A Soul Reaping Lightbearer

I don't own any of this, it belongs largely to Shirtaloon's He Who Fights With Monsters, Bungie's Destiny, Will Wight's Cradle Series and Tite Kubo's Bleach.

Chapter 5: Awakening More Power & Moving On

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable doing it with everyone watching," Jason said.

It was a clear-skied morning, but the magic affecting the manor's climate dulled the scathing desert heat to a pleasant warmth. Jason, Gary, Farrah and Kaname had gathered on a terrace, sitting on some patio furniture. Most of them gathered around a picnic table in chairs, but Gary was too big for the chairs and went to find another seat.

"But you said I could watch," Farrah argued.

"Actually, you asked," Kaname clarified, "but he didn't answer either way."

"I want to watch too," Gary added. He picked up a low bench, which turned out to have been affixed to the tiled terrace. Some of the tiles came loose along with the bench. Gary looked at the damage and shrugged.

"Can you please stop destroying the place?" Kaname pleaded. "Anisa is prickly enough at the best of times."

"Compared to what we did to the hedge maze, this is nothing," Gary reasoned.

"And you somehow think that makes it better?" Kaname asked incredulously.

Gary walked back to the group and dropped the bench loudly. The legs were uneven after having been torn from the ground, but Gary was happy enough and plonked himself down. The bench loudly scraped the terrace under his weight as Kaname wearily shook his head.

"I'm part of the Magic Society," Farrah said to Gary. "My interest in seeing Jason use awakening stones is academic. What would you get out of it?"

"What else am I going to do?" Gary asked. "Help Anisa organize documents? No thanks."

"That probably wouldn't go well for anyone," Farrah acknowledged.

The missing member of the group, Anisa, was in the manor's main study. They had managed to dig out various letters and other records linking the occupants to the blood cult in other regions. Before they left the manor behind, she was gathering it together for use as evidence.

"You might as well stick around," Jason yielded. "It's not that involved a process and I'll be going through nearly a dozen of them."

"I'm still a little surprised you got your hands on so many awakening stones," Kaname commented in wonder. "You did say you only arrived in our world yesterday, right?"

"It was a busy day," Jason replied.

"You're not wrong there," Gary chuckled out.

"Still, it's odd that you just ran across a bunch of awakening stones," Kaname reiterated. "Did the carriage have that many awakening stones tucked away?"

"We only found one and Gary and I agreed that Jason should get it," Farrah answered. "Though, they had a few essences and loads of bronze rank quintessence."

"That's fine," Kaname replied.

"Where do they usually come from?" Jason asked. "Do they just appear randomly?"

"That's right," Farrah answered. "Your world may not have any magic, but this one has it in abundance. To the point where it just starts manifesting all over the place."

"Most magic manifestations are monsters," Kaname explained. "They just appear, hopefully in the wilderness, but the magic they're made of isn't stable. Eventually they break down and dissolve back into magic. Killing them just makes it faster."

"Say you killed something that wasn't a monster but an animal," Jason mused. "A giant snake, for example. That wouldn't dissolve into a stinky cloud?"

"Exactly," Kaname confirmed. "Monsters frequently aren't a problem when they first manifest, but as they get closer to breaking down, they become highly aggressive. The bulk of our job as adventures is hunting them down before they reach that stage."

"How long do monsters last before they go berserk?" Jason asked.

He knew all this as Gordon had explained all that to him last night as sleep was scarce with the storm of thoughts raging through his mind. So, he'd questioned Gordon on all of them and was now getting secondary confirmation and testing the honesty of his new compatriots.

"Depends on the rank of the monster," Farrah lectured. "Lesser monsters only last a week or two. They start so close to breaking down that they're aggressive from the moment they appear, but they aren't really a threat. An old woman with a broom can handle them. Iron rank monsters last about a month, getting aggressive in the final week or so. It goes up from there, but this is a low magic region so mostly you'll see iron rank with a smattering of bronze."

"Monsters have ranks, then?" Jason asked. "Do they use essences too?"

"No," Kaname answered. "It just means they exist within a certain power threshold. Whether an essence user or a monster, each rank has a suppressive effect on lower ranks. We're all bronze rank. If you were to fight any of us, your iron-rank abilities would have much less effect."

"You can overcome that briefly by boosting your attributes with spirit coins," Farrah added. "That only works to a degree, though, and not for very long. You have to pick your moment, because it will leave you weaker once the strength fades."

"So, a last-ditch effort," Jason muttered.

"Pretty much," Gary responded.

"There are other manifestations of magic," Kaname continued. "They're not alive, which makes them more stable, and they stick around until you use them."

"Essences," Jason supplied.

"That's the most powerful manifestation," Kaname clarified. "Also, the rarest. Then there's quintessence, which is kind of like chunks of essence."

"Could you get a pile of it and use that as an essence?" Jason asked.

"Afraid not," Kaname answered.

"People have been trying to make that work for years," Farrah expanded upon. "There's always some crackpot who claims to have figured it out, but it isn't possible."

"Quintessence is still useful though," Kaname pointed out.

"It may not be as powerful as an essence," Farrah explained, "but it gets used a lot more. Ritual magic, alchemy, weapon forging."

"I make weapons and armor," Gary chimed in. "I go through quintessence by the pile. Literally, piles of it."

"We found a magic supply storeroom yesterday," Farrah said. "There was a lot of iron-rank quintessence left behind."

"We got all that bronze rank stuff too," Gary replied cheerfully. "We're making quite the haul on this contract."

"That we are," Farrah agreed.

"The last manifestation of magic is awakening stones," Kaname returned to the previous topic. "Mostly they're used to awaken essence abilities, but they can be used in various kinds of magic as well."

"Like the thing they were trying to sacrifice us to," Jason offered up. He took out four red crystals from his inventory, laying them on the table in a row. "We all had one of these in some kind of ritual bowl, wired into our cages in the chamber."

"What kind of stone are they?" Kaname asked.

"They're all Awakening stones of the feast," Jason informed.

"They're pretty common," Farrah stated.

"I had one manifest in my kitchen when I was a kid," Gary mused, "right into a pot of soup. My dad said that's why it tasted funny, but I think he was just bad at making soup."

"They can be useful with the right essences," Kaname kept going, ignoring Gary's antidote with practiced ease. "They're common, so there's no telling what kind of ability it can give you. They'll be related to the concept of a feast, but that can manifest in any hundreds of powers."

"Thousands," Farrah corrected. "The rarer an awakening stone is, the more specific the powers."

"So rare stones are better?" Jason asked.

"Not necessarily," Kaname clarified. "A common as muck awakening stone can give you any ability the rarest could. It just has a much higher pool of potential powers. Rare stones don't give out better abilities, just more specific ones. So, if you want a specific kind of ability, that's when you need to find yourself the right flavor of rare stone."

"There aren't any guarantees though," Farrah added. "Even the rarest stone might not give you what you want. You should always remember that the biggest determinate of what ability you get is the essence it comes from."

"So, these feast stones won't give me a lava cannon?" Jason asked in mock disappointment.

"Afraid so," Farrah chuckled out.

"But I want a lava cannon," Jason mock pouted.

"You probably want your essence abilities to be more well-rounded than Farrah's," Gary said.

"Hey," Farrah complained.

"In terms of raw power, Farrah is easily the strongest of us," Kaname explained. "But that focus comes at the cost of versatility."

"She's great at blowing things up," Gary commented.

"It's true," Farrah agreed. "I am good at blowing things up."

"Which, admittedly, solves the bulk of our problems," Kaname stated. "But when overwhelming, barely contained annihilation isn't the answer, it leaves her somewhat at a loss."

"Power is always the answer," Farrah responded with absolute conviction.

"Mass destruction sounds pretty good to me," Jason agreed, "but it doesn't seem like any of my essences will give me a lava cannon."

"What are your essences?" Farrah asked.

"Solar, arc, void and genesis. I got them from the Creator Token along with Gordon. Apparently, once you become a gestalt entity of soul and flesh you can't absorb essences."

All three of them had surprised looks on their faces.

"Beside the void essence, an extremely rare one at that, I haven't heard of any of them before," Farrah commented in shock. "I suppose solar and arc could be divine versions of the sun and moon essences."

"They kind of are," Jason confirmed. "But is the void essence really that rare."

Kaname was the one to explain, "The void essence is often in combinations that are restricted. Most tend to toss it in with tentacle, corrupt and death essences, though nowhere as bad as death."

"The biggest shock about you having it is that it's one of the rarest essences you can find. Up there with the dimension essence. Even Kaname's family would have a hard time getting their hands on it," Gary added.

"So, that's good, right?" Jason wondered.

"It's a rare and powerful essence," Farrah elaborated, getting up, "but the problem lies with how often its confluence essence ends up on the restricted list. I'm going to check the registry using the void essence as reference to see if his combination has been recorded before."

"Good idea," Kaname agreed.

Farrah caused her stone storage chest to rise out of the ground. It rose up through the terrace without breaking through the tiles, like it wasn't truly substantial until it had completely emerged.

She took out a stone tablet from inside the chest. It looked to be made of swirling blue and white marble, with script written across it in what looked like actual gold. Farrah touched a finger to the script, and it started shifting about, the text changing in front of their eyes.

"What is that?" Jason asked.

"This is called a living document," Farrah answered. "It stores large amounts of information and is connected to a central record. When the central record is updated, the information in the tablet changes. This one had the full list of every essence and essence combination known to the Magic Society."

"Is that different to the Adventure Society you mentioned?"

"Yes, but we can explain all that once we get back to civilization," Kaname insisted.

"The tablet is a lot more expensive than a paper copy of the list," Farrah explained, "but it's smaller and doesn't have to be replaced when the list is updated."

"Does it get updated a lot?" Jason asked.

