"Finally!” Harold groaned, leaning forward in the saddle so he laid on Sandy, “I made it! I knew I could do it!”
Samantha inwardly rolled her eyes at his antics but didn’t say anything. It was true that the last three weeks of slogging through the dense forest were mentally and physically taxing, even for a Low Bronze like her. She reflected on how impressive it was that they had made it here at all.
They had spent four full days at their initial campsite as Harold made potions and Silas became acclimated to the new way his abilities worked. Samantha spent most of her time either hunting for more ingredients with Silas, or combing through the valley in spectral form to gather information. What she discovered only served to feed her lack of confidence. Of the many strange and fearsome spirit beasts she came across, very few were lower than Rank 4… and she found them everywhere. Hidden in trees, in the earth, in the water… there weren’t many stretches where an area was completely spirit beast free. Granted, it was possible that not all of these creatures were hostile to humans, but she had no idea which to be most cautious of. Apart from a few species which she did recognize–such as River Deer–she was forced to treat all of them as highly dangerous to compensate for her ignorance.
Despite her discouraging findings, this time was relatively peaceful. There were a couple of close calls when she caught spirit beasts wandering too close for comfort, but Harold was able to make a concealing solution that–according to Silas–almost completely hid their scent. With a bit of creativity, they were able to use some foliage to visually camouflage their camp as well. This prevented the beasts from accidentally finding them.
She also occasionally visited the Braxands’ camp site to keep tabs on them when she had spare time, but completely lost them after the second day. When she arrived at the usual spot, all signs of their presence vanished without a trace. Not even scraps of trash had been left behind. While she could try and find the safehouse location based on the map she’d drawn, she decided to leave it alone for now and focus more on her own immediate survival. The map didn’t give her any clear markers or distance measurements to find the location in the vast desert anyways, so she’d waste a lot of valuable time in the search.
Eventually, the time came for them to abandon camp and move on. They would have liked to stay longer, but the appearance of a group of Rank 6 Scourge Hyenas a few miles away convinced them it was time to go. While relying on Harold’s concealment concoctions had protected them thus far, Samantha thought the risks of encountering the vicious-looking beasts were too high to ignore.
During this leg of the journey, they traveled using a slightly different strategy than before. Now that Samantha was able to stay in spectral form indefinitely, she acted as the lead scout instead of Silas. By using a bit of [Secretion] on some cleverly arranged ropes, her physical body was secured to Sandy’s abdomen alongside everyone’s equipment. Then, she was free to zip ahead in spectral form to check if they were in danger of crossing paths with any spirit beasts. In some cases she could leverage [Telekinesis] to make sounds and movements to draw creatures away. When that didn’t work, however, she told Silas where to safely navigate and he would then lead Harold and Sandy. Unfortunately, as efficient as this system was, it was far from perfect.
Once or twice a week there was a situation where Samantha and Silas would need to buy time for the others to flee to safety. Once, Samantha accidentally overlooked a hidden Chameleon-like spirit beast which thought Sandy would be a delicious meal. Another time Sandy disturbed a hidden underground colony of cat-sized ants and lost two legs despite Samantha’s and Silas’s best efforts to defend her. The limbs were quickly regrown with her healing art, but that didn’t stop Harold from complaining about the injury for days. Yet another time they had successfully made it to the cliff wall to escape one spirit beast, but a lizard the size of a horse descended from further up the wall to chase them instead.
Again and again, the Great Gulfs proved that they were not for the weak or unprepared. Her group was only able to continue making progress towards the Delver’s Outpost because of both Harold’s alchemy and Samantha and Silas’s willingness to go down fighting, if necessary. Harold was continuously crafting three main types of potions: Concealing, Repelling, and Healing. Everyone coated themselves in concealing concoctions to try and avoid detection in the first place, but when that didn’t work they relied on the latter two.
Rarely, the repellant would work so well that the spirit beasts immediately retreated. Usually, though, it would only serve to irritate whatever was struck by it. Harold was frustrated to no end that he couldn’t yet find the reason behind what made the potions more or less successful. He was unsure whether it was the type of beast or the ingredients used in the potion itself, and thus was unable to make a more consistently effective concoction. When the beasts weren’t scared away, Samantha would promptly return to her body and untie herself so she and Silas could serve as defenders. While they had successfully kept the alchemist and his mount alive this entire time, in about half of the cases where she and Silas needed to fight one or both of them ended up dying in their stead.
