I was beginning to get used to the smell of the docks. Sort of. A specific type of crab squid was a popular ingredient in soups, and it gave off a "death smell" once it was exposed to open air for too long. Just as we descended the stairs from the second tier of the city to the docks, I spotted a fishing ship full of tomte arrive. A pile of the crab squids was heaped on the ship's upper deck, and it only took the stench a few seconds to hit us.

It smelled like sulfur and aggressively burnt popcorn had a son who refused to bathe.

"Gods," Lyria said, gagging slightly. "It's bad today."

"Agreed," I said.

"Sorry," she said after a moment. "Is it… weird for you when I say 'gods'?"

"No," I said as we walked down the steps and joined a noisy crowd moving along the river's edge. This place would have been picturesque if it weren't for the shirtless people swearing and producing even more unpleasant stenches. Torches flickered from sconces, casting yellow, broken reflections on the highly trafficked cave river. Boats drifted in either direction, small and large, all full of busy men and women shouting orders or laughing. "Imagine someone told you that you did all these things but can't remember them. I feel the responsibility of knowing the truth about it. But I don't feel like… him, if that makes sense. As far as my brain is concerned, I was back home just a couple of months ago."

Lyria looked thoughtful, then nodded. "I can see how that makes sense. I don't know how I'd handle it if I were in your shoes. Probably find a hole and hide somewhere."

I frowned at her as we had to squeeze around a market stall selling some kind of wet river weed that smelled oddly spicy. "I really doubt that," I said. "You could've stayed in Riverwell, but look at you now. You risked everything to come with me. That's brave. That's stepping up when you feel like you can make a difference. It's no different than what I'm trying to do."

"I don't think so," she said, studying the ground as we walked. "I was always afraid of what I'd become if I stayed there. I grew up between two extremes. A craftsman for a father and an adventurer for a mother. Both of them wound up dead, and in both cases, it was kind of because of the path they chose. My mom died seeking out danger. My dad died because he spent his life avoiding it, so he couldn't defend himself when the time came. And what did I do?"

I knew it was rhetorical, but I answered anyway. "You tried to honor both their memories. You tried to protect people and learn from both of them. A guard has the ability to protect not just themselves, but others. A guard doesn't go off and risk their life for glory, fame and power. They get strong to protect the weak. That's noble."

Lyria gave me a reluctant smile, finally lifting her eyes to meet mine. "Okay, when you put it that way, it sounds better. But I was going to say I was too scared to pick either path and wound up stuck in the middle."

"When I put it what way? The true way?" I asked, giving her shoulder a small bump with mine. "You're too hard on yourself, Lyria. Besides, even if you really believed becoming a guard was a mistake, look at you now. You're like a mobile guard. It's even better. You're trying to protect humanity itself by following me around and dealing with my weird bugs and other pets."

"I should probably have earned a trophy for that, actually," Lyria said. "Trophy of Endless Endurance, maybe? Trophy of Otherworldly Tolerance?"

"I agree. If I ever get a chance to talk to the people in the dimensional realm, I'll let them know they owe you."

Lyria said nothing for a few minutes as we walked by the river. Finally, she surprised me with a light nudge. "Thank you, though. You're good at making me feel better."

"It's the least I can do."

"The least you could do would be a lot less," she said firmly. "So, thank you. Accepting my thanks isn't optional."

I chuckled. "Okay. Fine. You're welcome."

"Good," she said.

It was a few more minutes before we reached On the Ropes, the tavern where Vitus said we would find the tomte named Massian Rahma. If we were lucky, he'd be able to give us some scrap of information to help us find our missing friends. That was the plan, at least.

As much as I wanted to help Thorn and the others, I was already itching to return to my personal space and continue training and testing. I was still trying to decide between the Sword corestone from Lyria and the Shield corestone I purchased from a market stall two days prior. Even though the chest of gemstones had been valuable, it took more work to sell the stones than expected. Eventually, I wound up taking slight discounts on what they were supposed to be worth just to get them sold and stop wasting time haggling. I also sacrificed the one stone Hoot wanted so the big guy could add it to his collection of shiny objects.

