At some point beyond Luke’s perception, Iona had reverted her half of the illusion realm to an undecorated, plain white space. She currently stood on the grassy half he occupied, where a moonbeam glared on her face. She appeared to be tapping her foot—arms crossed—her expression practically screamed, ‘well?’ Crickets started to trumpet out their noise.

  Timber sat next to the elf with his pats crackling lightning, his hind legs out in front beside his forepaws. Lulu was hopping around on the bear’s head and shoulder picking at his fur. Judging by Timber’s expression, the bear was used to the behavior.

  Blissfully unaware of what could possibly have ticked off Iona, Luke shot her a greeting, “Hey Iona, are you alright? You look like something is frustrating you. Are you upset I didn’t say hello or?”

  Iona blinked in confusion for a second then said, “What? No. Something that simple, especially while I’m in the middle of training is unworthy to be irritated over. I just…” Iona glanced at Luke quickly before looking away, eventually sighing, “Are you going to join Moniba’s tower team? I wanted to do this later after the Tide is over, but since she’s made her move, I’ll make mine.” She walked up to Luke, swaying slightly, brown hair over her shoulders; taking her hand in Luke’s, she said, “If you’re going to join a tower team it should be mine.”

  Staring back at Iona, the Reaver took back control of his hand, stepping back, “The Tide’s not even here yet, and people are all worried about the tower. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. I’ll think about this or that team after I survive. What’s got Moniba so eager?”

  Circling Luke, with both hands behind her back, Iona bounced as she spoke, “You’re a diamond in the rough, one that is already shining to others. Normally, people leave hunters well enough alone about the tower until they reach level 50 at the minimum, but you’ve made too many waves before you joined the Defiers. Killing a raid boss by yourself set this all in motion. She takes you, and maybe she can climb higher in the tower. Every single team is stuck at the moment, waiting for recruits or key breakthroughs.”

  “Awful lot to set upon the shoulders of someone who isn’t in the second tier,” Luke dismissed the reasoning. Aware of what Iona had done for him since coming here, Luke said, “I refused Moniba’s offer to join—tower games can wait.”

  Iona visibly relaxed, “Sorry to pressure you, Luke, as another Defier, I know what all the expectations are like. You’ve upset the balance among the top four teams.” She stepped closer to him, “You won’t hold it against me, will you?”

  “Not at all. Moniba’s a sort of rival to you, isn’t she? She made it sound like your team is the one right under her. I was surprised to find out Aloysius leads the top tower team from her. Who leads the second? And when am I going to meet Aloysius? When the Tide is knocking on our front door?” Luke smiled toward the end, trying to twist the mood.

  Smiling, Iona said, “That barbarian is probably too busy trying to undergo training with his Exalted Heart. He always barks about a ‘pupiless state.’ The Tower will be closed off three days before the Tide is expected to hit; you’ll see him by then. Lesus, the highest ranking hunter in the city, leads the second-best tower team.” She poked at Luke’s cheek, “Your favorite ‘Big Sister’ Aruna is part of that team, as is Eldacar. When you were gone, Aruna bothered me for a half hour about how happy she was to be called an Elder finally.”

  Nature bloomed around Iona, the grassy hills growing trees and vines in a neat tandem, “Since that’s settled, it looks like you were about to start your training here. I’m done for the day. See you another time, Luke.” She shot out an arm horizontal to her body, and Lulu landed on her elbow. Turning her head to Luke as she stepped into the exit portal, Iona flashed a smile, gone within the rotating magic.

  Putting a hand up near his face, Luke glanced over at the peaceful Immortal Slimes going about their existence on the grassy plains. Luke went through several more tests at their expense, coming to a few conclusions.

  Attributing Essence Bond with frost essence allowed even greater control over Elementalization if applied to Xera. As a test he placed the same thing on Sooty, which boosted the abilities effects on her by another twenty percent. Equally important, the bird appeared to be less affected by his frost in that case. When this attributed Essence Bond was cast on an enemy, the target would experience a further drop in speed and began to ‘aid’ him by generating small amounts of frost for his use, free of any cost to him.

  The problem became Luke simply had to have far too intense a concentration on it for it to stay in that form. The gap was closing, but it wasn't ready for combat until it became less strained to keep and maintain. The Reaver added it to his daily training list, alongside attempting to get used to Triple Step. Using Wayfinder’s Polar South, he made modest progress. At the current Novice level, his speed barely increased.

