Myra struggled to breath as something incredibly heavy and suffocating pressed down on her, making her shake in fear as she lay on the ground. Then, as she began to sweat, the oppressive force vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving her in a state of shock as an… aura of sadness, sorrow, and grief replaced it. For as bad as it felt, she could at least breath again.

She quickly looked around and saw that some of the younglings were laying unconscious and unmoving. She hurried to the closest one, Pryte if she remembered correctly, and checked her pulse and breathing. Finding that both were steady, she hurried over to the next girl, Ruva, and checked her too.

From there, she and her mother went from unconscious girl to unconscious girl, making sure that they were well. As she worked, he kept glancing at Joram, wondering why he looked so incredibly sad. Then it clicked that the aura of sadness was coming from him. Then she realized that the mysterious pressure from before had somehow been caused by him.

“I need to speak with him,” her mother said as she continued checking on the girls. “I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Myra nodded as her mother got up and went to Joram. After a few whispered words between the two, Joram was taken to the back, likely to her mother’s office, with Asami following at his side.

She then took a bit more time to look around as she finished checking on the girls to get a feel for the room. She saw that the three “gals”, as Joram called them, were the least affected amongst everyone. Surprisingly, they were also helping up the fallen girls, helping them into chairs again. Though, she noticed that they would often look towards the back hallway, probably wondering about Joram.

Myra couldn’t blame them, for she was also worrying about Joram. What had caused his reaction? How had he done that? What would happen to them if something like that happened again and Asami wasn’t close enough to stop it? Could she stop it?

Shaking her head, she got up and started making her way from group to group, speaking a kind word here, a reassuring word there. She hoped that Joram hadn’t messed things up too badly with the younglings. Even though she knew him pretty well by now, she’d still been disconcerted by whatever it was that he’d done. As for the younglings, well, she hoped they’d be a bit more resilient than she was expecting.

* * *

Pryte sat, wide-eyed. She wasn’t sure how to feel about what had happened earlier. She’d been one of the first to go and get registered for the young master’s orphanage, something she’d never before imagined doing in any of her wildest fantasies. But there she was, now an official… orphan.

Then the… weight had struck, nearly knocking her out. Now? Now she was contemplating how terrifying an experience it had been, but also more than a little bit excited that the young master could do something like that! If anyone tried to attack them in the future, she could just imagine them being flattened by the young master’s… weight!

She blinked at Myra as she spoke with Mika, one of the catkin who was only two years older than she was.

“… I’m sure that he’d just gotten some bad news,” Myra was saying, trying her best to encourage Mika who was just staring ahead blankly.

Pryte could tell that it wasn’t because she was afraid, though. Mika was easy to read, and the fact that her tail wasn’t all puffy and fluffy meant that she was fine. In fact, she was probably just off in her own world again, imagining weird things like being the strongest [Hunter] or [Adventurer] or something like that.

She reached over and grabbed Ruva’s hand and gave it a light squeeze as Kuro gave Pryte a head pat.

“You’re going good,” Kuro said, giving her a brave smile.

“Yeah,” she said shyly, not used to the praise yet.

“It’s alright if you’re scared. It scared me too,” Kuro said, dropper her head-patting hand down so that she could give Pryte a one-armed hug.

“Yeah, it was scary,” she said, then gathered up her courage to say more. “But it was awesome too!” she said enthusiastically, getting her a few odd looks as people turned to look at her, making her want to hide behind Kuro.

“What?” Kuro asked what seemed to be on everyone’s mind, looking puzzled.

“Well, I mean,” she started, then had to pause as Myra also turned to listen to her. “Well, it was scary…. But! But if the young master can do that, won’t that mean that any other bad guys who try to hurt us will be beaten up by him if he’s so strong?” she asked, looking up at Kuro as she spoke.

Kuro’s jaw was hanging open as she looked down at her, making Pryte wonder if she could fit an egg in there.

“What?” Kuro asked again after a few moments of stunned silence.

“What, what?” Pryte asked, not sure what she meant as Kuro seemed to collect herself.

“Well, I guess I mean: what makes you think that it’ll be safe?” Kuro asked, still not seeming to know how to ask or say what she really wanted to.

“I mean, well. Umm…. It was scary, but not scary, you know?” she asked, not quite sure how to explain how she felt.

Off to the side, Myra nodded as though she understood what she’d been trying to say.

“Scary, but not frightening,” Myra said, nodding. “Like seeing a guard killing a monster with their weapon. It can look scary, but it’s not frightening because you’re not the monster,” she said, nodding.

Well, at least she got close, Pryte mused, but nodded anyways because it was close enough.

“Yeah. The… weight was scary. But it didn’t feel like… danger. Like when…” she trailed off, remembering just how frightening the bandit raid had been. “But not scary like that,” she finished, shrinking back and into Kuro a bit.

