Aliandra

  “A dungeon? Ach…” Thuli said, scratg the back of his head.

  “Yes,” Ali answered. “It’s a fire and va dungeon, and just being i is extremely deadly. I was w if you know how to make any gear with fire resistahe dungeon had two fire-aligned mana affihe general fire one, and the specialized fire-earth hybrid of va. The iioweewo produced a synergistic effect that burned everything within its domain. If it weren’t so painful, it would be endlessly fasating to study. In the back of her mind, Ali ected with her Hobgoblin boss’s senses, studying the fight with yet another of the endless fire elementals – mostly to keep an eye on things.

  “Aye, fire resistance is not a problem. Fire-aligned ents take to my Firefed steel like fish ta water. The problem is the materials – I need a source of trated fire affinity to create it, and those are quite expensive and hard to find in this town.”

  “What about this?” Malika said, produg the Lesser Essence of Fire with the fir of a marketpce jurer aiming to liberate s from purses. Ali could smell the faint st of cooki as it danced beautifully on her hand, the bright trickle of soul mana the only sign that Malika was actually healing herself to hold the dangerous essence.

  “Oh! Now there’s a pretty thing,” Thuli excimed, his eyes widening as they took in the e-red glints of the essence. “Where did you get that?”

  “From the fire duhis m,” Malika answered.

  “Will it work?” Ali asked. It would certainly be a stroke of good fortune if they had already acquired the crafting pohey needed.

  “That is perfect,” Thuli answered, reag out to take the essene. He held it up, examining it carefully, and Ali was surprised to notice that he was not burnt in the slightest. A perk of his ember affinity? It would certainly be ve – and logical – for a bcksmith to have resistao incredible heat and fme.

  “We’ll need a e armor for Mato,” Ali said. “And pte for my Hobgoblin, and some mail for the shamans. Oh, and a couple of shields with fire resistance…” She was assuming that shields could take fire resistantments simply because they were the other item that could be made with innate magical resistance – just like her orb. Her Hobgoblin and her shamans both used shields.

  “Hold up, ssie, this here essence is good for one piece. And only for a moderate entment. If ya want that much work, you will need a lot more than just this.”

  “Oh…” She truly didn’t uand how crafting worked. Probably because her dungeon magic typically shortcut all the plex material pos and skills that went into creating a novel piece. But, of course, the drawback was she could only duplicate something she had studied and learned – it took skilled crafters like Thuli to create orders.

  “I have another one,” Malika said, produg another self-sustaining fme and it to the Dwarf.

  “Ach… then I’ll start with the wee Beastkin,” Thuli griossing the essence from one hand to the other. “Kavé! Let’s get to work! Off with ya lot. e ba three days. Kavé!”

  “Looks like we will have to farm the Shards of Fme for a few days,” said thoughtfully as they all filed out of the smithy.

  “Yup,” Malika agreed. “We o che Ali’s Hobgoblin regurly too; the essences don’t stick around for very long if you don’t store them.”

  Switg to the eyes of her Hobgoblin, Ali searched the ground. “She killed two more elementals.” As she watched, the shamans unleashed their lightning and Ali received a notification.

  Your minions have defeated Shard of Fme – Elemental – level 43 (Fire).

  Martial Insight has reached level 30.

  “No, three now. Ooh, and I just reached level thirty in Martial Insight,” Ali said.

  “Cool,” Mato said. “Wait, we’re not even there…”

  “Are you serious?” asked, stopping dead in the middle of the street to stare at her.

  “Yes?” Ali said, not immediately grasping the significe.

  “That ges everything!” gasped. “You level up without even being there! That’s incredible. I’ve never heard of anything like that!”

  “Don’t get too excited, ,” Malika grinned. “She’s a dungeon – that’s what her css does. It’s not particurly surprising she earns experience for it. And besides, she didn’t get a hundred levels ht.”

  “I just got one level in Martial Insight,” Ali said, realizing what had gotten so riled up. “My boss has been fighting elementals almost stantly.” Not to mention, her wolves and bats had been tangling regurly with undead in the Forest Cavern and she still wasn’t swimming in experience.

