Richard: "That could have ended really bad. Are you all well enough? We should get away from here as soon as possible. We can take a rest when we are clear of this mountain."
Apparently now that the immediate danger had passed, she considered it fair to talk again. Arienne approached me and spoke out without a care in the world:
"That was a good fight, I didn't have to fight for real in some time. You had some nice moves too, if you train a little we can already do some pretty interesting requests. Perhaps we shouldn't go here, but that still leaves us a lot of options. I thought you didn't have combat experience?"
'Ascension' was just a game, even if it was virtual reality. The fights and the movement there had been real, but there was never any real threat. So while I had practiced in many different fights I was more than a little surprised that I hadn't panicked just now. The fight with the wolves had been very intense and dangerous, but all the strange things I had experienced lately must have desensitized me a lot.
"No real experience, no. I only had a bit of practice, but never in any fight that was an actual danger to me."
Orlund: "I am beginning to believe you are holding out on us. You just used telekinesis the same way I did."
Me: "It wasn't nearly as effective. You strike at just the right moment and bring your enemies off balance."
Orlund: "And what was that spell right at the beginning? You nearly killed three wolves and hurt a few more. And then you just continued casting spells almost like nothing happened. I would like to be aware of who I am traveling with."
Brinnia: "Your senses are as dull as ever, Orlund. She was constantly drawing in reserve mana. With that much capacity you could have used some more flashy moves, too. That wind towards the end, did you interfere with it, Shalyne?"
Me: "I was able to slow it down a bit, but didn't really disperse it."
Richard: "That is all very interesting, but can we keep it down? We have to leave this damn mountain and I am still wounded and would like to avoid any unnecessary fight, just because we are drawing unwanted attention."
Arienne: "They won't dare to come back with their leader dead. Also, there were no other types of beasts around. The wolves must have hunted most of them down. I guess they first have to regroup, if the remaining ones still have the brains for that. Well, they did run away, that shows they are not the most dumb of breeds. But then they should also understand that they are no match for us. Most intelligent animals know when they should avoid a fight. There is of course a type of lion in the prairie that is so dumb, you can cut off all of its legs and it still tries to charge you. Pretty tough though, I kind of admire them, if they just weren't so stupid it could be...."
We found a place to finally take a rest quite a bit away from the foot of the mountain. On the way a few of the slightly weaker, but still powerful beasts attacked us, but Arienne was still so hyped that she rushed at them and took them out before they got very close.
The beasts here are strong, but I realized just how much more dangerous an intelligent enemy is, who leads a coordinated attack instead of blindly charging at you. Out here, they would attack the first person that came close to them. Tarvek and Vina had drawn their aggression just by being closer to where the beasts came from.
Endurance has increased by 1.
The continuous march and fight had exhausted me. While Brinnia took care of Tarvek, Richard and even Arienne, I just sat down and took out the provisions I had prepared yesterday. I was glad for some quiet, and trusting in my allies I leaned back and took my good time to slowly eat.
It was really beautiful out here, if you weren't attacked. The temperature was comfortably warm, the trees gave off an atmosphere of fresh and pure life and so I dozed off into a short nap.
I awoke when a shiver passed over me. I looked around, but didn't see anything particular and I put it aside. The others seemed to be ready to leave, so I had awoken at just the right time.
While we were walking I considered my situation again. Originally I had wanted to learn a few tricks on this trip. Just observing and keeping a low profile. Now I had to realize, that while the horizons where still far out of sight in concern to power level, my abilities with magic were quite up to the level of an experienced adventuring mage.
Of course taking only Orlund as an example was a bad way to get a representative view. Nonetheless, he was highly valued by his group.
After my aggressive display of magics, I feared that I might get drawn into more excursions like this one. There were not many ways they could impose on my current schedule, but real free time began to look like a distant dream.
If I found at least a room in the city, I might be able to squeeze out a few hours for myself or some other activities.
Most of us were a bit down when we finally arrived back in town. We had not encountered anything out of the ordinary on the way, but this day had already seen enough excitement.
It was already evening, but not late enough that I had to particularly hurry back. Richard said he would go to the city hall and we agreed to meet up tomorrow evening at the adventurers guild to receive our share.
I didn't care if the others still wanted to hang out and simply took my leave. I had kept my mana up for any further emergencies. I could of course have stored it in the crystals and just taken it out again, but my aura felt more comfortable, if it was restored naturally or if it had some time to adapt to me.
