Raiden appraised Klein’s crew first, eyeing them up and down. “I want all of you to prepare yourselves for sparring. There are practice weapons in a rack along the wall if you like. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Then, he gestured for Mirai and Edgar to follow him across the plateau, towards the smaller overlook separated from the main arena. From the overlook, seas of mist rolled across the landscape, swirling around the neighboring mountains in a never ending flow. Raiden sat cross-legged on a pad and motioned for them to do the same.

“What do you know about the leveling ritual?”

Edgar shook his head, smiling ruefully.

Mirai chimed in. “We evolve our skills!”

Raiden scratched his head. “That’s right enough, I suppose. We’ll create a soul coin, combine that coin with an aspected essence crystal, choose the primary skill or ability we want to invest in, and then decide on any combinations we want to do during the mastery challenge.”

“What’s a combination?” Mirai’s eyes gleamed.

“What’s a mastery challenge?” Edgar asked, his head spinning.

“For today, your goal is to unlock the leveling ritual by concentrating your essence into a soul coin. Beyond that, I just want you to sit with your skills and abilities and get a sense of what they want. So, let's meditate.”

Mirai sat and tried to prepare herself for meditation, but Edgar could hear her failing to get a handle on her excitement.

“Mir, I can’t focus with you huffing like a freight train over there.”

She began giggling, rolling around on her back. “Baah! I’ve dreamed about this for so long! Since I was a kid! I can’t believe it’s time!”

She rolled back onto her knees, looking over at Edgar. “We’re gonna be level two!”

Edgar couldn’t help but smile. The excitement was contagious, even though he knew it would interfere with his meditation.

Raiden smiled at them. “It’s been a long time, but I remember the feeling. Your father was the one who coached me through my first level, Mir.”

“Was it the most boring leveling ceremony ever?”

“Hah! Big brother wasn’t quite so stoic back then. He had a… colorful youth.”

Mirai raised an eyebrow. “Why do I feel like you brought most of the trouble—-ahem, I mean color, dearest uncle Raiden?”

Raiden huffed, shaking out the sleeves of his shirt and sending out ripples of orange and yellow fabric.

He flashed her an innocent smile. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you mean. I have always been a man of virtue and integrity.”

Raiden closed his eyes and plowed onwards. “Creating the soul coin is easy enough if you’ve been refining your essence along the way.”

Mirai smiled at Edgar and rolled her eyes. Edgar shook his head, closing his eyes and steadying his breathing.

“We have been. I taught Edgar how to do it, too.”

“Excellent.” Raiden let out a deep exhale. “Then, reach into your core, where all that essence is swirling about, and imagine condensing it into something that will fit in the palm of your hand… And, once you have the coin, meditate on your skills… Try to sense what they are feeling. What they want.”

After a few breaths, Edgar heard a subtle crackle in the air and knew that meant Raiden had left to coach the other adventurers. Settling deeper into his meditation, he sank into his core. The Amalgamation’s essence was the first thing he noticed, ungroomed and roiling, so that was his first order of business. In a hypnotic rhythm, he circled it through his core until it calmed and settled.

Then, he clasped his hands in his lap and began the effort of condensing it. His core felt full, like a ripe fruit, ready to be plucked. He began squeezing the essence, but it took some time for him to get the hang of it. After a long struggle, he felt himself push past a threshold of some sort and all of his essence collapsed in on itself.

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You have created a [Soul Coin]!

The [Leveling Ritual] menu is now unlocked.

A small lump appeared between his clasped hands—a blood red coin. Edgar focused and found himself able to open a menu he’d never seen before.

Leveling Ritual: Level 2

* Fuse a [Soul Coin] with an [Aspected Essence] to continue.

He glanced at his inventory, noticing the few essences he had collected were all glowing with a subtle outline. There were three in total: an [Essence of Darkness (Shadow)], an [Essence of Darkness (Space)], and an [Essence of Water (Ice)].

He reached back into his core, checking in on his skills and abilities. He could feel them all brimming with excitement, but two stepped out from the rest to greet him. The Curse, of course, demanded his attention as soon as Edgar entered this part of his core, but [One with Darkness] rose alongside it.

He could feel confidence radiating from [One with Darkness]. It wanted to level. It wanted his soul coin and his [Essence of Darkness (Space)] as well.