  “Aww,” said. “I ’t leave stray arrows lying around and monsters will step on them and I’ll get experience?”

  Malika chuckled, “Monster pit traps, maybe?”

  “I don’t think I’m in much danger, save by rampant nearby silliness,” Ali responded, quirking her lips as she puzzled through it. “Mostly my minions are killing very low leveled undead, and this is the first time I was watg the Hobgobliely…”

  “With low risk, the gain is probably small,” Malika said.

  “Even a small trickle with low risk is amazing,” said, returning to his more normal quiet calm.

  “I think I o observe the fight,” Ali mused. Her Martial Insight, at least, explicitly said so in the description.

  Perhaps it was fortuhen that the fire dungeon insisted on respawning the Fire Elementals and spewing them out into the jungle in a tinuous dungeon-break. It would be easy to monitor the fights stantly. Fighting the elementals outside the intense domain was manageable, if hard, and hopefully, ohey built up enough fire resistahey would be able to survive the fmes of the dungeon itself long enough to look for the Fe and earn some good experience along the way. She he levels if she was to ever resolve her mana she.

  Malika

  This must be the pce, Malika thought, gazing at the outside of what had to be a verted warehouse in one of the cheaper districts of town – not quite the slums, but far from the pces the nobles frequehe wooden sidings on the building looked like they had needed repg several years ago, and there was even evidence of scorch marks on some of the walls where a fire had been hastily put out and the damage just barely patched up. However, the sighe door had been freshly painted.

  Densmore Dance Academy.

  Malika walked up to the door, pulled it open to the sound of a musical chime, and stepped into a small reception hallway. Immediately, she heard the sounds of a waltz ing from somewhere beyond the entryway.

  The woman sitting at the desk immediately gnced up and greeted her, “Wele in. How I help?”

  “Hi, I’m Malika,” she said, studying the woman. She wore her chestnut hair in a high ponytail, and she was dressed in stylish athletic bck. “I have an appoi with Polina?”

  “Oh, hi, Malika. I’m Polina Densmore,” she said, getting to her feet. “e, let me show you around first before we get started.”

  “Ok,” Malika said, but her attention was riveted to the energy c through the woman’s body. While it was not nearly as powerful as Rezan, she matched him in effid trol. Every movement oozed poise and grad even without the ability to identify her directly, Malika would have known she rofessional dancer.

  “You see?” Polina asked.

  “Stamina,” Malika firmed.

  “That will help a lot,” Polina smiled, leadio an open doorway. “This is the main ballroom. No street shoes, please.”

  The ballroom was a wide-open expanse of geous wooden floors – pletely at odds with the building’s exterior. Not a single copper had been spared in making this space. At the far end, several chairs were arranged around small circur tables, and three couples whirled around the dance floor with obviously diverse skill levels.

  Malika sat and quickly removed the Pathfinder Initiate Boots had brought back from Ciradyl for her, wing at the loss of speed aerity, and pced them in ay cubbyhole along with her socks, and then joined Polina as they wove their ast the dao a smaller room at the back.

  “This is the room I use for private lessons,” Polina said. It had an equally beautiful floor and aire wall had been verted to a mirror. She shut the door behind Malika and the sounds of the musid dancers faded – presumably the result of an expensive sound ward. “Why don’t we talk a little about yoals first?”

  “Well,” Malika said, sidering how to approach it. “I’m a monk, and I have bat skills that are mainly dexterity-based but have the Dang general skill. Occasionally my dang skill levels up from bat, and I wao find out if it ossible to improve my fighting ability by w on my dang. Is that actually a thing?” Her mother had enced her to pursue dang, but back then she hadn’t really sidered how it might work.

  “Of course,” Polina said. “Dang is an uanding of one’s body, momentum, bance, and rhythm. I have trained many people like yourself who want to improve one of these aspects for bat.”

  “Ok,” Malika said. “So, what do we do? I don’t know waltz or any of the fancy ballroom dances…”

  “For yoals, I’d reend modern or porary – at least, for now,” Polina said. “Something solo that we use to explore your own sense and style before we get into partner dang.”

