Something about the reaver's focus shifted. With its relentless attacks against Razor, Logan hadn't thought it was holding back before. But now, he could tell it had been pacing itself.

The stride changed, and the movements sharpened. After the reaver recovered from the shock of Razor pouring all her fire at it, which had been empowered by Logan's Invigorating Flame before he switched affinities, the reaver now responded with sudden intensity. Whatever limit it had been holding to before, it had just let go, and Logan recognized the change in an instant.

The energy field contained between the two blue perimeter walls the reaver had somehow erected crackled, and Logan's hair stood on his neck. The reaver raised a lance, a circle glowed on its chest, and then came the snap, loud and sharp like a whip crack.

The innermost of the blue walls, which surrounded them like a stadium, shattered, exploding into a thousand tiny facets. Behind it, all the jagged streaks of electricity surged directly toward them at the epicenter, like an unleashed flood. The reaver's weapon drew it all toward itself as if it were a lightning rod.

At the same time, the outer blue wall collapsed inward. It moved like a sheet pulled from both ends toward the middle, folding in with sudden force. The broken fragments from the first wall joined it, with both remnants swept up and funneled into the same vortex. In short, everything from the shattered inner wall, the electricity field from the ground, and the collapsing outer wall all converged into one blinding burst focused on the tip of the reaver's lance.

That pinprick of light focused into a beam and smote Razor.

Logan's jaw dropped to see Razor not just fall, but completely fade from existence. Only an afterimage remained in Logan's eye of her draconic outline.

Was that Razor's outline, though? Strange dry bits floated in the air like shed snakeskin, as if whatever it was had been hollow.

The reaver seemed as confused as Logan, and suddenly a fully intact Razor materialized directly behind the reaver. Head sideways, she clamped her jaws onto the reaver's midsection and shook her head.

The reaver's hand, caught in Razor's clenched jaw, released the lance, which fell before the opponent could snatch it back into its grip. That wouldn't last long, though, because it was already starting to writhe free.

Energy still danced in crooked lines along the lance's tip, and Logan suspected it might hold another charge. If the reaver freed itself, nothing would stop it from striking with the same attack.

Logan could not let that happen.

Spit flew from his lips as he raced forward. Something sharp sliced at his shoulder as he dodged tightly past vendor stalls. Anything more than a necessary sidestep past the splintered obstacles would be too much of an added delay, and so he ignored the pain.

He dove forward, hitting the dirt chest-first and sliding toward the lance. As he reached out, his hand struck the long shaft of the polearm, causing it to spin wildly across the ground like a pinwheel.

While sliding, Logan kept one eye on the reaver, watching its gaze. It had clearly registered him, but its primary focus remained on Razor. He didn't doubt the moment the reaver wiggled from her jaw, it would end him.

Since he had nothing else to lose, he changed tactics.

"The paragon sent me," Logan shouted, putting on his most imploring look to the reaver. He recalled Mishki saying the reavers worked for a paragon that was even stronger than them. "Quick, hold the dragon down while I do it."

The mention of the paragon caused the smallest hesitation in the enemy.

"Do what?"

"This." Logan drove his elbow down onto the spinning weapon, making it wobble like a just-flipped coin.

Meditate!

With precise timing, he followed through with a shove of his palm into the butt of the lance, ramming the weapon's thrumming blade tip directly into the reaver's chest.

Blue sparks arced from the sharp metal and converged on the strange medallion embedded into the center of the reaver's breastplate. The entire suit of armor collapsed inward. It compressed, almost like watching a parachute pack itself in reverse, folding and snapping back into the medallion, which then clattered to the ground. The medallion was more like a tile, and it bore a symbol vaguely familiar to Logan.

The reaver, though down and clearly wounded, wasn't out. Logan found himself sprawled awkwardly on the dirt, his heart pounding as the reaver's eyes locked onto him. Razor lay nearby, also grounded and unmoving.

Logan swallowed hard. "Uh, whoops."

Two flashes happened in quick succession. The first was the flash of the reaver's teeth as she—it was a she—pried Razor's impaling teeth out of her flesh and fixed her crazed eyes on Logan.

The second flash was a silvery puff, which bloomed behind the reaver. It looked like dust had just been beaten out of a rug.

The reaver wobbled, then toppled forward, revealing Mariv the gnome standing behind her with a look of grim determination, and Avalyn behind him, eyes aglow as if she was in a trance. One fist was tucked at Mariv's waist and the other held a stave angled downward, and Logan could guess the gnome had just cracked the reaver across the back of the head. He couldn't help but picture Mr. Miyagi from the original Karate Kid, if Mr. Miyagi was a pot-bellied gnome wearing a jacket that couldn't quite close over his belly.

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Electricity still crackled on the reaver's body, and after a moment the label hovering over the reaver shifted to lootable reaver corpse.

Only then did Mariv exhale and Avalyn's eyes stop glowing.

The gnome gave Logan a confused but relieved smile, which quickly faded as his gaze snapped to Razor. "Oh dear," he muttered, trotting toward her with urgency.

Logan waited in a squat beside Razor, who was back in her human form. He had known Mariv was behind masking Razor's level before, but apparently her human form was also a spell of his. He had a lot he could do with the Dream affinity, and Logan was just waiting until things settled down before he would ask Mariv questions, since he had just received the affinity himself.

Nugget was curled up next to Razor's prone form, watching her with a simpering sympathy that tugged at Logan's heart. He patted Nugget's spines, and the small dragon pressed his back into Logan's palm for more comfort.

