The necklace of water breathing shivered as Dollar Tiberius gazed at it with hungry eyes. Two dozen days had come and gone with the currents of the lake and yet he hadn’t budged from his position. Unlike the gravity band, the necklace of water breathing was veiled and protected by its materials, but as time passed, he’d been able to see beyond the veil with his gaze, the layers of security peeling back under the use of his [Symbol Array Deconstruction] ability. To accomplish this, he slept only when necessary, and when he wanted to practice, he used his fingers to draw the symbol lines in the sand.

A sweep of his hand cleared the area in front of him, erasing the symbols he’d drawn. All of them were failures, but he didn’t have time to focus on them now.

Shudder.

A single tremble was all he felt when the necklace’s veil finally gave way, revealing a single portion of the array and a symbol pulsating underneath it, repeated several times within the materials.

‘Breathing, respire, inhale, exhale, survival, gasp, persistence.’

It was a symbol of breathing.

“Got you,” Dollar grinned.

He’d suspected from the beginning that the necklace was either a gathering of different symbols or a single symbol that allowed for breathing in water. Now that he could see past the artifact’s veil, he could see that he was partly right. The breathing symbol was at the core of the array, and there was another symbol with it.

The second symbol was a water symbol, one that he already knew.

I’ve got too few materials to use. Dollar glanced into his storage ring. But now I can finally start creating artifacts that matter.

A hefty exhale accompanied his celebrations. Bill the grec watched from the side, his stomach planted on the sand and his horn gleaming in the light of the aura barrier above them. Dollar chuckled as he reached out and ran his hands through Bill’s fur.

The grec tilted his head, eyeing the necklace with interest. There was a hint of hunger in his eyes, and Dollar hurriedly moved the artifact out of the way of Bill’s teeth.

“I know you have those golden patches leftover from the Greil Petals, but don’t eat these. We don’t know if you’ll get knocked out again,” Dollar said. “Though I’m reasonably sure you won’t.”

Dollar glanced at the grec and activated [Aura Sense]. The first thing he always saw was his hands, his skin covered by the silvery-gold hands of his aura body. When he focused on Bill, Several patches of golden light appeared. All but two were occupied by symbols, and those two looked like they could hold two lower-ranked symbols within them.

It wouldn’t be so bad to feed him one…Right? Dollar thought.

“Oink?” Bill asked.

“Yeah, I got through the veil,” Dollar nodded, and then puffed up with pride. “Just like I said it’d be, it’s a breathing symbol.”

Am I bragging to a pig? Dollar blinked in surprise.

“Oink,” Bill nodded. Then he dug his snout into the sand and breathed a chunk of the material in, coughing and squealing in surprise.

A chuckle escaped Dollar’s lips as he watched at the grec’s frantic choking. “Are you dumb?”

Bill raised his head from the sand and shook it in indignation. His green horn jabbed into the material again, and the uni-pig heaved. It looked like Bill was having trouble breathing, but then a moment later the grec returned to normal, placing his wobbly chin gently on the sand and staring at Dollar.

The reasons behind his companion’s antics hit Dollar.

“OH!” Dollar shot up. “You’re asking if the breathing symbol would let you breathe in any environment.” Then he paused, and chuckled to himself. “What am I thinking? You probably just wanted to eat sand. But that is an interesting thought. I’m glad I had it.”

Bill shot him a disapproving glare, but Dollar didn’t notice. He was already lost in his thoughts.

If I pair different symbols with the breathing symbol, will it allow me to breathe safely in those environments? Dollar mused about adding the fire symbol to make a necklace of fire breathing, but if he was stuck in flames then breathing would be the least of his problems.

Still, it would be fun to test.

And if it really did work like that for Bill, then Bill would already be able to breathe in most environments thanks to the symbols he’d got on him.

“You know, just by having the breathing symbol on your body you might be able to bypass the requirements of having another symbol accompany it,” Dollar told Bill.

The grec’s stare bore into him, and Dollar raised the necklace. He had been giving the symbols on Bill’s back a lot of thought in his spare time.

