Rylan saw only the barest flash of blue before a shield was suddenly interposed between him and the beast hanging off the ledge in front of him.

  Blue flames bathed the walls of the gorge on either side in an eerie glow, playing off Tamina’s gritted teeth and green eyes as she stood over him, white light emanating from the front of her shield and extending beyond its edges, preventing the stream of blue fire from spilling past.

  Rylan could do little but gape as she took the attack head-on, and weathered it. Eventually, inevitably, the glowing barrier in front of her shield gave and crumbled, and the bright blue flames licked around the edges, but even then she held fast.

  By the time the stream ended, the grease on the surface of her shield had caught fire, burning a bright orange. Tamina didn’t seem to mind, however.

  In fact, she stepped forward, pivoting her body sideways as she drew back her shield, then, with a primal shout, whipped it forward in a backhanded strike.

  The flaming metal hit the armadon square in the nose with a flash of white and a deafening clang. The creature promptly lost its grip on the side of the cliff, and fell back down into the forest of mushrooms with a pained roar.

  Tamina whirled around, used her free hand to grasp Rylan under the armpit, and hauled him up. “Move!” she barked.

  Nodding dumbly, Rylan allowed himself to be dragged along, up into the gorge.

  Soren was already up on a small ledge and, holding the backpack with one hand, extended the other to help Rylan up.

  Rylan didn’t hesitate to grab it.

  He tried to ignore the heavy thumps and scratching behind him as he focused on putting one leg in front of the other, and climbing from ledge to ledge, higher and higher.

  Slowly, the armadon’s angry roars grew more distant.

  Finally, they reached a small plateau at the top of the gorge, a mere ten feet below the overhanging edges of the walls of rock on both sides. There, they stopped. Tamina stood on the edge, peering down intently into the jellyfloat-lit gorge, as Rylan sprawled onto his back and tried to catch his breath.

  “I think it gave up,” Tamina said wearily, also breathing heavily.

  Soren slumped down against one of the gorge’s walls with a groan. “Stupid armadons... so touchy!”

  Despite himself, Rylan snorted.

  Tamina let out a sigh. “Is the fog condenser still operational?”

  “I’ll have a look,” Soren replied, half-heartedly starting to loosen the straps to unhook the bedroll and open up the bag.

  Rylan numbly watched the jellyfloats as the young nobleman dug for the small metal device and pulled it out along with the pan with the firemetal bottom.

  “Looks good to me. Ah, nice,” Soren said. “We can heat water, too. Did you bring any tea leaves?”

  “I did not,” Rylan replied dryly.

  Soren let out a sigh that spoke of such heartfelt disappointment that it reminded Rylan of the Thistlethorn matriarch. Soren had spent too much time with his grandmother; she was clearly a bad influence.

  “By the way,” Rylan said, turning his head a little so he could narrow his eyes at Soren. “I thought you said armadons were ‘not all that big.’ So... what the fog was that?”

  Soren huffed out a breath as he tossed Tamina the condenser. She caught it handily, seeming unfazed by his treatment of the life-saving device. Rylan supposed little could go wrong with it within the fog.

  “They usually aren’t,” Soren maintained. “But the rules kinda go out the window when it comes to Malequints. This was nothing, really; I’ve heard some creatures down here get so big that they can only support their own weight within the fog.”

  Rylan shivered at the thought. I hope we don’t run into one of those...

  His attention was drawn by Tamina as the slightly older Quinthar easily twisted the bottom off the fog condenser and inspected the contents of the resulting cup.

  Shaking her head, she put the cup down and held the condenser above it. Rylan looked on, intrigued, as she touched a finger on the conspicuous aquamarine spot on the side of the device where the cloudmetal mesh emerged. Her finger lit up with a weak glow that seemed to move into the conduit point, wisps of white flickering around her digit as the surrounding fog grew agitated and started getting sucked into the device much faster. Almost immediately, water began to pour from the nozzle at the bottom of the condenser, clattering noisily into the cup.

  Only when it was full to the brim did she remove her finger, lift the cup, and take a long drink.

  “How does that work?” Rylan asked, again without lifting his head. “Do you just... push in your mana?”

  Tamina nodded slightly, never removing her lips from the cup’s edge.

