We spent two nights just resting. I had hunted enough we could just sit in our cave and not worry about anything. Vivi was still exhausted from the ordeal. It looked like the healing potion was not a cure-all. It failed to restore stamina and took energy from the body to heal it. Most of the time we were just reading. Most of my books were in weird languages so we mostly stuck to the Thaumonomicon. Vivi would open a page she was interested in and then we read together. If the topic was something I knew to be simple to understand, I left the cave for a bit to gather mana crystals.

The first time, I had trouble collecting them safely. The mana just rushed into my body, weakening the crystal every time I touched it. Using leaves to move them was cumbersome. So I started to just break them off the ground and then activated my storage as close as possible. It turned out, the storage was not part of my body and the things inside did not count as touching me. Of course, I had asked Vivi if I could collect the crystals. She did not mind. She wanted to find a larger node so she could evolve. This little thing was only hers until we found a better place.

In that same discussion, I asked her about the [Node Guardian] Skill. It had come up a lot with the dwarves. They seemed to revere Guardians almost like local gods. Vivi read the Skill description for me.

“Node Guardian: You have chosen a node and made your home near it. You have protected it against those who would try to destroy it. While nearby, the node will drain flux from you more quickly and replenish your internal vis. Your vis enrichment will slowly be improved when nearby. In return, you are compelled to protect it from being drained.”

That honestly sounded like a hassle to me. I wondered if the slow improvement was able to push past the size of the node but Vivi had been at medium enrichment for a while and not felt any improvement. Anything else about why the dwarves worshipped Guardians I would have to learn from them. Vivi simply did not know or care about them. Though she did remember running into a group of dwarven hunters scouting the area a few years back. They had spotted her, as her [Camouflage] Skill was still rather low levelled, but they had not harmed her.

After those two nights, I had collected a little under forty mana crystals. There were no more large enough at this place so I had to travel a little. Luckily, there was still the lizard’s old cave. I collected another twentysomething crystals in there bringing my total to just above sixty. That was six potions. Maybe I should only take five for now and save some gold for other stuff? I wanted to give two to Vivi, just in case she needed them. The rest would stay in my storage until I could make use of them.

Crystals in storage, I bid farewell to Vivi and took off towards the dwarven town once again. What had it been called? Something-don? Eh, it did not really matter.

I arrived at the gatehouse mid-morning to the surprise of a caravan of their motorized carts. There were two dozen vehicles, one dwarf sitting in front to steer and two on top of every vehicle. The ones sitting on the roof carried ranged weapons, crossbows and the occasional compound bow. They wore thick leather armour with added steel plates over their vitals. I was hesitant at first but decided to just go for the gate. The guards that spotted me from the walls did not react which seemed to calm the caravan’s protectors as well and I made it to the gatehouse without a problem.

A stocky dwarf in rich woolly clothes adorned with gold and gems was talking to one of the guards. I kept some distance, wanting to let them clear up things first when one of the guard's colleagues waved me into the building. I had felt him [Identify] me but I could not really complain. I was in my flesh and blood body after all and not the metal form they knew. The merchant, or whatever he was, stared as I walked by. I hooted a greeting and entered the gatehouse.

Inside, I saw a guard go over some papers at the table. The one who had waved me in told me to wait for a moment. He would see if the captain could meet me. I simply nodded, not wanting to connect to just anyone with my supersensory matrix. It seemed to be not perfectly pleasant for everyone involved.

I sat in a corner and rested a bit while playing with my shadows. As the guard that had waved me in came back, he looked around in confusion. I walked up to him from my corner and he flinched as he spotted me. A chuckle escaped my beak.

It was interesting to stand in front of a dwarf. They were not very tall but still had a head or two in size on me. It made me feel like the dwarf. The ceiling in this building barely reached twice my height as well. It was a little claustrophobic, though not much worse than the goblin village’s houses.

After recollecting his wits, the guard spoke up.

“The captain will see you in his office. If you would follow me?”

He looked uncertain and a little scared. Was he not there when I was here the last time? Or was he there and that was the cause of his fear? It did not matter much. I nodded and followed him through a hallway and a few rooms. It looked like the barracks were connected directly to the gatehouse. There was a canteen, some sort of living room and a few doors leading to sleeping quarters or bathrooms if I had to guess.

We arrived at the office after a minute of walking. I could almost keep up with the full stride of the dwarf. His stocky legs were not much longer than mine and I assumed my Dexterity was decent, at least compared to normal people.

After knocking twice, the guard opened the door and spoke up.

“The owl is here, captain.”