“I’m not sure how your body works. It’s just impossible for me to say. It could be a bloodline, or it could be something else,” Dollar said. “But what I do know is that the symbols aren’t just written on your skin. They’re a part of your aura. Basically, I think you’re like a living artifact.”

Bill’s horn rose into the air as he posed valiantly, preening at the praise. “Oink.”

“Yes, yes, you’re awesome,” Dollar shook his head. “I don’t know how that works, though. Artifacts are meant to work in tandem with the symbols inside them, but you activate them all individually. Wait, what if we made you eat connection symbols? Would your symbols all become symbol arrays? Huh.”

“Oink…Oink,” Bill titled his snout, interest entering his gleaming opal eyes.

“Well, I doubt you have enough aura for that.” Dollar waved his hand dismissively. “We’ll think about it later. For now, I only see enough aura for you to take on two more symbols. Maybe. That could be a lie, since I didn’t have [Aura Sense] when you entered dragonsleep. For all I know you had even more aura in your body before that.”

Actually, given his size, Bill has more golden aura in his body right now than I do. Dollar glanced down at himself, viewing his aura through his mind’s eye. His old body from Earth was a sight for sore eyes, and the pure silver aura had been shifting into a golden-silver color since his bloodline had replaced his vitality with life essence.

That wasn’t the only difference. Metaphysically, Dollar’s aura had changed, but physically, he felt stronger. Sturdier. The waters were warmer when he entered them, and when he took off the sustenance symbol from his stomach, it took him longer to tire out. He’d gotten healthier and stronger, and more importantly, he’d seen the Progenitor use her aura to fight, restrain, and conjure illusions.

One day, will I be able to do similar things? Dollar wondered. I guess I’ll have to look into that too.

“Either way, we’re going to make you a water breathing artifact right now,” Dollar said.

The grec squealed happily, then went back to his favorite pastime of rolling around in the sand. He sent it spraying all over Dollar’s hair, but the symbologist shook his head and ignored the wannabe sand elemental.

“This doesn’t look too hard,” Dollar narrowed his eyes. “Actually, it’s extremely easy.”

Dollar drew several symbols in the sand, dividing them into four groups.

1. Darkness. Water. Fire.

2. Wood. Protection.

3. Haste. Sustenance(?). Breathing.

4. Sound.

“Oink?” Bill paused.

“Are you confused about the groupings?” Dollar smiled. “I’ve noticed a trend in the symbols I’ve been learning. When I first met you, you had three new symbols for me to learn. Fire, protection, and haste. Fire was the easiest one, and protection was second. Haste was right out there. Difficult, and stubborn. I think that’s because I had more experience in using similar symbols. Some, like darkness, fire, and water, all have a common feel to them, as though they’re related. Others, such as protection and wood, also share properties.”

“For now, I’m calling the first group elemental symbols, and naming the second group defensive symbols,” Dollar pointed them out to Bill. “If I can capture the feeling of memorizing and using them, I’m hoping that’ll help me learn other symbols quickly in the future.”

The grec rose and trotted up to the symbols, examining them with curiosity in his eyes. He tapped the haste and breathing symbols, and Dollar frowned. The breathing symbol was in a separate category with his haste symbol.

“I’m not sure how to categorize these symbols,” Dollar admitted. “But I feel connected to them in a way I don’t with the others. The concept of breathing comes naturally to us from birth, and so does the concept of moving faster. I guess I’d call them body symbols. Since they affect our physical movements and abilities. Sustenance I just took a guess at, and sound is also a mystery,” Dollar hummed. “That’s a concept that affects reality, but it's not muting our bodies, it's muting reality. Ugh, I’m getting a headache.”

Bill nodded sagely. “Oink.”

“So, I need to focus on breathing and try to recall how I felt when I memorized haste and sustenance,” Dollar said.

Bill sat back, growing quiet as he took in Dollar’s words.

Good. Dollar thought. That’ll make all of this way easier.

Taking advantage of the silence, Dollar cleared the sand and laid the necklace of water breathing out in front of him. He took a deep breath, and began drawing the breathing symbol within the necklace with a practiced hand.

The instant he tried to bring the symbol into reality he felt it pushing against his mind, unwilling to be given shape or take form.

