“Rachel, are you alright?” A concerned Alex gazed down at the trembling young woman, wide, frightened eyes locking with his own even as she shivered with cold, despite wearing his coat on top of her own.

  “I couldn’t do anything,” she whispered. “When it’s terrible eyes locked with my own… I froze!”

  “And that’s why you didn’t get any experience,” Linnea said sympathetically. “Had you had it within you to force your will upon reality’s mantel even just a tiny bit, to affect causality just a hair, then you would have blossomed like never before! But don’t feel bad, these were half-step Silver monsters! They could have torn out your throat before you could blink!”

  Alex smirked, happy to see his companion so effortlessly shift to her natural self when he wasn’t embracing gestalt, relieved to sense her mind so bright and bubbly and cheerful, clearly no worse for ware for having temporarily fused with his own. Even if he wanted to wince at her particular choice of words as he did his best to reassure the trembling Rachel.

  “Don’t feel bad,” said Tang of all people. “For a newly delving Ruidian, choosing winter truly is madness!” He said with a chuckle. “But your friend’s right. If the rumors I hear are true, and you all really do blossom with the potency of your kills, just like spirit beasts devouring cultivators, spiritual herbs, or one another, then I suspect you’ll be far stronger than you ever were before, once we finish this delve!”

  Alex nodded. “We just need to figure out how best to use your skills. Whether offensively or defensively. Are you able to summon shields or wards of wood?”

  Rachel bit her lip. “To be honest, I was hoping for a far more… lush environment?” She winced. “I guess I just hadn’t really thought of the ramifications of winter. Silly, foolish me. I should have known it would be just as barren as the desert… just… with crystals of ice instead of sand. And at least I understand and can manipulate sand! But that doesn’t seem to extend to, um… snow. And I tried. Believe me, I tried!”

  Alex nodded. “But since I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve ever experienced snow… I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. What matters is that now you know, and the only question you should be asking yourself is, what can you do in this environment to help turn the tides of battle?”

  She knitted her pert little brow, a calmly smiling Alex glad to let her, though he was pleasantly surprised to find his boon companions in no immediate rush to hurry. Which definitely made sense as it gave them a few more minutes to recover and ready themselves for whatever came next, not to mention harvest choice cuts of spirit beast meat.

  For long moments Rachel glared at the snow, and Alex almost thought he felt… something, tingle his senses. His eyes widened when he felt the caress of Linnea’s mind and suddenly it all snapped into brilliant focus.

  He could see tendrils of Earth and Wood aligned magic questing into the ice flow which was either a purely manufactured construct, or, if this somehow echoed with an actual realm or world out there somewhere, they were effectively on a mile high ice flow and there was no chance in hell of Rachel’s arts accessing either dirt or plants of any sort from down below. Which to Alex made no sense. For then what supported the beasts, unless it was the arcane spiritual radiations of this realm as a whole? Unless there was a lake nearby… in which case plankton and lichens could still serve as the base of an ecosystem of some sort.

  Then he blinked, thoughts racing with an unexpected possibility, even as Rachel slumped her shoulders in defeat.

  “I’m sorry,” she all but sobbed before a surprisingly sympathetic looking Lao Tie. “I fear I’m all but worthless here!”

  Lao Tie shook his head. “Hardly that, my young Ruidian friend. Your gifts include Wood, yes?”

  She nodded hesitantly, earning a bright smile in return.

  “Wonderful!” He then gestured at the wooden hafts held by Alex and his own companions. “I do believe I see four weapon shafts that could certainly benefit from whatever strengthening arts your gifts could imbue.”

  Alex, noting the hesitation in the others, and why wouldn’t they be, introducing foreign arts to weapons that had stood them so well so far? Gamely, he pulled out his own fangtian ji.

  “If you can enhance it, Rachel, that would be wonderful!”

  Rachel beamed happily, clearly grateful to be of use… only to wilt as her hands clasped the shaft of Alex’s weapon.

  “I’m sorry, Alex.” She swallowed, suppressing a shiver from the cold. “But this artifact is already so infused with potency that the wood won’t take a hairsbreadth more.”

  Kuaisu smirked. “Of course the boy’s weapon is a spiritual treasure. No other way it would have survived striking those wolves with such force!” She then gamely presented her own spear. “Mine is as well. But if you can make it any stronger without harming the enchantment…” Her eyes widened when a beaming Rachel gently closed her hand around the shaft, hummed softly to herself, then presented it with a smile.

