Death’s] skillset.

“Alright, alright, cool! I want to show you another neat trick! Come on, follow me!” Artemis bounded out of her chair, Julius sighing at the table.

“I got this.” Iona said.

“No, no, you’re a guest, don’t bother.” Julius tried to wave Iona off. She arched a single eyebrow at him, and all the plates, dishes, and cups lifted themselves up, flying over to the kitchen. Julius stared after them and shrugged.

“Alright, that was easy enough, thank you Iona. Let’s go see what Artemis has in store.”

We found Artemis on a scarred and scorched field. I was intimately familiar with Lightning strikes, and the field screamed Artemis. She drew herself up to her full height as we entered.

“I, Artemis, Founder of the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, will now teach Elaine how to properly use a Darkness shield. Block.”

Artemis giving me enough warning before she attacked almost stunned me enough that I didn’t throw up my shield. I recovered in time, throwing up [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] in a protective bubble around us all.

A narrow, focused bolt of Lightning crashed against my shields, somehow entirely silent.

The System’s blue box appeared in front of me.

[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] to [Event Horizon]? Y/N]

Event Horizon: The black hole. The absolute finality of nature, the great gravitational well of the vast cosmos. Nothing that passes the event horizon can ever come back, utterly annihilated for all practical purposes. -32,752 mana regeneration.

I blinked at the notification, then refocused on Artemis, who looked as smug as a [Mage] who’d just used [Chain Lightning] on a goblin horde.

[Luminary Mind] let me think about the choice while the rest of me thanked Artemis and explained the skill, getting some light feedback.

I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to take the skill, just that I wanted it offered so I could compare. There were pros and cons to the two different styles of shields, and the exact analysis would depend on the details.

The details that were staggeringly light on the skill description.

The words and imagery used were powerful. Short, sweet, to the point. ‘Utter annihilation’ was direct and to the point. The mana regeneration rate was lower, which was both a pro and a con. It implied it was weaker than [Shroud], but at the same time, destruction-type shields didn’t need to have quite the same amount of power as blocking-type shields. At the same time, it would free up a modest amount of mana regeneration for myself.

The downside to destruction-style shields was the complete weakness against vitality-reinforced attacks. Then again, most of those happened at close range, and a physical Classer whaling on my shield was a great way to rapidly drain my mana and break the shield. It was the classic counter to instant shields like [Shroud].

There was utility to consider. [Shroud] could, at a continuous cost depending on what it was holding, be any tool I needed, any shape I wanted. I’d done things like make a food funnel for a hatchling Auri, or wrapped myself up like it was clothes.

I suppose [Event Horizon] also worked for clothes. Speaking of…

[Shroud] was just so pretty as a skill!

The decision might not be reversible though. If I went to [Event Horizon] and didn’t like it, I might not be able to get [Shroud] back.

Plus, starry fields…

“How’d you do that?” I asked. “I’ve been trying for literal years, and you made it happen in a single go?”

Artemis looked way too smug, and I doubted I’d hear the end of it. She’d earned it though.

“Well! The biggest part is, frankly, the island we’re on. It’s an Oddity. I don’t know if you heard the rumors or if students know for a fact, but the property of this Oddity is skill development and acquisition. It's incredibly easy to pick things up. I’ve got a [Teaching] skill which helps, and I’ve got a ton of weight to throw around System-wise. I’ve figured out how to put it all together and get people skills like that.” Artemis snapped her fingers to demonstrate.

“Speaking of weight - I was wondering about the potency effect. Isn’t helping people all the time diluting the quality of classes you’re upgrading, and making skills harder to teach?”

Artemis scoffed loudly.

“Bullshit. Yeah, maybe I could get someone a better class if I taught one person every decade, but bully to that! I’d rather spread a thousand promising seeds than go all-in on one student. It lets me spread the love, and if the System isn’t rewarding as hard, so what? Just being my student shouldn’t be a treat, a reward with no effort put into it. They want good classes? They can earn it themselves.”

I explained the details of my skill to them, along with what I thought.

Everyone gave me their opinions, most of which was a rehash of things I’d already thought of. Julius had the most interesting take.

“You know, it’s possible that you weren’t able to get the skill to evolve like that because it’s normally too far outside of what a [Healer] class, and your class, is supposed to do. The School lets you stretch further, but I’d expect a shield skill like that to be the domain of a more dedicated barrier classer. I’d consider what holes you currently have in your kit, and if it fills them or not.”

Julius had a good point.

I had a lot of tools in my arsenal. I literally carried around multiple warehouses worth of goods and equipment. Kinda… the need for extensive passageways between the different rooms in [Vault] significantly cut down how much I could store and carry around. I didn’t need to shape [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] into a food funnel for hungry phoenix hatchlings, I had a room filled to the brim with kitchen supplies already.

Thinking about it - I should absolutely start building storage units inside of [Vault].

I had tons of tools. It was a little worse against vitality-based attacks, better against everything else. It wasn’t going to stop a tidal wave, but then again, [Shroud] would instantly shatter against one as well.

In the end, I took [Event Horizon].

Chapter 32 - Alumni Visit III

The first thing to do was to test [Event Horizon].

I summoned the skill in front of me, a small black disk with glowing edges appearing in front of me. With a bit of practice and testing, I found I could change the size of the disk, making it larger or smaller, and I could summon as many as I could think about. I found I could either have the disks ‘hold forever’, put a timer on how long they lasted, or dismiss them when I wanted to.

I could move them around, but it wasn’t nearly as efficient as dismissing it and recreating it in a new spot.

We all suspected that summoning the disks took a little bit of mana as it actively destroyed a bit of air, but my regeneration was so high I couldn’t tell if that was the case or not.

I couldn’t control the shape, just the size. It was always a flat disk of pure darkness, with the edges glowing. No matter what angle I looked at it, the edges were glowing while the rest was dark, which was weird but kinda cool.

Not nearly as pretty though, which was a vicious stab into the vanity. Most of the time, when the companion bond vanity was messing with my head, it came along with perfectly reasonable explanations. This time, it just grated like a loose tooth.

I could summon the disks inside soil and rocks, which put it firmly in the Darkness side of Celestial, as well as giving a really good reason why it’d been so hard for me to get the skill myself.

When Iona cautiously swiped a vitality-reinforced chair through one of the disks, they all vanished with a pop while my mana took an absolutely murderous hit.

“Interesting.” Artemis said. “While it’s something of a downside, it suggests that if you overpower someone enough, you could actively destroy their weapons or even their hand.”

[Event Horizon] being a set of disks was obnoxious from a full-sphere protection standpoint. I needed to make four spheres all around me, then one on the top. After that, I needed one on each corner, and at that stage I was annoyed enough to make them larger and overlapping, so I wouldn’t be endlessly plugging holes. It was going to be a little worse at stopping gas-based attacks, but my healing shrugged those off with a laugh.

When it came to protecting other people, men and women of the Sixth Legion, from various attacks and projectiles? [Event Horizon] promised to be king.

There was a fun ‘things come full circle’ aspect to the skill. It had started off, eons and a lifetime ago, as [Privacy], a dark veil that let me consult with patients without other people eavesdropping. With the newest evolution, it once again could act as a strong privacy barrier. Light, sound, air, nothing got through - although it was trivial for a person to walk through.

An interesting twist to the skill was it didn’t try to ‘eat’ people at all. A fist passed through harmlessly, without draining any mana, but a fist holding a skill-reinforced knife did drain mana until the skill broke. Trying to pass a knife through the skill without reinforcing it with a skill simply dissolved the knife, and let the hand pass through harmlessly.

All in all, some vague dissatisfaction I had with the skill was alleviated by the knowledge that it had plenty of room to grow and evolve as time went by.

The island was heading for the North Continent, but at its own sweet pace. It was going to take about a week to cross the ocean, and more than once I considered just flying as high as I could, then shooting around the planet to the Phoenix Peaks and going to find Auri now.

Iona and everyone else restrained me and counseled caution and research. I was persuaded to class up my second and third class, once I got a few things settled. In particular, a visit to the restricted section of the library could give my third class one final bit of oomph when it came to upgrading it. We spent our time going on nostalgia tours, seeing the places we’d been.

“This is so weird.” I said as we strolled down the roads, a great tiger in the night sky indicating it was ‘day’ according to the School’s own schedule. “Like, where is everyone? The roads are so empty.”

Yeah, there were two or three students running around, but that was practically abandoned. Iona laughed and patted my arm.

“I think you’re forgetting something.” She teased me with that voice that could drive me so crazy. I bit on the obvious bait.

“What am I forgetting?” I asked, ready to get roasted.

Iona delivered.

“You were always in class!” She gleefully teased. “The only times you were on these roads, you were rushing back and forth between classes, the cafeteria, our dorm, or the library! The busiest times of day! Of course it looks weird to you, you never stopped to stroll down them casually!”

I made a disgusted noise, and briefly considered retaliating by mentioning I’d made the most out of my time here. There was the potential that it’d go over quite badly though, and the insult might be too low of a blow. I was all for teasing, but not when it actually hurt someone’s feelings.

“Speaking of the cafeteria, want to grab some food then go to the lake where we started dating?” I asked.

“Yeah!”

We picked up an absolute mess at the cafeteria. Blueberry waffles drenched with maple syrup, piles of cream on top of them with chocolate sprinkles so thick it turned it brown. We openly smuggled them out, knowing the disapproving glares had no power here, and used our dexterity to easily balance them while we headed over to the lake. We passed through the School’s center park as we did so, the eight central towers of learning looking almost exactly the same as when we’d last been here. Enthusiastic students had painted a mural on the Earth tower, and the Wood tower had a whole new set of blooming flowers, but the others looked mostly the same.

I stiffened as we got near, tuning down my hearing.

“Why don’t we find a slightly different spot to eat these?” I suggested.

“Someone’s already busy in our spot?” Iona asked with a laugh.

“Ahhh, young love!”

We sat by the lake, looking at the crescent moons reflected in the still water, stars scattered across the sky. My head was on Iona’s shoulder, and her arm was wrapped around my waist as we ate our delicious waffles.

“Let’s make a tradition of this.” I quietly suggested. “Every decade or so, let’s make sure we come here.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that. It sounds nice.” Iona agreed.

Iona had a number of professors she wanted to swing by and say hi to, and so did I. I first went looking for Marcelle, my old vampire advisor. I checked her schedule, and nostalgically wandered around campus until she had office hours. She had the same office, so she was easy enough to find. I knocked on the door, sensing two people in her room but not wanting to pry too deeply.

College campuses were a bad place to have super senses. Kinda made me want to proctor an exam for shits and giggles, see how many people I could catch cheating. At the same time, I had a bit of a packed schedule. Lots to do. The idea of giving a lecture briefly flitted across my mind, but the time it would take to organize and arrange… I had a lot to do. Maybe another day.

“I wonder who that could be…” She said quietly. “Excuse me. Come in!” The last part was much louder, and I entered with grace. Marcelle was sitting with another vampire, a mostly full bottle of bloodwine on the table, and two half-full glasses in front of them. It took me a minute to recognize the other vampire. Only ‘school’ and ‘vampire’ was able to get me the connection. It was the jerk who’d helped translate my entrance exams - Vitus.

“Elaine, my darling, my favorite student! Come on, sit down, take a seat! Vitus and I were just talking about the old country together, and last I remember you were heading that way! How have you been? Were you ever able to find Aulus?”

A few more things clicked, a note in my [Astral Archives] leading to another segment of memories, where I’d been with Arachne. Granted, I’d been tied up, hanging from the ceiling, so a little distracted.

Vitus had been the one who sold me out! He’d sent a letter to the Rangers tattling on me! However, I was here, in Marcelle’s office, and he was a guest. The laws of hospitality ruled, and I wasn’t going to start any nonsense.

“Marcelle! Yes! That letter of introduction was perfect. It really helped me find my feet.” I warmly greeted her, and since hospitality ruled, I briefly, but coldly, acknowledged her company. “Vitus. Thank you again for translating when I first came here.” If I didn’t say another word, that’d be fine.

I sat down, Marcelle growing a vine that grabbed another glass and put it down in front of me. She rummaged around in her desk, grabbing a more normal wine - blood wine just didn’t do it for me for a large number of reasons - and poured me a generous helping.

Vitus narrowed his eyes at me, and opened his mouth.

“Frankly, I’m surprised to see you back here, alive, and not crucified along the main road. Impersonating a Sentinel is a major crime, you must’ve toned it down.”

Thank dexterity - without my dexterity being so much greater than my strength, I would’ve lost control and shattered the wine glass in my hand. Instead, I gently put it down, ignoring Vitus.

“Marcelle. I apologize, I need to visit my wardrobe for a minute.” I said, vanishing into [Vault of Ages] a moment later.

Vitus was going to be rude? Vitus was going to be a dick?

Fine. I didn’t start this, but I could finish it. Sentinels had broad powers and rights, which practically speaking only extended towards Exterreri citizens - of which Marcelle and Vitus were both one.

My armory was close to [Vault’s] entrance, for rapidly arming myself when needed. However much I wanted to, this wasn’t an emergency, and I took the extra minute to put my fancy School robes where they belonged, before suiting myself up in the full ‘ready for a fight’ Sentinel armor.

Vitus didn’t deserve the ‘nice’ ceremonial gear, and he knew enough about Sentinels to appreciate the message being sent by the distinction. I included my shortsword and tower shield, electing to skip the spear. Did not fit in the office at all. I finished it with my badges - the golden eagle of Remus and the black and red bat of the Sentinels. My helmet was on for maximum intimidation.

I spent a little bit of time considering how I wanted to handle things. There was a full range from ‘just show up and not say anything’, which was its own type of flex, all the way to defenestrating Vitus. Which would be admittedly satisfying, but in spite of his likely ability to be fine, was too close to violating the spirit of my [Oath].

I teleported back in, standing as tall as I could, staring at Vitus. Wish I could stare down at him, but I was too damn short.

“I am Sentinel Dawn. You had your chance to help when I was a lost stranger in a new land, and you blew it. I’ve been trying to be nice because of Marcelle and hospitality, but frankly, you’re a massive dick. Calling a Ranger squad on me? You know exactly what that entails, you basically tried to murder me. With your attitude, actions, and words, I’d be frankly shocked if hospitality still stands. Marcelle?”

She didn’t look too happy, and I felt a little bad. I’d basically put her between a rock and a hard place, and she wasn’t exactly all-in on the social niceties and navigating them. She was a [Biomancer] fanatic and teacher.

Vitus looked a mix between furious and scared, and there was a large degree of satisfying schadenfreude going on.

“I wasn’t wrong!” He practically spat at me. “Nothing about your story or situation made sense, and the odds were far in favor of you being an imposter! What was I supposed to do, turn a blind eye to a girl half the level she should be, the wrong race, on the wrong side of the world with absurd claims, when all the Sentinels know each other? Should I pat every [Charlatan] on the head and give them all my money? No! I-”

“Vitus, you should probably leave.” Marcelle gently suggested, pushing the bloodwine bottle towards him. “We’ve got quite a few more years together, but Elaine is only here for a short bit.”

He looked like he was going to explode, but instead took the peace offering and stormed outside the room. Marcelle watched with a raised eyebrow, looking at her glass of wine like she was debating pouring it out.

“Did he really try to murder you?” She asked. I sat down and waggled my hand.

“Kind of. He sent a letter to the Rangers describing me as an imposter, and I’ve been on those missions. We like taking people alive when we can, but if we confirm it’s an imposter and it’s too difficult? Rangers are empowered to enforce the law. I do wish I could do more than simply embarrass him.”

Marcelle shrugged and sipped at her wine. I took off my helmet and drank some. It was a lovely red with a pleasant, spicy tingle.

“Such is life and the price of power and responsibility. I have no doubt you could utterly ruin him if you wanted to, but I suppose you’ll have to settle for damaging him socially.”

I frowned. I wanted to do more, but… Maybe that was all I could do, and still be me.

Or maybe I could visit his office and [Rapid Reshelving] things around.

Marcelle snapped her fingers, and seeing her cup was nearly empty, poured herself a large helping of wine.

“That’s what Sentinel Spark interrupted one of my lectures for! Okay, I’m starting to see it now. Why don’t you tell me everything?”

“It all started when we left the School. We were over Suen, and we hit upon a place called Osengard…”

Linnet, the wonderful old lady was my next stop. I stopped by her place, knocking on the door. She’d really changed the look since I was last here! Less elderly grandmother, more energetic youngster.

Rapid footsteps made me re-evaluate that, and my face fell when a young man entered into range of my perception sphere. He opened the door.

“Yes? Can I help you with something?” He asked.

“No, sorry. I was looking for Linnet. Do you know where she’s gone?” I asked. An awkward look passed over his face.

“Did nobody tell you?” He asked. “She died two years ago.”

Oh.

Land on the School was extremely limited, no matter the wide-open spaces the main campus tried to flaunt. It was an overstuffed, overpopulated island that only managed to feed the massive population via significant numbers of Classers. The earlier ‘attack’ on Iona and I via scam property had me thinking about it.

If I wanted to cripple the School, all I would need to do was kill a few select Classers that kept the crops growing, then burn a few storehouses of food. Done at the right time, as the island was heading north, and riots would break out before starvation hit most people.

Linnet’s grave was a single brass metal nameplate, just barely large enough to hold her name, on one of dozens of filled pillars on the second level of the tabernacle in the School. That, and a dozen fresh flowers placed near the pillar, were the only physical traces left of one of the warmest, kindest people I’d ever known. My fingers hovered over the plate, not touching it at all, too aware that touching it would wear it away.

I intended to live for a long, long, long time, and I didn’t want Linnet to dry up and blow away on the breeze, as so many others had.

I had my mental Book of the Dead in [Astral Archives], a memory, a reminder, of everyone I’d known who’d been embraced by White Dove or Black Crow. Knowing Linnet, it had been the first, and I cried as I wrote her name in, simply the latest in a long, long list.

I traced a mental finger over all the names, remembering each person. How they had smiled, how they’d laughed. Memories we’d made together, that now only I had. Bringing them forth once again, granting them one last bit of life.

Everyone died twice. Once when their soul left their mortal coil, and a second time when their name was spoken for the last time.

Word by word, name by name, I listed them off.

“Mom. Dad. Lyra…”

It was a solid reminder that not everything lasted. I was Immortal, I had the long view on things. But if my view was too long, I’d miss life. I’d miss what was right in front of me.

I should make sure I didn’t lose Artemis and Julius to something stupid. Once I was done here, I was going to march right back up there, and politely insist that they let me make them young again.

Iona somehow knew where I was, what I was doing, and that I needed some emotional support. That, or I’d been here so long she came wandering over to find me.

Julius and Artemis took a bit of convincing. Artemis wasn’t entirely on board to become Immortal herself, but the two of them kept arguing who I should make Immortal first. I could only make one of them Immortal right now for a variety of reasons. The cooldown on the skill combined with the window for getting Auri were big ones, and the few gems I had in [Vault] all had the Amber-recommended amount of time on them, which would turn Julius or Artemis back to 8 years old - not something either of them were willing to go through.

In the end, Artemis won - the one-two punch of her somehow having more vitality than Julius and my earlier threat to make her eight again being the critical tiebreaker - and Julius was first up. It was only us - Iona had offered to make herself scarce during the event, and fend off anyone who might interrupt us.

We sat down in their living room, all three of us holding hands.

“You want 24?” I asked.

“24.” Julius confirmed. “Seems like a nice number.”

I wanted to barf when Artemis made a rowr noise. I knew the two were together, but I really, really, did not want those images in my head.

“Please have mercy on me.” I begged.

Artemis looked like she was going to fuck with me more, but a warning glare from Julius shut her up.

“Remember, she can turn you into a kid.” He said.

“Alright, here goes.” I activated the skill.

The room faded away into darkness, motes of starlight appearing all around us. The cosmos spun, and we went on a journey through space, passing by glorious nebulae, burning stars, gas giants with beautiful rings, and multi-colored planets in orbit. Finally we settled down on a meteor blazing through space, a brightly burning tail trailing off to the side, away from the sun. My skill took.

The meteor reversed direction, and started to ‘suck in’ its tail, growing larger and larger as it spun round and round the solar system. Another large chunk came round and slammed into it, easily doubling its size. I judged with my skill level and experience that Julius was roughly the age I was aiming for, and I dropped the skill, reality fading in once again.

[*ding!* [The Stars Never Fade] leveled up! 55 -> 56]

Julius looked fantastic. I felt like I’d nailed it, and wow, I realized I’d never seen Julius this young. He’d been much older when I first met him.

Goddess. How time flew.

White Dove flew in through the window.

There weren’t any windows in the room.

She alit upon Artemis’s head, giving me the stink-eye as I glared at Artemis, hoping she wouldn’t try to do anything unutterably stupid in defense of her husband. We’d talked about it before, but there was no telling with her. Her orbs didn’t react, but there was no telling with the twitchy mage.

White Dove spoke, rattling the very island itself. Large waves from the lake crashed against the walls of the villa, and the furniture rattled.

I suppose this was one place in the world that never got earthquakes.

“Tiberius Julius Lepidus. [Ranger-Commander]. [Cutting Breeze of the Rangers]. You have chosen to deny me forevermore. For this, I curse you. Oh mighty warrior. May every weapon you pick up carry the weight of all those you have slain.”

I was expecting the full 3-in-1 curse that White Dove usually did, but she vanished after the simple pronouncement, leaving behind only a single white feather, drifting down onto the table. Julius looked a little worried.

“Why do I have the feeling that I’m going to have problems with dinner knives?”

I knew perception could shape a lot of things, from skills to curses. I decided to fuck with Julius just a little.

“Why are you worried about the dinner knives? I’m pretty sure you taught me how to use forks and spoons as weapons as well!” He’d taught me the philosophy of ‘everything can be a weapon’ after all, it wasn’t like I was truly messing with him. Artemis would’ve reminded him about the idea ten minutes into their conversation about it, if he hadn’t come up with it in two.

“You little shit.” The words were mean, but the tone?

Pure affection.

Iona and I were visiting the library, working on checking off everything we wanted to do. Vitus’s office was officially checked off my todo list - for this visit. Iona had a vicious streak in her - it was far better to fuck with a single important thing than to toss over his entire office. It might take some time for him to notice, meaning he wouldn’t be on guard for the next few visits.

Plus, it tended to take shrimp a few weeks to properly ripen, and they were inside the curtain rods.

I loved my wife.

Medium-low on our list was investigating the Pekari, to better prepare ourselves for after this trip. Iona wanted to see if she could significantly cripple, or even outright destroy their operation.

I set my goals a little lower. There had been millions upon millions of Classers ever since the Pekari started their activity, untold centuries ago. In all that time, none of them had wanted to wipe out the Pekari? Nobody had Iona’s level and drive, and wanted to fight them to the bitter end?

But, just as Iona vigorously supported me in everything I wanted to do, I wanted to support her.

A familiar blue-robed demon was at the front.

“Martin! How are you?” I asked him.

“Elaine.” He didn’t miss a beat. I was guessing being a [Librarian] included supercharged versions of my memory skills, among other things. “Welcome back. Are you here to return the books you checked out?”

I froze, my mind racing. Wait. What books? Had I checked something out and committed the cardinal sin of not returning it? Oh gods, how high were the fees? Wait a minute…

Martin grinned.

“Just messing with you! Here for anything special, or just looking around?”

I leaned in with Iona and dropped my voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“Ah, well, you see, while I was here, there was a certain book in the section that doesn’t exist that I saw, but never ended up reading. I was wondering if I could be allowed to take a look at it?”

Martin went from affable and friendly to on-guard in a heartbeat. He glanced at Iona and back to me.

“It’s going to strongly depend on which book and why.” He said. “Follow me to my office.”

We found ourselves in his sealed stronghold a while later, Martin sitting behind his desk with his hands folded on his desk.

“Now. Make your case.” He said. “You are not here as one of the [Students] working in the library, but as an outsider requesting access to otherwise forbidden knowledge.”

I straightened up, silently communicating with Iona. I was taking point on this.

“I’m a [Loremaster] now, although I’m unsure for how much longer.” I started. “I’ve got access to vast quantities of information, knowledge, and dangers already. I’ve already been trusted to read the contents of the library in the past. We’re looking to read The Secret of the Pekari, to better fight them.”

Martin looked like he wanted to laugh when he heard the title. Instead, he shook his head.

“I’m not going to flat-out deny you, but please trust me when I say this. Reading that book will harm your ability to combat the Pekari. If you wish to learn all about them, there’s a section dedicated to the Pekari in the library, which I will be happy to guide you to. However, if you insist, I will let you read it.”

Iona and I traded another look. Knowledge was power.

“Why don’t I go read that book, and you start digging through the standard knowledge section. We’ll meet up in a bit and trade notes?” I suggested.

Martin sighed.

“Your loss. Come on.”

He nabbed a student and had her direct Iona to the standard section, while he took me to the forbidden section. I shamelessly used all my skilsl in combination to speed-read as many books as I could, absorbing cursed knowledge from tomes I’d found too boring back when I’d been a student here. In no time at all I had the book in my hands.

The Secret of the Pekari.

I wasn’t big on author names, but this one caught my eye.

By Susan Weaver.

Chapter 33 - Interlude - Susan Weaver - The Secret of the Pekari

A long, long time ago, in the Fourth Remus Empire:

“You’ll never believe what I bought today!” Susan grinned as she entered the tent where her friends and fellow [Seamstresses] and [Camp Followers] lived and worked. Her eyes rapidly adjusted from the bright sun outside to the more reasonable darkness in the tent.

“It’s a loom.” Olive said.

“Is it the loom you’ve been saving up for?” Beth asked.

“You haven’t talked about anything else for months. Please tell me it’s not a loom.” Cora said.

Susan puffed out her cheeks and finished dragging the coffee-table sized loom into the room. The cramped tent instantly became tiny, and her friends groaned and complained good-naturedly, Beth throwing a needle in Susan’s direction.

“Hey!” The [Spinner of Yarns] protested as the needle pinged off the loom. “This is how we’re getting out of here! Don’t damage it!”

Susan was saying the loom was their way out, but in truth, she knew her most potent tool was something else.

Her mind.

She yearned for knowledge, burned for it. There was a great fire in her chest that demanded to know everything. Susan knew she was at the bottom. She’d been born in a camp, and if she didn’t work her ass off, she’d die in one. If she were lucky, she’d marry one of the soldiers first, maybe have a few children and repeat the cycle.

No. She wanted more. She would be more. She knew she was ignorant, but worked every hour of every day to fix it, listening, learning. A weed trying to grow in a desert.

She sat down, grabbed the worst set of yarn they had. An ugly grey they’d picked up for cheap when a batch of dyes got mixed together, utterly ruining the yarn. It was thick, coarse, and nobody wanted their clothes stitched back together with it, making it the perfect set to practice on. Susan carefully set everything up, knowing it was likely going to be ruined as she learned.

