Hours later, Zarian was in his room, sitting at his heavy study desk. The dread gator grimoire was open in front of him.

It was late into the afternoon, getting close to dark. The room’s illumination was dimmed down to an acceptable level that was enjoyable for him.

Because of his Dark Affinity, he didn’t need much light to see. He’d been here for a while, rereading the same folktale for the second part of one large multi-spell combo. He reread the folktale in its entirety after countless times.

He closed the grimoire and ran through the first folktale spell through his Fractured Mind. It started with the ghoulish quagmire where people would meet a terrible fate once they fall in and sink like dropping into quicksand.

He hurried onto the next folktale spell where those who remained alive on the quagmire’s surface invited the hidden jaws of the quagmire’s resident, a creature of dread and nightmarish intent. Once it sought to snap up its prey, there was barely any delay before the invisible jaws closed and demolished the caught victims.

The second spell required an even longer retelling of the next tale, and the easiest way to do that was to have his Fractured Mind go over different parts at the same time. Each part ended in a sequence that completed the story of the second spell chronologically.

Usually, Zarian would make a mistake toward the end because the folktale used more archaic and harder words. This time he pulled it off and felt a click inside of him, followed by the upload of new runes into his profile and a soft notifying ‘ding.’

“Yes! I got it!”

Zarian threw himself backward too hard with his parasitic body. The chair was heavy and well-built for weaker humans. Against him, it didn’t stand a chance.

The legs underneath splintered. The seat fell and tossed Zarian off.

With decent enough grace, he rolled out of the fall and landed cat-like on his feet. He ignored the broken chair laying on the floor and brought up the new spell.

“Oh, yeah, that’s going to be fun. Sucks that the preparation is killer.”

It was for this reason Zarian had forced himself to learn without Tranquil Mind and Adrenaline Jolt. He figured by learning some spells with Fractured Mind alone, it would become many times easier to use them in a fight once he fixed himself up with some Level 0 support.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to test the spell now. He needed to go out for tonight’s operation.

“Maybe we’ll get to use it out in the field,” Zarian said, speaking to no one in particular.

Loner wasn’t in the room, nor was he outside the door. He was off patrolling the mansion.

Zarian could feel the goblin skeleton moving about the estate. Hopefully, he was rattling his bones as he walked to give the acolytes some fair warning.

Zarian imagined acolytes getting scared halfway to death otherwise. Those girls are so weak they would probably die from fright.

Para vibrated merrily against his back, catching his attention. She formed a tentacle before unraveling and twisting it to form five long fingers with bony claws.

She held out her weird hand toward Zarian.

Was this her attempt to give him a celebratory high five?

Zarian connected his hand with Para’s hand. The Parasite Cloak vibrated with more eagerness, which led to him laughing aloud.

“I know most people are horrified by you, Para, but you’re truly the best cloak a man could have. You’ve been helping me out for a while now.” He reached over his shoulder and patted the main part of Para’s body that connected to him. “If I haven’t said this enough, sorry about that. I just want you to know I’m thankful to have you.”

Para purred. She was thrilled to hear his thanks. She even went as far as making a more verbal sound.

Zarian listened closely.

Para kept vibrating around. Then she extended a stalk of flesh and formed a strange lamprey mouth at the end. It made an eerie, grating, whaling sound that someone else might confuse as demonic.

But it was Para’s first time making a verbal sound.

“Did you create vocal chords so you can talk?” Zarian asked.

Para wailed again, which sounded like a yes.

“Atta girl, you’re really growing up. Keep at it, okay? It’s time for me to suit up and kick ass.”

Para moved her mouth-tentacle up and down before fusing it back to the rest of the fleshy, leathery cloak.

Zarian absorbed the grimoire back into his soul. The phantom presence of the lurking predator faded away, taking away the scent of the cursed mire.

He left his room and headed for Hannah’s.

There were multiple objectives. Some were personal for Zarian and critical for the party.

The first objective was to acquire three skills that should elevate everyone physically. That might lead to crossing off another objective on their list.