The money was already gone, except for one gold coin and some change I kept for gambling funds, food, and personal space access.

The inside of the tavern was nothing particularly new, aside from a slightly nautical themed set of decor—old water-logged and rotten ropes hanging, an anchor on the wall, and a few paintings of ships at sea or sea monsters decorating the walls. The clientele was also pretty obviously employed either as workers on the boats or workers of the docks, and the scent in the air was appropriately fishy.

We moved through the small tavern for a little while to survey the guests but saw no sign of Massian. Getting a couple of drinks and waiting for a few hours seemed like the logical thing to do.

I ordered a bitter-flavored beer that took some getting used to, and Lyria went for one of the "sweet ales," which were popular in Thrask. Tomte were known for their sweet tooth, and the culinary trend was evident from the drinks to the foods available.

Once we got a good seat in the corner that let us view the entire room, we relaxed slightly. "So," I said. "Other than doubting your life choices and questioning your decisions in traveling companions, what have you been up to the last three or four days?" I asked.

Lyria took a swig of her drink, then set it down with a grin. "Practicing."

"Oh?" I asked. "Are you progressing with the meditation technique I taught you?"

"No… but I talked to Minara about being Soulbound yesterday. I learned some interesting bits of information."

Lyria spent a minute or two summarizing what Minara had told her while I nursed my drink, listening intently.

"A unique innovation," I mused, almost to myself. "Do you think yours is how you weave the mana in your spells?" I asked. "I know I haven't been around much, but I have never seen anything like it. And it's just like she said. I was able to take that technique and apply it to my abilities."

"I don't know… maybe. I've still been searching for some catch. This kind of good fortune doesn't happen to me. If anything, it's the opposite. Whatever bad thing could happen usually does. So I guess I'm waiting for the punchline to reveal itself."

"I don't think there is one. Unless you count me relying on you more than you were planning, given you'll be a certifiable badass with that class of yours before long."

"Oh?" she said, arching a dark red eyebrow. "And you're implying I'm not already? I think the two of us are overdue for another sparring session. I really enjoyed smashing you to the ground again and again with my elemental shield back in Riverwell."

"Any time," I said. "I'll never turn down an opportunity to train."

"It was supposed to be a threat of getting your ass kicked, not a friendly offer to help you work on your skills."

"Getting your ass kicked in a non-lethal setting is a helpful way to work on your skills. So, threat failed."

She sighed. "Anyway. I've been working on the whole… weave thing. I hadn't thought of it much before, but I've been trying to practice with it and see if there's something else. It does feel like there's an idea, almost like it's on the tip of my tongue—like if I just keep experimenting, I'll make another breakthrough. The problem is my mana runs dry so quickly, I don't get many attempts before I have to wait all day."

"Yeah," I said. "That's why I was hoping the meditation technique I showed you would work better. You're really not making any progress?"

She shook her head. "It's almost like you're talking in a different language. None of the words or methods you describe feel like things I can do."

"Damn," I said. "What about the Peace method I taught you? That's the one Circa showed me, and it doesn't really require anything fancy. You just try to calm yourself and open your mind to the silence."

"I'm not the calmest person, Brynn."

I tried not to smile at that. "Really?" I asked, hoping I sounded innocent. "I hadn't noticed."

"So, have you decided on…" she paused, looking around and confirming nobody was close enough to us to overhear. Thankfully, the room was very noisy and nobody was sitting too close, so there was next to no chance of someone listening in. Still, it was hard not to avoid certain words or talk low, just to be cautious. "Did you pick your next class?" she whispered.

"It's tough," I said, also being careful to keep my voice low. "The cooldown to swap stones is weird. At first, I thought I had it figured out, and then I got locked out of switching stones for a full day. It's almost as if every time I change them, I'm wearing out some internal mechanism."

"Yeah," Lyria said. "I won't pretend I paid enough attention to know all the details. I just know there's a reason people don't carry around multiple stones and swap them all the time as needed."

I nodded. "Well, once I realized, I stopped switching back and forth so much. Right now, I've still got my Shield stone equipped, but I already did all the testing I wanted with my Sword stone."

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"Conclusions?" Lyria prompted.

