"Then why not say that?" Hunter asked, aggrieved. The ringcat could have gone to his room to nap off the rest of the headache already if they hadn't dragged this out. That did make Daniel feel slightly guilty.

"Now, before you go and savage me, I do have theories," Lograve answered quickly. "If you would oblige me, oh mighty Hunter, how is your headache now?"

"Mostly gone," Hunter grunted. "Really hurts at first. It'd be hard to fight with it."

"And your bond with Tak doesn't affect it?" Lograve asked like he already knew. "Proprioception, as the Clerics would call it, can be complex. Medical texts were among the tomes I plundered from Earth and they have perhaps a better understanding of physical pain than we do. That being said…" the Arcanist let them all hang on that for a few seconds longer than necessary, "What you are experiencing isn't physical pain. Otherwise your bond would let Tak share in your suffering."

"So you think it's dangerous?" Daniel asked, alarmed.

"I can't know for sure. We're off the map as far as our understanding of magic is concerned. The gods', though." Lograve tapped his chin thoughtfully. "What's your most likely explanation for this?"

"Like I said, I showed Hunter what to do through Empathic Link." The way Lograve had said that made it obvious he was fishing and Daniel went further out on a limb. "I mean, it has to be True Enchanting. Otherwise the Octyrrum would've added Arcane Creator to his powers, it's just, how did I teach him something I don't fully understand?"

"From the sound of it you didn't teach Hunter well." The ringcat grumbled in agreement. "I'll defer to the one who's had more conversations with gods to that point. I will say we can rule out you passing off a power, and for more reasons than you've said. The problem with assuming Hunter was copying something in your mana flow is that powers don't express themselves in the same way between people."

"But that Assassin recognized some of our stuff," Daniel protested, drawing a reaction from Alex who hadn't heard that story before. "Everything was fine, we just, uh, Lograve?"

The Arcanist left him on the hook for a few seconds. "Yes, he did. It seems to be a talent one acquires around level 6 as the seventh sense becomes more refined. But it doesn't even make sense logically that the pattern would be the exact same considering no two bodies are identical. Then there are the influence of other powers to consider. My knowledge breaks down around where we would get into discussing mana structures, which also have an impact. For our purposes just consider powers and mana flow as software, while the mana structure is the hardware."

Daniel's eyes opened wide as he considered something. "That Illustrious guy, if mana structures are really like that, he must of reprogrammed me when he gave me that power!" He winced as Alex shot him another sharp look promising misery and pain if the reference wasn't explained later. "I already figured out those existed when I managed True Enchanting to open the sky limit, I just didn't know what to call them. This," Daniel winced as he pulled out the spear Bekali had made and suffered the feedback of holding an item greater than his level, "is pure mana. It kind of looks like a hologram, but I know Star could make things that appeared real. I mean, I didn't notice Hunter's body was one of my teeth until I regained that memory."

Everyone besides Willow stared at him. "Sorry, what?" Lograve asked, cleaning out of his ears with a pinky.

"I had my reasons!" Daniel said, as if defending himself from angry villagers after they'd discovered his lightning animated monster. "But it's more than that. Cloak used True Illusion to heal Alex after Rikoor exploded. I already knew the domains were one specific way mana could be affected and gods were just crazy good at it, but what if it's specifically affecting the mana structure of what they want to change? And if you knew exactly how each god influenced a mana structure, you could try to develop defenses against it." He had a flashback to when the Origin Beast had tried to convert him and put figuring out how the monster domain worked on his to do list.

"While plotting to remove the teeth of the most powerful beings in this world is fascinating, I'm afraid none of us know enough about mana structures to do anything meaningful with this information," Lograve reasoned, clearly intending the pun.

"Yes. We're off topic anyway. Why does my head hurt whenever I do that?" Hunter asked, bringing sanity back into the conversation.

"If the pain isn't physical, then you have to be straining your mana structure by trying to use a domain," Daniel suggested. "I've got both the power that puts training wheels on True Enchanting and a friggin Spoke, so I can manage it, I just don't have the skill yet to. So, you should probably stop doing that until we have a better idea of what's going on."

"Good."