“Sorry, little symbol, but I’ve copied far stronger.”

Dollar closed his eyes and drew in the memory of his father’s symbol lessons. The first secret was knowing the symbols and their concepts. This obstacle was harder to surpass than it sounded, and it eliminated most people immediately, but his [Language - Symbols] ability eliminated that obstacle.

Which brought him to the second secret of symbol mastery: repetition.

The mother of learning was a familiar ally, and for once, he had all the time in the world.

Days passed as he drew symbols in the sand.

Weeks soon followed.

****

Time flashed before Dollar’s eyes as he drew his symbols, but he paid it no heed. He only had eyes for the prize in front of him.

Dollar drew symbols in the light of day, and the cover of night.

He drew symbols until Bill bit him and dragged him to bed.

He drew symbols until Mitsy begged him to stop.

He drew symbols until the sand hit bedrock.

He drew symbols until his skin was raw.

It was on the third week that he drew a symbol in the sand and blinked in surprise as he felt a connection form. The symbol’s Joy and curiosity swept through his mind as his new symbol discovered its existence, and it shimmered faintly in the sand before him.

“I did it,” Dollar beamed. “I did it!”

Dollar looked down at his new symbol, and then at a series of notches that Bill had carved into a piece of wood that had been dragged beside him. Two weeks and one day had passed, which meant that in total, he’d been working on this symbol for slightly over a month. Most of that time was spent struggling against the veil as it tried to reassert itself over the necklace, but his gains had been all the more fruitful because of the fight the artifact had put up.

[Symbol Array Deconstruction has reached level 9.]

[Symbol Array Deconstruction has reached level 10.]

[Symbol Array Deconstruction has reached level 11.]

…

[Symbol Array Deconstruction has reached level 16.]

[Symbol Array Deconstruction has reached level 17.]

…

[Symbol Array Deconstruction has reached level 19.]

[Symbol Array Deconstruction has reached level 20.]

[Symbol Memorization has reached rank 2, level 2.]

[Symbol Memorization has reached rank 2, level 3.]

[Symbol Memorization has reached rank 2, level 4.]

[Symbol Memorization has reached rank 2, level 5.]

[Symbol Memorization efficiency: 1% -> 5%.]

“Excellent,” Dollar grinned.

[Symbol Array Deconstruction] was tough to level, but that was because it needed time to grow in power. His leveling over the course of an entire month was slow, but he could feel the impact of each level as it improved his ability to pierce the veil of the necklace.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

[Symbol Memorization] was equally handy, and leveled far quicker because it was an uncommon-rank [skill], not an epic-rank one like [Symbol Array Deconstruction]. Rank 2 of the [skill] was a qualitative difference, and with each level his speed of memorization increased drastically. Being 4% more efficient at memorizing symbols would save him weeks or months of time. And that boost would only increase further.

With glimmering eyes Dollar turned toward the other symbols in his purview and eyed them like a predator watching prey. Each of them trembled, from the gravity band to the glowing rock that held the light symbol. But Dollar had a different target in mind.

“Bill, come here,” Dollar said.

A pillar of sand exploded into the air as the grec raised his head curiously. The uni-pig had been kicking open a hole with his hooves, and with a shake of his fur he trotted toward Dollar, plopping down gracefully in front of him.

At the center of the animal’s back was the movement symbol, etched into the grec with jet-black fur.

“You’re going to be my muse from now on,” Dollar said.

Unlike the other symbols, the effects of the movement symbol had been testable instantly since Bill could use it at will. Its function was simple, but important.

The movement symbol helped people move smoothly.

A simple effect in theory, but powerful in practice. Dollar stared at it.

“Oink?” Bill asked.

The grec gently tapped his horn against the wristband with the gravity symbol.

Dollar held his hand up and the grec stopped. “Gravity is important, but the movement symbol should be in the same category as haste and breathing. I’m not sure if its mindset, or just familiarity, but if my theory about them being similar in nature is correct, then it should be easier for me to learn the movement symbol right after the breathing one.”

