That last message seems awfully personal. System, are you there? It’s me, Dollar. Dollar stared at the messages.

There was no response.

“Bah, forget it. Status screen,” Dollar murmured, his eyes still watching out for any stray blue boxes.

So, I finally unlocked my core points. Excellent.

When Dollar’s mother had first talked to him about core points, she’d repeatedly stressed how important they were. So, he needed to make sure he knew exactly what his options were for their use.

“Status screen,” Dollar whispered.

Name: Dollar Tiberius.

Class: A Will Eternal

Bloodline: Locked.

Adventurer rank: Bronze.

Symbologist rank: Silver.

Affiliations: Members of the Adventurer’s Guild of Cresta. Member of the Symbologist Guild of Ioa.

Stats:

Level: 51

Mana: 0

Vitality: 98

Intelligence: 42

Wisdom: 44

Stamina: 155

Dexterity: 183

Available stats to assign: 50.

Available core points to assign: 2.

Skill list:

General:

Language - Symbols (Epic): Level 1 (Max).

A Will Eternal (Legendary): Rank 1, level 3.

Symbology:

Symbol Crafting (Uncommon): Rank 1, level 18.

Symbol Memorization (Uncommon): Rank 1, level 50.

Symbol Library (Uncommon): Rank 1, level 50.

Symbol Variation (Rare): Rank 1, level 9.

Symbol Obscurity (Rare): Rank 1, level 50.

Symbol Divination (Rare): Rank 1, level 5.

Symbol Communication (Rare): Rank 1, level 8.

Symbol Array Deconstruction (Epic): Rank 1, level 8.

Symbol Negation (self) (Epic): Rank 1, level 7.

Defy Death - Symbols (Epic): Rank 1, level 2.

Transcriber of Reality (Epic): Rank 1, level 6.

Ength’s Touch (Legendary): Rank 1, level 3.

I can upgrade [Symbol Memorization], [Symbol Library], and [Symbol Obscurity]. Dollar eyed his skill list with interest. But with enough practice, I’m sure I can bring [Symbol Array Deconstruction] and [Symbol Crafting] up to rank 1 level 50. Maybe even [Transcriber of Reality].

Dollar didn’t hold any hope that [Ength’s Touch] or [A Will Eternal] would reach rank 1 level 50 before he hit level 100 and received his next two core points. They were simply too slow compared to everything else, even when he used [Ength’s Touch] on almost all of his symbols and created artifacts.

However, his epic-ranked skills were his most valuable, and he would be patient if it meant he could gain a tremendous boost in power. Soon, he planned to examine as many artifacts as he could, meaning [Symbol Array Deconstruction]’s level would skyrocket. Combined with [Symbol Crafting], he planned to increase his production of artifacts and symbols several-fold.

If Mitsy was right about [Transcriber of Reality]’s synergy with artifact creation and that [skill] reached level 50 quickly, then Dollar intended to rank it up no matter what. After all, it was his most versatile ability, and upgrading it would only provide more benefits, even if he wasn’t sure about what they would be.

He was willing to take that risk.

Below him, the auction had already moved on to the magical items section, and Gravila unveiled the latest item, a single golden flower glowing with radiant yellow light. A closer look showed that it wasn’t the whole flower that was glowing. Only its petals.

“Our next magical item is a magnificent gem gathered from Mount Halcyon itself, Greil Petals,” Gravila said, her words snatching Dollar’s attention. His head snapped up, and a flutter of nerves crossed over him as he spotted the flower.

It was one of the items that he needed to cure dragonsleep.

Gravila tapped the flower gently, and it preened under her touch. “Greil Petals are an invaluable resource only found in the depths of Mount Halcyon. One of its valued treasures, brimming with naturally occurring life-affinity mana. It is perfect for potions and spells. It can also increase a person’s chances of unlocking their bloodline. For those who wish for vitality and youth, brewing a tea from the petals can help with muscle soreness, and increase the longevity of your life. Truly a rare find, and a must-buy. We will start the bidding at four gold.”

“Bloodlines?” Dollar murmured.

The mention of the petal’s effect had caught his attention instantly, but despite Gravila’s motivating words and the astounding effects of the petals, most people weren’t interested.