"There are all kinds of essences," Farrah explained as she kept her eyes on the shifting text of the tablet. "Many of them are extremely rare. Most people go for tried and tested combinations, but there's always someone trying new things. Ah, here we are."

She found what she was looking for in the tablet and the text stopped changing about.

"Let's see, the void essence. Hmm. There are several restricted combinations using the void essence... this will take a moment."

After a few minutes passed, Farrah started informing the others, "I can't find your combo or any reference to your other essences. It's rather fascinating to find three unheard of essences. You mind letting me record them. It'd be a well-received paper."

"Will my information be kept confidential?" Jason asked.

"The essences and the abilities from them will be made public, but your name will be kept confidential," Farrah informed.

"I'll need to think about it," Jason replied. "I don't like the idea of people knowing what I can do. You never know who wants you dead."

"But your name will be kept secret," Gary said in confusion.

"Yeah, but if I'm the only one with those essences it won't take a genius to figure who those documents are about," Jason explained.

"I can see your point," Kaname replied. "I wouldn't want all my essence abilities to be known. It'd have been all the easier for the Blood Cult to subdue us."

"Fine," Farrah relented. "But can I still record them for academic reasons. I promise I won't publish them until you give me permission."

"We'll see," Jason said coolly and moved to change the subject. "There are restricted essences? I think you said something about a death essence?"

"The death essence has some powerful abilities," Gary admitted, "but they come with big drawbacks. Very few essences have side-effects, but death can produce some nasty ones."

"Do you know how confluence essences work?" Kaname asked.

"Not entirely, but from the sound of it, it's when your first three combine to make the fourth, right?" Jason replied.

"That's right," Kaname responded. "More or less. Some confluence essences are produced by a wide variety of combinations. The death essence has a nasty habit of producing the confluence essence undeath. There are many combinations that produce it, almost all of which involve the death essence."

"Take the common blood essence we found in abundance with the loot the Lord tried absconding with, for example," Farrah elaborated. "Add in a death essence and pretty much anything else and the undeath essence will pop right out."

"Undeath is bad," Gary said grimly.

"The abilities in the undeath essence have a nasty habit of turning you into some kind of unliving monstrosity," Kaname informed.

"If it came along with the blood essence," Farrah continues, "you'd almost certainly get an ability that turns you into a vampire."

"Vampires are real?" Jason asked.

"They are," Kaname answered, "and they're bad. For one thing, they can't sustain themselves with spirit coins or even regular food anymore."

"They drink blood," Jason supplied.

"They do," Kaname confirmed. "Imagine having vast magical powers and an unquenchable thirst for blood."

"Not a combination good for public safety," Jason pointed out.

Kaname nodded. "People with the undeath essence almost always awaken a power that changes them like that. Such powers are very strong, but they all bring with them unnatural appetites."

"If that wasn't bad enough," Farrah added, "they can often turn normal people into monsters like them. Not with the essence powers of the original, but dangerous enough."

"Vampires turning other people into vampires," Jason mused. "It's weird how my world has myths about them while they're real in this one."

"That is weird," Gary agreed.

"Even if the undeath essence doesn't turn you into a monster," Farrah continued unbothered by Jason and Gary's byplay, "it tends to give out less than palatable abilities."

"Less palatable than my gun that inflicts a poison that erodes one's life."

"Yes," Gary growled. "No one will mind if you kill a guy that stabbed you. When you raid the local cemetery, though? No one wants their dead family members shambling into town as part of your undead army."

"And that's one of the lesser evils," Farrah pointed out. "We actually all met fighting a zombie plague."

"A real zombie plague?" Jason asked. "Zombies turning other people into zombies, the whole deal?"

"The whole deal," Gary confirmed gravely. "Entire towns were burned out just to contain it. Bad business."

"None of us want to see something like that again," Farrah said with an ice-cold resolve. "If you had the undeath essence we'd have killed you."

Jason looked at the expression on the faces of the others and saw they weren't joking, and he didn't blame them. Natural plagues were bad enough and if a zombie plague was anything like the movies, he'd kill himself if need be.

"That's fair," Jason agreed.

"On top of everything else," Kaname mentioned, "the Adventure Society has a list of restricted essences that pose an inherent threat to ordinary people."

"The death essence sitting at the top of that list," Gary added.

"Mostly it's combinations of essences," Kaname explained, "since the confluence essence is usually the bad one. The death essence is on the list by itself, though, because it always seems to go wrong. You need to pay attention to the restricted essences. It's impossible to get membership in the Adventure Society if you have one of them."

"And I want to be a member of this Adventure Society?" Jason asked.

"You do," Kaname confirmed emphatically.

"Though, the odd, never before heard of essences will make training you a bit harder," Gary commented.

"It will?" Jason asked.

"It will complicate things, but it isn't the essences that dictates the strength of an essence user. I've been beaten by an individual with the duck essence," Kaname explained. "What it comes down to is how you use those abilities, Jason. You have some skills when facing people with that strange weapon of yours. The loud ones... what'd you call them again?"

"Oh, you mean my guns," Jason replied. "It's a type of weapon from my world. They're like really fast -like breaking the sound barrier several times over, fast- and powerful arrows. This one even inflicts deadly afflictions on enemies while healing allies. It even has this awesome death beam attack."

Farrah chimed in, "Yes, I've heard that they could become any type of weapon."

"They're the greatest weapon ever made by mortal hands," Gary confirmed. "I honestly doubt even the god Forge could make something better. Ozmanthus Nimaiya is the man every craftsman, including myself, measure themselves against."

"Asauchi are extraordinarily rare," Kaname informed. "They're transcendent weapons whose shape and effects are determined by the soul of the one that has bonded with it. So, it's not surprising that Jason's Asauchi took the form of a familiar weapon from his world. Possibly as an adaption to his current needs."

"I don't see why not," Jason mused. "A world filled with monsters and magic makes me believe that just about anything can happen. Besides, without my Seitoshi Okami-tachi I doubt I could have saved myself. Let alone you lot."

"Yeah, who cares," Gary agreed. "He got a powerful weapon that became what he needed. That's sounds good to me. He'll need every edge he can get as an adventurer."

"That 'gun' of yours is centered around how you fight, right?" Kaname asked.

Jason gave him a nod.

"From what I could tell, you used it to hit vital spots in a person's body to kill them from a distance." Kaname analyzed. "But adventurers deal with monsters that don't share those same weaknesses. And you'll need to use all your abilities to become a real adventurer. All of which will require skills you don't have right now. But I can teach you."

"Now there's an offer not to refuse," Gary commented.

"Agreed," Farrah added. "Kaname's family runs one of the most exclusive prep academies for adventurers in the world. Kings go to that school. If he's willing to teach you, let him."

"We all owe you, Jason," Kaname said. "If it weren't for you, we'd be dead right now, and we aren't going to forget that. So, we'll do our best to help you find your feet as an adventurer."

"Thanks," Jason replied. "I guess we should do this before Anisa comes out."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Farrah informed. "I left her buried in documents in the study. I think she's going to read every piece of paper in the whole manor to make sure she doesn't miss anything."

"That's good," Jason responded, "because I have an awakening stone that seems a little questionable as well."


Jason picked up one of the feast stones, deciding to start with the lower rarity stones. Also, they weren't given to him by the Abidan like the rest of his stones. The talk about the rarity of stones not being better but more specific confirmed that the Court of Seven was trying to craft his powers.

"So how does this work?" Farrah asked.

"I just kind of do it," Jason explained simply, lounging back.

You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Feast].

Absorb Y/N?

"Yes," he answered aloud.

The stone melted into his hand, sinking into his skin with little fanfare.

You have awakened the solar essence ability [Radiant Feast].

You have awakened 3 of 5 solar essence abilities.

"That's it?" Farrah asked in disappointment. "It looked like any awakening stone ritual. The subject didn't seem strained. Did you feel anything?"

"My arm felt warm and tingly," Jason answered.

Ability: [Radiant Feast] (solar)

Incantation: From the cleansing fires, the ash satisfies my hunger.

Spell (cleanse, recovery, holy).

Base Cost: Low mana.

Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Effect (iron): Cleanse all curses, diseases, poisons and afflictions of all types from a single target. Recover stamina and mana for each affliction cleansed. This ability circumvents all effects that prevent cleansing. This ability cannot be used on self.

"This interface ability is great," Farrah gushed. "Makes up for the lackluster absorption."

"It is very useful for new essence users getting a grasp on their powers," Kaname agreed. "The combination of three of my insight essence abilities does something similar, but more like impressions directly imprinted into my mind. It might not be as clear as your ability, but I can use it to analyze every aspect of an opponent's combat abilities as we fight."

"Seriously?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Kaname confirmed. "I can disassemble their essence abilities, fighting style, attribute strength and overall condition."

"That sounds like a lot," Jason commented. "And awesome."

"It is," Kaname lightly smirked, "but they're also silver rank so that's to be expected. Still I'm envious of that communication aspect of yours."

"Yeah, yeah," Gary waved them off, "you two have ridiculous utility powers. We get it. Now, that cleansing ability sounds like a good one if it comes with such a restriction. That it also recovers stamina and mana is especially good when you don't have a healer with you. We go through a lot of potions."

"Yes, we do," Farrah agreed. "Though, more from physical injures, but we've had to deal with being poisoned and cursed as well as recovering our stamina and mana."

"But you have a healer," Jason pointed out.

"Anisa isn't a permanent part of the team, remember?" Kaname clarified. "This contract is for her church. They asked us to take her along, give her some field experience. Seemed like a good deal for both sides."

"Seemed?" Jason asked.

"She can be a little judgmental," Gary stated.

"Also cold," Farrah added.

"Weren't you the one calling me 'the subject' a minute ago?" Jason pointed out.

"Don't talk behind her back," Kaname scolded. "If you can't say it to her face, then don't say it at all."

"Now you're being judgmental," Gary replied.

"Gary," Kaname sighed tiredly. "Jason, just move on to your next stone.