Bill tilted his head, glancing at the breathing symbol, and then nodded in agreement. When the uni-pig activated the symbol all of his activities became elegant, and graceful. The grec never lost balance in the sand, nor did he have any trouble gliding through the water like a fish. It was even possible for him to float upward if he wanted to. The only problem was the water breathing.

What’ll happen when I combine it with the gravity symbol? Dollar couldn’t help but wonder. Grandma said gravity is what my dad and uncle used to move through the depths, but I assume it was like an anchor. The gravity artifact kept them from floating up, but the movement symbol is superior in that regard since it lets us control our movements even when facing the resistance of the water. No, it doesn’t just provide control, it actively removes that resistance.

“Ahem,” a loud cough interrupted Dollar’s thoughts. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Dollar glanced up and saw Mitsy’s beaming smile as she held a small wristband and a sparkling green glossrock.

“Oh,” Dollar blinked in surprise. “You want me to make it now?”

Earlier on they had decided that a necklace of water breathing wouldn’t be suitable for Bill. Mostly because it wouldn’t fit around his neck. Instead, Mitsy had found a wristband in the house and repurposed it to fit perfectly around Bill’s leg.

With a flourish Dollar brought out the notebook of the Unseeing. Preparing his chalk, he drew symbols across the separate pages of the notebook, carefully noting any fluctuations and making sure the lines created by the chalk were deep enough to transfer the symbols onto the item, and not the chalk itself.

Dollar finished the symbols in less than a minute, seven in total when including the connection symbols for the artifact. When he was done, he blew the chalk off, leaving only the indents on the page.

“Oink?” Bill shifted, glancing at the wristband with curiosity.

“A wristband of water breathing requires two symbols, the water symbol, and the breathing symbol,” Dollar explained. “But while these fabrics are durable on land, they’ll fray and wreck in water. So I’ll be adding wood symbols to strengthen them.”

The grec nodded at his explanation, his green horn bouncing up and down, and Mitsy giggled to their side.

“Why can these materials hold more symbol arrays than the boots and gloves?” Mitsy asked.

“I don’t know if they can,” Dollar admitted. “I’m just hoping they will because the necklace did. The added wood array is a risk, but we need it there.”

Dollar glued his eyes onto the wristband. “[Activate].”

A blaze of power erupted in his mind’s eye, the call of the symbols spreading out before him. It happened in the blink of an eye, each greeting him as individuals, and then merging into one the next instant.

When he raised the wristband to his eyes, he could see the glossrock glimmering with a beautiful array in the center. It held all of his symbols in perfect harmony, each one merging to create a wristband of water breathing.

“It’s amazing no matter how many times I see it,” Mitsy whispered.

Dollar nodded. “If only you were a symbologist. The unity, and the harmony…It’s beautiful.”

He paused, wondering if he’d ever used that description for something before. Maybe once or twice, but no more than that. The word was accurate, however, and he couldn’t think of another to use in its place. In his mind the symbol arrays were more than objects or sources of power. They were a gathering of minds and concepts that superseded the physical, with celebrations rising as the symbols that only ever knew isolation met with counterparts, their loneliness dispelled and forgotten.

“I wasn’t in the right state of mind to feel it before,” Dollar sighed in contentment.

“My genius stunned you,” Mitsy said.

Dollar glanced at her, and gave her a subtle nod. “Thank you again, Mitsy.”

He saw her eyebrows rise in surprise, and then she nodded, lifting the wristband carefully and draping it over her left wrist.

“Testing time!” She shouted.

Her voice reverberated around the dome as she activated the artifact. With a swift and steady movement she plunged her head through the transparent wall, taking in a deep breath. Dollar and Bill watched with anticipation, preparing for any signs of thrashing or distress, but Mitsy’s head turned to them, revealing a beaming smile.

“Okay,” she plucked her head out of the wall. Mitsy took off the wristband as she returned, her hair sopping wet but the rest of her body dry. “That works perfectly.”

“As if there was any doubt,” Dollar smiled.

In truth, her testing had caused him to pause. There had been a slight chance that there were more symbols hidden within the necklace of water breathing, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case or Mitsy would have swallowed a lot of lake water all at once.

