093 - Jane (Patreon)

With her damp hair wrapped in a towel and another towel wrapped around her body, Jane stepped out of the master bathroom of Windy Manor, into the common room, feeling great. She had just treated herself to a nice soak in hot water, with scented oils and lush, pure white soap, for she had accomplished something today that most people never had, or ever wanted to. She smiled at the air, as she looked upon Elemental Body skill number six; the last one.

--

Air Body, instant, close range, 5 MP per second + Variable

You are the breeze.

--

She kept smiling as she made her way to her room. She took her time getting dressed, for her mind was in a hundred different places.  

The Headmaster had been very good to Jane, giving her access to three different slimes, one rare, two not, and their respective dungeons he maintained around Veird. She did not have the Razorwing Familiar Form that she wanted, but she had cleared her Polymage Class Quest a week ago. She had not turned it in, however, because of a fact she already knew, but didn’t consider a big deal when she was just starting out.  

What you did before you got a Class enabled you to have different Classes than the standard issue Classes available. You could always check up on what other Classes were available after you already had one; her father had proven that to her just the other day, by revealing that he could get the Blood Mage class, if he wanted. But changing Classes was rather high up there in difficulty. Even changing a Favored Spell was pretty difficult. Her father’s Quest to take back one of his Favored Spells from [Call Lighting] involved surviving a lightning strike.  

Removing a Class was much more difficult; on par with changing your Scion. Getting rid of Polymage, which was something she was pretty sure she would never want to do, was a well known, and highly involved Quest. It required discarding all your Familiar Forms and remaining in your Natural Form for a year, or however long it took for your ‘soul to forget what it could have been’; which was just a fancy way of becoming ineligible for reacquiring your lost Familiar Forms. That process usually took a year, but it could take longer. Jane suspected that if she ever choose to abandon Polymage, that it would take her a long, long time to forget how to be a Shadow Spider.

So Jane had waited to turn in the Quest to the Script. She would go to the Registrar first. She wanted to see if she was eligible for any other, stranger Classes. Not many people got all the Elemental Body forms, after all!

Jane paused in putting on her pants. She should push her hopes down a notch. She tempered her expectations. She might have all the Body skills, and all the Shaping spells, but she had not made a single Prismatic spell. She probably needed to do that. But. Eh. She could still visit the Registrar and see her options. She could even ask the Headmaster his opinions on her possible options. She had earned that right, according to him. He was technically a Registrar, but only because of his position as Rozeta’s Second. If you were one of his Elites, or if you had done him a great service, he talked about practically anything anyone could ask of him, going on long tangents and informative stories about hidden Classes and interesting spells, provided those Classes and Spells were beneficial for him, and his goals.

Jane had noticed that peculiarity of the Headmaster’s rather early in their talks of Earth’s Fake Magic, when Jane spoke of Orbs of Dragonkind. She had memorized all of her books that she had on her laptop, of course, but when she started writing down what she knew, the larger spells and artifacts and magic tumbled out, first. When she mentioned the Orbs of Dragonkind, the Headmaster cleared the room, and had her work in private from then on. Everything she wrote passed under his eyes, first, before being cleared for his Elites to know.

Jane had been rather flippant about the whole thing before that moment. Everything she knew was Fake Magic from Earth, after all; she had even coined that term, herself. But the Headmaster still wanted it, so Jane decided she was going to milk that knowledge for all it was worth. But it was still Fake. Just a bunch of ideas put together by people without any real experience with magic, made to be accessible and give numbers to such ethereal concepts like ‘a bolt of magical force striking a person’ and ‘Health’.

And so, when she wasn’t eating slime cores, she spent several hours each day, spilling ‘secrets’ and occasionally answering the Headmaster’s questions. Occasionally, the Headmaster had more than just questions. He had concerns. Early on in their talks, one of his concerns lodged into Jane’s mind, and would not let go. She had thought about his words every day since then. She was still thinking of them now, as she finished putting on her shirt, and laid back onto her bed.

He had said something like, ‘All this Fake Magic that is so similar to the Script, and yet not; perhaps this is what is holding you back from proper Script spells? Perhaps, you are trying to do too much, and all your ideas are conflicting with each other.’  

Then they had a rather large back-and-forth about how some people know all the magic there is, like the Headmaster himself, or any number of the Elite Mages that Jane had seen in her time on Veird.  

The Headmaster had gone on to summarize his expansive argument into something like, ‘Yes, it is true that some people are capable of knowing all the magic there is. Most Mage Guild Masters would even fall into that category. But no one can cast it all, Jane, and those who have unfinished thoughts or abnormal ideas rarely get far in their studies of magic. I have seen troubles like yours before. I have seen the children of noble houses, known for their magic, who come to Oceanside as complete failures, for in trying to learn all the magic there is, or in trying to put their own ill-thought twists on what has already come before, they have learned nothing, and gained no power. So I will tell you what I have told them:

‘There is a difference between half-formed ideas, and what you are trying to achieve, and it is thus:

‘What you are looking for is your Truth. You must find this Truth, and it must be a singular vision. But do not feel that you are making yourself smaller by limiting your magic. Indeed, you are deepening your connection to the mana, by deciding who you are, and who you wish to be. Discarding unwanted influences. Condensing and refining a vision to follow, or forge.

‘My own Truth is that of the Sun. How it nurtures growth and life, but is also harsh and unyielding.

‘Your father’s, if I had to hazard a guess, would be a Truth about how the world works on a fundamental level. Many follow his sort of Truth, but even if we all knew the physical theories he knows, I doubt many would be capable of his depths of conviction.  

‘Many find their Truth in the solidity of the Script. If you had grown up on Veird and cherished our Script how you had cherished of all this Other Magic you imagine, I would have guided you along the normal Arcanaeum Path. But I doubt that is meant to be.  

‘So find your Truth, Jane.’

Jane laid in bed, thinking.

… All she really wanted to do was kill threats, explore the world, and have fun doing it. But that wasn’t really a ‘truth’ was it? Or was it? Eh. Jane sat up. She knew what her problem was, and it wasn’t about any ‘Truth’.  

A lot of magical theory out there talked about stuff like ‘Schools of Thought’ creating the cultural basis for magics like the Shaping spells, and the Force spells, based on the magical theory that the Arcanaeums of Veird kept pumping out into the world. Jane would have called it a ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario if that scenario was even remotely true; the egg came first, after all, and then evolution produced the chicken. But whatever the case, Arcanaeum Magic was strong when used correctly, but, according to everything Jane had seen, it was just as much bullshit as anything else.

The problem laid in the fact that Magic was possibility. But possibility only existed when people thought of that possibility in the first place. In the case of Veird’s magic, these communal thoughts created the schools of magic taught in Arcanaeum. In the case of Jane’s gaming books and the new magic of Candlepoint, the Headmaster’s leading theory was that Candlepoint’s shadelings were an attempt by Melemizargo at forcing new magic into the Script, in a roundabout way. Theoretically.

Because that’s how normal Magic worked.

Theoretically.  

Jane wanted to scream! Subjective Magic had some very large downsides, and one of them was that no one really knew how any of it worked! And what worked for one person, wouldn’t work for others! And so, it seemed, Jane was the ‘other’.

On the other hand, Subjective Magic was great because it allowed for anything. Anything allowed by the Script, anyway.

But on the third hand! Jane was not great at self delusion or introspection! She wanted to be everything and everything, from the very moment she landed on Veird. How the hell was that concept going to work with finding her own personal ‘Truth’?

Maybe… If her father’s methodology was accepting the world as everyone else saw it, and then adding his own obstinance to it all… Could Jane’s methodology, perhaps, be the exact opposite? Could she just… enforce her will upon the world?

No. Wait. That would make her a tyrant.

But… Was that who she was, at her core?  

Jane shook her head. No. That was wrong.  

HOPEFULLY THAT WAS WRONG!

Jane didn’t want to think about magic anymore —and she was self aware enough to recognize that as yet another part of the problem. But! Whatever!—so she got up, and went about her day. Maybe she’d ‘find herself’ some other time, because for now, Jane had an appointment with a Registrar.  

She glanced toward the note Erick had left on the kitchen table, as she walked through the main room, toward the front door. She had read it a few days ago, but left it there. Delia had not crossed her path, but Jane had purposefully stayed away from that tangled nest of problems.  

From what she had found out from asking around, though: Delia was attending classes. So that was good? Probably?  

Jane certainly wasn’t going to make herself a [Familiar], though.  

- - - -

In a room with a Script-blue door, Jane sat across from a petite, older incani woman with large black horns and dull red skin, while a large blue box of options hovered to the side. There were a surprising number of shadow-centric Class options on the list. Jane wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that, but the Registrar, Alanaria, was happy to help Jane understand what she was seeing.  

“And what’s this one?” Jane asked, “Veirdshaker?”

Alanaria nodded, then read from an invisible part of the air, saying, “A stone-based class, with inherent bonuses to stone control and battlefield dominance. While others are falling down, you are standing strong.” She only needed to read from the air a handful of times this whole meeting. Mostly, she just spoke answers to Jane’s questions like she had studied for the test well before now. She turned to Jane, saying, “Even able to affect fliers, to some extent.”

“How did I qualify for that?”

Alanaria looked to the air again. “A proficiency in all Shaping spells, and the four Natural Elemental Body skills.”

Jane stared at ‘Veirdshaker’ for a few moments. She had not expected that sort of answer from Alanaria. It appeared that ‘Veirdshaker’ was rather close to something she might consider being.  

But. Eh. Maybe not.