  “Hear you go. I managed to strengthen its resilience by exactly 37%!

  Kuaisu blinked. “So exact,” she said, before performing a basic kata and nodding her head thoughtfully. “At least it feels just as good as it had before.”

  Within seconds the rest of the crew had their equipment similarly enhanced, and Alex couldn’t help but exchange a nod with Lao Tie, grateful that the man had found a way for Rachel to feel useful and valued. And only after Rachel had serviced what equipment she could did Alex make his own request.

  “Rachel, do you know how scum can form on a stagnant pool of water, even if it appeared clear, just days before?”

  Rachel nodded. “Of course! The few of us with gifts for Water know well how to sterilize such moss and algae. I do as well, but…” She shrugged. “People prefer arts they’re familiar with. Not that I blame them.”

  Alex’s suddenly intense gaze locked with her own. “Rachel? Can you do the same for the snow drifts all around us?”

  Rachel blinked, clearly taken aback. “I’m sorry, Alex, you wish me to cover the snows with… algae?”

  Alex solemnly nodded, ignoring the odd looks this earned him. “Yes, Rachel. That’s exactly what I’m asking.”

  Rachel bit her too pale lip before her entire body shivered with a bright surge of healing warmth.

  You have successfully channeled personal potency into Lu0866.

  Homeostasis has been fully restored!

  (Additional pheromones have been released.)

  Her eyes widened, pupils dilating as her cheeks flushed.

  “Alex! Did you just… heal me?”

  Alex winked. “Just doing my part to keep you warm and comfy. How do you feel?”

  “I feel so much better! Now give me just a moment, yes… maybe?” She frowned thoughtfully down at the snow, before closing her eyes. And for long moments, there were no sounds save for the howling wind.

  “I have an idea…” Ya Ling said.

  “About…”

  “The Wind! If I could calm it…”

  “That would mean gaining control over it, or at least the first step towards mastering it, just like a Wujen,” Alex noted, sharing a smile with his friend. “You should totally try.”

  Their newest party members, however, having finished catching their breath, harvesting meat, and preparing themselves for what was to come, were beginning to look a bit impatient.

  Yet still… Alex couldn’t help but smile with happiness when the snow around them took the faintest green and pink tinge.

  Tang cleared his throat. “Thank you again for strengthening my naginata. I’m eager to try it out on the next snow wolf we find!”

  “Myself as well,” Kuaisu declared.

  Wu Xien smirked down at the intently frowning Ruidian girl. “What they’re saying is best we get going, little one. You’ll have plenty of time to turn the snow pretty colors later. I can all but promise you that.”

  Rachel’s eyes snapped open, her cheeks flushing with more than the wind. “I um… of course you’re right,” she said softly as the crew began making their way forward in earnest.

  She turned to Alex, panting as she struggled to keep up with the others wading so effortlessly through the snow. “I’m sorry, Alex, that’s the best I could do!” She wheezed before collapsing with a soft groan… only to gasp when Alex effortlessly lifted her up, earning an adorable yelp as he gently placed her on his shoulder.

  “Alex!”

  “It’s quite alright,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Don’t slow us down,” Tang snarked.

  “Wouldn't’ dream of it,” Alex said with a smirk as he raced in front of them all, miming pushing forward, one foot after the other like he was on ice skates as he effortlessly rode upon Wind and snow.

  “Alex!” Rachel gasped.

  “Alex!” Linnea pouted.

  Ya Ling, able to glide about even more effortlessly than he, presently carried serenely by the wind only a few feet above the ground just grinned and waved as she floated right past him.

  “It’s alright, Rachel, you’re doing wonderful!” Alex said with a chuckle. “I’ll tell you what. You let me worry about movement, keeping us warm, and topping off your metaphoric batteries. You just focus on visualizing the snows we cross as being covered in that wonderful pink green algae.”

  Her brow furrowed. “I almost understand what you mean by… Oh, now I understand!” She said, eyes widening as her efforts led to patches of algae being left in their wake. “This way we can find our way back, if we need to, without having to worry about…”

  “Exactly,” Alex said with a smile, electing not to tell her the other reason. Just one more card best held close to his chest, should he need it. “Remember, few things help one grow faster than using your abilities in combat. So when predators come our way, visualize blooms of algae underneath their paws as hard and fast as you can! If you can actually make it a viable thorny attack, that’s even better. But just marking it will hopefully be enough for your efforts to count in our future… Linnea trouble from below! Watch your feet! Get ready to Crimson Corkscrew!”