Zarian imagined by the time they were done with Central Bramblevale they would all be in the Level 40s or higher. They would get their First Class Advancement here before going out into the wilds again.

Thinking of that excited him. It also put him under a time crunch.

Would they get more out of their advancements if they figure out Aura Ignition before then? If Zarian couldn’t do that, then could he at least learn the gravity spell before advancing?

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He wanted his profile as strong as possible before he advanced.

Learning the gravity spell will require Tranquil Mind and Adrenaline Jolt turned on.

Zarian knew he would have a better chance of learning if his party holed up in the Lovewar Mansion for a while. They couldn’t, unfortunately.

The supplies wouldn’t last long enough.

“You look excited,” Gilbert said. He was waiting outside of Hannah’s door, arms folded over his big chest.

“Buddy cop adventure, buddy cop adventure, buddy cop adventure.” Zarian shot a cheeky grin Gilbert’s way.

The police officer frowned. “This ain’t got nothing to do with being a cop. We’re just looking to steal skills for our benefit.”

“Is it really stealing if we’re taking from the bandits holed up in Central Bramblevale?” Zarian asked. “Or would they be considered local crime lords? Funny, isn’t it? Are those guys more okay than me because they’re neutral? Or is it because they pay people gold to look the other way? Would that gold be considered useful for the greater good, making it okay?”

Gilbert didn’t answer.

Hannah opened the door to her room and poked her head out. “Hold those thoughts. I’m done with the prototypes. I hope you appreciate how hard it is to lay more long-term enchantments. Multiple of them, in fact.”

“Did studying Bianca’s dress help?” Zarian walked into Hannah’s room after she waved them inside.

The place was a mess. There was a pile of spare clothing, medium armor, and even plate armor in the middle of the floor.

Hannah had a giant mountain range of documents piled up near her study desk and across the wall. The air was filled with static from active runic magic at work.

“Bianca’s dress is still a mystery to me. It’s no help at the moment, which is frustrating because I can’t seem to do what I want.” Hanah huffed. “It’s like I can see the logical conclusion, but the magic work to get it down is still beyond me. Maybe I need more Mysticism. Or maybe I need more Wonder for inspiration. Or I need to advance once I reach Level 40. Either way, you’re getting subpar work instead of what I envisioned to give you.”

Hannah waved toward her workbench, which was next to her study desk. She had different devices that helped with enchanting stacked on the shelves. Roller was in the corner, humming away, ready to dispense extra aura to anybody who touched the golem.

Half the items on Hannah’s workbench came from magic gear Zarian and Gilbert owned. The other half were common gear Hannah had enchanted. Zarian used Identify and saw how far Hannah had pushed her enchanting.

“You should be easier on yourself. You did great,” he complimented.

Hannah shrugged. “The next versions will be better.”

Zarian and Gilbert dressed down before putting on the enchanted gear.

Hannah looked away before saying, “It’s going to be dangerous out there. Don’t get hurt, you two. We have most of the city against us.”

“The Big G got us,” Gilbert said. “Well, maybe me. I don’t know about the chief.”

Zarian smirked as he slid into his upgraded Surface Walker Boots. He shimmied into a pair of trousers and into a long-sleeve shirt with a hole in the back for the Parasite Cloak. Then he and Gilbert helped each other with the back straps to their metal breastplates, the only hard piece of protection on them.

Gilbert slid a silky bracer onto his left arm, followed by an amulet on his neck. Then he grabbed a thick wooden rod with metal ridges embedded at the end, a war club.

It looked like the perfect weapon for a former cop, now healer of war.

Zarian used his Basic Aura Manipulation to feel out the runes in each of their gear while feeding his outfit aura. Yeah, this was Hannah’s best work yet.

The gear was layered with advanced enchantments for Reinforcement, Amplify Force, Quiet, Blend, and a new one called Recharge – this one increased aura recovery just like how Roller could.

“Get back before sunrise. The enchantments will stop working by then unless you overload them with too much stress too often.” Hannah passed a document to Para.

