A Soul Reaping Lightbearer

by FallenDispair

An amalgamation of Bleach, Destiny, Cradle Series in the He Who Fights With Monsters universe. Jason will be OOC being older and more mature as an SASR vet. Bleach characters and lore with Destiny and Cradle Series Multiverse. There will be hollows and soul reapers with a twist. Jason will be a Lightbearer with a Ghost and Zanpakuto along with reaper abilities. Better sum inside.

6. Chapter 6

A Soul Reaping Lightbearer

I don't own anything. All rights belong to Shirtaloon -largely this work, Bungie, Will Wight and Tite Kubo.

Chapter 6: Waterfalls & Monsters

Jason was happily meandering around the circle road, frequently pausing to take in the village. It was one part wonder, another scanning his surroundings for potential threats. He'd stop and talk with villagers who proved more than ready for a conversation, his odd eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses he'd created with his Omnificence ability. Both due to the bright sun of the region and to keep from creeping out ordinary people. In large towns or cities people were used to seeing odd eyes like his due to the large number of essence users living there, but remote areas like this weren't familiar with such physical oddities caused from essence powers. The locals were proud of their village and rightly so, Jason was happy to acknowledge. The colorful houses looked inviting, everywhere was lush with greenery, so removed from the desert around it. The air was fresh, cool and clean. Jason thought back to Gary's claim about a gold coin buying whole buildings and found himself tempted.

The eager conversations also helped him ferret out local information. He was always the guy on the team that could get the local going-ons and rumors in any town, city or village. Reading and playing people were always a skill he excelled at and ended up mastering as he traveled to exotic and dangerous places. Usually trying to dig up additional intel on warlords, illegal arms dealers, human traffickers and even corrupt officials they were targeting. It was practically second nature now, and Jason tends to do it automatically.

He came across something that looked like a covered bus stop, but instead of a timetable there was a bulletin board with various pieces of paper pinned to it. Looking over them, he saw they were all descriptions of monsters, along with when and where the monster was last seen. He asked a passer-by about it and, true to form for the village, she was happy to explain. According to the villager, Doris, any time someone discovered a monster around the village they would write down the detail and put it up on the board. Every month some adventurers would pass through and clear out all the monsters on the board.

Doris was surprised at Jason's lack of knowledge about something so basic. As he had done a number of times that afternoon, he explained that he had recently come from an isolated area with little knowledge of the outside world.

It was more or less true.

Jason himself was as interesting to the locals as they were to him, as visitors were mostly the same selection of stone traders. Adventurers didn't often appear outside of the monthly patrol, and by all accounts were a surly bunch. Roaming the remote villages was apparently a punishment duty, so their visits weren't often friendly.

A group of higher-ranked adventurers passing though was the talk of the village. Jason was traveling with them, but wasn't an adventurer himself, making him more approachable. This was the perfect combination for villagers looking for gossip. Jason obliged with harrowing tales of blood cults and ritual sacrifice.

The locals showed Jason the best place to get a drink and where to avoid because it was full of drunken quarry workers. He met people who made a career out of diving the lake for water quintessence, the village mayor and the man in charge of guarding the waterfall. People were allowed to go up for a look, but there were guards at all hours to keep people out of the astral space aperture that was the water's source.

When the sun started to set, Jason watched the sky turn to red-gold from the bridge over the channel that flowed from the waterfall into the village lake. He knew from the locals that there would be a night market, and he slowly wandered in that direction. One of the earliest booths to set up was a man frying skewers of meat. The smell of the meat and the sauce he had on them was incredibly enticing.

"That smells amazing," Jason exclaimed. "I have to try one. I'm Jason by the way."

"Dan," the man introduced himself.

---

After handling the string of heidels, Kaname made his way into the village. He knew from their previous visit that the inns were all clustered together, so he had no concerns about finding the rest of the group. The sky was turning a rich blue, with orange and gold encroaching as twilight came over the desert. Along the ring road of the village, magic lamps were lighting up and some kind of night market was setting up. He came into the village along with a good many quarry workers who had finished up at the loss of the light. Moving amongst the gathering people, he saw a familiar face.

"Jason?"

"Oh, g'day, Kaname," Jason greeted with a wave. He was behind a stall selling skewered meat, helping what Kaname assumed was the stall owner to fry meat.

"What are you doing?" Kaname asked.

"Dan here is teaching me to cook... what was it called again?"

"Bruschard," Dan answered.

"It's a giant worm!" Jason gleefully said. "Luckily I tried it before I found that out."

"You seem to be adjusting well," Kaname commented.

"Yeah, no worries," Jason replied. "You go get your revenge, or whatever. I'm good here. Gary picked the inn on the end with the big livery, by the way. There's a sign with a little house and a cart on it."

"Thanks."

"Now," Jason said, turning back to Dan. "Give me those sauce ingredients again. I haven't heard of any of them, so I'll have to write them all down. Which means I'm going to need some paper..."

Jason snapped his finger, and a notepad and pen appeared into his hands, created through his omnificence ability.

"You're an adventurer?" Dan asked in surprise.

"Not yet," Jason answered. "I just got the essences and still need some training but one day."

"Good luck with that," Dan replied sympathetically, eyeing him oddly.

Kaname could understand the stall owner's reaction as Jason was a grown man in his early thirties. Most adventurer hopefuls were in their late teens, early twenties at the latest. He was a solid decade older than what was expected.

---

Gary blearily stumbled downstairs, his huge feet thundering on the wooden steps. Downstairs was a common area with a number of tables and a bar that saw use in the evenings. Gary wandered into an adjoining courtyard with more tables, to sit with Anisa, Kaname and Farrah at theirs.

"Jason not up?" Gary asked.

"I tried his room, but no answer," Kaname replied.

"Heavy sleeper?" Farrah supplied.

"He was sucked into another world and nearly sacrificed by cannibals," Gary mused. "He probably needs it."

A serving girl walked up to their table, "Are you looking for your friend? He's in the kitchen."

"What's he doing in the kitchen?" Farrah asked.

"Performing miracles!" Jason announced, walking into the courtyard. He was carrying a huge tray with four plates. He set it down on the table, distributing the plates and attendant cutlery.

"Turns out they have tamarind, and some kind of little onion," Jason informed, "so I made son-in-law eggs. No idea why they're called that, by the way. Or what kind of animal these eggs are from. Delicious, though."

The dish was eggs that had been boiled then deep-fried, served in halves with a sauce, fried onions and generous garnish. Jason handed the empty tray off to the serving girl before taking a place at the table.

"I had to play trial and error with some of the other ingredients," he confessed, "but it worked out pretty well. Martha is an absolute treat."

"Martha?" Farrah asked.

"These are fantastic," Gary mumbled around a forkful of egg.

"Martha's the landlady," Jason answered her.

"You really seemed to have settled in," Kaname commented.

Jason nodded, but didn't speak with his mouth full.

"These are good," Farrah said between bites.

"I'm quite satisfied sustaining myself with spirit coins," Anisa chimed in.

"Great," Gary replied, yanking her plate in front of himself.

"The way I look at things," Jason responded to Kaname, gesturing with an impaled egg, "is that coming here is like a fresh start. I've let loss and guilt drive me towards destroying my life, to the point that I ended up squandered more opportunities than I'd like to admit."

"There's no surprise," Anisa said flatly.

"Apparently being mean isn't impure," Jason mused, prompting Anisa to jump to her feet.

"You dare blaspheme?"

"Frequently," Jason laughed out. "It's kind of my thing."

"I think cooking might be your thing," Gary countered around another mouthful of eggs.

"I can have more than one thing."

Anisa was clearly about to erupt, but Kaname forestalled her. "Anisa. If you're not having breakfast, then go get ready to start out."

"I'm already prepared," she stiffly replied.

"Then take a walk," Kaname heavily suggested with a tone that left no room for argument.

Anisa glowered at Jason but walked away without speaking further. Kaname turned a weary gaze on Jason, "Is there any chance you could maybe not poke at her so much?"

"Seeing as she tried to burn me to death while I was out cold," Jason pretended to think about it for a moment. "Probably not."

Gary snorted a laugh.

"Could you at least try?" Kaname asked. "We both know she's never going to bend, so I need you to be the bigger person. For the unity of the team."

"You're better off without her," Jason stated matter-of-factly. "She'll cause nothing but trouble by the very virtue that she is a religious zealot. Unless you convert to her religion and cater to her every whim, like burning me at the stake, you'll always be at odds with Anisa."

"That's what I said when she first joined," Farrah agreed. "But healers are hard to get, and she came with the contract."

"And until we complete this job, we need her to work with us," Kaname pointed out.

"That's fair," Jason yielded. "I'll hold my tongue as best I can... for now. She just gets under my skin, you know?"

"Oh, we know," Farrah confirmed.

"Just be careful around her," Jason warned, "I've known her type in my world. They can justify anything they do in the name of their God."

"We're aware of that," Farrah replied. "I always keep an eye on her, just in case."

"So long as you stop poking at her, we'll be fine," Kaname added, then popped his fork into his mouth. "These are really good."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Farrah scolded him. "You're not Gary."

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" Gary asked around a mouthful of egg.

"So, how did your roaring rampage of revenge go?" Jason asked. "You did say you weren't going to kill him, right? Farrah seemed keen on torturing him, though."

"We didn't find him, but we have a trail to follow," Kaname explained. "We'll track him down, ask our questions, then hand him over to Anisa's church."

"Assuming we can run him down at all," Farrah fumed. "Seems our boy left town in a hurry yesterday morning."

"So, he was warned," Jason mused. "The only question is by who?"

"Maybe one of the cultists managed to escape," Farrah theorized. "We'll do some digging around town today, see what we can find. If we come up dry, we'll move on and leave it to Anisa's church."

"Well, you should start with Old Murph down at the general store," Jason advised. "He knows all the village secrets."

"Jason," Farrah responded curiously, "was the world you were summoned from this village?"

"Huh?" Jason replied with a raised brow. "I met him last night."

"So, will you be coming with us?" Kaname asked Jason.

