Robin absently rubbed his finger where he’d stabbed himself with a splinter. He was standing in the room he’d come to think of as the barracks, having one last look and gathering his meagre belongings before leaving. Well, at least that was what he appeared to be doing. Everything he actually valued was already stowed in his ring, not that there was much: his staff, his small collection of useful herbs and plants, a small chip of stone taken from the central room of the tower, a jug of water, some assorted useful materials, and the first charm he’d made.

In front of him was his bunk, the scavenged sack that was posing as his pack, and a sky-rowan charm. It sat where he lad left it, but it wasn’t the one he had left there. Last night when he thought Robin was sleeping, Eli had quietly switched the charm Robin had repaired for him with the one in Robin’s possession. It seemed the trickster-priest had a small problem with trust.

Robin smiled. Eli would come to regret that particular sneaky action. Not that the swap mattered to Robin in the larger scheme of things. If—when—then time came, he had his most potent charm stowed safely in his storage ring.

The duo had taken their time making preparations. They scried out possible exits from the forest, tracked Cherry’s movements, and gathered food and water for their respective journeys. Robin had also used the time to track down a few things he had noticed in the tower files.

Robin flicked a glance over at the magical runes lighting the room. He had managed to essentially add himself as a user to the tower systems. He didn’t have what amounted to full admin control, but he could give the tower certain limited commands. He’d use that to make sure the place stayed safe and secure until he had a chance to return.

That had not been an easy decision, but in the end, Robin decided the tower likely wasn’t going anywhere, and he’d grabbed most of the low-hanging fruit of knowledge already. If he could follow the Sisters Sharp, help them, then he could get to Noviel. Robin really wanted to see more of this world; that temptation was probably even bigger than the potential usefulness he might get from Noviel’s University and Adventuring Companies.

Plus, he couldn’t complete his quest until he left the enchanted wood, and Robin wanted his stacking experience modifier for that achievement. Sure, it was one use, but it would probably be more than enough to push him to the next level, all the way to Tier 1.

With that in mind, Robin had done some targeted research through the tower databases, gathering experience point discounts, and bumping up all of his proficiencies still at zero, as well as a couple of others he could afford to raise a bit more after that. There was no formal categorisation of skills in the database, unlike spells or professions, so Robin was increasingly sure that the proficiency system was mostly invented by the system he was using. The broad-strokes nature of the proficiencies argued for that as well. They seemed to represent most activities he could think of. Which meant this was pretty much it, in terms of choices, and he wasn’t going to miss out on any strange, rare, or powerful skills. He just had to raise the ones he had. Possibly find ways to upgrade them to better versions? The Pilot proficiency suggested that was possible.

‘You ready?’ Eli stuck his head into the room, interrupting Robin’s train of thought.

Robin grabbed the charm and stowed it in his makeshift pack.

‘Let’s go.’

***

After Robin had scried throughout the forest, he and Eli had decided the likeliest way to exit was toward the Keep. That suited Robin just fine, as it was the direction he was headed. As they exited the tower, Robin fell back for just a moment and whispered a command word, his hand on the door. The place would hide itself more effectively from everyone, except him and any of the original tower occupants (if any of them were somehow still alive).

Eli didn’t notice. The cleric was charging forward through the trees, eager to be free of the wood and onto whatever his next escapade was. Robin followed, occasionally calling out directions to guide the headstrong priest.

He was also keeping one eye carefully peeled for Cherry and her pixies. There was no way the quest was going to let him slip free of the enchantment without another confrontation with the dryad. The world he had found himself in seemed too dramatic for that. Plus, his mysterious patron seemed to want to advance Robin’s power and abilities via conflict, and he wouldn’t put it past the bastard to have other contingencies in place, in addition to Eli, to make sure that happened.

‘We’re here,’ Eli said as they entered the clearing they had been headed toward.

Robin took out a small handful of stones and began tossing them at the trees around. Most bounced off, but a few flew through the illusory forms of others. The feeling Robin was coming to associate with his instincts telling him something was out of place returned. Though it was more muted this time.

‘How many of the illusions tripping us up when we first arrived in the wood were yours?’ he asked.

‘None,’ Eli replied. ‘I was already a prisoner then. I admit I used a few to sort of direct you after we escaped, but none that resulted in your initial capture, I promise.’

That explained the recurring feeling that something was off. Robin resolved to pay more attention to his gut in the future. Though he had also been under the influence of a mind-affecting ghourd at the time, so he could forgive himself that.

‘Careful,’ he said, ‘if we’re here, I’d give it better than even odds that—’

Cherry stepped out of the trees.

‘—she’ll be here as well,’ Robin finished.

‘Going somewhere, little toys?’ the dryad asked, her eyes already a deep fruit-red.

‘We’re leaving,’ Eli said.

‘We’re not toys,’ Robin said at the same time.

