Explorer of Edregon

Vin and the team didn’t receive any more surprise visitors during the night, but despite their attempt at shifting locations, Grunch found them easily enough come morning. It appeared at the very least he hadn’t been lying about being able to track Vin’s soul, as he and Emrelda openly walked up to their camp as soon as the sun began rising. The beastkin wore her cloth bindings from the start this time, evidently deciding her nude approach wasn’t the way to go when it came to small groups.

“Damn soul mages,” Vin heard Alka grumble as Grunch introduced Emrelda to everyone. It was only as she was being introduced that it finally clicked for him.

“That’s why you were so invested in learning spatial magic!” Vin said, snapping his fingers at the realization. “You wanted a method of directly teleporting your people past the dangerous fragments and away from the rankers!”

“Figure that one out all on your own, did you?” Emrelda teased, laughing at his embarrassed face. “Yes, that was the primary reason for my insistence on learning how it worked. But rather than spend another few months under the ranker king’s rule while learning spatial magic, I would prefer your assistance in the matter. I don’t suppose either one of these lovely ladies here is the spatial mage you told me so much about?” she asked, her eyes going back and forth between Shia and Lumel.

“I’m the Dimensional Mage,” Lumel said, surprising Vin as she took a small step between him and the beastkin. He’d never really seen Lumel give anyone anything even remotely close to an angry look before, but he swore the pulmon was almost glaring at Emrelda as she announced herself. “...And Vin’s lovemate as well.”

“Are you now?” Emrelda purred, looking Lumel up and down and seeming to come to a decision. “In that case, please allow me to formally apologize and clear up any misunderstanding that you may have regarding my interest in your lovemate. I have found in the past that such advances are the fastest way to get what I want from a man, and I would do anything to save my people from the ranker king.”

“Apology accepted,” Lumel said, her voice only shaking a tiny bit as she stared the beastkin down. “So long as it doesn’t happen again.”

“Wow, never thought I’d see the day two women were fighting over you,” Shia muttered quietly beside him, laughing to herself as Emrelda swore to Lumel that it wouldn’t. “And two high-level mages as well! Look at you go!”

“Thanks, Shia,” Vin said, rolling his eyes before reaching out and taking Lumel’s hand. “Now that that’s out of the way, can the two of you bring us to the rest of the fragments? We need to see what we’re dealing with here if we want any chance at finding a way out of here for your people.”

“Of course,” Emrelda said, smiling at him. “Stay close to me everyone, I’ll ensure you don’t need to worry about any pesky rankers while you’re in my company.”

Vin wasn’t sure exactly what she had in mind, but her plan was revealed quite early on as they approached their first squad of patrolling rankers. Either Emrelda had a spell that increased her vision, or her focus was drastically higher than theirs, as she called for a halt seemingly out of nowhere before instructing them all to stay close. Once they were all bunched up, she cast.

“Mass Invisibility,” she muttered, causing a blanket of dense mana to form over their heads and envelop them. As the spell kicked into effect, Vin stared down at his hands in shock, realizing he could see right through himself.

New spell witnessed! Tier 4 Light Spell (Mass Invisibility)

“I have passives that will keep other aspects of us hidden as well, such as our mana signatures or our smell, provided you stay under my spell,” she reassured them. “It also dampens sound, but to a lesser extent. That means no talking as the rankers go by if you want to remain hidden.”

Vin stood there in silence along with his friends as the ranker squad came and went, not so much as even glancing in their direction as they patrolled the border to the whirlpool fragment. Once they were out of sight, Emrelda dropped her spell and they continued on. They were forced to hide under her blanket of invisibility two more times before reaching the next fragment, but both times were just as successful as the first. In no time at all and without any more needless fighting, they reached their next stop, and Vin could do little more than stare at the first of the remaining fragments.

The insanity of each fragment they stumbled upon was beginning to get a little ridiculous.

“I doubt I have to explain why we can’t travel through this fragment,” Emrelda said, staring into the fragment beside them. Directly in front of them was a land of living fire. The ground was a patchwork of baked stone floating atop rivers of lava, and flames erupted out of the ground every few seconds as far as the eye could see. There was somehow life within the fragment, as Vin spotted a handful of tiny salamanders crawling around along some of the hard rockfaces, and there were even some coral-looking plants growing out of some of the cracks. He didn’t know how hot it was in there, but the sheer shimmering of the hot air within the fragment made the Crater that the dwarves lived in look like an icebox.

“You know, those plants would have been really useful during our efforts to make a flower that bloomed in the Crater,” Shia muttered, staring curiously at the coral. “Think you could get a sample for me? Mary would definitely love to get her hands on those as well.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I guess we need to test this anyway,” Vin said, casting Protection from Fire on himself with as much mana dumped into the spell as it could handle without breaking. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the fragment, wobbling as he realized the chunk of stone he stood on was floating atop a sea of lava.