"I've had quite enough blood-cult shenanigans, thank you very much, and have no real vested interest in hunting that man down. He betrayed you guys, and I'm new to this world with little-to-no understanding of the magic powers I just got. I'll slow you down. Besides, I found a guy who'll take me to the top of the waterfall. Apparently, there's a mountain path that leads all the way up."

"Surely they won't let you go into the astral space," Farrah replied.

"Sadly no," Jason confirmed. "They keep a guard up there to make sure no one mucks about with it. They'll let you get right up close for a look, though. I was going to invite you, but you've got your whole revenge thing going on."

"I bet the view is good up there," Gray mused. "I kind of want to go with you."

"Focus, Gary," Kaname chastised.

"If the guy's gone, he's gone," Gary replied. "If we're handing him over to Anisa's church anyway, just let them deal with it."

"No," Kaname demanded. "I have questions that need answering. We're going after him." He skewered his fork into another halved egg. "After breakfast."

"If you really want answers," Jason added, "then don't let Anisa near him."

"Why?" Farrah asked. "She and her church were betrayed by him as well. They'll want answers just as much as we do."

"I'm not so certain," Jason responded. "Something's off about this whole thing. I've been out of the game for over a year, but I still noticed a few things that don't make sense."

"Like what?" Kaname asked.

"Well, for starters, there's how your team got captured," Jason explained. "I'm assuming that you three are a well-oiled team that's been successful for a long while now, right?"

"That's correct," Kaname confirmed. "This was the first real failure we've had as a team. Not to say we never made any mistakes, but this one was the biggest and nearly cost us our lives."

"And this contract was brought to you by the church of Purity," Jason continued. "Who also sought to saddle you with Anisa. Who, happens to be a healer, the very thing your team has been missing and looking for."

"And?" Gary asked.

"You guys are experienced adventurers that are used to planning out every detail of whatever mission you take," Jason continued. "Yet, as soon you have Anisa join your team everything goes wrong."

"That's just a coincidence," Kaname stated. "You just don't like Anisa and it's influencing your opinion on the matter."

"I don't know," Gary cut in, "Jason's bringing up a good point. Everything started going wrong the moment she joined the team."

"And the church pointed us towards the guy that betrayed us as being their contact," Farrah added.

"Exactly," Jason agreed. "The church was in charge of the mission to irradicate the blood cult and part of their plan was pointing you in the direction of the guy who betrayed you."

Kaname seemed to think it over for a moment before shaking his head, "Anisa was captured with us and set up to be sacrificed with us. The only reason she wasn't with us in the ritual chamber was because you appeared and killed Landemere Vane. Not even the church of Purity could have arranged that."

"Don't get lost on the small details and miss the bigger picture," Jason warned. "I'll admit that I was an unexpected addition that ended up ruining whatever was going on. But Anisa still found a way to escape conveniently just as we arrived."

"Even if I believed what you're saying is true, what'd be the point in having us killed?" Kaname asked.

"Hm. The Vane Estate, maybe?" Jason guessed. "I'm still missing some major pieces and could just be jumping at shadows, but I can just feel like something else is going on. Landemere was a Vroshir acolyte after all, so he wasn't entirely loyal to the Blood Cult."

"A feeling isn't enough to accuse a church of betraying the Adventure Society," Kaname stated.

"Which would make your theory even less possible," Farrah agreed. "No church for any reason would risk reprisal from the most powerful organization on the planet just to kill three bronze rankers or to get the Vane Estate."

"They'd have too much to lose," Gary added, "and they'd risk the other churches turning on them. Bad business all around."

"Fine," Jason sighed in defeat. "Still, just be weary of Anisa."

"No problem," Gary replied. "Never trusted her in the first place."

"You mean you never liked her," Kaname corrected.

"That's true," Gary admitted.

---

Jason was glad that he'd kept up with his physical exercises -even having gotten up earlier to do his morning run before making breakfast- as he climbed the steep mountain trail. That, and years of running through rougher and longer terrain while dodging bullets.

Jason's guide on the waterfall track was a man of late-middle years named Hiram. Hiram's job was to watch over the aperture that was the source of the waterfall and the village's lifeblood. Jason had met him the night before, with Hiram agreeing to take Jason along when he started his shift in the morning.

Hiram was short, maybe 5'4" but with a barrel chest and limbs of thick, ropy muscle focused on pure strength. He was hauling a backpack half his own size up the mountain yet barely seemed to notice the weight. Jason could do the same easily enough as he'd been forced to carry even more while scaling a cliff-face, climbing a mountain and jogging through the desert.

Moisture from the huge waterfall scattered over the mountainside. Farrah had told him the water had a strong vitality, allowing the mountain's thick tree cover to grow, even under the desert sun. To his magical sight it looked like vibrant green mist that shrouded the entire area. The dense canopy gave the trail blessed shade, but the heat still made its presence felt. The heat of the desert and the moisture from the waterfall made the air thick and heavy, almost a chore to breathe.

To Jason, this small patch of desert felt more like a jungle.

There were regular stopping points along the trail, with benches to pause and rest. They didn't use them, but Jason would occasionally stop to take in the sight. Each resting spot was placed close to where the tree line met the waterfall, where the air was cooler and anyone resting could look out over the village. With every stop on the ascent, each higher than the last, the view became more and more magnificent. Jason had grown up in a little tourist town and knew the kind of money a place like this could make. He suspected his new world didn't see a lot of tourism.

"The flesh-eating monsters wouldn't help," Jason muttered to himself.

"What's that?" Hiram asked.

"Nothing," Jason said. "Best get going again, I guess."

The roar of the waterfall grew louder as they closed in on the point where it erupted from the side of the mountain. The trees became smaller and thinner as they approached the upper tree line.

"Getting close, now," Hiram informed loudly over the noise of rushing water. "These trees are around the same height as the fall, so only the closest ones see a lot of moisture."

The sound of the waterfall grew to a cacophony where they had to shout to hear each other. The final stretch of the trail was actually a cave that led into the mountain. There was a wooden walkway with grit glued on for purchase and a magic lamp to light the way. Jason was unpleasantly reminded of the cavern he had navigated below the Vane estate hedge maze.

It was the first time he had seen wood used in construction since arriving in the village. The buildings were made of stone, and even doors were made of woven reeds, suggesting the village didn't have much of a crime problem.

He also felt something odd, like an invisible membrane just out of reach.

{That's the astral space's dimensional membrane you're feeling,} Gordon informed him mentally. {You can't enter it unless you get to one of its apertures.}

{Dully noted,} Jason replied with a thought.

Once they entered the cave, the thundering sound of the waterfall was amplified in echo, making even shouting a futile effort. The cave was filled with wet air, and they moved forwards carefully. Hiram had great practice traversing the slippery wood as he never once lost his footing as he went along in a purposeful stride.

When lit up by the lamplight on glistening stone walls, the cave was quite pretty, with much of the stone a marble green. Compared to the humid exterior, cold, clean air blew over them from the tunnel. Jason enjoyed the refreshing feeling as they made their way towards the light he could see at the far end.

As they closed on the end of the tunnel, a cool mist wafted towards them. They reached the end of the tunnel and stepped out into a stone chamber. The first thing he noticed was the light, blue and shimmering, glinting off the mist. It gave the whole chamber the feeling of being underwater.

The chamber looked like it had once been a natural cavern, then later carved into more practical dimensions. The ceiling was untouched from the original cave, but the floor had been worked flat, with grooves cut into it for traction in all the wet.

The chamber's most arresting feature was the back wall, which wasn't a wall at all. A torrent of water, blasted in one side of the room and out the other, through a tunnel taller and deeper than the chamber itself. The whole chamber looked oddly like a subway station, with the rushing water in place of a train.

There was a fence of vertical bars in front of the water, like a safety rail going floor to ceiling. There was a gate in the middle of the fence, although Jason could not imagine a reason to go through it. The water looked like it would rip off any limb someone was foolish enough to shove into it.

Velocity kept the water on course instead if spilling into the room; gravity wouldn't win out until the water escaped the mountain. More than a little spray still escaped, filling the chamber with wet mist. It left the walls and floor slick with water and quickly made Jason and Hiram the same.

He'd wondered why his mana shield didn't stop the water when Gordon explained that it only reacted to attacks. Which made sense as always having a shield on would make being touched or touching others difficult. A life unable to be physically intimate, to feel the wind on your face or even the drizzle of rain would be dull, lifeless.

The water was also the source of the blue light. Either there were powerful magic lamps behind it, or the water had its own luminescence. Jason would have asked Hiram, but any attempt to talk would be futile over the sound of water. Thankfully, Gordon could speak directly into his mind and answered before being asked.

{It's the life magic in the water that gives it that luminescence. It's also why life can blossom in this baren desert region.}

Hiram went to the side of the chamber, where Jason noticed a glazed window set into the wall. Through the window was a second chamber, cut deeper into the mountain. Inside, a young man in a comfortable chair was giving them a wave.

There was a metal door next to the window, which Hiram opened and led Jason through. Beyond was a small antechamber, barely big enough to hold both men. A lamp was set firmly into the wall next to another metal door, which Hiram didn't open. With a door between them and the main chamber, the din from the water was greatly reduced. Jason noticed that there seemed to be some kind of seal around the door to keep the moisture out.

"Just wait a moment," Hiram instructed.

Jason looked about the tiny room, but there wasn't much to see. He spotted neat arrays of fingernail-sized holes in the floor and ceiling. As he was looking at them, hot, dry air blasted from them like a giant blow dryer.

"Close your eyes." Harim shouted over the rushing air. "The air will dry them out."

Jason did as instructed, waiting around half a minute as the air dried out his clothes and hair.

"It draws the dry desert air from the other side of the mountain," Hiram explained, "with a little bit of magic to help it dry faster."

When the air stopped, they were both nice and dry. Hiram opened the next door and took them inside. There was a comfortable-looking chair in front of the window, a number of cupboards, and an overstuffed bookshelf.

"Morning, boss," the young man greeted. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Jason," Hiram replied, dropping his backpack with a loud thud. "He's passing through with a group of adventurers and wanted to see the aperture. Jason, this is Griff."