Now that the real danger had passed I began to fill up my crystals again. I hadn't really made any progress for work and even used up what reserves I had stored up. Was this even something necessary or just some way Mr. Heart picked on me? I didn't mind having some crystals at my disposal, so I would keep taking them home for now.
The wolves I met on the way to Catherine's hut felt exceedingly slow. I wasn't able to handle the high speeds of the high level wolves, but my perception of their movement was very sharp right now. My own movements were a bit sluggish from the long day, but I didn't even get pressured. Considering that just a few days ago I had still struggled against them, I felt a bit elated.
The sun was about to set when I arrived. I took out the history book and tried to read once more.
It was structured quite well, and I chose to read up on the basic geography. The Varieste kingdom was protected really well with the unpopulated gray hills to the south and the forest to the east. Of course it had to fend off monsters, which to me seemed like a word synonymously used for strong beasts and any other dangerous uncivilized beings.
To the north a large river made up the border to the lands that were often plagued by barbarian warlords. I would have to look it up on the history section, but there were hints that there had been struggles with the one or other upstart king.
Finally to the west the Culian Empire stretched out. They had been a peaceful neighbor for most of the time, probably happy about a stable friendly border themselves, and the trade relations were important.
The issue I found with this information, was that it might already be outdated for a long time.
Skimming over the inner geography, I only really remembered that the capital Saiphis was somewhere to the west of Barlaine. At some point I had lost my original interest in the book and just kept it open without any further reading. Perhaps I should start borrowing books on inscription soon.
The rest of the evening passed by easily while just enjoying my peace and quiet.
The next morning I took my exercise very seriously. I wanted to incorporate spells into my Warrior arsenal, but felt myself still far too lacking in the basics. So I went through the same program as before, but pushed myself to the limit.
Warrior has increased to level 7.
I felt like I was adapting further, but nowhere near the level of control a black belt should have.
The training with the sword felt even worse once I took a critical look at myself. I was hardly sufficient in wielding it, because I had comparatively little experience. It might be better to learn from an expert instead of just aimlessly trying to improve myself, but my days were cramped enough already.
I used the way to work for my sorceries again. Before practicing anything new, I tried my hand on the few spells I had already used before. I had shown the light side of my aura, so I decided to practice my searing light technique a bit more. Sure, with enough invested mana a bad spell still did a lot of damage, but that would take away options an effective version could offer.
First I started with a small spell again. I used the light aspect and disintegration. The little sphere was pulsating quickly. I could increase and reduce the frequency of it and then sent it through some leaves. If the frequency was low, it cost less mana, but it took longer to create a complete hole in the leaf. It would always disintegrate pieces, and slowly the holes would spread and connect.
With a high frequency I was able to create a hole just by sending the sphere through my target once. It also emitted a lot of energy, and I wanted to get rid of that effect. For once it made the sphere easier to detect by others, and secondly it cost unnecessary mana that wasn't used for its function.
Sorceress has increased to level 6.
When I was finally done, the spell was less obvious. It simply floated toward where I sent it, and then ate away the target. And all the while it looked and felt harmless, because its effect wasn't projected outside of the sphere.
I waited for a pack of wolves and killed all but one with my sword. I wanted to use the last one for some experimentation, but it had to be alive for that. The problem was, that while I could avoid any danger by instantly killing all the approaching wolves, fighting one with the goal of only incapacitating it was more dangerous. Fortunately the wolves around here are very easy to predict and I drew it to one of the trees, where I circled around until I could take a good swing at its front legs. It was still able to move, but I took a few steps away into a safe distance and then casted the next searing light.
Compared to the leaves, there was a resistance while sending it through the wolf. It wasn't very strong, but noticeable. I had to increase the strength of the sphere's movement a bit and also reinforce its effect, because it was weakened inside the wolf's aura.
I took pity on it, because after I had cut off its one front leg, and seared away part of the other, the wolf was struggling hard. I didn't want to prolong its suffering, so I finished it with my last experiment. Creating a very small sphere I sent it directly into the brain and let it spin around a bit. The effect was almost immediate and the wolf finally collapsed. This weapon was very deadly and didn't cost too much mana, at least if I didn't have to overpower an equally strong aura, because it only attacked small specific areas instead of causing wide spread destruction.