Alchemists brewed potions with them, but they were rare in the southern continent, and held a rivalry with symbologists, so they wouldn’t live in a city run by a symbologist household. Magicians were also rare, especially those with a life affinity. And most people who could afford to drink the petals as tea bought their own.

Dollar pressed the bidding button without hesitation.

“Booth 6 is bidding four gold,” Gravila said.

That’s not us. Dollar’s eyes narrowed.

“Someone got to it before us,” Mitsy growled. “What do we do? Pay everything we have?”

Dollar shook his head and pressed the bidding button, raising the bid by three silver coins.

“There’s an iron-clad rule in negotiations. Never stop putting the pressure on whoever’s on the other end. We want to make them sweat one coin at a time.”

Mitsy glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. “I suppose your mother taught you that, too.”

“She’s a multi-talented woman,” Dollar maneuvered deftly around the question.

In the blink of an eye, three silvers quickly became five. Then eight. Then nine.

Dollar narrowed his eyes as their rival bidder paused. For a moment, he thought he and Mitsy had won.

“Booth six has raised the bid to five gold,” Gravila declared. “An enormous increase. Can anyone beat it?”

We’re the only two booths bidding. Dollar frowned. How far is this person willing to go?

He didn’t like the sudden increase. Rather than a desperation bid, it felt like his opponent was showing their willingness to take the bidding war to the next level.

“Mitsy, I might need to use your half of the artifact earnings,” Dollar said. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Take them down,” Mitsy replied without hesitation.

Dollar pressed the bidding button several times in a row.

“Booth three has bid ten gold coins,” Gravila announced. “Another incredible increase. But wait, booth six has matched their bid increase. The number to beat is now fifteen gold coins.”

They’re going all out. Dollar smiled. The least I can do is the same.

Despite the loss of coins, a sliver of amusement and anticipation found its way into Dollar’s heart. He leaned forward, tilting ever so slightly as he scrutinized his options and resources. It had been a while since he’d engaged in a battle of wealth. Creating reality-defying artifacts and engaging in epic battles had their place, but they weren’t the only way to enjoy life.

Crushing an opponent’s money held its own delights.

“Two gold,” Dollar said, his words directed at Mitsy. “If they increase it by four gold, which they will, then we go to six, then two again.”

Mitsy raised an eyebrow, doubt crossing her features.

A moment later, surprise replaced her doubt as Dollar’s prediction came true.

“How did you do that?” She asked.

Dollar shook his head and focused on the rival bidder’s booth. With each new bid, he made more predictions, with each one coming true. After his third prediction came true, Mitsy started looking at him like he’d grown a third eye, but then, suddenly, there was a change.

“Booth six has raised the bid by seven gold. Raising the total to forty gold coins,” Gravila’s eyes flashed with joy as her voice boomed across the amphitheater. “Making this the second largest sale of the night.”

“You said they’d raise it by five. Your prediction was wrong,” Mitsy said. “Is that bad?”

Dollar’s lips curled into a smile. “No. We’ve won.”

The moment the words left his lips there was a shift in his vision, and he glanced toward booth 6, where his rival bidder was located. Its tinted windows had turned clear.

A young man stared at Dollar and Mitsy’s booth, his eyes smoldering. Draped in a green and silver robe, he had a bronze-ranked symbologist badge clasped onto his chest, and by his side were three attendants, each wearing identical uniforms with swords strapped to their sides.

They were all Accensi. And each one wore a single pin on their chest.

It was the emblem of House Tiberius.

“Dollar,” Mitsy hesitated.

“I know,” he replied.

Dollar pressed the bidding button, and Gravila blinked in surprise.

“Booth 3 has raised the bid to forty gold coins and one silver,” her tone was half statement, half question. “Can anyone beat this new bid? Going once…going twice…Sold to the occupants in booth 3!”

Dollar ignored the response of the crowd and guild employees, focusing only on the members of House Tiberius. The young man was undoubtedly a relative, though not one he recognized. A distant cousin from a branch family was likely. Either way, the features of House Tiberius shone through with perfect clarity.

He saw a single, hate-filled gaze that threatened to pierce through the booth.

