The ruins were still pretty far away and I couldn't even see them from where I was standing. It was Gwen's higher vantage point, from atop a tree limb, that allowed her to glimpse it.

"How do we want to approach this?" I telepathically communicated with the panther as I looked through her eyes. "I can't make out how many of them there are, but there's definitely movement going on in there."

"A lot of them look smaller," Gwen commented back.

Probably just Frostblood Spiders. We could deal with those pretty easily.

"Sure, but I imagine there are at least a few higher levels scurrying around," I said.

"I could scout closer," Gwen offered.

"Right, you're a lot quieter than me, even with my armor," I said, referring to the enchantment placed upon my gear that muffled almost any sound I made while moving. "Still, I don't really want to walk into a old ruin without knowing how many enemies we might be facing. I'd rather draw them out from a safe distance but--"

My voice trailed off as my mind worked.

I found my thoughts drifting back to an idea I'd had for some time, but hadn't really had a chance to test yet.

"We might not be able to move fast enough on foot to get away with all this water" Gwen commented to me. "We can't teleport forever either."

I pulled up the description of [Mana Flicker].

Mana Flicker [3rd]: Break your body down into pure mana to quickly move from one place to another. Mana cost dependant on teleportation range.

Just as I'd remembered, there wasn't a hard cap on the range of the spell. It also didn't say anything about needing to be able to see where you were going, but I had up until now found that it pretty much worked that way regardless.

Still, thanks to [Eyes of the Familiar] I essentially had two sets of vision. Could I then teleport to anywhere that Gwen was looking at, seeing as we could share our senses with one another?

"I want to try something," I said to the cat. "Can you try looking at that little bit of land right over there, behind us?"

I pointed to what I was talking about: a little outcropping of dirt and trees approximately fifty feet to our rear.

"Yes," Gwen answered back, as straightforward and loyal as ever.

"Thanks," I replied, "just hold your eyes there for a minute if you could."

I closed my own eyes and allowed my vision to drift entirely into Gwen's.

Sure enough, I could now easily see the small little patch of earth, surrounded by frigid water, directly from the panther's point of view.

I willed [Mana Flicker] to activate and forced myself to travel to the place that I 'saw'.

I felt my body break apart and, with a bit of a sense of mental out-of-place'ness--watched as my mana particles reformed into my physical form within Gwen's gaze.

I opened my own eyes and, sure enough, found myself standing upon the small island.

I smiled slightly.

I was still going to be limited in range by the cost of [Mana Flicker], which grew with distance, but being able to appear anywhere that Gwen was, or could see, within the limits of my mana pool, essentially skyrocketed the potential usefulness of the spell.

"I have an idea to draw out the spiders, girl," I said to the cat, whose interest I could sense peeking over our soul link as she watched my little bit of experimentation.

----------------------------------------

With the ruins still being a little too far away for me to feel good about how much mana it would cost me to teleport into them, me and Gwen were forced to prowl carefully closer to the outcropping of stone towers and buildings.

When we were close enough to begin to make out the shapes of the spiders, we stopped getting any closer.

We were looking for them, so we could see them, but I didn't think they'd spot us if they weren't expecting us. That was if the spiders themselves had the mental acuity to stand guard in the first place.

"I need you to keep a close eye out for anything that might see us," I said to Gwen. "Follow me and warn me if we're caught. Whether we can pull this off quietly, or not, is going to be the lynchpin in the plan."

Gwen growled back telepathically in the affirmative.

With the cat watching my back, I then walked up to a nearby tree and laid my hand upon it.

I willed my mana into the bark and, with a discrete red glow, a magic circle was engraved into the wood and then faded away to be almost unnoticeable to the naked eye.

With my [Fire Manipulation] being as high as it was, on top of the benefits of [Warmage] halving the cost of all offensive spells and with [Raging Sorcery] increasing the potency of all explosive spells, I wasn't forced to expend much mana at all to lay down a relatively decent [Rune of Flame].

As was the usual, I had put my core-points from reaching level twenty-seven into my mana pool. Even with the ten-percent of my pool of mystical energy that Gwen's existence cut off from me, that still left me with a little over four-hundred mana.

[Elder Blood] made it so that my mana regeneration increased in comparison with my total mana. In the end, I was now regenerating somewhere around forty-mana per minute. That was enough to fling a restrained [Fireball] or to lay down a decent flame rune.

Which meant that, even without expending mana-potions, I could produce at least one rune a minute.

The sun had just gone down. We had the advantage of darkness on our side.

I was also confident Gwen's senses would allow us to flee before most enemies could get the drop on us.

There were a lot of trees in the icy swamp surrounding the little ruin.

I also had all night to touch each and every one of them. And, if that didn't work, we could always retreat and regroup back near the boss monster's lair the next night.