  “It’s like what you did to fill your Mana Shell,” Soren answered in her stead. “Except a little more... subtle. Cloudmetal will eagerly absorb any mana in its general vicinity so pretty much all you need to do is push your mana towards it. If you touch it, it’ll even suck the mana right out of your finger. And it doesn’t take much, thankfully.”

  Rylan frowned. “Wait, won’t it drain the mana from your Mana Shell, then?”

  Soren shook his head. “Wouldn’t be much of a defence if that mana could just be sucked away, right? No, the whole point of the Quintessence Structure that maintains your Mana Shell is that it holds mana into place, and keeps it ready to defend you. It’s kind of like a Skill, actually, except you can’t really control it, or push in extra mana to make it stronger.”

  Rylan perked up, lifting his head. “We can push extra mana into our Skills?”

  Soren nodded. “It’s called overcharging. There are limits to it though! You don’t want to do overdo it, but putting a little strain on your Skill is actually a good thing; helps it grow. In fact, getting a new Skill to accept a full point of mana is generally how Quinthar achieve their first Rank-Up—though it depends on the Skill.”

  Rylan let out a sigh. “There’s so much I don’t know... Why is all of this stuff kept secret?”

  Tamina snorted. “Quinthar have plenty of secrets, but stuff like this is pretty much common knowledge among them. Anyone else?” she asked, holding out the refilled cup of water.

  Rylan held out a hand, and drank greedily upon receiving it.

  “Yeah,” Soren agreed. “There’s just not much point in teaching non-Quinthar about such details. I mean, what would you have done with this knowledge if you’d had it?”

  “Well I...” Rylan started, before trailing off. “Fine. Not much, I guess. But does that mean there’s more you can tell me?”

  “Of course!” Soren said, perking up. “Ask me anything.”

  “Anything?” Rylan repeated, a little incredulous.

  Soren shrugged. “We’re lost at the bottom of the cloudsea. I don’t think I have to worry about my grandmother disciplining me here.”

  “Not to be a drag,” Tamina said tersely. “But we should probably make some decisions first. Specifically, are we going to stay the night here, or look for a better place?”

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  Rylan glanced around. The tops of the cliffs loomed over them, only ten feet up, but they leaned over quite a bit, forming a bit of natural shelter. Apart from the pink glow coming off the jellyfloats, the fog above them was pitch black. I guess it must be nearing midnight by now...

  Soren cocked his head sideways. “That’s a good question. I have to be honest, Thar Tamina, my experience in the cloudsea is limited. I’ll have to defer to your expertise in these matters.”

  Tamina stared at him expressionlessly for a moment, then nodded. “Then I say we stay here. It’s not an ideal spot, but walking around in the dark to look for a better one doesn’t seem worth the risk.”

  “Excellent,” Soren said, clapping his hands together. “Then we’ll camp here. But for now, I’m way too wired to sleep, so ask away, Ryles. You’ll need to learn this stuff anyway if we’re to survive here.”

  Tamina raised a brow at him. “And you’re really all right with me being present for this conversation?”

  Soren shrugged. “You work for the Talons; I honestly doubt I could reveal anything that you—or at the very least they—are not aware off. Go ahead, Ryles.”

  “All right,” Rylan said, sitting up straighter and handing over the cup to Soren. “First things first: what should I spend my points on?”

  Soren nodded seriously. “It’s good that you’ve waited; that’s one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. To give you a proper answer though, I’ll need to know your current Attributes.”

  Rylan frowned, shifting uncomfortably. “Can’t you just... give me some pointers?”

  Soren hesitated, then shook his head. “No, sorry. There’s a lot to account for. Besides, I already know you have at least... let’s see, 3 points in Dexterity and Perception and a 0 in... what was it, Strength?”

  He glanced at Tamina, but she just looked back with an expression that said, ‘Really’?

  “Ah, even if you knew, your Contract’s non-disclosure clause would prevent you from commenting on that, I guess. Well, how did I do?”

  Rylan glared at him, clenching his jaw. Did he actually know that by heart? No, they must’ve guessed what Skill I unlocked from what happened in the kitchen and looked it up while I was in the cooler... I knew they had information about Skill requirements!

