Chapter 29

He took a long pull from his waterskin, and already, he could feel the tension and aches fading. He’d already found himself spoiled by drinking water from the Waysprings. Fox claimed that prior to meeting Oskar, they’d often supplemented using water that was inside the ball cacti that sporatically dotted the landscape. He’d tried it and spat it out immediately. It tasted like someone had emptied out a can of bug spray and filled it back up with lightly boiled swamp water. Just… disgusting.

Wayspring water, on the other hand, tasted like you just finished cutting the grass on a hot summer day, and then somehow walked into a nice hotel and got a whole thermos of fruit infused ice water. It was a subtle taste. A touch of lime with the barest hint of saline, if Oskar had been forced to describe it. He assumed it was a perfect hydration mix, it being magical in nature and all.

What’s the point of magic water if it wasn’t basically perfect at its job?

Speaking of doing its job, his ears popped and the world seemed to slowly come back into sharp detail as the ringing in his ears faded. He caught movement and turned to see the group running his direction from the site of the battle. Penny kwinned excitedly in the distance as they approached. The Pangolor was in the lead, and was doing a wildly inefficient, but admittedly adorable run with intermittent bounces. He couldn't help but smile at her.

Is she bigger? She's definitely cute.

Even though she was designated as his companion, the only stats he had on her was a general threat level, which despite her natural charisma, placed her as an even threat.

Oskar threw up a hand in greeting as she neared, and she slid to a stop for just a brief moment before doing the absolute cutest jump spin and taking off toward him again. She dived into his arms, knocking him back a step as he laughed at her.

“I’m fine, girl. Are you getting bigger? Holy cow!”

“Kwinn!” she purred, snuggling.

She was noticeably heavier now, and he probably couldn’t have held onto her if she’d not wanted to be in his arms, but she settled into a modified version of her sleeping position with her head pressed into the crook of his neck. The Kobolds came into view a moment later, at a half run. Oskar thought they might have been afraid to find him, but Penny was Penny.

Fox whispered something as she neared. “Say again?” Oskar asked.

His PUB sent him a notification:

// She said, “You have Bastet’s own luck, human.” Or intoned it. She might have intoned it. It was at the very least generated sonically from her speech organs. //

“What is the matter with you?”

// Sorry. That was a strange thing to say. I’m trying out new material. //

“I’m fine, I swear.” Oskar said.

Fox, ever the skeptic, gave him a full walk around before she shook her head and led him back toward where he assumed the bird had crash landed.

“Come on, then. We must hurry. If anyone had seen the battle, they might be on their way to loot- or eat- the loser.”

"I was curious about the cave."

"Probably rot and bones, and staying puts us in more danger than it is worth."

Knowing the Kobold was right, the group made their way further from the nest as they followed Touwon’s confident gait towards the fallen Gryphus’ crash location. They needn’t have hurried, though. The smell was enough to keep anything but other carrion away, and the Gryphus Vulture had long since driven off or killed most of the competition.

The massive bird lay with its neck at an awkward angle, yellowed eyes glassy. Oskar resigned himself and stepped forward into the eye watering smell and laid a hand on the beast to initiate the loot process.

Oskar blinked as a set of broken Goggles and a Bracer suddenly appeared in the sand in front of him. They were obviously made for Crocs' larger, longer heads, but the Bracer wasn't quite as oddly shaped. The straps and general size were too large for Oskar and far too big for the Kobolds, though.

A shimmer went through Oskar as he picked up the PUB set and the Gambit completed. Smaller, no consequence Gambits didn’t seem to cause this effect, so apparently, just like this one, the Gambit Valla had initiated was a big one.

// Loot Retrieved:

Gram’s Damaged Goggles - Designation NBR

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Gram’s Damaged Bracer Unit - Designation NBR

Gambit Completed: Defeat the Gryphus Vulture and retrieve Gram’s gear.

Reward: Potential entry into the Gramm Collective

Greater Gryphus Insight Gem

Oh snap. This is good stuff, broken or not. //

“It’s a matching set, but it says it's damaged.”

Touwon’s eyes widened, and he rushed over with his hands out to see, and Oskar happily handed over the gear with a wink at Fox, who smiled good-naturedly. Touwon was already in his own world as Oskar picked up and inspected a Gem, filled with swirling blue color.

What is this?

// Ok, so sometimes when you get Insight, you get it in the form of a temporary Gem so you can absorb it at your own pace. This can happen if you’re in a dangerous situation or if it’s a major fight that you can learn from. Sometimes it's the idea for a skill or something, but this one looks like an Echo gem that's fully compatible. A lot of inspiration can take a long time to process if your compatibility is low. What this is doing is taking all that information you’ve absorbed through the fight and even some of the potential of what you were fighting, and merging everything you could have learned over time into a moments of inspiration by Echoing the battle.

