“That’s an incredibly useful ability to have,” Stella said, observing Lydia’s eyes carefully. “Any downsides to it? Headaches? Mana cost? Exhaustion?” she asked, gesturing toward her head.
Lydia brought up her status window and, as she observed it, tried to get a good feel for her own body’s condition. After a couple of minutes of silence, Lydia finally spoke, an odd expression marring her face.
“Not sure,” she finally said. “I do feel something is being spent, but I don’t know what it is. It’s subtle. I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
Stella nodded at her response, understanding that it might be difficult to grasp. “How about its function? Does it depend on the person? How they answer? Or is it universal?” Stella went silent for a moment. “Could the glow you see be dimmer depending on some internal factor, like their belief or conviction?”
“We would have to do some further testing if we want to answer any of those questions, with someone we can trust,” Lydia said, considering Stella’s questions.
“Why not me? I’m right here,” Stella said, gesturing with her arms wide open. “We can keep the questions to certain—”
Lydia made an uncomfortable expression and cut Stella off before she could continue any further. “You won’t be helpful. Sorry,” she said, trying to sound polite.
Stella furrowed her brow, and before she could ask why she wouldn’t be helpful, Lydia continued speaking.
“There’s a reason I stopped people on our way to your office and didn’t just wait to ask you questions here,” she said, beginning her explanation. “Everyone has a glow already. Its intensity only varies depending on the person. However,” she continued as she pointed at Stella, “you and your friends don’t.”
Stella blinked in surprise. “What does that mean?” she asked, her curiosity piqued. “Does your ability not work on us, or is it something else?”
“I think it has to do with whatever you did to cut off my connection with the God of Abundance,” Lydia replied, pointing toward the sky. “Whatever you did, I suspect that it isn’t unique to you and that probably all four of you can do it.”
“Eric?” Stella said, with a questioning gaze.
“My thoughts exactly,” Lydia said with a nod. “Whatever he did to block the gods must’ve rubbed off on you. But I do think that my skill is plenty useful already.”
“Another question,” Stella began. “Is it only lies that your eyes can show you?”
“It’s not lies, its more abstract than that—”
“But functionally, it is a lie detector skill, right?” Stella said, cutting Lydia off.
“Functionally? Yes, unless the lie follows the golden path, which... I’m not entirely sure what that means,” Lydia said, unsure of her answer.
“Great. You will be incredibly useful now that we have to really prepare,” Stella said, adjusting her posture on her chair, placing her hands flat on the desk as she got ready to stand. “What were they again? Ratsvalch, the leviathans,” she began, raising a finger for each one, “and, uh, what was the last one that Alex mentioned?”
“The great Krisk.”
“Right, that. We better get to it,” Stella said, her expression steeled with determination.
“Where do we start?” Lydia asked.
“Where else? We start by getting stronger,” Stella answered, puzzled to have received what she considered to be a question with an obvious answer. She then got up and walked toward the door.
Lydia blinked in surprise but nodded in acceptance. She was about to leave, following closely behind Stella, when a question popped into her head. “Aren’t you worried?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
Stella stopped, her hand about to push the door open, and turned to face Lydia. “About?”
“Your friend, Eric,” Lydia said, tension in her voice. “You only know that he’s alive. You don’t know where he is or how he’s doing. He could be in serious trouble, for all you know. So, aren’t you worried about him?”
Stella paused for a second and only for a second. “No,” she said. There was absolutely no hesitation in her voice. Her answer was full of certainty, and her firm gaze confirmed her belief. “Is that all?” Stella asked, her hand still ready to push the door open.
Lydia was astonished by how sure she was. Something within her pushed her to follow Stella. It also buried whatever part of her wanted to devote herself to a god even deeper. “Yes, if that’s enough for you, then it’s enough for me. Let’s go,” Lydia said, feeling more assured.
----------
Deep within the forest, two figures walked side by side.
“Completely normal?!” Alex exclaimed in disbelief, his eyes wide. “Are you sure? You literally came back from the dead; you can’t just feel normal. That doesn’t feel... right?”
