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That night, Vincent made love to Raya and Lila as gently and affectionate as possible. He would have liked to cuddle with the first, but Lila poked him, her cute lips puckering, and wrapped her in her arms instead, where she fell asleep in seconds.

In the morning, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a blue notification, acting as a filter against a bright ray of sun coming through the window.

Hm… could I use my Menu instead of sunglasses? he thought before reading the text.

The Quest: Help Bee unlock and acquire Astral Enchantment is complete.

Reward: You have unlocked the access to two new Karmic Skills:

Outsider's Refuge (Active, Mythical): Creates an invisible and impenetrable pocket universe around you for a limited amount of time. Its size depends on your Spirit stat. This skill has no levels, but it performs better with practice. Costs 1 Karmic Charged to activate, consuming 10 Mana/second to maintain. Cost to acquire: 6 Tokens.

Outsider's Storage (Active/Passive, Mythical): Transform a Legendary-tier magical item into an Object of Holding with twenty-five default slots. Weight is negated for the outside universe, but the storage has a limit of 1/4 metric tons per 25 slots. Extra slots can be added by spending Karmic Charges (1 slot/charge). Each slot can hold one piece of equipment or a stack of similar items (details available upon acquiring the skill). With practice, items in the Storage can be equipped with a simple thought. Living beings are not storable. Food or potions will depreciate 10 times slower than normal. Cost to create: 1 Karmic Charge + 1 Karmic Charge/new slot. Cost to acquire: 2 Tokens.

While having a pocket universe was tempting, Vincent knew he could escape by teleporting away. The Storage was the priority. The only thing to do was to get his hands on a magical bag or ring. Rings of holding were what one would expect in a world of magic.

FAQ: Where can I buy a ring of holding?

Answer: Spatial storages and everything related to pocket dimensions or universes are extremely rare. The ratio of awakened individuals able to use such skills or create said items is about 1/10.000.000.

Extracting himself from the bed quietly, Vincent let the women sleep on and went to the toilet and the showers, taking fresh clothes with him. He put the old ones in a jute sack, writing his name on the tag, and threw them in an adjacent laundry bin, grateful the inn had such services.

Now, the question was what to do next. Vincent was curious about Bee's new abilities, but young men sleep late, and he opted to check on other things first. Exiting the inn, he noticed the mayor in the main square, talking with an eclectic group of workers. Some were tall, some were short, and a few were scrawny, fighting to hold pickaxes on their shoulders.

The official beckoned him, and Vincent approached. "What's the proper ditch depth for a water pipe?" "I say two feet, they say one."

"At least three if you don't want the water to freeze over winter," Vincent said. The workers sulked faster than one could say shovel. "What are you planning to do here?"

"A public fountain. Your friends will enchant the bamboo pipes themselves. We'll save a lot of money," the mayor said, his round face gloating joyfully. A long monologue ensued about procuring said pipes from Dresden with a barge and how much a decorative fountain would increase the city's standing in the eyes of the major cities. Maybe even restoring the Krivoburg to its former glory as a touristic location.

Vincent nodded patiently. A bit of time invested now meant less time spent in meaningless chats in the future. When he finally left fifteen minutes later, the mayor looked like an overexcited groundhog, his head bobbing up and down. Vincent profited, asking the mayor about bringing the tiger into town. He met a polite conditional refusal.

"Only if someone bonds with the beast and assumes responsibility," the mayor concluded.

I wonder how did I get that animal empathy stuff? Vincent asked himself while taking his leave from the official. Two possibilities came to his mind. Either it was because of the pet he had all his childhood, a tiny dog who imagined she was the master of the house and slept in his bed, or the horse he had used to learn to ride… Sadness overcame him briefly… It was his ex who taught him… The memory of her blonde hair flowing in the wind and joyous smile filled his eyes with tears. The past is the past, Vincent… You have to move on…

On his way out of the square, Vincent pored over the bus. Pulled near the inn, the vehicle showed improvement; somebody was trying to repair it. His next target was the people he hadn't talked to in a while: the Filipinos responsible for the agricultural projects. Working the land meant waking up early, so Vincent headed to the farming grounds. As expected, they were there.

Seeing Vincent, one of the women came to meet him. "There's too little land here; we must farm out of town," she said matter-of-factly, without any salute or introduction."The meadows by the river are good for rice."

"They have rice here?" Vincent asked.

"We had a parcel with seeds in our luggage," she explained. "Rare seeds that would work in this climate. Starting a bio farm was part of our plans."

Vincent scratched his head. The townsfolk had their food grown between the walls because of the beasts. Magic helped them grow enough for their needs. Yet, they needed to expand for the town's importance to grow.

"How fast do you need to move on that?"

"As soon as possible," she shrugged. "A few days?"

"Give me a week. I'll speak with Thomas. You'll need permanent protection until we cull the monsters." Saying that Vincent felt a bit of guilt. There were still a lot of dangerous animals out there, big or small, because the brainiacs, after reaching level ten, had concentrated on creating tech instead of hunting rats. All that while he was doing heroics… and the jobs that counted more for everybody's wellbeing had been neglected.

