The blackness gave way to a deep blue that became brighter and brighter as we ascended. To reduce the strain on our beleaguered sub, Aerion had us ascending at about half the max rate, so the journey took a while.

  That gave me plenty of time to look over my new gains. I honestly hadn’t expected much, considering the low rank of this Trial, but that Trial Guardian had been a notch or two above the Obsidian Dragon. I doubted we would’ve had any chance of taking the thing down from the outside, and if our sub’s propulsion had been any weaker, or if it had been damaged, our strategy wouldn’t have worked.

  In fact, I doubted attacking anywhere other than the whale’s brain would have done enough damage to kill the thing with the ammo we had onboard.

  Which must have been why I’d gained not just one, but two levels, vaulting me to D - 3. The bolts had pushed me over the edge, gaining a number of levels upon impact. Just that they’d been destroyed a moment later.

  Even so, I was pretty pleased with my gains. With a new Essence budget of 490, of which 424 were currently consumed, I had a lot more free Essence to work with.

  Enough, even, to start fantasizing about my next armor set.

  Aerion had likewise seen some impressive gains, jumping one level to E - 8 after that fight. I guessed she gained less because my Siege Bolts had done most of the work in killing the thing, but her expert maneuvering had sent her Grace stat soaring.

  I pulled up her current stats.

  Stats available to distribute: 32

  Vigor: 54 (Max: 60)

  Order: 8 (Max: 8)

  Wisdom: 14 (Max: 30)

  Passion: 2 (Max: 2)

  Grace: 42 (Max: 42)

  Cunning: 21 (Max: 25)

  Dominion: 64 (Max: 74)

  She’d been distributing points along the way, more or less according to the scheme we’d discussed for her. While not a well rounded build, I definitely felt her stats complemented her fighting style. I didn’t need the numbers to see that—she’d become quite the force to be reckoned with, persisting longer in [Reave] while also being far stronger. She hardly ever passed out these days—a testament to her Essence pool and the fact that we had all gotten a lot better at killing things.

  As for my stats, they weren’t too shabby either.

  Vigor: 34 (Max: 34) (Max Trained: 49)

  Order: 1 (Max: 1) (Max Trained: 14)

  Wisdom: 28 (Max: 28) (Max Trained: 41)

  Passion: 12 (Max: 12) (Max Trained: 20)

  Grace: 74 (Max: 74)

  Cunning: 15 (Max: 15) (Max Trained: 23)

  Dominion: 48 (Max: 48) (Max Trained: 62)

  Many of my stats had suffered due to my Grace build, but that was the nature of min-maxing. My Dominion, for instance, had been trained all the way up to 62, but due to the gear I currently wore, that was capped at 48. The moment I put on Dominion-heavy gear, though, it’d jump back up.

  Which basically meant that, ignoring [Reave], my unfettered stats exceeded Aerion’s across the board. Unlike her, however, I could change that distribution as easily as changing clothes. With more armor suits, that advantage would only heighten.

  I’d really have to get more gear to enhance my Grace, though. I never thought I’d hit that ceiling as fast as I did.

  Heavy breathing brought me out of my daydreaming. The mood was tense our whole way up, with all of us fearing another whale attack. With this many people weighing the sub down, it was slow going, and I could almost feel the anxiety in our cramped confines.

  “Anyone else ever been so relieved to see blue water?” Richard asked.

  “Never,” Philip replied.

  “Being able to see the thing attacking us goes a long way,” I said with a chuckle. “Something tells me we’re home free, though.”

  Almost before the words were out of my mouth, four pairs of eyes glared back at me, forcing me to throw my hands up in defeat.

  Jinxes or not, our sub ascended peacefully, with the water growing brighter and brighter, until we punched through the surface.

  Rogar instantly fell seasick from the bobbing, and we had to rush to open the hatch to let him hurl in time. That was a close call.

  I crawled out after he’d had his moment, and having gone through this rigamarole before, I knew exactly what to look for.

  “Do you see anything?” Aerion asked.

  “Actually? Yeah.”

  “You see the pillar of light?”

  “Sure do. I also see the island. Looks like our fight with the whale didn’t take us as far away as I thought.”

