Ar'Kendrithyst

The four of them reappeared in a flash of magenta light on the western side of the South Central Tribulations, and a bit more north than their previous latitude. The ground under their feet was an expansive, bare hillside, high up on the mountain, where trees had yet to encroach. But down in the valley, the trees were as large as the smaller ones in the Forest of Glaquin.

It was as though they had appeared on a rocky island amid a sea of green and darkness.

The wind blew with a gentle force, whistling on scattered boulders and sharp grasses. Odin, sitting upon Ezekiel’s shoulder, joined in the whistling as more and more of his bodies rejoined the team, to watch down from high above.

They were only a few kilometers from the start of the Blood Weaver nest, but they were already in the monster’s territory. Close enough that they needed to be on alert in case the monsters prowled this far, but they were in no danger of an imminent attack. And besides, Tiffany and Odin kept the best lookout that was possible for mortals and [Familiar]s to keep.

Tiffany sat down on a boulder. Paul joined her. Julia stood nearby, watching.

It was time for a small bit of magic making.

“Here’s how this one is supposed to go.” Erick discarded his magenta affectation as he held up his hands, projecting white light through them. “[Interception] on one hand. Blood Altering with Destruction in the other.” An Ophiel alighted onto the ground in front of Erick and sang one song, while another Ophiel sang a different one. Erick said, “[Conjure Force Elemental], and [Ward]. From there, it’s a matter of joining them all properly.”

He heard the sounds before him, and they were… strange.

“Ah.” Erick said, “There are some oddities here. There might need to be some adjustments to the plan.”

His audience watched as two more Ophiel came down and took over the sounds for [Interception] and Blood Altering—

He found two problems.

The first one was an easy problem to fix, but it would require certain bloody sacrifices that were easy enough to sacrifice. Looked like Erick was finally getting to use his Blood Mana Class Ability.

The other problem came from Destruction, so Erick focused on Destruction for Blood Magic, himself, while his four Ophiel took up the rest of the song. Soon, they were singing the sounds of a primordial life rushing to defend its creator from the worst kind of mutative magics; of surrounding the holder of the charm with absolute [Interception] of all harmful Blood Magic.

Blood pulsed in Erick’s ears as he listened to the sound of life.

The mana bade him raise his arm. He did.

He cast, molding songs into substance. Mana rushed out of him as blood slipped out from burst capillaries in his hand, and pushed through his skin, appearing like dew. The bloody dew detached. It floated upward.

Life gathered into a thumb-sized drop of bright red blood.

Erick’s arm stopped bleeding when enough blood had gathered. It barely hurt.

And then mana flickered through the floating plasma and red blood cells and otherwise, turning liquid life into something less real, and more Real at the same time. Magic crystallized into a perfect red sphere that was cracked inside like broken dreams. It was bright, and it was powerful.

Erick swept a [Cleanse] across his upheld hand, dispersing the bloody beginnings of his spell into so much thick air.

The glowing charm descended into his grip.

A blue box appeared.

Sanguine Charm, instant, close range, 1000 mana and 1000 health

Create a major charm that prevents a multitude of harmful Blood Magics from affecting the holder. Absorbs a large amount of Blood Magic damage before breaking. Major Blood distortions made against the holder may automatically fail. Lasts a maximum of 48 hours.

He held the charm in his hand and watched as its crystalline form became liquid then twined around his hand, to slip around his wrist to hold there, becoming a red-ribbon bracelet with a central ruby. He held it up to the light and smiled as it glittered.

He sucked in a lungful of fresh air, barely registering that he had briefly stopped breathing. Eh! He was fine. Ezekiel looked to Paul, and said, “Finally found a use for Blood Mana!” He willed the blue boxes for his new spell to all of his party. “What do you think?”

“First: this.” Julia tapped him with a [Greater Treat Wounds], saying, “You stopped breathing for a moment there.” Then she read the box.

Ezekiel was pleasantly surprised that her healing spell still worked; if what Arilitilo had said was true, then [Greater Treat Wounds] was, if not Blood Magic, then at least adjacent to Blood Magic. [Sanguine Charm] seemed rather solidly against only the ‘harmful’ types of Blood Magic, though, so… Maybe there was a nuance between ‘harmful’ and ‘helpful’ that was more than just a matter of perspective? Or maybe [Greater Treat Wounds] was not actually Blood Magic, but instead merely attained through that discipline, sort of how he had Remade [Force Bolt] even though he had Remade it using his lightform, which was certainly not Force.

Something to ask Arilitilo about.

Paul finished reading the new spell. He said, “We should ignore the possibility that this spell will make the upcoming Primal Blood Weaver a simple affair, and you should kill them all from afar and not take the risk.”

Tiffany read the charm, saying, “Ohh! That’s pretty good. Reads almost the same as the Charmer at the guard station back home. A lot more duration, though.”

Julia read the box three times, then hummed, and looked to her father. “I think I need Blood Mana.”

Paul instantly said, “No you don’t.”

Ezekiel smirked as he conjured another [Sanguine Charm] to test the cost, now that the Script’s reductions kicked in. The initial creation of the spell took 1000 Mana and 1000 Health, but the next cast took 54 Mana and 63 Health.

… Huh.

Ezekiel cast another charm, and the cost was the same.

There was something odd going on, there.

Constitution reduced damage taken to Health by a diminishing return percentage. He currently had 81 Constitution. He also had 81 Intelligence, which reduced Mana costs by what appeared to be the same diminishing return percentage. … When [Defend] was active, though.

Ezekiel activated [Defend] and recast [Sanguine Charm].

Same costs.

The problem was that Dexterity was the New Stat which reduced Health costs by a diminishing return percentage, and he only had 71 of that. Which meant that his Health cost reduction was less than his Mana cost reduction, which is exactly what happened with the costs of [Sanguine Charm].

It made sense that Dexterity reduced that Health cost, because that is what it was created to do, but Ezekiel had thought that Constitution would have been the modifier, here. It was more intuitive for the reduction of damage to his body to be the modifier when it came to extracting damage from his body in order to fuel his magic.

But… Now that he considered a few other facts…

Namely, Dexterity was the ease at which the body could live and move and function. So, looking at it from that perspective...

Constitution just reduced damage taken, and he wasn’t inflicting damage on himself when he used Blood Mana. He was using the resources of his body to fuel magic costs.

Ah. Okay. That made sense.

Yes. Dexterity wasn’t exactly ‘Dexterity’, it was the ability for the body to function well.

Strength was more than physical strength, and though Strength had perfectly understood Health benefits, it gave rather undefined physical boosts. An orcol with 50 Strength was stronger than a human with 50 Strength, after all. For an orcol, their Vitality lets them regrow body parts. The same was not true for a human. Willpower wasn’t anything except for a measure of the mana a person could hold at any one time.

But why didn’t Constitution reduce damage taken to [Personal Ward]s, too, when armor and other defensive structures helped reduce damage to both Health and [Ward]? Dexterity had odd effects, too, now that Ezekiel reorganized his thinking on the subject. He was a lot more limber than he had ever been in his life, now that he had Dexterity.

Perception had odd effects, but numbers? It had none. All Stats were odd. All of them were abstractions.

Ezekiel’s minor detour into the workings of the New Stats and the Old ended almost as soon as it began, with barely a second passing. He returned to Julia’s comment about needing Blood Mana, and said, “I tried casting healing spells with it and it hurt like a fucker, so it likely won’t work how you think it will.”

Julia paused, thought a bit, then said, “There are a lot of different ways to work around that. I could still easily exploit Blood Mana to cast spells for an indefinitely long combat.”

“True. Healing yourself with regular, cost-effective mana, and then using that Health to make big spells. It’s a valid tactic.” Ezekiel said, “But Arilitilo’s books warn that a person would tax their body too much if they used too much Blood Mana, leading to systemic stress. But anyway—” He held out a hand, where his charms had stuck. Only one remained of the few he had cast. The charms beyond the first had tried to attach to the same spot and they had turned to red dust that spilled to the ground. “Can’t have more than one, it seems.” He conjured another one and put it on his other wrist. It turned to dust, too. “Yup.”