He looked at his other skills to see if they had similar opinions, starting with [Acrobatics] and [Tail Whip]. They seemed like prime candidates for leveling, but they stepped back from his gaze, settling behind [One with Darkness]. A clear signal they wanted him to level [One with Darkness] and he even got the impression that they wanted to be part of it. The only two who didn’t crowd behind [One with Darkness] were [Tasty Snacks] and [Curse of the Grand Imp’s Bloodline].

Most of his skills and abilities felt he should level [One with Darkness].

He opened his eyes and realized that several hours had passed since he sat down. Mirai was finished with her meditation, sitting with her legs dangling off the edge of the overlook not far away. Over on the plateau, the other adventurers were lying on the ground around Raiden, trying to catch their breath.

Edgar heard a crackle and Raiden appeared next to him. “Well?”

He held up the coin. “I did it.”

“Great! Now, stick that in your inventory and don’t tell anybody you have it. It’s a grave crime to steal a soul coin—and an even worse crime to sell it—-but with how much they’re worth on the black market, many take the risk.”

Edgar nodded and quickly moved the red coin into his inventory.

Raiden waved over at Mirai. “Hey Mir, Edgar’s done. I’ve got to prepare for the dinner rush, so let’s head back to the tavern.”

Mirai stood. “What about them?”

“They just need a few minutes to find their feet. I told them to meet us here tomorrow morning.” Raiden turned towards Edgar, smiling. “If I remember correctly, Heather said that your shoulder wound will be healed by then, so it’ll be perfect timing to fill in any gaps in your training.”

Edgar flinched, glancing at the pile of exhausted adventurers splayed out on the plateau. “Great… Thanks, Raiden.”

They walked past Klein’s group as they exited Raiden’s plateau and, just looking at them, Edgar could tell they would need more than a few minutes. Priz managed a strained smile while Nat gazed blankly up at the sky. The others were all too distracted by their own exhaustion to notice them.

“So, do your skills have strong opinions on level two?”

Edgar nodded. “One of my abilities.”

Mirai nodded. “Same, and a ton of my skills want to merge. Is that even a good idea? I’d have nothing left if they all combined.”

“Same! I’d have like two left, including the curse.”

“It’s a great idea—-these are the combinations I mentioned. Generally, you try to do as many as you can. It’s not perfect math, but for every three in the combination, the primary skill or ability will gain a side effect, and it’s possible to regain skills if you want to get them back, especially your low-level skills.”

Edgar glanced at Mirai. “Are side effects good?”

Mirai’s eyes were sparkling with excitement. “I don’t have any right now, but I remember my master talking about them.”

“They are good.” Raiden answered, looking thoughtful. “But does the curse want to combine with the others?”

Edgar shook his head, glancing at Mirai. “Mine doesn’t, you?”

“No. It wants to level on its own.”

“Too bad. That can be a way of dealing with them. There are advisors in Central who could help identify a skill that it would combine with.”

They returned to the inn and Raiden disappeared into the kitchen. Edgar and Mirai continued chatting about level two. Even if they couldn't ditch their curses, they were thrilled to level up. Throughout dinner, they kept guessing at the sort of side effects that would emerge from the skills they wanted to combine. Mirai was going to combine a bunch of sword-based skills with [Water Blast] and her [Essence of Time]. To Edgar, that sounded like ice-aspected side effects, but Mirai crossed her fingers for a healing skill or side effect.

With their bellies full, they headed up to bed, looking forward to the prospect of beginning the ritual for real in the morning.

***

Edgar and Mirai met Kleins group for breakfast early the next morning. They chattered away about their respective activities until a glance from Raiden and a nod towards the door signaled it was time to get started. Before long, they were at the training grounds again.

“You lot, find your focus. Do some laps, stretches, or meditation. Whatever you need to do to prepare to train your mind today.” Raiden said, nodding towards Klein’s group.

With a collective nod, Klein’s group began individualized activities. Raiden supervised for a moment, and then motioned for Edgar and Mirai to step away and join him. Edgar looked out over the mountains, seeing waves of mist crashing against snaggle-tooth mountains. He clenched his fists.

It was time to reach level two.

~~~~~~~~~~

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