Another Fey Bridge and another 'Moonlight Whisper' performance later and the team was safe and sound on the side. Although her team still felt bad for the pixies and Moana was feeling particularly vocal about it:

"I swear I would kill you myself if you ever cross the line and use your luring song on a human. I don't care about the circumstances or even about self-defence. That boon of you is downrigt evil."

And Sophia couldn't find a single thing to argue against it. It was indeed just the right combination of nasty and raw power in one neat little package. And with enough preparation, there wasn't a single sentient creature that could resist her, so long she kept her song instructions 'færly' reasonable.

This time again, the pixies had kept singing in the moonlight after they left. And the only saving grace was that Sophia had not planned any of this.

They had started ascending the Fey Bridge early in the morning. But Sophia had not accounted that her own stamina would be so low, and this Fey Bridge so much taller than the last one, forcing the whole team to make frequent break when they should have climb as fast as they could.

So they had been surprised by night on the last quarter of their ascension. And so Sophia had been forced into her own reenacting of the Pied Piper, which had been ten times worse than the last.

This time around, the pixies had swarmed en masse from the moment she had started singing and the madness had only spread further from there. Except this time, it had not been only them and pixies on that bridge. Many other feys she had not specifically targeted nor exclude from her luring song had answered its called and had remained under its spells after she left.

Which, unfortunately, meant that she had far less control over that particular overpowered boon's effect. And the potential that she would one day accidentally hurt an unknown ally was not zero.

"Don't listen to her." Michel came to her defense. "You did what you had to and couldn't possibly predict it would get so out of proportion. Still, better err on the side of caution next time around."

It was also true. She had known about the effects on pixies and used it anyway. But they had no way to know that bystanders could be caught in the loop just by listening to that song. It wasn't in the boon description, that's for sure.

But there was no time to linger on those dark thoughts as they crossed into a new, possibly hostile, an yet familiar environment for Sophia.

She was back to the Autumn Forest. Only it was real this time around and she was in full possession of her magic.

And here they were: the same mapple trees, enchanted with that unreasonable self-healing Feywild magic she had made her bow with.

She never thought she would ever get to see that kind of wood ever again. But the opportunity was just too good to pass up.

It would be a pain in her ass to work with that material without modern tools. But Paolo could use a good staff and she could use some more time to recover. So that would count as a win-win situation, except for the unfortunate mapple tree she was about to bring down, that's it.

"I think we should stay around here a little longer." She finally said, pointing down at the tree. "But let's distant ourselves a bit from that Fey Bridge and secure the area first."

And so they did.

★☆★

In the end, falling one such tree without the proper tools prove too great of a challenge. And so Sophia had settled on cutting a branch instead. Even then, once she was down, their tools had lost most of their edges.

But at least, after three days of hard work, she got her prize and a one shot to make Paolo a great staff out of it.

But first, she needed to find a way to collect resin from those damn trees.

"It's ridiculous" Moana pointed out. "You have been at it for days, you barely rested through it all and you are only getting started."

It was true. Making even the simplest weapon without proper tools was always a pain. But even more when the material in question tend to regenerate as you were cutting it. So she could never rest for long without risking undoing all her hard work.

"Maybe you're right." Sophia conceded. "But trust me: it will be all worth it."

"You really believe it's gonna be that good?" The field surgeon asked doubtful, and probably concerned about her sanity.

"Maybe not as good as my new bow, but close enough." Sophia responded confidently.

And yet, hours later collecting resin from the trees had proved an even more difficult challenge, as it required her to wounded the tree, and somehow prevent it from healing long enough to get some sap. Which proved a bit paradoxical: to get the sap from which she would make the resin, she needed enough resin to prevent the tree from using its magical healing long enough to trigger its natural healing response instead.

So she needed someone to keep hurting the tree, while she collected the sap, and then quickly turned it into resin to paint the tree with, only leaving a tiny open wound for the sap to fall into their collector, one drop at time. And tough easy to say, it had proved extremely hard to implement.

Though thanks to Paolo and Michel eagerness to help her, they finally made it.

All this hard work for a single staff was indeed insane, especially since both wizards of their team barely used theirs. But it was a long-term investment.

And with everything finally prepared, it was now time to turn that branch into a quarterstaff.

Thankfully she had her previous experience to help her. Her boon only guided her while she was making bows. But she had picked up enough of the skill on her own to compensate.

