Tapping on the bar table, Luke ordered water and nothing else, having had his fill earlier.

  Moniba sat in the stool nearest him, ordering mounds of alcohol and food. She offered him anything on the menu, to which he refused. The bar had filled up by this point, and the patrons were already amid gossip about the two out of place customers. A thin soft moonlight shone through the light coverings over the outside bar, part silver, part gold, a consequence of the twin moons.

  A young elf with black hair whispered to his friends, “Is that Moniba? What’s someone like her doing here? This sort of spot is beneath the tower climbers.”

  One of his friends responded, “You’re paying attention to Moniba? She’s old news, a Tora stuck at Tier 3 for ages now. The guy next to her is the Ice Defier, Luke.”

  “That’s him? Strange, thought he’d look older than that, bigger too. Someone like that is supposed to help take on the Envoys and other monsters around them? We’re doomed.”

  A different person at the table spoke up, “Dumb idiot, if muscle was all it took to fight back, we’d not all be stuck in the Edgelands for so long. Heard the Ice Defier has a temper on him. I’d watch your words when he’s around.”

  The same young elf said, “It’s harmless fun. Besides, can’t a citizen like me expect some results from the Defiers and top hunters everyone drums up all day?”

  Twitching her ears, Moniba narrowed her eyes at the table, and with a glance from her, the loose-lipped elf found himself unable to talk. Moniba radiated out her aura but enclosed it in a tight circle. Licking her lips, she said, “This should be enough to keep the flies from buzzing around our tails. You’re familiar with the aura silencing method?”

  Able to see the thin ‘film’ of aura covering them both, Luke confirmed, “I’ve got the gist of it. A few tries, and I could probably pull it off.”

  After Moniba thickened the aura film, Luke realized in wonderment that he couldn’t hear anything from the customers outside.

  “From the talk around here, you’re a busy and important lady, Moniba; what business do you have with me?”

  Accepting a platter of food and alcohol from the Tora waitress, Moniba chewed on meat while speaking, “With my rising star up in arms about recruiting you no matter the cost, I had to come see for myself.” Moniba’s purple eyes scanned Luke from head to toe, “You’re quite brazen to be exposing that artifact wand of yours. Is that confidence or foolhardiness in you?”

  Sipping on water, Luke answered, “More like annoyance. You know how hard it is to hide having an artifact or high quality items. If they want her, then let them come.”

  “I’ll blast them all away. Those idiots only had to come looking in a chest to find me and failed to do just that. Nope, Luke is my one and only master for life. Well, until he dies that is, try not to do that, master.”

  “I plan to die of old age, Xera. You’ll be worry free on that end for at least half a century.”

  “Then we’re a match made in heaven. Or is it hell? You keep referencing that place.” Xera’s tone became confused.

  Moniba swished her tail in amusement, “What would you do if I said I wanted this ‘Xera’ as well? Could you stop me?” A playful glare pressed on Luke, the previously set up aura swirled around the bar, and cracks appeared on the wood as pressure built onto the Reaver.

  The guard bouncers for the bar roared into action at the disturbance, only to stop dead in their tracks once they laid eyes on Moniba. Luke, surrounded by a silencing aura, couldn’t hear a word they were saying, but the patrons around the bar began to shuffle out. A minute later, the only people remaining were one distraught Monic bar owner, Luke, and Moniba.

  Concurrent with those events, the aura redoubled around Luke, trying to make his bones creak. The effect was straining him, but ultimately ineffective. At worst, the man began to breathe heavier.

  “Done with the tough act game, Moniba?” Luke said.

  “Think of it as a lesson. By my measure of you, fighting a Tier Two should be possible. Any Tier Three in this city would be able to take that item from you like a gold piece out the gutter.”

  Luke blinked, and surprisingly, Whispering Tome unfurled its pages in rapid motion. Silent Domain activated, and a thin grey-black illusionary substance coated the air, fighting against Moniba’s aura.

  Chuckling at the act, Moniba released her aura intimidation. She practically punched Luke on the back, “You sly Defier, went and got yourself an Epic quality tome while no one was looking? What it cost you? A few thousand? Mages might come knocking on your door at this rate too.”

  Firmly trying to distance its public face from any crafting capability, Luke agreed vaguely, “Something like that. Pulling all the strings to get ready for the Tide.”