“I’d still take one,” Julia said.

Ezekiel handed out charms, saying, “One for everyone.”

Julia’s charm snapped around her wrist. Tiffany’s went around her thumb. Paul held his blood charm in his hand for a moment, then placed it against his wrist where it became a bracelet just like Ezekiel’s.

“So!” Julia said, “Thanks for the charm. Seems like it’ll protect me from the weavers, so I’ll hunt this horde on my own.”

A breeze passed through.

Ezekiel wasn’t sure he had heard that right.

He asked, “What?”

Julia said, “I’ll hunt this weaver on my own.”

Ezekiel felt his world crumble. He asked. “Please don’t do this to me. Not against Blood Weavers. Not against anything like this.”

Julia froze as the weight of Ezekiel’s displeasure fell upon her. She stared into his eyes for a moment, seeming soft for a long second. Then she turned hard, and said, “I can turn into liquid flame. Or metal. I have [Aura of Freedom]. Not only am I naturally immune to whatever Blood abilities they have, and I doubt I even need your charm, for I am capable of freeing myself from literally any binding spell they could possibly throw at me. [Blood Control] spells will not work on me. The only people in danger in this situation are you, Tiffany, and Paul.” She rapidly turned to Tiffany and Paul, saying, “No offense meant, but you don’t even have an Elemental Body.”

Tiffany stayed well clear of the conversation. Paul did too. Both pretended not to hear anything as they looked away.

Julia turned back to her father, and said, “I could have taken that Nacreous Weaver, too, if I didn’t have to watch out for you. I am much more competent in this arena than you think, and I do not appreciate this smothering.”

Ezekiel felt empty. Gutted.

Julia stared, unflinching.

A moment passed, while Ezekiel tried to put his own thoughts in order. She was right. She was wrong. But above all, Ezekiel had to let her do this. He had expected her to try this. He had expected to lose this argument, too.

Ezekiel said, “You’re right. But I’m sending an Odin with you, who will [Withering] them if needed.”

“… Acceptable.” Julia said, “Please keep Odin away from the actual fight. I will be going in, now.” She shifted to light and stepped ten meters away where she instantly immolated into liquid fire and splashed outward into a flowing pool of orange ooze. The red dot of her [Sanguine Charm] was a spot of red shadows in the billowing heat of her brilliant form. She spoke with [Prestidigitation], saying, “Thank you for watching over me.” Another twist of light turned her into a shooting star that took off toward the north, toward…

Toward what was likely certain death.

... For anyone else except for Jane.

Why was this so hard? It would never get any easier, either.

Erick watched. He waited. He could do nothing else, lest he drive away his daughter. He had learned that lesson long ago.

Besides… Jane could handle this fight.

- - - -

The world was cold and Jane was fi—

Julia was fire.

Ah. That talk with her father had gone less than great. But it had gone. And now it was in the past, and they’d talk about it when they all got back home, and everything would be fine.

Eventually.

Everything would be better if he would have let her go on this entire hunt on her own. She hadn’t spoken up when the plans were made to get the Nacreous Weaver, and that was on her, but there hadn’t been a ‘best moment’ to talk about it. If it had just been her attacking the monster, then no one would have gotten hurt at all.

She didn’t expect all that reflection, but if she wasn’t constrained to fight with her father nearby—

That wasn’t fair of her.

She could have gone oozey right away and flanked the monster while Tiffany struck from one side and everyone attacked from every angle. That had been her own plan, but then her father had lucked out and mesmerized the weaver.

Paul would have gotten hurt, though, for sure. He had strained to freeze the weaver for that single moment. He could have done it a few more times, maybe, but even once was a lot. Probably due to the reflection, again. Paul had frozen too when he froze that weaver.

Ezekiel had been almost useless, too, until he lucked out.

Eh. They all got lucky. [Force Weaver] was no joke. Even she didn’t expect that. She could deal.

Her Unicorn Form would have worked, too. [Beautification Aura] would have been an instant kill, with less chance of accidentally burning her own party. But Poi would have gotten hurt… Maybe. He could probably piggyback off of everyone else’s sights. Back during the Unicorn Hunt, Marric had been fine fighting the Unicorns, and he was a Mind Mage, too.

She could have done that fight so much better.

And she could have trusted them to fight beside her as a monster, too. Why hadn’t she tried that with them? Was it because her father didn’t like seeing her as a monster? He certainly didn’t like spiders.

Was she embarrassed?

Julia loved her father, and everyone else was pretty great, too. Tiffany was warming up to her, finally, but…

She had sunk a lot of that just now, hadn’t she? By demanding to fight on her own, she had basically said that they were all useless.

Dammit.

She was better off alone.

Or maybe, she just hadn’t found the right people yet. She needed people who actually wanted to war and destroy, who were capable of keeping up with her own desire to fight and tear a swath through the world, so that other people could come behind and fix it all up.

That’s all that was happening here.

She wanted to be on the front line.

Her father wanted to be on the backline, and his people were there on that backline with him.

There was nothing wrong with this. It’s just how it was.

Anyway. There’s the spiders.

Pretty nest.

The crevasse was a kilometer long and a dozen meters wide, like a crack in the world that ran from deep in the forested valley to halfway up the bare mountain.

The entire crevasse was filled with glittering red darkness that extended into the world above, the red threads spreading out like blood from a wound. It might have truly been a wound, too; a kilometer-long wound in the world caused by someone’s spell or strength, that then got infected with spiders.

Julia descended to the edge of the crevasse, partway up the mountain, where red thread touched bare rock. She was going to stay away from the forest if she could; the blood weavers were a known threat, but they had to feed on some other monstrous species, for sure.

Her lightform touched the threads, ten meters from the edge of the lair. She plucked threads with a dozen tendrils, and she waited. She did not wait long.

She couldn’t see them yet, but she could feel them. Oozes had [Vibration Sense], just like spiders, and in her lightform, her [Vibration Sense] covered a great deal of space. Oozes were fractionally better at this particular sense when it came to sensing threats that touched the same solid surface. But for threats in the air, spiders won that contest.

Chittering, plucking feet clamored up from deep below. The larger ones had to be a hundred meters away. Less for the smaller ones. Maybe only twenty meters down. They had been hidden in holes carved out of the side of the crevasse and layered over with blood thread, but now they sensed prey upon their nest, and they hunted.

The wound in the world boiled over with the first wave of crimson Blood Weavers. Each spider was the size of a head, with legs twice as long but thin as needles. They shimmered in the afternoon sun as they rushed Julia, who was an ooze, but still in lightform.

She dropped the lightform, becoming bright burning ooze.

The shift in temperature was a minor explosion. Wet threads burst into steam, flash-frying then burning. Heat heralded Julia’s assault as she oozed forward, burning away more threads. Dumb spiders were caught in the flames. They advanced for a moment more, to kill the thing that was killing them, but they never got close.

The vanguard burst into flames, five meters away. The second line overheated, boiling first, and then they too caught fire. The third line, still cresting the edge, wisely decided to rush in other directions, and then away from the threat. Every single one of them was between level 20 to 30, with most being in the lower range. Not many of them were monsters, either, it seemed. She didn’t have [Eyes of Magic] in this form, for that was the basic nature of Shadow Spider eyes, but she did have the All Ability of [Life Sight] of her Hidebound Sneakeye form. [Life Sight] showed none of the usual gathering of life around a core that a monster usually had.

Julia briefly checked her resources. Health? Check. Mana? Check.

Yup. She was fine.

For a brief moment she considered Intelligence again, and decided that maybe she would do it, later. Or maybe she’d pick that up after she saw how it affected those people at Star Song. Intelligence had changed her father, but not by much. Mostly, he just picked up everything she put down, and that was kinda nice.

He even remembered what ‘chuuni’ meant.