  “That sounds good.”

  “Ok, how about this…” Polina said, making some adjustments to a devi a small table in the er. After a few moments, the small dan filled with the sounds of an upbeat, popur rhythm.

  And then she moved.

  Malika could only stare at the incredible, if brief, performance. Her movement did not merely follow the music, it was the music. Every single muscle worked in harmony, a delicate flow of stamina that pulsed in time with the beat as her body performed feats of uated strength and bahat Malika couldn’t even believe.

  “Aah… you wao do that?”

  “Of course,” Polina said, grinning at her. “It will be fun. Here, let’s begin with the first step. First, pce your foot forward like this, and then put half your weight on it.”

  A little uainly, Malika did as she asked.

  “Turn your foot out a little more to accept your weight,” Polina suggested, bending doushing her foot into a slightly more ‘correct’ position. Then she adjusted Malika’s shoulders and lifted her arms. “Better. A touch more ar your back… good. Now, you said you see stamina. Try to copy this.”

  Two hours ter, Malika left the daudio feeliirely wrung out and drained. Not even Rezaing drills had pushed her this far. Muscles that she didn’t even know she had were trembling with exhaustion, but she smiled broadly as she made her way back to the guild.

  It had been nothing like she expected. Studying the movement patterns with Soul Sight and trying to duplicate them in her own body had pushed her mind and body equally hard. Malika extended her arm in the swoopiure she had been struggling with so much, rotating her wrist like she had been taught and reag to create maximum stretch. This would be so good for the new recruits. I should get Vivian to make them sign up for lessons – at least the ones who want to try for an agility-based css. Heck, everength-based warriors could learn a thing or two about band the transfer of power. She chuckled at the image of Mato prang around the dance floor to the musi his Bear Form. Polina would probably make him rotective socks on his paws, so he didn’t rip up that fancy wooden floor with his cws.

  Dang has reached level 9 (+3).

  Maybe ime I’ll try that waltz… and turn into a dang tank? Hmm.

  As she turned a er, the back of her neck suddenly prickled. A watcher? She sed her surroundings surreptitiously but saw nothing out of pce. Odd. She khese streets like the back of her hand. Maybe that little dance move had attracted attention? When the premonition did not recur, Malika shook her head and walked on purposefully, turnihoughts to more pressing matters.

  Aliandra

  You have ehe Grand Library Ara.All Learning and Knowledge magic is enhanced by 10%

  “So, tell me, what did you like about Ciradyl?” Lira asked, arranging the cups oable, and p the tea for each of them. She had beeed to help with and Ryn’s nguage lessons and had immediately switched to versing with both exclusively in Elvish.

  Ali smiled and sipped oea as she corrected ’s grammar and pronunciation and helped him find the correct words. They were both progressing rapidly, but she was certain was on the cusp of making a breakthrough. Surprisingly, her Sage of Learning would periodically nibble at her mana while she taught – although, she assumed that was simply due to her making deeper es for her own nguage due to the process anizing clear expnations in her mind.

  She loved teag and watg both of them grow. It was an activity she only rarely experienced growing up, given that she had always been a student in a city full of masters and experts. But now her friends needed her, and she looked forward to their sit-down sessions in the library, practig nguage. It didn’t hurt that the library entment she had repaired was helping them.

  “You o jugate it the other way,” she suggested. “And the word you’re looking fht be ‘splendor’, ‘magnifit’, or perhaps ‘astounding’.” Just like Lira, she spoke exclusively in Elvish – both her students having advanced enough that the challenge would be helpful.

  tried again. He was describing the Well of Souls, an artifact of some significe she had gathered. Quickly, she corrected the pronunciation again and he spoke the sentence correctly. Suddenly his face registered surprise and Ali’s chime sounded.

  “I got it!” he excimed in Elvish, an expression of delight repg the surprise.

  Sage of Learning has reached level 21.

  Requirements met for skill adva.

