“They found the temple.” Shad’s voice broke me out of my morose musings.

Kiaralongh approached the hunched-over elf and solicited more details. “Show us your map and mark them on it, Shad.”

Wasting no time with a response, Shad set down their ‘skinning’ knife and projected their map towards Kiaralongh. I walked up to get a better look.

“Where are we on this?” I asked as Reev came over.

A blinking dot appeared, showing our location after their face scrunched a few times with a constipated look. Engli pushed me to the side to get a better view and we assessed what the screen showed us. I noticed how detailed the path between us and the rest of our party was and couldn’t stop the question from bursting free. “What level is your synergy with Night? Can you see through each others’ eyes already?”

The map screen flickered with Shad’s startlement, but they answered readily enough. “No, I can’t see through her eyes. Don’t know if she can see through mine. Why do you ask?”

Chad butted in to inform them, “It’s because the route is so clear but you didn’t walk it. You should be able to show fuzzy landmarks from what you sense through the synergy.” He stepped forward and pointed at a particularly clear patch a good glass away from our position. “This looks like a thick mangrove area, and clear pathways are demarcated. Kiaralongh, show what your map looks like.”

“My synergy is at level 5 with Scree,” Kiara told Shad as she projected her map over Shad’s. "Your map route is more detailed than mine, and my synergy is the highest in our party, which is one reason Scree is our scout.”

As Shad’s map fizzled away and their body language displayed perplexed thought, I realized we may be treading dangerous ground for the elf. “Night seems like they have some advanced scouting skills. Perhaps she is the one filling in all the details versus the synergy. We can ask when we meet up. We should pack up and head out. That took them two and a half glasses and will probably take us longer as the larger party.”

My redirection worked for Kiara, Chad and Reev, but I noticed that Engli and Shad still seemed to be mulling it over. Stepping up my efforts, I turned to Engli. “Can we store some of this gator meat with you Engli? I’m sure Reev will store the unfinished bits, and I don’t think Shad has any items of holding. Is that right, Shad?”

Shad squinted their eyes at me and frowned. “Yeah, no. None at all. Just my bags and what fits in them. And I’m not sticking raw gator meat in ‘em. Hell to clean.”

“Engli says fine,” Chad hollered from where he was re-equipping his plate mail.

Reev returned and chuckled at the mess of gator surrounding Shad. “Well, did you make some progress at least?” Not waiting for the answer, Reev starting storing the bodies.

“Sure. Absolutely. I’m epic-level amazing now. Watch out carcasses!” This was accompanied by the elf’s bloody double thumbs up.

I surmised two skill levels of gain by translating Shad's speech in my mind and examining the scattered claws and pieces of gator skin. It was extremely fast, actually—good to know they took Kiara seriously. I glanced up to notice the dryad also inspecting Shad’s progress and nodding to herself.

“Go wash up, Shad. We’ll finish packing this up and then I’ll come collect my equipment and stow it.” As the elf traipsed off, hopefully to clean up, I pitched in to help Reev load up Engli and store some of the loose bits myself. With the last bit stored, I stood up and stretched to my full height. Shaking out my wings and resettling them I grimaced at the muggy air and dampness clinging to every crevice of my body. I hoped the next floor had a better biome and room for me to fly.

Eager to clear the miniboss and move on, I moved to collect my tools near the fire. Shad was shaking the water off of themself and I dodged the stray droplets that were flung about with abandon. Stepping around the elf, I dumped the water from the barrel into the firepit, thoroughly dousing it.

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“Do you have to worry about root fires in a swamp?” I found Shad looking at me earnestly and was surprised to get a serious question from them.

“Uh, no. Did you read about the biome in your interface at all, Shad?”

“Nope, not even a little.” Their grave look spoke volumes about how they felt about their interface.

“Do you have the cognitive osmosis skill yet, Shad?”

“Uhhh, hmm. Share stuff in our brains? No, don’t have that. You?”

“Yes, I do have it. It’s quite useful to share knowledge with other crafters.” I let my laughter settle and continued, “I can download what I know to you quickly and it may trigger you gaining the skill. It will hurt though - for you. In return I want you to collect 10 different herbs for me from this floor on the way to meet up with our party. Sound good?”

“Can I give you ones I already collected? If so, I’m in. What do I need to do?” They bounced in place eagerly which brought my amusement level up again.

“Yes to the already collected herbs. And, well, you should probably sit down so you don’t topple over. Also, are you already packed and ready to go? You will probably be disorientated for half a glass and not fit for much.”

“Oh, hang on a second. I wanted to grab a steak for Night as a present when we meet up.” The elf darted away from me and Kiara joined me as I waited for them to return.

“Dangerous chance to take here, Mav.” It wasn’t a rebuke per se, but the warning and curiosity were clear.

“Seeing that map gave me a hunch. I think they will be gifted with the mind talents but not develop traditional elemental magics. This will let me know if that’s correct.” I informed her quietly while we watched the elf dart about the camp.

“Ok, I’ll go ask Rakshasa if she can be ready to watch over Shad should it go more poorly than normal.” Shad came loping back up to me as Kiara turned to go.

Greeting me with an exuberant smile and plopping to the ground, Shad appeared to brace themself.

Briefly cocking my head to the side and then shrugging, I channeled my knowledge of the swamp biome through the skill and directed it toward Shad. The result was impressive. Blood immediately trickled from their ears, eyes, and nose in spectacular fashion. Shad’s eyes rolled up into their head and they keeled over to faceplant into the spongey ground. I bent down and rolled the elf onto their side and unfolded their body. Checking their pulse I found it thready and erratic.

“Engli, can you please cast Verdant Spring on them?”

The lion wandered over and did just that, then curled around the elf to see the result. It made Shad seem tiny in comparison, and the solidity of the image was reassuring.

“Whatcha do to them, Mav?” Reev had their axe in hand and was eyeing the scene with amusement.

“Well, I think they just picked up cognitive osmosis in one go.” There may have been some jealousy in my voice.

“We’ll give them a quarter glass to wake up, otherwise we are carrying them out. I want off this floor. My joints are soggy.” Kiara walked impatiently away from us.

Knowing that wasn’t like her, I linked up with her and whispered, “you ok?”

“Fine. No, actually, I’m not. That should have taken five attempts, and moreso shouldn't be possible for their level. Who the fuck are they, Mav? What have you gotten us into? Can Samir take them down if we need to?”

“Good point.” I paused to assess if I knew. I didn’t. “Honestly, I don’t know, Kiara.” After another thoughtful pause I continued, “they seem genuine and I think this isn’t our first instance together. My gut says they won’t be bad for us. Plus their reaction to the skill transfer leans towards them actually being a zero.”

She looked me over quickly, sighed and turned to face me. “Good enough. Let’s go pick up the elf and go. My joints are actually soggy.”