Then, they were gone.

****

“Nobody followed us.” Mitsy glanced over her shoulder cautiously.

“Great,” Dollar said. “We’re here.”

The duo stopped in front of a multi-floor building teeming with people of all sorts. They hadn’t left the inner ring yet, and the sign on the front of the building read, [All-Purpose Fabrics and Clothes].

Mitsy strained her neck, looking up at the top floor. The building was seven floors high, but she didn’t look impressed.

“Why did you want to come here?” She asked. There was a slight bite to her tone caused by the wariness of possibly being pursued and her concern for Bill.

“Because if we’ve angered House Tiberius, then this might be the only chance to move around without being accosted.” Dollar examined the building’s interior and nodded in satisfaction. “And Master Grisham tasked us with buying casing materials for future artifacts.”

Dollar saw Mitsy’s lips curling into a grin. The mention of her father’s growing reputation was enough to bring her to the verge of laughing. He was keeping up the ruse in public because there were hearing [skills] that might be targeting him. They’d made quite an impression by selling Magician’s Bane at the auction, and several curious people had approached him, including the adventuring party that had bid for his artifact.

The guild’s guards had pushed the onlookers back with a sharp gaze. Gravila and Gherm were true to their word, ensuring that Dollar was unbothered when he left the guild.

But now we’re on our own. Dollar mused. Maybe if I joined the guild, I’d have a little more protection.

“What exactly do we need?” Mitsy asked.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Dollar narrowed his eyes. “I was wondering if you could help me with that. You know what Master Grisham can do, and you know his tastes and challenges. Why don’t you decide?”

“Inviting me to go shopping? You have no idea what you’ve done.” Mitsy’s eyes gleamed.

Dollar’s heart sank, but before he could react, Mitsy blasted through the entrance and the aisles within the store. With a skip and a hop, she dragged him through the aisles and withdrew articles of clothing with practiced ease long before he saw them, and before he could check what they were, she was off to the next batch.

“Nothing too expensive!” He shouted, barely getting the words out before his body was once again pulled further into the store.

“No guarantees,” Mitsy replied.

Half an hour later, Dollar walked out of the store accompanied by a humming Mitsy. He’d instructed her along the way on what would or wouldn’t work for artifacts, according to his research, but other than that she’d taken total control of the situation, blasting through the crowds with a speed that left bystanders dazed.

“Two sets of steel-capped boots, two pairs of crood-silk gloves, crood-silk socks, and several steel hairpins,” Dollar put the clothes away into his inventory. “And then there’s these.”

He raised two undershirts, both plain white, up into the air.

“Unknown fabric,” Mitsy examined them. “That usually means they’re imported from the northern continent. They have weird laws about information. Are you sure they’ll be fine?”

“For my purposes, yes, but don’t expect anything fancy,” Dollar said. “The gloves and boots can hold two arrays. The shirts and socks can hold a single one. If we’re lucky.”

“I asked, and there’s better stuff out there, but I couldn’t find them,” Mitsy said. “Not in a general store. And not with our budget.”

Dollar pursed his lips. He knew that eventually, the material costs would grow. That was inevitable. He just didn’t want it to happen so soon. All the money they’d earned was quickly disappearing before their eyes.

He knew it would be worth it in the end.

If it works, I think I owe her a pay raise. Dollar glanced at the chirpy girl. I’ll need to outfit her as well. Maybe even more so than myself.

Dollar’s arms trembled, his excitement growing with each step they took toward the port. He wanted to test Mitsy’s theory about his [Transcriber of Reality] skill immediately, and now that he had the materials to do so, he could barely hold himself down.

“Now then, let’s get to Bill.” Dollar said. “I want to see the look on his face when I shower gold coins onto the bed.”

“I doubt he’ll even know what it means,” Mitsy giggled.

Reaching the port was a simple matter. Thankfully, nobody tried to stop them. Dollar had seen a couple of people giving his mask a curious glance, and a few more nodded at him knowingly, but their reputation had spread widely enough that nobody dared approach easily.

The legend of Master Grisham was spreading far and wide.

