Rieren was surprised that she and Silomene actually received an entire day to themselves before Mercion brought up the next place they were to journey to. She had thought he was being kind, or that there were no pressing issues for them to tackle outside of Falstrom.

Silomene corrected that line of thinking soon enough. “It’s more likely the Clanmaster is keeping him busy for the time being.”

“The Ordorian scion who got married recently, yes?”

“Well, he isn’t a simple scion anymore now that he rules the clan, but yes.”

“Ah, of course. It is his children who will be the next scions.”

“Once they come of age. Till then, Mercion holds that title.”

The manor was nice. Rieren liked walking through the bamboo grove and cultivating on the little island in the middle of the little lake. She and Silomene debated sparring in the yard to keep themselves sharp but considering they had fought against vicious monsters only a day ago, they decided against it.

It was nice to not worry for a while. Good to take it easy and not have to let their thoughts revolve around all the worrying details in the outside world.

They had servants who were at their beck and call but generally stayed out of sight. It turned out Silomene still preferred to do quite a bit of the work herself. She made her own tea, cleaned and organized her space by herself, and would have even gone on to wash her clothes too had a horrified servant not cried out that they would lose their heads if it was discovered.

For herself, Rieren had chosen to be lazy about all the mundane things. Silomene might prefer the discipline such tasks instilled, according to her at least, but Rieren couldn’t be bothered. Her time needed to be filled with more pressing matters.

Like cultivating. She was at a point in the Enlightened realm where she could cultivate her next sense, besides the regular five all mortals had and the ability to sense Essence.

That mostly involved bringing out what she had learned was called electroception. It was the ability to sense the change in minute lightning currents in her surroundings. A powerful ability, once it was raised to proper potency.

Rieren suspected that the Ordorian clan members were already well-versed in it. In fact, it was Mercion’s use of lightning that had reminded her that she could bring out this sense. All it required was channelling yet another Aspect that she needed to claim—lightning—and infusing her nerves with the specific Aspect.

The good thing was that Rieren was at one of the best possible spots to do so. This mountain inhabited by the Ordorian clan was brimming with lightning-Aspected Essence.

Of course, it was going to take a while. Rieren couldn’t accomplish it in just one day, or even in one week. She wasn’t sure if even a month would be enough. In the last timeline, Rieren hadn’t found anything in the System Shop that could accelerate the process. She would look again, and with Mercion’s knowledge, she might just be able to find a proper accelerant.

Batcat was having fun in their temporary new home as well. It ran around all over the manor all day long, apart from when it was sleeping, and delighted both Silomene and the servants with equal abandon. Rieren was glad to see it enjoying itself and improving everyone’s mood too.

At some point, Silomene even suggested going out into the city and spending some time there. But they decided it was best not to leave when they didn’t know the exact time they had. Mercion could appear at any moment.

Even though the Ordorian scion didn’t appear at all the next day, when he did arrive on the morning of the day after, it was clear enough that they would be moving.

“We need to head south,” he said by way of greeting. “Please prepare yourselves. We have a lot of work to do.”

There wasn’t a great deal of preparation to make. The servants had already cooked meals they wouldn’t need, washed their clothes, and even polished their weapons.

Soon, they were off.

Their task was to reinforce an outpost on the frontier. It was hosting an operation where a cultivator was leading a group of villagers to try and expand outwards, reclaiming some of the vital farmland in the region. It was supposedly one of the most productive arable areas in all of the Shatterlands.

The reinforcing wasn’t anything complicated. Ultimately, they weren’t supposed to care about whether the operation succeeded or not. Their task was to take care of the western flank and ensure no monsters bypassed their main attacking front and barged into their vulnerable rear.

Rieren was once more struck how the Abyssals could have someone coordinating things enough to understand concepts such as attacking enemies’ supply lines.

“This isn’t normal for these monsters, is it?” Silomene asked.

She had just killed a group of Armistice Enforcers with a powerful technique Rieren couldn’t help but pay attention to—after killing her own group of monsters, of course.

