Harry looks at me with a confused expression. “Snow. Where’d the…” he gestured vaguely at my neck, “thing come from?” he asks.
I smile faintly. “That’s Kuro,” I say. “Back on floor zero, they burrowed under my skin and tried to eat me from the inside out. Then I stabbed them. Now, we’re friends.”
The older man looks at me for a long moment, scratching his beard. The crystals of his wings tinkle against one another as he contemplates. “Right,” he says slowly. “You understand that this is an avatar, yes?”
“Sure,” I reply.
“And that it may bring trouble to flaunt it so openly?” he asks.
Gently, my smile fades. “Sure,” I say. If Kuro causes trouble, then I’ll take care of it. “I’ll make people think I’m a shadow mage, or something,” I say, easily.
Harry sighs, softly. “And, somehow, this will still be less conspicuous than how you usually look,” he says. “Right, right.”
“Now, will you dry me off, or should I walk around your establishment entirely soaked?” I ask. The wet clothes cling to my skin.
“Ah!” the old man quickly splutters, face turning the faintest shade of red as he looks away and waves his hand. The water is “cleaned” off of me. Droplets scatter to the ground, slowly flowing back into the pool. Bits of dried blood are in the clean water, but they dissolve, too.
The whole spring is enchanted with cleaning magic. Tiny disintegration runes that break and eradicate things at a molecular level. It’s wonderful, watching them work, and Harry can easily speed up the process if he tries to.
Mike, the chef, laughs at his husband. “Bahaha! Always in your own head, huh? No wonder I had to propose before you knew we were dating,” he mocked. The zoof rarely poked his head out of the kitchen, usually only to banter or deliver food. Whenever he did, the plates would simply hover in the air around him.
I suspect that he has some kind of class related to telekinesis. One of the two must also be rather good at enchanting, and I’d place my bet on Harry. There was something about his hands that made me think he would have no trouble carving even into stone.
“Hey, Snow,” the chef turns to me. “Hungry?”
“Yes,” I reply.
“Want a meal?”
“Yes.”
With another wink, the fluffy ball of fur disappears back into the kitchen. I don’t know how he manages to make the food without any hair falling into it, but there’s not been a single one in any of the meals I’ve eaten. And they’re very delicious.
Richard has pestered him into teaching her many, many times over, but the older man simply turned her away with a laugh. He refuses to let anyone else inside the kitchen. It’s his sanctuary. I find something of a kindred spirit in that.
Instead of causing more trouble, I simply sit down on one of the free chairs, adjusting the black scarf around my neck. With the long-sleeved shirt I got, I only need a long hoodie and maybe a pair of gloves to hide all my skin. Finding comfortable gloves is almost impossible, though. I sigh. Hopefully, Sylves and Amelie can make something soon.
After a little bit, I eat a meal that’s typical for the third floor - very heavy in greens. A little bit later, I’ve poured half my vessel into healing, since it was starting to hurt again, and move out.
The light from the three suns is bright, so I suppress my eyesight just a little, until it’s back to a tolerable level. It feels hot against my skin, but since I’m mostly covered, I can deal with it. My clothes are all lighter tones than usual, so it’s not too hot. Also, they’re lightly enchanted, which helps.
[Inscription 11 > 12]
I take a walk across the canopy. The sound of the leaves under my shoes is pleasant. They rustle and crunch ever so faintly, in a way that drowns out a lot of the random noise that tries to come my way.
A few people steal glances my way, and I even feel a little bit of mana try to brush up against me, but I quickly take the small probe apart. It wasn’t made by anyone particularly skillful, so it’s not too difficult. I take a deep breath of the fresh air.
Above me, a flare flitters across the sky, and I walk alongside bridges woven from greenery and bits of wood. There’s a few destinations I could be headed to, but only one I’m actually walking towards. The woodlands guild.
It’s a large, wooden building, with doorways far taller than any human would ever need. Every part of it is made to be sturdy, made to last. The building sits proudly on the canopy, not at all camouflaged like so many other places.