After a particularly terrifying encounter where Samantha was only able to retrieve Silas’s back foot from the hungry maw of a Silt Crocodile that snatched him near the river, she made Harold formulate a repellent so vile and repulsive that anything covered in it would be inedible. Harold spent a few days perfecting the tincture with Samantha’s help testing its potency. She only deemed it satisfactory when she used [Telekinesis] to drop a steak covered in the liquid in front of a predator and it gagged. Another passing beast was brave enough to give the steak a taste a few hours later, but it immediately recoiled as if it had been physically wounded by the experience. The steak was still uneaten by the time they resumed traveling the next day.
From that point on, any time it looked like she or Silas were in danger of being eaten they would coat themselves with the repellant. That way, Samantha would have sufficient time to restore one or both of them to life. As effective as the topical liquid was, it had one crippling downside that made it an emergency-only resort: it made the wearer more ill than the would-be predator. While the spirit beasts could flee the disgusting alchemical, she and Silas would be stuck vomiting and near-delirious until they rejoined Harold and he hit them with a neutralizing agent.
Now, after traveling miles and miles through the deadly terrain, their goal was finally within reach. Just ahead was the border between untamed wilderness and open land–the territory of the Delvers. Her group was filthy, stinking, and otherwise bedraggled, but Samantha hoped that would serve to garner some sympathy from these strangers rather than mark them as easy prey. The dirt and grime was hard-won from fighting for their survival, after all.
She had stopped their group a few hundred feet from the clearing to remain hidden while she reviewed their plans on how to approach the colony with everyone. The strategy essentially amounted to letting her do most of the talking so that the abrasive alchemist didn’t give them a bad first impression, but it was worth reiterating to the stubborn man just in case. As she was about to speak, the sensation of a blade brushing against the side of her throat stopped her dead in her tracks.
“And, who might you be?”
Seemingly coming into existence from nothing, a woman around Samantha’s height appeared directly behind her. Harold remained completely still a short distance away, alternating between watching the scene with wide eyes and trying to catch a glimpse of something behind him with only his eyes. Silas turned towards the woman from Samantha’s other shoulder and hissed violently in warning.
The stranger looked to be not much older than Samantha, had light brown hair, freckles adorning her nose and cheeks, and eyes as brilliantly green as the canopy overhead. Her lightly tanned frame was muscular without being overly bulky, and reminded Samantha of the physique farmers gained from doing daily manual labor. She wore a simple cloth outfit which consisted of a sleeveless shirt and loose fitting pants, which had earthy tones that blended into the surrounding environment.
The woman had no presence or aura whatsoever. Unlike stealthing, which could rein in a cultivator’s aura to make them ‘feel’ mortal to others if they got close, it was like she didn’t exist at all. Even if Samantha had somehow missed the woman approaching with [Prey’s Awareness] or with her sphere of perception due to carelessness borne of exhaustion, she should be able to sense the woman to some degree now. And yet…
“Well? We haven’t got all day.” she pressed.
“My name is Samantha. On my shoulder is my bond, Silas. Over there is–”
The woman frowned slightly and cut her off, “Let me rephrase the question. What are you doing all the way out here?”
Although there was a lot more Samantha originally planned on saying when introducing herself to the town, a succinct explanation seemed more appropriate in this scenario. “Harold–the one riding the sand spider–and I both recently ascended. When we first arrived we were immediately attacked by raiders, but managed to fight them off and make it to this canyon. We don’t mean any harm, this is just the first sign of civilization we’ve seen since coming here.”
The woman’s frown deepened, “Ascendants? And you claim… ” the woman took in their sorry state with obvious doubt, “...to have bested the local raiders?”
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“We stole the leader’s caster if you need proof!” Harold offered, gesturing to the weapon slung across Samantha’s back. “I took Sandy from them too. She offered to bond with me after I–”
The woman gave Harold a flat look and held up a hand, halting his explanation. Then, she unceremoniously pulled Nethershot free of its holster and began inspecting it. All the while, the edge of the blade never left Samantha’s throat. Samantha gave Harold a side-eyed glare, and he had the decency to look a touch embarrassed.