She pointed to another, Class, asking, “Weapons Master?”

Alanaria didn’t have to read from the air this time, but she did smile a little. “Weapons deal more damage. Conjured or otherwise; does not matter. A peak Weapons Master is able to draw out the shape of their soul and use it as a weapon, or imbue a chosen weapon with a piece of themselves, depending on their own ideas of the Class. The process varies by person. Those that conjure or imbue well might live long after their natural death, as that weapon, looking after those still to come.” She added, “A lot of people from the warring states of Nelboor become Weapons Masters, where weapons are passed down from conqueror to child.”

“How did I get access to that Class, though? I have no history with any of that.”

“A large proficiency with many different weapons.” Alanaria added, “But you are wise to question such an offering. Without the techniques and bloodline history necessary to make such a Class shine, you would only have access to the Class Abilities, and an enhancement of whatever ideas regarding weapons that you might bring to the Class. Going further would require tutelage from another Weapons Master.”

Jane looked back to the list, and asked about one of the many classes that bothered her. “Zealot?”

Alanaria said, “A person willing to enact the will of a Deity.”

“Can you just…” She paused. She asked, “Can you tell me what Classes give? Baseline, I mean. What is a ‘Class’? I already know but… I thought I knew what I was going for, and I expected something else on this list, today.” Jane said, “Something closer to who I am.” She glanced up at ‘Veirdshaker’. “Though some of them are closer than others.”

Alanaria smiled small, then began, “It is perfectly natural to doubt a Class choice. Shall I start my explanation at the beginning?”

“Yes. Please. What is a Class, exactly?”

Alanaria nodded. “In one of the many creations made in order to prevent Melemizargo’s Wrath from killing everyone on Veird and thus ripping this world apart, a higher tier of power was manifested by the Relevant Entities of the Script, and Rozeta, in order for us to combat the Darkness.  

“The Classes.

“When a person reaches level 50, thereby proving themselves as capable, the Relevant Entities of the Script allow such a person to ascend to greater heights. When a person accepts a Class, they are taking the whole of their being and applying it in a singular direction in order to go further than they could have gone otherwise.

“But much how like no two people conjure the same sword, every Class is different for each individual. And I don’t mean Water Mage versus Stone Mage. I mean your Water Mage versus another’s Water Mage. You would both have the same Class, but you might take it in very different directions.

“To say it another way: Matriculation into the Script involves the Script carving out a space in the magic for you, but you fill that space with your own magic. Gaining a Class is a further allowance of growth. Putting a plant in a bigger pot, for instance. And I am not talking at all about Class Ability Slots. Every Class gets those, and some more than others, but those don’t matter compared to the Class itself.  

“If you were to take Water Mage, you would find, outside of all Ability Slots, your ability to control, change, or affect water, has increased. Either in quantity, or quality; however you chose to grow your own personal ability, the Script would respond.

“This is what it means to have a Class.” Alanaria asked, “Understood?”

“Yes.” Jane asked, “And the rarer Classes?”

Alanaria nodded. She said, “And now, we get into the rarer Classes, and what they mean. Take, for instance, River Mage. This is a variant of Water Mage. By taking the River Mage Class, you would find your rushing water spells and your control over currents vastly increased, even more so than if you were to take Water Mage. The exact nature of the change is up to you as the individual, but if a dam broke and rushing waters threatened a small village, all things being equal, a River Mage would be able to deflect the destructive rush to a greater degree than the Water Mage could.

“Another, slightly smaller thing to keep in mind, is that the suite of available Class Abilities are different between a Water Mage versus a River Mage. While the Water Mage might pull Class Abilities from the entire varied list of water-aligned Classes, and thus have a more generalized suite of options, the River Mage’s Class Abilities would focus primarily on rushing water of all kinds. Don’t expect to find ‘Tranquil Mind’ for 25% more Mana inside River Mage, for example. But a River Mage would always have access to ‘Rushing Mind’, for 25% more Mana Regen.  

“‘Tranquil Mind’ and ‘Rushing Mind’ stack with the standard suite of Class Abilities for doubling your Mana or your Mana Regen, too, just so you know.

“If you choose to take a specialty Class over a generalized Class, keep this in mind.

“One last thing to keep in mind: All things being equal, and unless you are set on something specific, it is the official recommendation of Rozeta to take the generalist approach when choosing a Class.”

“Thanks… but...” Jane said, “I was hoping that you could give an example outside of the one I read in the textbooks.”

Alanaria smiled, faintly, like she had heard that complaint a million times before. She answered with a response she likely had said a dozen times today, already, “That’s not how Registrars work.”

Jane asked, “I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about a theoretical ‘Prismatic Polymage’?”

Alanaria said, “I can guess that such a Class would be a rare variant of Polymage. But I have no idea what such a theoretical Class would even provide, or how you would get there.” She said, “But! I can say, that if you have a large enough personal conviction for such a Class, then it should appear on the list.” She glanced to the blue box hanging in the air, to the side. “But, since your desired Class has not appeared, we can conclude that even you, yourself, don’t believe that you have earned the right to such a Class.”  

Jane chuckled once. She sighed. She said, “Yeah. That’s about right.”  

Jane turned to the floating box of options, and read through the list a few times. ‘Polymage’ seemed to stare at her, telling her that she already knew what she wanted. She had completed that Quest a week ago, but she had yet to turn it in.  

--

Class Quest!

Abandon your initial Familiar Form 0/1

OR

Acquire an aquatic Form 1/1

Acquire an aerial Form 1/1

Acquire a fiery Form 1/1

Acquire a grounded Form 1/1

Acquire a hidden Form 1/1

Acquire a mesmerizing Form 1/1

Reward: Polymage Class

--

She could have accepted the Class right there. But she did not want to. She wanted to see if she would become eligible for something better, when she finally got the last three Elemental Body skills. Which she had.  

--

Stone Body, instant, close range, 5 MP per second + Variable

You are the land.

--

Water Body, instant, close range, 5 MP per second + Variable

You are the river.

--

Air Body, instant, close range, 5 MP per second + Variable

You are the breeze.

--

But having all 6 Elemental Body skills did not unlock a special Class. It hadn’t even given her a ‘Special Action’ like she had gotten when she upgraded her flame slime into a flame ooze.  

Alanaria said, “I can see you are having some difficulty. I would like to give you some personal advice, if you would allow me?”

Jane looked over to Alanaria, and said, “Yeah. Sure.”

Alanaria said, “Polymage is a great Class for those who enjoy [Polymorph]. It is a good road that many have traveled on, with well researched books and a myriad of personal journals in the library, of those who have come before. Either way, do not forget this: Any Class you choose, you can make your own. That is the beauty of the Script.” She said, “But, since it seems you are a bit lost, I will give you the advice I give everyone who levels, way, way too fast.” She smiled, saying, “You’re level 71, and you Matriculated ten months ago! That is simply too fast!”

Jane smiled to herself.  

Alanaria said, “You need to take some time and find out what you want, for sure. If you’re going for such a ‘Prismatic’ Class, have you even tried to combine all of your Elemental Body skills and spells yet?”

“No. Not yet. I thought just having them was enough.” Jane said, “And I thought that having them all would unlock something. Some ‘Special Action’, or whatever.” She added, “How do you even use the Body skills in magic? Nothing I’ve read shows them used in any spell combinations. They’re always sort of… off to the side. Or recommended as alternatives to [Teleport] and [Blink].”

“Regarding how they’re used in other magics: I cannot help you with that. But regarding putting them all together? Have you even tried, yet?”

Jane frowned, but mostly at herself. The answer to Alanaria’s question was ‘no’. Jane never had any good luck combining magic. She also recognized that she was being foolish. Like a little kid scared to touch the stove because it burned her once before; Jane’s magic had never worked, and she felt it might never ever work, at all.  

… She recognized that she was being foolish, for sure.  

Jane said, “I haven’t tried combining them, yet. Or even using them fluidly from one to the other.”

Alanaria quietly looked at Jane. After a moment, she said, “Here’s some more unsolicited advice: You’ve been sick for a long time. It seems to me that you need to get back on a battlefield; out fighting the good fight. Harvesting slimes just doesn’t cut it.”  

“… Probably true.”

“I can’t recommend specific actions, but I can say that there are quest boards all over the world full of needs, and you are more than capable.” Alanaria said, “Keep in mind that your gut instinct is usually the best one when it comes to choosing a Class.”

Jane stood up. She said, “Thanks, Alanaria. I’ll make an appointment for another day.”

Alanaria said, “Good luck!”

- - - -

Jane looked up at the tall towers of Oceanside, and the flying people above. She frowned, and trudged on through noisy campus streets. She passed open air bars where students drank tea and harder liquids, while arguing over tests and history and magic theory. She came to Central Tower, and walked with the first years, towering above most of them, except for the orcols, of course. Some people gave her weird looks. What was this taller, obviously older student doing, walking around down here? Shouldn’t she be flying to class by now? But no, Jane had not gotten a single version of that spell she liked; not yet, anyway.  

So she walked the normal path, toward the elevators, and ascended through the tower while surrounded by kids. While most of the children got off before the lift got too high, Jane continued on to the second-to-the-top floor. Up here, the hallways were barely off-white marble, with golden flecks here and there in the stone. She had been up here more than a few times before, so Jane easily found her room.  

She nodded to the space where the invisible person stood, guarding the room, and went inside.

Today would be close to the last day of work. Jane was pretty sure she had gotten everything out, and though she might have missed something, those forgotten secrets could come out some other day. And besides! She needed to save a few things for herself. Wouldn’t want them killing the chicken that laid no more eggs, after all.  