“Thank you, Ogart”, the gruff voice of the captain answered.

Ogart nodded to me and, after I entered the office, close the door. The room was simple. Stone walls, wooden door, two small windows placed high on two sides. The walls were lined with shelves, folders and books filling near every inch of case board. In the middle, a desk stood covered in paperwork. It was sorted neatly in stacks labelled ‘incoming’, ‘outgoing’ and ‘records’. The captain eyed me from behind his desk. A chair stood in front which he signalled me to take up. I abided and, once seated, hooted a greeting. [Identify] met me once again, making me cringe a little. It really did not feel nice.

“A good morning to you, Fio. I see you are not as strange as I first thought.”

Was that supposed to be an insult? I gave him a glare before focusing on the supersensory matrix. After a moment, the connection formed and I spoke into his mind.

“Good morning, guard captain.”

“As you have returned, I take you can pay for the healing potion?”

I nodded and opened my storage, dropping ten vis crystals on the desk. That caught the captain’s eye.

“What an interesting ability. Is that thaumaturgy?”, he asked as he took out a glove and started inspecting the crystals.

I shook my head.

“Skill”, I sent.

“I see.”

After a moment, he seemed satisfied with the crystal he was holding and started putting them away in a box he pulled out from under his desk.

“This is sufficient for now. With that, I want to welcome you to Borsdown. This little place rarely sees sapient monsters so you will be drawing a lot of attention. I suppose you could just stick to the shadows with your skillset. I will have Ogart give you a rundown on our laws, at least the most important ones. Though as long as you act within reason, you will not have any problems.”

I nodded. That sounded reasonable.

“There is still the matter of what you asked for last time. Do you still want those ten healing potions?”

He looked at me with some excitement. Did he get to keep some of the money, or what?

I shook my head.

“Ten is a little much, for now. Two will be enough. And I would like to exchange my remaining crystals for gold and explore the city for a bit.”

The captain nodded, his excitement replaced by understanding.

“That is fine. Crystals would normally be exchanged with the Prior of the clan with the highest presence. Since this town mostly houses debtors and dishonoured dwarves looking to regain the acceptance of their house, there is no Prior here. Instead, I have to deal with every little thing in this place.”

Despite his words, the dwarf smiled. The job could not be so bad.

“How many crystals do you have?”

I looked into my storage and counted.

“53 of this size”, I answered.

The captain could have swallowed an apple whole with how wide his mouth had opened. I tilted my head at his staring. It really was not that difficult to get my talons on these. Were they actually that rare?

He caught himself and coughed a few times into his hand.

“Right, so. 53, you say. That is 26 gold and five silver. Minus ten gold for the two potions you wanted. By the way, the brewers only sell potions to the guard and the head of mining. They simply don’t make enough to sell publicly. If you want more potions, come to see me.”

While talking, the captain had pulled out the same box from before. It was wood, padded with soft cloth. Golden inlays formed a mesmerizing pattern on the wooden surface and my senses picked up some magic from it. It was trap attuned, probably to keep anyone from opening it without the correct approach. There were cloth compartments inside to keep the crystals from touching each other.

“Go ahead and put the crystals in here. I will be right back.”

With that, the dwarf left them room. I heard him talking to one of the guards right outside the door. He was getting him to go to the treasury and get the gold I was owed as well as buy the potions I wanted.

I looked around the room. He really left me in his office with all his important papers. That was some trust. I wondered if he was just naive or if he had some way to tell I would not cause any problems. Or maybe this was a test? It did not matter much. I had no interest in dwarven bureaucracy and simply put my crystals in the box. After it was full, I had thirteen left. Then I found there was another set of compartments underneath those I had just filled. A few crystals were in there already but I found enough space to put away all I had brought.

The captain returned soon after. He gave me a nod and put away the box. He did not even check on it to see if I put in everything I claimed to have brought. I had to ask.

“Why do you trust me so easily?”

The captain chuckled.

“One of my Skills lets me discern intentions based on an individual's actions and words. It has always been a bit mediocre but with this connection your item forms between us, I can for the first time see with perfect clarity.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he reading my mind?

“It is not mind reading, do not worry. It simply tells me if you want to do something I would consider harmful to myself or my people.”

Hmm. That was quite invasive. Though, to be honest, I could also read his emotions a little through the connection.

“I suppose at 88 years of age you would have quite a bit of experience with that Skill.”

The dwarf blinked at me slowly.

“Wha… when did you [Identify] me?”

I like to imagine I was grinning at him. Though from the laugh I got, my facial feathers had conveyed my smugness clearly.