“You know, I’ve been wondering, and I don’t want to dampen your spirits. If you’re spending all your time on the loom, aren’t you not fixing clothes anymore, just replacing one set of work with another? How’s that supposed to work?” Olive asked.

“[Stitch and Bitch].” Susan promptly answered, having worked through the problem before.

“How? You’ve only got one set of hands.” Beth asked.

“It’s already a multi-tasking skill, shouldn’t be too hard to make it multi-task more.” Susan said.

“Enough about Susan! If anyone’s getting out of here, she is.” Cora said. “Unlike Maeve. She’s pregnant again.”

“No!” Olive gasped. “Seriously!? Is it at least one of the same fathers?”

Beth laughed.

“I’ll bet every single arc I have that it isn’t. If she charged for what she did, she’d own the whole camp.”

Olive shot Susan a look. The woman was usually quick to jump in, but was spending her full focus on the loom, slowly weaving the yarn into the first bolt of ridiculously ugly cloth.

“I bet Susan has something even juicer.” Oliver said. “Go on, what’s the most infamous [Gossip] have for us today?”

“Well!” Susan rose to the challenge. “Rumor has it that a vampire was spotted last night.”

[*ding!* The skill [Stitch and Bitch] leveled up! 129 -> 130]

[*ding!* The class [Spinner of Yarns] leveled up! 136 -> 137]

Gasps went around the small tent, Cora yelping as she drove her needle a little too deep, drawing blood from her thumb. She instantly started to suck on it, waving her other hand and using a skill to prevent and remove stains.

“Did he suck someone’s blood?” Beth asked.

“Do we like vampires?” Olive asked.

“Vampires are on our side… right?” Cora asked.

“In theory.” Susan hedged. “But I’m not so sure…”

The four of them chatted and worked, steadily working through a pile of torn clothing. Beth even tackled a pair of boots for free, hoping to break her skills through into letting her stitch up sandals and boots. Being able to improve them would be a major boon, and carve out a niche among the rest of the camp followers, a way to make enough money that she could maybe make the harrowing trip out to one of the towns or cities, and have enough to rent out a meager shop.

Susan’s ear twitched as she heard far-off shouts and screams thanks to [The Walls have Threads]. It only worked on walls she was touching made out of threads, which was basically every tent ever made, perfect in the camp follower’s living arrangements.

She stood up.

“Pack it up girls, something’s happening.”

Her friends knew better than to argue. They had started off with a dozen of them, and those who hadn’t listened to Susan when she got like that weren’t around for a reason.

Susan left her loom behind. If they needed to run, the last thing she wanted was to be weighed down by it.

The four women exited the tent, Susan orienting away from the screams, bundling up her skirts, and marching off at a brisk pace. Her friends followed.

The violence and screaming escalated, and soon they found soldiers running towards the commotion. The fighting caught up with them.

Golems made out of gleaming green metal were mercilessly moving through the camp, weapons mirroring what the Legions used like a cruel mockery. A [Legionnaire] thrust his spear through one golem’s chest, but the golem was metal, not flesh and bone. The counter-strike went through his head, and he dropped.

Metal slugs buzzed through the air like angry hornets, and Susan kept her head on a swivel, trying to see and [Understand] everything. Small spider-like golems scuttled around like insects, positioning themselves before spitting out a dozen slugs, then scuttling along.

Where is safety? How do we get out? Susan asked herself.

Cora screamed and grabbed her hand - no, the stump of her wrist where her hand used to be - and fell to the muddy ground hard, splattering her dress as blood started to geyster.

“Go!” Susan shouted to her other friends, coming to a slow stop then running back to Cora, skirts hiked around her waist.

Why don’t I have a movement skill!? Susan cursed herself in the moment, kneeling down next to Cora.

“Thread!” She demanded, using a skill to pull one out of Cora’s ruined dress. Susan slapped her hand away and tied the string aggressively around Cora’s forearm. “Keep it strong!” She said, then froze.

Cora continued to sob as a dozen golems loomed above them. The butt of a spear came crashing down onto her back, then the golems grabbed her by the ankles and started to drag her away.

“No! NOOOOOOOOO!” Cora screamed and yelled, trying to grab onto things, constantly forgetting she only had one hand now. “NO!”

Tent, barrel, crate, body - it didn’t matter what she grabbed onto, the golems continued to drag her away. Susan remained frozen, hating that she was once again not doing anything for her friend, thankful that she was untouched.

Why? She asked herself. Why Cora? Why not me? What’s the difference between us? What principles are they using?

[*ding!* [Cool-headed] leveled up! 43 -> 44]

It was like a shuttle moving over a loom, like a needle dancing over clothes. There was always a pattern. Always a reason, even if she couldn’t see it. Susan remained frozen as the golems continued to march back and forth, killing some people and dragging others away.

What is different about me? Susan wondered. Why am I ignored?

The first thought that popped into her head was she was a [Seamstress]. It was dumb, it was unlikely, and Cora had just been dragged off. It wasn’t that.

Susan carefully looked and listened, entertaining ideas and dismissing them.

Hair color? Weight? Weight to height ratio? Could I be pregnant? Skills? Class level? Even class level versus odd? Class quality? Nail length?

Finally, she hit one she thought might be right.

She… was staying still? Did the golems work off movement? They had to sense things somehow, right? Or did they have their own skill to see? But maybe the skill was movement-based?

She kept watching, analyzing, categorizing.

[*ding!* The skill [Coolheaded] leveled up! 44 -> 45]

[*ding!* The class [Scrappy Survivalist] leveled up! 79 -> 80]

The golems were ruthless fighters. Anyone that lifted a hand against them was put down.

But… but they didn’t kill anyone who was running from them.

That was the first rule Susan cemented in her mind.

The more she watched, her calves trembling from the crouched position she found herself unable to move from, the more she felt she understood.

They killed people who fought back.

They injured people who ran.

People who were frozen they ignored.

There was a brief break in the golems, and Susan took the chance to get up and move a bit, trying to find a safer, better spot. She heard some more golems coming - mostly a man screaming as he was dragged along - and froze again. She spotted a boy, hiding behind a barrel, clutching his foot with his lips white as he bit down into them, trying not to make a sound. Susan brought a finger up to her lips, trying to let him know to be quiet.

The golems marched past, then another set came by, marching right up to the boy. He shook in terror as they grabbed his arms, dragging them off like the rest.

It isn’t being still. Susan updated her ideas. What’s different between me and him?

She doubted it was the shaking. Susan had been trembling like a leaf on a tree.

How was he similar to Cora?

A thousand items were entertained and dismissed, before Susan finally hit upon one that might work.

They were both injured.

Was it the initial pinprick injury that caused it? Or was it because Cora had caught a slug with her hand? The very same hand that had the needle mark.

It could just be a coincidence, but Susan was now wondering if they aimed for injuries. Aimed for people already weakened, like predators went for the weak members of a flock.

The knowledge didn’t matter as the soldiers of the Legion formed up and properly swept through the camp, driving the golems off once and for all. Susan made her way back to her tent, hoping to meet the rest of her friends there, her mind trying to work out the why.

Why attack them? Why kill people? Why take prisoners?

Why only take injured prisoners? Wouldn’t it have been easy for one of them to harm Susan, then drag her away like the rest of them?

Endless questions rattled around Susan’s head, but she stopped dead at their tent.

It was destroyed. All their work, all their needles, all their yarn and thread had been carelessly trampled down. The loom that Susan had scrimped and saved and quietly ignored her little pile of coins suddenly getting larger as her friends chipped in was in six pieces, splinters all over the place.

They were ruined. There were no safety nets, nothing to catch them if they couldn’t pay for food. They’d have to sleep outside, in the cold fall air, or offer to warm a bed if they didn’t want to wake up coated in frost.

And Cora was gone.

All this knowledge, and nothing to do with it! Susan cursed herself, then paused.

Wait. Nothing to do with it?

The golems fought back against people fighting them. They shot, captured, and dragged back anyone injured.

What would they do if someone uninjured just… walked right up to them?

They were large, intimidating, and violent. Most soldiers were loud and spoiling for a fight, and when a problem seemed to demand immediate violence, why look for any other solution? When people had needle and thread, every problem looked like it could be stitched up.

Was there any reason Susan couldn’t just… walk right up to them, and get Cora back?

The idea was insane. Ludicrous.

But Susan needed something to get out of the hole she was in. Something that would boost her class quality to a point where she could be called a Classer. Something that would rescue her friend. An edge, anywhere.

Slow, steady, and methodical had bought her a ripped tent, a shattered loom, a kidnapped friend, and three arcs to her name.

What was the point in continuing to try it, as opposed to going for a big risk with a big return?

Susan grabbed three unbroken needles, the first vaguely usable stretch of thread she could find, and marched down the muddy almost-paths, following the obvious trail the golems had left.

It was better if Beth and Olive thought she’d died in the attack if she never returned. It would be easier, in a way, for them to process that, than Susan suddenly getting up and throwing herself into the golem’s den.

The path was so obvious a toddler could follow it.

“Excuse me! Ma’am! It’s not safe that way!” A soldier tried to stop her, and had all the bulk and the stats to do so. All Susan had going for herself was a sharp tongue and a burning desire inside of her.

“You’re going to have to fucking stab me to stop me, and I’ll shove this needle so deep into your fucking eyeballs that you’ll shit it back out.”

The way to talk with people was to go to their level, and soldiers demanded the crudest explanations of them all. The soldier shuddered at the visual, and didn’t try to stop Susan as she marched right down the path, the trail leading to a dense forest, skirt still hiked up around her waist.

Suicidal mission or not, Susan wasn’t going to be an idiot about things. She carefully stepped around sticks and didn’t let any branches snag her, convinced if she had the slightest injury the golems would jump her, and she’d join Cora.

Susan hesitated at the end of the trail, a large brick opening welcoming her. There was no way the [Scouts] had missed this. Where had it come from? Why so… obvious?

Susan had a keen ear for gossip, and nothing here was matching up. It was like the bar that sold drinks for less than they cost, there had to be something more to it, like debt-traps that effectively enslaved people who suddenly found they’d drunk more than their pouch had.

She’d come this far. Shaking hand gripping her needles between her fingers, Susan descended, her breath hitching in her throat as she froze on the last step. A pair of golem sentries with shields, spears, and swords were waiting, unmoving, at the bottom. Several more spider-shooters were on the ceiling and walls.

This was it. The moment of truth. Heart racing, palms slick with sweat, Susan slowly moved forward, betting everything on her observations.

[*ding!* The class [Spinner of Yarns] leveled up! 137 -> 140]

[*ding!* The class [Scrappy Survivalist] leveled up! 80 -> 81]

She practically had a heart attack as one of the spider-shooters whirled its barrel around, firing a slug right in front of her nose.

[*ding!* The class [Spinner of Yarns] leveled up! 140 -> 141]

Susan disabled notifications. She didn’t need the distraction.

I’m right! The thought flashed through her mind as the bullet impacted the stone tile near her feet. They don’t attack if I’m not aggressive or injured!

Intimidation, they were fine with, and Susan made a note around the chipped stone. An unlucky attack could throw shrapnel at her, potentially cutting her a tiny bit and causing the golems to descend upon her. Flinching could put her in the path of a bullet, or moving too quickly would do it as well.

Susan slowly walked down the brick hallway, collecting more and more slug-shooters as she went. A hail of bullets rained around her, shooting off parts of her blonde hair, leaving holes in her simple dress.

But not a single one touched her, not so long as she maintained a slow, steady pace. The shots were angled, she idly noticed, to not let chips hit her either.

Her heart started to race as she saw a series of evenly spaced holes in the wall, her mind conjuring up everything she’d ever heard about spike traps. She couldn’t pause and look at it, not with the lethal hail raining around her. She’d catch a dozen shots by pausing.

A stone sank under her foot. Susan kept her eyes open, waiting for the inevitable end.

It didn’t happen.

Steely, resolute, unflinching, Susan walked through the hall, the spiders scattering as she reached a largeish room.

There seemed to be endless vats filled with green fluids, each one with a floating body inside. A few [Identifies] giving back levels proved the people were still alive. Cruel implements hung from the ceiling, and torture racks lined the walls. Bits of meat hung off the hooks, but they looked too fresh to Susan’s eye. She’d seen her fair share of rotting meat. Like they’d been placed there then preserved. The lack of any bodies currently occupying them, and the lack of activity in spite of the recency of the capture suggested the whole thing was a play. A cruel, evil play, one that dragged any number of unwitting people into and murdered hundreds, but a play nonetheless.

There were props and actors, but who was pulling the strings?

Susan stopped when she saw Cora, floating in the green ooze. Her destroyed hand was now a fleshy lump, and the string that had been around her arm was dissolved. Susan looked around for something, anything, that could indicate a way to open the vat, but came up short. She didn’t want to risk destroying it and peppering her friend with glass, and had no idea if releasing her would help or hurt. What happened when people weren’t exposed to the ooze anymore? Would they die? If Cora spent too much time in there, would she turn into another golem? Was that what they were after?

Each answer Susan came up with just led to a dozen more questions. There was another hallway at the end of the room, and she decided to try to delve deeper.

Deeper… into the dim but suspiciously still-lit hallway. The hallways that only started to faintly glow once she’d entered. The golems were golems - most of them didn’t even have eyes! What were the lights for, except biologics who happened to find their way in this deep?

Traps and larger golems accosted her, all manner of fantastical constructs. A pair of ballista bolts, thicker around than she was and twice as long as Susan was tall, thundered down the hallway, barely missing her on either side. An enormous crusher rumbled down the hall, promising to obliterate Susan. A trapdoor opened right as the threshing arms were on her, dropping Susan down. Her instinct was to reach out and try to stop herself, but she just barely managed to resist scraping her hand raw and bloody against the walls - a sure way to trigger the golems into acting far more aggressively.

The temperature started to aggressively rise, and Susan entered into another, far larger room.

The lights were bright red from vast quantities of molten metal and burning forges, the rest thrown into deep shadows by the moving lights.

She stood near the top of a gigantic, multi-story foundry. Huge cauldrons of liquid metal on chains moved around the room, stopping over molds and pouring their load in. Broken golems were thrown into a furnace, metal pouring out the other end. Parts found their way onto moving walkways, where crushing stamps came down and assembled parts together. Metal was rolled, steam hissed, hammers clanged, and not a single word was spoken. An inspection walkway was oh-so-conveniently placed near the entrance of the hallway, and Susan crept forward, suspecting the game had changed once again.

Yet, if they didn’t want Susan to be here, why had she been tacitly allowed to come so far?

Dread started to rise up, and Susan debated trying to flee. She was in way, way over her head, and the [Legatus] would pay fantastic sums to learn of a gigantic army being formed right under his Legion. Enough to set Susan up with not only a new loom, but a spindle, bolts of cloth, a wagon, nodosauruses, and enough funds after that to reach a new town with herself and all her friends, and their friends as well.

But no - that felt like far worse of an idea than continuing forward. Susan took as many mental notes as she could, seeing all the different models that had ‘hindered’ her approach, and dozens more that hadn’t made an appearance yet. At some unknown point in the process, they seemed to gain ‘life’, animatedly walking off the assembly lines. Round slugs were forged from scrap metal, loaded into mining carts at several per minute before they rumbled away on long metal rails. Some golems that came off the lines looked like the rumored mythical elves, wielding a pair of curved blades instead of the stout spear-and-shield of the Legions. Others looked like the barbarians they faced, and more creatures were represented from around the world, looks that Susan would’ve laughed at any bard for describing. Golems that looked like half-wolves, crocodile-headed golems, golems the size of a finger.

Susan continued to observe and think, and an extra-large golem approached from the front. Susan started to back up, running directly into a second golem that had snuck up behind her in utter silence. The golem grabbed her by the shoulders, and Susan slumped in defeat. The two picked her up, and marched her along.

In the seat of their power, what could Susan do? The best thing was to remain uninjured, and hope she could escape at some point. They escorted her to what looked like an oversized minecart with an opening on the side, letting her stand as they all crowded in. The golems dropped her to the floor, and Susan picked herself up, lurching and catching herself on the extra-large constructs as the minecart started moving.

“Do either of you understand me?” She asked. “Where are we going? Who are you? What do you want? Is someone controlling you? Is there…”

Her curiosity unleashed, she asked non-stop questions for nearly an hour as the minecart shuddered through the earth, going deeper and deeper.

Susan was definitely not in the Fourth Remus Empire anymore.

At last the cart stopped, bright light entering through the opening on the side. The golems repositioned themselves in such a way that made it clear she was supposed to exit. There was no point in sticking around, and Susan left.

The cavern was almost impossible to describe. Thousands of glittering, glowing crystals lined the walls of the cavern, with a gigantic palace slapped right down in the middle. A broad walkway led from one side to another, and a smaller one rose up from the perilous drop to where the minecart had dropped her off, connecting the little ‘secret’ entrance to the main portion. Susan took the invitation, crossing and looking around.

On the other side of the walkway, away from the palace, bristled endless defenses pointing out. Extra-large slug shooters, thick shields, crackling rods sputtering bolts of lightning, and legions of constructs protected the final boardwalk. All along the boardwalk were glowing signs in hundreds of languages. Susan searched until she found one she recognized.

Welcome, and congratulations, Adventurer! You have passed the Trials of the Pekari! Come inside to collect your prize!

Susan eyed the defenses again, glad she hadn’t had to go through that. What level would she have needed to be to even have a chance? At least 400, right?

Levels made her think of the notifications she’d suppressed, and she took a peek.

[*ding!* The class [Spinner of Yarns] leveled up! 141 -> 256]

[*ding!* The class [Scrappy Survivalist] leveled up! 81 -> 128]

She swallowed the lump that suddenly appeared in her throat.

How many levels!?

Susan dropped one of her needles, quickly stopping to pick it up. The golems wouldn’t let her, the metal foot crushing it before she could pick it up.

They’re going to silence me. Susan thought, before looking at the signs again.

No… they’re going to reward me?

It had all seemed so obvious when someone stopped to think about it. Yet, the treatment and levels suggested anything but.

She was marched through the eerily silent palace, before finally started to hear laughing voices echo through the halls.

At least they’re not screams. Susan thought.

She was brought to a large dining room. Two people were sitting at a table, laughing and eating. Sort of.

One was a bony skeleton, laughing with an absurd crown on his head. A thin gold band vainly tried to keep a gigantic gemstone five times the size of his head attached, and was somehow making it work. Next to him was a handsome figure with white hair and red eyes, blood thick around his mouth and a carcass in front of him.

It’s not human. Susan thought with relief. She tried to identify the skeleton.

[Mage - 3584].

Susan went pale and swayed slightly. She was far past the realms of Legions and vampires. This was the realm of Immortals, and she had no idea that levels could get that high.

“Night! Night! Here she is, the little wisp of a girl we’ve been watching!” The skeleton roared with laughter, pointing at Susan and pounding the table like it was the greatest joke he’d ever heard. “She figured it out! By all the gods, she figured out my little trick!”

He threw his head back and kicked his heels as he howled, endlessly amused.

The vampire - Night - smiled and took a drink.

“Indeed, Anurak, she did. Quite the clever one.” He refocused his attention on Susan, and she felt all the hairs on her neck go up. “As Anurak Sathirat is far too busy being amused at his own cleverness - which is to say, your cleverness - let me be the first to congratulate you. I know this may come as a surprise to one who managed to, in the span of mere hours, solve the riddle of the Pekari, but it is quite a rare mind that is able to unravel the mystery. A reward is customary, and as I am also here, having been treated to a scene of your exploits, allow me to add on my own reward to the pile. Pray, tell me, is there some boon I can offer?”

Susan’s mind jumped immediately to a new loom, and her mouth was half-open before the rest of her brain caught up to her and snapped it shut.

A new loom? A new loom?! From someone who lived in a palace?!

From… a vampire?

A vampire… like the best of the Fourth Remus Empire?

No, no, she could do better. A little information had brought her this far. What would a lot of information do? What would a connection do? It’d be like stitching her as a patch onto the tapestry of the vampire, brought along on adventure and participating in circles that she previously didn’t know existed.

Plus, something in the back of her mind whispered, he was kinda cute.

What was the best way to frame this? He clearly was no idiot, and would see through things if Susan tried to be too clever.

Ah. In that case, it was better to be overtly subtle.

“Dinner.” She finally answered. “You can treat me to dinner.”

Anurak howled with renewed laughter at the joke, and Night’s eyes glinted with interest as a genuine smile crossed his face.

“Dinner.” He repeated, understanding exactly what Susan was getting at. “I believe I can arrange something.”

Chapter 34 - A Tale as Old as Time

… In conclusion, the Pekari, controlled entirely by Anurak Sathirat, are net beneficial. The danger is real for anyone choosing to fight them. The pressure and, correspondingly, levels, are impossible without a genuine threat. Their targets are those who are sick or injured, no matter the disease. It is naturally questionable if blowing off someone’s hand only to regrow it is the best course of action, but Anurak, in spite of being slightly mad, has vast quantities of data that he claims backs up the benefits.

They only go after places that Anurak deems to be ‘too peaceful’, too quiet and content. I have some doubts, mostly formed by my limited worldview when I first encountered the Pekari, but I can’t deny the seeming increase in attacks in nations that are utterly at peace, and the absence when there is a full-blown total war occurring. Attacks during medium-sized skirmishes and wars are where the boundary tends to get shaky.

I believe Anurak is semi-directly controlling each Pekari, and there are unconfirmed accounts of adventurers finding ‘deactivated’ Pekari. He denies both claims, but that is to be expected.

After having presented all the evidence, I further believe that Anurak attempts to bring buried ruins back to accessibility. The average distribution of ancient ruins and secret hideouts versus the odds of a Pekari tunnel running near them are too far skewed to be anything other than deliberate machination, an attempt to prevent anything from being buried for eternity.

The Pekari are designed as a challenge for mortals and low levels. Nearly anyone can reasonably start fighting the golems, which split up into smaller and smaller groups when on excursions, to the point where a farm boy can hit one on the back of the head. Their tracks are designed to be easily followable, and slow but steady escalation of threats and difficulty are designed to constantly pose challenges for growth, culminating in arriving at Anurak Sathirat’s palace, where they are congratulated and rewarded.

I have no doubts that many have chosen not to believe the ancient lich’s claims, and their bodies likely litter the chasm around his palace. The challenge is designed to be conquerable at around level 1000. The gulf in level is far too great for the average adventurer to overcome, and that is before the lich’s phylactery is taken into account.

The Pekari are also working on a number of different initiatives to help all civilization. From fighting Vorlers to battling the denizens of the deepest underlayer, they provide a tireless army fighting at no risk to a civilized mind.

This knowledge and information comes at a price. Please, I implore of you dear reader, do not tell others about this knowledge, unless the need is dire. Knowing the tricks to them, knowing the details, utterly ruins the challenge. When fighting the Pekari, full experience, levels, and class quality are available if battling them in earnest. They are out to kill the adventurer, and the adventurer is out to destroy them and “rescue” whoever has been captured. The knowledge that one can simply walk in, or never engage in fighting and the Pekari will not engage back, is a poison pill. What point is there to the noble [Knight] knowing the net benefit the Pekari provide? How is it a challenge to the cunning [Rogue] when they can just waltz in? What motivation does the [Farmhand] have to save the pretty girl next door, knowing that she is in a healing, restorative state?

What is the point, when the mastermind is unassailable and practically unkillable?

This is the great Secret of the Pekari. Teach others at their peril.

Susan Weaver.

I stared at the last few sentences in shock.

Fuck.

That’s what I got for not listening to other people. I was told reading the book wouldn’t help me fight the Pekari, and would have the opposite effect. Martin had been right.

The Eventide Eclipse was at the perfect level and class quality to fight through the Pekari. The challenge would’ve been great, the rewards even better. The entire thing had been obviated by a single book. There was no more challenge, and by the same token, there was no getting our name carved on the great board Anurak had, getting a present from him, having tea, and experiencing the grandeur of the place ourselves.

Oh! This was why the Pekari weren’t mentioned as a threat when Arachne was teaching me what I needed to know to become a [Loremaster]! They weren’t a threat, and didn’t rate on the scale, in spite of them seemingly being a green or possibly even blue-scale problem.

Silver linings, silver linings… I suppose if I didn’t tell anyone else, Iona and the rest could still challenge the Pekari. She’d be pissed at the end though, feeling she’d wasted all that time. That, and there was no way I’d be able to keep this a secret from her. I’d start acting awkward, she’d instantly sniff me out, annnnnd yeah.

Fuck.

I closed the book - didn’t need to open it to read it, but it was the small pleasures in life - and put it back.

Well, I guess we didn’t have to waste our time fighting something that didn’t need to be fought.

In a bit of a daze, I left the hidden library, Martin shooting me an insufferable ‘I-told-you-so’ look on the way out.

Yeah, yeah, he was right. He’d known. He had to have known. He had tried to warn me off it.

I found Iona at one of the study desks, a half-dozen thick volumes about the Pekari surrounding her. She looked up at me, and her entire face just lit up.

Goddess, I loved her so much.

“Elaine! This book’s a fantastic resource! It’s got detailed descriptions about all the Pekari, what we can expect to find deeper in, rare variants, everything! It’s like the author knew exactly what I was looking for! What’s wrong?” She asked, picking up my mood.

I petulantly swung my hand at the book.

“It doesn’t matter.” I grumped. Iona’s eyebrows went up, and she looked around the room.

“Really? Can we talk about it here, or…?”

I sighed.

“Yeah, we should go somewhere private.”

“Should I check the books out?”

I shook my head.

“There’s no point.”

“This I gotta hear.”

Twenty minutes later, and Iona was outraged in our room at The Wandering Inn.

“It’s all fake!?” She half-screamed. “The whole thing with the Pekari is a fucking scam!?” Bless the thick soundproofed rooms.

I flopped down onto the bed, frowning at the ceiling.

“Yuuup. Seems like it.”

“Argh! Fuck!” Iona looked mad. Couldn’t blame her. My understanding was she’d actively fought against them repeatedly, and to learn it was all a game, a sham, some crazy Classer’s idea of fun?

“I had a friend that died to them!” Iona raged.

“Want to go beat up a bunch of them?” I suggested. “They’re one of the easiest enemies for me to fight. I don’t need to be concerned at all about them.”

Iona plopped down next to me with a disgusted noise, the bed creaking as I was catapulted up.

“No, what’s the fucking point?” She swore. “I think I’ll get right with the idea eventually, I’m just in a bad headspace.”

She put her head in her hands and swore again.

“Fuck. They fight Vorlers. Of course. Fuck. It all makes so much sense now.”

I patted Iona’s leg, nuzzling her arm with my head.