"Traveling with adventurers," Griff said enviously. "That must be exciting."

"It has its moments," Jason responded.

They exchanged greetings and Griff made to leave.

"Any idea when Duggan will be back, boss?" he asked "I'm really looking forwards to sleeping during the night again."

"His wife is still on the mend," Hiram answered. "Probably another month."

Griff's shoulders slumped.

"Make it to the end of the week and I'll switch with you," Hiram offered.

"Thanks, boss."

Griff gave a weary smile and left. Jason looked out through the window as Hiram unloaded his backpack, stowing its contents in the cupboards.

"Ready for a closer look?" Hiram asked when he was done.

Jason grinned and Hiram led them back out. Leaving didn't trigger the drying mechanism again.

"It's set to go off when the outer door is opened first," Hiram answered his unspoken question.

Back out in the loud, wet chamber, they walked carefully over wet stone to reach the fence. They both grabbed a hold of the wet bars, which Jason noticed were engraved with magic symbols.

As they were close to the torrent, water sprayed over them both, but Jason didn't mind. There was a feeling of refreshment that was more than just cool water on a hot morning. He felt like a child running under a lawn sprinkler on a hot day. It was magic water rich with life. Was that the cause of his strange reminiscence, or was he homesick in a strange land?

He craned his neck to try and see the actual source of the water, but it came from somewhere deeper in the mountain where he couldn't see. As there was no way to talk over the noise, Hiram grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. Hiram pointed in the direction the water was flowing, and Jason spotted a tunnel on their side of the fence. The path and tunnel ran alongside the water, through which Jason could see daylight. He nodded at Hiram, and they started off in that direction.

The tunnel went all the way to the outside of the mountain, where the water broke free to tumble down through the air. There was a chest-high railing to keep people from falling off. The view was breathtaking. Below them was the pool where the waterfall landed and the channel flowing into the village lake. Beyond that lay the vast expanse of the desert.

Jason was taking in the view when he noticed the noise of the water seemed to be dimming. At first, he thought it was his imagination, but then he saw Hiram looking at the water stream with a confused expression. They watched the avalanche of water rapidly diminish, as if someone was turning off a giant tap. The flow dropped down to nothing, leaving an empty tunnel carved out by the water as smooth as a machine-made pipe.

"Is that meant to happen?" Jason asked, in the sudden silence.

"No, it isn't" Hiram replied, concern plain on his face.

"Has it ever happened before?"

"No, it hasn't."

"Should we tell someone?"

"It's a waterfall. I'm pretty sure everyone noticed."

Hiram returned to the interior room, ignoring the blast of warm air to rush inside, still wet. He came back out with a large key, unlocked the gate and dropped down into the curved floor of the water tunnel. Jason dropped down with no hesitation, intent on following. Hiram glanced at Jason, but didn't comment.

Jason immediately spotted the aperture, some twenty meters down the pipe. It was a huge circle with a surface that shimmered with the same blue light the water had produced. Through the circle he could make out what looked like a rainforest, but the distortion of the circle made it blurry and indistinct.

"Is that sky?" Jason asked in disbelief. "Is there a whole world through there?"

"Never actually been through to see," Hiram informed, not able to answer Jason's question.

{Yes, there is,} Gordon supplied the answer. {A miniature physical reality a fraction the size of the region it's attached to.}

A large shape crawled into view through the aperture and Jason instantly conjuring his armor on instinct. Not noticing that his armor had changed a bit. He opened his inventory screen and removed his sealed Asauchi out of his soul vault. Holding the combat knife with both hands, left pointer finger through the ring and hand on the blunt side of the blade and chanted:

"Reap our prey and protect the pack, Seitoshi Okami-tachi."

The knife glowed and separated into the two black and green dual pistols with matching curved energy blades at the ends of the barrels.

The action had proved to be the right move as it lumbered through the aperture and into the tunnel, like passing through a sheet of water. It had the body and head of a shark, but instead of skin it had a plated shell in hues of dark purple and red. Emerging from its sides were eight crab legs and a huge pair of pinchers. The creature was three meters long and the pincers were bigger than Jason's head.

"Are those a common appearance around here?" Jason asked, his black and green pistols leveled at the creature. His tone hard.

"No," Hiram answered gravely. "That's new." He drew the knife on his belt. "I don't suppose you know what that thing is?"

"Nope," Jason answered while fingering the triggers and adjusting his aim.

"You any good with... uh, those things?" Hiram asked.

"I'm a surgeon with them, and for reference, they're called guns," Jason explained. "You have any essences? Is that what I've been feeling in your aura, there?"

"One," Hiram said. "You're an adventurer? I thought the people with you were the adventurers."

The creature was moving up the tunnel, but at a lethargic pace. Its crab legs were better suited to sideways movements than forwards, so it was shuffling side to side as it approached. The back-and-forth motion was hampered by the curved sides of the pipe-like tunnel.

A literal fish in a barrel.

"They are," Jason confirmed. "I have the essences, but they're very new."

"You can try them out here then," Hiram replied. "I guess you're in luck."

Jason smirked as he replied, "That's exactly what I was thinking. Now, you might want to take a step back and cover your ears. It's going to get very loud and messy in here."

Hiram gave Jason an uncertain look before taking a few steps back and covering his ears.

Shark's eyes were small and beady, making them a hard target in the dim tunnel, but his electromagnetic sight power let him see with perfect clarity. Even with the increased sight, it would still be a hard target for most to hit even on this lumbering monster, but not Jason.

A rapid staccato of loud bangs ushered in a four round burst that unleashed black coated green bullets through one of its eyes. The second, third and fourth bullets followed the heels of the first, slamming into it, bursting the entire eye socket. Brain and skull were revealed under the carapace and bloody flesh, blackish green energy spreading through it.

With a look to the corner of his vision he saw a minimized prompt and willed it forward.

[Shab] has been afflicted by [Ravenous Death]

The prompt repeated itself three more times, one for each shot, which were deafening in the echoing chamber.

In his world, such a shot would have killed anything, but this shark-crab monster just screeched in agony and kept lumbering forward. Kaname was right about the toughness of monsters and how his knowledge of killing from his world wouldn't be enough.

But when all else fails, just keep hammering away until it finally drops. No matter how durable something may be, it'd eventually break if you just keep on chipping away at it. Even diamonds could break if enough effort was put into destroying them.

So, he just kept firing more rounds down range, focused on its cracking armored face. Eventually, after twenty odd rounds, its head was nothing more than pulp with black-green energy rooted throughout its body.

Jason was concerned when its headless body still shambled along a couple more steps, but thankfully, it collapsed as its legs gave out. The pincers lifted up weakly in a last gesture of defiance before falling still.

You have defeated [Shab]

Jason was relieved that removing the creature's head in its entirety was enough. It'd be a real problem for his future if it took more than completely destroying heads to kill a monster.

It took more to kill a monster than a human, but they could still be felled with his gunslinging skills. Otherwise, he'd have to completely rework his fighting style. Though, obviously he'll still need more specific training with using his new abilities and dealing with monsters. What if there were headless monsters out there or ones made out of steel?

The shab burst into a swarm of siva nanites that looked like a cloud of glowing red and black particles, getting Hiram and Jason to step back warily.

[Shab] was killed by you, triggering [Virulent Outbreak], wholly annihilating it. It has been looted automatically.

[Monster Core (Iron Rank)] has been added to your inventory.

2 [Shell-Skin Extracts] has been added to your inventory.

10 [Water Quintessence] have been added to your inventory.

100 [Iron Rank Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

"It's fine," Jason told him as they circled around. "They're from one of my abilities and will only attack enemies." With no hostiles nearby the cloud dissolved into nothing.

"Whatever you say," Hiram replied loudly. "You weren't kidding about it getting loud in here. My ears are still ringing, but it definitely did the trick, and quick. Are you sure you're not an adventurer?"

"Not yet," Jason replied. "Kaname told me an adventurer needs to know how to use all their abilities effectively, not just the ones' they're good at using."

Jason went over what he'd gotten from the shab and he knew what most of those were, except for the shell-skin extract. Thus, he holstered his guns -using his omnificence ability to create them again, nanites securing them as the blades made a traditional one impossible- and pulled it out of his inventory to check it out.

Item: [Shell-Skin Extract] (iron rank, uncommon)

Extract that carries properties that increases the hardness/density of skin (ingredient, natural).

"Boss!" Griff called out from the other side of the fence. "I came back when I couldn't see or hear the waterfall. Then there was what sounded like a bunch of tiny explosions. What happened?"

"No idea," Hiram yelled back. "I imagine people are coming up here to check on things, but I'm not sure what they'll accomplish. I think we might need to bring in those adventurers of yours, Jason."

"I was thinking the same thing," Jason agreed, without turning to face the others. His gaze was focused on where the tunnel went deeper into the mountain.

"Is it just me," he asked, "or is the aperture bluer than it was before?"

Hiram followed Jason's gaze down the tunnel. The blue shimmer of the aperture was definitely brighter than it had been before.

"I think," Hiram said, "it might be time to get out of-"

He was cut off by a wall of water erupting through the aperture and down on top of them. It smashed them together in a tangle of arms and legs. Both were blasted down the tunnel and hurled into the air, hundreds of meters above the ground.

Sensations came faster than Jason could process, pain, wet, disorientation. He couldn't tell which way was up.

Jason and Hiram had clutched onto each other reflexively, their limbs tangled together. Landscape blurred past as they spun through the air, tumbling like the now-resumed waterfall. Jason's first coherent thought was Hiram slipping away and he reasserted his grip and activating the air-walking property of his Shinigami Soul Vault racial gift. He slid back on his feet, his right-hand gripping at the air to aid in slowing them down.

Jason was grateful that his air-walking could be activate at a thought. If it had required an incantation like a spell, he doubted he would have been able to get the words out with how dazed he was.

Hiram was out cold, hanging limply from Jason's left side while his right checked and confirmed that he still had his Seitoshi Okami-tachi.

