Han Yazhu, Ambassador of the Final Republic of Earth and personification of the bulwark between Zone 7 and the trio of women that had ruled so long as Xiang Le, was somewhat scandalized as he hurried after the three women in front of him. He felt a pang of regret in his heart as he thought about the half-full, immaculately brewed cup of coffee he left back at his tent. “Ah… far be it from me to question your immutable wisdom… but is the party not scheduled to begin at 6 P.M. tonight ? Perhaps we should wait a little longer at the campsite before we set out toward Kharon.”

Xia snorted. Her hair was done up in a tight bun behind her head. She walked forward with methodical steps that seemed to all cover the same distance. “True, the invitation said the festivities would begin at 6 P.M. But do you really want us to just sit around in that tent all day before that? Besides…”

Xia glanced forward along the worn track they were following through the thick trees in order to reach Kharon. Ann, who was only a few meters in front of Xia, laughed lightly and shrugged. “You know how Le gets when she sets her mind to something.”

Le, who was leading the group by a sizable margin, turned around and adjusted her glasses on her nose. “Based on the setup and dramatic plotlines converging in the background… I expect this birthday party to partially be a reaction event. A time where the world finally gets an accurate read on what the protagonist is capable of in comparison to themselves and therefore is overwhelmed with some sort of emotion. And if we don’t arrive early, we will miss some of the best reactions from token antagonists.”

Han Yazhu winced. Not this again… “Miss Le, I thought we had discussed-”

“Who are the token antagonists?” Ann asked curiously, cutting off Han before he could try and gently correct Le’s thought processes.

Le tapped a finger on her cheek. “Well, definitely the President of Zone 1. By extension, some of the Order heads that haven’t agreed with the Order Ducis’ policies. The Zone leader from Phirun, the Floating City, is definitely hideous enough to position himself as unlikable… oh, and of course us. Be sure to try and accept your role as a foil generously; some of the most entertaining reactions are when an unexpected individual bets on the protagonist based on a hunch. If we remain low key, we might be able to take that chance.”

“These are real people, not characters-” Han began, but Le’s frosty glare shut him up. Then she stopped where she was, at a bend in the path, and beckoned them all over.

They filed next to Le and followed the line of her gaze. They were standing at the edge of a long valley, the trees gradually falling away in front of them as the valley broadened toward the end. Before entering into the landform in front of them, this was probably the best vantage point. And there, sitting in the lowest and flattest part of the valley, seemingly propped up against the line of mountains behind it, was Kharon, the seat of Randidly Ghosthound’s power.

The dark metal of its hundreds of legs gleamed in the midday sun. And from what Han Yazhu understood, there were larger legs folded beneath the twenty-meter thick base on which Kharon stood. It was a moving city, a glorious achievement of engineering and magic that was one of the most talked-about things of the past year. Compared to it, many other accomplishments seemed lackluster.

Han Yazhu wondered how they gathered enough fresh water to support themselves in the city. Did they just have a mage constantly using Skills to fulfill their demands…?

“I would kill to see the engine that powers that thing,” Xia said with obvious longing in her voice. While her eyes still remained locked on Kharon, she pulled out a small notebook and began to jot down a few of her thoughts.

Ann nodded rapidly. “The wow-factor of this place is tremendous! Can you imagine if we had our own mobile city-”

“I think the real question is where they obtained the materials for the construction,” Xia’s forehead creased and she leaned forward to study the distant Kharon more closely. Her hand continued to write her observations on her notepaper with blinding speed. “There must be a framework on the base… Le, what are you shaking your head at?”

And when Han Yazhu turned away from Kharon, Le was shaking her head. The youngest of the three who had been Xiang Le sighed. “Your reactions were relatively boring. That’s why I wanted to come here early. I knew I would need someone else to give me the fix that I need.”

Han Yazhu grimaced. “I really wish you would consider the political implications of some of the things you say at the party-”

Le gave him a withering look. “I know you don’t believe me. But he has a Traveling City Han. If that doesn’t prove Randidly Ghosthound is the protagonist, I don’t know what does.”

*****

Tim Moss wasn’t lonely, not really, but he was sitting alone in a low meadow and experimenting with how much he could compress the moss spirits that floated around him. Perhaps it was due to some of the other kid’s shrieks of joy or maybe it was his concentration, but when a voice spoke behind him it took him completely by surprise.

“Hey, new kid.”

Tim looked sharply up, the tight ball of moss spirits that he had been playing with exploding in a small nova of color over his face and arms. The older kid who had spoken to him, who Tim vaguely recognized to be named Kevin, raised his eyebrows but didn’t comment on the moss spirits as the dispersed in every direction. For which, Tim was extremely grateful. Everyone used them, after all, but if people found out the Path that he was working through…

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yes…?” Tim said hesitantly after the remaining emerald energy drifted away. Kevin was twelve and tall, towering over the new arrival to Kharon. They were currently in one of the broad parks of Kharon. Generally, around this time of day, there would be mandatory lessons on Skill use that children were expected to attend. But today was a bit special.

Even so, most parents sent their children here anyway, busy with their own preparations. Which led to the chaotic mess of dodgeball and capture the flag that appeared to be happening simultaneously across the park.