When I got close to the valley, I took another way that led me a bit more to the northwest and should allow me to come out of the forest further west and in closer proximity to the city. I wanted to get to know the area a bit better.
The way I took wasn't overgrown, but a bit more difficult terrain. There was after all no path here. It only took a short while and I reached the old city wall. It seems the city didn't expand directly to the south and the wall still was the outer boundary. The wall was in bad shape, it hadn't been maintained for a long time, and the stone was brittle and overgrown.
Perhaps by following it back to the east I would quickly return to the entrance of the valley, but I was a bit curious and followed the wall westward. At some point the forest began to thin out and I got a view of a hilly grassland with small groups of trees here and there. Now that I could see further ahead the wall disappeared in another outgrowth of houses. I stuck to the wall and went there.
This corner of the city was a bit shabbier than any others I had seen so far, but couldn't be considered slums yet. I still wanted to avoid any hidden alleys, so I always took the broadest streets, if they can be called that. This part of the city couldn't be compared to the bustling atmosphere of the valley, because a few people were just hanging around in various places. I couldn't detect any animosity, though and wasn't fearful either.
It didn't take long though, and I had moved into an area that looked like an industrial district. The river was flowing through here and there was a lot of woodworking and even a forge. Maybe this place wasn't too bad, it wasn't luxurious, but might be the right place to get a cheap room.
I followed the main street until I passed through the city wall again. I hadn't been here yet, so I just walked into the direction of the center, until I oriented myself again and then headed to the enchanter's shop. My detour had cost me a bit of time, but I had been early enough and arrived at an appropriate time.
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“Today I have to show you one of the hardest parts about inscription. Having a construct that completes a few simple tasks is no problem, but once they get complicated it can be very difficult to come up with a way to make it work. Especially anything that manipulates the body or mind is more of an experiment than a strict plan you follow through.
So once somebody comes up with a way to make a scroll work in the intended way, even if it isn't very effective, it may be the only known version. And many enchanters are just sloppy amateurs, barely worthy of the title! The things they have built are sometimes beyond comprehension. This will hurt a bit, but I want you to copy this part here.”
Mr. Heart took out a scroll, and on it a strange part was visible. It had some logic intent, used to produce different reactions depending on some conditions. It was also built up of smaller parts. What shocked me was how horrible it looked. It didn't have a clear intent for each part, but some things felt more like a 'maybe' or 'if you push really hard I will do the task, but only then'.
By now I had realized, that inscription had a lot of similarities with programming. Enchantments were simple intents that worked immediately. Complex constructs followed through strings of conditions to adapt to very specific circumstances before evoking their effect. Of course a simple intent could reduce a lot of programming into a single component.
If such a flawed unit like the one before me was used, I couldn't even imagine how it would influence the other parts of the construct. A clear decision would lead to definite consequences, but with such components reproducing the same effect with a more efficient and definite structure was next to impossible.
“But that's really ugly!”
“There is no way around it. And it is only one of many similar components you will have to create. Perhaps it is possible to fix this scroll, but it might be better to just reinvent it from scratch. The problem is, that no one knows how it actually performs certain functions, so we are stuck with copying it exactly as it is.
The scroll is used to attune to the bureaucrat profession, and there are always some people who want to buy it. I only need a few of each of these components, so I will show you the book of bureaucracy. It contains the complete list for all components and the numbers required. Your job is to work through it until you have every part ready. I want to create five complete scrolls in the end, so multiply the amount.”
At that he pulled out a book and handed it over to me. It contained detailed descriptions for each part, but there were only a few parts attached that I could study in their true mana form. The others I would have to create from the descriptions in the book.
Copying an existing part, and creating one according to a description are completely different tasks. At least I began to understand why some enchanters even came up with flawed components. If they never saw the true form, they had to create an approximation, and if they described it to someone else the similarity might get watered down more and more until it looked like the abomination I had seen before.
I only needed a small number of most parts, and there were even a few I had to create only once per construct. So I had to first struggle through the description and then try to build up something that looked like it might fit.
Scribe has increased to level 5.
There were a few notes in the book that had apparently been added later on. Sometimes they helped me to better imagine what I had to create, but sometimes the original description seemed to be the better lead.
If every single scroll was this cumbersome to copy, then the full repertoire of components used in inscription was way beyond what I had originally thought I would have to learn.