The force with which they were ejected they had been expelled some distance away from the mountain before he reoriented himself on the air. With careful, deliberate steps down, they landed close to the channel leading from the pool under the mountain to the village lake. Jason gently placed Hiram on the ground and inspected his condition. The man had blood dripping out of his nose and ears and several bones seemed broken.

Which wasn't a surprise as even Jason felt pain fading from all over his body, his armor cracked, but those cracks were closing visibly. That was when, for the first time, he realized his armor was different than before.

"What happened to my armor?"

The chest piece had become dragon shaped with a scale pattern and two electric blue eyes on each side of his torso. The helm had become drastically different as the visor became a vertical electric blue line going down from the forehead to the mouth. It'd also gained a swept back look with scarlet scale pattern and electric blue energy around the ears and back of the head. The cloth on the right side along his hip to his knee had become a screen of electricity with circuitry running throughout it.*

{It changed due to you bonding with the Weeping Dragon,} Gordon informed. {Your racial armor now has electrical energy flowing through it that can stun enemy targets that get through our shield.}

"Great," Jason absently replied as he pulled out a bronze recovery potion and tipped it down Hiram's throat.

As Hiram healed, Jason took a look around, surveying the area. They were about halfway between the mountain and the village, in an expanse of shin-high grass. The channel ran dead straight through the grass from the base of the waterfall to the village. He could see people heading for the mountain trail he and Hiram had taken earlier. None of them seemed to have noticed his and Hiram's descent.

On the other side of the channel were a bunch of children who had been looking up at the absent waterfall until they spotted Jason and Hiram fall from the sky. Jason gave them a wave. He then looked back up at the mountain and saw how far he had just fallen. Before he could think about the massive plunge his face-hardened unseen under his helm upon catching sight of something thing... things.

"Uh..." Hiram groaned awoken, getting unsteadily to his feet. He looked uncertainly at Jason, still armored.

"Hiram, I know you just recovered but..." Jason warned in a hard tone, still looking up at the mountain and drawing his dual pistols. "Our troubles aren't over yet."

Hiram followed Jason's line of sight to the top of the waterfall. He spotted objects being tossed out the same way he and Hiram had been, at least a dozen of them.

"Are those people?" Hiram asked hopefully. They were distant and hard to make out as they fell.

"Those aren't people," Jason dashed his hopes.

As they fell from the sky, the objects grew larger in their vision. Horror crossed Hiram's face as he recognized the shape of the creatures.

"More of those things!" Hiram said with horror.

"Don't be too worried," Jason pointed out. "They're half-shark, half crab. Neither of which have wings."

The large creatures must have been expunged out after the initial blast of water and fell well short of the distance Jason and Hiram had reached. The first one hit the ground with a sickening crunch, with others soon following. Jason counted seventeen by the time they finished falling, most of which died on impact. Those that fell to either side of the water channel hit the ground and didn't get up. Of the six that landed in the water, two struck the surface at a bad angle. Hitting water flat from that height was as good as hitting solid concrete, with similar results. The other four survived but were clearly injured as they staggered out of the water.

One of the monsters had emerged on Jason and Hiram's side of the channel, the others on the far side. They all looked about, disoriented, then made a straight line for the village. The sideways walk of the creatures wasn't a breakneck pace but was faster than what Jason had seen from the one in the tunnel.

He stared at the creature on their side of the channel. It looked to have at least two broken legs and the shell around its body was cracked and oozing. He could feel the weeping dragon inside him salivating at the meal and urging him to let her loose. It was weird that he could feel that it was a she and her desire to feed, to sink her teeth and claws into the shab.

Jason eyed the children on the other side and unleashed the azure dragon. She surged out of him as a dragon shaped lightning bolt that grew larger, more detailed and substantial. She roared like the booming of thunder and dark clouds started forming overhead. His aura effect blending with his familiar's own to create storm clouds that rained serpentine dragons of thunder that converge on the Shab. The Weeping Dragon didn't need any more direction as it pounced gleefully on its wounded prey.

"What in the merry gardens it that?" Hiram shouted out fearfully.

"My familiar, she'll handle this one," Jason informed.

"She?"

"Come on, we'll get the kids, and you'll escort them back to the village," Jason explained. "Then I'll deal with the other shabs."

"Are you up for that?" Hiram asked.

"I can handle myself," Jason answered, helm down to flashing Hiram a grin as he holstered his guns and quickly bull-rushed him, tossing him over his shoulder.

Jason had kept going into a full sprint towards the channel with a sputtering Hiram. It was a natural waterway, thirty or so meters across. Jason leapt off the short embankment, landing on the air above the gentle flowing surface of the water as if it were solid ground. He sprinted over the surface to the other side with an unhappy Hiram over his shoulder. He ducked down briefly as one of the dead shabs floated past, long enough to brush his fingers over its shell.

Would you like to loot [Shab]?

Jason kept moving as he looted the body, rainbow smoke rising behind him.

1 [Monster Core (Iron Rank)] has been added to your inventory.

2 [Shell-Skin Extracts] have been added to your inventory.

20 [Water Quintessence] have been added to your inventory.

100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

After climbing onto the grass on the opposite embankment the kids, five of them, came running up to Jason and an annoyed Hiram with the fearlessness of children.

"Are those things monsters?" one of them asked.

"Yes," Jason told them. "You need to run back to the village."

"Are you going to fight them?"

"Yes. You need to run back to the village," he insisted with a harder tone.

"Can we watch?"

"No," Hiram's voice booked no room for argument as he recovered and inserted himself into the conversation. "We need to go and warn the village. Now move children."

The children groaned but didn't fight Hiram ushering them away as they moved towards the village.

As they started sprinting away, Jason turned to look at the three shabs that were scurrying alongside the channel in his direction. They had emerged from the water much closer to the mountain than where Jason had landed, placing him comfortably between them and the village.

You have defeated [Shab].

Jason turned to see his soul-bonded familiar let out a bloody, victorious roar over the dead, shredded shab.

"Huh? I guess because it's my familiar it counts as my kill," Jason mused. "But what about the-"

[Weeping Dragon] has claimed kill, negating [Virulent Outbreak].

It quickly went from triumph to devouring the monster and sating its hunger. With every mouthful of monster Jason could feel her getting slightly stronger.

"That explains that... I guess," Jason muttered aloud.

{Guardian,} Gordon spoke up, {I have an idea.}

"Alright, fire away," Jason replied.

{If you use the Siva power with your Omnificence ability, I can shape it into a combat construct. While you focus on one of the shabs I can control the construct and handle another. Dividing the enemy's numbers.}

"You can do that?"

{Yes, Guardian.}

"Will you still be able to control my vision power?"

{Yes, I can partition my mind and carry out various tasks at once.}

"Okay, let's do it."

He held his hand out in front of him and nanoparticles of black diamonds and red veins poured out like a swarm of nates mixed with snakes clouded in a pile. Then he activated his creation power, and it rapidly formed into a Garry-sized mechanical spider tank. It was black armored with blood-red vines running through it with a mounted cannon on its back with launchers attached to its sides, and a repeater cannon for a nose. Gordon called it a Walker, a common Builder division weapon's platform.

"That's awesome, but how did all that fit inside me? Never mind, we have more important things to do."

The shabs have started moving closer, but with their wounded bodies from the great fall, they still haven't made much progress. Chattering and shambling along on broken crab legs.

"Alright Gordon," Jason ordered. "Mark the closest shab on the right as your priority target, destroy it and then move on to intercept the farthest target on the left."

{Acknowledged,} Gordon replied, and the Siva Walker moved in the direction of the shab on the right with its own lumbering, heavy steps.

Jason moved off at a full sprint towards the shab in the middle and drew his Seitoshi Okami-tachi. He needed to get familiar with all his abilities and now he'd try out a few on the wounded monsters.

He was only halfway when an earth-shattering boom made him stumble and whirl to the right. Where he saw what was left of the shab he assigned Gordon. Its entire top half was just gone, and the legs were splattered into chunks all over the place. The barrel of the cannon on its back was smoking a little.

"I think you're stronger than I am, Gordon," Jason mused.

You have defeated [Shab]

As the Siva Walker reorients itself to move on its secondary target, the shab's remains burst into a cloud of nanoparticles and sped into the nearest shab. It screeched as they started eating away its carapace. Jason refocused on the one he hadn't even engaged yet. It was starting to hurt his pride a bit as both his companions have easily and quickly killed their targets.

He activated the Golden Gun ability and just like when he'd used Shadowshot he was subsumed in energy, but a radiant yellow orange. It also included his Asauchi as they glowed just as radiantly as his entire form.

Leveling his glowing guns, he squeezed the right's trigger, and a solar round fired out and burned the air as it slammed into its shelled head. It proceeded to burst apart into charred shell and fused flesh. It then, just like the other two shabs he and Gordon killed, it burst into a cloud of siva nanoparticles and moved on the last shab. But they stopped short and faded away as another prompt flashed in his periphery and heard the tell-tell sound of the rapid fire of a machine-gun.

Jason saw his spider-tank construct zeroing in on its second shab being fed on by a red-black cloud. The repeater nose gun firing a hailstorm of rounds into the slow crab-walking shab, chunks of it blasting away. It wouldn't be much longer until it joined its fellows. Especially as grenades started firing out of the launcher attached to its main cannon and exploding as they landed next to the bloodied shab.

You have defeat [Shab]

Just then the gun fire and explosions from Gordon stopped as the last shab was reduced to a mass of bloody chunks that burst into another nano-cloud. The auto-loot prompt popping up with the rest.

That was when he noticed that he was still glowing like the sun and felt he had two shots left. But with no targets he just willed the power off which incidentally shortened its cooldown period.

Jason reabsorbed the Siva nanites, the Walker breaking back down into them and was about to head back across the channel when he saw his apocalypse beast eating one of the fallen shabs that died on impact. Fearing that his gluttonous familiar would eat them all, growing strong with each monster meal, he quickly moved to loot the remaining shab corpses. He'd gotten some more iron monster cores, water quintessence, shell skin elixirs and spirit coins, from each one but a surprise water essence.