I don’t know if vitality protects us from disease, but I’d hate to find out that we can get sick while we’re trapped in here, Dollar thought.

“Here, Bill, we’re going to make you fashionable,” Mitsy ducked down next to the grec.

She tapped the grec’s side and Bill raised his hoof, allowing her to slip the wristband across his front right leg. It had to stretch a bit, but she managed to get it over his knee where it promptly became stuck.

“Good enough,” Mitsy wiped stray droplets off her forehead. “Want to give it a test drive?”

Bill squealed with joy and shot off toward the wall of the dome. The uni-pig didn’t bother with caution as he plunged into the lake waters, wading happily through the swarms of curious fish. Now that he could open his mouth without issue, Bill opened wide, chasing every fish he stumbled across. Each of them swam out of his grasp teasingly, slipping through his teeth when he opened his mouth to eat them.

When the fifteenth fish escaped the animal’s grasp, Dollar couldn’t bear to look anymore. The sea life was just toying with Bill now. They didn’t even see him as a threat.

“At least he’s not drowning,” Dollar said.

“Don’t count him out yet,” Mitsy said, her voice laced with certainty. “Watch.”

Dollar focused on the grec and soon saw Bill’s back glowing. Bill had activated his movement symbol. With the boost in dexterity and control provided by the symbol, it wasn’t long until the grec found an unfortunate victim.

Crunch.

“Heck yeah! Show them who’s boss!” Mitsy raised her arms in celebration.

Dollar turned away as Bill tore the poor fish asunder and blood spread out through the water. “Ugh.” He’d gone fishing before, but that experience didn’t compare to watching a fish explode from the inside out as teeth crunched down on it. Unfortunately, Bill was also a very messy eater.

Oh man, that’s what I might have looked like to him. A delicious morsel of food. Dollar shuddered. Bill was intelligent, and kind, but he was ruthless when he wanted to be. That was how all life was on Ioa.

“What are you thinking?” Mitsy asked.

“Now that we can finally move as a group,” Dollar’s lips curled up into a smile. “I need to find a way back to Tiber City. We have funds, and I have a few ideas for artifacts that can boost our power. Hopefully, we can find some materials to work with.”

He glanced up at the shimmering wall of divine aura that encompassed the lake. It had lost a little of its luster as the month passed, and he’d even seen several attempts to break through it being made. None had succeeded, and at the pace the aura was diminishing at, it would be another seven months until it expired.

It would be barely enough time for him to memorize all the symbols in his possession.

If I can’t memorize the gravity symbol in that time, then that’s a loss I’ll have to accept, Dollar thought.

“Can you do that?” Mitsy stared at him. “I tried to break through it and it's as tough as a diamond-rank monster’s hide. Probably more so.”

“I don’t know,” Dollar shrugged. “But I want to give it a try. First, however, I want to learn the movement symbol. I think that’s what’s going to keep your arm from dislocating every time you use the haste glove.” He glowered disapprovingly at Mitsy. “You shouldn’t be using that so much, by the way. It’s not going to get easier with practice.”

“Lies and slander,” Mitsy said.

Dollar sighed. “You’re shaking your arm more than your head these days.”

“Yeah, but you promised me boots and I never got them!” Mitsy countered. “It’s not my fault I got bored. Wait, no, we have more important things to worry about.”

Her voice grew serious, and she glanced below their feet.

“That symbol you told me about. The high-ranking one. We need artifacts that can help us look for it safely,” Mitsy said.

Dollar frowned. Right now Ength’s’ aura was overpowering it, and sending its call across the world, but Dollar could feel that once the aura retreated the secrets of the lake would reveal themselves.

If he wanted to be prepared for that time, he needed to create as many artifacts as he could. His eyes nestled onto Bill’s back as the grec waded through the water, terrorizing the fish within.

Alright, one more symbol for now, and then I’ll make my way to the top.

****

Another week and a half passed quickly, and finally, Dollar felt the call of a new symbol blaze into existence in the sand in front of him.

“Brilliant,” he grinned.

He had memorized the movement symbol in record time.

My Symbols:

Others: Connection Symbols (four).

