Gauge moved cautiously but with purpose, making his way towards the remains strewn about the battlefield. Based on his positional estimate of the moon against the sky, it was somewhere between three or four in the morning, giving him about two hours until daybreak.

Of course, it was not assured that he would be under threat if he took his time, but there was even less guarantee that he wouldn’t be. He had other things to consider besides his own well-being anyways; Getting back to Argent wasn’t something the rogue felt like delaying longer than was necessary, even if Izadura and Kotomi seemed more than capable.

It was no small effort to sweep the battlespace. Some of the bodies were difficult to retrieve, half buried or otherwise made inconvenient to reach by the fallen mushroom trees, fallen actual trees, and dislodged chunks of earth… But Gauge made his best effort at gathering them all into a centralized location, laying them out in rows by type.

“Gods be damned, what a haul.”

He muttered in mild disbelief, realizing how many enemies they had dispatched inside the lair. While their early adventures in the forest had yielded frustratingly low encounter rates, this finale alone more than compensated for it. Piled in the clearing now were twenty one jellycaps, seven infected wolven thralls, a once royal myconid, and the dismembered remains of a Faewitch. Taking it all into account, Gauge realized how lucky he was to be alive and mostly unharmed.

“Guess that’s what you call risk and reward..”

With everything in place, he reached deep into the aether plane and located his new ability. [Awakening]. It had settled neatly off to the side of his unlocked paths for darkness and psyche, separate from any true branch but guiding into something all its own. [Soul Weapon] was the only visible art beyond it, one which Gauge had immediately filled, but past that point the tree remained blanketed in a dull haze. Disregarding it for the time being to focus on the task at hand, the rogue attached his consciousness to the node for [Awakening] and manifested the art.

He was still unsure of exactly what functions the art provided, its vague and relatively cryptic flavour text not offering much insight… But he knew from the battle that it could detect world energies, determining their sources and flow, and that would suffice for the moment. As Gauge’s eyes flashed white, he looked out over the array of bodies he had collected. He had organized them specifically to view like this as quickly and cleanly as possible, in order to limit the amount of time [Awakening] needed to be active. Perhaps he would adapt to it eventually, but in his current state the art taxed him heavily while it was in effect.

As quickly as he reasonably could, and with as few short uses of [Awakening] as he could manage, the rogue discarded any bodies that did not appear to contain lingering energy signatures. In other words, Argonite. It was like playing a memory game, viewing the array of bodies in brief flashes of true sight and then moving as many as he could confidently remember. Once this task was done, he set about harvesting the Argonite itself. Something he was steadily becoming better at over the course of this whole ordeal.

He started with the wolves, which were the simplest fare, animals being much more sensible to dissect due to their stable and predictable anatomy. Skinning and gutting them was no different than handling any sort of regular game, making it a simple matter to locate the crystalized world energies inside.

Despite being infected as thralls, Gauge was surprised that the animals still contained Beast Argonite. It was the first time since coming to the Academy that he had handled this type specifically, and he took a moment to admire its muted, reddish-brown sheen. It was comparable to a carnelian stone, but filled with an essence of wild vitality well beyond that of any mundane gem.

The Jellycaps were another ordeal completely, their amorphous organic composition meaning that they really had no beginning or end in the technical sense. Just one giant glob of animate matter. Gauge’s enhanced senses greatly improved the process when it came to breaking down the many corrupted fungal husks, carefully splitting them down the middle after making incisions along the edge of their cap, in order to separate the entirety of their stings and gills from the base.

After harvesting the first half dozen, Gauge came to the conclusion that the portions of Argonite seemed to shift randomly within the flesh of the stems, none of them appearing inside the caps. This streamlined his efforts over time as he cut through animate after animate.

It was enough high pressure cutting that the rogue made a mental note to sharpen his dirk later, as the creatures’ stems were less firm than cutting into a soft wood, but much more durable than a typical plant, somewhere around the consistency of a tough cork. The steel weapon dutifully performed its work regardless, revealing the majority of the caps to contain portions of jagged, blackened Argonite which glinted against the moonlight.

Gauge wasn’t sure exactly what type it was, but if he took things very literally, he supposed that it was most likely Black Argonite. It was the sort typically known for being found inside undead creatures, like ghouls and crypt fiends, but he had read something once about it forming inside of ‘corrupted’ creatures.