Jason raised his eyebrows at the loot message. From his adventuring companions Jason had gotten the impression that essences were fairly rare, in spite of his own experiences. He took the essence out of his inventory, a shimmering blue cube reminiscent of the aperture.

Item: [Water Essence] (unranked, common)

Manifested essence of water (consumable, essence).

Effect: Imbues 1 awakened water essence ability and 4 unawakened water essence abilities.

You have absorbed 4/4 essences.

You are unable to absorb [Water Essence].

Jason stored the cube and took out another object he looted from the shab. It was a monster core, which he had seen before, but this one was iron rank, compared to the lesser ranked ones already in his possession. It was teardrop-shaped, like a lesser core, but slightly larger and a more vibrant red.

Item: [Monster Core (Iron)] (iron rank, common)

The magic core of an iron rank monster (crafting material, magic core).

Effect: Common component for ritual magic and magic item creation. Can be absorbed directly to advance essence abilities.

Absorb Y/N?

Jason's eyes went wide when he saw it could really advance his essence abilities. Kaname had told him as much and he now had an ability that would allow him to absorb them without eating away at his potential. He was behind those his own age and needed to get stronger as fast as possible. But he still held reservations.

Then his eyes ventured over to his large azure dragon familiar that was moving towards him, her temperament coming off perturbed.

"I wanted to eat them," the weeping dragon growled out in a deep, yet clearly female voice.

Jason had dissolved his armor and gave the gluttonous dragon a raised brow look, "Then you should have helped kill them instead of stuffing your face. As for the already dead ones, well, first come first serve."

She growled, the air rumbling along with the dark storm clouds overhead. Jason wasn't worried as he could feel that she was too proudful to argue the merits of keeping one's kill, but her hunger was ravenous. So, she snorted ruefully and turned her head.

"Hmm... Do you have a name? I can't just keep calling you Weeping Dragon," Jason stated. "It'd be like calling me human."

{You're not human anymore,} Gordon reminded him.

"But I was born a human," Jason refuted.

The azure dragon eyed him with one eye, still sulking at not getting to eat the other shabs but eventually responded, "No, I do not. Once my kind are born, we spend all our time in the astral hunting and eating other spirits."

"Do you want me to give you one?"

"If you wish," she growled out flippantly, but Jason could sense a desire coming through their bond.

Jason took a moment to think about it, as it was more important than the large dragon was letting on. An azure dragon was one of the legendary four guardian beasts of Japan, his father's ancestral home and he figured a name on par with a deity would stroke the dragon's pride.

"I think I'll call you Seiryu," he supplied. "It's based off a legendary deity-like dragon from my birth world. How do you like it?"

She hummed int thought, sounding like rumbling thunder before answering, "Adequate."

"Then it's a pleasure to meet you, Seiryu," Jason greeted.

"It is your pleasure," Seiryu replied haughtily, head raised high.

Jason chuckled, getting her to turn on him and growl out, "Careful, Lightbearer. You may be my summoner, and we are bound together intrinsically but if I deem you too weak or you fail to quench my hunger, I will eat you." Her maw had opened wide in a fang filled grin.

Jason's chuckle turned nervous as he replied, "Understood."

Seiryu snorted in his face and shot back into him as a bolt of lightning.

Jason sat down on the wet grass for a well-earned rest and firmed his mind. He pulled out one of the fifteen iron rank monster cores he had and absorbed it. The gem dulled as light poured out of it and into him, before breaking down into nothingness.

You have absorbed monster core energy. It will be evenly applied to all your essence abilities. The hunger aspect of your soul has prevented the energy from impeding your ability advancement through non-energy absorption methods.

You have absorbed sufficient energy to advance all your abilities by 0.75%.

"Huh," Jason said unimpressed. "It will really take a lot of cores to advance."

---

In the garden courtyard of the inn, Jason sat comfortable in the late afternoon shade, having eaten a large lunch... for two by himself when Gary and Farrah walked into the courtyard.

"Hey," Jason greeted them. "Where have you all been? There was some excitement here."

"We found out the guy that betrayed us had a cabin in the desert," Farrah informed. "There's a cave where he'd go searching for earth quintessence. We thought that might be where he had holed up."

Jason heard a door slam open inside the inn. He got up and went into the common room to look and saw Martha the landlady doing the same. What they saw was a fuming Kaname stomp loudly up the stairs, followed by the sound of another slamming door.

"How did he get that reed door to slam so loud?" Jason wondered aloud. "They're really light."

"A heady combination of finesse and rage," Farrah explained.

"I take it Anisa killed him before you could question him," Jason guessed.

"Yes," Farrah confirmed. "We should have taken your warning more seriously."

"It's fine," Jason replied. "I had no real proof and just a few theories. Acting on supposition is dangerous."

"Doesn't change that you were right about her," Gary added. "If we'd taken even a little precaution we could have gotten some answers."

"On that note," Jason said. "Why was Kaname so set on talking to the guy anyway? I can get wanting answers and even revenge, but he seems to be taking this too personally."

"We can sit down for that," Gary replied, "but I could really use a drink first."

"Just use a spirit coin," Farrah suggested.

"We can do better than that," Jason supplied. "Martha, could we get some of that fruit punch?"

"Anything for you, sweetie."

"What is it with you and the people in this village?" Farrah asked as they walked back into the courtyard and sat down at a picnic table. "I could swear I heard people talking about you when we came back into town."

"It was quite the kafuffle," Jason answered. "I'll get into it later."

Martha came in with a huge jug filled with juice and large chunks of ice. Her nephew, Harold, followed with a trio of glasses.

"Thanks, Martha," Jason said, filling each of the glasses. One was even a Gary-sized mug with a big handle.

After the landlady and her nephew left, Jason asked again about Kaname.

"The area we come from," Farrah explained, "has a higher density of magic than this region, so the monsters there are stronger, on average. In this region, iron-rank monsters are the norm, with a good smattering of bronze-rank. Silvers can show up, but only very occasionally."

"But where we come from," Gary added, "you get more silver rank monsters than anything. You see as many golds as you do bronze, and sometimes, very rarely, even a diamond rank monster. And if iron ranks do appear, there's always about forty of the pricks."

He chugged half of his giant glass at a go, topping it off from the jug.

"You're from one of those big cities?" Jason asked.

"That's right," Gary confirmed. "Vitesse."

"The City of Flowers," Farrah added.

"That's weird," Jason mused. "There's a language in my world where Vitesse means speed."

"Not how it works in our city," Gary replied.

"Vitesse is as leisurely as any place you'll find," Farrah explained. "Culture, cuisine. Lots of money floating around, even at the low end. A laborer in Vitesse can make as much as a craftsman here."

"Not a good craftsman," Gary corrected, "but still..."

"What does any of this have to do with Kaname being angry?" Jason asked.

"Well, around here an iron rank adventurer can wander about in relative safety," Gary clarified. "If some monsters show up then an iron rank adventurer can go after them on their own, or with a small team."

"But around Vitesse," Farrah continued, "that's just asking for death. Even bronze rankers go out with a silver ranked escort. Coming here was our big chance to strike out on our own."

"Prove ourselves," Gary added.

"And then you went and got captured," Jason understood. "Kaname is in charge, so he blames himself."

"Exactly," Farrah confirmed, "but you don't understand the level of pressure on him. His family operates the Remore Academy, which is a big deal everywhere, not just Vitesse."

"Let me guess," Jason chimed in. "Kaname is the living paragon of this academy's teaching methods, so when he fails it's a black mark on his family's reputation,"

"His family isn't like that," Gary informed. "They understand better than most that failure is a valuable lesson. Kaname is the one putting pressure on himself."

"More than anything, he blames himself for putting us in danger," Farrah continued. "He takes responsibility seriously and he thinks he let us down."

"The reason he was obsessed with catching the guy," Farrah clarified, "was so he could find out what he did wrong. Kaname works harder than anyone to avoid making a mistake once, let alone twice. In his eyes, Anisa took away his chance to understand what he did wrong. As far as Kaname is concerned, what Anisa did was the same as putting the team in danger."

"She was covering her tracks," Jason commented, "Kaname's mistake was letting someone new on the team without vetting them first. Then, following their leads right into a trap. Unverified information is unreliable information."

"You might be right," Farrah conceded. "But there's still no proof that Anisa and her church set us up."

"Not that we don't believe you," Gary quickly added. "Anisa definitely set us up to be killed by cannibals, but without solid evidence to back it up, we'd never stand a chance against the church of purity. Churches have too much power and influence for even Kaname's family to make such an allegation."

"Somehow that's not surprising," Jason replied. "Churches in my world could get away with anything too."

"This is really good," Farrah said after emptying her glass of fruit punch, veering off topic.

"I know, right?" Jason agreed refilling her glass. "I'll have to ask what's in it. Most of the local ingredients I've never even heard of. I created a notebook last night at the market to jot down recipes."

They heard the front door of the inn slam open again.

"That door's going to get ruined," Jason commented.

Anisa strode out into the courtyard, storming up to Jason.

"Why is everyone talking about you like you're the town hero?" she asked, her face filled with fury.

"What? Don't like some impure guy doing more good than you, priestess?" Jason mocked.

Anisa's hand flashed towards him; her bronze-rank reflexes too fast for Jason to react. Not too fast for Gary, however, who clamped her wrist in his huge, hairy hand. Anisa glared at Gary as she tugged at her arm, but his grip didn't budge.

"Not happening," Gary said with a hard edge.

"He's a blasphemer that needs to be purged," Anisa insisted.

"It doesn't matter," Kaname said, striding into the courtyard and squared off against Anisa, who'd broken away from Gary to confront him.

"He's tainted," she sneered. "We need to burn him."

"You don't get a say in what we do anymore, Anisa. Especially when it comes to killing people. You're out."

"What are you talking about?"

"This was always a temporary collaboration," Kaname stated coldly. "The collaboration ends here."

"Over him?" she asked incredulously, gesturing at Jason.

