Explorer of Edregon

The last time Vin had come here, there had only been a dozen elves wandering around the base of the Tree of Ancients, tending to it by pouring nature magic directly into the mana-starved roots. Now, he saw nearly three times that number of Druids moving about under the tree's branches, tending to its many needs. Even the green mana flowing from their staffs and hands felt thicker and more potent, and Vin felt relieved at the realization that the elves were indeed slowly regaining much of their lost power.

"It's a start, but it's not nearly enough," Shia whispered as they walked past the Druids, nodding at them as they approached the waiting door.

"After you," she said, pulling open the door and allowing Vin and Alka to enter first. The door led to the exact same cozy sitting room that he'd been in the last time he'd met with Erik, and Vin once again admired the way the furniture grew from the floor and walls. Now that he had a little bit more magic under his belt, he was better able to appreciate just how incredible the entire tree was.

"Vin! Shia! Alka! It is good to see the three of you again," Erik said, his form suddenly manifesting in the center of the room within a small whirlwind of leaves. Vin was briefly hit with the rich scents of grass and bark, and he couldn't help but breath in deeply at the calming aroma.

"Good to see you again as well," Vin grinned, giving Erik a respectful bow. "I'll admit, I was a little worried when Smohl said you wouldn't be manifesting outside the Tree of Ancients!"

"Just an attempt at conserving as much of my people's magical power as possible," Erik smiled, gesturing for them all to take a seat at his small table. "Speaking of which, I do appreciate all that the three of you have done for us thus far. This latest horde of monster corpses was quite useful fertilizer."

"At least you got something out of it," Vin said, his smile turning a bit pained at the thought of what killing those monsters had cost his people.

"The Druids are looking better," Shia quickly pointed out, changing the topic. "Any updates on your predictions for when the elves will be enough to sustain the Ancient Ones again?"

"It is still too early to tell, but at the very least, I am feeling far more confident about our chances of survival. Enough of the bleak topics however, I would love to hear all about the adventures you three have been on since we last saw each other. Tea?"

"Probably a good idea," Vin chuckled, wondering where to even begin. "We have a lot to talk about."

The three of them spent the next few hours going over everything that had happened to them since leaving the Sacred Forest last. Vin was pretty certain Shia had given Erik bits and pieces before this, but that didn't stop the dryad from giving them his rapt attention, and he eagerly listened to their entire tale. By the time they caught up to the present, mentioning the crystalline desert and the fragment of meriders, and even going so far as to talk about the entire situation with Abby and Vin learning False Life to interrogate Patty, evening was upon them.

"My, what adventures indeed," Erik smiled, playing the part of the elderly grandpa simply happy to have his grandchildren come visit him once more. Vin got the sense that they could have shown up and told Erik they'd spent the last few weeks sitting around doing nothing, and he still would have enjoyed just having their company. "I have to ask, however, where are Scule and Reginald? I was looking forward to finally meeting them face to face."

"We're… not sure, to be honest," Vin said, after shooting Alka a quick glance and deciding she still wasn't going to say anything. "I'm sure they're fine, though. The two of them are pretty resilient."

"From your stories, it certainly sounds like that is the case," Erik chuckled, his musical laugh sounding like the wind flickering through hundreds of tree branches. "Wherever they may be, please let them know I am eager to meet them. Until then, however, I imagine the three of you could use a bit of rest. You in particular, Vin, sound like you have had a rough couple of days."

"I didn't exactly get any sleep last night," Vin admitted with a weary sigh. His high endurance made skipping a night of sleep here and there entirely doable, but he could still feel the fatigue slowly building up in what felt like his very bones.

"Then you should spend the night here in the Sacred Forest," Erik said, giving him a gentle smile. "I believe a night on a shimmerwing mattress would do you quite good."

"Oh, god, yes," Vin said, shivering at the thought of sleeping on Shia's master's old bed. He'd never actually gotten a chance to try it before, but he'd felt just how comfortable it was when he dragged it off the wooden frame and revealed Blossom's hiding place all those weeks ago.

"I'll have someone deliver a meal for the two of you so that you three can focus on resting," Erik said, patting Vin's hand and getting to his feet. "If any of you need anything, as always, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Actually, rather than rest, I'd like to join Smohl's team and help hunt down those fangers that escaped us," Alka said, standing up as well and brandishing her warpick. "I know I don't have much in terms of ranged weaponry, but I'd still like to do my part."

"I'm sure Smohl would be honored to have your assistance. He still vividly recalls witnessing you take down that Trunkback single-handedly," Erik smiled.

"Of course he does," Alka snorted, her green eyes flaring. "I'm awesome!"

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After entering the Druid of the Divine's home once again, Vin wanted nothing more than to throw himself onto the shimmerwing mattress and pass out for the next two days. Yet despite his fatigue, he knew getting an entire evening to relax and work on magic like this was a rare opportunity these days.

But before he got to that, he received quite the unexpected surprise.

