Elder Einion and Gruffyd didn’t question me for very long, in the small side room they had led me to. After all, there really wasn’t all that much that I could expand on. Not without getting into secrets that I’m not sure Grey would want me to let slip. I told them about our lessons and conspiring with Azarus, as well as his capture and subsequent loss of an eye only to grow it back.
Both men had kept suspiciously blank faces at the regeneration, looking completely unconcerned.
There had been a little bit of interest from them about how Bleddyn had taught me Fleshcrafting, as like Bleddyn had told me, it did give me a tie to their clan. Not a formal one or anything, though. Just an acknowledgment.
They did seem pretty satisfied about the reported death of Magnus, though.
Which. Yeah.
You and me both.
By the time they were done with essentially interrogating me, evening light was starting to creep through the slats of the window.
Gruffyd let out a long sigh, as what looked to be months and months of tension eased out of his massive frame. “Elder…” He said slowly, his gaze lingering on the form of Fade, lying on the floorboards near my feet. I swear I could see a note of reverence in his eyes before they cut away to look at Einion. The Elder had pulled out a pipe some time ago and was puffing away near the window.
I swear, was it a requirement for powerful old me to be smokers or something?
“I’d like to ask you for permission to bring Nathaniel here to Carreg Blaidd,” Gruffyd said in a respectful tone, bowing his head slightly.
“Nathan,” I said, nearly automatically. The two men ignored me, though. I stifled a sigh, while I considered Gruffyd’s words.
So, he wanted to bring me somewhere? What was that about?
The Elder tapped his long pipe on the windowsill to clear the bowl and then snuffed it. Turning to face Gruffyd, I could see that one of his long bushy eyebrows was raised in question. “I’m assuming this is because of his young companion?” For the second time in as many minutes, another gaze fell on Fade. The young Spirit wolf raised his head, able to tell that the conversation had shifted in his direction. He cocked his furry head curiously.
“It is,” Gruffyd nodded. “I feel like…it’s a suitable reward for them, considering the boons they’ve bestowed upon our people.”
The Elder crossed his arms, as he visibly pondered the question his Chief had presented him. “It is…not out of the question,” He said slowly. “His link to Bleddyn, the aid he has given us, and his own bond to one of the Llais y Gwyllt…” He nodded to Gruffyd. “You have my permission. Nathaniel Hart may stand before the Carreg Blaidd. However, it will be up to the Ancient One if they decide to answer or not.”
Ancient One?
Gruffyd smiled broadly, standing up from his chair at our small table. “Good. Then, Nathaniel,” He said to me. “Late this night, I will come for you. I will lead you to a sacred place to my people, and there certain things will be revealed to you. The only person that may accompany you is the pup. I’m afraid neither your wife nor dwarven friend can come along.”
I shifted my eyes from one older man to the other. “Is this dangerous, or…?”
Elder Einion answered, shaking his head. “No, not unless you’re deliberately disrespectful. Rather, this is a rare honor for you, such that few outsiders have ever been granted. In fact, I believe your Master is one of the only others who has been similarly blessed. Truly, history has a way of repeating itself.” He said, ponderingly.
“Alright,” I said slowly, getting to my feet as well. “Then…I guess I’ll see you later.”
“You will,” Gruffyd said firmly. “But for now, I need to go see to some preparations. Until then, Nathaniel Hart.” With that, the Chief of the Thunderhearts left the room.
Leaving me alone with the Elder.
Said Elder was looking at me in a considering manner, reminding me of Grey. He hummed to himself, before nodding. “I believe we’re done here, Nathaniel Hart,” Einion said finally. He nodded at me, before striding for the door of the room as well, his robes swishing behind him. Before he left, however, he looked over his shoulder at me. “I’m certain this isn’t the last time we’ll meet. Until then, young warrior.”
With that, the Elder opened the door and walked out of the room.
Meanwhile, I was looking down at Fade. “You think I’m ever going to get as dramatic as all these powerful old men we’re meeting?” I asked him, with no small amount of exasperation.
Fade just chuffed at me in amusement.
I shook my head and left the small room as well.
I needed to find my ‘wife’.
……………………………………………..
A few kind villagers directed me to a long building they called a guesthouse. It wasn’t quite as big as the council meeting hall, but it was still a bit bigger than most of the other homes in Tŵr Gronn.