In the middle of my work I felt a wide sweeping search run over the land. I might not have felt it, but it felt like it was targeting me, which made me more alert to it. I couldn't make out anything about it, but hid my aura again. Something was always coming up to bother me, and it was often out of my control. Having a proper aura and reduced regeneration problems was nice, but it might be better to keep my head a bit low.
When I went back to work, I was a bit distracted. The search had only rushed over me once, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. Still, my job had to be done and I wanted to advance.
Scribe has increased to level 6.
The diverse work I was doing today certainly helped to push up my stats quicker than usual. I couldn't resist a small break to look over my status:
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress Level 6, Warrior Level 7
Profession: Enchanter Level 4, Scribe Level 6
Stats:
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 15
Vitality: 13
Endurance: 17
Intelligence: 53
Health: 129/130
Mana: 403/530
Mana Regeneration: 5.30 mana/minute (9.30 mana/minute)
(AN: That makes 0.3 mana/minute without the use of the mana regeneration potion and after subtracting the 5 mana/minute cost of suppress aura)
My initial requirements for mana regeneration had finally been met! I would wait a bit to get off the mana regeneration potions, but at least I didn't depend on them, even if I suppressed my aura. And that was something I might want to keep up after all.
I remembered the meeting at the adventurers guild, and packed away the materials. I asked for a inscription book I could read in the evening and Mr. Heart gave me an introductory book. After promising to take good care of it I packed it away and left for the guild.
I entered the bar room directly from the outside and took a look around. Richard and Orlund were already occupying a table, so I walked over and sat down. Richard handed me 50 silver coins.
Richard: “That's your share. If I had known we were getting into such a dangerous situation, I would have negotiated for more.”
How much was the reward for the mission? I had mostly gone along to learn about the way adventurers worked. A small payment for a bit of analyzing had seemed appropriate. We had agreed on this before I took part in a real fight. From now on I might also have to negotiate for higher amounts, even though I didn't enjoy that at all.
With business taken care of I made ready to leave.
Richard: “Don't you want to stay for a bit? You might be interested in the news I have to tell.”
Me: “And I don't suppose you will wait until everyone else is here as well?”
Grinning he retorted: “That was the plan.”
It was a good idea to keep track of the situation in town, and right now I didn't even know anything at all. So I stayed and ordered myself something to drink, but this time without any alcohol or whatever had given my last drink the 'kick'. Then I took the opportunity to ask for something else that had been on my mind for a while.
Me: “I have been thinking of moving into the city for now. Do you by any chance know about a cheap place to stay?”
Richard: “You can ask at the reception here in the guild. The rooms are not the cheapest around, but are affordable.”
Orlund: “Try asking Brinnia. The church is renting out a lot of rooms. They are mostly for the poor, but perhaps she can sneak you in.”
Could I be considered needy at the moment? My wage was certainly not the highest, but I did have a place to stay, had just earned half my wage and Catherine was paying for any other needs I had right now. No, I don't think it was fitting to consider myself that.
Me: “I don't think that would be appropriate.”
Richard: “There are also sometimes notices at the board here. They are external rooms and you might catch a good one. Adventurers like to choose those when they stay for a longer time.”
Me: “Thank you, I will go and take a look.”
I got up and first took a look at the board. There were two offers for 30 silver a month and I memorized them. Then I went over to the counter and asked Mrs Windon for any open rooms in the guild. The really cheap ones were all rented out, and the others cost at least 50 to 100 silver, which I considered a bit expensive for now. If the rooms in the city were to far below my standards I might consider them, but first I wanted to check them out. Then I rejoined the table in the bar.
The rest of the group showed up within the next hour. We were talking about various things until Richard finally began to talk about the news he had heard.
“I had to wait for today to report, but there were some news at the city hall. It's not that surprising that one of the archivists will come out here. They were also pretty sure that a submission force will be sent out to Barlaine, but that isn't definite yet.”
Orlund: “That leaves less work for us. They will probably clear out the mountains in no time.”
Brinnia: “I don't mind it if things are safe around here again.”
Arienne: “They might also hire some additional forces from the adventurers. The discipline is annoying, but they usually pay better money than the city. Until they get to know the territory they might at least hire a scout.”
Richard: “We are not even sure yet if they sent out any forces at all. Or it might just be a token force and the real work remains with us as usual.”
