The voice of the World Soul whispered softly in my head. <{Arcanist} Advanced to level 8. {Emergency Arcanum}, unlocked. For convincing Sky to accompany you in peace, you have advanced to {Arcanist:8}>
I frowned in puzzlement. Most of the time, Skills were pretty obvious, but what the heck did Emergency Arcanum do?
The world soul chimed softly.
“Oh!” I said in surprise. Followed by a frown and a probing thought.
Hello? System?
Only silence answered, but still… I sank into the half meditation of {Study} to check my stats.
{Name}: Lilyanna of Breezewood Current Status:
{Level}: 31
{Classes}: Spiritist 10/Orator 10/Arcanist 8/Gourmet 3
HP: 582 MP: 852 DEF: 128 M.DEF: 208
DEX: 139 INS: 210
MIG: 138 WIL: 206
Woah. Level 31?! And classes cap at 10… I wonder what Level Deacon is? I bit my lower lip in thought.
I wonder how broken any of this is? Is there a cheat code I can put in to break it in my favor? Or…I shuddered at a very ugly thought. Or is the fact that I can bend and twist the plot the break? I think the system should be broken if it is!
I focused on my Arcanist levels, feeling the familiar almost meditation sense of {Study} growing deeper.
I knew what Bind & Summon did, but then… I’d never heard them explained.
I pursed my lips. I clearly should have paid attention to that earlier! But really… in hindsight it wouldn’t have made much of a change. Did Deacon even know about this?
I hurriedly glanced through my other classes.
Spiritist 10: White Magic| Defense Speced. Awaken, Reinforce, Heal, Barrier, Aura, Cleanse | Capstone skill: {{Holy White}}
Orator 10: Encourage 5, My Trust In You 2, Persuade 3, Capstone skill: {{Disarming Rhetoric}}
Gourmet 3: Cooking 3
I grunted thoughtfully, poking slowly through my skills.
Most of my white mage… well all of my Spiritist class levels were in spells, and I knew what those did, I’d used all of them more than once. {Encourage} let me give all my friends a boost in battle…
Oh. I’ve used that multiple times, without even thinking about it.
{My Trust In You} gave an extremely strong boost to one person I was emotionally connected with. Embarrassingly, I recognized that I had used it almost exclusively on Eshaan, sparing a few for Soriya.
More interesting was that I’d used these abilities without even really noticing it. {Persuade} I’d used multiple times, but I was aware of that each time.
I guess the difference is that the other person is opposing me, but assistance is welcomed? I pondered.
{Cooking} on the other hand
I pursed my lips again. So. I really can put my love into food. Or even friendship. I sighed, thinking of my recent trope experience. Why did I think that the power of friendship would get a pass? It’s a literal thing in this world. And stronger in the World of Spirit.
Now that was a thought… Was I going to confront Deacon in the World of Spirit? Was the System in the World of Spirit?
I thought hard at my collection of Arcanum. Are you all… located in the World of Spirit? Is the System core there?
The sound of my Arcanum shifting and murmuring filled my ears, and then a reply from Tower.
“We have agreed that we may tell you this information. We cannot see the future, but we are manifest in the World of Spirit, which affects the Physical World. We are unsure how it affects the Wake, but we perceive our power reaches that realm as well.”
So, you’re the speaker for the Arcanum then? I asked Tower wryly.
“They have given me leave to speak on their behalf.” She said.
“Lily? Eshaan to Lily? Hello?” Eshaan’s voice shook me out of my stupor, and I blinked, looking over at him and shaking myself to bring my focus back to the mundane world.
“The patrols have passed, so we’re clear to go.” He said.
Oh. Right. The plan! Nab the Arcanum and then hide on the roof till most of the screaming had died.
“Sorry.” I half whispered. “Just looking at my stats.”
Eshaan grinned. “Yeah, I figured. I leveled too, but we need to move.” He said.
As we ducked and slid our way across the rooftops to the rope which dangled from the hovering Sparrowhawk (currently cloaked), I asked “Eshaan, do you know why so much of the System is about combat?”
Eshaan blinked in surprise. “No, I never really thought about it.” He paused, grabbing the rope which appeared to hover in midair from nothing. “Did you need me to carry you?”
I blushed furiously. While it would be nice… I grabbed the rope and started to climb, feet wound around the rope to keep my skirt from blowing up. “Later.” I said to him, and shimmied the short distance up the rope, seeing the Sparrowhawk appear above me as I slipped into Lakshmi’s clever replication of my invisibility spell.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Although I didn’t much like the fact that I’d given Lakshmi such a potent ability, I had to admit it was extremely useful in our current circumstance. It just went against my grain. And I’d started to have a niggling feeling that the more I leaned on it, the more it would come back to bite me somehow in the future.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on why that might be so though, so I pushed it to the back of my mind as I pulled myself through the hatch. I breathed a sigh of relief as my feet landed on solid surface once more.