Discarding thoughts other than the fight ahead of her, Julia oozed closer to the edge, burning away everything that came close, charring a path to the crevasse. Spiders fled at her encroachment. She reached the edge, intercepting a weaver that was larger than most, almost as large as she was. Ah. This one was a monster. Certainly didn’t look like a ‘Primal’ anything, though. It was just a normal, monsterized Blood Weaver.

It screamed as it charged up, aiming for Julia.

Julia stepped back from the edge, taunting the beast to attack her at her level. Her heat flowed out and up, after all. It didn’t flow down.

The weaver crested the ridge and Julia slipped forward, directly underneath the spider while it stabbed down at her oozy form. It struck, yeah. Julia barely felt the attack, and barely took damage.

The weaver, though, standing above Julia, instantly caught fire and exploded from the expansion of gasses inside its body. A blue box appeared, and yup! Just a normal Blood Weaver. Level 40ish, if Julia’s guess was correct. Spider legs and body parts went everywhere, as they burned.

Some of those burning bits fell into the wound in the world.

Julia poked a bit of herself back over the edge. She didn’t see much, as the flaming wreckage went out of range. That was one bad thing about flame oozes; they didn’t have normal sight. Oozes had [Surround Sight], which was great in most situations, but not in this situation, where the enemy was some hundreds of meters down a dark, blood-soaked hole. [Surround Sight] ended after about a hundred meters, and it couldn’t see around corners like a proper mana sense.

Julia was still glad that she had taken it as her Hidden Monster Class Ability, though.

She sent a [Fireball] sailing down into that red darkness.

Ain’t no way she’d walk into that trap.

Fire exploded. Probably. Julia couldn’t see the damage, but there were vibrations, for sure. She sent more [Fireball]s down into the wound, hitting here and there and lighting a few things on fire. Heat billowed up the hole, and flame oozes were good at seeing heat in the world, so there was definitely some burning down below. She got damage notifications and kill notifications, too.

But not much more than that.

She waited. The ground melted under her presence. Small dribbles of burning rock slipped over the edge of the crevasse, tumbling down into the dark, rapidly cooling as they fell.

This was not comfortable, for multiple reasons. One, in particular, was worse than the rest.

As a flame ooze, Julia needed to exist within certain temperatures in order to feel comfortable. It was, quite frankly, frigid as a witch’s tit out here, in the bright sunshine in the heat of the afternoon. This was like being in the middle of a blizzard. She could deal; she had dealt with this level of awfulness before and she would continue to do so. But the cold was easier to deal with when there were more burnable supplies nearby, and she could start her own fires.

She turned partially to shadows, both to get a better look at what was happening down in the hole, and to escape the cold. It worked. She wasn’t cold anymore.

Julia sent a few shadows downward.

The enemy stood revealed.

Julia jiggled in the shadows, suddenly wary. The target had been waiting, just out of her [Surround Sight], but her shadow sight from her shadow form had revealed all.

Fires burned here and there, but they were small things already being smothered by the concerted efforts of smaller spiders. The true illumination of the monster was from Bright blood spells hovering to the sides of the beast; four spells in total, each spinning like red globes.

The Primal Blood Queen, for that was the only thing a monster of this size could be. It had a body the size of a truck and the legs to match, each the size of tree trunks. It was a tarantula-type, with dark crimson chitin and absolutely covered in bright red needle-hair that shimmered in the light of its own ruby-red spellwork. Two main eyes, lidless and red, watched Julia stand on the edge, while smaller eyes surrounded its head, allowing it to keep focus on its smaller kin.

It was absolutely beautiful. More beautiful than the Nacreous Weaver; Julia had no idea why her father had thought that spindly thing was pretty.

Now, this! This was power! This was beauty.

It was rather smart, too. It had dealt with oozes before; that much was obvious. It had likely dealt with a lot of odd threats before now, and oozes were massive threats. Even if most monsters attacked until they either died or they killed enough to survive everything they attacked, most monsters were still wary of oozes. Unicorns went after oozes first and foremost because they were the only natural monster that could kill a unicorn, and the unicorns knew that.

The Queen Blood Weaver seemed to know that Julia was beyond dangerous, too.

So the monster sat there on the side of the crevasse, perfectly motionless so [Vibration Sense] was useless, out of range of [Surround Sight], and even out of range of most spells. This monster had realized that this particular ooze had shot out [Fireball]s, and it was wary for other tricks. It didn’t sense the shadows moving below it, though, under the threads under its feet.

Julia left the shadows there, but only to watch. She did not attack through them. She could have, but then the corpse would fall down and likely break into dozens of pieces, or otherwise get lost in the nest. Instead, she poked over the edge again, showing her orange ooze self.

The weaver did not move, but its hovering blood globes pulsed with power, growing slightly larger.

The weaver’s one-sided staredown continued.

Some smaller weavers, which were only the size of Julia herself, blitzed out of the crevasse, and rushed her. These were the stupid ones. Sacrificial pawns, no doubt. Some of them held small floating orbs of blood, though, and those were slightly more dangerous than the rest.

Julia let the sacrifices get close. She barely fought back, pretending at more sluggishness than was real. She was feeling slow, for sure, but she hammed it up for the obvious audience. She even allowed herself to be wounded. When a spider carved a [Blood Beam] from a floating orb, aiming at Julia, Julia let the spell clip off a few kilograms of orange ooze before she flexed her fire and burned the beast under 800 degrees of heat, Celsius.

It wasn’t really Celsius, but that was easier than calling it Yols, since they were about the same measurement.

Hmm.

This wasn’t working.

Julia dispatched the wave of medium-sized threats.

The queen refused to move. Or attack. Or reposition. Or anything. She waited. She watched. She did not move.

… Julia looked over her recently created spells and picked the one appropriate for the situation.

Flaming Replication, instant, close range, 250 mana

Create a replica of yourself that moves like you and attempts to attack with your normal attacks, dealing fire damage with a chance to ignite. Or, the replica can run, evading all attempts to capture or contain. Choice is made at the time of casting. Lasts 1 minute.

She had made one of these spells for each of her primary Elements, but there had been no use for them until now.

She cast. A flaming ooze oozed out of Julia and rushed over the edge of the crevasse, burning a path down the stone, through the webs, aiming directly for the Queen Blood Weaver. Julia turned to shadow and vanished from sight.

The replica detached from the wall and fell directly toward the queen, who instantly obliterated it by telekinetically swiping a blood orb across the air, striking the replica, splashing fire in every direction as the queen moved in the other direction. She repositioned so that the bits of obliterated fire touched upon anything but her. One of those pieces splattered on the webs near her, catching the web on fire.

The queen splashed the web with thick blood spells from one of her hovering orbs, dousing the flames. The size of her orbs diminished as she cast, but she didn’t seem to care.

Julia watched from the shadows, motionless. Watching and waiting.

Moments passed. The queen remained motionless.

Eventually, the queen tested a step forward. When nothing happened, she took another. Then she walked across the side of her web, avoiding the smaller spiders as she moved. The larger ones got out of her way as fast as possible. Julia saw why the larger ones moved so quickly when one of them didn’t get out of the way fast enough.

That large spider became another blood orb. Julia barely saw how the queen did it. One second the smaller-than-her spider was living, the next it had churned into itself, becoming another orb of glowing red blood, and then the queen’s four orbs were each back up to full size.

… Julia had made the right decision in telling everyone else to stay away. She could handle this herself.

Now with four blood orbs around her head, the queen proceeded to stamp out every fire in the area, smushing her blood orbs against the fire until the fire went away. She moved slowly, but fast enough. One well-burned area had to be re-webbed. The queen took a blood orb and made wrist-thick cable-like thread from it, laying down structural threads. The smaller weavers took over from there, quickly filling in the gaps in the nest while the queen watched. After a minute, the queen must have deemed progress ‘good enough’, and moved on. When she went away, the smaller weavers stopped caring about being so thorough in wrapping up their web. They kept at it, but they slowed.

The entire colony had been quiet during Julia’s attack, but slowly they began to chitter and shake their abdomens, and twang the thread near them as they communicated with each other. The queen’s orbs went dark as she started to walk with purpose, shaking the world as she moved down, down, into the dark.