"Grandpa will take care of the monsters; he's strong!" a kid shouted from behind.

"Ah, yes… Hari the Spriggan, right? Where is he?" Vincent looked around to find the man, but the elder was not there.

"He's power-leveling hunting beasts," the woman said, frowning. The 'doing your job' innuendo was not lost on Vincent.

"Tell him not to bother the white tigers," Vincent said.

"He knows. They speak to each other. Part of the Spriggan perks."

"Hm…" That offered an opportunity. If White Roar wanted to stay in town, he could bond with Hari and guard the farmers.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Taking his silence as a sign the conversation was over, the woman returned to her group, and Vincent left. His next stop was the police office. As usual, there was not much traffic. Thomas and a young guard learning the ropes were on site, as was Thomas's wife, who was arranging a vase of flowers in the holding cell. Adding to that, the embroidered curtains created a cozy, comfy vibe, much to the temporary guest, the town's drunk, who was dusting the floors under the woman's strict supervision. Upstairs, Jorge and Bee worked together on the drone.

"Progress?" Vincent asked.

"Yep," Bee moved his body out of the way to allow Vincent to see one of the diamonds now inserted in a nook near the engine. "We were about to launch. Care to join?" he offered Vincent a pair of VR glasses.

"What is new?" Vincent asked, sitting down. There were three poufs in the attic.

"Greater altitude, range, and speed," Jorge said, making the drone fly through the window. "Improved controls through the VR visor. It can relay messages at a distance to our phones."

"Enhanced toughness, protection forcefield, can shoot small electric bolts, and a one-use enchantment," Bee said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know the Astral Enchantment skill you wanted me to buy? I worked late last night and got enough levels to buy it."

"Is it strong?" Vincent inquired.

"Yeah… You can say that."

"Put your glasses on. Tell me if you like the drone's upgrades," Jorge pulled Vincent out of his rumination.

Suddenly, Vincent's field of vision was replaced by an aerial landscape rolling very fast underneath. "Wow! How fast is—'

"Two hundred miles an hour," Jorge said. "Sixteen hundred miles range."

"That's fantastic!" Vincent yelled, drunken by the view.

"Concentrate on the landmarks and try to Inspect things."

"You mean attuning… No way! I can Inspect things through the drone now?"

"Yep," Jorge gloated. "The diamond creates a mana communication system with the controls and the phones in a fifty miles radius around her."

"Her?" Vincent asked.

Jorge blushed. "Err… I like to… personalize my devices. The drone is Jessica, by the way.'

"Whatever makes you tick, man. I'm not judging," Vincent said in an extremely judgmental tone. “Count on me to be your best man when you marry Jessica… Shoot, sorry, I didn't mean to say it aloud. Where are we going?" Vincent asked.

Jorge shrugged off Vincent's joke. "Vienna, then Munich. The closest large cities outside Ludwing's influence."

"Actually, that would be Dresden," Vincent recalled the conversation with the mayor.

"It's not so large here, only a transport hub," Jorge said. "And the name is Drensden here.

Do you want to take over the drone for a change?"

"Sure… Err… how?"

"Secondary controls activated," Jorge announced. "It will fly in the direction you look."

Even at that speed, there was a lot of waiting time to cover all those distances. After flying over Vienna and attuning to two city landmarks, Vincent had an idea and turned the drone southeast.

"Err… Northwest is the other way?" Jorge said.

"Let's diversify… I want to put Budapest on my list, just in case we ever need to enter the dragon's lair."

It was a half-truth. After Budapest, Vincent diverted the drone south to Sofia. If he reduced the transport time to zero, courtesy of his skill, nothing stopped Raya from visiting her girls for a day or two now and then. He was preparing a gift for her.

Soon, Bee got bored and left while Jorge worked over calibrations and avionics details that meant nothing to Vincent. He also attuned to Belgrade since it was on the way and continued. Two hours and a half after leaving Krivoburg, the drone approached the Bogomil capital, passing over a range of mountains.

"The fuck? Jorge, look at that."

"That what?"

"North of the city, in the mountains."

"The fuck?" Horge plagiarized Vincent's gasp. "That's not normal, right?"

Descending the hills on a tortuous path, an army approached Sofia from the North, maybe nine miles away. There were three main groups, thousands of each, one made of Mongols, the other of Dark Knights, and the third of heavy cavalry that Vincent identified as Byzantine Cataphracts. The Mongols' levels were in the lower fifties, the Knights were all level sixty, and the Cataphracts were around the seventies. Divided into smaller units, the army advanced slowly, sending archers on the sides or in front to scout or cover for the rest of the troops. An approach of war, not a peaceful march.

"Jorge!" Vincent said in his coldest tone.

"Y-yes?"

"Go pee, grab a sandwich, something to drink. You have a minute."

The scientist rushed downstairs, and Vincent pushed the drone south at maximum speed. He attuned himself to three locations in town and landed the drone in a back alley. Stepping into the alley a second later, he returned with the item in the attic.

