"Now isn't the time for enchanting, child," Festra, the Druid initially from the Thormundz, said as she entered. There was a gentleness in her tone that made him wonder if she knew what was happening downstairs. Occasionally, Alex's voice was audible through the floorboards, having flipped back into anger. Daniel knew she was highly expressive of her emotions, but this chain of explosions in less than 24 hours wasn't normal.

Festra tapped her cane, something Daniel's seventh sense registered as a Focus, on the floor two times to bring him back into the present. "Sorry, this isn't mine." He tried to shove the levitating drone, which looked faintly like a ludegrund if its entire body was solid instead of having the central trackball, but it returned to the spot where he had initially bound the pathfinder that had been used by Padri. "I'll have to do something with this to let it move, let's just talk. Is this about Khare?"

Somewhat guiltily, Daniel realized he hadn't thought of the gestalt since waking up until today. The Martialist had disappeared in the chaos following Willow seeing Hunter's soul in distress and hadn't returned before Daniel had to leave without them. "Yes." Festra, without asking, took a seat on his desk chair and asked with a kindly voice, "Tea?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes, knowing the result of the last time she'd offered. "You don't have any with you."

"Peh." Festra brought her staff to the ground again. As Daniel watched, two sets of branches began to form from the Focus. One sprouted what he assumed to be tea leaves while the other grew wood in the shape of a cup. When this was done, Festra made a grinding gesture with her hands, and the leaves were reduced to a powder that fell into the cups below.

Daniel stared at the cup that was handed to him with an uncertain look, unsure when the water inside had gotten there or been heated. "What?"

"I'm in your house now, aren't I? Gift to the host. Or is the leaves?" she scoffed. "People are so scared to get a bit of dirt in them. It's healthy, product of a power no less."

He took a sip as the Druid might hit him with her cane if he didn't. A moment later, he was reminded of influence powers, and poison for that matter, and found his eyes wandering to his Focus shield. Now that his phone was displaying notifications at all times, it was very unlikely anyone could slip something past him or his Spoke. Thankfully, it remained unlit, though he was still unsure about putting ground leaves directly into the water.

"So, Khare?" Daniel asked, also unsure about what the Druid was doing here. "I know we had to leave without them yesterday, but everything turned out… as well as it could."

A louder shout penetrated the floorboards and Festra nodded knowingly. "Sister, have I it right? No thin stretch of the noggin to assume she got the same short end of the stick as you?" Daniel choked on the tea he was still forcing himself to drink and the Druid cackled lightly, before realizing there was nothing to laugh at. "Apologies. But, yes, Khare's told me much about you. Now, before you start raising a ruckus, know what I know stays with me. It's not like that's the most alarming nugget I've come to drop either."

"Just tell me they're alright," he pressed, growing tired of her dodging the question.

Festra fixed him with a sad, but knowing gaze. "Child, they're fine, but you shouldn't need me to tell you what's happened. Haven't noticed yet? Well, it can be like that I'm afraid. Know you're not the first I've seen to have this happen to."

"Have what happen to!?" Daniel had no idea what she was talking about.

"See it most with married couples, when one becomes unfaithful," she continued, venturing off on a wild tangent. "One senses it first, but the other remains oblivious till they wake up one morn, not see what they seek in their lover's eyes, and it strikes them like a thunderbolt. Speaking truth, I don't know which is kinder, the fast or the slow death."

"What the hell are you…" Marriage. Lovers. Those words reminded Daniel of a conversation he'd had long ago. An ominous foreboding came over him, a conclusion that was impossible given what he knew. Daniel tried to mark Festra with the bond power he shared with Khare. Nothing happened.

Daniel gripped his chest as he was finally struck by what had been lying in wait to ambush him. His bond with Khare was broken. The mana loop sealing his Spoke surged with power as it had before, threatening to break and unleash what was hiding within. It held. The raw emotional turmoil was still less than that of when Hunter had died, and what was more, the contingency to release his Spoke had been used. Hammer had repaired the barrier, but he had done only that.

Instead of destroying every magical item he was linked to, Daniel dropped his tea as his hand shook. Festra tsk'd and handed him her own. "Drink up, lad. Drink up. You'll feel it now."

Numbly, Daniel drank and felt a brief wave of calm spread through him. It was like each sip was a dose of Reassure, and as he steadily drained the wooden cup he began to stabilize himself. "Why?" he asked when he was done.

"I think you know. Khare did."

