He was a few miles from the glade where the caravan had stopped for the night, hunting to supply the expedition with fresh meat. He had already killed a twenty-foot serpent and fed its skills to Warlord’s Mantle, bringing the Rare aura tantalizingly close to advancing to rank two.
Every now and again, he used Foebinder to climb into the branches of a tree to survey his environment. After his weeks in the dungeon and journey through the grottos, Edge had gotten into the habit of using Penetrate Foliage to peer through the verdant growth and Sense Treasure to highlight anything valuable along his path.
He hadn’t found anything with the latter since returning to the jungle, but as he swung down from the canopy, he spotted something glowing on the ground ahead. At first, he thought it was an animal highlighted by his thermal vision. But when he drew closer, he realized the shape and color were wrong—that the light was coming from his treasure-sensing skill instead.
It wasn’t as bright as the other resources he’d found, but it was worth taking a closer look. When he came to a stop beside the shining shapes, Edge saw the light was coming from a patch of mushrooms—bright blue caps that came up to his knees. Something about their glistening sheen made him suspect they were poisonous, so he picked them with the glove that controlled his chakram, then stored them in a corner of his vault where they weren’t touching anything else.
When he made it back to camp, he dropped the snake off at the cook station. Then he walked over to where Melchior was speaking to his apprentice alchemists, giving them a lesson on jungle flora to keep their minds off the impending conflict with the Crimson Claws.
They paused the lecture when they saw him coming. “Hello, Melchior. Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you had any idea what this was.” With that, he pulled one of the mushrooms out of his storage and set it down on a nearby log.
“Don’t think twice about it, Edge. Learning is always valuable, but we have other priorities right now. Come on, you two.” Melchior gestured to his students. “Let’s switch from theory to applied knowledge and assess what our friend has found.”
They put their heads together, discussing the azure shroom while activating several informational skills. Eventually, the alchemists reached a consensus, and Melchior said, “I’ve never seen this species before, but it clearly has medicinal properties. After I run a few more tests, we can turn it into a pill that will hasten healing, stave off infection, and act as a mild sedative. Do you happen to have any more? They would be of great aid to our severely wounded members.”
“Sure do.” Edge pulled seven more mushrooms out of his vault and set them down in a line. “If they will help our people, you’re welcome to the lot. I would appreciate one or two of those pills, though—if there are enough after you’re done treating our wounded.”
“That would be more than fair,” Melchior replied. “When we make it back to town, stop by my shop. I’ll give you a little something as my way of saying thanks for this generous donation and everything else you’ve done to keep our people safe.”
“Anytime. We’re all in this together.” When Edge left them, the alchemists were animatedly discussing the best way to fashion the pills, debating the merits of various crafting skills and processing techniques. He was happy that Sense Treasure would be useful on the surface, although the grottos had been unusually rich in valuable resources.
The expedition made steady progress over the next three days.
After the alchemists’ medicines had time to work, the wounded were healing quickly. The warriors with broken bones wouldn’t be in fighting shape for several weeks, but everyone else was back on their feet and could contribute to the war effort.
As promised, after processing the final mushroom, Melchior handed Edge a pair of sky-blue pills, which he moved into his vault. Going forward, I should keep a full range of healing items with me. They will come in handy if I get hit with something my skills can’t treat or someone on my crew needs medical attention—or anyone else for that matter.
During the march back to the Ivory Plains, Edge tried to spend some time with every member of the expedition, getting to know the various hunters, deputies, and supporting members better. He had spoken to Momo on several occasions—the deputy he’d saved from the sand shrew on their way to the Savage Garden.
The perky guardsman was eager, friendly, and easy to talk to. Earlier this afternoon, she had come looking for him. He looked into her sky-blue eyes, which were framed by curly black hair that came down to her shoulders. “I’ve been trying to find a way to thank you for saving my life. Now that I know more about your core, I have a surprise for you—a little something I found in a sealed chest during a scouting run.”
“You helped pull me out of the line of fire during the battle with the Claws,” he replied. “So, I don’t want you to feel like you owe me anything. But I would be more than happy to accept a gift from a friend.” Momo smiled as he unwrapped the package she handed him. When Edge saw what was inside, he grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you. It’s just what I needed.”
