Setting off on our second expedition was a bigger deal. Not just for us, Salara decided to send actual guards this time, a pair of peak F-rankers to watch over Anna-Marie.

The princess herself had taken her drop, possibly a few of them. She'd given one to Salara and taken one, but it seemed like she'd taken the other three herself and had managed to make it to thirty four Impact total, making her the most durable of all of us.

As we met Randall off the back of the mountain after his trip over, I turned to Anna-Marie to ask her about what the deeper parts of the core were like. "So, what can we expect out there, going deeper?"

She bit her lip in thought. "Well there are a few old fortresses and encampments out there that have been abandoned or reclaimed over the years. Every kingdom on the ring has some kind of operating base that's been lost. Some still have active defensive locations, though Ladrigan doesn't."

I made a contemplative noise. I could see how that would play out. People would try to take the fortresses to use as staging grounds for their operations. It would turn into a war for positioning. Since the flowers appeared randomly it could take time, which meant they needed a good place to deploy from.

It was a solid way to force competition, but there was definitely room for cooperation. I wished we knew where any of the people we'd met before were landing. Bethy would be a hell of a teammate to have right now, hell, I was betting we could talk Brightlaw around if we needed to. But I hadn't seen a single familiar face since we'd arrived.

We'd reached the other side of the bridge and mounted up on our goats, and were now heading out along the same path we'd taken before. Not because it would lead us anywhere important, but so we could fill in the map we'd picked up. It would only fill in as we traveled the route with it in our possession, though interestingly, it DID interface with my Song of the Wild skill to mark down herbs and plants, and I suspected the skill that found metals would work as well.

We didn't have the time to make a survey sweep right now, but we'd definitely be coming back after we'd gotten entrenched and set up a command post in the central core. "So we need to be careful." Said Anna-Marie. "The mountains make up the ring and the outer areas of the core, but most of it is a bit more...complex. If we keep traveling we're going to hit the central area after we leave the mountains and that'll be much more complicated to navigate."

"Sounds like it." I said flatly. "What should we be expecting down there? Aside from the fortresses. Are there any locals living in the core area?"

She nodded. "Yes. No kingdoms, but there are wandering bands of nomads who have broken off from ring kingdoms to hole up there. It's extremely dangerous and there are thousands of terrifying monsters down there to contend with. There are also ruins of...older things. Wizard's towers, temples, the core is the oldest area on the planet and has resisted all attempts to properly settle it. We usually don't even enter outside awakenings."

"Well, guess we know where to head." I said with a grim smile. "That'll be where everything happens."" It honestly sounded kind of amazing. In particular I had to ask about one thing. "You said there are...Wizards towers? What are those?"

She shrugged. "Places you learn magic. Books and crystals for Skills that can manipulate elements, transform things, and other similarly powerful tricks. Those who possess Wizard, Necromancer, and Cleric jobs can develop unique and interesting Skills, both from their inborn abilities and from training."

I blinked at her in shock. That was...I hadn't really considered there might be MAGIC jobs. I knew jobs would relegate an inborn ability to a Skill, and that those could be taught and learned, but it never occurred to me that might mean there was an entire subset of people with Skills aimed in that direction. It sounded amazing, and I desperately wanted to learn some of those and then mix them into my DS Mastery.

Callie was as excited as I was, and I had to smile at the thrum of excitement from her as she heard about the possibilities. The goats carried us forward at speed, and it didn't take us nearly as long to reach the area where the last patch of flowers had been without needing to stop constantly for plants and flower picking. When we arrived at the spot we'd last seen the Ray, I had to stop and stare.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

A sword. A massive blade of pure crystal was pinning the flying Ray to the ground where the dead animal had been clearly harvested for parts. A crumbling mountain of formerly living stone lay in the place of the beast that had tried to kill us. I whistled loudly at the sheer power behind the kill. "Guess they had backup. Or one of them got sick of holding back. I'd say we should avoid that group in the future."

"No shit." Said Benny in a hushed tone. "I don't want that to happen to any of us."

Nat shook her head. "It won't. We'll be fine. Killing animals like that is one thing, but remember this isn't a slaughter. We're in competition for resources, and it's more trouble than it's worth to kill off a bunch of juniors from a powerful faction. Don't fall into the trap of thinking all we have to do is kill everyone. It leaves you vulnerable."

