Aetheria

Eastmere closed the quarry before sunrise.

Heavy timber barricades blocked both roads leading into the eastern ridge, hunters were stationed along the river, and the guild offered payment for reports of slime activity anywhere downstream. The dark mineral recovered from the lower chambers had been sealed inside a treated stone container after an alchemist refused to keep it in his shop overnight.

Nobody in Eastmere knew what it was.

Someone farther south might.

The guild officer found Mira at Tessa's shop the following morning carrying a letter marked with three wax seals and an offer that solved several problems at once.

"We're sending the quarry sample to Bellhaven," he explained. "Their guild has an artificer who works with Essence-altered minerals, and the temple keeps records older than ours. A caravan leaves tomorrow morning."

Mira sat beside Tessa's worktable while a carpenter knelt in front of her missing leg, shaping a small wooden foot.

"How far?"

"Four days by wagon if the roads cooperate. Five or six on foot."

Kael had arrived halfway through the explanation and now leaned against the wall nearby. "What's between here and Bellhaven?"

The guild officer handed him a map.

Kael opened it immediately. His eyes travelled across roads, villages, wooded regions and several small symbols marking ruins before stopping on one.

"What's this?"

"Old Briarwatch. Used to guard the northern trade road. Monsters took over the lower ruins years ago."

"Can people go inside?"

"Yes."

Kael smiled.

Mira knew that expression now.

The guild officer did too.

"You are being paid to accompany the sample to Bellhaven, not disappear into every ruin you find along the road."

Kael folded the map.

"We can do both."

The officer looked toward Mira as though hoping she might represent restraint.

Mira was already examining Briarwatch's position.

It was less than half a day's detour.

The officer sighed.

"The caravan master knows what both of you are. More importantly, he knows what you did at the quarry. He agreed to take you provided you follow his instructions on the road."

That condition mattered more for Mira than it did for Kael.

Eastmere had become easier over the last few days, but unfamiliar people still hesitated when she entered shops. Parents pulled children closer. Travellers arriving through the gates sometimes reached for weapons. One innkeeper had refused to let her through the door until Elaine came outside and spoke for her.

People who knew her had begun seeing Mira.

People who did not still saw a skeleton.

Bellhaven would begin with the second group.

Mira looked at the wooden foot taking shape beneath Henric's carving knife.

At least she might arrive there walking properly.

Tessa had spent much of the previous evening turning the elite slime materials into something useful. The replacement foot used a shaped wooden core fitted beneath Mira's ankle, surrounded by layers of leather. Strips cut from the Elastic Membrane ran through the sole and around the joint. The membrane compressed under pressure and returned toward its original shape afterward, giving the rigid construction enough movement to imitate part of a real step.

Henric fitted the finished section against Mira's leg.

"Stand."

Mira did.

For the first time since the bridge, both sides of her body touched the floor.

She stayed still.

The replacement was heavier than bone and transmitted almost no useful sensation, but simply having both hips level again changed her balance.

Mira stepped forward.

The artificial foot rolled slightly.

Another step followed.

Her body expected the familiar drop on the left side where the spear normally had to catch her.

It never came.

The foot remained underneath her.

Mira crossed the workshop, turned and came back faster.

The whispertail cub chased the hem of her robe.

Her glasses slipped slightly down her skull as she stopped in front of Tessa.

"I can walk."

"That was generally the intention."

Mira went again.

The spear remained in her hand, but for once it was simply a weapon.

Her third crossing became a jog.

The wooden foot hit harder than her real one would have, and its extra weight altered her stride, but Mira stayed upright.

Kael stepped through the doorway just as she came around again.

He moved aside quickly.

"Your foot grew back."

Mira showed him the leather-covered replacement.

"Tessa made it."

"Tessa and Henric made it," Tessa called from behind her. "I refuse to take responsibility for carpentry."

Henric looked offended enough that the distinction had apparently been discussed before.

Kael crouched to inspect the flexible joint.

"Can you fight with it?"

Mira had been wondering the same thing.

She took a practice staff from beside the wall and moved into the open section of the workshop.