Why this corruption had changed the inherent nature of the Jellycaps while only affecting the wolves on a surface level, Gauge could only speculate. His best assumption was that it had to do with their fae origin making them more susceptible to an intrusion from a cursed fae creature, as the witch herself fell under the same base category. It was highly unfortunate, whatever the reason, and the rogue would have much preferred the opposite. Beast Argonite was worth a pittance compared to Vitra-- in fact altering Beast to Black would have actually increased its value-- so of course the latter would be the one to get ruined.

“Yeah.. Why wouldn’t that be the case?”

The rogue sighed ruefully, sitting back and wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. Still, he supposed he ought to be grateful for the two shards of unaltered Vitra Argonite he managed to salvage from the animates. While it was frustrating to lose out on so much potential value, when one considered that surviving the encounter at all was in fact the real reward; Even without a pouch full of Vitra they were making profits hand over fist.

There was also the matter of field experience itself to be considered. When he had frustratedly expressed to Argent that aether wasn’t going to pay for food or equipment costs, he had meant it… but now with [Awakening] under his belt, it was difficult to place a monetary value on what had been gained in this sunken clearing. His mind and conscience felt clearer than they had in years.

Rolling a piece of Argonite between his fingers, he wondered for a brief moment if the alteration would affect their reward. Elder Brandubh was expecting them to return with Vitra Argonite, as one might obtain from untainted animates. Would he pay them for the pieces of Black?

The reward money wouldn’t amount to much when set against what they’d make selling the materials themselves, but money was money, and they’d killed a lot of Jellycaps. Even with the forty-to-fifty-ish percent ratio on kills containing Argonite he still had enough to ‘prove’ the elimination of fourteen or so caps upfront, assuming the Black Argonite was accepted for payment.

Rooting out the source of the infestation was another matter entirely, and Gauge knew better than to expect compensation over something that wasn’t their job. Of course there was always a chance that the town might elect to offer them a reward purely out of gratitude, but it wasn’t something to hang your coat on. The value of the larger kills would have to come solely from their material drops. With that note fresh in his mind, Gauge made his way to the oversized myconid next.

“..Oof. Sorry bud, nothing personal.”

Looking over the charred, blasted, and severed structure of the myconid caused the small exclamation to escape his lips involuntarily. Monster though it was, it HAD been enslaved by a witch, and they had really done a number on the thing. On some level it garnered a shred of sympathy… Only a shred, though, and the rogue wasted little time in reaching for one of his tomahawks, beginning to take wide cuts.

Luckily, due to the targeting of his [Soul Weapon], the creature had blown apart right around what he had correctly assumed to be a Black Argonite core. Unluckily, the Argonite itself had been severely damaged by the attack, shattered into multiple pieces which would sell for much less cumulatively than a single larger unit.

While it carried intrinsic worth in all sizes, even if ground into dust, Argonite increased in value exponentially based on size. This was due to the fact that one could break it down into smaller portions or grind it into powder quite easily, but, outside of its formation within creatures no way to combine or otherwise enlarge the crystals had been found.

This made fully developed formations, categorized as Orbs or Spheres, extremely valuable to the right buyers. Granted, the piece within the myconid had not been developed enough to be considered a sphere. Gathering up the pieces, Gauge clicked his tongue in frustration.

“Tch.. Would have been worth nearly three times as much if it was in one piece.. But how else was I supposed to bring that thing down?”

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He asked the clearing as though it were accusing him.

“Argent was pinned in that disgusting river, you know? I had to do something.”

Putting a hand on his hip as he defended his actions to the treeline, he sighed and turned at last to the final corpse. Kneeling down over the Faewitch, he grimaced at the intense smell of loam and rot that the brackish gore pooling around her body emitted. It was the smell of a shallow graveyard after a battle, like topsoil mingled with death and decay.

“Kioku’s tits..”

Gauge breathed his typical curse as he pulled the hem of his cloak upwards to cover his nose and mouth. His eyes traced over the perfect slash which had turned her into pieces, severing diagonally from an angle that cut from her right side wrist to her left side armpit. He had never been sure what to make of the reclusive swordsman from their class, but this clearly demonstrated that Izadura’s poise, like the sword at his waist, was not just for show.