Celine nodded. "She's right. This is not going to be a straightforward war or scavenger hunt. People will make alliances and connections. Not just with other factions but with local kingdoms. It's going to get complicated. And we'll still be in danger. The kingdoms won't be quite as circumspect, and more than a few of the factions involved might use them as an excuse or as cats paws to take out competition without doing the deed themselves."

I turned to Callie. "Keep an ear out as we move? Try to use your shadows to get as good of an idea of incoming threats as possible. We want as much warning as we can get, and when we find anyone in range who doesn't know we're there I want you to spy on them for a while before we make contact. That work?"

She gave me an approving smile. "Sounds like a plan." I had to admit, it warmed my heart hearing the pride in her voice and feeling it through the link. I grinned back even if she couldn't see it and led everyone to continue. We rode for another few hours, and I made sure to detect all the plants and metals even if we didn't stop. It was fun watching the map fill with treasure we could pick clean on the way back.

Slowly though, the snow began to thin, the crags became rockier, and the paths became steeper and oddly easier to traverse on the goats. They were all terrain animals apparently, at least as far as mountains went. Eventually, we came over a rise and came to a stop, staring down off a massive cliff at what I could only describe as...a lost jungle.

The core, because that was definitely what this was, extended out before us for further than the eye could see in every direction. It was absolutely massive, and filled with thick green foliage and massive trees. Intermittently I could see gaps where there had been buildings constructs, buildings I was sure were the fortresses we'd heard about earlier. I could also see slight disturbances in the trees that I was almost positive were ruins.

"Ok." I said with a wide eyed stare. "I don't know if we're going to be able to actually find any flowers. Is it really completely random?"

Anna-Marie chuckled. "Mostly. They tend to be at least NEAR massive animals or important places. We check near the ruins and we're likely to run into other teams and eventually some flowers. Of course, we need to be able to keep what we find, so our first job will be taking one of these fortresses and possibly finding allies to help hold it."

Benny looked at her in confusion. "Wait. Didn't we buy our own mini fortress for that?"

I shook my head, knowing the answer before she said it. "No way. That's for overnight trips, but if we try to hole up in there with a bunch of Dew we're going to fall under siege, and no way it holds up. All the defenses are designed to be temporary." I paused. "Maybe not the bone wall. We can probably use that on the main fortress."

Callie stepped forward. "We're pretty damned high, but I might be able to extend my range in a straight line if I push it. Going to put some strain on my soul, but that closest fortress is within reach if I do that, and I can get us some info on who and what is in there so we can take it."

"You sure?" I asked worriedly. "That kind of strain is dangerous." I paused to think over her suggestion. "Though I admit taking the closest fortress to the paths toward Ladrigan will give us an extra advantage. If we end up managing to call reinforcements it'll make things easier, not to mention we can hold the cliff so no one tried to sneak back along our path. The neighboring kingdoms can still cross over, but it could definitely be worse."

She waved me off. "I'll be fine. Just keep an eye on me while I'm distracted." She hopped off the goat, kneeling to stick her hand in the shadow of a rock. Her hand passed through the solid ground and into the darkness, just a bit, like she was testing a bath with her fingers, and she closed her eyes to focus.

I hopped down after her, looming next to her with my staff in my hands. The necrotic energy thrumming in the wood was comforting as I waited for any sign of attack, though none came. Eventually, she opened her eyes. "Alright. The fortress closest to us is lightly defended by the kingdom of Kargath. Fifteen F-rankers, five locals on the higher end and ten outsiders. No one I'd heard of."

Looking around, I counted our own force. Pretty similar in size, honestly. Our ten man group and then another five locals. Four guards and Anna-Marie herself.

I remembered what Zeke had said. This wasn't a fight, it was about resources. That didn't just mean we avoided lethal fights though, it meant we had other methods of entering and taking them out. "Callie." I said after a minute. "How long can you hold someone unaware with your shadows?"

She bit her lip. "Maybe a minute if I get them good. Depends. My Might isn't low but it's not high, especially compared to some others. If I wrap them up without any leverage it'll make it much harder to break free. Why?"

I grinned at her and leaned in, pulling on her Stealth Skill as I told her the whole plan. My girlfriend gave me an evil grin. "That." She said with relish. "I think might work. You have eight of them right? Will that be enough?"

As I went over my resources I nodded purposefully. "I can make it work. Once we take out the strongest we can switch tactics. Seven on fifteen should work out fine." We began to discuss details, the others looking on in confusion as I mentally rubbed my hands together. This was going to be a lot of fun.