“So. If you were to change to commoner now and leveled to one in commoner, that would only take one kill of a monster, you would have almost three learning. You could level…”

Joe paused, his thoughts running through the numbers. So… uh… two point five learning… need forty kills … then three point five learning so… thirty three kills… and four learning… then twenty five kills… maybe less… so… easily could hit level four in the first day, especially in the dungeon with the density of the monsters… I can kill a hundred in half a day now… about… and… if we stay a bit longer… could hit five really early afternoon.

“So… I figured it out. You would be able to reach four levels by noon in one day. If we push ourselves, stay a bit longer after lunch, you could get five levels in a day.”

Garnedell’s eyebrows shot up through his hairline as excitement started shimmering through him, “Five in a day?”

Joe smiled, “Yup… and you took three or four days before.”

Garnedell nodded, “And to ten levels?”

Joe hid his grimace, hoping he wouldn’t ask further, “About two days.”

Garnedell’s smile remained, “Two days to ten.”

“Ah… um… no. One day to five, two days to ten.”

Garnedell’s smile fell a bit, “Three days to ten.”

“Yes.”

Garnedell grew serious, “And it only grows worse.”

“Yes.”

Garnedell looked up, “How long?”

“About nine… maybe eight days to fifteen.”

Garnedell’s grimace returned, “And much longer to twenty.”

Joe frowned, “Remember how long it took me?”

“A month,” Garnedell growled.

“Yes. But how long for each job after that.”

Garnedell grew thoughtful, his smile returning, “Each one grew… shorter and shorter.”

“Yes, and now?”

Garnedell looked up at him, “I… do not know.”

Joe leaned down quietly, speaking into Garnedell’s ear, “Thirty levels… in a single day… by lunch!”

Garnedell’s shock was easy to see and Joe grinned, “Please… trust me?”

Garnedell looked at Joe, a little more certain but still obviously wrestling with his thoughts, “I…”

Joe smiled, “If you need more time to think, it’s fine.”

Garnedell’s easy smile returned, “Thank you, Joe.”

“Talk next meeting?”

Garnedell grew serious again, “Yes. I believe… I understand why you were so insistent. Please… allow me to think, but I believe … I might be willing to try.”

Joe actually felt a sense of relief, smiling a bit, “Take your time… if you need even longer than our next meeting, I understand. I will help you. I promise.”

Garnedell grinned at that, “I know, Joe. Thank you. I know… I’m sorry for my reticence.”

“To be honest, I probably should apologize for pushing, but … it seems hard to convince you and the others… but maybe if you can show them it works…”

Garnedell nodded with a smile, “That… is true. And it would be my duty as first.”

“Well… make sure it’s your decision, and not me pushing you into this.”

“Thank you, Joe, for your patience.”

The two fell silent a bit and Joe then turned to Garnedell with a bit of pity, “Sorry, Garnedell. I have another … hard question.”

“Oh? What is it, Joe?”

“So… you … hinted… at this before,” Joe began in a softer tone, “but, what is Absence?”

Garnedell looked up with some worry, glancing around but then relaxed as he noticed that Joe had been quite circumspect, “It is… out of … it is a place without mana.”

Joe nodded, “Outside of a gas gi… cradle.”

“Yes. Cradles of life, hence why they are called cradles.”

Joe’s eyebrows rose at that, “You beli… uh… cradles are the source of life?’

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Garnedell nodded, “Life teams upon the planes surrounding cradles. It is… almost impossible to find in other places.”

OK… lots of questions there… that no one here’s going to know… so… back burner.

“But you… seemed afraid,” Joe dropped his voice to a whisper as he continued, “about me.”

Garnedell stared at him, his lips souring before he continued, “Yes…”

“Why?”

Garnedell stared at him fear returning to his face as terror began to surface again and Joe grew worried, and a bit hurt, “Hey… hey. Relax. I … don’t mean to … I’m not going to hurt you.”

Garnedell’s fear didn’t abate but he took a deep breath and pushed on through, “The … horrors come from the Absence.”

“Horrors?”

Garnedell stared at Joe for a time, “There is nothing… in the Absence but horror. To go to the Absence is pain and nothing can live in the Absence.”

Joe frowned at that, “But… my people do.”

Garnedell stared at him, “But…” he stopped at that point then ground his teeth a bit, “I don’t know.”

“Only that… it is… has no mana.”

Garnedell nodded, “Yes.”

Joe frowned at that, “Then… pain?”

Garnedell paused at that, “I… don’t know. I’ve never seen or been in absence. But… everyone says that being in Absence is… very painful,” Garnedell paused at that and stared at Joe for a bit, “Does it?”

“It never really hurt me.”

Garnedell stared at Joe, “Well… I guess you would know?”

Joe snorted at that, “Yup. All my life.”

Garnedell stared at him, then began to giggle a little manically, “Ha… I guess you would know.”

Joe laughed at that, turning from the topic since Garnedell seemed to be struggling with it, but then decided for on last question, “Um… could I ask Kukurnal? Or someone else?”

Garnedell panicked, looking up at Joe and shaking his head no and Joe quickly backtracked, “I’m not going to do it if you think it’s a bad idea. I just… I don’t understand because there’s nothing… scary.”

Garnedell paused at that and stared at Joe a bit, “I … don’t know, but everyone knows about the Absence. It would be… strange.”