"Alas, it doesn't explain why he doesn't suffer the drawbacks when you two fully use your Empathic Link," Lograve said, voicing the Incarnate's frustration for it as the sentient Spoke realized they'd run into the same stumbling block it had. "I'd say bonds are even trickier than mana structures to research, especially as they're now some representation of cosmic law. Any other time and what you've discovered would revolutionize our understanding of magic."

"Probably not, Torch would shut it down," Daniel answered dourly. "Well that's a bust. So much for my bullet factory."

"Yes, it is such a shame that you only managed to discover a way to impart the beginnings of domain manipulation to someone else." Lograve shook his head. "Well, you have a date to prepare for and I shouldn't keep you from proving your sister right about what kind of degenerate you are."

"I take great offense to that," Daniel said, rising as if to slap a glove across Lograve's face. "I'll have you know Shuni is a woman of culture and only physically backstabs people."

"As long as you're happy, I suppose." With a sweeping gesture to the front door, Lograve beckoned him outside. "Now off you go, man. Don't waste your time talking to me when romance is on the line."

"Right. Willow, Alex, I will take you up on that offer but I do really need to talk with Quala. I'll see you back here in an hour."

…

Daniel made a terrible mistake as he left the conversation. He went through the front door, where part of Farthest Run were taking in his real estate empire, and one person in particular had been lying in wait.

"You!" Padri shouted, as if seeing a red draconoid that had once tried to kill him. That both his mech and Tlara were not accompanying him was serious cause for concern, though the fact that he running Daniel down instead of her meant she probably wasn't using it to terrorize people.

"Hi Padri." Daniel's own voice was as rushed since he knew the call to war could be at any moment. Ashier's forces had been moving in their shadow and once they arrived all the pieces would be in place. Fortunately Daniel knew that the Engineer would be hunting him down and was prepared. "All the stuff's in there."

Padri caught the ubiquitously gray bag of holding and inspected the contents before nodding in thanks. "Work continues on the prototypes. Your Beastmaster friend is proving invaluable given her experience, and I am sure once we are comfortable revealing our methods that others of the class can make further improvements. As far as the constructs themselves?" A note of displeasure entered his voice. "No new Engineers that I am aware of. It is either a rare class or Craftsman evolution of at least my level. Vexing."

He should have left it at that. The flight to the church in Pinion's Point wasn't too long, but the conversation there could be depending on Quala's progress. Still, Padri was almost as important a piece as his ancestor. "Think you'll have any ready to go to the ruins with us?"

Padri considered the bag of holding again, and then nodded. "I can bring at least a handful of cutters armed with one weapon each. Their simpler design affords simpler commands, while the war suit will require my direct attention to manage."

"You're coming with us?" Daniel was surprised considering Padri had rarely hunted, the man having professed no kills in the past 5 years.

"Of course. I will need to see my designs in combat to know how they can be improved." He said it like it was obvious, and maybe it was. "Do not worry. The war suit has protection for its pilots, and I have reworked the cabin to accommodate my core armor."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

War suit. Core armor. Ok, I am still jealous of his class. That wasn't to say that a vest Daniel enchanted with echo durability would lose to Padri's design. There were merits to both classes, and he wouldn't have accomplished what he had if not for Daniel's help. Still, woodpunk mechs had a charm he currently couldn't beat.

"If you're sure, I won't stop you." Padri simply nodded in reply and was already turning to leave.

Rushing to get the flamethrowers ready in time, Daniel guessed. He went to take off, and then hesitated when he saw the newest addition to the compound. It looked like a shed, a nice shed, save for some oddities. The whole thing was reinforced, there were only windows on one side by the door, and the other half was flush with the stone of the main courtyard. In fact, it looked as if it had been drawn up from it.

I'll just pop in and see what the place looks like, he thought as he approached the heavy, stone door. In and out. Quick adventure. 20- no, 3 minutes tops.

Even Daniel, with level 2 strength and strength-enhancing rings, struggled for a moment to get the door open. A normal person, that was, unBlessed, couldn't move the poorly-balanced chunk of stone. That was by design. Inside was a small space divided into two sections. The first had the doors and windows, allowing one to see what the conditions were outside without directly exposing yourself to them. The back of the room had stairs leading down, as well as a lever that would prevent the door from opening. Finally, there were curtains that could cover the windows and a drape that could be dropped down the middle of the space in an emergency.