  Sage of Learning has reached at least level 20.Taught someone a new nguage.Repaired the Grand Library Ara’s Learning and Knowledge runitment.Practice teag within the Grand Library Ara.Intelligence has surpassed 220.

  Sage of Learning gains Teag Sage.Sage of Learning – level 21Your ability to learn nguages, magical systems, history, and simir academiowledge is signifitly enhanced. You have enhanced memory for the tent you have studied.Mana: el mana and uninterrupted focus to enhance Sage of Learning while studying. itive funemory, and reading are enhanced in speed and crity. Mana: el mana while teag to share ye of Learning’s passive ability with your student. Are, Knowledge, eled, Perception, IntelligenceAccept this adva?

  “gratutions,” Ali said, enjoying ’s excitement. It was no surprise that had been the first to make the breakthrough – even though both of their csses thrived on intelligence, his was at the higher level.

  As she gnced over in his dire, she noticed Lira eyeing her with curiosity.

  “I got something, too,” she admitted, sharing her adva.

  “That seems to be an excellent skill,” Lira said.

  “Yes, I like it,” she answered. Something about it resonated with her – perhaps it was simply the enjoyment she had experieeag Ryn and . “But it doesn’t help with my mana problems or make me stronger for defending my domain.” She was still critically low on mana and would probably lose several of her minions if she allowed her Empowered Summoo drop. And she had the periodic touch of the dungee, and the regur stream of background notifications to remihat she was still under tinuous attack.

  “Not everything should be about groower,” Lira said, allowing a frown to pass across her brow. “If only I were not so diminished… if only I could help more, then you would be free to focus on sharing knowledge. That is what I would wish for you – I believe that sharing makes the world and the people around you better, more capable, and stroime ied in teag others is never wasted.”

  How does she do that? As usual, Lira had seen through to the core of who she was, her words resonating powerfully with the kind of person Ali aspired to be. Killing Roderik, or the disrupte had been an unfortable y – and one she was learning to cope with, without hesitation. But it was teag and learning that truly inspired her – fixing the library entment, saving Lira, teag Elvish, and even seeing Havok, Ryn, and Basil growing with powerful new csses that she had helped them achieve – all of these filled her with joy and a deep sense of satisfa.

  “You have already done so much,” Ali said.

  “What have I do is you who have saved me. I live only on your providence.”

  “You keep the forest above the library safe, driving off any monsters,” Ali said.

  “That is but a trifling thing. If I still had my forest…” Lira trailed off with a grimace of fresh pain.

  “You will recover your strength in time,” Ali said. “Besides, it is your advice that has helped me the most. I believe I will take this ohen.” She accepted the adva with a clear sce, but more than that, she now uood why she would offer her shrio the people of Myrin’s Keep, regardless of the potential fative or dangerous attention.

  “It is the least I do, dear,” Lira answered, but the grimad frown slowly faded from her face.

  Rezan

  The guild hall was smaller than Rezan had expected, certainly much smaller and less ostentatious than the Adventurers Guild iias. His eyes took in all the little details, carefully evaluating everything. While the guild in Myrin’s Keep seemed small, he noticed the smiles on the faces of the low-level adventurer party sharing a meal at the bar while they chatted about their exploits. One of them, to his surprise, was a Goblin with an unusual holy mana signature, but the Goblin’s familiarity with his panions spoke clearly for his acceptance as an equal in their group. Even the easy price haggling at the store that they had pced within the guild hall, and the care with which the entire room had been arranged was not what he had expected.

  I hope this is not a mistake, he thought, stepping across the threshold, followed by Sabri. Basir and Ha entered behind them, taking up positions oher side of Sabri, as if to protect the smaller girl. It had been a hard ride, and they hadn’t even stopped to refresh themselves when they reached Myrin’s Keep, heading straight for the guild, so he was sore and covered with dust and sweat. But his dignity would have to take a back seat, Sabri had a little less than two days left.

  He strode up to the desk and the elegantly dressed Elven woman looked up at him as he arrived.

  Spy – Sun Elf – level 51 (Mind)

  Mind magic? Whatever this guild was, it was certainly breaking every expectation he had had.