Soon, Dollar clambered over the wet rocks of Port Gershwain, looking into the murky waters below as he draped his necklace of water breathing around his neck. A faint light emanated from the flower they’d purchased, which Mitsy held in her hand. Even though they were about to enter the lake, she didn’t let go of the flower or put it away.

They couldn’t place the Greil Petals inside storage artifacts.

“And we can’t do anything about that?” Dollar asked.

Mitsy shook her head, “I can’t say that I know all the rules, but if something has too much vitality or mana, then the storage artifact resists it. That’s why you can’t just put people in there in battle or for transport.”

“Then I’ll hold them,” Dollar sighed. “Hopefully there’s no trouble, but if something happens, then I want you to have your hands free. If anything happens, I’ve painted new symbols into my notebook, and they’re waterproof.”

Waterproof paint was a purchase they’d made at the same store as the clothes.

It’ll help a lot in the coming days. Dollar smiled.

“I’ll let you go the moment anything appears.” Mitsy nodded. “Remember, protect yourself first. The flower is strengthened by the magic inside it. It can handle getting a little wet. Or even a few direct blows.”

“No problem,” Dollar confirmed.

Mitsy handed him the flower, and he clasped it tight with an iron grip.

Two splashes later, they’d entered the water.

Mitsy wrapped her arm around Dollar, pushing off against the wall of the lake and moving as quickly as possible. Tension rose as they dove deeper, their eyes glued to their surroundings. Their journey was quick, but as they dove deeper, a change came over the lake.

The fish had disappeared, and the water had grown unnaturally cold. Dollar looked down and saw what he’d feared.

A gigantic shadow was wrapping around his own.

Mitsy’s arm tightened around him, and she kicked off against the wall again, speeding up and moving closer to the lake’s bed. The shadow followed her, lagging slightly, but always keeping them within its edges. She unfurled her arm, allowing Dollar freedom to move.

They swam through the lakeside by side, and a few minutes later, he felt the call of the mystery symbol that enveloped the lake.

We’re near the dome now. Dollar thought.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, the flow of the current shifted, and the water rippled around him. Their pursuer was making its move.

Dollar’s eyes widened. He was too slow to dodge the attack.

But Mitsy wasn’t.

With a swift turn, she switched her trajectory in an instant, her feet pushing against the lake’s rocky wall and her hands slamming into Dollar’s ribs. The rocks underneath her cracked and shattered under the force of her push, and Dollar flew through the water.

Their pursuer crashed into the space he’d occupied a moment ago, sharp vibrations scraping his skin as his assailant hit the bed of the lake.

Only, he couldn’t see what it was.

Their pursuer’s shadow unfurled, long and thin, strange ribbons billowing across the water, but the creature itself was invisible to his eyes. All that denoted its presence was a ripple in the water, a slight shimmer that suggested something was disturbing the current.

Dollar snapped his fingers and the notebook of the Unseeing appeared in his hand. His symbols called to him from within, and he reached out to them with his mind.

“[Transcriber of Reality].” Dollar activated his [skill] immediately.

A darkness symbol bloomed into existence as he activated it, the shadows crawling across the wall of the lake, gripping onto its rocks and crags.

Dollar had intended it to hit his pursuer, revealing its form.

I missed it? Dollar’s eyes narrowed. No. Crap. [Transcriber of Reality] doesn’t work that way.

Transcriber of Reality: Focus and your symbols will shift in and out of reality, moving them from their current position to any location within your eyesight.

He had to see the creature to put a symbol on it.

Invisibility was the natural counter to his [skill].

The shadow unfurled before his sight, transforming into an orb with hundreds of ribbon-like tendrils expanding from its sides. An army of shadows spread across the water and shot toward him.

“Dollar!” Mitsy’s roar reverberated across the water.

Dollar saw her thrust herself toward him, but in the water, every move she made was difficult and awkward.

The monster reached him first.

A haste symbol blazed to life across Dollar’s chest as the shadow drew near, and he focused his attention on it.

“[Activate]”

With a burst of boosted speed, Dollar swam to the side, the water shifting as an invisible limb passed by his cheek.

It wasn’t enough.