Low ranked: Darkness, wood, sound, water, haste, protection, fire, breathing, and movement.

Mid ranked: Sustenance.

High-ranked: Reincarnation (In progress?).

He’d learnt the movement symbol in record time, and he suspected his category theory was the reason. The haste symbol, the breathing symbol, and the movement symbol all shared a familiar sensation. As he’d thought, they belonged to the same category of symbol, and learning movement directly after breathing had allowed him to speed up the process.

Does that mean they’ll work well when used together? I’ll need to do some testing. Dollar thought. Maybe…

“Hey Mitsy!” Dollar shouted.

Her voice drifted up from behind him. “I’m right here.”

“Gah,” Dollar almost jumped out of his skin.

Mitsy giggled, and he saw her eyes examining the movement symbol curiously. She couldn’t see it due to [Symbol Obscurity], but the process had interested her, and she’d hung around during her spare time. Most of the other moments of the day she was training.

“Is it time to make my boots?” Mitsy’s eyes gleamed.

“It’s time to make a pair of boots,” Dollar answered vaguely.

Before Mitsy could reply, he flourished and brought out two pairs of boots and the notebook of the Unseeing from his storage ring.

When the notebook appeared, Dollar paused.

Huh.

Normally, the orange eye in the center gazed out from behind two bars. Now, the orb was shut tight.

That’s strange, but it’s not a problem, so it can be left for another day. Dollar flipped the cover open, revealing the pages of symbols within.

With an expert hand he moved to an empty page and crafted the first of his symbols. Soon, he had completed his work and he gazed at it pensively. Then, he erased it and started again. And again. And again.

Ten iterations later, he was finally satisfied.

“[Transcriber of Reality].” Dollar clapped his hands together. “[Activate].”

The symbols disappeared from the notebook and re-appeared on the boots, and Dollar sucked in a breath as he waited for the materials to accept the symbols. Part of the boot glowed dangerously bright as the symbol arrays formed, but then they settled, and Dollar celebrated by pumping his arm into the air.

“That makes four successes,” Dollar crowed.

Two pairs of boots, and two pairs of gloves now lay in his inventory, making four artifacts in total. He’d written out their specs, but without testing them, the specifics were a mystery.

Gloves of Haste (passive): These thin gloves permanently speed the wearer’s hand and arm movements up by ??%. They are also equipped with a durability array.

Boots of Haste: Two sets of boots which have had a durability array and a haste array added into them. Activation lasts: ?? seconds. Cooldown is: ?? seconds.

“I’m going to test them!” Mitsy shouted.

She reached out to grab the boots, but Dollar snatched them away from her.

“No, these have a haste array in them.” He swatted her hand away. It felt like he was pushing against an iron wall. “I’m not wasting my time looking after a girl with two broken ankles while we’re stuck here.”

“A haste array? Why did you add that?” Mitsy pouted. “I thought you were going to use the movement symbol to counter the gloves.”

“That wouldn’t work. The boots only affect our legs, so even if I added a movement array to them, it wouldn’t help with the gloves. And if I’d added it to the boots on top of the wood and haste arrays, the materials would have exploded, ”Dollar waved his hand and the boots disappeared into his storage ring. “Look, Mitsy, the movement symbol has to go with the gravity symbol. We need it to move properly. And since the gravity array will affect our entire body, I have to make sure the movement array does as well.”

“Ohh.” a twinkle of understanding entered Mitsy’s eyes. “And when it does, it’ll help counter the boots and gloves at the same time.”

“Exactly,” Dollar looked up at the barrier of aura covering the lake. “Which is why we should see if there’s a way out of this place,” Dollar said. “That aura is Ength’s, but it's also mine, so I’m pretty confident I can pass through it. But if not, then we’re going to have to find another way to create a gravity artifact. We just don’t have enough materials on hand. Not ones that can handle that kind of power.”

Mitsy nodded, putting on her necklace of water breathing as she stepped up beside him. A squeal caught their attention, and they looked to the side to see Bill barrelling toward them. Dollar watched as the grec stopped on top of the movement symbol on the ground. The uni-pig sniffed it curiously, then twirled around and Dollar could see accusations of betrayal within Bill’s opal eyes.