"Because I left them behind?" Daniel asked, astonished, and the Druid shook her head sadly.

"Yer bond was that of outcasts, surviving together against the world in isolation from society." Festra waved her hand around the room. "You settled. Maybe began to accept this world as your own. And Khare?"

"They got back in touch with their people," Daniel realized. He rubbed the tears away from one eye and the Druid didn't pretend not to notice. "It doesn't feel like you're just here to tell me that."

"No, not by half." Festra leaned back, growing herself another cup. "For one, you might of kept what yeh had if you hadn't had better concerns. Not that I say you chose poorly, only that you chose."

"I didn't know I was choosing one or the other. I didn't know you could lose a bond without feeling it!" Daniel protested, now feeling somewhat lucky that his assurances to Murdon earlier hadn't been false.

"As I've said, I've seen this before. Broken bonds. Usually get stronger if you can make them again." She held her cane in two hands and leveled the bottom end toward Daniel. "Hope for the future, not now. The gestalt here, they have struggle coming. You aren't the only chooser." Somehow that was her benediction, as the Druid made to slowly stand, letting out a slight groan as she clutched her back on the way up.

Daniel jumped to his feet as well as if to taunt Festra with his youthful energy. "Wait, if Khare's in trouble, I can help them!"

"No. Not for now, at least. You'll see us both again when the time is right," Festra obscurely prophesied. She tapped her cane on the ground again, and the tagless aura around her vanished, the Druid coyly smiling at Daniel's surprise. "Don't be following an old lady around either. People might get the wrong ideas." He knew he could stop her if he wanted to and get answers. Festra might have presumably reached level 3, but not without some serious level disparity, like how Thomas was currently enfeebled. But, who would hit the ultimate gardening grandma? It was the perfect shield. "Just, know this," Festra said as she was about to leave. "You and that girl, Willow. Both of you shine with hope so bright, it has moved the darkness from the eyes of many. Keep her safe, Artificer."

…

In the end, Daniel was glad for how the Druid had handled things. There were whatever secrets she'd been hiding, and the slightly ominous words about himself and Willow, but ultimately the knowledge that Festra and every earth gestalt in the region knew he was an alien wasn't that much of an issue. The Druid didn't seem like she'd tell anyone, and how would the earth gestalt get the point across?

A moment was spent checking on Hunter, who was with Tak in the courtyard. Based on how they were moving, they were practicing their combo move while Hunter was still in humanoid form. It's a good idea. We need to test what ours does, he thought, but for now he'd give the two their space. Tak had respected his bond and Daniel could reciprocate, having long banished any adverse feelings he'd had for the Totem Warrior. Now he was just glad his brother had such a good friend.

Besides, he had other things to handle. Starting with reconciling his lost bond. The tea really had helped, being a gentle way to soothe his emotions without robbing him of them, but in the end it was another consequence of making that oath bond.

Resolving to talk this over with Khare at the first chance he had, Daniel inspected Padri's drone. It was about the same size as the one he'd seen before, slightly bigger than himself and with a general swept wing shape. The pathfinders modified to work with its modular core appeared like eyes off the front. Padri could have added one more enchanted item to its design and had done so, as when Daniel opened the hatch he was surprised to find a compressed dimensional space.

A pathfinder for the destination and return trip, along with impressive cargo space, Daniel thought as he assessed the design. This is a tenth the size of a Bekali hauler and still puts it to shame as long as a monster doesn't down it. Would they even aggro to it? Probably, but that just meant someone would need to give Padri a cloaking item he could cannibalize, and then whenever the drone got somewhere you'd swap out the pathfinder. That was the real benefit of the modular core, retroactive changes to its design that anyone could contribute to regardless of who had originally worked on it.

Retrieving everything in the carrying space, Daniel found another short letter essentially asking him for more unique formulae, as well as pathfinders bound to Pinion's Point. At the end were instructions on how the pathfinders worked, which were fairly simple to operate. Poke them once and they'd turn on or off, with two or more being active at once, effectively immobilizing the drone.

Now, Daniel didn't have more formulae for the Engineer. What sucked about fighting astral projections and elites was that they didn't count toward unlock progression in his Encyclopedia. That could change with the elites depending on what happened when he'd scanned enough for his Spoke to reconcile what they were, but that was all deferred benefit. No, but there was something Daniel could send Padri.

Two things, or three, technically. There were the two weapons he'd claimed from the lower armory, which amounted to a cold stun gun and a really sharp sword. Compared to what else he could do they weren't especially impressive, but they were products of old tech. Padri might be able to do something with them, and Daniel had taken two of each with the intent of giving the Engineer copies.