Her desks, tables, and papers, looked much how they looked every time Jane had showed up for this job; highly organized, and nothing like the mess she usually made. She never made a large mess, but she had a tendency to construct scattered piles of paperwork on every table of the room, concerning everything she could remember about every various gaming system she had ever played, that might have been on the laptop Melemizargo stole. Those piles grew and grew as she recorded everything she knew, using the many pencils and pens and pastels she had been provided by the Headmaster. But every day, the papers and writing equipment had been organized by the Headmaster, after she left, to then appear like it did now, every time Jane showed up.

And to think of the devil: The Headmaster sat in a chair in the sun, on the far side of the room, reading from a small book and drinking from a large cup of tea. His emperor-like yellow-gold robes seemed to shine in the light, just like his eyes shimmered, as he watched Jane come into the room.

Jane joked, “I’m almost done, so it’s time to get rid of me?”

The old dragon frowned. “A man can’t check on his investment as the work comes to a close?”

Jane walked to her desk, saying, “You’re never here for the beginning part.” She added, “And you didn’t answer the question.”

The Headmaster lost his frown, and simply said, “If I went around acting like that, I would not enjoy my position as Second. Stability is necessary for one such as I. But just so the words are said: I, nor any of my people, will not end you now that your end of the bargain draws near.” He added, “At least your father has the decency to talk around such vulgarities.”

Jane smirked as she sat down at her desk. “Since you’re here: I was expecting something more after finishing with your air dungeon. But nothing happened. What gives?”

The old dragon perked up. “Ohh?” He set down his tea and his book. “Did you finally get all six Elemental Bodies?”

“I did.” Jane looked over the neat stack of papers to the right, to find her checklist of previously written works. It was sitting right under the top five pages, like usual. The Headmaster did it that way to prevent casual spying, but Jane thought he was more than a little OCD. She pulled out the page, and saw every single item she was willing to write about, was checked off. She smiled. She said, “Do I need to have Dragon Essence, too, to make that work?”

“No.” The Headmaster said, “We petitioned Rozeta early on for that to be exempt, when the pattern became apparent but our blood was already cursed for all eternity.”

Jane paused. She lifted her head from her work, to turn to the Headmaster. “I was just joking, but…?”

The Headmaster stood from his chair, and walked toward Jane’s desk, but not directly. In a most bizarre sense, Jane felt like she was watching a tiger, or a kraken, or… Well. A dragon. Like she was watching a dragon size up a target to devour. And with that thought, she saw that she was correct. She tensed her legs unconsciously, as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her breath hitched in her throat.

The Headmaster was prowling at her.

And then he noticed Jane noticing him. Whatever danger hung in the air vanished like it was never there, like Jane had only imagined what she had seen. And then the danger came back, but more controlled. More a warning, than the approach of the end.

The ancient dragon wearing an old man’s body, moved to the side of Jane’s desk, as he said, “You are flippant, and this is good in some sense. Perhaps around a campfire, to keep emotions high when the darkness prowls. Or in a bar to celebrate a victory. But do not joke about dragon essence around a dragon. You have just finished recovering from an ordeal with the horrid substance; do not look to launch yourself into the jaws of the world so casually.”

Jane looked down and away, for that was the appropriate thing to do when directly told she was in the wrong. She said, “… Sorry.”

“I do not mean to frighten, only to instill information and the proper degree of necessary caution.” The Headmaster moved to stand on the other side of Jane’s desk, to separate him from her with a flimsy, foot thick oak desk that probably weighed two hundred kilos. He added, “For caution is required.”

Jane looked up into deep golden eyes, and nodded, slowly.

The Headmaster continued, “I will give you a few hints. The first, is that achieving the Special Action you are searching for requires an expression of dominance few are capable of producing.” He said, “The second, is that Body skills may cost Mana, but there was a rather large debate on if they should have cost Health, as each Elemental Body was an attempt by the Script to allow the now-extinct Elementassi to survive on Veird.” He looked over to a nearby desk. In a flicker, a stack of papers that had been sitting there, appeared in his hands. He set the stack in front of Jane. “The last hint, is that Intent is All, and you already know the way. You just need to unclutter your mind.”  

Jane might have been recording what she knew about the gaming systems that had been stored on her laptop, but many of those systems were connected to other ideas from Earth. As such, there was a lot more than just D&D spells here. There was everything in this room from the Mythos of Cthulhu, to short essays on fantasy movies she had seen, to Greek Mythology, to memetic hazards and that whole barrel of fun, to knowledge of the nations of Africa.  

She kept most of the high-technology stuff out of her writings, though. Veird might have had magic that was more powerful than guns, like [Force Beam], and something of a ‘nanobot swarm’-ish magic in the creation of magical plants like the Daydropper, but there was no need to go adding guns to this planet. If those got invented here, it would not be because of Jane.

None of what she had written was very detailed, with most tables only having a few booklets. The table containing the topics of martial arts and xianxia was one of the smaller tables. She also never got too far into the cultures and ideas of the East, but she certainly knew the tropes in their fantasy, since some of her gaming friends were heavily into all that. So Jane had read one of the better stories that her friends insisted upon. And then she read another. She kind of liked cultivation, but they were not her favorite.  

Jane looked down at the stack of papers the Headmaster had plucked from the xianxia section. The title to this specific work Jane had penned was on the second page, hidden behind a cover letter, but Jane already knew this stack of papers, since it was the thinnest of that table. She had named it ‘Killing Intent’.

Jane looked up at him. “… What?”

The Headmaster smiled at Jane, then turned his gaze to the rest of the room, saying, “None of your ideas match up exactly with existence on Veird, not truly, but enough of them are close enough that some would think you a Prophet sent by the Mana Itself, while others would simply marvel at what your society has managed to think up in their spare time.” He half-quoted something, saying, “A million [Unseen Servants], given enough time and magic would create the next best seller, and all that.”

Jane looked down at her thin booklet.  

“Here is my final hint for you.” The Headmaster said, “I am an archmage, practiced in the true nature of the Script, but my path is not your own. You need a warrior to guide you, and I know just the one. Talk to professor Ulogai Tinawa down in the Arena. Tell him I sent you. I will tell him the same. He will test you, and if you prove satisfactory, he might help guide you further toward your own Truth.” He added, “When you’re done today, that is.” He asked, “What do you have left?”

Jane opened up the booklet the Headmaster had laid before her, saying, “I guess I have some of this left.” She looked over to the desk with the xianxia stuff, adding, “And I guess I can add more to that.”

“Maybe you’re not so close to being done?”

Jane frowned. She reluctantly agreed, “Maybe I’m not so close to being done.”

- - - -  

The Arena was exactly what Jane expected; an oval of sandy land a few hundred meters across, lengthwise, entirely surrounded by short, stone stands, for whatever audience might feel like watching people beat the shit out of each other.  

It was a good show. More people should be here, thought Jane.

Blood splattered. Bones broke. Teeth flew. As the sun wound down toward the ocean, Jane sat on the stone, watching the fights, feeling a little happier than before. Her Dragon Essence sickness was over, she had ground out every Elemental Body there was, save the one line of Body skills she would never touch again, and here she was, ready to get back in the fight against something larger than a pile of slime cores.  

Her eyes drifted past a surprisingly agile orcol woman, who slipped through the guards of much smaller combatants, to send her assailants flying meters away, into the dirt. She glanced at a young human man, who lost his sword in a four-way melee, and was forced to fight three-on-one against those still holding weapons. But mostly, Jane marveled at the pure physicality of it all. The hard fists, the grimaced faces, the sweat and the blood.

Magic was great, but physical fighting was certainly better.  

Jane also watched the professor, Ulogai Tinawa, in his bright yellow plate armor. He moved among the fighters, pausing conflicts to offer advice or change up the battles, stressing whoever seemed to be lacking, while sending away those who got too heated to rest under stone awnings. He yelled, and tempos increased. He yelled, and the spars stopped. He yelled, and attendant doctor students rushed in from the side of the field to grab, pull away, and heal those who had been too roughly knocked out of their fights.  

She probably got too into the action. She had to stop herself from raising her hands and pretending to dodge in her seat, and going ‘OHHH’ when one of the guys got a great hit in against someone else. She could barely contain her excitement, because did you see that one guy?! His right cross sent that woman flying, spinning end over end, directly into a suddenly appeared [Air Cushion]. The attendant Healers had the woman up in no time, and she came right back to the fight and laid that dude out flat.

Jane wasn’t the only one watching, and she wasn’t the only one sitting by herself, but there was no doubt in her mind that Tinawa had spotted her. Tinawa looked directly at her when Jane arrived at the Arena, and again when the intense sparring was over, and the class switched to slow sparring. In one of the lulls of the evening, Tinawa set up his students against each other, then looked toward Jane, his blue eyes glinting in the thin slit of his yellow helmet.  

He sent, ‘I heard from the Headmaster. Stick around after class.’

Jane sent back an affirmative, then she watched, and waited.  

Class finished. Students bowed to Professor Tinawa, and then to each other. Some of the students left with those in the stands, as parents complimented their kids and the kids tried to deflect their embarrassment. Some students left with each other, the trials of the day forgotten as they happily exchanged tips with each other. There were some hardened emotions out on the field, but those combatants left the Arena in different directions.  

Professor Tinawa remained in the center of the Arena, speaking softly to two students that stayed behind. And then those two students left, together.