It took her one more day, slowly carving and applying resin one inch after the other. But she could now take longer naps in between two sessions so it did not felt quite as hard anymore.

Then, it was finally time for the final touch and coat the weapon with its future owner blood magic. And Ilbryen old family trick still eluded her. But she figured that it would not matter for the weapon bonding.

"So we just have to dilute your blood in water and paint your weapon with it and its should forever be yours." Sophia explained.

But Paolo shook his head negatively.

"What do you means no? This is the best weapon you are going to wield in a real long time, you know?" She asked, disbelieving.

She simply could not accept that all her hard work would go to waste because Paolo was afraid of drawing blood.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What he means is that I will be the one doing it." Michel replied firmly pointing at the staff and Paolo nodded. "I know you intended this weapon to be for him. And I know you still feel responsible for whatever happened between the two of you on the first floor. But he is perfectly content as he is. And I could make better use of this."

The only reason Sophia didn't offer Michel to make a similar weapon was that she didn't believe their tools could take any more punishment that they already did. Yet Sophia wasn't feeling good about this new arrangement.

Yes, it was true that she favored Paolo above every other teammates and it was true that she was doing it mostly out of guilt, cause becoming a Battlemage had stunt his growth. But that her motives were wrong did not made the alternative any better.

Michel was implying she was being unfair. But it was him who was hoarding and keeping things to himself. If anything, Moana was the one who should complain about unfairness.

But in the end, one way or another, Michel would get what he wanted. And denying it from him would only reflect badly on her, whatever she did or say.

"Sure, it all yours. I'm done with it." She said throwing the staff at him. "Once you are done coating it, the system should give you the option to bond it and give you one extra magical property to choose from. Pick whatever feels right."

And then, she turned around and went venting her anger at the edge of the forest. It was unreasonable but she felt betrayed that Paolo would agree to such a deal behind her back.

But that taught her at least one thing: to never volunteer her craft for anyone without making sure they were on the same page.

★☆★

In the end, Michel got a tricky yet powerful option for his staff. Once in a while, the magic of the staff would randomly upcast or downcast whatever spell he was focusing on.

So it only worked on spells with concentration, and it was a complete gamble. Overall, it was a bit disappointing but it was the best option Michel got out of the Feywild infused material.

As for Sophia, she simply shrugged it off. The diviner could make his own luck, so it was probably good for him anyway.

What now mattered was getting through that forest and deliver the next package to the local hag's lair.

However, the local Feys had been so far unhelpful in locating their target. Every single one they met either did not knew what they were talking about or were to lost in their own mind to be of any help. So they had been wander aimlessly in the fog.

Until Sophia mind was once again assaulted by a familiar feeling and found herself back on earth drooling over her desk after another unplanned nap.

"This isn't real. This isn't real."

She immediately knew it was an illusion, a memory instead of a dream, but otherwise all the same. Yet, knowing so did not help her fight it back.

And she was really growing tired of falling prey of those Feys mind games.

Yet, she had no choice but to play along until she found a way out. And so she contemplated her own past. Or more like, what her life would have been if she had not been abducted to the tutorial.

And what she seen did not evoked the kind of feelings she expected.

"Wow. Damn. This was the sort of life I had been living. I totally don't miss that part."

And as she thought so out loud, she felt herself pulling out of the memory and getting back to her senses.

But her friends were still lost in their own mind. They were still active and responsive. But somehow, their mind weren't quite in the right place and their eyes were now vacant.

"Come on guys. You just have to remind yourself that your past wasn't quite as rosy and nice as you remembered it." She tried to shake them back to their senses.

But they would not wake up. Maybe their life had really been that great. Or maybe their last memories before getting abducted wasn't quite as off-putting as her own had been.

And so she proceed to walk them back on their track. Maybe she could get them out of range of whatever creature was attacking their mind.

But before long, she was herself pulled back into another memory.

This time, she was sitting at a table with her entire extended family.

'Oh! Come on!'

This memory was a tricky one, cause she was still her current self and still missed her family dearly. But now that she knew how to escape from it, it was all about channeling the bad stuff out of this memory.

Sure, she loved her family. But she also used to hate those family reunions. They were superficial, overcrowded and she used to foolishly think it was a waste of her time.

And again, she was able to escape from the memory without much difficulty.