It was the birthday of Randidly Ghosthound, so only a skeleton crew was here to chaperone the over a thousand children running rampant with bright red rubber balls. By this point in the day, the adults seemed content to allow the children to do whatever they wished and retreated to the command tent at the center of the park.

Basically, they were free to do as they pleased for the rest of the day. Which was why Tim was so nervous that he suddenly had been approached by an older kid he didn’t really know.

I mean, I wanted to talk to someone, but for it to be like this-

Kevin jerked his head behind him. “The boss wants to speak with you. Follow me.”

It was only after Kevin had turned and quickly walked a few meters away that Tim’s body jerked back to life. With sweating palms, he hurried after Kevin. But to his surprise, they didn’t head toward the central pavilion where the teachers were chatting. No, Kevin led Tim to a grove of trees along the edge of the park that appeared deserted.

As they moved toward the trees, the sounds of shrieking children behind them faded. And once they were hidden underneath the branches, Kevin directed Tim past the low branches of the trees to a hole that had been ripped open in the chain-link fence around the park and urged him to head through. Unsure of what was going on, Tim just let himself be propelled forward.

Once they were out of the park, Kevin broke into a surprisingly quick jog as they suddenly found themselves in the farming area, forcing Tim to exhaust himself keeping up. Although he had spent some of his free Stats on physical ones, most went to his Mental Stats to empower his Earthsinger abilities. So by the time they had crossed the entirety of the flower and herb fields to the West edge of Kharon, Tim was having trouble staying on his feet.

Kevin gave him an annoyed look, but at least he didn’t say anything. Tim plopped down a meter or so away from the edge of Kharon, already a little nervous to be so close to the edge. After taking a few seconds to wipe the sweat from his forehead, he asked Kevin, “I… where are we going…?”

Kevin ignored the question and produced a small piece of wood. He offered it to Tim. “Make yourself a platform. We are going down. We’ve already taken longer than I thought.”

“What…?” Tim was so alarmed that he stopped panting for a few seconds and just stared at Kevin.

Kevin frowned. “Oh, I forgot you were new to Kharon. Here, can you draw? Push Mana into your finger and draw this symbol onto the board.” After fishing around in his pocket for a moment, Kevin produced a crumpled piece of paper and offered it to Tim. “Hope you can control Mana well, though. Otherwise, you are probably going to crash pretty. The Mana has to be evenly distributed through the symbol for it to function well.”

Hesitant but unwilling to back down after Kevin had questioned his ability to manipulate Mana, Tim snatched the piece of paper and studied its contents. To his surprise, it was a relatively simple symbol of looping lines. After watching Kevin start to draw his own symbol on a similar board, Tim got to work on his own.

Although he relied heavily on the paper to check his work, he finished in only five minutes and was relatively proud of the accuracy of the result. And to his delight, he received a notification when he finished the drawing.

Congratulations! You have learned the Skill Language of Kharon’s Moss Spirits (R) Lvl 1!

Language of Kharon’s Moss Spirits (R): Create runes of power to communicate clearly with the Moss Spirits of Kharon. Runes dissipate after a single-use, but can give Moss Spirits several abilities to interact with the physical world that they don’t normally possess. Power of runes increases with Skill Level. Mana cost slightly decreases with Skill Level.

Congratulations! Your Skill Language of Kharon’s Moss Spirits (R) has grown to Level 2!

“Is this… like Engraving?” Tim asked excitedly as he looked down at the symbol he carved on the board. Already some of the moss spirits that floated around him flooded into the gleaming lines, filling it with emerald light. The board began to float playfully in front of Tim.

“Not at all. Do you think we could hide that we could do this from adults if the markings stayed on objects long term?” Kevin shook his head. “Annoying that we have to draw them fresh every time, but better than getting in trouble. But anyway, get on your board, we are going down.”

Although Tim was still a little nervous about heading down the almost thirty-meter drop, the excitement over his new Skill did a lot to alleviate his fears. Although the board wobbled dangerously when he first got on top of it, Tim shifted until he sat on it like it was a swing and held onto the edges with his hands. Kevin hopped onto his like it was a skateboard and went immediately over the edge.

Tim took a deep breath and shuffled forward to follow.

The way down wasn’t nearly as bad as Tim had feared. They quickly got to the ground near the edge of the forest that ran along the valley in which Kharon sat. There they ditched their boards and hurried into the forest. After another ten minute jog that once more exhausted Tim and earned him two Skill Levels in Physical Fitness, they arrived at… a shabby looking wooden castle, propped up in the middle of a forest.

“This is our base,” Kevin added rather unnecessarily, then when up to the wooden door and knocked three times. The door was quickly pulled open by an older and even taller boy, who nodded at Kevin, glanced at Tim, then shifted out of the way. Tim followed Kevin through to the inner area.

Although the outside was rather impressive, the inside just seemed like a bunch of random logs stacked on top of each other. And very quickly, Tim could recognize who the ‘boss’ of this place was.

A little girl, probably not even six, was standing on top of the tallest log. When she saw him come into the fort, she put her hands on her hips and grinned over at him. “Hey! You are the new kid, right? Jeez, they didn’t lie, the moss spirits really love you. Want to have some fun with us today? We want to break into the Ghosthound’s birthday party.”

Then she hopped down off the log and walked toward Tim. She was almost a foot shorter than him. She offered him her hand with that sa wide grin on her face. “What’s your name? I’m Delilah.”