Longstrider helped hasten their journey significantly, not that Edwin really anticipated anything else, and the pair found themselves at the bank of the Rhothos by noon. The flooding wasn’t as extreme as the last time they had come through, and was even lower than the first time Edwin had come through, but the river was still far larger than anything Edwin had ever seen on earth, to the point where he couldn’t even see the far bank.

Fortunately, there were still plenty of quiet places where the current wasn’t as strong, curling into eddies along the bank, forming semi-stagnant pools of water perfect for their purposes.

Before Inion began the ritual, the two of them worked to create a circular hole that would serve as the ‘circle’ for the magic. Inion didn’t know much about the basics of what she was doing, just following her instincts and what she had been taught, sort of like how most people could ride a bike, but fewer knew how to build one, and possibly knew why they worked. Last he’d heard, at least, it was still at least marginally debated. Something about knowing the forces involved, but not how they combined?

Anyway. Once the hole was dug, it was a relatively simple matter for Inion to weave some nearby rhoreed into further circles and glyphs for the magic and set them floating around him. As she began the ritual, Edwin sank into Fey’s Caress, turning even more of himself than before to water. Huh. Was that what the inside of his bones looked like? Interesting. And those must be his arteries- wow, it was strange to see blood just vanish and reappear elsewhere as the veins switched in and out of being transformed into water.

If he twisted his head- yep, his heart too. Man, he’d have to be careful to never turn into wind at this level of the Skill- he’d literally flay himself alive. He kind of wished he had a mirror of some sort, that he could see what his skull looked like. Had his eyes turned to water as well? What was he seeing through? Could he see his brain?

Ooh. Would he be able to evolve or develop this Skill to transform other things? It would be an absolutely phenomenal Skill for doctors and surgeons- be able to just peek below the skin and into the body’s makeup with no harm, no fancy equipment.

“-done now, you know. You don’t have to keep laying there.”

Inion’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, “Really? That was fast. Everything went that smoothly?”

“Ha! It took me an hour to get everything ready because it all went so badly. You were just floating there checking yourself out, didn’t even react when I pulled the bond away.”

“An hour? No way,” Inion just nodded, “Seriously?”

“Ya! Haven’t seen you that focused in all the time I’ve known ya.”

Edwin sheepishly withdrew from the water, the transformation fading away as he did so, leaving him slightly damp as the last bit of water clung to his recently-reformed and magically dead skin. He wasn’t as cold as he expected, and directed a bit of Basic Thermokinesis along the surface of his skin to encourage further evaporation while he got dressed.

Level Up!

Adaptive Defense 11→ 12

Anatomy Level 23 → 26

Basic Thermokinesis 13 → 14

Fey’s Caress Level 28 → 35

Adaptive Defense? That was… ah, that was probably why he didn’t feel cold, wasn’t it? It had adapted to help keep him warm? He suspected as much, nice to see it not exactly confirmed, but at least lend a bit more evidence to his hypothesis.

“How does it feel?” Edwin asked, getting dressed as he watched Inion splash around in the river with all the acrobatics of a dolphin and the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old.

“Great! So free, so much space! There’s nobody else in this river, and it’s amazing!” she sang out.

Edwin chuckled as his friend played around in the water while he geared up. Fortunately, it wasn’t too complicated, he just needed to be careful to not overbalance when picking up his backpack and slipping it on. Once he was done, he called out, “Okay! We don’t have all day!”

“Five more minutes!”

Edwin sighed and conjured himself some solid spheres to practice juggling. It had been a while, but he picked it back up within just a few minutes, and even after Inion finally emerged from the water- soaking wet, naturally- she just floated around watching him for a minute. Eventually, Edwin dismissed the constructs, the blue crystal disintegrating into drifting motes of light, and they set off once more.

Level up!

Longstrider 18→ 19

It wasn’t quite nighttime yet when they arrived at the Curicnan shrine they’d slept in on their last visit to Vinstead, but it was close enough that they decided to stop anyway. Edwin reclined on his bunk, luxuriating in the feeling of being on a mattress instead of in a hammock, and Inion sat at the foot of his bed while they chatted.

“So what exactly are you planning now? You’ve always just said you want to travel, but where and why? Also, why head to Vinstead?”

Edwin shrugged, “Honestly… I don’t know. I want to get more alchemy stuff, but I don’t really know where I can find that sort of thing. I’m hopeful I might be able to find out where it’s usually grown and head in that direction, maybe see if I can’t be useful in some capacity either here or there.

“As for why Vinstead? Well, I do still have the commitment that comes with being an Adventurer to talk about what Skills and Paths I get,” he forestalled Inion’s interjection with a raised hand, “I’m allowed to keep some secrets, so whatever you’re about to say I shouldn’t share, I won’t.”

Inion frowned, “No, that’s not it. Explaining your Paths wouldn’t require telling any of my secrets. I was just surprised that you were so open about being an Outsider, you know, what with not wanting to tell me, but that’s the secret isn’t it?”

Edwin nodded, “Yeah, pretty much. Anyway, I want to keep my end of the bargain, and I want to take a healing course to get properly licensed for using medical Skills, so I don’t get arrested or killed for trying to bandage a cut. Plus, a cart of some kind would be rather nice, so I don’t have to haul around my every worldly possession on my back. Other than that… just a few odds and ends I suppose, and Vinstead is the primary place I know to get that sort of thing. I’d prefer to not stay that long, but I don’t think it’ll be possible to avoid Sash… Shash… the governor forever, may as well get it over with, you know?”

She shrugged, “If you say so.”

