After returning back to the keep and giving a brief recounting of her point of view of the mine contract to Hildebrandt, Zalia was now back in the small forested area nearby the large city. Her Escape ability was now at Tin nineteen and she wanted to get it to Iron so she could finally begin levelling up her other skills again. First though, she needed some time to decompress from the contract and think about things. As such, she spent the next three days building herself a medium sized log cabin from the trees nearby, immersing herself in her thoughts as her body was engaged in the therapeutic task. She only ever went back to the city to do her guard duty, leaving immediately once it was done. The first time she had ever built a cabin had taken her almost a week straight of constant work but she was now significantly stronger and more experienced.
As the three days came to an end, Zalia laid her sleeping bag down in the cabin now ready to move forwards into Iron rank. She was more comfortable now sleeping within the boughs of trees than in a cozy cabin anyways, leaving the sleeping bag behind in the cabin almost a statement of her leaving behind the mundane life devoid of magic and powers she had led. She had come to the conclusion that what she was doing now probably wasn't any less dangerous than her life had been, just the scale of power was significantly more drastic.
Zalia had gained one more gold coin over the course of the last week, given by the Morning's Shade. She made her way into the city, entering for the first time since the contract for a reason other than guard duty. She checked her messages from the last three days, connecting back with her new reality,
Congratulations! Mobility has reached Tin 20.
Congratulations! Mobility has reached Iron 1.
Mobility will not gain further levels until all classes have reached Iron.
Mobility - passive
Tin - Your speed is increased. Your stamina is less affected by movement.
Iron - You may step on air one time before stepping on a solid surface once more.
Congratulations! Sword - Weapon proficiency has reached Tin 18.
She read over the mobility upgrade once more smiling, then grimacing when she realised she had managed to get it to Iron before Escape. She had definitely been neglecting the skill more than she should have.
Zalia went into the keep and found Ember sitting in a small dining hall eating a light meal,
"Hey," Zalia said.
"Hey," Ember replied, looking up at her.
"I need you to tie me up a bunch," Zalia told her.
"What for?" Ember asked.
"Training," Zalia said as if it explained everything.
Ember just shrugged,
"Alright," she replied.
They stood in the training grounds as Ember tied up Zalia for a third time. As she used escape, the ropes untying and falling to the ground the ability finally levelled up,
Congratulations! Escape has reached Tin 20.
Congratulations! Escape has reached Iron 1.
As the last skill to reach Iron, 'Escape' has evolved into 'Fight or Flight' gaining an extra ability.
Active 3 - Fight or Flight - spell - cleanse - body enhancement
Tin - choose one;
When used your perception increases greatly for five seconds.
Remove all slowing and restraining effects and prevent further slowing and restraining effects for the next five seconds.
Iron - Option one now grants the ability to sense if you're going to be hit by an attack and where the attack is coming from within the duration.
Option two now grants you increased speed and dexterity within the duration.
Mana - medium
Cooldown - 1 minute
She ignored the other messages for a moment, rereading the skill. She tried out the new section first, increasing her perception. The ability seemed to slow time but in reality allowed her to just perceive things significantly faster, achieving a similar effect except she couldn't move any faster then she could normally. She also tested her new mobility upgrade, jumping off the air a few times. Then she paired it with the second option of Fight or Flight and found she could pull off some pretty acrobatic maneuvers with the increased dexterity and speed. The increased dexterity and strength from her Hunter class advancing also contributed to the extremely increased stat. After running around like a very well trained headless chicken for a few minutes, she finished reading the rest of the messages.
Congratulations! Hunter class has reached Tin 20.
Congratulations! Hunter class has reached Iron 1.
For reaching the next rank, linked attributes of the Hunter class have increased significantly. Ascend to Iron to advance further.
Congratulations! All of your classes have reached Iron. Would you like to ascend to Iron?
Zalia thought about it for only a moment before accepting, she had already made her decision,
Congratulations! You have ascended to Iron rank.
Bow - Weapon proficiency has advanced to Iron 9 to better match your skill.
