The mountains were huge and gorgeous, and the goats were amazing, hopping us around like they were spring loaded, but I was much too distracted to enjoy it because of one factor. It was so fucking cold!

I felt my hands tingle as I dug in the snow, annoyingly high enough ranked to actually bother me. Much like the stone, the water from the sky came from sources on the planet, which meant it was F-rank like the rest of this place. How or why this presumably F-rank planet was more powerful spot for spot than Callus, which was pseudo D-rank, I had no idea, but I suspected it had to do with the nature of the restrictions.

Nothing here could surpass F-rank, but as the number of F-rankers on the planet rose, that renown had to go somewhere. Apparently it had been seeping into the planet, slowly raising the power. In that environment even more F-rankers broke through, and the cycle continued.

Was this a factor of being a dungeon? I'd been told dungeons were different than normal planets somehow, was this process linked to this planet's dungeon status or was it a result of the spatial turbulence that caused the limitations. Hell, was the TURBULENCE a factor of this place being a dungeon?

Whatever the cause, my hands were freezing even through my damned gloves, and I was going to start losing feeling if I didn't warm...I froze, cursing myself for an idiot. I triggered Consecration of Flame on my gloves, sighing as the warmth soothed my aching hands. I grimaced as I accidentally burned a rare plant though, and sighed, letting the Skill drop. I couldn't afford to waste these things.

Blissroot was apparently an extremely powerful pain relief plant that sold for quite a bit in Ladrigan. Slipping it into my ring, I stood up and turned around to survey the area. "Ok that's all of them nearby. There's a field of powerful plants in that direction." I pointed to my left tiredly. "But I need a minute to gather my strength."

It was funny, despite the relative lightness of the snow to my enhanced body, the conceptual weight of it seemed to tire me out, much the same way lifting my staff did over a long period of time.

There were murmurs of agreement from everyone else as they all slumped down onto the backs of their nearby goats. Callie inched closer on the back of her own mount, her tiny form adorably burrowing into the thick fur for relief from the cold. "You think we're close?" She said hopefully, teeth chattering in the freezing wind. "Because I can't take much more of this. At this point I want to get in a fight just to warm up."

I laughed breathlessly. "I couldn't tell you. The skill I'm using isn't quite so exact. We've gotten a ton of materials though, which we should be able to sell for a pretty credit." I paused. "Actually...what currency does Ladrigan even use? I mean they have to use something, but considering chits are regulated by the merchants I don't see how they would be made or traded here."

Anna-Marie overheard the question, which wasn't surprising since I hadn't stealthed when asking it. She glanced over with an embarrassed smile. "Ah, right. I should've perhaps adressed that during my little history lesson. Ladrigan uses royals, a type of coin made from heartstone. It's a special mineral that can be used to strengthen earth based materials. The coins are extremely low quality, so you need quite a few of them to have an effect, but they allow an increase in defensive potential for the homes and territory of those in the castle."

That was interesting. I wondered how it worked. Was the stone actually being turned into something else? Or was heartstone just some kind of side effect of the Dew, a method of slowly and minutely increasing Impact in quantities too low to detect. Either way it was a reasonable currency for the absurdly defense focused Ladrigan.

Benny seemed to have a different thought though. "Wouldn't you run out? If they're consumable I mean. It can't be easy to find more of the stuff, even if you're alloying it to make coins with a low percentage of the stone." That was a good point, and I looked to Anna-Marie, who shrugged.

"Heartstone recovers. Active versus inactive coins are tracked, and they're cycled out as they're used up, tossed in kingdom vaults to refresh their effects. It takes quite a while though, and the effects have diminishing returns, so most people stockpile them for a rainy day unless they need to reinforce a new territory or they have a surplus."

"Fascinating." Murmured my best friend absently, his voice remote as he lost himself in a bit of an Inventors fugue. "I could see how that would be an invaluable resource. No wonder the mountain seems so solid. Even more than the normal rocks here. It must have been heavily reinforced over the centuries or even millenia." He shook his head, as if clearing away the cobwebs of Inventing physically." Anyway, I take it we'll be able to pick up a pretty huge bundle of the things with all these fancy plants?'

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She nodded with a bright smile. "Oh yes. Each of these is difficult to procure because of the environment. This would normally be the haul of herb gatherers working for a week at least. Granted, they have their own Skills for sensing plant life, but it doesn't have the same range or specificity I've seen from Mr. Solomon's Skill."

That was gratifying to hear, though I was guessing there were upsides to their abilities that mine didn't have. The specificity she spoke of was only the ability to detect rough value. Herb gatherers probably had the power to tell what exactly the plants they were picking up were.

