Cass fixed up the remains of the campfire while Marco carried Pellen closer to the fire and laid her atop a sleeping mat from his pack.

In a few minutes, all of them were seated around a blazing little flame, warm and comfortable in the glow of Beacon of Home and Hearth. Cass even broke out the tea.

Everyone settled, Cass finally turned her attention to the waiting Free Points.

The last set had been split between End and Vit, in other words, between Stamina and Health. If her most recent adventures were any indication, she could never have too much of either. But was that the best use?

The set before that had gone into Wll and she’d needed every scrap of it to yank the lightning off its trajectories.

Name: Cass

[Race: Slyphid

Lvl: 22

Str - 20 Dex - 54 End - 43

Wll - 63 Ala - 59 Res - 45

Frt - 17 Per - 32 Vit - 31

Free Points: 4]

Concepts:

[- Wind (Dex, Ala, Per) [The Wind is Ephemeral. The Wind is Speed. The Wind is All.]

- Hearth (End, Res, Vit) [The Hearth burns. The Hearth provides. The Hearth protects.]

- Liminal (Unapplied)]

She’d come a long way since the day she’d been dropped in Uvana without so much as a Concept.

Looking at the current spread, she split them between Res and Wll. She had enough defensive stats to survive on her own and she was once again back with the team, so focusing on increasing her combat potential was the move.

Wll 63 -> 65

Res 45 -> 47

With the important things taken care of, she settled back with her tea and Salos on her lap, safe in the knowledge her friends were here.

***

Cass dozed for a while before Pellen woke up sometime later.

The little mage shot up, her arms flailing wildly around her, her head whipping back and forth in confusion, her many eyes darting around their sockets.

“We’re alive?” Pellen muttered when she realized there was no danger.

Cass yawned and nodded. “Everything went exactly to plan.”

Pellen looked around the gathered group slowly, nodding. “So it seems.” Her eyes froze on Alyx. “Ah, Ma’am. My lady. Dame! I am Pellen Ioptes. Thank you for your magnanimous arrival in saving us from our foolishness.”

Alyx’s eyebrow rose. She glanced at Cass.

Cass shrugged. To Pellen, Cass said, “Everything okay?”

Pellen glanced between Cass and Alyx. She scooted around the fire to Cass’s side. In a hushed whisper, she said, “I was working for her rival. Technically, we’re probably enemies.” Louder, so Alyx could hear her, she added, “But as a member of the Academy, I am a neutral party. I definitely do not hold any opinions on the rights of succession of Vaisom’s good and righteous nobility.”

Alyx snorted. “Cass has already negotiated for your safety. This is all highly unnecessary. I trust you will agree to work for me in exchange for the promise of slaying an Obsidian Golem and the guarantee of your safety in my presence?”

Pellen nodded fiercely.

“Good, then cut that out.”

Pellen continued nodding.

Alyx rolled her eyes. To Cass, she said, “Can we open the Trove now?”

“You waited for me?” Pellen squeaked. She immediately put a hand over her mouth.

Cass nodded. “It seemed rude to open it while you were unconscious, especially since we couldn’t have won without you.”

Pellen shook her head. “I can’t claim credit for anything,” she stuttered, all of her eyes suddenly very interested in her knees.

“Come on,” Cass said, pulling her to her feet. “Let’s go open it!”

Cass led them to the chest in the center of the room. The trial circle was no longer active, air flowed easily across it.

As soon as Cass touched the lid, a screen popped up.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Beginning Treasure Manifestation

[Calculating Need…

Calculating Trial Difficulty…

Modifying based on last Claim…

Modifying based on Participant Level…

Modifying based on Contribution…

Achievement Calculated.

Applying Achievement and Need Modifiers to Reward Pool…

Manifesting Rewards]

The lid opened on its own with a glow of light and triumphant music. A crystal the size of Cass’s fist floated out of it, the color of dusk, with a matte finish like tumbled sea glass.

Cass plucked it out of the air and Identified it.

Stormcaller Stone

[Class: Focus (Unrefined)

A crystal formed in the ever-rolling storm that is the Elysian Gyre. It is a manifestation of condensed potential, bristling with the energies of the storm it was formed in.]

In her hands, blue sparks flickered beneath its surface. She could feel power there, heavier than the stone’s appearance would suggest and which had nothing to do with its physical weight.

“I got a rock?” Cass said.

An arcane focus, Salos corrected. Attuned to storms. There is nothing wrong with it as a reward. Once we get out of here, we should look into having it refined and made into the core of a new staff.

What’s wrong with my staff? Cass asked.

He sighed. It seems to me it was not that long ago you bemoaned not getting a ‘cool’ new sword out of a trove. Now there is nothing wrong with the literal stick you picked up off the ground?

It seems to me, Cass countered, It was not that long ago I was told by someone who is never wrong that with my skills I didn’t need anything fancier than my stick.