"They're both good. But my active skill slots are already full, so it's more a question of whether I can imagine wanting to replace any of my tried and true active abilities. Thankfully, I do have two open passive slots, which makes it feel more like a question of which class' passives are better."

I had already shared the Sword stone abilities with her, but I hadn't told her what abilities my Shield stone came with yet.

I pulled up the list and then summarized the abilities for her.

[Rare] Active Skill: Hungering Shield [Tier 1] Spending mana will magically charge any equipped shield. The charge will be consumed upon use, whether by striking enemies or blocking attacks. Consuming the charge will magically bash the target, temporarily stunning them if they fail to resist the effect.

[Rare] Active Skill: Animate Shield [Tier 1] Form a magical duplicate of your shield, which will follow and protect you.

[Common] Passive Skill: Reverberating Aegis [Tier 1] Blocking or deflecting attacks charges a temporary shield around your body. Each successful block shields the user for [10] seconds. The protective power of the shield may stack, but all stacks will be consumed if struck.

[Common] Passive Skill: Arcane Pull [Tier 1] Physical objects will be slightly pulled toward your shield blocks and parries.

"I've done as much testing as I can within my personal space," I said once I finished summarizing all my Shield abilities. "The training dummy I bought for my personal space shows me a rough picture of how much damage it's taking, which has been helpful. I used whacking it really hard on the head with a chair as a baseline, which resulted in '5' damage. Stabbing it in the face with my Elemental Spike was an '11,' so it's not just a 1-10 scale. I really wanted to see how much damage a Bombroot explosion would do, but I just got new flooring in my personal space and was worried I'd mess it up."

Lyria narrowed her eyes at me. "You hit your training dummy over the head with a chair?"

"It's basic science," I said, brushing her off. "If I don't have a frame of reference for 'damage,' then the numbers aren't as useful. I can imagine how bad it hurts to get hit over the head with a chair because I've experienced that. So if stabbing in the face with Elemental Spike is twice as much, tada. I can now interpret that data in a meaningful way."

"For some reason, I'm not surprised you've been hit in the head with a chair."

I gave her a dirty look, then continued. "The Sapphire Touch ability from the Sword class is pretty strong damage-wise. I suppose that's not a huge surprise, considering it's the main ability of a Sword class. If I let it marinate for about a minute and then touch it to claim the absorbed mana, it does '20' damage. The damage falls off over time, though, so two minutes wasn't 40. It was 27, for some reason. If I was better at math, maybe I could figure out a formula."

I could see Lyria's eyes glazing over, so I cleared my throat and tried to better summarize three days of exhaustive testing, consideration, and theorizing. I wouldn't even go into all the odd and slightly troubling discoveries I had made about dark mana. I also had a few new potions and quite a few conclusions about how to use them best. All of that could wait, though. Today, I hoped to get her feedback on which class to stick with.

"Anyway, the point is that the Shield abilities are strong. But so are the ones I already have, and I've got limited active and passive slots to work with. Yeah, there's a chance I'll… get to… you know," I said, spreading my fingers and bringing them together while raising my eyebrows.

She seemed confused, so I repeated the gesture a few more times, holding my eyebrows high to imply my meaning, then remembering she couldn't see my eyebrows with my helmet on.

Lyria squinted. "Are you trying to hit on me?"

"No," I said quickly. "I mean fuse," I whispered. "It's worth considering using a class just because it would make for a better fusion, hypothetically. But I also can't guarantee I'll be able to do that any time soon, if ever. So I'm leaning toward the choice that helps me most right now."

"Oh," she said. "Yeah. That makes more sense. What about the other abilities from your Sword class?"

"Shieldy Guy was willing to help me test the one where I can spread the effect of Sapphire Touch."

"Can he speak?" Lyria asked.

"Well, no. But when he's okay with something, he gets very still."

"Isn't that also what he did before he shit on the floor of your personal space? And what does he do when he's not okay with something?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I'm pretty sure I can understand my own summons, Lyria. The point is that I was ready to heal him if anything too dramatic happened. So I tested spreading Touch of Sapphire with Sapphire Contagion on him a few times. When I infected one of my Forge Echoes, the extra mana regeneration from having two targets afflicted by a negative condition was okay, but nothing groundbreaking."

