Ya Ling’s eyes crinkled as she chuckled softly. “Dantian issues still troubling you, Alex?”
Alex rolled his eyes. “No comment.”
But Linnea, not nearly as clueless now that she had booster her Perception, Scholarship, and Vitality, immediately picked up on innuendo touching upon her presumed mate.
Hard eyes locked with Ya Ling’s own. “So you know.”
Ya Ling tilted up her chin. “I do.”
“Because you wanted to make him your own.”
Ya Ling’s eyes widened, a bright flush coming to her dusky cheeks. Her grandparents said nothing, graceful enough to somehow blend into the background, for all that they were just feet away.
“We were together a month,” Ya Ling said at last, before flashing a bittersweet smile. “He saved my life as well, and earned the greatest prize I could give him.” She smirked at the look Linnea gave her, before finally relenting. “My heart,” she whipsered, and never had Alex felt lower than he did at that moment, for all that, for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a better way to handle things than he already had. Or at least, not under the pressure and time constraints that he had been forced to endure, repeatedly.
Linnea’s hard gaze softened into a gentle smile. She tilted her head thoughtfully. “I think I like you, Ya Ling. You’re honest, forthright, beautiful, and you have a good heart.”
Ya Ling quirked a smile. “I think I might like you as well, Linnea. For the same could be said of you.”
“So, how well can you fight?” Linnea asked brightly.
Ya Ling blinked at this, Alex sensing a sudden tension from the grandparents casually sipping tea and looking out the flat-paned glass windows at the garden Alex had already done so much to restore.
“You wish to spar with me?” Alex sensed a sudden tension and hunger with Ya Ling’s words.
Linnea laughed. “No, not that! What I mean to ask, is how are you with daring the rifts?”
Ya Ling blinked at this, turning to face her grandparents, now very much gazing their way. “Grandmother?”
Reny gave Linnea a curious look. “Didn’t you and Alex already dare two rifts in as many days, child?”
Linnea nodded animatedly. “Oh we did, and it was so exciting! I only nearly got killed once, and Alex and I can now fight as one, instantly sinking into a gestalt battle-meld! It’s really epic, but I’d love to have some more battle brothers and sisters that I can delve with that aren’t necessarily family members. I mean, Hanz is alright, but I know he secretly wants to become a painter and settle down with a nice boy, and I haven’t forgiven my uncle for being a complete horse’s ass, even if he’s just lonely and wants someone to love him. I’ll bet there are thousands of girls here that he could marry, if he doesn’t care that they’re not pure-blooded Ruidians, and if he stops acting like an angry anxious grump all the time!”
Ya Ling’s gaze grew intent. “What was it like?”
“Incredibly exciting! Such a rush, when our hearts pounded with exhilaration, and the sheer rush of peril and power when death came springing from the underbrush! Of course, Alex could instantly sense all the forest’s secrets, and my Crimson Corkscrews tore right through those shadow cats before they could kill any of our classmates! And then it was such a sweet, sweet rush of experience and potency and now I’m already halfway to my next level!” She frowned thoughtfully. “I’m still not sure if I’m going to take Alex’s advice and invest in my stats, or put all six points toward Rank 7 in Elemental Flame, or maybe I’ll spend a few points mastering Crimson corkscrew and one each for Perception, Vitality, and Quickness.”
Ya Ling’s eyes widened with wonder, a small smile caressing her lips. “Truly? You gain strength and power directly from your kills, like a Greater Spirit beast?”
Alex winced, afraid Ya Ling’s words might have been construed as offensive, but Linnea happily nodded her head. “Exactly like spirit beasts. Only we’re a hell of a lot smarter and more versatile.”
Ya Ling bit her lip, before turning around to face her grandparents, the three silently locking gazes for a long breathless moment.
“Can we?” Ya Ling’s breathless request hovered in the air for long moments as Elder Wu and his wife exchanged a long poignant glance.
“Elder Win made it clear that even the Western Rift now needed to be treated with the utmost caution,” Reny noted.
“Before making it clear just how well his favorite disciples had the jungle terrain mastered with what he swears must be a druidic heritage,” Elder Wu gently noted in turn. “And we already know that Alex thrives in terrain so unlike the desert that the rest of us lived our entire lives within.”
Alex tried not to wince before their quiet smile as they shared a nod.
“I think an exploratory delve to get your feet wet, Ya Ling, beside our old friend who can safeguard you best might be a fine way indeed to spend the evening, and perhaps profit from mightily as well.”
