The figure standing in the huge underground library pushed back their hood, revealing the face of a middle aged woman. Her black hair, with some streaks of grey, was tied back tightly into a low bun. Her chocolate coloured skin contrasted with light grey eyes. She strode quickly through the library as books started to fall, reaching a central point where a small desk protruded from the ground, topped by a large glass panel. She reached out toward the panel. A humanoid figure, composed entirely of light, rose from the screen. It leant forward, hand out to meet hers. As the two connected, there was quick exchange of light before the being leant back, "Welcome Sita. The surrounding lands are currently being impacted by significant tectonic shifts. I need your authorisation to isolate the library physically." Sita placed her hand on the panel, "Granted." Almost immediately, the shaking stopped, and the lights went out.
Two days later, they arrived back at the location of their current hut. Throughout their time in The Gloom, they regularly constructed temporary shelters for extended hunting trips or just as waypoints for places they regularly traveled. Over time, the most useful of these had been expanded until they had 3 that were suitable for long term living. This particular hut was well situated for the currently hot weather, with nearby water, various root vegetable crops and a large nest of Giant Sciura. It was also well located as a launching point for their trip into The Gleaming Wastes being in the northern part of the forest.
For the remainder of the journey they had moved much more slowly, with regular breaks. Nevertheless, they were all well and truly worn out by the time they arrived back at the hut. Despite being in the middle of the day, both Mico and Felix quickly unpacked their gear, found a spot in the sun, lay down and went to sleep. Cutter, of course, did not indulge in a nap. He spent the afternoon stowing what had been unpacked, collecting additional firewood, and even managed to bring down a Sciura from the nearby nest. All in all, a rather slow afternoon for him.
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The next day saw Mico and Felix up before dawn. They both knew that one afternoon of lazing around catching up on sleep was the absolute limit Cutter would allow. Not only that though, both recognised that they were the ones to slow Cutter down on their flight from the beast. Cutter had later named it as a subset of mutated Leonid known as Leonitidae. The name was a blend of the base species of Leonid and some other animal that Mico had never heard of. Even Cutter couldn't really explain the mechanism by which animals of the world had mutated into strange, aggressive beasts. Something to do with the way the energy emmitted by the Brightstar interacted with the body, particularly when the animal was young, created random variation. Due to the potential for significant change from generation to generation, beasts were broadly classified by their base species. Beyond that, any one animal could require it's own classification. In recent decades, newer mutations were developing something akin to natural channeling. The one Cutter had slain, with it's light based mane (as Cutter had called it) was an example of that. The disorienting effect fortunately wasn't that strong, but it presented worrying possibilities for the future.
After their morning run, and series of tailored exercises, Felix and Mico prepared the morning meal. Cutter had, seemingly randomly, decided that they had to work together on preparing at least three meals a week. While initially a source of tension for the pair, they were now something of a dynamic duo. Bouncing off each other with increasingly creative ideas had resulted in some fantastic meals, even by Cutter's generally stoic assessment. Of course, they'd also wasted a fair amount of food with inedible failures. This morning, they'd whipped up something fairly basic. Mashed tubers, flavoured by chunks of salted preserved meat, along with a little bit of the fat, and thin slices of a wild green that added a sweet spicy flavour. Simple, but hearty and filling. They even got a nod of approval from Cutter.
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After the meal, Cutter said, "Where's that shard now Mico?" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the jagged lump. Cutter raised an eybrow at him, "That's a large lump of crystal to be lugging around in your pocket boy," he held his hand out. Somewhat reluctantly, Mico placed it in his palm. Cutter looked up at him, "You've been charging this?" Mico's face was blank. "Charging it?" Cutter nodded. "Yes, I guess we missed your second threshold." Mico looked even more confused, "My second what? Cutter, you're throwing around words that mean nothing to me again." Felix just groaned, "How have you not explained this much to him yet Cutter?" Cutter looked annoyed at that, "Well you've had two years to do so yourself if you think it's so important. As far as I'm concerned there's no point knowing things before they're relevant to you. It's what I call 'need to know basis'." Felix's eyes rolled so hard that there was nothing but white. "You and your weird sayings. It's relevant now isn't it." Cutter just waved a hand at her. She snorted, turning to Mico. "What were your questions again? Charging, and...?" "Thresholds." Mico offered. "Right, right. Well the first one's pretty obvious no? You should be able to tell that the crystal is brighter than when you collected it. The energy for that come frome somewhere." She gestured at him. Mico pointed at himself. "Oh, I kind of assumed that Brightshards just did that." Both Cutter and Felix laughed at that. Mico started to look annoyed but Felix responded quickly. "If that were true, the entirety of the Gleaming Wastes wold have been mined by now. One of the main barriers to powerful workings of magic is gathering speed. Basic magic can be done pretty regularly. Properly impactful castings though, the kind that impact a battle, that could be months worth of gathering expended in a moment. If you're talking about a battle between powerful mages, where they are disrupting each other's casting, shielding, dodging, and running their own offensive? That could be decades of an averages person's gathered light gone in minutes."
Mico looked shocked. "But how can the war still be going then? How do any of the powerful mages have any gathered light left?" Cutter spoke up, "That's an insightful question, but we're getting off track." Felix nodded. "To finish the thought, as far as we know, only conscious beings can draw. Most of them at a slow rate. Shards, both Bright and Dark, do help to mitigate the issue somewhat. You can channel excess energy into a corresponding shard. At a glance, the only advantage that allows you is that you can build up stores beyond your personal capacity." Felix hesitated a bit before continuing. "That equation changes when we take into account the existence of unskilled Mages and source slaves." Mico held his questions at Cutter's warning look, but he was visibly impatient to speak. Felix spoke again. "What should I tell you about next? There's a lot to cover." She said, scratching at her neck. Mico immediately burst out, his voice almost a shout "Are you saying I can channel now?"