“Do you mind if I go to the gym? The School has some things designed to be hit really hard, and right now I want to beat the stuffing out of something.”

I waved a hand at her.

“Yeah, go nuts. Come back when you’re done though, I want to class up before we hit the Phoenix Peaks.” I’d run the risk-reward on classing up now, versus waiting. On one hand, quick and easy power. A ton more levels under my belt, a huge increase in my stats.

On the other, a bunch of new skills to get right with and adapt to and learn. I had my familiar skills that I knew like the back of my hand, and fully half of them would be upgrading or changing.

My analysis said it was worth it. Auri had been funneling all sorts of crazy experience to me over the last few years - experience that I paid for in massive worry over what she was doing - but it had leveled up my main class quite a bit.

What was waiting for me level-wise on my third class? It was worth it.

Iona nodded and left, gently closing the door behind her.

Oh!

Library, Phoenix Peaks - I should bug Martin again and see if there was anything else I could shake out of him about the area. For no reason, of course. My companion bond was a phoenix after all, she was curious about the place. And, well, she’d probably want to know more about it.

Where was she right now? Oh, taking a little vacation and having some fun.

Yup.

Completely plausible.

I woke up in the world of my soul, greeted by a smiling Librarian. She was wearing a brightly dyed women’s tunic, a smile playing on her lips and a mischievous glint in her eyes. She looked happy, full of life and energy. My - her - our? - marriage tattoos were all over her hands and wrist, and I had no doubt they extended all the way to her back.

Was that me, now?

I supposed it was. Putting my worries over Auri aside, I was feeling at the peak of my life. I had it all. I knew Amber would shudder and mutter about cursing myself if I said it out loud, but I didn’t believe in that.

“Heya! Let’s get going!” I said. Librarian took my hand, and we ran up the stairs together, giggling like schoolgirls.

“Tada!” Librarian presented a more austere library, with plain desks and chairs, along with the rows upon rows of books. Mystical orbs hung in space, lighting the place with a soft, pleasing glow, one of the chairs slid itself out to accommodate me, and the books sparkled, then vanished, being replaced with another set.

“So! What are we in the mood for today?” Librarian asked as she clapped her hands. “You think you know what you want, but are you suuuuuuuure?”

I rolled my eyes and laughed at her antics.

“Oh alright, give me the three top options after the Spatial wizardry class. Just the ones that include [Vault of Ages] and [Loremaster’s Library] or an upgrade, don’t want to lose what’s in there.”

She clapped her hand again, and four thick tomes dropped in front of me, all of them Spatial.

[Ancient Bookwyrm of Unending Tomes - Spatial]. [Keeper of Profound Knowledge - Spatial]. [Runemaster of the Fabric - Spatial]. [Erudite Archmage - Spatial].

I cracked my fingers, then cracked the books open and got down to it, skimming the start to see roughly what each one was about before delving deeper. I knew what I wanted coming into the space, but seeing the wizardry class be the blue [Runemaster of the Fabric] hurt. It was a high blue, sure, but the drop in quality was painful to stomach. Extra-painful that it was a 256 classup - I had 512 levels to go with whatever class I took, barring whatever levels Auri had earned and shared with me.

[Ancient Bookwyrm of Unending Tomes] was the pure reading class, the promised ‘reversion’ back away from [Loremaster]. I sort of enjoyed being a [Loremaster] - reading and knowing things was fun - but it had been a comfortable suit of armor, less so than what was truly me. Now that my reading class outstripped it, there was no reason to keep being a [Loremaster] in class. I could still act as one, and the knowledge was never going away, but I just wouldn’t level extensively by doing loremaster-like things.

Checking that an ancient horror was still sealed away would get me dings on [Butterfly Mystic], not [Loremaster]. And I was fine with that.

It was a little like a [Lumberjack] using his stats and skills to build a house. Lots of overlap, fewer levels.

[Keeper of Profound Knowledge] was the predicted [Loremaster] evolution. It gave a little more stats than the current class, but with how the bar rose for quality each time a class was offered, it made sense to me that it had ‘dropped down’ a bit. Arachne had prepared me well earlier for the first set, but the class had mostly been dragged up hard by Auri. I’d spent years and possibly hundreds of my own levels pulling her up to meet me, so it only felt fair, but I was distinctly lacking in the ‘has acted as a [Loremaster] and done the wild and crazy things required to make the class good.’

[Erudite Archmage] was a small surprise, and I took my time digging into it, getting happier and happier with every word I read. Oh yes. This would do. This would do nicely.

[Erudite Archmage]: Boasting profound knowledge over countless topics both mundane and esoteric, both from personal experiences worthy of bards' tales and from countless hours scouring through ancient tomes, the [Erudite Archmage] never ceases in their quest to learn everything there is to know, to broaden their scope and deepen their understanding of the world and their place in it. Not simply a mere scholar, the [Erudite Archmage] seeks to apply this knowledge, carefully carving their own influence into the laws of reality through study, experimentation, and consultation with some of the greatest minds in the world.

+512 Mana, +512 Mana Regeneration, +1024 Magic Control, +1024 Magic Power per level.

It was a reading-wizardry class! The two disciplines had quite a lot of overlap, the archetypal image of a wizard being in a tower, surrounded by dusty tomes, studying ancient books. It was beautiful. I’d keep basically all the wonderful Spatial skills I’d come to love and rely on, things merged and moved around the way I wanted, and the 8-year old in me was an absolute sucker for the class name.

I had one last childish dream that had never been fulfilled, and the class name hit me right in the weak spot. I’d dreamed of being an [Archmage], flying through the air on a broom. Meeting Artemis had simply edited the dream a bit - I’d wear the robes over the armor.

I was at the School, one of the only places with wizard towers. I had the robes, I had the armor. I had a class hitting me in all the weak spots, that not only had the minor skills I was looking for - wizardry - it was also a reading class that preserved the fantastic skills I already had.

“You know,” I told Librarian as I grabbed the book, clutching it to my chest and shoving the rest down the table. “If I didn’t have Ciriel, I think I would’ve become a firm worshiper of the System right here and now, like some people do. I can’t believe it, it’s absolutely perfect.”

Librarian winked at me.

“You knew.” I accused her. “You knew this was going to be absolutely perfect for me, and you said nothing.”

She grinned.

“We all need to make our own choices, yeah? Much better to see and pick, than for me to just put it in your lap and say ‘take this, ignore the rest of them.’ How would that feel?”

I waved her off.

“Yeah, yeah, give me a moment to check the book out and do a bit of shuffling, then I’ll be right back in to upgrade [Butterfly Mystic].”

Librarian waved.

“Enjoy! See you soon!”

I woke up, skimming my notifications, picking out only the immediately relevant ones.

[*ding!* You’ve upgraded [Ancient Loremaster of Legend - Spatial] to [Erudite Archmage - Spatial]!]

[*ding!* [Erudite Archmage] leveled up! 256 -> 712. +512 Mana, +512 Mana Regeneration, +1024 Magic Control, +1024 Magic Power 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) per level! +1 Mana +1 Mana Regeneration from your Element per level!]

I did a double-take at that.

Aoife Auri Stentor. WHAT WERE YOU DOING!? I spun off a thought process to agonize, once again, over my bond and what mischief she was up to. I had to remind myself that she wasn’t a small child, that she was an adult and was allowed to find her own trouble. It didn’t stop me from infernally worrying over her though.

[*ding!* Would you like to move [Lepidoptera] from [Butterfly Mystic] to [Erudite Archmage] and have it become [The Everflowing Quill of Phoenix Feathers and Whimsical Dreams]? Y/N]

The offer was good! Exactly what I wanted! But there was the issue of which skill to replace, or… ah ha!

[*ding!* [Blink] has merged with [Rapid Reshelving] to create [Teleportation]!]

Perfection. I had an open skill slot, and I accepted the skill moving over.

[*ding!* [Technical Drawing] has merged with [The Everflowing Quill of Phoenix Feathers and Whimsical Dreams] to make [Reality, Writ As You Will]!]

Satisfied that I wasn’t about to utterly destroy a skill I’d spent almost two decades working on, I sat up, drank a glass of water, and gratefully devoured a sandwich Iona proffered.

“Thank you.” I put as much feeling into the thanks as I could, knowing how boring waiting for someone to class up was.

“Back down, or did you get something that surprised you?” Iona asked.

“Back down in a moment!” I confirmed. We quickly kissed, and I started to flex my hands.

“Hmmm. Can you pass me, like, anything to put together?” I asked. Iona shrugged, and quickly unscrewed the knob of the dresser by the bed.

“Like this?” She asked. I stood up and went over to the dresser, grabbing the knob back.

“Yeah, perfect.” I screwed it back in, the System’s ever-eager desire to offer skills - especially when I wanted a particular basic one - triggering and offering up what I wanted.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Handy]! Would you like to take it?]

I accepted it. It was practically a crime to classup with open skill slots, and while I could just barely forgive myself on [Butterfly Mystic]’s open slot - actually finding something would be a little more effort than it was worth, even though I could pop over to any Radiance Sorcery class and get a basic, basic skill - so I was just taking a general skill.

I went back into the world of my soul, this time working on upgrading [Butterfly Mystic].

Librarian gasped as I entered.

“Elaine! You rascal!” She scolded me, and I jumped.

“What!?” I asked, eyes darting around.

“Coming in here with a level 1 skill again? I thought we’d talked about this!”

It took a moment to recall what she was talking about, and I sputtered in outrage.

“[Handy] isn’t crucial to me the same way [Ranger’s Lore] was back in the day!” I protested. She laughed.

“Yeah, but the look on your face was funny.”

Classes classes everywhere! I wasn’t entirely sure where I was taking [Butterfly Mystic], and Librarian had found a nice selection of books to peruse.

[The Dawn Spear]. [Fluttering Polymath]. [Reborn Ancient]. [Sunlit Dancer]. [Seraph of the Dawn]. [Echo of Asura]. [Butterfly Cleric]. [Radiant Slayer of the Endless Formorian Swarm].

Going vaguely in quality order, [Reborn Ancient] was the phoenix class. Annoyingly, the Radiance heron had almost as much of an impact on the class, if not more, than Auri, but the two were both strongly represented in the class. It was a little more ‘simple-minded’ in some ways, but it was powerful. Besides the stats, a big draw was hanging out with Auri would be slow but steady experience. Leveling up for doing what I wanted to do anyway? Yes please!

It went more into ‘Radiance as the sun’s flames’ and less into the pinpoint precision that I was used to, in exchange for powering up. I also remembered Auri’s desire for me to not have a phoenix class, although I was unsure if it also extended to Radiance as an element, instead of Inferno. It was also just barely a black quality class, eking over the stat threshold by a hair.

The big issue with the ‘Radiance as the sun’s flames’ was the massive hit my skills would take. Across the board I’d drop dozens to hundreds of levels, and they’d work in completely different ways. I wasn’t super inclined towards the class, and ‘undo decades of training, practice, and instincts, and relearn how to fight from the start’ wasn’t appealing, even on a good day.

[The Dawn Spear] I dismissed early on. It was the blood and violence class, the offensive Radiance sorcerer. It was the class that wanted to kill Meng Ao, the class that fought the Formorians, the class that aggressively scythed down my enemies.

I’d taken the class and its direction in a strong self-defense direction from the earliest days of being a Ranger. But, in so many ways, my situation had changed from the young woman I’d been in the dwarven city, alone deep underground, and surrounded by enemies. I had Auri and Iona to protect and defend me, Fenrir’s gigantic bulk and investigative powers willing to be bent to my needs, just as I was willing and able to protect and serve them in any way. I didn’t need or want the ‘biggest violence’ class.

[Sunlit Dancer] was fun, but it wasn’t me. Dancing for a year straight under the high noon sun - or 23,456 years, the System occasionally seemed confused which one it was, which to be fair, so was I - had gotten me a killer dancing class on offer. It wasn’t quite as good as [Lady of the Dance] had been, but the vibes were the same.

[Fluttering Polymath] was the easy pick, the natural upgrade to [Butterfly Mystic]. It was the evolution of the class, wanting to do all the same things my current class did. Looking at it, almost nothing changed from my current class except the stats per level - it was still all about growth and self evolution. The big issue was, I felt I’d done the best I could with my skills growing this way. I struggled to imagine further growth in this style, not with everything I’d already done. It was high purple as well, which mattered when the stat ranges got so large.

[Seraph of the Dawn] looked fun! It combined phoenix aspects with divine influence, the angels I’d met and the gods who’d given me offers, along with my wings and current aspect of looking a bit like an angel, then mixed in some medium offensive aspects from [The Dawn Spear] and the growth and learning aspects from [Fluttering Polymath]. A nice little addition - the ‘fighting’ portion was strongly a ‘defend others’ aspect, which was exactly what I wanted to do when I was forced to battle. Less good at being the aggressor, but when was I ever? It was the ‘half and half’ class, not as good as either one alone, but able to cover for itself.

“Just triple checking.” I asked Librarian. “This class is not a divine ascension class. I’ll be a human, on Pallos, just with a fun flavored class.”

The merciless pedant shook her head.

“Nope! You’ll be an elvenoid chimera on Pallos with a fun flavored class.”

I blew a raspberry at her.

[Butterfly Cleric] was cheeky, and had me groaning. Papillon’s offer to become a cleric of his, nevermind that I was claimed by Ciriel in a sense.

“Am I stupid?” I asked Librarian. “I feel stupid. Butterfly Mystic, it’s practically right there on the label that it’s related to Papilion! Butterflies are sacred to him! Like… did I fuck up?”

Librarian shook her head.

“Every single class has elements sacred to one god or another. Dawns are sacred to Solaris, Goddess of the Sun. We’re not worried about anything with the name Dawn in it. Spears are sacred to-”

I waved Librarian off, getting her point.

“Alright, alright, I got it.”

[Echo of Asura] was only clinically interesting.

“It was light purple until you ripped out [Lepidoptera].” Librarian remarked. “It’s amazing what one skill can do for class quality.”

The last offering was a curiosity. [Radiant Slayer of the Endless Formorian Swarm]. It was exactly the same as when I’d last been offered it, and I pointed to the book with a confused look on my face.

“The Formorians are extinct, yeah?” I asked.

“They should be.” Librarian hedged. “They weren’t exactly subtle or restrained, and we haven’t found a single mention of them in any book we’ve ever read here.”

I frowned at that.

“There was no notification from Genie though…” I slowly said.

“We were there when we killed the last of them.” Librarian countered. “The wish hadn’t been made yet.”

We traded a nervous look, and I shrugged.

“Well, if there are any around, Night killed their queens 2500ish levels ago.”

“Yeah, but they also level.”

I slapped my forehead.

“I feel stupid. We should ask Ciriel.”

“It’ll cost her.”

“Yeah, but she could know the answer.”

“Gods aren’t all seeing.”

“Formorians didn’t seem to have issues leveling, and looked Immortal from what I understood. At least one of them should’ve ascended by now, and ‘hey are there any gods who used to be Formorians, say, a Goddess of Formorians’ is a valid question she could answer.”

Librarian nodded in agreement.

“It’s also true that we still qualify for the class. It could just be as simple as ‘qualifications remain, class is offered again’.”

I smiled nostalgically at the book.

“Remember when this was the best class offered, not one of the worst?”

Librarian grinned.

“We were so tiny and cute!” She said.

“This kitten has claws!” I rawred, miming swiping the air with little kitten claws.

After goofing off a bit in the liminal space that seemed to slip oddly through time, I got back down to business.

While I did have Auri, Iona, and Fenrir to help me out, I wasn’t going to ditch all self-defense. I still liked the growth and evolution aspects that [Butterfly Mystic] had, and the angelic imagery of [Seraph of the Dawn] appealed. In this space, I wasn’t impacted by the bond’s vanity, but I still thought I’d look so fucking pretty with the wings. [Fluttering Polymath] could be just as strong skill-wise as [Seraph] was, so the two elements I put on the scale were simple.

Higher class quality versus easier evolutions?

It was almost a no-brainer. Earlier I’d reasoned that I’d gotten most out of the skill evolutions as I’d been able to.

[Seraph of the Dawn’s] stat spread was solid. +512 Speed, +512 Vitality, +1024 Mana, +1024 Mana Regeneration, +1024 Magic Power, +1024 Magic Control per level.

“[Seraph of the Dawn] please!”

Chapter 35 - Skills, Skills Everywhere!

I woke up and stretched, shifting my body around. Classing up space was a little unnatural. It was more akin to being unconscious than being asleep, and my body didn’t do all the little adjustments.

Iona was a blur of motion next to me, a tray of food rapidly being assembled from parts.

“Sandwiches?” She offered up a stack, a glass of cold milk next to them.

I was ravenous. I grabbed the top one and chowed down. Fresh lettuce and tomatoes, thick slices of turkey, generously applied mayonnaise, and freshly cracked black pepper and salt.

That was just the first one. Iona had outdone herself. The second one was brontosaurus belly, salami, pate, grilled chicken, cucumber slices, avocado, and egg. It seemed like too much at first, but the combination worked beautifully.

A reuben was next, and I started to slow down as my stomach woke up and realized we had FOOD again. I poked the dramatic organ, mentally telling it to not be such a drama llama. I’d blitzed the classups, it wasn’t like I’d been down for days reading every book.

A long drink of cold milk helped wash it all down, and I reached for a fourth sandwich as Iona started talking.

“Ever going to check your notifications?” She teased me. “You’ve got some nice skills.”

I had a lot of notifications. I’d already looked at a few of them, just quickly checking what I had, but now I needed to look at all of them. I scrolled back through the log to find the right spot.

[*ding!* [Erudite Archmage] leveled up! 256 -> 712. +512 Mana, +512 Mana Regeneration, +1024 Magic Control, +1024 Magic Power 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) per level! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power from your Element per level!]

Holy stats. I’d glanced at it before, but I was about to get a loooot of magical stats.

The one minor ‘downside’ to [Erudite Archmage] being a beautiful combination of reading and scholarly magic was just that - it was scholarly magical research and reading. It was less intended for battle and fighting - although it had no real penalty for it, and could easily be bent in that direction - but the stat distribution was all-in on the magical stats. The class didn’t need or want any physical stats, so it didn’t offer any. There was a reason wizards were routinely depicted as old. Combined with the levels I was going to get from [Seraph of the Dawn] though, I was excited to see what my stat total was going to be..

[*ding!* [Blink] has merged with [Rapid Reshelving] to create [Teleportation]!]

Teleportation: Move objects, including yourself, from one spot to another. Slightly increased range per level.

Huzzah! The two felt like a natural fit to merge, and I’d been able to instantly [Blink] myself around for a while now. The limited range had been annoying, but now I was FREE! To slowly level up and gain more range.

The class wasn’t a dedicated [Teleporter] class, and I doubted I’d ever get fantastic mana discounts or secondary skills to really go somewhere, but being able to instantly reposition myself and objects had been fun and useful for years.

[*ding!* [Technical Drawing] has merged with [The Everflowing Quill of Phoenix Feathers and Whimsical Dreams] to make [Reality, Writ As You Will]!]

Reality, Writ As You Will: Your works have shaped reality and now your spells shall too. Your quill dances with feverish energy, drawing out mystical symbols that will reshape and bend reality to your will. The cosmos bends to your desires, making each spell cast cost less mana. -4096 mana regeneration.

First off, that was such a cool skill name! It came with a minor discount on casting spells, and I couldn’t quite tell yet if I’d be casting large enough mandalas at a scale where the benefits would kick in, or if it would end up being mostly flavor text.

Wizardry was the pursuit of a lifetime, and I could endlessly improve in a variety of ways. From inventing new spells, to refining existing ones, from researching and learning new languages, to learning more tricks in old ones, from preparing more spells for life and combat, to thinking of smarter ones to use in a given situation, there was no end to the depths of wizardry.

[*ding!* [Reality, Writ As You Will] is level 530]

That was a bit of a shame. It dropped, probably because the power went way up in level, and possibly because it crossed classes. It wasn’t maxed anymore, and it was going to take me a long, long time to level it all the way up again. Especially if Auri kept doing insane things to level.

My stomach nervously clenched, and I let [Luminary Mind] start worrying over her again. I dismissed the rest of my skill level up notifications - I’d see them all at the end in my stat sheet.

No upgrade on [Spatial Authority], which was expected. I wasn’t delving deep into the elemental aspects of the class, so much as using the elements for their thing. I wasn’t explaining it well.

[*ding!* [Manuscript Mastery] has upgraded to [Cozy Reading]!]

Cozy Reading: A book, a crackling fireplace, a storm outside, a cup of hot chocolate and your wife nearby. What’s not to love? You always understand what you’re reading, and will rapidly acquire new languages when reading them. Improved control over reading speed per level. -64 mana regeneration.

It was an unusual variant on [Reading], and on the surface felt like a bit of a downgrade to the skill. At the same time, everything from [Manuscript Mastery] was still there, with the potential for more from the line ‘You always understand what you’re reading.’ The scant description meant I was fully prepared for it to be deceptive, and do something like improve how comfortable I was while I read. The ‘control over reading speed’ was a fascinating line. I’d seen something similar in the past, mostly from [Speedster]-related abilities from books - I’d go faster and faster each level, but I could also deliberately move slower, and keep myself at the lower speed. In other words, with careful application of the skill and basic math, I could choose exactly when I would finish reading a book. Like, right before bedtime.

Perfect for [Cozy Reading].

The skill was interesting on another axis. It was far, far more powerful than the name suggested. I wasn’t going to make any bets, but I suspected if I did a deep dive into all recorded instances of the skill, I would have one of the strongest-worded ones.

[*ding!* [Loremaster’s Library] has upgraded to [Repository of the Magus]!]

Repository of the Magus: Infinite books at your fingertips. Summoning speed depends on number of books in storage. Summoning speed increased per level. -512 mana regeneration.

My eyes narrowed at the ‘upgrade’, and I tried to summon a book to me. It instantly appeared in my hands, and I had a moment of enlightenment.

By Ciriel! I had no maximum capacity for books. If I ended up with too many in my storage, I suspected I’d start to have issues with getting any particular book out, but everything strongly implied I could walk into the School’s library, and teleport every single book into my storage.

They’d murder me dead, of course, but I’d die with a smile on my face.

[*ding!* [Vault of Ages] has upgraded to [Tower of Knowledge]!]

Tower of Knowledge: The repose of every good archmage, the tower spirals up into the sky, providing all manner of rooms a mage might need. +1 extra story every 8 levels. -8192 mana regeneration.

That sounded great! On the other hand, I was dreading to see what the inside of my storage looked like right now. I had planned on emptying it all out before upgrading, just in case, but life had conspired against me with the Auri deadline. I’d asked Librarian for [Vault]-only options, and the skill was a little too useful to ever ditch, but I was…

Why was I speculating, when I could just go check?

I teleported into [Tower of Knowledge], and dragged my fingers down my face in horror.

“Nooooooooooooooooooo…” My scream petered off into nothingness.

The more I saw, the worse it got.

[Tower] was indeed arranged as a tower. Each floor was far larger than eight rooms in [Vault] combined, a solid upgrade in total storage volume. There was hemming and hawing to do on larger, more warehouse-like floors versus many little rooms, but that didn’t concern me at the moment.

Each floor had a large opening in the middle, with no stairs, pole, or anything to help get between levels. The [Tower], being in its own pocket dimension, naturally didn’t have any gravity. There was soft light glowing from everywhere, banishing all shadows, and the air was fresh and crisp, smelling slightly of a spring breeze. A number of cargo rings could be found carefully placed on floors, walls, and the ceiling.

The lack of gravity meant I could easily fly between levels.

It also meant there was nothing keeping my stored supplies grounded. I had previously strapped them down, put food into barrels, teleported in furniture to better store items, had water in kegs, etc. Everything in its place, as much time and effort as that had been. Enchantments had been carefully laid down to improve my quality of life and the vault.

The skill upgrade had reshuffled everything. It didn’t even have the good grace to keep things together! Flour coated every other surface, only being picked up by some droplets of water spinning through the air. Dishes spun lazily in space next to swords, a hammer lightly bounced off the glass of a cabinet, fruits and metal ingots rattling around in a mug, and a partial rune lay mercifully dead on the wall.

It was a disaster. Forget anything being in its place, it would’ve almost been better if nearly everything had been destroyed. At least then I wouldn’t have had to clean the place up first! If there was gravity, at least everything would break once and be still.

I pushed through the mess, every action causing a never-ending cascade of follow-up reactions, looking for my major items. My Sentinel gear, some rope and straps.

At least The Great Reshuffling hadn’t split individual items apart. My helmet was still in one piece, and I didn’t bother looping rope in fancy ways around it, simply choosing to use [Teleportation] to instantly tie a knot. I dragged it along behind me like a boat gathering seaweed, slowly searching through each level to find what I needed.

Full emergency combat gear acquired, I moved back towards the entrance, using [Teleportation] on every single spare bit of mango that came into my sphere of perception. I stress-ate them, justifying to myself that they might get ruined with all the chaos going on in here. I tied my armor down with the handy cargo rings. Then I teleported back out, figuring it was going to take months at the very least to handle it all.

Great timing. I’d known there was a risk-reward with upgrading, and it wasn’t a disaster, just… really shit right now.

[Astral Archives] kept the same name and had minimal changes. It was already a fantastic skill.

[*ding!* [Lust for Lore] has upgraded to [Endless Pursuit of Knowledge]]

Endless Pursuit of Knowledge: The pursuit of knowledge is never ending. The day you stop seeking it out is the day when you stop growing. New knowledge is easier to grasp and some connections or patterns in the grand story of existence become easier to pick out. 3.5% increased experience for classes and skills per level.

Hurray! The experience boost was subtle, but I gave it a lot of credit for my levels over the years. The bonus from [Sentinel’s Superiority] helped out quite a bit too. Also, the bit about classes and skills was interesting. Had prior iterations only helped with one? I was unsure about ‘new knowledge is easier to grasp’ - I rarely had any issue picking things up, even when other students complained that professors didn’t make sense.

Okay! There was still a ton of testing to do, but I had my new Spatial skills! Onto the Radiance skills!

[*ding!* You’ve upgraded [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance] to [Seraph of the Dawn - Radiance]!]

[*ding!* [Seraph of the Dawn] leveled up! 768 -> 855. +512 Speed, +512 Vitality, +1024 Mana, +1024 Mana Regeneration, +1024 Magic Power, +1024 Magic Control per level 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) per level! +1 Strength +1 Mana Regeneration from your Element per level!]

I knew this was quite a lot from Auri, but every spike in levels I had, stored or not, resulted in a spike of anxiety for her. I hoped she was alright, and had just been delayed by something dumb. She was a bit of a birdbrain at times, and maybe something important had slowed her down, or maybe she’d waited until the last second and then the Living Storm had delayed her, or…

None of this worrying was productive, and I kept going through my skills.