"This might just work," I sent the mental message to Gwen.

"A plan is better than no plan," the cat encouraged back.

I couldn't argue with that. I also didn't want to; I was somewhat tired of almost dying in every impromptu battle.

----------------------------------------

Sixty runes an hour was my comfortable cap, just based on mana regeneration alone. I managed a little less than that due to being altogether... well, not human, but the meaning behind the saying still held.

Around eight hours later and I was exhausted.

Before the sun could slip up over the towering trees, Gwen and I had already moved a good mile away from the Webspinner's Lair.

The panther held back for a while, while I set up camp, just long enough to observe the many spiders retreating back into the depths of the ruin as the sunlight hit them.

I split my focus as I pitched our tent and watched through the panther's eyes as Gwen scouted out the habits of the enemy.

They didn't like the light? That was going to be useful information.

It was while watching all of this, and with the added illumination of the breaking dawn, that Gwen was finally able to make out the shapes of what appeared to be a few more humanoid creatures which while were much lesser in numbers than their [Frostblood Spider] allies.

After awhile, and as the ruins had grown quiet, I called Gwen back to camp and went about preparing for the next night.

For my part, I brewed up five more [Greater Mana Potions (Poor)] from my remaining [Greater Mana Shard].

I also opened the Spell-Forging menu to take care of something that I figured I might need in the coming few days.

I had one [Greater Bestial Shard] left.

[Spelldancer II] promised to increase my speed and reaction time while channeling mana significantly.

My entire build currently revolved around making myself an agile, skirmishing battlemage.

I saw no reason not to double down on the effects of the Attribute-granted perk and to try and further exploit it.

I was very deliberate in the wording behind my envisioned spell as I imagined just what I wanted.

Thankfully, during my elemental-resistance training, I'd also managed to get my overall [Spell Control] up to about eighty points, meaning that I now had access to creating second tier elementless spells and the ability to cast them at a lesser cost.

The System responded to my desires as it presented me with the spell I'd asked for.

[Envisioned spell]

Accelerate Adrenaline [2nd]: Channel your mana into your physical body, multiplying your current speed and strength. Mana cost dependent on the strength of the multiplicative factor.

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Selected Shard: Greater Bestial Shard.

Create Spell: y/n?

[Overclock I] would no doubt further decrease the cost of the spell, as it dealt with the enhancement of the body's capabilities.

It was quickly becoming clear to me that optimizing my strength would not solely come from increasing my mana or skills, but by synergizing everything I had in my toolbox and exploiting what was there when I could.

I selected yes to creating the spell.

[+5 Spell-Forging.]

[For reaching level 100 in Spell-Forging, you have unlocked the ability to use two Soul-Shards in the creation of spells.]

Two soul shards?

I wonder what I could make with two shards affecting a spell's nature?

Still, it was something to test later. I currently had limited resources, beyond lesser poison and frost shards.

Feeling pretty good about how things were now going, I summoned an earthen pot into my hands. I still had a [Greater Mana Shard] left that I could brew into another five mana potions of the Greater tier.

Then I'd get some rest, along with Gwen doing the same.

Tonight would be the last night we'd spend laying down fire runes.

Then, we'd grab a little more shut eye the following day.

After that, though, well, the fight would truly begin.

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Another day of rest had passed. Another night of rune laying too.

I couldn't begin to count the number of trees I'd laid my magic into.

It was time.

Gwen was prowling far above me on a particularly high tree branch.

She could see the entire ruin, and off to any side of it, from where she gazed out. That fact was crucial to this plan.

I rested on dry ground, on another small bit of land that rose up from the swamp, below the cat's perch.

With my mana fully recovered and my body feeling well-rested, I summoned a [Fireball] into my hands and launched it towards the ruin.

I'd charged the explosive blast with enough strength that it could fly the decent distance from where me and my familiar stood cloaked in darkness.

I watched as the large ball of fire soared through the otherwise dark night, a raging inferno set against the black cold.

And then the spell made contact with a building.

The vibrations of the explosion that followed shook the crisp air and filled it with the smell of magic.

I summoned another [Fireball] and tossed it.

I got at alert that I had killed a [Frostblood Spider].

And still yet, I called forth yet another orb of flame and hurled it.

Soon enough, I could see a number of spiders scurrying towards where I stood.

"The south, Gwen," I sent the telepathic message to my already briefed cat.

And with that, I activated [Mana Flicker] and looked through Gwen's eyes.

As previously mentioned, the panther could see everything around the ruin and, with my coaching now looked to its southern edge.

I watched myself reappear where she gazed and, though my mana took a good hit from the medium distance teleport, I still managed to gather my senses pretty quickly.

