Zyneth holds my vial in his left hand, craned over me with a concentrated frown. In his right he holds an ink-tipped paint brush, which he brings down to paint over my surface in giant strokes.

Okay, giant is relative. But when I’m not tucked into my body like this, I feel smaller and more fragile than ever.

Hopefully not for long, though. Noli and Rezira sit quietly nearby, watching the procedure take place. Noli completely committing her enthusiasm to every new thing she encounters isn’t anything new, but even Rezira looks pretty interested. I guess that makes sense; there’s really not a lot to do on the ship most days.

It takes a few minutes for Zyneth to finish painting the spell circle, and another few minutes to fuss over all its details.

“Okay,” he says, hesitantly. “That should do it.”

He sets me on a crate and leans back. I climb to my feet, turning this way and that to get used to the black lines painted over my vision. It’s extremely annoying, actually, but once I cover my core and put it back in my chest, I’ll switch vision over to my head so it shouldn’t bother me anymore.

“Alright,” I say. “Let me try to activate it.”

I focus on the spell circle painted over my circle, and push mana into it. The lines light up, and Echo’s voice crackles to life.

[Durability spell activated,] she says. [Resistance to piercing, crushing, and bludgeoning damage applied.]

I cut off my mana stream, and a timer appears next to the Durability stat: sixty-two minutes. If I want this in effect all the time, I’ll have to funnel a lot more mana into the spell circle. But given I’d only spent a handful of points just now, and Zyneth could even give me more, I’ll take it as a win.

“It worked!” I announce. I sign for Noli’s benefit, too, using clusters of glass to form disembodied hands. “My core should be a lot less fragile now.”

Zyneth lets out a relieved breath, and Noli claps.

“How do you know?” Rezira asks. “You haven’t tried it yet.”

I’d mentioned Echo around her once or twice before, but I can’t blame her for not remembering after a couple months away. But she’s right: I won’t know how durable I am until I test it.

“Zyneth, throw something at me!” I say.

He looks horrified. “I am not going to throw something at you.”

“I will,” Rezira volunteers.

“No you won’t!” Noli cries.

“Perhaps we should start small so as to be safe,” Zyneth suggests.

“The predator would protect me if it was dangerous,” I say. But okay, maybe my excitement is getting the best of me. “What do you have in mind?”

“We could tap your glass with another hard object,” Zyneth says, though it’s clear he doesn’t like the idea. “And work the force up from there, as long as you sustain no damage.”

Rezira cranes her head toward the stairs that lead below deck. “There’s a hammer in the storeroom.”

Noli looks horrified.

“We’d start with little taps!” she objects. “I’m not going to smash him.”

No one seems to like the idea of using a hammer, I guess because even if they’re careful, the imagery is distressing enough. Instead I form some tempered fulgurite into a simple tool; blunt on one end, pointed on the other.

“I’m curious to see which will break first,” I say as Zyneth holds the glass nervously. This was apparently not the right thing to say.

“I can’t do it.” He holds it out for Noli or Rezira. “One of you. Please.”

Noli also hesitates, so Rezira rolls her eyes and snaps up the tool. “Bunch of pansies.” She sits down heavily beside me, shaking the crate.

Now I’m a little nervous.

But she deftly spins the glass around in her hand, getting a feel for it. “I’m good with small tools,” she tells me, her voice surprisingly soft. “I learned a lot of non-magical techniques when studying healing. Don’t let the big hands fool you. I’m good with precision work.”

Weirdly, her little pep talk is rather comforting. I guess it’s different when she sees me as a patient. “Okay,” I say. “I trust you.”

She smirks a little at that, shaking her head. “Now get off those legs. Put your vial flat on the surface, so you don’t move around so much or alter the effects from one hit to the next.”

Huh, she is pretty methodical. I lay down as instructed, clustering my legs around the base of my vial to keep it from rolling around.

“Ready?” she asks.

The predator stirs uneasily. It knows that I don’t think I’m in any danger. But it is highly suspicious of the sharp tool being leveled at us.