  Alex’s guts twisted with an awful sense of foreboding as he shouted for all he was worth.

  “Ya Ling! Something’s flowing through the Ice! You’re overwatch! Lao Tie! Trouble incoming!”

  Yet before half the party could even register his words, Alex was leaping and rolling, Rachel held in protective arms as a massive scaly head of ice and peril attached to a long, sinuous neck, erupted from the snow as effortlessly as a shark snapping its jaws through the waves, right where Alex had been loping along.

  The creature so much like a serpentine ice dragon hissed in startled fury when it was struck a heartbeat later by Linnea’s Crimson Corkscrew cutting into the snow.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Wu Xien roared even as Alex locked gazes with Ya Ling who somehow instantly understood what he needed, not hesitating to claim a yelping, panicked, and very fragile young Rachel while Alex took advantage of suddenly empty hands to unsheathe his blade…

  Just a heartbeat before the ground under his feet erupted once more in a fresh explosion of ice and snow and sharp deadly teeth that could so easily sheer through flesh and bone.

  Alex glared at his target as Wu Xien and Tang roared and charged, deadly fast arrows shot from Kuaisu’s instantly summoned bow bouncing harmlessly off what looked like scales of impossibly resilient ice as Alex did what he could to sense both his foe’s strength, defenses, and the flow of Qi when it attacked… in the frenetic seconds they had before it dove under the snowy surface once more.

  Alex’s features tightened with worry, all too well aware that their serpentine foe could burst free of the ice sheet at any place and time.

  “Tang! Wu Xien! Ready yourselves!” Loa Tie commanded as he and Linnea joined hands, having found their common ground in the form a howling vortex of blazing hot plasma swirling about them both.

  Alex flashed a relieved smile, even if he knew it wouldn’t be enough.

  Because he felt it. The minutest tremble through Earth that was actually Ice that he still hadn’t come close to truly understanding, let alone mastering….

  “Run!”

  A panicked thought he projected to all that was almost a command, the very moment that Wu Xien and Kuaisu were both sent tumbling as the massive serpent erupted from the now moss-covered ice.

  And the sound of Tang’s startled cry had Alex racing forward as protective lamellar tiles were shattered as Tang struggled desperately to break free of vicious serpentine jaws.

  Alex had only a heartbeat to catch the older man’s despairing gaze as the serpent, glaring Alex’s way with too clever eyes, tossed the man high to swallow in a single bite.

  Bullrush!

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  Cloudstep!

  Quickness Check – success!

  The air rang with the sound of the serpent snapping shut its own monstrous jaws as the air exploded with lightning from the tip of Alex’s dao, stunning the massive primal serpent for long seconds as Alex raced through the air.

  “Open your fire ward!”

  Lao Tie was gazing at Alex in awed disbelief until Linnea nudged him, and Alex, who had no time to even respond to the gasping man he had rescued who was now gazing at him so strangely, gently tossed Tang into the now open ward, roaring only, “Get behind the fire ward!” to an equally stunned looking Wu Xien and Kuaisu, currently picking themselves up off the ground as Alex twisted around and headed for the serpent once more.

  “Be careful! It’s an ice drake! It can kill you with poison!” Lao Tie desperately warned.

  The massive serpent, clearly sapient, glared Alex’s way and hissed, before filling the air with a stream of caustic bile.

  “Alex!” Ya Ling’s panicked voice echoed loudly in his mind.

  Storm Shield Successfully summoned!

  Yet his left hand had already summoned forth a swirling shield of Water, Wind, and Metal, crackling with Lightning as he roared and charged, deflecting the monstrous stream of caustic spittle that hissed and spattered in the ice in a deadly cloud of poisonous steam that he had successfully deflected from touching himself, or the whirling barrier of Fire that he sensed had been its true target, making it damn clear that it was time to quit holding back as his dao turned jet black and Alex charged right for the massive snapping maw of the giant serpent that was clearly as eager for Alex’s blood as he was to put the abomination down.

  All its focus was on the shield Alex dared to hold up as if the crackling storm could stop a Silver-tier Drake’s fury… blocking all view of the inky dark blade Alex held off-angle, doing all he could to close the distance, even knowing it was a terrible risk.

  If he had misjudged its speed… if it had been holding back, just like Alex had...