  That came as no surprise, even Elementalization struggled to be useful in its earliest stages. Wrapping up the mass brainstorming-like session with his abilities, Luke came up with one final idea. Pouncing on the insight from another round of Polar South, Luke ripped open an Essence Fissure, attributing it frost. He watched for a moment, mist and snow sprinkled on the slimes. Of course, this new ‘source’ fell under his command—information he already knew.

  What interested him was the spreading aspect of the ability. Using an interaction he knew of, Luke formed an Essence Lance and let it puncture into the horizontal Essence Fissure. Ice shards turned the Immortal Slimes around into a gelatinous sieve. Following that line, Luke attempted to apply Essence Bond to the fissure, failing spectacularly.

  Sitting on an ice rock he formed, Luke said, “It’s not an ‘ally’ or my ‘enemy,’ ah well, not every idea is going to be successful.”

  “Are we done, master? Playing with the slimes is getting old, they never fight back.”

  “The lad is trying to solve a puzzle, lass. Give the frost maker some time.”

  “Better than laying around,” She veered her wand tip to Sooty, who was fast asleep on the ground again, “Sooty’s worn out, shouldn’t we call it a night?”

  The suggestion brought a smile to Luke. The Reaver knew Xera had zero desire to stop, but he liked seeing Xera growing concerned about something more than fun through combat.

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  Twirling the wand up in a rotating circle, Luke said, “Sooty’s tougher than this. A little longer and I’ll be finished.”

  Leaning back, Luke took in the weak silver moon partially clouded over by grey. Two final ideas needed to be confirmed before going on a dungeon delve tomorrow. Another Essence Fissure ripped the sky, concentrated on a pack of Immortal Slimes. With ease, the Fissure had Elementalization applied to it; Luke then cast Siphon on the Fissure itself, yet another failure.

  But then he applied Siphon to a Slime in the middle of the currently provoked pack. His eyes widened slightly at the result.

  Siphon had begun to spread to every target affected by Essence Fissure’s pressure. Inspired, Luke tried to cut his Elementalization from the Fissure and noticed Siphon stopped spreading afterward.

  The conflicting interactions between abilities stumped him until a hypothesis came to him.

  “Does Elementalization loosen or unlock what my abilities can do? And it’s up to me to find those mechanics?” Luke frazzled his hair. Figuring it all out was hard enough before items and techniques got involved. As always, the Interface failed to mention any of this.

  Moving on, Luke tried to apply Frost Essence to Siphon itself, and it was like he ran straight into a brick wall. If Essence Bond was almost useable and Infusion a ways to go, attributing Siphon with frost was akin to a massive dam before a small creek. There remained no chance he’d be able to attribute the ability until he reached master, at the minimum, with Elementalization.

  So he shelved the idea for now, lastly, he applied Essence Bond to the pacifist Immortal Slimes, with the pressure from Essence Fissure bearing down upon them. As expected, Essence Bond remained applied to only the initial target, even when Essence Fissure was frosted.

  With a ‘just checking’ attitude, Luke tried to attribute both abilities simultaneously, which strained him beyond what would be useful in fast-paced exchanges. A connection seemed to resonate between Essence Fissure and Essence Bond when both were under the Elementalization technique at the same time.

  The strengthened Essence Bond duplicated itself across all the Slimes affected by the pressure radiated from Essence Fissure. Huffing from exertion, Luke dusted off his knees. In the back of his head remained a scant few more ideas to test, but he was done—mind too fuzzy to continue effectively.

  Scooping up Sooty, who cawed in sleepy complaint, Luke headed back to his dorm, falling asleep after a short wash.

  ——

  Swaying black-red flowers absorbed the pond’s gentle ripples. The sound of repeated stomps echoed throughout Musai’s realm. Xera, Whispering Tome, and Wayfinder were in a pile of Luke’s gear on the signature pagoda in the middle of the realm. Sooty had her training moved to the other realm, under both Iona’s and Lulu’s wing.

  The Reaver wore white robes and woven sandals, as Musai insisted. Luke had sat under the waterfall an hour earlier, its temperature the coldest yet. Unlike before, he had no epiphany, at best, Elementalization grew slightly.

  Eventually, Musai pulled him out of the waterfall and instructed Luke to practice Triple Step in the clearing around the target dummies.

  “Use the technique three hundred times before you leave. Feel how the electrical current within you exchanges with the agility and strength in your body.”