The woman turned the caster around until the underside of the metal rod was in front of Samantha’s face, “See this marking here? This is a Centra-issued Officer’s caster. You can find similarly-powered casters delving, but this symbol is proof that an Officer owned it previously. You’d be imprisoned if you were caught carrying this around in the city. I’ll do you a favor and return this to the rightful authorities for you. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone I saw you with it.”
“No.” Samantha said through gritted teeth. She wanted to make a good impression on these people, but she had obtained that caster by right of combat. She’d be a fool to just let someone steal it from her without a fight.
“This isn’t a negotiation, and you’re not in a position to refuse.” the woman replied. The words were calm and lacked malice, but all the same it made Samantha’s frustration boil into anger. The last few weeks had been nightmarish, and she couldn’t believe that even after all of this effort she couldn’t catch a break with residents of this floor. Maybe the only thing these people understood was violence.
“Silas, [Thump] the caster out of her hands when I say so.” she sent, keeping her focus on the woman’s blade.
“Ready.”
Samantha brought her Agility up to 41 with [Swift] (her maximum safe level) and activated her sphere of dominion to speed up her perception.
“Now!”
Silas used [Swift] and [Leap] to blast forward in a blur of speed while Samantha fortified herself with [Indomitable Body] and tried to spin away from the blade that was already cutting into her throat. Too slow to avoid all the damage, arterial spray shot out from a clean slash across her neck just as [Thump] impacted the woman’s hand with a loud clap. Samantha quickly closed the cut with [Flawless Healing Touch] and reached forward with lightning-quick speed to snatch Nethershot from the woman’s weakened grip. Grabbing hold of the metal, she activated [Flurry] to get in a fast kick on the woman’s torso to aid in disengaging. The thrust kick landed solidly, and Samantha used the generated force to simultaneously pull the caster out of the woman’s hand and jump away. As soon as the weapon was firmly in Samantha’s grasp, she pointed it towards the woman in preparation to fire.
Silas started beating his wings to gain altitude and get out of range of the woman’s strikes, “Continue attacking?”
One of the nice things about their mental communication was that ‘words’ and intentions were transferred at the speed of thought. Thus, even with her perception sped up to inhuman levels they could still speak effectively.
The woman’s reaction to these events wasn’t what Samantha expected. She was smiling jovially. Her posture was relaxed and she didn’t seem to be readying herself for another attack. Apart from a scuff of dirt on the woman’s midsection from Samantha’s shoe, she looked completely unruffled and unhurt.
“Not yet. Hold on, but be ready.”
Samantha deactivated [Swift] and her sphere of dominion while the two of them stared each other down.
A few seconds later, the woman reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a vial with a pill in it, “That cut was pretty nasty. What do you say I trade you this healing pill for the caster? It’s no good to a dead woman anyway.”
“N-” Samantha coughed up blood that had gotten into her windpipe when her throat was cut and it dribbled down her chin. “No thanks. It was just a scratch.”
A man’s deep gravelly laughter came from somewhere behind Harold. Between wheezing laughter he choked out, “She got you good, Fara!”
“Oh, shut up Marcus.” the woman apparently named ‘Fara’ retorted. “I wasn’t going to cut her head off to prove a point. She’d be dead if I really wanted her to be.”
More laughter was the only response she got.
Fara looked at Samantha pointing Nethershot at her and let out her own chuckle, “Come on, we both know it’ll be pretty much impossible to actually hit me with that. I’ll admit you’re fast for a Low Bronze, but casters are terrible against prepared opponents.”
When Samantha didn’t immediately lower the weapon Fara let out a short huff, “Alright, fine. Let me try something a little different.”
Something around Fara unveiled and Samantha was suddenly acutely aware of the woman’s Silver Tier aura. In the next breath, Fara condensed her aura into a heavy killing intent and slammed it down over the immediate vicinity. Harold and Sandy promptly collapsed, both appearing to be knocked unconscious. Silas let out a cry of discomfort as he lost concentration and fell from the air, but landed upright without any injury and remained standing. Samantha also maintained her footing and pushed back against the oppressive force with killing intent of her own.
Tenet of Determination has come into effect! You have gained an advantage in this battle of wills against a higher-ranked cultivator.
The woman widened her eyes in surprise for a split second before sharpening her killing intent more intensely on Samantha. Samantha strained against the feeling of incredible weight being pressed down on her, and openly snarled in defiance. The air felt so heavy it was hard to breathe. It was like she was having life squeezed out of her, somehow.