  Soren sighed and held up his hands, palms facing forward. “All right, that was... insensitive of me. Look, how about this? I’ll go first. I currently have the following Attributes: 3 points each in Dexterity and Presence, 2 in Endurance and Perception, and 1 in Strength and Mind.

  Rylan blinked in surprise, caught off-guard at the sudden reveal of deeply personal information. “I... fine. Yeah, it was a zero in Strength.” He glanced at Tamina as well, and then just decided to throw caution to the haze. “If you must know, I indeed have 3 in Dexterity and Perception, 1 in Strength and Endurance, 0 in Mind, and minus 1 in Presence.”

  Tamina hummed. “A plus 7 baseline. That’s not bad.”

  Soren sputtered. “Not bad? It’s excellent! Fog, I was happy with my plus 5!”

  “For someone who became a Quinthar without Enhancers,” Tamina replied tersely, “plus 7 isn’t that rare.”

  Rylan frowned, doing some quick math. Soren currently has an Attribute total of 12. If he started out with a plus 5, and he got 3 for his first Skill...

  “You took four Enhancers?!” he burst out in disbelief, his head spinning from the expense.

  Enhancers couldn’t exactly be bought in a store. They could only be bought from auction in a free city, and the price of an Enhancer wasn’t even calculated in silver florins, but in gold crowns. In fact, he’d heard a single Enhancer could easily go for fifty gold crowns, which was the equivalent of about six hundred silver florins. That meant the Thistlethorns had probably spent close to twelve times Rylan’s entire debt on Enhancers for Soren, if not more.

  Rylan stayed silent for a moment, a muscle next to his eye twitching. Hearing what the Thistlethorns had spent on Soren had set the smouldering coals of his anger ablaze once more, and Soren Thistlethorn of all people calling him ‘lucky’ did not help. However, he was finally getting answers, so he wasn’t about to start a fight now.

  Despite his best efforts, Soren seemed to read his expression correctly, however. “Not to make light of your accomplishment, of course,” he backtracked quickly, his face falling. “I know how hard you worked to gain a Skill.”

  Rylan took a deep breath and blew it out. “It’s fine,” he said curtly. “I am lucky to have managed to become a Quinthar, I know that.”

  “Glad to hear you don’t think you’re Ethereon’s extra special chosen or something,” Tamina muttered. “Had me worried for a second there.”

  Soren smiled, looking relieved. “Nah, Ryles is pretty down to sand.”

  “Unlike you,” Tamina mercilessly threw at him. “You’ve got quite some nerve, calling other people lucky, Mister My-Family-Bought-Me-Four-Enhancers.”

  “I was just saying my Attributes weren’t as good as his!” Soren protested. “Why am I the clodpoll here?”

  Satisfying as it was to hear Tamina tear into him in Rylan’s stead, he was keen to get back on topic, so he cleared his throat. “Anyway, about my Attributes?”

  “Oh, right,” Soren said, turning back to face him more seriously. “Well, your spread is decent, having only a single negative is pretty nice. Now, the main question is what Skill you should aim for, and I think the answer is obvious.”

  Tamina nodded. “Running.”

  “Knife-Fighting,” Soren said at the same time. “Wait, what? Knife-Fighting is the perfect complement to Knife-Throwing!”

  “Knives are sucky weapons against Malequints,” Tamina countered. “He needs a way to maintain distance. Also, he needs to be able to keep up when we flee.”

  “Yeah, I have to agree with Tamina, there,” Rylan said as they frowned at each other. Even if Running wasn’t the most glamorous Skill, he definitely didn’t want to end up falling behind again. “Knife-Fighting sounds like a great addition... someday.”

  Soren blew out a breath, shaking his head. “You’re right... I got too excited about your build; I need to take our circumstances into account. Anyway, the requirements for Running are quite simple: a Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance of 2. Actually, I’m pretty sure the requirements of Knife-Fighting are a Strength of 1, a Dexterity of 3, and an Endurance of 2, so if you bring your Strength and Endurance up to 2 for Running, you’d actually already meet the requirements for both!”

  “Do all Skills have three Attribute requirements that total 6?” Rylan asked.

  Soren nodded. “Well, all Emerald-Tier Skills. Sapphire-Tier Skills have three Attribute requirements that total 10. Anyway, putting 1 point in Strength and 1 in Endurance should leave you with one more free point, which I would suggest you put in Mind.”

