All The Kais were feasting on snakes as Sibs bound my ribs. I couldn’t take another potion straight away as I had just had one, and mine were not very good quality yet, so it took longer before the magic dissipated, and I could have another. I ate my own food as Hunters Feast was also close to Bronze.

All my skills were close to bronze. I felt like Zavis must have felt when I first met him—so close to bronze that it was tantalisingly close.

We headed back after I had made two Poisoned Fang Knives, snakeskin, and tasty bird wings and thighs. I had seven thighs and eight wings from two birds. It's magic.

Harry and Sibs dealt with the two threats on the way back. I now had a Venom Kai. His bite inserted a poison chemical into the cells, which he could also spit. It was slightly corrosive, so it would work its way in through the skin. That was what the snake spat at me, and the most dangerous part was the bit that went into my eye. I think my potion stopped it from spreading, and Sibs helped me wash the eye properly, but I couldn’t see out of it yet. I will get a healer to check it over when we exit. There is always a healer at the entry.

“The damage is not irreparable,” the healer told me, “and it will cost less to repair than to grow a new one. See the healers at the academy. They can give you a healing boost for your injuries and possibly sell you a potion to speed up the eye.”

The healer at the entrance was only there for emergencies. If they had spent their mana on me and then a mortal wound had come through, they may not have been able to help; hence, they sent my non-fatal injuries away.

I did check in at the healers, but I decided to let my Hunters Feast heal it even though it would take longer. It was so close to bronze.

I was meditating that night, and Ardisia was the first to move to Bronze. Hunter’s Tether soon followed along with Mighty Oak. Then Reaping Power moved to Bronze, making the whole Reaper Essence bronze.

Ardisia was as expected.

* Blood Root Vine Summons - Ardisia Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: Summon a Blood Root vine. Resides in the skin may produce thorns from the skin. When it manifests, it entraps with piercing and bleeding effects. Feeds on blood to heal. It can move through the ground as roots emerge and entrap. It can’t move through non-earth or non-plant material.

* Bronze Rank: Larger and moves at a faster pace, can float on water. Add grapple attack from skin or manifest. Adds Neurotoxin attack to subdue and slow and attack the respiratory system.

Where Venom Kai had a chemical toxin, Ardisia had a Neurotoxin. I now have two new poisons to experiment with. I re-summend Ardisia. Now, she was a decent size, and the toxic spikes were a significant upgrade.

Hunters Tether added something called Inescapable, which prevented many escape skills from working, including teleportation. These are bronze-rank escape skills.

* Hunters Tether {Trap Stone} Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: Create a rod that sends out tethers, restricting movement and stopping stealth. The tether rod binds enemies, dragging them to the centre, and explodes if destroyed.

* Bronze Rank: It inflicts the Inescapable effect, stopping teleportation and escape skills.

Mighty Oak was interesting. Yes, the strength went to bronze, but it didn’t add a strength-based skill. It added a resistance skill, The Heart of the Oak, which increased the hardness of my body for a high mana per second cost. It made me immovable, but I could see it being useful against strong one-off attacks. It could have stopped my bones from breaking against the snake, but the timing would be very important, along with mana management, so I had the mana to use it when I needed it.

* Mighty Oak {Mighty Stone} Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: The power of the oak increases Strength - High Mana/sec

* Bronze Rank: The heart of the oak. Increase the hardness of your body. High Mana/sec.

Reaping power was not so impressive. It gave me more Blessing or the reaper, but the only additional function was that I could bestow them on another person, by touch. I guess it is very useful when working in a team. I still had in mind that I would be working alone a lot.

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* Reaping Power {Preparation Stone} Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: Damage caused by using weapons created or enhanced by a Skill creates the Blessing of the Reaper - Boon, Stacking up to a limit defined by Spirit attribute.

* Bronze Rank: Increased Blessings. Blessings may be transferred to another to increase their next skill

Blessing of the Reaper -

* Syphons a small amount of health from the one damaged to create instances of the blessing. Bestow the blessings on a skill to increase its power, proportional to the instances used.

The blessing itself had not changed. When I damage with weapons from a skill, it sucks a small amount of health to create the blessing, and I can now gift that to someone to enhance their next skill.

I guess I can store blessings and bestow them on crafters as well to get a better product. That might be interesting.

What I had left to get to bronze were Quick Sharp and Cutting Web from the Sharpen Essence. Hunters Feast and Blend from the Hunt Essence and Shield from the Plant Essence. All five were on nine.

With both Ardisia and Kai now at Bronze, I felt a lot safer going into the astral space. I was banned from going in until my eye healed. I was eating my way through my stockpile of iron-rank harvested food as fast as I could.

It took eight days to fix the damage to my eye. My ribs were also healed by then. Hunters Feast levelled to bronze during that time.

* Hunters Feast {Feast Stone} Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: Consume what you kill or harvest to replenish health, mana and Stamina.

* Bronze Rank: Feast may add other short-term benefits depending on what was consumed. Duration depends on the amount consumed.

This was an interesting addition that I would have to test. If I ate something with a high regeneration rate, would I get faster regeneration? What about meat from the poisonous snake? Would I be able to spit poison briefly? Would meat from something strong boost my strength? How much would I have to eat to make a difference, and how long would it last?

Five had now moved to four.

Those eight days were not wasted, as I had another non-combat Skill I needed to master. I spent a lot of time creating and experimenting with Cutting Web, especially adding it to my new armour, but also in different patterns for all my abilities.

Just like my Resin, the Cutting Webs levelled to bronze in a way that would save me a lot of time. I could now produce multiple strands at a time and have them braided together and form them into patterns. It costs more mana, but I can produce my nets directly. I will probably mostly do the braids, but having some set patterns ready can give me an emergency bronze rank net. Wait up. I can also produce them on to conjured items. I can create a shield, cover it in resin and put a web pattern on it. This will mean things like the swallow and the snake will be cut when they bashed into my shield. I need this to be worked into my armour as well, although that is trickier.

Now try this. My resin is a conjured item. If I line a window frame in resin and produce my cutting webs in a pattern over them, will it apply and cover the window or just over the resin itself? It tried different things, and the answer is it depends. A window is too big right now, but a smaller area does work. I think the versatility will grow as it levels through the bronze, and the spaces and patterns I can use will get better.

* Cutting Web {Web stone} Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: Produce strands of thin, sharp web. This is hard to see, but it has iron-rank strength. Designed for cutting. Low Mana

* Bronze Rank: Produce strands in medium-sized web patterns and braids. Webs can be produced over conjured items.

And four became three. Quick Sharp, Blend and Shield are all that are left, and all three are right on the cusp.