He held the Skill-Merger Token up in a beam of sunlight to examine the engravings, then put it into his belt pouch. Since his skill slots were in short supply and he was only about halfway to reaching stage three, the token was sure to come in handy sooner rather than later. Edge was planning to steal as many Rare skills as he could from the Claws’ elites during their impending showdown, and a merger token was an invaluable resource.
They spent half an hour chatting and then went their separate ways, leaving him glad to have made another friend on this strange, magical world. He was getting along well with Able and Melchior too and found most of the people around him to be good company, which filled him with determination to defend his new home.
In that moment, Edge vowed to do whatever he could to keep his people safe—no matter who or what stood in his way.
Every time he stopped to rest, he spent a few minutes playing with Rue.
The curious little fox was still adjusting to the Companion bond and spent most of his time sleeping, but he woke up every now and again begging for food and attention. Rue still wasn’t comfortable being around so many people and refused to leave Edge’s side. After some consideration, he put some bedding into his empty pack and carried the fox inside when he wasn’t doing anything dangerous.
Everyone in the expedition fell in love with the beast at first sight, petting his fur, getting licked, and feeding him treats. It wasn’t the behavior Edge would have expected from a wild beast. Violet explained that Companions were generally species that were unusually social and cooperative, or they wouldn’t have accepted the bond in the first place.
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Although they were marching from one battlefield to another, the expedition’s journey through the Sweltering Green was blessedly peaceful. They didn’t run into anything aggressive enough to take a shot at the caravan and didn’t encounter predators of the human variety either.
While it was a welcome respite, everyone knew it was just the eye of the storm. The scouts found plenty of tracks left by the gang members who had survived the clash in the caverns. They were heading straight for the Ivory Plains, which meant the Claws were still planning to attack the settlement and could communicate with each other.
On that note, the magic interfering with Sakura’s messages was still in effect, and it foiled the hunters’ attempts to learn what was happening on the plains with their skills. Soon, they would be close enough to send some scouts ahead, but right now, there was a good chance the jailbirds were anticipating that move. The risk of stepping into a trap was too high to warrant locating the position of enemies that might be somewhere else by the time the expedition arrived.
Everyone was eager to make it to Puppet Town before it was too late. They did everything they could think of to prepare themselves during the final leg of the trip. In addition to training their skills, maintaining their gear, and developing strategies based on what they knew about the convicts’ powers and proclivities, the team used the time to refill their stockpiles and replenish their supplies.
In addition to Edge’s contributions, the resource hunters found a variety of medicinal plants and the materials required to craft a range of basic consumables. The crafters fashioned fresh bolts and arrows, and Violet had been able to produce enough copper-grade aether to recharge the expedition’s low-grade magitech devices—although they couldn’t refill anything that ran on silver or gold until they made it back to town.
He spent the final days of the trip training vigorously. He sparred with anyone who had time, picking up tips from Tessa, Jumo, Trapper, Mel, Able, and several of the other deputies. He went hunting every time Extraction came off cooldown, taking on the toughest beasts he could find to Absorb as many high-ranked Uncommons as possible.
Edge was getting better at using All-Seeing Gaze’s combined mode, although he couldn’t use it for more than a few seconds at a time without suffering a blinding headache. He was learning how to switch it on for short bursts while sparring without losing his awareness of his opponent, although he still had a long way to go before he could use it freely in the middle of a battle.
His efforts to turn Repel Water into a weapon, however, were starting to come together. It still didn’t do enough damage to be considered a proper attack, but his range and accuracy were steadily improving.
The next time he tried making a water drill, an idea came to him. First, he ignited his core and activated Maelstrom. Once the local airspace was saturated with his mana, he set up the fields in the same shape he had used to cut the branches. It was expensive to run both skills at once, but with his current Generation, it was manageable, since domains didn’t count as combos unless you used two at once.
He waited until the spray was flying at full strength, then carefully guided Maelstrom’s gusts inside the repulsive cone. The intense blasts of air could pass through the field, and when he got the angle and pressure just right, he was able to add the force of the wind to accelerate the water’s flow.
