Thinking nothing of it, she swiped through the projection to check her traits.

TRAITS Gunmanship (Rifle Spec.) Lesser Swordsmanship Lesser Rubedo Tolerance Rudimentary Aethermancy Headpiercer Arts Type-T Homunculus Eye (Unique)

“Nothing new huh,” she thought at first glance, focused more on the stiffness of her back as she sat up than what the traits list read. Another swipe to reset the Tablet, and out the transport’s door she went, the device in hand.

“That was fast,” remarked Sigmund as he stood up. “I presume it’s my turn next.”

With a nod she handed him the Tablet, taking a seat on his spot. Without enthusiasm, she directed her focus towards hand exercises in a futile attempt to make the numbness subside faster. More importantly, it was to give herself something to do besides trying not to look at the bronze, silver filigree adorned statue that sat next to her. Zefaris directed her eye at the border between the firepit’s ash and the forest’s tapestries of luminescent moss, imagining it to be a natural representation of the Exclusion Zone’s slow spread. “Ridiculous. I understand jewelry or even chainmail, but tattooing holy metal into your skin?” she thought, staring dead ahead but unable to help paying attention to the glimmering form in her peripheral vision.

The fight for self-control was won by Makhus’s voice when he asked “What name’d you pick?”

She raised her gaze to meet his, blinking a few times when she realized her eye was as dry as the Exclusion Zone.

“Zefaris. You?”

“Makhus.”

A grin parted her lips. “That’s almost suspiciously generic,” she said.

“And Zefaris is suspiciously memorable,” he rebutted. The smell of Viriditas suddenly became stronger, accompanied by ribbons of green Fog rising from the ground next to the still.

“Uh, the still-” she began, but Makhus had already turned around, turning one of the still’s many valves to shut off output. He stood and strode toward the transport, emerging after a couple seconds of glassy clattering with an armful of bottles. With little regard, he allowed them to spill out of his grasp onto the mossy forest soil next to the still, smacking one of the large ones below the still’s outlet and opening the valve. A continuous flow of emerald-green Viriditas poured forth, much to his audible delight.

“Fuck me, that beast’s heart is packed with more Nigredo than a whole rotten deer!” he exclaimed, laughing as he watched the bottle filling. An eyebrow raised, Zefaris gave the amazon a questioning look.

Even Zelsys was impressed by the sheer amount of Viriditas that resulted from inserting the bear’s heart into the still. The device immediately began working at its highest capacity, the barrier-stone fragment shattered less than half a minute later, much to Makhus’s dismay and lightning-fast replacement with a pristine piece.

When Zefaris gave her that questioning look, her first response was a smile and a truthful excuse. “I didn’t butcher it,” she said. “Just took the heart out to make sure it wouldn’t pull itself back together.”