Tinawa looked up at Jane as he dispersed his yellow [Conjure Armor]. Blond hair, blue eyes, and with pale skin, the Professor of Physical Studies looked like an old general who was still young enough to toss down with the students. He stared at Jane from the center of the Arena, and sent her an image of a rocky shore, a general idea of where to go, and the words, ‘Meet me there,’ as he blipped away in a yellow flash.

Jane vibrated a little in her seat as her blood pumped hard, shaking her ears. She had been smiling for the last half hour, and her face was a little rigid, but at Tinawa’s words, she forced herself to relax. This was going to be fun.

She first sent a [Scry] eye to the location, and then she blipped in a dozen meters off center of both the eye, and the location Tinawa showed her. She didn’t really know this man, after all. She had never met him before. But blindly following a set path would be a foolish thing to do.

As Jane appeared where she wanted to appear, the ocean roared in the afternoon sun, sending sprays up rocky channels carved into the short cliffside by both erosion and magical destruction. It was a short drop to the waters below, but the waters below were deep, as the land angled almost straight down to the ocean floor, a kilometer below. Jane knew that much because she had already explored near here with her water slime form. That exploration didn’t last long, though. There were some pretty large beasts down in those deep water—

Tinawa spoke up directly behind Jane. “Good instincts, but—”

Jane whipped around, and she was, on retrospection, a bit wild with her punch. Ulogai Tinawa just raised a hand and deflected Jane’s punch upward, as he slipped down and around her, striking three times to hit her unguarded stomach, ribs, and kidney. Each [Strike], and they were definitely [Strike]s, did something different. The first flickered Jane’s [Personal Ward] to sight, like a blue-black shimmer across her skin. The second broke that [Personal Ward]; all 12,000 points of it vanished in a single tap of knuckle against shirt. Jane had just long enough to register that maybe she should have donned her armor —but he even took his off before he blipped over here! Jane saw him do it!— when the third [Strike] crashed pain through her body, dropping her to zero Health, but no further.

Tinawa stepped away while Jane collapsed to the ground, fully exposed to the world, all her defenses gone. She coughed up blood, as her thoughts caught up to her situation. If he had wanted to kill her, he would have. But he didn’t? Yeah. He didn’t. He didn’t want too, either?  

“What the fuck,” Jane said, but it came out strained and difficult, and probably not at all understanable.

Tinawa said, “Usually I have to goad a bit harder than that to get the student to strike me.”

Jane breathed. She cast [Invisible Rejuvenation] on herself, gradually ticking her Health upward, while she flickered dark blue, casting [Greater Treat Wounds] upon herself. Her pain faded over ten seconds, as she turned her head and frowned at the Professor. She wanted to glare, too, but she stopped that before it happened.

Tinawa said, “As I was saying: You have good instincts. Checking with a [Scry] orb then [Teleporting] into an area outside of the designated spot was a good attempt.” He added, “But your base is missing.”

Jane spat blood on the rocky ground. She stood up, saying, “Yup.” She asked, “What I am missing?”

Tinawa briefly smiled, before vanishing that emotion from his face. He said, “Based on what I have seen and what I have been told: [Erase Presence] and [Melee Reflection] would do you well. Or, we could focus on the real reason you’re here, and work together to help you find your way forward.” He asked, “Where would you like to start?”

“Skills first.” Jane said, “I tried for [Erase Presence], but I couldn’t get it right. Same went for [Melee Reflection].”

Tinawa stood silent for a long moment, looking at Jane like one would inspect a spreadsheet. He said, “We’re going to work on your battle trauma.”

Jane instantly said, “I don’t have any battle trauma.”

“… Riiight.”  

“I don’t.”

Tinawa frowned a little, then said, “I’ll go first.”

Jane grumbled.

“Here’s my trauma: When I was a child, I lived in a flick-of-shit nothing village in northern Nelboor. The latest batch of Matriculations happened, as they always did on Festival Week, the only time each year when the Registars were allowed to travel the continent without facing reprisal and death. It was my year. I was already level 5 when the troupe of revelers came to town the next day, following the Registrar like normal. I was tired as fuck, for I just wasn’t used to spending that much Mana and Health in a single day.

“Every single last reveler turned out to be an enemy combatant from Blue Waters, though I didn’t find that out till many years later. They got the parents drunk and set us all to sleep with herbs tossed into the bonfires. I was already crashed out in bed, in my room on the windward side of the house. That was probably the only reason I survived. I was already Resting, and the poison was rather sparse where I laid.

“I woke up to see my mother eating my father, while he failed to hold her off, and my little brother munching on my arm.  

“I had been working on [Fireball]. I was going to be a soldier in the Sand Lion’s Army, out of the Capital city of the Sand Lion Empire, in Plateau Keep. You need [Fireball] to be a part of that, and I had made the spell before level 10. I was all but assured a good starting position in the army.

“But then I had to kill my family because they were going to kill me. My father hadn’t actually turned cannibal, but looking back on it, he was too surprised by my mother’s change that he let her get the drop on him. I killed him first, but only because I aimed at my mother, and [Fireball] is a large spell. Mom took two blasts to kill. I had to stab my brother to death with a wooden training sword, because I was out of mana.

“And then I ran. Into the wind, into a sandstorm.” Tinawa said, “That’s the start of my trauma.”

A small part of something broke inside Jane, as she listened to Professor Tinawa. When he was finished, Jane just breathed.  

After a moment of that, she said, “I almost died to Moon Reachers. In my first moments on Veird, I saw Melemizargo, and then I was chased by one of his [Familiar]s. I was there helping the Champion of Atunir make her way through Ar’Kendrithyst, seeing all that horror and rescuing people when I could. I even rescued the Champion and the Prince from their end, but failed to save the others. The Shades have marked me for something because of what I did and who my father is, but I know not what.  

“And then there’s the other parts of this shitty world! The Sovereign Cities are a cesspool of people harming each other in the face of dangers like the Dead City, and the Forest.

“I don’t think I will EVER be over the puking and the shitting and the— The last two months have been very rough, to put it way too mildly.  

“And what makes it all so, SO MUCH worse, is that I come from a world where most people never think to kill something or someone else in order to survive, because we have tamed the world. The only threats still existent are ourselves and each other.” Jane felt warmth trickle down her face, as her throat clenched, trying to stop her words. But she spoke through the pain, anyway. “Back on my world, the life I planned for myself would have had me working for the most powerful nation in the world, doing things that would have directly harmed other people in order to… I knew that what I was getting into. I knew I wouldn’t have been doing the right thing all the time… But here…” Her tears kept coming, but Jane knew her face did not show sadness, but pure anger. She spat, “But there is so much here that needs to end. There is no moral quandary. There are only monsters.  

“But how do you fight against an evil wizard god? How do you kill Shades and Ancients? How do you solve the complicated problems of the Sovereign Cities? How do you end even the most simple of threats, that by their very population, are impossible to solve, like the Crystal Mimics? Or the existence of the monsters themselves?

“And it all makes me so angry.

“It makes me angry that people live in these huge cities instead of spreading out and taking back this world. That anyone is under level 50. That if everyone got that high of level, in order to kill the monsters, that everyone would end up killing each other, instead!

“And the Moon Reachers! Holy FUCK those awful things!” Jane shivered in rage, asking, “How do you solve these problems?”

This time, the smile that crept upon Tinawa’s face stayed longer than a simple moment. But he put that smile away when he saw it spike Jane’s anger higher. He stood strong, and said, “You kill, and you kill, and you never stop, and when people come to you for help to learn how to kill the Darkness, you help them as best you can, for maybe they will succeed where you have failed.”

Jane held back her an angry retort. She breathed deep, sniffling, then stared right into Tinawa’s bright blue eyes. “That’s enough therapy for me for today; thanks.”

Tinawa nodded. “Physical therapy, then.” He asked, “Do you know how to find the Elite Board?”

“No.”  

“It’s here, today.” Tinawa sent her a mental image of new location. “If someone is there and they scare you into attacking: Don’t.”

Tinawa blipped away in a yellow flash.

Jane breathed deep, her whole body shaking from emotions unfurled. Then she breathed calmer. She stood straight, and muttered to herself, “It’s gonna be that sort of mentorship, eh?”

Then she blipped dark blue, following Tinawa.

- - - -

Oceanside had no Adventurer’s Guild branch. It wasn’t a big secret why, either. The Headmaster had total control of his island and he liked it that way, but the Adventurer’s Guild was a multinational organization that demanded certain things in order for a Guildhouse to open in an area. Oceanside met all the criteria except for allowing the Guild political power. The Headmaster did not like to share. He would never let someone else have any legal say in what went on in his domain.  

So the Headmaster had opened up his own ‘Guildhouse’.  

The world flashed dark blue, then resolved back into normal space, as Jane stepped down onto a solid ‘floor’ made of hexagonal stone. She was at the beginning of a cave entrance, in a cliff made of columnar rock. Salt spray scented the air, as waves crashed just outside the cave. She wasn’t too far from where she had just been. Maybe only a good two hundred meters?

Tinawa watched Jane from deeper in the cave. He turned and walked down. Jane followed, stepping down natural-ish hexagonal steps, into the dim, damp cave. It wasn’t long till lights appeared up ahead. They turned a corner in the cave system, and saw the ‘Guildhouse’. But there was no building. There was just a multitude of stone quest boards hanging on the walls, and two very odd receptionists, separated from each other by five meters of space and two separate podiums.  

