Explorer of Edregon

Eventually, the team got a stroke of luck. After the freezing, icy-plane and the acidic swamp, Vin didn’t exactly have the highest of hopes for the final fragment they were planning to check.

Which meant the discovery of a regular, gentle-looking meadow fragment with scattered trees was almost enough to bring a tear to his eye.

“Don’t go celebrating just yet, remember the bug swarm fragment looked normal at first glance too,” Shia reminded them. Yet even she had a smile on her face as she gazed out into the serene fragment before turning to Lumel. “Can you warp us down? Just be ready to get us out at a moment’s notice.”

Nodding, Lumel did just that, teleporting them down into the fragment proper. Vin wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he’d already acknowledged the warning Beyond the Veil had given him or because he was fully intending to explore this fragment to ensure it was a good pick for the orcs and beastkin, but his usual notification appeared just as quickly and painlessly as ever.

Sixth ring fragment discovered! 3,000 exp gained.

Level up! Adventurer of the Arcane lvl 47!

+3 Attribute points to spend.

Slowly but surely, level 50 approaches, he thought, wondering briefly what his new Capstone would be once he finally got there. With how many times he’d nearly killed himself between reaching level 40 and now, he half wondered if it wouldn’t be yet another ability to help increase his odds of survival. Placing a point into dexterity to bring it to a nice round 30, he tossed the other two into magic and focus, nodding at the realization that his main two attributes were now sitting at 73 apiece. He’d come quite a long way from a magic attribute of 0, and he was more than a little proud of that fact.

While Shia wandered over to a nearby tree and began communicating with it, and Scule and Reginald hopped down and began poking at a curious ring of mushrooms, Vin took a look at his full System interface, admiring all the progress he’d made since that first day on Edregon a few months back.

Vinnie Stone

Adventurer of the Arcane: Lvl 47

Titles: Human Vessel (Lesser), Common Ally (Minor), Survivor, Epic Monster Slayer, Spell Weaver

Exp. 1,083,760/1,128,000

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 30

Endurance: 72

Vigor: 25

Focus: 73

Magic: 73

Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 2

Passive Points: 0

Class Ability: Beyond the Veil

Vows/Boons: Vow of Benevolence/Grace of Gods (Boon)

Capstones: Runic Recalibration, Flexible Formations

Passives: Mental Map, Polyglot, Distance Runner, Threat Detection, Iron Mind, Mana Well, Artifact Extraordinaire, Magical Adept, Spell Builder

Skills: Tracking lvl 12, Manacraft, Introspection lvl 20, Dungeoneering lvl 14, Total Resistance lvl 18, Running lvl 19, Cartography lvl 12, Drawing lvl 12, Swimming lvl 16

Tier 0 Spells: Sense Stone (earth), Sense Life (life), Sense Magic (neutral), Sense Curse (curse), Sense Air (air), Sense Dimensions (spatial), Sense Vibrations (vibration), Sense Death (death), Sense Fire (fire), Sense Water (water), Sense Soul (soul), Sense Gravity (gravity)

Tier 1 Spells: Renewal (life), Entangle (nature), Replenish (nature), Light (light), Summon Stone (earth), Concealment (neutral), Familiar Pheromones (nature), Whispering Wind (air), Create Water (water), Isolate Dimension (spatial), Tremorsense (vibration), Decay (death), Neutralize Poison (life), Detect Truth (soul), Create Flame (fire), Enhance Gravity (gravity), Create Air (air), Slow Fall (air), Protection from Fire (fire), Extinguish (fire), Still Wind (air), Firm Water (water), Vibrate (vibration)

Tier 2 Spells: Stone Shot (earth), Stone Wall (earth), Stone Shape (earth), Stone Furniture (earth), False Life (death), Dimensional Sheath (spatial), Aqua Sphere (water), Redirect Gravity (gravity), Fireball (fire), Create Cloud (air), Magic Lock (spatial), Self Destruct (fire), Replenishing Breath (air), Warmth (fire), Mage Hand (gravity), Tremorsight (vibration)

Tier 3 Spells: Binding (spatial)

“You doing alright?” Lumel asked, snapping him out of his reading as he realized she was giving him a concerned look. “You’re not worrying about having messed up your next prestige class, are you?”