Calm down, I tell it. That tool is some of my Attuned glass. I can stop it if I want to. And we’re doing this so my core will be stronger. Safer. That’s something you want too, right?

The predator feels very uncertain about this. It doesn’t understand how hurting something could make it stronger.

Well, it’s like the tempered glass, right? I try. Only confusion emanates from it. Or, um, like muscles. You have to work out to get stronger, and when you work out you… you don’t understand biology. This concept is too complex for it, anyway. Just trust me on this. We’ll be fine.

The predator does not trust me, nor does it believe we’ll be fine, but it recedes anyway, watching and alert.

“Okay,” I tell Rezira. “Ready.”

She starts with the lightest tap. It’s so gentle, Echo doesn’t even bother telling me it’s zero bludgeoning damage.

“Good?” she asks.

“Fine. Again.”

She taps a little harder.

[0 points of Bludgeoning damage sustained,] Echo says.

Ah, there we go. “Again.”

On my signal, Rezira taps us again, and again, each time a little harder than the last. After about a minute of this, something changes with Echo’s notice.

[1 points of Bludgeoning damage sustained: 1 point of Bludgeoning damage negated by Durability. Net Bludgeoning damage: 0.]

Aha! So it is working. But how much can it absorb? I tell Rezira to keep going.

By now she’s giving me a pretty good whack. Zyneth and Noli cringe with every hit. Without the durability spell, I’m pretty sure I would have gotten a crack by now. The spell absorbs three points of damage before the notification changes.

[4 points of Bludgeoning damage sustained: 3 points of Bludgeoning damage deflected by Durability. Net Bludgeoning damage: 1.]

That one stung a little, and the predator flinches, circling closer. I push it back. “Hold on,” I say, checking my glass over. I think there’s a little scratch where she hit me, but no crack. But will my glass act like normal glass, meaning it’s weaker now? Or would the same force do the same damage?

“Do the same thing again,” I ask.

She does, and I get the same result. So it didn’t weaken me. More like a videogame mechanic than real physics. I don’t know if I’ll ever figure this System out.

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I’m down to 8/10 HP now. I heal one point per hour, so I’ll be fine at the end of this, but I don’t want to push things too far. Even so, I give Rezira permission for a couple more hits.

I stop when my HP reaches 5/10, much to everyone’s relief. The last hit dealt 9 points of bludgeoning damage, and the spell absorbed 7 of them. That’s a huge improvement! What would have nearly killed me before only does 20% of my health now. I haven’t done the math, but it seems like I could take a lot more and come out the other side.

Assuming the Durability spell is in effect when I get hit.

But this is progress. And the next step is trying to increase my max HP.

“Let’s never do that again,” Zyneth says when Rezira returns my glass to me and heads back over to sit with Noli.

“You didn’t even do anything,” I say.

He scowls. “Watching was enough.” Then his face softens, and he taps a gentle finger on my glass. “You’re cracked.”

“It will fix itself in a few hours,” I say. “I wonder if we can make the spell circle more permanent, too. Maybe you can etch it into my glass? Or would the System heal that?”

Zyneth grimaces. “I am not etching your glass. This is plenty.”

Well, it was worth a shot. “What about my base HP?” I ask. “Do you think there’s a spell you could make that could increase it?”

“Hm.” He sits back down where Rezira had been, scratching thoughtfully at his cheek. “I’m not sure I even understand what your HP is. If making your glass more durable doesn’t increase the HP, then what would?”

That’s a good question. “Maybe because the spell is temporary?” I guess. “If it’s permanent, maybe it would increase my max HP.” But that doesn’t seem right. I get bonus HP with all my Attuned glass, like it’s an extension of me. Which means…

“More glass,” I realize. “If I could meld more glass into my vial—or meld my vial to my glass body… would that permanently increase my base HP?”

Everyone is silent as they chew on this. The predator doesn’t really understand what I’m suggesting, but it’s eager to try to make us stronger.

