Other than a quick break to grab dinner and run back to his room before anyone tried to talk to him, Vin spent the rest of the day working on his latest project, thankfully managing to finally figure out the runic formation just before bed. Forgoing one night of sleep wasn't too bad, but he started feeling a bit groggy if he skipped two nights in a row.

New spell learned! Tier 2 Earth Spell (Stone Furniture). 10,000 exp gained.

Introspection increased to lvl 8! 1,600 exp gained.

After spending a few minutes playing around with his newest spell and using it to summon everything from simple chairs to large, stone couches that barely fit in his tiny room, Vin used Stone Shape to get rid of his new collection of furniture before hitting the hay.

Vin had intended to stealthily grab breakfast the next morning, but ended up running into Kelly and Theodore and getting dragged into their argument over whether or not Theodore could sneak his way into the Sacred Forest undetected if he just wore a hat to cover his unpointed ears.

Their resident elf-fanatic and Diplomat remained firm that Theodore wouldn't make it fifty feet into the Sacred Forest before being found out, while the Spy argued he'd be capable of getting close enough to the Tree of Ancients to carve his initials on it.

After shoveling down some bacon and oatmeal and informing Theodore the elves would probably torture him for the rest of time if he ever tried something like that, Vin left his two sub-councilors to their bickering as he gathered his friends, none of whom were particularly hard to find.

Shia was meditating out by the forest, obviously working on some spell or another with Reginald sunbathing in her lap.

Alka was torturing her trainees, giving them a strict regimen to follow during her time away.

And Scule…

Shockingly, had made a new friend.

Vin finally managed to track down the petian, only to find him on the outskirts of the temporary camp the third wavers were staying in. The location wasn't the only surprising thing however, as the man Scule was working with was actually somebody Vin recognized.

"The key to working with ignal root is that you have to grind it up into tiny bits, and then burn it to almost ash," Scule explained to the focused alchemist hanging off his every word. "Most people prefer doing those steps in reverse order because it's easier, but that drastically decreases the potency of the burning sensation."

"Scule, please tell me you're not teaching someone other than Theodore how to poison people," Vin groaned, his sudden appearance causing the alchemist to jump. The man was none other than the third wave crafter Vin had saved from Kyle's 'protection' racket, and he looked positively terrified to see Vin again.

"It's you!" he gasped, moving to put his workbench between the two of them as he seemed to shrink down into himself a bit. "I'm sorry, I still don't have any money…"

"Easy, Bill, Vin's not that kind of guy," Scule chuckled, reassuring his new friend. "…now if you had a magic artifact on you, he might take that, but he's definitely not after your money."

"Damn it, Scule, my reputation around here is weird enough without you adding to it," Vin hissed, looking around to ensure nobody was close enough to hear them. It was bad enough that any of the onlookers could clearly see Bill shaking in fear at merely being in Vin's presence, but he couldn't do much about that.

"Sorry, I just find the whole thing hilarious," Scule grinned. "Seriously Bill, Vin's cool. Probably the least likely guy to hurt you on all of Edregon if I'm being honest."

Slowly nodding, Bill straightened himself up a bit, taking a deep breath. "Sorry… This whole… everything, has been a bit much. I didn't expect this when I accepted Sender X's message."

"You're fine, I know it's a lot. Have you had any other issues with Kyle since I last saw you?"

"Kyle?" Bill repeated, blinking at the name. "I don't think he's even left the medical tent yet. It's only been a few days since… you know."

Wincing at the unspoken reminder that he'd utterly pulverized the man's hand, Vin nodded. "Ah. I guess that makes sense. Well, I should probably get going now. Scule, you coming?"

"I'll cover the benefits of starleaf next time I'm in town," Scule told Bill, grinning up at the man from his workbench. "Remember to practice those exercises I gave you!"

"Will do," Bill said, his voice much more firm and respectful while addressing Scule.

Letting Scule hop onto his shoulder, Vin led the way back to the others who had decided to wait near the dungeon entrance. Glancing at the petian, he couldn't help but ask. "How'd you meet Bill anyway?"

"I was out collecting a few herbs to experiment on around the edge of camp and ran into him doing the exact same thing. Poisoncrafting and alchemy pretty much go hand in hand, so I offered to show him a few things in exchange for some of the materials he'd collected."

"Small world," Vin muttered, before realizing Scule was glaring daggers at him. "Come on, it's an expression, not an insult!"

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"Are we insulting Scule again?" Alka called out, getting to her feet as they approached. "Let me think… He's a bit loud for someone so small."

"And you're a bit annoying for someone so dead," Scule shot back, hopping over from Vin's shoulder to Alka's. "Glad I got my smooth ride back. It was like getting to sleep on a bed made of clouds before having it stolen away and given a sack of gravel instead."

"If you want a bed made of clouds, you've got to try out my master's shimmerwing mattress back in the Sacred Forest," Shia grinned, stretching and getting to her feet as she ended her meditation. "Honestly, you're small enough we could probably make you your own tiny mattress from a chunk of the bed for you to carry around."

"Seriously?! Alright, new plan. After we hit this newest fragment, we swing by the Sacred Forest and rob Shia's master of the corner of his bed! He'll never see it coming."

"If you want to steal from the mage capable of crafting a spell that allowed him to track down Shia from an entirely different world, be my guest," Vin chuckled, enjoying the conflicted look on Scule's face. "Alright, everyone got everything? Let's go!"