Fifth ring fragment discovered! 2,500 exp gained.

Despite his protective spell, his high-level Total Resistance skill, and his remarkable endurance attribute, it felt as though someone had doused a blanket in oil, set it on fire, and then wrapped the blazing fabric around him. He didn’t have the faintest idea of how hot it was, but he was pretty certain the answer was somewhere around ‘near instant death’ for anyone without his level of protection.

“Huh, I don’t remember the air being this hard to see through within the heart of the Crater,” Alka admitted, standing entirely unbothered beside him. “You want to get the weird plant sample, or should I?”

“It’s all you,” he wheezed, quickly deciding there wasn’t a chance in hell of getting Grunch and Emrelda’s people through this fragment. Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if hell itself was cooler than this fragment.

Stepping back into the orcs’ fragment was one of the greatest feelings he’d ever experienced, and Vin sent the Gods a silent prayer of thanks that so many of the worlds they’d created were kept at a nice, survivable temperature.

“That looked uncomfortable,” Scule said, frowning at him. “No go on this fragment?”

“Not unless they want to get baked alive in about four seconds,” Vin said, shaking his head. “Honestly, I’m blown away that this fragment even exists in the first place. Remember, the fact that it made it to Edregon means that people lived in there, at least at some point. I have no idea who could survive such temperatures.”

“Wasn’t one of the new meriders some weird scaly race we’ve yet to encounter?” Shia asked, watching Alka grab a chunk of the plant she wanted and struggle to tear it free from the rock. “Maybe this is the fragment they came from. I could see salamander-people living in there.”

“It’s pretty far from the Aernae Forest, but stranger things have happened,” Vin shrugged.

Eventually, Alka decided cutting the plant free was the better idea, and she returned from the lava-filled fragment as well, handing over the curious plant to Shia for later study. Lumel stored it away for her, and they continued on down the border toward the next fragment. At this point, they’d fully looped around the exterior of the orcs’ fragment and Vin blinked as they shifted over into the beastkin’s fragment instead.

Fourth ring fragment discovered! 2,000 exp gained.

Rather than meadows and trees like their own fragment and the orcs, the beastkin appeared to live in a vast, open plain filled with sprawling stalks of something similar to bamboo. The temperature was cool with a slight breeze, and he couldn’t help but take in a deep breath, enjoying the scent of freshly cut grass that seemed present everywhere.

“My people will miss our fragment, but it is still preferable over keeping our heads bowed to the ranker king,” Emrelda explained as they continued along the border. They only had to duck under Mass Invisibility two more times to evade ranker squads before hitting the next fragment.

Because hit the next fragment they did.

“Uh…” Vin muttered, staring at what looked like a giant wall spanning the entire border of the fragment. It was similar to the barrier put up by the neilans, other than the fact that this wall was clearly solid metal. Knocking a fist against the wall and hearing a metallic ringing in response, he raised an eyebrow. “How long has this been here?”

“Since our very first day on Edregon,” Emrelda said, frowning herself as she stared at the wall. “I do not understand how they built it so quickly, but before the sun had set on our first day here, my people came across this wall. We have tried everything we can think of to pierce through the metal, to no avail.”

“Which means they managed to put this thing up in only a few hours,” Shia muttered, staring up into the sky as she followed the wall up. “Without any magic, seeing as their levels were reset. How high does it go?”

“We don’t have an exact measurement,” Emrelda shrugged. “High enough that while one or two people scaling it is possible, trying to subtly get a few thousand people up and over it can’t be done. Not to mention what you’ll find on the other side is an entirely separate problem you have to see for yourself to believe.”

All of Vin’s friends turned to look at him expectantly, and he sighed. “Alright, I’ll try and be quick. Give me a few minutes.”

“What are you—”

Emrelda’s eyes went wide as Vin cast Redirect Gravity on himself and shot into the sky as if stolen by the Gods himself. Flipping around so that he was right-side up to his new gravity, he watched the wall as he shot up further and further. After a solid few seconds, he let out a low whistle.

Wow, that’s one hell of a large wall. Why would—

The wall suddenly vanished, and he quickly cancelled his spell, flipping back around to match regular gravity as he waited for his momentum to stall out. As soon as he found himself floating in the air, about to begin falling, he cast Create Cloud and landed on a fluffy surface. Peering over the top of the wall, it was his turn for his eyes to go wide as he stared down in shock at the complex scene below.

On the other side of the wall was a mountainous land pockmarked by what appeared to be sprawling quarries. Ores and gems were being dug out of the earth and placed in minecarts, which were then sent off toward the center of the fragment, which was presumably where most of the people within lived. Though while the advanced mining techniques and higher level of technology than he was used to seeing were interesting, neither of those things were what caught his attention the most. It wasn’t people digging away within the mines or keeping everything running.

It was golems.

Hundreds and hundreds of magic golems.