Kuro squeezed her a bit tighter to tell her that she’d be there for her, so she smiled a bit, not wanting to worry anyone. Ruva scooted closer so that she could get in on the huggles too, so Pryte lifted her free arm so that she could hug her friend close.

“Do you think that the young master can use that weight to beat bad guys?” Ilyenna suddenly asked from her chair in front of Pryte, turned around in it so that she could kneel in the seat to look over the back of the chair at them.

“I’m sure he can,” Ilyana said, smiling at them kindly.

“Ahem,” Arise suddenly broke in and waited until everyone was looking at her. “That was what’s called [Aura]. If the young master can master it, I’m sure that he could fell scores of foes in the future,” she said, smiling and nodding at the end, looking proud as could be.

Pryte wondered why she was so proud. It was the young master’s ability, after all.

“Mmn,” Qyress hummed, nodding. “[Aura], once trained, is very powerful. We’ll all be safe with the young master,” she said, nodding.

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Pryte watched the beautiful winged-lady and wondered how she knew about [Aura] and if she’d be willing to share more about it with her. If she could learn how to do that, then she’d be able to not only defend herself, but also defend her friends!

* * *

“So, you’re saying that an [Aura] can manifest when someone has very high Spirit and Charisma Attributes?” Joram asked, trying to sum up what Celys had told him.

“Basically, yes,” Celys said with a sigh. “And that’s all I know from having heard rumours while adventuring in my youth,” she said, frowning.

“Well, it’s something at least,” he said, nodding. “But that other part…” he said, not sure how to take the revelation.

“Well, they’re the ones who’re most likely to have an [Aura] as they’ve all got higher mana pools than anyone else,” Celys said, pinning him with a serious stare. “Which leads back to what you told me when we first met. If you’re not human, then what are you?”

Joram looked at Celys for a few moments before he spoke, thinking about what to say, how to say it, and just how much he should share with her. Since it had been Altaea who’d… made him what he was now, then he was reasonably sure that High Elans, let alone regular elans, didn’t exist here. Unless there was some sort of universal constant when it same to the various races and species in the multiverse, that is.

“Well, that answer is tied to why I’m here in the first place,” he said with a sigh. “There was a… a magical accident that ripped me from my homeworld and dropped me here. Part of that accident involved a very powerful being. Due to the accident, I just about died, but that being saved my life, while also changing me in a fundamental way.

“I was a human before, but I’m now what’s called a High Elan. They’re- we’re, very adept with… I don’t know the word here, but it’s called psionics where I’m from. It’s a sort of power that originates from the mind that can basically do what mana does for casters here,” he said, deciding that a Cole’s Notes version would have to do.

Celys stared at him incredulously for several moments before speaking, sounding skeptical.

“Is that how you can do… what you can do? Healing faster? That blue crystal sword? That strange shoulder weapon?” she asked, nailing it in one go.

“Yes,” he replied simply.

“Even without the Great Protector’s aid?” she asked, still sounding skeptical, though a hint of acceptance could be heard in her tone.

“Even then, yes,” he said, then continued. “It’s how I survived until I took my Path several weeks ago.”

“It must be powerful if it’s what allowed you to basically solo a Dungeon in Overflow,” Celys said, now sounding very interested to learn more.

“It can be, yes,” he said, not wanting to oversell things. “It takes a lot of learning, though. If you don’t learn, you can’t do.”

Celys nodded, seeming to understand. “Much like with magic, if you don’t learn, you can’t use it…” she said, then shook her head. “Unless it’s you. You’re ridiculous, you know that?” she asked, sounding almost offended.

“I’ve been told that a few times,” he said, grinning. “And if you even knew the half of it, you’d probably kick me,” he finished, still grinning, though it turned rueful at the end.

“I don’t doubt it,” Celys said, shaking her head. “But, once again, please don’t ruin the economy. I’ve seen more than enough to know that you could easily topple it if you aren’t paying enough attention. Also, please talk with Lory soon. Not just for you, but for the sake of all those who are… close to you,” she said, looking more serious about that than when she was talking about the economy.

“Yeah, I’ll get to it,” he said, not very comfortable talking about it.

He’d been raised with a heavy dose of stoicism, making it very difficult for him to open up to others, let alone talking about his feelings and stuff. The thought of speaking with a… therapist or something, was almost alien to him. But oddly, vaguely appealing, if he was honest with himself.

Seemingly content with getting that much out of him, Celys changed the subject to a lighter one, though no less important.

“So, are you planning on building another village out there?” she asked, impressing him once again by how keen her intuition seemed to be.

“Well, not really, but I did want the space to expand if I needed to,” he said with a light shrug.

“You know, that’s almost as much land as Kirkwall occupies, right?” Celys asked dryly as she watched him with keen eyes.