"Change batteries," he ordered Jorge, who was back. After that, he took the drone in his arms and returned it to Sofia, then Strode directly to the inn in their chamber.

"Iii!" Lila yelped. She and Raya were not asleep anymore, engaging in very intense kissing.

"You idiot!" Raya roared. "What if I had a weapon at hand and had killed you?"

"An army is nine miles away from Sofia. Mongols mixed with Byzantines and Dark Knights."

"Treason!" she yelled. "The Ban of Krui Ova betrayed his oaths!"

"Forget the politics. Can your city withstand a siege?"

"The Mongols will be sent ahead; they're supposed to be our allies. A small troop can capture the gates and let the others in. Vincent! Can your skill get me there?" she yelled in his face, grabbing his shoulders.

He nodded, and she fell on her knees, sobbing. Putting a hand on her shoulder, Vincent tried to adopt a reassuring tone despite the storm in his soul. He really wanted to keep the ones Raya loved safe. "How many of you have families in Sofia. Kids, or young siblings, or siblings with children of their own? I don't care about old parents."

"I d-don't know… Maybe half?"

"I want you to get twenty of your meanest warriors, the ones with the best-matched skills, good to fight as a group."

"It will be done," she blurted, darting off.

"Stop!" Vincent grabbed her by the arm, making his voice cold on purpose. "You're naked, and I didn't finish. Pick the ones without families there. I don't want them distracted. The ones with kin are to make a list of names and addresses. We'll pick up their loved ones when possible. You," he accentuated the word, "will be the only one to see her family directly. In exchange, I expect you to follow my orders to the letter. Promise or I'll leave you here. You'll do whatever I order, no questions asked."

"Save my family, and I'll jump into the fire for you," Raya said, likewise cold.

"Raya, Vincent!" Lila protested. "What are you talking about?"

"War is merciless. Some of the ones I'll lead in the battle today might not return," Vincent said. "Go, Raya," he softened his tone.

"I want to come," Lila yelled, hurrying to dress.

"Out of the question," Vincent said, picking up his phone and sending a message to Lukas, Irene, and Brandi: 'Red Alert! No drill. Irene, Brandi: Come to the inn now, dining room. Lukas, I need explosives, Molotovs, and firearms in the main square in twenty minutes.'

Meanwhile, Lila yelled many words, but Vincent understood only one: Healer.

"Sorry, did you just say you're a Healer?" Vincent asked.

"Yes!" she shouted at him. "A pure magical one. I changed my species to Nymph, and Healer is a good match."

"You're a Nymph?"

"You d-didn't n-noticed?" she stuttered. "I picked it to make myself more attractive to you…"

"Didn't notice the difference. You were plenty attractive before," Vincent said, totally careless. Still, she appeared to take it as a compliment and kissed him. "Have to go," he blurted, taking his backpack, which had the revolver inside, the axe on its back, and a leather vest that had been enchanted to be at least bullet and arrowproof.

Downstairs, there was a huge ruckus. "We'll be unable to make the list in time!" an Amazon screamed over the fracas.

"Silence!" he yelled. "No problem. Irene will send me the list via… err… magic message. Take your time, do it right, make a map with location so we don't have to run back and forth."

His phone buzzed. It was Jorge.

"They stopped four miles away, behind a hill. A few guys are talking apart; I think they're the chiefs."

"Mark them for me, please. Raya said they'll send the Mongols to capture the gate. As soon you see things move, you send me a message. I'll be on site." Vincent closed the call as Irene was approaching. "You are to keep everybody calm on this side. If I'll be too busy to deliver messages personally, I'll ask you to do it."

"Roger," she said.

"He's Vincent," Raya corrected her.

Vincent had no time to teach the Amazon code signals, so he checked his watch. "I'll be in the main square. Meet me there with your gals as soon as—"

"We're ready," Raya said. "Amazons prepare fast."

"Then let's go."

"You'll need a medic," Ayman said. "I have seen my share of bad wounds, treating police or—"

"We can't risk our only—" Vincent stopped his words short because Lila was staring at him, dressed in hiking gear and with a first-help kit in hand. "Lila, you're coming," he hissed, hating himself for it. It was sensible to keep the main doctor, the experienced one, safe, but he detested having to make that call.

Brandi was running toward the inn when the whole group was out. "Take your gun and ammunition!" he screamed. "Meet me in the square!" She nodded and ran inside.

Next to the bus, Lukas squatted in front of a crate filled with bottles, their necks wrapped in rags. He was pouring gasoline from the bus's gas tank, using a hose and a device to make the flow stop when needed.

"And explosives?" Vincent yelled.

"There!" Lukas pointed to a small barrel. "Black powder, all I had at hand on short notice. I filled it with nails and bullets. The fuse is short. If you count to ten, it's too late."

"Great. Everybody who's supposed to go, gather around me!" Vincent yelled. "Lukas, we're going to help a city against a siege. Do you want to come or stay?"

"I'll come," Lukas nodded.

Two seconds later, after Brandi arrived, panting, the group was in Sofia.