Her first quick turn failed because she expected the artificial foot to behave like bone. The sole caught against the floor, forcing her into an awkward hop.

The second attempt was better.

By the fifth, she had begun placing the foot deliberately rather than expecting it to behave like the limb she had lost.

Mira shifted her weight onto it, rotated and drove the staff toward an imaginary target. The membrane compressed under the turn and recovered as she changed direction.

She struck again.

Tessa caught the staff before a third sequence could begin.

"You can destroy someone else's shop while testing it."

Mira released the weapon.

"How much do I owe you?"

Tessa glanced toward the remaining monster materials.

"You supplied most of it."

"That isn't an answer."

"It is the one you're getting."

Mira was preparing to object when Tessa placed a small leather roll beside the scraps.

Inside were needles of several sizes, waxed thread, a cutting knife, two thimbles and several pieces of chalk.

Mira touched one of the needles.

"I haven't learned enough to use all of this."

"You know a basic stitch, how to reinforce a tear and how to stop a seam spreading. The rest you can learn when you find someone better than me."

Mira looked up.

Tessa had already begun gathering scraps from the worktable.

The unfinished lessons bothered her more than she expected.

"I'll come back."

"Then bring better materials."

Mira smiled.

"I will."

Her share from the quarry provided enough money to replace damaged supplies and leave something for the road. The guild had purchased the catalyst and part of the ordinary membrane, while the Rare core fragment remained hers.

The payment included silver, one gold coin, and two rough crystals no larger than the end of Mira's thumb.

They were cloudy and colourless until she picked one up.

A faint warmth moved through her fingers.

Mira turned it toward the light.

"What is this?"

The guild officer looked mildly surprised.

"Low-grade Essence crystal."

Mira looked at the second one.

"Currency?"

"When someone accepts it. Most guilds, temples, artificers and larger merchants will. They're worth more intact than their coin value to the right person."

"Why?"

"Because there's Essence inside."

That answer changed how Mira held it.

She could feel something now that she knew what she was looking for, a quiet density contained inside the crystal.

Tessa glanced over from her work.

"Don't try breaking it open."

Mira looked at her.

"I wasn't."

"You were considering something."

Mira put the crystal down.

The guild officer continued. "Better-quality stones are used for enchantment, artificing and cultivation. Bellhaven deals in them far more often than Eastmere."

"What's cultivation?"

Tessa stopped sorting leather.

The officer gave Mira a longer look.

"You really don't know?"

"No."

He took one of the crystals and held it between two fingers.

"There are methods for drawing Essence from stones or the environment, refining how your own Essence moves and learning to sense it more clearly. Meditation, breathing patterns, postures, circulation arts. Different traditions do it differently."

Mira glanced at her skeletal chest.

"Breathing."

He noticed the problem.

"Not every art uses breathing."

"Can you do it?"

The question caught him off guard.

"No."

"Tessa?"

"No."

Henric shook his head before she could ask.

The officer returned the crystal.

"Most people around Eastmere know what cultivation is. Knowing an art well enough to practise it safely is different. Proper manuals are expensive, and most useful methods belong to temples, guilds, families or schools. You also need resources."

He tapped the Essence crystal.

"Those."

Mira closed her fingers around it.

"Does it make you stronger?"

"It can. Mostly it changes what you can do with Essence. Some classes build heavily around it. Certain advancement paths won't even appear without the right foundation."

Mira looked at the cloudy stone again.

That was considerably more interesting than its value as money.

She stored both crystals separately from her coins.

At the temple, Harven gave her a compact bundle of bandages, salves and basic medicines intended for people who could actually benefit from them.

"You are a Cleric. That does not mean you should spend Essence fixing every scraped knee between here and Bellhaven."

Mira tucked the bundle into her satchel.

Elaine added two small Essence restoratives.

"They taste awful."

"How awful?"

"You'll find out."

Mira decided that was enough information.

Corin was walking when she visited him.

His leg remained stiff, but he crossed the temple courtyard without assistance and looked significantly less like someone Mira had dragged half-conscious through the wilderness.

He had recovered the rest of his belongings from the wagon wreck.

One item was waiting for her.

The object was wrapped in oilcloth and nearly as long as Mira's forearm.

