Name: Spectral Groundskeeper Type: Ghost Level: 109 Health: ???? Mana: ???? Lore: Once the caretaker of the Grand Kurel Gardens, this former gardener had such fondness for the grounds that her spirit remained behind until a satisfactory successor would arrive. But that did not happen, and instead a devastation event occurred, and now the ghost's duty of love has turned into a cataclysmic hell as she watches the land she so loved wither and die. Strengths: Physical immunity Weaknesses: Affinity locked

The group scattered as the ghost flew at them, its translucent fingernails sharpening and stretching into hooked talons, like the curved claws of a hunting hawk ready to rip flesh.

Golden wings obstructed Logan's view as the dragon trilled and bounced from Logan's one shoulder to the other. "Hey, I can't see!"

When the wings flapped down, Logan swallowed. The ghost had wheeled around, shrieking and lunging straight at him and him alone.

Well, this is how I die.

Transparent claws raked at Logan's face as the ghost passed through him.

But Logan's health didn't budge.

Confused, he turned and the ghost pivoted to face him again, slashing with both hands, but still nothing happened.

"Get out! Out! Exalted Kin, you have forfeited your place in my grounds when your people abandoned us centuries ago. Get. OUT!"

Logan lifted his palms defensively and retreated until he was off the grass and back on the cobbled stones the castle's sewage system had spewed them out.

The ghost, heaving, glared at him. Composing itself, it shot an eye at the others, who all shuffled back a step. "If you're with the Exalted Kin, you have no place here, either."

Logan shook his head to clear it. "How can you tell I'm Exalted Kin?" The System had masked that detail from everybody else. He checked his status, and it still showed as masked.

Before the ghost answered, the dirt at Bromlin's feet shifted and what looked like a scorpion burrowed free. Within moments, its tail was poised to strike the dwarf.

But before it attacked, the ghost shrieked again in almost maniacal fury. Its claws raked through the scorpion, severing the dual-barbed stinger from its tail with one arm and yanking off the entire upper shell with the other. To Logan, it looked like someone popping the top off a crab, and revolting slime sprayed the air.

It had all happened so fast, and he only briefly caught the label decreeing it a level 50 sclerag before a pearlescent sheen diffused from its outer shell. He gawked at the monster core that floated in its place, but didn't dare take a step toward it yet until they figured out what was happening with this ghost.

The spectral gardener growled at Bromlin, swiping at his beard. "Did you summon that?"

The dwarf gasped as he clutched the thick mass of hair hanging from his chin, but sagged in relief when he found it all in one place. "No, lass. It was attacking me, not cuddling me. And I thank ye for smiting it."

She grunted.

"Pardon me," said Cassandra, stepping tentatively closer but with hands raised. "May I ask why you could attack that monster but not us?"

"I'm a ghost, in case you haven't noticed."

"Yes, I saw that… but I'm afraid I don't understand how that matters. I have encountered ghosts before, and they are quite difficult to defeat." She suddenly blushed. "Not that I would attempt to battle you, of course."

The ghost peered at Cassandra, then settled back. "You have the Life affinity, not the Dream affinity." It said nothing more, as if that were a clear answer.

Cassandra nodded slowly, but apparently didn't understand the significance any better than Logan.

The ghost sensed the group confusion and sighed. "You're from across the Ruined Wilds, aren't you?"

"Yes," Cassandra said. "We all are."

"Perhaps it's different over there. But in this region of Kural, specters like me are bound to the Dream affinity. I can only interact with others who share my affinity. Whether that's a monster, a person, or—" she nodded at the monster core and nudged it gently with her foot "—an object. And it works both ways. Damnable sclerags are a minor nuisance for me, though, since they have no way of dealing non-physical damage."

Then she sighed and stared at the weed-covered hedge. "My restrictions apply to my garden too. My babies are everything to me and the source of my spiritual tether, so I can interact with them, too. But not these cursed weeds strangling them."

A stretch of silence followed. Logan shifted his weight to a different foot, and the ghost snapped to attention. He quickly lifted his open palms to show he meant no harm. But they really needed to get to Gnashridge Heights. The ghost couldn't attack them, so they could make a run for it now. But for some reason, that didn't seem like the right move. Plus, he wanted that monster core, especially if it was touched by the Dream affinity. He had received the Void affinity from the ripper core.

Hands still lifted, he tenatively stepped back onto the grass.

The ghost glowered at him but did not attack again.

"I'm sorry for whatever the Exalted Kin did to you. It might sound crazy, but—"

The ghost made a face and chuffed at him. "Yes, I can tell. You were a summon from beyond the System."

Logan stuttered then shut his mouth. He wasn't really going to say all that, but considering the ghost had known his hidden race in the first place, she clearly followed some other rules than he was used to.