“It sounds risky,” Zyneth finally says. “But perhaps it could be attempted with some of the tempering experiments we’d tried.”

“Tempering?” Rezira asks.

I explain the experiments we’ve been doing with Zyneth’s fire to try to change the strength of some of my glass.

She grunts. “It’s a good idea. But you guys are on the wrong track. If you want to strengthen your glass, your focus should be on glass magic.”

“I thought about that,” I say. “But I don’t think any of my spells would work for this. I can’t change the shape of my vial with any of the spells I know.”

She shrugs. “So learn new ones. Find an artificer who specializes in glass and get their input. Or better yet, become an understudy for a glass mage. There’s always plenty of glasswork to be done in a city. There should be a few experts in Harrowood, even.”

It seems obvious now that she’s said it. “Understudy?”

“Sure,” Noli jumps in. “Most mages take on apprentices. Well, it’s the same for most jobs, actually. I worked under the guidance of expert hunters for a few years. Rezira studied healing magic at an institution for a time. I bet Zyneth worked at an artificing shop for a while, too, right?”

Zyneth shifts uncomfortably. “I was given formal instruction.”

Why does that sound like he’s intentionally leaving out context?

“I admit, having someone who’s an expert in all this does sound appealing.” I prop up my body from where I’d left it crumbled and inert at the base of the crate. It stands on its own, like a mannequin, and towers over me. I reach down to pick myself up; that sight will never not be unsettling. But when I place my core back into my chest and Chain it in place, my perspective flips, and now it seems like I’m the whole body again.

I gesture to myself. “But what sort of person would want to work with me? I’m a homunculus. They won’t even believe I’m intelligent.”

“They will when you speak,” Zyneth insists.

“Maybe,” Rezira says, less certain. “Or would they just be unnerved? Because, I mean, what you just did was very unnerving.”

“Would it be safe?” I ask them. “Or would they think I’m some kind of…”

Monster.

They wouldn’t even be wrong, with the predator hiding in my shadows. And okay, yes, I might not be the monster; but I’m carrying one around, and how many people would distinguish between the two?

“I don’t know.” Zyneth sighs. “You’re an anomaly. We can only guess at how others would react.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Noli signs. “We’ve got time.”

“Agreed,” Zyneth says. “We’ll be docking tomorrow and should be able to make it to Harrowood before sundown, if the telepad schedules are in our favor. Then there’s my job to worry about.” He hesitates. “Not to imply you should come with, but if this is an avenue you will be exploring, I’d prefer to accompany you.”

“Zyneth, of course we’re coming with,” I say, exasperated. “And don’t even try to convince us otherwise.”

Zyneth appears to want to do just that, but stops himself with a chuckle. “No, I know; you’ve already made that abundantly clear. Then it’s settled. We’ll complete my job, and figure out how to approach a glass mage after.”

It feels good to have a plan. But there’s another goal I have that’s still not been addressed.

“The lost souls,” I say. “The ones from my world. I still need to find them. It’s been so long already that I haven't been able to do anything. But now that we’re about to be back on land, I need to start searching.”

“Do you know where to start?” Noli asks.

“No,” I reluctantly admit. “I was hoping any of you might have ideas.”

They all glance around at each other.

“I don’t know if there is any magic that will let us find them,” Zyneth finally replies. “Even a locate spell requires something tied to the individual to track them, and if these people arrived on this world with nothing, that would be impossible.”

I’d thought about that, too. In fact, while on the submarine, I’d even tried a Locate spell: but it had failed without anything to use as a focus. Even using my soul didn’t help.

“Well, they’ll all probably be like you, right?” Rezira ventures. “A soul stuck in some inanimate object.”

“Echo said they were going to bind to a ‘compatible vessel,’ so probably,” I agree. But in the amount of time that’s passed, without a renewal, my Core Bond spell would have expired. Does that mean that they…

I don’t let myself think about it.