She opened it.

Inside lay a narrow metal spike with a ring built into the blunt end.

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It resembled an oversized sewing needle.

Mira lifted it.

The metal was heavier than expected.

"What is this?"

"Leatherworking awl from a tool set I was transporting. The rest was ruined. Tessa said you'd started learning."

Mira turned it in her hand.

It was far too large for ordinary sewing and too small to be a proper spear, but the ring could carry heavy thread or cord.

Something about the shape appealed to her.

"Thank you."

Corin nodded toward her replacement foot.

"You look better standing on two legs."

"It helps."

He hesitated.

"I never properly thanked you for getting me here."

"You already did."

"I said it while half-conscious and missing most of my blood."

Mira remembered.

That was approximately accurate.

Corin smiled.

"When you come back, dinner is on me."

The promise made Eastmere feel less like somewhere she had merely survived.

By the time Mira left the temple, the sun was already lowering toward the western wall.

She spent her final evening preparing.

The whispertail cub objected to nearly every part of it.

It climbed into the satchel while Mira packed, stole a roll of thread, became tangled in the same thread, escaped while dragging it across the room and eventually fell asleep on the scarf Mira intended to wear the following morning.

Mira still had not named it.

Several possibilities had occurred to her.

None survived contact with the animal's personality.

It could remain unnamed until it stopped behaving like an argument covered in fur.

The caravan left shortly after sunrise.

Three wagons carried cloth, preserved food, metal goods and several sealed guild containers. Eight guards travelled with them, alongside merchants and a handful of passengers heading south.

Mira and Kael walked beside the second wagon.

For the first hour, Mira remained aware of every step.

The artificial foot compressed differently on soil than it had inside Tessa's shop. Uneven ground tilted the wooden sole, while stones transferred force directly into the ankle instead of being accommodated by living joints.

She adapted.

By midday, the spear rarely touched the ground.

Kael noticed first.

"You've stopped using it as a crutch."

Mira looked down.

He was right.

"I didn't notice."

"Probably good."

She adjusted her grip and kept walking.

The road crossed rolling farmland before climbing into low hills covered in blue-green grass. Eastmere gradually disappeared behind them.

Mira looked back once.

The walls had become a thin grey line beneath distant trees.

Then the road curved.

Eastmere vanished.

Ahead was a part of Aetheria she had never seen.

The cub poked its head from her scarf beside her cheek.

Kael unfolded the map while walking.

"Briarwatch is west of us."

"The caravan is travelling south."

"Mostly."

Mira looked at him.

Kael held the map between them.

A smaller track separated from the main road several kilometres ahead, crossed a wooded ridge and eventually rejoined the trade route beyond Briarwatch.

"It adds maybe three hours if the old path is usable."

"The guild officer specifically told you not to disappear into every ruin."

"We wouldn't disappear. We'd return."

Mira looked toward the caravan.

The master had already told them they would stop at Redwater Meadow for the night.

Briarwatch lay close enough that they could reach the outer ruins and return before dark if they left shortly after camp was established.

She examined the ruin symbol.

"What lives there?"

Kael smiled.

"I don't know."

A cry overhead interrupted them.

The sound resembled a whistle forced through water.

Mira looked up.

Something blue crossed the sun.

Then another.

The caravan guards raised their bows.

Small creatures descended from the clouds.

Their bodies were round and translucent, each barely larger than Mira's head. Two tiny white wings fluttered furiously at either side of the blue gel. Pale cyan cores glowed through them, and trails of water glittered in the air behind their flight.

Mira stopped.

The nearest creature circled above the road.

It was extremely cute.

Its white wings seemed far too small for its body. Two darker patches inside the gel resembled eyes, and its whole body squashed slightly whenever the wings beat downward.

Kael looked delighted.

"I want one."

Mira stared upward.

A slime.

With wings.

The creatures that had stolen her foot, eaten her boot, dissolved her glove, infested a quarry and attempted to spread through Eastmere's water supply had apparently discovered aviation.

"No."

Kael looked at her.

"I didn't ask you."

"No."

The whispertail cub emerged from her scarf.