That was then, this is now, Salos said.

“That looks like an arcane focus,” Pellen said, unaware Salos had already explained. “It should make it easier to attune your mana to forces of storms.”

“That looks nice. You’ll want a professional to process that for you. We’ll find you a proper craftsman after this,” Alyx promised.

“In the meantime, you can probably use it as it is just by channeling your skills through it,” Pellen added. “The same way I channel through my tomes?”

“Is that why you have the books out when you’re casting? I just assumed you didn’t know all the words,” Cass blurted.

Pellen looked away. “One can hold a tome for multiple reasons.”

“Oh.”

Alyx coughed. “Are you going to loiter in front of the chest, Cass? Or are you going to let the rest of us have a go?”

“OH! Right, sorry,” Cass scooted out of the way and Pellen stepped up next.

The lid closed and the chest looked unchanged. When Pellen touched it, it again opened with glowing and music. Out floated a book.

Book of Spacial Reconfiguring

[Class: Tome

Author: Eldherenis of Belltoris]

Pellen’s eyes got big at the sight of it. She snatched it from the air and flipped it open, only for her face to fall at the pages. “It’s in ancient Jothi. Why is it in ancient Jothi?” She shuffled away from the chest. She muttered to herself, “Was my contribution not that good? Or was the challenge not high enough? How high does it need to be to award Concept Gems?”

Cass pat her on the back. “Perhaps the trial knows you have a good lead on the gem you need, so it didn’t feel you needed it here?”

Pellen nodded glumly. “But what do I do with this?”

“Can’t you do what you were going to do with the other books we found? Study the spell forms?”

Pellen shrugged, flipping through the pages. “There aren’t that many spell forms. This looks more like a theory book. Which would be great, if I could read it.”

Could you help her? Cass asked Salos.

Why would I? Salos asked.

We could… sell the service? Cass suggested. She didn’t know. It just seemed right to offer to help if she could.

Let’s hold off on offering such a thing right now. Better not to advertise the fact you can read a ‘dead’ script unless that is all you want to do for the foreseeable future.

“Well, maybe you’ll figure out some of it from studying the other books?” Cass said finally.

Pellen nodded and slipped the book into one of her many pockets.

Alyx went next, the chest spitting out a ring.

Soulspark Ring

[Class: Accessory (Ring)

Accentuates the effects of Concepts in the Electricity family on skills using aura.]

Alyx glowered at it. “I know troves are supposed to pick things you need, but this really feels like it’s making fun of us now.”

She didn’t even bother putting it on, slipping it into her bag instead.

Marco went next. For him, the chest provided a helmet.

Guardian’s Helm

[Class: Armor (helmet)

A component of the Averenis family’s guardian’s armor. Said to have been worn in the battle of Falling Silver while defending their master from the Ebony Traveler.

Provides minor increased effective Frt.

Provides increased effective Frt while defending another.

Provides significant increased effective Frt while defending the wearer’s sworn master.]

He smiled down at the helmet in his hands. “Seems to be workin’ correctly to me.”

Alyx snorted.

Salos hopped onto the chest last. It glowed, and he hopped off the lid again as it opened, revealing a cowl.

Shadow’s Cowl

[Class: Armor (hood)

The headgear of a rogue of the Averenis family. Said to have been granted by their master on their acceptance into the family’s ranks.

Provides minor decrease in presence.

Allows partial sharing of presence modifiers to one other.

Allows significant sharing of presence modifiers to wearer’s sworn master.]

Salos sighed down at the article of clothing, shaking his head. “No, the need allocation is definitely broken.”

No matter how Cass looked at it, there was no way for him to wear the very human-sized cowl as a cat. He could probably wear it while possessing her, if they ever had to do that again. But at that point, would the sharing of presence modifiers be relevant? And, unlike Marco, Salos didn’t have a sworn master.

Unless the System was counting her, she supposed. But she wasn’t his sworn master, she was his System-mandated master, and she felt that should be different.

Pellen stared at Salos, her mouth hanging open. “He talks?”

Salos glanced at her. “Right. You had not yet heard me. Well. Oh, well.”

“He’s talking,” Pellen repeated, several of her eyes zipping toward Cass while the majority stayed focused on Salos.

Cass nodded. “He does that occasionally.”

“Salos,” he said, nodding at her, “Pleasure to meet you.”

“P-Pellen Ioptes,” she replied.

“So I gathered,” Salos said, settling onto Cass’s shoulder. To Cass, he said, “You might as well wear it.”

Cass shrugged and pulled it over her head. The fabric, though heavy, was comfortable on her head and shoulders, and despite covering much of her face, she had no difficulty seeing out of it. Like magic, the edges avoided obstructing her field of view.

Her aura cloak fell over it, covering all of her body.