"What happened to the guy constantly babying his summons like they were little pets? Now you're experimenting on them?"

"No," I said, feeling a little defensive. "We're all a team. I explained what we were doing and told them I would keep them safe. They trust me."

"Okay," Lyria said, though she gave me a funny smile I couldn't quite read.

"I figure Sword abilities would be really useful, especially in a big fight. I could weave around the battlefield and spread Touch of Sapphire to as many targets as possible, letting it linger like time bombs. Combine that with a few Silver Scream arrows, a little Elementally Projected and Chained poison, some Cloudfalls, my summons wreaking havoc, and I could melt large groups down to nothing while flooding myself with mana. Even if I didn't use the actives and just relied on the passive that increased my mana regen for every target I had a negative effect on, it would be pretty helpful for my regeneration."

"So you're going with the Sword class, then?"

"I don't know. The Shield class has two useful passives, even if I don't slot either of the new actives. The second Sword passive that makes my mana more resistant to being 'altered' is borderline useless, at least based on what I've experienced so far."

"And you really don't think there's an active skill you can stand to unequip to make room?"

I pulled up the list of my currently equipped active and passive skills, then read it off to Lyria.

1. [Rare] Active Skill: Elemental Chain. [Tier 3] [Fusion Skill] Release a portion of your current weapon's elemental aspect. Upon impact, the skill may chain to nearby targets of your choice. This chain effect can occur up to [three] times.

[Elemental Chain Evolution(s)]

[Cloudfall] Form a cloud that rains down your current weapon's elemental aspect upon an area of your choosing.

2. [Rare] Active Skill: Forge Echo. [Tier 3] Summon a spectral echo of your weapon that mimics your attack patterns. [Forge Echo Evolution(s)]

[Sentient] Forge Echo acts of its own volition and may or may not follow commands.

3. [Rare] Active Skill: Elemental Spike. [Tier 2] Summon an elementally charged spike of energy to your hands. Striking an enemy with the spike will immediately apply a [moderate] portion of the elemental effect. Note: The effect must be applicable to the target.

4. [Common] Active Skill: Devour Mana. [Tier 2] Cause your target to devour their mana in exchange for health.

5. [Rare] Active Skill: Mana Shield. [Tier 2] Create a barrier of pure mana.

6. [Epic] Active Skill: Awaken Mana [Tier 1] Awaken a portion of your mana, forming a low-intelligence, magical entity based on either a Sword, Shield, Heart, or Soul class.

Passive Skills:

1. [Common] Passive Skill: Elemental Body [Tier 2] Become more resistant to negative elemental effects.

2. [Rare] Passive Skill: Sense Mana [Tier 2] Your perception of mana deepens. Detection of hostile magic moderately improved.

3. [Common] Passive Skill: Leeching Surge [Tier 1] [Fusion Skill] When mana-fueled attacks strike you or nearby allies, [Mana Surge] will activate, temporarily boosting the victim's mana regeneration speed by a portion of your own.

4. [Rare] Passive Skill: Mana Drain [Tier 1] Causing damage to targets drains a [small] amount of their mana to yourself.

5. Unassigned.

6. Unassigned.

"Okay," Lyria said once I was finished. "I do see you use all of those. You especially seem to love your little mana shields."

"I can make magical sheets of mana appear in thin air at a location of my choosing… what kind of psychopath wouldn't love that?"

She grinned. "Okay. Maybe you give up the elemental dagger thing or your poison spray?"

"It's not just poison spray. And I bought even more potions, so I'm not about to unslot that one. And Elemental Spike is incredible. It saved our asses several times in Beastden."

"Alright. Give up Awaken Mana, then. Your little bug friends have all seemed kind of weird and underwhelming."

"Excuse me?" I said, pulling my chin back in outrage. "You're lucky Gregory isn't here right now to hear this."

"Who the hell is Gregory?"

"I decided 'Shieldy Guy' is just one of his many nicknames since I wasn't sure I wanted to lock it in. Instead, I gave him a sort of 'legal' name that's proper and respectable. Then I can just call him whichever nickname feels fitting in the moment. If you prefer, you can call him Greg. He's fine with that, too."