  Monstrous jaws snapped shut, Alex’s shield disrupted by a backlash that sent him flying.

  But not before his blade struck true.

  Doom Strike has critically struck your opponent!

  The drake’s massive skull reeled back as black lightning tore through its flesh, eyes exploding as the air filled with its horrific screams.

  Party Member Ya Ling has been struck by Psionic Wail!

  Party Member Linnea has been struck by Psionic Wail!

  Party Member Rachel Lu has been critically struck by Psionic Wail!

  Rachel Lu has suffered deafness and serious injury!

  Alex choked back an awful surge of disorienting pain, doing his best to channel the wild Dark Qi into his hungry bones before it tore too deeply into his own flesh as further messages echoed through his interface.

  Vitality check: Critical success!

  You have successful channeled Doom Strike backlash into your bones!

  You have suffered 2 Light Wounds.

  Soul Sight perception check made!

  You can now sense the flow of Qi through your opponent!

  And sense it Alex did, he realized with wondrous exhilaration, no matter how much better hidden it was compared to so many other spirit beasts he had once fought. Because Alex was Finally looking past the urgent panic of the moment, the desperate need to ACT in the heat of combat. Taking that precious second as he was sent hurtling back to ground himself sliding against the wind and take in the wild crackling flow of Ice and Earth Qi that defined this monstrous beast now perforated by countless Dark Qi burns that had burned and broken countless scales as the creature writhed and shuddered. And to Alex’s horror, he sensed it was preparing for its death knell.

  “Alex, please! We can’t take another scream!”

  Linnea’s voice, Alex only appreciating at that moment how close their most fragile party members were to death, Linnea and Rachel both suffering intracranial bleeding and he was NOT going to let his newest friend or the woman he could have so easily fallen in love with die. Not when all he had to do was MOVE!

  Bullrush! You are before your prey!

  Alex could feel it, the furious storm of passion, fury, and desperation howling through them all.

  He didn’t bother fighting the currents, trying to force Doom Strike or Doom Blade in those crucial moments where hesitation would cost him far too many precious lives.

  Instead, he rode the storm for all he was worth, steering his enemy’s serpentine vessel right into the shoals of oblivion as the howling storm pounded into his foe with such overwhelming force that it had no air to inhale and no way to unleash the sonic death knell it clearly yearned to.

  Avalanche has been SUCCESSFULLY fueled by the storm!

  Instead, the massive Silver-tier beast was sent windmilling through the air in a crackle of lightning and overwhelming force as Alex embraced the storm, allowing the howling winds to carry him up toward to slam into the hull of his slowly descending prey, dooming it like a ship about to sink beneath the frothy waters. Yet Alex refused to let it surrender to peaceful oblivion, where it might awaken once more.

  An enemy at their backs that could strike at any time.

  Instead, he forced his titanic foe to taste the sting of coral reefs, the grinding pressure of eternal stone as the howling sea continued to smash into its monstrous bulk with such force and fury that even the titanic galleon of a spirit beast was soon broken amongst the stormy shoals.

  Avalanche!

  Storm Strike!

  Avalanche!

  Avalanche!

  You have Catastrophically struck your foe!

  Alex howled with the rush of potency now flooding through him, momentarily dizzy with either exhaustion or profound insight, panting over the broken heap of pulpified flesh and scattered scales that would never be able to threaten his friends again.

  “Angel’s mercy. Have you ever seen anything like that, Tang?”

  “Kid’s a monster, Kuaisu. Lao Tie has a knack for finding them, doesn’t he?”

  Alex stiffened, realizing that perhaps he had revealed a bit too much of what he was actually capable of. Because this creature had been no halfstep Silver.

  It had been a foe that could have so easily killed any unprepared party… and it was only the second encounter since they had entered this icy, frigid cold realm.

  “Alex!”

  Ya Ling’s panicked worry snapped Alex out of his stupor. He didn’t hesitate to race to her side as his now grounded friend held completely unconscious Rachel close. Alex winced, seeing Linnea similarly out, being held with tender care by Lao Tie, and Ya Ling didn’t look much better.

  Alex swallowed the lump in his throat, gazing intently at Ya Ling. “Do I have your permission?”

  His friend blanched, her beautiful almond eyes filling with fear and desperate hope and what he now recognized was hunger as well.

  She swallowed and forced a nod. “Yes, but… not until they’re better.”