Jason nodded, picked up the next stone and went through the remaining feast stones.

You have awakened the void essence ability [Energy Drain].

You have awakened 3 of 5 void essence abilities.

Ability: [Energy Drain] (void)

Special melee (drain, boon).

Base Cost: Low mana. Low stamina.

Cooldown: None.

Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).

Effect (iron): Drain small amount of health, mana and stamina from target through palm thrust, restoring your health, mana and stamina congruently to what was taken. If attack kills target it will initiate [Soul Rip] effect.

Effect [Soul Rip] (iron): Instantly replenishing 10% of your health, mana and stamina from the remnant energy within the targets form.

[]

You have awakened the arc essence ability [Ravenous Arc Field]

You have awakened 3 of 5 arc essence abilities.

Ability: [Ravenous Arc Field] (arc)

Special (area-of-effect, drain, damage-over-time, stacking)

Base cost: Extreme mana and stamina.

Cooldown: 2 hours.

Effect (iron): Create a boundary field of arc energy that drains every enemy within of a small amount of health, mana and stamina per second over a 15-meter radius. Slight stunning effect that slows enemy reflexes, has an accumulative effect that can paralyze afflicted targets. Reduces the cost and cooldown of your arc abilities. Will stay active as long as it has targets to drain.

[]

You have awakened the genesis essence ability [Mass Conversion].

You have awakened 3 of 5 genesis essence abilities.

Ability: [Mass Conversion] (genesis)

Special (drain)

Base Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Effect (iron): Break down any physical material you touch to convert into mana or fuel [Omnificence] ability to replace and/or reduce its cost and cooldown. Can be used to increase Siva replication speed.

Jason stood up and stretched, the repeated absorptions making him a bit stiff. While loosening up he wondered something.

"Do you guys have any idea why almost all my scars are gone? I understand how my body was remade upon being summoned here, but why do I still have this one?" he rubbed the scar over his right eye.

"Upon ranking up most mundane scars would have been removed due to magic replacing some of your body mass," Farrah explained. "Traveling through worlds is a more extreme example thus, you lost your old injures."

"Let me guess," Kaname chimed in, "the one you still have was from a traumatic event that deeply affected you"

"Yes," Jason answered. "It came from my first hard learned lesson in the field," he rubbed the scar over his right eye.

"Ah, soul scars," Gary said in understanding.

"Soul scars? Are they what they sound like?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Kaname answered. "Injuries that left marks on your soul due to the extreme severity of the wound, usually, from higher ranked creatures. At least what I've seen from experienced adventurers. They can also be caused by injuries occurred under extreme emotional distress that changed you in an existential way."

"Yeah, it most certainly did change me," Jason stated grimly.

The three adventures stayed quiet as Jason seemed to lose himself in painful memories. He eventually snapped out of it

"He still has awakening stones to use," Kaname stated, "and I want us out of here and on the trail by noon."

Jason frowned as Kaname took out a pocket watch.

"You have noon in this world?"

They explained timekeeping in their world to Jason and to his surprise, it seemed exactly the same as in his own. He couldn't be sure how close their hours, minutes and seconds hewed to his own world, but they were at least close.

"It's weird they're the same," Gary commented.

"Suspiciously weird," Jason added. "What about the calendar? Is that the same too?"

The local calendar, as it turned out, was similar, but not the same. Although not as close as the time. There were twelve months of thirty days, divided up into early, mid and late stages of each season. There were five additional days that didn't count as days of the month for the solstices, the equinoxes and the new year, which was at the beginning of spring.

"It still seems strange that we keep time the exact same way across two worlds," Jason mused.

"Well, maybe someone from your world came here," Gary theorized, "saw how we do it and took it back to yours."

"Or someone brought our system here," Jason countered.

"Nah, that doesn't sound right," Gary replied.

"Are you saying your world's better than mine?" Jason asked.

"We have magic," Gary argued.

"We have the internet," Jason fired back good naturedly.

"Will you two please stop?" Kaname pleaded. "We need to hurry along as I told Anisa that she needs to finish up by noon. We don't want her walking in on us."

"How many stones do you have left?" Farrah asked Jason.

"Seven," Jason answered.

"Good thing you can just use them, then," Kaname commented. "Going over a half-dozen rituals would take hours."

"Wouldn't be that bad," Farrah disagreed. "I've done a bunch of them, so I can knock them out fast."

Jason retook his seat and pulled out his awakening stones from the Abidan, laying them out in a row.

Unlike the awakening stones of the feast, his next awakening stones were higher rated.

Item: [Awakening Stone of the Warlock] (unranked, legendary)

An awakening stone that shares affinity with magical energy (consumable, awakening stone).

Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.

Effect: Awakens an essence ability.

"With awakening stones, you said rarity doesn't make stones better, right?" Jason asked.

"No, just more specialized," Farrah specified. "And harder to find, obviously. All stones have some amount of focus, but there's no telling exactly what they'll give you. Those feast stones, for example, could have given you anything from mana-draining special attacks to conjure food to summoning flesh-eating fish. People like to have some control, so stones with desirable specialties tend to be the most expensive."

She patted Kaname on the knee. "Although when you come from a big family like Kaname here, they ship you high-rarity stones by the crate."

"There are no guarantees when it comes to awakening powers, though," Kaname defended. "Not even with the rarest of stones. What kind of awakening stones are those?"

"They're variations on the Abidan divisions," Jason answered. "Builder, Warlock, Reaper-"

"Reaper?" Kaname interrupted. "As in the same Reaper that created the Asauchi?"

"Yeah, I got at least one from each Judge."

"I still find it frightening and amazing that the legendary Ozmanthus Nimaiya became the cosmic super god of death," Gary commented. "Can anyone become that powerful?"

{In theory, yes,} Gordon spoke into their minds. {Though the odds are low as very few beings in the countless trillions become a Judge.}

"What rarity are the stones?" Farrah asked, moving past the conversation about super gods.

"Legendary," Jason answered simply.

The three adventurers weren't nearly as calm about five legendary awakening stones, each extraordinarily unique. Before Farrah could ask, Jason allowed her to record them through the party interface.

Then he picked up the awakening stone of the Warlock and absorbed it. His arm was wrapped in purple-black energy that twisted and warped his arm.

You have awakened the void essence ability [Nova Bomb].

You have awakened 4 of 5 void essence abilities.

Ability: [Nova Bomb] (void)

Special attack (transcendent, large area-of-effect attack)

Cost: Extreme mana and stamina.

Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).

Effect (iron): Hurl out a dying star that warps time and space, doing transcendent damage capable of completely vaporizing weaker enemies and stagger larger more powerful foes.

"Transcendent damage," Gary said in awe. "Do you know how rare that is?"

"No," Jason admitted. "But I also have a transcendent mana shield. Oh, and my Shadowshot can unleash an explosion that causes transcendent damage once the anchor has been destroyed."

"That's how it usually works," Farrah informed. "In small increments or conditional at iron. Even so, it's still very rare. But I've never heard of an iron rank special attack that does pure transcendent damage."

"You have a lot of abilities that do transcendent damage," Kaname commented. "I wonder if it's because of your nature as a gestalt entity or the designs of the stones."

{Both,} Gordon chimed in. {The Guardian's nature makes him closer to his soul, which requires transcendent damage to effect. It's why most diamond rank abilities do some transcendent damage. And the Judges are in effect, transcendent beings and do exclusively transcendent damage. It's only logical they'd gift abilities that do the same.}

"Well, that's good news for you, Jason," Gary commented. "You'll have a rough enough time of it at your age."

"What do mean by that?" Jason asked indignantly. "I might be behind the magic and monster part of being an adventurer, but I got a lot of actual combat experience."

"It's not your capabilities we're concerned about," Kaname replied. "Most adventurers your age, even ones that split their time on crafts like Gary are Bronze. As a uh... how old are you?"

"I'm thirty-one."

"Yeah, that's old to be a fresh adventurer," Farrah supplied. "Most newly minted iron rankers at your age just got essences from an adventurer in their family. My parents were older when they reached iron, but they're not adventurers and ranked up to bronze through monster cores I send them."

"You can rank up through monster cores?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Kaname said disdainfully. "It's a quick and safe way to get the life extending power of high-ranking essence users. Most are family of adventurers, like with Farrah's parents or wealthy merchants and politicians. In large cities most silver and gold rankers are just wealthy people who bought their rank. They are not as powerful as adventurers."

"Can't I just subsidize my growth with monster cores to catch up to you guys?" Jason asked.

"Not if you want to be an adventurer," Gary answered.

"You notice how your powers feel like a wild beast?" Kaname asked.

"Yeah, like they want to be used."

"It requires training to bring that beast under control and grow as an essence user," Kaname explained. "But monster core users don't undergo that training as the cores act like drugged meat that keeps them pacified."

"Still not hearing the downside," Jason stated.

"I'm getting there," Kaname clipped out with an annoyed edge. "By growing through monster cores, they don't have to use all their abilities. Thus, they don't know how to use them properly in battle."

"I can still use monster cores so long as I train hard enough and make sure to use all my abilities," Jason argued.

"You could," Kaname reluctantly admitted. "But using monster cores also eats away at your magical potential. It takes more and more cores to reach the next rank, which can take an enormous fortune to reach gold. Then you'll never be able to reach diamond rank no matter how many gold rank monster cores you use."

"Plus, there's a stigma to using monster cores in the Adventure Society," Gary added. "No branch would even consider letting a core user register as a candidate. Let alone accept them as an actual adventurer."

"Alright," Jason surrendered with raised hands. "No using monster cores."

"Good," Kaname replied.

"Can I ask you something else about my abilities?" Jason asked.

"Of course," Kaname responded. "We've already decided to help you."

"My abilities feel incomplete," Jason commented. "Like a puzzle where I don't have all the pieces. Is that normal?"

