Eric had dared to think that he had the perfect solution to the dilemma before him.

  To break all connection with past identities and have his primary persona blend seamlessly into New Arcadia’s capital. Exactly where a rich scion would be expected to gravitate to in times of strife and trouble, just as he supposedly had Freetown, before it had suffered the devastating loss of its landmark tower.

  But what he hadn’t counted on was just how overwhelmed he would feel, setting foot in a city so saturated with the promise of magic and wonder, so filled with architecture that moved and inspired. He was left momentarily speechless as his eyes teared up and his heart filled with hope. His heart soared with the wondrous music in the air that was as much enchantment as bard, leaving him feeling like he truly was stepping into a magical faerie tale world.

  At least he knew that he wasn’t the only one captivated by the sights, sounds, and majesty of New Arcadia City, as evidenced by the flood of levimobiles parked upon the grassy fields to either side of the elegantly fortified city gates, hundreds of fleeing passengers sobbing like desolate survivors before a desert oasis as dozens of doe-eyed Sylvan healers brought gentle words of comfort and crocks filled with soup and bred, to all the lost souls seeking hope here, away from the devastation of Freetown that could have been so much worse.

  The degree to which Eric was awed and humbled was something his attributes could do nothing to prepare him for. Physical Resistance he had boosted so damn high that it could counter sniper rounds and artillery fire, maybe even Gunnery perk-boosted cannon fire, meant nothing. His maximum-modifier-enhanced Fire Fist that could rupture a half-step Silver Sand Wyrm, albeit at the risk of raising dozen escalation flags, was powerless before this force.

  His deadliest attacks and counters did him no good at all against the bittersweet ache in his heart. So he just stood there, swallowing the lump in his throat when teary-eyed children from Freetown who had somehow arrived with no one at all were tenderly held and soothed by ancient Sylvan counselors. When broken families were led to shelter that Eric just knew this wondrous city had in abundance for those in dire straights.

  Which meant that when the pair of Wide-eyed Royal Paladins on the cusp of Bronze, peered intently at the straw hat-covered youth just standing there like a gobsmacked tourist, Eric’s secret was revealed with no chance of slipping through.

  The air rang with the crash of mithril against marble stone.

  A handful of traders and farmers bringing in a massive train of grain and produce wagons presently being given a cursory inspection all turned their tired eyes the Paladin’s way as they spoke words that Eric really should have expected.

  “Honored one! You bless us with your presence!”

  “Please, allow us to escort you to your sister at once, honored one. She is most anxious to see you!”

  Eric froze at those words for a split second when it clicked. They were actually trying to be discrete. Perhaps for his sake, perhaps because of the scores of travelers and merchants and refugees now gazing his way with curious eyes. Or perhaps it was because his sister understood, as she always did, how nerve-wracking he had once found fame in all its forms, and he’d far rather slip anonymously through this magnificent marvel of a city towering before him than be the center of anyone’s attention.

  Yet despite his nod and understanding their intent as they immediately flanked him as they entered the city at a fast clip, it was impossible to avoid everyone’s notice when they rapidly darted along the major city thoroughfare the gate opened up to a wide-open area hosting a grand market complete with street vendors, bards, performers, open air shops and food kiosks, the area surrounded by dozens of manor-like buildings with colorful storefronts and brilliant banners flapping in the morning breeze.

  The air was filled with the laughter of sylvan children and the cries of shopkeepers and food vendors and every stray glance sent their way immediately did a double take upon beholding a pair of the queen’s mithril-plated Paladins with their brilliant white tabards all but sparkling before the eyes of countless awed citizens.

  “The Queens Royal Guardians are here!”

  “Who could that boy be, to have caught their attention?”

  “A criminal?”

  “Impossible. He holds his head high, no matter his silly hat. And his smile is that of a lord. The farthest thing from a supplicant.”

  Eric couldn’t quite hold back a chuckle before the murmurs and gossip flowing through the crowd. For a moment it was all he could do to resist showing them up, before he thought, ‘fuck it’ and twirled the cloak he wore around him like a magician, effortless distraction as instantly donned soul-bound prizes allowed for a transformation that was more satisfying than it should have been, perhaps, when curious looks became stares of awe when he whipped the cloak free of his shoulders entirely.

  “Look at him, fully kitted in crimson armor radiating magic and peril!”

  “It’s mithril that boy wears, any Dwarven smith could tell you that.”

  “Maybe he’s a Contender.”

  “He anchored that armor to his soul, so he literally has to be. If we tried it, we’d fade away. Nothing more than a wisp of dream.”

  “Maybe he serves as one of our our queen’s Champions!”