Something slammed into his side and Dollar rocketed into the lakebed, slamming against the rocks and crying out as pain ripped at his side. His attacker's touch spread a chill over his skin, piercing and deep, and it felt as if he were being frozen alive. He placed his hand atop the injury by instinct, and the Greil Petals brushed against his skin. Instantly, the cold lessened, but the pain stayed the same.

The water rippled with shadows as hundreds of limbs moved in unison, each striking to kill.

“Get away from him!”

Waves of force swept over Dollar as Mitsy barreled into the monster, her fist slamming against its invisible body. A shrill scream blasted Dollar’s ears, unfettered by water, as the shadow spiraled across the lake, disappearing into the abyss.

Mitsy dropped next to him, wincing and shaking her hand.

I’ve seen that hand break solid stone without flinching. Dollar thought.

“Are you okay?” Mitsy mouthed the question.

Pain wracked his side. The ice-cold of the attacker’s touch was developing into a burning sensation like he had dipped his left side in dry ice. His ribs creaked, not broken, but definitely injured, and each shift of his left side was agony. Moving was only possible because he was in the water.

He was barely keeping hold of his notebook, clutching the pages tight in his left hand despite the pain. In his other hand, he held the Greil Petals, their shine lessening the chill around him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Dollar lied.

[Transcriber of Reality] Dollar focused on Mitsy.

Three symbols appeared, a protection symbol on her stomach and two haste symbols on her back. Dollar deactivated [Symbol Obscurity], allowing her to see them, and Mitsy’s expression shifted as she glanced down.

“[Activate]”

A transparent film of armor spread out across Mitsy’s body at his command, and her arms blurred as she tested her newfound speed by punching. The haste symbol was compounding her strength, the water churning at her touch.

If he couldn’t cast his symbols on the monster, he would find other ways to use them.

Dollar was a sculptor.

Mitsy was going to be his masterpiece.

A transparent shield appeared around Dollar’s body as he transferred and activated a protection symbol on himself.

I need to work on making this an automatic response. Dollar thought. This lack of battle experience might get me killed one day.

Dollar moved the Greil Petals into his notebook, shutting the pages tight over the flower and hoping the petals were durable enough to handle it. With his notebook clutched tight in his left hand, Dollar raised his right hand and Agni appeared, the dagger’s blade glowing bright red in the light of Mitsy’s armbands. With a thought, he could activate its flames, but he held back. The monster didn’t know about that piece of his arsenal, and a plan was already forming in his mind.

All he needed was a chance to get close enough to the monster to stab it.

A shrill wail broke through his thoughts and Dollar snapped to attention, turning toward the source of the sound. Mitsy cracked her knuckles, each snap vibrating the water around her.

Dollar and Mitsy looked at each other, their lips curling into smiles.

“Time for round two.”

Water swirled around Dollar as he stepped behind Mity, striking his left side like knives where the attacker had touched him. He watched out for it, his eyes only piercing a few feet of water at a time. His necklace of water breathing rested against his chest, ignoring the current that tried to tug it free.

A shimmer of transparent armor clung to Dollar and Mitsy, and he gripped Agni tight in his right hand, the dagger’s edge gleaming.

I have a dozen darkness symbols, a couple of protection symbols, and one last haste symbol. Dollar counted the symbols left in his notebook. A fire one too, if I need it. Yeah. I think I can work with this. My plan might shock Mitsy, though.

Mitsy stiffened in front of him, her posture shifting as she leaned forward, and her eyes narrowed. She dismissed all mirth and alarm from her heart, and in their place was cold certainty, and a glimmer of thrill as she prepared for the hunt.

“It’s here,” she said. Dollar had made sure he’d positioned himself properly to read her lips.

Alongside her warning came a dozen undulations of water, created by the limbs of an invisible being. They were long and flexible and tough as hell, but now that Dollar knew what he was looking for, the disturbances they caused were easier to spot.

Each struck out toward the duo with the speed of a freight train.

The lakebed cracked as Mitsy kicked off it, her armbands glowing dark red. Her form blurred as she propelled through the water, her haste symbol speeding up her movements beyond their norm.

Mitsy and the attacker clashed with an audible boom as her fist met flesh.

