Zeff was still furiously implementing notes. “Familial Luckomancy is an incredible aura ability, but it has limitations.”

“Like how many friends I have?” Nate asked.

“Like the cost when things are dire could be deadly.”

“That's why I need more friends,” Nate said. “Keep that cost as low as possible.”

“It drains your fatigue and magic simultaneously, and when those are done it spikes through your exhaustion, so pushing too much can render you unconscious. Which makes you an easy target.”

“Which is why we need to train and get stronger, so this doesn't happen.” Nate patted Terry's head. “And so Terry here can grow big and strong!”

“Speaking of Terry,” Zeff said, “There isn't much information on the Scene about Astral Maws. What it does have is not good.”

“Can I look at the slate?” Nate asked. Zeff slid it over. He had the Bestiary app open.

The Astral Maw is a being of great and terrible hunger, feeding on anything it can find. Most are banished to the Astral Plane, but some have been known to escape and wreak havoc on Terra until put down or returned to the Astral.

When Nate touched the slate to read further, a window appeared.

Storm Chaser Slate. This device is capable of accessing the Storm Chaser Network data such as that associated with Sigil Stones and various known flora and fauna. Copy data? Yes No.

“Yes!” Nate said with perhaps more vigor than he meant to. The display on the slate lifted from the glass, spiraling into a line that connected to Nate's forehead. After several seconds, a new window appeared.

Databases updated. Journal has been updated. Bestiary has been updated. Item Identification tab added. Item database has been updated. All known recipes have been added to your Recipes list. Ingredient database has been updated.

Updating your Interface Sigil has bolstered your Adaptive Learning skill.

Adaptive Learning has increased from Novice 16 to Novice 25. Total Fatigue has increased by 9. Progression to Level 10 at 100%. Progression to Level 11 at 32%. Please select your primary stat to be increased. Current Health: 166/166. Current Fatigue: 157/157. Current Magic: 175/175.

Nate chose to increase his Magic. His body glowed briefly green as he received a new message.

Your Adaptive Learning skill has reached Novice 25. You have unlocked Contact Identification.

Contact Identification. Passive ability. Cooldown: none. Touching an object or creature imparts basic knowledge about said object or creature. Touching Novice ranked magic items grants inherent understanding of their uses and abilities.

Nate touched the table before him and the word ‘Table’ appeared above his hand, beneath which, in smaller text, were the ingredients listed to create it. Some of the ingredients had the letter ‘R’ in parentheses after them. He focused and found he could easily turn the effect off if he so chose.

“Quilly, is the R a reference to my Resourceful skill?”

Help: Resourceful Ingredient Listing. Any ingredient in a recipe with an R at its rear is one used in the weaker Resourceful variant of the object. More durable, higher quality pieces must be crafted at crafting tables such as your Interface Podium using the full ingredient list.

Zeff was looking over Terry, but got Fuzzball's attention. “Does Nate talk to his interface stone often?”

“All the time.”

“Does he know he doesn't have to?”

“Doubt it.”

“You know I can hear you, right?” Nate said as he dismissed the window.

“Sorry,” Zeff said, resuming his notetaking.

Nate stood and strode out of the tavern. “Time for some testing!”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Terry ran in excited circles around Nate as they walked out to the eastern farm. The fields were predominately abandoned, with the corner nearest the town square showing signs of Fuzzball's gardening. Nate took out the Astral Essence Stone.

Essence Stone of Astral Step. Type: Ingredient. Weight: 1 lb. Value: 1000 gold pieces. A worn object enchanted with this stone grants the wearer the Astral Step ability.

Power: Astral Step. Cooldown: None. Cost: 30 magic points per second, 30 fatigue points per second. Effect: Create an astral portal between two points you can see within a number of feet equal to your total Magic. Portal can be set at any angle, but both portals are created at the same angle.

To ensure he remembered properly, he rechecked his Familiar Sigil Stone.

Familiar Sigil Stone. Once activated, you gain one Familiar Slot and can gain a familiar. Familiars grant you abilities based on the creature and your current rank. You may use certain essence gems to teach them new abilities.