With those in place and half an hour spent on enchanting tiny pathfinders, the size of the item apparently didn't matter when Padri cannibalized it for his craft, Daniel was faced with the choice of whether he wanted to clue in the Engineer to the third item. The person, Bekali Tiltfeather. Former Regent of Threst. Former Artificer, still somehow capable of true enchanting. Former corrupted agent of whatever had happened to the Arcadian.

They'd managed to slip her into a room without much notice after Esket had left. It wasn't like anyone would have expected them to come back with her, and Bekali had remained mostly insensitive to the outside world since being cleansed. She was going to be Quala's second project once she was done with her talk with Alex, which was still ongoing. Daniel believed Padri had done a good enough job at remaining covert to escape anyone else's attention… but could he risk cluing someone else in if this drone was being intercepted? There was no way to tell if cargo had been tampered with, another current design flaw.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I'll have to borrow Festra's crypticness, he decided, adding a few lines at the end about how they were currently hosting a relation of Padri's he should come visit soon. The thought did occur to Daniel to slip Janice's sending stone into the drone so that he could get in contact by Flash Crafting one paired to it, but those communications could be intercepted. It was why Padri was communicating how he was.

Poking both pathfinders at the same time, Daniel watched as the drone turned and began flying out the window. Guess we'll see what happens. He took stock of himself, knowing there were dozens of conversations that still had to happen that were being put off. Tlara had her promise to fulfill, Hunter and Spinner had yet to chat. Alex… he should talk to her again when Quala was done. Lograve could at least be put off while the Arcanist investigated the mimic quartz.

What he decided to do was return to the courtyard, where two points of interest were nearby. Hunter and Tak, now sparring to help the ringcat further get used to two legs, and Shuni. The Rogue was shaking her head disappointedly as four hunters left the courtyard, occasionally glancing backward. "Are you ok?"

"Huh? Eh, mostly." The Rogue was casually flipping a dagger in her fingers as she spoke. "Kind of expected this to happen at some point. They missed out on a hunt because I bailed on them," she explained to Daniel's questioning eyebrow. "They asked questions, I couldn't answer all of them, and eventually Reivin pulled the 'it's them or us' card."

"You chose us?" Daniel asked, surprised.

"Duh." Shuni gestured at the area in general. "I like… liked my team. I tried to convince them to join your camp, but the idiots saw Esket getting his feathers plucked by you and didn't like what they saw. No one wants to be on the Regent's bad side. It's fine, I'm used to it."

Soraso doesn't want to be on my bad side, Daniel thought for a moment, but he knew the air gestalt had him beat if it ever came directly to blows. "We should get you a room, they're going fast. It's a good thing I got this place because I wanted space."

The Rogue twirled the dagger twice and sheathed it before turning back to look at him with more nervousness than he was used to seeing, which was to say, any. "You know, I've been meaning to ask. You aren't rooming with anyone, are you?"

Daniel had every man's ability to miss hints like this, but it was too obvious. The touch of red beneath the gray feathers on her cheeks suggested it wasn't a joke either. "I, uh…" Hunter isn't too close to hear this, right? Ah, hell, Keen Senses, he totally is. He liked Shuni, he did, at least as a friend. More than that? It was hard to say, both because of her species and the ghost of girlfriends past. Either way, he immediately knew his answer and only struggled to put it into words. "It's not the best time. My sister."

"Shit," Shuni cursed, slapping herself in the face lightly. "Gods damn it, I'm sorry. It's just, now that I'm off my team…"

"That's not the reason you left, was it?" Daniel asked with concern.

Shuni chuckled. "Girl hits on you and it gives you that much of an ego boost? I told you after you blew up that island, I live for finding the special stuff in this world. An ocean of black. Someone who's stolen the power of the gods. This group you have here is actually doing something about the Collapse, more important things than just fighting monsters. I can tell which way the wind is blowing. As far as you? Well, a good thief can get a Rogue like me a little heated is all," she added, and this time it was as a joke. "Don't worry about it, it's just a 'you miss every throw you don't make' kind of thing."

"Keep it at friends, then?" he clarified, dreading the thought that Shuni would just drop some vague line about protecting Willow before vanishing.

The Rogue was more merciful than his expectations were. "I'd like that. Why don't I ask someone else about that room and, uh, give you some space? Sorry, again."