  The reminder of what was to come moderated Moniba’s expression, “Something every living being in this city is trying to do. In your shoes, I’d do the same. Why care for the troubles of months from now if next week is not guaranteed.” She pushed aside the food platter but chugged down a dark brown ale, “You pass, Luke, and with flying colors at that. Join my team, I can see the beast within those cold eyes, I want them on my side when I push floors again after this Tide.”

  “Would you be surprised if I said no again?”

  Releasing an odd mix of a roar and laugh, Moniba slapped a hand on her thigh for a moment, “Veyri assured me that would be your answer. I know better than to force a Defier into the fold, wouldn’t want Sylen’s Blade, Musai, to cut off my head.”

  “You think he’d do that? Musai appears to leave me well enough alone to my troubles.”

  “His policy with other Defiers is well known in the city. Issues he believes reasonable for your standard, he won’t interfere in. If those with decades of power accumulation tried to stamp you out, it’d cost them their head first. To this ones misfortune, I would fall under the second category. It’s not a foolproof protection. Some in this city will take the risk if given a remote chance to live, watch yourself, Luke.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “You’re not upset with my refusal?” Another thought popped up into Luke’s mind, “You lead the third ranked team. Who leads the other top teams?”

  Revealing a toothy grin, Moniba said, “A huntress must have patience for the hunt. You’ll come around. There’s several other teams worth talking about in this city, but for your potential, only three others would interest you. You already know the leader of the team ranking under mine and likely have met members on the two above.”

  Finishing the water, Luke leaned back showing faint confusion, “I have? Most the people I interact with are hunters too weak for the tower and Defiers who climb the…I see. Annika and Iona are on a team—of course they would be.”

  Moniba’s fur bristled at the names, “Iona leads a unique team, composed of companion classes only, to raid the tower. If that elf would accept a broader range of classes, her team would’ve passed mine years ago, she floats between fourth and fifth. Annika is the best healer and bruiser mix on the top ranked team, led by Aloysius, the man closest to reaching Tier 4 in this city. That woman always brings disaster on our heads when we clash.”

  “You clash with the Defiers within the tower? If it means dealing with Annika more, I’d rather go independent.”

  “Like a scared cub already? You Defiers are bound by a pact to not interfere with each other within the tower, in fact, the seven, now eight of you, would turn coat on your own teams if you had to. Before you ask, the High Defier doesn’t bother to enter the tower. It’s not challenging enough for him anymore.” Moniba got up, leaving with a slightly tipsy gait, “I’ve seen what I wanted to see, Luke. My team has a position waiting for you anytime. Veyri can be my contact to you.”

  She left a small coin pouch on her platter, Luke read the note which said ‘for damages.’

  Watching the tora woman go, the Reaver saw how she parted the crowds like crossing the sea. Guard patrols anxiously shuffled around her, and soon Moniba was out of his sight.

  “Time I get going as well.”

  As Luke came into the illusion portal realm, a reddish tint enveloped the clouds on the side Sooty was training in.

  Lulu was hard at work rotating abilities on the immortal slimes oozing around in the rolling grass plains, Sooty appeared to be taking a breather beside the owl, with green waves pulsing on the crow. A contrasting sight to the disaster going on the other side, what not with Iona blasting back beasts with nature infused arrows, her bear, Timber, mauling enemies left and right.

  The mix of lightning, molten lava, and poisonous gas erupted both up and down. Luke left the elf Defier well enough to her challenges. He approached Sooty, checking on her, “Hanging in there, Sooty? These slimes didn’t bully you too hard, did they?” Turning his head to Lulu, Luke gently patted the owl on the head, “Feel free to push Sooty a little harder, Lulu.”

  Twisting her head, Lulu gave Luke a few hoots. The Reaver lacked the same connection to Lulu as he did with Sooty, so he had not the faintest what the owl meant. Sooty flapped up to his shoulder, beginning to groom his clothes. Allowing himself a short period to appease the two birds, Luke noted Sooty appeared haggard.

  It was to be expected, small efforts alone would take ages to level up skills manually. Luke crushed the rising worry in his heart. Lulu flew off to her Beast Master, leaving the pair alone.

  Rubbing a hand over Wayfinder, Luke spoke, “Staying sane, Wayfinder? Sorry I can’t have you speaking in most places we go.”