  Rylan glanced at Tamina to see if she had anything to add to that, but she kept her face blank. “Why Mind?”

  “An investment in your future,” Soren said, his eyes twinkling. “Because one of the three Attribute requirements of all Sapphire-Grade Skills, is 3 points in Mind.”

  Tamina twitched at that, seeming surprised. Rylan wasn’t sure if that was because she hadn’t known, or because Soren had so casually revealed it, but at the very least it probably wasn’t common knowledge.

  “All right then,” Rylan said, taking a deep breath, feeling oddly nervous about finalising his decision. Still, he couldn’t find fault with Soren’s reasoning, and despite everything, he trusted his former friend not to lie to him about something this important. “Ethereon, please put one of my free points in Strength, Endurance, and Mind each.”

  Once more, a warm breeze seemed to fly from a distant place into his chest, landing on his spirit as a stream of energy. It took a few seconds for it to taper off and vanish.

  《Free points successfully distributed,》Ethereon’s voice droned coolly.《Attribute enhancement in progress. Estimated completion in: six hours.》

  “Got any more questions?” Soren asked kindly, stifling a yawn.

  “Helping Thar Rylan distribute points was a worthwhile endeavour,” Tamina said, a hint of disapproval in her tone, “but I really do think we should get some rest.”

  “I agree,” Rylan said after a moment. Interesting as he found the talk about ranking up Skills and Attribute distribution, he needed some time to process everything that had happened. Also, he was starting to get chilly in the cold fog.

  “Very well,” Soren said. “However... I can’t help but notice we, ehm... have only a single bedroll.”

  They all turned to look at it.

  “Seems pretty big,” Tamina said after a moment. “Two can probably squeeze in there together. Back to back, obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Soren replied diplomatically. “I guess that works; we’ll need to sleep in shifts anyway.”

  Tamina nodded curtly. “I’ll take first watch. I’ve got some deep cleaning to do before I go anywhere near that bedroll.” She lifted the bare bicep of her right arm to her nose, sniffed it, and promptly scrunched up her face in disgust. Then, with a sigh, she lifted her metal-covered left arm and started untying the black leather vambrace on her right forearm.

  “I’ll take second, then,” Soren added. “I tend to wake up in the middle of the night anyway. That leaves third for you, Ryles.”

  “All right,” Rylan said, hiding a yawn. “Guess I should go change first.”

  Rylan grabbed some clean clothes and excused himself, climbing down a ledge before he took off his coat and set about removing the gross, sticky kelp weave plastered to his back and the britches clinging to his legs.

  He scrubbed all the skin he could reach with sand, until it was ice cold but no longer greasy, and only then put on his fresh tunic and britches. His hair was still a gross mess, and his clothes would need a wash but he’d deal with that in the morning.

  When he got back, Tamina had heated a panful of water. She nodded at him, and climbed down the same ledge, presumably to start washing her clothes and armour.

  Soren was already inside the bedroll, still wearing his crimson doublet, and looking up with his arms folded behind his head.

  “Scoot,” Rylan said, feeling a strange mixture of emotions as Soren turned his back to make room for him.

  When they were little, sleepovers had been right on that perfect edge between disallowed and tolerated that just made them more fun. They weren’t supposed to have them, but if they managed to anyway, they were never caught at best, and mildly admonished at worst.

  Those were some of the fondest memories he had of his youth, and for that very reason, the most painful.

  Rylan climbed in stiffly, but the warmth of Soren’s back was a balm for his chilled flesh, and he soon managed to relax. Still, sleep didn’t come easy, and he found himself turning his head to look up at the swarm of pink-glowing jellyfloats as they came drifting over, like gently undulating stars forming shifting constellations.

  In the distance, a fogwhale let out a plaintive call, which was quickly echoed by another, and another. The sound of their voices mixing was beautiful yet haunting.

  “It’s probably his pod,” Soren spoke softly. “Come to mourn.”

  “That’s... really sad,” Rylan said.

  “Yeah. I used to want to go fogwhaling someday, but now...”

  “I hear you.”

  Eventually, despite everything, Rylan managed to drift off.

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  : Unnatural Laws

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  : Unchained Potential

  : Untamed Spirit

  : Undivided Worlds

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