My keen senses ruined what was obviously meant to be a surprise. The mouth watering scent of a feast, heavy with meats and spices tickled my nose. That they were all my personal favorites among the meals that Nefen had cooked in my relatively short time at the Brightwood guild, gave me a hint. But it was the smell of Ivo's contribution that truly spoiled the surprise. I recognized the smell of “Celebration Brandy” from the last impromptu party.

I stopped in my tracks, closing my eyes. I had managed to temporarily push the fact that I was in my last few days at Brightwood out of my mind, I didn't want to face it. In a way the guild was the only home I'd ever known. Though I had to be honest with myself that I had known none of my guildmates long enough to justify it, they felt like family. Family that I may never see again.

An immature part of me didn't want to make it real by going in there, but Torill's sudden grip on my arm let me know she didn't plan to let me give in to that impulse.

“It's okay to be sad, but if you don't say goodbye properly you'll regret it. You'll hurt their feelings too. I gave Nefen and Samuel the report on our hunt, and when I told them your time here was limited, they gathered everyone available to put something together for you.”

I looked into Torill's pleading eyes, I opened my mouth to tell her that I'd go, but she must have thought I was still on the fence.

“A small farewell party is customary when a member levels out of the area, and you quite literally changed their lives when you brought that administrator's attention to them. Alexander and Krassus have both gained twenty levels! Both of them were stuck before you got involved! They were losing every level they gained because they were so resistant to the path the System wanted them on that it just kept punishing them. They have futures now, and it's all because of you.”

I closed my eyes, wishing she hadn't brought that up. I still didn't feel right taking credit for that. It hadn't even been me who made a big deal about them, it was Angela. And it wasn't like I fixed anything even if I felt right taking credit for something another part of me did. Randy was the one they should be thankful to.

That said, I knew better than to try that argument again. They wanted someone to thank, and I was here, those two weren't. I just hoped they wouldn't tell too many people about it, I wasn't sure what kind of Concepts that story would add, and I wasn't sure I wanted to try to guess.

“I'll go, no more!” I said quickly as I saw her gearing up to say something else.

“Good!” She said, and she proceeded to start walking while maintaining her grip on my arm. She probably wasn't capable of dragging me around anymore, not with my new stats and Concepts, but I didn't test it.

Everyone cheered when the door opened, it was an assault on my sensitive ears, but I endured it without cringing. When I got a look inside, I saw that not everyone was in attendance. It seemed odd for Janus and Martin to miss a party, I hoped they were okay. Zeke was also missing, my mind uncharitably went to the fact that I was pretty sure he never liked me, but I told myself he was probably busy with the other two.

Samuel was there though, making my heart warm, I knew he didn't like eating in front of people. I wondered if he had some idea of what Concepts were, and how they formed, it would make the choice to hide his appetite make sense. For some reason it seemed much more likely that he was just embarrassed.

He was staring at me with a look of utter shock on his face. It made me check over my form to see if my instincts had pulled some funny business. The only change about my physical appearance was the fact that I had left some fat on my body, nothing excessive though. Storing the excess mass that had been created by my ingestion of the tier two core in what Thorn referred to as my soul space was prohibitively expensive in terms of mana cost. I had done it anyway, my pure core was slowly filling back up from being bottomed out by my shift.

It was likely that whatever instinctive sense demihumans had about their Lords of the Forest was alerting him to all about my new Concepts. I was pretty sure the eight I had now was a lot for one beast, Snow had far more, but Snow was ancient. I met his eyes, and nodded to him slightly.

Ivo strode over, put a hand on my shoulder, and shoved a huge tankard in my face.

“I hear you're getting ready to move on, I'm a little jealous! But then again, Pierce and I had a taste of what leveling so much in a go felt like, I'm pretty sure it isn't worth it! Now drink up before those emotions I feel buried inside you come bubbling to the surface, you can be sad later! Tonight we party!”

I didn't resist it when I felt him using his ability to manipulate my emotional state. I knew that it was almost self preservation on his part to remove negative emotions from the people around him. It was also a party, and I knew it would make a better memory if I wasn't holding onto my melancholy.

I downed the tankard like a shot, getting a riotous laugh from the empath. The imbued beverage hit me like a truck, I was shocked, it felt much, much more potent than the stuff the man had shared previously.

“Easy there! We want the party to last a couple hours, and this stuff is peak tier one.”

I giggled, feeling more than a little giddy. The Concepts in the alcohol tasted fantastic, but I held off on eating them. Allowing them to affect me was much more pleasant, and a kind favor to my empathic friend. Though acting against the desires of hungry made my stomach growl loudly.

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Ivo gestured to the table when he heard the noise. “Some laggards are late for dinner, but don't let that stop you! There's more in the kitchen, we made plenty!”