There was intelligence behind that spider’s many eyes.

How intelligent, though?

While she was under the shadows, Julia restored her body with [Greater Treat Wounds]. When that was done, she spoke from the shadows on the other side of the crevasse. “Yo yo yo.”

The entire colony went silent again.

The queen turned around. She began walking back up the crevasse again, slowly, silently, her great big eyes watching for any movement at all.

Julia asked, “Are you intelligent enough to speak?”

The queen froze. Her blood orbs spun back up, returning to brilliant red life.

Julia switched her languages, asking, “Do you speak Ancient Script? Do you speak Inferni? How about Karstar? How about Gargantual? How about good old Ecks?”

The queen had zeroed in on the spot where the sound was coming from. Julia would have been surprised if she hadn’t. But then she ignored that spot, and kept looking, scanning the world for the speaker. Yup; she was intelligent. Also a monster. The core in her body was a grand core, for sure.

The queen spoke, in Ecks, “Help me! I’m down here!”

The spiders around the crevasse began to prowl with a purpose. They poked at shadows, and poked at air. Julia didn’t react when a spider poked at her shadow. The spider was obviously looking for movement, and Julia didn’t give it the satisfaction.

A few other spiders, the medium-sized ones, echoed their queen.

“We’re down here!” “The spider trapped us!” “We’re in the webs!”

Julia felt a lot better about killing them, now. She had to be sure they were monsters, and they were. Plus, her father would appreciate checking, and this way, he wouldn’t have to worry himself over if his daughter was killing sapient beings. Odin was still up there, high in the sky, watching, after all.

Probably.

Julia decided it was best to ensure that he was watching and seeing.

She asked, “What’s 2 plus 2!”

The weavers responded, “Down here! Help us!” and “It hurts!”

The Queen said, “Four! Why the math!”

Ah. Shit.

… Now Julia just had to know. She asked, “Do people often fall for that trap? Or are you truly not that bad of a monster?”

“I’m not a monster! I’m a [Polymage]! This is my life now because I can’t transform back!” The queen scanned her surroundings, as she asked, “Did you come here for thread? I can sell you some! Just bring us monsters. The bigger the better!”

Okay. Well. Now the Queen was starting to sound like a person. And Julia, dammit, was starting to fall for it. She did not like that she was falling for it, but that’s how it was.

Julia had absolutely no problem killing a monster that preyed on people, but this one was too smart, and that was a problem. She was like the Unicorn Queen. In that same way, this Queen Blood Weaver spoke like a person and spawned monsters that followed in her footsteps to kill people, for sure. But Julia had no problem killing that Other Queen, either.

Julia lied, “I’m going to come out now, and talk to you.”

The queen tensed. “I await your arrival.”

Shadows rose from the edge of the cliff face, high above; a purposeful usage of shadows created more by skill than any spell. Every weaver turned toward the figure. None of them moved. Julia remained off to the side. ‘Shadow Julia’ walked down the side of the crevasse, not caring for the spiders nearby. None of them attacked the illusion. Most weavers walked out of the way.

On a vertical battlefield, Shadow Julia walked down, toward the Spider Queen. They met in glowing red darkness, surrounded by the reflective red eyes of their audience.

A figment stood before a Queen ten times her size, and asked, “Are you truly a [Polymage] trapped in there?”

“I assure you, I am.”

“Prove it.”

“I cannot. How would I?”

“Cast [Cleanse]. Monsters cannot do that.”

The Queen said, “I cannot either, but that does not mean that—”

Orbs of blood turned into carving spells of death, ripping through Shadow Julia, and then the Queen moved. She covered two hundred meters in a flashing moment, coming to stand right above where the real Julia hid in the shadows, under the webs. Blood orbs soaked into the webs, turning a portion of the crevasse into blood spikes, killing a hundred smaller spiders in the process. Deaths fueled the return of the blood orbs.

But Julia suffered no injury. She was already on the other side of the crevasse.

The Queen directed her orbs into a different sort of soaking spell that went into the wrist-thick webbing of the crevasse and set the battlefield aglow. Light erupted. Shadows vanished.

Julia turned to light and ripped across the Queen, taking a leg at its joint, tearing it away, into the light. The Queen screamed as Julia dragged its body part up out of the crevasse, into the sun, making sure that her trail was highly visible.

The Queen followed, raging, and so did her horde.

Julia did not want to drag out the kill. Even monsters deserved this much respect.

But the Queen ate its young when it got injured, to restore lost legs and lost Health, and replenish its resources. And then there were the tricks. Three times the Queen managed to snare Julia, as an ooze, in an unburnable cage of solid thread, with neither light nor shadow allowing her escape. This was its most dangerous attack, but even that failed to matter, for Julia simply walked out of the space with a small application of [Aura of Freedom], acting as though the [Blood Web Cage], or whatever spell it was, didn’t even exist.

Somewhere in the fight, Julia figured out how the Queen had seen her when she was in the shadows. It was the [Sanguine Charm] Julia had kept inside her burning body. The charm didn’t burn away, for it was more magic than real, but it was a blood source, and that was enough for the Queen to notice where it was all the time.

Julia asked the Queen to stop fighting, twice, just so her father would see. Just so he would know this was a true monster. It refused. It killed its young in order to live longer. It attacked even when Julia stood still, and stayed away. Julia had survived worse attacks, and oozes could regenerate with just a bit of [Greater Treat Wounds], or, since Julia had [Shedding Form], she just re-[Polymorph]ed into a flame ooze again, for less mana cost.

Every time Julia emerged from her own sliced-down bit of goo as a fully large and in charge flaming ooze, the Queen chittered angrily.

In two minutes, well before Julia ran out of resources and would have been forced to retreat, the battlefield shifted. Julia had clipped off twenty legs and burned away countless crimson hair, burning through the Queen’s Health twenty-times over. The Queen could have kept going, except she had run out of medium-sized weavers to eat. She ran out of resources first.

Julia killed the Queen with a spear of shadows through its center mass. She would have physically gone into the monster and ripped its core out from its abdomen and ended the fight early, but the Queen’s heart was all around its core, and that action would have brought flame into the spider and destroyed the heart. That was an untenable solution. You needed the heart and the brain to get the Familiar Form, after all.

Upon the Queen’s death, Julia got a minor surprise. She had been calling the weaver a ‘Queen’ in her mind, but the kill notification box revealed the truth. The ‘Primal Blood Weaver’ truly was a ‘Queen Blood Weaver’. Not a ‘Primal Blood Weaver’.

Riri had been wrong, yet again.

Odd, that.

The horde went crazy with the death of the Queen, and then they calmed as normal mental functions came back. The Queen obviously had some sort of [Spider Mind] ability that allowed it to control lesser spiders; most magical spiders had that ability.

Freed from control, the animal spiders rushed to get away from Julia; there were no monstrous ones left since the Queen ate them all. The young weavers vanished down the crevasse. Julia considered burning them all away, but there might be a need for more blood weavers at some point in the future, and they were just animals.

Julia transformed into light. She came out of that light as a Shadow Spider that gleamed iridescent black in the afternoon sun. Briefly, she felt the minds of a few smaller, closer spiders like they were extensions of her own body. She discarded those minds, telling them to go back to whatever they were doing, but in fewer words than that.

And then she got to eating third lunch.

Halfway through, she sighed out a horrific chuckle as she got another surprise.

There were no notifications for gaining essence, except for when you gained a new ability, and then lastly when you gained the full Elemental Body. You could feel it when you absorbed essence, though. It was sort of like a piece of the universe revealing itself in the shade of a tree, or the sound of a brook. The Queen Blood Weaver had essence, for sure. Eating the monster felt like reveling in something bloody, which was not unexpected, but still… Kinda surprising. Was there ‘Blood Essence’? Maybe.

But then reality appeared, and the notification Julia got was:

Dragon Essence Blocked and Discarded.

She thanked her Class Ability Draconic Inoculation for the meal, and continued.

- - - -

Ezekiel watched as his daughter ate the Queen Blood Weaver.

He came back to himself.

