Explorer of Edregon

New spell witnessed! Tier-5 Spatial Spell (Mass Recall).

Vin could only stare around the room in shock. Ovord’s declaration that he might be able to reconnect Alka back into the System was no longer the craziest thing that had happened to him in the past twenty fours hours. After spending as much time with Lumel as he had, Vin was well aware of the limitations to her magic. Teleporting a few people a quarter of a mile was about her maximum range. But if she’d just snapped them from the moss-covered fragment back to their own apartment…

She had just shifted them over thirty miles in barely over a minute.

“It worked!” Lumel said, leaping into the air and letting out an adorable cry of excitement. “I mean, I knew it would when the System told me I’d crafted the spell, but to actually see it work is amazing! I’ve been working on this for so long!”

“Lumel… we were three fragments away,” Vin said, staring at the pulmon in wonder. “How were you able to move us so far so fast? Even running through the Underside would take us a good while to cover that distance.”

“This is the culmination of all that time I spent studying down in the Underside,” she said, smiling wider than Vin had ever seen from her before. “You know how the Gods designed the Underside to be a failsafe for if anything happened to the fragments up above? Like how the infernals were all forcibly teleported down into the Underside when their fragment was ejected due to Madam Trebella punching a hole in reality and reaching out to the old System? The spell builds on those principles. The key is that it needs a very precise marking mechanism. I can only cast it with the destination being someplace I’m very familiar with.”

“I suppose that explains why we ended up in my bedroom,” Vin said, causing Lumel’s face to heat up as she nodded.

“Exactly. The biggest hurdle was that I had the framework of the spell worked out, but I couldn’t figure out how to make the transition cost-effective enough when it came to mana expenditure. The Gods are capable of throwing around so much mana that they don’t really need to worry about something like that. That’s where Leoture came in.”

“You managed to copy how mana slides off him,” Vin said slowly, piecing it together on his own. “Rather than punching through the fabric of reality like the Gods do, you’re more so sliding through it. Making the process harder, but less mana-intensive. Honestly, that’s genius.”

Rather than say anything, Lumel jumped into his arms, throwing her arms around him and kissing him hard enough that he stumbled until his back hit the wall. Just as quickly as she’d pounced on him, she pulled back, giving him a bright smile as she glowed.

“I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re able to keep up with my magic,” she said, laying a soft hand against his face. “And I couldn’t have done it without you and your abilities. Thank you, Vin. I never would have imagined I’d be the owner of a tier-5 spell.”

“I’ll admit I’m more than a little jealous,” Vin chuckled, giving her another kiss before gently placing her back on her feet. “Out of curiosity, does that mean you have a tier-4 spell you built this one off of?”

“Yes, I managed to get Recall working earlier, but the range wasn’t nearly as impressive. Moving the width of a single fragment drained all of my mana, and I was still restricted to only going places I was extremely familiar with.” Going blank-eyed for a moment, Lumel blinked, slowly shaking her head as she looked at presumably her own interface. “Wow… that was the single largest experience boost I’ve ever received. I’m level 53 now, which is almost as crazy as having my own tier-5 spell. Before Edregon, I was still working my way through the thirties. I can’t believe how far I’ve come in less than a year. I… I wish I could show my mother…”

“Lumel…” Vin said, immediately pulling her in close as her eyes started to water. He still thought it was a bit strange that pulmon biology included the ability to cry when they were pretty much a purely aquatic race, but he supposed there had to be a good reason for it. “I know it’s been a while since we last talked about it, but I stand by what I said ages ago. If you ever decide you want to return home for any reason, I’ll be with you every step of the way. I didn’t just invent Replenishing Breath or pick up the Swimming skill for no reason, you know.”

“I know, and I appreciate it,” Lumel said, sighing as she melted into his embrace. It sounded as though she’d managed to keep the tears from coming forth, but she didn’t pull away. “It’s just that my mother was always the person I showed my newest spells to. Even if a simple tier-2 or tier-3 didn’t mean much to the head of the Court Mages, she still took the time to be impressed. Usually. And I didn’t leave home. I was banished. I can’t just go back and say hi. The queen would use it as an excuse to have me executed.”

“She’d seriously do that? Despite you being her husband’s daughter? I mean, you made it quite clear how she felt about you, but executed?”

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“She’d do it in a heartbeat if she got the chance,” Lumel said, and Vin could practically feel her frown. “What makes it all the worse is that she’s actually a very good leader. Even better than my father. She’s kind to the people, makes intelligent decisions, and acts well in an emergency. As far as I know I’m the one person in the entire kingdom she couldn’t stand, just because I was a constant reminder of the king’s infidelity.”

“Well. That’s her loss,” Vin finished with lamely, earning a snort from Lumel as she gave him one last kiss before stepping back. “Anyway, it’s nearly dinner time. Want to grab a bite to eat and then call it a night? I can use Dream Walk to let the others know we’re good to pick up where we left off. We still have five more fragments to get through.”

“That sounds nice,” Lumel smiled. Squeezing his hand, she surprised him by letting go and motioning for him to stay put with a small smile. “Give me a minute to get ready in my room. And no peeking!”