  The closest guardian smirked, giving Eric a look. “You’re sister implied you were one who appreciated the value of discretion.”

  Eric nodded, grinning a bit wider than he should at all the awed stares he was receiving from the citizens, all uniformly beautiful and free of scar or blemish, with a brightness to their cheeks and an innocence to their gaze that truly warmed his heart to see.

  “You’re right. Normally I do. But on the other hand, you guys need some contrast. Why should plate-boys have all the nice things? Chain mail allows for maximum flexibility.”

  The sentinel to his left cracked a smile. “Mithril hauberks do indeed allow for a swordmaster’s grace,” he said with a pointed look at Eric’s sheathed mithril dachi that he was now wearing secure in its harness, having also summoned it from his ES Space in the perfect position to draw and strike in the blink of an eye. “But there’s something to be said for a full plate harness made of a metal that can withstand even steel shot without a scratch.”

  “Damn right, that is a sweet, sweet perk,” Eric commended as he slipped past a trio of excited children trying to touch his blade on a dare. “Honestly, I can’t tell you how much I’ve wanted to get my hands on some rigid mithril armor, but yeah, my mithril mail’s basically a second skin at this point, so no real worries there.”

  The closest sentinel flashed Eric an oddly apologetic smile as his partner waved to a bright-eyed boy selling fruit, trading copper for the ripest plumbs Eric had even seen. When he bit into the one casually tossed to him, he wanted to swoon for the incredible wave of tangy sweetness that single juicy bite delivered. He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face even if he tried, devouring it in a couple bites.

  “Would that I could give you the armor New Arcadia herself blessed us with, Your Grace…” The sentinel began, before his words were waved off by a suddenly serious-faced Eric.

  “No need to say another word. I understand completely.”

  And the haunted look in the man’s eyes, gone in the time it took a ray of golden sunlight to dazzle Eric just long enough for a crow to claim his plumb pit which Eric happy surrendered with a laugh… the desperate look was gone as if it had never been.

  Of course Eric understood. How could he not?

  All he had to do was look around at a city filled with life, love, laughter and wonder… admiring the soaring towers of marble and bronze, catch a look at distant manors graced with lush gardens in perpetual bloom, and remember the desert of nightmares and tormented souls it had been just a handful of nights ago.

  A lifetime ago.

  And though he could savor her fruit and the warmth and laughter of countless millions reborn anew… treasures of mithril and living dream were no more his right to claim than delving the Adventurer’s Paradises he had left in Ashland.

  The gifts had been heartfelt.

  The boons he had received in turn truly sweet.

  And only tragedy would follow if he was so base and selfish as to claim treasures that he sensed were bound to these men’s very souls.

  Were, in fact, an extension of their souls.

  “Your Grace!”

  “Sorry, just a bit dizzy!” Eric laughed off his unexpected lurch, even as the air rang with the sharp retort of stone tiles shattering with the slights surge of his Strength that he immediately dialed back down to near nothing. He winced at the gasps the shattered stone had earned, even more eyes looking his way before the trio hurried on.

  “So, where exactly are we off to?” Eric asked, desperate to change the subject. “And you both know that my two-hander dachi looks a fuck-ton cooler than your arming swords, right?”

  The look this earned from the pair of guardians was priceless. It made his grin almost as heartfelt as the lightness in his heart when a new voice entered the conversation.

  “Duuude.”

  Eric positively beamed when he felt his favorite weight on his shoulder.

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  “Bunbun! Good to have you with us, Lilly!”

  His familiar hopped from his mithril covered shoulder to his helm, Eric’s vision only slightly impaired by the pair of floppy ears as Bunbun tilted her head down to meet his gaze with her own.

  “Duuude!”

  “How’s my favorite bunny?” He said, giving his familiar a gentle scratch and earning a purr in return. He couldn’t help smiling at the looks of awe and wonder in the gazes of so many children… though he was saddened by the haunted smiles he saw on so many adults.

  As if seeing Bunbun brought out so many truths they kept tight to their hearts, hoping for ancient wounds to fade and the dream of their awakening to become as real as real could be.

  And it would.

  Over time.

  Eric was sure of it.

  “So, why are you teasing your poor put-upon honor guard about the size of your sword? They’re just trying to keep a straight face while babysitting a baby godling on his way to his first day at school.”

  Eric blinked at that. “What?”

  Bunbun snorted. “Well, what else would you call the forger of an entire territory? So many lives pulled free of nightmare. An entire city summoned into being in a single night! Well, two cities at this point. Or did you mean my babysitting comment? You do know they both have children older than you, right?”

  Eric’s eyes widened with alarm.

  “No, it’s fine, Eric. Everyone woke up from you-know-what A-OK.”