One was a shirtless, muscular man of dark skin and inner radiance, who’s eyes glowed a pale gold. He had a masculine face and a kilt made of knives. He almost looked human, but if he was, he was putting on a show. A pale gold sword hovered behind his back, sized to his body. It was a completely impractical weapon, but Jane had seen more than her share of impractical weapons. Maybe he could actually use his well.

The other was an incani woman of red skin, wearing a slick black dress, with a different sort of inner radiance that was more like a dark gloom. Her eyes were dark rubies. A disk of dark red light hovered behind her head, almost like a halo—

Oh. It was an angel and a demon.  

It had taken her a hot second to recognize what she was seeing, but yes, it was one angel and one demon. Working together, somehow?

The angel man frowned to see Jane, and asked, “Credentials.”

“She’s obviously with Ulogai,” said the devil woman, smiling. She leaned forward onto her podium to look at Jane. “I was wondering when you would show, Jane Flatt.”

The angel sighed off to the side, saying, “Betrayer.”

The devil stood up straight as she put on a frown. “How is she a betrayer!? She’s not even on your side! She’s not even from this world, you swording-jerk!” She turned to Jane, saying, “They’re always like that. Hardliners; the lot of them. Any deviant humans are cut off. It’s quite awful, really.”

“More lies from the demon.” The angel said, “How quaint.”

Jane asked, “How is this… How are you two not killing each other?”

“Contracted!” cheered the devil.

“Contracted,” sighed the angel.

“Why?” asked Jane. “How?”

The devil rapidly said, “So that we know Kirginatharp isn’t playing favorites.”

The angel frowned, then unhappily said, “So that we know Kirginatharp isn’t favoring the enemy.”

“Ah!” the devil said, “You changed it up there, Oteril. You are capable of learning!”

“And you continue to abuse this space of enforced ceasefire in order to antagonize me, Aviza.” He looked away from Aviza, to face Jane. “Are you an Elite now, Jane Flatt? Are we adding you to the registry?”

“She is not.” Tinawa stepped into the conversation, saying, “We’re here for a 5 star melee quest.”

Oteril and Aviza lifted their hands at the same time. Gold and red glows appeared like small highlights across entries on each stone board, hanging around the room. Jane looked to Tinawa.

Tinawa said to Jane, “Take your pick.”

Oddness aside, Jane almost smiled. This might be some fun physical therapy. Jane turned to the boards, and began reading. Almost all of them were like quest boards she would have seen in any Adventuring Guildhouse, in any part of the world, with monster names and stars by the listing. There was one board that neither of them highlighted, but that was full of rewards, it seemed, with costs delineated in grand rads, and the rewards themselves written in code. She had no idea what anything was, but it cost between 10 and 1000 grand rads, which was interesting. But what was even more interesting, was that the angel and the devil highlighted different target monsters.

“Why the different targeting system?” Jane asked.

Tinawa said, “With their views from the moons, the Angels and the Demons are able to see almost every monster problem on the globe. They update these quests as the moons pass overhead, in the day. At night, Melemizargo is able to hide his actions from their eyes. We don’t get quests for Underworld targets, here. That’s a different location.” He said, “This is why the Headmaster has a contracted angel and demon working for him. They hate Melemizargo almost more than they hate each other.”

Aviza called out, “I do not hate the Angels! This war is their fault! His people’s fault!”

Oteril said, “And what of your Halls of the Dead and their Daydroppers? Was that not a call for war?”

“You asked for it,” she said. Aviza rapidly added, as though speaking lines like a medical ad on the television, “Demon Lord Dinamoth and the Nations of Hell are not responsible for the actions of people on Veird. To blame us for the actions of our descendants is folly, and incorrect.”

Tinawa said to Jane, “Pick something out on the boards.”

Jane almost asked about the ‘Converter Angel’ that appeared and disappeared from Candlepoint’s quest board a while ago. But she didn’t want to get into that. So she walked to the nearest board, and read.

After reading for a minute, and being slightly concerned for another, she pointed to a red-highlight, and asked, “What’s this Lava Hydra doing here? That’s an 8, I know it is. These aren’t 5 star quests?”

Aviza spoke first, “We expect better from Elites than we do from adventurers. For almost everyone, a Lava Hydra is an 8, but if you can control fire then it’s only a 5.” She added, “A lot of the Elemental Body monsters are 5 star.”

“Okay… That’s... fair.” Jane said, “Let’s go with this Lava Hydra—”

Oteril interrupted, “That is out in the middle of nowhere. Pick something I highlighted, and help someone survive another day.”

“That’s a lie.” Aviza said, “Stick with the Lava Hydra. It’s good gold and resources, and you will make that bit of Nelboor safer by ending one of the larger threats in the area.”

“There is no benefit to eliminating a known apex predator, only to have an unknown take its place. And besides: the nearest settlement to that location is 129 kilometers away.” Oteril flicked his finger through the air, shifting the gold highlights around the room. “Any of these would satisfy a thirst for challenge and resources, and also help a community or group of people in the area.”

“Ugh! Fine.” Aviza dramatically collapsed across her podium, saying, “I’m changing mine, too.” She flicked a hand through the air. Red highlights shifted.  

Jane scanned the board for a moment longer, but stopped when she saw a prize, where nothing was listed but monsters. “Primal frost owl. Yes! I pick this one.”

Tinawa nodded toward the demon and the angel.

Aviza stood straight at her podium. Oteril was already standing straight. As one, they lifted their hands toward each other. Jane felt a prickle of power rush across her skin, as threads of red and gold flowed from their casters, to touch in front of a blank wall. A smile came unbidden to Jane; was this really happening? Were they doing what she thought they were doing?  

Red and gold flickered in the air, as the dim light of the cave twisted into something deeper, brighter.  

Yes! Jane almost hopped up and down. Oh my gods! The Headmaster had access to this sort of power? Jane rapidly corrected her thoughts, that of course he had this sort of power. But still! Amazing!

Red and gold pulled back the world, creating a [Gate], like a door opening to another part of Veird. A snowy mountain path opened up on the other side. Cold air and snow flurries rushed into the damp cave, freezing the ground on this side of the portal.

Jane’s smile turned into a laugh as goosebumps raced up her arms and slightly stung her eyes. She couldn’t hold back her words any longer. “Oh my gods! A [Gate]?!”

Tinawa said, “I get [Gate]s. You would need to earn that right. But, yes. A [Gate].”

Jane asked, “You can really go anywhere?! And kill any monsters you want?”

“Once per day, yes; you and a small party can go anywhere you want.” Tinawa added, “You’re expected to get back on your own.” He gestured toward the [Gate]. “Let’s go.”

Jane gave one last look at the angel and the demon. Oteril gazed back, dispassionately. The massive sword at the angel’s back had never moved. Aviza smiled at her, waving with her fingers as Jane passed by. The red gemstone disk behind her head had never moved, either, even with Aviza’s exaggerated emotions. Jane smiled, mainly to herself, as she stepped through the [Gate], onto snow covered stone. Tinawa followed, close behind.  

Blindingly white, snow covered mountains dominated the skyline. Cliffs and crevasses plunged down into frozen depths, while stony peaks scraped the sky. The red-gold [Gate] snapped shut behind Jane. The warm air of the tropical cave vanished in snow flurries and twisting gales. Everything was either white, or stone, and Jane had no idea where she was in the world.

And that was better than great. It was fantastic!

Tinawa conjured his yellow armor. Yellow fur poked out from the joints. Jane conjured her own reinforced gambeson, shifting the magic to fluffy furs and insulating gloves. A nice balaclava wrapped around her head, while polarized glasses appeared over her eyes.  

Tinawa frowned a little at her.

“What?” she asked.

“No [Polymorph]?”

Jane smiled. “No. They’d all freeze up. But a primal frost owl wouldn’t!”

Almost of Tinawa’s face was covered by thick, yellow plate armor, but his blue eyes were exposed, and they seemed to smile at Jane. “I expected you to ask for a break to reconjure your [Personal Ward], too.”

“Nope.” She said, “Wouldn’t help versus the cold, anyway. Primal frost owls are supposed to be able to freeze people solid, and—” Jane flickered with blue light, conjuring a [Personal Warmth Ward]. Instantly, the cold wind that poured into the tiny cracks in her armor, ceased. “— And you can’t have two [Personal Ward]s at once.”

Tinawa nodded slowly, as though locked in thought. After a moment, he said, “The Duo drops us in an area near where they last saw the target.” He pointed down the frozen path. “I’m guessing the bird is down there, but I’m just here to observe. This is your show.”

“What are you trying to observe, anyway?”

Tinawa stepped down the path, saying, “Walk and talk, and maybe the noise will attract our target.”

Jane followed.  

Tinawa said, “And like I said: Physical Therapy. I need to see what the problems are, and a 5 star quest should be easy enough, while still accomplishing some good in the world.” He added, “I also wondered what monster you would pick, and if you would tell me why. You picked a flying frost monster in order to eat it, either because you lack that Familiar Form, or you’re looking for an upgrade. So you’re aware of your shortcomings, you’re improving yourself, you’re adjusting, and you’re rather practical. That all bodes well for your future. But you’ve been wounded something deep. Maybe it’s just lingering pain from having been locked asleep to a bed for a month and a half. Maybe it’s something more. That’s what I’m here to help you with.”

Tinawa’s voice rebounded off of mountains, but the wind carried most of it away. Jane kept her footing well enough, but whoever had made this path had not kept it up over the years. Or maybe it was winter, and people didn’t keep up mountain paths in the winter? Or maybe this was summer, and she was not where she thought she might be, which begged the question: where was she? Whatever the case, rubble laid here and there; the results of rockfalls, no doubt.  

