Ahh, finally back.

The temperature difference isn’t that great, but it still feels cooler in this area of the cave.

I imagine it’s because of the cool, firm stone ground beneath our feet.

Soooo much better than that awful sand.

Now that we’re back here, our first stop is the ruins.

We’re gonna check out those magic circles again, and see if I can’t figure them out with our newly-leveled magic skills.

Of course, there’s not guarantee I figure it out, so we’ve also decided to try communicating with the Stadiea again if I can’t!

Last time was kind of a bust, but I think we’ve got a better chance now!

If we fail that too… well, who knows!

At least we’ll be back in the forest, away from those gross ants and that horrible sand.

Hm? Aren’t I scared of the wolves?

Hah! Of course not!

The wolves’ one strategy is weak against us, thanks to our unique situation of having two souls.

If anything, they should be scared of us.

We’re much stronger now, we could probably beat a wolf in a one-on-one fight.

A one v. two maybe not… But we can definitely handle a one v. one!

Plus, we’ll be much better at digging now that we have tunneling! If we dig a giant tunnel system full of traps and stuff, we can lure the wolves there for total home field advantage!

And the best part is, that’s not even wishful thinking anymore! With tunneling, that kind of feat is entirely possible!

Things are really starting to look up!

Ahem, but back to the current situation, we’re currently approaching the ruins.

Last time we were here, that big creep was…

Bleh, I don’t even wanna think about it.

It’s not here now, so it’s not worth wasting precious brain power on.

In fact, it seems like nothing’s here.

Not that that’s out of the ordinary here. This area is way more sparse than the others.

The forest has the Wolves and the Stadiea, among other, critters.

The sandy caves have ants.

But these gray stone caves don’t have much.

We saw that one spider, but it’s appearance was foreshadowed by big webs hung up everywhere, so as long as we don’t see those, there probably isn’t a spider nearby.

Apart from that, there’s just nothing.

I guess that’s kind of reassuring.

The one enemy down here advertises it’s presence by hanging up webs all over the place.

As long as we don’t see those, we won’t run into anything.

Probably.

There’s always a chance we just haven’t run into whatever calls this part of the cave home.

I’d like to keep it that way, personally.

Call me boring, I don’t care!

I don’t know if I’ll get another shot at life after this one if I die, so I plan to always err on the side of caution!

Hm.

Speaking of other lives and second chances, how did I die before in the first place?

I’ve meant to put some thought into that, but I’ve been rudely interrupted by various things every time I’ve tried to set some time aside to do so.

‘Various things’ refers mostly to Gloria, by the way.

So, what happened to me?

My memories of the hours leading up to my presumed death are incredibly foggy…

I think… I might’ve been on the way to a local coffee shop?

I know from my memories of the day before that I had a hangout with a friend planned there, but I’m not sure if I made it or not.

Ugh, this mental fog is so annoying… I just want to know how I died!

Maybe the skills we get can help? If we get a skill that allows for perfect memory storage and recollection, maybe we’ll be able to uncover the mystery of how we died…

That seems like a pretty far-off goal though. I’ll keep it in mind.

For now… It’s time to decipher these magic circles!

We got here a little bit ago, we’ve just been taking a break.

It’s not easy walking as far as we do!

Hrmmm…

I… think I get it.

I understand the basic parts of the circle, but I can’t tell what it does.

It’s too messed up.

If I knew a bit more, I could probably fix it, even without knowing it’s function…

Maybe I could try fixing it now?

No, no, that’s risky. I could permanently ruin it.

[So?]

{I don’t know. I can understand more than I could before, but still not enough to understand it’s function or how to fix it.}

[Tch. So we gotta go all the way back to the forest now?]

{Yeah.}

[Damn… Well, I’m takin’ a break first. We’ll leave after we rest for a while.]

{Fine by me.}

As we emerge from the whole in the ground, light floods our eyes.

I haven’t been able to see this well in so long!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I wonder if I could convince Gloria to just stay here instead of going back to the ruins… I really don’t want to have to leave again.

Probably not…

Anyway!

Time to meet up with the Stadiea.

But how are we going to communicate?

Well, I’m very glad you asked!

There’s a certain skill that will be our key to bridging the gap between species!

Ahem... Insight!

Do you see it?

I doubt it!

After all, the skill in question is the ever-forgotten…

Artistry!

Now newly-leveled to level seven as well!

Hm?

This is just the same exact thing we tried before?

I have no clue what you’re talking about!

Well, even if we did try this before, the skill is higher level now!

So, what will we draw?

We’ll start off with greetings, obviously.

A crude drawing of them should do fine, I think.

It just has to capture their attention.

Next, we draw neat geometric patterns, in an attempt to prove to them we have a level of intelligence worth interacting with.

Finally, we finish off the ‘conversation’ by drawing a magic circle, maybe the scuffed one from the ruins.

It’s the perfect plan!

Draw their attention, show our worthiness, and then ask for their mentorship!

I think I smell a training arc!

Or maybe it’s the scent of the bushes full of monster poo we’re walking by right now.

Who can say!

There they are…

Majestic, the strange beasts stand tall over the waving grass.