“I didn’t know you’d be swimming when I figured it out,” Dollar shrugged.

Bill snorted and trotted up to Mitsy, snuggling close to her as though declaring that she was now his best friend in the world. He glanced at Dollar as he did so, scrunching his snout up at the same time. Both of them had their water breathing artifacts equipped, and they’d been preparing for this trip the moment Dollar had first mentioned it.

“This’ll be dangerous,” Mitsy said, giving Bill’s side a gentle scratch.

“We need those artifact materials. Besides, I don’t even know if I can get through,” Dollar replied.

“But if you can, then you’d be alone,” Mitsy said. Then she sighed, and her armbands glowed red. “I’ll keep an eye out for invisible monsters on the way. Bill, let me know if you see anything funny.”

Bill oinked in agreement, and they set off from the edge of the dome, swimming through the waters calmly. Dollar took his time exploring his new symbol. Unlike the breathing symbol, the movement symbol was variable in its usage and didn’t need an artifact to be applicable.

He placed one directly on his chest and two across his arms, and activated them one at a time to explore their intricacies. His arms moved gracefully in the water, and he felt like he could walk across it without floating if he tried hard enough. He couldn’t fight the current, not quite, but it also couldn’t drag him where it willed either.

In other words, he was in control of all of his movements.

Each symbol lasted two minutes before expiring, but when the final one died out Dollar had a smile on his face. This was the kind of symbol that would be beneficial in all situations, regardless of where he was. In an artifact, it would be even stronger.

I’ll be buying only the finest materials. No need to skimp out on this one. By the time I’m done we’ll be unrecognizable compared to before, Dollar thought.

He returned to the edge of the dome, but only put his head through the wall. Mitsy and Bill were waiting patiently for him on the other side.

“Okay,” Dollar said. “Let’s go.”

His companions nodded, and entered the water with him.

Next stop, Tiber City.

Dollar’s heart curled with trepidation as they began their journey. Mitsy guarded the front, and Bill playfully swam in the back, both watching out for any suspicious shadows. The trip wasn’t long, but with each passing moment Dollar grew more surprised at the scope of the aura barrier. He couldn’t see the end of it, even as they approached Port Gershwain, and he wondered just how far he’d sent it, and how many traveling routes had been disrupted by his actions.

He slowed down as they approached the familiar abandoned port, and Mitsy pulled back as Ength’s barrier flickered dangerously close.

Bill continued upward and grinned widely as he tried to pierce the aura with his horn.

Bang.

With a soundless squeal the grec was flung back into the water, stopping only when caught by Mitsy. She gave the surprised uni-pig a gentle rub on the head and Bill glanced at the barrier and growled in challenge.

Dollar swam up to Bill and placed a hand against his side, stopping the uni-pig from charging again.

Okay, so Bill can’t get through either. That eliminates my hope that people on this side of the lake can cross over. Dollar pressed his hand against the barrier. He could feel it resisting his touch, but it didn’t send him flying back. Now for my next theory. Hopefully this works.

“[Ength’s Touch].”

Through his [Aura Sense], Dollar spotted a flicker of aura that wasn’t his own passing through his body and exiting his hand. When it came into contact with the barrier the area shimmered bright as though he were being accepted as part of it. Then his [skill] ended and with a pop Dollar found himself passing through it as the barrier ejected him onto the other side.

I made it. Excellent. Dollar placed his hand on the aura barrier that was now below his feet. [Ength’s Touch].

With another pop, Dollar returned to the lake and gave Mitsy and Bill a thumbs up. They would wait for him here until he returned, guarding the area. Both had sustenance symbols painted on them, just in case he took longer than he expected.

“Stay safe,” Mitsy said, her voice lost in the water. “Don’t die.”

Bill squealed in agreement, and Dollar nodded. When he rose above the lake again, Dollar found himself surrounded by broken buildings. The bright light of the aura bathed his body from below and without [Ength’s Touch] activated the barrier felt like solid rock. In the distance was the massive wall of the city, surrounded by guards and symbols that blazed with life.

He was once again looking at the city of Tiber.

And it was in chaos.