[*ding!* [Radiance Affinity] has upgraded to [Radiance Mastery]!]

It was a bit of a shame - I’d hoped that I could go straight to [Spirit], with dancing under the sun for eons, but the System clearly didn’t agree.

[Radiance Resistance] stayed the same, and I was debating if I should drop the skill. It was only good at protecting myself, and I constantly self-healed with massive bonuses. Was that sort of minor self-harm a violation of my [Oath]? I’d come to the conclusion yes many times in the past, but narrowly. It was worth meditating over the question once again to see if my thoughts and feelings had changed on the matter, and if I could get to a no answer.

My beliefs weren’t whatever was convenient for myself at the time. They were my beliefs. I’d love to get all the benefits of [Oath] with none of the drawbacks, but that just wasn’t how it worked or who I was as a person.

I set [Luminary Mind] on the task, and moved on.

[*ding!* [The Rays of the First Dawn] has upgraded to [The Rays of the First Dawn]!]

…

Thanks System.

The Rays of the First Dawn: When the sun first crested the horizon at the dawn of creation, its rays struck the earth and changed its prospects for all eternity. Wield those rays as your weapons, summoning that which will disintegrate all that stands in your way. Increased damage, range, control, blinding ability, destructive power, and heat per level. -16376 mana regeneration.

The description was almost identical, with a higher mana regeneration cost. I’d need to spend a little bit of time at the firing range to work out what else had changed.

[*ding!* [Nectar] has upgraded to [Celestial Dew]!]

Celestial Dew: The glittering mists of the divine realm condense into delicate dewdrops, upon which angels sup. 0.25% increased mana regeneration per level.

I wasn’t going to complain about a solid 25% increase to the skill. Short, sweet, to the point, and worth millions of points of regeneration.

[*ding!* [Solar Corona] has upgraded to [Sunrise Halo]!]

Sunrise Halo: Crowned in glory, wreathed in light, haloed by sunrise. Dramatic improvement to Radiance skills per level. -1,048,576 mana regeneration. Small cost on activation.

Holy Ciriel. I was going to hit like a meteor strike. If most high level people had skills like this, it explained so much. It was nice - the stats I got from leveling up combined with [Celestial Dew] more than made up for the loss.

Hang on - there was another line. Small cost on activation? It was a passive, it didn’t usually need an activation. That, and a large part of passives working the way they did was the ‘always on’ nature accounted for where all the extra power came from.

I toggled the skill, and a halo popped up over my head, bathing the room in soft light. Iona’s eyes locked onto it.

“That’s nice.” She said. “Can I touch it?”

Bless her for waiting patiently while I sorted through all the new skills. I was more than willing to let her play with some of my new toys.

“Sure!” I said. Iona tried to hook a finger through it, but it just passed by.

“Awww. No halo frisbees.” She complained. I side-eyed her.

“Wouldn’t that be, like, ridiculously sacrilegious?” I asked.

“Nope! It’s a class theme, you’re not an actual angel. I’m not one of those stupid religious people, you should know that by now.” She chided.

Also, it was clear Iona had been reading my stat sheet.

[*ding!* [Wings of the Mystical Sunbird] has upgraded to [Wings of the Seraphim]!]

Wings of the Seraphim: The grace of an angel. The might of a divine warrior. Upon the six holy [Wings of the Seraphim], fly to the aid and succor of all those in need. Dramatically improved speed, agility, durability, and maneuverability per level. -16376 mana regeneration.

I couldn’t wait to try them out.

[*ding!* [A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers] has upgraded to [Six Wings, Six Million Feathers]!]

Six Wings, Six Million Feathers: With every flap of the Seraphim's wings they can summon an insurmountable number of radiant feathers to attack or defend. Each can burn with righteous fury or be soft down to catch a falling lamb. -16376 mana regeneration.

Well, either the skill name was being poetic, or I was about to have a feather problem. The firing range would help me figure it out!

I had an open skill slot from where I’d lost [Lepidoptera], and the class was a half-successor to [Butterfly Mystic]. Just as I’d been offered a million skills when I’d taken the [Butterfly Mystic] class - [Egg Laying] still occasionally haunting my dreams - I had a wide selection of skills offered to me here and now.

[*ding!* You have unlocked the Class Skill [Behold My Splendor]!]

[*ding!* You have unlocked the Class Skill [Purge the Heretics By Holy Flames]!]

[*ding!* You have unlocked the Class Skill [A Light Shining in the Darkness]!]

[*ding!* You have unlocked the Class Skill [Harsh Judgement Ordained from Above]!]

[*ding!* You have unlocked the Class Skill [Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration]!]

[*ding!* You have unlocked the Class Skill [Be Not Afraid]!]

[*ding!* You have unlocked the Class Skill [A Single Flap of an Angel’s Wings]!]

So many options! They’d all start off at level 1, which sucked, but what was I going to do about it?

My ruminations on my [Oath] from [Luminary Mind] came back with a conclusion - it was alright to drop [Radiance Resistance]. It ended up being a question of ‘what caused the least amount of harm’, and [Radiance Resistance] always prevented a tiny amount of deliberate harm. Another powerful skill could prevent a large amount of dramatic harm. The expected balance between the two, the way to prevent the most harm, was to take another, better skill.

My thoughts had wandered a step further - was it harm to not take a better skill? Fortunately, I’d talked myself off that ledge, because down that path lay madness. Forced to always hyper optimize myself? Whooof. That would’ve been bad. I was at a minor risk of my thinking changing and coming to that conclusion though. I hoped it never would.

I had concluded that some forms of Radiance training and practice would be off-limits. There was lightly crisping my fingers casting [The Rays of the First Dawn], and there was driving a sword through my guts. The first one was borderline, but the second was entirely unacceptable. If skills caused too much self-harm, it was going to be hard justifying practicing them extensively.

After carefully looking over the skills, there were two skills that I thought would work well and help my kit.

The first was [A Light Shining in the Darkness]. I was admittedly influenced by how often the description had come up about me in recent classup descriptions, and it was a broadly useful skill. It was a controllable surge of blinding light, that I could have radiate from all directions or narrowly focus in one direction. It included a strong anti-Mirage and anti-Darkness aspect, banishing illusions and shadows - even those designed to eat light.

A Light Shining in the Darkness: A beacon of hope to the meek, a bane to the dark and the predators lurking within. The bright light drives away all shadows, blinding the unbelievers and bringing hope to those who beg the Seraph for succor. Shatters foul illusions. -8192 mana regeneration.

It played nicely with a number of things I wanted to do. It would be much easier for me to take people down non-lethally if they couldn’t see, it was a nice anti-Mirage tactic, it played well with my work as a War Sentinel, and the anti-Mirage… my thoughts carefully danced around a part I wouldn’t admit to myself, a part that had to deal with Iona. A huge part of my existence rebelled against the idea, against the plotting, but I knew one more endeavor that it was going to be useful for, centuries from now when it was significantly trained up.

I was suddenly engulfed in a warm hug. Iona let me go just as fast. No words were needed.

The second useful skill I decided to pick up was [Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration]. I wasn’t completely sold on it versus another utility skill, but I’d need to think of one first before swapping over. I took the skill, and to my mild but pleasant surprise, I had no huge wave of nausea. I’d been fully prepared - reluctantly - to utterly lose my lunch when I dropped [Radiance Resistance], huge waves of nausea and disorientation common when a skill was lost.

I suspected I knew the reason. [Radiance Resistance] was a bit of an oddball skill in some ways. It passively protected me from myself. Often the disorientation from losing a skill was knowledge and feelings abruptly leaving the mind, the invisible and untouchable levers and buttons that controlled skills being ripped out.

[Radiance Resistance] was fully passive, and didn’t help me improve my ability to do anything. It wasn’t like [Knives] that helped me handle objects leaving, where knowledge and capability was removed. It wasn’t an active skill. It just… was, and the loss didn’t come with any repercussions.

For now.

Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration: Summon a beautiful spear of pure Radiance with a single thought, choose a target, and obliterate them. Clad your weapon in Radiance and smite your foes. Improved speed and destruction per level. -8192 mana regeneration.

The description was suggestive that I could conjure up unlimited spears of Radiance and fling them at sub-lightspeed at targets, as well as infuse any weapons I held with Radiance and turn them into lethal weapons.

There was some redundancy with [Rays]. [Rays], to me, felt like a much better skill, and there was a reason I’d used it for years. The largest upside to a third truly offensive skill was it increased my damage output by 50%. The big bottleneck in a mage’s instantaneous combat ability was the number of combat skills. I could throw [Rays] and [Feathers] at my magic power, effectively hitting people ‘twice’. [Spear] let me hit people ‘a third time’, and looked like it was going to end up stronger at hitting a single target than [Rays], even if it was a little slower.

I was going to need to spend every waking minute between now and when we left the island to get Auri practicing my skills at the firing range.

Satisfied with my picks, I could finally take a peek at my stat sheet.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 38]

[Mana: 6,910,190/6,910,190]

[Mana Regeneration: 13,699,941 +(41,557,542)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 40,823 (Effectively: 326,584)]

[Dexterity: 65,269 (Effectively: 694,984)]

[Vitality: 203,035 (Effectively: 3,172,422)]

[Speed: 190,267 (Effectively: 3,745,025)]

[Mana: 691,127]

[Mana Regeneration: 1,555,022 (+ 4,154,824)]

[Magic Power: 904,127 (+ 39,600,763)]

[Magic Control: 903,335 (+ 39,566,073)]

[Class 1: [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial: Lv 876]]

[Celestial Mastery: 876]

[Aurora Curialis: 771]

[The Stars Never Fade: 56]

[Luminary Mind: 602]

[Universal Cure: 876]

[Etheric Aegis: 222]

[Event Horizon: 650]

[Zenith Everlasting: 609]

[Class 2: [Seraph of the Dawn - Radiance: Lv 855]]

[Radiance Mastery: 855]

[A Light Shining in the Darkness: 1]

[The Rays of the First Dawn: 855]

[Radiant Angel's Spear of Obliteration: 1]

[Celestial Dew: 855]

[Sunrise Halo: 855]

[Wings of the Seraphim: 855]

[Six Wings, Six Million Feathers: 855]

[Class 3: [Erudite Archmage - Spatial: Lv 712]]

[Spatial Authority: 488]

[Cozy Reading: 712]

[Teleportation: 195]

[Repository of the Magus: 557]

[Tower of Knowledge: 92]

[Reality, Writ As You Will: 530]

[Astral Archives: 326]

[Endless Pursuit of Knowledge: 644]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 532]

[Handy: 1]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 876]

[The World Around Me: 216]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 876]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 876]

[Persistent Casting: 650]

[Tender Gardening: 108]

Chapter 36 - Fire, Aim, Ready!

I had new skills! So many new skills!

It wasn’t an emergency, there wasn’t a fire or people dying, so I decided not to sprint as fast as I could to the firing range to test things out, or the flying obstacle course.

I simply… brisky strode through the paths, System-weirdness making me look like I was casually strolling through the boulevard, nevermind that I was going hundreds of miles per hour.

Casually strolling.

I clasped my hands behind my back, grinning the whole way, almost the perfect image of a slightly mad [Archmage]. I needed a bigger, whiter beard to properly pull that off… but maybe I was putting off more of a Merlin vibe, living backwards through time and looking young.

I did need to dodge quite a few apple-infested people. The School had a wide variety of food grown, and there was usually some of the dreaded fruits in the cafeteria. It was easy enough to dodge them, and just for fun, I dodged a few more people to make my ducks and weaves follow a fun pattern.

Stats at this stage got interesting. The main thing I noticed was I could control how quickly I perceived the world. I didn’t feel like everyone was eternally trapped in molasses, even though I could move and think like they were otherwise.

What sort of society would it be if I couldn’t ‘slow myself down’ to ‘normal’ speeds? Would cities be segregated by speed and vitality? Would a whole second set of people live ‘overlayed’ on the first?

In a way, it was a little like Immortal and mortal countries segregating from each other. I idly ruminated on the topic as I continued to not-rush around.

Ahhhhhhhh! I wanted to though! I had ideas! Plans! Things to experiment with! [Luminary Mind] plotting out a totally-cool and absolutely not indulging my inner eight-year-old idea!

I knew I was going to eat a lot of dirt, some metaphorically, some physically. Skills didn’t come with huge ‘how to perfectly use this’ manuals. I needed to come up with ideas. Test, iterate, refine. I had to break old habits, old muscle memory. I needed to find my limits, and that often happened when I went a little past them. I needed to figure out what I could do, then use my imagination to think of more ideas, try them out, and see what happened.

In many ways, it was the task of a lifetime, but basic proficiency was doable in a short timeframe. Even shorter if I was willing to run face-first into walls, sometimes literally. My healing would help significantly. I didn’t need to work up [Fireball] from a small level to a larger one, I could immediately start at the largest one possible and tone it down from there. Anyone watching would probably laugh themselves sick at how much I was going to have things blow up in my face, but it would work, and it would work quickly.

Ciriel’s divine grace and by every tasty mango - I was pretty sure I was about to obliterate the sound barrier. [Arbiter] had been slowly trickling speed in over the years, but the description of [Wings of the Seraphim] suggested it was significantly stronger than [Scintillating Ascent].

As I headed over to the firing range, I continued to think on just how perfect the School was for classing up.

Not only did the flying Oddity the School was on make it easier to get skills, but the School had helpfully set up a firing range and an aerial obstacle course to test it all out!

I could genuinely see now how the School had evolved here. Start off with people figuring out it helped gain skills easily - my experience with Remus and the Dead Zone suggested it was not easy to figure out in the slightest - then people wanting to test out their skills. Add in some enterprising fellows setting up a basic flight course, firing range, growing trees, and other ways to test skills out, and suddenly the island’s a pretty neat place. Add in libraries to have skill-reference books, and the island was 60% of the way there. Wasn’t quite sure how it ended up being Artemis’s School - my theorizing could only go so far - but the chain felt logical.

Of course, I could just be reverse-engineering in my head, and the truth was wildly different. Like, someone said ‘that’d be a cool island to put the School on’, and everything happened from there.

I let [Luminary Mind] ruminate wildly on the topic, while running two additional thought processes that worked on my spellbooks, reviewing them, making lists of spells I needed to re-add to the books, and thinking about anything else I needed to include while I was here.

The School still had the Overflowing Stack, a fantastic wizardry resource, and I’d love to make more use of it if I had the time.

So many things to do, so little time. I needed to prioritize and go from there.

It only took me a few seconds of speed walking and thinking to make it to the aerial obstacle course. I stopped and stomped my foot as I arrived.

Damnit! I had a million things to test and prepare before dropping off the island, and testing all clothing variations in my flight was a bad idea. I needed to test tight clothing or armor, because that’s what I was going to operate with in the Phoenix Peaks. Except my flight clothes were spinning deep in my [Tower], and the armor was wholly inappropriate for the spot.

Nothing to it. I teleported into the disaster that was my personal storage, glanced longingly at my armor, and shot off through the debris, scanning everything with [The World Around Me]. I found my shirt being molested by a dinner fork, and shorts wrapped around a shovel.

Well, at least the place was a little tidier. I put my fancy robes near the entrance, changed, and teleported out.

It didn’t matter if I was running or flying here - people expected big shows at the School. I ran onto the field, jumped, and with a mental twist in a new-but-familiar skill, I unfurled my new wings for the first time.

Light exploded around me as I gasped. Six gorgeous wings emerged from my back, three on either side. With a single flap I shot up into the air as hard as I could, an explosive boom echoing in my wake. The last few numbers of my mana flickered as I regenerated mana as quickly as I burned it. I found myself needing to frantically twist and turn to avoid the various obstacles and other fliers, blasting my healing out as hard as I could.

A slight shudder went through me as I berated myself for being an absolute idiot. I’d known I was probably going to crack the sound barrier, I just hadn’t thought I was going to do it so quickly or easily. The sheer force and pressure from it was enough to blow out eardrums, rattle bodies, and otherwise cause modest harm to all the other fliers.

My healing was mitigating any serious [Oath] violations - everyone was staying pretty much in perfect health, just getting shaken up a bit as my shockwave passed over them - but it was still a deeply unpleasant feeling. I held my hands up and hung my head in shame as two instructors swarmed me.

“I know, I know, I fucked up.” I said before they could say anything. “New skill, two new classes, was too excited and wasn’t thinking properly. Everyone’s already fixed up.”

Once in a while I wondered why cities had various means of segregating high-statted Classers from other people, or in other words, why children had safe zones of their own. Then I got reminded that it only took half a moment of carelessness to cause massive harm.

I swallowed my pride and let myself get equally berated and lectured by the two flying [Instructors]. It wasn’t the first time, but it’d hopefully be the last.

Lucky for me, I knew they couldn’t ever spend too much time on one person. There was bound to be - yup, there it was, someone else new to the skill had just let it fail on themselves half a mile above ground. The two were off like a shot on an intercept course, and I went back to testing [Wings of the Seraphim].

The first thing I did was activate my anti-friction runes. Not only would I go faster, but I wouldn’t leave a devastating sonic boom in my wake. The term ‘anti-friction’ occasionally got members of the School of Natural Philosophy up in arms. According to them, the rune was horribly misnamed, and should be called something different for the effect it produced.

I was on team ‘we all know what it means and the name’s fine’.

Hmmm. Was it worth trying to change the skill to prevent it at all? It was a horribly untargeted ‘attack’, and I could see it causing more problems than it was worth. Something to think about.

I flapped my way up, my six wings not moving all in unison, and quickly reached the ‘ceiling’ to the flight zone. Then I dove, pushing my body to its limits, using the stat-boosting runes engraved on my bones.

I had basically never used them before getting [Arbiter], not knowing when I’d need them. Now that I could restore them easily, I was much more willing to play with them.

It was such an incredible rush. The air whipping my hair around, the gale at my fingertips, the howling in my ears. I’d wanted to fly at an early age, and it never got old.

The only downside to testing my top speed, maneuverability, acceleration and the rest was it went by so fast. I waited until the last possible moment to flare my wings open and try to bleed off speed, only to eat dirt.

Wasn’t sure how much my lack of injuries was from my vitality, and how much was my healing, but I suspected I would’ve been taken out of here on a stretcher if it wasn’t for [Universal Cure]. The instructors landed next to me as I sprayed dirt out of my mouth, making worried noises. I waved them off.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

I glanced back at the long streak of broken grass behind me.

Yup. Totally fine.

I’d try to avoid wiping out quite so hard in the future. At the same time, it wasn’t like I’d had a ton of knowledge stuffed into my head with the new skill. The only way to find out exactly when I needed to pull out of a dive was repetitive practice.

Runes glowing on my skin, I shot up into the sky again, seeing how long it took me to reach the top. I discovered I could ‘push’ myself, burning more mana than I regenerated, in exchange for going even faster.

Fuck yeah!

Another thing I tried was ‘brushing’ some of the obstacles with my wings. Unlike [Scintillating Ascent], my wings didn’t get half-banished when hitting another object. Instead, they were physical enough to ‘push’ the semi-stationary objects around. It prompted me to pause and hover for a moment, reaching out to feel my feathers.

They were both illusionary and soft, like a warm summer’s day on my face.

Oooh! I bet I could hug Iona with them! That would make her feel so good.

Testing this one skill was going to take a while.

I didn’t bother repairing my clothes after the [Instructors] politely kicked me out of the flight zone. I was hitting numbers and speeds usually reserved for Immortals that were long past wanting to use the Island or its facilities, or had their own ways of testing how good their flight was. I didn’t have any illusions that I was the strongest flier on the island or anything - plenty of Immortals around - but they didn’t have brand-new shiny skills they were learning.

I made it to the firing range, wondering if I was capable of breaking it like Auri had. I didn’t think I could [Burn Magic] like she could, but my skills had some dramatic descriptions, and they didn’t always limit themselves to what they said they did.

Parts of the firing range were open to everyone, where other people could see what I was doing. I requested a private section, not because I terribly cared about keeping everything super secret hush-hush private, but because [A Light Shining in the Darkness] had the potential to mess with everyone else.

I started with that skill, blasting Radiance all around me, trying out the ‘blinding’ mode. My world practically went golden-white, the lack of [Radiance Resistance] no longer letting me see through my own stuff, forcing me to squint. [The World Around Me] still worked fine though, and I started to ‘play’ with the skill a bit. It had both a blinding and a ‘friendly’ component, and I mentally switched myself to ‘friendly’. Then made sure the default on the skill was ‘friendly’ - it would be a hair worse in a fight, but it would be much friendlier in a big fight.

I blinked, and suddenly I could see again. It was weird - there was clearly harsh light radiating from me, but I could see through it.

I spent a minute playing with it at low power, seeing what I could do with it. The skill was supremely flexible! I could cast from any spot on my body. I could radiate out in various shapes, having fun shining my name and Iona’s in a curly heart on the far wall, making the Remus eagle ‘soar’ across the sky, making myself into a lighthouse with a spinning circular light, and more! I could make tiny pinpoint precision spots, the size of a pupil, but I couldn’t have it automatically track eyes. The skill needed manual control for that.

Shame. It would be so much more efficient to snipe a thousand eyes with bright lights than to simply blanket an area.

Something I couldn’t easily test was how well it dealt with counters.

Just as battles were fought on a Sound axis, they were also fought on a Light axis. People tried to blind the enemy, making it like they were fighting into the sun, while others worked on countering it, using a mix of skills to prevent their side from getting screwed over.

On one hand, I had enough power with a dramatic skill describing all the ways it beat Mirage and Darkness. On the other, the skill was low-level, fighting on that axis would burn huge amounts of mana that could be used to heal people, and I wasn’t specialized in it the way dedicated Classers who fought on that axis were.

The second point felt most pertinent to me. It wasn’t going to stop me fighting that way, not when it could win the battle and ultimately reduce the amount of mana I spent healing, but it wasn’t going to be primary.

I ended the practice of the skill trying it at full power, my entire mana pool draining in seconds. From my point of view as the ‘friendly, don’t blind’ caster, the light just seemed to get more intense. Hard to properly practice a blinding skill against unliving objects.

[*ding!* [A Light Shining in the Darkness] leveled up! 1->15]

The implications for smaller-scale combat were a little more exciting. Easy to agonizingly blind someone, at which point I could leisurely take them down at my own pace. [Pocket Sand] on steroids.

It took about seven and a half minutes for my mana to fully recharge. I could just yoink it out of the arcanite at the firing range - it was designed for that after all - but I was aware of just how much mana I had, the range’s budget, and all the other students who wanted to practice. With my regeneration, it was simply kinder to wait a bit, and I had other things to do.

I pulled some spellbooks out of [Repository of the Magus], then cast my ‘bootstrap’ spell to summon ink and a quill. I sat down, balancing the books on my lap as I started to write some of the spells I thought of with [Reality, Writ As You Will].

It was so easy. My quill practically flew across the page, the ink perfectly flowing from it. I barely needed to refill it! I felt my hand correcting itself as I traced the circles in a fury, moving faster and faster. I didn’t get to see how quickly I could go in the end. I was forced to lift my quill up, spraying a line of ink across the room. It splattered against the floor, a line crawling up the wall and onto the ceiling as I slowed down.

I had significantly more mana than when I started, my regeneration utterly crushing any spent mana. Getting excited at how quickly I could make spells, I blew on the page, then turned the page.

Spell after spell flew off my quill. I rapidly ran out of spells I’d decided I needed, and went straight onto making more copies of commonly used spells. Jiwa’s [Greater Invisibility] was still one of my favorites, but now that my healing restored the rune in my bones, I didn’t quite need a full book of them.

Maybe I’d gift it to an enterprising student at some point. Just kick-start their collection. Heck, for all I knew, it would give them the idea to prepare multiple copies of the same spell!

One woman’s trash was another’s treasure.

I primarily focused on Ice, Water, and sneakiness spells. We were about to jump into the Phoenix Peaks, into the somewhat mysterious Northern Continent. With the specific heat of water being so high, being able to summon vast quantities of it, or have cooling spells at the ready felt like the most useful thing I could do. I could heal Fenrir from basically any injury, but we’d all have an ugly time if they melted his armor and it stuck to him.

Similarly, I felt comfortable with my blasting abilities, but I didn’t exactly have any good sneaking skills - nor did Iona and Fenrir. Something they could also use would be valuable, and I had a few last-minute ideas.

My mana recharged, I got up and started to test my next skill.

[The Rays of the First Dawn] worked almost exactly the same as before, but with better control. I could make the rays super-fine again, and I wasn’t limited to casting from my fingertips. I also burned clean through all the target dummies the firing range had, nevermind I’d cranked it up to ‘maximum durability’.

It suggested I could make it through ‘at least’ a defensively-specced Classer at around level 600. Not too much of a surprise.

The other minor surprise came from mirrors. They still deflected [Rays], but the skill was so hot that I eventually warped the mirror, making it go off in crazy directions. It only lasted until the mirror was charred black, at which point [Rays] burned straight through it, melting and igniting the mirror a moment later.

Interesting.

It would be wildly different against a Mirror Classer of course.

It was a good thing I’d picked a private range. That could’ve legitimately killed someone in the main firing Range, forget the [Oath] violation. ‘Whoops, didn’t mean to accidentally scythe down a dozen students testing this skill, my bad’ was no excuse.

Another session of spellbooks later, and I was ready to test out [Six Wings, Six Million Feathers].

The first thing I tried was summoning a single feather. My wings didn’t manifest, which was nice.

It was… a feather. The entire feather, from hard, pointy end all the way to the bristles in the back. It was soft and downy, a white feather glowing softly with Radiant light.

Huh.

I had a random thought strike me, and I got wildly distracted from what I was planning. I [Teleported] the ink jar to my hand, then dipped the feather in the ink, and tried to draw with it.

It went terribly. The ink didn’t want to sink in, there was nothing notched or carved, and all in all, fresh feathers weren’t good for making quills. My finger would be a better emergency ‘draw with something’ object.

Oh well. Live and learn. That was the whole point of this!

Re-focusing on my new skill, I ripped out the page of the book I’d ruined - it was more ‘notebook’ than ‘reading book’, so it wasn’t sacrilege - and let it drop onto the edge of the feather.

It sliced clean through, without a hint of resistance. I tried it on myself, nicking my finger, even through my subdermal scales and improved vitality. With another thought I made the feather super-soft, even the calamus bending, but not breaking.

With a flick of my wrist and a mental command I sent the feather spinning down the firing range, effortlessly slicing through the regenerated blocks, before exploding with a command.

The range’s shields flared as it prevented debris from hitting me.

Whoof! That had oomph, and I hadn’t even been trying to maximize it!

How many feathers could I summon at once?

I tried it, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of feathers instantly filling the space around me. I could probably summon more, but I had literally stuffed the entire room full of them.

