I woke up a few hours later. Sleep had taken me into a world of dreams rather quickly. Strange moments of the camp raid played out in my dreamscape, but with nonsensical twists that were untrue to the real-life events.

Like most dreams, the details escaped me now that I was awake, but I could distinctively recall Sereza using glitter magic instead of acid. While hilarious to envision, it was precisely the kind of nonsense one would expect in a dream.

Looking around, the cavern was still empty and dark. There were torches lining the walls, but they were unlit and cold. At some point, it looked like someone had done excavation work on the far end, but that was it. The place was the same as before I took a nap.

With a sad grunt, I pushed myself off the floor and got up to stretch. The vague ache in my limbs was gone, and my head was finally clear. Still, as I stood there with my arms extended, I hesitated. The restful peace I had could be taken away with a simple flex of will.

But I needed to know if I had access to my skills. Being skillless in this environment would lead to my death swiftly and mercilessly.

I cracked my neck and took a deep breath before closing my eyes and letting the world fall away. My mind entered the soulspace easily, and I found myself standing on the island in the middle of the lake. Mana gave off its soft pink glow, and I took it all in.

The weight in my chest fell away, and I found myself breathing easier. I mentally called out to the skillwisps, waiting for a response. Resplendent Inferno was the first and fastest to appear. Zharia zipped around, and I reached out to bump the wisp.

Next was Verdant Healer and then Reflective Coat of the Mirror Beast, followed by The Dead Will Provide. They came forth and joined Zharia as she hovered near me. I searched and waited, but Chomperz didn't appear. I knew his skillwisp differed from the others, but I expected some response.

Any idea where he is?

I saw the wisps subtly move side to side, and I frowned. My connection to my soulspace allowed me insight into my skills. And for a skill so intrinsically connected to me, I knew Chomperz was fine, even if I felt a somewhat lethargic response when I sent a mental ping to the skill.

Waving goodbye to my familiars, I was about to leave when I felt the presence of teeth clamping down near my ear. I turned around and saw Chomperz's skillwisp lazily bobbing up and down. There was a glowing spot of bright red pulsing from inside the wisp, but he pulled away when I tried to push deeper to inspect the source.

Then, he rushed at my face, causing me to float away only to turn and pause before zipping off. I smiled and exited the soulspace.

At least he's doing alright.

With my connection to my mana reestablished, I let out the air I had been holding. There was no longer a reason to delay, so I made my way towards the end of the cavern where the stairs leading up were.

Step by step, I was lamenting the fact that, once again, my spear was gone. I didn't even have a backup, which was a significant oversight on my part. With only a dagger strapped to my back, this was going to be a long day.

When I reached the top of the stairwell, I exited into a large, empty room with a single, familiar statue along the back wall. It finally clicked where I was.

I was in the temple.

It was strange to see that the temple was similar to the one in real life. If one removed the other statues dedicated to other gods and pantheons, little else changed from the past to recent times.

Ysanna's statue looked the same, the flowing water moving between the woman and her serpent guardian.

And the empty cavern below made more sense. Without the dungeon, it was hard to recognize the space. That place received the most work sometime between the city's fall and now.

With a glance behind me, I walked past the statue and exited the building. Sunlight greeted my eyes, forcing me to squint. I checked the system clock and groaned.

3:48 p.m. Day 8/15

I had less than three hours before nightfall. If I had to complete the secret objective in that time, then I was screwed.

Now that I was out in the open, I let my mana run wild and opened the floodgates. Zharia appeared along with Aine and Magnus. The girls flew to my shoulder, and Magnus placed his paws on my legs.

I looked down with a sigh. "Magnus, you have four perfectly healthy paws. How are you going to protect me if I'm carrying you?"

"But I'm small! You can hold me up like a shield," Magnus replied.

Zharia glared dangerously at the cub, but I told her to cool it and bent down to grab the spirit. He comfortably relaxed in the crook of my arm and let his paws lazily hang off and to the side.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Maybe trusting a giant, speaking crystal is not the way to do things. Erath could have at least provided me with a more energetic spirit.

Magnus swatted my arm, and I stuck out a tongue, having let the last part of my thoughts slip through the soul link. He knew I was joking, and I made sure to keep the sarcasm obvious in my thought-speech.

Now that I was in an unfamiliar part of the city, I had Zharia do a quick scouting mission to survey the area. Meanwhile, I began walking deeper into the city streets and headed to the largest building I saw in the distance.

When Zharia returned about five minutes later, I frowned and hurried my steps. She led me around a few corners until I exited the sidestreets and found myself on the main road. It led to a large open square, spaced wide with a water fountain in the middle.

What I saw coming out of the fountain made me stop and lower my head in defeat. From the white marble that was the giant fountain's bowl, a massive stream of flowing water raged upwards and into the barrier surrounding this part of the city.

I could feel mana float through the air like a wet fog. It was heavy, and the amount of power running the barrier was mind-boggling. Magnus was even alert and honed in on the fountain.

Still, the fountain was the least interesting thing about the open section of the city. Lining the ground stood statues made of grey stone—each one detailed to the extreme, entirely lifelike in appearance.