Still, I had a good feeling about the flowers being close. I could sense the rarity of plants to an extent, and the patch I sensed now was definitely rare as hell. Now that we'd had time to rest up a bit, I stretched to loosen my muscles and adjusted my seat on my own goat. "Well." I said firmly. "That skill says we're coming up on something big, so keep an eye out. If it's the flowers chances are good we might run into another group of outsiders."

We'd been traveling for hours, hopping from plant to plant and collecting them as best we could. Knowing our speed and the goats agility chances were good we were deep enough into the mountains to be in general territory. I led the group up onto a thick ridge of rocks, climbing the outcropping with speed so we could look out in the direction I'd detected the plants.

When we got to the top, I froze in awe. "Those...those would be the flowers I'm guessing?" I said quietly, feeling the urge to keep my voice low out of some kind of inherent unwillingness to break the tranquility and harmony of the scene before us.

The flowers were beautiful, or course. They looked like liquid silver hammered into the shape of petals, set on black glass stems with glowing golden pistils rising from among them. No snow or frost, and even a huge area of grass around them in their little valley surrounded by stone outcroppings and shielded from the weather. That wasn't what rendered me so stunned though. No, what shocked me was the MOONLIGHT.

Vortexes of lunar majesty swirled above the flowers, not just singularly, but mixed together into a seething sea of rioting silver and rainbow sheened light. Inside the moonshine, I could see worlds and galaxies being born and dying, see my dreams coming true as I watched versions of me accomplish every goal, and others fail their life's missions and be left broken and bereft of joy.

This wasn't just magic, or renown. This was IMPACT, the moonlight cascade tainted by the weight of raw creation and reflecting the possibilities of a million legends. Anna-Marie swallowed hard, before whispering. "The Lunar Nexus." She sounded shocked, almost disbelieving. "I...I'd heard the stories. But this one is stronger than most. Larger, more complex. It's awe inspiring. There must be a dozen drops of Dew down there to create a phenomena this intense."

That was shit ton based on what we'd been told. That was six drops for us and six for Anna-Marie. She was already moving forward, but my hand shot out to catch her arm. "Whoa there princess." I said firmly. "Take your eyes off the prize for a second and look around. We're not the only guests at this party."

Her eyes widened, snapping up and around to take in our surroundings, and she realized what I meant. "Three other groups." She said, voice hushed again, not that it would do any good at this point. I didn't recognize the others, but I could remember some faces from the markets back at the bazaar. These people were outsiders like us, at least some of them. It made sense since they'd been drawn here like I had, though I was guessing it had been a much less productive trip for them.

Since we'd been speaking unstealthed, they would know we were here, of course, but that wasn't my issue. "Why haven't they gone in?" I asked quietly, staring across the field of flowers at the competitors. I wished I'd known some of them, we could have maybe worked out an alliance, because I had the sinking suspicion we weren't going to be able to pick these particular flowers on a leisurely stroll.

Abel answered. "That whole field reeks of bloodlust. I'm more sensitive to to the stuff than most. A LOT of people have died in that little valley, and most of them went badly."

Jessie nodded. "The life energy down there is way too thick to just be flowers. I can't sense bloodlust or anything, but there's a creature in that field, and it's pretty big from what I can tell. I just don't know where it is. The energy is spread out in a weird way, like it's part of the earth somehow, but I know the difference between plant and animal life force. It's a...flavor thing. That's an animal."

I grimaced, but gave them both nods of thanks. It was good information to have. It was ALSO enough to go on for my Eye of Revelation to probably pick up some clues, so I triggered the skill, using my ability to see that which was hidden to reveal the truth of this place.

Unfortunately, when you open a hidden eye, sometimes a hidden eye opens back. As I stared down at the field, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, near the base of the flower patch, a pair of eyes opened in return. Big ones. The ground rumbled, and I swallowed hard as the flowers began to move, not one at a time like they would in the wind, but all together, as the ground itself rose up into the air.

"I think." I said faintly. "I figured out why they didn't move in to take the flowers. And ALSO why there was no snow around the flowers down there."

Benny gave a strangled scoff. "No shit." Said my best friend. "Do you think it might have been because of THAT?!" He jabbed a finger at the creature that had just finished rising from the dirt.

A massive stone stingray, its bottom covered with a hundred separate mouths full of jagged gnashing teeth, hovered above us, the flowers situated on its back as it loomed over the valley menacingly. "Yup." I said in a worried voice. "That was going to be my first guess. Anyone have any idea what that IS?" I asked desperately. When no answer was forthcoming I sighed loudly. "Yeah, I was kind of afraid of that."