Once there, I was directed to a room that had been set aside for our usage. Knocking on the door, I was startled when one burly hand reached out and dragged me into the room. I was tossed unceremoniously inside and nearly fell flat on my ass, before I was steadied by a pair of cool hands. Looking up, I found that Sylvia had caught me before I could faceplant into the wooden floorboards. She winked at me as I flushed slightly, standing up and straightening my Order uniform. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that the person who had hauled me inside was Hook, who was slapping a large enchantment disc on the door. When he activated it, the dull roar of the other patrons in the guesthouse immediately cut out. It was now eerily silent in the room.
Hook turned to face me with an annoyed frown on his altered features. “Report.” He said shortly.
I decided not to try his patience. I spent the next few minutes describing the entire conversation I’d had with the Elder and Gruffyd, easily recalling the whole thing thanks to Ringed Mind. When I was done, Hook heaved a put-upon sigh. “Ugh. Best not to annoy them too much by turning down this mysterious ‘offer’,” He said, using his fingers to make air quotes. “When the Chief comes for you, you can go with him.”
I nodded to my nominal boss. “Alright. So…,” I said slowly. “Other than that, what’s the plan?”
Hook shrugged at me. “We don’t really have any other business here. We’ll leave at first light and try to catch up with everyone else in Elderwyck. You two,” He said, pointing at Sylvia and I. “Try not to cause another stir. I’m going to stay up here and coordinate some movements with Headquarters. Go on, shoo.” The disguised dwarf literally waved us away, causing me to stifle a chuckle. Still, I hurried out the door with Sylvia and Fade, while Hook shut the door behind us.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
I exchanged a glance with Sylvia. “So, dinner? Might as well see what they have, before my ‘appointment’.”
Sylvia smiled softly at me. “I’d be delighted.”
Tromping down the stairs with Sylvia, we found the guesthouse rapidly filling up. As I’d seen on the way in, this place seemed to function as kind of a tavern and cafeteria as well as an inn. It might just function as a sort of communal meeting place, with as filled to the brim with Thunderheart clan members excitedly speaking to each other as it was. From what I could hear, it sounded like word of their impending involvement in the war had leaked to the rest of the clan.
They didn’t seem too upset by that fact. Rather, it appeared to be the opposite. They almost seemed eager. Both to engage almost endless waves of monsters and to put the Loyalists to the sword.
Well, good for us I guess. Sylvia and I settled at an out-of-the-way table in a back corner, so as not to be disturbed. Still, in moments, one of the barmaids appeared at our table to take our orders. We ended up settling on some mead, rabbit stew, and fresh bread.
As we waited for our meals, Sylvia and I made some small talk. As my outer ring was occupied with that, my middle ring decided to get to some business that had slipped my mind. I was curious to see if I had gained any levels from all the chaos of the breaks, and I had just put it off on the trek here. We were in a safe place, though, so I could spare the attention.
I called up my Status with Hidden Amidst the Spheres.
I didn’t expect what I found.
You have gained 12 levels! You are now level 81. You have learned the Talent, Short Bow Proficiency! You have learned the Talent, Longsword Proficiency! Knife Proficiency has reached lvl. 6! Dual Wielding has reached. Lvl. 3! Tracking has reached lvl. 4! Stealth Proficiency has reached lvl. 7 (Max)! You have 120 unspent virtue points. Level 70 Class ability inherited.
Level 80 Class ability inherited.
Would you like to review your Status? Y/N
I started coughing on my mouthful of rabbit stew, as I goggled at the absolute flood of System messages that I was bombarded by. That was by far the largest amount of notifications I had ever gotten since my Status was awoken.
What the absolute hell was this? Last I’d checked, literally just a few days ago, I had just reached level sixty-nine. But now I was eighty-one of all things? There was no possible way I’d gotten enough level Aether in the last forty-eight goddamn hours to gain twelve levels. They’d started coming slower for me as I got closer to the first breakpoint, and I generally needed to kill over a dozen monsters now just to get one level. That was on top of my frequent crafting sessions with Aetherial Melding, which granted a not inconsiderable amount of Aether just by itself.