  A mechanical gear twisted inside the compass as he lit up to speak, “A glaze of peace never harmed me needle. Ya got bigger fish to fry these days, lad. But don’t you think for one directional second I’ve forgotten that you owe me shiny metal an appointment with a trinket master.”

  “I’ll get on it. Won’t they try to inspect you?”

  “Aye, a random with no reputation might try to take a gander, and who could blame them? Me voice is music to the ears, and my form a sight for sore eyes. The louts would fail to see anything other than I’m a quality item. Plenty of them hunter types have done the same to Xera lassie. A Soul Bound protection.”

  Called upon, the wand piped up, “I’m dazzling in my own way. Lately, it’s like they can’t keep their eyes off me.”

  Luke sighed, “With all the trouble that brings, speaking of that,” the Reaver brought out a challenge request, this time from Janeus, the spell sword elf. The elf man had taken the bait. Around this time tomorrow, he challenged Luke to a duel in the arena reserved by access from the portal house around the city.

  Unafraid, he accepted it. He wagered Xera, and Janeus wagered every bit of wealth he owned, including his current gear. Aruna lectured him on her path to growth, Luke figured the worst he could do was try it a few times to see if it fit into his preference.

  Never know unless you try.

  An immortal slime bumped into Luke’s leg, then lazily veered around, none the wiser to his existence. On the other hand, with only a thin red barrier separating them, Illusion beasts on Iona’s side smashed into the partition, raring to go and attack Luke.

  He paused to talk to Sooty; however, the bird was already fast asleep.

  She must be pushing herself hard out here, I’ll let her rest.

  Gently, he took the bird and settled her in the safe zone closest to the red swirling portal exit. The testing he wanted to conduct would require the sort of movement that would wake his bird buddy up. With recent changes, Luke had a few things he wanted to test. The Reaver decided to test out the new limits of his abilities and items methodically, with particular emphasis on Whispering Tome and Infusion.

  He dashed up to the furthest hill, the breakneck pace hammering the dirt below him. A few slow moving immortal slimes were bulldozed aside, each would plop dozens of yards away and continue about their day. Having gotten a suitable bench mark of his speed without Infusion, possibly for the last time, Luke cast the ability by whipping out Xera to the side, flowing Infusion to himself and the Sword-Wand. Black mist floated around the wand tip and then sucked into Luke. He tested short movements, damn near falling over when one movement burst crashed him into a nearby green rolling hill.

  Next, he formed an Essence Lance and rocketed it toward a nearby immortal slime, detonating each shard around the lance for maximum speed. The ability sliced right through the slime, which jiggled about, looked at Luke in annoyance, before trying to munch on nearby grass.

  Luke almost felt bad after that reaction. Not bad enough to keep forming Essence Lance’s on cooldown at causing mobile ice explosions in the slimes direction for a good twenty times though. The power in the Essence Lance stayed consistent each time, never lowering after each use when he forgot to reapply Infusion like before. As an added side benefit, he confirmed that attacking these creatures allowed no stat gain. Unlike other beasts that he fought where even if he ‘outgrew’ them he’d still steal something from them, he felt no such effect at all when fighting in the illusion training realm.

  Assured that this would be his new permanent speed and damage boost, Luke planned out his newly adjusted combat style. Applying Siphon would no longer take a stack off him, nor would Essence Lance, or even bodily self defense. It would be one less thing to track and keep account of in the middle of a fight. The permanent speed boost made him a speed type fighter once more. The short period where his pure strength had outshone his agility—gone like the wind.

  Performing a similar test on Xera, the Reaver became used to the new upgrade in power the two-form weapon could display in both sword form and wand form. When he finally stopped, Xera pouted, “Swing me around more! I got rusty after our day off.”

  “You’ll have to shake it off tomorrow Xera.”

  “Bleh! Alright, only because you’ve been good to me lately.”

  Wearing an incredulous expression, Luke brushed off Xera’s disappointment. Performing a last test with Infusion, Luke applied Frost Essence to the ability; a thin ice shell encased the ability before cracking then splintering apart.

  “Easier than before, but Infusion remains stubborn. Another day, then.”

  Encouraged by the results, Luke aimed to test out Siphon but paused when he felt a slight glare from behind. Turning around while joints cracked across his entire body, Luke said, “Nice to see you, Iona.”