Terry, who had grown another inch or so taller with Nate's advancement to level 10, had run all the way to the far edge of the field and was rooting around in the dirt. Nate sent a mental command to him, and Terry rushed back to stand before him, a rat-mole tail twitching from the side of his mouth.

“Finish up and we'll get started.” With a slurp the tail shot into his mouth like the last noodle. Terry swallowed and nodded. “Do you know how to absorb this?” Nate held up the essence stone.

Terry grabbed it with his right hand and put the stone in his mouth, biting down hard. The gem shattered, its swirling enchantment swallowed as Terry chewed.

Your Astral Maw familiar has learned Astral Step. You gain the Astral Step ability while Terry is your familiar.

Nate held a hand above his head, “Astral Sense and Astral Step! Hell yeah!” Terry, not knowing what a high five was, rose up on his toes to nuzzle as his death rattle purr spread across the field. As Nate patted Terry, his vision was drawn to threads of astral energy streaming into the field. A window popped up in his vision.

Quest: Portal Problems

Objective: Close the portal.

Reward: Blood Fusion Essence Stone, 15 gold pieces.

Accept? Yes No.

“Yes. Quilly, what's a Blood Fusion Essence Stone?”

Help: Blood Fusion Essence Stone. This stone is used to forge a stronger bond between allies. Enchanting a wearable item grants the wearer the Blood Link ability. If consumed by a familiar, a different ability manifests depending on the familiar.

Blood Link. Passive. Cooldown: 2 hours. You may choose an ally within your aura. For the next 10 minutes any damage taken by either linked person is split between them.

“Oh, that's cool! What portal is it-”

A swirl of blue light the size of a barn door appeared near where Terry had caught the rat-mole.

“What is that?” Fuzzball asked.

“A manifestation portal,” Zeff answered as he pulled his large wrench from his backpack. “Monsters are coming.”

Nate summoned his bow and Fuzzball clenched his fists as the first creatures began bursting from the portal. The four of them ran at the incoming monsters.

Rat-moles.

Terry was faster and reached the rat-moles first, shredding them as they dove to bite at him. Nate opened a portal to get within bow range, a smaller portal of similar color opening before him. Stepping through felt like stepping through a cool waterfall, though he came out the other side completely dry. Orange arrows pinned writhing monsters and vine covered furry fists and heavy wrench knocked them away in droves.

The portal kept spitting them out, and they were getting larger.

Zeff smashed the one nearest to him with a hefty wrench chop as Nate spoke over party chat.

“Zeff! They're getting bigger. What's the deal?”

“The portal is building power. Looks like we should be getting different ones-” the first steelbeak strode out of the portal looking angry and confused, “-now.”

A wave of steelbeaks chopped away nearby rat-moles, some running away from Nate's newfound group of friends toward the relative safety of the woods.

But, like the rat-mole phase, the steelbeaks kept coming, and not all of them fled into the Dead Wood. Fuzzball, as the group's strongest member, was faring the best. Close calls had nearly cost Zeff an arm and Nate a leg, but Nate's aura had its usefulness.

Where a steelbeak axehead peck would have cut deep, a bump from an adjacent one would knock it off balance enough to make the cut shallow. A shifting stumble would avoid a strike by a hair's breadth rather than cause an opening.

Then Nate fed magic and fatigue into his Lucky power. With three friends within his aura, the cost was low. The cost to the steelbeaks was high.

Though it wasn't noticeable at first, the battle began to shift. Several of the steelbeaks, more intelligent than the rat-moles, felt the aura activate and fled, reducing the numbers.

Those that stayed did not fare well. A stumbling step placed a steelbeak in an intercept position, its head rolling from the chop of another. Nate fired an arrow only to see it pierce through the neck of one to deflect into the neck of another.

“Double Kill!” Nate's voice dropped as he mimicked the Halo multiplayer narrator.

Terry fought with a frenzy Nate did not expect. Vicious claws ripped into steelbeak throats, his huge maw crunching skull and beak alike. Nate found that he could feel every cut that Terry received, like a subtle pressure in his head.

The steelbeaks continued increasing in size, up to the height of a large horse. Nate had to pump more and more into his Lucky power to maintain their edge.

“I'm going to have to stop my power to recover,” he said over chat, “get ready.”

As he stopped his channeling, a new creature emerged from the manifestation portal.