“Look, I’ll admit Runner was ahead of his time. Probably a genius even. But his final premise was flawed. You can’t keep relying on it.” I heard Carrigan arguing with someone, but it seemed like he was happy about it?

“Oh, and I suppose you are going to counter Runner with the Mitral Confluence experiments?” A female voice asked.

“Well, since you brought them up, yes. The third experiment is the definitive one after all, Loreley.”

“Oh please, everyone goes to MC3, and they ignore the obvious.”

“And that is?”

“The flaw in it! Sure, it was a brilliant start. See if the soul produces mana by creating an artificial null zone. Then send someone in there and see if they can produce mana. Of course they can’t produce mana, they are in a null zone!”

“And what about the detection arrays? How do you discount those?” Carrigan countered.

“You think they were sensitive enough to detect the miniscule flare of mana generation before the artificial null zone whisked it away?” Loreley chuckled.

“Well then what would you have done?” Carrigan asked.

“Sphere in a sphere.” I said from the bed. It had taken a bit for me to get ahold of my muscle control, and I was actually enjoying their back and forth. It was pretty interesting.

“What’s that?”

“Who said that?”

“The guy on the bed.” I groaned, shifting a bit and opening my eyes. Carrigan and a female elf, obviously Loreley, were staring at me from a nearby table. “Ever thought about keeping an area in the middle of your null field separate? Use two null fields to start to clear it of mana, then eliminate the middle field so you have a sphere where there could be mana, but the outer sphere prevents any mana from entering. Then you send in your person, who loses their mana. If they regen at the normal rate, mana is produced by the soul. If they don’t, then it is harvested from the environment. If it’s a mix, well then you both are right.” I froze after I shifted, finally realizing that something was wrong.

“THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!” Loreley shouted, chair falling backwards as she raised her hands to the sky. “Someone else sees it! Thank the gods!”

“SEAN!!!!” A screech from the other side of the room was accompanied by the sound of shattering pottery, and I turned my head in time to see an Elendria shaped missile launch itself across the room at me.

“Oof!” I grunted out as she slammed into me, pulling me up so she could hug me. This also had the bad timing of dislodging the blanket. A slight draft reminded me of Lokir’s last words, and I’m sure the god was laughing his ass off.

“You insonsiderate bastard of a Lord. How dare you do that to me.” Elendria was growling at me as she held my head to her chest.

“Um, Elendria?” I tried to ask.

“Wooh! Didn’t even have to pay for the show!” Carrigan called out.

“Child, have some decency.” Loreley chuckled.

“Huh? What are you AAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!” She screamed, finally noticing my predicament. I shook my head as she gave in to her next instinct, which was to cover me as swiftly as possible. With the blanket that was on the floor. I covered myself as best I could with my hands, knowing Carrigan wouldn’t let her hear the end of it if she noticed just how close her head was to my crotch.

“Thanks Elendria.” I said, once I got covered by the blanket. “You wouldn’t happen to know what happened to my clothes, right?”

“I do believe that is my fault.” Loreley said. “I don’t think we have been properly introduced. I’m the garrison’s herbalist, Loreley. We needed to check you for injuries, and as you weren’t responsive…” She trailed off.

“You had to do a physical examination.” I nodded. “That’s fine. But did nobody think to dress me again afterward?”

“So you could ruin them when you went to the bathroom?” Carrigan chuckled. “Elendria didn’t want to do dirty laundry like that, so we left it off.”

“How long was I out? Only a little bit, right?” I asked.

“Three days.” Elendria nearly whispered. “You laid there, unmoving save to breathe, for three days.” As that sunk in, I reached out to grab her hand.

“I’m sorry.” I said. “If I had any choice in the matter.”

“What happened?” Loreley asked.

“I did some inadvertent astral travelling.” I answered. “Took me about a week to find my way back.”

“Astral travel?” Elendria asked, the pressure on my hand growing by the second. “You did something that risky?”

“Not at all.” I said. “Or at least, not by choice. The last thing I remember, I was focusing on holding Drevor’s Spear above the caravan. Then I woke up somewhere else, and my body was silver.” I hoped they didn’t push my explanation, because I didn’t want to explain it. How do you tell someone that you were training with the trickster god for a week? I could tell Carrigan wasn’t totally buying it, as he had a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Loreley was nodding her head, and I refused to look at Elendria. Danielle could always tell when I was leaving stuff out, and I feared Elendria would be the same. “But enough of that. Miss Herbalist, would it be alright to put my clothes back on? It’s a bit, drafty, at the moment.”

“Heh, I’ll bet it is.” Carrigan chuckled, only to stop when Loreley gave him a playful backhand to the stomach.

“Behave.” She ordered, before smiling at me. “Go right ahead Sean. We’ll give you some privacy.” She herded everyone out, but not before an embarrassed Elendria dropped off a folded set of my clothes. I got dressed slowly, wanting to think up a believable story. Especially Carrigan. He definitely noticed that I knew I was astral travelling.