I looked at my feathers, I eyed the destruction one feather had done. I remembered Auri causing problems with her [Burn Magic]. On the other end of the equation, it had taken a full-power [Rays] and hadn’t blinked.

I decided to find a nice deserted mountain to test against instead. I didn’t think it was stronger than [Rays], buuuut my flight experiments were fresh in my mind. I really didn’t want to hurt anyone, even by accident.

I dismissed most of the feathers, leaving only a few hundred around. I practiced having them fly around in formations, fly in fancy patterns, generating some wind from the firing range to see how it impacted them. It was fun - I could choose if they got blown away from the wind, or if it would slice straight through it. That would give me a significant range boost if I was downwind of my target, at the cost of a little control. Mirrors had nothing on the feathers, which was a nice plus. I supposed they weren’t actually rays of light, so there was nothing to truly deflect. Again, Mirror Classers could probably do some utter bullshit.

The flurry of super-sharp objects make me think of Meng Ao. Wasn’t this basically a direct upgrade of his black lotus petal skill? They were super sharp and in a huge swarm.

… Huh. I was probably stronger now than he had been then. Weird to think about.

[Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration] was up next. I held my hand up, a gleaming spear of pure Radiance snapping into existence. It was a pilum in the Remus style, my experience, upbringing, and vague familiarity with the weapon coloring the summon. I could feel the waves of heat radiating off it from where I stood, and with my recently dropped [Radiance Resistance] I didn’t want to touch it and burn my fingers off.

I made a throwing gesture, flinging the [Spear] down-range. It passed clean through the first target dummy, leaving a sizzling hole of molten metal behind it, and embedded itself in a second dummy before exploding.

It was more of a ‘shaped charge’ than a ‘small’ explosion from [Feather]. Beautifully, it kept itself mostly self-contained. On one hand, it made it harder to hit a bunch of people at once, on the other, it kept the hallmark of Radiance and what I liked skills to do - unerring precision.

[*ding!* [Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration] leveled up! 1 -> 20]

I immediately tried another [Spear], this one flying much faster through the air before cleanly penetrating two dummies. It ‘fizzled out’ after that, and I got to testing.

Turned out, I could summon two dozen spears at once, and [Luminary Mind] helped me control them all, letting me fling them with a mental thought.

Next up was a practice weapon, and I tried imbuing [Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration] into it. It started to glow, growing white-hot in my hands.

Huh. I’d expected to get punished here for a lack of [Radiance Resistance], but no. I suppose most ‘imbue weapons with shenanigans’ had innate self-protection, otherwise flaming swords and lightning strikes wouldn’t work. Made me wonder if I could summon a spear then grab it.

My ‘ooh shiny idea’ brain executed on the idea before I fully thought it out.

“FUCK!” I swore, dropping it and blowing on my hand. It was a little dramatic - my healing had instantly fixed me - but it was hot.

It was clear there were two modes. ‘Summon a hand weapon’ and ‘summon a thrown weapon’.

Right. I wasn’t summoning extra weapons. Then again, pilums weren’t really made for anything other than stabbing the other person or throwing them. I wasn’t going to be blocking with one, and I didn’t need to hold onto it to destroy something.

I spent the rest of the day practicing in bursts, then taking spellbook breaks while I waited for my mana to regenerate. Finally, it was time for dinner, and I popped into my [Tower], grabbing a few needed cleaning supplies and clothes. I teleported back out, and quickly got to work, my heart beating with furious excitement.

It was time! I had the classes! I had the knowledge! I had the levels! I had the outfits! Most importantly, I finally had enough magic power to pull the stunt off even with the huge wizardry penalty. Blasted weight increase from my biomancy had really set me back on this project. [Reality, Writ As You Will] was helping with a small discount.

My witch robes on over my Sentinel armor, my broomstick enchanted to fly, I sat side-saddle on it and with a thought and careful control, I took off, grabbing onto my broom and hat as I took off into the sparkling night sky.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” I screamed out in pure joy and elation.

I’d done it!

It had only taken me thirty whole years, but I was flying on a broom as an [Archmage], witch’s clothes over armor.

Just like I’d dreamed of as a kid.

Chapter 37 - Descending Upon the Northern Continent

With her gift of gab, miraculously not lying or even deceiving people in the slightest, Iona had somehow persuaded the relevant parties to let Fenrir fly around the North Pole. I wasn’t quite sure where lies of omission fell on Iona’s [Vow] - there were times when they weren’t allowed, and Iona was an endless chatterbox, then it swung back and Iona didn’t have to explain everything. Best I could tell, her understanding of the spirit of her [Vow] continued to evolve.

Fenrir being fully armored didn’t fit with anyone’s plans except his, where he dreamed of battling endless legions of gigantic monsters to free Auri, who was surely held captive in some foul lair. Fair point to him - if we needed to battle legions of gigantic monsters, his armor would help. For leaving the School and the phoenixes themselves, the armor was a hindrance.

It had been hastily stuffed into my [Tower], along with all the other bags and trunks we’d brought along, and I’d heard some awkward cracking and breaking noises as I stuffed everything in. One of my chests had gotten stuck between an unmoving stone and my strength, a bunch of bananas bursting and desecrating a hat of mine.

I hadn’t packed them like that, the big shuffle from upgrading my skill had fucked me over once again. One of these days - probably right after we got Auri back - I was going to remove everything from my [Tower], and redo the whole thing.

Basically everyone could use a spell once it was made. It was the creation that was difficult. I’d made a dozen different spells for Iona, from a charm that enclosed her head in fresh, breathable air, to a spell that turned her skin impervious to acid. None of it would last particularly long, nor was it very strong stuff, but it didn’t need to be. They were simple ‘let Iona stay in Fenrir’s mouth’ spells, with a hefty dosing of ‘in case of accidental swallowing…’

While warm and summery in the south, the north was in the depths of winter. It didn’t help that in order to properly sell Fenrir leaving the island, we were departing while over the North Pole. Even on the Island, with its shields and huge number of quality of life spells, it was freezing. The wind howled, bringing a flurry of snowflakes dancing through the School under an eternal night.

Our nighttime exit from the School went off without a hitch. Fenrir left, flapping in the wind with a roar of triumph. The weather had to be great for his Storm class.

It was both easier and harder for me. Kunchenjab had helpfully displayed a number of Jiwa runes for seeing things, and I cast all of them. The world sprung around me in a thousand glorious details.

Delicate golden lines criss-crossed the School, one going right through me. A silvery web was overlaying the ground, and I could see a thick pillar of white light shooting up into the air, terminating on the ever-shifting animal high up in the School’s sky that told time. Dozens and dozens more spells, wards, and charms sprung to life around me.

Whooooa. Was this how Auri saw the world?

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [All The Magic of the World is Laid Bare Before My Eyes]. Would you like to replace a skill with it?]

I spent a moment ruminating on the skill while trying to adjust to everything I was seeing. In the end, I declined. The skill didn’t require a lot of magic power, and I could mostly replicate what it did with wizardry. I wanted skills that I couldn’t easily replace with a spell I already knew.

It sounded glorious though.

The important parts were the swirling shields around the School. The island was encased in a blue shield with runes swirling like lace all around it, a clear dome that looked crystalized like a cut gem, and millions upon millions of tiny red dots. It would’ve been a little too easy if they were all in a single layer.

I was a little disappointed that neither [Erudite Archmage] nor [Seraph of the Dawn] leveled up looking at all this cool new magic. I suppose my level was higher than most people got in their lifetime, and I couldn’t just stroll down the road picking levels up anymore, large experience boost from [Endless Pursuit of Knowledge] or not.

I made sure we were all paid up at The Wandering Inn for the next few weeks - didn’t want to give the game away by checking out while we were over the North - and slipped the key under the door to our clean room. Just because there was a [Cleaner] dedicated to turning over the room, didn’t mean we had to make more work for him. The broomstick I’d just enchanted was great for that. Just because it was more durable and could fly, didn’t mean I couldn’t keep using it for its original purpose.

Then using [Greater Invisibility], I slipped out of the inn. Thankfully, my broom was small and close enough to me, and the designer of the spell smart enough, that it came with me. I would’ve needed another plan otherwise.

It was fascinating to see the spell interact with all the magic around me. Some spell lines twisted out of my way, while I ‘passed through’ others no problem. I could see ‘ripples’ from my step being absorbed and removed. Not only were all physical traces of my existence removed, but most of the magical ones as well.

There was no sense in being complacent. [Greater Invisibility] was an older, well-known rune, and anyone worth their degree should know a way to magically detect someone under the skill. I, personally, didn’t know how, but that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. They really gave degrees out to anyone, didn’t they…

I walked to the edge of the island, [Teleporting] over new barriers I started to see near the edge, careful not to let my broom hit the wards. Wards that warned that students were approaching the edge.

I wanted to dramatically step off the Island, but there were a number of additional barriers right at the edge, so I had to [Teleport] over them, letting myself freefall. I carefully timed each [Teleport] to get me over the layered barriers, contorting myself and my broom each time to avoid touching them at all.

The wind gusted, grabbing the broom and trying to force it into the shield. I thought it was the protective one, not one of the more delicate alarm structures, but what did I know? I yanked the broom close to my body, acrobatically twisting in the air somehow - thank you dexterity - before falling enough to teleport for the last time out of the School.

Possibly massive overkill for getting out. Possibly the only reason a hunter-killer team of Wardens wasn’t dispatched to handle me. Immortals in mortal lands was their ‘keeping the blades sharp’ job - enforcing the North’s neutrality was their true calling.

Fortunately, monsters tended not to send [Couriers] off to the Wardens. We were free and clear, and didn’t need to worry about them too much.

Unfortunately, we were still in view of the School, and [Wings of the Seraphim] were about as flashy as a flying skill got. I couldn’t use it under [Greater Invisibility] because of how Radiance and Mirage interacted, and my initial plan of ‘just go splat on the ground and have Fenrir find me’ was ruined by the heavy snow covering the North Pole. That’s where the broom came in!

I put it between my legs and shot off towards the wyvern, Iona’s companion occasionally shooting off [Lightning Bolts]. Anyone watching might think it was a dominance display - I knew he was lighting himself up enough that I could find him.

I sped after Fenrir, who was circling a single spot as the island with the School zipped away, taking a hard right turn before rapidly vanishing over the horizon.

It was just us, in the eternal night and steadily increasing blizzard. I waited a few minutes after the School had vanished over the horizon to account for any number of unusual vision skills, double-checking my memory of the School’s projected flight path. It shouldn’t be doubling back for a long, long time, and my broomstick was torturously slow.

I deposited it into [Tower], came back out, and spread my wings, shining [A Shining Light in the Darkness] at Fenrir, letting him know where I was.

[*ding!* [A Shining Light in the Darkness] leveled up! 23 -> 24]

I supposed I was doing exactly what the skill said - shining a bright light in the darkness. Fenrir flew over to intercept, and spat Iona out. She immediately started shivering as the cold air cut right through her saliva-soaked clothing.

“I got you!” I pulled out two spellbooks, rapidly casting three spells to dry, clean, and warm Iona back up. She stretched, wearing not nearly enough clothes for the weather. I was more than a little jealous. Her Ice element class combined with wyvern’s blood was keeping her toasty after getting dried out. Wet was a lethal killer. I ‘only’ had some wyvern’s blood, and I was a tropical lass. Practically a lizard. Put me on a rock in the sun!

We all piled onto Fenrir’s back.

“Which way?” Iona asked. I closed my eyes, overlaying the direction I’d seen the School flying off with the flight map, orienting myself in space, and marking where the Phoenix Peaks were.

“That way.” I pointed. Fenrir turned, and we were off. Iona was warm, and snuggling in close to her warmed me right up.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the North Pole, and I didn’t waste a moment of it. A school of narwhals ‘swam’ through the ice, snow and ground, bursting up and down like they were swimming through waves. Maybe there was an ocean down there - all the maps said it was solid ground, but it wasn’t like the place was extensively mapped and researched. The rainbow-horned narwhals grabbed and dragged down skittering centipedes that were longer than they were, ‘playfully’ snapping them in half and eating their still-wiggling bodies. Little moths with crystal snowflake wings flapped around dazzling blue tulips that tried to blend in with the environment.

Iona tapped my thigh urgently.

“Look!” She pointed off to the right. “It’s the north wind!”

I squinted, not seeing anything.

“The north wind?” I asked. She nodded furiously.

“Yeah, the elemental!”

My mouth dropped open. An elemental? I’d only ever encountered a few in my entire life, and never in the wild. The north wind sounded like an old, powerful one to boot.

I caught a patch of green out of the corner of my eye, and I whipped my head around, focusing to see what was going on. A number of nykur were around a fairy ring of spotted red mushrooms, a threatening patch of eternal spring in the frozen wastes. The snow around them was a slightly different shade of white, and I blanched as I realized it was a pile of ground bones. I tapped Iona and pointed it out.

“We need to avoid them.”

Iona nodded her agreement.

I caught another glimpse of green in the frozen wasteland, and turned to look. It wasn’t another set of fae. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, pointing it out to Iona.

“Illusion or real?” I asked her. She squinted, and started laughing.

“No, no, that’s real. There’s a coconut treant up here.”

I threw my hands up in the air.

“A coconut treant. A coconut treant! The gods are laughing at us! Magic makes a mockery of the world!”

Iona tilted her head and laughed some more.

“Yeah, the Goddesses are laughing at us.” She confirmed.

It is amusing. Ciriel confirmed unbidden in my ear.

We made it out of the blizzard, the glorious night sky with all its stars glittering unfurling above us, like some cosmic building spilling a jug of milk. We were lucky enough to see an aurora, glimmering ribbons of green and blue spilling across the night sky in beautiful celestial splendor. A herd of elk were trotting along

That’s when Fenrir got cored.

One moment we were flying around, the next Fenrir bucked and screamed as a thick jade-colored spear of ice went through his body, belly to spine, exploding out the back in a shower of steaming, freezing gore.

[Persistent Casting] was the unsung hero of my kit, letting me permanently keep [Universal Cure] on. My first thought, as I flew unsecured through the air, was to check on Fenrir.

He was alright. In spite of his spine being broken, the attack going straight through his skill and vitality-reinforced skills, the attack had only destabilized him slightly. My healing had immediately snapped everything back together - after he’d reflexively flung me off his back.

Iona had a skill for riding, and had stuck to his neck like she was glued there. Her bow was already out, firing endless [Hailstorms] towards the ground, where the attack had come from.

I snapped my wings out, spinning and dodging around in an erratic pattern, scanning the ground for the attacker. Between the snow and Iona’s [Hailstorm], I couldn’t see who or what was attacking us. More spears of jade-colored Ice lanced up from the ground, rapidly turning into an impossible storm. Staring at the source of the attacks, I only saw a small hole in the snow.

[Six Wings, Six Million Feathers] combined well with [Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration], and I sent a few probing attacks in the direction of the attacker, joined by a few of Fenrir’s Ice spears. I held back, knowing my main job here wasn’t long-range damage, but to keep everyone alive. I had great healing, but Fenrir was big.

Kill. Placate. Drive off. Tolerate. The four ways Rangers had to handle a problem. There was a last one, based on assumptions that didn’t apply to Rangers, that never even crossed my mind when I’d worked as one.

Run away.

I flew near Iona, my attacks still in the air. Dozens of spikes continued to fly at us, focused on Fenrir, in a deadly barrage. Every time Fenrir was hit he staggered in the air, slowing down as his wing was torn then repaired, as his guts exploded out then got instantly fixed.

I had a brief vision of the Formorian war flash across my vision, as the Sentinels dove into endless needle barrages. This was the same thing, writ large.

Nobody died today. Not on my watch. [Event Horizon] started to put in some serious work, intercepting shots that strayed close enough to me, vanishing the attacks into the endless darkness.

“We need to leave!” I shouted. Iona’s eyes went huge as she stared at something behind me. I twisted my neck around to see what was coming.

A gigantic ghostly scorpion, clearly a projection of some sort, stretched for a mile. Its body shimmered with stars, outlining and defining where it was. Its malicious curved tail nearly reached the clouds. The monster reached up with an incorporeal claw, grabbing the aurora above us, then brought it down on our bodies.

Fenrir used [Flash Wing], and in a crackle of Lightning, leapt forward with Iona, trying to dodge the attack. I was small and hard to kill, I didn’t mind them trying to avoid the epicenter of the attack without me.

It passed through us like a thousand red-hot knives through soft butter. Dozens of criss-crossing bloody lines popped up on Fenrir as the aurora effortlessly passed through him. The attack was so clean in some ways, but the aurora was so big, I couldn’t just heal it as it happened. Like a blade a kilometer long slicing through us. I lost a leg while Iona got bisected at the waist. Fenrir half-exploded into bloody chunks, his rapidly reforming body ‘pushing’ all the chunks away at high speed, baptizing up all in blood.

The wyvern shot a devastating set of [Lightning Bolts] back towards the source of the attacks. My Radiance skills landed with similarly devastating effect, turning the patch of snow and ice into a steamy sauna. I vaguely hoped to get a kill notification as I parboiled the scorpion.

No such luck.

We weren’t standing still. The whole time Fenrir was pushing himself, hurtling along. The scorpion - I assumed it was a scorpion, with the shape it was manifesting - was just so damn large.

Still, it felt like we were leaving it behind, and the endless barrage of jade-Ice was coming in at a steeper and steeper angle. I pushed my flight, hurrying to catch up with Fenrir. It was clear he was the target, a delicious meal for the bug. Heck, if it was actually normal-scorpion-sized, with how things were preserved here, it could literally last the bug decades. He was faster than me, but still well in range of [Universal Cure]. Iona had him slow down a bit, just to be safe.

The oversized bug, seeing his attack with the aurora fail, waved it through us a few more times. I twisted and turned, keeping the smallest amount slicing through. I didn’t think it mattered - I barely noticed my hand falling off and regenerating, same with my feet - but I never knew when the attack would have some more oomph to it, something that could give my healing a run for its money. If not today, then in the future. Carelessly taking every attack was a sure way to end up dead one day.

Fenrir was not having a good time of it. My mana was slowly but steadily going down, Iona’s companion’s massive bulk significant to regenerate. Four slices through, four bloody sets of falling chunks I maneuvered through, four full-wyvern bodies regenerated, and the scorpion stopped.

Then it reached out with an impossibly large claw, and with the speed, power, size, and surprise factor, suddenly targeted the bright glowing angel in the sky. Its claw tightened around my neck, and decapitated me with a snip.

My naked body regenerated so fast it sent my old body cannonballing down to the ground below. I shivered as I flew up to Iona, landing on Fenrir’s back.

“Go go go!” I shouted, and we were off.

Chapter 38 - The Northern Continent I

We blazed out of the scorpion’s territory in a freezing gale. Naked + winter + north pole was a terrible mix, and we landed soon. I used one of my built-in runes to create a metal half-dome around us, then promptly teleported into my [Tower] to get another set of warm clothes and food. Upon leaving, we started a fire, and started to relax.

Twenty minutes later we were chatting and eating when Fenrir snapped over to us, a frozen finger of Ice over his mouth in a silent shhhh. I instantly shut up, both Iona and I going on high alert.

Swiftly and silently, Fenrir coated our entire shelter in a thick layer of ice, little snowflakes flurrying around him as the temperature plummeted. I wanted to shiver, but with supreme self-control, I let the cold in, let it flow around me. I think Fenrir was trying to hide us from a heat-sense as well, but I wasn’t sure. I did know there had to be a reason he was deliberately freezing us all.

Iona and the shrunk-down wyvern silently communicated with each other, a bunch of little head tics and subtle movements transmitting information. She then used some hand signals to tell me what was going on.

Wolf. Large. Over 1024.

Fenrir’s Ice and blizzard in a teacup was muffling quite a lot of the information I normally got, but knowing what to look for helped me zero in on it. I strained my senses, interpreting everything, knowing vaguely what I was looking for.

At first, I had some trouble believing it, but the ground tremors, the snapping of high up branches, and the casual pushing over of trees made it clear.

When Fenrir had said large, he meant shoulder as tall as the pines. The lone wolf was massive.

At ‘only’ a little over a thousand, I thought the three of us could take him. It might be a bit of a fight, but between outnumbering the wolf, our intelligence, and our class quality, it should be more than doable.

But we’d just gotten our asses handed to us by an oversized bug, and Fenrir had made the call. Maybe there was something he saw, or maybe he was simply being protective. Either way, I wasn’t going to argue.

Plus, there was a certain savage beauty in nature, in a ‘simple’ creature that had climbed so high. It would almost be a tragedy to kill it simply out of preemptive concern for our well-being.

The Northern Continent was almost like a nature preserve. A place barely touched by civilization, ruled by greater creatures. It wasn’t like the wolf was a threat to innocent farmers and civilians. He simply was.

Unlike that bug.

I think I was developing a nasty grudge against that scorpion. I fully intended to live forever, and maybe, in a few centuries and a thousand levels, I could head on back with the full Eventide Eclipse and get some revenge.

It was hard to figure out how much time was passing when we were all trying to be still, on edge as an apex predator was near.

‘Near’ being a very relative term. It was a few miles away, but with vitality enhancing everyone’s senses, the range skills could be thrown at, and distances easily covered, it was near. Iona could probably make a shot that far, and she used a shortbow!

It eventually moved on, padding silently through its territory. I was a little sad I didn’t get to see it.

“Should we camp here for the night?” Iona suggested. “I don’t think we can travel quite as fast as we planned, and getting some rest after everything might be a good idea.”

“I’m all for it.” I agreed. Fenrir nodded, and we got to work.

The cover and disguise Fenrir had made was good - we were just another block of ice in the tundra. A little unusual, but we were hidden from most creatures that simply used their senses, not their brains. No wolf would sniff us out, no xiaotingia zhengi would see us from the sky, no snake would sense our heat. Iona carved out chunks of soil that I teleported into [Tower], bringing out her armor, food, and other comforts.

This was much easier than traveling in a wagon. Endless semi-fresh goods, although most were questionably squished. It was a shame we couldn’t make a fire, although Fenrir did make us a little air hole. I cast a dozen wards to help us stay hidden and linked them to me, fueling them throughout the night.

We spent the night discussing our travel plans, eventually settling on ‘slow and quiet’ over ‘fast and loud’. Flying high exposed us to everything looking up, and with how many territorial high-level creatures were around, we’d end up going even slower, if something didn’t actually manage to kill us.

I didn’t want to think about how close the scorpion fight had been.

“I’ll take first watch.” I volunteered, then corrected myself a bit. “Actually, I’ll do all the watches. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’ve got the best senses of all of us, and we need you awake and aware tomorrow. You’ve got my full permission and expectation to wake me up once you’re done thinking on things.”

Fenrir butted his nose in.

“No. Me.” He growled.

I soothed the two of them.

“I’ll wake up one of you.” I promised.

The next ‘morning’ found me much more at peace with myself and life as Fenrir woke us up, the wyvern having ‘won’ the coinflip to be on watch after me. We packed up and headed out.

Iona led the way, her axe slashing through underbrush on occasion to clear a path. Fenrir had bundles of instincts that helped him interpret territorial smells, and his job was to fly around us like an oversized microraptor. I could smell all the same smells as Fenrir, but didn’t have quite the same ability to interpret what might be leaving the marking quite the same way.

My job was senses and navigation. The far-reaching ones were more obvious, but even the tundra was so filled with life everywhere, it was occasionally overwhelming trying to keep track of it all. More interesting was the ‘short range’ senses from [The World Around Me] letting me know everything going on nearby.

“Badger den under that tree.” I pointed to an old pine. Iona nodded and used a machete to hack down a nearby bush, clearing our path. “Rabbit warren to your right.”

“Lunch?” Fenrir suggested.

On one hand, unleashing a wyvern on a den of sleeping bunnies wasn’t exactly sporting. On the other, this was nature, the wild. I disliked the law of ‘eat or be eaten’ - so much of civilization naturally rebelled against it - buuuut we were deep in nature, and both Fenrir and the bunnies were in the ‘eat or be eaten’ chain.

“Go.” My wife said. In a flash, Fenrir had discovered the entrance, bolted all the bunnies, then dug them out and gulped them down.

At least it was fast.

At a speed so quick I could hardly make it out, Iona stripped a bush of suspiciously out of season, unidentifiable berries.

“Want some?” She asked around a mouthful of purple berries. I eyed them, walking and talking.

“We have no idea what they are.” None of my botany books I’d skimmed had anything like them. “They could be poisonous.”

The blonde shrugged and popped another mouthful in.

“They are.” She confirmed. “I’m getting three skills about it.” She swallowed and whistled. “[Extreme Poison Resistance]. Now there’s a gem.”

I shook my head in despair.

“How are you still alive?”

She grinned roguishly.

“A cute pocket healer, that’s how. I wouldn’t try this without you around… and honestly, wouldn’t be here without you. All balances out, doesn’t it?”

We were all high level Classers. Even our ‘slow and steady’ was quicker than most mortal [Couriers] going at full sprint, and we devoured land at a steady pace. The terrain started to shift, rapidly getting warmer as we headed south.

It was so weird, going south and warming up.

“Hold up.” I said. “There’s - RUN!”

I took off sprinting, Iona and Fenrir crashing behind me.

“Huge dinosaur just got thrown through my perception.” I quickly explained, omitting how uncertain I was about the details. Something big was either being thrown, or had the worst [Jumping] skill in existence. A moment later, a far-off crash resounded through the forest we were traveling through. A deep bellow roared behind us, the primal cry of a carnivorous dinosaur who’d had enough.

It was deep and loud enough to make my chest vibrate, and Iona staggered as it hit her. Fenrir instinctively roared back.

Trees flashed before us as we parkoured through the deep woods, using tree trunks as springboards. I landed near an annoyed adder that tried to strike at me, but I was already gone before it could land.

A response to the dinosaur’s challenge roared back, the tone constantly changing as if -

We broke out into a small field, and I twisted my neck. Yes, one of the other fighters was a gigantic silverback gorilla, clad in layers of stone ‘armor’ clearly made by a skill. It was beating on his chest, fangs bared at the aucasaurus.

The aucasaurus opened its mouth, a ball of Radiance briefly forming inside before a [Hyper Beam] shot out at the gorilla, who leapt off to the side. The dinosaur swung its head, the beam carving through the forest and setting fires everywhere it went - including in front of us.

“Go! Go! Go!” Iona shouted, her head down as she pounded over the ground. Fenrir liberally blasted Lightning around the two of us, flying back and forth to keep us safe.

We weren’t the only creatures running for their lives. The forest erupted into life around us. Velociraptors ran next to deer, not bothering to try and take a nibble out of their flank. Squirrels hopped onto the backs of beelzebufos, the oversized frogs hopping away at top speed. A small herd of einiosauruses started to stampede, one of them bodying a tree hard enough that it fell over. Even a treant seemed to be speedrunning its curse, slowly uprooting itself to start waddling away. Iona snapped out her bow, and started shooting other animals in non-lethal spots, aiming for legs and knees. At one point a beelzebufo hopped close to her, and she lashed out with a chop, breaking its spine and leaving it helplessly croaking behind us.