Nothing had happened to them while they waited there, on that mountainside. Tiffany sat on her boulder. Paul sat on his smaller boulder. Odin chirped on Ezekiel's shoulder. And nothing happened.

This was in stark contrast to what had happened to Julia. Spikes of worry seemed to slam into Ezekiel’s very soul, at least three times, as he watched the slaughter. Once, when Julia just looked over the edge while the Queen was there. Then again, when the Queen spoke. Then again, when it went straight for his daughter.

… There were a few more times there, for sure.

But.

Julia had it under control.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

But if he had gone in there with his own people…

Ezekiel turned to Tiffany and Paul, and said, “I am so sorry. There was no need to put you in danger. I had no idea what I was asking of you— I mean… I thought I knew. But I didn’t.”

Tiffany smirked, and her words sounded sincere, as she said, “Eh! Don’t worry about that. We could have taken them, especially with your [Sanguine Charm]s, but you can’t go overriding your daughter’s choices, can ya?”

She had said those words, for sure, but Ezekiel could tell that Tiffany was relieved to not get into that fight. Not once the Queen started talking. Ezekiel had freaked when the Queen did that, and Tiffany had seen it through her own mana sense, for sure.

… He wasn’t sure how he would have handled that fight, but only that he would have been less aggressive once the intelligence of the monster had been revealed. He would have liked to think that he would have protected everyone, making them all practically invulnerable to the Queen, but doubt was an insidious poison. It made him think of the worst possible scenario, and that scenario was not good.

“I would have pushed harder if we truly went to engage the monster, but I am glad we did not.” Paul said, “Polymages are strong as individuals, and your daughter is among the strongest I have ever seen. I am glad you let her go on her own, Ezekiel.”

Ezekiel glanced at the Odins hovering in the light, all around the battlefield. Some hovered only twenty meters away from his daughter. He didn’t think Julia had seen the majority of them, and that was slightly worrying for a different reason, but he had been ready to swoop in and save his little girl.

Except she wasn’t a little girl. And she hadn’t been for a very long time.

He knew he needed to trust her. But…

It was hard.

He glanced back to the battlefield. The Queen’s abdomen and cephalothorax were carved open, the heart and brain devoured along with a fair bit of the insides.

A second Queen walked around as though testing herself, poking at the ground with massive legs. With a gesture, the former Queen’s gore became an orb of blood that hovered above the second queen. With another gesture, the orb sprayed across the ground, becoming thread. A second gesture pulled that thread back into a blood orb, but it was lesser than it had been before. Without another gesture, the orb became a carving [Blood Beam] a meter wide that gouged into the ground, exploding dirt and stone into the air like a line of excavation detonations.

The battlefield was full of such devastation, but now it had even more.

With her blood orb fully discharged, the second Queen turned to light and shot off—

Ezekiel came back to himself.

Julia —human-shaped Julia!— stepped down onto the ground ten meters away. Ezekiel was thankful for that. No unexpected heart attacks for him! It had been a close thing!

Julia waved, saying, “Hey!” She walked forward. “How did you like that fight?”

Ezekiel said, “I am reminded daily that you’re strong enough to do anything you want to do, but always I forget. That is a failing of mine. Sorry.”

Julia paused, then she stepped in front of her father. “I’m sorry, too.”

They hugged, briefly.

Julia tore away first and summoned a blue box for Ezekiel as she said, “So this is pretty awesome.”

Body:

Queen Spider Mind

Perfected Body

Vibration Control

Blood Mana

Extra Resources

All:

Blood Weaver

Ezekiel’s eyes went wide. “Ah. It was a Queen, then? I was just calling it that.”

“Yup! Level 68-ish Queen Blood Weaver.” Julia said, “It didn’t have [Body Control] like it should have had, but I have no doubt that if anyone with blood or a traditional body got anywhere near her, they would have died. I think its [Blood Weaver] Ability used to be [Body Control].” She said, “I’m glad you let me go on my own.”

Ezekiel smiled softly, and said, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Julia looked to her father, then looked away, seeming happier than before. She turned back and said, “Did you notice the weird thing about this form?”

Ezekiel asked, “The Queen Mind, right?”

“Right.” Julia said, “I think that’s a problem. I also think I’m done with the bigger forms, because I think this one was much, much stronger than anything else I ever encountered. Mentally, that is. If I get anything else, it’s going to be small and purely for its usefulness.” She turned to Paul. “Can you check me over?”

Ezekiel paused.

‘Check her over’?

… For…

For mental contamination?

Many thoughts fled, leaving panic in their wake.

While Ezekiel had a minor panic attack and kept it to himself, Paul agreed to Julia’s request for a scan and checked her out for mental contamination.

And he could do that? Ezekiel didn’t know that. Had he done this before, for her? Ezekiel watched. Time passed.

Paul declared, “Your Triple Familiar Forms Ability gives you a great deal of leeway, but you are pushing the limits. 55 base Willpower is no longer enough. You need 60, at least. 70 or 75 would be preferred. Or you need to get rid of a few forms. I calculate that you have a year to do this before the contamination becomes noticeable. If you don’t do this, the next powerful form you gain could be your last.”

Another panic attack struck Ezekiel’s core. Larger, this time.

Much larger.

A detached part of himself mused that Willpower must have mental side effects that dealt with the ability to keep oneself together, and wasn’t that odd? Did Intelligence help that function, or would it harm that function? Should he foist Intelligence upon his daughter? Even if she objects?

But the main part of him was in shock.

He stood, silent and staring. Not even blinking; barely breathing.

Julia brushed off the concern, saying, “I’m only level 71. I got time to get higher, and there are always Quests around here, right?”

Ezekiel’s eyes went wide. He cOulD sOLvE ThIS PROBLEM RIGHT NOW.

He opened up the Quest—

Julia instantly turned to him, knowing what he was about to do. “No. I can get this on my own.”

Ezekiel put on a calm face even though he was screaming inside. He casually tried, “Allow me to help. Please.”

Julia said, “I appreciate your help, but I can do this on my own.” She asked them all, “Anyone want to go explore a nest? Find some treasure?” She added, “We actually have two nests to explore; we never cleared out all of the other weaver’s nests.”

Nope.

Ezekiel instantly had his Odin scatter. They turned to magenta sunforms. Half of them dove deep into the Blood Weaver lair, lighting up the red darkness in search of bodies and treasure. The other half lightstepped back to the Nacreous Weaver’s hunting grounds, in search of spoils.

He had checked out the Nacreous Weaver’s grounds already, but he didn’t search that place nearly well enough.

“We won’t be clearing either nest,” Ezekiel declared, happy to have the distraction. “Odin is doing both right now.” He half-glanced away, saying, “Ah! Not five seconds to find the tragedies produced by the monster. I’ll try to keep the sites separate so that we can report where the people therein actually died.”

Magenta sunforms deposited a mound of corpses twenty meters away to the right, and also to the left; blip blip blip! Bones stuck out of dried gore. Webs got everywhere. Crusted metals laid dull in the afternoon sun, while clothes and the furs of beasts were vague suggestions of what they had once been. A few small spiders of both kinds had come along for the ride, but they were instantly dispatched by the ripping tear of an Odin who solved the various problems before they could become problems.

Julia, Tiffany, and Paul watched.

In ten seconds, the Blood Weaver pile of bones and gore slipped down the side of the mountain, for it had gotten too large, and sunform Odins kept bringing more. Most of the gore was not people. Mostly, it was monsters of all sorts. Chimeras. Frogs. Snakes. A lot of ant-like monsters that were small, but multitudinous. Wolves.

The Nacreous Weaver pile was much smaller, but contained a high percentage of people. Thirty-one people, so far.

In a minute, Ezekiel’s anger and sorrow over his daughter’s various decisions was matched for his feelings about the horror show that laid before him. He calmed, as many different thoughts swirled and organized.

This was yet another reminder that there was a larger threat out there than the ones that people made for themselves; than the one Ezekiel made for himself whenever he wanted Julia to stay home and safe and not go anywhere or do anything dangerous. He would have to apologize later. Again.

