"There's not much they can do but watch. For now." ~Shallies Mythernal

"Come on, guys, wake up."

Shallies lightly tapped Grace's face, trying to stir them from consciousness. When the half-orc opened her eyes, she went to the other two to do the same. Not long after, everyone was awake.

"What happened?" Tayin asked. "Oh, right…"

"Reflect while you eat, we're in a time crunch," said the Godkiller, taking out three meals for them. "We need to leave in about fifteen minutes."

"What's going on?" Ren asked this time around, getting up and sitting properly on a separate seat to have his breakfast. The other two did the same, while still wearing the same confused expression.

"Thrush'ven Alir's spilling through the Same-Plane Rift."

The statement caused alarm to her three students. Grace got up in a bit of a panic, Tayin spilled her coffee, and Ren was stunned in place. It occurred to Shallies that they hadn't experienced something like this before.

"Relax," she started. "We're not caught off-guard. The raid's not happening sooner than expected or anything like that. It's a bit soon, but nothing outside of what we already know. Keep eating, and I'll explain. We really do need to leave soon, or we'll miss the others."

With her words carrying weight, the other three calmed down and resumed eating their breakfast. Though, they were rushing a little bit now. Shallies realized it was her own fault making them rush like that, but they did really need to get a move on.

"Thrush'ven Alir has been anchored to the Rift for a bit now," Shallies began. "While doing so, parts of its existence, as it is in its nature, absorbs fundamental mana from different Realities. Those mana—"

"Hold up!" Tayin intervened.

"Wait a minute!" Grace followed.

The two perked up and looked expectantly at Ren to join them. Shallies, having her stride already taken away, waited for him while narrowing his eyes.

As for the Shield Knight, he was caught off-guard. His expression turned from one wanting to intervene, to one that looked like he didn't want what he was about to do. But with the other two practically begging him with their pretty eyes, he had no choice but to sigh.

"Something ain't right…"

Shallies took a seat, closed her eyes, and sighed while massaging her temple. Tayin and Grace weakly laughed

"Kids these days… Just because it's hip, doesn't mean you have to keep using the phrase."

"I'm sorry," Ren said, taking a bow.

"That play was like a decade old," Tayin clarified. "Saw it when I was still studying."

"I was like a kid then," Grace added. "A kid kid, not the kid you call us."

"Whatever. I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen. What did you want to ask?"

"The Realities, obviously!" Tayin and Grace screamed at the same time.

"Yes, I'm also curious about that," Ren followed up, trying to be the more calm person in the group.

"Right." Shallies sighed again. "The Realities are, well exactly what they are. Realities. If our world and our Reality is like paper, they're the other side of the fold. Only, there are an enormous amount of folds. Infinite? Maybe not. But counting them might be next to impossible.

"Some of these Realities have extremely rare fundamental mana. Take The Great Conflagration Reality for example. It's a Realities that's only made up of fire. It's a great mystery how it's able to sustain itself in existence as it constantly combusts its entire fold. Of course, the leading hypothesis is mana, which is the fundamental mana of fire. A part of a God of Flame's duties is making sure that this fold never tears a hole into our own fold and engulfs our reality with its infinite flames."

"But what about alternate Realities?" Tayin asked. "Like, other us?"

"That'll be a bit more difficult to explain," Shallies started. "If you're really curious, I'll answer that question once you're an Avanity. Yeah, even Favored Class holders don't really encounter this type of information. I bet the people at The Gaiamaxims Guild don't even know exactly what was going on with that side of Thrush'ven Alir. They just know that it will sometimes emit different types of mana."

"And that's what's leaking out of the Same-Plane Rift?" Ren asked this time.

"Correct. From what we know, The Great Storm has gathered mana from The Great Conflagration, enough that it can push its influence over the Rift using fundamental fire mana. The Gaiamaxims Guild has no clue it'll be that, but they're used to facing the Storm. They always bring a counter for everything they've already encountered before. Fundamental fire mana isn't super common, but it happens quite a bit."

"Wait! Are we going to join them?" Grace asked this time.

"Yep. As soon as you're done eating…"

The moment she said that, her three students basically ignored her and wolfed down their meals.

"Let's go!" said the half-orc, basically rushing out of the door.

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Shallies just shook her head in amusement, before turning to the seraphim, who were all just watching everything unfold.

"What're you guys plans for today?" she asked them.

"Chill," Phey'lan said.

"Relax," Valor'el added.

They both turned to Arun'dul.

"Some third thing," he said without hesitation. "I don't know. Meditate, I guess. Got to keep working on that."

"Right." Shallies started following her students. "Just let Apple know, if you guys need anything."

"They left just a few minutes ago."

Grace felt her heart sank as Vice Guildmaster Coraline broke the news. They just lost a great opportunity.

"Oh, in that case, we'll just catch up to them," Shallies said, bringing back hope to the half-orc.

"Feel free to do so," said the Vice Guildmaster. "But they are not to join the fight in any circumstance. I assume you're bringing them there to observe."

"Exactly."

Once more, Grace felt her heart sink. What use is there, if we're just going to watch?

"You're like an open book," Shallies said to her. "You're not allowed to join because you'll disrupt their formation. You have no experience fighting in a large group. You'll only distract them."

"She has a point," Tayin said, joining Shallies' side. "But if we observe, we can study how they work, which means we'll be able to join them next time."

"I don't think that's how it works," Ren said, being the honest guy. "But it'll definitely help us in the future."

"Ren definitely got the point," Coraline said, nodding towards Shallies. "If you want to catch them in action, you better go now. They left on foot, but they're all pretty fast."