  Alex smiled. “Of course,” he said, gently touching Rachel’s brow. He didn’t have to, of course, but he sensed that with skin contact, outside the immediate perils of combat, it would be even more efficient and cheaper to use. And, of course, the less cards he revealed, the better. But after all the cards he had revealed already, just to pull them safely through that last battle...

  He shook his head as if to dispel Lao Tie’s too intent gaze as his fingers gently brushed Rachel’s brow.

  Do you wish to restore Party Member Rachel Lu to full health? This will cost you 513 Experience Points!

  You have chosen… YES!

  Alex blinked, surprised to hear the potency so neatly quantized. Yet his startlement was nothing compared to the gasps and awed curses when Rachel seemed to recover within seconds.

  To Alex, it didn’t even look like she healed so much as the clock of her existence had wound back a couple precious moments, even the blood leaking from her eyes and ears flowing in reverse, and he could sense, much to his profound relief, that the dangerous internal hemorrhaging, even if it had only been a trickle, had been healed in full.

  Lao Tie gazed at Alex for long moments as he solemnly approached the man, too tired even to hide what he was capable of.

  “Alex…”

  “Please give me Linnea,” he said, gently lifting the woman slumped in the wujen’s arms.

  Lao Tie swallowed, opened his mouth as if to say something, and kept it open in shock when he saw firsthand the results of Ruidian potency healing.

  “The wounds utterly reverse themselves. In just seconds!” An awed Wu Xien declared. “Have you ever seen anything like that in all your travels, Tang?”

  Tang, to his party’s surprise, nodded. “I have. A Ruidian couple serving as caravan mercenaries. After bandits hit, the husband was injured. The wife had gone berserk and had slaughtered every last bandit and not even the captain dared to say a word… then she pressed her palm against what should have been a fatal gut wound, we having no healer or herbalist on that trip… and wouldn’t you know it? His own intestines slurped back in the rent in his belly and it closed!” He shook his head in bemusement. “Just like the wounds on those girls closed. And no sign of fever or infection either. In fact, the husband didn’t even remember the fight!”

  And with those words, as if on cue, Linnea’s eyes bulged open and she gasped. Though her look of shocked surprise became a warm smile when she saw Alex gazing down at her with such concern.

  “Alex, what happen—” Her words cut off as their gestalt instantly filled her in. She flashed a rueful smile. “I have no defense against… how do you put it, Psionic Shrieks. That’s a Spirit attack, right?” She chuckled. “Clearly a flaw in my Fire ward, and I fear it’s one that will never be corrected. Thank goodness I fell in love with an actual half-blood Mindlord…”

  Alex winced at those words, then gently squeezed her hand, as if to allay her own flash of embarrassment and shame… before turning to Ya Ling and refusing to even address the odd looks the others were giving them as he gently approached the girl now floating a foot off the ground in a lotus position.

  She flashed him an anxious smile, then closed her eyes.

  “I’m ready,” she whispered.

  Alex gently placed his hands upon her shoulder and forehead, allowing for the gentle release of potency and potential that Ya Ling was able to channel into herself.

  “What are they doing?” Kuaisu could be heard whispering.

  “Did that boy actually hybridize a Ruidian technique such that a cultivator could use it?” Wu Xien asked with a certain amount of awe, earning a snort from Tang.

  “That much should be obvious after the supernatural party sense that he instilled within all of us.”

  Alex tuned out their words, all his focus on sensing the gentle interplay of potency and recovery occurring within his friend… awed by the rate at which she was healing, her cells able to claim and rapidly recover with what was effectively neutral Qi, free of any particular alignment, and thus absolutely ideal for healing.

  He couldn’t help quirking a grin at the unexpected interface messages as several of his own skills improved, even if he knew that there had been a bitter cost to unleashing certain arts in the desperate heat of combat.

  A cost that revealed itself in the frustrated curse and groan of both Kuaisu and Tang.

  “Damn thing shattered! And it would have been worth a fortune!”

  “After all that effort… nearly cost us our lives,” Tang sighed, before giving a rueful chuckle. “But really, who are we to complain? At least we still have our lives. And I don’t know about you, but I feel on the cusp of a breakthrough.”

  Kuaisu scowled, glaring Alex’s way as she held up a handful of core slivers.

  His heart quailed to see what looked like crystalline ice… intermixed with Earth and several other elements. But still.

  “Whatever you did… it cost us the core!”