The Parasite Cloak stored it in her dimensional storage. The document would contain the location and some notes for tonight’s operation.

“We’ll be home early, no worries. Thanks, Hannah, you’re awesome,” Zarian said.

“Sure, yes, now go. I’ll expect a detailed retelling of how it all went once you’re back.”

Zarian and Gilbert left Hannah’s room. They caught Naomi and Bianca waiting for them in the lobby area.

Loner was there, too.

Zarian turned off the necromancy spell for the first time in a while and collected Loner’s pile of bones into the cloak’s storage. Tonight, if things worked out well enough, Loner might see some action.

“Roland wants to see you,” Naomi informed.

“Is he keeping his soldiers in line?” Zarian asked.

Because of some weird social norms, the soldiers couldn’t enter the mansion where there were women, especially those of high status like the acolytes. The acolytes had to work shifts to haul supplies out in front of the back door where the soldiers could pick them up.

“He better or I’ll keep them in line,” Naomi grunted.

“And if that doesn’t work, I will!” Bianca said, eyes flashing.

“I think they’ll give an arm and leg for any feminine attention at this point,” Gilbert drawled.

“Why does he want to see me?” Zarian asked.

“He seems like a man who’s going through a crisis of faith. He’s a firm believer in how the kingdom does things even though he has sufficient evidence that suggests the kingdom doesn’t care for him anymore,” Naomi explained.

Zarian created a few more spectral spiders and sent them out to watch key areas the soldiers might access.

The acolytes were practically baby kittens to him now and were doing their best to provide comfort and valuable information to him and his party, despite all the trouble. Zarian wanted to ensure their safety no matter what.

“Monitor him, please. And the rest of his soldiers especially. The girls here are defenseless. We don’t need any of those young men to go crazy and snap.”

Gilbert paled, all color gone from his face.

It took Zarian a second for his Fraction Mind to realize his mistake.

Back in Castle Grimrock, Jack had snapped Gilbert’s neck. That would’ve been the end for Gilbert if it wasn’t for his Extra Life trait.

Zarian tried to apologize, but Gilbert was already turning away. He stormed out the front doors.

“Bianca, set up a flash for us!” Zarian ordered, rushing out behind Gilbert. “Operation Skill Steal is a go.”

Outside was a shimmering barrier that surrounded the mansion’s entire perimeter. Beyond that was an army of soldiers shooting at the barrier with spells and arcane siege weapons.

They weren’t as active now compared to last night. But they remained consistent in trying to bring the barrier Lovewar had set down around the mansion.

Gods could deliver two boons for every distinct event or campaign. Their boons go out to the people they most favor in such large-scale situations.

Lovewar had used up her boons for Zarian, getting his party into the city with no resistance and setting a long-term barrier around the mansion. Only Zarian’s party members, the acolytes, and allies could move through the barrier freely.

The power of the goddess was clear. Nobody could break through. But Zarian’s party was still under a time crunch.

Their food supply wouldn’t last long. And any meddlesome god could get involved with boons delivered upon their own chosen followers.

Any time now, someone with a god boon could try to break down the barrier.

There didn’t seem to be anybody in Central Bramblevale who had a boon to spare right now. But that could change if Lord Cassian called for outside help.

Leaving the mansion behind, Zarian let his evil alignment unfurl. His cunning and conniving nature enhanced his Fractured Mind. Investing aura into Tranquil Mind and Adrenaline Jolt made him feel calm and quick-witted at the same time.

He caught up with Gilbert before Bianca unleashed a huge flash. She went as far as bending the light around Zarian and Gilbert. They remained unaffected.

The soldiers barricading the way screamed in pain from having their eyes seared by the powerful light. Bianca hadn’t held back much.

Zarian and Gilbert walked through the discombobulated army line. Nobody could stop them. The soldiers were crying and falling all over each other, horribly blinded.

The wizard and the healer entered the central city of stone walls and great towers. It was just starting to rain, too.

Tonight was going to be an interesting one.