Alex couldn’t help grinning at those words. “Fantastic! I’d love to share a delve with you all.”
Ya Ling chuckled throatily. “A delve you’ll never forget. Right, Linnea?”
“Absolutely!” She gushed. “Maybe we’ll even run into another pack of shadow beasts and make another fortune in credits!” Her smile turned wry. “Because the sooner I can earn another five hundred credits, the sooner I’m free of all obligations to my former clan and am truly a free woman.”
“Well then, let’s go out and earn those credits!” Ya Ling enthused, eyeing Linnea thoughtfully. “Do you need to change into anything?”
She smiled and shook her head. “Nope! I’m always battle ready, just in case!” She then lifted up the hem of her blouse, revealing a high quality shirt of steel mail. “And I have quilted leggings and a quality aketon underneath! The padding makes me look lush and cute and not too thin, because I am too thin… and my fire affinity means I don’t overheat, which is great!”
“Good.” Ya Ling turned to Alex. “Alex?”
“Give me five minutes.” And with a bemused nod from Elder Wu, he stepped into the presently empty ablution room and shortly thereafter was fully kitted out in his favorite armor of high quality steel lamellar and helm claimed from the richer raiders they had tousled with, along with a fine mail shirt, bronze greaves, quilted leggings, and a padded aketon.
“And he’s back,” he said, returning with a smile. “I’m looking forward to delving with all of my closest friends once more. Is Dui Zhong joining us?”
Elder Wu gazed at Alex for long moments before the air rang with his chuckle. “Cutting right to the chase as always, Alex. How refreshing. And why not? Everything worked out even better than we had hoped.” His gesture took in the whole of the grandly appointed manor before him. “The beast cores we retrieved were even more valuable than we could have hoped, most particularly the Water core, and the boon we received was everything we could have hoped for.”
Alex blinked at this, choosing his words carefully. “That is indeed wonderful to hear. If I may ask, when did you complete the sale?”
“Just yesterday, as a matter of fact,” he said with a satisfied smile. “The bursar was the height of courtesy, and Reny and I were immediately inducted as full Masters with unrestricted access to the campus facilities and senior reimbursement for whatever courses we choose to teach. Not that we have to teach anything for the next century, with our current balance.”
Reny didn’t hesitate to give Alex a hug at that point, showcasing her own grace by managing to do so without Alex’s armor being any sort of hindrance, which should have been impossible, a bemused Alex thought, but Reny would always be Reny.
“I, for one, would love a batch of enthusiastic students, whether with a natural affinity for growing things, alchemy, or the healing arts, and we thought, what better proving grounds than to see who would put some honest effort into tending a garden the three of us had thought a complete loss?” Reny gave a rueful shake of her head. “Truly, we didn’t even take a good look at it until you had actually managed to dart through the trees so fast that you were halfway across the garden in an eye-blink, stopping that hot-blooded fool who was actively destroying priceless spirit plants I had been a fool not to carefully check if they were hiding dormant under the vine’s protection, as opposed to being outright dead.”
Alex clenched his jaw in memory of Tan Yi’s sneering satisfaction. “And to think, that asshole could actually sense those treasures, and used that insight not to revere or cherish, but to destroy, out of petty spite, simply because he didn’t want to be here.”
Ya Ling’s excited smile had faded to a hard cold line. “He’s a contemptuous little shit, just like all of the Duo Yi clan. I had hoped that the ugly rumors I had heard were baseless, but if Tan Yi is anything to go by, the entire clan amounts to nothing but stuck-up assholes still riding on stories of their former glory, and all of them bitter as hell that they don’t have the entire city locked within their vice like they did centuries ago.”
Alex nodded. “That about sums him up.” His smirk turned hard and cold. “But I think there’s more to it than that.”
Elder Wu gave Alex a curious look. “Well, don’t leave us in suspense...”
Alex smirked. “What I mean to say is that almost everyone I’ve met since I got to this wo… since I joined your caravan have been incredibly kind, gracious, and thoughtful. The exact opposite of how I’ve been treated elsewhere… far away from here. And to see someone being so petty and vindictive, very much like the worst sorts I used to know is almost comforting in it’s familiarity. Only now, when I think about it, do I realize how bizarre it is that Tan Yi’s been such a vindictive shit toward me since the moment we crossed paths.”