"There's a scale," Farrah explained. "At one end of the scale is people whose abilities are individually strong. Those people don't tend to feel what you're feeling, because their powers might work together, but aren't reliant on one another."

"Those kinds of abilities are strong, but simple," Kaname added. "Farrah's abilities are like that."

"Of course, simple doesn't mean bad," Farrah defended. "Straight-forwards powers are usually the most effective solution to a problem. It's when you try to get complicated that things go wrong."

"According to people with simple powers," Gary chimed in.

Farrah stuck her tongue out at Gary.

"At the other end of the scale," Kaname continued, "are abilities that underwhelm in isolation, but used together become very dangerous. Affliction, healing, and spell caster specialists tend to fall at the end of the scale. Your abilities don't appear to be that specialized, so it won't feel that awkward, but won't feel entirely right until you get the full set."

"From what we've seen about your powers," Gary commented, "you seem more like a support, long distant type like archers and spell casters. Weaken the enemy and set them up for your allies to hammer them."

"My Nova Bomb is a heavy damage type ability," Jason pointed out, "and I might get more like that one."

"You could," Farrah replied. "But it's not entirely unheard of for even elves that have an affinity for healing and spells to get one or two special attack abilities. Even if you get lucky enough, using those legendary stones to better your odds of getting them, you'd still fall closer to the support type."

"The only difference would be that you could be your own support," Gary continued. "Weakening the enemy and then finish them off with one big attack. You even have a bunch of handy abilities to recover your mana and heal yourself. A one-man team, of sorts."

"Though, nowhere as good as a real team would be," Kaname warned. "Even the best of adventurers joins a team at some point."

"No one essence user can handle every situation that you can run across," Farrah added. "That's one of the reasons we formed a team."

"But that's not something for you to worry about," Gary said. "You still have more powers to awaken and should focus on getting the basics down first."

"Speaking of which," Kaname cut in, "you have six more awakening stones to get through before we leave."

Jason nodded, picking up the phoenix stone that looked like an orb of sapphire flames. When he absorbed it flames ran up his arm, searing his skin before fading.

You have awakened the solar ability [Song of Radiance].

You have awakened 4 of 5 solar abilities.

Ability: [Song of Radiance] (solar)

Special (area-of-effect, recovery, boon, affliction, holy, stacking)

Cost: Extreme mana and stamina.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Effect (iron): Radiate a restorative solar energy over a 15-meter radius around you that fully restores you and your allies' health, mana and stamina. Resetting the cooldown on all your essence abilities. While active you and allies gain a significant boost to your spirit and recovery attributes. Enemies within area-of-effect are inflicted with an instance of [Withering Flame]. Radiance lasts for 5 minutes or until you are killed.

[Withering Flame] (damage-over-time, stacking): A magical fire that burns away a small amount of health, mana and stamina per second until the target is reduced to ash or the affliction is cleansed. Using mana becomes painful and increases the rate of degeneration. Additional instances have an accumulative effect. This is a holy affliction.

Jason whistled appreciatively at the new ability.

Gary congratulated him with a powerful slap that nearly knocked him out of his chair, "That's an amazing ability!"

Farrah was hyper focused on copying down the prompt word for word into her research journal.

"It's an ability that can turn defeat on its head and alter the flow of battle in your favor," Kaname commented. "Destructive powers are great but abilities like this one can be indispensable."

"It can be better to have a lifesaving ability like that than a simple destructive attack, "Gary agreed. "Like, let's say, a lava cannon."

"Not if your head as been annihilated by said lava cannon before you can use it," Farrah retorted with a glare focused on the lykonid.

"That's a good point," Gary nervously chuckled out.

Jason then went with one of the Builder stones.

You have awakened the genesis essence ability [Virulent Outbreak].

You have awakened 4 of 5 genesis essence abilities.

Ability: [Virulent Outbreak] (Genesis)

Ability Type: Passive (stacking, resonating-force damage).

Cost: None.

Cooldown: None.

Current Rank: Iron 0 (00%)

Effect (iron): Targets killed by you explode, releasing a SIVA nanite swarm that attacks other nearby enemies that cause ongoing small amount of resonating-force damage as they break down the physical material of the target. As more targets die the swarm grows bigger and continues to attack nearby targets until there are no more within range of your aura. Swarm can be controlled by you and used to fuel Omnificence ability or absorbed to increase you own nanite based regeneration.

"Uh... that sound useful... but also concerning," Jason commented.

"No, it's great," Gary disagreed. "It can help soften up large groups of monsters where each kill makes it worse. It even lets you heal yourself faster. That's a great ability."

"I'd be concerned if you didn't have any control over it," Farrah chimed in, "but it does say you can control it."

"I was worried at first that it would start animating the dead," Kaname added. "Seeing as it doesn't, I won't put my sword through your head."

"Gee, thanks..." Jason deadpanned and moved away from that possibility.

The Reaper stone melted into his hand, wanting to shake things up a bit. His whole forearm went numb as it was shrouded in darkness before it returned to normal.

You have awakened the arc essence ability [Hiryugekizoku Shintenraiho].

You have awakened 4 of 5 arc essence abilities.

Ability: [Hiryugekizoku Shintenraiho]

Special Attack

Cost: Extreme mana.

Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Effect (iron): Fire a large lightning cannon that does additional disruptive force damage. Nearby enemies of the lightning strike are stunned. The cost of this is lessened and the damage increased if [Ravenous Arc Field] is active when used.

Jason then, with hope of getting another gun took the last stone of the Builder and absorbed it.

You have awakened the genesis essence ability [Avatar of Creation].

You have awakened 5 of 5 genesis essence abilities.

You have awakened all genesis essence abilities. Linked attribute [Power] will advance in conjunction with lowest-rank genesis essence ability.

Ability: [Avatar of Creation]

Passive

Cost: None

Cooldown: None

Effect (iron): All your genesis abilities have increased effects, lessened costs and cooldowns. Boost Siva nanite effects and can be used to create more complex creations without additional cost.

"A passive ability that increases all your genesis essence abilities," Kaname commented. "It might not seem like much, but it'll make them easier to use and more effective."

"It is a nice effect," Farrah agreed. "Especially considering it doesn't cost anything to use."

"Yeah," Gary agreed. "Now, come on and absorb the stone Farrah and I got you."

"I thought you found it in the Lord's carriage?" Kaname asked.

"We did," Gary confirmed, "but those of us regulated to searching the grounds made the decision to give it to him."

Kaname just sighed in exasperation and moved on, "What stone is it?"

"Awakening stone of adventure," Farrah informed. "Second highest quality too, a great find."

"Really? That is a good find," Kaname agreed.

"Is it really that good?" Jason asked.

"Yup," Gary answered. "It's known for giving out utility powers. It makes you more appealing to teams. Even Farrah knows this."

"Hey," Farrah whined.

Jason simply picked up the gifted stone and absorbed it. His arm went numb before becoming transparent for a second.

You have awakened the void essence ability [Blink].

You have awakened 5 of 5 void essence abilities.

You have awakened all your void essence abilities. Linked attribute [Spirit] will advance with your lowest-ranked void essence ability.

Ability: [Blink] (void)

Special ability (dimension, teleport)

Cost: Low mana.

Cooldown: None.

Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).

Effect (iron): Teleport within range of sight. You must be able to clearly see the destination.

"A teleport," Gary exclaimed. "That's a winner."

"A rare and highly sought after power," Kaname agreed. "It can cost a fortune to try to get one."

"And even then, it's not a guarantee," Farrah reminded.

"Exactly," Kaname nodded. "I failed to get one despite having the highest quality version stone."

"It's limited to as far as you can see but most iron rank teleport abilities tend to be," Gary commented. "Though, it seems that you won't have to wait between uses like most conventional teleport powers."

"That could be useful in a crucial moment," Kaname stated. "Timing can be the deciding factor in any fight. Having that one ability at the right time can save your life."

"I can see that," Jason agreed. "I've been saved several times from having just the right tool or weapon at the right moment. A well-timed shot or mates' arrival have pulled me out of the fire more than once."

"Alright, you're on your last two stones," Farrah moved them along. "You'll be awakening all your essence abilities at the beginning. That's rare outside powerful families, like Kaname's."

Jason turned to his final type of awakening stones.

Item: [Awakening Stone of the Apocalypse] (unranked, legendary)

An awakening stone containing a seed of annihilation (consumable. awakening stone).

Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.

Effect: Awakens an essence ability.

You have 2 unawakened essence abilities.

You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Apocalypse]

Absorb Y/N?

"I'm a little wary of this one," Jason warned.

"What kind of stone is it?" Farrah asked.

"It's, uh... an awakening stone," Jason warily said.

"Of what?" Farrah asked once more.

"Of... well... the apocalypse."

Gary erupted into laughter, falling off the bench and onto the grass. Rufus raised an eyebrow while Farrah's eyes went wide.

"Really?" Kaname asked over Gary's laughter.

"Should I actually use it?" Jason asked uncertainly.

"I'm not sure," Kaname replied. "I've never heard of that one before. It does sound like trouble."

"You should consider selling it," Farrah suggested. "An awakening stone like that would get you enough to buy all the potions and gear you'll need as an iron rank adventurer."

"Don't you dare!" Gary yelled, sitting back up. "You're going to use that stone!"

"Gary," Kaname admonished. "He needs to be careful with his choices. We don't know what kind of ability that stone could produce."

"A powerful one," Gary stated. "Jason, you need to grab all the power you can."

"He's already using a combination set with essences not known to even the Magic Society." Kaname pointed out. "What if that stone unlocks some power that gets his combination on the restricted list?"

"You know they're lenient on people who discover new things," Gary argued. "They can't blame him if even they didn't know."

"It's an awakening stone of apocalypse," Kaname exclaimed. "That's a pretty big hint."

"It doesn't matter either way," Farrah cut in. "Look."

