When Victor entered Dar’s lake house, it was quiet, and the servant who opened the door for him said, “Your guests are down at the lake, swimming, I believe.”
He nodded, smiling at the woman. He tried to look her in the eyes while he spoke, but she kept looking down, and he didn’t want to press the issue; he couldn’t tell if she was trying to be respectful or if it was some cultural thing. “I’ll join them soon.” He gestured with the smooth, ivory case, “I’ll stop by my quarters first. Any word from Dar?”
“Lord Dar has indicated that he’ll be here for dinner. He does not expect you to join him. I’m sure he’ll communicate his expectations. Do you share a Farscribe boo—”
“Shit!” Victor slapped his head, interrupting her. “I do. I better check it. Thanks!” He hurried to the rooms Dar had given him to use and closed the door. He sat at the suite’s study desk, pulled out the Farscribe book Dar had given him, and flipped past the several dozen pages he’d written in already. On the furthest, script-covered page, he found a short note from Dar:
> Victor,
>
> Lo’ro has indicated to me that you were successful. He has reported that the experience was hard on you and that your connection to the Plane of Spirits and your ancestors is particularly sensitive. Given your history, I should have anticipated that. Do not be alarmed; when you stepped through the rip in the veil, no doubt your ancestors sensed it and grew concerned. If they weren’t trying to guide you to join them, they certainly, at least, wanted to know where you had gone. Perhaps they sought to aid you. In any case, their unrest will ease knowing you are back among the living.
>
> Take the next few days for yourself. See to your prizes from the competition, consume that monster’s heart—I see no reason to delay that process. I’ve made the decision to allow you and your guests to stay at my lake house until such time that you’ve built up your fortune and can afford a home more suitable to your stature. At first, I thought it was too much, that I’d spoil you, but I believe the natural environment is vital to your spiritual development. That said, if you need funds, sell your home in the city.
>
> To avoid my ire, check this book each day at sunrise and sunset for my instructions. When we next meet, I’ll guide you to a proper location in the caves beneath the lake where we can begin the construction of your cultivation chamber.
>
> Congratulations on your success,
>
> Ranish Dar
Victor read the text twice, feeling strangely comforted by the Spirit Master’s words and concern. He looked around the room and smiled; it was a damn sight nicer than the one he and Valla had claimed in his townhome. She was going to love it at the lake house. “How the hell did he find all that out so fast? Lo’ro just left!” He chuckled at his muttered words. He supposed he could assume the two masters had some way of communicating that he didn’t understand. Maybe Lo’ro spoke to Dar while Victor had dozed, having his ancestor’s dream. “Before I burned up the couch!” he laughed.
He reached up to his chest, feeling the vault pendant under his shirt. He supposed Dar’s idea of building his cultivation chamber in a cave was smart for now. Victor liked having the vault with him, storing his treasures and secrets, apparently keeping them safe even from people as powerful as Lo’ro and Dar. Nodding with purpose, he left the room, still clutching the ivory box, and made his way out onto the deck. Before he descended the stairs to the pier, where he could hear laughter and splashing, he took his necklace off and opened his vault on a clear section of the deck.
The tiny metallic ball rapidly expanded with clicks and gouts of steam. The deck groaned a little under the weight, but Victor figured Dar had built it to accommodate people of his stature. How much would a dinner party of giants weigh? He chuckled at the image that conjured and opened the vault, stepping inside. His ivid royal jelly, wrapped in the ivid silk, still sat in a satchel against the wall, and Victor set the ivory box containing his two trapped geists down a few feet away from it. That done, he stepped out, closed the heavy vault door, and twisted the key until it began to shrink again.
One of Dar’s household staff had approached, a look of concern on his face, but he relaxed and offered a quick nod as Victor bent to pick up the pendant, hanging it over his neck. “Just had to put something away.”
“Of course, sir.” He gestured toward the stairs leading down to the lake. “Would you like us to prepare refreshments?”