Alex shook his head. “But it’s not just me. He’s been challenging and trying to undermine Elder Win’s stance and authority on more than one occasion, and though Elder Win countered successfully… maybe even brilliantly, putting Tan Yi in his place while showing the world what a petulant little brat he is so subtly no accusatory finger could be pointed his way... Not once did he call Tan Yi out for his shit, or beat the crap out of him, leaving him a single glare away from death, which would have been the right of any master at the academy I used to attend.”
Unexpectedly, these words earned concerned looks from his friends.
“Just how ruthless was your former school?” Ya Ling asked.
Alex shook his head. “Irrelevant. The point is that there’s no way he could be that much of an arrogant shit and still be here, without significant power to back him up. And I think I now understand what that power must be.”
He held his breath, letting it out slowly, before gathering his friends close together with a single wave of his hand. Reny and Elder Wu were gracious enough not to question, only to lean forward when Alex whispered words so softly that not even spying kitsune ears would twitch at the utterances.
“The city’s down to three water cores.”
Reny and Elder Wu immediately froze, exchanging a look.
Ya Ling furrowed her brow. “But that’s impossible! Senior Cultivator Te Chang himself gave us a tour! The waterfalls were a glorious sight, and the beautiful valley below, so full of lush green life...”
“Is an illusion,” Alex said, to their hitched breath and surprised looks, before modifying his words. “Not the valley, but one of the falls. Three indeed are spewing tons of water into the valley below, and thank the more benevolent gods for that. But the fourth? Only illusion rains on the greenery below. I wouldn’t be surprised if any brave soul that dared to check below would find the current for the northern face river and its tributaries to be running the wrong way. Because it’s the pressure of the other three rivers that are filling the lake in the heart of the basin.”
Linnea froze, gazing at the rest of them with wide, frightened eyes. “Oh, this is bad.”
“I know,” Alex said.
“No, really. We both know what an obnoxious shit Tan Yi is. And he knows that we know it. He knows the leverage his clan now has over this city! Because if we go down to two cores… the city will be bowing and scraping for access to the Duo Yi hidden waters, and they’ll gleefully use that to seize control and make all Ruidians pariah, and bring back the bad old days where we were hunted and killed for sport! Unless we fought back, and then entire armies would be raised to purge us. Just one of the reasons why we never bring outsiders to our hidden sanctuaries.” Linnea’s eyes grew haunted. “Friendship in good times isn’t worth risking death when the purges come. Because in the end, they always come.”
Her voice died off in a trembling whisper, and Alex found himself holding Linnea suddenly shuddering in his arms, eyes wide with memories that couldn’t possibly be her own.
Ya Ling angrily shook her head. “I absolutely hate that you’re right, Linnea. And they’d have every reason to eliminate Ruidian access to the rifts, if not try to purge them altogether. Because the fewer people there are who can delve, the less likely we’ll find fresh Water cores any time soon, and the more dependent the city will be to that clan of arrogant assholes. Which is no doubt exactly what they want.”
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Alex nodded, all the pieces suddenly clicking together. “Which means that Tan Yi is deliberately playing the instigating fool. It’s not just stupidity. He’s deliberately testing his limits, seeing just how far he can push, how much his clan’s clout will protect him. And if he can bring a few stalwarts down with him before he’s inevitably kicked out, so much the better.”
“Because if his clan actually succeeds in their schemes, he’ll be returning to this school as a prince expecting everyone to bow and scrape before him, before absolutely destroying anyone who had failed to bow and scrape at his feet before,” Elder Wu said with a bitter shake of his head, before exchanging a tired glance with his wife. “And to think, our goal was to avoid these sorts of politics.”
Reny gave a tired sigh. “It was. And it’s a very good thing we only cashed out a fraction of our fortunes. Perhaps an extended sabbatical researching lost ruins or tracking down lost techniques hidden away in near forgotten temples within distant cities will be our path in the not too distant future.”
Ya Ling nodded animatedly. “If Tan Yi’s anything to go by, we can start our bloody sabbatical right now. All the new-bloods are clueless when it comes to using the dao or jian, so I doubt I’ll gain much of anything save prestige in training them. And of course, we’re bringing our Ruidian companions with us, if we do decide to leave.”
Alex blinked, and Linnea gave a relieved smile. “Thank you, Ya Ling. That means a lot to me.” She bit her lip awkwardly. “I don’t suppose my cousin and, well, my uncle could come? If you’re really planning on leaving?”