"You may leave," she said, "but you are still unwelcome here and I may not be so lenient next time if you return. It is because your kind skewed the balance that I am affected like this and unable to tend my garden properly."

The dragon nuzzled Logan's chin at the repeated mention of the garden and Logan had to hold himself back from a sardonic laugh. The dragon was born under something called the Rune of Radiant Fortune, and Logan had no doubt that was part of the reason this was unfolding the way it was. To the dragon, he whispered, "You're supposed to be lucky, but you're just a little nugget of trouble, aren't you?" Wait… Nugget… Hmm, that might be fitting…

He tore himself from the distraction to steal a glance at the monster core and then looked back to the ghost. "If the Exalted Kin did this, is there any way I can reverse it?"

She regarded him but didn't answer.

"If so," he continued, "could we trouble you to part ways with that monster core?" If she agreed, he would have to find some way to convince her to give him the core as an advance payment.

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She pursed her lips. "All you wish is a monster core?"

Logan wondered if he should have tried to bargain for something greater. "It might give me a skill that I can use to help."

She waved him to silence. "I don't know how monster cores work across the Ruined Wilds, but here they provide stat improvements." She stretched a hand toward the perfectly symmetrical mountain in the distance. "Skills come from successfully completing dungeons."

Logan didn't have any words after hearing that. After a few seconds of dumb silence, he cleared his throat. "Can you give us a moment?"

He warily stepped past her to reach the others and they entered a tight huddle.

"We ought to be on our way," said Alden, sounding exasperated. "This garden is huge, and we don't have time to uproot weeds."

"I know. But everybody's charged void passage stones were used up, weren't they?"

They all nodded.

"And I only have four charged stones left. That's only enough to get you past the Boundary once. After that, you'll all be stuck in the Ruined Wilds."

"Can't you just charge the stones back to full?" asked Senna. "You have the Void affinity, and you sucked it out of your own stone, didn't you?"

Logan had indeed used a stone to convert from the Life affinity to the Void affinity, but he couldn't reimbue the affinity into the stone. He had already tried back when waiting for Alden to open up that blocked stairwell beneath the castle.

"I would have to take the empty stones back to the Cave of Cursed Music. Even if I could find a way back up through that bottomless pit, there's no time for that."

He hesitated. Every DnD campaign he had ever played always touted the rule not to split the party. "I think we have to split up." The words felt bad even coming out of his mouth. "I can get through the Boundary as much as I want. You can each take one trip through the Boundary, or two of you can take two trips."

Alden looked affronted. "And what, stay here with a crazed spirit who might turn on us at any moment? Not me. Did you see the level of that sclerag monster? Besides, I am trying to obtain the Life affinity, and this might screw it up and give me the Dream affinity."

"Okay," Logan said, "so it sounds like you want to be one to cross." He looked at the others, not sure what was running through their minds. But he wanted to pitch an idea. "I think we'll have to do a group vote on who actually goes, but however we make the split, two of you are magic users, and the other two aren't. We should probably group it so each team is covered for both magical and physical defenses."

"Laddy, I won't be leaving Senna."

Logan sighed. He had worried the dwarf might say that. He turned to Cassandra for help and she looked worried. She opened her mouth, but eventually closed it and looked elsewhere.

Senna only shrugged when he looked to her for help.

When he tried to persuade the dwarf a second time and the answer didn't change, Logan knuckled his brow. It didn't seem right to leave one group behind without a magic caster. How could he phrase this in a way the dwarf would understand?

The moment he thought that, though, something foul wriggled at the back of his mind. Somewhere, that line of thought sounded the way his father spoke about him. Always condescending to Logan and inserting himself when he didn't need to.

Janie, too, would always pressure Logan into something he didn't want to do without giving him a chance to prove himself.

Logan didn't want to be like them.

He still didn't love the idea of separating the magic casters and the physical attackers, but maybe he had to reconsider the real strengths and weaknesses.

If Cassandra and Alden joined him, he could take care of any physical confrontations. And if Bromlin and Senna stayed here, they could partner with the ghost as they helped with the garden.

"Okay," Logan said, then pitched the idea.

Logan scanned the steep terrain for danger as Cassandra and Alden slowly passed through the Boundary's veil and joined him and Nugget. Logan had asked Nugget if he liked the name, and the little dragon had trilled with joy, so Nugget he was.

The terrain here looked like it was two images that had been superimposed on top of each other with the smallest hint of variation between the two. It was like the surroundings had diffused into one another, and was just disorienting enough to give Logan goosebumps without bringing on a full-on headache.

