To my surprise, even Orykson arrived to train me on the last Liday before the Idyll-Flume.

“Oh, hello,” I said before shoving the last of my pastry into my mouth. Orykson’s eyebrow twitched and I quickly swallowed it. “What’s on the lesson for today’s training?”

“More work with Spatial Tripwire,” Orykson said, and I had to hold in a groan. I knew he wouldn’t appreciate it, but… Ward work? Really?

“I know it isn’t appropriate for your personality,” Orykson continued. “However, it’s a skill that will serve you incredibly well in both the Idyll-Flume and the Beastgate Trial Trail.”

Despite my dislike of wards, I could see his point. There was probably going to be some attempts at thievery or intimidation in the Idyll-Flume. Even if I could just retreat into Dusk’s astral plane, that didn’t let me see what was going on outside. I could walk right into an ambush, and a ward around the portal would help to serve as a good alert.

The trial trail had been called a gauntlet of combat, so I wasn’t sure why it would be useful there, but Orykson did know what he was talking about, so I was sure that it would.

“Alright,” I said, standing and heading out back.

“One of the advantages of a spatial ward,” Orykson said, “is that a truly skilled warder can match it to the folds of space that are within the area, making it difficult to detect.”

“Like a forest dragon modulating their mana to match the forest they’re in,” I commented, and Orykson nodded.

“Precisely like that. Now, last time we worked on the simple version, just using solidified mana to serve as a power conduit. Now, though, we’re going to be using some of your Transivy and Pointermoss to weave together the ward in a pattern that will appear more natural to the eye, and you will be using mana manipulation to make it as subtle and blended in with environmental space as possible.”

The warding work was… Less miserable.

I still didn’t love focusing on so many tiny details, but being able to halfway landscape the wards was interesting, and it made me wonder just how many subtle wards like this I’d seen but missed.

The ungated aspects were interesting, too. Ungated mana had an easy time blending with the environment, and made for the connections that ran along anchors and plant strands much easier.

Orykson seemed interested in my progress and pushed me to build them faster, blend the spatial warping more, and make them look more natural.

“You could be an okay wardcrafter, especially in this style,” Orykson commented. “In Daocheng and the surrounding territories, they tend to call these landscape formations.”

“It’s less tedious than other wards I’ve worked with,” I admitted. “I don’t know if I’d want to pursue it seriously, but I wouldn’t mind doing so.”

Dusk stuck her head out of a small portal in the air then and commented that she was already doing this sort of thing. I jerked, not expecting it, but Orykson just nodded.

“Part of the difference is that you’re able to directly amplify and alter your landscape. There’s an argument to be made that you’re actually doing the opposite. Instead of altering the world to produce an effect, you’re using an effect to alter the world how you want.”

Dusk let out a tired wind-in-trees sound and pulled her head back into the portal before it snapped shut.

Orykson shook his head, then looked at me.

“I see you’re making good use of the bond,” he said. I tensed, worried he’d try to take the eggs, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled out a pocketwatch and glanced at it, then at me.

“I’ve got an appointment soon,” Orykson commented. “We’re arranging the location of the next Elysian Mastery Tournament. For now, your skills are almost adequate. You should keep practicing.”

“Wouldn’t politicians decide the location of the tournament?” I asked, and Orykson sighed.

“I wish. Politicians are one thing, other than powerful Occultists who want it in their territory, that’s all standard. No, the problem is companies. Every major company is fighting with us to have it hosted at a stadium they sponsor, and they’re all fighting. We already know it will be in the territory of the Storm King, but there are no less than fifteen potential venues…”

I stared at Orykson for a long second, then just started laughing. It probably wasn’t wise, but I didn’t know what else to do. Hearing an Occultist gripe about the power of corporations was just… Absurd.

Orykson raised his eyebrow, then cracked a smile for a second and vanished.

When I finished laughing, I went to find Dusk inside her astral plane, and to my surprise, I found her sparring with a particularly tall naiad. The naiad was still only about seven inches tall, but for a naiad, that was pretty huge.

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When their spar finished, Dusk turned to me and waved cheerfully.

“Hey,” I greeted her. “What are you doing? Sparring obviously, but… Just polishing your skills, or?”

She burbled like a river, telling me she was trying to advance her second gate as quickly as possible. She had most of the spells she wanted mastered, but was struggling with pushing back the last bit of mist.

“I get that,” I said, noting the mist that still filled large portions of my second gate, especially in time and space. “Is there any way I could help?”

She considered, then nodded, asking me to spar.

I had a fair bit of first gate mana left, so we sparred for a while. Dusk’s shockwave attack spell was advancing well, and it could actually throw me off my feet now, but what she was really focusing on was trying to advance a second gate spell that would form a half dozen hands out of swirling mud to cling to my legs and tie me down.

It was kind of horrifying to look at, and I had to wonder just what sort of spells Dusk would be able to cast as she grew stronger.