I hadn’t killed over one hundred and twenty monsters since I’d last checked my Status. Not by far.
Alright, calm down. Let’s try to reason our way through this. What had we been doing over the last few days?
Well, there had been a not inconsiderable amount of monsters on the way here to Tŵr Gronn. But it wasn’t like I was the only person to kill them. It had been pretty frequent for either Sylvia or Hook to take care of them as well. I don’t think I had personally taken out more than a single level’s worth of deformed beasts.
I suppose there were the cores I had taken out on the mad dash away from the first Break Stone? But, those had barely had any Aetherial presence at all. To my senses they’d registered as little more than motes of potential. Even if I’d taken out dozens of them with the now-deceased Finch, I doubted they had contributed at all.
That left only…
“The Break itself…” I muttered to myself, frozen in place.
“Nathan?” I heard Sylvia ask me in a concerned tone of voice. “Is something the matter?”
That broke me out of my shock, causing me to realize that I had let our conversation slip in the midst of my confusion. My outer ring that had been speaking to her had stuttered to a halt with the revelation of my new levels. I looked up at my partner, an idea crystalizing in my mind.
“Would you…mind checking something for me?” I asked her slowly. “You haven’t checked your Status since the Breaks, have you?”
Sylvia blinked her sapphire eyes at me in confusion. “No, I haven’t. I generally only check my Status once a week now, since I passed the first breakpoint. There’s usually no point anymore.” She paused for a moment, taking in the intensity of my stare. “Are you asking me to?”
I nodded at her, intensely, intensely curious now. “Please. I’d like to see if the same thing happened to you.”
If she had gained a bunch of levels as well, then…
Sylvia nodded slowly at my request and dug around in her own small waist pouch for the mirror that I knew she had on her. Taking out the small compact device, she flipped it open and touched the surface.
I saw the exact moment she received her System notifications, written across her Mithril features.
Sylvia’s eyes widened in deeper surprise than I had ever seen from the Sculpted woman, as she outright boggled at the tiny mirror.
Just like I had.
“Seven levels?” She breathed in exhilarated shock. “That’s insane! I’ve never gotten so many at one time…” Sylvia looked up at me in happy surprise. “Nathan, did this happen to you too?”
I nodded at her, my own glee starting to break through my shock. “Hell yeah it did, and I have a theory. I think it was the Breaks that did this somehow. For some reason, I think just being around those enhanced Breaks gave us a ton of levels for doing nothing. I don’t know why, and I wish Grey was here to bounce ideas off of.” I moaned in exaggerated despair, before grinning at her. “But this is great.”
Sylvia nodded at me with a grin of her own. “And not just for us. For the Army as well! Think of all those soldiers that have suddenly gained so many levels! The Loyalist's plan backfired! They’ve directedly strengthened the Uprising by not only feeding us thousands of monsters, they kickstarted growth with free levels!” She started laughing in a way I had never heard from her then, all but bent over at the irony of it all. If she could, I think the Sculpted woman would have been crying. “Gods, what if they gave Father a level with this! I don’t think he’s gotten one in years! Decades maybe!”
I joined her in laughter, as I clicked yes with my middle ring in order to see what fancy new class abilities I’d gotten.
Level 70 Class ability (Thornblade Acolyte) Lifeblood Sense (Talent): Sense the rushing blood of your foes.
Ooh, that was a weird one. If I concentrated, I could almost physically feel the pumping blood in the bodies of the other patrons in the guesthouse. The sensation was like an orchestra of thumping drums against my mind. This was useful, if a bit odd.
Level 80 Class ability (Thornblade Acolyte) Thorned Sunder (Skill): Strike with the force of the dendropathic malicious.
That…was less useful.
By itself, I could somewhat tell that it was a melee striking skill. And not a very useful one, at that. It seemed to be able to infuse weapons with an enhanced thorny edge, giving it more piercing ability.
Not very useful for both a spear user, and someone who had both The Scintillant Blade to take care of mystic-born defenses, and Grinding Crimson Slash for armor.
On its own, that is.
I started laughing again, as I felt Grinding Crimson Slash resonate with Thorned Sunder in a very specific way.
I was absolutely certain that I could combine the two skills with Synergy.
I almost felt like thanking the Loyalists for all this growth.
Almost.