Chapter 51: Lingering Effects

“Why did you end up inventing that ‘soul communication’ thing anyway?” Eufemia said.

Nara had been given the a-okay to return to Sanshi by her mental health specialist, Redell. There wasn’t any immediate issues with her, except that Laius drilled her aura again to adjust to its new strength. She’d have to continue to practice over the coming days. Redell had warned her that she may experience residual effects, she wasn’t fully recovered, but there wasn’t much more she could do but live her life.

“I’ve known about portal magic for a while. You can even say I have a rather…unbalanced relationship with dimension and portals.”

“You call it unbalanced, I call it cheating,” Eufemia said. “How is this related exactly?”

Eufemia and John had been filled in on Nara’s experience in the astral, as well as her interesting ability to traverse the local dimensional membrane.

“Hold your horses, I’m getting there.

“What’s a horse—"

“Only the most noble and majestic steed anyone can ride. Power, elegance, and speed in one, evolutionary wonder.”

“More majestic than a dragon?”

“Ah. No, probably not.”

“Back to the topic? Soul magic?”

“Okay, so, I wanted to help Redell, but there was another reason. Portal abilities work by connecting locations the portal user has been to before, within a certain distance determined by rank.”

Portal abilities were the most well-documented and well-understood ability type in the world. Their cooldowns and distances were standard across all variations, except for supplementary abilities that boosted range and other effects. They all had an identical requirement—the portal user must have been at that location before, with rare workarounds and exceptions.

“It’s the same for me, except for the distance part, since I’m using my Astral Domain as a distance-less waypoint. What doesn’t change is the fact I need to have been at the destination before. My thought was, if I could use therapy soul-magic to recall one of my memories of Earth concrete enough to astral jump there, I’d be able to return to Earth whenever I wanted.”

Nara gestured at John.

“With him here, I may be able to do something similar. Look into one of John’s memories, and experience it for myself. I did it with Redell and saw one of his own memories.”

“Hurry up and give it a try then.”

Nara shook her head, “I don’t think it will work. After I saw Redell’s memory, I wasn’t suddenly able to astral jump to the orchestra hall he visited as a child. I can go to the Rowan Kingdom in general, but I’ve always been able to do that.”

“Even if you experience his memory for yourself, you still haven’t been to the location,” John said.

“It seems like that’s what it boils down to; the soul knows it’s a secondhand experience. Our best shot is still trying to make it to then end of the trial and visit this Celestial library or something. Although, that doesn’t change one requirement.”

“What requirement?”

Aliyah shook her head softly, “For ritual magic to cross dimensions, silver rank is likely the minimum to cross dimensions. The bare minimum. You’d have to be an exceptional ritualist to pull it off without messing up the magic and killing yourself.”

John’s eyebrows knit together, “How long does that take to get to silver rank?”

“Iron to bronze takes anywhere from six months to a few years. Six months if awakening stones are immediately acquired then you continually challenge monsters. Years if you acquire your awakening stones slowly. Bronze to silver takes at least a year, but usually longer.”

“Just curious then, what’s silver to gold?”

“A decade, minimum. And I mean absolute minimum—facing the hardest monsters and challengers, pushing against your limits constantly with rare rest.”

“So if we want to make it back to our world in any reasonable amount of time, we need a method we can make work at silver rank, not gold,” Nara concluded.

“And, no matter what, it seems we’re spending at least two or three more years here. I better get comfortable,” John leaned back in his seat and plastered a smile on his face.

The other shared a glance.

*****

It was time for Eufemia and John’s examination. The group saw them off, the two setting off in their own group, even larger than the one Nara had been a part of. This was the last chance for those planning on participating in the Celestial Book Trials to earn the Adventure Society certification and sign up.