"Don't worry about it." Daniel stood stiffly for a few seconds, waiting for either the delayed heart attack, Hunter's teasing, or, in the extremely unlikely case, random bond to form. None of that happened. Can I just get a break, please? Five minutes to catch my breath.

The world would have reminded him that he still had a private room and a lock on the door, but it had no means of doing so. Instead, Daniel turned to where Tak and Hunter were totally not looking at him. They had been sparring the entire time, honest. Communicating telepathically about what they'd heard? No, no, they'd never.

"Hey," Daniel called out, and the two froze. "Mirror Strike is an attack, right?"

"…yes?" Hunter asked, unsure where this was going.

Daniel smiled. Complicated emotions and possible cross-race relationships were behind him. Ultimate combo attack 3.0 was next on the docket, and there was no way he wouldn't enjoy that.

…

Quala left the main house of the compound and found Daniel laughing in the sun as he watched the most recent result of Might and Magic. There were no rules that said bonds couldn't affect the benefits of other bonds, and when you accounted for how they still had some logic that related to the system, it should have made sense that Hunter could contribute any attack he had into that slot of the bond benefit.

Now, there were downsides to this. For one, if they loaded Mirror Strike then it had to be Hunter who used the resulting combination, and Tak had to be close enough for the conditions of the base attack to be met. Likewise, it only seemed to be Hunter and his illusory clone that received the benefit of the spell Daniel threw in.

Daniel didn't have that many spells to test, only about a dozen with some like Analyze Material giving effectively no benefit. Scatter Shot arguably had a debuff in that all of Hunter's attacks created spectral copies, potentially injuring Tak unless his real body hit the target first. Recollective Strike, the power Daniel had gotten before the power core but had been unable to use due to how quickly his human form had been broken, created two additional copies of Hunter making it six sided and made it potentially the best to use.

As for the worst? Well, let's just say any fun the two had had at Daniel's expense had been paid back, because Daniel had tried adding Moment of Clarity into the mix. Help, Hunter pleaded as he moved through the air centimeter by centimeter. To put it simply, the spell had caused Mirror Strike to glitch out. Two Taks and two Hunters remained in the courtyard, the real avianoid having already hit the target while the illusory clones waited their turn.

The real Hunter, meanwhile, floated in the air as he made tortuously slow progress toward the point he had designated with the ability. It was a committed attack, and he was stuck like that until it ended. At the very least, the time dilation wasn't as strong as when the ability was used purely, and he'd get there in a few minutes or so. Hmm, Tak pseudo-vocalized as Hunter was currently existing too slow for speech to work, I do not think this was the best idea.

This is the best idea, Daniel countered, upselling the combo as much as he could. It's the ultimate dodge. Look. He waved a hand through Hunter's side. If you both go second, this is, like, 5 or 10 minutes of invulnerability. Unless something can hit you while you're phased. Also probably shouldn't use this in the Arcadian.

I hate this, Hunter continued to grouse.

"Is Hunter alright?" Quala asked, Daniel registering her presence for the first time. His schadenfreude dispersed, and he would have canceled the combo attack if he could, but Hunter really was stuck like that for a few minutes. If the time dilation had been equivalent to the original ability he would've had to have flown off to get Thomas.

"He will be," Daniel replied, fully serious. "Alex?"

"Before I say anything, I have a question for Tak." Her eyes went to the one standing beside Daniel to the one still stuck in its 'ready to attack' pose. "Tak?"

"Oh, this is the real me, that is a fake," he explained, no real concern for Hunter either. The ringcat was being a bit dramatic, all things considered. "What is it?"

"I've already asked Lograve and Evalyn, but I need to confirm it. When you were on Eido, did you gain any advancement potential?" Tak and Daniel both blinked at the odd question.

What the hell does that have to do with Alex? Daniel wondered to himself. There was nothing he was aware of that should have given her anything, and whether she had some or not wouldn't change anything.

"No," Tak eventually decided. "It was a strange place. No magic, except for my bad power. Though I think now I have better control. Will have to see, but not now."

Quala frowned at that answer. "I see. Daniel, we should discuss this privately."

"I will wait for Hunter to finish this," Tak said, relieving Daniel of needing to stay.

Wait, Daniel, where are you going? Hunter asked as he saw him leave out of the corner of his eye. Daniel!

Sorry, it's Alex. Hunter grumbled a surly reply, but didn't stop him.