Jane asked, “Where are we, anyway? I’m guessing northern Quintlan?”

Tinawa looked to the vague, white sky. “Somewhere around there, sure. Halfway around the world from Oceanside. Sun was setting back home, but it’s winter here… We might have an hour of sunlight, if that.” He gestured toward the empty air, away from the mountain, saying, “There’s probably a fishing village or town or something, down by the coast a few mountains over.”

“I thought Quintlan was too dangerous for most settlements?”

“That’s like saying Nelboor is an endless desert, or Nergal is a single jungle, or Glaquin is a warzone of the Quiet War.” Tinawa said, “But Quintlan is mostly abandoned. Doesn’t stop people from trying to settle—” Tinawa led the way past a bend in the mountain path. “Oh.” He stopped. “I know where we are, now. We’re not near the coast at all.”

Jane stepped to Tinawa’s side, and saw what he saw. The mountains ahead were not simple mountains at all. They were something more, and the sight of it all sent Jane’s heart fluttering. This was what she wanted. This sort of exploration. To see these sights, and know these places, and to know why the path under her feet was broken, as though from ages of neglect.  

Amid the majestic snow peaks of an endless chain of mountains, stood one mountain above the rest. But it was not a mountain. It was a stronghold. Towers of crystalline latticework stretched up from a mass of fortresses and roads and walls and bridges. The city was abandoned. Jane could see that from here. But it still glimmered in the sunlight, like a frost covered jewel.  

Jane asked, “Is it a crystal city? A wrought city, I mean?”

“No.” Tinawa said, “It’s just been preserved against all damage by Frost Oozes. I’m not even sure which city it is. There’s hundreds of them in this area. Could just be the former house of royalty.” He turned to Jane, adding, “Not sure why the Duo sent us here. Maybe there’s some settlement further in the mountains. Since you picked a highlighted monster, it means that they could set you down somewhere safe, near someone that might need help.” He turned back to the path, and kept walking. “But we don’t contract with people. We try to rescue people when we can, for sure, but we’re here for the monsters. Some Elites like to know where the people are and what help they need, but we don’t take anything for our services, and if you’re caught extorting the locals for monster kills, you’re fucked.” He added, “So don’t do that.”

Jane walked behind Tinawa, constantly scanning her surroundings with [Hunter’s Instincts]. She smelled no carrion. She heard nothing too alarming, beyond the wind. She saw no smoke trails lifting from the frozen city ahead, or from anywhere else nearby.  

And now that her eyes adjusted to the light of the area, she reconjured her balaclava, without the goggles. It was getting too dim to see with her polarized variety. It had taken her but a moment to learn the polarization trick, once she picked up and studied one of the polarization lightwards her father had left for use in the light slime dungeon. But she didn’t need to use that trick right now.  

With her eyes uncluttered, she looked again at the city. She saw something new. Birds hovered in the sky, high above the frozen buildings and towers. They didn’t look like primal frost owls; they were much too small for that. They were barely even visible from this distance. Maybe frost eagles? Or vultures? Jane knew that eagles and vultures circled. Owls were ambush, silent predators, that used their tremendous eyesight and wind control to sneak up on their prey. Or at least that’s what the book she read, had said. A frost bird of some sort had been on her short list of birds to look out for, while frost owls were higher on the list than most. Her current air slime form was not that great; she was already planning on ditching that for a razorwing, whenever she got the chance. Since she was here, now, would gladly give up her air slime for a frost owl, or, even better, a primal frost owl.  

Jane smiled to herself. A question came to her. Why was she not happy with Polymage? She was happy with Polymage. Polymage was a great choice! She liked the entire idea of the Class. But… something kept her from taking that final step of accepting the Quest Completion.  

She realized she had a question for Tinawa. She asked, “What’s the best Class?”

Tinawa laughed. “Any of them you can get.”

“… That cannot be true.”

He flashed her his Status, but it was smaller than most screens.  

--

Ulogai Tinawa

Human, age: 75

Level 89, Class: Professor

Class: 9/9

Scion of Balance

--

“That’s a bit light on the information. And displayed differently, too.”  

Tinawa chuckled. “I’ve been a Soldier, a General, and even an Innkeeper, but I think I’ll take ‘Professor’ to the grave.” He added, “This shortened Status is all I need to stop the youngsters from complaining too loudly when they think I’ve got some special Build.”

“Nine of nine, though.”  

“Aye. One of the better parts of the Class.” He asked, “You’re not going to test if it’s a fake display?”

“Nope.” Jane said, “Tried that already when no one was looking. Got an ‘Error’ and woke up ten minutes later with a blinding headache.”

“Smart girl.” Tinawa said, “You’d be surprised how many students come to my Arena and think my Status is fake. There’s always one or ten who fall down, twitching. Once had a Prince of Nelboor try to summon a lightward facsimile of my Status, claiming I was a fraud. That kid fell down and pissed himself.” He chuckled. “Ah. That was funny.”

“You’re kinda vicious, aren’t you?”

“I say the same to you.” He said, “Nice to meet you, by the way.”

Jane said, “Nice to meet you, too.” She added, “Bit backwards there with the greetings.”

“It all comes out in the end. No need to rush life, or do it ‘properly’. Whatever in the Abyss that means.” He asked, “So have you noticed, yet?”

“Of course.” Jane said, acting like nothing had changed. “But what are we going to do about it? That certainly isn’t an owl.”

“Not ‘We’. Just you. I’m an observer.”

“I don’t have to guard you, do I?”

Tinawa laughed. “Not this time.”

The mountain path continued forward, turning into the remains of a broken bridge. The other side of the bridge stuck out from an open gate that was part of the outer wall of the frosted city. Between the two sides, was nothing but air and depths. Howling breezes tore up from the canyon below, bringing with it snow, and the sounds of leathery wings, beating against the wind.

Jane said, “I usually try to sneak up on targets, but being loud gets the ball rolling rather quickly.”

“I’m not surprised you never got [Erase Presence].” Tinawa said, “We can work you that today, if you want.”

Jane held out her right hand. Magic coalesced force into her hand, creating a three meter long, slightly curved blade. It was the perfect weapon for long, airborne slashing. Jane said, “I tried for [Erase Presence], but got nothing.”

“What method did you use?”

Jane walked forward, her heart hammering as she gripped her sword. The tip of her weapon held still, as air swirled around her body. One moment, she was there, the next, her legs turned to wind, then her torso flashed outward into the freezing gale coming from the canyon ahead. Her arms became the breeze.

She had become the air around her. Cold air. Very cold air. But that was okay. She was just air. [Air Body] was about the best insulation from bad weather one could have. Her sword still hung in her ‘hands’, but it was a soft sort of hold; she had to substitute her grip with [Telekinesis].  

She spoke, and it was the sound of a twisting breeze, “I tried [Silent Movement] a hundred different ways. Nothing worked—”

The canyon air split apart with a horrible screech that sent snow covered mountainsides tumbling with tiny avalanches. Wings made of leather, stone, and frost, cracked like whips, as a monster wider than a building lifted from the darkness. Jane quickly glanced across the monster, making sure she knew what she was about to kill.

Two massive wings with grabbing claws at the carpal joint. Two back legs fitted with even more claws. One great maw. One long, long tail, tipped with a wicked barb. Wyvern. Frost wyvern, to be precise. They have a paralytic venom in the tail. Air control like all big flying monsters. Skin made of stone, though. Opportunistic far ranging hunters—

Jane’s thoughts continued to shift as she hovered into the air, controlling her body, and her sword.  

Jane immediately twisted the wind to appear right inside the wyvern’s personal space. Swish-crack went her sword, the first hit deflecting off of the back of the wyvern’s head, Criticaling for more than enough damage to negate its Health, exposing the beast to real damage. The wyvern tried to get away, flickering its wings downward. It understood, instantly, that it had taken on something it was not prepared to face. Jane’s second [Strike] cleaved through the monster’s neck. The wyvern’s head tumbled away, onto the bridge, breaking stone before falling down into the canyon below. The body went straight down, crashing against the canyon walls, before disappearing from sight.

The monster was not high enough level to matter, but its venom might have been worth retrieving, if it had not fallen so far down. But Jane was already on a mission, and the wyvern wasn’t the target. Wyvern meat, once [Cleanse]d, was supposed to be really delicious, though. But! Eh! Jane dismissed her sword, then came back down to the mountain path. She reformed her human body, complete with all her conjured armor and everything else she had been carrying.  

Tinawa said, “That was picture perfect.”

“Thank you.”  

He gestured toward the canyon, and the gateway in the wall beyond. He flickered yellow, reappearing on the remains of the bridge, on the other side. “You coming?”

Jane blipped over, appearing next to him. “Yes.”

He pointed up at the frozen walls of the estate. “See that thin layer of solid ice? Oozes live here, like they do in every Quintlan ruin. So what I’m going to do, is this:”

One second, Jane was looking at Tinawa. The next, she was looking at the air. She frowned. “Funny.”

A voice came from somewhere close, “[Erase Presence] is just an extension of [Silent Movement]. It’s only possible to achieve when you know how to control your natural menacing factor.” He asked, “Do you know how to control that?”

“About a hundred different ideas, but none that have worked.” Jane said, “I even tried to focus my killing intent inward, but that did not work. Looking back on it, I probably did it wrong.”

“I guess that’s another word for it… ‘Killing Intent’. I like it?” Tinawa decided, “Yeah. I like it. I’m going to use that. But anyway. I could feel your killing intent the second I saw you. Have you ever tried to restrict you desire to kill your problems?”