  We’d followed the line of castles all the way for the express purpose of being close to the island when we surfaced, but I could’ve sworn the whale had taken us miles out.

  “Guess it was mostly writhing in pain while we punched holes into it,” Richard said, popping his head out. “God, is it good to see the sun again.”

  I jumped out onto the hull to allow everyone their turn to bask in the sun.

  Our well-earned relaxation was interrupted when a series of waves suddenly rocked our sub, forcing everyone inside. Philip slipped off, forcing me to dive after him, but we thankfully managed to get everyone onboard and shut the hatch.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Not a moment too soon, either, because an enormous wave sent the sub sideways before Aerion had the good sense to dive.

  Not out of fear for our sub, but the disaster that was about to unfold if Rogar endured any more rocking.

  Once we’d descended about twenty feet, we no longer felt a thing, and after Aerion angled us up, we saw the cause of the turbulence.

  Like a black gash in the water, something bobbed on the surface, extending into the distance like a wall.

  It took me a moment to register what we were looking at.

  “No way…”

  The instant Aerion surfaced the sub, I swiveled open the hatch and peeked out.

  “What? What is it?” someone called out from below.

  “See for yourself,” I said, moving to a side.

  Richard peeked out, and like me, his jaw dropped.

  It was the carcass of the whale we’d killed. In the dark depths of the ocean, it was safe to say we’d all underestimated its size.

  Forget sailing to shore—we could just walk across our rubbery new land bridge all the way there.

  “So, uh, anyone interested in looking for the core?” I asked, once we’d all debarked onto the whale. Rogar was the happiest at this decision, since the thing didn’t bob nearly as much as our tiny sub. Its flesh was slick and wet, but none of us complained. Land wasn’t far.

  That lack of complaining was more than made up for by the glares I got back from everyone, however. Glares that would’ve frozen Passion’s own heart. Which, of course, meant the herculean task landed on my shoulders.

  We definitely didn’t have the time to search a miles-long whale for a tiny orb, nor did I have any intention of entering this thing’s guts again. I’d had my fill of whale innards for a lifetime.

  I was in the middle of agonizing over what to do when we came across the whale’s head. I’d been worrying about crossing a chasm of brain innards, but the thing’s head was so big that the hole we’d punched looked downright tiny in comparison. It was off to one side, which meant we could bypass it entirely if we wanted.

  I looked at my companions. “Am I seriously gonna dive into that?”

  “It’s the most logical place for a core,” Richard said, clapping my shoulder.

  “You said it yourself,” Philip chimed in, clapping my other shoulder.

  “Well, sure, but is it worth it?” I knew the answer the moment I uttered those words. For someone like me, leaving behind treasure was borderline impossible. It was unholy. It went against everything I believed in.

  And so, sure enough, I jumped into the hole. Alone.

  Despite a cloth wrapped around my nose and mouth, and despite doing my best to hold my breath, the stench was something else. Seawater mixed in with oxidizing brain matter to make for a truly disgusting experience. As if the gray-red folds of gore weren't bad enough.

  Worse—I had to dig through this. Thank all the gods for my inventory.

  Light of the Fearless made quick work of the job, and thanks to my inventory, I was able to scoop up pieces of gore and [Launch] them overboard without actually touching it. I had to wonder if anyone in the history of gaming had ever thought to use their inventory as a vacuum cleaner. A gray matter vacuum cleaner at that.

  I somehow doubted it.

  The task went fast—its brain was large, to be sure, but it felt disproportionately tiny for something this massive. I’d been expecting a mansion—sized brain. What I got was something closer to an apartment.

  I vacuumed out the last of its brain without luck. To be fair, the ice serpent’s core was deep in its belly, not its head.

  I was about to turn around and leave when I looked down the hole our sub had made. Light didn’t penetrate far into the whale’s maw, but strangely, there was a source down there that let me see. Like a tiny candle, incredibly faint, but highly visible in the total darkness.

  Spurred by my curiosity, I edged closer to the entrance of the hole we’d blasted with the sub. In front of me was a sheer drop of about a hundred feet, to the bottom of the whale’s mouth. Its enormous teeth, each easily two stories tall, remained firmly shut.