Silomene had unleashed a Domain of silvery gas, and her technique had made that gas alight on her chosen targets. As soon as the target was coated with it, they froze. No. Rieren had been minorly horrified to see that they had been petrified all the way to the bone. Silomene had crushed them with a meteor hammer.

“These tactics?” Rieren said. “I think not.”

They hadn’t needed to work overmuch. The monsters stopped trying to break through the flanks after a day of assaulting, and had refocused their efforts on the frontlines, where they were more successful. The effort at recapturing the farmlands had faltered after a few days. Rieren, Silomene, and Mercion had pulled out before long.

“I am sorry we couldn’t win,” Silomene said as they departed the outpost.

The cultivator who had been leading the effort had thanked Mercion and the rest of them for their support. Mercion hadn’t looked happy, but there wasn’t much they could do. They had lost a lot of lives in the attempt. The toll had been deemed too high to continuously maintain an effort at both seizing and then unceasingly defend the recaptured areas.

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“If only we had neutralized all the dungeons beforehand,” Mercion said, cursing to himself. “If only we hadn’t been so slow.”

Silomene looked at him with a small, pleading expression. “Please, my lord, we did our best. You did your utmost. It is just the way of things now.”

Once again, Mercion didn’t argue. How could he, when Silomene was so correct. Theirs wasn’t an isolated incident. Similar things were occurring all over the Shatterlands. What victories they eked out against the monsters were soon wiped away when they were forced to retreat by the tremendous numbers and literally meteoric firepower their enemies could summon.

Reclaiming their land seemed like a lost cause. The people of the Shatterlands were barely holding onto the various outposts they had managed to set up.

In fact, Rieren wouldn’t have been surprised if that was the case in all other areas besides the capital.

She even asked Mercion about trying to get some news about the rest of the Elderlands. He reported that it was much the same everywhere, no matter where they looked. The monsters had gotten out of hand. Forget trying to eradicate the Abyssals—and the occasional Aetherians assisting them—it was all they could to maintain the lands they currently held.

Well, Rieren knew for a certainty the norther region was having much less trouble. Essalina wouldn’t be so free and boastful, otherwise.

Their next couple of weeks proceeded in much the same manner. They shored up defences where they were summoned and helped strengthen a few forays when they dared to venture out into the wilds. It was actually quite sobering to realize that lands that had been filled with people mere months ago were now designated inhospitable.

At least it granted Rieren quite a few opportunities to fill up her coffers with more Credits. Slowly but surely, she was replenishing all that she had spent to get to Mid-Enlightened.

The only relief Rieren really got was her contact with her fellow Lionshard disciples. As promised, she had sent Batcat to get in touch with Amalyse’s group. Under the Stannerig clan’s direction, they were helping all over the northern and western areas of the Shatterlands. Removing malign influences in dungeons, destroying pockets of holed-up Abyssals, and the like.

Amalyse’s memories were short and disjointed. They revealed how much they were being kept on their toes by their employers. The Stannerig were intent on getting their money’s worth out of the disciples.

Though, their station made sure they were treated properly as well. No one wanted to insult the scions of powerful clans, especially not the heir-apparent of an Archnoble clan.

In fact, one of Amalyse’s more amusing memories had been of a younger daughter of the Stannerig Clanmaster trying to desperately flirt with Rollo. He had some reservations about his idea of attractiveness now that he had been forced to replace his legs with those of an Automaton’s, so it was rather hilarious to see him bashful and reserved when a woman called.

Silk hadn’t looked any happier since the last time Rieren had seen her. In fact, after about a week since Rieren had parted with the others, Silk had left the group too. Ostensibly, it was about her cultivation. Now that she was in the Enlightened realm, she needed to focus on attaining an Enlightenment in an Enlightenment Locale.

Rieren had to wonder how true that was, and if there were other reasons too.

Amalyse had informed that they hadn’t brought any resources from the Sect since the Sect didn’t have any with them after it was destroyed. That meant it was likely Silk would take a great deal of time to get through one stage of the Enlightened realm.