  “And brought us time. Perhaps even our lives,” Lao Tie reminded with a placating smile for Kuaisu and Alex both. “And all’s not lost. For it has a large percentage of Ice. Those slivers will go for a pretty penny in the private gardens of several city lords in the know… assuming the prince doesn’t wish to hold them in reserve to preserve at least a portion of our crops, or generate sufficient water for thousands to survive emigration, should the absolute worst come to pass.”

  Kuaisu paled. “You’re right, my liege.” She then bowed her head Alex’s way. “This one apologizes for her careless words.”

  Alex flashed a rueful smile. “But you’re not wrong. If that had been an actual pristine Water core…” He shook his head. “My tactics need to improve.”

  “Your tactics quite likely saved at least some of our lives,” Lao Tie assured. “An act of grace which neither me nor mine will soon forget. Still, awareness of the flaws within even the most deadly techniques is a wisdom best not taken lightly.”

  Alex winced. “It’s alright. I think I know which attack, well…”

  “Actually managed to shatter a Silver-tier beast’s core? And on the deeper end of Silver. And how insane is that in a boy your age?” Wu Xien declared.

  Alex nodded. “Exactly. And don’t worry. I know what I need to do differently.”

  “So long as changing tactics won’t get us killed,” Tang reminded, gazing down with haunted eyes as the ugly crimson gashes still on his leg.

  Alex winced, realizing he had been so focused on his friends that he was neglecting his duties as a party member to all. “Tang?”

  The man flinched, before bowing low before Alex. “I know. I owe you my life. And another debt just as precious. They are both burdens that I’m grateful to have.”

  Alex grinned. “I could ask for nothing greater than your friendship… and the knowledge that I never need fear being betrayed by a man I thought of as a friend.”

  Tang blinked, before slamming fist to chest. “You have it, friend Alex!”

  Alex chuckled. “Actually I was going to ask… did you want me to see what we could do about your leg?”

  He then noted Kuaisu with gauze and liniment and Lao Tie approaching with a partial drunk but still precious crimson vial. Both stopped and exchanged nods, and before he knew it, Alex was coaxing another man into assume a far chillier lotus position and focusing on harnessing his own internal healing energies which seemed to be not entirely unheard of in Silvers at least… before Alex infused him with a considerable boon of potency. Yet not so big that it detracted from the insights he too had savored, now echoing through his skull.

  You have successfully aided Tang in recovery!

  Your understanding of the flows of both biochemical and spiritual energies through yourself and others continues to improve!

  Prismatic Fox Restoration Technique is now Rank 9!

  Potency Mastery is now Rank 5 (Perk deferred!)

  Storm Swan Kung Fu is now Rank 7 (Deferred perk chosen. Elemental harmony!)

  He could taste how close he was to Avalanche cresting Rank 5, and he sensed there would be a skill evolution that truly would allow his Earth based attack to become fully one with the storm. The very thought gave him a little thrill of excitement. For so long he had been frustrated by his inability to enhance his prismatic techniques after Wind Affinity had thrown off his inter-elemental harmony… but in truth, when had he actually had the time to practice?

  Regardless, it seemed that there might be another backdoor path to a completely harmonious elemental attack along a path so similar to Silver Swan. A path that truly was most representative of who he was and his own potential… at least this time around.

  Not that he wouldn’t do his utmost to harmonize Wind Qi with all the others to the point of perfection… but here and now, so filled with the insights of the storm, he new better than to fight the path he was on. The path that came so naturally to him in the heart of this Silver-tier delve. For the insights he allowed to gently flow through him were ones he could hopefully embrace for hours before he need worry about Sage’s Insights crashing into any sort of Fool’s Folly.

  Still, he’d be a fool not to get what rest he could, as Linnea and a now fully restored and cheerful Ya Ling embraced their craft and brought the winds down to a gentle warm breeze as Linnea’s arts warmed the entire area surrounding the spirit beast they were carving so many choice cuts of meat from, and the precious organs that Alex’s Dark Lightning hadn’t destroyed.

  So Alex sent a quick message, made himself comfortable on a storage mat… and focused on rest, recovery, and basic cultivation as the lessons of their perilous battle settled themselves into muscle memory while he cleared his mind of all distraction save for the epiphany that he knew he was on the cusp of.

  Though it was a bit harder to tune out the voices… and thoughts... of the party that had fought and killed together that he dare not break contact with… lest another Deep Silver ambush them out of nowhere.

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