“No, just taking a trip down memory lane,” he admitted, dismissing the massive list of spells he’d learned as he gave her a reassuring smile. “I don’t think I’m in any real danger just yet. I’ve made a good number of arcane discoveries already, including two grand ones that nearly got me killed. And while that number has gone down recently, that’s just because I’m taking it easy with Beyond the Veil like the Goddess told me. I doubt she would have given me advice if it would lead to me being unable to hit my next prestige, so I’m sure I’m fine. After I hit level 50 like the Goddess said, you better believe I’m going straight back to peering beyond every veil I can find!”

“Okay, maybe don’t go quite that crazy,” Lumel giggled. “Don’t forget the last two grand discoveries each put you in a coma. Maybe build your way up to those this time around.”

“That’s probably smart,” he smiled, surprising her by pulling her into a quick hug. “Thanks for worrying about me.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Of course,” she said, as if it was never in question. “It’s what lovemates… or, girlfriends, do!”

“Hey, Vin, if you’re done being all sappy and gross over there, mind coming and taking a look at this?” Scule asked, causing Lumel to blush and take a quick step back.

“Don’t worry about him, he’s just jealous,” Vin whispered, getting a quiet laugh out of her as they walked over. “What’s up? Something about the mushrooms? I thought you were immune to poison.”

“Well I’m not immune to magic,” Scule drawled, pointing at a puffy shroom that was larger than his own body. “Reginald’s getting a whiff of magic from it. I was curious if you could tell anything more.”

Nodding, Reginald pointed at the mushroom with his tail, making a big ‘x’ across his chest with his little arms as he squeaked a warning.

“Thanks, Reginald, I’m not going to touch it,” Vin promised, crouching down and narrowing his eyes at it. Just like Reginald thought, he could in fact feel magic radiating off the mushroom, but it wasn’t an affinity he’d felt before. That alone filled him with excitement, as it had been quite some time since he’d last discovered a new magical affinity.

“I don’t know what kind of magic this is,” he admitted, scratching his chin as he looked the mushroom over like he’d find the answer written on the side. “Why ask me instead of Shia? She’s kinda the plant-mage, right?”

“A common misconception,” Scule said, sniffing as he took on a tone that sounded like it belonged to an uptight scholar. “The uneducated commoner may not be aware, but mushrooms are different from plants. In fact, they are actually closer to animals than plants, meaning our Druid friend probably can’t do much more here than you can. Also, the last time I interrupted her when she was talking to a tree she threatened to fill my cape with birdseed while I slept.”

“Fair enough,” Vin said, trying to contain his laughter at the mental image of Scule running around screaming with birdseed spilling out of his cape with every step. “Lumel, have you felt this affinity before?”

“No, it’s new to me, though that’s not too surprising,” she admitted. “Other than my mother’s water and death affinities, I didn’t really experience many others back on my world.”

Reginald squeaked out a suggestion, and Vin and Scule both shot him pointed looks. “Reginald, that’s a terrible idea,” Vin said, at the same time Scule called the rat an idiot.

“What did he say?” Lumel asked, frowning as Reginald ran over to her and scurried up her robes, rubbing against her cheek and receiving reassuring pets. “Don’t you guys think you’re being a little harsh?”

“He said we should all try taking a bite and find out,” Vin explained.

“Oh… Yeah I’m sorry Reginald, that’s a pretty bad idea,” Lumel admitted, continuing to pet him nonetheless. Reginald squeaked a few more times, waving his tail back and forth, and Scule scoffed.

“Neutralize Poison won’t do us any good if the magic in the mushroom turns us into frogs, or blows us up, or who knows what! I think we should probably just leave it be.”