Every one of its five tails puffed outward.

Mira touched its back.

"See? It understands."

The cub hissed at the sky.

One flying slime tilted in midair.

A bubble formed inside its body.

Mira moved before she understood why.

She caught Kael by the sleeve and pulled.

A jet of water struck the space where his face had been.

The stream carved a line into the wagon beside them.

Kael looked at the damaged wood.

Then up at the slime.

"I don't want one anymore."

"Good."

More blue shapes dropped from the clouds.

The caravan erupted into motion.

Guards spread between the wagons while merchants pulled animals toward the roadside. Arrows flew upward, but the creatures changed direction abruptly whenever a bowstring released.

One slime folded its wings.

It dropped toward Mira.

She turned the spear across her body.

The creature struck the shaft, compressed around it and rebounded upward.

Water gathered inside it again.

Mira raised one hand.

Blessing of Shelter appeared as a narrow curved plane in front of a merchant's face.

The jet hit the barrier and broke sideways.

Mira was already moving.

The slime had committed to a straight climb after firing.

She planted the artificial foot, turned through her hips and drove the spear upward.

The point passed through the lower half of its body.

Its core shifted.

Mira changed the shaft's angle before the creature could pull free and drove it against the iron rim of a wagon wheel.

The core cracked.

The slime collapsed through the spokes.

A small cyan object dropped into the grass.

Three more descended.

Kael moved ahead of the wagon.

Frost spread across the broad edge of his greatsword.

He swung through the first slime.

The chilled blade divided the gel, but the two halves continued flying in opposite directions.

Kael's eyes widened.

"That's new."

One half spat water into his shoulder.

The other attacked his legs.

Mira drove the butt of her spear through the lower mass and smashed it into the road.

"Stop cutting them."

Kael shifted his grip.

The next swing used the flat.

The slime flew into another of its own kind.

Both dropped.

He reached them before they recovered and crushed the cores beneath the broad face of his sword.

The remaining creatures climbed higher.

Mira counted seven.

One moved behind the wagons. Two remained above Kael. Three gathered over the guards.

The last disappeared behind a roadside tree.

Mira kept track of the tree while watching the others.

Water gathered inside several bodies simultaneously.

The first attacked Kael.

He moved before the jet fired.

The second targeted a guard.

Mira placed Blessing across his shoulder.

Water glanced away.

A third jet came from behind Mira.

She lowered her head.

The stream tore through the edge of her scarf.

Mira stopped moving for half a heartbeat.

Her fingers touched the damaged fabric.

The slime hidden in the tree emerged.

Mira turned toward it.

Radiant Spark gathered at the tip of her spear.

She thrust as the creature descended.

Radiance entered the gel first.

The core recoiled from it.

Mira altered the spear's path during the same movement and caught the fleeing bead against the shaft.

The core shattered.

The slime collapsed.

Mira glanced at the torn edge of her scarf.

Then at the falling gel.

"You touched the scarf."

Kael was fighting two others and still somehow heard her.

"Oh, that's worse than the boot."

Mira ignored him.

The cub did not.

It launched from her shoulder.

Mira saw what five tails did when the animal stopped trying to remain attached to her clothing.

They opened in midair.

Two swept left while three flared right, twisting the cub's body halfway through its jump. It changed direction without touching anything.

A flying slime fired.

The cub folded its front legs and dropped beneath the stream.

Its tails snapped wide again.

The fall became a sideways turn.

It struck the slime across one wing.

Claws tore through the tiny white membrane.

The slime spun.

The cub was already falling away.

All five tails spread above and behind it, catching air and controlling the descent enough that it landed on the wagon canopy instead of the road.

Mira stared for a fraction of a second.

The cub immediately sprang again.

This time the tails changed position independently as the flying slime tried to evade it.

The animal corrected in midair twice.

Its claws struck the same damaged wing.

The slime lost lift and dropped.

Mira reached it.

The spear shaft smashed it into the road.

Kael finished the core.

The cub landed on Mira's shoulder.

Five tails curled around her neck and scarf.

Mira touched one.

"So that's what those are for."

The cub chirped.

Kael looked at it.

"That is unfair."