Edge had to tweak the output of the generative element to compensate, but when everything was aligned properly, his skills formed a narrow spray that shot out a hundred feet before dispersing. When he ran it across a tree trunk, splinters went flying as the high-velocity spew tore into the wood.
It still wasn’t anywhere close to as lethal as the gatekeeper’s drill, and this construction was too complex to create mid-fight. However, he was making steady progress—thrilled to have finally come up with something that was powerful enough to count as a weapon.
He wound up achieving his most important goal not long after.
The next beast Edge hunted had two Uncommon skills and a high-rank Common. When he finished Absorbing them all, it filled Mantle’s cup to the brim. Finally. He felt a fierce surge of satisfaction at the accomplishment—eager to improve one of his favorite skills.
He stepped into his inner world to find the ruby cloak glowing brighter than ever. It was full of transformative energy and ready to rank up. He spent a few minutes praising the excited avatar, then called up his Guide to find out what his options were.
The skill Warlord’s Mantle has advanced to Rank 2.
Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.
Please choose between one of the following options:
- The attribute bonuses provided by the mantle will be significantly enhanced.
- The defensive component of the mantle will become moderately stronger against both physical and magical attacks.
- The mantle’s combat awareness bonus will be moderately enhanced.
Warning: If no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a slight bonus to mana efficiency.
Shit. This one is tough. While Edge loved his aura and had no doubts that merging Ghost Armor and Vigor to create it had been the right move, combining powerful skills made picking an upgrade harder. He could only enhance one of the mantle’s benefits, and all of them were good.
Further complicating the matter, he needed to consider each option in three different contexts: How the upgrade would benefit him over the short term, how it would help his team during their battle with the Claws, and how it would change the skill’s behavior later down the road.
The mantle already provided a major upgrade to Power and Speed, and a lesser bonus to Reflex and Control. Boosting that aspect would raise his combat prowess across the board, along with anyone else who was affected by the aura.
The defensive component sapped some of the momentum from physical attacks and Disrupted a portion of the mana from hostile magic. Strengthening that aspect could wind up saving lives—reducing fatal blows to serious ones and turning moderate wounds into scratches and bruises.
Since Edge had access to dozens of experienced skill-wielders, he popped back into his body and talked the matter over with the expedition’s elite members before making his decision—another benefit of no longer keeping his powers a secret.
He eventually decided to go with the first option. While the defensive bonus was undeniably good, the upgrade didn’t reduce the mana cost involved in deflecting each attack. One of the downsides of Warlord’s Mantle was that on top of the cost of keeping it running, every blow it dampened drained additional mana. That meant if the aura blocked more damage, the cost involved would scale to match.
While that wasn’t a problem while he was using Overdrive, Edge was worried that taking the defensive upgrade would make casting Mantle on his crew prohibitively expensive to use for every fight. It was a considerable drawback that neither of the other choices shared, which was enough for him to cross it off his list.
The combat awareness bonus was useful, but it wasn’t the skill’s primary benefit. The slightly slowed perception of time wouldn’t let people hit harder or move faster, and most hunters already had enough Perception to take full advantage of the extra Speed and Control.
On the other hand, a bigger boost to the attributes Mantle bestowed would be useful no matter how many people the aura was affecting or what situation they were in. Confident that he had made the best choice, Edge stepped into his inner world and called up his Guide. “I’ll take the first offering, please.”
When he voiced his decision, the ghostly ruby cloak began to change. The shape and size of the avatar remained the same, but the electric orange highlights running across its contours intensified and grew more complex—like they had been stitched by a master embroiderer.
He thought the new look was striking and rather stylish. When he shared that observation with Mantle’s avatar, it was so happy that it wrapped itself around his shoulders and stayed there for the rest of his visit.
He spent a while chatting with his skills, telling them stories and asking questions, even though he couldn’t always make sense of their replies. When his daily limit for being inside his core was up, Edge bid them farewell and hopped back into his own skin—thrilled to have obtained a vital upgrade in time for the looming conflict.