“Sean! Glad you’re back on your feet boy!” I was still sitting on the end of the bed when Bribis came in along with what I assumed was a dwarf, leading the rest of the group. “This here is the garrison commander, Gronig. Gronig, this is Sean.”

“Pleasure.” I nodded as they both came closer.

“So. I hear you did a bit of travelling outside your body. Care to explain where you went?”

“That got around fast.” I muttered. “Not really sure where I went, I just know it wasn’t this plane.”

“How so?” The commander interrupted.

“Well, the constantly changing vegetation was a clue. As in I saw a bush transform into a lizard then a tree. Took me a few days before I got the bright idea to use Drevor’s Spear to guide me back.” I explained.

“First trip was to the chaos planes? That’s unlucky.” The commander muttered. “Well. Glad you made it back.” He said. “If you guys wait a few days, the reinforcements from Cliffside should get here.”

“That’s up to our caravan master.” I said, nodding at Bribis.

“Much as we would like to, we can’t really afford the delay.” Bribis said. “So long as your herbalist give’s Sean a clean bill of health, we will be heading out in the morning.”

“I think that is fine.” Loreley said. “His issues seemed to be more soul related than body, and if he is awake that means he is healed. Or so close to fully healed that it makes no difference.” While the rest of them talked things over, I looked up the notifications that I had been neglecting.

New skills acquired!

Due to extensive training of the soul, the body has undergone several changes. Please see character sheet for more info.

Divine energy manipulation: 3/10

Divine shadow manipulation: 2/10

Divine energy detection: 4/10

Divine shadow detection: 5/10

For crossing 2000 experience in Celestial sorcerer, you gain +250 mana and +4.17 mana regen

Name: Sean O’Carrol

Age: 32

Titles:

Chosen of Ariana (hidden)

Blessed by Lokir (hidden)

Otherwordly traveler (hidden)

Summoned Hero (hidden)

Attributes:

STR – 6 (+2)

AGI – 5 (+3)

DEX – 7 (+3)

INT – 27 (+18)

WIS – 28 (+18)

CON – 10 (+3)

END – 10 (+2)

Health: 115/115

Mana: 1,825/1,825

Health regen: 0.078/min

Mana regen: 47.86/min

Spirit: 10/10

Spirit regen: 0.42/hour

Class: celestial sorcerer (2,400/10,000)

Available classes: aeromancer (200), photomancer (375), shadowmancer (275), geomancer (0), priest (0)

Secondary class: Quadramentalist (327/1,000)

Unfinished classes: 3/10

Profession: Camp Cook (11)

Available professions: slave master

Secondary profession: none

Level: 18/25

Exp to next level: 20%

Spirit

Spirit is the means for mortals to communicate with the gods. Though limited in scope and taking a long time to recharge, do not underestimate it. For used properly, it may summon divine aid at the most opportune times.

Huh. A week of training gave me ten spirit, and it looked like it would recharge over the course of a day. I wonder what it would take to increase that? The description wasn’t very helpful, or maybe it couldn’t be increased like physical attributes. Then again, I noticed a nice little bump to my mana regeneration. Did each point of spirit increase mana regeneration by 2 per minute? If so, then that would definitely be something I wanted to increase in the future. Maybe Loreley had a point about mana regeneration coming from the soul? If strengthening it nearly doubled my mana regeneration, it had to be involved somehow.

“You look troubled my Lord, is everything ok?” Elendria asked.

“Hmm? Oh, just thinking about some things. Probably best not to mention it with too many people around.”

“I see. Give me a moment.” She said, turning to the group. “Loreley. Is it ok if Sean moves out of the infirmary?”

“Yes, that’s fine. I pronounce him fully healed. Or at least as much as I can help him. Though I might want to pick his brain about his thoughts on the MC 3 experiments.”

“I know next to nothing about them.” I waved her off. “You’ll have to stick with Carrigan. He seems to know them pretty well, and I’m sure he would love to discuss them with you.” I smiled at him, hoping to catch him a bit off guard.

“It would be a nice change of pace. Perhaps you could explain a bit more to me about this sphere within a sphere, and we could see if we could set up the null fields to work properly with it.” He said, smiling at the elf. Bribis flinched at that, then shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s all above my head. Just make sure you are ready to leave at dawn.” Bribis said, looking at all of us to make sure we understood. We all nodded, and headed out the door. Elendria hovered for just a bit, but seemed content to walk normally beside me when she realized that I wasn’t having any balance issues despite my three days of bed rest.

“Outside or to the sleeping area?” She asked.

“Outside. I could use a little sun.” I shrugged.

“Fine.” She led me outside, not that it was a difficult trip. Probably a good idea to have the infirmary within easy access of the front doors. The courtyard had several groups practicing formation drills with their halberds, so we gave them a wide berth. Instead we headed over to our wagons, and Elendria cast some sort of spell.

“There we go. That should give us a bit of privacy. Now, what were you so concerned about in there?”

I stopped just before I started, looking at Elendria. She seemed a bit nervous, though I didn’t really know why. Her shoulders were slightly closed, and her eyebrows scrunched together. I couldn’t lie to her, not then. She just looked too vulnerable for one. And I would need help in this world, and so far, she was my most steadfast friend.