"And you know he's okay with this because he did exactly what he does before shitting, right? He stood completely still."

I folded my arms. "Yes. But there's a look in his eyes when he's okay with something that's different than his… shitting look."

Lyria let out a long breath, then smiled a little. "Okay. And yes. At the risk of hurting Gregory's feelings, I think it's your least important ability. If you wanted to bring in one of your new class's abilities, that's the one I'd replace."

"I don't know how you can say that."

"Because I'm not sure how a magically defecating beetle is going to benefit you in a fight?"

"Okay, first of all, you happened to walk in at a bad time. Second, he may still be learning, but he tries really hard to block things for me with that cute little shield of his. Besides, I can summon Caterpriest, and… well, the others."

"I'm not even going to ask about them."

That was probably good. I knew she'd only make more jokes if I had to describe what happened when I used Awaken Mana to make a Soul or Sword summon. She'd see eventually, but there was no reason to give her more ammunition right now.

"So I take it you're leaning toward the Shield class?"

"Maybe, but it's still a really hard choice."

"Is it? One of those Shield abilities is another summoning ability. Let me guess, you already bought yourself a shield and named the summoned version of it?"

"What? No. I mean, yes, I bought a little shield just so I could test the abilities, but I didn't name it. It's just a shield. The Shield passives feel more impactful on their own in the 'saving my ass' department. They're both good. Deborah helped me test the one that attracts attacks to my shield and the one that stacks up to protect me every time I block. Even if I didn't use any actives, they're both useful."

"Wait… who the hell is Deborah? Is that what you've actually been doing these past few days? Bringing girls back to your personal space?"

"Oh, no," I said, wincing a little. "Deborah is what happens when I use Awaken Mana to make a Sword class bug. Picture a praying mantis with swords for arms. And… for some reason, she has long blonde hair. Hence the name. If you see her, you'll probably agree she looks like a Deborah."

"Yeah," Lyria said, seeming to relax slightly. She gave a wry shake of her head. "Makes total sense."

"So both passives are good. I also learned I can think of my shield as a weapon, which means if I ever wanted, I could have three shield summons. A Forge Echo of my shield, Animate Shield, and Gregory. We all had some fun testing out different defensive formations with the whole squad summoned, but it did seem a little overkill. So, I could probably shelve that ability for the time being."

"Was Hungering Shield useful? The description seemed a bit vague."

"It was, yeah. When I dumped mana into my Mana Bender's Raiment, it pretty much turned my shield into either a really heavy-hitting magic bomb or a perfectly absorbing barrier. Bashing the dummy with it when I charged it with a full mana pool did 25 damage, which was more than a minute of Sapphire Touch from the Sword class and more than an Elemental Spike to the face. But doing that damage completely discharged the mana stored in the shield. I could also block with the energy, which seemed to absorb any force or impact from whatever Deborah could throw at me. But, again, using it discharged what I had stored up."

"Hmm."

"Oh," I said. "One other perk the description didn't mention was that any Hungering Shield I generated also applied to my summon from Awaken Shield, but not Forge Echo, whether it blocked or attacked for me."

"Hm," Lyria said. "I think the Shield class is the better call. Though I'm going to need to help you work on your blocks and parries if you're planning to get the most out of it."

"Good," I said. "I was hoping you'd offer. Deborah had to go pretty easy on me to let me test them out, even with Arcane Pull slightly drawing her attacks toward my blocks and parries."

Once Lyria got past teasing me about my summons, she helped me go back and forth a while longer about the pros and cons of my abilities. I also had time to fill her in on more of what I had been up to while we were separated. She even helped me sketch out a rough strategy for my upcoming sparring match at the Aspirant's Guild, which she seemed oddly excited to watch.

We were so deep in conversation neither of us noticed when a tomte with one arm and a few missing fingers on his remaining hand entered the tavern, took a seat at the bar, and ordered a drink.

It wasn't until the bartender loudly greeted him by name that we both froze and turned to look. "Massian!" the bartender called. "The usual?"

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