There were dozens of them, all of them different and unique. Some had metal plates and large swords, and others had leather armour and bows. A few were positioned in a way that looked like they were throwing spells outwards.

And to top it all off, the people statues weren't alone. Through the crowd in different states of motion were statues of cultists with their tattered robes shown in exact detail down to every rip and hole.

And beyond them? Three large monsters with their teeth on full display as they opened them wide. Each tentacle spread from underneath their towering forms ended in sharp claws ready to slice flesh apart and cleave through bone.

My familiars stayed quiet as we approached one of the statues. I didn't touch it, keeping my distance by a solid foot and a half. I bent down and raised a hand, but Magnus beat me to it before I could voice my observations.

"Mana, dark, invasive, feels like heavy stone," he growled.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.

It was obvious that these weren't statues, at least not originally. Something happened that caused these former living beings to freeze up mid-battle. And I was getting a sinking feeling in my gut telling me it had to do with the extra objective from the system.

"Do you think you can absorb it, Magnus?"

Magnus growled and hopped out of my arms. He slowly approached the nearest statue. It was an elven man somewhere in his late twenties with long hair swept backwards. He wore a mix of cloth and plate, in his hand, a trident of all things.

He stood positioned as if he was shouting orders, his head raised high and his mouth open. He had a severe look, unafraid while determined, as he stared down the eldritch monster.

Magnus circled the statue, prowling slowly as he turned his head this way and that. He stopped and sat back on his haunches when he made a third rotation.

"Yes, I can absorb it. But there's a lot of mana, too much for more."

I nodded and clicked my fangs together. Out of all the statues, this guy looked like the man in charge, so it'd be a safe bet to pull this guy out of stasis. But according to Magnus, he would be the only one, and if something went wrong, the man would probably die if he wasn't on a death timer already.

I sighed and gestured to the statue. "Go ahead; be prepared to run in case something bad happens."

I sent the girls into the air and had them keep back while I stayed beside Magnus. From previous examples, Magnus would be vulnerable after absorbing the mana. The sheer amount would put him in a daze. My job was to grab him and be ready to run in case something went wrong.

So, I waited with an arm half stretched out and ready to reach forward and scoop the tiger cub into my arms. Magnus, on his part, was focused solely on the task before him. He stalked forward and grew his crystal shell over his fur. Slowly, he placed a single paw on the statue's leg.

The foreign mana's assault was instantaneous. I could feel it bombard his shell and try to force its way into his pathways. Magnus grunted and continued to absorb the mana, herding it in like a raging stallion, refusing to break.

I waited for the moment when he wou-

There wasn't so much a pop but a sudden spike of pressure that scraped at my skin. It was like a wave of sharp rocks flew past me, knocking me around. The feeling was more mental than physical, so I dug my foot in and remained standing.

Magnus was wobbling, ready to fall over, so I grabbed him by the neck and held him to my chest. I jumped back and waited as the air around the statue began to quiver. It wasn't like watching a spatial distortion; instead, it was as if the air was vibrating in waves that started cracking the stone material.

Piece by piece, the stone started to flake away and fall to the ground. First, it was one patch near the shoulder, followed by a spiderweb of cracks on the right hip. Then, in an inevitable cascade, the stone material fell and pinged off the ground, bouncing away and crumbling into dust.

Beneath the grey shell was real flesh that stood unmoving until more than half of the rock covering was gone. Then I had to turn and hold up my hand for cover quickly, and there was another spike of pressure before the rest of the former statue shattered and sent debris ricocheting into the distance.

There was a grunt, and I turned around, ready to order Zharia to turn the man into ash if he attacked.

The elven man looked around, confused, his motions sluggish. His eyes widened when he slowly turned his head to see the horde of statues inside the square. He turned and stopped when his gaze fell onto mine.

I saw his fingers twitch, his trident dipping ever so slightly, and I tensed. Slowly, at a glacial pace, he lowered his weapon and stood tall, his face becoming serious instantly.

"Are you the one who freed me from the curse?" the elven man asked, his voice deep and bassy.

I nodded. "I am,"

He nodded in return and glanced around. "Are you able to do it again?"

I frowned, thankful for the mask keeping my expressions hidden. "Magnus?"

"Must discharge mana..." Magnus replied.

I looked back up to the man, his eyes tearing away from the cub in my arms. His gaze was calculating, observant; I could tell he already guessed as to how I undid the curse.

I shook my head, showing an 'x' on my mask. "Not yet. That was a lot of mana."

He scowled, but I couldn't tell if it was directed at me or the situation. Gripping his spear tightly, he turned and glared at the monster in front of him before turning back my way. "Tell me your name, stranger."

"Cyrus,"

He lowered his head into a slight bow. "My thanks, Cyrus. My name is Ventus Stalvanter. Vice commander to our lady's guard."

"And I'm a simple adventurer passing through."

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he smiled politely and looked to the sky where the water barrier blanketed the city skyline.

"Tell me, Cyrus, may I request your aid?"

I'd rather you fucking didn't.