People loved to laugh about ‘I don’t need to outrun the monster, I just need to outrun you’, but it was a lot less funny when it was actually happening.

Most of the creatures fell down as the gorilla pounded the earth, sending rippling shockwaves for miles. Iona and I kept our footing, and I bounded over the back of a saurolophus as it was the fastest path.

“Hey Elaine!” Iona looked like she was having the time of her life, an adrenaline junkie getting the best fix possible. “We should have Fenrir scare more animals and travel like this! We’ll be there in no time!”

Oh Goddesses.

She was hopeless.

I loved her so much.

Chapter 39 - The Northern Continent II

“Why is it always snakes!?” I screamed to Iona as we sprinted through the dense jungle, a tiny Fenrir slowing down enough that we could keep up with him. Iona was sprinting straight towards a dense patch of bushes, my wife having complete faith in my abilities to keep the way clear.

With a thought, I obliterated a thick mass of undergrowth with liberal application of [The First Rays of Dawn], a few ashes drifting in the breeze the only remnants.

“Snake!?” Iona leapt over a log. In the time it took her to leap, she summoned her bow and an arrow, twisted, and smoothly released a [Hailstorm] behind us. “Snake!? If you’re calling that a snake, of course everything’s going to look like a snake to you!”

I didn’t need to look back to see the monster plowing through Iona’s [Hailstorm] like it was nothing. A few slitted eyes closed and heads hissed at us, but nothing we’d tried so far had even scratched its scales. Blinding and irritating was the best we could hope for.

“Let’s see. Slitted eyes. Fangs. Hissing mouth. Long and sinuous. It looks like a snake. It hisses like a snake. It’s trying to eat us like a snake. I dunno, it seems to pass the duck test.”

“What fucking part of that looks like a snake!?” Iona was trying not to cry-laugh. “It’s got multiple heads! It’s got fucking wings. It’s a winged hydra, it’s nothing like a snake! Next thing I know, you’re going to start calling dinosaurs snakes! Of course if you call everything a snake you’re going to be chased a lot by snakes!”

Iona slid under an ancient tree turned into a bridge, effortlessly clearing out a muddy trail. I slipped through right behind her, the log exploding into a million sharp splinters aimed at us a moment later as the typhon obliterated it.

I snap-analyzed the shards. If they were going a little slower, I’d let them literally bounce off me. As it was, I didn’t feel like getting dozens of splinters. I snapped [Event Horizon] up, some of the splinters vanishing into oblivion.

Iona had some different ideas. With a display of [Telekinesis] I found frankly impressive, she managed to magically grab huge chunks of them and shoot them at the typhon’s eyes. Artillery Mage-lite - with more magic power behind it than most Sentinels of Remus.

“Something’s up ahead!” I yelled, sensing… nothing?

Which was sensing something. Wildly different from the unending bounty of the lush jungle.

The trees suddenly stopped, leaving a great circle of nothing in the middle of the jungle. I spent a moment absorbing it all.

It was like the world had been scoured down to the bedrock. Forget heavy leaves and thick trees, colorful flowers and blooming bushes - there wasn’t even dirt. It was like a titan had taken a cookie cutter to the jungle, cleanly removing a chunk.

The typhon skidded to a halt, wings flaring and heads hissing as it refused to go past the clearly demarcated line. Iona and I slowed down as we went a little deeper into the empty zone, not wanting to stay close enough to the typhon to tempt it into taking a quick little nibble.

“This is new.” Iona said. We both knew what was going on - we’d entered the territory of another apex predator, one strong enough to scare the typhon off.

“Do we want to fight the typhon, or fight whatever’s in here?” I asked.

Iona mulled it over.

“Whatever’s in here.” She said. Fenrir roared agreement.

“Why’s that?”

“Everything else is coexisting. There’s no reason to kill a powerful monster that’s just being itself, and letting the cycle of life continue. Not here. But whatever’s here isn’t doing that. It’s clearing out everything. Might as well leave things a little better than we found them, yeah?”

I frowned at that.

“Or… we could just sprint through this territory and get closer to Auri.”

Iona rolled her eyes.

“Well, yeah. At the same time, the question was ‘which do we want to fight’, not ‘what are we doing.’”

“Ugh, you’re right. Want me to take a look?”

“Mine.” Fenrir growled, taking off. Iona shrugged, turned south, and started walking.

“Can’t offer up a case near Fenrir without him taking it.”

I eyed the omnipresent cloud cover.

“It better not start raining again.” I complained. Rainforests were aptly named, as I’d discovered to my soaked dismay.

Iona held up a finger.

“Wait for it. Waaaait for it… the laws of comedic timing dictate we get a rumble of thunder… now.”

We stopped for a moment and listened. I snorted a laugh at her when nothing happened.

“It doesn’t always-”

A mighty crack boomed across the sky, bright Lightning turning the overcast day incandescent.

Iona and I took off sprinting in the direction Fenrir had just left, all banter gone in an instant. I squashed the traitorous parallel thought that wanted to say it doesn’t count if it’s someone’s skill, but Fenrir deciding to sprint off without talking to us was concerning.

I soon heard tiny whimper-mewling noises, some growls and wanna-be roars from something small, sloshing sounds, claws on stone, squishing noises, then Fenrir’s [Icebeam] drowned everything out. We crested a small hill, and I immediately took in the situation.

The apex predator that had scared off the typhon and stripped the jungle down to the bedrock was a slime. A gigantic, oversized slime that towered twelve meters tall, and slightly more around. The slime had cornered an akhlut pup in a small valley.

An akhlut was basically the cross of an orca with a wolf, deadlier than either one. They had an interesting smell, like blood and brine.

A pair of larger akhlut bodies were half-dissolved in the slime, slowly breaking apart.

[Slime - 2231]

[Akhlut - 8]

I couldn’t tell if the slime operated on ‘inevitable death’ or had been toying with its prey, but either way, the akhlut was alive.

Fenrir was hovering above the slime, bathing it in Ice, slowly freezing the entire monster. Iona shot forward, going around the slime, then dropped down into the little dead-end canyon. ‘Canyon’ was being a little generous, the walls were barely ten feet high. She scooped up the pup, who tried to bite and claw at her, and easily hopped out.

Practically mundane teeth and claws versus adamantium alloy? No contest. Worst possibility was the puppy hurting herself.

I opened up my wings, taking to the sky. In a different situation, I would try to burn out the slime entirely, Radiance being alright against the gelatinous monsters. On one hand, they were like water in the sense that the heat was diffused and spread out, making it difficult to burn through or strike precise targets. On the other, that was exactly what was needed to kill a slime in the first place. However, Fenrir’s Ice was trying to do the exact opposite, and we’d cancel each other out.

Instead, I scanned everything else, staying low as to not draw the ire from other creatures, but at the same time knowing the only threat was right here. I double, tripled, then continuously checked that my healing was up, everyone was included, my mana was stable, and the akhlut was now included.

The puppy clear, Fenrir’s beam upped in intensity. Crystalline ice structures started to form in the slime, which seemed to be shaking in rage. The puppy was now barking up a storm in Iona’s arms, trying to get to the slime. Iona jumped up next to me, floating with [Flight of the Valkyries].

“She’s got moxie.” My wife commented, nodding to the akhlut.

“Sooo, I take it we’re rescuing wildlife now?” That’s what everyone’s actions were saying, but communication was key. No matter how much I assumed, no matter how in-tune with one another we were, there was nothing wrong with confirming.

“Fenrir seems to want to. She’s brave, and I don’t see the sense in letting her just die, no matter how ‘natural’ it is. Especially not to that.”

“Oh yeah. Seems like she wants to kill the slime herself.” I said.

“I’d be amused to see the class quality from that, but I’m pretty sure she’d die just getting close to the ice.”

Fenrir was almost done freezing the slime into a block of Ice, and the two - three - of us backed off a bit, the bitter cold making me shiver.

Iona was fine, of course.

“Any idea how it’s still alive if it’s this easy to kill?” I asked dubiously.

“Both Fire and Ice are terrible elements here. I’ve seen almost nothing with either one.” Iona said. “Just a few low level creatures here and there. There’s no real Ice to get started with, and Fire with this much water? The slime has fantastic skills against almost everything else.”

“I mean, we’ve seen Radiance. That tends to be great against slimes.” I said.

Iona shrugged.

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

Fenrir resized himself back to normal as the sunlight gleamed off the frozen tip of the slime. Waves of condensation came off the ice block as the freezing cold met the humid heat, then Fenrir landed on the slime.

I always kept kill notifications going, and my eyes flickered over them as the ice-slime exploded.

[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Slime (Ooze - 2232), Slime (Acid - 2193), Slime (Ocean - 2177)]

I was certain that was the highest-leveled monster we’d ever killed as a team, and it had gone down like a wet paper towel. I wasn’t sure if it was a combination of intelligence, class quality, or simply having exactly the right thing to kill it - I bet it would beat Iona in 100 out of 100 battles.

Iona just stood there, her skill passively deflecting all the shards away from both her and the puppy in her arms. I let them bounce off my hardened skin. It hadn’t been nearly as bad as the typhon deliberately smashing a log.

I nodded to the akhlut still in Iona’s arms.

“What’s the plan there?” I asked. I didn’t want to make noises about how we were trying to find Auri, and I really, really didn’t want distractions or side-quests, but relationships were about compromise and understanding. I just… selfishly, I wanted the compromise and understanding to go my way right now.

Iona scruffed the puppy and brought it up to her face, using [Telekinesis] to move her helmet to her waist. The akhlut whimpered, then brightened up, wagging her finned tail and licking Iona’s face with great enthusiasm. My heart melted a little.

“Why don’t we bring Moxie with us, and when we find the right spot for her, we’ll let her go. We can’t bring her home with us.” Iona suggested. “I know finding Auri right now is our top priority, and I don’t think this will interfere with it.”

I dropped back down to the ground.

“Alright. I can do that. Should we take a quick break here, since it’s unlikely we’ll be disturbed?”

Iona nodded furiously.

“Yes! I’m ravenous, I could eat a whole cow. You don’t have a whole cow in your storage, do you?” She shamelessly batted her eyes at me. I laughed and stretched in the way I knew drove Iona mad. She was being considerate of my goals, might as well show my appreciation in a way she’d pick up and understand.

“If you want a cow, why don’t you pick something up from the forest while I get a campsite set up?” I suggested.

Iona nodded her agreement, and pointed to the little box canyon where all the drama had gone down.

“Let’s set up down there?” She proposed.

I agreed, and Iona put Moxie down at the end. I felt that wasn’t the best of places - hadn’t the poor puppy gotten traumatized to heck right there not ten minutes ago!? - but I suppose trauma and animals didn’t quite go together the same way.

“Sit. Stay.” Iona ordered, and to my minor ‘oh-goddesses-we’re-going-to-keep-her’ horror, Moxie did exactly that.

“Be back in a flash!” Iona dashed off to the jungle. Fenrir shrunk back down and curled up on the melting ice shards.

I shrugged, teleported into my [Tower], and started to set up camp.

Moxie did not like fire very much. She did love a number of live, low-level - extra low-level - lizards that Iona dropped near her. Fenrir made some Ice walls, and suddenly we had mini-gladiatorial combat/puppy learning how to hunt as entertainment for the evening, all while three whole tapirs roasted on spits behind us.

Moxie play-bowed to the lizards that kept scampering around, trying to scramble up the icy slick sides of the arena in a desperate attempt to escape the predator. Moxie cautiously pawed at one of the lizards, jumping back in surprise as it scampered away from her.

“I bet three minutes of massaging that Moxie gets them all.” Iona said.

I snorted in disbelief.

“What kind of bet is that?!” I protested. “Of course she’s going to get them all! They’re trapped in a pen with a predator a thousand times their size. I bet five hours of massaging that you’re going to eat your dinner when it’s served.”

Iona shot me an amused look as Moxie pounced on one of the lizards, messily biting off its head. She briefly looked startled at herself, like she was surprised she’d actually gotten one!!, then voraciously devoured the rest of the still-twitching body.

Some of the ‘how to hunt lizards for fun and food’ figured out, she rapidly hunted down the remaining four lizards, devouring them all. The akhlut then turned to Iona, with big eyes and a little whimper that struck right at my core.

“She’s already got you wrapped around her paw.” I teased as Iona got up to the cooking tapirs, slicing deep inside for a mostly-raw strip to feed to Moxie. Iona tossed the strip to Moxie, who acrobatically jumped up to catch it.

Fenrir headbutted Iona, and the poor woman was run ragged between the two pairs of hungry jaws and huge eyes.

I was so glad I wasn’t in that mess. Sensing one of the more-attacked tapirs was now mostly cooked, I [Teleported] it to my hands, letting the hot grease drip down my fingers as I chowed down. They tasted nothing like pork, thank goodness.

I couldn’t eat the whole thing, of course - but by ‘claiming’ one, I’d make sure there was enough left for Iona.

Sure enough, Fenrir and Moxie ended up eating the two tapirs, Fenrir contributing most of the munching. Moxie basically fell asleep on her last bite, rolling back with a distended stomach. Fenrir curled up next to her. I handed Iona most of the tapir as she sat back down next to me.

She shot me a puzzled look.

“I already ate enough.” I claimed.

“Hey.” She quietly spoke to me. “Thanks for indulging Fenrir. He’s usually pretty cold, but something about Moxie is speaking to his instincts. He didn’t mind what I did to his mother or nestmates, but there’s something about a young predator in distress that’s gotten to him. I’m aware this might slow us down getting to Auri, and I’m really sorry about that.”

I tried to shrug nonchalantly.

“Auri’s a big bird. A few hours delay, tops, isn’t going to change much. We’re all a team, it’s alright.”

Unsaid was I’d only eaten half of what I normally would’ve due to my stomach churning anxiously over Auri. I wanted to blaze ahead as quickly as I could, but there were a number of creatures here that could genuinely kill me, amazing healing or not. If the typhon had swallowed me whole, for example, I wasn’t sure I could cut or burn my way out. [Tower] was a potential escape… but that was one monster barely using any skills.

In some ways I was incredibly strong, able to blast my way through all obstacles and move at twice the speed of sound. In others, well.

Other creatures also got massive enhancements to their bodies and their own fantastical abilities. There was no sense in letting arrogance lead to death.

“Yeah. Let me lay down a few wards, so we can rest well.”

We hadn’t often been able to truly rest here. I’d taken for granted how easy civilization made getting a good night’s sleep. No civilization? No walls, no towns, no roads, no agriculture? Even in proximity?

Well, we might be able to claim a cave for ourselves, if nothing else decided it looked good for their home. Or smelled us out and wanted to try for an easy meal. Or…

It only took a few days in the deep, true wilderness for me to appreciate towns all the more.

I started to rewrite reality, placing down wards that said to erase our smell, sight, and sound, to warn us when creatures approached, to ward off insects, and dozens of other protections, ignoring how I was using them as a distraction. It took me two hours to lay them all down, then I curled up next to Iona and fell asleep.

[*ding!* [Realty, Writ As You Will] leveled up! 530 -> 531]

We got up the next day, fed Moxie, and with minimal fanfare, kept going.

Moxie did not like being carried, but nobody - not even Fenrir - was willing to slow ourselves down to a level 8 baby pace.

We slowed down as the jungle thinned out into a savannah, Iona peering around cautiously.

“What do you think?” She asked.

Moxie howled at the vast expanse. I could detect all sorts of life, invisible to a mundane eye but clear in [The World Around Me], from little dinosaurs to hidden cats, mice-like creatures to the endless beetles and worms crawling through the rich dirt.

“I think we should get through this zone as quickly as possible.” I said. “The sightlines are long, and it’s a good chance to reorient ourselves.”

“Better fast than sneaky here?” Iona asked.

“Yeah, we’re not that stealthy with Moxie here, and I doubt we can move without rustling a blade of grass.”

Thunder rumbled ahead, and we instinctively glanced to Fenrir, who tried to look as innocent as a murder-wyvern could.

No jury in the world would return a ‘not guilty’ verdict.

Iona grabbed my arm and pointed.

“Look.” She whispered with awe.

We looked up.

A flood dragon - one of the long, sinuous ones with whiskers and five claws - had sunk his claws into the cloud and was literally pulling an entire storm system behind him, moving the rains and the storm through the sky. Pouring rain started to pelt us, and I fully expected Moxie to be a small, shivering sad little huddle.

To my minor surprise, she was loving the rain, squirming in Iona’s arms to get more of it. We traded a look, Fenrir joining in and failing to give cute little puppy eyes.

Seriously, Fenrir looked eight different types of malevolent and evil. Poor guy.

Thinking about it, it made sense Moxie liked the rain. Akhlut were amphibious. The fins on her back, tail, and elbows weren’t just for show.

“Let me go scout around a bit and make sure we’re going in the right direction.” I conceded.

Fenrir was off in a flash, Icy walls rising up in a modest circle around us. Iona let Moxie down to play, and she promptly started sniffing around. There was a leopard tortoise hiding in its hole a few feet away - I wondered if Moxie would pick up its scent.

Might be for the best, I was willing to bet ‘puppy teeth’ versus ‘shell hardened by skills’ would be a good lesson for the akhlut.

Mindful of the fucking dragon tossing around fucking storm systems, I shot high into the sky. It was possible that whatever was in this territory would take offense, but it was even likelier that they were dodging either the dragon or the thunderstorm.

My hair went up in a halo all around my head.

“Overcooked mangos!” I swore right as the lightning bolt hit me.

[*ding!* [Etheric Aegis] leveled up! 222 -> 224]

My body was smoking, and I wanted to file a complaint. Only two levels for getting struck by lightning?! Come on! It was no fair!

Figuring I was high enough, I popped into my [Tower], grabbed my broomstick, cast [Greater Invisibility] with my chest rune, and teleported back out.

I’d originally made the flying broomstick for fun, but it was turning out to be an invaluable way to fly around invisibly. I made a mental note to go see a really good [Enchanter] when I was back home and get myself a really nice broomstick, not the slapdash job I’d done.

I scanned the horizons, trying to spot where we needed to go next. The heavy rainfall made it hard. I had super eyes twice over, but I couldn’t exactly look through walls, rain or wood.

Except if I was close enough, then [The World Around Me] would…

I siphoned the thought off to the side.

I was primarily looking for the ocean, since we were-

My heart went into my throat as the soft glow of a distant volcano appeared to be just over the horizon. We were almost there.

We were almost there!

I quickly scanned the lands between where we were, and where we needed to go, marking a dozen landmarks and creating a tentative path. Avoid the steep canyon, and we wanted to steer well clear of the unnatural-looking swamp. The river looked crossable, which was to say, not teeming with high level predators, and the hills were a left-left-right pattern, unless we wanted to climb them.

I looked down. Moxie and Fenrir were having a blast, the older predator trying to teach and show the new one how it all worked. The desire to get a move on warred with the sweet moment the two of them were having.

Auri was right there. So close I could almost see her. It had been six years, and she was late. I didn’t know what was going on with her. I didn’t know if she was alright, if there was a problem - any of it.

It… I felt Moxie could wait. It was a little selfish of me, but sometimes it felt like my existence was nothing but giving.

I landed next to everyone right as Moxie bit down on the turtle, its shell going Mirror-bright before Moxie howled in pain, pawing at her face. Fenrir promptly ate the entire turtle whole, and I healed Moxie with a thought.

“We’re almost there!!” I shouted as I landed in the mud. “We need to go that way!” I pointed.

Moxie yowled a protest, and Fenrir grumbled his displeasure, but we all started to sprint through the muddy, rainy savannah, dexterity keeping us on our feet while Iona’s strength plowed through the thick, tall grass like it wasn’t there.

We blazed through, pushing our stats hard. Still, it felt far too slow. We were almost there! We were miles away. We were going fast! We had to detour around the swamp.

It was agony. Not even the sweet agony of anticipation, no, it was the cruel agony of walking up to a wreck, knowing something was wrong and simply waiting to find out the extent of the damages. Everyone was alive, right? Who was hurt? How much? How wrecked is everything?

A coatl shot out of the sky, aiming for Moxie. Iona started to react, reaching out to strangle it single-handedly, but I killed it with [The Rays of the First Dawn] before it could get close enough.

“Not this time.” I muttered to the smoking corpse. Iona [Telekinetically] snapped the body to her hand, and fed it to a happy Moxie.

We got to the river and I paused, stomping my foot in frustration. I’d picked up a much stronger blood and brine scent. Fenrir had clearly noticed it as well. Iona cocked her head at us.

“We need to follow the river downstream.” I explained. “Might have found some more akhluts.”

I wanted to sprint to Auri, I was willing to be a little selfish, but there were degrees of selfishness. If this was Moxie’s chance at a family? I’d take it. It was likely she wouldn’t survive the phoenix peaks either.

I hung back and let Fenrir take the lead, constantly glancing towards the reddish glow diffusing through the heavy rain.

We were so close.

The river terminated in a large lake, and when the wind gusted the right way, I could smell some of the ocean. The scent path also terminated in the lake. Fenrir snorted his lack of amusement, and flew up high, changing himself to full size before diving into the lake.

The waters roiled and the waves splashed up to our knees. Moxie struggled in Iona’s armored arms, trying to get into the water.

“No, girl.” Iona gently tried to soothe the akhlut. “If you go in there, we’ll never see you again. Just have a bit of patience.”

Moxie yowled her defiance, struggling even harder, her instincts telling her the water was where she belonged. A moment later the water surged up in a huge bubble as Fenrir exploded back out, gently holding two squirming adult akhluts in his claws. He flapped over to us and made high walls out of Ice, then carefully dropped them in. One went to bite at Fenrir while the other one rolled over in a submissive pose.

[Akhlut - 268]

[Akhlut - 256]

Not exactly peak predators of the area.

I spun off a thought.

The pair of akhluts - clever, vicious, powerful predators that worked as a team - would’ve been a dangerous request back when I was a Ranger. There was a high chance we would’ve lost someone if they developed a taste for human flesh and made the connection that humans were found on roads. Now I was wondering if I could use my worst stat and lift them with one hand.

Probably… not.

While I had [Luminary Mind] ruminating on how far I’d come and threat evaluations, the akhluts had noticed each other and were staring at each other, noses twitching. Seeing the situation a little more under control, Fenrir shrunk back down to a less intimidating size, while Iona put Moxie into the pen, and the three slowly came a little closer, sniffing even harder. Iona slowly tensed, like a spring being coiled, ready to leap into action.

Then Moxie play-bowed to the akhluts, who came closer, sniffing and licking her. I put my head on Iona’s shoulder.

“Awwww.” I cooed over them. Iona wrapped an arm around my waist.

“Looks like it’s working out?” She said. Fenrir landed near her, looking pleased.

“It does.” I confirmed.

The three akhluts slipped into the water, a trio of deadly predators unleashed on the traumatized fish population. I wondered if they ever hunted like crocodiles? We watched a minute as Iona stripped out of her armor in seconds, [Telekinesis] plus stats making the chore easy.

“Can you store this?” Iona asked.

“Sure.” I teleported her armor in.

We were so close to the phoenixes, and against flame and fire like they wielded, Iona’s armor was pure hindrance, adamantium or not. Pure heat was one of her bigger threats when she was armored up, and there was the very real possibility that the phoenixes could melt her armor around her. Getting her out of it would be ugly. Less ugly with [Teleportation], but ugly.

Then we were off like a shot, the ground blurring as we ran miles and miles as fast as we could, taking advantage of most living things hunkering down in the brutal storm. The hills grew bigger and bigger, and Iona pointed.

“Shouldn’t we climb that one and get our bearings?” She suggested. “We might already be here.”

I nodded my agreement, and the two of us went on the fastest hike of our lives. A glorious mountain-and-ocean vista unfurled before us as we crested the summit, the peak suddenly having bright sunlight instead of rain.

Mountain after beautiful mountain stretched out before us. A volcano was burbling. One peak had a whole roc phoenix on it.

And by the ocean, a penguin phoenix, clad in white flames, was diving into the ocean. It hit the water with a gigantic eruption of steam.

We’d made it.

Chapter 40 - The Phoenix Peaks

I spent an endless moment taking it all in. The mountains, rising high into the sky before crashing down into the ocean. The harsh line between the storms and the peaks, a clear demarcation of territories. An indicator that even the dragons were respecting the phoenix’s home territory. The vast and sprawling forests on most of the mountains - with one I could see burned down to ashes. A volcano burbled in the distance, a roc was nesting on one of the mountains, and a penguin phoenix, of all things, had gone for a swim.

Old me’s brain would’ve broken over a creature of fire going swimming. To the me here and now? Nothing was more natural. Of course a penguin-phoenix could swim in the water, it would be weird if it couldn’t. The System made all things possible.

Then again, I think I might’ve been more than a little disappointed if Auri had come out of her egg as a penguin. They didn’t exactly inspire the happiest emotions in me.

“We’re here! We made it!” I cheered, squinting my eyes and scanning all the mountains I could, confident I’d see a bright flash of color any moment. A hummingbird made out of fire dancing between flowers, sipping on their sweet nectar.

I spotted a few phoenixes, one a dinosaur, but the rest mostly of the hawk and eagle varieties.

“Hmm.” My exuberance was starting to flag. Iona spoke up.

“You know, phoenixes are all intelligent. I can speak to them. Why don’t we just go up to one of them and ask about Auri?”

I wanted to smack myself in the face.

Yes. Yes, that was a somewhat obvious solution to the problem. The phoenixes might care slightly about the agreement the Wardens were enforcing, but then again, we were just popping in and popping out. Words and diplomacy could get us fairly far, if applied properly.

“We did have a few at our wedding. That’s got to count for something.” I agreed. “Should we go find the owl and talk with him, or… your call, you know this stuff better than I do.”

Iona was pleased as punch from my compliment.

“Let’s see if one of the locals will guide us. There’s nothing better for getting through layers of society than to be escorted by a known individual.”

Huh. Made sense to me, I wrote the rule down in [Astral Archive’s] big book of social rules. I’d kind of already known it, with guards escorting me and the like, but hearing it boiled down so succinctly and clearly was nice.

“Right. Got an idea which one we should approach?” Iona’s cheat to see skills was a never-ending font of value, as was her ability to speak any language.

“Yeah. Let’s go for the phoenix over there. Nobody’s got a language skill, but he’s lower-level, and his skills are less destructive.” The phoenix in question might’ve been a red-tailed hawk style phoenix, but I wasn’t quite sure. My birdwatching was mediocre on the best of days - mostly trying to match birds to what I’d seen idly browsing through bird books - and the whole ‘made entirely out of fire’ threw me for a loop.