  “Wele travelers,” she said. “I’m Mieriel, the guild administrator, how may I help you?” Her mana flickered quickly and in a plex formation, and the others seemed briefly disoriented, but his own energy simply disrupted the low-level magic before it reached him.

  “Sorry, bad habit,” she said, having the decy to blush with embarrassment.

  “Is the Guildmaster, Vivian Ross avaible?” Rezan asked ftly, recalling the name Malika had given him. A lifetime’s discipli a frown off his face, but the woman must clearly have sensed his rea.

  “She is training the aspirants; she should be done soon. May I say who is looking for her?”

  “I am Elder Rezan. We have e from Kezda in northern Toria. Malika said I could speak with the Guildmaster about using a css shrine.”

  “Oh, yes, I was told to expect you. Please make yourselves fortable, I’ll go let the Guildmaster know you’re here,” Mieriel said.

  Rezan took a seat on a soft couch to wait, studying the guild hall as he dismissed his mild annoya the luxurious seating and rather, took iails about the adventurers and the wares dispyed in the small store. His senses ranged further, searg through the building. In a training room below, he found her – an intense brightness of someone perhaps nearing their first evolution. She must be the Guildmaster.

  It didn’t take long before they began moving toward the stairwell, aed with pride how quickly his disciples reacted to the powerful energy, first Ha and then Basir.

  But what emerged from the stairwell rocession of uncssed people carrying basic training swords and daggers, chatting rowdily amongst themselves, followed by Mieriel.

  The woman who emerged, following the Elf, had braided bck hair and carried her swords openly on her hip, rather than in a spatial ste entment. But what was most striking about her was the powerful energy within and surrounding her body. Rezan immediately reized someorained in bat. She would be a formidable foe otlefield. But her energy seemed twisted and ed. Damaged. Not as bad as Malika had been when he had first met her, but something was definitely amiss – it was only when he saw her level that he uood. Rezan rose to his feet as they approached, meeting her eyes and finding them exactly as sharp and powerful as her aura suggested.

  “Wele, Elder,” she said, making a close approximation of a respectful bow between peers. “I am Vivian Ross, the Guildmaster of this little guild. How may I help you?”

  “Guildmaster,” he greeted, returning the bow. “I was hoping to speak with the Fae, Aliandra. I uand she is a member of yuild – it is a matter of some urgency.” The Guildmaster’s eyes flickered to Sabri and then back to his.

  “Why don’t we have a seat? I assume this is about css adva?”

  “Yes,” he answered warily. It erhaps unfortuhat Malika had shared so much with this woman, as it severely limited his ability to iate effectively.

  “Mieriel said you’ve e all the way from Kezda?”

  “That is correct.”

  “You e a long way then,” she said. “I assume shrine access iias has bee too expensive?”

  “Yes, you have uood my position accurately,” Rezan winced, and his grimace actually made it onto his face, earning a surprised look from the perceptive Ha, sitting nearby.

  “You are in a tough position,” Vivian tinued, pointing out what was clearly obvious, “to be forced to seek help from a kingdom that is teically at war with your own.”

  He schooled his face. Even if she was going to try to take advantage of his position, it was not appropriate to lose posure. Although, he had no other options. He just wished he could find Malika, but her energy was shrouded from his sight somehow. It was like looking for a light at the bottom of a vast well of swirling and shifting mana – precisely how it would appear if she were in a dungeon – which brought him right back to his worries.

  “I uand why you would want to seek out Aliandra,” Vivian tinued.

  The door to the guild opened and several people entered, and with them a dark energy he had not felt in many years.

  Mage – Human – level 11 (Death)

  Neancer! But before he could speak, the Elf called out from the reception desk.

  “Seth! I said, no zombies in the guild hall.”

  “But…”

  “They stink, and I had to up that foul bck goop they leaked all over the carpet. They stay outside!”

  What kind of a guild is this? He had never imagined a guild that would have a mind mage arguing with a neancer. Or have a dungeon as a guild member.

