The way back to Gaber was entirely peaceful. It might have been due to the cleansing of the Shadow Cleft, or simply because the undead needed more time to return, but either way, nothing even tried to bother us.

As on our way towards the Shadow Cleft, Mal, Gilo and I discussed Alchemy on the way back. Only now, Mal and Gilo were much more interested in the way I used my spells, especially the larger formations I had used to create the fortifications. They hadn’t missed that using so much Astral Power was similar, on a technical level, to the divine Ritual the Clerics had used and the implications they drew from it were clear. If you wanted to change the world, Rituals were the way to go.

Not that I disagreed, it was a simple function of power channelled over time, the more power you wanted to use, the more time you needed to invest. No matter what, there was only so much power I could draw from the Astral River in a given time. Any improvement in magical efficiency, for example by using the connecting runes of the Dwarves, just increased the percentage of Power applied in the desired manner. Lesser efficiency could be compensated with more power, and Rituals were all about slowly building up massive amounts of power.

To them, a ritual equivalent to slowly empower an alchemical product would allow incredible efficiency. Their idea sounded somewhat plausible, and I had a great time discussing it, even as I had to repeatedly shoot their suggestions down, simply due to the way magic worked.

Channelled Astral Power didn’t like to remain within the physical plane, it returned to the Astral River unless there were special circumstances involved. Ice-Magic, and any other magic that created seemingly permanent items like Earth- or Metal-Magic, only created semi-permanent items, they slowly faded back into the Astral. How quickly that happened depended on a variety of factors, but outside a single type of material, it seemed to hold true. That single type was truly condensed Astral Power, something like the Eternal Ember we had discovered near Kolyug or the Eternal Ice we had found beneath the glacier. Or that I had made my crown out of.

While not immediately fruitful, the discussions allowed us to quickly pass the time and gave me a few ideas of my own. Previously, I had once used the Astral Power bound within Eternal Ice to create a spell far beyond my capabilities at the time. Granted, there had been a backlash, but it had worked. That, in turn, meant that if I got my hands on the right materials, materials that either had innate Astral Power, similar to the reagents used in Alchemy or had Astral Power channelled and stored within them, I might be able to with the latest trait I had gained, new doors would open for me.

The simple part would be, to use stored Astral Power to increase the amount of Power I could access at a time, it would have to be stored shortly before I wanted to use it, meaning there were some logistic problems, but those could be overcome.

The truly interesting part was that using outside materials would allow me to use types of Astral Power I had no affinity with, without having to use extraordinary amounts of effort and with horrendous efficiency. What would happen, if I were to infuse Astral Power aligned with Metal or with Gems into a working of Ice? Would the Ice become even harder, could I make some sort of metallic, bendable Ice? There were interesting questions I might want to explore. Or some sort of Life-aligned Astral Power, infused into Blood Magic, in an effort to compensate for the Miasma? Questions, so many questions, all begging me to explore them. But so little time, so few resources, I simply couldn’t even begin to work on them.

When we got back to Gaber, Kirl asked us that we all head to the Guild first, so the official procedure was taken care of. During our Journey, she had been torn between exuberantly happy, boiling with excitement at being able to completely cleanse the Shadow Cleft and pensive, glancing my way from time to time, maybe due to the risk she had put the Group under. The battle had been a lot closer than anyone wanted to admit and it could have ended very differently. Maybe realising that she had almost condemned the whole party to death, due to her zeal. The Shadow Cleft had been purified in the past, without any incidents, but she had pushed for it to be fully cleansed, leading to the appearance of the Skeleton Lord.

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Entering the Guild, Weise looked up from the counter and immediately perked up, a happy smile on his face.

“You’re all back. The purification was a success?” he asked, and Kirl stepped up.

“In a sense.” she replied, pride radiating from her straight back, “Not only was the Shadow Cleft purified, after the extraordinary efforts of these people, I decided to hold the ritual at a higher circle, increasing the effect by an order of magnitude.” she proudly announced.

“We succeeded, despite the Undead making a massive effort to stop us. And when the radiant light of dawn met the gentle light of the moon, the Shadow Cleft was cleansed. Not merely purified, to fester once again, but fully and utterly cleansed, the taint on the land washed away.” she explained, before proudly adding.

“The Shadow Cleft is no more.”

For a moment, Weise stared at her, before his eyes flashed downwards, where he was likely seeing a blue box. A moment passed, before his mouth curled into a wide smile.

“Extraordinary.” he declared, “And all three clerics are safe and sound. Great.” he nodded, looking almost a little giddy.

Before me, a blue box appeared, as he pulled two purses from beneath the counter. Giving it a quick glance, I nodded to myself, reading that the Quest, “Purification of the Shadow-Cleft - Escort” had been completed, including the hidden bonus objective. As a reward, we received a greatly boosted amount of EXP, in addition to a large amount of Merit with the Adventurers’ Guild.

There was a ding that resounded through my mind, as a massive amount of EXP pushed me up yet another level, to hundred-sixteen.

“I will prepare the introduction letter right away. Here’s the money you were promised.” Weise announced, already fiddling around with some paper and a feather pen.

“If you are interested, there is another Quest that needs to be taken care of,” Weise told us, as he was writing the letter, his hand flying across the paper in an impossibly speedy fashion. As he spoke, a blue window appeared before me. From the glances of the others, the same had appeared before all of us.

Quest Alert! Exploring the Shadows Quest Difficulty Hard Unnatural Shadows have been drifting from the Dorrian Mountains. Explore what hides within them and report back to the Adventurers’ Guild in Gaber. Quest Reward 10 gold-coins

“I’m afraid we’ll have to decline.” I decided, my heart bleeding as I declined the Chain-Quest. If not for the simple fact that I had an objective to accomplish, that I wanted to see the quest with the Soul Prison through, I would have pursued this quest-chain, simply because it might be the one that would, eventually, see the Dorrian Mountains cleansed.

“I see. Regrettable, what about you?” he asked, looking at Jakyl and the others.

There were a couple of looks shared between their group before a nod was given.

“We will take the quest. It might take us a couple of days, but this doesn’t sound too time-sensitive, right?” Mal asked, looking rather eager.

“No, it’s not time-sensitive, take as much as you need,” Weise replied.

“Ah, here’s your letter.” He pushed the money and letter to Adra.

“Thank you for the service you’ve done for our town. People will hear about the great deed you did. Really, thank you.” he told her, looking almost teary-eyed.

“I, too, have to thank you. If not for you, we’d have never been able to even try the ritual. The last time we purified the Cleft, we Clerics had to actively support the group escorting us, not like this time, where we actually felt safe. You have my gratitude, and I pray to the Gods that they will watch over you, Travellers.” Kirl added, giving a deep bow to us, together with her fellow Clerics.

“Walk under the moon, Sister Kirl.” Olivia returned the bow and, feeling that it was appropriate, I mirrored her, as did the others.

“Now, why don’t I tell you all about the circumstances you are heading into?” Weise asked, focused on the other group.

With another round of goodbyes, my group left the Guild, heading towards the Tavern. For once, the looks I was getting on the street were those of respect and admiration. It was an oddly satisfying experience.