When Lanek roused himself in the morning and prepared his breakfast of smoked meat and pemmican, he saw that Ograch and Liv had already left the shelter. However, he sat and ate his meal rather than join them. He was in a foul mood, as was often the case in the mornings ever since coming to this world. You would think that after all this time I would be used to not having coffee, but nope. Still sucks. I’d be alright with a decent tea, but no luck there either.

Lanek had even taken a few opportunities to discuss this with his companions and the rest of the people at the Talon, but that had not been proved fruitful. The orcs and goblins had simply looked at him strangely and told him to speak to the shamans who recommended things like yarrow and pine needle tea. These recommendations had then been followed up with them asking him if he was ill which was followed in turn with odd looks when he said he was looking for something to drink for pleasure.

Talking to Liv and Lira had confirmed that non-medicinal teas and even something very similar to coffee existed, but neither of them knew how to cultivate it. Liv had mentioned that her village’s chieftain had a taste for tea of some sort and his household had grown and shared it with the rest of the village in the winter. Defeated, Lanek had resigned himself to not getting his wish for a familiar warm beverage in the morning for the foreseeable future. For the most part, his traveling companions were familiar with his morning funk and let him be since he didn’t take it out on them and he wouldn’t let it interfere with their schedules.

After brooding for about ten minutes and finishing his meal, he walked out of the shelter. He briefly considered trying to collapse the shelter, but when he tried to use [Nature’s Rampart] it informed him that the seeds would not be returned, which was expected. Reasoning that they might need the shelter again and that maybe a traveler or animal could use it later, he simply left it where it was.

“So, any luck guys?” Lanek said while looking at Kazuma and Sanguineus. To his surprise, the cat sent an affirmative over their link. Informing the rest of the party, Lanek gestured for Kazuma to lead the way, which the big furball did all while exuding a sense of superiority. While Kazuma often had these smug moments, it was confusing for a moment until he felt a sense of irritation from Sanguineus. Ah, so it was a competition.

Rather than follow the road, Kazuma set off to the southeast and cut through overgrown fields. Thinking back to the map he had studied, it seemed like they were heading toward one of the villages that was furthest from the crossroads. Yeah, I’m glad they went exploring last night. If we had checked every village it would have taken a day or two to get to this one.

“Hey, Lanek!” Liv called from Yuri’s back. “Is it only weapons and armor you can get from the Mark?”

“Nope, there is stuff like clothing, bags, and other stuff like that. I just haven’t had the luxury of having enough stones to shop around that much. You looking for something specific?”

“I was just thinking how it would be nice to have something like that purifying water bottle you have.”

“Ah, I can take a look the next time I’m using the Mark. I don’t think I mentioned this, but you can also upgrade items you get from it. Don’t ask me how much it costs, what kind of upgrades you can get, or if it applies to everything. I have no idea because, again, I haven’t really had much to spare in terms of reward stones.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Liv replied before focusing on their surroundings again.

As they neared the village, Kazuma slowed down and sniffed at the air, alarm coming off of him in waves. The big cat turned to Sanguineus and shared a look before the pair started to slink toward the small cluster of ruined buildings in the distance.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“You can call them back. The village is clear, but there were gaunts here recently.” Pharaoh announced.

Lanek called the pair back to rejoin the group. “How do you know?”

“I’ve had to dodge them for so many centuries at this point that I can just kind of feel them now. I don’t have a skill for it or anything, its just a tense feeling that I get.” Replied the tressym.

“Could it be because you have a soul-affinity?”

“I guess, but why would you think that?” Asked the cat, puzzled.

Lanek relayed his encounter with the evolved gaunt and how he discovered that it was tied to the lesser gaunts via some sort of soul connection. He also mentioned how he only felt it when he was close to the greater gaunt.

“Maybe you have a stronger soul affinity than I do or your spirit attribute is much higher so you can feel them from a greater distance.” Lanek concluded.