Jason's arm was a mix of black and blood red from where the awakening stone had sunken into it, before returning to a normal color.

"That was rash," Kaname stated, disapproval evident in his voice.

"Before everything else, adventurers are strong," Jason responded. "Your words. These abilities are fine, but I saw Farrah spray lava like it was shooting out of a hose. I want- need more of that kind of power."

"Yeah, you do," Gary grinned out.

"Not helping, Gary," Kaname gritted out between clinched teeth.

"No, Kaname," Gary said with a hard edge. "He's right. He needs all the power he can get, and you know it."

"There's no point arguing about what's done," Farrah pointed out.

You have awakened the arc essence ability [Weeping Dragon].

You have awakened 5 of 5 arc essence abilities.

You have awakened all arc essence abilities. Linked attribute [Speed] will advance with the lowest-ranked arc essence ability.

Ability: [Weeping Dragon] (arc)

Familiar (ritual, summon)

Cost: Extreme mana, stamina and health.

Cooldown: None

Effect (iron): Summon a [Weeping Dragon] to serve as a familiar.

Jason frown as he stated, "Weeping dragon? I mean it's a dragon, which is awesome, but I get one that cries so much that weeping is in its name. How did I get a crying familiar from an apocalypse stone?"

He expected for Gary to laugh and Farrah to make a backhanded comment about it being a useful distraction or something. All while Kaname tried to stay stock and professional as he fought off the smirk.

Instead, they were looking into space unblinkingly, rereading the prompt.

"Uh... guys?"

They kept looking at the invisible prompt, lost in disbelief. Farrah was the first to snap out of it as she quickly took out her living document tablet with blinding speed. She was tearing through information frantically.

"Did I miss something?" Jason asked the shellshocked adventurers.

They continued to ignore him as Kaname asked Farrah, "Is it what we think?"

Farrah's hands had stop moving as she stayed on whatever she had pulled up on her tablet. She dumbly nodded her head as she replied, "Yes, it is."

"It's what?" Jason asked in exasperation at being left out.

"The Weeping Dragon is one of the most famous and powerful familiars known," Gary answered seriously, but he was starting to grin toothily.

"The ruler of the Storm Kingdom, Tiberian Rimaros, the Storm King himself has a Weeping Dragon familiar," Kaname clarified. "He's diamond rank, so that means his familiar is too and it's so powerful that a massive thunderstorm that eats up the horizon constantly roars in its presence. Not an ability, just an effect of its aura on the ambient magic."

"It's actually an apocalypse beast," Farrah added. "If it ever left his control, it could depopulate all the islands of the Storm Kingdom in a day or two if not stopped."

"There have been several horror stories where people have crafted their powers after the Storm King," Gary started, "getting a Weeping Dragon and losing control of it. It proceeded to devour its summoner, every person and monster it could find, growing stronger until a strong enough essence user came along to stop it."

"Which is unusual for a summoned familiar," Farrah informed. "Summoned familiars are beings from the astral, pure spirit entities that require rituals to make their physical bodies to inhabit, anchoring their spirits to the summoner's body. It's why their physical forms die and return to the astral when their summoner dies. It's also why they have to be resummoned for every rank advancement, needing a new body made of the higher rank material."

"The Weeping Dragon is the only known summoned familiar that can advance without being resummoned," Kaname continued. "Which is convenient and saves a lot on expensive summoning rituals, but it also allows it to overgrow its summoner. Usually, summoned familiar can't grow past their summoner's rank, largely due to the need to resummon them on each rank advancement. It can also survive when its summoner dies, usually eating them as it's a creature of all-consuming hunger. Though, it has to keep eating to maintain its form. That's why it goes on rampages when breaking free from its summoner."

"Is it restricted?" Jason asked.

"No," Kaname answered. "The Adventurer Society did consider it after the third instant Gary told you about, but they couldn't restrict a power one of their most prominent and powerful members has. That, and they are very rare and difficult to get as a familiar."

"It still carries a stigma," Gary said. "On one hand, many will be worried that you'll lose control of it, and it will go on a killing spree. On the other, many will be jealous that you have such a rare and powerful familiar -to the point some would consider killing you so they can try and bond with it in your stay."

"That was actually how the last one went," Kaname added. "Some iron ranker not from a powerful family nor had one's backing had a Weeping Dragon. A silver ranker killed them, captured the familiar, raised it to silver and tried to bond with it through a ritual. It failed, the Weeping Dragon ate the silver ranker and consumed several small towns before being stopped by a traveling Gold rank adventurer."

"Would that actually work?" Jason asked with concern.

"It could," Farrah answered thoughtfully. "But only if they had the right bonded familiar essence ability. Most likely through the hunger, dragon, lightning or storm essence. They'd have to kill their current familiar as bonded familiars are living creatures that answered the call of the essence ritual and aren't physically boned to them. And they'd have to be very well versed in ritual magic to even have a chance of success. The odds would still be low."

"So, it could happen to me?" Jason asked, the memory of being helpless at the hands of the silver rank Cressida. He could easily see the next one killing him for his Weeping Dragon familiar.

"It could," Gary answered helpfully.

"I don't think I will summon it then," Jason replied crisply.

"Then you won't make it past iron without using monster cores," Kaname informed, "and I already explained why that's a bad idea."

"It sounds like that might be the better option than getting murdered by a higher ranked essence user," Jason replied.

"He does make a good point," Gary pointed out.

"Normally, yes, that would be the prudent choice," Kaname conceded. "But seeing as I'm going to be training him, that will give Jason the protection of the Remore family."

"That would make even a diamond ranker think twice before killing Jason," Farrah agreed. "Your grandmother is a legendary swordswoman and highly ranked amongst diamond rankers despite not owning territory like most of her contemporaries."

"Yeah," Gary added. "No one wants to risk the wrath of your famous gold rank parents, let alone the legendary Kenpachi and her equally powerful husband."

"That didn't stop the blood cult from trying to sacrifice him," Jason pointed out.

"That's because they're a small branch out in this nowhere area," Gary retorted. "They'd have been slaughtered by Kaname's parents as his grandmother went on a killing spree, destroying the Red Table in its entirety."

"True," Kaname confirmed. "If they had a modicum of intelligence, they'd have simply locked us up and fled. If the Red Table's leadership learned of them killing me, they would have butchered this entire branch for the massive trouble that'd have brought down on the whole cult."

{There's another issue that you should consider Guardian,} Gordon informed them.

"Great, there's more bad news," Jason snarked. "Lay it on me, Gordon."

{As a gestalt entity your soul and body are one. That means the Weeping Dragon will anchor its spirit to your soul, which gives it access to your soul as you'll have to give your consent for it to anchor itself to you. Forming a soulbond.}

"The inviolable soul," Farrah commented.

{Yes,} Gordon acknowledged. {By allowing the familiar into his soul and subsume itself into his being, the Guardian will be changed fundamentally. Not quite as extremely as when we bonded, but there will still be some changes.}

"Alright," Jason replied, "What kind of changes are we talking about?"

{Nothing too severe. Maybe a few physical altercations along with the enhancements it'll give. As you gain properties from the Weeping Dragon, it'll gain a few from your essence abilities.}

"That sounds great," Gary replied. "You're going to get extra powers, Jason."

"You're not the one that might grow scales," Jason replied. "And horns and who knows what all."

"It is a risk," Kaname agreed. "You'll need to decide if you're going to go through with the summoning. If so, we'll still train you to be an adventurer but with monster cores. I won't lie; it will make becoming one harder."

"Thanks, Kaname," Jason said.

"If you decide to go through with summoning your familiar," Farrah added, "I can help you through the ritual."

"Alright," Gary boomed. "Now, hurry up and see what amazing ability you get with that other apocalypse stone."

"Nope," Jason replied seriously. "After the dragon that might eat me, I'm going to hold off on using the other one."

"But you're so close to awakening all your abilities," Gary whined.

"It's the sensible approach," Kaname stated. "One I wish you'd used before but..." he just sighed and shook his head.


An hour later, Jason was drawing a complex magical diagram in chalk on the floor of one of the manor's many rooms. They had taken out the furniture and the rugs, leaving a smooth, polished floor. Jason had been working on the diagram for some time, guided by the ritual magic knowledge inserted into his head as well as Farrah's expertise. He stopped drawing for a moment to take some powder from a nearby pouch on the floor. He sprinkled a pinch over the part of the circle he had just drawn, most of which started glowing. He rubbed out the parts that didn't glow and redrew them.

The powder was ground-down monster cores from lesser monsters. Jason had several but they were all intact, so the powder had been provided by Farrah. She was guiding him through his first magical ritual.

"Putting together a magic circle isn't as simple as knowing the right design," Farrah explained. Any time she wasn't pointing out something specific she was lecturing. "If it were that easy, I could just carry around a bunch of boards with different magic circles on them. Every time you draw a magic diagram you need to adjust for the ambient magic conditions. A weak source of congealed magic like the core of a lesser monster is a perfect way to check your work."

"There's a ritual room under the manor with a permanent circle," Jason pointed out.

"That must have been expensive," Farrah commented. "You have to design the whole room around something like that to regulate the ambient magic. Did we loot that room?"

"Wasn't much in there," Gary responded. "The most valuable stuff was set behind the walls and into the floor, so Anisa wouldn't let us touch it. It was all pretty trashed, anyway."

Jason got to his feet. "I'm done. So, am I able to do a magic ritual like this because I already have essence magic?"

"You really don't know anything about magic," Farrah said in wonder.

"Was that not clear at any point?" Jason asked.

"Alright," Farrah replied. "You understand essence magic already. Simple, instinctive, usually doesn't cost anything but your own internal reserves. External magic is the opposite. Complicated, requires extensive training-"

"Or a skill book," Jason interrupted.

"...or a skill book," Farrah acknowledged through gritted teeth. "If you're satisfied with quick and dirty knowledge."

