"Try the mana pool, Sol," Vespera told me through the bond. She was done gossiping with Zery, and the two were now backseating us as we fought. The dragoness had tried to get the demon to join us, but Vespera had refused to leave her alone there. Thus, we had two backseaters. "You'll see. Now that it's permanently shared, it feels completely different from before. Ask Elyra. I know she felt it too when she cast, earlier."
The girl in question nodded, her wings glowing and filling the tunnel with soft light. She rose into the air like a soft feather buffeted by a gentle wind, smiling with her eyes closed. I held my breath as my eyes took in the light show of magic, once again enjoying my new ability to feel it. Then Calla began to cast, timidly drawing from the shared mana pool, adding her light to the fireworks of mana filling the tunnel.
Something clicked inside of me, knowledge being pulled from the bond, then fed back into it. I felt ready to try something out, experiments and understandings now shared among all the participants of the bond, benefiting everyone, but I waited.
Elyra opened her eyes, and her halo brightened. From it, a red laser shot out, impossibly thin and deadly, hitting the rocks near a bend in the tunnel and cutting through them like they were made of butter, melting the stone and creating tiny explosions where trapped water was vaporized in an instant.
Once again, understanding flowed through the bond and reached us all. What was one person's epiphany benefited everyone.
Finally, as she touched the ground and her wings stopped glowing, I felt ready. I tapped into the shared mana pool, feeling four sets of eyes watch me carefully, cheering me on, backseating me like the worst of gamers shouting suggestions and tips into the bond and making a mess of noise and information.
They really warmed my heart, my silly little girls. I ignored all the noise, and let the mana flow.
Blue, electric and powerful. Thin, definite lines that glowed with a faint aura of dissipating energy, which wafted away from their perfect precision and flew in small currents carried by the air like miniature fireflies. The lines joined into a geometry of perfection, a small pyramid that hovered right in front of me, following my movements.
With just a thought, I released the magic missile from where it was, and it shot forward faster than the eyes could follow, registering only as a blue-violet blur before it impacted the wall. It drilled into it and then exploded, dislodging a whole section of stone that tumbled to the ground in a small mound of rubble.
"Woohoo!" Vespera shouted, and the moment was shattered, and we could breathe again. "Spacer boy can do proper MAGIC!"
She was ecstatic, as we all were. "It was high time," Zery said, pretending to be all high and pretentious about it. "It wouldn't do for my—er, our—human not to have any proper magic."
Elyra's fingers brushed against the back of my hand. "Congratulations, my love."
And now, we hunted monsters with glee and trepidation, because of course we all wanted to test this new magic of mine. The first Skitterpede saw its head explode before it could even register our presence, after which an infectious desire to outdo each other took over us, with lasers going off and brambles and vines crushing bones and mandibles until our mana ran out and then some more.
When we touched the last core, it exploded into a shower of light.
"The damaged battery can't hold any more magic," Calla said.
"Really?" said a worried Vespera. "Oh, shit, it's glowing through the cracks! Sol! It won't explode, will it?"
I found it cute that she was asking me, as if I knew anything. But, I wasn't too worried, because Calla was actually smiling at the demon's antics.
"It will not explode," she said. "The System is shunting the excess energy into us. We will gain a level, but instead of stats, it's working on something else we might use."
Bond Level 2 → 3
Status is always concealed from prying eyes.
"That's it?" Zery asked. "Stats would have been better!"
"No, no, no, wait," Vespera told the dragon woman before she could work herself up. "This is actually good. We needed a conceal status, and what's better than a System-given one?"
The dragon wasn't convinced. "So what? From your memories, I know you could have bought it from an alchemist!"
"Too risky," the demon argued. "Ours is not a normal status. Could have backfired."
That's when Elyra chimed in. "Vespera, are you feeling alright?" she asked.
The demon paused. "Yes? Why?"
"Dunno," the angel said, grinning at me and trying to conceal it from the bond. "Just feels strange, hearing reasonable things come from your mouth."
There was a poignant pause. "That's it," Vespera said after a moment. "You wanna throw hands, no question. Come back and you'll see."
We laughed, and hunted some more until it was time to leave.
It made us mad that Zery couldn't come, but we still hadn't found a way to release her from the chains keeping her trapped in the room. Calla offered to stay behind, and we couldn't really argue with the logic. They knew about the angel and the demon at the three-letter club, while the dryad was a new variable.
Moreover, even though the bond meant that none of us were ever really alone, one of us was going to stay behind with Zery anyway. It was non-negotiable, no matter how much the dragon complained about it. That's what you get for joining the bond, silly. Unlimited wholesomeness.