After that there was mainly more small talk, so I excused myself and left. The way back was spent working some more on the searing light, and I think I was getting a good grip on it now.
I went through the usual evening activities and then sat down with the book I had brought along. It really was very basic. It started out with enchantment and how to best solidify intents, but that all came to me intuitively by now. The next section introduced constructs and some basic components. In addition there were a few tips on how to work with some of the explanations about a component in different books. It mainly came down to getting your hands on a functional unit to copy it, trial and error when creating something from scratch and making notes when you did find a way to create a part.
So far I had not spent much time on any of the sections. There were a few tidbits here and there but nothing that I hadn't come across already while working. Finally the interesting part came up. There were some building plans for very simple constructs. So simple in fact, that I could just as well cast a similar spell directly. The advantage was of course, that I had the spell at the ready without needing to rely on my mana reserves, and that I could give it to someone else.
I quickly skipped over those plans, which filled out the main part of the book. I might go into detail at some other time. There was no passage about how to build up constructs, just instructions on already composed ones. The book finished with a note on some more advanced books and how only creating small constructs enabled scribes to some day build up the big ones. It was all true in a way, but didn't really help me improve myself.
It seems there were some self taught scribes as well and this book catered to them. I might take the time to think about the way the simple constructs were laid out, which might teach me more than simply creating them without reflection. Reading the book had been easy, because it didn't hold me up very long at any part, but time had still passed quickly and I soon went to bed.
Somehow I had already developed a trod on how to go through the days. The day started with exercise, followed up by the way to work which I used for magical experimentation if I was in the mood and then work.
The next day I had first thought of working on my bolt of darkness, although I had to remind myself not to use it publicly. Why work on it at all when there were so many alternatives around? I wanted to increase my proficiency in both light and dark, if I already had to put up with them. So finding a balance in the time I split between training them was necessary. I finally decided to work on a cloaking technique instead, which might actually benefit me at some point. considering how often I already relied on hiding my aura, I might as well work on physically disappearing as well.
The main issue was that being cloaked in utter darkness might help hide at night, but draw a lot of attention during the light of day, or in any lightened places really. Of course I still tried it out a bit. I first scanned out for any unwanted searching intent that might be lingering in the air unnoticed. After that I put up a reversed aura with dark to the outside. I didn't let it leak out naturally but instead still kept it well contained. Now that I thought about it, this could even work as an improved suppression while keeping the bonus of reduced mana consumption.
The last step was the actual spell. I let the dark consume all light that my body would emit normally. I took a look at my arm, which was now utterly black. Certainly a nice tan, but no real use for hiding during the day. So I released it again and pondered the issue of how to do some proper invisibility. If I could let the light from all directions pass through my body, while keeping the reflecting light that my body sent out, I would basically be invisible. The problem was that this posed a difficulty I didn't know how to work around at all.
Another option would be to influence the minds of those around me and make them ignore me. I would be perfectly visible, but no one would take notice. Aside from the fact that I didn't know how to manipulate minds, I could easily come across someone who was not only able to detect that I was meddling around with their minds, but who could also easily do something about it. Not an option either it seemed.
So while I pondered the different ways to achieve invisibility, the way to work easily passed by and I had not come up with any workable solution that didn't require abilities far beyond simple mana manipulation. I would have to accept only being able to use this at night.
The day was spent creating ugly corrupted components again. At least I was quickly moving through the book and could hopefully soon get to nicer task.
Scribe has increased to level 7.
When it was time I left and went by Silvia's house. She was one person I actually enjoyed just spending a bit of time with and I hadn't seen her in a few days. Sure, there was also some interest to finally learn the hunter class, but that wasn't a requirement for visiting her.
I knocked on the door and was in luck, because she was home.
“I was afraid you didn't want to come anymore.”
“Sorry, a lot of things came up...”
Either she had time, or she made time, I didn't ask. I had to recount all that happened on my little adventure and on the other days until she was satisfied. When I was finally finished we had long since gone into the forest and naturally it didn't take long until we met our prey. Silvia took out all but one wolf and I held him down with telekinesis.
While still keeping my concentration on holding him trapped, I took Silvia's bow into my hands and slowly drew it. She had pulled out a knife and was standing by closely in case the wolf got free. It took continuous effort to pin him down, but I could keep it up while I aimed and shot an arrow from close distance.