“Yeah, that would be great.” When the man nodded and turned back to the house, Victor started down the steps. As he walked, he pulled off his shirt, sending it into the ring where he kept most of his clothes. The sun and lake air felt terrific against his skin, and he let it soak in while he took in the sight below.
Lam and Edeya sat at the end of the pier, wearing garments that looked more like underwear than swimsuits. Their wings were spread wide, fluttering in the warm breeze while they dipped their feet in the water. A splash drew Victor’s eyes out to the lake, and he saw Darren floating on his back, his long black hair splayed out in the water behind him like a fan. They were certainly enjoying the setting.
None of them had noticed him yet, and an evil grin spread on Victor’s lips as he silently sat on the steps and reached down to send his boots, socks, and pants into his dimensional ring. He stood, wearing just his boxer-like underpants. With an effort of will, he clamped down on his aura, ensuring none of it leaked out, and, like a hulking, musclebound barbarian sneaking up on a foe, he stalked down to the pier. He crept over its twenty-five-yard length until he was just a few feet behind the two women. He then bunched his thighs and leaped over them, cannonballing into the water.
Screams and curses greeted his ears when he surfaced, and Victor laughed, shaking his head and wiping the water off his face. He looked up with glee, observing the chaos he’d caused. Lam was on her feet, a hammer much smaller than the one she usually used in her right hand. Edeya was hovering in the air behind her, her ivory spear in her hands. Her wings hummed and shed thousands of motes of blue-tinted Energy, and both women scowled, dripping water onto the drenched decking. “What?” he asked with mock innocence.
“Victor!” Edeya screamed, diving toward him, swinging the spear like a club, intending to clobber him. Lam chuckled, shook her head, and sent her hammer back into her ring. Of course, Victor knew more about horseplay in a pool than Edeya was prepared to handle. He snatched the spear haft as she swung it close, and with just a fraction of his titanic strength, he used it to launch her toward the center of the lake.
Edeya howled, her wings humming with effort to correct her flight. She almost succeeded, righting herself and slowing her descent, but not quite enough; she splashed into the water a dozen yards beyond where Darren floated. Victor laughed and reached the spear toward Lam so the other woman could take it and lay it on the pier.
“She’s going to be angry!” Lam said, shaking her head.
“Nah,” Victor chuckled. “She enjoyed that. See?” He was right; Edeya’s wings buzzed and splashed, and then she shot out of the water, streaking back toward the pier. He wasn’t sure, but he thought she was flying faster than she used to.
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“Bully!” she cried as she settled onto the pier, then plopped down again beside Lam. Victor flopped onto his back in the water, letting his momentum carry him a little further away from them.
When he surfaced, he chuckled, “I’m going shopping soon; I’ll buy you all some swimsuits.” He stared up into the hazy sky, amazed by how many stars he could still see, even in the middle of the day.
“What?” Edeya asked, but then Lam laughed, and Victor heard her whisper.
“He thinks our impromptu swimming garments are too immodest!”
“Well,” he said, trying not to sound like a prude, “I mean, when they got wet, I could see through ‘em.”
“Creep!” Edeya howled, and when he smiled her way, he saw she and Lam were both shrugging into loose-fitting shirts.
“He’s not a creep,” Lam said, lifting an arm over Edeya’s shoulders. “He’s just a man. He didn’t have to say anything.”
“I know,” Edeya sighed. “You know he and I like to tease. Don’t fret. Besides, when I tell Valla . . .”
“Hey!” Victor splashed a wave of water her way. “Don’t make me pull you down to the bottom!” She kicked water back at him, and when he finished laughing, he said, “So? What did you think of Lam’s news?” Victor heard splashing behind him and turned to see Darren slowly swimming back toward the dock. He had a smooth way of moving in the water like he’d done a lot of swimming in his life.
Meanwhile, Edeya gushed, “It’s amazing! We’re going to level together! Can you think of anything more wonderful?” Victor had expected her to be a little upset with Lam, considering the risks involved in the process. When he peered at the older woman, she narrowed her eyes and ever-so-slightly shook her head. That clarified things: Lam had omitted some of the facts. Victor figured she’d give Edeya the details as time passed and the younger woman grew more and more comfortable with the idea.