I then repeated the process of hurling fireballs until a hoarde of [Frostblood Spiders] were scurrying, their feet freezing the swamp below them as they walked across it, towards the southern edge of the tree-line that I now stood in.

"The east!" I sent the mental message to Gwen.

A mana potion formed in my hand and I drank it down quickly, before I then teleported away to where the panther had then shifted her gaze at my behest.

When I'd reformed once more, I again threw more fireballs until I'd grabbed the attention of yet more mobs to draw them towards me.

There had to be over a hundred of the monsters prowling around the ruin alone.

I felt a chill run down my spine. If the plan failed then we might be in trouble.

"The south," I called out to the cat telepathically.

I repeated the pattern of teleporting, throwing spells, and drawing the spiders out until hordes of the beasts were running in every cardinal direction towards the woodline around the some sunken and some still barely standing buildings.

"Scan the ruin!" I called out to Gwen mentally and then drank two more potions.

The cat's eyes did as I asked and, the moment I saw the humanoid figures I was looking for, I gave my next command: "Now! Take the vulnerable ones by surprise."

I activated [Mana Flicker] one final time, but only a second after I had started to conjure my [Raging Blade].

My body broke into mystical energy and soared into the heart of the ruins.

I wasted no time as I appeared behind the back of a confused looking [Frostblood Countess].

Unlike the pure-caster I'd faced before, this countess held a spear in her hand. The mob was watching with rapt attention to the east as her spider underlings chased after one of the perceived sources of the fireballs.

The Countess turned with a hiss, perhaps detecting the magical fluctuations of my spell, as I formed into physical stature behind her.

My hand was still outstretched beside me as a pillar of flame shot out from it and, to the Countess' lack of luck, formed firmly into an elegant blade as I swung it towards her throat.

[Accelerate Adrenaline] and [Spelldancer] kicked into action as I poured a surge of power into my [Raging Blade].

The mystical weapon made contact with the startled Countess and, before she could properly react, I had removed her head from her shoulders.

"One!" I communicated telepathically to Gwen, my heartbeat, blood, and mana pounding throughout every sinew of my body.

I heard a massive crack of thunder fill the air as a hurling bolt of lightning lit up the night sky.

A half-second later the cat responded back.

"Two!" Gwen declared.

A mental image of her appearing above a perched [Bonesilk Archer] and rending his small neck to shreds with her teeth, following a vicious tackle, filled my mind.

My ears perked at the sound of something wet disturbing the air.

I turned just in time to shift mostly out of the way of what appeared to be a blast of viscous acid.

Despite my evasive action, the furthest edge of the spell still burned against my armor. Thankfully, the gear's enchantment against magical attack seemed to stave off the glancing blow.

In response to the spell, I raised my hand and shot a blasting [Fireball] directly at the giant spider that had appeared from nowhere to spit poison at me.

The nameplate of the [Frostblood Baron] scrolled across my vision. I hadn't remembered the last one being able to hurl poison at me though.

It seemed that there were different variations of all the mob types.

That made things somewhat difficult. I'd have to stay on my toes to not be caught off guard too badly.

My [Fireball] slammed against the face of the spider and, to the spell's credit, it did seem to knock the massive beast back and cause it to stumble.

Unfortunately, however, the Baron was much sturdier than either of the Countesses had proven to be.

To make matters worse, as I caught my footing, another of the half-woman, half-spider spellcasters stepped up beside the massive Baron.

I had my work cut out for me.

The second Countess of the night raised her hand, which held a peculiar looking staff, into the air. The white-wood rod had a green, noxious looking jewel encrusted in the heart of its tip, that was wrapped in ashen wood branches.

The Countess uttered a few cackling syllables that I couldn't quite parse, but that sounded ominously like words of power.

The jewel of the staff flared dangerously and I felt a wave of mana sweep through me, not causing any damage but still feeling very uncomfortable.

I glanced over my shoulder to try to track where the unseen wave of mana might be traveling to.

My eyes reached out in that half-second towards where the many drawn-away [Frostblood Spiders] were now entering well into the range of my flame runes.

To my annoyance, however, the spiders seemed to suddenly turn back around following the Countess' odd spell.

So that was how the arachnid sorceresses controlled the spiders?

Well, I was going to loose my chance, even though I had been hoping I could lure at least some of the humanoid, and higher level monsters, out into the woodline before making my move.

I charged towards the Countess and Baron and, as I did so, I reached out to each and every one of my flame runes.

The explosion that followed was deafening.

The entire world was seemingly rocked and bathed in fire.

Hundreds of explosions went off at once as my carefully laid trap was sprung.

The sheer concussive force rattling the air probably would've caused me to stumble and fail in the sword-strike that I was currently aiming for the newly appeared [Frostblood Countess].