“Remind me never to climb a rope with a breeze like that!” I exclaimed nervously, looking down at Eshaan slowly climbing up the rope.
“You wouldn’t have to worry if you just wore pants like a sensible sky pirate!” Lakshmi chided me.
Soriya and I both looked at her with a level stare.
“What?!” She said defensively. “It’s true!”
I traded looks with Soriya, then said tartly to Lakshmi “You wouldn’t understand.”
Soriya added “Appearance is important!”
I nodded firmly in agreement.
Eshaan shouted from outside. “Hey, is it supposed to be doing that?!”
Lakshmi leaned out the door to yell back “Don’t yell, fool! They’ll-”
She stopped, her eyes widening. “Oh hells!” She shouted, and then dove back inside, scrambling for the cockpit.
I gave a long sigh. “There it is.” I muttered to myself then whipped around and grabbed at the rope to start hauling Eshaan inside. Sure enough, on the ground below us there were a lot of shouts, screams, pointing fingers and a whole mess of bows pointing upwards.
Daniyel reached over me to grab the rope from my hands. “If I may, mistress Lily?” With one clean smooth pull, Eshaan was lifted easily into the hatchway, just as three arrows spanged into the hull. My eyes widened in horror, seeing the arrows lodge solidly into the metal of the ship.
Soriya hauled me backwards out of the doorway. “Leveled up weapons, what did you expect?!” She said sharply, as another hail of arrows made the ship’s hull ring like a gong.
Arrows! Actually damaging an airship?! This world is insane!
But then what else are five hundred and eighty two hit points worth, but to survive magic arrows and killer war machines? I thought wryly.
I hurriedly summoned up a {Barrier} to deflect the next wave of arrows, and then let out a little yip of shock seeing a full sized elven cruiser rising from the docks beyond the city roofs.
“Go! Go! Gogogogogo!” I shouted over my shoulder.
“What do you think I’m doing, oh hell snake what the fuck?!” Lakshmi spat from the cockpit. “Right! We are leaving!”
Soriya, Eshaan, and I were thrown against the far wall by the sudden acceleration and almost out the open hatch as the Sparrowhawk lurched forward and then accelerated away into the sky, away from the Canyon of Stars and the city of Akionantes.
And towards barbarian catgirls! I thought with a happy little smile on my lips.
Eshaan carefully untangled himself, blushing furiously as his hand went in just the most stereotypical places, then reached up to pull the lever to close the hatch.
The roar of wind and outraged religious elves vanished, replaced with the sound of the Sparrowhawk’s engines, and Eshaan apologies. I patted his lips to stop him talking.
“Forgiven. Kind of important to close the door before we all fall out.” I said, and smiled at him. I climbed to my feet and dusted off my skirts, before helping up Soriya. “Right. Lets figure out how we’re going to grab an arcanum when the elven armada, the barbarian beast kin tribes of the north, and a mystic labyrinth protects it, shall we?”
“There is time to formulate a plan.” Camaxtli said calmly. “We have several days of travel to reach our destination.”
Lakshmi corrected him from the cockpit. “It’s more like a day and a half. These new engines are amazing!”
“I think we should be a little concerned with the pursuing ships from the Canyon?” I said.
Lakshmi laughed. “We’re already out of range of their weapons. I told you these new engines are amazing!”
“But aren’t we using the same engines as they are?” Asked Eshaan.
“Eshaan!” Lakshmi’s protested, full of wounded pride. “You saw me put them in, this is hybrid tech! The best of imperial engineering, plus assistance from Camaxtli, plus Ancient’s tech, plus sylvani engineering! We’re twice as fast as we were!”
“We can still expect a cold welcome when we arrive.” Said Soriya. She grinned. “I mean, ice wasteland, it was going to be cold anyway.”
Daniyel spoke up. “Actually, given the location and geology, I suspect that the caverns and the labyrinth will be a mix of lava tubes, volcanic heat and frozen ice.”
“Seriously?!” Soriya bounced on her toes, clapping her hands together. “Seriously!? We get to have the caverns of ice and fire?!”
“Why are you so excited about this?” Camaxtli inquired. “This is a very dangerous and unpredictable location. Extreme thermal differences can be deadly beyond all reason.”
I shared a glance with Soriya, then said “It’s a seer thing.” To Camaxtli. “More importantly, have you considered that thing I told you about? We’re coming up on it, you know.”
