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Vincent knocked at the door once. On the second knock, his knuckle found only air. Lila had swung the door open, jumping in his arms. It was ten at night, and they were supposed to have that night for themselves.

“Thank goodness! I thought you forgot!”

“I worked late,” Vincent sighed. He hadn’t been able to finish his data gathering with Nora in the afternoon and had to wait until Irene was done with her meetings at seven. The secretary didn’t object to working overtime but said she expected to be paid extra.

“Come in,” Lila pulled Vincent after her. She wore a silk neglige, all but revealing. Slamming the door behind them, she grabbed Vincent’s neck, and they kissed.

“I brought you a gift,” Vincent said, extracting a laptop from his storage.

“Err… thanks?” she said hesitantly.

“We brought a hundred of them from Earth,” he said. “But this one is especially for you. It has thousands of movies, dance shows, music albums… I was thinking of watching a movie together.”

“What a lovely gift!” she exclaimed, taking the laptop to the bed. “Any preference?”

“You choose... But don’t pick something too romantic, or I won’t be able to wait until the end.”

“Me neither… Let’s watch something short… like Tom and Jerry?”

“That would be fun,” Vincent said.

Half an hour later, after five minutes of watching Jerry trashing the cat with his wits and a torrid lovemaking session, they lay in each other arms in the bed.

“You have no idea how often I looked at you while you were asleep,” Vincent confessed. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Only when asleep?” she giggled, wrapping her arms around his chest.

“All the time, of course… How was your day?”

“The town hired a few Healers from Pragwyn… and they’re better than I, so I just hang out around the hospital for the morning, watching them work, then I danced around the town again to enhance the leylines… Gia needs more power, and I’m the only Nymph available.”

“How does that work?” Vincent asked, remembering he had a quest about exploring around using Mana.

“Bee’s theory… he has a theory for everything… is the active Dark Matter likes to bond to chiralic structures, and there are many such things. My talent is to enhance the chirality related to nature… look!”

Jumping out of bed, Lila started to dance in a circle. After the third round, a mushroom fairy ring appeared on the wooden floor.

“Unbelievable!” Vincent exclaimed. “Edible?”

“Yes, but not so tasty… these are for medicinal purposes.”

“Like… getting high?”

“No!” she frowned, leaning to pick the mushrooms—about a dozen—then putting them in a drawer. “Antibiotics.”

To Vincent, the place where the mushroom had been shone with a faint light. On a whim, he activated Arcane Awareness. The light intensified, and all of a sudden, he could see a network of thin filaments entering the floor and going all the way down to the tree roots, then spreading on the streets and around the city. They gathered in thicker cords at each gate or bridge, then spread again.

Some threads were accompanying the railway, others the dirt roads or the river banks, and a cluster was working to repair the damage the two tactical nukes brought. Over one hill, a minuscule thread was passing near an object of uncertain shape that blinked red in Vincent’s senses.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“I’ll take a shower,” Lila said.

“Go ahead, I have to check something,” he told Lila and Strode near the object after dressing back in his boxers and a T-shirt. It was a bear's skeleton, almost the size of a small truck.

Slain by Irene Altenschloss, this carcass has not been looted yet. This beast's claws and fangs are proper for crafting Rare or Elite tier accessories.

Hm… I should ask our crafters if they can make something for Irene… Vincent thought. Since they arrived, the reputation of the Guild has increased, and they sold a lot of medium-quality gear at a lower price than other places for better quality.

Then, he noticed the blinking in his senses was not the bear’s remains but something behind it. He walked between the trees barefoot, indifferent to the sharp pine needles or rocks that barely registered as minor annoyances on his soles. The source of the signal was in the bear’s lair. A shiny wall of light was at its end, akin to a forcefield or a pocket universe’s shell.

It was the latter Vincent discovered when he put his hand on it. On a whim, he tried to step forward and went through the light. A Karmic Charge was deducted, but for the first time, it felt like he passed through a waterfall or a wind barrier rather than a jump. His skill was progressing.

What the heck is that?

A massive cylinder lay on the ground, with its upper half made of glass. Inside was a body, an old man with hollow cheeks, immobile, his empty eyes staring into nothingness.

You have discovered The Raven’s Pod, a Mythical tier artifact.

“The Raven’s pod, huh?”

Walking around the cylinder, his hand on the object, he noticed an indentation with a lever. His Arcane Awareness told Vincent it was an emergency opening device.

“Well… let’s see… maybe he had some artifacts on him…” Vincent spoke aloud, pulling the mechanism. Exposed to the air, the body and its clothes dissipated into dust, making the young man step back, covering his face with his elbow, avoiding inhaling the particles of his defeated foe. Then, the light surrounding the pod vanished, and another grew, announcing Elkandaros’s presence.

“You have completed my quests,” the apparition boomed.

“Grand Archetype,” Vincent bowed. “Please excuse my informal attire.”

“Attires are unimportant, achievements are.”

For completing all three parts of the quest requested by Grand Archetype Elkandaros, you now have access to the following rewards:

Your Karmic Charges pool has been refilled. + 1 Level + 2 in Mind and Spirit

Inter-dimensional traveling costs are minimal, with no further reduction possible. Current cost for traveling between Awakened and Neutral Realms: 50 Karmic Charges. Current costs for traveling between awakened Realms or pocket universes: 5 Karmic Charges. This covers your own expenditure. Any person you take with you will cost an extra 1 Karmic Charge.

“Wow… Thank you very much… May I ask you something, Grand Archetype?” Vincent said.

“You may.”

“Can you offer more information about this quest? Anything that could help us?”

The man froze, his head turned sideways, considering things.

“Too much information could falsify your decisions in the future… But I, Elkandaros, will tell you this: No Archetype is a hundred percent good or evil. Some did terrible things in the past but redeemed themselves later. Others were Great Heroes, like the Raven, whose dust floats around us, only to fall into madness at the end. You will make mistakes, too, Hero Vincent, but learning from them is important. I will point you to someone who will offer you more answers. Find the Dancing Queen, Gorgona Taranta, and gain her help and trust.”

“Thank you. It’s a start,” Vincent said.

Elkandaros vanished, but a new notification appeared.

Additional information: Hidden pocket universes will trigger your senses if you are close enough.

Pff… I’m not in the mood to check it now…

He tried to put the pod in his storage on a whim, and it worked. For whatever reason, the object was not as heavy or voluminous as it looked. Then, he took the bear carcass into the loot storage facility—a sizeable hangar— leaving instructions for processing the loot. Finally, he returned to the room. Lila was using a hair dryer.

“Hey,” she said, turning the dryer off. “Where have you been?”

“I completed the quest for the Grand Archetype… Thanks to you, actually.”

“Then I must claim my prize,” she approached and kissed him. “Do you want to watch a movie together? I found something funny.”

“Give me a minute; I’ll shower too.”

Five minutes later, changed into fresh clothes, Vincent took Lila in his arms, the laptop in her lap. The movie was a comedy about a couple’s parents meeting each other for the first time.

“How are your parents?” Vincent asked. “I mean… are they nice?”

“Yes… They have a vineyard in Italy… You’d like it. They supported my passion for dance but… not my preferences…”

“That you like girls?”

“Yes,” she turned her head to him. “I don’t feel attracted by most of the boys… girls feel prettier…. But you are different… I was smitten with you the first day…”

“I won’t complain,” Vincent kissed her.

“Movies can wait,” she said. Closing the laptop and putting it on the nightstand, she returned the kiss, each pulling at the other clothes.