Edwin mirrored the gesture, “So yeah. It’s the closest thing I have on Joriah to a home city and I want to get my bearings, possibly pick up some miscellaneous supplies and skills, and figure out where I’m going from there.”

He fell into silence for a little while, trying to persuade himself that he really did know what he wanted, and wasn’t just wandering… well, for the sake of wandering. That’s what people who didn’t know what they wanted in life did, and he was better than that! He was only out here because he wanted to see the world and expand his knowledge! It wasn’t at all because he just needed to get out of Obairlann before it started feeling claustrophobic, before the loneliness set in too quickly….

And he most certainly wasn’t wandering in the hopes that he might be able to find people who liked him, then moving on before they could get sick of him.

He breathed out and closed his eyes. Nothing good would come out of that line of thinking. Not tonight, at least.

“G’night, Inion.”

“Good night, Edwin.”

Watchful Rest made sleeping interesting. There was some tiny part of Edwin that stayed awake throughout the night, letting him know as the air cooled overnight, when the wind picked up outside, whipping around their little shelter. Then, when the first birds began their morning symphony and the sun began to rise.

Because he wasn’t actually awake, though, he only got vague impressions, and he wasn’t sure if he genuinely experienced all that in real-time or just had it all shoved into his memories upon waking up. There was no conscious thought, at least not yet. It also meant he didn’t get any System notifications until after he was actually awake.

Level up!

Watchful Rest 8→ 9

Magical sleep or no, Edwin was still bleary-eyed when he dragged himself out of bed, extricating himself around Inion, who had laid down next to him at… some point. Clearly, Watchful Rest still had a ways to go before he could actually feel safe at night in unknown territory if it missed her joining him at some point.

Interestingly, it almost looked like Inion was asleep, which was certainly an unusual development. He gently prodded her, and her eyes fluttered open, “Whazza…. Oh hi Edwin.” She yawned, sitting up and stretching provocatively.

Edwin rolled his eyes and turned away. Once upon a time, he would have been flustered, but it was hard to not be inured to the fey’s antics after a year of living in close proximity.

“Get up and get dressed. I’d like to make it to Vinstead before noon.”

There was a bit of good-natured grumbling as Inion got ready, and Edwin took the time to have some breakfast- he was trying to develop good eating habits, but the food he had tasted like cardboard. Ugh. He’d need to figure out some trick for living with Arcadian Elixir, wouldn’t he?

He wasn’t an idiot, he figured out what the Skill was doing to him within the first day of having it. Anything he had made since his tier-up had tasted sublime, whereas anything he’d made before then, including most of his travel food, tasted bland and flavorless by comparison.

Even turning off the Skill- which was surprisingly difficult, it kept trying to spring back up and if it did so, whatever he was making would be enhanced by it- didn’t help, because he’d already tried food made with the Skill, so turning it off didn’t do anything to help with the fundamental problem.

Fey food was a well-worn staple of fantasy, and considering the unusual degree to which Joriah liked to cleave to that standard, it wasn’t a surprise that a fey-like Skill pertaining to food would mean he’d get a similar effect of his own. At least he wasn’t dependent on an outside source for it, so at least he could enjoy the fruits of his labor.

The primary question he was left with was whether or not the Skill actively made other things he tasted worse, or if what he ate with the Skill really was that delicious and filling, as it would impact how moral it would be for him to make other people food. Maybe both? In any case, he should default to caution until he knew better. He absolutely didn’t want to deal with the ramifications of making a bunch of people addicted to, well, him.

In the meantime, he was stuck eating cardboard. As the Skill would only level up- and at level 8 the same food made with the Skill was easily twice as good if not more than made without it- he should make sure that he got rid of all his old food before it started tasting even worse. There had to be some way to cheat this, he was sure. Maybe he could make a spice mix, then apply that to food he didn’t make? Even if he only tasted the spice, it might be enough to get him through this. Something to try once he got to Vinstead, perhaps. He could probably dry some of his herbs and make them into a spice.

Somewhere in the distance, a hawk cried out. Edwin narrowed his eyes looking for it, and spotted a bird diving towards the Rhothos. It snagged some prey from the river and took off, flying a short distance before settling on the ground and starting to eat its meal.

Edwin blinked and came back to himself. It must have been half a mile away, but he could still see the scene in startling clarity, “Perception and Seeing is weird.”

Inion nodded in vague agreement, and Edwin let his mind wander once more as they carried on with their walk.

Level up!

Longstrider 19 → 20

Getting into the city was relatively uneventful, especially without Inion there to cause problems. She was splashing around in the Rhothos, and Edwin would see about meeting up with her as soon as it was practical, which they both knew may be a while. Meanwhile, he just handed his Adventurer’s license to the guards- different ones than last time- answered a few questions about what he was bringing in, and that was it.

He took a bit of a winding route to the garrison, which was absolutely intentional and not at all because he got turned around at one point, and entered through the massive front gates under the watchful eye of Xares, before taking some increasingly-familiar stairs to Rizzial’s office. Best to get it out of the way early, and if history was anything to go off, Tara might track him down while he was there and spare him the effort of finding her.

Rizzali’s office was no different from the last time Edwin was here. Piles of paper buried the solitary desk against the leftmost wall, and a wooden chair stood facing the wooden construction. The far side of the room had no wall, instead opening into the grand space above the central foyer, giving Edwin a clear view of Xares’ shoulder. The gnome’s head was initially only visible as a shock of blue hair amidst a sea of off-white, but when Edwin stepped through the doorway, it snapped up to assess him.

“Edwin! My friend! Back at last! Delightful new Class you have there, you simply must enlighten me. Sit, sit!”

Edwin smiled as he set his bag down and pulled up the chair.