He considered Edeya’s question and shook his head. “No, I really can’t. I want to do the same with Valla; I wish circumstances allowed us to do more together.”
Lam looked at Edeya and sighed. “I keep trying to tell her that I wanted a second go at leveling, at Classes, skills, and rewards. It’s not all about you, Dey-dey.” Victor could see Edeya wasn’t buying it.
“Of course, of course.” She grinned, eyes twinkling. Then she gasped and turned to face Victor. “You gave her a spirit Core! And we both have new Classes!”
Victor knew what she wanted, so he asked, “Well? Tell me about your Class, then.”
“I’m a Nimbus Reaver, and as soon as I chose it, I gained a skill! Improved flight!”
“I thought you seemed faster. Nice one, Edeya. Nimbus Reaver, huh? Sounds tough.” He nodded in approval. “You can still use the spear?” He’d given her one of the finer, though not overly heavy and powerful, spears that had belonged to Karnice, the one-time champion of Coloss. He knew the question wasn’t necessary; hadn’t he just flung her with that same spear? But he knew she wanted to talk about the Class, so he thought it was a good opening.
“Yes! It’s a Class that will take advantage of my water affinity while nourishing my bloodline development and combat abilities.”
“Should go nicely with Lam’s new Class, too.” Victor nodded and turned to look at Darren, who’d been treading water nearby for a while. “Getting close to ten, Darren?”
He nodded. “Level six, but close to seven, I think.”
“Cool. Nice job, man.” Victor wanted to go for a swim, but he figured he should share some of his news. “Dar gave me permission to live here, and he explicitly said me and my ‘guests,’ so I think I’ll head into town and pick up our belongings from the villa. I think I might sell it.”
“Really?” Edeya squealed, and Victor saw her grasp Lam’s hand, squeezing it tightly.
“Yeah, he thinks it’ll be good for my development.” Victor shrugged. “Speaking of development, Lam, I have a few spell patterns I should teach you.”
“You’d do that?”
Her surprise caught Victor off guard. He nodded and shrugged. “Of course I will.”
“Well,” Lam squinted down at him between the fingers of her hand, fighting to make eye contact in the bright glare of the sun’s reflections, “I really appreciate that, Victor. We’re talking about heading into another dungeon soon. If Lesh and Valla get out in the next day or two, do you think Dar would be okay with us having a dinner party here? Edeya and I want to cook for you.”
Victor grinned at the idea. “He said I could live here with my guests, so there’s no way he’d say we can’t have a dinner party. Besides, who knows how many houses that guy has? I’ll write it into the Farscribe book when I make my report tonight.”
“Yay!” Edeya said, throwing an arm around Lam’s neck and squeezing her close. “We want to invite someone for you to meet. She asked us to join her party to go into a kind of exclusive dungeon, and we want your opinion about her.”
Lam held up a hand. “That’s Edeya’s idea. I haven’t met this girl.”
“It’s fine with me. Maybe I could invite a friend, too.” Victor was thinking of Sora. He flopped back and kicked his legs, moving further into the water. “I’m heading to town in an hour or so if any of you want to come. For now, I’m going to try to swim across the lake.” With that, he turned and struck out, swimming over the surface, face down, marveling at how good it felt to exert himself in the cool water with the sun on his back.
While he swam and considered the idea of hosting a dinner party, he pictured a few other potential guests. Would Drobna, the turtle-like berserker, want to come? Victor thought it would be fun to chat with him about the things they had in common. He grinned as he imagined inviting Cam, too, just to put him on the spot to see how he acted toward Sora. Would he hold a grudge? Then, there was the giant armor-plated warrior and his wife—they’d be fun to talk to, wouldn’t they?
When he realized he was thinking of inviting the people he’d thrashed in the dungeon, Victor rolled onto his back and laughed. Was he so eager for some drama? Was he trying to stir shit up, or was he trying to clear the air? He liked to think it was the latter.