She likely had a decent collection of Credits, but it couldn’t have been on the same level as Rieren’s. There were no reports of her taking out hordes of monsters by herself to sell their Beast Cores and corpses.

But they had to consider that Silk was an heiress of the imperial clan, the most powerful group in all of the Elderlands. Whoever wished her to grow into a functioning member of the imperial court would no doubt have furnished her in some way with everything she needed to gain the proper power her station demanded.

Rieren recalled that strange, shabbily dressed man she had seen at the Arteroth camp outside Lionshard dungeon. Despite his appearance, no one had shown him any less respect.

For now, Amalyse and Rollo were doing their best to keep up the Sect’s end of the bargain with the Archnoble. Though, at some point, they would leave too, to get started on their Enlightenment realm cultivation. That had been part of the Archnobles’ deal with Lionshard Sect.

The state of Silk and the rest of her comrades soon faded from Rieren’s mind as she had to focus more on her own work. Events and weeks flashed by, enough to blur, but also enough to leave a mark on her fatigue levels.

A few notable instances stuck in Rieren’s mind. There was one town by a stream where she killed a horde of monsters by herself—Silomene and Mercion were reinforcing a nearby outwards foray—and the people there had cheered her on. She had slunk away after the fight to prevent too much attention from coming onto herself, for which Batcat had admonished her.

Then there was the time Mercion had overworked himself and used too much of his power, almost falling unconscious. Again. This had been the third such incident that week alone. He had needed some time to recover.

So, while Silomene had taken away the Ordorian scion, Rieren had been the one to send a horde of Blightmane-reinforced Armistice Enforcers packing. She had also shot down a meteor too, though no Aetherian had appeared from the meteorite itself, strangely enough.

At another point, she had been almost tempted to use Batcat’s ability. Several B-Grade Abyssals had popped up in one of the locations they were to reinforce farther west from the Falstrom, and Mercion had not hesitated to lead them into the thick of things.

Sadly, they had come face to face against almost a dozen B-Grade Abyssals of various breeds. Wild Blightmanes, ferocious Shifters, even an enormous variant of a Life Stifler looking like a mountain next to the little outpost. Rieren had really thought she would have to Call of the Past, but then, everyone else had rallied and driven the monsters away.

Rieren had felt fatigued by the time they were done with the first few weeks’ worth of missions. It wasn’t a physical tiredness. She was growing mentally sore.

This was effectively echoed by Silomene confronting Mercion when they returned to their little manor. “How long are we going to keep this up, my lord?”

Mercion looked back at them tiredly. “What do you mean?”

“Over two weeks. Over two weeks we kept on fighting, we tried to push back the monsters and take back our lands. And for what? What did we get out of any of it?”

Rieren hadn’t seen Silomene this worked up. Gone was the placid girl who seemed to feel a great deal. Now, it had all turned to a heavy despondence, almost a despair that was forcing her to speak up.

She understood Silomene. For Rieren, there was a limit. A time after which she wouldn’t have to keep fighting in the Shatterlands, where she would no longer have to care what happened to it or pay attention to its recent developments. One month in total, and then she could go on with her life and her goals.

Not so for Mercion and Silomene. They were the ones living here, who had vested interest in how things would turn out. They couldn’t afford to care less.

And even for herself… could she really stand by while an entire region of the Shatterlands was destroyed? Was there a point in driving the gods out of Vanharron if the rest of the Elderlands was lifeless ruin?

Rieren had wished for a change in this timeline. She had made a significant change. But even if her first attempt had failed to deliver on the exact changes she had been looking for, that meant she needed to try a different tack this time. Letting the world burn while she had made a beeline for the gods had only resulted in another scenario where the world was burning again.

Her face steeled. She had to try something different this time.

“I do not know,” Mercion finally said. “But I think I am going to discuss with the Clanmaster about our future direction. And I will be bringing you along with me.”

Rieren blinked as the Ordorian scion walked away. Ah, so she was about to finally meet the leader of an Archnoble clan in this timeline. It would be interesting to find out if anybody would remember her there.

Better yet, it could provide her a pathway to success.