Mira glanced toward his enormous sword crackling faintly with frost.

"You have lightning."

"That's different."

It probably was not.

Another slime dived.

The cub launched again.

This time Mira was ready for it.

The whispertail crossed beneath the slime rather than striking directly. Its tails flared across the creature's vision and broke its line toward Mira.

The slime veered.

Mira drove the spear into its exposed side.

Kael hit the core.

The cub returned to the wagon roof and crouched there, tail tips twitching as it watched the sky.

Mira's opinion of the five tails improved considerably.

A guard shouted from behind them.

The largest flying slime had appeared above the final wagon.

Its body was nearly twice the size of the others and carried four white wings instead of two. Water revolved around its core in a tight spiral.

The caravan master noticed too late.

The spiral released.

Mira threw Blessing of Shelter across the front of the wagon.

The barrier formed at an angle rather than directly against the attack.

Water struck gold and redirected upward.

The barrier shattered.

What remained of the stream ripped through part of the wagon canopy instead of the people beneath it.

Mira felt the Essence loss immediately.

The four-winged slime turned toward her.

Kael ran.

The creature climbed beyond the reach of his sword.

Another spiral began forming.

The cub launched from the wagon canopy.

The slime turned toward it.

Five white-and-pink tails spread.

The cub twisted sharply left.

The slime followed.

Then the tails changed.

The cub's body snapped right in midair.

The slime had already committed.

Its wings beat unevenly as it tried to correct.

Mira watched the left pair.

They accelerated whenever the creature turned right.

Its body tilted first.

The water inside shifted opposite the turn.

She stopped following the entire slime.

One change mattered before the others.

The tilt.

Mira waited.

The slime began banking.

She threw her goblin knife.

It was still a terrible throw.

The knife missed the core by nearly half a metre.

The slime dodged anyway.

Exactly where Mira wanted.

Kael jumped from the wagon wheel.

Lightning replaced the frost along his greatsword.

The broad blade came around with both hands.

The flat struck the slime in midair.

Blue-white arcs flashed through its body.

The creature dropped.

Mira reached it first.

It hit the road and rebounded.

She thrust.

The spear entered the gel.

The core slipped away.

Mira followed through the shaft, reversed her grip and slammed the creature down before it could regain altitude.

The bead cracked.

Water exploded in every direction.

Mira's robe soaked through.

Her glasses nearly left her skull.

The slime tried to rise.

Radiant Spark travelled through the spear.

The light struck the damaged core.

It shattered.

The blue body collapsed around Mira's feet.

Water dripped from her scarf.

Mira stood very still.

The cub landed beside her.

It looked at Mira.

Then at the slime.

One tiny white wing detached from the remains and landed on the cub's nose.

The cub sneezed.

Kael started laughing.

Mira bent and picked up the wing.

It was soft, nearly weightless and faintly translucent.

She looked at the slime remains.

"You learned to fly and still lost."

Kael laughed harder.

Mira ignored him.

The caravan guards gathered the materials scattered across the road.

The ordinary flying slimes left small cyan cores, thin membranes and several intact wings. The larger creature produced a denser core surrounded by pale blue light.

Mira examined it.

Azure Flight Core

Quality: Uncommon

Item Level: 5

A light Essence core developed by an airborne slime. Holds traces of water and wind affinity.

The Cloud Membrane was almost impossibly light and shifted whenever the air moved around Mira's fingers. Several intact pinions retained a faint trace of Essence as well.

Mira held one against the edge of her scarf.

It would look excellent there.

Kael noticed.

"You're going to wear something that attacked us."

"It attacked first."

"That doesn't answer anything."

Mira placed the pinion carefully inside her satchel.

The cub immediately tried to steal it.

Mira intercepted it by catching one pink-tipped tail before its teeth reached the material.

"You helped kill them. That doesn't make the loot yours."

The cub twisted and reached with another paw.

Mira moved the satchel.

The caravan master approached while inspecting the cut carved through his wagon.

"I've travelled this road sixteen years. Never seen azure wings this far south."

One guard looked toward the hills.

"They usually stay around the high springs."

"How far?"

"Two days north."