‘Oh, you are both wrong.’ The dryad laughed, a sound like the rustling of leaves in an autumn wind.

Cherry gestured, and the trees around them creaked and stretched down their branches to try and snatch them up. Robin stepped in front of Eli and raised his rowan charm above his head.

The trees recoiled from it as from fire. Leaves rustled uneasily and branches creaked out a question to Cherry, who snarled. Robin tightened his grip. It was working!

‘Looks like we’re not the ones who are wrong,’ he said coolly. ‘We’re leaving, Cherry. We’re protected by rowan and red thread. Your enchantments and your minions have no sway over us. Unless you want to try your luck…’

Robin kindled a small ball of flame floating above his outstretched palm with [Visual Phantasm]. It was just an illusion, but it made his point. The trees drew back from him in horror, and Cherry hissed in fury.

‘Tricks! Shadows and phantasms!’

‘Maybe,’ Robin shot back, ‘but what if you’re wrong? It’s not that hard to make fire, after all. You just need a couple of dry sticks. Rub them together and eventually, you get fire. Well, you’re made of wood and you’re definitely rubbing me the wrong way.’

‘I will not be bluffed!’

‘You might not, but what about Neher?’ Robin tried the tree. It was an obvious weak point for the dryad.

‘You would not dare!’ Cherry raged at him.

‘Didn’t we already have a long conversation about what I would and would not dare, if you pushed me?’ Robin increased the size and brightness of the fireball.

‘Face it, Cherry, you’ve lost.’ Eli stepped forward. Not ahead of Robin, but forward. He held his own charm tightly in hand. ‘Let us go. I’m sure you’ll have someone else along to amuse you soon enough. The Marcher Lords like the luxuries they get from trading at the Keep.’

‘Someone you won’t have to stab in the back to capture and toy with,’ Robin added. He wanted the two of them focused on the bad blood between them.

‘He was weak and foolish,’ Cherry called. ‘How could I not strike?’

‘We had a deal!’ Eli shouted. ‘Do you have any idea how much planning you ruined? How much work I had to do to improvise?’

‘Bah! Such things are for the weak! The strong simply do.’ The dryad taunted Eli.

‘I’ll do for you, you walking pile of kindling!’ The priest was clearly incensed. ‘I’ve got a bit of insurance on me, and you won’t catch me by surprise again.’

Robin wasn’t sure how she’d managed to catch Eli by surprise the first time. It seemed out of character. But then, the cleric did have a bit of an arrogant streak. He probably just assumed he could handle anything Cherry could throw at him.

As the two bickered, Robin slowly decreased the size and brightness of the fireball, so he could fade slightly into the background. There was a large boulder nearby. He edged back towards it carefully as he cast [Lesser Phantasm] as subtly as he could, causing said boulder to grow slightly in size on one side.

Neither Eli nor Cherry noticed. They were too busy ripping into one another with insults. In fact, they were so intent on tearing each other apart with words neither had yet attacked the other physically. Which was fine. Eli was likely to get a rude surprise if he challenged Cherry to actual battle.

When Eli had been otherwise occupied, Robin had switched out the bundle of rowan twigs for a bundle of oak ones, though tied with the same red thread. It looked similar enough to the rowan charm to pass cursory inspection. Of course, Eli hadn’t had time to inspect closely when he was swapping his charm for the fake one on Robin’s bunk.

The priest should have trusted him. Not that Robin had expected him to. That was the whole point of making a fake charm and leaving it out, so exposed.

Eli continued shouting at Cherry, not realising the charm in his hand was next to useless against her. That wasn’t Robin’s problem, though. His goal now was to slip away unnoticed.

He had reached the boulder. Perfect. Robin recast [Visual Phantasm] and overlapped himself with the illusion of himself holding that little fireball. Then he stepped back into the [Lesser Phantasm] he’d used to extend the size of the boulder.

Robin kept up his chain casting as he edged around the boulder. Once it was between him and the other two, he carefully and quietly snuck away into the forest. Let them deal with one another. By the time they noticed he was gone, he’d have a nice lead. Hopefully enough to be out of Cherry’s sphere of influence. Eli would still be stuck inside without a proper charm and would have to deal with Cherry to escape.

One good prank deserves another, right? It seemed decent payback for Eli’s part in Robin’s recent ‘adventures’ anyway. Robin had even said so in the small note he’d wrapped around the twig at the centre of the fake bundle.

He reached the end of the forest before any sort of hue or cry went up. He’d maintained concentration on his [Visual Phantasm], though it had to have vanished by now. If Cherry was annoyed at his escape, she was probably occupied dealing with Eli. And Eli was certainly busy trying to deal with Cherry. Robin smiled.

He took one look back into the trees, until he was as sure as he could be that no one was following him. There was no sign of pursuit, and no twisting unease of illusion toying with his senses. Good.

Robin turned on his heel and walked out of the forest, the sweet ding! of a level-up notification the music to his passing.