Knowing Alka was itching to fight, rather than give the forest dungeon a wide berth, Vin decided to go straight through it. He let her take the lead and watched in amazement as the Slayer silently and efficiently dismantled big bad bears and wolf monsters alike with her graceful strikes. Seeing her effortlessly take down monster after monster almost made him feel bad for them.

Almost.

While travel via the dungeons would naturally be faster, Shia, Scule, and Reginald actually hadn't ventured into Alka's fragment just yet, which meant unless they were lucky enough to run into Lumel down there, none of them would be allowed through the corridor connecting the Underside of his fragment to Alka's. So when the stone frame leading to the Underside finally showed up on the side of a large tree, rather than run down it, Vin ignored it completely and continued north.

With Alka running point they quickly made their way through the forest dungeon before continuing onward, scaring the hell out of a random Earther scout as they all burst out of the treeline. Vin waved an apology but didn't bother to stop, too happy to finally get a chance to stretch his legs as he continued running.

Running increased to lvl 16! 1,600 exp gained.

His grin growing even wider, Vin put in a little more speed, pushing his Distance Running to the limit. He was tempted to go even faster, but he knew if he started sprinting his passive would deactivate, and he'd be gasping for breath within minutes.

At their current speed, they covered the handful of miles lying between camp and Alka's fragment in what felt like no time at all, and as the giant elder trees he now knew had massive canopies filled with monsters came into view, Alka spoke up.

"Remember, stay away from the elder trees at all cost. During the day the odds of a monster dropping down on you are way smaller, but never zero. Other than that, the green sea is pretty much infested with greentails, so keep your wits about you. They aren't really much of a threat what with Shia's Neutralize Poison, but I doubt any of us want to stop every few minutes for Shia to cast it."

"So what's the plan if a monster does drop down on us?" Scule asked, looking nervously at the large trees. "Are those all filled with monsters?"

"Yepp, every last one," Alka nodded. "And it depends on the type of monster that drops. Most of them we should be able to handle easily enough so long as it drops on its own, but there are some…" She broke off, her eyes growing dim for a moment as if she were lost in a memory. "…let's just say if I tell you guys to run, you run, got it?"

Her directions were met with a chorus of agreements and a lone squeak, and just like that Vin found himself back in Alka's fragment for the first time in over a month. Because Shia was riding atop Blossom's wooden form and Alka was sort of indestructible, Vin was the only one of them that actually had to worry about the snakes. Thankfully, his focus was more than three times what it had been the last time he was here, and he blinked as he realized the location of the greentails hiding in wait was as clear as day.

"How did I not see them before?" he wondered out loud, zigzagging through the tall grass as he avoided the hidden snakes. "It's so obvious how the grass differs!"

"The wonders of raising your attributes," Alka chuckled, completely ignoring snake after snake that sprung up at her, their sharp fangs banging fruitlessly against her darthsteel-plated form.

"Forget going from low attributes to high, neither of you two had to experience the opposite," Shia pointed out, spearing a leaping snake with a reflexive cast of Grass Spikes. Unsurprisingly, the spell was extremely effective within the green sea. "Imagine having your focus up in the fifties and sixties, and then suddenly having the Gods knock you back down to where it began at level one. I felt like my entire head was surrounded by mud."

"Yeah, losing my dexterity was less than fun," Scule agreed, making a face at the snakes that Alka continued kicking away as they ran. "I went from practically being able to dance upon the head of a needle to tripping over my own feet walking up the stairs. The Great Reset sucked."

"Sorry guys, I guess I never really thought about how that must have felt," Vin admitted. Now that he finally had some high attributes and skills, he realized just how awful it would be for them to suddenly be ripped away from him again.

"You know what's worse? Death," Alka said bluntly. "Count yourselves lucky!"

Suddenly, a handful of angry squeaks rang out from Vin's pocket as Reginald poked his head out, glaring at Alka. Clearing his throat, Scule translated for the rat, looking embarrassed.

"Reginald says while he didn't lose his increased intellect, he suddenly lost the ability to communicate with the one and only person who could actually understand him, and was effectively all alone until I could hit level five again and take the Animal Companion passive once more. And he still had to deal with animals, people, and monsters alike trying to kill him in the meantime."

Giving a high pitched squeak, Reginald stared at Alka as if daring the Slayer to say she had it worse. Chuckling, Alka shook her head.

"Sorry Reginald, that does sound pretty bad. Why don't we agree you and I had it worse than these two babies?"

After a second of thinking, Reginald nodded, and Alka reached out a finger to high five the rat's tail.

Vin rolled his eyes, but let the topic drop. Their group entered a lull as they ran, everyone no doubt busy thinking about their lives before the Great Reset and formation of Edregon. Despite his more-than-rocky relationship with his family, Vin found himself briefly wondering how his parents were doing back on Earth, before Shia called a warning out to them.

"I can see the next fragment! And I can't say I'm a fan of how it looks."

Shaking his head clear of strange thoughts, Vin followed Shia's gaze, frowning as he spotted exactly what she had.

"Oh, not again!"

Barely a quarter mile ahead the swaths of large grass ended abruptly, replaced with thick, dense tree growth that seemed to block out the very sun.

And connecting just about all the trees together, was a giant tangle of cobwebs stretching as far as the eye could see.

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