Mira looked at Kael.

The quarry had displaced whispertails.

Now another species was appearing far outside its usual territory.

Kael unfolded the map.

The high springs lay beyond the eastern ridge, close to another marked location farther north.

Mira recognized the symbol as a dungeon.

The caravan master followed their attention.

"You two are staying with the wagons until Redwater."

Kael folded the map.

"Of course."

Mira looked at him.

She had known him long enough to understand how little that answer promised.

They reached Redwater Meadow before sunset.

The caravan formed a rough circle around a broad fire while guards inspected the wagons.

Mira claimed a place near the edge of camp where she could practice without damaging anyone's property.

Her movements had changed with the replacement foot.

She spent nearly an hour discovering how much.

The spear travelled with her more easily now that it no longer served as a crutch. She stepped through thrusts, turned around the artificial foot and experimented with allowing the weapon's momentum to carry naturally into the next motion.

The wooden construction responded differently from the rest of her body, but the Elastic Membrane softened each transfer enough for Mira to adjust.

She stopped treating the spear, shoulders, hips and feet as separate pieces.

When the spear drove forward, the movement began against the ground.

The artificial foot compressed.

Her hips turned.

Her shoulder followed.

The point struck the practice post.

The next thrust sank deeper.

Mira pulled the spear free.

Kael had been watching from beside the fire.

"You've used a spear before?"

"Three days."

He looked at the damaged post.

"That's annoying."

Mira turned.

"Why?"

"I've practised swords for years."

That explained several things.

Mira rested the spear against one shoulder.

"You said you played games."

"I did both."

Kael drew his greatsword and planted the tip against the ground.

"My dad started teaching me when I was little. Mostly normal swords. This thing handles differently."

Mira looked at the enormous blade.

"You adjusted quickly."

"There's a skill helping."

That caught her attention.

"It's called Weapon Sense. It doesn't teach techniques, but I can feel balance and reach better. Where the weight wants to go. Things like that."

"What rank?"

"Common."

Mira looked at him again.

Kael laughed.

"What?"

"I expected higher."

"So did I."

He lifted the greatsword.

"It turned out to be really useful."

Mira understood that very well.

Her own abilities were Common.

She returned to the practice post.

Her next sequence came more smoothly.

Step, turn, thrust and recovery gradually ceased feeling like four separate things.

By the time she stopped, the fire had burned lower and most of the camp had quietened.

The cub had spent Mira's practice session doing something similar in its own way.

It repeatedly climbed one side of a wagon, jumped toward a hanging strip of cloth and changed direction in the air before landing. At first, its five tails opened together. Later, they began moving in smaller combinations.

Two altered rotation.

One arrested a turn.

The others spread before landing.

On its final attempt, the cub jumped past the cloth entirely, twisted almost completely around in the air and tapped it with one paw while falling backward onto the wagon canopy.

It landed neatly.

Then looked toward Mira.

Mira looked back.

"Show-off."

The cub chirped and jumped into her scarf.

Kael had already fallen asleep near the fire with one hand resting close to his sword.

Mira sat a little farther away and reached into her pouch.

The two Essence crystals remained where she had stored them.

She took one out.

Cloudy stone rested against black leather.

The Essence inside felt different from a potion.

A restorative forced energy back into her reserve.

The crystal simply held it.

Contained.

Still.

Mira turned it slowly between her fingers.

The guild officer had described cultivation as drawing Essence inward and circulating it according to an established art.

Mira had no established art.

She also had no lungs.

Copying somebody else's breathing pattern therefore seemed like a poor place to begin.

She closed her eyes.

Essence was already something she could feel.

Radiant Spark moved it through her arm.

Minor Heal gathered it near her fingers.

Blessing shaped it outside her body.

Kael could move elemental Essence along a sword.

The crystal held Essence without losing it.

Mira stopped thinking about drawing anything from the stone.

She paid attention to what her own Essence did while she sat still.

For several minutes, very little happened.

Then she noticed the same thing she had felt while casting.

Her Essence was not evenly present.

There were easier routes.

Places where gathering it required less effort.

When she formed Radiant Spark in her right hand, Essence reached it through a familiar path.