Tony shrugged, his expression casual despite the weight of the conversation. “Don’t know what to tell you. I feel damp, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because of the wet earth I was buried in, and not because I came back to life.”
“And you didn’t have a one-on-one like Lydia did?” Alex asked, his expression still full of surprise. “No idea as to why you were brought back?”
Tony shook his head. “None,” he said, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice. “I feel... lost, like I’m not who I was. Though, oddly enough, I don’t think it has anything to do with my death.” He brought his status window and shared it with Alex.
“Nature’s Scion.” Alex muttered, reading Tony’s class. “Sounds important. Feel a need to go anywhere or do anything?”
Tony sighed. “Not anymore,” he answered.
Alex tilted his head, picking up on the unspoken part of Tony’s answer. “Anymore?”
“When I woke up, I did,” Tony began, fidgeting with his hands. “There was this pull, like I had to be somewhere and do something. But after I went to the warehouse, that feeling kind of... disappeared. Now I just want to find out what I can do and how I can help. Is that bad?” he asked with caution, feeling a strange tinge of guilt for not feeling more conflicted after losing his purpose. He only had it for a short period, but it felt important.
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“Not really. Do what you have to and, most importantly, what you want to.” Alex said, patting Tony on the back. “Just take a shower before you actually start working.”
After a small commotion, Tony seamlessly integrated into the carpentry and forestry teams. He wanted to do both because he felt a connection to nature and wanted to be among them, and he also felt that he would be the best when it came to woodworking. He was sure that if it was related to nature, then he would be the best at it.
Alex left him to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. He would’ve stayed, but what Tony told him resonated with him on a deeper level.
He began to feel shame at the fact that he left in search of a purpose, dropping all his responsibilities on Stella and leaving her to deal with everything that happened. Especially since he already had a purpose. He made his way back to the center of Solace. As he walked, people greeted him, some out of politeness and others out of gratitude.
“This,” Alex muttered with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “This is my purpose.”
With arms on his hips, he observed the busy crowd. Kids running errands, literally running from one place to the other. A line formed outside the dungeon, with the teams being formed by both people from the university and people from the city.
New workers had taken over the supply storage, with the new security now guarding them. They were less, but they somehow felt like more.
A smile fully formed on Alex’s face. “I have to get stronger to protect them,” he said quietly to himself, “and anyone else who might come.” He took a deep breath, feeling the weight of his resolve settle in his chest. “Don’t worry Eric, this place will be fine.”
With renewed determination, Alex stepped into the bustling crowd, ready to do whatever it took to help.
----------
After rushing to get food for Anna and Connor, Marcus was pulling the generator into the workshop with difficulty. While his level was high, it was mostly geared toward intelligence and dexterity. He completely ignored vitality and constitution, depending completely on his bloodline.
“Now, to get started, but first,” he said, glancing around the room.
He searched every corner of the workshop frantically, until finally, he found his notebook hidden under some dirty clothes.
Flipping through the pages furiously, he stopped when he found a page with schematics and a very skilled drawing of a mana stone. He moved toward a table to better examine his work.
The schematics were incredibly detailed. While he couldn’t power the generator, he did conduct a thorough investigation of it. On the notebook was a detailed drawing of every piece that made it up, along with a brief text that described what he thought each part did.
After studying the first notebook, Marcus got up and picked up another one, this one was on top of another desk and far easier to access. He flipped the pages more carefully this time. There was only one image, a random mana stone that he had gotten his hands on.
The mana stone notebook was full of text and even some formulas. The formulas were mostly electrical ones that he tried to apply and adapt to use mana instead of electricity. He had also created his own unit by which to measure mana.
Bringing out a third notebook, he quickly shifted from one notebook to the other. Combining both works into one, gaining small insights as he did so.
He paused for a moment and took out one of the mana stones that he had gotten from Alex. He observed it carefully, then he began his experiments.
First, using his own unit of measurement, he began to evaluate the stone’s capacity. He brought out various devices he had made and began to fill them with mana from the stone.
Once he was finished measuring the stones he had with him, both the ones that Alex had given him and some that he had laying around, he once again began to shift his attention between the two notebooks.
