Emotionally spent and with each of his bars at 50% or lower, Logan was in no shape for another battle.

Meditate!

Everything blurred to a crawl as the skill kicked in and Logan mapped the battlefield for advantages.

Bromlin was already shifting, axe halfway raised. Senna had crouched into a stance as she reached for something, probably a tool or bomb. Cassandra and Alden, for all their composure, looked as drained as he felt. Their postures were battle-ready, but brittle. One more push might break them.

Something unexpected about the beetle's silhouette in the darkness nagged at Logan, and his stomach lurched when he figured out why. A goble rode it, urging it onward.

Was that the same goble who had fallen into the pit yesterday? Not a chance. Not when they had barely survived the descent, even with careful planning, crafted gliders, and magic wards. And yet, there it was, barreling toward the egg.

Logan braced himself to lunge for the egg before the goble reached it, but then the egg pulsed.

A golden glow bathed the goble's face. It lacked any of the bloodlust or rage from Logan's attackers yesterday. Instead, it showed only fear and determination.

So it was a different goble?

The confusion intensified when Logan saw the other beetles weren't charging at all. Three of the smaller ones were tossing glowing flecks of mana in the air, playing like pups with fireflies. They were beetly children.

Everything about this screamed wrong.

Even in the slowed world of Meditate, Logan heard the goble's voice ring out raw and desperate.

"Youuu wiiill nooot haaarm thiiis eeegg!"

Spit flew from Bromlin's mouth and shadowy clouds gathered at Alden's hands.

Their harsh expressions of determined survival triggered a sliver of memory: the graffiti in the Cave of Cursed Music. The slurs, the hatred, the built-up rage against gobles that had probably been passed down for generations.

Logan himself had assumed this goble was a threat.

Another thread pulled at him. Something Mariv had said, back when Logan first learned what it meant to be Exalted Kin. Their charge was to restore Balance. And here, Balance wasn't just a philosophical ideal. It was a magical school, a lens that shaped mana usage alongside Order and Chaos.

Cassandra was shoving a wall of rigid force mana at the goble-beetle duo. Just like her ward platform that had jettisoned them downward, her implementation was sheer and focused. Yes, Order shaped her spells. Logan had diffused it before with a Balanced application of that mana, gathering its acceleration and thrusting it into himself.

But that wouldn't do enough here. If he wanted to disrupt the fight before it started, he had to go to a further extreme. Right now, he needed Chaos.

He cupped his hands, and the force mana flooded around them.

It came fast, pressing against his palms. The internal bouncing sensation that came with his Void affinity consolidated toward the external mana source, banging against his skin like a relentless neighbor pounding on a door.

This would be the point where Logan pushed against that gathered tension and shot backward. But he didn't.

In these fractal moments, the battering of his internal mana awareness intensified. The pressure twisted like a whirlpool inside and around him, thick as tar and sharp as shattered glass. His fingers locked stiff, tendons straining as he tried to control it and keep it from ripping his limbs off.

The grating tension bloomed up his arms like firecrackers beneath the skin. His wrists buckled. A crack snapped through his shoulder, and he bit down on a cry as the mana pulsed again, looking for an escape from his hold as something warm trickled from his nose.

As the terrified yet inexplicably resolute goble reached Bromlin's axe, Logan let go.

He didn't give it any direction or structure. It was just sheer, unbridled pressure.

A concussive boom split the air. Ground cracked beneath him as a shockwave chased the blast and sent every person and beetle flying, Logan included.

Null Pulse is level 21! Null Pulse is level 22!

Warning! You are Exalted Kin. Chaos has been invoked! One Harmonic Thread has unraveled. Return to a Convergence Nexus to restore equilibrium.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

His ears rang, much like he imagined all the movies portrayed when grenades exploded in someone's immediate vicinity. The others, too, staggered, clutching hands to their ears as they shook their heads.

Disorientation replaced the heated aggression, but Logan knew it wouldn't last long. He shoved his notifications away as he fought to recover before the others and pushed himself upright. This Harmonic Thread business sounded dangerous, his race was all about creating balance, not disrupting it. His status now showed he had two harmonic threads remaining, but didn't explain what that meant.

"Wait!" Logan waved his hands wide, palms up and open. A blinking Bromlin was readying his axe to swoop back into the fray, but he hesitated when Logan planted himself between him and the goble. "Everyone just wait."

Alden rubbed the heel of his palm to his temple. "What in the spheres was that, Logan?"

"Just… look."

He motioned toward the goble, who had landed sprawled across the stone floor. He was defenseless, without so much as a weapon, and scrambling protectively in front of the egg, shielding it with his small, wiry frame.

Senna's fingers hovered over a small orb with an unlit fuse, but she hesitated.

Bromlin, still panting, narrowed his eyes but didn't raise his axe any higher.

Logan faced the goble, hands raised to show he meant no harm.

"You. You're protecting it, aren't you?"