It was a sungate, something Daniel wasn't too shocked to learn already existed in both dusker architecture and vernacular. The avianoid builders of Threst hadn't heard of it, but Zolyra had passed on some wonderfully illustrated designs that she'd seen during her travels.

The Builders hadn't just put this in, they'd cut a house's worth of living space out of the hill the compound was built on. Tunnels reached from there to each above ground house, a sungate built into the cellar access point, as well as to the side of the island where Khiat's parents could leave to get to town without taking the main route or evacuate in an emergency.

Fancy digs, in other words, with a cost in viridian to match. Some may question the utility of putting this much effort into a place they planned to leave after dealing with Soraso and the Arcadian, but Khiat's family was worth it. She'd put forward most of the cost anyway.

And there she stood, fully stood, the height of the cavernous room tall enough that Khiat could stretch and struggle to touch the ceiling. That had prevented a second floor as the Builders couldn't cut too deep into Pinion's Point, but they went laterally to compensate. You'd think a tall underground space with long hallways would both dwarf and hem you in, but Daniel didn't feel claustrophobic at all as he stealthily walked into the main room to not interrupt the conversation.

"Going well?" he whispered to Evalyn, who'd chosen to accompany Khiat rather than hear about his love life.

"What, you don't have ears?" She nodded forward.

"It's my blanket!" Khiat exclaimed, looking at a large piece of cloth that was being hung across one of the walls. Daniel had briefly seen it once, back when the team was visiting an infirm Khiat. He hadn't realized it was more than just a shade to block her room off from the rest of her dwelling in Duststone Oasis.

It had been made from some kind of hide, fitting of the scavenger community Khiat had come from. He didn't recognize the source, only that it had probably been dyed as any fur that dark would have stood out among the sand. Monsters did follow the tenets of natural selection to some degree, ignoring the havoc the Collapse was currently playing with the environment.

Breaking up the solid black were eight-pointed stars, all of different colors which further supported the dye theory. Most were white, but there were collections of different colors that each formed constellations. None from Earth or the Octyrrum's night sky, but instead rough representations of fauna native to Aughal. Daniel could imagine the younger hunter looking at these and waiting for the day she could take them on.

Xtalo, finally out of the armor he and his wife had worn for the entire trip, lay the oversized hammer that had driven nails through solid stone and smiled. "We only wish we could have brought more of the village. The Saint feared for their safety."

"Some could have helped during that attack." Mvina's voice didn't quite carry disappointment with the Tyrant's decision, as if they could hear her speaking. "Vtidi has been Blessed with a class. As has Phyl."

"Vtidi has a…" Khiat trailed off. "Uncle!?"

"It is a strange one," Xtalo grunted. "I don't think he was trying for one, but after the rumors of the Octyrrum blessing more during this crisis everyone advanced again. Or attempted to." There was a slight strain to the dusker's voice as Daniel remembered something Khiat had mentioned. Her father hadn't advanced once, and if he had to guess the Collapse hadn't changed that.

Why? There's definitely multiple factors involved, but what has to happen to completely block someone from advancing at all? Daniel stood up straighter as the giant turned to him, at which point the other two noticed him as well.

"Blessed of the gods and friend to duskers. You have not made our debt to you easier to repay, Daniel."

"I'm just glad you made it here safely," Daniel replied, abashed. "This was mostly Khiat, anyway. She helped me save my brother, and that's a debt I've only started to settle."

Mvina rubbed at the back of Khiat's head in a way that would have made her blush if she was human. "I knew from the moment she hatched she was destined for greatness. But we should still host you, as I understand this is your land. Why don't we cook for you tonight?"

Daniel would've accepted if not for his other engagement. With that said, Hunter, Khiat's parents want to cook as thanks for bringing them here. Want in?

…do they have any mole? the ringcat asked tentatively, trying to hide how interested he was in his favorite prey. He and the duskers shared a lot in common palate-wise and Hunter had eaten himself sick of the last dusker's cooking he'd had.

I'll take that as a yes, Daniel mentally laughed, glad he could make up for giving Hunter another headache. "I've already got a date but Hunter at least would be interested. Khiat or Evalyn could ask around if that's alright. I have to check in on someone, just wanted to make sure you guys were doing ok."