Their slender legs look like young trees emerging from the grass.

And their faces are hideous!

Seriously, it looks like they got hit by a car!

And now, we are going to attempt to commune with the beasts.

They don’t even acknowledge us as we approach, continuing to laze about the field of green.

[Let’s give ‘em a good show!]

As soon as we reach the nearest bare patch of dirt on the ground, Gloria gets to work, first flattening the ground, then carving lines into it, being careful not to kick up dirt into the other lines with each stroke.

It takes a while, and the finished product is by no means a masterpiece, but eventually a cave painting-like drawing emerges from Gloria’s scribbles.

Again, it’s very rudimentary, but it’s not hard to see what it’s supposed to be, especially with the subjects of the artwork standing right before us.

Now, to bring their attention to our art piece.

[Hiyah!]

Gloria strikes the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt, and leaving a small crater in the ground.

{Gloria, that wasn’t a good idea. What if they take it as a sign of aggression?}

[It is what it is! If they attack us, we’ll fight. Combat is a great teacher y’know!]

{...Will combat be able to teach us how to use magic?}

[Maybe!]

When the dust clears, the entire herd of Stadiea is staring directly at us.

No- the drawing?

Slowly, they begin to crowd around it, staring intently at the dirt.

It… worked?

It worked!

{Good job Gloria!}

[Hehe! I’m a genius!]

{Quick! The shapes, the shapes!}

[Right!]

Close to the previous one, Gloria begins drawing in the dirt once more.

Her hand is steady, marking countless perfectly straight lines into the ground.

As she continues drawing, the Stadiea begin walking over to the new image one by one, intrigued by strange behavior of the small creature before them.

Gloria’s new drawing is reminiscent of a flower, geometric shapes spreading outward in a circular pattern.

She continues to add more and more detail, until nearly all the Stadiea have moved to this new drawing and are watching her work intensely.

[Time for the finale?]

{Sure, go for it.}

Moving away once again, Gloria begins a new drawing.

This time, the shape that emerges is a circle.

Intricate patterns and runes surround the outside, with lines like webs filling the inside.

This one seems to draw the Stadiea’s attention even more than the previous one, as they all moved around it before we even realized, watching Gloria scrawl the image onto the dirt.

When it’s finished, we back away, and let them inspect it closer.

[Do you think it’s gonna work?]

{I’m not sure. I still can’t tell how smart they really are.}

After a few minutes, one of the Stadiea walks up to us, stares for a few seconds, then closes its eyes for a few seconds.

When it opens them again, it steps closer, and kneels down as low as its freakishly long legs will allow, bringing it’s face closer to us.

Slowly, an odd sensation creeps its way through my mind.

{Do you feel that?}

[Mhm. What do you think its doing?]

{I… I’m not sure.}

The sensation grows more intense for a split second, before it disappears entirely and a whispered voice bounces through my head.

∫Strange creature… Creatures?∫

The Stadiea tilts its head.

[Woah! Fir, you heard that right? Right? Tell me you heard that!]

{I did, calm down!}

∫Fir...∫

{Y-yes?!}

∫Query… What… are you?∫

{Um… Before that, are you… the Stadiea that’s in front of us?}

∫Stadiea… Designation?∫

{Pardon?}

∫My people… ‘Stadiea’… name?∫

{I… Uh, yes! If you are asking what I think you are, then yes!}

∫Understood. Query… What are… you?∫

{I’m… Do you know what a ‘human’ is?}

∫Human… Human… Yes. Knowledge… bequeathed from… Predecessors.∫

Who the hell uses the word ‘bequeathed’?

{Well, you see, I used to be human. Recently however, me and the other soul inhabiting this body, Gloria, found ourselves… Well, in this body.}

∫Peculiar.∫

{I know, right…}

∫Fir… Gloria...∫

[Eek! It said my name!]

{Gloria!}

[Sorry!]

∫Pleasant to… become acquainted with… you.∫

{It’s, uh, nice to meet you too. Actually, do you have a name we could call you?}

∫Name… Negative.∫

{Ah, you don’t? That’s a shame.}

∫Names… Unfamiliar to… My people.∫

[Negative… negative… Aha, how about Nea?]

∫Ne…a?∫

[Yup! How about it?]

{Gloria! You can’t just force a name onto someone who’s people don’t do names, and you especially can’t just use the first word they speak as their name!}

∫Nea… Pleasant. Accepted.∫

[What’s that about not being able to just force a name onto someone?]

{Nevermind… A-anyway! Nea, we’d like to ask for your help.}

∫Help?∫

{Yes. We uh… heard that Stadiea are good at magic, so we wanted to communicate with you, and hopefully learn it from you.}

∫Magic… Magic… I understand… I will… Attempt to help.∫

{Really?!}

∫Yes. Please… allow me to… convey your… request to my people.∫

Nea gets back up, and turns their body around towards the rest of their herd.

After a few seconds, they turn back around to us.

∫Complete.∫

{That was it?}

∫Yes. Telepathy skill… practical.∫

[Woah, telepathy?! That sounds sick, how do we get it?]

∫Skill terminal.∫