He didn't have to tell me twice. What followed could only be described as pure gluttony, thankfully Samuel made my consumption look less out of place by matching me bite for bite, drink for drink. We were starting to really ramp things up when the door opened.

Janus was too busy hollering to notice that what was going on as he walked in, followed by Martin.

“Holy shit! Sorry I'm late! But everyone's in an uproar about what happened earlier today! Did you guys hear about it? The Voice showed herself in public, and personally escorted a giant beast to the temple. Apparently he has the favor of the great mother for rescuing a bunch of people or something? Oh hey Angel! Nice to see you, maybe you know this guy his description sounds a lot like your big cat form, but like… way bigger. What? Wait, why are you laughing?”

A part of me was terrified that I was the talk of the town. But I was too drunk, and too influenced by the very strong Concepts in the magical drink that Ivo had somehow kept me supplied with to let it get to me. Instead the fact that he didn't seem to know it was actually me they were talking about seemed like the most hilarious thing I'd heard in my short life.

I couldn't stop laughing, drunken, irrational hope bloomed in my chest. I even sent Torill a clumsily contained message.

“Maybe if they don't know it's me, I won't get the Concepts.”

She hugged me, but didn't say anything. The look on her face told me all I needed to know. That, obviously, was not how Concepts worked.

Samuel took pity on the confused man. “My brother is laughing because it is him you speak of. His kind grow larger as they accumulate power, be it levels, or some other way. I believe his recent hunt has been the cause of much growth.”

I nodded as I got my laughter under control.

“Yeah, that was me.” I admitted. “I asked Belua for help with the people I rescued from the stone forest. Most of them have been petrified so long that I don't know if they can be saved, but they are still alive in there, I can feel it. I just didn't want to try to fix them myself, I didn't want to risk harming them by accident. So I guess the Voice was her answer.” I scratched the back of my head, I kind of regretted asking for that help.

“Wise!” Nefen said, seemingly impressed by the basic level of caution I had shown. “It was a good choice. You should never try to heal an affliction like that without extensive training, unless you know for a fact that they will die if you delay.”

“Yeah, if you heal the wrong parts first, you could kill a petrified person, and the longer they've been that way, the slower they'll change back.” Alexander chimed in, earning a smile and a nod from the grumpy half goblin.

It made sense, the Concepts that had turned them to stone had really settled into their bodies. Pushing them out, or destroying them somehow would not be a quick process unless you could overwhelm them. I smiled, it was nice to hear that I made the right call.

“She called in the Voice because you asked for help? Do you have any idea how important she is?” Martin asked.

“Nope, she seemed pretty powerful though.” I confessed.

Nefen seemed aghast at my lack of knowledge.

“She is one of the Great Mother's chosen few. Each civilized race has a Voice. They speak to Mother on their people's behalf, and carry her advice back to us.” He raised a hand as I opened my mouth to reply.

“I realize that the Voices are not the only ones who speak with our lady. However, the Voices have her respect. It is known that when a Voice speaks, the Great Mother listens. It's likely because they were her first creations, not immortal, but reborn in an endless cycle. The Voices are eternal.” Nefen's voice was filled with reverence, he seemed to be having a moment.

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't think people were allowed to know about rebirth, but maybe that only applied to normal contractors. The Voice had been anything but normal. I hadn't needed her to tell me that she was nearing her ascent to godhood, the sheer volume and power of her Concepts made it obvious. Belua had more, but she'd had a world full of people actively worshipping her for six hundred years.

I was roused from my musing about the voice by Janus.

“Wait just one second, yeah, the Voice being sent to assist Angel is amazing but are we just gonna forget that he said he rescued the people from the stone forest. Like, The Stone Forest!” He stared at me. “You can't just leave that there! How'd you sneak past that monster tree? You've got to share!”

I sighed and told him how I got in by channeling mana that matched the tree's aura so it would think I belonged there. I left out anything about talking to the tree, it felt private, and made me sad. Everyone at the table paid close attention when I told them how I killed the giant tree, all of them seemed shocked.

They begged for more information, even asking what it was like to become a storm. I answered honestly. “Scary! I don't think I'll ever do it again it's too risky. I uh, was reliably informed that what I did won't be possible after I evolve my class.” I was pretty sure that was what Hash hinted at anyway. I was kicking myself for telling Janus and Martin the story, they were both social butterflies in town. I just knew that by tomorrow, literally everyone would know about it.

I pushed myself up from the table, not wanting my mouth to get me in more trouble. Torill made to follow, but I waved her back.

“I wanna get some air, you enjoy yourself.”

She hugged me, and looked like she wanted to argue, but let me go off on my own for a bit.

I had been wandering the grounds for a while when Zeke stepped out of thin air behind me. He stank of booze, and his breath was ragged. I opened my mouth to greet him when I felt him stab me in the back.