[Mage - 384]. A fairly young phoenix, and Iona told me he was ‘only’ 90 years old. I wasn’t sure what phoenixes did all day, and if that level rate was good or not. Compared to a mortal living their life, it was decent, although I’d seen how unfairly the System lavished classes and skills on the living flames.

“Walk or fly over?” I asked.

“Let’s walk.”

The three of us headed over to the mountain in question at a brisk pace, not so slowly that it’d take forever, but not so quickly that it looked like an attack. We were halfway up the mountain when the phoenix appeared in the trees above us, screeching a protest.

Iona’s face twisted and contorted in weird ways, looking pinched. She screeched back, speaking fluent phoenix.

I couldn’t catch a word of what they were saying, but it was entertaining to see the phoenix almost fall out of the tree. He screeched a clear question back at Iona, and the two ended up in an animated conversation.

Then Iona screeched a question back, and the phoenix got pissed. A ring of burning sound launched from his mouth at us.

Being able to move at twice the speed of sound necessitated that I could think and react far faster than that. I elected to use [Event Horizon] to utterly swallow the attack. When it got within range, I flickered the skill up for a fraction of a moment, overlapping the skill with the attack. It vanished into the void, never to be seen again, and I dropped it promptly after. If the phoenix’s eyesight wasn’t too good, he would’ve just seen a flicker before it vanished. My attempt at de-escalating the situation.

Iona screeched at the phoenix, but he wasn’t having any of it. Wave after wave of Fire impotently crashed down on us. A fiery flare shot up into the sky. Iona turned to me with an utterly unamused look.

“I really, really just want to grab this overcooked chicken by the neck and wring answers out of him.” She said.

“Do you think it’ll help?” I asked.

“Well, he clearly knows something, and got pissed when I asked about Auri.”

Violence felt like a poor answer, at the same time, Iona was the master at navigating these sorts of situations.

“Don’t choke the chicken too hard.” I smirked at Iona. I knew exactly what I was saying.

I flicked an eye to my mana. I was regenerating more mana than it took to keep all three - two, given I was immune - of us alive, happy, and cool. It was possible to punch up, but there came a point where stats, skills, and biomancy were just too much. We were probably some good experience for the bird, and my tunic was starting to smoke.

Iona took a running jump, landing sideways on a tree trunk. Faster than a monkey, she jumped from trunk to trunk, rapidly ‘climbing’ the trees up to the phoenix’s level, who screeched and tried to turn tail. Iona nimbly nabbed him, falling down with a choked protest from the bird. She brought him up to her face and started screeching questions.

The bird turned his head to the side and huffed up. Iona flipped him upside down, grabbed his legs, and shook him a few times. He continued to stubbornly say nothing.

“Bring out… THE BUCKET!” Iona dramatically commanded. I gave her a Look. That was going too far in my opinion. It was too close to harm, and I folded my arms. Iona swung the bird over one shoulder, rolled her eyes at me, then gave me three exaggerated winks.

AH! Okay, yes. I could bring out… THE BUCKET! I’d prepared quite a few spells, and a quick trip to my [Tower] - spending more mana than I’d taken to heal all the attacks - and a careful spell away from the phoenix - didn’t want my spellbook burned, duplicates or not - and we had a bucket of water.

Iona’s face twisted up again, all pinchy and mean, and she screeched more words at the phoenix, who started talking, and talking fast. Iona looked disappointed.

“Lies, damn lies, and really bad lies. Has nobody taught him that lying requires some effort or believability?” She said.

I thought about Auri, and her sure confidence that she was the best at everything when she’d been young. “Maybe he’s never really needed to lie before? Or phoenixes are gullible as heck?”

“Or he’s just scared and dumb?” Iona suggested.

A careful [Event Horizon] absorbed all the Water in the bucket. Casually left around conjured Water could play hell with the local flora and fauna, as it got integrated into their bodies, then it vanished.

A black calamity of flames descended upon us. Iona and Fenrir were clearly blinded by the all-consuming, all-encompassing flames, as the side of the mountain we were standing on got turned into ashes and smoke. Three beams of thick Pyronox snapped down, coring Fenrir chest-to-tail once again, and letting me see straight through Iona’s chest. The flames splashed harmlessly off my skin, but my heart was leaping into my throat at seeing my lover’s innards, healing or not. There was just something primal and visceral about the sight. My head snapped up and I scanned the skies, seeing a familiar Pyronox phoenix flying in the sky. I shot a beam of Radiance in front of his beak, and waved.

“Oi! Come on down and talk!” I shouted.

Immunity or not, amazing healing bonuses, biomancy, tough scales, and all the other advantages we had, my mana was still dropping at a modest clip, keeping Iona and Fenrir alive. And the phoenix. I’d feel guilty if they died under our questionable ‘protection’, and it was arguable that I was obligated to them, interrogation or not. I suspected the owl had the proper control to exclude him from the attack, so it wasn’t like I was sacrificing much. It was a direct, full-powered assault from a phoenix just a few steps from divinity, and I was pretty sure my mana was going to give out before his.

The flames stopped. The air was wavering like a drunken sailor, but the only fires were way, way over there. There was no smoke, ash, or really anything on this half of the mountain. The owl’s flames had burned ‘cleanly’.

Iona hooted at the owl. We’d kept her ability to understand them mostly under wraps until they’d left when they were visiting, but there was no reason to keep it a secret now. She switched back to High Elvish for my convenience.

“Where’s Auri?” She demanded. I stepped in.

“She was supposed to be back weeks ago, and didn’t return.”

The phoenix flew off at impossible speeds, then returned a moment later with an amulet around his neck. The owl landed on a non-existent branch, wrapping a talon around the amulet.

“Release,” He then gave out a series of chirps, squawks, and screeches - I assumed that was the phoenix’s name. “... and then we’ll discuss things.”

Iona tossed the hawk phoenix up to the Pyronox phoenix, the former comedically spinning beak-over-tail with how my lover flicked her wrist. A quick exchange between the two phoenixes had the hawk flapping away to another mountain at top speed, Fenrir eyeing him up like he was lunch. To be fair, Fenrir could probably get a lot out of eating a phoenix. I debated casting an area cooling skill, just to show I had a solid command of Ice and was ready to use it, but some rough math suggested I’d either burn an unwise amount of mana, or the display would be too impotent, and demonstrate an easily exploitable weakness.

Ah well, we could literally sweat a bit, just as long as we could make the phoenix metaphorically sweat.

Iona crossed her arms and stared at the owl.

“Alright, he’s released. Now, where's Auri?” She demanded.

“Is it my problem if she’s chosen not to return?” He sniffed at us. “Have you considered that she likes it more here? We haven’t stopped her at all, you know. ”

I wanted to rage and protest, but with how Iona had crossed her arms and was steely-eyed staring at the owl, I decided to hold my tongue and let her handle it.

“Maybe you should let us meet her, and directly confirm for ourselves.” She retorted, saying nothing else.

The silence grew uncomfortable, and he continued talking.

“You have done well for… humans, I believe it was… to come this far. Crossing the ocean is no mean feat, nor is arriving at the Phoenix Peaks. Auri is currently taking on the Dungeon challenge. You can find her there. Now. I will insist that you leave the Phoenix Peaks, and do not return. You are not welcome.”

“Give us a proper map and directions to the Dungeon, and we will.” Iona shot back. “Give us poor directions, and we know where someone is who can recorrect our course.”

I was a hair confused. We were sure the owl wasn’t lying?

The owl narrowed his eyes and tilted his head at us.

“Fine.” He said. “I will direct you myself. I will not step in, should you perish on the way to the Dungeon.”

The three of us traded a knowing look.

He was absolutely going to lead us through every single monster nest and apex predator between here and where the Dungeon was.

Jackass.

Chapter 41 - Valley of Myths

We finally got a name for the Pyronox owl phoenix. Auri had apparently nicknamed him ‘Sasha’, and I wanted to facepalm at her naming choice. Kinda hoped a gigantic snake would eat him after he showed us where Auri was.

Fenrir returned to full size, and I think we managed to surprise Sasha with how quickly we were able to travel. Taking a suspiciously-meandering route, we didn’t encounter any true problems, although there was the occasional delayed attack behind us.

Something threw an entire pine tree at us, like a javelin. It missed by almost literal miles.

I tried to speculate why we were being ignored while we traveled - wyvern-phoenix combo, maybe Sasha had taught all the neighbors to ignore the phoenixes - but I couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t do a deep dive. Even my partitioned mind got distracted, all tracks returning to a singular thought.

We were almost there! We were almost at Auri! It had been years, and I missed her dearly.

The terrain abruptly shifted, from a lush subtropical forest, to the first veneer of proto-civilization I’d seen. A deep valley cut through the forest, with trees being burned a significant distance from the edge. Crude rock walls marked out ‘viewing spots’ into the valley, and my heart leapt into my throat at who was there.

In a nutshell: Everyone. A flood dragon eyed a more classical dragon from across the divide, a xuan-wu in the segment next to the coiled monster. A winged tiger prowled back and forth, intent on the valley and ignoring the hydra next to her. Three-legged golden crows were across the valley from phoenixes, where the Radiance heron phoenix was hanging out. Manticores were next to unicorns, and a sole griffin looked bored. The sun was briefly shaded, and I looked up. A quetzalcoatl was circling with a kun-peng and a thunderbird. Fenrir was fascinated by the wyvern snoring in his spot, the scales a bright silvery, shimmering color as opposed to the ice-blue of Fenrir’s.

That was either going to be trouble, or great.

There were more, of course. Dozens of different species with one or two representatives, and I wanted to freeze and crawl into a hole as I spotted a pair of silver-masked Wardens on guard. One of them spotted us and nudged the other one, and a pair of glares followed us around.

There was an uneasy tension that even I could feel. Stress wafted up from the combined creatures like one of Maxlin’s alchemical experiments.

There were obvious cultural things here that I couldn’t hope to grasp at a glance. A dozen kirins seemed to be some mix of in charge, resolving disputes, or being servants to everyone - it wasn’t quite clear what their role was, just some mix of all three. A few were effortlessly moving fresh carcasses to meat-eaters, and a tropical mix of fruits and berries to herbivores. A ‘panel’ of three kirin were overseeing a dispute between a hellhound and a penguin-like kairuki over a bejeweled vase. Two more were at the ‘head’ of the valley, directly over the portal in question.

It generated far more questions than I could hope to answer. Where did the jeweled vase come from?? Who’d made it? Why did a hellhound want it? What could it do with it? It wasn’t like they had homes and potted plants. Who put jewels on such a thing? How would they bring it ‘home’? Just… why!?

The only question I could somewhat guess at was how they were intelligent enough to even be arguing. That seemed simple to me - the System had granted them an [Intelligence] skill, or something related.

I’d seen exactly one kirin in all the years I’d been alive and wandering around, and that had been Reinhart, transformed into an elven form. Now I was seeing a ton of the mythical creatures. I wondered if any of them knew Reinhart, or if that was a terrible thing to ask. Like someone else assuming I knew everyone in Sanguino, or knew all humans. I hadn’t seen Reinhart’s ‘native’ form, and only had pictures in books to go off of.

Kirin were the epitome of grace. A deer’s body, an ox’s tail, hooves of a horse and a flood dragon-like head, their manes flowed like flames. Their scaled skin shimmered with fantastical colors, most of which defied definition or description.

Sasha went to land at the phoenix’s spot, and we went to land next to Sasha. He rebuffed us with a wing and a haughty look.

“This segment is solely reserved for phoenixes.” He said, and we took off, circling around on Fenrir’s back, the Warden’s glare following us the whole way.

I switched to Creation and started talking with Iona.

“What is his problem?” I complained. “He wasn’t nearly this rude when we met him.”

Iona frowned, deep in thought.

“It could be he was being diplomatic, or putting on a show.” She said. “Alternatively, he was summoned as we ended up fighting a phoenix and then asking him questions. It’s not the best of looks, and he could be mad at us because of that. Imagine if some random humans had been doing that to Auri. Would you want Sasha to react that strongly?”

I frowned. Iona had a good point. What had possessed us to ask a little more forcefully? Nerves, maybe? Desperation? If someone had been doing that to Auri, I would’ve hoped that Sasha finished the job, as vindictive as that sounded.

“Okay, in reflection, that had been a terrible idea, and Sasha’s letting us off lightly.” I said. “Makes sense that he’s got absolutely no desire to give us anything resembling a helping hand.”

Violence had beget violence, and one poor turn had earned another. I was smarter than this. I knew better. Stress and nerves were getting to me, and not in a good way.

I took a look down, to see what all the fuss was about. Inside the valley was a shimmering portal. Three sphinxes landed near it, and nervously looking around at everyone staring at them, entered the portal one at a time. They vanished without a stir from the watchers. The sphinx observer yawned, gigantic lion’s teeth bared to everyone.

There were a few open slots, but I doubted they were truly unclaimed. Better to get in a fight with the known griffins, than to try and mess with an unknown monster.

“Do you think we can land on the border rocks?” I asked Iona. “Just hang out in the margins?”

“Yes, I can easily envision getting torn apart by a dragon and a snake tail at the same time.” Iona struggled with sarcasm at times, her [Vow] a little strict. Her tone was obvious, and her words were entirely truthful.

One of the Wardens flew up to us, his devil wings making his race clear for once. [Ranger - 1991] his tag said. Not that it mattered - the sheer number of creatures here and all their levels was far more important in any conflict than his individual power. Unless, by some miracle, all of them ignored us fighting, it all came down to ‘who was annoying them more’.

“Excuse me. What are you two doing here?” He demanded of us. “Humans aren’t permitted in the North, and certainly aren’t allowed in the Dungeon.”

“I’m not a human!” I cheerfully threw a wrench in his argument. “I’m a chimera!”

“I’m mostly human.” Iona said. “Technically not a human though.”

Our attempts to throw the Warden off his game utterly failed, and his hands dropped to the hilts of his slightly curved swords. Iona tensed, and Fenrir locked a baleful eye on the Warden. One of the kirins flew up to investigate. Iona whinnied at her, a voice filled with booming thunder and far-off hoofbeats.

Could’ve knocked the kirin out of the sky with a feather with how she reacted to that. Goddess, that blessing was stupid.

The kirin neighed back in her native language, and the two struck up a brisk conversation while the Warden awkwardly looked on.

“Look.” I tried to explain things to the Warden while Iona and the kirin talked, Fenrir obligingly hovering in place. “My friend and bonded companion’s in the Dungeon. We just want to wait for her.”

The kirin swapped languages to an archaic High Elvish. How old was she!?

“They are acceptable to us. You know the rules.”

Iona asked another question, and the kirin’s face was unblinking.

“We do not have a place for you to wait near the rim of the valley. You may ask others if you can share a space.”

She turned a roguish grin to the Warden, who made a disgusted noise.

“If it’ll keep you from causing more problems, you can wait in our section.” He said. “The wyvern’s far too large though.”

Iona beamed.

“Good thing he’s got shrinking capabilities then!” The Valkyrie then swapped to English, and garbled her words further.

“There’s clearly a sort of truce here. Don’t tell the Wardens anything about us, they might want to cause us problems once we leave or get home just on principle. Our heads on a pike would send quite a message. Let me do most of the talking, I can keep it pleasant without revealing too much. I don’t want to be mean, but…”

I nodded, understanding what she was saying.

“I talk way too much, and don’t have a great head for the type of subterfuge needed for this.” I agreed. “Basically, honestly telling people everything has almost always worked out for me, and I’m a blabbermouth who might be revealing far more than I think I am. Then again, we’re going to be leaving with Auri, and she’s not exactly subtle…”

“Exactly.” Iona agreed. “Even telling them you’re technically a chimera could lead them back to you. Yeah, Auri’s not subtle, but let’s not make it any easier for them than we have to.”

“No winged helmet!” I teased. The Valkyrie nodded.

“No winged helmet.”

I wasn’t a lie, nor was it even deception. Putting up a blank ‘I’m not telling you anything’ was high up on the honesty chart.

Fenrir dropped us off near the Wardens, then went to investigate the other wyvern. There was some snorting and posturing going on there, and I dedicated one of my thought processes to doing nothing but making sure there were no problems.

The Wardens were clearly deeply unhappy about us, but gave us the crash course on how the Dungeon worked. Unlimited levels, ‘true’ item creation with fantastical enchantments, levels and skills offered. Technically, nothing made by the Dungeon was something that a clever skill or enchantments couldn’t make, but things like the phoenix’s amulet were so complex as to be impractical to make. Each time a party entered the dungeon it was ‘instanced’, which translated to ‘no, you can’t dive down into the Dungeon and try to catch up with Auri’ and ‘yes, you do have to just wait outside’ and ‘no, you can’t tell if anyone’s actually in there or not’.

Which sucked. A rambling, paranoid part of me was wondering if Sasha had lied to us, and was leading us on wild goose chase to waste our time. ‘Yes, yes, they’re totally in the Dungeon, just wait a few years for them to come out’ seemed like one heck of a distraction. Normal ‘runs’ didn’t take that long. Most were a week or four, occasionally some groups geared up for multi-month trips.

My estimation of the Wardens went way up when they confirmed they’d seen a colorful hummingbird-phoenix semi-regularly enter the Dungeon over the last few years, always in the company of a group of other phoenixes.

That was good. It sounded like she was having fun, and better, had made a bunch of friends!

“Should we offer them a bite to eat?” I asked Iona, wanting to find some way to thank the Wardens. “The food here seems fine, but hospitality laws are fairly strong throughout the world.”

“Hmmm.” Iona rubbed her chin as the two Wardens conferred on the other end of the little stretch of rock-bordered land. “You raise quite a few good points, but I’m wondering if they’d be able to figure us out from the ingredients and style.”

“Only food we looted from the School then? And it feels like if they can figure us out from that, they can figure us out from our clothes.”

Iona violently shook her head.

“The School’s small enough that they’d be able to immediately trace us. No, far better to offer something else entirely, if you have to offer anything at all.”

I pouted as I sat on the edge of the valley, my legs kicking out into space.

“Alright.” I said, Radiance-focusing in on the portal. “I’ll just wait here.”

Auri was almost here. She was almost back.

A kentrosaurus lumbered out of the portal, blind in one eye, bleeding from a leg, and half of its spines snapped off. He had a dozen metal objects floating above his spine, each one of them whirring and clicking in unusual ways. A skill, or Dungeon loot? I couldn’t tell. A dozen artifacts shimmered into existence around him, and the creatures surrounding the valley had mixed reactions. Some leaned in to get a better view of what was going on, while others glanced towards a filled slot along the valley’s edge, where a torosaurus and chasmosaurus were snorting and pawing the ground in a display of dominance and ‘don’t fuck with us’-ness. The artifacts seemed to have no rhyme or reason. Some armor, made out of wood I couldn’t identify, perfectly fit for the dinosaur. A trough of water, spears made for neither dinosaur nor human, a couple of potions, and an amulet. The dinosaur drank the potion, healing all the way up, then drank deeply from the water trough. It vanished into sparkles once he was done. A few swipes of his tail somehow collected the loot. He then made a ponderous journey up the other end of the valley, where a kirin was waiting.

It wasn’t Auri, so I was keeping most of my focus on the valley, keeping an obsessive eye over the exit. My curiosity had a little bit of attention wander over to the kentrosaurus - maybe I’d learn something useful or helpful for Auri.

I wouldn’t say there was a trading post, but the dinosaur was clearly able to exchange some of the loot he couldn’t use for gear that seemed to fit him better. Maybe it was a tax of some sort, to keep everything moving smoothly? A payment?

Or was I being too human? Assigning human ideas of civilization and behavior to creatures out of myth and legend, trying to anthropomorphize their actions?

I continued to unblinkingly stare at the portal, waiting for any little flash of bright colors and flames. Any little hint of Auri. Thank biomancy for the extra clear eyelids I’d included - I didn’t need to blink.

I wish I could say that Auri popped out five minutes later, but alas.

The sun rose and the sun fell. Creatures entered the Dungeon, and fewer creatures left. Loot was gathered up in vast piles and traded or worn.

A squad of Wardens left at one point, and a chill went down my spine as six pairs of vicious eyes tried to work out if they had the numbers to fight us, and how’d they do. Given that it was a squad of Wardens that had just left, half the eyes here were on us. We survived.

A deinosuchus left the portal one day, three obelisks shimmering into existence around him. Faster than I could see or track, a peregrine falcon dove in, tapping one of the obelisks that vanished into light before trying to streak back up into the sky. Half the eyes were on the crocodile’s representative, whose teeth were starting to glow.

He never got a chance to act.

The flood dragon killed and ate the falcon in a single bite, moving faster than I believed possible. One moment the dragon was coiled up, appearing to be sleeping, the next his long body stretched across half the valley, feathers gently floating down.

I was already jumping to my feet, my fight-or-flight instincts screaming at me to do something. Iona was next to me in a flash, and for the first time I stopped staring at the dungeon portal.

Skills were being prepared, the Wardens were drawing their swords, and I found myself slowly backing away from the imminent free-for-all before I paused, a sudden thought striking me.

What if Auri came back to this mess?

I stepped forward again. A mixed group of unicorns and kelpies started to back away from the entrance, leaving plenty of space between them and the pissed croc.

The kirins flashed up into the sky, the flood dragon retreated back to his zone, and everyone generally chilled. Except the deinosuchus, who was stomping and raging in the valley.

“Hope someone steps in before another group leaves the Dungeon.” Iona said. “Otherwise there will be another fight.”

For better or for worse, things calmed down enough before the next group left. The deinosuchus did snap at the unicorn’s hoof as they crossed each other, who mimed a kick at his head, but that was it.

Fenrir spent a good amount of time pestering the other wyvern. When a third, small wyvern emerged from the dungeon, the two of them went off flying together.

Sasha came and went. It seemed like he generally had better things to do than stare at the Dungeon portal non-stop, but now and then he dropped by. He’d have a quick discussion with the heron phoenix, then leave again.

It only took a week of mechanically eating what Iona shoved in my hands, unblinkingly staring at the portal, to discover why everyone was watching over things.

A treant popped into existence, a flexible willow bending in the light breeze. Artifacts shimmered into existence around her, and as usual, half the monsters looked at the valley, and half looked where the treant overseer should be.

There was no tree there, simply a blank space.

Then the valley erupted into chaos. A dozen magical ravens descended on a bunch of rings, and other monsters and beasts piled in, each grabbing what they wanted, shoving, clawing, and biting others as the free for all over loot started. The fragile equilibrium was broken. Branches flew and leaves fell like tears as the treant’s rewards were snapped up by almost everyone else.

The kirins stepped in again, taking one of the rings back from the birds and shooing everyone out of the valley with their loot. I took the moment to flicker a heal to everyone, fixing all the injuries. The lack of flash made it hard to tell what I’d done, but Iona shot me an approving smile.

The treant was right at the edge of what my skills could do, taking a penalty high enough that I noticed my mana drop to heal the tree. My skills were designed for flesh and blood, not wood and sap. Thankfully, I could heal all elvenoids, of which the treant was one. Otherwise, I’d be forced by my [Oath] to carefully tend the tree until the willow was the picture of health. Given how slowly trees moved, I was glad not to find myself in that mess.

I leveled from that. I had most of my notifications still suppressed, but I could see it on my stat sheet. The same stat sheet where I kept an eye on [Companion Bond Between Elaine and Auri], the one letting me know that she was still alive, still fine.

What was taking her though? Was she really still here?

We settled back in. Occasionally Iona would try to make some small talk, and I’d answer her, one eye on my skill, the other on the Dungeon.

Sasha flew over at one point, delicately alighting on the rocks between groups to the stare of some Wardens, then had a few words with us.

“Auri’s time in the Dungeon is highly unusual, and far outside what we expected.” He admitted. “They told us they were aiming for a far shorter trip.”

Without waiting for a response, he flew off again, the Wardens re-appraising us.

Fenrir returned, looking pleased as punch, shrinking down and sitting next to Iona. He’d gotten a massive cigar from somewhere - I knew it wasn’t one of his usual pipes - and had a shit-eating grin a mile wide as he puffed.

Good for him. A small, mean, petty part of me wanted to be salty at his success and happiness, but we were all here for the same reason, the same goal.

Auri.

Then, at last, late at night during a pair of full moons, in a flash, a flare of five flames, a crackle of electricity, and the entire valley filling with shimmering lights, there she was.

Auri!

She was looking fantastic. The same size as always, but her colors seemed extra-vibrant. Her flames burning hotter than ever before. A ring of colorful molten Lava flecks surrounded her, like she was a miniature planet, and she had a little bird message capsule around one leg.

Everyone got real interested at the sheer quantity of loot being generated, and a part of me noted the Radiance heron phoenix was taking flight, puffing himself up and starting to throw around bright skills.

I only had eyes and ears for my little Auri.

“BRRRRRRPT!!” She shrieked, utterly ignoring the loot, and immediately turning south and high-tailing it at top speed out of the valley. “BRRRRPT!”

I’m late! I’m late! Sorry everyone, I need to go NOW, and get back home! Elaine’s going to be WORRIED SICK about me! Oh no, I am SO LATE!

“Auri! I screamed, unfurling my six wings and taking flight. “Auri, I’m right here!”

I shot after her, trying to catch Auri like she was a tiny burning ball. Fenrir and Iona shot after me a moment later, as most people were intent on what was going to happen to the phoenix’s loot - far too much to easily carry or remove, and it was possible something would happen.

Didn’t matter, didn’t care - wait, no. I did care. They were Auri’s friends.

“Auri!” I shouted as I caught up with her, flying side by side.

“Brrpt - BRPT!?” Auri came to a comedic halt, right as I did. I threw my arms out for a hug as Iona and Fenrir caught up.

“BRRRPT!”

Auri flung herself at me.

And all was right in the world.

Chapter 42 - Reunion

Auri was back on my shoulder, chirping loudly.

All was right with the world again. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders, years of concern and worry melting away with every brrrpt out of her beak. Iona and Fenrir landed next to me, giving us some space but clearly eager to make their own greetings.

Auri conjured up two flaming clones of herself, one circling Iona with frantic energy while the other one landed on Fenrir’s nose, and started animated dancing on his nose.

“BRRPT! Brrpt! BRPT! BrrrrrRRRRRpppT!” Auri was hopping from foot to foot, trying to cram way too many words and sounds together, practically tripping over her own tongue in her desire to say everything. “BRRPT!” She finally demanded in frustration, throwing up a big flaming arrow pointing back the way we came from.

I laughed. When I started talking, it was like the floodgates had opened.

“Sure! Let’s go meet your friends! I can’t wait! Tell me all about your time here. I want to know everything! I missed you so much. I’m so happy you’re back. What took you so long?”

Auri shuddered at the question.