Ya Ling furrowed her brow. “You mean your uncle who tried to set you up in an arranged marriage?”
Linnea sighed, but nodded. “Yes. That one.”
She turned to her grandparents. “Grandmother?”
Reny snorted. “If it really comes to that, then yes. There’s nothing wrong with having skilled Ruidians by our side if we find ourselves taking a far longer caravan ride than we ever have before. But hopefully it won’t come to that.”
Ya Ling shook her head. “We all saw Tan Yi’s smirk when he was pounding through our garden, before actually trying to get Alex kicked out for saving it. The look on his face was that of a shithead who knew he was actually going to get away with it! It’s obvious that the Duo Yi clan already has it’s claws about the prince’s throat. So why the hell wouldn’t it come to that?”
“Simple,” Alex said. “We find a fresh Water core, and all our problems are solved.”
Reny and Elder Wu exchanged a worried glance, before turning to gaze Alex’s way. “The issue of our own sale aside… it’s now painfully clear that such are not commonly found.”
Alex grinned. “Well then, it’s about time we started our own delve, don’t you think? Because however slim the odds of getting the right core… and Ice cores are almost as precious as Water, for what that’s worth, every delve we dare is one step closer to saving the city and breaking the Duo Yi clan’s now obvious political stranglehold.”
Elder Wu chuckled softly. “Even knowing we only dare so many a season… yes. We’ve wasted enough time brooding about matters we have no control over. Best we focus on what we can control.”
Reny, however, had her arms crossed, glaring at the pagoda before her.
“Wife?”
Reny sighed, shaking her head. “We got the title to this house and the deed to the land with the sale of the very core they need. The Duo Yi clan’s stranglehold should be broken! But the confident sneer on that boy’s face made it clear that he hadn’t gotten the message, and Elder Win clearly hasn’t either. Why is that, do you think?”
All of them exchanged grim looks. “Maybe they just need a few days to install the fresh Water core?” Alex offered.
“Or maybe that too cheerful bursar sold the Water core to the Duo Yu clan after buying it off of us, and made a killing on the trade,” Ya Ling cynically suggested.
Elder Wu flashed a cold smile. “Well if that does indeed turn out to be the case, we’ll hunt those rifts until we do find a fresh Water core, and I’ll present it to the Prince myself! One of the benefits of my rank, even if it’s one I’d be a fool to exercise, save in situations as dire as this one may soon turn out to be.”
Alex couldn’t help smiling at that, the awkwardness of moments before replaced by a comradely sense of excitement as Elder Wu made his way out of the manor, the other four following in his wake, as if master and disciples going about their business, though Alex did make note of the talisman Reny placed on both front door and garden gate.
“Because that hot-eyed boy looked just a bit too spiteful for me to not think he wouldn’t happily come back and finish what he had started, and I won’t force our seneschal into a confrontation with any member of that twisted clan,” Reny said with a sad little smile, earning a grunt and a nod from her husband.
Ya Ling’s eyes widened at the thought. “In the middle of the day? He’d have to be bold indeed, and his clan already Liushi’s masters in all but name. And things haven’t gotten that bad yet, have they? Because if so… best we head for the caravans and forget the rifts altogether.”
“On the other hand, if we enjoy a profitable hunt and don’t get back til after nightfall...” Linnea offered as they cut through campus grounds to the well-worn path circling the entire grand valley below and connecting to all four of the rifts. A path that was actually public, Alex had learned, though inconvenient to access for anyone who wasn’t a member of Silver Sands.
“A profitable hunt would be wonderful!” Ya Ling enthused, a loose lock of hair slipping free from her steel helm to blow in the windy breeze that always seemed to circle the caldera periphery as she gazed with wonder at the lush green valley below. Her joyful smile faded. “Assuming we don’t over-saturate our meridians with waste Qi.”
Alex’s excitement immediately dampened. Because Ya Ling’s point was a good one. However much he and Linnea thrived in the deeps, the same wasn’t necessarily true for the typical cultivator. The potency they gained might lead to revelations, but nothing like the rapid experience-driven progression of Ruidians. And even the latter would eventually feel the weight of waste Qi, a burden Alex would never have to bear.
Then he froze, gazing at his friends for a long moment before shaking his head with a rueful chuckle.
Ya Ling tilted her head, eyes twinkling as she gave him a look. “Alex?”