Hunter level 1 has been obtained.
The wolf was still there and quite alive. The arrow had nearly missed it and stuck almost harmlessly somewhere in its back. It took me two more arrows to kill him, and the last of the two was at point blank range, because keeping him down cost a lot of mana and I was running low. Only when it dropped did I celebrate.
To be honest I wasn't as enthusiastic as Silvia had been when she successfully became a sorceress. I just wanted to tease her, so I made a victory dance and jumped at her for a hug.
“You are not really that excited?”
“No.”, I stated calmly, letting go of her and giving her a dry, blank look. I couldn't keep it up though and we both burst out into laughing.
“Then it's my turn now!”
“How much did you train?”
“A bit now and then. I am level 4 now!”
That surprised me a bit. I could have invested more time, but I hadn't been exactly idle when training spells. And she was merely two levels below me?
“Did you practice anything aside from fireballs?”
“No, just those. I wanted to wait for you before I tried anything new. Why?”
My irritation must have shown and she caught up on it.
“Nothing, I will think of something new. You can practice the old spells whenever you are on your own.”
We headed back out of the forest and came out close to the place where I had let her hurl fireballs at the ground.
“Okay, show me how much you have improved. I want to see a nice fireball.”
Silvia must have practiced a bit, but it still took her a while until she had summoned up the fire. I could create it almost instantly and considered it an easy spell. It was of course one I had used a lot, so that didn't mean much.
She was able to properly aim it and it even contained more power when it burst. Certainly a nice improvement.
“I have thought about another spell. The wolf leader I told you about could create a strong gust of wind, and I want to try that one out. Give me a moment to concentrate.”
I concentrated on the lightness of the air element. I hadn't experimented a lot with different spells since coming to this world, and it was my first time casting a wind type spell. It came very naturally, made even easier because we were already outside and I could relate to the wind a bit better in the open. Of course I needed to do a good impression and used it in the most sensible way. I really wished for a long cloak at this moment.
I let the wind blow right at myself. My clothing wasn't affected that much, it just hung a bit more tightly to me. But my hair shot back wildly and fluttered in the wind. I was getting a bit carried away, but standing in a self conjured wind makes one really feel like a mage in a way most spells don't. So I followed the next inspiration and gathered a lot of mana close to me up in the air. As I charged it up I held out my arm before me and then let it rush down to the ground as a lightning bolt.
Sorceress has increased to level 7.
It might have been a bit much, because the impact was really heavy, but it only hit stone, and nothing dangerous happened. Combined with holding down the wolf for a while and the continuous wind, it had drained me really low though.
“I WANT THAT SPELL!”
“Forget it, I was getting carried away, I will definitely not teach you that lightning. You can hurt yourself much more easily than with fire.”
I was SO going to practice shooting lightning emperor style the moment Silvia wasn't around.
She put up a real sulky face, but I didn't budge. I ordered my hair a bit, which had wildly come flying into the other direction when I had released the wind. Normally it would annoy me, but just now it had served the purpose of showing off my might, and it was rather nice to have for that.
“So, do you want to learn the wind, or go back to shooting fireballs?”
I had to endure some more pouting until she finally relented.
“Okay, I guess that is cool, too.”
My regeneration was working hard, but I still took a little mana out of a crystal to have a bit of a buffer. Then I concentrated on Silvia's body and let a weak energy course through her that was both light and wildly blowing.
“I think I got it.”
Letting her create some light breaths of wind I just observed. I didn't consider this dangerous and just let her try it out. She told me after a while that she had gained another level as Sorceress. We returned to her house after that.
“Don't let me wait this long again!”
“I will try to find some time again. No promises as to when, there always seem to be things coming up...”
When I went home I didn't experiment, but just savored the feeling of having had an enjoyable late afternoon with someone I considered a friend. This life wasn't so bad.
In the evening I was still in a good mood. So when I went out to wash myself I didn't just go through the motions like before. I didn't play around, but I paid some attention to my curves. It was a bit narcissistic, but I began to slowly like my body in an aesthetic way. It was strange to live in it, but I could appreciate the beauty. I hadn't chosen this avatar for nothing after all. There was an appeal in it I had either ignored till now or that was only getting obvious to me, now that I had gotten over the first shock and denial. I didn't want to ruin my mood, so I finished up before I stirred up an unwanted emotion. I slept well that night.