“So, how does this work?” I asked in the morning, curious what Olivia had in mind. The night had proven uneventful, though it was interesting to observe that the cooperation we had with the Oakenrocks was well and truly broken. They had set their own camp, roughly in the same area with enough distance to make their intent obvious. While the loss of the connection hardly bothered me, I was somewhat annoyed at failing, especially the way I had failed.

“It doesn’t, at least not today.” Olivia replied, her amused grin once again on her face. Raising an eyebrow, I got an explanation after only a few moments of waiting, likely because she knew it would irk me.

“Invoking a prayer like the one I intend to use is not to be done frivolously, certainly not to walk a few hours into town. We can use it to cross the distance, but it has to be worth it.” she explained, leaving me almost as confused as before.

“Any reason you didn’t offer it before? For example, when we were moving away from Neamov?” I prodded, trying to learn more about the divine way of spellcasting, even while I was aware that it was almost certainly pointless.

“There is a reason, yes.” her grin widened, just a tad, as if to annoy me further. Sadly, I couldn’t raise my eyebrow any further, so I simply stared at her, hoping she would get the hint.

“Back then we were fleeing. Now, we are travelling towards your destination.” Even without her wide smile, I would have wanted to start throwing things at her. Giving in to the impulse, I conjured a small ball of Diamond Dust, purposefully made to be loose and fluffy, and chucked it at her, using my Ice Magic to ensure that the snowball remained intact until it struck her head, covering her in freezing cold fluff.

“Deserves you right. What on Mundus is the difference, we are moving on the same road, at the same speed, in the same direction.” I growled, letting her try getting the snow out of her hair for a moment, before using my lingering connection with it to let it float away harmlessly.

“Ah, the violence of the ignorant.” she sadly shook her head, though the effect was greatly marred by the twitching of her lips, as they tried to curl back into a smile and the mirth in her voice.

“There is no material difference, in that you are right. But not everything in the world is purely material, the difference in this case lies in the intent and emotions behind the actions taken. Killing a deer, to make sure your family doesn’t starve is good, killing a deer because you revel in bloodshed and murder is evil. Intent and emotions make all the difference.” she explained, while I began to wonder. Did intent really make a difference there, or would emotions? And to whom would they make the difference, certainly not to the deer. It would be dead and I knew I wouldn’t care why some predator killed me, I would fight back and struggle as much as possible, trying to remain alive. Nor would I care behind the intent of anyone harming those dear to me. If anyone harmed Sigmir, I would bring vengeance to them, until their entire world was covered in frozen darkness. No matter who they were, no matter their intent, no matter their emotions. I would avenge her.

“Don’t worry, once we are done in Narristo, we can speed up our travels.” Olivia reassured me, likely because I had a frown on my face. Banishing the frown, I simply nodded, deciding that trying to learn more would only result in another headache, I seemed to regularly get those when trying to wrap my head around divine magic.

A little after noon, we were able to see Narristo, nestled in a larger valley, similar to the way Carinthia had been. We had been aware that we had been getting close before, as there were dozens of farmsteads, fortified with palisades but nothing that would actually stop a serious attacker. Close to their walls, we could easily see their fields, some filled with ripe crops of some sort, others already harvested. There were people working on those fields, though none of them close enough to make out details. Further away from the farms, we could see livestock moving around the valley, protected by shepherds and their dogs.

“Sigmir, can you keep an eye on Lenore? I will remain within my Hallow during our stay here, I have no desire to get into further trouble with the natives.” I asked, my failure with the Oakenrocks still annoying me.

“Sure, I’ll even make sure to get a room just for myself.” she grinned, causing me to shake my head with a smile on my face. It was the best in an annoying situation, though there was a part of me that didn’t really mind. As much as I wanted to be able to navigate social situations without causing some mishap, spending time with just Sigmir was a lot better than spending time in a crowd.

“I’ll try to be there, though I’ll likely return to the other world for some time.” I replied, before shifting into my Hallow, as Lenore landed on Sigmir’s shoulder, a perch she used almost as often as my own shoulder. Something about the higher altitude allowing for a better view.

Concealed within my Hallow, I allowed myself to fully relax. The concealment making sure nobody would notice the apparently unsettling aura caused by my Mortal Hubris was allowed to fade for the first time in days as I let my mind drift. A part of my attention remained on Lenore’s senses, allowing me to retain awareness of our surroundings, even if I had no actual desire to emerge at this point. Certainly not within the town.

Within my mind, I once more considered what I had learned from Jendar, trying to integrate what he had taught me into my own magic, to perfect the connecting patterns, if only those for my Ice-Magic.

But no matter how much I thought about them, there was a part of me that wanted to delve into another question, namely the question of immortality. What Phraan had told me about the elven forests and their symbiosis and what Lenore thought it might mean for Blood Magic, that there might be a way to achieve a similar result. I somewhat doubted it, as so far, the natives of Mundus seemed to have a good grasp on the possibilities of magic and I hadn’t heard anything about Immortal Blood Mages. However, Blood Mages were supposed to be hated and rare, mainly because their abilities allowed them to prey on the living with impunity, Imbued Blood providing an excellent link into their bodies, letting them bypass magic resistances, shields and defenses.

But what if that dislike had caused the discipline to atrophy? If nobody was allowed to teach Blood Magic, nobody would pass on knowledge, meaning every Blood Mage would essentially have to discover their art, just like I did. Only, without whatever boon the Sorcerer-class provided and without the help the Grandmother had given me, mostly in the form of the Zevarra Agha, the grimoire she had given me.

Or maybe the awareness was there, but the powers that be, most likely the religions, had an anathema on Blood Magic, to keep others from becoming immortal. That sounded like a relatively reasonable conclusion, though I would have to ask Olivia about it, as she was the only religious type I knew, and she had never said anything about my use of Blood Magic.

So, maybe something only known to the higher-ups, but that also didn’t make much sense.

Internally shaking my head, I pushed the question away for now, focusing back on the intricate forms of the connecting patterns. A quick glance to the outside showed me that I had been lost in thought longer than I had thought, the others had already reached the gate of Narristo and were talking with a caprakin, a goat-type beastman, who was guarding the gate.

Luckily, I was within my Hallow, as I was completely unable to control the snickering laughter when I realised that the goat-person had indeed a goatee on his pointed chin and I completely lost it when he started to slowly stroke the beard while the others told him that they were looking for the Adventurer's Guild.

Once they had directions, they continued on, quickly reaching the nearby guild and entering. The building was empty, with a single, bored-looking employee waiting behind a solid counter where they quickly turned the quest regarding the Manticores in, selling off some of their parts for coin. But the coin wasn’t the best thing about it all, no, that came from the blue box that floated in front of me, telling me that I had reached level 108. Maybe crossing insanely dangerous areas was worth doing.