Chowing down on some sort of shredded meat wrapped in a thin layer of greens that the elves had provided for them, Vin's eyes widened as he received a message from the System he'd never seen before.

Strength increased by 1!

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed around a mouthful of food as he dropped his wrap. Pulling up his interface, he confirmed that his strength attribute, the only one that he'd never bothered to put a single point into even after all this time, was now showing a score of 14 instead of 13.

"Mhmph?" Shia grunted, raising an eyebrow as she took in his confused look. She'd just taken a far too large bite from her own wrap, and if anything, Vin was surprised she hadn't started to choke just yet.

"My strength just went up," he said, still staring at the brand new number. An increase of only one point wasn't huge, but he swore he could already feel the energy flowing through his muscles, as if they were begging him to be used.

Holding up a finger for him to give her a second, Shia used her shark-like teeth to eviscerate her mouthful of food before swallowing painfully. "Oh, yeah. Makes sense."

"How does it make sense?" Vin asked, looking pointedly at the unconcerned elf.

"You've finally eaten enough monster meat to benefit from the underlying magic," she explained, already taking another bite out of her own wrap, albeit a much smaller one. "This is probably your third or fourth time eating it I imagine," she continued around the mouthful of food. "Fanger meat is good for strength and dexterity, and since your strength is so much lower, it was all but a guarantee the magic would start with that one."

"Fanger meat?" Vin repeated, glancing down at the shredded meat filling his wrap once more. For some reason, he was more concerned about the fact that he was technically eating some type of monkey than he was about eating a monster. "…and this is safe?"

"Of course. So long as you give your body time to digest the monster meat before eating any more, you'll be fine." Seeing Vin's uncertainty, Shia rolled her eyes. "You're not going to turn into that crazy Relic Guardian, Vin. He'd eaten nothing but monster meat for months. I'm honestly surprised he was still coherent enough to talk. But I guess that makes sense seeing as he'd still had whatever his original vigor was."

"Alright…" With only a bit of hesitation, Vin picked up his wrap once more and finished it off, focusing on the juicy flavors of the meat and spices to distract himself from the fact that he was most likely eating one of the monsters he'd helped kill earlier that day.

As soon as he finished, he asked Shia to pull him from Introspection if he was still in there by midnight before excusing himself to the master bedroom. He was determined to try and wrap up Dimensional Sheath tonight, or at the very least, push his understanding of the runic formation a bit further. He'd worked on the spell for a couple of hours here and there over the past few days, and he had the feeling he was all but a single breakthrough away from cracking it.

"Let's do this," he muttered, slipping into Introspection and looking around at the welcoming void he suddenly found himself in. Taking a deep breath, he focused on his drifting bits of mana, ordering them to respond to his whims as he began forming the complicated runic formation.

He dove right back into where he'd left off with the spell. And to Vin's utter shock, in what felt like no time at all, he'd done it.

Laughing, Vin stared at the glowing, functional runic formation floating in front of him, barely able to believe he'd finally figured it out. It had taken him longer than any other spell he'd learned up to that point, and had given him his first truly lethal runic backlash that he'd thankfully shrugged off with his divine boon, but he'd finally done it. Admiring the complex swirls and geometric riddles hidden within the formation, Vin pulled himself out of Introspection, grinning at the notification he'd been waiting so long to see.

New spell learned! Tier 2 Spatial Spell (Dimensional Sheath). 10,000 exp gained.

Magical Explorer lvl 34!

+3 attribute points

+1 skill point

Introspection increased to lvl 9! 1,800 exp gained.

Runecraft increased to lvl 13! 2,600 exp gained.

Vin rubbed his hands together as he grinned at all the different notifications before dismissing them. Putting his new points on hold for a moment, he quickly picked up his staff and stared at the finely crafted wood as he focused on his new spell.

"Dimensional Sheath," he muttered, flinching slightly as his magic shot out of his body and coated the entire length of his staff in a fraction of a second. Before he could even drop the staff in shock, the entire length of wood vanished.

Blinking at his suddenly empty hand, Vin could help but laugh as he opened and closed his fingers a few times. As far as he could tell with his magic senses, his staff was simply gone.

But of course, that wasn't the case.

"Sense Dimensions." Just as he'd predicted, Vin was easily able to pick up on the fact that one of the underlying dimensions normally too weak to actually matter had somehow been bunched up and essentially wrapped around his staff. Not only that, but this new dimensional bundle had been isolated from the rest, almost tethering itself to his physical form in a way. As Vin stood up and walked around the room, he sensed how the clump of dimension trailed along after him, always by his side.

This is too weird…

Holding out his hand once more, Vin cast Dimensional Sheath a second time, grinning as his staff popped back into his hand as though it had never left.

Damn, I might have a new favorite spell. The question now is, what else can I store away and bring with me?

Glancing around the room, Vin dismissed a half-dozen random objects before his eyes landed on the shimmerwing mattress.

In that very moment, Vin decided some things were worth potentially bringing down the wrath of the most powerful mage he'd ever encountered.