The surroundings trembled at the force of the clash, but this time, the creature didn’t budge. Instead, a dozen shadows spread across the ground, revealing a dozen limbs heading straight toward Dollar.

[Transcriber of Reality]. Dollar focused on the ground. [Activate].

Tendrils of darkness burst forth from the lakebed as half a dozen darkness symbols activated. Each one strangled the incoming limbs, causing them to hesitate and falter. The darkness revealed dozens of ribbon-like tentacles, unnaturally smooth, billowing in unison, each as flexible as a string and as tough as steel.

The creature’s hesitation only lasted a moment, but it was too late. The symbols had given Dollar a glimpse of his attacker, brief as it was.

And Mitsy had seen it, too.

A walloping fist smashed against the creature, sending it flying up through the water. The invisible blasted into the wall of the lake, destroying stone and coral alike as its limbs flailed in distress.

She hit it out of the darkness symbols. Dollar frowned. I can’t use [Transcriber of Reality] on it.

Mounds of debris scattered across the lake as the creature tore through the surroundings, fragments of rock and displaced dust and sand clouding the water.

Dollar peered intently into the clouded depths, trying to find his enemy.

Something slammed into his chest, sending him flying back.

Dollar’s protection symbol flared at the strike and then shattered, and his heart raced as he checked himself for damage. The sheet of armor around his skin hadn’t held firm, destroyed by the simple touch.

This thing was going easy on me last time. Dollar winced. A lone symbol isn’t enough to resist its attacks.

Dollar immediately activated another protection symbol, a new film of armor growing across his body, but a ripple of water seized his attention, and Dollar raised his dagger toward it.

“[Activate],” Dollar said.

Light blossomed into existence as flames billowed out of Agni’s blade, enclosing the dagger in a flower of white fire, and a screech of pain struck his ears as Agni’s flames burnt the limb.

With a shift of Dollar’s hand, the dagger stabbed into the appendage, but it refused to stop its advance. Razor-sharp needles drilled into his wrist, sending a spray of blood and digging deep into his arm.

It had pierced through the protection symbol’s armor, and this time it didn’t stop there.

The monster continued to strike, not letting go as Dollar’s armor shattered.

Purple liquid sprayed out into the water as Agni cut further into the monster’s flesh. The mix of pain and gore caused Dollar to balk, but he refused to back down, staying put and watching the globules of blood spread through the water until they reached the creature’s main body. They didn’t cover it all. There simply wasn’t enough blood, but the liquid gave him a glimpse of the being.

Got you. Dollar smiled. [Transcriber of Reality].

A fire symbol appeared on the creature’s body, bursting to life as he activated it, and then instantly disappearing as the flames destroyed the paint.

[Defy Death].

A horrifying scream filled the lake as an eternal flame surged from the remains of his symbol, spreading across the being quicker than wildfire. Dollar’s [Symbol Negation] activated immediately, but his enemy wasn’t so lucky.

The flames revealed hundreds of billowing tentacles, each scattered across an area wider than Dollar had imagined. In the middle of them all was a floating orb, a pulsating mound of smooth flesh that quivered under the light and pain of the flames. It had no eyes or visible organs, but as it burned, Dollar could tell its attention was no longer on him.

With his enemy distracted, Dollar cut off the tip of the limb that gripped him, sending a spray of purple blood into the water.

Pain shot through him as its needles detached from his wrist, each floating off into the depths.

This thing isn’t burning as quickly as I’d hoped. Dollar thought.

Mitsy dispelled his worried by catapulting into the orb from the side, the armor of her protection symbol guarding her from the flames. She latched onto the orb with her legs, using the monster’s own body as a footing to launch her attack.

One punch hit, slamming it into the lake wall. Then another. Then a dozen.

Each strike smashed the creature further into the wall, its flesh ripping and tearing. The being screeched as the flames instantly cauterized its wounds. Smoke and burnt flesh rose groggily through the water.

A hundred tendrils lashed out at Mitsy from all sides, razor-thin needles emerging from their burnt tips, but as the attacks drew near, she gripped the orb’s sides, lifting her legs and kicking down. The creature’s own body acted as a springboard, and she leaped away, aided by the force of her kick.

Dollar could see that she wouldn’t be fast enough to escape the tendrils reaching out for her.