“I wasn’t in the plains of chaos.” I said. “My soul apparently made it to the divine realms, where I got some training from Lokir.” As I explained, her eyes got wide. “I spent a week learning to detect and control divine energy. It unlocked a new pool called spirit, and I was trying to figure it out.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth.” She said, eyes brimming with tears. “That you trust me-.”

“Elendria.”

“It means a lot my Lord.” She interrupted me, giving me a gentle smile. “More than you know.”

“You’ve been there for me, helping me all this time. I don’t think I would survive long in this world without your help.” I said. “And I still need it. Do you know anything about spirit? Like how to increase it?”

“As a matter of fact I do.” She smiled. “I use it to fuel my soul sight. Priests and priestesses also use it. The best way to increase it? Gain levels in the church. Usually this revolves around dumping your spirit reserves to the god you worship. They also have other ways, but they don’t share those.”

“You said the best way. Does that mean easiest?” I asked.

“Indeed. The other way is to go through some tribulation that causes your soul to grow. Of course, these don’t really come when you plan for them, and you often don’t realize what’s going on until after it is done.” I nodded along, as that was easy to see. “The regeneration is always the same though, no matter how high you train. Your spirit reserves always refill in 24 hours. If anyone knows why this is, they aren’t saying.”

“Damn, that’s unfortunate. I really don’t want to be associated with a specific god.” I muttered.

“I wish I could help.” Elendria said with a sad tone.

“I know, and its fine.” I said, avoiding bringing up her slavery. It took an awkward minute, but I clumsily changed the topic. “Maybe I’ll find a way once we reach Shineheart. I’m supposed to head to Bruin’s temple there anyway.”

“Are you sure my Lord?” She asked, seeming worried. “This will likely out you to the world.”

“It was a recommendation by Lokir. Hopefully by then I will be strong enough to help clear out some of the corruption that has taken root in the churches.”

“You will need to advance your species first.” She said. “The upper reaches of priests are far too strong otherwise.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that. What can I expect for the advancement?”

“There’s a trial based on your skills and classes. If you max out your profession, you can choose that path, but the only option will be the weakest one, High Human. There are tiers as well, but you haven’t unlocked any of the higher tiers.”

“How would I do that?” I asked, curious.

“Mastery of your classes and its skills. You need to max out your class experience, and an associated skill level. For the lower elements, you can master a few journeyman spells or a master spell. For those of us with a higher element like ice, I had to completely master either three master level spells or a grandmaster level one.”

“I see. I suppose the rewards are much higher?” I asked.

“Of course. High versions of a species only gain an extra attribute per level. If I had become a water elf, I would only get a smaller bonus. A free point to either intelligence or wisdom depending on level, as well as an extra free attribute point per level. As a frost elf, I gain one each to wisdom and intelligence, and get two free attributes per level.”

“I see. So it makes sense to get your strongest class to its highest level before attempting it. That’s fine, I’ll just have to add in a few days of training celestial magic. I remember you mentioning that you needed a stronger dungeon to change to a higher tier. Where is the strongest dungeon?”

“Just inside the monster lands.” She said with a shudder. “If that is where we need to go, fear not though. I’ll follow you anywhere.”

“I know you would.” I said with a sad smile. “But I won’t ask it of you. You do realize that at some point, I am going to try my best to return to my family, right?”

“Of course I know my Lord. I saw your determination when you swore to do it. That’s part of the reason why I’m willing to follow you. I know I will only grow stronger if I can manage to stay by your side. Once we purge the corruption from my homeland, I will ensure it never happens again.” I smiled, pretending to go along with her lie. We both knew she was infatuated with me, and truth be told I enjoyed her company. I just couldn’t care about her how she really wanted me to, and I don’t think this world had a name for the friendzone. I was just torn. How do I let her down gently? I wasn’t encouraging anything, and we had discussed it several times. She was just starting to really come into her own after her long enslavement, and I couldn’t crush that either.

*knock*

We both startled at the unexpected sound, turning to see a grinning Chris staring at us as he knocked on the privacy screen.

“Yes?” Elendria asked in a curt voice.

“Hey there! Just wanted to welcome Sean back and thank you both for all that you did to save us from the bog.” As Elendria started to shake her head, Chris grabbed her wrist. “None of that now. We saw you protect us from your own power, and the aftermath that you left a portion of the bog in.”

“It was nothing.” She tried to say.

“What’s this now?” I asked, curious.

“She didn’t tell you? Of course she didn’t. I do believe that when our amazing elf here saw there was a small army between you and possible help, she might have lost her temper. And what a glorious sight it was. She turned an area the size of two castle courtyards into a glittering tomb of ice. Then she calmly led us forward to the garrison.” I raised an eyebrow at the furiously blushing elf. “Anyway, the garrison and more importantly, the entire convoy wanted to thank you somehow for your extraordinary efforts Elendria. Now come on you two, we have been cooking up a storm all day and we don’t want to be late to the feast.” With that, he grabbed both of our hands and dragged us out of the stable areas.