The winged cat looked pensively into the distance before responding. “That could be it. I’ll have to pass this on to my kin. There are several elders with the same affinity as myself and some promising kits that could develop it. If what you say proves true, then it would be an invaluable asset when it comes to sentry duty and patrols.”

“Have these elders not felt it?”

“They wouldn’t have had much opportunity. Out of all of my people, I’m the only one that leaves the dungeon with any kind of regularity. So, unless gaunts got into the Depths, they would never end up discovering this connection.”

Lanek raised his voice and spoke to the whole group. “Okay, so it seems like gaunts were here recently. Pharaoh sensed their presence. They aren’t around at the moment, but it doesn’t bode well that they are in the area. I’m betting they are trying to destroy Invidros’ shrine. We need to get there and guard it while Lira speaks with him.”

“Why do you think they are after the shrine? Do they know what we are planning?” Ograch asked.

“Unlikely.” Liv responded. “I don’t know a lot about the Primordials, but the priests back home taught us that the Primordials of the Storm, Tides, and Flame as the three most violent of their kind. The stories I was told said that they were responsible for protecting the world from outside threats, such as those from the Abyss, Void, Pit, and the Hells. I think there were other warlike Primordials, but those three were the most prominent.”

“So they are probably just trying to destroy a place of power, no matter how minor, of one of their main foes? Dammit, they have probably been systematically hunting down the places of power for centuries if that’s the case.” Ograch snarled. “Weakening the greater powers to pave the path for the rest of the invasion. It would definitely corroborate the story that gaunt told you, Lanek.”

“Yeah, unfortunately. Are you guys ready to go in? I would like to build some defenses once we get there, but I’m not sure how much I can do with what I have on me.”

“Go get started, then. I’ll take Kazuma and Sanguineus to collect material for you. I can spot them quite easily and those two can carry them back to you.” Pharaoh said. “Just reach out to one of them when needed and we’ll rush back to the village.”

Not surprised that the tressym could speak with his companions, Lanek acquiesced. While Pharaoh left with the wolf and big cat in tow, the rest of the party rushed to the ruins of the village. The shrine was easy to spot seeing as it was in the middle of what was once a fountain in the village square. The fountain itself was cracked and empty, but the shrine itself appeared whole.

The shrine reminded Lanek of the hokora that he had seen alongside some roads when he had visited Japan. He had even spotted some in the woods and in the mountains while hiking during his visit. His guide had told him that they were usually used to enshrine spirits or gods that were not associated with the larger shrines. Emblazoned upon the shrine were what he assumed to be the symbol of Invidros, a cloud releasing rain and lightning.

Upon arriving, Lanek focused on [Nature’s Rampart] and started circling around the fountain while distributing what little seeds he had left. If nothing else, he was determined to create a solid structure surrounding the shrine in its entirety with the only access being a single doorway. Liv and Ograch immediately took up guard positions atop their mounts while Ivan leapt toward the rubble with his chisel in hand. They knew better than to ask what he was up to as time was of the essence, but judging from Ivan’s smile, it was clear that whatever he was doing would be nasty for the gaunts.

Ivan had seen the possibilities as soon as they entered the area, carving explosive runes into some of the piles of rubble that he could detonate from a distance. His hope was that by having enough explosive runes in the rubble he would be able to turn the pile into a massive landmine complete with shrapnel. He would have loved to be able to be able to thoroughly mine the area, but that would take more mana than he had and he didn’t have any cores as they were all being hoarded for future evolutions of the people of the Talon.

The lothenae reached into his pack after carving the last of the runes that his mana would support and donned his only weapons, a pair of metal gauntlets that he had empowered himself. All along the gauntlets were runes that would enhance his strikes with more power. Additionally, he had experimented with a new rune that would be deadly if it worked as intended.

Ivan grinned to himself as he rejoined his companions. This experiment had the potential to be thoroughly entertaining.