  Once his short instructions were made clear, Musai sat against a tree in the distance mediating in front of his swords, both of which were sunk into the soft dirt in the realm.

  If one would call Luke a genius with Elementalization, then his talent with Triple Step paled in comparison. Grit often overcame talent once paired with ample time and effort. By the end of the three hundred attempts, Luke could confidently use the technique, its speed boost minorly growing. The conscious effort required to use his second technique had decreased dramatically.

  No doubt about it though, Luke remained stuck at Novice with Triple Step. With roughly six days left before the Tide, Luke wanted progress as fast as possible. Sensing Luke’s mindset, Musai said, “Technique growth is gradual, do not allow your natural talent for one warp your efforts towards the other. Your session is done for the day, young leaf, you are free to do as you please in the remaining duration. Remain steadfast.”

  ———

  Late in the morning, the foyer room between the Vampiric Wing and Spectral Wing showed every sign of being full.

  Luke draped himself on a back wall on the Vampiric side, not too far from its blood mist entryway. Dozens of hunter groups stood in their circles. Every few minutes one could be heard finishing their final preparations, then striding into the blood mist coming out the black magisteel cut out in the middle of the Vampiric side’s left wall. A thin acrid blood smell wafted from the fog.

  In a change of pace, few commented on Luke for once, especially after he stood silently for minutes on end. Other than a few covetous eyes on the new floating tome beside him. His growing reputation had curbed their desire for now.

  Tapping his feet against the rooting floorboards, Luke tried to fight the boredom of waiting on Veyri. To his luck, the red-haired archer showed up with two people in tow. He recognized a monic as Melen, the Curseweaver, and an elf woman, who, judging by her gear, appeared to be some sort of mage as well.

  Stopping before Luke with hands on her hips, Veyri said, “Ready to go, hot shot Wallace?” She brought out three magic contracts, each barring a signature, “Including myself, each of the party has signed to your conditions you insisted upon. Read it over,” the woman tossed the three to Luke.

  Catching each, Luke skimmed the three and found it satisfactory enough. Things like loot priority and abilities seen would be unable to be spoken about, Veyri could only observe and keep prying eyes out, and all beast cores gained would be exclusively his.

  All in all, asking for more would be closer to robbery than trying to form a party, so Luke let sleeping dogs lie. Giving a short nod to Melen and greeting, Luke then spoke to Veyri, “Ready if you are, Veyri. The contracts look good to me.”

  Roughly slapping the back of a brown hair, brown eyed elf woman with sharp features, Veyri instructed her, “Go on then, stop gawking at him. Introduce yourself. Wallace already knows Melen.”

  Shuffled forward a few steps by the force, the elf scanned Luke’s body quickly before greeting the Reaver, “I’m Fleur, level fifty Wind Mage. Let’s make it clear, human, that I’m only here because Veyri required it of me. Make it worth my while for missing out on the Crystal Demon Point for this Vampiric backwater.”

  Luke could practically taste the disdain Fleur had for this place. The elf used it to cover the other emotion he could read from her.

  Fear.

  Rather than unravel her shell then and there, Luke spoke to the elf, “Luke, Ninth Defier, level 42. You can leave at any time you want. This delve is to make good on my promise to Veyri. I can clear this dungeon alone; feel free to watch.” Turning to Melen, he said, “And what about you, Melen? Made any progress lately?”

  Right before Melen responded, Veyri sent an invite to join their three man party to Luke. The Reaver accepted reflexively.

  The Curseweaver Monic tried to speak, but his attention seemed sucked by something else. Taking a moment to calm down, the Monic asked in wonder, “I thought my growth was respectable enough. But you, Luke, level forty two and over six thousand health? Did you perhaps stumble upon some sort of inheritance? That growth should be…no it is impossible. How did you do it?”

  Luke read Veyri’s and Fleur’s faces as well. The two said enough but remained interested. Glancing at the party information in the corner of his vision, bits of information popped up for the three of them.

  [Fleur Sylph, Level 50, Tier 1, HP: 3500/3500]

  [Melen Brightglow, Level 29, Tier 1, HP: 1513/1513]

  Lastly, Veyri’s information required him to stop in wonderment himself.

  [Veyri Derogeance, Level 75, Tier 2, HP: 18532/18532]

  Eighteen thousand?! The growth per level must be exponential.

  Shooting Melen a sly smile, Luke avoided answering his questions. He started to walk to the red mist entrance.

  “That’s a trade secret, Melen, I’m heading in.”