He also reminded himself that the sword in question was apparently a living, breathing girl? He still wanted to ask about that. Did that mean Kotomi had just been there in class all this time, hanging around as a weapon? Was that how she had known who they were back at the Endless Horizon? Her humanoid appearance made it seem that she was a girl inhabiting the weapon, but was it the other way around? Was she a weapon that could take a human form? Was she a spirit? What was up with her eyes?

Gauge allowed these thoughts and questions to mull through his mind as he worked to extract the Argonite from the Faewitch, distracting himself from what he was doing. He was still not entirely comfortable with harvesting materials from enemies with a humanoid shape, even if they were indisputably monstrous. Irrational though it was, the fear of pulling a chunk of Mortal Argonite from the witch’s corpse burned in the back of his mind until the very moment he held the crystal in his hands to examine it.

It was certainly not of Mortal grade.. But what WAS it? The stone thrummed with a low energy, not quite like a pulse but akin to a subtle, almost undetectable vibration. It was roughly the size of an apple, somewhat misshapen but otherwise smooth, with a deep violet colouration that churned with red and black. He turned it over in his palms slowly, staring into the reflective sheen of the stone until a dull ache began to set into his hands.

Looking at his skin, there were no signs of burning or blistering, no visible wounds or effects. But the longer he held the stone, the more the pain continued to build, gathering in his hands like an increasing number of needles. Grimacing, he wrapped the stone in his cloak and cradled it under his arm for a moment until he could scoop it into a pouch.

“..Never heard of Argonite that drains you..”

He muttered, taking one last look over the field before starting towards the opening where they had fought the wall of wolves. He made it all of five steps before stopping abruptly, pausing to listen. He cursed as something in the ground moved, making him reach for his weapons, jerking his head to the side as movement caught the corner of his eye– and then;

“... Fffffff.”

Gauge breathed long and slow, not quite finishing the expletive as his hands eased away from his weapons. The noise and movement had come from a portion of the ground collapsing, sinking away to reveal what looked like… Thatch and timber? Giving it a closer look, it seemed that whatever was uncovered by the shifting earth was exactly beneath the spot where the infected myconid had originally been rooted. It was also the location the Faewitch had initially emerged from.

“Don’t tell me.. It lived under that thing..?”

In a way it made sense. This was essentially the Witch’s lair, heavily guarded by her thralls and creations. A den hidden beneath the infected myconid would have offered excellent concealment and protection. Curiosity pulled at the Rogue, as he gave the half-buried structure a wide berth while circling around it. Thoughts of what could be inside both pushed and pulled. Certainly there had to be valuables of some sort, but what of the threats? Traps? Curses? What if there was an enemy still inside? Gauge was not in any condition to be clearing a building, but..

[Awakening]. He risked the ability for a few moments longer than before, searching for any signatures that might constitute a threat. There did not seem to be any obvious traps or life forces within or around the collapsing den. It would be a gamble… But the rogue was a hell of a high-roller.

Pulling the door open with the hook of his axe, Gauge peered inside cautiously. It was humid and dark, lit dimly only by two portions of glowing moss kept in jars. There seemed to be no movement or sound, nothing reacting to his presence, and so he carefully stepped inside.

It was very akin to an herbalist's shop, only creepier and dirtier by a substantial margin. Curtains of bone hung from the grungy fungal ceiling along with many bundles of dried herbs. Fetishes and dolls lined the shelves. There were many bottles and jars of things Gauge could not identify, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

Moving deeper into the den, he refrained from touching anything that seemed immediately morbid or witchifying, for the same reason he had abstained from collecting any of the trinkets woven into the Faewitch’s ivy rags above. Despite them being clearly infused with kai, the last thing he wanted was to get blown up or cursed. Even if there was a chance that he could have found some usage for them personally as one who had access to the Darkness aspect, he had no desire to touch those kinds of arts.

Picking up one of the jars of glowing moss, he held the object high and waved it around the small room. Two things caught his eye. One, a partially crushed pile of bluish crystals beside a bottle full of the same; And two, a strangely shaped pendant hanging from a nail on the far wall.

Stepping past the crystals, he glanced at them a moment. They seemed familiar but he couldn’t place why. In the back of his head, he wished Argent was here. He also heard the words of their instructors echoing the value of a personal field guide kept with notes and information. There was nothing he could do about it at the moment, but it helped drive the point home a little.