At this point, the man had stopped laughing and now started to complain, “Quit it Fara! You’re starting to give me a headache. Besides, you might kill the Copper if you keep this up.”
The killing intent blessedly let up, and Samantha had to resist the urge to take in a gulping breath of air. The aura had truly been suffocating in a way she’d never experienced before. Taking a closer look at the man who’d inadvertently given her a reprieve, she recognized him as the gate guard she had seen at the outpost on their first day here. As she recalled, the man wasn’t the most talkative.
Fara let out a long sigh and drooped her head in defeat, “Fine! Fine. I found out what I wanted to know anyway.” Fara looked back up to Samantha and leaned back against a tree, “You’re tough for a new ascendant! Even through that short bout I can tell that you have a lot of potent abilities. I bet you gave those raiders a real surprise–good riddance.” She sheathed her sword, “Sorry for being so rough with you. I honestly didn’t expect you to move so fast! It made my cut much deeper than I intended. Let’s start over?”
Samantha finally lowered Nethershot and nodded. She was still wary and slightly upset by the interaction, but also was glad that this confrontation hadn’t completely spoiled her chances of building relationships with some locals.
“My name is Fara, and my guild mate over there is Marcus. For the purposes of our conversation, you can consider me the leader of that outpost. Now that I’ve established you’re not a pushover and you’re likely telling the truth about how you ended up here, I’m willing to hear you out. So, what do you want?”
Samantha turned to face Fara and gave her a bow at the waist to show respect. It was shallower than was probably warranted given their difference in cultivation tier, but considering she just had her throat cut by the woman it was still incredibly polite. She didn’t know if the second floor possessed the same customs as her own, but she hoped the intent was clear enough, “Thank you. Harold and I have only come together by chance and have traveled together this far out of necessity. Thus, I will speak for myself and let him give his own reasons after he wakes up. Simply put, I wish for a place where I can grow stronger so that I can prepare for my eventual ascension to the third floor.”
“In that case, I suggest you keep traveling towards Centra. We can help you get your bearings and point you in the right direction. We can even trade you for some supplies if you need it.” Fara said immediately. While not completely dismissive, Samantha got the impression that the offer wasn’t as helpful as it could have been either.
“Can we at least stay for a short time? We barely survived the trip here as it is, and we hardly know anything about this floor. Hurrying us off is as good as a death sentence.” Admitting their group's weakness was a risk, but she was genuinely afraid of traveling further without help. They needed information from locals to survive long-term.
Fara smiled, “You sure? You seemed pretty sturdy to me.” When Samantha didn’t smile back, she sighed and glanced over to Marcus. They shared a look before Fara answered, “I sympathize with your plight, but I can’t risk my peoples’ safety to give charity to random ascendants. We have a job to do out here.”
“It wouldn’t be for free.” Samantha countered, “Harold is a very good alchemist and can make all sorts of things for you. You just experienced yourself how good Silas and I are in a fight, but we’re open to doing other tasks too if you need it. We can all pull our weight in exchange for the help you give us.”
Fara and Marcus shared a look again, “Look... Though you don’t seem like a bad sort, ascendants have a terrible reputation. Enough of you have caused trouble that it’s gotten to the point where it’s easier to not deal with any of you. I don’t particularly care one way or the other if you come into town, but it’s not solely up to me. There’s several others that’d need to approve the temporary stay of an outsider.”
“I’m alright with it.” Marcus chimed in.
Fara ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times as she thought, “I suppose there’s no harm in at least bringing it up. I’ll vouch for you as well, so that’s two votes for your entry. Wait here with Marcus and I’ll talk to the others. Keep in mind that if you are allowed inside, we’ll need oaths from the both of you that you’ll abide by our rules while staying here.”
Samantha nodded her agreement and went to check on Harold once Fara left. He was breathing and his pulse was steady, but he was still unconscious. Sandy had started to stir but was not fully recovered.
“They’ll be up soon.” Marcus assured her. “Also, everyone’s here today so Fara shouldn’t take long.”
Taking his word for it, Samantha sat back on her heels and relaxed until Fara got back. After a few minutes Harold and Sandy came fully back to consciousness and Samantha filled them in on what they’d missed. Shortly after, Fara exited the outpost and Samantha rose to greet her.
“Well?”
Fara smiled, “You’re in. Welcome to our little slice of civilization. Let me tell you how things work around here and get you settled in…”