It would have, that was, if I hadn't already activated [Resolute Strike].

The ability steeled my movements and guided all of my focus into maintaining the next, singular sword blow I'd make.

The Countess and Baron, meanwhile, could only hiss in agony as the blinding lights of the massive number of explosions that now filled the swamp.

Just as Gwen had noted a day prior:

They didn't like the light.

And, even as my own sensitive eyes were hurting, I could still see.

I surged my mana into my [Raging Blade] once again and, with the added strength of [Resolute Strike], cut clean through the torso of the second Countess.

I didn't even have time to think about mentally declaring the kill, as a vicious roaring ripped through my consciousness.

"Three!" Gwen roared and then slammed down, in the form of a bolt of lightning, atop the head of the hissing [Frostblood Baron] beside me.

My Mana, Health, and Stamina, all surged up as I reached level twenty-eight from slaying the countless [Frostblood Spiders] and the two mage ringleaders.

Taking advantage of the Barons disorientation, and my restored Stamina, I mana flickered directly beneath its pain-shrieking head and drove a [Resolute Strike] up directly into its head from below.

Unable to defend itself, the spider twitched and shrieked as the core of its nervous system was pierced.

I teleported a few feet away and called for Gwen to do the same.

The moment that the panther had crashed in the form of lightning down beside me, I activated [Raging Sorcery] and watched as the Baron's head was exploded by my still lodged in sword from the inside out.

The huge spider collapsed as I got its death notification.

"Four," Gwen purred, with a self-satisfied bloodlust, from beside me as she prowled up to my leg.

I took a deep breath.

"A lot easier to kill them when we're the ones doing the ambushing," I said. "Good job, Gwen."

I looked all around us.

Where before the night had been pitch black and cold, now the sound of falling trees could be heard all about as my spells felled dozens upon dozens of the half-dead plants.

The trees that didn't fall to be extinguished by the frigid waters were bathed in blue flames.

The cold swamp was now swarmed in a heating inferno that turned the black night nearly into day.

I was a little shocked by the damage I'd done to be honest.

I definitely didn't posseses the destructive power I was now witnessing, not in one go anyway.

Being tactical had allowed me to leverage my strength many times over.

I glanced up at the mini-map.

The quest marker was guiding us further into the ruin and towards what appeared to be a large cathedral of some sort.

"Let's go--" I started to say, but was stopped as a shrieking pain ripped through my mind.

I fell to my knees as a series of mental images assaulted me.

My vision split and doubled, swirling, and when I could see straight for a few brief seconds, the world was drastically changed. The ruins around me became a shining city, sparkling in a different color of moonlight than this world generally sported. The ugly swamp, contrastingly to reality, was also replaced by a beautiful and much deeper lake of midnight blue.

"Little caliban," a sing-song voice echoed throughout my head, "perfect, little caliban. So untouched. How?"

The voice trailed off before resuming: "I must know... come to me."

I heard Gwen roar in concern as she brought her face near mine.

My vision returned to normal and the sprawling city of the moon once more became the sunken, ruined hobble I knew it to be.

"Clarissa!" Gwen urged at me to respond to her.

How many times had she said that, before I'd heard it, I wonder?

"I'm fine," I said as I regained my bearings.

"Did you hear any of that? Or see it?" I inquired of Gwen.

"See or hear what?" the panther asked me, though her haunches lowered somewhat as she realized I was seemingly okay.

"So whatever it was bypassed our bond," I said. "That's not good. I didn't think anything could do that."

"What's happening?" Gwen asked.

I slowly rose to my feet.

"Something spoke to me, a woman, probably--maybe, I think--the Webspinner," I explained, "and I saw this place, but before it was ruined and when it was much bigger. Other stuff too; I think this swamp somehow used to be a deep lake."

I felt Gwen's confusion through our restored soul link.

"I don't know either, girl," I admitted, "but I think there's more to this dungeon than we're realizing."

My mind lingered back to the quest's specifically worded conditions.

"I'm not sure what we're missing," I continued, "but either way, we need to keep moving forward. I'm not just going to stand around and wait for things to happen to me--and I don't like things rooting around in my head uninvited."

Seeming to share the sentiment, Gwen growled once more and fell into solidarity beside me.

I took a step forward, and collected the loot from the enemies around us, as the forest burned, and the ominous red of the world's strange moonlight flowed from on high.

From the two Countesses I gained two [Greater Mana Shards].

From the Baron I received a [Greater Frost Shard].

Then we continued on to our ultimate destination.

Even still, as we approached the tall and blackened cathedral, I felt a strange pull from inside its dying stones. Something magnetic reached out to me from within the onetime place of worship, something ancient and alluring, but off all the same.