  This time it was Eric who steadied his closest honor guard when the man stumbled over nothing, features beneath the man’s helm pale as a sheet.

  “It’s that gorgeous morning sun, reflecting off all the polished marble around here. Gets you every time,” Eric said with a careful pat on the man’s back.

  The paladin took a shuddering breath before solemnly nodding. “Of course you’re right, Your Grace. Come. Mistridge is just ahead.”

  Whatever snarky quip he was about to reply with froze on the tip of his tongue as he beheld Mistridge in all its glory. A vast, tower-studded keep of absolutely absurd scale that was a marvel of architecture and magic that lightened his heart and filled him with joy.

  They solemnly crossed a bridge that appeared to be made of spun glass that spanned over the lake adjoining the capital. Arcadia City glittered like a priceless jewel below. Eric looked down past the harbor and the scores of double-masted ships in the busy lakeside port, noting the row upon row of stately buildings radiating a majesty worthy of any capital anywhere in the world.

  He then returned his focus to the grand edifice they were rapidly approaching, constructed of marble and rose-colored quartz upon it’s own island in the middle of the lake. A shiver of wonder and Eric once again felt like he was dreaming as they slowly crossed the bridge that seemed to eat up the distance, twenty paces passing with every slow step taken as they strode across the spun glass marvel before setting foot safely upon the Mistridge Academy rooftop, which itself was incredibly vast and covered in a miniature forest of mystical blossoms and exotic cuttings.

  Eric took a deep breath of blossom-scented air as heavy with magic and wonder as the spiciest of delves he had ever dared. More, in fact, while being not only safe but charmed with aspects of enrichment and benevolence so at odds with the bitter callous reality that was so much of this world that it struck a cord in Eric’s heart. He wiped away the sting in his eyes as he caught sight of multiple crystalline spires encircling the miniature forest rustling with so many wondrous secrets.

  Each of the twelve glittering spires he caught sight of through the foliage had a different colored entryway, and each could shape the fates of whatever delvers were brave enough to explore whatever secrets were hidden within. The entire superstructure radiated so much arcane might that Eric could barely conceive of what category of wonder this academy truly was.

  He was, in truth, humbled by it. Because he sensed that, no matter the role he might have played in affecting the evolution of this structure, it had been destined to be here all along. Had, in fact, always been here.

  A treasure beyond compare.

  He sensed that as well.

  Only then did he realize how foolish he was being. So lost in wonder’s embrace that he hadn’t even registered that his honor guard had dared step not one foot across the barrier. Had Eric been in a delve with companions and not some magically benevolent miracle… He turned around, looing back at the pair of paladins stopped at the very edge of the etherial bridge, saluting Eric, fists to mithril plated chests.

  “Your Grace!” The said as one, before bowing their heads, neatly spinning around on the their back heels, and leaving the way they had come.

  A bemused Eric shook his head with a soft chuckle before his attention was drawn to the smiling young woman wearing a grey mages robe with a weave and cut so very like the ones worn by the protagonists in his favorite fantasy movie.

  He flushed once more. Why the hell hadn’t he registered her just standing there and standing up at him until that very moment?

  “Ah, you’ve made it. Excellent! Come. Right this way.”

  Eric frowned thoughtfully at the rooftop, noting the need dividing line of bridge infused crystal and the mystical tower himself. He had taken a few awed steps but hadn’t crossed completely over into what he sensed was the towers absolute domain.

  He refused to call his caution fear… but his instincts were shrieking warning, as if he were about to step into a maelstrom off supernatural potency that could wash over him like the tiniest off tadpoles who thought he actually was something in the shallowest of ponds… before being swept out to impossibly vast stormy seas.

  He swallowed his suddenly dry throat, suddenly certain that crossing the boundary before him was less about stepping from enchanted bridge landing to soil-covered rooftop and more about voluntarily crossing from one realm to another.

  One reality to another, where the fundamental underpinnings of power and potential were both similar enough to maintain continuity so he would continue to be himself, or what he thought of as himself, yet different enough to allow for the most extraordinary of transformations.

  The young woman turned around, frazzled brown hair whipping about as she pushed her old silver-frame glasses up the bridge of her nose. She frowned with the exact same exasperated expression as one of his few junior year classmates who hadn’t known or cared who he was during the semester he had managed to actually live life on his own terms. Always looking at him like he was an idiot when he’d ask one clueless question after another, making it damned clear that he had no idea what was going on in pretty much any of his classes.

  “Seriously? Our school’s VIP guest is getting cold feet now? The rooftop doesn’t bite, at least not you.”

  Eric blinked in genuine bemusement. She even had the same voice!