The goble blinked. Then, slowly, he straightened his back. "Yes. If you're not here for this, then be on your way." His chest heaved, and his nerves were clear. "But if you're lying and you're working with the reavers, I'll unleash an army of beetles on you."

"Those beetles?" Logan crossed his arms as he called the gobles' bluff. The small things frolicked around the egg. When the goble bared his teeth, Logan offered his sincerest smile.

Suddenly the gobles' eyes flicked into the middle distance between them, unfocused.

"My quest… it's… complete." He said the words as if not trusting them.

"What quest?"

The goble's eyes refocused and he cocked his head as he regarded Logan. "To defend the last dragon egg. Is it…"

"Mine?" Logan laughed. "No. Well, kind of. It really belongs to a friend, but I have a quest to protect it too." And, he thought, to hatch it, I guess. But he doubted he would find the heat of a thousand firestorms and the chill of a thousand blizzards anywhere below ground.

Bromlin finally lowered his axe completely. "So, the beetles are friends, too?"

"Yes," said the goble. "They are with me." He hesitated, then awkwardly extended a bony hand. "I am Mishki, of the Howlhollow gobles. Or, I guess I used to be."

A beetle nuzzled up to Bromlin, and he awkwardly patted its head.

After a strained exchange of introductions, Logan redirected the conversation. "Did you mention reavers?" Razor had once described reavers who had launched an assault on her home and destroyed all the dragon eggs except the one Logan now cradled in his arm.

"Yes," said Mishki, licking his lips and casting a nervous glance over his shoulders. He shivered. "They are powerful. Even the warlock fears them." Mishki wrung his hands. "But apparently they serve someone even stronger."

Logan's brow furrowed. "The reavers work for someone?"

Mishki nodded, eyes darting. "A paragon. I don't know who the paragon is, but they must be powerful."

Logan grimaced. Razor said the reavers were the only people she had ever witnessed at levels above 100, and Mishki confirmed that when Logan asked.

Senna swore under her breath and Alden stiffened, as if doing quick mental math on their chances.

"And they've awakened something," Mishki went on. "Something ancient, once sealed beneath the mountains."

Logan's blood went cold. "I don't suppose this unmentionable horror is called the Devouring Coil?"

"It is indeed."

"Any chance it's linked to the recent Void fractures tearing the world apart?"

Alden moaned, having come up beside him. "Do you really have to ask?"

Mishki confirmed with a nod.

Quest progress updated! Unveil the importance of the Devouring Coil and the threat it poses to you! > The Devouring Coil has wakened, and the goble warlock has undone the seal placed upon it.

"I think," said Logan, tearing his eyes away from the ominous prompt, "we might have to save the world here."

He checked with the others to see if they were on board.

"I believe you took away any other options when you cut us off from heading north out of Farrowstead," said Alden.

"We're in," said Cassandra, and everybody nodded.

Mere moments after the group gave their assent, the ground rumbled and everybody jumped back as a fresh tear in the ground emitted purple Void essence.

"Uh, Mishki?" said Logan. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Walking? Hours." He made a face. "Ah, actually... None of you have Night's Favor. So, I suppose at least a day."

Everyone's faces slackened.

"I don't know if we have that kind of time," said Senna.

Mishki shrugged and gestured at the beetles. "If you're comfortable riding, under 30 minutes."

"I think we have to be comfortable," said Cassandra, already warily eying a beetle.

Bromlin grunted. "Aye. I suppose I'll need to burn a few of these precious new free points on Agility just to keep myself from sliding off the beast. Which is a shame. My Vitality's finally close to 100. I was aiming for a threshold perk in Stalwart Guard."

"I told you, you should've prioritized that since you already had 100 Strength," chided Alden.

Logan blinked, waving his hands. "Vitality?"

The others all turned.

"What about it?" asked Senna.

Logan opened his status screen to make sure he wasn't losing his mind.

"I don't have a Vitality stat."

Alden raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean you don't have it? Everyone has Vitality. It governs your total health pool and passive vital regeneration."

Logan pinched his chin and re-read everything. "Nope. Not me." He frowned, recalling from his initial tests how various stats affected his vital pools or mental and physical prowess, with only his Health bar seeming to suffer from lesser improvements. There was also his Charisma stat that hadn't budged anything noticeable on his screen. He asked what Charisma did.

Cassandra looked at him like he was one of the beetles. "Charisma is only found in gnomes."

Logan shook his head. No wonder his health bar was his lowest, and some skills and titles had given him reduced benefits. His uncommon Cold Resistance only granted him 1 bonus point in Endurance when his Common skills had yielded greater returns. Cold Resistance definitely sounded like something Vitality might be related to.

New quest available! Discover why you don't have a Vitality stat. Reward: Talent

Logan exhaled slowly, tucking the prompt away in his mind. "I'll figure that out later. Right now, we've got a world to save." He locked eyes with a beetle and summoned a small smile. "And a wild ride to survive."

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.