That thought swirled back to the Calcium Disodium EDTA he had almost reinvented earlier in the day.

War was going to be the outcome from that new technology, sure. But another outcome would be that at least one decent-seeming nation of Nelboor would gain a true foothold on power, and that power would allow them to spread even more civilization across this war-torn continent; allowing them to kill more monsters and make more of the world safe for people.

For in his brief time here in Nelboor, he had gotten a good look at this land.

Most of it was uninhabited. Like the Crystal Forest in some respects, but in others, not. The Crystal Forest held no water, and no greenery, and any greenery that showed was ripped to shreds by rampaging mimics. The monsters were the problem, there, just as much as the environment was a problem. But in the Crystal Forest, people couldn’t live without a complete environmental overhaul.

Here, half the problems of Nelboor stemmed from ever-present war, and that required different solutions than the solutions required to fix the other half of Nelboor’s problems, which was a problem of monsters.

An expansion of civilization would help to solve the problem of monsters, but would simultaneously exacerbate the other half of Nelboor’s problems of war.

Ezekiel hadn’t seen much of those brutal, flashing contests of blood, as his Odin prowled the skies. But he had seen the aftermath. Bodies rotting in fields. Scorched spaces in the middle of green prairie. Broken swords. Viscera and worse.

Which was worse?

War?

Or monsters?

This was a complicated problem, with no easy solutions. Plus, was it right for Ezekiel to even make these decisions? Likely not. Except, he had to live in this world, too, and if he did bring Candlepoint’s Gate network here, then he damn fucking better have a fucking say in how this part of the world worked!

While Ezekiel thought, silently, and watched bodies both new and ancient fall down the mountainside in an ever-growing pile of gore…

He thought.

“Sir,” Tiffany spoke over the continuous sound of tumbling bones. “Are you okay?”

“I am fine. I am angry, but I am fine.”

Julia began, “Dad, I—”

“I am allowed to be angry. So are you. It happens. I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Ezekiel said, “There are larger concerns.” He gestured at the pile. “There are a lot of people-bodies in that pile.”

Julia went hard. “Later, then.”

“Later.” Ezekiel turned away from the still-growing pile, to face Tiffany and Julia, as he said, “Now that the spider hunting is done, there is another issue. I remembered how to solve antirhine poisoning. Should I tell them, or should I give it to them, or should I do nothing and let them solve it on their own? I am partial to the last option, but I could be swayed in a different direction.” He continued, “From what I have seen, the Highlands could well serve the rest of the world by expanding, and by this expansion, they could end conflicts and erase the true threat that is the monsters. But I don’t know a lot about the Highlands. I don’t know if I should give them this technology. Perhaps they should come to it on their own. It might take them days, or months, or years to get where I already am. Or it could happen tomorrow. Or it could never happen. What say you?”

Julia and Tiffany went a little wide-eyed. They said nothing. Tiffany frowned a little.

Paul abstained, saying, “I already told you my feelings.”

Ezekiel nodded.

Tiffany said, “Don’t give them anything. Give this magic to Spur.”

Ezekiel said, “Right. This is a good option. I have already given it to the Mind Mages, but I could also give it to Spur.”

Tiffany continued, “Songli has proven they can make a society out of a shitty culture, but so what? They don’t deserve what you’ve already given them, or what you could truly offer them. Not yet.” She shook her head, and said, “We haven’t even been here a full week. At least wait longer than this.”

Julia said, “I agree with Tiffany. Don’t give them this yet, and especially not before we’ve had a chance to talk to Riri. I’d like to know how she had planned on these spider encounters going. That might shift my opinion.”

“Yeah. That too.” Tiffany asked, “Did they try to get one of us killed? Or did she expect you to Wither both sites and then to pick up the pieces afterward?” She added, “I expected a [Withering].”

Paul said, “I would have suggested as much if we had continued toward the Blood Weavers.”

“Yes. I apologize for that.” Ezekiel said, “Please tell me if I am ever this ridiculous ever again, and I will reconsider the plan. Neither of you signed up for this level of danger.”

“Eh!” Tiffany said, “Ah. Well. I still like this sort of thing. Don’t get me wrong! But… Ah. Thank you.” She added, “It’s been nice adventuring. I do like this. Definitely don’t give out more magic, though, Boss. Not this soon.”

Ezekiel resummoned his Odin who had depleted themselves moving around bodies, then sent the new ones out to gather more, and said, “There will be no dissemination of technology right now. Maybe not ever.” He looked to Julia, and said, “I will be using whatever happened here to gain concessions from Star Song in the form of points for you so that none of us have to worry about mental contamination. Please do not countermand me on this when we visit Riri.”

Julia looked at her father, briefly going hard, before she softened. Somewhat. She said, “Tell them I will work for those concessions. This will also give me a better chance to see what they’re about, and besides that, I can handle myself in the field against whatever they might have me do.”

Ezekiel shoved away unproductive thoughts that would only lead to more arguments.

Julia’s change to his plan was an acceptable idea.

Ezekiel nodded, saying, “Okay.” He turned to Paul. “You can check for mental contamination?”

“Of course.” Paul said, “One of the first things I ever learned, since I have to check myself for it all the time. It’s easy enough to do for another.”

… Right.

“… Right.” Ezekiel said, “Of course.” He turned to the bones and otherwise still piling up, still tumbling down the mountainside. There were more ancient bodies down in that hole, but there was no need to grab the rest. Ezekiel was suddenly tired. He had the Odin stop. Bodies and bones continued to slide down the mountainside like a minor avalanche.

Everyone stared at the flow, as ten magenta sunform Odin hovered high above.

“Look at all this death!” Ezekiel asked his people, “This sucks, doesn’t it?”

Tiffany and Julia laughed, tension vanishing as the horror of monsters settled into a gallows humor background. Paul affected a smile, but there was no heart in it.

Ezekiel added, “There’s a hole into the Underworld at the bottom of that crevasse, about hundred meters long and twenty wide. Removing this trash sent half of the rest of the trash falling down into the dark. It seems the weavers hunted from both directions. Yes, there are the bodies of sapients in this pile, but the weavers keep the Underworld monsters at bay. Shall I do anything... About any of that?”

Paul said, “Throw some stone pillars across the hole to block out the bigger monsters. Let the weavers open it more if they need to. Don’t kill the weavers. Underworld threats are worse.”

Tiffany gave an all-encompassing, “Yup!”

Julia nodded.

Ezekiel sent five Odin back into the hole. They [Stoneshape]d crisscrossing pillars from one side of the crevasse to the other, building up a thick network of blockages. It didn’t restore the webbing that had been there before, but it did enough, for now.

The other five Odin got to work on the pile of bodies sitting out in the sun, sorting people from otherwise.

When Ezekiel remembered, he cast a few [Sealed Privacy Ward]s across the land, at points where someone might [Witness] something they shouldn’t. With secrets once again hidden, he got back to work.

Half an hour later, Ezekiel, Tiffany, Julia, Paul, and Odin, had sorted out four hundred and sixty-four skulls from the rest, some with horns, some with scales, some with nothing. Some of the skulls were attached to bodies. Some were just separated heads.

There had been some treasures in the pile too, but no one wanted to loot the dead. Back in Spur, there was an endowment that anyone could pay into, in order to support the families of adventurers who had died in the line of duty. No one was sure if The Fund still existed in the Clan Exchanges of the Songli Highlands, but if it did, it would be getting a hefty donation at the end of the day.

Together, Ezekiel and Tiffany spotted barely a hundred sets of paperwork in the Blood Weaver pile, and most of the papers were too degraded to read, but the Nacreous Weaver pile had rather intact paperwork. By the time the sun began to set and the world had turned orange and gold, the team had recovered a hundred and seventy-one identification papers. Only seven of them could not be [Mend]ed back to quality. The paper was thick stuff, for the most part. It was designed to survive rain and weathering and unfortunate deaths in the dark places of the world.