"Don't knock quick and dirty," Gary chimed in. "All my favorite things are better quick and dirty. Or slow and dirty."

Farrah shot Gary a look as Kaname shook his head while holding back a chuckle.

"Ritual magic," Farrah continued, "relies on external sources of magic. That's ambient magic, plus more concentrated sources, like quintessence or spirit coins."

Scattered all through the magic diagram Jason had drawn were stacks of iron-rank spirit coins and a few other materials.

Fortunately for Jason, the manor's magical supply room had more than enough materials for his familiar's summoning ritual. It used lightning, hunger and vast quintessence. When Farrah had explained the exorbitant cost of the materials, the cult's storeroom and vault barely having enough for the one summons, Jason was glad he wouldn't have to resummon it ever again.

Even if its entire physical body was destroyed, the Weeping Dragon would reconstitute itself inside his soul/body. The bond they'd make because of his gestalt nature would leave a portion of itself inside him and the raw magical power of his soul fueling its reconstitution.

"External magic doesn't require you to have an essence," Farrah explained. "There are people who make careers out of learning a specialized slice of external magic."

"Like plumbers," Gary offered as an example. "They know the magic to set up running water in a building. Like that shower you like so much."

"Exactly," Farrah agreed. "They know just enough to do a specific job. Most of those people don't have essences and lack the proper grounding in theory. The fundamental theory is the same, whether you specialize in rituals like me, magical craftsmanship like Gary, or something like alchemy. Same basis, different applications."

"What about you?" Jason asked Kaname.

"I'm good at stabbing."

"Kaname doesn't know external magic, Farrah clarified. "His obsession is swordsmanship."

"But he has a familiar... Kurohime, right?" Jason pointed out.

"I learned just enough about ritual magic to gain a familiar," Kaname explained.

"Just like how your skill book gave you the minimum to be considered a proper ritual magician." Farrah told Jason. "The bare minimum. That's how you awakened your familiar summoning power."

"You can only awaken that kind of essence ability if you already understand ritual magic," Gary explained. "That's why me and Farrah have summoning powers while Kaname barely awakened his single familiar power."

"You've seen me, and Gary call up short-lived monsters," Farrah reminded Jason. "Rituals that are also essence powers tend to be-"

"Quick and dirty," Gary interrupted with a grin.

"Please stop," Farrah groaned.

"I remember when you summoned those things," Jason said. "You just kind of knocked out a circle and out they came."

"Summoning a familiar is a more elaborate ritual," Farrah clarified. "Unlike a regular summoning, you should only need it each time you go up a rank. Unless our familiar gets killed, in which case you'll have to summon it back."

"Not everyone summons their familiar," Kaname pointed out.

"That's true," Farrah agreed. "Some familiar powers act like a call, and a creature that had an affinity to that call will come and form a bond with the person. Less costly than summoning, but if that kind of familiar dies, you can't just summon it again. You need to find a whole new creature to be your familiar, which may or may not be like the one you lost."

"Let's get this thing going," Kaname ordered. "You don't want Anisa to walk in on us."

"You definitely don't" Gary agreed.

Jason stood in front of the diagram. He could feel the power inside him aching to trigger the ritual. He knew the incantation; he had known it since the moment he used the stone. He held one hand over the magic diagram. In his other hand was a knife. He cleanly cut the palm of his outstretched hand, letting blood drop into the circle as he chanted.

"I call towards the never-ending hunger that roars with the violence of an enteral storm. Come forth and let loose your ravenous lightning upon my enemies. Your dread signaling the gods' demise and the world's end."

"I can see why the Weeping Dragon has gone wrong so many times," Gary commented. "That chant alone is an ominous warning to the terror it can bring."

The ritual circle started sparking, raging storm clouds rising out of it as Jason blood spurted out of numerous tiny holes all over his body and streamed into the circle. He fell onto his hands and knees from exhaustion, trying not to lose consciousness as his racial ability and the siva nanites restored him, the tiny holes closing shut. So focused on his own endeavor to be affected by the all-consuming hunger filling the room.

The room also became enshrouded by electrostatic energy that had Gary looking like he'd just crawled out of a giant dryer. Followed shortly by falling rain from the roiling storm clouds covering the ceiling.

He'd gained enough of his strength back to look up as the four-meter-long serpentine azure dragon rose from the crackling circle. The rain falling on the dragon gave it the appearance of it weeping. When it roared, lightning flashed, wind whipped around, and the entire manor shook.

Its aura was so potent that even the bronze rankers flinched from just the feel of it, having to put concerted effort into fighting off its suppressive force.

Mid-roar the Weeping Dragon turned into lightning and the crackling electric blue dragon shot into Jason faster than an eye could blink.

Jason screamed for a split second before glowing blue-grey and the lightning surged around him, solidifying into a massive egg. The egg looked like it was made of azure scales outlined in gold and crackled with the occasional spark. The Weeping Dragon's raging, hunger filled aura merging and mixing with Jason's more and more as time passed.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Gary grunted out in strain.

"I don't know," Farrah replied. "Jason isn't normal and his powers are completely unknow. This will make one great paper."

"Focus Farrah," Kaname chided. "I'm worried by the unnatural strength of his aura being projected so viciously. Anisa has definitely felt it and will be here shortly."

And surely enough, the elven priestess of purity came storming in, fury and disgust twisting her features.

"What foul corrupting heresy are you committing?"

The moment she saw the ritual setup and the dragon egg Anisa exploded with righteous indignation. A spell was on her lips and hand raised at Jason's transforming mass.

Gary had grabbed her arm, yanking it away as Kaname drew his Suzumushi, poised to defend Jason while Farrah had conjured an obsidian dome around Jason.

"Not going to happen," Gary growled.

"He's unclean and needs to be purged," Anisa insisted adamantly.

"We're not members of your church," Kaname replied coldly, "and you don't have the authority to purge him. Justice demands I stop you from killing whoever you deem impure. Murder of the innocent is unjust."

"My god has every right to remove the impure," Anisa stated as if it was all the reason she needed. "As his priestess I am the instrument upon which to carry out his will. Move aside and let me burn away the filth."

"No," Farrah said with absolute resolve. "We're adventurers, not clergy of Purity. We don't care about your god's will and tenants. Jason is a good man that we owe our lives to, and we won't hesitate to cut you down to protect him."

"You're working for my church," Anisa pointed out, ripping her hand out of Gary's vice grip -only because he allowed it.

"No," Kaname countered, "we're working for the Adventure Society. The contract came from your church but was brought to the Adventure Society. Even your god wouldn't presume to have authority over them."

"You're all filth," Anisa sneered, but she turned and left. She wasn't so zealous that she would ignore the fact that the odds were heavily against her. She was early into bronze and couldn't match the power of even one of the adventurers, let alone all three.

"I hate her," Farrah stated.

"Me too," Gary agreed. "I'm glad our contract is almost finished."

"I will admit, Anisa has gone too far," Kaname replied. "But we need to stay cordial until we've fully completed the contract. That means until we've reported back in with the Greenstone Adventure Society branch."

"Fine," the other two relented together.

"Though," Kaname added, "we won't let her just do whatever she wants. Especially when that involves murdering people because they don't conform to her church's beliefs."

"On that, we can agree," Gary responded.

"Knowing Anisa," Farrah chimed in, "it'll be often."

The dragon egg started cracking an hour after the transfiguration started. With a burst of electrical energy, Jason was freed from the scaled egg.


Jason had woken in the back of a rough wagon ride where he was informed that they'd left the manor at noon while he was still unconscious after his summoning ritual. Anisa had ridden at a remove on a heidel, occasionally sending them a scathing glare. That was when the others had informed him about her attempt to kill him for being impure.

He'd been grateful for their intervention and forgave them for dragging his unconscious body around like luggage.

Though, he had difficulty adjusting to the new feeling of the ravenous lightning dragon inside him. It felt like a barely contained storm that hungered to scour the world. He ended up needing to eat two more iron spirit coins than normal to settle the hungry storm and his stomach.

He'd also found that his eyes became even weirder, the sclera having turned electric blue that swirled and crackled with lightning. With his black, red lined diamond pupils and glowing silver irises, his eyes were very inhuman but striking to look at.

Plus, he found he gained a title with new abilities that explained his increased hunger.

Title: [Soul Symbiosis]

You have formed a soul bond with [Weeping Dragon], being intrinsically connected through your soul.

You will be able to feel each other no matter the distance.

The bond is permanent and cannot be dissolved even by death.

Your body and soul have been fortified by the power of the familiar you have bonded with, gaining unique powers and properties of the Weeping Dragon. The bonded partner has gained power and properties from you. When their physical body is destroyed, instead of going to the astral their spirit will retreat into your soul as they have anchored their spirit -not having a soul- to your soul and body, which are one gestalt form. They can then reconstitute themselves over time when their physical vessel is destroyed instead of needing a new ritual and materials.

You've soul bonded with an entity of endless hunger and that has given your soul the same aspect.

You'll require more sustenance to maintain your body and your hunger will be more severe.

You can now grow your essence abilities by absorbing monster cores without the negative effects, but with a reduced gain per core.

Your aura has gained the additional effect of conjuring a localized storm within in its range and its strength is congruent to your aura strength. The storm boosts your [Arc] essence abilities and can release small lightning dragons that seek out enemies to feed on.

That was one hell of a boon, but with his lost quest system ability his new hunger would really start eating into his funds. When the aura effect ended up causing storm clouds to form over their heads he shared his new title with the adventurers. With the added danger of his aura, they decided to up his training to get at least a basic control of it.

Gordon could suppress his aura for him but with having to control his perception power on top of that it would tax its current capabilities, making him less able to aid him in combat. That and aura control was a basic and vital skill for an adventurer that he had to master. The first step he was able to do while on the road was meditation. It'd help him gain a feeling for the magical power flowing through him, which was one of the three key steps in advancing his abilities and becoming stronger as an essence user.

