“It’s time,” I quietly informed Lia, knowing that I had delayed enough, maybe even too long. We had lingered near the gym for a little over a week, bringing us to day twenty since the change had happened, and by now, the whole area was getting ripe with the smell of decaying bodies. It hadn’t been so bad earlier, when temperatures had been hovering between five and ten degrees celsius, but now, with longer and warmer days, that was quickly changing.

That pretty much everything that could be looted had been taken at some point meant that there wasn’t a lot of unspoiled food left in the supermarkets, so something else had to be done. Fields had to be cleared, wild beasts had to be driven off and preparations made. It was the shift from reactive survival, where the biggest concern was to survive until the next day, to a more long-term mode, where survival for the next year was what plans were made for.

I knew that Mrs Wu had been preparing her people and had been in negotiations with both, those at the YMCA and those living at the farm, though I wasn’t fully informed when it came to results. I had deliberately kept out of it, both because i didn’t want to bother and because I had a feeling my traits, and even my name, could become a problem during such talks. Thus, I had made it very clear that I wasn’t part of their group but that the dogs, Lia and I were our own group.

My students were the biggest link between my group and the survivors under Mrs Wu’s leadership, they still visited every afternoon, though not all of them came regularly. I knew that they had been passing on some of my teaching to others at the gym, most of whom didn’t have any affinity but were trying to learn some magic anyway. It wasn’t what I would have tried to do, it involved far too much effort on my part, but it apparently worked for them.

Sadly, I didn’t get any EXP for the teaching my students were doing, so my EXP gain had been a little limited, especially as there still were few enemies that could challenge me.

Regardless, I had managed some progress during those days, even if it only came to a total of three levels, bringing me to twenty-eight, but I had been focused on my skills. Those had made greater progress, my Ice Runes had gained seven levels, bringing them to twenty-two, my Darkness Runes had gained six and reached twenty-one, while my Blood Runes had gained seven as well, thanks to repeated experimentation with Lia, bringing the skill to twenty-one as well. In addition, my Ice Magic had gained eight levels, thanks to experimentation with combinations of Water and Ice, bringing the skill to twenty-four, my Darkness Magic had gained six levels, reaching twenty and lastly, when it came to magic, my Blood Magic had gained six levels, bringing it to twenty-three.

Astral Meditation had been one of my primary foci in that time, as I had been trying to understand the changes the Astral River carved into our world, how it changed the fundamental nature of reality and how things were in flux. It was an exploration I could only undertake thanks to my Titanic Ambition, otherwise, I simply didn’t have the brain-power to manage and even with the boost, it was tiring. Still, I had gained a limited understanding when it came to the ebb and flow of power, though I was far from being able to actually do anything with it. But it earned me ten points in Astral Meditation, bringing it to twenty-five.

Death Magic was still difficult, but I made some progress with it. Not a lot of progress, but a bit. My experimentation had earned me three points, bringing the skill to five, though it was still limited in what I could do with it. My living body simply wasn’t attuned to death, making it painful to wield and even worse to experiment with. Maybe I would have to put the skill aside, at least for a bit, until I could find a way to wield it without killing me as much as I was killing my target.

Mind Magic was far better in that regard. I had been exceedingly careful to keep my exploration into the skill balanced, to avoid earning a trait similar to the one I had on Mundus, where the skill was purely offensive. Instead, I had used it to train with Lia, and occasionally helped my students meditate on the Astral River, while I occasionally used it to influence or even damage the mind of a Shattered or another enemy. All in all, the work I had managed with it was a little limited, but I had managed to earn five points with it, bringing it to sixteen.

Then, there were the magical skills I had partially pilfered from my students. Water Magic had gained three points, likely thanks to the experimentation I had done with it in conjunction with my Ice Magic, bringing it to five, while my Water Rune Mastery had gained four points and reached level six. Wind Magic had been interesting to study, too, earning three points and reaching five as well but sadly, my progress with Wind Runes was a little lacking, only earning me two points and level three.

Lastly, the project that had taken quite a bit of my time, was an attempt to fill out the elements, so to speak. I had seen a bit of Earth Magic from Leon, and had studied some of it with the Dwarves on Mundus, so I felt I should be able to gain the skill. Ultimately, I succeeded, but the effort involved was immense. It was only level one and felt a lot weaker than my other magic abilities, but it was there and it would, eventually, grow.

Whether I’d ever get to that point with Fire Magic, I wasn’t sure. I had tried to gain the skill, had forced myself to meditate on fire and even delved into the Astral River and tried to glean some insight, but the only thing i had to show for was the magical equivalent of sunburn. I could conjure up a small spark, nothing that a lighter couldn’t do a lot better, but it was a sort of progress. Glacially slow progress but maybe, if I invested a century or so into the idea, I might get somewhere. But not soon, so the idea to control all four base elements had been put on the back burner until I had the leisure to invest the time.

Similarly to Earth-Magic, I had made some progress in the acquisition of Nature Magic. By my understanding, it was linked to both Blood Magic and Death Magic, with one being part of the Life-side of things, the other obviously the counterpart of life that was just as much part of Nature. It hadn’t been an easy thing to do, but I had managed to get the two contradictory elements to work to the point that they combined, though I had failed to acquire Nature Magic just yet. The element wasn’t as antagonistic to me as Fire was, but it was close. Still not as bad as Light, but none of the three was something I actually wanted to channel.

When it came to runes, I had done some delving into the Astral and tried to ascertain the proto-Earth-Rune I had partially seen in Leon’s delve into the Astral River but so far, I hadn’t managed. On the other hand, Nature, Fire and Light Runes were things I hadn’t dared touch with a ten-foot pole, the elements were just too hard to handle.

On the other hand, with my three original Runic Masteries above twenty, I had been able to draw out a new rune for each of them from the Astral River. Instead of trying to recreate my past successes, I decided to go with runes that I remembered being useful.

I had considered trying to get the freeze-rune, the improved rune of Chill that would eventually lead into Frozen Moonlight and, hopefully, Eternal Ice, but decided against it. The rune had its uses, but compared to the Blizzard Rune, which I managed to dredge up, it was just too weak. Blizzard had been the rune I used for most of my simple, offensive magic on Mundus when I wanted to lob a chunk of Ice at an enemy without using my Ice Magic. Once I managed to get the Icicle-Rune, I would be able to recreate the frozen Javelins that had served me quite well in the past.

Similarly, Shadow wasn’t the most powerful of the runes I remembered, but it was incredibly useful for personal concealment and warding. No real offensive potential, but it allowed me to remain unseen and undetected, while hopefully letting me get back into the travelling through Shadows. That part hadn’t been Rune Magic, but getting a better understanding of the concept by understanding the rune might get me there.

Lastly, the Blood Runes. Instead of trying to get the runes that improved my own strength, I had very deliberately tried to get the rune that bordered what Nature-Magic should hold, namely the Regrowth-Rune. It had been about the strongest healing rune amongst the Blood Runes and should be useful to get a deeper understanding of Nature-Magic and also for its practical application, healing people.

While I wasn’t quite certain where we’d go next, I had pushed back the exploration of the Old Slaughterhouse for the whole time but now that we’d have to leave town anyway, it was time to check that out. It would be interesting to see what we’d find there.