Mira formed no spell.

She drew a tiny amount along that same route anyway.

Nothing appeared in her palm.

She let the Essence return.

Then repeated the movement.

Out.

Back.

The second attempt required less concentration.

Mira changed the destination.

Shoulder.

Hand.

Torso.

Back again.

No skill formed.

No System window appeared.

Her reserve did not meaningfully decrease.

Mira opened her eyes.

The Essence crystal remained untouched between her fingers.

Mira closed her eyes again.

This time she traced a longer route through herself before allowing the Essence to settle.

The sensation was faint, but the more often she repeated it, the easier the path became to recognize.

She shifted position on the grass.

Cross-legged felt awkward with the prosthetic, so she extended the left leg and rested one hand against her knee.

There was no reason the posture needed to look impressive.

It only needed to stop unnecessary movement.

Mira continued.

At some point, the cub woke.

It crawled from her scarf, circled twice and settled across her lap with its tails spread around the Essence crystal.

One pink tip touched the stone.

The cub's ears lifted.

Mira opened one eye.

The whispertail stared at the crystal.

Very faintly, the fur along its five tails began to stir despite the still air.

Mira looked down.

The cub looked up.

Neither moved.

Then it placed one paw over the crystal.

Mira covered the stone with her hand.

"No."

The cub pushed.

"You eat rabbit."

It pushed harder.

"This is currency."

The cub attempted to bite her glove.

Mira put the crystal away.

The cultivation experiment ended there.

Before lying down, she checked her status.

Status

Mira

Species: Human

Class: Cleric

Level: 3

Experience: 96 / 180

Strength: 7

Agility: 9

Endurance: 6

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 10

Spirit: 9

Essence: 45 / 45

Unassigned Attribute Points: 0

Individual Abilities

Simplification — Common

Improves the ability to reduce complex problems into their most relevant components using available information.

Skills

Minor Heal — Common

Radiant Spark — Common

Blessing of Shelter — Common

Equipment

Temple Spare Robe — Common — Repaired

Ivory Cleric Scarf — Common — Narrow Gold Trim — Damaged

Reinforced Training Gloves — Common

Flexible Prosthetic Foot — Uncommon

Goblin Spear — Common — 7 / 28 Durability

Goblin Knife — Common — 9 / 21 Durability

Heavy Leatherworking Awl — Common

Beginner Tailoring Kit — Common

Worn Leather Satchel — Common — Repaired

Novice Cleric Token — Common

Currency

Copper Coins ×18

Small Silver Coins ×6

Gold Coins ×1

Low-Grade Essence Crystals ×2

Materials

Lesser Whisperstone — Uncommon ×1

Whispertail Claw — Common ×1

Whispertail Pelt Fragment — Common ×1

Black-Tipped Tail Fur — Common ×1

Corrosive Slime Core — Uncommon ×1

Corrupted Slime Core Fragment — Rare ×1

Dense Adaptive Membrane — Uncommon ×1

Azure Flight Core — Uncommon ×1

Cloud Membrane — Uncommon ×1

Winged Slime Pinions — Common ×4

Condition

Left Foot — Missing, Prosthetic Equipped

Left Radius — Fractured, Splinted

Left Ulna — Cracked

Rib Damage — Recovering

Right Leg — Mild Strain

Mira closed the screen and settled against her pack.

The cub curled beneath her scarf.

A few metres away, one of the guards had placed the recovered slime cores beside the other materials from the battle.

Mira could see their blue surfaces catching the firelight.

She turned onto her other side so she would not have to look at them.

Tomorrow, Kael wanted to investigate an abandoned ruin.

Mira wanted to learn more about the Essence crystal, test the new foot, find better cloth, discover what had displaced the azure slimes and eventually recover the foot still travelling somewhere through Eastmere's river system inside a blue gelatinous thief.

Her list was becoming crowded.

At least Briarwatch probably did not contain slimes.

Mira considered the thought.

Then she sat up and looked at Kael.

"Does the map say what lives in Briarwatch?"

His eyes remained closed.

"No."

Mira stared into the darkness for several seconds.

That was not reassuring at all.

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