Or so Kaname explained to him with Farrah and Gary's confirmations.

So, Jason spent hours in a bumpy wagon meditating and feeling the flow of his power. He had to first get a feel for how it flowed before he could begin controlling it.

As Farrah instructed Jason on the basics of aura use, he discovered that for training purposes, the specifics of his aura didn't matter. The fundamental aspect of auras was all the same, which she introduced to him when they stopped to rest, sitting crossed legged on woven mats she took out of her inventory. Meditation was a common practice amongst all essence users thus, she had the mats for their team.

"By having an aura power, you've gained the capacity to manipulate your aura," Farrah told him. "Like any other skill, it takes practice to do it right. Controlling your aura is important for many reasons, starting with the fact that as you get stronger, your aura will become increasingly energetic. Eventually, it will be enough to be dangerous to the people around you. Your bond just increased that problem and sped it up. Normally, people that reach gold rank and can't control their aura properly, can hurt normal people just by being near them."

"So, if you hit gold rank and can't control your aura," Jason asked, "do you have to hide so you don't hurt people just walking down the street?"

"There are magic items you can use to suppress your aura. People in that situation are required to use them."

"Do you get a lot of people who get to gold without any aura control?"

"No," Farrah answered. "Usually, your chances of getting to gold start with a good foundation, which means aura powers and aura training. It does happen, though. I once saw the aftermath of a gold ranker who forgot to put on an aura suppressor before going to a market. People were passed out, bleeding out their ears."

"That's not good. I think it'd be for the best if I didn't rely on Gordon and master it for myself."

"That'd be for the best," Farrah agreed. "The training is important, even if your familiar can suppress your aura for you. There are other reasons too. Anyone with a perception power will eventually be able to see auras clearly, so if yours isn't under control, they'll read you like you're holding up signs. Not just your location, either. If you can't restrain your aura, they'll read your emotions, know when you lie."

"Can you see my emotions right now?" Jason asked.

"No," Farrah answered, "but my perception power doesn't improve my aura sense until silver rank. I have no idea about when your does. We have no records on any of your essence abilities... except for your familiar."

{Silver rank,} Gordon supplied to Jason mentally.

"Seems it's the same for mine as well," Jason informed her.

She responded with a nod.

"So, what does your perception power do?" Jason asked her.

"It looks good," Farrah explained as her eyes turned into glowing embers. "It also lets me see through smoke and mist."

"Nice," Jason replied. "Wait, what about my clothes-changing ability. That hides me in smoke. Can you see through that?"

"That's an interesting question," Farrah wondered academically. "You know, if I ever get to diamond rank, I can shoot fire out of my eyes."

"That doesn't answer my... wait, you're going to get eyebeams? That's awesome!"

"I know, right?" Farrah enthusiastically responded. "There aren't a lot of abilities where we know what happens at diamond rank. Kaname thinks that if I actually get there it will be overshadowed by what my other abilities can do."

"Then Kaname sucks," Jason stated. "He thinks eyebeams won't be useful? The intimidation factor alone would be amazing. Who's going to meet your eyes when you can shoot heat-beams out of them?"

"That's what I said," Farrah agreed. "More or less. I didn't say heat-beams."

"Eyebeams are sweet."

{Though, they will pale in comparison to most other diamond rank abilities,} Gordan chimed in. {Mister Remore is correct.}

Jason shook his head in disappointment, {Ah, Gordan. You have much to learn, little bloke.}

"I think we may be getting off-topic, " Farrah reminded.

"Alright," Jason conceded. "So, what do I do?"

"Broadly speaking, you can control your aura in three ways, and I'll teach you them in order."

"Sounds good," Jason said.

"The first two uses are the easiest," Farrah explained. "They are, broadly speaking, projecting your aura and restraining it. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Projecting is pushing your aura out to affect people, and restraining it is used to drawing it in, whether to hide it, or just not be rude."

"Or make people's ears bleed," Jason quipped.

"Exactly," Farrah replied with a wry smile.

"What about the third one?"

"That's using your aura to suppress the auras of other people. It's harder than the others, and you should leave it alone until you reach a certain level of proficiency with aura manipulation."

"Fair enough," Jason conceded as he looked up at the dark, roiling clouds over their heads from his aura. It wasn't as high as normal clouds, maybe ten or so meters above them and as wide. "I do need to make sure I don't make it ran indoors."

"That's why you're learning it earlier than planned," Farrah agreed. "We start with projecting, because you're clearly doing it already. Everyone is, until they learn not to. It's what makes people with no aura control easy to read. I'll also be teaching you how to hide your emotions even as you're projecting your aura to affect people."

"Can monsters manipulate their aura?"

"Higher-rank monsters can," Farrah informed. "At your level, even mine, really, the most you'll find is a few stealthy monsters that restrain their auras to hide better."

"Stealth is a favorite of mine," Jason commented. "I'd best learn to restrain my aura properly or I'll never get the jump on someone again. That'd be embarrassing."

"It would," Farrah confirmed. "I'll teach you all the fundamentals. Expanding your aura, narrowing it down onto some people and not others. Once I've taught you, though, it's your responsibility to keep practicing. Diligence makes the difference between crudely tossing around your aura and deft manipulation."

"Then I won't make my neighbors bleed out their eyeballs?" A rumbling and small flash of light gathered his attention, and he added, "And so don't accidentally hit someone with a bolt of lightning."

{You're far too weak for that to be a concern anytime soon, Guardian,} Gordon stated so matter-of-factly that it stung a little.

"You're a long way from that being a concern," Farrah agreed, but added, "But eventually, you'll get there. More immediately, the skill with which we control our auras is how adventurers make their first impressions on one another. If you can't do it properly, people won't take you seriously. Excellent aura manipulation marks you as an adventurer of skill and distinction."

"So, you're saying if I don't control my aura properly, I will be looked down upon as a talentless scrub."

"Precisely," Farrah responded. "When the rich and powerful bring contracts to the Adventure Society, they add bonus rewards to entice the best adventurers. At your rank, these contracts are usually first-come, first serve. Once you go higher, clients start requesting specific adventurers. That's when your reputation matters, and if your aura control is sloppy, you won't get a second glance."

"Good to know."

"You're not expected to have the skills at iron rank, of course," Farrah elaborated. "That's the time you're meant to be mastering the basics, after all. But if you don't have a handle on it by the time you reach bronze, you'll find a lot of doors closing in your face."

"Kaname told me that just being an adventurer opens every door."

"Yes, well, Kaname may not be the best authority on what life is like for the average adventurer."

"The ones not born with talent, looks, wealth, privilege and influence?"

"Exactly. He grew up in one of the most prestigious adventure preparatory schools in the world, with kings and the children of heroes as friends. He's a great guy, but he's oblivious to what the rest of us go through sometimes."

"So, to him, adventuring is just a parade of people telling you how great you are and handing you sacks of cash."

"Yes. I'm not saying the rest of us can't get there, but Kaname never even saw the low rungs of the ladder. The things we're teaching you now, he was learning from the womb."

"Then if I'm going to catch up, we should probably get back to the lesson," Jason enthused.

"I like the ambition," Farrah gave him a gentle, approving smile. "First, let me take you through the process. As I said, we start with projection to learn the basics, then move on to restraining. Once you can do both of these to an acceptable level, we introduce more sophisticated techniques. Things like focusing on one person or hiding aspects of your aura while projecting. That culminates in projecting and restraining at the same time."

"How does that work?"

"Well, for example, just say you've hidden yourself, but you want to use your aura. So, you blanket the area with your aura ability but hide your presence within it."

"Sounds like a good intimidation tactic," Jason comments. "They know you're around, stalking them, but can't find you."

"Or you could just blow one of them up," Farrah countered. "I find that intimidates the survivors just fine."

"You're a very aggressive person."

"There's nothing wrong with enjoying your work," she responded defensively.

Jason laughed before correcting the misunderstanding, "I'm not criticizing you. If anything, it's in admiration. I find your straightforward, aggressive attitude very refreshing and kinda hot."

Farrah looked at Jason with a raised brow, she replied simply, "Thanks... I guess."

Jason responded, "No need to thank me. It's just the truth. You're an amazingly awesome person Farrah."

Farrah cleared her throat and replied, "Still nice of you to say, but we need to get back on topic."


The wagon's progress along the little-used trail was slow but steady, only pausing occasionally to water the heidels from a barrel in the wagon and guide Jason through his basic aura control. The creatures could handle the arid conditions well enough but couldn't forego water entirely. There was a dozen of them between Kaname's string and the four pulling the wagon. Kaname had insisted on taking them over Anisa's objection, refusing to leave them to starve in the stables of the abandoned manor. That was why he wasn't in the wagon with them despite having plenty of room with Anisa refusing to sit with the defilers.

They had taken a wagon because they had destroyed the more comfortable carriage when the Lord tried to flee, only leaving a few uncovered wagons left. Jason had joined Gary in the driver's bench as his aura control was just barely good enough to keep the storm clouds from forming. He also wanted to take in the landscape and get away from Anisa. She'd tired of riding heidels and started riding in the back with them, but at a remove. The elf had even put up a magical barrier to keep the unclean filth -one of the many insulting ways she addressed Jason- from contaminating her. There was little room, as Gary's huge frame occupied most of it and Jason was rather bulky himself.

"So, how long are we going to be trekking through the desert?" Jason asked. "I'm not saying there isn't a stark beauty to it, but I'd like to go someplace more civilized. A hospitable place with people not looking to eat me or sacrifice me as part of a blood ritual. Though, it kind of looks like parts of my homeland."

"Where are you from?" Gary asked.

"We call it the outback," Jason supplied.

"Out back of what?" Gary asked.

"Out back of everything," Jason answered simply.

"We'll reach a village this afternoon," Gary finally answered Jason's question. "Not sure how long we'll stay. The guy that set us up lives there."

