“You’re awake! Also, alive, wow. That guy said you were fine but he had a pretty fragile relationship with the truth, and with reality, really.” The mix of relief at her ‘master’s’ departure and spirit’s return after what felt like years of silent dread was bringing out a giddiness that could be heard in Karen’s voice.

“You heard the whole thing? He said something about you being repressed and napping, I don’t know. That whole thing went by in a blur. It’s not even dark yet, that couldn’t have even been an hour.”

Karen was about to reply when she noticed the remaining lizardman had gained its feet. Its foot and its tail, would be more accurate. The throw had not been kind to it, and a portion of long bone in one leg had freed itself to sample the mountain air. That was in addition to the freely bleeding remnant of a hand that looked like it had been blended instead of being subjected to an overenthusiastic handshake. The creature was on its last legs, and if its scales could pale, they’d have gone from forest to kale.

“And what’s the deal with this thing?” Karen pulled out her smoky spear, giving it a vaporous shake for emphasis.

Golden lizard eyes never left hers, even as the creature faltered. They met hers without fear, without hesitation or remorse. The tip went through scales then flesh then scales once more, then pulled free just as quick. The neck wound was too much and the monster was gone within seconds.

The rush of source, on the other hand, was very present. That single lizard warrior had given her more than every imp she’d killed that day combined, and it wasn’t close. She’d greatly underestimated the threat the monsters posed.

The spirit had waited for the business to be done before answering.

“Problem? That it’s too badass, maybe. I look like a Greek god.” She performed a sweep, and a sheet of black followed to bleed away into the gloom of evening.

Karen was now making laser sword noises and swinging it around recklessly. “A trillion dollar gift? You serious?”

And the big problem, which you wisely focused on, is you can’t use it that much. Not yet at least.>

“Why not? I’m out in the woods any time I fight, it’s not a big deal.”

“Magic. I got you.”

The spirit sighed.

“How much can I use it? I want to sleep with this thing. I’m still deciding if that’s a euphemism.”

She dismissed her weapon, apparently taking the warning seriously despite her previous demeanor. “Which one is that again?”

“Like master p. What about our oversized wizard friend? What tier was he?” Karen produced a heel of bread, pleased to find it was still oven hot due to the magic stasis of storage. She was less pleased to find this was all she had. The size limitation of her ring was still an issue.

“Mental state? That’s a cute fucking euphemism for absolutely fucking insane. He demanded to be called a wizard then starting chucking rocks.” Karen tactfully said with her mouth full.

“The long way, probably.” Karen interrupted.

The spirit agreed.

Still others say it is when you surpass the Gold tier. By this point your bodies have been perfected. You should have learned a breadth of techniques and have intuited a number of your own, but most importantly, to advance from Gold into Diamond you will embody an ideal. The embodiment of an ideal will bind an aspect of the universe to you, and you to it. It can be done later, but in my experience it should not, and when your bodies are fully prepared is the absolute earliest it should be done.

Auguste almost certainly was born with an inherent martial gift. He would have trained with and mastered the spear early and probably had developed a certain love for it as well. Yet some kind of external pressure would have impressed the importance of more mystical arts on him. Maybe those were the gifts of his family or his community and he was expected to have the same. Maybe some other kind of societal pressure, or maybe he encountered someone that made an impression on him with their magical talent.

Regardless, he embodied an ideal of wizardry or magic or something similar despite him having absolutely no talent in it, and his mind was broken by the conflict. Of all the ‘techniques’ he showed you only a single one was real.>

“Whoa, one of those was for real? Was it the rock chucking? The spiritual fastball? Spellbound slider?”

That was a lot of information to take in and in the silence of her digesting it the spirit spoke up once more.

The former occupants of the camp had set up a triangle of logs around a now cold firepit, and Karen sank down onto one trying to process everything in her overflowing inbox.

“Wait, did the lizosquad have a nest core? No, wait, where the fuck are we?”

---

Karen rubbed her thumb over the surface of her newly changed COPWAPTDT badge. The yellow center shone brightly, and she felt a rather distinct sense of pride at pulling one over on them. As it turned out, the lizardmen were already on the notice board on a yellow page, allowing her to skip red and orange for the low price of a terrifying experience and a five-day hike back. She’d already completed a red, but it felt more satisfying to turn the yellow in first and include that skip as part of the one-over-on-them pulling.

With a deep, contented sigh of cold mountain air the new badge disappeared into her ring. The sun was just starting to peek up over the mountains to the East, and Karen’s bare feet were carrying her south down the roadway.

“Such a beautiful day. Nothing could be more perfect.”

If I get caught! That’s the beauty of it!

And what are the chumps up there going to do? Abandon their posts and get stuck down the mountain after the storm comes tonight? By the time anyone that matters actually knows we’ll be sipping… whatever. In wherever. I don’t know. Space drinks and somewhere relaxing.

“Pftthththtt.” Karen blew a raspberry, also known as the diplomat’s response. And they’ll call down to report what? Suspicion? It could just as easily be an accident.

She paused for a moment to look back at the rising plumes. Sadly, she was too far to hear the commotion, but imagining it was almost as satisfying.

Exactly! Investigation! They’ll have to put the fire out, sift through the ashes, investigate the cause. Where do they find the time to do all that with the first big snowstorm rolling through tonight?

Now that was a sobering thought. If that shithole wasn’t gutted it definitely wouldn’t be enough. She paused to look back once more, watching the dark smoke continue to billow up above the trees until it was caught by the wind and carried off. Nah, it was still going. And so was she, continuing off on her brisk run down the mountain.

Either way, they think I left yesterday night.

They’d be lucky if I estimate them at all.

After another minute of running she’d passed well out of sight of the rising smoke, following the river road in its ever-downward course.

---

“It’s beautiful.”

From her view on the cliffside overlooking the town, Karen could see for certain that she had underestimated the elves.

Morez and lumbermantown were different in every conceivable way. Where the village had been squat red cubes the entirety of this town was a soft blue that faded seamlessly to white on its luminescent domes. Even the weeping trees and bushes that lined the broad streets and plazas followed the strict dress code, and all of them were lit by a soft, internal light in the evening darkness.

A canal cut off from the river and bisected the town, splashing down in a series of stepping falls each resulting in a pool that was lit from a multitude of glowing life within. The buildings climbed halfway up the cliff, with all the tiered sections combining to be as large as the portion of the town that was built on the flat land below, with more cliff space above clearly being cut away to make room for expansion.

I was actually thinking maybe we skip past Morez. If it’s like you say and they might be looking for me, it could be best to be somewhere else.

I was there, you don’t need to remind me. Karen was starting down the wide switchbacks that would eventually lead into the lowest section of town. The slopes were long and gentle, resulting in a trek so long it almost made her want to jump off the side and take her chances.

The spirit sounded incensed.

You could talk for days about things that will never be relevant to me. How is it surprising that I don’t listen to some of it?

Here’s something I remember: you once said that your personality is ninety percent based on mine, something like that. How the fuck do you manage to be such a dork?

Ok, boomer. You’re too old to be flexible, that’s nothing to brag about. Karen had definitely stopped giving this conversation any real consideration.

Karen dropped down a section a little taller than her, cutting corners to avoid a much longer walk. If we’re being appreciative then I… want to say I wouldn’t have made it this far without you. I wouldn’t have made it out of my neighborhood without you. So… thank you. And I do value your input, even if it doesn’t always seem that way.

Mutual gratitude was something of a new flavor for Karen, or at least one she hadn’t sampled in many years. She savored it all the way down the switchbacks and into the luminous town.