Cassandra and Alden had arrived to discover the fallen reaver and the unconscious Razor. Alden had joined Mariv and Logan back to the gnome's house. Cassandra had gone with Avalyn to do some damage control outside and meet with the Adventurers' Guild, but they would come back soon and update them.

Curled up on a chair by the fire, nestled under blankets, Mishki also slept. Logan was glad to see the goble was faring well. Even Alden had shown his humanity by tending to the goble and adjusting the blankets on his little green body. When he caught Logan watching and Logan smiled, Alden gave him a flat look, but turned back to the goble and clearly hid a half smile of his own.

In the quiet, where the only sound was the crackling hearth, Logan skimmed through his notifications. For helping to kill the level 124 reaver, he had gained three levels. He had also improved his Running, Parry, and Sharpshooter levels. And for defeating an enemy 100 levels above him, his Giant Slayer III upgraded all they way to X, netting him +7 points each to Strength, Endurance, and Willpower.

The bulk of notifications, though, came from quests, and one came from gaining the Dream affinity. That last one was confusing, and therefore another thing to ask Mariv, but the gnome was busy at the moment.

Some quests had lengthy descriptions, but Logan had figured out how to shorten them to basic summaries, which he could open into detail if he needed to.

"Why," Logan asked Alden, "do some of my quests have guaranteed rewards? For example, I helped a little old lady escape from a monster. It says I earned her gratitude, but I think the real reward was that she made the Snapwake Salts for Cassandra. So why doesn't it say the Snapwake Salts were the real reward?"

Alden paused from tending Mishki to scan his own board. "I don't see that quest. Perhaps it was not guild-sanctioned?"

"Oh yeah." He had forgotten that Dalia Krett had mentioned some quests were not guild-sanctioned, and therefore wouldn't show up to others. As for the answer to Logan's question, Alden said the System often provided generic rewards for quests that were created outside of contracts, and often those resulted in rewards not explicitly mentioned, since there was no outright discussion. Sometimes that involved generating goodwill within a town, such as people spreading news by word of mouth of an adventurer, and might have benefits often not blatantly seen, such as better prices from one of those quest givers' friends. Alden suspected the gratitude was merely a general boon that incidentally unfolded in a way where the woman helped him in return.

A couple of quests seemed to be blocked out because of others having accepted them, but Alden said that would change once Logan's Quest Board utility skill improved. For that to happen, he needed to earn Prestige. Alden's Quest Board, for example, was at rank II. After Avalyn and Cassandra were done handling things with the guild, Logan would surely receive Prestige points from all his work with not just the Devouring coil but the reaver too. He would then be able to use those for guild-specific upgrades.

Much like he once did with his status screen, Logan toggled the organization of the quests. He only looked at the recently completed and currently outstanding quests. There were a lot.

Global quests:

Save dragonkind! > Reclaim the volcanic region of Emberholt from the invading reavers > Hidden objective: Hatch the last dragon's egg (Complete) Reward: Dragon's Favor

Restore the gnomish lands of the Waterwoods! Reward: One gnomish trait

Discover why you don't have a Vitality stat! Reward: Talent

Defeat the Devouring Coil! (Complete) Reward: Brand of the Void Sage

Survive the Devouring Coil's Consumption! (Complete) Reward: Title, Regurgitation Station V

Restore Life Sentinel Luvania by returning the five rings! Reward: Blessing of the Life Sage.

Repair Luvania's throne within Kalashi citadel to the Fold! Reward: Established access to and from the Fold and Kalashi Citadel.

Guild quests:

Bring (30) gray cave moss to the apothecary in Gnashridge Heights. > This quest has expired due to the questgiver being killed by an enhanced reaver blade.

Discover the source of the hearthfire mystery in Farrowstead! (Complete, pending quest check-in) > You have learned the source comes from a frostfire elemental terrorizing the region. > Defeat the frostfire elemental > Defeat [4/4] frostfire elementals Reward: 100 Prestige points

Reclaim the Gnashridge Adventurers' Guild! (Please return to a verified branch to claim your reward) Reward: 500 Prestige points

Discover what happened to "the other half" of the Adventurer's Guild! > This quest is underway by adventurer Cassandra Varesh.

Extinguish the flames devouring the inn! (Complete) Reward: Free fare at the inn. > (This establishment has since been destroyed, and may affect your reward. Please check in with the innkeeper at Gnashridge Heights.)

Defend the chicken coop! (Complete, please check in with the questgiver, Liorna, in Gnashridge Heights) Reward: Variable

Stop the reavers at Gnashridge Heights! (Complete) Reward: Temporary delay of reaver plan (plan unknown)

Miscellaneous Quests:

Save Tomtom the cat! (Complete) Reward: Cat food

Protect your elder from the Tentacled Stalker! (Complete) Reward: An elder's gratitude

Save Miss Josephine the chicken from certain death! (Complete) Reward: 10 copper coins (This quest has been established as a recurring quest in the event any chickens have escaped their coop. Please check in with the questgiver, Liorna, in Gnashridge Heights)

So, Liorna was alive and hopefully all the chickens too… and he had a whole bunch of questions about sage blessings and brands. He also had 12 more free points from leveling up, which he would distribute after getting some of those other questions answered, plus some additional ones he had about threshold perks.

He briefly paused in stroking Nugget's tail, but was quickly reminded with a light lashing from that same tail. He chuckled and returned to petting the little guy.

A loud gasp from Mariv pulled Alden's, Logan's and Nugget's attention to where he bustled at a counter.

"Someone! Quick!"

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