He stopped halfway into the lake, not because he was tired but because it was taking too long. He didn’t want the whole afternoon to slip away while he swam. When he returned, the others were already on the deck, comfortably dressed and enjoying a light lunch. Victor’s stomach rumbled, but he knew it was just habit; he felt amazing after the swim and knew the rich ambient Energy on Sojourn was doing plenty to nourish his body. Still, he sat down with the others and ate a plate of cold meats, each marinated or cured with different seasonings and spices.
The meats were rolled and skewered with toothpicks, along with complementing cold, crisp vegetables, and he wished he had some kind of guide to explain what each of them was. “This is so good,” he mumbled around a mouthful. “Valla would love this.”
“Lesh wouldn’t,” Darren laughed. “He’d take a tray, pull out all the toothpicks, and then eat the meat in one or two bites.”
Victor laughed and raised an eyebrow at the guy. He was a damn sight different from the suit-wearing politician from First Landing that he’d been. He wore a loose, button-up linen shirt, the collar hanging wide, over soft-looking gray slacks. His feet were bare, and his long, black hair hung loose over his shoulders. The guy looked like a lounging movie star. “You’re looking better, Darren. Just a few levels, and you already seem more . . . solid, I guess.”
“Dare was great in the dungeon, Victor!” Edeya said, licking her fingers after a bite.
“Yeah?”
“Yep. I was worried he’d be, you know, maybe a little hesitant, I guess, but he was positively brave. He fended off a toad boss that was twice his size!”
“Dare, huh?” Victor nodded. “I like it. Well, good job.” Victor stood and walked toward the house, pausing on his way to clap Darren on the shoulder. He was careful not to knock him out of his seat, and he could see the man’s smile broaden at the gesture. “Anyone going with me?”
“I will,” Lam said. “I want to shop for new hammers and a shield. I’m going to try to be a front line for these two.” She looked at Victor. “Will that be all right? Are you going to a weapon shop?”
“Better, I’m gonna check out the auction house. Sora mentioned it to me while I was in the dungeon. I’m pretty sure we can find you what you need.” Victor planned to try to trade one of the five set-piece items he had for a pair of pants in the set; he was tired of his pants getting shredded all the time. He also had his prizes from the campaign back on Fanwath to look into—the magma attunement gem and the lava king hide. “After that, I want to speak to my realtor and stop by the house.”
Edeya gestured a toothpick toward Darren. “I’m going to help him cultivate.”
Victor nodded. “When you get to level ten, Darren, if that staff isn’t going to be ideal, I have a shitload of other weapons. We’ll make sure you’re ready for the next dungeon.”
“Thank you!” Darren stood, and it looked like he was about to bow, but he just nodded respectfully. “I wish there was a way to level without going into a dungeon. Wouldn’t it be great if I were ten before then?”
“A level or two from cultivating and learning spells isn’t unheard of,” Lam said, “But four levels in just a day or three won’t be likely.”
“Speaking of spells,” Edeya said, leaping up. “Victor, will you see if you can find any cheap, lower-level spell patterns for water or lightning affinities? I mean, chaos, too, but that sounds scary, so . . .”
“Uh,” Darren said, holding up a hand, “don’t go out of your way or anything . . .”
“Relax,” Victor chuckled, “I’ll check the auction house.”
Lam gestured to the door. “Come on, Victor. Before our shopping list grows any more. You can talk to me about courage affinity spells while we ride in the coach.”
Victor shrugged and waved at Edeya as he followed Lam through the door. It was nice to have friends around him, but he missed Valla. While he followed Lam to the coach house, he thought about the Gargantuopod heart in his dimensional ring. Should he eat it that night? He had Dar’s blessing but didn’t want to get knocked out for days. What if Valla came home, and he missed her? He didn’t think that was all that likely—he’d eaten a few potent hearts, and none of them had knocked him out for all that long, unlike the bloodline evolution treasures he’d consumed.
“Yeah,” he said, though all he got from Lam was a puzzled look. He winked at her, adding, “I’m going to have a busy night.”