A few low, ruined pillars jutted up from the ground, and those didn't share the peculiar effect. He had passed the Boundary in the Cave of Cursed Music, underground beneath Gnashridge Heights, and even inside the mountain during his initial trial. Not to mention the entire inside of the castle existed in the Ruined Wilds. Why hadn't this weird distortion taken place there? Maybe it only affected things out in the open, and only if they were natural rather than manmade.

No matter the reason, Logan pointed toward a tuft of thick grass. "Keep an eye out. I saw something moving over there. Whatever it was must be small, but we should still stay alert."

They formed a triangle formation to improve their line of sight. Every few steps, one cautioned the others about movement, but each time it settled.

By the third false alarm, though, Logan tensed. A pattern lay within the different places they were all noticing disturbances. "Whatever this is, it's trying to surround us. It's probably a pack, but I'm not sure if they're monsters or beast or hybrids."

"Why don't we switch positions?" asked Cassandra. "I can send a light straight ahead."

"Good thinking, the light will help. And Alden, they're only hiding behind these grassy outcrops that rise on little mounds. Next time we see movement, can you shove the dirt in that area aside to screw them up? If they're getting into position behind those humps, we can disrupt that."

Alden didn't have to wait long to do as requested. He flicked his chin toward a patch of grass, then gathered the earthen floor into a spike, which created a negative space of removed earth.

What emerged was unexpectedly adorable: a stout, round-eared creature with a black-and-white face marked by wide, dark rings around its eyes, giving it the look of a masked marsupial. Its arms ended in oversized, thumb-less fists covered in shaggy gray fur, like a pair of living boxing gloves ready to pound anything that got too close. Despite its cuddly appearance, the way it bounced from foot to foot made it clear it was spoiling for a fight.

Name: Combat Wombat Type: Monster Level: 7 Health: 46/46 Mana: 37/37 Lore: Packing their punches with Force mana, these deceptively cute bruisers roam the Ruined Wilds in tight-knit gangs. Alone, they're more nuisance than threat. But if you let them surround you, you'll regret it. Strength: Pack strike Weakness: Short reach

It let out a squeak, and suddenly its eyes went red and its tail shot up behind its rotund body. Others charged from the grassy thickets, apparently on a cue. Two of them approached Logan, and he swiped at them with a two-punch follow-up.

Nugget flitted overhead, then dove, approaching the two small monsters from behind. Just as he reached them, he swiveled sideways like an airplane passing through a vertical pass in an unrealistic action movie. A golden claw raked one wombat, and taloned wingtips scratched the other.

CryoPyre!

Null Pulse!

Logan's spiked fist smashed into the nearest wombat, then he kicked off another, using the force to Null Pulse himself slightly into the air to soar over Alden's head. Where he landed, he plunged his gauntlet into a monster that Cassandra had cordoned off with a ward. Her main focus was attacking a larger one with her Luminous Rend.

There had only been 5 in total, and the one in front of Alden dripped with an ichor-like mucus. A husk of rotted plants lay on the ground, the last vestiges of necrotic mana draining from them and fusing into the final moments that shaped the wombat's demise at Alden's hands.

You have helped kill 5 combat wombats, levels 4-8. No experience gained.

Attention! A potential companion is starting to trust you! Stay close and keep interacting to grow this into a full bond.

Logan had expected the first prompt, but the second caught him unawares.

Nugget landed on his shoulder and nuzzled. The little dragon had just risen to level 3 from that fight! With Logan, Cassandra, and Alden unable to gain experience, Logan wondered if Nugget had gained it all instead.

He scratched the dragon's snout. He would be lying if he denied wanting something like to happen, but seeing the prompt raised another worry he had been trying not to think about. What if Razor discovered this and got mad?

"Great job, Nugget. Those monsters didn't stand a chance."

They were still exposed, though, and should keep going.

Five small, silver monster cores appeared. Unlike the purple void affinity and pearlescent dream affinity sheens, these sparkled.

"The Life affinity," answered Cassandra when Logan asked about the sheen.

He had gathered the silver meant it was a force-focused orb. The ripper core that gave him Null Pulse had been silver, too.

Cassandra was watching the orbs with a certain intensity as she carefully picked them up and placed them into her storage, and Logan recognized the look in her eyes. He had just had it moments ago with the dream-affinity core at the garden.

Until recently, Cassandra, had thought she could only manipulate radiant mana, but discovered she could use force mana, too. The peculiar part was that she was really just shoving force mana around without actually using it like a skill, and that wasn't something anybody had ever heard of before.

Either way, if she could collect 12 of these cores, she could extract the essence cores into a drinkable potion.

Alden lifted a lip as he brushed a patch of decaying weeds to the side with his hands. "I don't like that at all."

The mage stepped aside to reveal a massive footprint stamped into the dirt.

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