“Well, I like my space,” he said, trying to sound casual. “Anyways. Once I’ve got everything set up to run smoothly without me being there, I’ll be heading out for a while,” he said, then stopped when he saw her startled and then sharp look.

“Alone?” she asked, not quite casually.

“Most likely, yes,” he said, nodding. “I don’t know what’s to be found further into the forest, but I don’t want to risk anyone’s safety while I’m out there exploring.”

“You know, neither Asami nor Myra will like that much,” she said, both sounding like she was warning him and as though she was happy with his decision.

“Well, they’ll live,” he said, then retrieved [Irymis’ Staff] from his inventory, presenting it to a startled Celys. “I’ve been practicing, as you’ve been made aware,” he said, then cleared his throat at the memory of a few botched attempts at [Teleport]’ing as she took the staff. “That said, once I’ve got a handle on [Teleport], I’ll be able to return every night as I keep exploring.”

Celys only appeared to be half listening as she stared at the staff in awe. After a few minutes of silence, she seemed to come back to herself, shaking her head. She then looked at him with a mix of wonder and annoyance.

“How in the nine hells did you get something like this?” she asked, waving the staff a bit as she spoke.

“From the dungeon?” he said, wondering why she was reacting the way she was.

In fact, he had suspected that the staff was pretty powerful, especially since space/dimension abilities tended to be higher-levelled abilities in any game or book he’d ever read. That said, that he’d gotten it from the goblin dungeon had led him to believe that it wasn’t something terribly rare.

“Joram,” Celys started, then stopped as she pinched the bridge of her nose as though she had a growing headache. “Joram. From what I can feel from this staff, it’s probably at least a Grade A magic item,” she said as though it meant a lot.

“And? I got a bunch of Grade A Cores from the dungeon too. Wouldn’t it make sense to get Grade A loot too?” he asked.

“Joram, what level are you right now?”

“Level 17.”

“And you were Pathless when you completed the Dungeon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Joram. Do you know what level range each Rank, or Grade, covers?” Celys asked seriously as she leaned forward a bit at her desk.

“Vaguely,” he hedged, not really having paid too much attention to that… up to now, that is.

“Rank A covers anyone from Level 26 to 30. That you could kill Rank A Monsters while Pathless is beyond unheard of. Even at Level 17, which is Rank C by the way, the chances of a normal person killing a Rank A threat is so abysmally low that it’s actually suicidal to even try.

“Even getting something like this,” she said, waving the staff with a bit too much energy for his comfort, “ as loot for a Dungeon like that is practically unheard of. I assume you have [Identify], so tell me what it does,” Celys said, pinning him with another one of her ridiculously effective stares.

“Uh, well, it gives you access to [Spatial Manipulation] and [Dimensional Manipulation] Skills while wielding it,” he said, watching as her jaw dropped at hearing what the staff did.

He waited.

Celys eventually recollected herself enough to come back to the moment, then promptly shoved the staff back into his hands and she stood up from her chair.

“Don’t ever let anyone know what that staff does. Better yet, don’t let anyone you don’t know even see it, as you never know who has [Identify],” Celys said, shaking her head as though she was still in disbelief of what she’d heard. “That staff is something that people would kill for. Kingdoms would fight over that staff.”

“Oh,” he so eloquently replied, not quite sure what to make of all that.

But seeing how shaken she was by seeing, and learning about [Irymis’ Staff], he was going to take her seriously….

“Hmm…” he hmm’d, thinking.

“What?” Celys asked after a while, obviously both annoyed with his not-quite silent thinking and curious to know what he was thinking about.

“I was wondering if I could do something with one of my class features,” he said, purposely keeping it vague, especially after how she’d reacted to the staff.

“… is it anywhere near as ridiculous as that staff?” Celys asked, her wary tone matching the look she was giving him.

“… I don’t rightly know,” he said, not terribly sure himself. “How common are Skill Books?” he asked, hoping that he couldn’t give the poor woman another shock.

Celys stared at him blankly for a good four minutes before she raised her hand and silently pointed to her office door. He waited a few heartbeats before realizing that the gesture seemed to be a universal one. He then sighed as his hopes were dashed, recognizing that blank look of someone who’d heard one too many unbelievable things too closely together.

“I should go,” he said, storing the staff away before getting up and making his way out of the office, closing the door quietly behind him.

* * *

Celys let her head rest on the stack of papers on her desk for several minutes, trying very hard not to scream in frustration.

“Of all the places for him to land, how in the nine hells did he manage to land in my village?” she asked the desk, too tired to care how ridiculous she must have looked.

“I’d say we were pretty lucky,” Asami said, nearly causing her to jump out of her chair in fright, having quite thoroughly forgotten that she’d come in with them.

“Gah!!”

“Gah, indeed,” Asami said while nodding, looking inordinately pleased with herself.