"No, Anisa, over you," Kaname clarified. "You decide for yourself when to listen and when to do whatever you like. You're willing to place even your slightest ideal over the wellbeing of this team and that is unacceptable. The most important thing in a team is trust, and I don't trust you."

"You're all impure filth," Anisa spat out like it was a curse.

She turned, marched away, and they heard the door slam as she departed the inn. Kaname was stewing on the spot, Jason, Farrah and Gary sharing wary looks.

"I think we may be paying for a new door," Gary commented.

---

"Mr. Mayor, are you certain you don't want us to investigate the astral space?" Kaname asked.

"We considered it," the mayor answered, "but we are only one of many places with an aperture leading to that astral space. We have no idea if the other locations are having similar issues, and the cost of a mistake could be critical."

"I respect your prudence, Mr. Mayor," Kaname replied. "As promised, I'll deliver your letters to the Adventure and Magic Societies when we reach Greenstone."

"Thank you."

The mayor had met them at the inn as they were readying to go. They were traveling on foot as Anisa had claimed the wagon and its animals for her church, which Kaname didn't bother to argue. Hiram stood alongside the mayor.

"Farewell, adventurers," the mayor said, "and thanks again, Jason. I don't like to think what would have happened if those creatures had entered the village."

"No worries, Greg," Jason responded, shaking the mayor's hand, then Hiram's.

"If there's anything I can ever do for you," Hiram offered.

"Nope," Jason laughed away his offer. "I was just doing what any essence user would have done."

"I'm not sure about that," Hiram replied, "but I hope to see you again."

"That shouldn't take long," Farrah reassured. "The Adventure Society uses patrol contracts as punishment and..."

She placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. "...this one has a mouth on him."

"Hey," Jason responded with mock hurt on his face. Then he thought about it for a moment, remembering how he'd cursed out a silver ranker and repeatedly needled Anisa, and added, "That's fair."

They set out along the road on foot. Jason didn't mind so much, since the wagon hadn't been a comfortable ride over the hard desert ground. On their walk out of the village it seemed like everyone gave them a friendly wave or a few words of farewell.

"We've been here two days," Farrah muttered.

"Not my fault you weren't here when monsters started raining from the sky," Jason replied.

They set out along the southern trail normally used by quarry transports, leaving the lush village behind for the dry wastes of the desert. Jason had trekked through several deserts in his life and was thusly used to it. Thinking on his surroundings, he realized that it wasn't that different to parts of central Australia.

They were on an unsealed road, compacted to a hard surface by the scorching sun and heavy wagonloads of quarried stone. Wagons full of green marble rolled along the road in the same direction they were headed, while wagonloads of food came the other way.

"Did you really name your familiar Seiryu?" Gary asked as they walked.

"Yup," Jason answered. "It means azure dragon."

"That's fitting," Farrah commented.

"You should have given it a more intimidating name, like 'Devourer' or something," Gary argued.

"Gary, it's an all-devouring apocalypse monster. It's intimidating enough." Jason pointed out.

Farrah, Gary and Jason chatted away as they walked. Kaname was still withdrawn after his confrontation with Anisa.

"This region seems to have a rather inhospitable environment," Jason commented.

"It gets much worse closer to the coast," Farrah informed. "At least here you can see some grass, the occasional tree. There, it's just endless, lifeless sand. Dry and dead, like the sun scorched all the life out of it."

"That's cheery," Jason replied.

"We won't need to trudge through that," Gary cut in. "We're headed south now until we hit the river, then we'll take a boat west to the coast."

They encountered a wagon that had been carrying fresh fruit to the village when it threw a wheel. While Gary and Farrah fixed the wagon, Jason and Kaname helped pick up the spilled fruit. Gary used one of his forge essence powers to repair the wheel. Jason was startled as Farrah used superhuman strength to lift the wagon so Gary could slip the wheel back on the axle. Gary at least looked like he had overpowering strength. Seeing the same kind of power from Farrah was startlingly incongruous, and admittedly sexy.

"What's wrong?" Farrah asked Jason, having noticed his wide-eye stare.

"I thought you were some kind of spell caster," Jason answered. "What's with that strength?"

"I have some spells," Farrah explained, "but humans have an affinity for special attacks. I spend most of my time up close and personal. The spells just give me a little flexibility."

"I don't have any spells at all," Kaname chimed in. "Farrah having as many as she does is unusual."

The wagon fixed; the grateful teamster left them walking away eating some kind of juicy melon. Jason, Kaname and Farrah had a slice each, while Gary ate the rest of the melon. Afterward, Kaname seemed a little less broody than he had for most of the day.

"Where are they getting fresh fruit in the desert?" Jason asked.

"You'll get to see for yourself soon enough," Kaname told him.

---

Late in the afternoon they came across a town, enclosed in massive walls made of tan-colored, desert stone. It was laid out in a square with large gates in every wall. Inside was a town mostly built of the same bland bricks as the walls. The town's layout was based around a huge central square, with wide, straight roads leading from the town gates right into it. The square was a bustle of activity, covered in wagons hauling the local green stone.

"This is the main distribution point for all the green marble in this region," Farrah explained. "There are villages like the one we stayed in all through the region. From here it all gets taken south and shipped downriver on barges."

"I figured there were more when they told me the name of the village was Northeast Quarry Village Four," Jason replied.

"No wonder they all just called it the Village," Gary commented.

"What's with the huge walls?" Jason asked. The walls surrounding the town were at least seven meters high and almost three meters thick. "Is this a fortress?"

"In a sense, yes. The walls are for the monster surge," Kaname answered.

"What's a monster surge?" Jason asked.

"Every ten years," Kaname explained, "there's a massive increase in the spawn rate of monsters. All across the world, all at the same time. Whole villages evacuate to fortified towns like this one, which is why most of this town is actually empty. So long as there isn't anyone left in the villages, the monsters largely leave them alone."

{Monster surges are common in magic rich worlds,} Gordon spoke into all their minds through Jason's interface ability. {Though, depending on the iteration's dimensional membrane the time between surges can vary.}

"That's fascinating," Farrah commented. "You could probably publish a new text on astral theory with what you know. I could help."

{My astral magic is rather basic, but I will consider it Miss Hurrian.}

"Good, because our astral magic is miniscule," Farrah replied. "So, any insights you give would be a boon to our understanding."

"So how long has it been since the last monster surge?" Jason asked Kaname.

"Eleven years." Kaname answered.

"It's never exactly ten years," Farrah clarified. "It's been as little as eight or as many as thirteen. The last few have all come pretty late."

They didn't need to find an inn to stay the night. Most of the town was composed of transient shelters that villagers used during the surges, which were available to anyone passing through. Mostly that meant teamsters hauling stone one way or food the other. Kaname led them to register in the square, where they were provided basic accommodation without cost. After they found the simple stone cottage to which they had been assigned, Kaname approached Jason.

"There's still a few hours of light," Kaname said. "Come with me for a little bit."

Kaname led them in silence. They went to the edge of town and up one of many sets of stairs, arriving on the top of the west wall. There he stopped to look out at the horizon, Jason stopping beside him.

"So, you've fought your first proper monster," Kaname stated.

"The shabs were certainly rougher than the potent hamster," Jason replied. "You were right that monsters are harder to kill than humans and I'd have to adjust my fighting style."

Kaname turned his head to glance at Jason, "Your power to identify things extends to monsters?"

"Just their names."

Kaname looked back out at the desert landscape. "It's time you learned how to advance your abilities. There are two ways to raise your abilities. One, as you know is to use monster cores. Every core increases your abilities a little, but only a little. It takes hundreds of iron-rank cores to reach bronze rank. It takes iron-rank cores when you're iron rank, bronze when you're bronze, and so forth. But you should never, ever use this method."

"Couldn't you just hunt up more monster cores?" Jason asked.

"You could," Kaname conceded, "and some do. In the city we're going to, Greenstone, almost everyone uses cores. So long as you have the money to buy them you can reach bronze rank without ever facing a monster. But every rank requires more and more cores. By the time you reach silver rank, things slow right down as the costs go up significantly. Most core users don't make it to gold."

"If people know this, why would anyone use cores?"

"Because it's easy and you can buy the cores instead of risking your own neck," Kaname explained. "Most aristocratic families only have a few truly powerful adventurers, while the rest use cores. Do you have aristocracy in your world?"

"Only certain small parts of the world," Jason answered. "We've replaced most of it over the past several centuries with either democracy or communism. Though, both have fallen a bit short of what was originally intended of them. Communism being more like a monarchy and democracy more like a wealth-based oligarchy."

"Uh, alright."

"So, what's so bad about the second method that people would use these cores?"

"It requires danger and hard work."

"I bet it isn't the danger that stops them," Jason mused. "It's the hard work, right?"

"Probably," Kaname agreed with a chuckle. "The other path to developing your abilities, the real way, has three elements."

Kaname raised three fingers, counting them off as he explained.

"You're already meditating to get a handle on your aura, but the first element is training. You have to practice pushing your body to its limits, and not just the physical ones. You have to strain against the boundaries of what your four attributes are capable of. Exhaust yourself, body and mind. Pushing yourself to the limits prepares you to go beyond them."

"So... exercise?"

"Yes, but not just physical exercise. You have to train your mind, as well. Perception is part of your spiritual strength, and we will teach you how to exercise it."

"Let me guess," Jason says aloud. "Observation training, memory games, puzzles and meditation."

"Yes, actually," Kaname replied with a little stunned shock. "Did you train like that in your world already?"

"Yup," Jason answered. "Part of SASR's full course training regimen. Equal parts physical and mental conditioning with meditation to focus our minds and relieve excess stress. Those basic practices were hammered into me until they became second nature."

"Well, then that will save us some time in training you," Kaname replied, having regained his composure from before. "We'll be able to get you into the second element all the sooner. Which is also about pushing yourself, but in a much more dangerous way."

"Fighting monsters?"

"Fighting monsters," Kaname confirmed. "To truly break through your limits, you must truly push up against them. Only with genuine danger can you go further and do more than you ever thought possible."

"That's simple enough to understand, and a state I've lived in for nearly a decade. I take it the third part is meditation?"