I sit down in the leaves near it, drawing the shadow-chitin shawl a bit higher, until it covers up to my nose. Then, cross my legs, and close my eyes, as if meditating. Climbers do all sorts of weird stuff, all the time, amusingly, so this doesn’t even get much attention.
Just nearby there are people arguing, people shopping, people eating on blankets spread across the green leaves, people practicing their skills, all in broad daylight. There is bustling activity.
Slowly, I place my headphones on my head, and activate my skills. I reach out, as I always do. Past the enchanted walls, made to be sturdy. Sneaking under people’s scans for foreign mana.
[Observation 6 > 7]
I find the little traps, and avoid them. My stream of dull grey [Selection] slowly wanders through the filled halls, slithering forward until I find a suitable target. Someone of reasonable renown in the guild, someone who’s not a minotaur and is collecting money from the proud, horned beasts.
Not someone too high up, though. Not someone more powerful than I can afford.
Almost invisibly, my tether latches on. So thin that it doesn’t even tell me the name of his class. I thin it even more, until the thread of mana tying us together is no thicker than a hair.
[Selection 15 > 16]
It’s not the first time I’m doing this. It won’t be the last time either.
Very gently, I reach into the box of tricks contained in [Deconstruction]. I pull out tiny tools, made to whittle away at someone. The most delicate instruments I can find. Then I get to work.
As I did with the mayor before, I shave away at the guild member’s class. Tiny packets of power course across that tether, dealing microscopic bits of damage to him, feeding the information back to me.
My Abiding Apathy devours the power, fueling my vessel. I take another thin shaving, experimenting with my skill. Trying out different ways to hide it, as Kuro cloaks me in an aura of obscurity. No one pays me any mind. Every other climber simply passes me by. Stealth enchantments, derived from Norman’s skills, carved on the inside of tiny rings, flicker into activation.
[Job up! Imbuer 3 > 4]
Silently, with no one to watch, I sabotage my enemies. Bits and pieces of skills, miniscule fragments of class knowledge, all of it flows across that link. I breathe it in, slowly, letting it feed my understanding, finding keystones of the class.
[Deconstruction 11 > 12]
[Class up! Nullmage 5 > 7]
It’s tiny. In and of itself, each cast of the skill does almost nothing. And yet, I learn. How to do things sneakily, how to hide the damage from the people using the class. I destabilize things, I make it all the more fragile, and I build a catalogue. I learn and prepare, so that when the time comes to fight…
I can break them, too.
- - -
Eventually, my mana reached a quarter of what I can hold. Slowly, I open my eyes, take off my headphones, and disconnect the tether. I stretch a bit, then walk back to the inn. Only there do I disable the rings.
We all have our parts to play. Mine is training, and undermining our enemies. So I do just that. In the inn, I sit in my room and experiment with the memory skill again. I bleed a little, but now that Kuro is so close to my face, the critter simply devours the blood. Time passes, bit by bit, and in the evening, Opal walks into my room.
They look around, grinning brightly, and then find me. Instantly, their expression freezes. “Holy shit,” they mutter. “That’s… so cool.”
“Huh?” I ask.
A moment later, they blink to my side. “Snow,” they say. “That’s so edgy. Like, the edgiest. And yet, you pull it off so well! You have no right to look this good!!” they say, grinning brightly. “The half-mask style really suits you! And dang, the cape!”
I look at Opal for a long moment. “Oh,” I say, realizing they mean Kuro’s shawl-form. “Thanks?”
Smiling, the enby sits down next to me, laying down sideways on the bed. “I mean it.”
“Of course you do,” I say. “I really did expect you to tease me for the edginess more.”
They nod. “Reasonable assumption to make. But nah. I’m in a good mood.”
“Why’s that?” I ask.
“We’ve found our minotaur guide,” they reply, giving me a sly smile. “Unlicensed from the guild.”
My eyes glitter, just a little. Now they have my attention. Sounds like it’s finally time for an expedition into the undergrowth. I can’t wait to see what’s down there.
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