“[Activate].”

Mitsy’s movements blurred as Dollar’s last haste symbol appeared on her skin, allowing her to speed through the water and dodge the needles by the skin of her teeth.

“Go, go, go!” Mitsy shouted at him. “We can’t beat it.”

An arm shot out toward Dollar, scooping him up. His left side screamed in protest, and he stored Agni as his right wrist flopped limply in the water. Pushing aside the pain that tried to steal his attention, Dollar forced himself to gaze at the creature, its orb-like body billowing with anger and pain. It was like nothing he’d ever seen before, and he had no frame of reference for it.

Within seconds, the being had detached itself from the wall, a mass of flame and flesh floating in the ocean, expanding dangerously.

It’ll survive. And maybe even remember us. Dollar thought. Wait. Why can I see it so clearly?

Dollar’s thoughts broke off as he felt his head touch an elastic and spongy surface. A single look sent a wave of relief flooding through him as he saw the dome.

He hadn’t noticed when they’d entered its area of magic, but he could now see the surroundings without issue.

Even the creature.

The flames died down as [Defy Death] wore out, and Dollar caught his first true glimpse of the creature that had attacked them. Its skin was translucent, with a slight ceramic tint to it, and as its tendrils draped away, it floated closer to the dome. Then it paused at the line where his grandmother’s magic took hold.

The creature couldn’t enter Levia’s domain.

With a twist of its body, the creature turned away, its limbs trailing behind it like ribbons, with many burnt into husks. No hint of emotion or thought was discernible from its alien features, but Dollar breathed a sigh of relief.

They’d successfully escaped from the jaws of death.

****

I almost died. Dollar was more exhausted than scared. Should I make a list of how often that’s happened since I reincarnated?

He had a feeling that if he did, it would only cause despair.

Dollar and Mitsy sat on the edge of Bill’s bed. The girl was humming a tune, her eyes twinkling and her lips curling upward into a predatory smile as she skillfully unrolled a spool of bandages. He’d covered his ribs and arm in a light green ointment, two small bottles of the balm provided by Mitsy for him to slather over his wounds. It had the consistency of sauce and smelled like a forest, but he hadn’t hesitated to put it on his injuries.

His pain disappeared instantly, and he raised his right hand to examine it as his body flooded with relief. His side had grown red from frostbite, and his wrist was in the same state. Even through the numbing effect of the balm, he could still feel the chill of the creature’s touch.

“I don’t have many of these left,” Mitsy grumbled. “Are you okay?”

“Maybe. Why am I so cold?” Dollar asked.

“I think the monster had some kind of freezing touch. Most creatures have a paralyzing attack for catching prey. It’s a pretty standard evolutionary path for monster [classes].”

Of course they do. Dollar held back a groan.

“We got a pretty clear glimpse of its body. Do you know what kind of monster it is?” Dollar asked.

She glanced to the side. “No.”

Dollar frowned, but didn’t pursue the question. He could see that Mitsy hadn’t come out unscathed. His companion’s hands were deep red and dry, almost scaley, from hitting the creature and her side and her upper back were both covered in bandages and ointment. The creature had struck her when she’d gotten into close combat with it.

As the final bandage looped around her hands, she clapped them together. “Alright, that’s done. So, let’s get to the important stuff.”

Dollar nodded. It hadn’t escaped his attention that the monster had only gone for him the entire time, and he had more questions, but now his attention was required elsewhere.

It was time to focus on the giant flaming unicorn pig in the bedroom.

Light spooled into the bedroom as Dollar opened up his notebook, revealing the Greil Petals. They were a little wet but otherwise unharmed, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He took the flower out and gestured at Mitsy to open Bill’s mouth.

“We’ve got to put it on his tongue,” Dollar said. He’d read the fisherman’s guild manual back to front.

He put the entire flower inside Bill’s mouth, and as the minutes passed, he saw each petal melting into golden liquid and flowing into the uni-pig’s stomach. Bill’s body held a faint silver flow, and the grec’s every breath grew deeper.

How long will this take to work-

A new sound interrupted his thoughts, its dulcet tones disrupting the silence of Lake Tiber.

It was an oink.