“Maybe… but a new affinity is too interesting to pass up,” Vin muttered, hesitating with himself before deciding it was worth the risk. He felt like the odds of the magic hidden within the mushroom being some grand arcane discovery were pretty slim, and he had leveled up a handful of times since he’d spoken with the Goddess. Using his class ability sparingly was probably fine, right?

Before he could talk himself out of it, Vin focused on the mushroom once more, looking Beyond the Veil like he’d done so many times in the past before nearly liquifying his entire body and getting a scolding from the Goddess. Toggling on his class ability felt easier than ever after spending so much time focusing on keeping it off, and he blinked as the mana contained within the mushroom revealed itself to him. It felt like it was heavy, as though the mana wanted to seep into his head and pull him into a warm slumber he wouldn’t ever want to wake up from.

“It’s… dream magic,” he said slowly, pulling himself back from the mushroom and sealing his class ability off once more. At the last moment, he thought he caught something moving out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to check, it was gone.

Minor arcane discovery! 1,000 exp gained.

“Dream magic?” Lumel repeated, looking more curiously at the mushroom. “I don’t think the palace library had even a single mention of that being a magical affinity.”

“I’ve certainly never heard of it in my travels,” he admitted, wondering about what he thought he saw for a moment before deciding to leave it be for now. “Shia! I know you’re making new friends, but you should come here! We’ve got something strange!”

“What is it?” she snapped, tearing herself away from the large tree as she stomped over. “I was getting some really interesting information, for the record, so this better be good.”

“That mushroom’s got dream magic,” Scule said, pointing at the puffy shroom.

“…What?” she asked, looking at the shroom herself. Flicking out her tongue, she grunted. “Well, that’s a weird taste I’ve never experienced before.”

Damn, I kinda want to know what dreams taste like… Vin thought, feeling jealous not for the first time of Shia’s ability to taste magic in the air.

“Did your master ever talk about dream magic?” he asked.

“No, but that doesn’t mean much. I know he kept plenty of things a secret from me for one reason or another,” Shia admitted. “Which means it’s either incredibly dangerous, or he thought it was stupid. Could really go either way.”

“Maybe we should actually explore this fragment before we get too hung up on this,” Lumel offered. “It seems perfectly livable, which means we’ll probably run into the people who live here soon enough. They might know about the mushrooms, or even dream magic as a whole.”

“Oh, that’s what I wanted to tell you guys about!” Shia said, snapping her fingers. “The tree I was just communing with. According to it, this land is filled with petians!”

“What?!” Scule gasped, spinning around and looking in all directions. “Are you serious? I was beginning to think we were unique to my own world!”

“I’m pretty sure,” Shia nodded. “Plants don’t exactly communicate with words, but I got the sense it was talking about tiny people about your size. I basically tried to think of an image of you and it responded with the tree equivalent of ‘eh, close enough.’”

“I can’t believe it, I’ve never met another petian that wasn’t from Tiny Town,” Scule admitted, looking decidedly nervous once the shock wore off. “Do you guys have any idea how weird it is to never meet someone else of your race that you didn’t already know? I grew up with everyone from my village in Tiny Town, so from the time I was old enough to go out on my own, I already knew I’d never meet a new petian.”

“That’s a strange thought,” Vin said, wondering how odd that had to feel. “Want to start exploring then? I’m sure you’re dying to meet them.”

“I’m about as excited as I am nervous,” Scule laughed, perhaps a tad too loudly as he scurried up onto his shoulder. “Though no point in putting it off I guess. “Not to mention if this fragment is home to petians, that’s good news for our mission! We don’t exactly take up all that much space, which means I bet the orcs and beastkin would have plenty of room to settle down.”

“That’s a good point,” Shia said, transforming her staff into Blossom and hopping on, letting Reginald scurry up onto her head as he began using the high vantage point to start looking for the petians as well. “Shall we?”

“Might as well,” Vin grinned as he helped Lumel onto his back, Scule and Reginald’s contagious excitement already hitting him as well. “Let’s go find us some tiny folk!”