His expression grew grave, and he nodded. “I have given the matter a great deal of thought, miss Lilyanna.”
“And?” I prodded.
He sighed and looked down. “I have come to understand a great many things about organic behavior that have eluded me. In particular, the desire to avoid an unpleasant fact.” He looked up at me, meeting my eyes. “I am as ready for the trial as I can be.”
“What trial? What are you doing to Camaxtli?!” Lakshmi scowled at me furiously.
Camaxtli turned to Lakshmi. “She has warned me of a hazard ahead. It will be unpleasant, but avoiding it entirely seems… unwise.”
“Cam!” Lakshmi’s voice was filled with worry and her eyes were wide as she looked up to him. “You don’t have to do something you don’t want to! If she’s making you do something-”
Camaxtli made a strange stuttering repeating sound, and I suddenly realized he was laughing. It was awkward, stilted, and more like a person imitating a laugh than a true laugh but…
“How ironic.” He said. “No, Lakshmi. Rather, this trial is about overcoming exactly that. Discovering what I want to do.” He paused, lifting his hand to her, said “Lakshmi…” He trailed off and his hand dropped to his side. He shook his head. “You will do as you know best. I trust your heart above others.”
I found my eyes watering and wiped at them. My chest hurt, but I couldn’t help smiling. That was brave of him. And so incredibly sweet. He would trust her with this test of his heart?
Oh, Lakshmi is going to be so mad at me when she realizes. But if Camaxtli never undertakes this test, he will never know for sure if he is his own man. Robot. Person. I shook my head. Jrpg world, strange truths.
I pushed my way out of the entrance hatch, and towards the galley. “Well!” I said firmly. “We have a decision to make, and I think everyone will think better on a full stomach! I’m going to make everyone dinner, and then we can decide how we’ll approach the sylvani armada in the north.”
That, and I really want to try out {Cooking}. I wonder just how much of a difference I can make…
I set to cooking with a will. Several of the strange ingredients that we’d picked up while shopping in Akionantes, cliff mushrooms and herbs that smelled fragrant and… for lack of a better term, they smelled like the sky. Or maybe the stars…?
I wonder if those things will continue now that Sky is with me? I thought as I stirred the food together, crafting a mushroom risotto with cliff animals.
If I’m right…
I felt my mana dip slowly as I cooked and a slow smile built on my lips. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was doing, but I was definitely doing something magical. Even if it was only food… well.
When it was ready, I headed back into the lounge area, and passed around the food bowls. Praise for my cooking was something I was used to by now, but it still made me feel good. But after my first bite, I knew I’d done something special. There was a warm cozy feeling with each bite, and I also felt sharper, more aware. I quietly did a {Study} to look at my status, and saw the results.
Current Status:
Well. Now that’s a new trick in the toolbox. I thought quietly. Definitely need to use that in the future!
“So!” I said, once everyone had eaten a share. “How are we going to get past a sylvani armada and into the icy hot labyrinth?” I asked.
“I don’t see what the problem is. We’ll just sneak past and into the labyrinth.” Eshaan said.
“How are we going to sneak past?” Lakshmi said. “I can’t use the cloak thing, it burned out when it got hit by the arrows.” She gave me a dirty look, and I flushed.
It was true, I should have been faster on the {Barrier}, or at least anticipated the issue.
“I fail to see the issue.” Camaxtli said. “Lilyanna can cast her illusions through the Sparrowhawk’s core, as she did for her {Barrier}, and we can move past.”
Daniyel said “We lack a critical piece of information. The location of the labyrinth. We were to be guided there by the Armada, and that is no longer a viable plan.”
The group fell silent, in thought.
“Do we have to sneak past?” Lakshmi said.
Everyone looked at her in surprise. “What do you mean? Isn’t sneaking in past an armada what an air pirate would do?” Eshaan said.
Lakshmi huffed and crossed her arms. “You can’t use that argument every time! It’s not going to work on me this time!”
We blinked in surprise. “What do you mean? Why not? You said you’re an air pirate, you’re downright proud of it! You keep doing things that an air pirate would do. Like sneaking in past an armada.”
Lakshmi sighed. “Alright, I admit, that’s very air pirate… but a real air pirate would be able to think of different tricks!”
Daniyel said quietly. “And there is a possibility there. If we sneak in, we cannot ask for directions. We need to know where we are going. And we are using a sylvani method of propulsion.”
“Are you suggesting we disguise ourselves as sylvani?!” Eshaan said in disbelief.
“Not… all of us…” Daniyel said, with a mysterious smile on his face. “After all, we come from the Canyon of Stars with grave news…” he spread his hands, and I felt a smile spread across my lips.