Alex grinned, thinking she looked truly fetching wearing form fitting armor with her spear held in such a competent grip, and there was so much he wanted to explain, but there just wasn’t a good time, and with the way Linnea was anxiously holding his hand, with a new now threat brooding over her future, there might never be. But even the darkest storm clouds sometimes had glorious silver linings.
“I just realized what an idiot I’ve been.”
This earned a bittersweet smile. “Maybe, but you’re still the sweetest idiot I know.”
Alex smirked, thoughts still racing, frustrated by his lack of access to an element that had once served him to such glorious, deadly effect.
Yet it wasn’t actually denied to him, it was rather a case of it being greedily consumed by what he was increasingly sure were divine tier bones, his one remnant that not even his enemies could strip from him, in this life or any other. Even if he would be poorly advised trying to take a swim any time soon… and they wicked away all the Dark Qi he had access to like a vacuum.
But once upon a time, he had the ability to flood his opponents with all the Dark Qi he had access to.
So why the hell couldn’t he reverse that flow now? With what he suspected were prismatic bones vacuuming all that delicious waste Qi away.
But still…
His heart was racing way too fast as he gazed upon his friends’ curious stares, Elder Wu growing a tad impatient.
“Discretion is still our greatest virtue, Alex,” he softly remonstrated. “It’s one thing if it appears as if we’re heading toward one of the many paths leading down to the caldera floor proper, and you might find life tending to that lush green valley a far sweeter doom than you and my daughter fear it to be. But standing here gazing upon the valley floor without moving at all will gather notice I’d rather avoid.”
Alex forced himself to speak. “What if there was a way we could dare the rifts more often than once every other month?”
Linnea grinned. “There is for us, because we’re Ruidian! But as our friends are completely native...”
“… not really, actually,” Alex smirked.
Linnea rolled her eyes. “The point is that waste Qi is much harder for them to shed and very bad for their cultivation! So twice a season, or even once a month if they push it, with dozens of hours baking happily in the sun between delves, is the only safe way for them to do it.”
Ya Ling flashed a regretful smile. “As much as I hate the thought of you leaving me behind, Alex… she’s right.” These words earned a bemused head tilt from Elder Wu and a reluctant nod from Reny.
“For all that I’d dearly love to be able to spend more time foraging for truly precious spirit herbs in the Western rift, the only one even close to being pristine… the price we would pay for too much exposure without enough rest in between is not one I would ever care to pay.”
“But what if you could?”
Suddenly there was nothing but stillness and silence. The sound of the wind whistling against the stone face, and the distant roar of waterfalls crashing to the basin hundreds of feet below.
Elder Wu gazed intently at Alex for long moments. “Have you truly found a way to tame waste Qi itself, Alex?”
Alex held his former mentor’s gaze for long seconds, forcing himself to say it. “What if I have?”
Wu snorted, shaking his head with a fond smile. “Then I’d say you’re a fool… and far closer to dusty old legends than even the fanciful color of your hair would imply.”
Alex froze at those words, locking gazes with all of them. “Let’s form a party right now. And we’ll see what happens once we enter the rift.”
Elder Wu snorted, then gave an agreeable chuckle. “Why not?”
Ya Ling’s eyes twinkled with genuine excitement. “Can you really make it so we can delve without limits?”
Alex grinned as they approached the western rift. “Only one way to find out.”
You have successfully forged a party with Linnea (Rank 7 Lesser Fire Elementalist – Possible romantic interest!) / Ya Ling (Deep Bronze cultivator – Possible romantic interest!) / Elder Wu (Early Silver tier cultivator – ice specialist.) / Reny Wu (Deep Bronze cultivator (Healer).
Limited node access allowed! All lesser nodes have retained full autonomy.
As always, the flash of notifications sent a chill down his spine, and Alex flinched far more than he should have, perhaps, as he met everyone’s gazes, dreading the thought of them gazing at him with looks of unmitigated horror, fearing that their wills, self-identity, and autonomy would be ground down to nothing by the master node that was somehow his mind.
The anxious twist in his gut became a flood of relief when he saw nothing but looks of consternation or bemusement.
“Alex?”
Elder Wu’s gentle admonishment disguised as a query snapped him into focus once more.
“No worries. We’ve successfully partied up! Though I guess we should still link arms, just in case.” He then furrowed his brow. “Though I guess we should have coordinated things better if we were going to bring Dui Zhong, but if this works out...”
Reny, however, was giving Alex a bemused smile, before dextrous hands revealed a paper crane.
Alex blinked, his lips stretching in a surprised smile. “Wait… is that signifying what I think it is?”