…

"Advancement potential?" Daniel asked as the two took a seat in the house's kitchen. It was a somewhat small space with just a pantry, a sink, and an oven that worked off of Builder enchantments. Yes, those gnomes had gotten their influence even to this corner of the world.

"We've talked about how you differ from most Blessed before. Am I right that you don't have an innate feeling of when you possess advancement potential?"

It was another leading question that Daniel still had yet to puzzle the ultimate reason behind. "Yeah. It's not as bad as my seventh sense because nothing is based off of it, and if I ever lose the ability to instantly advance I'm screwed anyway." Good thing my phone's indestructible now.

"I'll need to explain that, then." Quala took her symbol of the Hand and clutched it to her chest for a moment, bowing her head in what was either a brief prayer or period of focus. "When the blessings of the gods have granted me the power to improve more of myself, I feel it as a reverence and connection to the Hand. That I am continuing on the right path."

Daniel half-frowned at some of her words. He'd long since explained the true nature of the Octyrrum to her, and that some of the gods weren't worthy of her devotion, but the Cleric remained true to the faith. "And it's different for everyone, right? Does Alex feel like she has some? I don't see how."

"Evalyn mentioned she had completed a performance while you were apart from her. In her words, she described it as 'a masterpiece that made her never want to pick up a violin again.' She is without a class, and such a feat would earn potential."

"Ok," Daniel acknowledged, seeing that that checked out. "So she has one or two. It sounds like she doesn't want to advance either."

"She already has." Daniel didn't like the knowing tone of Quala's voice, or the hesitation. Considering he hadn't figured out natural advancement and Hunter had needed an Illustrious super mage to poke it into him, his sister couldn't have done it less than a day after arriving in the Octyrrum. He checked her aura just in case.

Alex Brant - ([Human])

[Strength]: 4

[Dexterity]: 6

[Endurance]: 4

[Wisdom]: 5

[Intelligence]: 6

[Charisma]: 9

Son of a bitch. How? Her charisma had gone up by one and was now one below the threshold required to get a class. Finding his throat dry, Daniel took a sip of water from the sink and wished Festra were still here. "Her charisma."

"I thought as much. Your power doesn't reveal how much potential she has, does it?"

"No, but she shouldn't have advanced at all." He saw that the Cleric didn't look as panicked as he was beginning to feel and stopped talking to let her explain.

"I think she spontaneously advanced while we were talking." Daniel did know what she was talking about there, but it didn't seem like it would apply. People could reach a state of focus on one attribute without meditating. Thomas had thought he'd gotten Regeneration through surviving massive injury when they'd first met, and unbeknownst to either in the room, Tlara had gained the power that let her possess her monsters while she was dying.

It was different than instantaneous advancement, which only he could do, because it wasn't a cheat. You still had to put in the work. Daniel raised that point, which Quala acknowledged. "Normally, I'd agree. I think in this case, Alex might be outside the norm. She said at various points during the discussion that it was 'too much', and that she was burning up on the inside."

"Yeah, she says that sometimes when she's angry." It was the metaphor she used for when the emotions within became too great to contain, one he'd borrowed while he was screaming at his Spoke.

"My tentative assessment, with the disclaimer that I am working far outside the norms of my church," Quala qualified, "Is that she has somehow acquired a large amount of advancement potential, and it is this 'soul on fire' feeling that is how she senses it. Without knowing the ways of the Octyrrum she has conflated the magical phenomenon with her emotional state, overwhelming her. Such a large amount of potential would also explain how she managed to spontaneously advance through expressing herself. There is simply too much magical pressure, with advancement before level 1 unable to provide enough resistance to stop it."

"All of that assumed she's gained that much." Now, Daniel wasn't dismissing his sister's talent. She was a prodigy even in her late 20s, but how much potential could she have realistically acquired? The most he'd gotten from non-combat, ignoring when he'd awakened Hunter as that was surely an outlier, was two from when he'd made the lightning wings and survived his entrance to the Octyrrum. That was before the Collapse had slashed non-combat advancement too. "That's why you were asking about Eido, wasn't it?" he realized.

"Yes, but everyone who was there has assured me they hadn't gained any in months." Quala rubbed the side of her face. "None of this begins to cover the trauma she's endured, but I believe it is a more immediate problem."

"Yeah, you're right." Daniel looked at Alex's attribute totals again and once more wished for but a moment of respite. Unfortunately he didn't have that power. "Her charisma is already nine. I don't think it matters if she wants to advance or not. If she can't control it, she's going to get a class one way or another."

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