I have a weakness for arrogant men that can make me laugh. Sadly, they have a weakness, too. Their hearts are more fragile than my dagger.

~Aine, Goddess of Love and Vengeance

“Welcome to the Reward Hall,” A Clockwork man said. It surprised Crow to see one of those here, but he probably shouldn’t be. They seemed to be popular in places like this or libraries.

Hooligan and Munro hadn’t seen one of these things before and followed behind Crow, quietly observing.

“Can you tell me how the treasures are organized?”

“That hall contains techniques, that one has weapons, that one armor and life-saving treasures, that one has pills, and the hall behind me contains trinkets and oddities.”

“Can we use the techniques we get from here for this event?”

“Yes.”

“What about Scholarly Talents?”

“For that, you’ll want the library pass. Each hour in the library costs one point, so you can decide how many hours you’d like ahead of time.”

“There is a library here?” Crow hadn’t seen one but figured it might be another hidden section of Sanctuary.

“Yes. The Awen Archive isn’t what it once was. Thre are bloodline restrictions.”

“What does that mean?”

Faster than the eye could follow, the Clockwork man jabbed a wooden needle into Crow’s arm. Before he could blink, the wooden sliver disappeared. The Clockwork appeared to be doing something because the gears inside him had increased their rotation rate. After thirty seconds, the clanking sound dropped back to its regular speed.

“It appears you have unrestricted access, provided you pay for it.”

“Are resources in the oddities section?”

“There aren’t many resources provided here. Thre is an auction hall, but it opens in another two months.”

“Auction? Do we use Shrine points for that too?”

“Yes. More importantly, random items from this hall will be used, so you might be able to get some of these things cheaper. Then again, it may end up costing more. Remember that the auction isn’t private, so everyone will know if you bought something.”

Crow nodded and went to the left most hall. He was going to walk the entire thing and memorize objects and prices. He was sure that anything he wanted to purchase would require a lot more points—with the exception of the library pass.

“Look around first. We’ll leave in two hours.”

“Should we buy anything?” Hooligan asked.

“Do you know what karma is?” Crow asked her, and she knew he was asking seriously by his tone.

“I do.”

“If I take this choice away from you, I’d harm myself unless I have some predetermined idea of your fate. I’m not so altruistic that I’m not tempted to influence you, but I won’t because I consider you a friend. If you find something you are interested in and want to ask me about it, I’ll give you my unbiased opinion, but that’s the most I’ll do.”

“Even if my choice could directly impact the success of conquering Shrines?”

“Even then. I’ll support you no matter what,” Crow laughed and rubbed her head. He really wanted to grip and rip, so he could expose her face but respected her decision to remain hidden.

*Hmph, flirt! Do you think that is going to seduce this barbaric woman?*

“Thank you,” Hooligan said, and she subconsciously grabbed his arm with flushed cheeks. He could feel the roughness of her palm from countless hours of training.

*Heh, you doubt me?* Internally, he gloated at Lily.

*You damned pervert, wait until I let my sisters know.*

*You promised!*

Crow almost laughed out loud when he felt her raging inside his Soulverse. Lightning was going off everywhere as she discharged so much energy she visibly shrunk.

“You’re welcome, now go find something good. We’ll make sure we gain enough points for you to get it.”

“Okay!” Hooligan said and charged off down the weapons hall. Crow figured that would be the first place she went. Once a hooligan, always a hooligan.

Crow spent the next two hours quickly categorizing the entire Reward Hall. However, after he was done, he talked to the Clockwork man and found out there were more treasures on the second floor, but that only opened up after they cleared five regions. No matter, the items he logged were enough for him to roughly guess how things were priced.

Most of the techniques he saw were ones provided by the artifacts. He found the techniques that Munro and Hooligan had but didn’t see his own. He’d already determined that it was a step above theirs, so it was probably on the second floor.

After that, weeks flew by, and they continued to clear the Shrines. Crow adopted a criss-cross pattern of traveling, which was slower, but the Shrines couldn’t escape their notice using this method. Oddly, the hardest ones to find were the ones in the interior parts of the realm. So everything in the forest surrounding Raven’s Beak Mountain.

The Shrines on the exterior parts were ridiculously obvious once Crow knew to look for things that were not naturally formed. They didn’t clear any more regions because they crossed into different zones, but they conquered twenty Shrines. Which meant they had enough to leave this realm.

Rather than take the Shrine back, they were close enough that they walked. If they tried to use the portal inside, it would negate one Shrine, and Munro wouldn’t be able to leave.

They rushed back because they didn’t want to lose many days. The challenges were progressively getting more complicated and took more and more time to complete. The time constraints were becoming more serious, so they had to be conscientious of wasting it.

Night time settled in, and Crow returned to camp with a pig-like beast already processed so they could cook the meat. Now that they’d spent these months fighting and cooperating together, Crow didn’t feel as cold toward Munro. It could be said that they were over despise and moved firmly into indifference. Mutual respect grew between them, and Crow helped the guy hone his ability to be a meat shield through sparring. It became an evening ritual—eat, spar, and sleep.

“Hello, the camp!” A man called out from the darkness of the forest. Crow had long felt his presence, and it helped that he set a few small contraptions that let him know if anything larger than a rabbit approached. Since the man didn’t want to show himself, all three of them knew this was not a peaceful visit. That, and Crow felt the presence of at least a dozen people. “Are we not welcome?”

“Munro?”

“Yeah, Crow?” Munro played along because he knew this guy was never up to any good.

“Aren’t kids taught proper camp etiquette by their fathers to ensure intentions aren’t misunderstood?”

“They are. Are you saying we are surrounded by bastards?”

“Indeed, fatherless bastards who never felt the love of a man,” Crow lamented.

“Fuck you! I’ve felt the love of a man!” The stranger angrily shouted.

“Pfft,” Hooligan couldn’t contain her laughter and fell to the ground holding her side. There were even a few chuckles coming from the forest.

“Next fucker that laughs, I’ll put my spear through your manhood!”

“Did you hear that, Munro? He’s an experienced man lover. He is willing to cross spears with his companions. I’m starting to get jealous of his friends.”

Fuck. I’m glad I’m not the target of the legendary Golden Mouth. Munro thought, nearly spitting up blood just thinking about it. Hooligan was howling now, her feet kicking the ground, unable to stop laughing, and tears rolled down her face.

“Leave the woman, and I’ll let you fuckers live. I’ll show you how a real man services a woman.”

“Alright. Take her,” Crow replied. “She probably has bigger balls than you do.”

Hooligan jumped on Crow and punched him repeatedly. “What did you just fucking say!?”

Crow accepted her ambiguous attack, with her legs wrapped around his hips, grinding against his slowly rising manhood. There was no way she didn’t feel it at this point, and the forest became awkwardly silent.