"Yes, but you've been focusing on the flow of power and how it applies to your aura control," Kaname answered. "The other two elements are about breaking through you own limits. Meditation is about consolidating that gain. It's where you take the fleeting moments in which you were better than you've ever been before and making that your new normal."

"When I meditate, it was to take control of the moments after battle and normalize them. To bring down the 'high' that came from high stress, life and death battles and bring myself into a state of equilibrium. Is it like that?"

"It's certainly helpful and a part of the meditation I am talking about. But the key for this method is concentration on the magic flow inside you. You can feel it, right?"

"I can," Jason confirmed.

"It feels unruly, doesn't it? Like some wild creature inside you."

"Yeah, it does," Jason confirmed. "Using an ability feels like throwing out a piece of meat for it to run out and devour. It's kind of reminiscent of when adrenaline is pumping rapidly through my body in the middle of a firefight and my senses are bombarded from all sides. Like running off of pure instinct instead of controlled skill."

"That's the sensation after you reach a new rank," Kaname explained. "You'll slowly bring that beast under your control as your abilities grow. Then you'll reach a new rank and have a new beast to contend with, more powerful than the last."

"How does that work with core users?"

"For them it's like feeding the beast drugged meat to make it compliant. The beast still has its strength, but the owner can't make use of it properly."

"So, core users aren't just hampering their future but also making themselves kind of crappy in the present."

"That's exactly what they're doing," Kaname agreed.

"Well, I'll do my best not to become like them, but I've already started using cores."

"What?!"

"Relax, I can explain... better yet, I'll show you."

Jason allowed Kaname to see his new soul symbiosis title as he'd just explained the aura effect before, and he reluctantly agreed with Jason's reasoning.

"You do realize that I'm going to have to drill the proper training methods into you all the harder now so that you don't become complacent. It's too easy to let cores grow your strength and coast off mediocre skills."

"That's fair."

Kaname directed Jason to sit cross-legged, looking out over the landscape. He spent the remaining daylight guiding Jason through his meditation with the purpose of consolidating his recent experience fighting monsters, until sunset lit up the sky with orange and gold. It was remarkably similar to how he had been meditating in his aura control exercises, except that he could feel the magical power's unruly nature bending to his will.

Jason opened his eyes to watch the changing sky.

"You know," Jason said, "I think I'm starting to like it here."

That night, as he lay in the small bed in their assigned accommodation, Jason checked his character screen.

Jason Asano

Race: Lightbearer.

Current Rank: Iron.

Progression to bronze rank: 0% (0/4 essences complete)

Attributes

[Power] (Void): [Iron 0]

[Speed] (Arc): [Iron 0]

[Spirit] (Genesis): [Iron 0]

[Recovery] (Solar): [Iron 0]

[]

Racial abilities (Lightbearer)

[Siva Integration]

[Mana Engine]

[Shinigami Soul Vault]

[Tactical Map]

[Nirvanic Transfiguration]

[Protection of the Titan]

[]

Essences (4/4)

Solar [Recovery] (4/5)

[Golden Gun] (conjuration): [Iron 0] 12.75%

[Radiant Overdrive] (conjuration): [Iron 0] 12.75%

[Radiant Feast] (spell) [Iron 0]: 11.25%

[Song of Radiance] (conjuration): [Iron 0] 11.25%

[]

Arc [Speed] (5/5)

[Thundercrash] (special attack): [Iron 0] 12.55%

[Electromagnetic Sight] (passive): [Iron 0] 14.55%

[Ravenous Arc Field] (spell): [Iron 0] 11.25%

[Hiryugekizoku Shintenraiho] (special attack): [Iron 0] 11.25%

[Weeping Dragon] (familiar): [Iron 0] 16.55%

[]

Void [Power] (5/5)

[Shadowshot] (special effect): [Iron 0] 12.57%

[Ward of Dawn] (special effect): [Iron 0] 11.25%

[Nova Bomb] (special attack): [Iron 0] 11.25%

[Energy Drain] (melee): [Iron 0] 12.25%

[Blink] (teleport): [Iron 0] 11.25%

[]

Genesis [Spirit] (5/5)

[Cosmogony] (aura): [Iron 0] 13.55%

[Omnificence] (conjuration): [Iron 0] 11.84%

[Matter Conversion] (special effect): [Iron 0] 11.75%

[Virulent Outbreak] (passive): [Iron 0] 11.25%

[Avatar of Creation] (passive): [Iron 0] 11.35%

Looking over his abilities he saw they had all increased, but he had a long way to go. Thanks to his ability to use monster cores without negative effects even the abilities he hadn't used yet had grown. Worryingly Seiryu had grown the fastest. Probably because of the two whole monsters she ate, core and all and she got the boost from his absorption of the fifteen monster cores.

"I'm gonna have to work hard to keep up with Seiryu or she'll end up eating me," Jason grimly said aloud.

The extreme hunger radiating from his soul-bound familiar within his soul verified that point.

---

An hour after they left the walled town, Kaname stopped walking. He took a piece of paper from his pocket, looked it over, then turned his gaze to the desert landscape around them.

"This is it," he said and walked off, leaving the road behind.

"What's going on?" Gary asked as they followed. Kaname handed him the paper.

Gary glanced it over. "Nice," he responded, handing the paper to Jason.

It was a monster notification, with details and directions. Jason had seen something similar back in the waterfall village, but there was apparently a noticeboard for them in every town and village.

"Did you take this from the town we just went through?" Jason asked.

"That's right," Kaname confirmed.

"Are you allowed to just take them?" Jason asked.

The location was listed by landmarks that Jason spotted by looking around their current location -a series of distinctively shaped rocky outcroppings.

"You can make copies," Gary informed. "When you kill the monster, you mark the copy, and it gets rid of the original. Then you just have to report it next time you're at an Adventure Society branch."

"What if someone just makes a copy and destroys it without killing the monster?" Jason questioned.

"Why would anyone do that?" Gary asked.

"Because there are terrible people that would do it for a quick and easy buck," Jason replied.

"Is that what you think?" Farrah chimed in. "I'm starting to worry about your world."

"Really? Because when I came to your world people kept trying to eat and/or kill me," Jason pointed out.

"He has a point," Gary agreed.

"To make proper copies you need an Adventure Society badge," Kaname clarified. "The society can use that to track down who made the copy."

"The badge also tracks the monsters you've killed," Farrah added.

"And they can use it to find your body when you die," Gary contributed.

"Very comforting," Jason said dryly. "So why are we going after this monster?"

"We're not," Kaname answered. "You are."

"I am?"

"You are."

Jason took another look at the sheet of paper, which named the monster. "Giant desert maw spider. How giant are we talking?"

"About Gary's size," Kaname answered. "The size isn't what you need to watch out for, though."

"They have a huge mouth full of the nastiest teeth you've ever seen," Farrah explained. "It has a barbed tongue that will whip out, grab your limbs and try to drag them into that mouth."

"Sounds delightful, but why are we doing this?"

"I haven't seen you fight yet," Kaname stated firmly. "I need to see what kind of level you're at."

{I can show the memory of Guardian Jason's fight against the Shabs,} Gordon informed all of them.

"You can?" Jason asked, highly surprised.

{Yes, Guardian. I have access to all your memories and through your interface ability I can directly transmit them to your party members' minds.}

"That would be very helpful, Gordon," Kaname replied enthused. "Please do."

"Hold up," Jason said with raised hands. "These are my memories and thus, it's my decision whether or not anyone gets to view them."

{Of course, Guardian,} Gordon agreed. {I was just supplying the possibility.}

Kaname gave Jason a determined look as he tried convincing him why it was necessary, "The more I can determine your current ability the better I can tailor your training. If you-"

"Fine, Gordon show them the fight against the shabs," Jason cut Kaname off in surrender as he'd already figured out that it'd be for the best. "But only the fight."

{Understood, Guardian. Brace yourselves, the transfer can be rough on organic minds below silver rank. I recommend entering a calmed mental state.}

The three bronze rankers acknowledged Gordon's warning with nods of their heads and ready themselves by entering a meditative state. Then they were bombarded with the images, sounds and sensations Jason had experienced during his battle at the waterfall.

After a few minutes where Farrah, Kaname and Gary processed what they'd received, Farrah commented, "It was like a Dream Tablet."

"A what?" Jason asked.

"They're magical devices made to store and view memories," she explained. "They're the ideal medium for passing along knowledge but unlike skill books, they're like reliving an experience or being taught by the person. They give more depth than simple skill books but require intellect on the users part to understand them."

Jason just chuckled at her bias with skill books.

"They can also be used by anyone," Gary added. "Though you have to be careful with not using tablets carrying memories from those higher ranked than you. If an iron ranker tried using a dream tablet made from a gold ranker their mind would literally explode."

"Dully noted," Jason gulped.

"It was actually thanks to Emriss Silentborn that dream tablets became so widely usable," Farrah informed. "Before she found a way to streamline and cheapen the cost, only very wealthy and powerful organizations could afford to make them. She also created the Speaking Chambers that allow for us to communicate with people at great distances. Even on the other side of the world. Naturally, it's a Magic Society function as Emriss is one of the society's most prominent member."

"That is rather costly still," Gary added, "so, only the wealthy can use it. Like we adventurers."

Kaname had stayed silent, contemplating what he'd experienced. Farrah was trying to needle Jason into letting Gordon pass along his memory of becoming a gestalt entity, a Lightbearer or record it in a blank dream tablet she had on hand.

"You did well," Kaname eventually spoke up. "Very well for someone new to essence abilities and magic."

"So good that I don't have to fight the giant spider?"

"No," Kaname answered. "I still want to see what you can do from the outside."

"That's fair." Jason replied. "Do you want me to kill it off from a distance or get in close and show you more of what I can do?"

"You're certain you can kill it from afar?" Kaname questioned.

"Pretty sure," Jason responded. "With dual guns I can one-hit it from a good dozen odd meters or even with my Golden Gun ability."

"Really?" Farrah asked. "That's impressive if true."

"I'd like to see you do that," Gary added.