The pendant was the bigger concern anyways. Having learned his lesson from up top, Gauge made no attempt to touch the thing directly, holding the light over it and carefully repositioning his head to peer at it from different angles. It appeared to be carved from some sort of dark, stained wood. It was shaped jaggedly, like two overlapping triangles, with a single black stone set in the middle.

It certainly didnt look friendly. A few drops of sweat crept down Gauge’s neck despite the damp cold of the Den, as he meticulously walked his thoughts through every trapfinding technique he knew... Once he was absolutely certain that there were no physical triggers at play, he took a section of cloth and folded it over itself to form a thick square, wrapping the object in it neatly and tying it shut before stowing it away.

Breathing a sigh of relief at his uneventful success in doing so, Gauge felt a little safer now touching a few other things, taking the time to gather up the drying herbs as well as the bottle of powdered crystals before exiting the den. With that done, he wasted no further time leaving the clearing. Reaching down to adjust his waystone he moved first to the wall of wolves, using [Awakening] to cut out its Argonite before moving on.

He backtracked towards the town one pinpoint at a time, using the saved locations in his waystone to revisit each skirmish he and Argent had fought on the way in. He was cutting through the final jellycap where they had fought nearest to their camp, when a sound from the brush startled him.

Before he could stand something bowled him over from the side. Sharp teeth tore into his shoulder as he rolled across the earth, with whatever it was sprawled on top of him. He cursed loudly while tucking his feet under the belly of the creature to kick it off of himself. Hurrying to his feet, his hands went for his axes as he quickly ascertained the identity of his attacker– an infected wolf.

“Are you fucking KIDDING me!”

Gauge spat in angry disbelief, frustration outweighing any fear response he should have had. Gritting his teeth he reared back and hurled a tomahawk at the thrall, embedding the weapon straight into the creature’s skull with a sickening squelch, the sheer force causing one of its eyes to pop from its socket. Cathartic as this was, the rogue found himself immediately regretting the decision as two more thralls came into view, leaving him with one weapon in hand, little energy to fight, and multiple enemies at play.

Holding his shoulder with his empty hand, Gauge readied his tomahawk defiantly in the other. Something about the thralls seemed off. They had been uncoordinated even before, their natural agility hampered by their infected state, but now they seemed almost entirely braindead. They shuffled and growled in distorted voices, almost gurgles. With the entity controlling them gone, it was as if only a sense of primal aggression remained in their heads. Maybe he could take them.

“Come on, then..”

He spoke to the nearest thrall, sneering as it gnashed its teeth at him.

“Let’s get this over with.”

The creature’s hackles stood on end as its legs coiled for a lunge. Sooner than it could leap a new crashing sound came storming through the woods, and before Gauge knew what was happening a series of shadows overtook the pair of thralls. Quickly stepping back, he found it difficult to tell the difference between what had been there before versus what was standing there now; Putting two and two together he realized it was because the newcomers were also wolves. Normal, untainted ones.

It would seem the pack was coming to reclaim its portion of this forest, and was picking off the stragglers left behind by the witch. They did not seem any friendlier towards Gauge, however, as a huge male lifted its head from the neck of the thrall it had crushed to snarl at him with blood soaked fangs.

From the side, another wolf emerged. A female. She nudged against the large male and pressed her head under his neck, turning to look at Gauge… He noticed then the lines of scarring and missing fur around her legs, and recognition dawned on him. This was mama wolf. He stared at her, and she stared at him. The two remained locked on to one another for some time, before finally the larger male snorted and turned to resume his hunt elsewhere.

Gauge’s shoulders relaxed, and he let out a heavy breath.

“Thanks for that.”

Mama wolf huffed, padding forward to push her head against his knee. Gauge tensed up at her approach, but after her showing of good will, he risked lowering a hand very slowly to pat her lightly on the head. Seemingly pleased, she turned away and disappeared in pursuit of the larger wolf.

Gauge could feel his heart pounding in his throat as the adrenaline slowly died, the ache in his shoulder doubling back intensely. He would have to patch himself up if he was going to survive long enough to reach town, but for now, he had made it–

–And he would never make fun of karma again.