And thirdly. Calla wasn't really a fan of the city after looking through our memories. We couldn't really blame her, I guess. She was a dryad and the city was a shithole.
Thus, we returned as the usual party, plus a very handy System-provided block inspect feature that had us stopped by the guards the very moment we tried to cross the gate and enter Perseverance's End. A quick check of our token took care of that, but the guards' wary gazes lingered on our backs.
"Same old, same old," Vespera grumbled as we passed through the lithos block. "And heavens above, the smell!"
"Oh yeah, it's hitting me too," I said. "Was it always this strong?"
"I think it is due to the stats," Elyra ventured. "The mental ones probably also affect the senses. Now you share the same woes as we do, Sol."
"Yuck," I offered.
We reached the place a bit earlier than when we were supposed to, but even then we immediately found Ted. He was talking to Fan, the restaurant's owner, who was all smiles as soon as he saw us. He rushed over and pulled me into a meaty hug.
"I got the wagyu meat you gave me aaaaall worked and ready for the big feast," he said as his eyes glinted with manic energy. "You'll see. It's a taste that drives you crazy."
Ted chuckled. "Ah, lad, so you be the reason Fan's got all twisted up in the head, eh? Truly dangerous, what that transmutation skill of yours can do."
I nodded. "I got plans for it."
His eyes lit up. "You figured something out? Hmm." He paused. "Block inspect. Good. Ah, before I forget, you can let your slaves roam free while inside Fan's premises. No need for collars and chains, we paid the fee. See?" His smile was all teeth. One glinted gold, and I was pretty sure it was a new feature. "Benefits of the club. Let them stretch their legs while you and I have a nice little chat."
With that, he pulled me to a side room. I nodded at Elyra and Vespera, and they went to mingle with other people's slaves.
"You probably be wondering, lad," Ted said, reading my expression. "You have this bond with your girls, but other people have their means too. We all friends, in the club, but it doesn't mean people don't love to use any opportunity they might get to spy on other people. What better way than to use a slave?"
"It's a battle of wits, isn't it? Slave against slave," I said after mulling it over for a minute.
"How so?" Ted asked, clearly amused.
I thought about it some more. "If a slave works with the owner, then they'll try to extract information from the others and outsmart them. If not, and all that keeps them in line are slave commands, then these commands will be tested. But no member will admit which is which, whether their slaves are held on a tight leash or are truly aligned, will they?"
"That's right, lad," Ted said. "Hence the pretense. I find it, as I do many things, amusing. Thing is, them slaves who aren't aligned, they will try to corrupt the others. Makes for a compelling case when you tell a slave that their owner wants to eat their core. But alas, it's not so easy. Slave commands can do many things, from forcing a mind not to hear certain concepts, to twisting the tongue should you try to relay them. Abhorrent, isn't it? You would know."
"Why are you riling me up, Ted?"
The dwarf shrugged, running a hand through his beard. "Haven't been seeing you around much and I, as you know, need you. Was worried you'd be going feral, with that dryad and whatnot, so I wanted to remind you of the sins happening here, sins you and I could begin to act upon."
I sighed. "Right."
"The induction ceremony tonight," the dwarf said casually. "You got it covered?"
I nodded. "I plan to pledge the use of my transmutation ability, through you, to whoever needs it."
"Good plan," Ted said, humming to himself. "With the wall reconstruction project underway, we could show the whole city and, tunnels below, even the Chasmers what we can do! Think you can provide me with quality stone enough to plug the hole?"
"I think I can do much more than that," I grinned. "How about remaking the whole outer wall? Does it sound like a good enough induction offering?"
The dwarf chuckled, slamming my back and recoiling at how solid I felt. "Good growth," he commented. "I gather the girls got mana to spare?"
"And some more," I said. "The skill evolved. You'll see."
"Hahaha," Ted laughed. "And, being that I would be the supplier of the stone, that would cover me as well. Two gems with one strike of a pick, wonderfully done, lad."
"About this," I said. "I actually have something else for you. A little gift from behind the dryad's shield down in the tunnels."
"Ah," Ted said. "After the suspicious collapse, am I right?"
"Very right," I said. Fishing out a small glass vial, I set it on the small wooden table.
"What is this fluid?" the dwarf asked, unconsciously drawn to the metallic glow of the green substance.
"Elixir of youth," I said. "One drop extends a human lifespan by one year. Untested on other races. There are a hundred doses in this vial. Are you interested?"
The dwarf's hands were already reaching for the vial, but then he coughed and withdrew them. "Very," he said. "Very."