It recreates the battle you fought to earn the Gem by playing echoes of it in your head, so it’s just like you’re right back on the battlefield. It’s the small details in those Echos, though, those tiny differences between success and failure, that trigger the inspiration. The magic that coursed through the creature’s veins was built, grown, and created over its entire life, and some of what it was created this upon its death, so the echos represent realistic reactions as they come from the creatures own brain and survival instincts.

A greater Gem is rare. Because it’s your highest affinity, because of your druid class, because you dealt the killing blow... as well as your crazy brain loving the sky so much, this Gem is perfect for you. But, as Fox would say, let me tell you a truth: It's up to you to learn. The magic won't last forever. Get what you can out of this.

Greater Insight Gem- Sora- Compatibility 100% //

“Is this going to hurt me or take a while?”

// Not this one. Anyone could absorb this, but it would be all but wasted on someone with a low affinity. Imagine trying to learn useful things from your class from a fight you didn't fight in, in a body that isn't yours. Like I said, this one is perfect for you.

Absorb now? Yes/No //

He gave Fox the rundown on what was happening, expecting her to balk at the delay, but surprisingly she gave him a firm nod.

"We will need every advantage. Do it, we will guard you."

Okay, then, lets do this.

// Inspiration Absorption Initiated. //

His vision flashed, and he felt his body falling to the sand as the Inspiration began.

// Oh, you probably should have sat down. My bad. //

Adrenaline surged through his body as he suddenly was facing the Gryphus Vulture just as it smashed down, knocking them away again.

This time, Fox was knocked heavily into the dune instead of recovering instantly, and he'd been forced to distract the huge bird to give her time to recover. If this had happened in the actual fight, before his time in the air showed him what Sora was capable of, he would have died right there. This time, though, the swirl of colors gathering behind the incoming wing swipe gave him time to dodge. Not completely, but enough to survive. Eventually, the fight ended much the same as it did the first time. This time, however, his time in the sky was peaceful. Thankfully, it allowed him again to use the kinetic transfer before it started over.

He fought the bird, again and again. Sometimes it was quick, sometimes it was a drawn out affair. They weren't all successful. In one fight, he was killed at the very beginning due to the bird landing on him instead of where Penny had dived under the sand, and so, he learned. As he felt like he perfected parts of the fight, they no longer appeared. To his disappointment, after the fifth successful kill, the fight ended just after the purple ring and the bird's final death throes. After he learned to anticipate the move by jumping away in the air, and then using Sora to nudge him back to the bird, the echos tightened to the initial contact and his launch onto the Gryphus Vulture's back. He'd only missed completely once, and that had ended that particular echo when he flew out of range of the right completely. He eventually felt comfortable, though and that too disappeared. He never quite got comfortable with his on ground offense against the bird, but he got better at anticipating and dodging its attacks.

After what felt like a hundred battles, though, it was over. He was exhausted, overwhelmed, but exhilarated.

His every thought and movement now took things into account subconsciously that would have taken all his attention before. Oskar knew that although Sora wasn't quite at his beck and call, it was getting closer. There was a lot more complexity than he'd even imagined. For one, the colors in the sky did not just represent the amount of Sora in the air, or the wind speed and direction he thought it did. There were other things at play that were beginning to tug at his subconscious.

The PUB was flashing at him, so he checked the notifications, which confirmed what he now suspected.

// Sora Insight– Threshold reached.

You're getting it now. You’ve seen the wind for what it is- just a part of the whole.

Sora is The Magic Above. All of it. Knowing the words and learning the difference changes everything.

Thinking Sora is only the wind is an absurd oversimplification. It's like thinking of Penny as only one of her scales.

Sora is every element you can find above the earth; you get that now. Even more importantly... you're privy to a secret most never even know exists: Concepts. Concepts like Gravity and Atmosphere are starting to make more and more sense.

It’s all uphill from here. Or downhill. Wait, why is it called uphill when things are getting harder, and downhill when things are getting worse or falling apart? What do you say when things are gonna get better? This ain't it, but I'm just curious. Isn’t walking downhill easier? Well, I can’t tell up from down, but you’re learning to use more than just wind. That’s all I’m saying. //

Oskar smiled at the PUB, but was still processing everything he'd just learned.

Every time I learn anything, it just creates another head on the ol curiosity Hydra.

// What is a curiosity hydra? That sounds terrifying. //

Just a joke. Like cutting off the head of a hydra, you answer one question and two more pop up?

// Have you always been this bad at naming stuff? //