While she was at the Adventure Society, Nara decided to update her aura imprint. The Adventure Society registered the aura of every adventurer which they used to track their adventurers and additionally detect if they die. The tracking effect would not work on Nara due to her Free Spirit racial ability, but whether or not she died and where she died was important to the Adventure Society for investigations. It was an implicit safety net for adventurers that dissuaded killing them—if you did kill one, you needed a plan.

The gift of the gods had changed her aura signature; it was no longer the same as it had been before. She should have gotten around to it earlier, but had forgotten. She only made it slightly into the lobby of the Adventurer Guild before she was face-to-face with Oswald Willard, the head of the Sanshi Adventure Society branch.

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She felt his aura searching hers, and she flinched, stepping back. The overwhelming urge to disappear resurfaced. The touch of his aura immediately receded, sensing her fear.

She hadn’t realized it, but her hands were balled into tight fists. She unflexed them, blood flow returning. She dragged her eyes back from the entrance to Oswald who stood before her silently.

This was a manifestation of one of those lingering effects Redell had mentioned.

“How about we relax and chat?” he suggested.

He led her to a private meeting room, notably leaving the door open but activating a privacy screen instead. Privacy screens erected a magical barrier that prevented sound from leaving, so that others could speak in privately in public places. The expensive ones even blurred the mouth, preventing lip reading. This one activated for the full room, preventing eavesdropping without extreme measures.

“I’m just here for a new aura imprint,” she said. “I’m not really in the mood for a chat.”

“I noticed. Why have the gods touched your aura?” He held up a hand to placate before Nara could react negatively, “This is not an interrogation, but I would like to know what you are willing to offer.”

“I made something,” Nara said.

He indicated with his expression he’d like to know more.

She sighed, “It is a method to connect two souls together so that one made be modified with mutual, continual consent.”

“That’s…not what I expected to hear. That sounds like forbidden research.”

Nara shrugged, “I was working with a priest of the Healer, so you’d have to take it up with them. It requires consent to, so no torture or anything like that.”

“I’m not passing judgement; I just wanted to know. You are going to register in a team with that other outworlder, John Aurelius?”

“You know about him?”

“He comes with high recommendation from a collaborator.”

“Erin Nisei?”

It seemed John and Eufemia were likely to pass the Adventure Society exam. They had use for his talents, especially in a world where the literacy rate wasn’t nearly as high as Earth’s.

His smile was not quite a smile.

“Does he have loose lips?”

“We share a common goal,” Nara said, neither confirming nor denying his question. Her mood was bad, and was perhaps curter that she should have been, but Oswald had been rude first by searching her aura. As Laius implied, those with a higher rank tended to do whatever they pleased to those with lower rank. That was the norm and the pecking order of this world.

“A way back to your own world.”

“Do you have any knowledge of that yourself?”

He leaned back, thoughtful. Oswald wore tailored clothing enchanted with high quality effects such as self-repair and automatic cleaning, as most high ranking essence users did. It perfectly framed his muscular body, making him look like a middle-aged love interest from a dating game with his impossible hair color, “I’m afraid that sort of magic is not my purview. Not every adventurer is a ritualist. It’d even venture it’s a rarity.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know what your impression of this world is, but not everyone has the resilience to kill monsters. The researcher types like their safety. It can make them difficult to work with when they are needed in more dangerous locations.”

“Essences seem to encourage it, mentally.”

That caused him to arch an eyebrow up in surprise.

“For some, it does,” he admitted. “I won’t say more on this particular topic, however.”

Her mentors had said the same thing. Nara wondered what the reason for it was.

“Well, it’s no surprise soul-altering power comes with soul-altering affects.”

“It is not as extreme as your assumptions. I hesitate to say this, but you seem to need solace. Am I correct?”

She nodded.

“Essences draw out what you are, or what you need. Usually, a combination of the two. For outworlders, that is often focus, decisiveness, adaptability, and resilience. Their—your—situation has placed you in a situation where you need to learn a lot very quickly and adapt, or die, especially if you manifest in less than ideal situations.”

