Chapter Forty-Five

“Gurrap.” Hyacinth croaked proudly from underneath the pile of clothes That was enough to fill his pen in the beast stables and managed to bury his massive form.

How many outfits did Adric own? Harmony shook her head with some disbelief at the sight. The collection was more colorful than all of Bowe's feathers. Ambrosia left to gather the new staff to help manage the collection.

As for her pet prince, he was sound asleep, tucked into the rainbow coils of Bowe nearby. There wasn't a safer place to be. She turned to Nick, and the bodyguard stood a little straighter at the attention.

“I'd like two of my guards assigned to my prince. He's valuable to me and my goals for the games.”

“As you command, Lady White.”

Better to be cautious. Good to know her guards would take some commands. Not that she wanted to imagine what the incident at the palace tower would have been like without their support and what they represented.

Paranoia about the consequences of that act of defiance chased her to her room. The waiting plate of hot food and a steaming tub of water shooed those feelings away until, finally, a dreamless sleep took her.

Three days later, the reckoning of that night still hadn’t come out to surprise her. Having Maxwell dig around for rumors found no inkling of gossip or speculation about that night in any sheets or social club. Thorne had heard they needed more comradery, however, and by her knight’s account, those were brutal for the group.

Adric was nearly back in shape from his time in captivity. Steven, the duelist and tailor, was now his personal assistant, freeing up Bates for other tasks. The profession went well paired with his now-massive collection of clothes.

“Do you think you'll gain another level today?” Adric asked eagerly.

Three levels in three days. The unimportant levels, seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen. Yes, doing this quickly was the goal. But it was hard to escape the feelings about how the community consensus was that doing so was bad for you. In a technical sense, there were pages of revisions and adaptations in her journals to get here.

It suggested that there was an increased link in understanding to leveling. Reviewing and re-reviewing her time with Markus Von Trell led her to look at her brief experiences with Haz'el Ri. How much did the lack of access to truly powerful beings hurt people's advancement?

Today any insights that remained felt out of reach after exhausting the details of the memories. “I don't think so. Hand me one of those apple rolls. Time to eat and go. I want to be out of Nae’s Garden in time to visit Max.”

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The opportunity to see Thorne train her one-time dungeon diving team. Sir Maxwell had asked for her, and surprisingly, it had been granted. Check out Len. Cheer on her knight. See Rose for the first time since the palace tower. And face Lord Tyler once more. Allies or enemies in the games, it will be important to see what they can do. But first, there was a tower to climb.

How do birds fly Without feathers? They don't. The problem is getting in range.

“Gah!” Harmony cried as Hyacinth launched straight up with her as she gripped the straps they’d set up on his back.

The great eagle soaring above squawked in surprise. Not that the shadow toad could get that high in the magically expanded sky of the third floor, but he did allow for Harmony to be in range for [Manipulate Dead] to get to work. Feathers exploded, scattering everywhere.

The descent from the toad’s jump ended with a jaw-rattling crash. That impact was minor compared to what the man-sized eagle suffered through on impact. In the three days she’d been fighting on this floor, none had survived. That story rang true today as well, as the last of the lesser monsters came to its end.

It wasn’t enough. Similar to the second floor, this one had a hurdle she needed to get over. The thunder roc. You couldn't bypass this guardian like she did the tree lords. The stairs to the fourth floor only appeared if you defeated it, a theme going forward.

Of all the guardians in Nae's Garden, the thunder roc ended adventurer's climbs more than any other. Teams would come to this floor and then leave empty-handed because of weed-rotting cowardice.

“Ready for attempt number four?”

“Grack,” Hyacinth responded with enough doubt in his croak that Harmony knew he doubted this plan would work better than the others.

White knuckled, she adjusted her grip on top of her familiar's back. “Go!”

He hopped toward where the guardian waited, sending strong feelings of dislike about being used as a mount.

The shadow toad hated this floor almost as much as he hated the second floor. A grassy plain with not a bit of shade except when one of the birds cast their shadow, and those were never good enough to travel through. A combination of size, darkness, and that they were moving. It felt wrong to be so exposed.

In order to build up speed the ride wasn't gentle. Additionally, complications came from Harmony riding squatted on his back, relying on the straps to help keep her in place. [Poise and Bearing], [Style and Grace], and her other physical skills worked together to keep her stable as Hyacinth increased his speed towards their target.

The thunder roc stood on a patch of grass. [Final Silence] deadened the sound of their approach, but it could do nothing to hide them. Good, it’s looking away as the pair crossed the threshold where the bird usually reacted. That brought them half a second closer. Its head snapped in their direction.

The first flap of the wings sent a gust of air around it in a circle, the force strong enough to half Hyacinth’s momentum. It will have to do. With [High Kick] Harmony pushed off her familiar’s back, shooting toward her target. The second flap sent a gust toward her. [Stride Before the Fall]. The new copy managed to manifest past that wave of wind, maintaining momentum, one of the improvements she’d figured out watching Maekus manipulate the environment. The third flap and she was nearly in the range she needed to be at. [Mana Rotation] boosted [Manipulate Dead], stretching out, swiping at the feathers along the nearest wing. Half a dozen of the roc’s feathers split and twisted. That wall of wind pushed Harmony back out of range.

Even with the damage, the bird rose up anyway, lifting towards the sky while Harmony tumbled on the flat ground. As it left, her chance of defeating the floor left with it. “You're not a thunder roc. You're a blood-cursed farting chicken, you damn coward!”