“Brpt.” She made a disgusted, almost throwing-up noise. I put my hand up to my mouth and failed miserably to suppress a laugh.

“You got stuck in a water level?”

“BRPT!”

<<I did! I did! It was TERRIBLE! The worst thing ever!>>

I tried to put on a poker face.

“I think I’m going to need the full details of it, and the rest of what you’ve been up to, just to make sure it can’t happen again.”

Auri rolled her eyes in an exaggerated way.

“Brrrpt!” She fluttered off my shoulder, going first to Fenrir and bopping him on the nose. Then she hovered over to Iona, and tried to ‘whisper’ in her ear.

I could still pick it up though, even without my improved hearing. ‘Auri’ and ‘quiet’ did not belong together.

<<Thank you so so so much for keeping Elaine safe all these years! I was so worried about her! Good job!>>

We weren’t traveling at top ‘sprint as fast as we can’ speed anymore, and we started heading back. I sensed one of the Wardens vanishing back the way we came from, and we soon made it back to the valley.

Auri’s friends were busy at the ‘trading post’, and I could practically see a flame lighting itself over her head as she looked from Iona to the post.

“Brrrpt?” She sweet-talked my wife, who laughed and strode over, cracking her neck with a great grin on her face.

The poor kirins didn’t know what hit them. I imagined social skills weren’t exactly popular here, and if they were, it was more like [Posturing] and [Mark Territory] rather than [Social Lubricant]. Add in years of haggling and negotiations with cutthroat merchants, and the kirin’s ‘trading post’ put up all the resistance of a kid’s lemonade stand.

Which naturally put her right in the good graces of all of Auri’s friends. I’d gotten a chance to study them briefly as Iona briskly bartered.

All of them were phoenixes of various sizes. A pink flamingo, a thunderbird with four wings that crackled with electricity hovered high above, a little too big to easily ‘trade’, an ostrich, and a velociraptor. They all huddled around Iona as she concluded her negotiations, handing out prizes to everyone like candy. Burning rocks and caged flames, tasty treats and delicious fruits, phoenixes didn’t seem to have much use for most objects. A downside to being utterly ridiculous and made out of fire.

“Brrpt! BRPT!” Auri shouted out a bunch of suggestions which boiled down to ‘let’s go to my place and party one last time’. Everyone seemed to agree, and we all headed out, following Auri. Apparently, we could simply fly back to the Phoenix Peaks and nobody would bother us. The two grounded phoenixes hopped onto the thunderbird’s back with practiced ease.

“Followers.” Fenrir growled, and Auri translated to everyone else with a sharp “Brrrpt!”

They all stopped on a dime, turning around with impossible agility, spreading into an established formation. I vaguely recognized it from the Sixth Legion, and my heart melted.

Auri had been importing tactics and teaching her friends! They listened to her!

While part of me was gushing over Auri and everything she did, the rest of me was primed and ready. I’d been on edge ever since we’d jumped off the edge of the School, and had been attacked enough to know it was the right move.

One of the silver-faced Wardens halted in the air a few miles from us. With everyone’s stats and skills, it was pretty close. I couldn’t tell what he was doing behind the mask, but it was pointed at us, a pair of swords pointed down and held loosely in his hands.

I couldn’t quite reach him with my skills, although I pulled out a dozen spellbooks, having them flutter behind me. Ten of them were useless chore and quality of life spells, but I couldn’t cast that many spells at once, and I didn’t want to offer up all my battle tomes for easily getting picked off. Smoke and mirrors. Iona summoned her bow and arrows, Lightning crackled on Fenrir’s claws and the thunderbird’s wings, and all sorts of flames started to grow around the phoenixes.

It was the same Warden from earlier at level 1991, and I had no idea how a fight between all of us would go. We had numbers, the utter bullshit that was phoenixes and their refusal to die, and class quality on our side. On the other, weaklings didn’t end up as Wardens, and having twice the levels on us was significant. I could... probably crush eight level 450 [Warriors]. I was utterly confident with my extremely high class quality and third class. However, if I didn't have such great classes, I'd have to wonder how good the other people were. If one of their elements was Mirror, and how good of a Mirror it was. Without healing, I'd need to worry about a powerful skill doing me in. I could shrug off a rock through an eye, but that wasn't true of everyone. A full set of mage attacks in the span of a second could be mutual death for the mage and the attacker. That was before the legendary and unkillable nature of a phoenix came into play, nor the potential for a powerful gem containing a high level skill.

The Warden was running the same calculations I had, and came to the conclusion it wasn’t worth it. He angrily slammed his swords back into their sheath, then drew a thumb across his neck before speeding back to the Dungeon.

“You know, I’m not sure why we worked so hard on hiding where we’re from when Auri’s about as distinct as they come.” I said.

“Gives them the whole world to search, instead of narrowing it down.” Iona answered.

“Somehow, I think three minutes at an information broker asking for ‘phoenixes’ will get them what they want…”

“Sure, if they remember to ask. Although, yes, maybe we were going a little overboard.”

“Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt.” Auri blew a raspberry at his back.

“Brpt!”

Then promptly complained about anyone possibly forgetting her, or not being able to find her. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same!

The immediate crisis averted, we continued onto Auri’s peak, landing in a meadow near the top of the mountain.

“Brrpt! BRPT!” Auri fussed over her friends, making sure they were well-settled and happy before bouncing back over to us. “Brrrpt!”

“Yes! Give me the tour! Show me everything!” I said.

“Brrrpt!”

Auri had been busy the last few years. There was a grand ‘nest’ in the middle of the meadow, with a number of silvery or reflective surfaces bouncing colors all over the place. There were a few well-worn spots for her friends, beautiful ‘guest rooms’, and of course, a gigantic firepit. Bountiful berries were growing all over the place, and Auri casually incinerated an ambitious shrew that was snacking on them. We made appreciative noises the whole way, admiring what Auri had built here.

“The mirror was Dungeon loot, wasn’t it?” I asked. Iona was looking at some of the strings close-up.

“How did you get this done? It’s impressive, do you find yourself replacing it a lot?”

“Brrrpt!” Auri preened under our praise, her beak going high in the air. “Brrpt, BRPT!” She did happily give credit to her friend Magenta, the pink flamingo, for helping her out.

“Brrrpt…” Auri suddenly paused mid-tour, looking embarrassed.

“We don’t have to see a thing if you don’t want us to.” I offered to Auri. I suspected I knew what she wanted to show, but didn’t think it was that bad. [The World Around Me] was stupid sometimes.

“Brpt!”

“I promise not to laugh.” I said, Iona echoing my words and Fenrir simply grunting.

“Brpt!” Auri quickly showed us an oven she’d made out of clay. It was lumpy, misshapen, and trying to fall over, but it was hers.

“There’s no way I’d be able to make something that nice with the resources you have.” I said.

“From nothing, with no Skills? Auri, this is a masterpiece.” Iona praised. Fenrir sniffed it.

“Good.” He declared.

Auri looked pleased as punch at our compliments, pink flames flickering on her cheeks.

Auri finished the tour, and we made it back to her friends. A bunch of sharks, whales, and what looked like a mosasaurus were produced from ludicrously overpowered storage that each of the phoenixes had, and all of a sudden I wanted to do a bunch of Dungeon runs myself. Auri was looking at her storage with varying degrees of sadness.

Being phoenixes, the food was cooked in short order, and we had a party. I made quite a few trips to my [Tower], pulling out various wines and juices for the other phoenixes to try out. There was nothing like a drunk phoenix raptor to make me double-check the bottles I was drinking.

“BRrrrpt! BRPT!” Auri demanded.

“I brought one just for you!” I vanished into my [Tower] once again, my eyes flicking to my mana. I was using a lot, teleporting in and out all the time, but it was holding up well enough. I managed to find one barrel that didn’t have something else teleported into it, and brought it out for Auri. Iona beat me to opening it, flipping it open from across the fire with [Telekinesis].

“BRRRRRRPT!” Auri almost did a swan-dive into it, but paused at the last moment. “Brrpt?”

“Sure, I can do that.”

I went back in, grabbed a bunch of buckets, and teleported out again. I filled the buckets up, passing them out to her friends, then Auri did a swan-dive into the rest of it.

It was wonderful. We ate, we drank, and the five phoenixes regaled us of tales from the last few years of their life. Fenrir and the thunderbird phoenix spent some merry time trading [Lightning Bolts], both of them working on improving their class quality and skills. A neat little cross-species exchange. The sun was just starting to peek back up over the horizon, and I knew our time was coming to an end.

Auri was coming to the end of her story as well. Auri had wanted to leave with just a little bit of extra padding to go, when everyone else had convinced her to do just ‘one more level’. It was a big milestone level as well, 1024, and they were convinced fantastic loot awaited all of them. One last hurrah all together before Auri needed to leave. From the sound and look of it, Auri hadn’t needed much convincing. They’d gone through the portal, only to find it was a deep undersea level - the absolute nemesis of phoenixes. Levels had to be completed once they were started, and Auri and the rest had needed to find a way to defeat the stage while being made out of Fire.

She was just starting to explain how that happened when a hawk’s screech cut through the party, and Auri blew another raspberry as our earlier nemesis appeared once again.

“BRRRRPT!” She shrieked and threw her messenger capsule at the bird. Water started pouring out of it, and the hawk beat a hasty retreat.

“Brrpt brrrpt brpt.” Auri muttered darkly to herself.

<<Idiot won’t accept that I don’t want to make eggs with him.>> She complained. <<Maybe an entire ocean’s worth of water will send the message.>>

I patted her knowingly.

“Even an entire ocean doesn’t stop idiots.” I commiserated. Iona was eyeing the capsule with alarm, water pouring out of it in a torrent.

“How did you beat the water level?” I asked. Auri nodded towards the capsule with her beak.

“Brrpt!”

Iona took off sprinting to close it.

The goodbyes were surprisingly short. Auri and her friends had months in the Dungeon level to say them, and we were able to leave shortly after ‘packing up’ most of the treasures she wanted to keep. Treasures she thought she’d had to leave behind, but now that the Elaine Storage was here, well… I was turned into a pack mule. I did take out Iona and Fenrir’s armor and gear on the return trips from transporting Auri’s loot into [Tower], and after a hard day’s work, we were ready to go.

With minimal fanfare, we all piled onto Fenrir and took off, going high into the sky as the sun started to set. I quickly went through my notifications, my eyebrows rising at the end. Auri beating the ocean level had been quite the experience for her - half of which I’d gotten. The moons rose, no longer quite full, and I flipped over on Fenrir’s back to look at them.

“Brrrpt?” Auri asked as I stretched out a hand, pretending I could grab the moons.

“I wonder… could we travel to the moons?”

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 38]

[Mana: 7,399,320/7,399,320]

[Mana Regeneration: 15,644,500 +(47,736,193)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 47,542 (Effectively: 380,336)]

[Dexterity: 71,971 (Effectively: 766,347)]

[Vitality: 225,977 (Effectively: 3,530,891)]

[Speed: 213,209 (Effectively: 4,196,593)]

[Mana: 739,932]

[Mana Regeneration: 1,755,814 (+ 4,773,619)]

[Magic Power: 969,337 (+ 43,377,831)]

[Magic Control: 968,513 (+ 43,340,957)]

[Class 1: [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial: Lv 895]]

[Celestial Mastery: 895]

[Aurora Curialis: 795]

[The Stars Never Fade: 56]

[Luminary Mind: 610]

[Universal Cure: 895]

[Etheric Aegis: 240]

[Event Horizon: 655]

[Zenith Everlasting: 615]

[Class 2: [Seraph of the Dawn - Radiance: Lv 870]]

[Radiance Mastery: 870]

[A Light Shining in the Darkness: 50]

[The Rays of the First Dawn: 870]

[Radiant Angel's Spear of Obliteration: 45]

[Celestial Dew: 870]

[Sunrise Halo: 870]

[Wings of the Seraphim: 870]

[Six Wings, Six Million Feathers: 870]

[Class 3: [Erudite Archmage - Spatial: Lv 740]]

[Spatial Authority: 490]

[Cozy Reading: 740]

[Teleportation: 200]

[Repository of the Magus: 559]

[Tower of Knowledge: 94]

[Reality, Writ As You Will: 540]

[Astral Archives: 333]

[Endless Pursuit of Knowledge: 650]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 533]

[Handy: 30]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 895]

[The World Around Me: 220]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 895]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 895]

[Persistent Casting: 670]

[Tender Gardening: 108]

Chapter 43 - Bloopers

The scorpion stopped.

Then it reached out with an impossibly large claw, and with the speed, power, size, and surprise factor, suddenly targeted the bright glowing angel in the sky. Its claw tightened around my neck, and decapitated me with a snip.

My head tumbled through the sky, end over end, no longer having long hair to get in my way. All my biomancy modifications were good for keeping me awake and conscious.

Heal. HEAL! I screamed to myself, trying to activate the skill, not knowing why I couldn’t do it or feel it. I caught a glimpse of a glowing six-winged angel high up in the sky, head intact, flying fast towards Fenrir and Iona.

Heal!

All my powers had deserted me. The System was gone. The ground was rushing up at me. I-

I love you Iona, Auri.

I shuddered as memories poured into [Astral Archives], pushing aside and compartmentalizing dozens of unpleasant thoughts. Fenrir slowed down enough for me to catch up, and I slammed into Iona’s arms, pulling my knees up to my chest, full-body shudders having nothing to do with the cold.

“What’s wrong?” Iona instantly caught on.

“L-l-land.” I stammered out. “We have to land.”

Only the extremely well-trained part of - I hesitated to call it me, not with the revelations battering my mind - was able to stay vaguely vigilant and aware of the world around me. I was scanning for additional threats and attacks, ready to respond but unsure if I should.

I was in a bit of a daze as Iona landed in muddy tundra, in the heart of an old growth forest. I reached out for an old set of runes, instantly summoning a half-dome of metal around me to act as an instant, temporary shelter. I continued to hold my knees, gently rocking myself as Fenrir and Iona busied themselves around me, securing the shelter.

I’d died. I had the memories of being decapitated, of seeing a scared head falling to the ground. I - no, Elaine, the true one - had been in there. My stream of consciousness hadn’t continued uninterrupted. I’d come into existence the moment the head had been fully separated and a new one regrown.

Tears threatened to freeze on my face as I dragged my fingers down my cheeks, almost like I was trying to peel my face off.

From my point of view, I’d been flying along, decapitated, then I regrew my head and carried on.

Was that truly ‘me’ though?

I felt like an imposter. The clone who’d supplanted the original.

The chain of events were clear. I had lost my head, my mind and consciousness falling to the ground to burst open like an overripe grape. That was the real ‘Elaine’.

Who was I now? A mewling babe with multiple lifetimes of experience? Just…

My mind circled over it again and again, going over the events, my horror mounting. I don’t know how long I stayed there, the sun doing the weird sunrise-actually-sunset thing that higher longitudes experienced. The nausea and disorientation were intense. I threw myself forward and threw up, barely avoiding backsplash from the wind.

Iona sat with me and caressed me the whole time, murmuring in my ear.

“What’s wrong? I’m here for you. I love you. It’s alright. Everything’s okay. Everyone’s alive.”

I shuddered at her touch, felt warmed by her love.

It was fake. False. How would she react when she knew I wasn’t Elaine, her Elaine, but an imposter? One wearing a skin suit so perfect her divine blessing couldn’t pierce it?

Goddess.

Auri.

It wasn’t fair to her. She’d destroy herself out of guilt. Elaine had gone to rescue her, and had died for it.

I had to tell Iona. I had to confess. But her love, her warmth, was like a bonfire in a blizzard. I wanted to stay with her just a little longer. Enjoy her love just a moment more.

For a moment the idea flashed through my mind.

Just never tell Iona. Carry on like nothing had happened. Live a double life like a changeling.

The guilt would destroy me. It would eat me up alive from the inside out.

“I’m… I’m not Elaine.” I stammered out, waiting for the inevitable blow. Iona leaned back - still hugging me - took a long look at me, and pressed back in.

“Yes you are.” She insisted.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Of course you are.” Iona’s hug was stickier than an octopus.

A shrunk-down Fenrir came over and sniffed me.

“Elaine.” He concluded, nodding with the certainty of a detective who’d closed the easiest case in the world.

“What makes you think you’re not Elaine?” Iona asked.

“Because she was in the head! It got chopped off! She fell, and… and I grew back in her place.”

“Why does that matter?” Iona asked. I shot her a confused, betrayed look. She hugged me more.

“No, seriously, I’m trying to understand here what the issue is. I get it’s disturbing you, I want to know why.”

Ah.

“Because I am my consciousness?” I said. “Her uninterrupted perspective of the world went that way?”

“So everytime you go to sleep you die?” Iona asked with significant skepticism.

“No! Not like that. You wake up in the same body, as the same person. There’s some pausing, but it’s not interrupted. It’s continuous.”

“Teleporting.” Iona answered. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

I shook my head, knowing the answer to that one. The theory classes and the mathematics were quite clear.

“Teleportation is a constant flow. I move into another dimension for a fraction of a moment, then immediately return to a new position.”

I was developing a snotscicle at the end of my nose.

Iona went silent, her lips occasionally twitching as she got into a long conversation with her goddesses. Her face brightened up.

“Ahha! Okay, this one’s easy. Are you the same Elaine from Earth?” She asked. “The same Elaine that was in the realm of the gods? And the same Elaine that woke up?”

I thought about it. Iona flicked my nose.

“Less thinking, more instinct on that question. Well?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, she was the same person all the way through.”

Iona narrowed her eyes dangerously at me, and poked me with a finger.

“You are the same person.” She said. “Why didn’t you have a crisis before?”

“Well, because I was the same soul.” I answered. The Valkyrie’s face lit up.

“Exactly!” She triumphantly said. “The same soul. The very soul that the System is attached to. You’ve got all your stats, skills, and classes, yeah?”

[Name: Elaine]

The name stared at me like a baleful accusation, the skin of a dead woman.

Or… or was it really me? There wasn’t anything else I could think of calling myself. For most of my life I’d been called ‘Elaine’, and ‘Dawn’ was an assumption just as hard as ‘Elaine’ would be.

I slowly nodded my agreement, and tried it out.

“My name’s Elaine.” I said. “I’m [The Arbiter of Life and Death]. The [Seraph of the Dawn]. And the [Erudite Archmage].”

Iona hugged me again, gently kissing my cheek. I didn’t flinch.

“And the love of my life.” She breathed into my ear. “The one I’ve woken up next to every day. My muse. My inspiration. Trust me to know. You are you.”

I frowned, going deep into [Astral Archives], reviewing the heck out of everything I could. From my earliest memories to Ranger training, from my prior decapitation to the School, to all the times I’d touched the divine and played with Auri, all the way up to my most recent crisis.

A few items percolated to the top.

Hey Ciriel, can you tell if I’m still me? I asked the goddess.

Yes? I’m not sure why this is a question. She answered back.

I’d also suspected during my biomancy modifications that I’d regrow from the neck up if I ever got decapitated again. I’d had exactly that happen.

According to some theories, the brain was the seat of the soul. It hadn’t been extensively tested or anything, but I had quite a few more brains in my body than in my head. They were less-functional, but designed to be ‘me’ enough that, even if my head was obliterated, I’d live and heal back. It was possible that design had saved me during the Han Civil War, when Elaine ended up with a sword through her head, but it wasn’t like I could experiment and confirm it.

Well, it had happened. Elaine’s planning - no, that was all wrong, wasn’t it?

My planning, preparation, and improvements had made this possible.

I guess if I ever grew a second head things would get even weirder. Thank Marcelle none of that had happened.

Okay. Fine. I was still Elaine. One set of trauma processed. I took in a deep, shuddering breath.

“Alright. I’m-”

Fenrir snapped over to us, a frozen finger of Ice over his mouth in a silent shhhh. I instantly shut up, both Iona and I going on high alert.

412 days later, I woke up with a start, my jaw aching from grinding it all night long. I wanted to angrily throw off the covers and stomp around without a care in the world, but I held myself back. Iona would end up bearing the brunt of my bad mood, and that wasn’t fair to her.

That was it. It was going to be six years and a day tomorrow, the moment the sun crested the horizon, and Auri wasn’t back. She was obviously still alive and doing fantastically well for herself - the never-ending levels she fed back clearly indicated she was alive and active - but I knew her. We’d promised, and no matter how bird-brained she could be at times, I didn’t believe for one second that she’d forgotten. Even if Auri had decided to stay at the Phoenix Peaks, it was entirely unlike her not to come back and at least say something, and our companion bond existed and was strong.

No, something was wrong, and I’d spent the last three months preparing for the eventuality that I’d need to go to the Phoenix Peaks personally to figure it out and fix things.

I started to stomp-sneak over to the kitchen when Auri came screaming in through the door.

“Auri! You made it! I was so worried about you!”

“BRRRPT!”

“Oh Selene and Lunaris. By right of gift-giving, of offering, of possession, I offer you this blade. Take it, if you should have use of it.”

In a sparkle of divine energy, the blade vanished, little motes of blue and yellow scattering and dancing around Iona in a non-existent wind.

Arachne took a deep breath in and out, then asked her question.

“Is Lun’Kat also behind the Moon Cult?”

I paled at the question, at the invocation. Iona’s eyes flew open.

“Run!” She yelled.

We didn’t make it to the door. Dragonfire descended upon us, scouring Sanguino off the face off the planet, boiling off the entirety of Bloodmoon Bay. I stood in the falling ashes of all my friends and family, embers glowing at my feet. I shook a fist at the sky, utterly immune to the dragonfire.

“Curse you! I swear I’ll-”

Splat

I was not immune to dragontail.

A familiar blue-robed demon was at the front.

“Martin! How are you?” I asked him.

“Elaine.” He didn’t miss a beat. I was guessing being a [Librarian] included supercharged versions of my memory skills, among other things. “Welcome back. Are you here to return the books you checked out?”

I froze, my mind racing. Wait. What books? Had I checked something out and committed the cardinal sin of not returning it? Oh gods, how high were the fees? Wait a minute…

Martin grinned.

“Just messing with you! Here for anything special, or just looking around?”

I leaned in with Iona and dropped my voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“Ah, well, you see, while I was here, there was a certain book in the section that doesn’t exist that I saw, but never ended up reading. I was wondering if I could be allowed to take a look at it?”

Martin went from affable and friendly to on-guard in a heartbeat. He glanced at Iona and back to me.

“It’s going to strongly depend on which book and why.” He said. “Follow me to my office.”

We found ourselves in his sealed stronghold a while later, Martin sitting behind his desk with his hands folded on his desk.

“Now. Make your case.” He said. “You are not here as one of the [Students] working in the library, but as an outsider requesting access to otherwise forbidden knowledge.”

I straightened up, silently communicating with Iona. I was taking point on this.

“I’m a [Loremaster] now, although I’m unsure for how much longer.” I started. “I’ve got access to vast quantities of information, knowledge, and dangers already. I’ve already been trusted to read the contents of the library in the past. We’re looking to read The Secret of the Pekari, to better fight them.”

Martin looked like he wanted to laugh when he heard the title. Instead, he shook his head.

“I’m not going to flat-out deny you, but please trust me when I say this. Reading that book will harm your ability to combat the Pekari. If you wish to learn all about them, there’s a section dedicated to the Pekari in the library, which I will be happy to guide you to. However, if you insist, I will let you read it.”

Iona and I traded another look. Knowledge was power.

But listening to people who knew stuff, and was strongly suggesting against it was wisdom. No amount of power mattered if it wasn’t wisely applied, and there had to be a good reason Martin was warning us off it.

“Alright, we’ll skip that for now. Let’s go hit the section about the Pekari in the library?” I suggested to Iona.

She waggled her eyebrows. That wasn’t all Iona wanted to hit in the library.

A coatl shot out of the sky, aiming for Moxie. Iona started to react, reaching out to strangle it single-handedly, but was too slow. Its jaws extended comically large, and it ate Moxie in a single bite before flying off into the sunset.

Wait! I recognized that coatl!

I shook a fist after the feathered serpent.

“CORDAMOOOOOO!”

I couldn’t tell what the other Warden was thinking, not with their mask and lack of expressive body language, but I’d guess he wasn’t too amused.

“Divine blessing. I see. Many thanks to you. I will pass the information along. What did you want to meet for?” He completely ignored the elf passed out on the floor. Must not be a fan.

Medically, he was fine.

Iona smiled winningly, and I was confident in her silver tongue.

“Well! One of our friends, a phoenix, bonded companion to Sentinel Dawn here, went to the North Continent. She was supposed to be back by now, but hasn’t arrived. We’d like permission to go there and bring her back.”

“Sure, that’s a perfectly good reason to head up there.”

A day later we were drinking with Sasha, looking at the Dungeon.

A great clashing of steel rang out through the temple, killing the music, and that was my signal to go. I slowly walked through the steel arch, keeping an impressed half-eye on Iona.

The Valkyries did things a little more… violently.

The Sixth presented arms, letting me walk through them.

The Valkyries had a complex and intricate weaving of flashing blades moving at superhuman speeds and strength. If Iona walked at exactly the right pace, she’d pass through them all without a single nick.

Worst case, she’d lose her head entirely. Literally.

In their tradition, it was a test of resolve, commitment, and bravery. Anyone could pass through, and the idea was simple. If they weren’t willing to test their lives against the steel, if they weren’t committed or brave enough to weather the storm, what sort of spouse would they make?

It was impressive, watching them-

My hands flew up into my face in horror as one of the Valkyries slipped, their blade going straight through Iona’s chest. She went down with a gurgle.

“Medic!”

Ugh. I knew it. I KNEW IT!

Door to door salesmen. A scourge in any reality, in every world. There was no escaping them! There was no getting away! I started to close the door in her face, with a quick “No thank you”.

“Wait!” She said, throwing her arm in the door.

Risky move - my level suggested I could accidentally crush her arm off if I wasn’t careful or slightly unbalanced. Thank goodness for dexterity.

“OneOfOurFavoriteItemsIsASlideToEjectUnwantedSalesmen.” She blurted out in an impressively fast go.

I paused closing the door.

“Right! I forgot we had one of those!” I said.

She tried to run. I activated the enchantment, a pitfall trap opening under her. From far away, I heard distant voices of the other [Traveling Salesmen].

“One of us! One of us!”

“Hey! No speaking without The Conch!”

The Dragon was deep in her lair, stirring. Layers upon layers of plots and plans were slowly ripening, coming to fruiting. It was time to reactivate one of her oldest assets.

With careful deliberation, she crafted a fine illusion, breathing life into it. She set it to walk free, seeing how it walked, ran, and jumped. How it would try to use skills.

Test after test it passed, and she was just about ready to unleash it upon the world again, a deadly agent to further her aims. Last was the voice test, trying out the name it had the last time it walked the world.

“Hi! I’m Sentinel Magic!”

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.

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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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