This earned a good-natured laugh as they found the former guard captain already fully kitted out in lamellar and helm with guandao held in hand, waiting for them by the rift entrance, flashing a similar paper crane in his own hand.
“Your timing is perfect! The last of my students completed their training half a glass ago, and I was wondering when I’d get the chance to experience Liushi’s delves.”
With a casual wave, he sent the paper crane into the air… and Alex’s eyes widened with delight when the paper took animated flight, flapping right back to its twin in Reny’s waiting hands.
“Okay, now I’m really interested in learning whatever skill is allowing you to make magical flying paper cranes,” Linnea gushed enthusiastically. “Do you think a Ruidian could learn it?”
Reny gave an enigmatic shrug. “Who can say? Certainly you might find learning the art of paper folding to be a relaxing and rewarding craft to master all on its own, regardless of your affinity for enchantment.”
Linnea beamed happily. “Then I definitely want to learn!” She then turned to Dui Zhong. “I remember you! You were one of our trainers the other day, along with Ya Ling. So was that just a cover, so you could all meet up with Alex again?”
“More like a convenient pretext for us to join the academy,” Dui Zhong said easily enough. “Though having a chance to join our favorite blond-haired hero once more is certainly a nice bonus,” he allowed, before gesturing to the gate. “Shall we link arms?”
Alex grinned. “Even better, accept my party invite!”
Dui Zhong chuckled, but he did so readily enough, then his eyes widened, as everyone else’s did when Alex activated his party interface, even to the limited degree he felt comfortable doing.
“By Long Wang’s hammer, I can sense you all!” Dui Zhong said with reverential wonder. “Is this what it means to party with a Ruidian?”
“I know, it’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Linnea gushed. “And I almost think I have the knack for doing it myself! Even if it will cost me a level-up point next level, I think it might be totally worth it.”
Dui Zhong exchanged looks with Elder Wu and the others, all of them being careful to avoid standing too close to the ledge, despite the copper guard rail and ropes, until their mild disorientation became true mastery of their shared environment. “A truly remarkable blessing.”
“It is,” Elder Wu allowed. “And makes me feel a bit better about delving in what might be the safest Liushi rift, but still has its share of peril.”
Alex furrowed his brow, having more suspicions than ever about what he had seen or thought he had seen the last time he had dared this rift with his classmates. And if his suspicions regarding the Duo Li clan were at all on the mark… He shook his head, knowing those suspicions would avail them nothing without definitive proof. Besides, from what his friends had said before, the likelihood of outside interference within a rift was pretty damn close to infinitesimal.
Alex caught Elder Wu’s gaze. “In your experience, has any group ever been able to enter another group’s instance?”
Elder Wu furrowed his brow. “You mean interact with another group without partying up? Frequently,” he said with a hard smile. “But that’s out in the great desert. Here, with four rifts linked to a city of over half a million residents… no. As to why that might be?” He shrugged. “One popular theory is that it bubbles inside like a cauldron filled with waste or Dark Qi, with a separate bubble forming around any party that dares to enter its depths and plumb it’s treasures. No matter how many parties might enter at one time, within reason at least, there will always be plenty of Dark Qi to immerse them all.”
Alex smiled, oddly relieved to hear it, happy to hear that the Duo Li clan might be a threat, but not even they could affect a rift dive. Or so he hoped.
“Excellent. Are we ready to enter? I’ll take position as point man and scout, if Ya Ling and Dui Zhong wish to serve as our front line, Elder Wu and Linnea as our ranged attackers, and Reny as our healer whom we guard at all costs.”
Even as the words left his mouth Alex realized he was speaking out of turn before Deep Bronze and most especially Silver, but all Elder Wu and the others did was exchange half-smiles.
“He does sound like an experienced delver, doesn’t he?” Reny said with no small amount of pride.
Elder Wu grunted. “Well, we all know our roles, then. Alright, Alex. We’ll let you take point.” His gaze hardened. “But unless you can pull off a miracle, time is our greatest enemy. Our first goal is pristine spirit beasts, whatever you sense. Our second goal is whatever spiritual herbs Reny might sense on our way.”
Alex nodded agreeably enough. “Understood. I’ll see what I can find us, once we get inside.”
“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Linnea chipped in, linking arms with both Alex and a bemused Ya Ling who was linked with everyone else, all of them stepping forward into the obsidian rift entrance flashing with a million stars as one.