There was only one golden achievement when I next opened the Grimoire di Magi e Mythe; Victory in Marekaj. Still, the boon of twenty experience was welcome. I immediately increased my Aptitude and watched my interval Xp rise to 5, which was a comfortable place for it to be, giving me enough for a Trait or spell every two intervals, and enough for an attribute every four. Perhaps someday I’d figure out what the hell an interval was, but that day still had not yet come. As I theorized, the achievement for Marekaj properly listed Yveline’s name in its description, which meant it was indeed either self-updating, or it was tailored explicitly to me. Or both? For as much as I’d worked out about Barbavia since my arrival, many of my first questions remained a mystery.
The six of us remained in Vil Kayman for another few days, spending more of the prize money than we probably ought to have and preparing for the next part of our journey, and perhaps the most treacherous. As much as the wetlands were a pain in the ass, we were crossing mountains to enter Bizim, the Southern desert home of the jerboa-like kobolds and fox-like tilkisi. The former were a bit more reclusive, often bordering on xenophobic, and were divided between two societies; one who worshipped a sun deity, and one who worshipped a serpent deity. Fortunately, we’d be spending as little time in the lands of the Church of the Sun as possible, and avoiding the self-described Serpent-Blooded entirely, making a bee-line for the tilkisi capital of Choln Guzellik. It was a cultural hub where traders spent a lot of time, closer in population and variety to Brum or even Lion’s Head than Vil Kayman. I’d never been to a town like that, and the way my companions described it reminded me of childhood viewings of Disney’s Aladdin movies and cartoon series, only given the grand spectacle of reality. Hiking through the mountains was going to be rough, especially given my intrinsic discomfort in high places, but arriving at our next destination would make it all worth it.
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Two fights down, four to go. Three espers on my team and at least three more to join us in the future. Two stalwart companions and many friends made along the way, and who knows how many others we’d meet before it all concluded. My life had changed so dramatically seventy-odd days ago, and though my thoughts often drifted back to my family and my best friend Michael, I could easily say I was able to find happiness in the road ahead and every step along it.
END OF BOOK I