Ezekiel buried the skulls in individual nooks in the mountainside, then raised an obelisk monument in the middle of them all. He carved upon the stone an image of Phagar on one side, Koyabez on another, Rozeta on the third, and a small prayer on the fourth that was a common epitaph in some parts of the world.

It read: ‘To those who have lost their lives defending us from monsters, may your gods guide you to a better world. The ones you have left behind will continue to toil against the Darkness, but your fight is over. Thank you for your service.’

The magenta light of [Cleansing Flame]s lit the coming night, burning the avalanche of bodies to thick air.

- - - -

They stopped in at the Clan Exchange in Eralis. The ‘Mage Guild’ in the main city was larger than the one in Darzallia, by a lot. It was five stories of stone and steel and seemed to be specially protected by the Void Song in the air.

They walked in with a massive bag of spider silk slung over Tiffany’s back, much to the surprise of many of the clansmen in the building. Some eyed them, seeing their wealth, and not knowing who they were except that they were unknowns. Some people almost made a move. But others held back those who moved, telling them in silent commands that this was not a procession to be interrupted. Even if they didn’t know Ezekiel and his people as ‘Clan Phoenix’, they certainly recognized a death procession when they saw it.

Ezekiel and his people soon found that, yes, the Clan Exchange had a ‘Fund’. They called theirs ‘The Office of the Lost’, and it was not exactly the same.

In a somber room, Ezekiel handed over a large stack of paperwork to a professional man in stark-white garb. In small words, they spoke of the location of the monument, and of the graves. Then they deposited the spoils gathered by too many monsters.

Many of the papers belonged to people outside of the Highlands, but the Office of the Lost respected death when it had been caused by monsters. The clansmen who had perished fighting against the darkness would find solace in that they had been found, and their graves had been marked. Their families would be told if they could be told, and the treasures Clan Phoenix had found would be used for this service.

A small amount of the treasures would go to the families who had lost people, but most would go to the Border Clans, who keep the monsters out of the Highlands.

It was the perfect sort of corrupt-government note to get Ezekiel’s anger up and fuming before he went to Star Song.

- - - -

Ezekiel sat across from Riri and Patriarch Zalindi at the very same courtyard they had been in earlier in the day, but now the sky was dark. Stars glittered above while gentle white lights illuminated the grey stone and the pink willow trees, and a cold wind blew across the Alluvial District.

Julia sat to Ezekiel's side. Elder Mirizo stood behind Zalindi and Riri; still silent. There was no tea, for there was no need. This conversation wouldn’t take long. Ezekiel had told them as much when he contacted Zalindi not ten minutes ago in a sending.

Ezekiel said, “Thank you for agreeing to meet so soon. Is everything going well with your Alchemists?”

“Most of them are still sleeping off their gifts.” Zalindi’s voice was that of a mountain rumbling. He said, “Loremaster Riri was also sleeping, but not too soundly, it seems.”

Riri looked as well put-together as ever. If she had been sleeping ten minutes ago, Ezekiel couldn’t tell. She affected a small smile, and asked, “Should we have reason to worry about the gifts given?”

“No.” Ezekiel said, “I was trying to break the tension, but I see that raising a concern over the Alchemists was the exact wrong way to break the tension.” He sighed. “I am concerned, but not for the Intelligence I have given you. What I am here for is the truth about the spiders you sent us toward.”

Zalindi gave no impression of tension or worry. But he turned an eye toward Riri, and that was enough. Zalindi was concerned now, too.

Riri, however, was perfectly poised. She asked, “Was there a problem?”

“A few small ones.” Ezekiel said, “A few possible poisoned treasures which make me wary of further treating with you.”

Mirizo watched, a slight concern in his eyes. Zalindi casually glared.

Riri focused, hard, and yet she remained soft. She diplomatically asked, “Please inform me of the issues experienced and I will try to reduce the severity of your suffering or remove it entirely, if it is within my power.”

Ezekiel nodded to his daughter.

Since a part of the deal Ezekiel had made with Star Song was to teach him and his daughter spider silk magic, Riri would need to know of Julia’s capabilities. So instead of simply showing off the Kill Notifications, Julia produced the Familiar Form boxes she had recently gained, then handed them to Riri.

The Loremaster’s eyes went wide. Zalindi watched Ezekiel, but he spared a glance toward the boxes, too. Mirizo read over Riri’s shoulder.

Ezekiel waited.

Riri dismissed the boxes and became utterly professional. Or maybe she merely discarded her apologetic persona, since such an affectation would have been harmful in this situation; Ezekiel wasn’t sure.

Riri said, “The Nacreous Weaver and the Primal Blood Weaver were exactly that the last time I knew of them, which was four days ago and five days ago, respectively. You have gained a great deal more than we bargained for. I fail to understand the issue you believe you have.”

Ezekiel expected this tactic. He came ready to counter it. He said, “I understand that Star Song participates in Stat Quests. I want twenty points for my daughter. This extra allowance from you to me would counteract the disaster of the Queen’s mind emerging in a year. That is why I call this gift of yours a poisoned treasure, for it certainly seems that way to me.”

Zalindi breathed out of his nose, a little louder than normal breathing. He said nothing.

Riri said, “We cannot do this unless you are willing to work further with Star Song, past previously established bargains.”

Zalindi spoke up, “We cannot do 20 points. No. Five points; this is what we can offer in recompense for putting your Clan in danger, and each point would cost you in gold.”

“Not acceptable.” Ezekiel asked, “What needs to happen for 20 points?”

Riri took control of the negotiation, “Two hundred thousand gold per point. 4 million gold.”

“A lesser offer,” Ezekiel said.

“For 10 points,” Riri said, “Clan Phoenix can become a branch family of Star Song.”

Zalindi glanced to Riri, then turned back to Ezekiel.

With not a little bit of pride, Ezekiel said, “I have a counteroffer. For my daughter’s personal help in killing whatever monstrous threats you deem worthy, you will give her 20 points. Half upfront. If needed, I will step in, but I doubt that will be necessary. As of today, Julia has killed an Ancient Unicorn Queen and also this Queen Blood Weaver, solo. She has a Flame Ooze form and many others that are capable of countering many of the monstrous threats of this world. What say you?”

Zalindi and Riri turned toward Julia.

Silence.

And also trepidation.

Small lines of thought passed through the manasphere between the Patriarch and his Loremaster. More lines of thought went elsewhere, tapering off into nothing as they vanished in the distance. Julia waited. Ezekiel waited.

Riri said, “We can afford the 20 points if Julia agrees to do a month of missions. She will be sent out to branch families all across the Highlands. Border Clans, mostly. There will be a few deeper missions into the Tribulations where she will be expected to solo various threats that encroach upon our interests. There will be minor jaunts into the near Underworld. Most of the points she gains will be paid by us. Some points will come from standing Quests that have yet to be cleared, and that need to be cleared. We will not pay half upfront, and Clan Phoenix will become a branch family.”

“You will pay some lesser amount upfront,” Ezekiel said, “And Clan Phoenix will not become a branch family.”

“This is an unwise decision.” Riri said, “Branch families of the Highlands gain much power and opportunity. Are you sure you wish to take this route?”

“Clan Phoenix will not become a branch family,” Ezekiel repeated.

Riri said, “We accept that decision.”

Zalindi silently watched it all.

Ezekiel looked to both of them, while he sent to Julia, ‘Is this okay?’

‘Yes!’ Julia sent, ‘This is great.’

Ezekiel said, “She will not assist you with assaults on people, and 5 of those points will be granted as soon as possible.”

“It will be as you say.” Riri added, “Clan Star Song looks forward to a closer working relationship with Clan Phoenix.”

“We will cement this relationship now.” Zalindi placed his hands together in a near-silent clap and stood. Ezekiel, Julia, and Riri stood with him. “Young Mistress Phoenix. This way.”

Zalindi walked over to the edge of the stone courtyard, where a water fountain spilled from chest level down into a shallow stone basin. The flowers of pink willow trees laid upon the clear surface. A small stone vase sat near the edge of the water.

Julia joined Zalindi at the water’s edge.

He said, “Whenever you are ready.”