“I think all we can really do is keep an ear out for anything strange,” Zyneth says. “Cities would be our best bet. Follow the leads of anything that seems out of the ordinary.”

“Oh.” Noli and Rezira look at each other.

“What?” I ask.

“The God Tournaments.” Rezira frowns. “You don’t think…”

“What?” Zyneth says. “There’s been a God Tournament?”

“There’s been many,” Noli signs. “Almost a dozen, just in the last two months.”

“Gods be good,” Zyneth breathes, shocked.

“What?” I ask. “What’s a God Tournament?”

“It’s when a god is seeking a new Champion,” Rezira says. “They’ll hold some sort of competition that appeals to their area of interest. The winner has the opportunity to ascend and become the god’s Champion. It comes with incredible abilities, including immortality. In exchange, the Champion serves as the god’s avatar, enacting their will in the mortal realm.”

“Huh.” That’s interesting, but I don’t see what it would have to do with the Earth souls. “So what makes this strange?”

“The number of them,” Noli signs. “At most, a God Tournament comes around once every fifty or a hundred years. But ten in a two month period? That’s unheard of.”

“The same period of time that we’ve been adrift since Emrox,” Zyneth points out. “It’s too much to be coincidence.”

“So what does this mean?” Rezira wonders. “The gods are taking on more servants. Why?”

“If they needed more eyes,” I say. “If they were looking for something.”

“Or someones,” Zyneth says.

Rezira shakes her head. “The scope of this… this is insane. I mean, you think the gods are now frantically searching the world for these souls? Why? What would they want with them?”

Zyneth folds his arms, leaning back. “It is fruitless to speculate on the why, but the Tournaments are indicative of a few things, at least. First, as Kanin suggested, more Champions likely means they need more eyes and ears on Lusio. The most likely explanation for this is that it’s in reaction to what happened in Emrox, which in turn indicates they are aware of what took place there, at least in part. But the fact that they need so many eyes and ears means they don’t know everything; otherwise their search would already be over and the God Tournaments wouldn’t have been necessary in the first place.”

“There’s another possibility,” Rezira says. “The gods might not be looking for the souls.” She points at me. “They might be looking for him.”

It feels like someone doused my soul with a cup of cold water.

“Him?” Noli repeats. “No… But why would they…”

I sit down on the crate. It’s not necessary, but it feels like I should be sitting for this kind of conversation. “Well I did tear a hole in reality and briefly connect it to another world. So, there’s that.”

I glance at Zyneth. “Then there’s what Yezaquib said.”

Zyneth frowns. “It was something to do with the predator, wasn’t it?”

I nod. “He seemed to know what the predator was. Which is interesting, considering there was nothing on the subject in his library. But specifically, when he noticed what was attached to my soul, he said, ‘The gods won’t like this.’”

Rezira frowns. Noli looks worried. Zyneth—bless him—just looks resigned.

“I think I might need a disguise,” I say.

“I was thinking precisely the same thing,” Zyneth agrees.

“But, I mean, you don’t think they would do anything bad to him?” Noli asks. “They’re the gods. Even if they don’t like the predator—well, I think that’s an understandable notion.”

“Maybe,” I agree. “He didn’t say they wouldn’t like me. But if they think the predator needs to be killed… Well, Yedzaquib made it pretty clear that extracting it from my soul would kill me. So I’d rather play it safe.”

“You don’t strike me as the ‘play it safe,’ type,” Rezira notes.

I splay my hands. “I promise I’m not trying to get into so much trouble.” I pause. “Anymore.”

Rezira and Noli’s gaze shifts behind me, and I swivel my head around as well. Captain Murrok has appeared in the doorway, regarding us thoughtfully.

“Apologies for the interruption,” they sign. “I’m afraid I unintentionally caught some of your conversation and was too intrigued to leave before further eavesdropping.”

I shrug it off. “Noli’s told you plenty already. And if she trusts you, so do I.”

They smile faintly, inclining their head in thanks. “In that case, I believe I may be of assistance. You were looking for a disguise, correct?”