At some point he stopped and ran out toward Stella’s office, finding it empty. After some rummaging, he quickly went back to the workshop with some papers in hand. These were the same papers that Eric used to draw the magic circles he had seen when he upgraded the dungeon.
While he quickly resumed his writing and even began experimenting with the generator, progress was still incredibly slow. He was working with a new source of energy, and he had to find a way to not only make it work but also ensure that he didn’t risk disaster.
Slowly, the third notebook was becoming full as he deepened his understanding of the mana stones Alex had provided and as he encountered glimpses that would guide him toward the possibility of integrating the magic circles as well.
“If I can increase mana regeneration, I won’t even need mana stones,” he said while observing the stone on his hand. “At the very least, the amount needed would be less, like rechargeable batteries.”
His mind raced with possibilities. He could already imagine himself engraving magic circles into mana stones. His imagination went as far as to envision every electronic device now working with mana, and as long as mana was available, it would essentially become a wireless power source.
A smile spread across Marcus's face, solidifying his excitement and reflecting not just his personal ambitions but also his hopes for Solace's advancement.
“You’re going to be surprised when you come back,” he muttered to the air, the smile unchanged.
----------
Anna sat with her back against the wall, rubbing her hands together to remove any leftover crumbs as she chewed the last remnants of her breakfast. She exchanged a silent look with Connor, a simple nod passing between them, and neither felt the need to speak.
With a focused expression, Anna lifted her sword, holding it horizontally at eye level. She examined the blade carefully, finally having the time to analyze its condition and the reason why it had recovered the way that it did.
Even directly after her encounter with the red goblin, the sword’s hilt had remained mostly intact, the blade on the other hand, was a completely different matter.
The blade was marred by significant cracks and missing pieces—some near the edge, others closer to the center.
Now, though, the sword had recovered somewhat. Most of the larger missing chunks that weren’t near the edge of the blade had been restored, leaving it looking like a heavily dented blade that simply needed sharpening.
She didn’t need to think deeply about the reason why the sword had recovered, she had only done one unique thing between the last time she saw her sword and now.
“Concept,” she muttered under her breath.
The only thing she had done was wield her sword and coat it in the concept of sharpness.
“I’ve done it so many times before already, so what was different this time?” Anna asked herself in a low voice, not caring that others might hear, but still cautious. She paused for a second, thinking deeply about every aspect of the last time she used the concept.
After a short while, she appeared to have come to a conclusion. “I didn’t feel constrained, at all,” she said, her brow furrowed. “Why? What was the difference? Why didn’t I feel constrained like before?”
Anna closed her eyes and began to bring forth the concept of sharpness, coating her blade in it. But once again, she felt the constraints. She couldn’t accurately describe what it was that made her feel constrained, and there wasn’t anyone she could ask. As far as she knew, she was the only human on Earth—or whatever it was called now—who had a concept.
Then it struck her. She began to search her pockets frantically, and after a brief but deep search, she stopped and clicked her tongue in frustration.
“Dammit, I don’t remember where I left it,” Anna said, her expression betraying her concentration. “But what did the note say? ‘Waiting for the young ones,’ or something like that, right?” she asked, to no one in particular.
“If I can find—no, the world is too big now.” She pondered for a moment, quickly coming to an answer. “If I can draw some of my family here, I can probably ask them. And if not, someone else will likely develop a concept sooner or later.”
A steely expression began to take over her face, showing her determination. “For that, I need to make this place both safe and famous,” she said to herself, a smile creeping onto her lips. “Eric will probably hate it if it becomes crowded,” she added with a mocking grin.
Suddenly, the door swung open.
“Let’s go,” Alex said, opening the warehouse door. “Your cells are ready.”
Connor, still seated, looked at Alex with an unreadable expression. “Already?”
“Yes. They already had a lot of material ready, and Tony really sped things up,” Alex explained. “But Stella wants to speak to you,” he added, pointing at Connor. “Anna and I will handle everything.”
----------
None of Eric’s friends, now that they were calm and had found their own resolve to continue, doubted that they would see him again. However, unbeknownst to them, Eric lay unconscious, with no sign of waking anytime soon.
Above him, two giant figures loomed, observing him with curiosity.