"Maybe another time," Kaname interjected. "For now, I want to see all that you can do. Not just what your Asauchi can do. It can be good to have an attack that can reliably kill quickly and from a distance, but situations won't always allow for such methods to work. You have to be ready to fight in ways that don't always work ideally with your powers."

"What about my familiar or conjured constructs?" Jason tried. "I can use them, right?"

Kaname seemed to think about it for a moment before dashing his hopes, "No. You need to fight using your other abilities and hand-to-hand."

"Fine," Jason reluctantly agreed. "But I'm still keeping some distance from the giant, Gary-sized spider with teeth."

---

Jason finished the giant monster spider with his energy drain melee attack, triggering the soul rip effect to give him a nice chunk of its health, stamina and mana, restoring his own. Though his health was fine as the spider hadn't gotten past his shield and armor.

The monster then burst into the siva nanoparticle cloud and was automatically looted.

100 [Spider Quintessence Gems] have been added to your inventory.

100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

The others had been watching Jason's fight from a distance, seeing the glowing cloud fill in and repair his armor.

"So," Kaname commented as Jason drew close. "Not too bad. A terrible start and a mad scramble to recover, but you did well once regaining your footing."

"Yeah, trying out that huge spell in the beginning wasn't a smart move," Jason agreed. "My ravenous arc field ability ate so much of my mana and stamina that I couldn't use any of my large special attacks and if not for my mana shield it'd have snared me with its barbed tongue. I'll need a mana and stamina recovery potion on hand for whenever I use that one."

Just like Jason had said, he'd used the large boundary field ability to constantly drain the spider's health, mana and stamina but it left him weak and vulnerable. A rookie mistake, really. The monster didn't wait to pounce, his mana shield only holding off the initial full body slam of its massive frame before bursting. Then its barbed tongue ensnared him by the legs yanked him right into its toothy maw. If not for his armor, it'd have bitten through an artery, and he'd have bled to death.

A few close-range energy drains -thankfully not needing a cooldown and little mana- he was able to siphon off enough mana and stamina to recover. Creating a spear with his omnificence ability to stab at it from a distance. Even slowed down by the arc field the giant spider was surprisingly nimble, so he kept stabbing as the field drained it low.

"Yeah, you should never try out an ability for the first time in an actual battle," Farrah admonished.

"You should have ignored Kaname and just used that ability that'd let you kill it from afar," Gary chimed in.

"You just wanted to see it," Kaname argued, "and it's better off if Jason gets used to fights that don't go his way. But yes, you shouldn't have used that spell without knowing exactly how its cost would affect you."

---

They passed through another village near the middle of the day. Its astral space aperture was small, producing only a large pond. It had a quarrying operation, but it was much smaller than the waterfall village.

"Are apertures the only water sources around here?" Jason asked.

"No," Kaname answered, "but more of the green stone appears around apertures. The bigger the aperture, the higher-grade stone you'll find."

They only stopped long enough for Kaname to select another notice from the village's adventure board.

"We're on track to reach the river by nightfall," Kaname informed. "We have time for another one. Hand me a blank sheet from the that box."

Jason spotted the box of blank paper under the noticeboard, taking out a single sheet and handing it to Kaname. Who proceeded to take a bronze medallion out of his pocket and touched it to the notice on the board. The medallion started glowing faintly until he touched it to the blank sheet Jason had retrieved. The glow faded and text appeared on the paper, matching that of the notice.

"This is the Adventure Society badge," Kaname explained. "You'll get your own when you join."

"I would have thought you got enough from the last monster to gauge my weaknesses and strengths when fighting monsters and using magic. Unless that's a contract to take down some bandits or something, I don't really see the point," Jason said.

"There are always more lessons to be learned," Kaname replied, handing over the paper.

It explained how local townsfolk had spotted a small group of monsters in the area that matched the description of lesser earth elementals.

"Earth elemental," Jason read. "That's like a pile of rock and dirt that roams around and punches people?"

"That's the one," Gary confirmed. "They have those in your world?"

"Just stories," Jason answered. "So, let me guess. I fight these things and find out my fighting style and weapons can't kill sturdy rock monsters fast enough because rocks don't have vital spots like living creature made of flesh. I get swarmed and the snot kicked out of me, you step in to save me and I learn an important lesson about failure and picking your battles. Is that more or less the idea?"

"I think he's got your number, Kaname," Gary chortled.

"Um, yes," Kaname admitted, reaching to take the paper back. "It's fine; you don't have to do it."

"No, I'm doing it," Jason responded, keeping the paper. He marched off in the direction of the village gate.

"I know you want to teach him to be a proper adventurer," Farrah said to Kaname, "but he's not like the spoiled rich kids at your family's school."

"That's becoming clear," Kaname replied.

---

The earth elementals looked like snowmen made of packed earth and sand, but with thick arms instead of frail sticks. Each one was only around two-thirds of Jason's height, throwing off dust and dirt as they slowly moved. Jason fired another four-round burst from his dual pistols into one's head.

The holes closed almost as quickly as they formed, but slower than before as the stacking death affliction was constantly eating away at its substance. All of the elementals had blackish green tendrils crawling through them, like roots of a tree. Even so, the elemental was otherwise unaffected as it swung its crude, heavy arms at him. Jason easily back peddled to avoid the slow blow while striking out with an energy drain palm on a third to restore his mana and stamina. His health hadn't fallen any as he always kept just out of their striking range.

He'd been doing this for several minutes, falling back as the five rocky snowmen slowly moved in on him. Eventually, he found his back to the wall of a stone outcrop with the group of elementals pushing in on him. Just as they were in reach to start welling on him with their stony fists, Jason leaped up and over them, using his air-walking ability to propel him up and over them.

They had turned cumbersomely to follow his trajectory through the air.

Jason turned midair, having spun mid jump, and held his arm back, like he was going to throw a baseball at the clustered earth elementals. But instead of a ball or rock, his hand glowed with a warping ball of black-purplish energy.

Just as he hurled the ball of energy, it rapidly expanded into a dying star that warped time and space. It slammed into the clustered and slow-moving earth elementals, exploding upon making contact, vaporizing them all. Thus, leaving nothing for them to regenerate from.

You have defeated [Lesser Earth Elemental]

[Lesser Earth Elemental] has been wholly annihilated. It has been looted automatically

[Monster Core (Iron Rank)] has been added to your inventory.

100 [Earth Quintessence] have been added to your inventory.

50 portions of [Pure-Heart Sand] have been added to your inventory.

100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

That prompt repeated itself four more times, one for each lesser earth elemental.

Jason walked towards Kaname, Farrah and Gary as the last vestiges of his Nova Bomb's energy faded away as hazy purple ripples. He nodded at Kaname and spoke, "I might have a lot to learn about being an adventurer, using magic and fighting monsters, but I'm not a scrub either. I have enough combat experience to figure out how to turn unfavorable odds around and eke out a victory. I think that's something you need to learn, Kaname."

Kaname nodded his head firmly, "You're right, I do. I've spent so much time being told that I was always going to be a great adventurer that I never thought about what it was that truly made a great adventurer. Determination. More than saving our lives, I thank you for showing me what real determination looks like."

"No problem, mate," Jason replied joyfully. "I just happen to excel at it due to having been... I don't want to say weak, but maybe less awesome than you guys. The way it was explained to me, is that until you're put into the circumstance where all you have left is pure grit, you won't know if you really have it or not. And I've been through it a lot."

"So," Farrah chimed in, "you're saying that because of how weak you are, you've been forced many times to survive through nothing but determination."

"A bit harsh, but accurate," Jason answered. "My world doesn't have magic, so there are greater limits to individual power. Nations with large armies and economies tend to be the supreme rulers of my world. No matter how skilled I got, I was still insignificant to those powers and forced to survive certain battles through sheer force of will. And losing many times along the way."

"Your world is starting to sound more horrible by the moment," Gary commented. "At least here, those that rule earned their place by being the strongest essence users in the world. Just about all of them starting from nothing, like most of us. Not counting Kaname, obviously."

"Hey..." Kaname responded with indignation. "I've worked hard to get where I am."

"That's true, but you have to admit that it is hard to say you started from nothing when your grandparents are diamond rankers," Farrah agreed with a chuckle.

"My world isn't that bad," Jason defended. "For the majority, they live safe and relatively easy lives. Most power struggles are political with the occasional need for force. I just happen to have been a part of the force used to keep certain parties in line. That's all."

"Are you saying that you were an enforcer used to keep people subjugated to political powers?" Farrah asked.

"No," Jason groaned. "I was part of team that took down evil groups and/or individuals that threatened the world's peace and innocent lives. You know, like the Blood cult you guys were hired to destroy."

"So, like your world's version of adventurers?" Gary asked.

"Kind of," Jason answered. "Just no magic or monsters."

"I think we're losing focus here," Kaname pointed out. "Determination. Remember."

"Right, sorry," Jason replied. "Back to your failings, Kaname. I think that your problem is that you haven't failed enough. Been pushed to the brink of life and death. All of which stems from being really good at this whole adventurer business."

"That's exactly it," Kaname exclaimed with an odd amount of enthusiasm for a guy being criticized. "There has always been someone to pull us out of trouble, and being here, where we are on our own, we faced the real consequences of that failure. We needed this mistake more than the success."

"Not sure I like that you are happy that were we nearly sacrificed by cannibals," Gary responded.

"Not an experience I'd want repeat," Farrah agreed.

"A sentiment I full hardily agree with," Kaname added, "but now all three of us faced it and seen where we are lacking as adventurers. We need to be more determined and not give up, not matter how hopeless it looks."

Kaname gestured to Jason as he continued, "Take Jason here. In that sacrifice chamber, he was the weakest of all of us. But he was the one who kept beating the odds."

"Only because Cressida wanted me alive," Jason pointed out. "She could have killed me right then and there."

"That's a fair point," Kaname conceded.

---

*The image I used for this story of my Titan; Chest plate is now Anthemic Invocation Plate with New Monarchy Diamonds shader. The N7 Helm with the Rosescale shader.