“But, how will I learn?”

Garnedell paused at that then frowned, “I don’t know.”

Joe sighed, “I’ll… think carefully on that. Do you think Kukurnal would… be OK to ask?”

Garendell’s frown seemed to be the answer and Joe frowned in return, “Kukurnal would not?”

“I … don’t know, Joe. Maybe if … wait for someone who will swear to you.”

“Swear to me?”

“To be yours”

“Mine? Uh… like what?”

“To be your man.”

“Oh… like… an apprentice?”

“Hmm. No. To your clan.”

“Oh. Then… could we talk again later? After you think about it?”

“Ah… yes… Yes! I could… think carefully and see if I can… teach you… Maybe?”

Joe grinned and nodded, “OK. That… sounds like a plan.” But… not how much more is he going to remember… it seems all… pretty ‘scary monster under the bed’ type of thing than any real… information.

Joe ended it there, feeling confused and very lost. The conversation trailed off mainly because Joe felt like Garnedell needed his space with this, so Joe gave it to Garnedell. Joe’d learned nothing else except that it was somehow a terrifying experience, or at least a painful one. But Joe truly couldn’t guess.

They continued on in silence until they returned to the inn and Joe noticed that Garnedell was looking nervous.

“What’s wrong?”

Garnedell looked at Joe then quickly blurted out, “You… really cannot say anything, Joe.”

Joe frowned but then quickly shifted to a grin, “Don’t worry, Garnedell. I’ll be car… I won’t.”

Garnedell stared a Joe with a bit of uncertainty, “You really shouldn’t.”

“Garnedell. I won’t. Really. OK? I’ll always talk to you first.”

This time, he seemed relieved and he nodded, “I’ll try to help you, Joe. But… this is something that will be difficult.”

Joe nodded, then smiled, “I know you’ll help. And I’m willing to wait. It’s ok.”

This time, his smile was genuine and the tension dropped between them. They headed back into the inn at that, but the siblings hadn’t returned so both sat down and continued speaking. The conversation seemed to settle Garnedell and he returned to his normal happy attitude by the time Zilnek and Kilniara returned. Zilnek wasted no time and ran up to Garnedell.

“Right! Let’s go!”

Garnedell’s grin was massive and Joe laughed to see their happiness but called out to them. They both turned back when Joe called.

“Do you both still have some coin?”

Zilnek said nothing although Garnedell nodded but with a bit of chagrin, “We have a little.”

Joe nodded and pulled out another couple coins and tossed it to them, “Use it wisely. And save if you need to. Although I’ll probably teach that to you later. Anyway… go!”

The two took off out of the inn so fast that Joe laughed to see them go so quickly and settled back into his seat with a sigh, “So. What are you going to do, Kilniara?”

Kilniara smiled and shrugged, “What are you doing?”

“Uh… I think I’ll be going into the inner city to the library. The Matriarch gave me a pass to enter. I need to check some things out there.”

Kilniara didn’t say anything for a few moments before looking up to him hopefully, “May I join you?”

“Of course! Although, it might be a bit boring!”

Kilniara quickly shook her head in rejection of Joe’s prediction and the two were soon walking out of the room after Joe had saddled his backpack on his back. Joe steered their way to the temple district first where he changed his job to medic since he could save time on their next dungeon dive and then headed for the inner city, Kiliniara enjoying his company while holding onto his arm.

They walked through the city at a rather leisurely pace, enjoying their moment to relax. As before, they came upon the gate to the inner city and unlike the outer gate, the inner gate was devoid of entrants. The plaza in front of the gate was relatively empty and most of the people in the plaza passed by the gate, walking to and fro far from the gate. As the two passed through the plaza, fewer and fewer pedestrians surrounded them and the guards who originally paid little attention to them grew more and more focused on Joe and Kilniara. When their destination became apparent, both guards stiffened and the one with a mustache stepped forward with a frown obviously in a bad mood.

“Right. You two piss off!”

Joe cocked his head and raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he reached into a pouch and pulled out the pass he’d been given by the Matriarch. He fingered the medallion as he lifted it up and waved it at the guard.

“I’m quite certain that I will not piss off.”

Mustache stiffened, angered by Joe’s blunt reply but froze with widened eyes when he flashed a glance down to look at Joe’s hand. The guard immediately bowed his head deeply.

“Apologies, sir. Please, allow me to see your pass.”

Joe said nothing but flipped the medallion to Mustache when he looked up. Mustache flinched and fumbled to catch the medallion before finally getting in his grasp. He spent some time inspecting the medallion carefully. As he was doing so, Joe jumped in a bit a surprise when he actually sense the guard send some kind of mana into or towards the medallion. When Mustache did so, he gasped in surprise before bowing to Joe even more deeply.

“Please, enjoy your stay within the city, sir! I apologize for my earlier rudeness.”

Joe nodded as he passed, reaching out to grasp the medallion, “I will not do anything in retaliation for your rudeness, but consider future situations. Others may not be so considerate and their reaction would likely be quite painful or deadly. Kindness and respect cost nothing while rudeness may cost you everything.”

Mustache shivered but said nothing and maintained his bow as Joe passed. Joe glanced back and realized that the guard was still bent stiffly over with his face almost in his knees. Joe stopped and turned back to the guard.