"We're going to pay him a little visit," Farrah said with a hard edge.

"After that, we're about two days from the river valley. From there, it'll be a nice boat ride down to the cost. That'll take a couple of days and bring us right into the city," Gary continued.

"I'd like to take a couple of days with the prick that served us up to those cannibals," Farrah added, her face twisted in rage.

"We should be leaving that man to my church," Anisa insisted. "His betrayal to my god was greater than his betrayal to you."

"No one was going to eat your god," Farrah pointed out. "We're going to peel this prick like an apple."

"You have apples in this world?" Jason asked curiously, another similarity to his world. "I love apples."

"Me too," Gary agreed brightly.

"Remember not to kill him," Kaname called from where he was riding alongside the wagon. "He has questions to answer."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Farrah replied. "I'm going to take it nice and slow."

"And I don't see why you're upset Anisa," Jason chimed in. "Once Kaname gets his answers and Farrah... punishes him, your church can have what's left."

"You dare to assume what my god would want, you tainted monstrosity!" Anisa sneered. "Any and all punishment the man deserves should come from my church."

"And this is why you don't try using logic against religious zealots," Jason mused. "After all, why would you need a brain if you can just get a god to tell you what to do?"

"You blaspheming filth!" Anisa moved towards him threateningly.

"Enough," Kaname barked out from atop his heidel, staring down Anisa as Farrah got in between her and Jason. The priestess gave one last hate-filled stare at him and sat back down.


"That mountain is green," Jason exclaimed at the sight before them. "How can that be? Does it have anything to do with all of the magic coming off of it."

Gordon having shifted his vision power to see magic. The mountain radiated with green life magic that flowed off it, covering the surrounding area in an invisible mist of life magic for kilometers.

The hills and mountains they had seen were largely barren, with a few scraggly trees at best. The trail led them in the direction of a dark green mountain. On the lower reaches it was largely plant life, more verdant than elsewhere in the desert. Towards the peak it was bare stone, which was also a deep green color.

"Green marble is a regional specialty," Farrah explained. "They export a lot of it through the city on the coast, which is where we're going. They even named the city Greenstone."

"There's a village on the other side of the mountain," Gary informed. "That's where we're heading now."

"The village is based around quarrying," Farrah continued. "We'll see more traffic from here on as they cart the stone to the river and boat it down to the coast."

The trail improved as it curved around the base of the mountain. It became wider and smoother, making the wagon ride less bumpy. As they made their way around the mountain Jason spotted rapidly increasing signs of life. The occasional patches of yellow grass became thicker with more of the rare, scrubby trees. The effect of life magic subsuming the area around the mountain.

They passed several quarry faces before the village came into sight. The trail had become a proper road at that point and their wagon became one of many. Jason noticed magic was being combined with manual labor, resulting in a more modern operation than he would have expected. There were even huge slabs of stone floating over the ground, along mine-cart-style rails that glowed with magic.

When the village itself came into view, Jason was agog. From high on the severe slope, water sprayed out from a hole in the mountain itself, catching the light in a gorgeous waterfall that spilled hundreds of meters to a pool below. The pool fed a wide channel, stretching the better part of a kilometer into a small lake. There was a village built up around the shore of the lake. The lake was ringed with green, rich grass and some kind of palm tree. The village buildings were nestled amidst the lush greenery, buildings of stone, white plaster and occasionally vibrant green marble.

"You could make some real tourist money here," Jason commented.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Farrah agreed. She had got up on her knees behind Jason and Gary to look out.

Jason's gaze drifted up to the waterfall spraying out of the mountain. "Aren't they worried about digging into the water source?"

"Almost every oasis in this desert has a magical water source," Gary explained. "They could tear this mountain down to the ground and the water would just fall from the sky."

"How does that work?" Jason asked incredulously.

"There's an astral space connected to this desert," Farrah responded. "I'm assuming you have no idea what that is."

"From the name, I'd guess some kind of interdimensional pocket," Jason guessed.

"Um, yeah, actually," Farrah replied oddly at Jason's accurate guess. "It's connected to various places around the desert and produces a bunch of water, therefore, oases."

"That sounds awesome," Jason exclaimed. "Wonder if I could get up there for a closer look."

"Astral spaces are pretty common," Farrah informed, "but normally they're sealed off and you need magic to track one down and open it up."

"Actually, I think I have an ability that lets me do exactly that," Jason informed. "Right, Gordon?"

{Yes, Guardian. Your nirvanic transfiguration ability allows you to sense astral and proto-astral spaces, entering them directly. Even if the aperture is sealed,} Gordon answered into everyone's mind but Anisa as she wasn't connected to his party interface.

"That's a very useful ability, that like many of your abilities, I've never heard of before," Farrah replied with a shake of her head, before continuing her previous thought. "Anyways, being naturally open like this is rare, especially with so many apertures. The river we'll be going down comes out of the biggest one."

"You can't just constantly introduce new water," Jason argued. "Even if it takes a long time, it'll eventually start messing with the climate."

"No," Farrah said, "the water coming out of the astral space has a high level of magic. When too much accumulates it turns into water quintessence. When it forms, it condenses huge quantities of magically imbued water into a little crystal."

"Is the crystal super-heavy?" Jason asked.

"No," Farrah answered simply. "Why would it be?"

"Conservation of mass," Jason supplied. "Or energy, or something. Physics isn't my thing."

Gary and Farrah glanced at each other and shrugged. They were quickly getting use to not knowing what Jason was talking about. While Jason just assumed it had something to do with magic.

{The laws of physics are more of a suggestion in high magic worlds like this one,} Gordon explained just to Jason. {They can be overcome through sufficient magical energy.}

Farrah pointed out what looked like fishing boats on the small lake. "Those are all people scouring the bottom of the lake for it. As forms of quintessence go, water is a common one. It's one of the most useful, though."

"Especially in the desert," Gary added. "Being able to find it reliably means there's real money to be made."

"Yeah," Farrah agreed. "There's whole villages along the coast dedicated to hunting up water quintessence that forms after the river water washes out to sea. Funnily enough, this desert is one of the best sources of water quintessence in the world."

As the wagon drew closer to the village, they passed by what looked to be a staging area for exporting the marble. Kaname separated himself from the group to find somewhere to stable the string of heidels for the night. An inn would have livery with room enough for the ones pulling the wagons, but not the extra ones as well.

The village was made up of a single, circular street running around the entirety of the lake, paved in tan-colored brick. It looked like sandstone, but for all Jason knew, it could be some weird magic rock. The brick was close enough to yellow that if it didn't loop in a circle, he'd expect to find a shady fake wizard at the end.

There were buildings on either side of the ring-road; the ones fronting the lake were larger and nicer. The smaller buildings were made from the same brick as the road. The larger ones were coated in a white plaster, with green marble embellishments.

The buildings were pleasantly placed among the trees and bushes growing around the lake. It was a stark contrast to the desert, with its dry dirt and spiky scrub. The smaller buildings had their own appeal, with inviting homeliness to them. The street was busy with people, but more than broad enough that neither wagons nor pedestrians were inconvenienced. Looking around, everyone seemed happy.

Gary pulled the wagon to a halt in front of an inn, and everyone climbed off. After hours of riding the wagon over bumpy ground, Jason's body was creaky and sore. It was one of the things he didn't miss from his time in the service. He took in a luxurious breath, heavy with moisture from the lake. Compared to the dust and heat of the open desert, it was like drinking in nectar.

"Think I might walk off the stiffness of bumping along in this wagon," Jason informed. "This is my first piece of civilization not full of cannibals. Hopefully."

"They're not cannibals that we know of," Farrah replied with a laugh.

"Good," Jason responded. "I think I'll have a look around."

"Sounds good," Gary replied. "I'm going to get us some rooms and get these heidels unhitched."

"Then Anisa and I will go track down our little friend," Farrah stated, the hard edge still present whenever she brought him up. "Don't want him spotting us and running off."

Anisa nodded her assent, still unwilling to speak to any of them.

"I doubt he'd still be foolish enough to still be in town after selling you out," Jason commented. "Unless he is that dumb or believed you all died. But he still could have been warned somehow about your survival and fled."

"That's true," Farrah conceded, "but even if he was somehow warned of our survival, we can still find clues or a trail to where he fled to."

"Valid point," Jason replied. "Good luck on your hunt then."

"Do you need any money?" Gary asked Jason.

"I have some gold coins," Jason responded. "The rest are lower ranked, but I have a lot of them. Will that be enough?"

Gary and Farrah started laughing, even Anisa had an amused look on her face, though it had a bite to it that suggested he was an ignoramus.

"Jason," Gary informed, "a gold spirit coin would buy the nicest building in this village, and I doubt there's enough currency in it to give you the change. Unless you're buying magic items or bulk trade goods, most people use lesser spirit coins, iron-rank at the most."

"What's the exchange rate between coins?" Jason asked. "Even though it'd be fun to test people's moral fiber by seeing if they'd cheat me if given the chance, I'd prefer not to be seen as an easy mark. Normally, I'd say I can handle myself, but in a world filled with magic, I'll play it safe for now."

"That's a sensible choice," Farrah applauded.

"Yeah, but I kind of miss when I was a young nineteen-year-old idealist that'd just risk it for the potential fun to be had," Jason sighed aloud. "But life can be a harsh teacher. So, the exchange rate?"

"It starts off at a hundred lesser coins equaling a single iron-rank spirit coin," Gary explained. "Then continues on by a factor of ten for each rank. Ten iron for one bronze, ten bronze for one silver, ten silver coins for one gold and ten gold for one diamond."

"Thanks mate," Jason replied. "A nice and simple exchange rate, how refreshing. I don't even want to get into how complicated it can be with the numerous types of currency in my world."

Jason shuddered a bit at all those times he had to learn new exchange rates as he traveled on missions.