"Not a problem. My students can run forever."

On the Godkiller's signal, Grace and the others dashed, heading towards the Same-Plane Rift. They were much faster than a carriage now that they could engage their Agility. For some reason, they still let Ren take the point, even though they weren't exactly in a dungeon or on a quest. She found that amusing.

What should've been a day's carriage ride, they covered in under an hour. And yet, throughout that trip, they didn't see Yoshelle's group, only signs of their passing.

Shallies wasn't with them, but none of the three doubted she wouldn't be there.

They slowed down as they entered the Great Wilds. Almost immediately, they heard the sounds of fighting.

"That's where the Rift is," Ren said, leading the way.

The closer they got, the more Grace felt the heatwave. Her eyes could barely see, with how the heat was affecting her eyes. She tried switching her engaged Attribute to Focus, but the feeling only got worse. It took her a second that the correct Attribute was Constitution. The other two realized it on their first try.

The Same-Plane Rift was aflame. On one side of it, gathered numerous monsters made out of fire. Shapeless elementals, four-legged monsters, two-legged ones, wyrm shaped, dragon shaped, serpent shaped, and many more. Grace couldn't count all of them, nor could she identify all of them. Only some. But in the great scheme of things currently happening, it didn't matter which monster she could recognize or not.

On the other side were Yoshelle and her small army. They were geared in all sorts of fancy armors and clothes. Some were flying, some were wearing Mana-Armor, some were surrounded by flaring mana. Some of them were hard at work, containing the fire only to a certain area surrounding them.

The two groups were in a standoff, and at the center was the Same-Plane Rift.

"They're waiting for the next monster to appear," Shallies said, suddenly appearing beside them. On her shoulder was Chippy, who hopped off to survey the skies. "Don't leave your companion behind next time. Even if you're not on a quest, they can still help you, and you can also help them improve."

"It's hard not to think about his safety," Grace said. "But I understand. The best way to ensure his safety is to make him stronger. I'll try not to forget next time."

"Good, now pay attention."

The moment Shallies pointed towards the Rift, a new monster appeared.

In that instant, waves of projectiles emerged from both sides. Grace couldn't even tell what sort of Spells The Gaiamaxims Guild were using. They were all too fast at their invocations, and some were using mana-based projectiles with their weapons. The monsters were also versed with using their mana, as though they had studied how to use their powers.

Explosions erupted in the middle, engulfing the Rift in smoke. More projectiles passed through either side, but both the guild and the monsters defended against them easily.

Grace realized that the powerful Spells and projectiles were met with those of equal power in the middle, leaving only the weaker ones to pass through and be deflected. In her basic capability to analyze the situation, she assumed it meant that both groups were on equal ground in terms of projectile-based attacks.

This was proven more true when a small group on each side gathered for a powerful clash of beams in the middle. It ended in a tie, causing a great explosion that pushed back both groups.

The half-orc understood what was going on, and conceded to the fact that she would just be a burden. First of all, her two projectile attacks, Blaze Edge and Mana-Edge Wave, wouldn't even cover the distance between two groups, let alone be a match to any of them.

Second, either group knew exactly what they were doing. They recognized, within that small timeframe, which attacks and targets they were responsible for. Some went all-in on attacking, while many made their moves to defend and mitigate.

There was also the fact that each of them, no matter which side, had to make sure they were attacking in a proper volley, and not hitting anyone from their own side. Even if the guild was protected from friendly fire, their attacks wouldn't pass through their comrades. And even if a single projectile failed to block the one from the enemy's side, it might spell doom for them.

More volleys met at the middle, and each one settled in a tie. While Grace felt relief at that, she couldn't deny the plain truth in front of her anymore.

The monsters were also surprisingly coordinated.

"I've never seen anything like it," Ren said, arriving at the same conclusion.

"I don't know what to say," Tayin added, though her eyes were practically sparkling. "But I definitely still want to join. I wonder how they're so coordinated?"

"They're manifestations of a singular will," Shallies started. "Which is Thrush'ven Alir."

"So not all raids are like this?" Grace asked.

"Nope. But that doesn't make it any easier."

The volleys finally stopped. With no casualties from either side, the opposing groups mutually decided to go into melee. Of course, the ranged specialist still attacked from range. But now, all manner of Skills and Spells were happening at the same time.

Grace found hints of where Yoshelle might be, as she found a small time bubble in the commotion. But whether it was effective or not, she couldn't tell. Explosions and smoke were still going around. She could feel the ground shake with each impact.

"I…" The half-orc hesitated. "I can't tell what's going on."

"It's why I opted for you three to join a sub-raid, instead of a raid," Shallies said. "With experience, you'll be able to get a gist of what's going on. When you're in big groups like these, you should always remember two things. Your survival, and the survival of the one next to you. You can't protect everyone. So protect yourself, and those that you can reach, if you can."

"They're getting pushed back," Ren said, pointing towards the people from the guild. "I think? I can see them pulling back some injured people."

"That's not a good thing," Tayin said. "I think the Rift is still leaking more monsters."

"They're getting outnumbered," Grace concluded. She turned to Shallies, desperately.

"They're stalling for time," Shallies said. "Yoshelle's sending information back to The Gaiamaxims. The reinforcements will be more equipped against fire monsters."

"What do we do?"

"You're not allowed to help, remember?"

"But they might get overrun before their reinforcements arrive, if we don't do something!"

"Which is why I'm going to do something." Shallies stepped forward. "You three just stay here and watch. You're here to learn."

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