She opened her profile,
Profile - Zalia Taori
Health - Excellent
Mana - Full
Stamina - Full
Class one - Hunter - Iron 1
Linked attributes - Strength, Dexterity
Active skills
Kill shot - Iron 1
Hunter's mark - Iron 1
Fight or Flight - Iron 1
Passive skills
Hunter's Sight - Iron 1
Survivalist - Iron 1
Class two - Herbalist - Iron 1
Linked attributes - Vitality, Resilience
Active skills
Flora identification - Iron 1
Preparation - Iron 1
Stasis - Iron 1
Passive skills
Harvester - Iron 1
Herbal magic - Iron 1
Unity class - Druid - Iron 1
Linked attributes - Wisdom, Intellect
Active skills
Nature’s wrath - Iron 1
Protection of the wilds - Iron 1
Passive skills
Healing presence - Iron 1
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
General Passives
Heat resistance - Iron 1
Cold resistance - Iron 1
Aura observation - Tin 6
Low light vision - Tin 5
Poison resistance - Iron 1
Mobility - Iron 1
Stealth - Iron 1
Trapper - Iron 1
Teaching - Tin 3
Weapon proficiencies
Bow - Iron 9
Sword - Tin 18
Zalia looked at her now all Iron rank class abilities with pride, looking over to Ember with a wide grin,
“Congratulations,” Ember said.
“Thank you, let’s duel,” Zalia replied.
“Certainly,” Ember said, moving away to get a set of training swords.
⪼ ⪢ ℋ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℋ ⪡ ⪻
Zalia’s next goal was achieved after her short bout with Ember and then attending the sword training session for that day,
Congratulations! Sword - Weapon proficiency has gained two levels reaching Tin 20.
Congratulations! Sword - Weapon proficiency has reached Iron 1.
Sword - Weapon proficiency
Tin - you can wield a sword faster and hit harder with it based on the rank and level of this skill.
Iron - the durability of a sword wielded by you is increased based on the rank and level of this skill.
Zalia found the increased durability noticeable, able to hit stone quite a few times before tiny dents in the bladed section of the sword began appearing. They were small enough to be easily fixed with some quick sharpening, a skill she learned from the sword training lessons.
Zalia wanted to go back north and see Glemp again, to see if he had made any discovery about the Silver rank herb she had given him. She also wanted to stock back up on the vital berries and Snow-leaf that made up the potent poison she often used. She was running dangerously low and would have run out if it had been usable on the elementals. Unfortunately, unless she was on a contract she wouldn't be exempt from her daily guard duty until she had completed the first year of her time within the Morning’s shade. She thought about it for a moment before going to find the Hidden.
She found the shade a half hour later after having to ask directions to his office space multiple times, still utterly confused by the layout of the many spires. She knocked before entering, finding the shade in deep focus reading a book.
“Shade,” Zalia said in greeting as she entered.
“Human,” the Hidden said in answer.
Zalia frowned,
“I have a name,” Zalia said.
“So do I,” he replied.
“The big difference being that you know mine,” Zalia pointed out.
The shade just shrugged, still reading. Zalia rolled her eyes,
“I'm here to ask if you have any contracts in the north,” Zalia said.
“Go on then,” the shade said.
“Go on then what?” Zalia asked.
“Ask,” he said.
“Have you got any contracts in the north,” Zalia asked, letting out a deep, frustrated sigh.
“Of course! Why didn't you just ask? There are all the open contracts of course, various people wanting any and all information about the land, plants, creatures and other such things. No one really wants to go up there due to all the snow, pain and death waiting for them,” the shade replied.
“I'm looking to go on an extended trip there, could I take some of those contracts?” Zalia asked.
“Well as I said they’re open so anyone can work them, though you specifically cannot, your team could. You would have to convince them of it though,” he replied.
She considered for a moment thinking over how she might accomplish that.
“You can't just assign it to us?” Zalia asked.
“I could, but I'm not going to,” the shade said.
“And why is that?” she asked.
“Because one it would be giving you preference over the rest of your own and other teams and two I would not send someone north who did not want to go,” he replied.
They were both good points.
“Fine, if I can convince them to go, will you allow it?” she asked.
“Yes, a longer term contract could do you all good as a team. You are from the north if my memory serves, so a worse place could be chosen for such an activity. Yes, I will allow it,” the shade replied, finally putting down the book to look at Zalia.
“Thank you, what are you reading if I may ask?” Zalia said in reply.
The shade looked at her for a few moments before answering,
“Have you heard of Cormaine?” the shade asked.
Zalia looked at him blankly.
“Of course you haven't. Cormaine is known only peripherally throughout the lands, some think it is where those of evil go when they die, some think it is simply another realm. There are many theories but most agree that it is a horrid place that none wish to ever enter. I'm reading up on it and everything that is known or theorised about the place,” the shade explained.
“Cormaine, interesting. Does it have something to do with the elementals?” she asked.
“That is yet to be seen. That is all I will speak on it however. Go, convince your friends,” the shade said, raising his hand when Zalia was about to ask another question.
“I will try, thank you milord,” Zalia said sarcastically, giving an exaggerated bow.