  The smell was even worse in here.

  There was no denying it, though. Whatever that thing was, I needed to check it out.

  “Aerion?” I shouted back up. “I’ve removed most of the gore. Uh, Would you mind coming down here with me? I, uh, I’d really love to have you around.”

  I’d expected a whole laundry list of reasons why she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, and to be fair, she’d have been entirely justified in refusing.

  Instead, I just got a “I’ll be right there,” followed by my favorite elf peeking her head into the opening.

  It only took her a few moments to jump into the hole and join me inside.

  “Huh.”

  “What?” Aerion asked.

  “Nothing. Just, this is the first time we’ve been alone in a while. Never imagined our first date would be so… wet.”

  Aerion cupped her face in one hand and groaned. “Is this to be my fate? Doomed to endure your terrible jokes?”

  “Hey! You never said my jokes were terrible!” I said, exaggeratedly clutching my heart.

  Aerion rolled her eyes. “As your betrothed, I am telling you this now.”

  “That doesn’t mean you can—hey, wait. Betrothed!?”

  Aerion’s eyes widened, before turning introspective. Her ears slowly drooped. “Yes? Is… is that not what we are?”

  “It was just one kiss!” I blurted. “I mean, we haven’t even talked about it yet!”

  “A kiss you accepted,” Aerion said suspiciously. “Did you not?”

  “Well, sure, but—”

  “Then why would we not be betrothed?”

  “You serious?”

  Aerion tilted her head. “Why wouldn't I be?”

  Well, shit. It was my turn to groan this time. Was I the weird one for having reservations about the whole Blessing situation? I supposed that without the ability to Uninitialize Aerion… no, this was neither the time nor the place to be having this sort of internal monologue.

  “I think I’ve made a terrible mistake,” I muttered, which were decidedly not the right words at that time, as evidenced by Aerion going completely stiff and wide-eyed.

  “You mean…”

  “Oh! No! Sorry,” I followed up immediately. “My bad, that’s not what I meant. I’m into you. Like, for sure.”

  Aerion looked thoroughly confused. “Into me? I don’t understand.”

  I let out a breath. “I like you, Aerion. And clearly, you like me.”

  “So, you wish to marry, then?”

  “No! At least, not until we talk through some stuff. Even then, I’d like to take things slow.”

  Aerion nodded in understanding. “You wish to meet my family, to seek their approval. Of course, I should have anticipated that. But, well, that may prove to be a bit of an issue. My family is, well…”

  “Oh, that’s, uh, not what I meant.” My shoulders sagged and I felt like my translator had suddenly failed me. Why was this so goddamn hard?

  Aerion’s ears drooped even further, and her expression wallowed between disappointment and confusion.

  “Hey,” I said in as soft a voice as I could muster. Conversation had clearly failed, so I took action instead, moving closer to Aerion. My hands moved to her shoulders, and after a moment’s hesitation, I gently held them. “There’s a whole bunch of cultural differences we’re gonna have to work out with this. Not to mention the quirks of our situation. I’m from another planet, and, well, you’ve seen how uh, different I can be. I’ve got no clue how your culture does things either. We’ll talk things through. Sort it out one step at a time. Just not now? And especially not here. Can you wait until we’re back at Basecrest? I’ll pour my heart out. Promise.”

  I felt my cheeks flush, and saw the same in Aerion’s.

  “Okay,” she mumbled, giving me a small smile and an even smaller nod.

  “Good! That’s good. Now, I dunno about you, but I’d love to get out of here as soon as possible. Feel like climbing down there with me to grab that glowing green thing?”

  Aerion, with red cheeks and ears that matched, pushed lightly against my chest and shook her head, smiling as she did. “Who would? But I’ll join you anyway, so lead on!”

  Panorama I took on Denali's summit ridge. Photography is another interest of mine, and mountains make for some of the most fantastical subjects on Earth. These peaks can be such alien and sometimes hostile places that you really feel like you're on another planet.

  And a 'cool' shot from Vinson in Antarctica. It was about -40 with windchill that day (which is nothing for you canadians and northern europeans, I know! :-P ), and that's my rope team coming up the hill to high camp!