Less than ideal situations like John’s misfortune start in the undead capital. Nara had the fortune of falling in with Amara and the rest, but John was the byproduct of a failed summoning ritual in Nekroz. He probably had more mental fortitude than Nara gave him credit for, and she already assumed he was stabler than she was. He hadn’t become an essence user until after her, but they probably leaned into what he’s learned in the past year.

“These aspects have always been within, but now easier to access. Does that settle your mind?”

“It helps,” Nara admitted, “Thank you.”

*****

Both the weather and the rest of Sanshi proper was heating up in anticipation of this event. Iron rank adventurers from around the world made their way to Sanshi. Some traveled through portals, others on fantastical sea or sky boats or along land routes. Hotels were at capacity and the city was bursting at its seams.

Adventurer contracts were slim pickings. Only the most unprofitable of contracts far from the city were left. Nara could swing those few easily, which she occasionally did, enjoying the day away from all other people.

As much as she enjoyed the company of others, she was an introvert. Her solitude in the astral had slightly skewed that inclination, but she still occasionally enjoyed solitude. Just her, her lute, and a campfire at her feet, staring into the strange night sky. She and her wolf, traveling next to streams and forests of green, lute strung at her back. Yes, Nara did buy a strap for her lute just to carry it on her body. Life was about the enjoyment, the fun. Inventory was convenient, but sensation, romance, mystique was where it was all at.

The wild provided space for Nara to practice her lute. The Path Seeker Lute was a finicky tool, too powerful for normal playing. It was an interesting sensation to simultaneously focus on playing and manipulating her own aura. It was difficult as it sounded—the wildness interrupted by a cacophony of disastrous sounds when her control slipped.

It was all entirely unnecessary—Nara could just astral jump back to Sanshi at any point, she didn’t need to ride Thanatos. She wasn’t much of a camper, but magic powers made a living after from civilization a more comfortable prospect. During the Celestial Book trials, the team would have to camp within the astral space, so having the necessary equipment was no loss.

Eufemia was still busy with her training, but she was planning to join a theater troupe after the Celestial Book Trials. Sanshi’s culture of competition meant that theater and performances were very popular. Theater was one way to fulfill her passion and sharpen her skills.

John volunteered at a clinic. Volunteering at a clinic was a practical way to practice healing magic and apply healing magic theory. Non-combat abilities could also be trained outside of combat, but they would always progress faster in more challenging situations. Just healing the injured in a clinic with Fountain of Life wouldn’t push the limits of the healing that ability could offer.

Nara and the rest spent the week while John and Eufemia were gone preparing for the trials. Nara had a quite a bit of disposable income at this point; the combination of contracts plus double looting abilities meant the whole team was a step ahead in resources. Nara sold half of whatever she looted. She kept a copy of every essence for collection purposes (she couldn’t help herself), but also in case she could give them back to her family on Earth. The same went for awakening stones. The others she sold to the Academy since she approved of their method of distribution of essences. They bought it for a price lower than it would have garnered at an auction, but charity had to start somewhere.

Nara followed Mona’s advice, buying a variety of supplies. Ropes, ladders, water, food, throwing daggers with magical effects, a floating glowstone crystal lantern (a variation of Amara’s invention), cloth, buckets, corrosive liquids, and whatever else she could think of. Prices in Sanshi were high, so she was designated team shopper and traveled to other cities to purchase what the team needed.

The week passed, and the six woke early to see the noticeboards.

“And there you have it, another two freshly minted adventurers,” Nara said.

“It wasn’t nearly as hard as you thought it would be, was it?” Encio asked Eufemia.

“It wasn’t,” Eufemia begrudgingly admitted, “They’re just weeding out the dumb ones who are going to get themselves killed.”

“The bar may be a little higher than that,” Encio said.

“Whatever. No sweat off my brow. Now let’s pilfer this pretentious trial for all the awakening stones it is worth.”