Whatever Fey was attacking them, it wasn't as proficient as the Pleasantries at entrapping its victim. But it sure was persistent.

So she wasn't that surprised when she found herself pulled back into yet another memory only five minutes later.

And this time, the damn thing had dug some shit from deepest corner of her mind: Childhood memories.

She had been six or seven at the time.

She used to have regular night terrors with edge cases of sleep walking. And her parents had been really worried, patients, comforting and sleep deprived because of her. And she more often than not woke up in their bed, her mother speaking softly and lulling her back to sleep.

But she was now a grown adult. And she could see her mother tired eyes and her desperation to get her back to sleep.

It might have been a good memory, but only for her. And never would she voluntarily subject a loved one to something like this ever again.

This time however, when she came back to her sense, she got the feeling of something snapping and the echoes some inhuman sapient crying in pain.

'You tried to hard and got burned? May it serve you a lesson to stay out of other people mind!' Sophia thought, uncertain if the mind predator in question would hear it or not. 'Now free my teammate or I will make you suffer.'

She got no response. Nor did her friends got any better. But that new development made her change her mind. If she wanted that unknown Fey to leave them alone, she had to turn the table and become the agressor.

And so she started hunting.

★☆★

The closer she got, the nastiest the memory became. At this time, the creature was not trying to keep her in the memories. But rather to spook and intimidate her into turning around and leaving.

But that would not happen until she freed her companions as they did for her.

And that how she stumble upon the hut in the middle of the forest and its unmistakable hideous inoccuppant: A hag.

"So it was you!" Sophia snapped and assault the seemingly old creature.

"You were asking questions about me. I had to defend myself." She cried in retort.

"We were here to deliver you a package from your sister." Sophia said coldly. "Now, you are going to let go of my friend or I'm going trash your place and burn it to the ground."

"You wouldn't dare. You have a contract." The hag retorted indignant, but the hints of fear betrayed her.

"I have a contract to deliver you that package intact. Anything else is fair game. So what would it be?"

"Okay. Okay. Please don't hurt me." The old woman gave in. "I lifted the fog. Your friends should come to their senses any time now. Please leave that package behind and don't turn back."

And so Sophia did as instructed.

Three packaged delivered and two to go.

But one thing for sure: it was the first and last time Sophia agreed to play the errand girl for a hag.

It truly wasn't worth it.

★☆★

After that unpleasant visit to the hag, the team had another unfortunate encounter with another crew of Rabbitkin bandits.

For the Rabbitkins, that's it. Cause they all captured them alive and Moana was set on passing her nerves from their hag misadventure on the adorable furballs until they started squeaking.

"It's simple. Tell me what I want to know and it stop." The field surgeon impatiently told their prisoners for the umpteenth time.

"Then can you stop hurting us and start asking questions!" The bandit leader finally screamed, red in the face.

Oops? Did Moana perhaps forgot to tell them? She would not have 'forgotten' to do that on purpose, did she?

"Moana!!?" Sophia threatened.

It used to be Moana who refused to resort to torture and stuff. But since what happened to her brother, her moral compass had become twisted, to say the least. And it was exhausting for Sophia to have to be the voice of reason here.

"I might have gotten carried away and I forgot to ask? Honest mistake, I swear." Moana said sheepishly.

"Leave them to me." Sophia drop the matter with a sight, to which Moana said okay before retreating as fast as she could back to their campfire.

"Here is what we are gonna do. You are going to tell me where your hideout is. If your gang is reasonable, they would pay a ransom to get you back. If not, we are going to beat them and storm the place. One way or another, we get what we want and you get your life back. The only variable is how many of your kind are going to get hurt in the process."

The bandit leader nodded and gravely answered the question:

"The Warren is south-south-east, two hours walk from here. There is a one hill with a lonely tree. The entrance is under its roots. Hoppswiggle is our kingpin. But he is an unreasonably greedy Rabbitkin. Take him out pre-emptively and ask to talk to Thumpertail. With Hoppswiggle out of the picture, he will negotiate whatever you ask for."

That was quite a bit more than what Sophia asked for. But if all the Rabbitkin said was true, I would prove an invaluable time saver.

"Thanks. I would make sure to keep you out of reach from predators until your peers could come back for you." Sophia promised and went back to her team around the campfire.

It was time to prepare their sack of the Rabbitkin Warren.