  “What is your fee for accessing the shrine?” Rezan asked, tuning out the argument behind him. Whatever was going on seemed normal to the members and the neancer was only level eleven. It was time to see what kind of person Vivian really was, and how she was intending to profit from this exge.

  “Shrine access is free.”

  No fee? Despite his posure, her response left Rezan speechless for a moment. Malika had offered Aliandra’s services, g they would be free, but he had found that impossible to believe. Free shrine service was unheard of. Even if Aliandra’s shrine was free, it was expected for the guild to levy some kind of charge for something so valuable.

  “Why would you offer such a thing with no advao yourself?” In his surprise, his question was more direct than he had intended.

  The Guildmaster sat ba the couch. “You are aware that Aliandra is a dungeon?”

  “Malika told me, yes,” he answered. While he knew, he was again surprised that the Guildmaster knew – it implied a depth of cooperation he had not expected. But then he recalled the trainees emerging from below and it suddenly became clear to him.

  “Aliandra values equality and she insisted on equal access to her shri may simply have to do with her being friends with Malika who was a street ur and wouldn’t have been able to afford any shrine fees on her oart of her agreement with us, Aliandra insisted that I do not restrict access to anyone, be they crafters, artisans, bat csses, rich or poor. Or even fn applits seeking more affordable options.”

  “And that is why you are training the uncssed?” Rezan asked. “You offer bat csses to grow yuild?” If guild membership was a requirement to use the shrihat at least was something they could afford. However, he would have to expin to Seyah why he’d left her daughter in a fn kingdom.

  “You want to know what I get out of this deal?” Vivian asked. At his nod, she poio the group of adventurers who were sitting at the bar finishing off their breakfast. “That is the first set of people we unlocked with her shrine. As you o doubt see, they all unlocked a css with a powerful mana affinity. There were a few others; crafters that we pced with good mentors. I just started the raining program for those poor and disenfranchised who want a shot at a bat css – Malika’s suggestion, by the way. I give them enough training to hopefully allow them to survive the trial, and then they optionally sign up with the guild. They get disted bat training aors. Aliandra even made a low-level training ground in the sewers as part of her dungeon for them to level up quicker.”

  Now it makes sense, he thought. Vivian Ross was not ied in money, she simply wao grow her guild – and as he well knew, a petent person with a good css was much more valuable than all the money in the world. The care ied in the guild hall suddenly made more sense. Eveernship idea had signifit merit; the trial and the first few levels after unlog a css were always the riskiest. Almost anything could still kill you and you had no idea what your limits were.

  “How long do they have to be affiliated with the guild?”

  “The only obligation is to pay off the training and the guild ste ring by doing quests for the guild,” she said. “For all that Aliandra’s dungeon does not drop much equipment, it’s still remarkably lucrative for the adventurers, especially those willing to escort the herbalists on guild quests. Those five have already paid off their obligation, and they earned accodes for defending the city effectively against a neatack retly.”

  “I see,” Rezan said.

  “Even though my program is optional, I’m hoping to make it attractive enough that people will seriously sider it. The eics of the shriax iias is good news for me because it will likely drive even more people to seek out Aliandra’s generous offer. Then at least some of them might find my offer entig enough to stay for a while and grow. You asked what I get out of it – building a reputation as a guild that grows strong adventurers. That is what I seek.”

  Rezan sat and sidered her words. There seemed to be ion within her, her energy remained calm, without any apparent ay. While it was not a truth-detector divination, he had bee adept at reading hidden stress and ay with his sight, and Vivian Ross seemed to be genuine about wanting to grow people to enhance her guild’s reputation. While he didn’t care much about building a reputation himself, the desire to grow the youth resonated deeply with him.

  “I will leave the choice to take you up on yuild membership up to Sabri,” he said. “I appreciate what you are trying to aplish with your program, and if it works out for her, I will share it with the other vilges near Kezda. The only issue is she has at most two days left.”

  “That will not be a problem, I have already scheduled a trip to the shrine for tomorrow,” Vivian smiled, obviously happy with his offer to advertise for her.

  ----------

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