  He then froze, frowning thoughtfully at the girl waiting with increasing impatience, even tapping her foot the same way as he recalled.

  It was impossible, of course. She didn’t even look the same. Did she?

  “Marsha?”

  The girl froze, eyes widening as if only registering who he looked like at that very moment.

  She swallowed, sallow features growing even paler. “No. Fucking. Way.”

  “Way!” chipped in a too cheerful Bunbun. “I know, right? He looks nothing like the adorable goofball of just a year ago, does he?”

  The brown-eyed girl did a double-take. “Shit, it really is you!” She swallowed, taking a step back, a haunted look coming over her mien. “You look just as good as your mother made you in that film Elonia sent me a copy of. Nothing at all like the boy I knew. Geeky and awkward like me, with pimples to go with his muscles, and in danger of failing almost all of his classes.”

  Eric scowled. “I wasn’t actually failing all of my—”

  “Do you think you would have passed any of them if you hadn’t been copying my notes and homework?”

  He winced. “Okay, that’s actually fair. I hadn’t actually been attending school in like, ever, so maybe I didn’t really know what I was doing?”

  Marsha smirked. “You weren’t a complete idiot. Using accounting principles to solve Jedison’s equations was actually pretty clever. But besides knowing how to balance a ledger and make all sorts of hints that you knew all sorts of shady vulture capitalist shit… it was obvious you were in way over your head. You couldn’t write a cogent essay to save your life, and you had no business being thrown into an honors curriculum. Sorry, it’s true, and you know it.”

  “Whereas my sister…”

  “Yeah, Elonia’s a genius. And she’s our queen, which means…” Her eyes widened. “Shit, I’m the one being an idiot, right?” She then proceeded to curtsy before nearly toppling over, and Eric instinctively racing forward to keep her from tripping on her robe, crossing that boundary between realms without even registering it until after it had happened.

  “Was that so hard?” Marsha’s eyes twinkled. Her voice was husky, arms held so carefully in Eric’s powerful grip.

  Eric blinked, cheeks flushing. “You faked me out to get me on the roof!”

  She snorted. “No, I’m just a clumsy goof. Being grateful that I woke up from a nightmare I sure as shit won’t bore you with the details of, and actually a day one student of this school which is absolutely incredible!”

  Eric gave her a gentle smile, gently helping to right her. “So, what’s it like tapping into the fundamental secrets of the universe?”

  “No idea. Classes don’t formally start for a week. But I get to wear cool robes and feel like a character in my favorite series, even if there are exactly twelve towers here and not, say… thirteen and a half?”

  “Ha ha.”

  “And I also get to earn extra credit helping the VIPS get situated. And since attending any of the classes at all is supposed to be a life-altering experience… at least that’s what the handful of us already here were told… yeah. I am beyond excited to earn some one-on-one time with the wisest mages you’ll find anywhere!”

  Eric grinned. “Sounds like access to private lessons to learn the secrets of magic is definitely the way to go.”

  Marsha gave an animated nod. “You’re damn right. Now come on. You got a meeting with both the queen and the headmaster!”

  She then froze, as the significance of her own words struck her.

  “Because you’re the freekin’ prince. Just two years ago, I was tutoring a prince! And now here you are, looking so buff and shiny in your crimson armor of awesomeness and do you really know how to use that scary-looking sword on your hip?”

  Eric smirked. “Actually yeah, I do.”

  She swallowed, big brown eyes gazing into his own. “Because you didn’t just wake up yesterday. You’ve been a part of… well, whatever it is that’s going on. Killing monsters. Leveling up… all of it.”

  Eric flashed her a sympathetic smile. “I guess I have, at that. Quite a lot’s happened since the last time you let me crib your notes. How are you holding up, Marsha?”

  She flashed a brittle smile. “I’m pretty good for a girl who woke up screaming last night with memories of being shoved into a steel cage with so many others, all of us smelling of sweat and fear and sobbing with terror, and when you looked down through the metal bars under our bare, bleeding feet, all you saw was this fiery hot glow, burning our skin even from hundreds of feet in the air!”

  She shuddered, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It all faded the moment I woke up. But I still remember the awful terror I felt when the metal trap door screeched open and I began to fall and the air was filled with everyone’s screams, and...

  She choked back a sob, suddenly finding herself in Eric’s comforting arms. “It was such an awful, awful dream.”

  “And that’s all it was,” Eric gently soothed. “A bad dream that can never hurt you again. Now you’re awake and alive and ready to enjoy an awesome isekai adventure where you get to live a faerie tale life and explore all the mystery and wonders of magic.”

  Marsha took a shuddering breath, flashing him a grateful smile. “You’re right about that, Eric. Now come on! You’re expected and now we’re running late!”