He handed her the Quest that they had seen days ago.

Quest!

Deliver a vase of water to Patriarch Zalindi Star Song.

Reward: 1 point.

Poster: Rozeta, Dragon Goddess of the Script

Lesser Poster: Patriarch Zalindi Star Song, of Clan Star Song

It was a ceremony.

Zalindi stood on one side of the burbling fountain. Julia on the other. With a quiet joy and a reverence that Ezekiel couldn’t match, Julia dipped the stone vase into the basin, filling it to the brim. Julia was enjoying this. She stood, and handed the vase to Zalindi. He took the vase and spilled the water back to where it came.

Julia repeated this process four more times.

At the end, she bowed to Zalindi, and it was done.

Zalindi said, “Someone will pick you up in the morning. Clan Star Song looks forward to a close working relationship with Clan Phoenix.”

Ezekiel gave a thankful nod toward Zalindi, Riri, and also Elder Mirizo, who still had yet to say a sound in Ezekiel’s presence. The three of them gave deference to Ezekiel, but Riri went further than the other two, fully bowing.

After it was over, Ezekiel had some thoughts. This transference of points had been made possible by the sacrifices of lesser clansmen who gave up parts of themselves in order to gain access to a clan. This is how they did it here, and the transaction seemed uneven, somehow. It seemed exploitative. Ezekiel didn’t like this part of this culture, but if they did this to themselves, willingly, then it was okay for him, and for Julia, to take advantage of this aspect of their culture, right?

Maybe.

Maybe not?

Maybe he was thinking too much; this was certainly true. Julia was better, now, with 5 more points stuffed into Willpower. She’d be even better, later, when she had 75 Willpower.

By the time Ezekiel got back to the hotel room with his people in tow and his daughter safer, he was feeling better about most everything. He was even feeling okay about his various decisions of the day, and his new obligations going forward. Sure, there had been some rationalizations there at the end, but this was fine, right?

Even the fact that Star Song was scheming was fine.

Ezekiel was pretty sure that the schemes weren’t that bad. But there were schemes, for sure. It was fine.

Except…

One part of him was certainly not feeling fine.

“We ran around a lot there. No breaks.” Ezekiel touched his own stomach, asking, “Everyone else is really damn hungry, right?”

“Gods yes,” Tiffany exclaimed, as she dropped the second spider-silk bag Ezekiel had made onto the table. It clattered with the tell-tale sound of clinking coins. “One grand core means one fine meal!”

“Hopefully more than one meal,” Paul added.

“Blughh,” Julia said, sticking out her tongue. “No food for me.”

“How does that even work!” Tiffany loudly asked, “How do you eat in other forms and not get hungry in this one? It makes no sense!”

Ezekiel laughed.

Paul smirked, saying, “You can still drink beer, Julia.” He said to Ezekiel, “Let’s get dinner. I’m starving, too.”

“I could drink a beer,” Julia agreed.

“I could drink a keg,” Tiffany said.

Ezekiel gestured to the door, saying, “Onward! To dinner!”

- - - -

In a small room where none would see, Riri stood with Patriarch Zalindi and Elder Mirizo. The two men did not look happy with her, but this was to be expected. Something had gone wrong somewhere in the plotting. If one of her ‘underlings’ had fucked up like this, they might even be out of a job, depending on the severity.

Riri had made allowances for many unexpected events, each allowance designed to draw Erick Flatt deeper into her web, but this event came at her from the shadows.

Mirizo asked, “Did you plan on angering him like that?”

No. She had not. But she could not say that truth. She could not reveal that she hadn’t planned for every contingency. Yesterday, if this had happened, she would have considered throwing herself on the mercy of her betters, but today, her mind was clearer.

Riri said, “He was not angry. He was worried.”

“Of course he was worried!” Mirizo said, “Worry leads to distrust which leads to anger which leads to death at the hands of—” He stopped. He said, “I have been prepared for all of that to happen, eventually. I have been prepared at every stage of every possible breakdown, but I cannot properly prepare for our own people handing him poisoned treasure. Especially not you.” He added, “I am not angry that it happened. I am angry that you didn’t tell me of your plans ahead of time, Riri.”

“Have I ever led Star Song astray? No. I have not. Do not talk to me like I am some simple Loremaster or one of your Enforcer underlings.” Riri said, “This was simply an advancement of certain timetables, for while today’s upset was unexpected, it was within projected parameters. We were always going to lure them in with something unavailable elsewhere. So it happens to be points! So it happens that he could have gotten this from any Clan of our standing! We are lucky he came to us for simple points.

“This is acceptable. He could have asked for more and we would have given it.” She said to them both, “We are poised to expand, and greatly. Along with our own advancements in Particle Magic thanks to Ezekiel, this new deal with him is a perfect reason to go on a large recruitment drive. We will gain these points back in a single week. And! With Julia taking care of some long-standing threats and gaining half of her points that way, and with her father backing her up, we are set to expand in ways Star Song has never before been able to expand before! This is perfection. This is what we wanted. All the pieces might not have been planned, but they will be exploited, of that, you can be sure.”

Mirizo listened, silently.

Zalindi told them both, “Riri is trusted, and yet I cannot help but feel that it is we who have been taken advantage of here. Two unknown and potentially lucrative Variants.” He turned to Riri. “How much did they gain from the resources we could have had?”

She said, “We have not lost much revenue. We have lost options, which I would have turned into revenue, but not as of this moment. Pearlchan laid her eggs while I was sleeping, and none of them appeared special, therefore, nothing was truly lost.

“Except, the [Prismatic Thread] from the Radiant Nacreous Weaver is a qualitative upgrade over [Light Thread], usable in many different ways. I could have abandoned six different forms and taken up that one, opening up five slots for other forms. This is the only true loss. The Queen spider has gifted Julia with [Queen Spider Mind] and [Perfected Body], both of which I already have, but both abilities are paired with two different forms. I could have dropped two forms, for that one.” Riri said, “Another lost opportunity, but nothing serious. When I gave those treasures to him they were worthless to me. He has lucked out. Let him have his luck.”

Small lies, but they would serve. If Riri told herself those same lies enough times, she might even start to believe them. A special spider corpse was waiting for Riri under preservation and cold spells, but it could wait longer.

She would have liked to have had that Variant Nacreous Weaver! The Queen was a small loss, but the other one... It would have allowed for...

For a lot.

Jane would still need to come to her to learn how to use her newfound powers, though, so that was one good outcome to this unexpected mire.

Mirizo frowned at Riri; seeing much of what went on behind Riri's eyes, but diplomatically unwilling to voice his own true thoughts.

Zalindi relaxed. “A shame, but no real loss.”

Riri said, “It is more vexing than anything real.” She declared, “The cost for Ezekiel’s deepening interest in Star Song has been paid, and it was as inexpensive as we could have made it. It is up to us to lure him deeper if we wish to do so, but let us not push too hard. The fish might escape if we tug at the wrong time.”

Mirizo frowned. “Spur will push back.”

Zalindi smirked, and said, “Why would Spur get involved? We’re dealing with Scion Phoenix, and he has no connection to that Dark Land.”

Mirizo added, “Holorulo and Alaralti will become involved soon, if for no other reason than because of our solution to the Elixir problem. Void Song knows of Clan Phoenix’s truth.”

“Your second news is more troubling than the first, but we have accounted for this.” Zalindi asked Mirizo, “Which Enforcer will you send to guide Julia?”

“Enforcer Sikali.” Mirizo said, “She already knows Julia, and she has a violent personality. Considering what we already know of Julia, they might get along well.”

“Make it so.” Zalindi asked Riri, “How is Intelligence treating you?”

Riri said, “I feel clarity in odd and unexpected ways. I’ve already thought up a dozen new approaches to our daily operations to make them more efficient and stronger. I have already implemented a few, and will do more tomorrow when daylight operations resume.”

Zalindi gave a rare half-smile, and said, “I look forward to seeing the bounty of your prowess. Both of you. Good work.”

Riri and Mirizo bowed to their Patriarch.