The shade scoffed at Zalia’s performance, going back to his book as she left the room.
“I really need to stop being so sarcastic with the man… shade,” Zalia thought.
Something about the way the shade spoke and acted just made her feel like being overly sarcastic with the creature. Her thoughts moved on to how she would convince the others to come north with her. She felt like Ember might be easy to convince, Indis would be the hardest and Zen would be a wild card. She could never really guess how the man would react other than it was sure to be in a loud manner.
She found Ember first and with her help quickly found the other two, the four of them now sitting under a tree in the gardens surrounding the spired keep.
“Sorry, repeat that I must have misheard you,” Zen said, an expression of disbelief on his face.
“I said, I want to take a contract to go north,” Zalia repeated.
“For what reason?” Lady Indis asked.
“A few, I wish to see a… friend, to gather a resource I’m running low on but mainly to explore more of the north now I am a higher rank. Having you all along would be… helpful.” she said, adding the last part with some hesitation.
She hated to admit that the four of them together would have a better chance at survival but it simply was the truth.
“Alright, I’m in,” Indis said.
“What?” Zalia thought.
“By Enar, I’m not!” Zen said.
“Enar?” Zalia asked.
“Oh shut it for once Zen. I would like to explore the north, even just for a change of pace in the environment,” Ember said.
“You too?” Zen groaned, looking at Ember.
“Yes, me too,” Ember said, “and you’re coming too.”
“Oh really, and why is that?” Zen asked.
“Because I said so,” Ember replied.
Ember gave Zen a hard stare, holding contact until the man eventually backed down.
“Fine,” Zen grumbled.
She hadn’t expected it to be that easy. The fact that Ember had pushed Zen that much to get him to agree was almost as shocking as Lady Indis agreeing from the get go.
“Thank you all, I’ll let Hidey know,” she said gratefully.
“Hidey?” Zen and Indis asked simultaneously, while Ember just smiled.
“Yeah, idiot shade won’t tell me his name so I’m choosing one for him,” Zalia said.
Zen put his face in his hands, groaning, while Indis just laughed lightly.
“How did you even come up with ‘Hidey’,” Zen asked, his voice muffled by his hands.
“The Hidden, Hidey, it comes pretty naturally I think and one of my classes is Druid, I know all about natural,” Zalia said as she backed out of the room.
Her preparation was well placed as Zen’s hand instinctively went to his mace, Zalia lightly running out of the room, laughing.
Zalia once more found Hidey and was given a list of different contracts that people had put out for northern lands related objectives. Some wanted different herbs and plants from the north while others wanted hides or different body parts of creatures, all apparently having some kind of known use. She took copies of them all, not necessarily to try and complete each and every one of them but just to keep in mind what people were looking for that they might come across. She thanked the shade before putting away the pages, leaving to do her guard duty for the day.
After her guard duty, Zalia once again found her group and they organised when and where they would meet to depart on their journey. They had only been back for three days from their previous contract and so they wanted to give it a short time before they went traipsing off into the wilderness once more. Zalia was more than happy to do so, more at home in the wilderness than the others but Ember and Zen had family in the city they wanted to spend a day with before they left once more. As such, they agreed to meet the day after the next at the marshalling yard. Zalia figured she should find something to spend her time doing and had an idea.
Back in the town when she had killed the Garroi, she had thrown her long bladed dagger, more of a stabbing weapon than a throwing knife, at an enemy to distract them. So, she went off and bought three throwing knives, much more suited to the task than her other weapon. She did have her bow but the knives would be much quicker to use. She also bought a sheath for them that fit along the outside of her right leg, with a few adjustments. It came to a total of one gold and five silver, not too expensive but still significant, or so she thought. She thought about buying some potions but still had the one Glemp had given her, having had no need for it yet. The only person she might have used it on was that fire mage and they had died so quickly it wouldn't have helped. She decided to put off buying anything and thought to have a look at what Glemp had cooked up while she had been gone when she saw them once more.
The next day she spent preparing herself, stocking on a few travel supplies like food just in case she would need it, however doubtful she was of that happening. She also spent some time in training, testing out the limits of her newfound power. She found that unlike before, where she felt like her brain was moving faster than her body could keep up with, the two were on par now due to them both being of the Iron rank. She felt young again, her body though not deteriorating by any means was still reaching her mid years. Now though, with constant healing flowing through it and the increased strength, dexterity and other attributes she felt better than she had in a while.
The day finally came and she met Ember, Zen and Lady Indis within the marshalling yard, ready as always to head back out into the wilderness.