The group rode on a cart being pulled by two horses who had to be coaxed into the journey. According to Arikan they were horses that had the temperament of mules. Kiresula looked around and, as they were travelling, noticing things based on her passive skills she had never noticed when she still was an [Ice Mage]. She never realised how distinct the plant life was and how much of it could, in particular circumstances, be useful. Mayana and Kiresula were close to each other, holding hands and calming each other about the oncoming excursion to the grounds of the Black Waters. Kju and Shtiljit were talking about how to take down a groundsnarler with gravitation class abilities which both of them had.
They followed a path that followed a river. The path used to be a main road but time and neglect had made it fall both into disrepair and to the vegetation and wildlife. Once, the group actually had to wait because a cow was grazing on the grassy remains of the road. Arikan was about to throw a fireball when the animal decided it had been in the way for too long and trotted off.
Shtiljit smiled mischievously at Kju and quietly said: “And in a pinch, this can also be done,” which Kju reacted to with a raised eyebrow.
Eventually, Kiresula asked the group to stop and to proceed on foot. The synthic magic became thicker than what she was able to compensate for while the cart was in motion.
The horses were treated to a nice rest and delicious treats before the group departed for synthically affected area. Kiresula’s mood immediately improved as soon as they were moving on foot. She had not been grumpy before, but there was something about walking that resonated with her - or with her Seferian Mage class - in a way sitting in a vehicle could never even aspire to. She was practically glowing – and eventually literally so, in order to keep being able to use synthic recovery. She also had cast [Freedom of Movement] on the entire group and waited how long it would take the group to notice that something was at odds. It took surprisingly long. Only when the road became more muddy and under normal circumstances hard to travel on did Arikan stop, look down in confusion and then in a confused manner ask: “Is the ground weird for anyone else?”
Kiresula giggled: “Are you sure that it is the ground that is strange? It could be a spell effect.”
Arikan stopped, put a hand on her left shoulder and stared at her: “Have you put a spell on me despite being a glitchling?”
Kiresula was shocked and stammered: “Well, not really. Technically, the spell affects your shoes, not your body. That is how it works despite you not being a glitchling.”
Arikan stared at her: “Never do something like that to me or my possessions ever again! Seriously! I don’t understand you and you doing such strange things to me is not building our trust!”
Kiresula shook: “I am sorry. I will tell you next time. I will need to cast spells as I cannot accumulate broken magic when I am at capacity, but I will let you know. It’s also why I keep my glow up. But I admit, casting it on someone who didn’t expect it was not a good practice.”
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Arikan looked at her seriously: “In a life or death situation, we need to trust each other, not assume that someone might have done something shady. Understood?”
Kiresula nodded. “Understood. Do you want me to keep it up?”
Arikan nodded: “Yeah, please do! It was not a bad spell, if I knew about it, it just interferes with my own skills to perceive movement by how the ground is impacted.”
A while later, they encountered the supposed border of the Black Waters: There were signs in Mainlandish and Je-ashvehanu urging people to avoid the area due to broken magic. These signs were half-claimed by the vegetation. A mana barrier used to stand there, which Kiresula could notice by how vegetation that normally would climb other plants, buildings or a random magical barrier that just happened to be around, was on the floor in bunches and started to grow from there. She could see a line of the vegetation on the ground where the magical barrier once was. It was clear that nothing and no one was guarding the area around here. Anyone who would would have glitched a long time already.
The glitchlings kept looking out for groundsnarlers, but it was Arikan who found them first. He threw fireballs at the creatures and then Kiresula and Mayana jumped forward and striked or slashed at the creature to get some experience. After the groundsnarlers had been defeated, the two returned to the group. With the next encounter of monsters, it was Mayana and Kju who rushed to put the creatures out of their misery. The groups always rotated in order to make sure that one of them was always around the non-glitchlings while the others gained some experience attacking the monsters. The groundsnarlers were ubiquitous and from what the group saw, the groundsnarlers had been an immense menace to nearby farmers and communities. Kiresula had to point out a piece of cloth on the ground that looked relatively new, not as fallen to the elements as any other objects in the area were. Investigating the cloth, it seemed to be a colourfully embroidered shirt of a young boy. As Kiresula saw that, she felt seriously ill. Mayana sobbed into her shoulder and murmured: “This motive… that is what they put on the shirts of young boys. Not even of school age!”
Kju saw it and said in a dry manner: “Maybe a groundsnarler got stuck in a laundry line? At least I hope that this is the case! It beats the alternatives!”
They all agreed on that.
The rest of the day was surprisingly tedious: the glitchlings could do little else than shield the others from broken magic and do a token effort against the groundsnarlers. It was only in the afternoon when Shitljit asked why they were running to the dying creatures and Kiresula mentioned ‘Experience’ that they understood. The next groundsnarler was held down by Shtiljit’s gravity magic and then killed by Mayana, who gained two levels from this. Then Kju smacked a groundsnarler, that Shtiljit held in place, using his own gravity magic until it expired and gained two levels in his secondary class and drained his stamina. Eventually, it was Kiresula’s turn and she was nervous and afraid.
She could have avoided this at any time, but still, she stepped forward. As the groundsnarler was restrained, she approached and threw [Ice Strike]s and [Fire Strike]s at the enemy. Her Strikes made little difference. Her Might was too low to actively damage the creature. Her [Bite of the Elemental Beetle]s hit the creature’s eyes and inside of the nose. She ran out of magic occasionally, but topped it off with ambient magic easily. She had lost count of how many grains of time had passed. She was not exhausted from the many attacks, but at the same time, she was mentally tired, feeling like staring into the face of futility. It felt like the creature was completely unharmed from anything she did. Suddenly, she was struck by inspiration and used [Move Soil] to cover the creature’s nose and mouth with dirt. It tried to break free, but the gravitation magic held it in place. It had quite the fortitude so it took until the creature was almost completely covered until the death notification arrived.