After we finished, I decided to swing by the library. The last thing that I needed right this moment was another spell to practice, but I thought I’d ask them if they already had a copy of the Surveyor’s Eye spell that Kene’s grandmother had given me.

When I arrived, though, I was ambushed by the blue haired Elohian river dragon.

“Aye, Malachi! Glad to see you, so glad, like seriously. You’ve got that token-thing to go to the Idyll-Flume, right?”

“Uh,” I said. “Yes. Why?”

“Great, great,” she said, her head bobbing up and down like a chicken. “We have a request…”

She stared at me and groaned.

“Your veils are still terrible. I can see right through you.”

I began to swirl my mana in a veil, using the tapered cyclone technique that I’d been shown.

“I can veil,” I said. “I just… Don’t walk around with one all the time. It’s annoying.”

“Sure, sure,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And I’m a chicken.”

“I mean, both estragons and chickens come from eggs,” I said.

“Whatever, monkey-person,” she said, grinning.

“What did you need?” I prodded after a few seconds of silence.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry. Primes I get distracted easily. We had a request for you. It’s not super common to get the chance to study astral planes. They’re rare as can be, and they’re, like… Unique. All of them are different and fundamentally strange and weird.”

Dusk made an insulted scoffing sound, and the dragon woman grinned.

“Yeah, even you. But the point is, this one only opens once every two or three decades, so it’s hard to get information on it. We’d like you to bring in an item we’ve made that will gather a whole bunch of information about the plane as you move around and explore.”

“Sure, that’s no imposition,” I said, nodding. The libraries had done a lot for me, especially in the beginning. I really had no reason not to.

“Great! Now, something else I wa–”

“I wanted to see if you had this spell in your records?” I said, cutting her off before she could go on too long of a ramble. I pulled the scroll from Dusk’s realm and passed it to her. She looked it over, then shrugged.

“I think we do, but not the notes on this particular scroll. Mind if I make a copy?”

“Fine by me,” I said, and she pulled out several tools and began casting spells onto it before she handed it back to me. “Great! Now, the other favors we wanted to ask of you.”

I immediately felt terrible for cutting her off. I’d assumed she was going to be going off on a tangent, but it seemed like she was focusing on her work.

“One, do you already have someone going with you?”

“Yes,” I confirmed, and she nodded.

“Alright, we figured that. So that question is out, I’ll suggest to Alvaro to ascend to third gate.”

I winced again, then paused. Was it really fair to him ask that? Maybe if things had gone better, but as was, I wasn’t responsible for him slowing his advancement.

“Alright, so the slightly bigger ask that we have is that you bring in… Well, I think it’s easier to just bring you.”

They led me through the library, into the astral plane, and then down a long, twisting series of stairs that descended deep into the void.

With each step they grew more and more narrow, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew that if I fell, I’d just wind up in the library, I’d have been getting worried.

Finally, the stairs stopped at a single door that seemed to lead into nowhere. The dragon unlocked it and headed in, vanishing from sight. I paused, hesitating for a few long moments, then stepped in as well.

Inside was… Nothing. Dusk, the dragon, and I hung suspended in a void of nothingness.

“Spirit of the Library,” the dragon called out. “We beseech you.”

“ErrorErrorError. Information. Recalibrating. Recalibrating.” a voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. I shivered as I was washed in a wave of fifth gate knowledge mana.

“Granted.” the voice said, and a glowing sphere appeared in the center of the void. All around the sphere, smaller spheres of light broke off, darting away, vanishing, returning.

A few spheres drifted near us, but a wave of mana from the dragon-girl sent them scattering away.

“This is the Spirit of the Library,” she told me. “An artificial elemental and spirit we created and tried to nurture.”

“Request?” the sphere said, and the dragon next to me cursed.

“Null.”

“Accepted.”

“Sorry, I said its name, it thought I was asking for it. Point is… It’s a backup of everything we can contain in our branch of the library, and several other branches. It’s also able to use those lesser spirits to gather a ton of information. If you’re willing, it can give you a half dozen lesser spirits to roam about in the Idyll-Flume, then bring them back.”

“What’s the catch?” I asked warily.

“Well, the catch is more for Dusk than you,” she said. “They’ll gather information on everyone. People. Places. And the other astral plane there, Dusk. You too. Basically anything unable to hold a veil strong enough to block their information gathering. We will compensate you for all of the information we get, though. And while we might publish it in broad strokes, we’re not going to mention either of you by name”

I glanced at Dusk, who shifted uncomfortably. Her nature was a source of power, but it was also semi-secret for a reason. Letting the information go semi-public might not be the best idea. Even if our names weren’t attached, someone clever might be able to put together the information anyways.

“We’re willing to offer a dose of Dott’s Draught and an Earthen Enablement Pill,” the river dragon said.

I mentally groaned. The exactly right materials for the spell Dusk was trying to master, and for my second full-gate spell.

I looked at Dusk.

“This is your choice,” I told her. “I can’t make this for you, it impacts you more than me.”