"We are, certainly. And we understand, the life of someone like you must be busy indeed." Xtalo had more knowingness than he should have in his voice there. Sure, he and Shuni had been familiar on the way back, but nothing suggestive had happened.

It wasn't until Evalyn caught him on the way up to wish him luck on his night out with her that he realized exactly what he'd said. "I'm an idiot."

"You've got a reason to be, at least." Evalyn smiled at him, but there was some ruefulness there. "I'm going to look forward to telling Earth-Daniel that you're dating Shuni. That'll make his head spin."

"Ok, seriously, nothing happened between you too right?" He'd tried to follow up on what she and Lograve had intimated when they'd first gotten back to Pinion's Point but the two had been frustratingly vague about it.

For whatever reason, Evalyn chose that moment to drop the act. "No. I actually slapped him the first time I saw him."

"Ouch." Daniel held a hand to his own face, wincing. Evalyn didn't have much to passively boost her strength, but she was still level 2. "Wait, he didn't do anything, did he?"

"No. I'd just been living for weeks in my power, and with so much frustration, that it all came out on him." She paused for a moment and shook her head, long hair echoing the movement. "That wasn't everything. We had no idea what happened to you. The last thing I saw was you being destroyed by Hunter's death, and it was his fault you were there to begin with. We made up, especially after he helped with Tak, but nothing happened. Crest, I was living with my parents again, and with Investiture of Song plaguing me it was not the right time."

Mind on the matter, Daniel asked, "What about now?" It was a mark of their relationship that both knew he wasn't asking about himself. "You were thinking about the team in Aughal, getting us a name and making sure I wouldn't bolt for Earth the first chance I got. You take it seriously, which I respect, but that last fight has me worried about the future in a different way."

"It'd be easier if I wasn't a Bard," Evalyn sighed. "It's not the right time to chase brief encounters, at least for me. Honestly, dating within the team would be ideal if I wasn't leading it." Again, both knew she didn't mean Daniel. "I don't want to bring this up the day of you getting serious with Shuni, but you have thought about what that kind of connection can do, right?"

"The conflict of interest? Yeah," Daniel acknowledged slowly. "But I'm also not going to kick her out of the team or break things off because of it. I figure you have the final say and I'll trust that you won't hang her out to dry."

"Mature of you, and why I can't do what you're doing." Evalyn cocked her head. "But that's half of what I meant. Any idea of whether you'll make a bond, if you want one?"

"It's complicated. I mean, no one can make sure they get a bond unless it's a contract." A pang of sadness hit him as he brought up his next point. "And with what happened to my bond with Khare… I know it's possible to have more than one at the same time, just look at Hunter. Shuni's never done anything to make me worry about her and him either, but that was true of Khare too. I chose one over the other without even knowing it and now we have no idea where they are."

"Not the best thing to ask then," Evalyn said, wincing. "Look, just because a bond breaks doesn't mean the other person is done with you. I'm sure Khare's still our friend."

"Wherever they are." Daniel looked around, a mostly pointless activity since they were in the courtyard sungate, and then activated his personal muffle sound enchantment. "When Festra talked about it, I got this weird feeling. At the time I thought it was her being cryptic for crypticness sake, and I had a lot on my mind. Now? You know how focused Khare was on the Grafting, and there are former gestalt showing up as monsters."

Evalyn's eyes sharpened. "They wouldn't, would they?"

"No. But some have. I'm only worried that when Aurus gets attacked Khare and whoever's with them will make their move, and we won't be there. I've looked for them and Festra here with Track Creature, in Beast Mode, and I can't find them. No idea where else they'd be."

Evalyn laughed softly. "Never thought I'd miss the days where a dragon was our biggest problem. That is a good point to bring up at the next briefing, though."

"You don't know when that will be, do you?" Daniel asked, hoping the answer would be 'next week' at the earliest.

"Any moment." Evalyn gestures to the door. "Go on, I've got everything here covered. Make the most with what you have and don't leave any regrets for tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan, Captain." Exiting the space, Daniel sighed as he saw that had taken up a little over half an hour. He could always tell Alex and Willow via sending stone to wait up, or meet him at the church, but Evalyn's words only made the doomsday clock's ticking louder.

Determined to be ready for his date by sunset, Daniel shot into the air and raced with fate to the temple of the Hand.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.