“I’m not some monster.” Jane said, slightly put out. “I just wasn’t aware that’s what was needed.”

“There are two ways to accomplish [Erase Presence]. All methods start with [Silent Movement]. The better methods use [Silent Movement] and an Elemental Body skill, so that you are less yourself, and more an entity imposing your will upon the world. This leads to you being able to feel out where you are, exactly. You could also try using [Silent Movement] with pure aura manipulation, but that’s for mages, and we’re not mages.  

“So pick the Elemental Body skill you want to use. Then, decide on a path. The first method involves pulling your existence into yourself, so that none may see you. The second is achieved by diffusing yourself over a large area. The effect of either method is the same; people lose track of where you are. Eventually, you must learn both methods, as they both have very different applications. But we will start with one before the other.” Tinawa said, “Condensation leads to stronger attacks, of all kinds. Diffusion leads to excellent evasive defense. Make a choice, and don’t hesitate.”

“Attack.”

“Then go ahead. Take up your elemental body, and go hunt. I’ll be nearby.” He added, “The oozes have heard us, so they’re waiting for us to get close. Keep that in mind going forward.”

Picking the Elemental Body skill to focus on first was an easy choice. Shadows licked from her hands, and her feet, as she activated her Old Faithful. Then she dropped into her own shadow. She slipped forward past the ruined gate, and into the city beyond.  

The stone here was solid with a layer of hard, blue ice, that glittered in the vague light from above. Moving through ice was cold, but fine, and reminiscent of another time and place, when she was in Ar’Kendrithyst, hunting through the crystal. The ice that layered this unknown place of towers and airy construction was not as deep as the kendrithyst of the Dead City, but it was deep enough, and the shadows were getting stronger, as the sky darkened further. Night was coming on fast, up here in the wintry, far north.

Jane slipped down a frozen road, becoming one with the half-light just under the icy surface, hunting—

“I can feel you.” Tinawa spoke from somewhere a top the road. “You’re right there.”  

The ice cracked above Jane’s position, splintering her shadow. “Ow,” she said, not entirely just to display her annoyance. “How did you—”

“I’m not going to answer stupid questions I already answered. Figure it out.” He added, “This isn’t magic school. There are no formulae here. There’s just you, the monsters, and how you deal with the facts laid before you.”

… Jane felt herself out. She had done that long before now, and knew well where her boundaries lie, but the thing about [Greater Shadowalk] was that it was not a simple spell. There was her main body, that was more or less a pool of shadow the size of herself. It was a non-precise sort of thing. There was also her ‘intention with the world’, for lack of a better phrase. That part was the portion of herself that desired to move in one direction or the other. If she activated the deeper parts of her magic, that ‘intention’—

It was just ‘intent’, wasn’t it? Her father was always going on about intention in magic, and Jane understood that, but it had never really helped her figure out spell creation. Maybe intention in Health-aspect skills was truly different than intention in Mana-aspect spells?  

That made a lot of sense. Her father never had any skill with Health skills. Jane hadn’t either, but then again she was thinking of Health and Mana as just different resources. Not as truly different resources.  

Tinawa said, “You’re dimming to me, which is a sign you are on the right track.”

… But she was just staying still, and thinking?

Oh. Was that part of it?

Jane thought about hunting. Of killing and harming and—

“Wrong.” Tinawa cracked the ice over her shadowy body. “Try again.”

Jane thought about… fluffy blankets and happy hearts and cozy warmth—

Three meters away, where a building’s doorway was covered in ice and the building itself was layered with the stuff, the door was not actually covered in ice at all. The not-ice slipped from the doorway, to ooze a tendril forward, onto the cracked ice where Jane had hidden. Jane just moved a bit to the right, still under the ice, avoiding the ooze’s tendril. The ooze slipped into the crack. It poked around. It found nothing. It repaired the cracked ice, restoring the road to ice-covered perfection, then moved back to the doorway where it pretended to be a part of he environment.

Tinawa’s voice came from directly above Jane’s new hiding spot. “You imbued the thoughts of fire into a diffusion of shadow, catching that ooze in your effect.” He said, “The best way to [Erase Presence] is to think like the people or monsters in the area, in a way that directly aligns with whatever Elemental Body you’re currently using. What is natural? What is normal? What bears no need for investigation? Shadow has feelers into every aspect of magic, so this is one of the better tools to start with, but this also means you must control your thoughts more. Do not think of anything outside of the background.”

… I am ice. I exist here. I am nothing.  

Jane created a mantra and repeated it on loop as she moved down a city street. The road widened, as she moved deeper into dangerous territory. This walled city was tiered sort of like Kal’Duresh. It wasn’t long until Jane came to an intersection. To the right, laid a broken city gate, much larger than the side entrance she and Tinawa used to gain egress into the city. To the left, laid a broken road that wound back and forth, up to another tier. Barren planters rested at each side of the upward path. Since the winding road was right beside a main entrance, it had probably been full of greenery back when this place was still in use. Maybe it was something of a display of opulence? A lot of the city looked that way to Jane. But these days, a lot of the city was smashed, just like the entrance. Someone, or likely a lot of someones, had broken this place up right good.  

And then the oozes came and frosted it all over, locking down ruins under thin sheets of ice.

Where to go, now? Well... Owls liked to nest high, so she would have to go up to find the nest and kill—

The ice cracked over her shadowy body. “I can see you again.” Tinawa added, “And you were doing so well.”  

“Bite me,” Jane vibrated.

Immediately, three walls of not-ice that had been attached to nearby buildings, detached from those buildings and swarmed forward, rushing to the place where Jane had spoken. It was like glaciers crashing at sea. The oozes broke upon each other, breaking the stone and road.  

Jane had already slipped away, under the thin ice, up the curving road, into the city proper.  

Tinawa spoke above her moving shadow, “Those ones must have been hungry.”

Jane returned to her mantra.  

Ice ice ice ice ice ice ice ice.

She crawled upward, moving fast enough. [Greater Shadowalk] cost 2.5 mana every second, but her Meditation-fueled Regeneration was 1.6 every second. She was losing mana, but the drain wasn’t too bad. What made the drain slightly intolerable, though, was [Silent Movement]. That cost 1 Health every two meters moved. The subsequent drain to her mana was thus increased, every time she used [Invisible Rejuvenation] to restore her missing Health.  

But it wasn’t too bad. The owls had to be in the city, right? She had to be on the right track, and if she was on the right track, then she had more than enough time to practice pulling her body and her thoughts together in an attempt to learn [Erase Presence]. How often would she have the Professor of War personally guiding her growth? She was going to as much advantage of this as she could. So that’s what she did, as she looked for birds besides the frost eagles that circled overhead.  

Normally, she extended her shadowy self in every direction in order to ‘see’ in a large area around her body. But this method had her condensed down into her own shadow.  

… Maybe she should have picked the ‘defense’ option. Defense was better than attack in a world like Veird, wasn’t it?

Eh. She’d stick with this, for now. She’d learn the other way, another time.  

Jane slipped past crashed buildings, and old ruins. She flickered over gaps in the frozen road. She took a peek down a deep sewer hole, and decided that the only thing that lived down there were oozes. She got to half mana, and the temporary light of the sky was almost gone. Night was almost here.  

She made it all the way to the top buildings, which were, as she expected, devoid of oozes. But there weren’t any owls anywhere. Just those same eagles hovering in the same sky up above. The last bits of daylight vanished.  

Tinawa spoke from directly above her hiding spot, “You won’t get [Erase Presence] today, but a few days of this, and you probably could. You’re on the right path.”

That was all well and good, but where were the owls

The deep greys of the sky flickered darker. A storm was moving in.  

Jane saw the storm, and reluctantly asked, “Time to leave?”

“What? Why?” Tinawa asked, surprised. “The fight is just about to begin? Do you need a mana break?” He said, “Oh! Did you not— Look up! Use [Scry] if you have to. They’re pretty high up there. They should be coming down soon, though.”

Jane stared into the sky. And then she used [Scry].

… She should have noticed.  

Those birds were not eagles, at all. And they had been much, much higher than Jane had thought. They had started close to the city, while there was still daylight, but as the light waned, and Jane crawled up through the city, they must have flown higher. But as night arrived, the flock descended, one followed by another. And they were huge.

Tinawa asked, “Were we not just taking the scenic route? Did you not recognize them?”

Jane grumbled, “I thought they were eagles. I’ve never seen a frost owl in person.” She added, “The book I read must have been wrong.”

“And now you get to see five.” He added, “Pull back that killing intent, girl. They might not sense it much, but I certainly can, and so can every enemy that matters.”

Jane frowned to herself, and then she spread her senses wide, imagining herself as ice, as she watched the flock descent.

Tinawa said, “That’s pretty good diffusion. Maybe we should have started with that.”

The frost owls were grey and white, with flat faces and large, black eyes. Ice tipped their wings. The first owl entered the city’s airspace, like a five meter wide silent predator of calculating frost. And then it began chittering; calling out with tiny echos. It dipped down into the streets, flying slower than a beast that size had any right to fly.  

Oozes poked out from hiding spots, searching for whatever disturbed them. One ooze flopped directly into the middle of a road, marking itself as the owl’s target. The first owl dipped down from above, aiming directly at its prey. Jane watched through the shadows as the owl slipped through space around the ooze, jumping from one location to the next, leaving bisected goo in its wake. The ooze shivered in pain. It had no time to gather up its lost mass. The second and third owls slipped through the very same space, carving the ooze into cold, gelatinous treats. The final two owls, which were smaller than the first three, descended to the ground and quickly gobbled up the dead oozes. The first three came back and cleaned up the still-flopping remains on the ground.