Vin had almost managed to forget that he was arguably the most famous person in all of Terra, right up until he and Lumel tried to have a normal night out at one of Terra’s fine dining establishments. It wasn’t the first time they’d gone out to eat, but they usually ended up going out at odd hours where most people were busy training or sleeping, and they picked the less-popular spots. For once, the restaurant was bustling with people, all of whom were more than a little excited to suddenly find themselves sharing the same venue as The Roamer and his elusive girlfriend.

“Would you rather we go somewhere else?” Vin asked, doing his best to ignore the dozens of stares he could all but feel stabbing into his back. “I’m not opposed to snagging a meal to go and eating in the apartment.”

“I went through all the effort to actually try on one of the outfits Becca helped me with,” Lumel said, her face flushed but determined as she gripped his hand from across the small table. “We’re not going anywhere.”

“If that’s what you want… Just don’t push yourself,” Vin said, squeezing her hand reassuringly as he admired her yet again. Becca had truly shown her skill not only as a Tailor, but a fashion expert, somehow managing to both nail Lumel’s comfort zone while still giving her wardrobe a distinct change like the pulmon wanted.

Lumel’s usual baggy, dark robes had been swapped out with an interesting outfit that didn’t look a thing like any attire Vin had ever seen back on Earth. While he’d waited, she’d changed into a light gray dress that draped all the way down to the floor, and had an attached hood almost like a cloak that billowed out behind her, adding an additional layer of fabric she could choose to hide within if the need arose. While most of her body was still covered, her face and arms were fully exposed, which was a first as far as Vin could recall.

The light gray outfit paired beautifully with her soft lavender skin, and Vin couldn’t help but smile as he looked at her. “You look fantastic, for the record. I’m proud of you for getting out of your comfort zone a little.”

“Thank you. That means a lot,” she said, returning his smile. Taking a deep breath, she held it for a few seconds before letting it out, calming some of her jitters. “I always wanted to do stuff like this with you, and using the tier-5 spell as an excuse to finally take the plunge seemed like a good idea.”

“We never need an excuse to go on a legitimate date,” Vin chuckled. “I know we’re usually busy running around Edregon or working on magic, but taking an evening off now and again won’t kill us.”

“The issue is I honestly prefer spending the night in and working on magic, just the two of us,” Lumel said, smiling sheepishly as he laughed. “It’s just so much fun!”

“Hey, no arguments here,” he nodded, lighting up as one of the Big Three approached them with their meals. “Huh, I sort of figured the Chefs had others to help with this sort of thing.”

“Vin… They do. It’s because you’re you,” Lumel whispered, smiling as the Chef reached them.

“Vin! It is good to finally have you grace my establishment!” the Chef said, beaming as he looked between the two of them. He was a tall, portly man with a waxed mustache and rosy cheeks that almost made Vin think of Santa oddly enough. “And might I say, your date looks positively ravishing this evening!”

“Thank you, I’m glad to get the chance as well. After hearing how much Scule’s family enjoyed your baked goods, I knew I had to try your food for myself sooner or later.”

“Oh ho, the Roamer is a flatterer, who knew!” the Chef laughed, placing their plates down with a grin. “I will not take up any more of the couple's wonderful evening. Please, enjoy the treasures!”

“I forgot about that,” Lumel admitted while the Chef bowed and walked away. The pulmon licked her lips eagerly as she devoured the steamed fish on her plate with her eyes. “You had the Big Three make some petian-sized desserts for Scule’s family, right?”

“Yeah, I challenged them all to a contest without any warning whatsoever,” he chuckled, remembering the fire that burned in each of the Big Three’s eyes when he made his request. “You would have thought I’d told them there was a child trapped in a burning building by how they all leapt into action. If there’s one thing that motivates them, it’s being better than their fellow competitors. In fact, part of me is worried we’re going to have to make sure we stop at the other two preferred restaurants soon before some sort of inner-cooking war takes off just because we visited this one and not the others.”

“We never need an excuse to go on a legitimate date,” Lumel teased, parroting his words back at him before stabbing a piece of fish with her fork and blowing on it. But rather than try it for herself, she surprised him by leaning forward and holding it up for him to sample.

“You do realize this is going to be front-page news in the paper tomorrow, right?” Vin asked, raising an eyebrow as he smiled at his blushing date.

“For once, I don’t care what anyone else thinks,” Lumel said firmly, her eyes never leaving his own as she ignored all the onlookers and the continuous whispers going on around them. “I’m here to enjoy a night with my lifemate, and I’ll be damned if anyone else gets in the way.”

“I can get behind that,” Vin said, silently casting Still Wind and silencing the whispers as a bubble of calm swirled up around them. Leaning forward, he happily accepted the grilled fish, before groaning as the fish melted apart against his tongue like it was a piece of butter.

“Oh my God,” he exclaimed, swallowing hard as he began to salivate in earnest. “No more being cute, you’ve got to try this thing! It’s stupid to say this in hindsight, but why didn’t anyone tell me high-level Chefs could make food that tasted so good?!”