Jane whispered, “Oozes should not be that easy to kill.”

“They’re not. The acid in the owls’s stomach does most of the work, but if they overeat the ooze can reform inside of them, consuming them from the inside out.”

“… I’m almost tempted to try killing them that way… but no.”

Tinawa laughed.  

Owls 4 and 5 led the kill of the next three oozes, while the others ate their fill. It was full dark by the time the owls came down to nest, in the buildings right above Jane, at the top of the city. They chittered and chirped with each other.  

Then one of them came out of their nest, almost directly where Jane was, and began heaving.  

Bones and metals and other indigestible material landed on the ground, in the shadows, to join the other bones already there. Human-sized bones.  

Jane whispered, “I need a break, then I’m coming back.”

“Back where we entered?”

“Yes.”

Jane blipped through shadows.  

Tinawa still beat her to the mountain path, where the [Gate] had dropped them into this land. He stood there in his yellow armor, revealed for all the world to see. Jane stepped up out of the ground. Tinawa gestured to the mountainside, where the land slipped open, creating a small space to rest. Jane filled the minor cave with a [Weather Ward] and a [Warmth Ward]. Tinawa filled it with a [Silence Ward]. Jane only noticed his Ward when she stepped into the hole in the ground and the sounds of the wind disappeared.

With both of them inside the cave, Tinawa said, “You were doing well out there. You might be stronger at defense. Just something to consider.”

Jane nodded, still thinking about the human-sized bones.  

After a minute of silence, Jane said, “I’m not going to practice anything against them. They move too fast. They need to die even faster.”

“A fair choice.” Tinawa leaned against the back of the cave.  

Jane asked, “Is [Erase Presence] the way toward the Special Action you get when you get all the Elemental Bodies?”

“Yes and no.” Tinawa said, “I spoke of condensation or diffusion earlier. That is the way toward your desired Special Action. You can only pick one. Broadly, and incorrectly, they are [Prismatic Attack], or [Prismatic Defense]. You either focus your killing intent to a point, and the world conspires to enact your bloody will. Or you focus on your own well being, and the world conspires to make you safe.” He added, “The exact nature of the ability is different for each individual.”

Jane Meditated, recovering her mana, as she thought.  

Eventually, she asked, “Is there a Class linked to that ability?”

“Nope. None. I changed my Class three times, but I completed that Special Action when I still had Soldier. The only thing I unlocked was a Class Ability that has been different for every Class I’ve had.” Tinawa said, “I’ve known others who have had empowered [Strike]s. One woman I knew, years and years ago, had an empowered shield. That was a strong ability.” He added, “And no. I’m not telling you what I have until you get yours.”

Jane nodded.  

And she thought.  

When she was ready to go kill the owls, she went. Tinawa followed.  

She killed the first owl in a surprise beheading. Jane leapt out of the wall and swung her sword with all her might. The owl’s head flew to the other side of their nest.

The other four owls zipped after her, faster than the eye could see. Jane retreated, bloody and hurt. The owls gave chase, following Jane’s shadow as she moved across the city. She had not expected to be hurt in their counterattack, but that’s what [Greater Treat Wound]s was for. Jane managed to throw off the owls, losing them to the deep darkness of the frozen city.  

She killed the second and third owl when she purposefully appeared to them, giving them a target in the middle of the street, between three very awake oozes. The oozes caught the second owl. Jane clipped a wing of the third. Jane didn’t actually kill the second and third owls, but she got 10 and 25% Participation, so she sorta did.  

The fourth owl did the speedy thing that all the owls could do. In a moment of transition, she tried to strike the owl, but the owl countered her, managing to clip Jane’s leg. Said leg turned solid as ice , then cracked off, flying into one of the many awake oozes Jane’s battle had awoken across the city. That was okay, though. Jane was in pain, but she kept her mind together. She dropped her father’s rings and everything she was wearing into one of the nearby buildings, then rushed back into the fight. At the right moment, she transformed into a flame ooze, and used [Greater Treat Wounds] again, ballooning her body back up to full mass and size.

The ice oozes of the city almost attacked her, but they were suddenly very, very confused. The oozes oozed, as oozes were wont to do, just on the edge of the zone created by her lava-hot body, not daring to get closer, but not daring to let her out of their encirclement. Soon, Jane had at least twenty ice oozes circling her, not one of them getting more than ten meters closer.

The fourth and fifth owl tried to kill flame ooze Jane like they tried to kill normal oozes. That did not work, at all. They swooped in for their slashing kill technique, but Jane reached up, fully exposing herself to harm, but knowing she would be okay.  

She was not okay, as the owls flew through her, but she’d had worse injuries. Her scattered, flaming body, was now attached to the owls, and doing a great job of murdering them. She helped along the process by turning into an airy, flying flame ooze, giving chase, inflaming her owl-coating remnants into an inferno.  

Fire and air went together so, so well.  

Jane retrieved her gear, while frost oozes raged across the lower levels of the city, looking for whatever was out there.

There was a sixth owl.  

The first five were normal Frost Owls, according to the Kill Notifications. The sixth was the primal frost owl, for sure. She laid in the back of the owl’s nest. She was the mother of killers, sized like an SUV, but she was barely breathing. Someone had chopped off her wing, and recently, too. The stump was covered in red ice, and dripping blood. She would not survive. The other owls had been trying to feed her, to nurse her back to health, but she laid in the back of their shared cave, dying of wounds, both new, and old. A small ice slime the size of her clouded, white eyes, crawled across her face. She flinched at the disturbance, but did not do more than that. She had probably been dying for a long time.

Jane could definitely see that she had been a majestic monster, at one point in time. Her single intact wing was splayed out across the nest. It had to be five meters long. Her coloring was magnificent. Bright whites, all the way, except for nodes of blue ice here and there.

Jane ended her quickly. Then she carved out the matriarch’s grand rad, and her heart. Both of them were tangled up with each other, with the grand rad caught up in the veins and arteries just above the heart. She separated the organ from the grand rad, then used a [Cleanse] to wipe away the messy, tangled bits of flesh wrapped into the shimmering jewel, revealing a hunk of not-ice that shone with a bright blue glow. The brain was an easier extraction. For all the matriarch’s size, the brain was only the size of a watermelon.

One shadowspider transformation and meal later, Jane switched out her air slime for a primal frost owl. It wouldn’t be good for normal fights, but it would be great against bigger foes. Jane decided she still wanted a Razorwing. Maybe.

She changed back to human, and held up the matriarch’s grand rad, saying, “Quest complete. Your verdict?”

“You need to stop using [Personal Ward]s. They are holding you back. You need [Melee Reflection].” Tinawa said, “The two reflective [Ward]s prove themselves at all levels of combat, but especially at the higher levels. You could have killed those owls many times over, with a lot less stress, with a few properly timed, 50 mana counters.”

Jane immediately wanted to argue. “That’s!…” She stopped herself. She frowned. “That’s actually a really good point. But...” She asked, “Is Warder a good Class?” She could have more than one [Personal Ward] active at the same time, if she was a Warder.

“They’re all good! Just pick one.” Tinawa looked to the corpse of the matriarch. “You going to harvest the rest of it?”

Jane turned to the body. She was fine with her grand rad, but, she asked, “What does it have?”

“Air-aspect feathers. Great for making flying vehicles.” Tinawa rattled off, “Shame about the eyes, but each one would have made a great long-distance [Scry]ing orb. Take the blood and the talons and you can treat those talons to easily accept a [Hunter’s Instincts] enchantment. Cuts better, higher Critical chance. Hard to wield, though. A feather cape can be enchanted with [Fly], while a different feather cape can be enchanted with [Cold Weather Ward]. All of those enchantments last longer than if you’d enchant some other kind of bird parts with the same magics...”

Tinawa continued to list uses for the primal frost owl’s carcass, and Jane realized, again, how much money she left on the floor, with almost every kill she had ever made. It was an uncomfortable feeling. It was, in fact, almost the same feeling she had when they had to abandon the Ancient Unicorn’s corpse in the Forests north of Killtree.  

Jane interrupted, “Let’s just… I don’t want to hang around for oozes to come up here. You can have anything else you want of the corpse, but I get the grand rad. I killed it.”

Tinawa acted offended, saying “What! No treat for your teacher?! I work hard, you know!”

“You can have the rads in the ones down below.”

“And brave all those oozes? No way!” Tinawa teased, “Besides! I’m not hauling that crap through thirty [Teleports].”  

Jane grunted, “Hrm.”

Tinawa held out his hand.

Jane kept the grand rad in one hand, but took his hand with her other, saying, “[Teleport] in the correct direction, please.”

Tinawa smiled.

The world shifted yellow, once, twice, three times, and then a lot more. They took a break on the beach, in the dark. Jane conjured a backpack and put the grand rad inside of it, as she asked about magical martial techniques. Tinawa answered. Then they blipped some more. It wasn’t long before Tinawa pointed in a direction, and told her to start [Teleport]ing as far as she could, wherever she felt like.  

Jane ended up in the ocean more than once. But that was fine. It was only a minor setback. Tinawa never touched the water. He just hovered in the air, laughing, each time Jane slipped down into the drink. He reminded her that using her single [Personal Ward] to make [Fly] was a good idea, since she shouldn’t be using a [Personal Absorption Ward] anymore, anyway.