After quite some thinking, Jennifer had decided not to share anything about the invasion or her Mark to either her Master or Rumina. She wasn’t sure who was listening and how far the demons had ears but her last death confirmed that she wasn’t safe even just letting the information slip.

Jennnifer had spent roughly five days trying to think of a set of plans to execute for her month. By now she was fairly confident in her assessment that her Mark had roughly about 10 years worth of integrity inside of it. That is, if the Mark continued to follow the linear drop it had been so far and if she couldn’t find some way to increase its integrity. Regardless, she had some time to think over things. A part of her realized that she’d been rushing things. Even if she managed to stop the invasion in this very reset, if that meant having either her or one of her family members receiving something like a permanent injury, would she be fine with that?

No, I’d rather brave the blade and try again. If I truly have the time, then I would not want to settle for a suboptimal outcome.

This chain of thought had led her to decide to spend the next few resets in relative quiet. She would not go to the guild, and she would not tell her friend or master about the invasion. What she would do instead was focus on training her magic and her skills. But even more so importantly, she needed to gather information. And I know just the person for the task.

Jennifer quickly arrived at Green Flower bell, noting Rumina sitting inside. She waved, catching Rumina’s attention. The girl quickly got up from her seat and rushed outside.

“Jenn! I heard! Congrats! You got accepted!!” Rumina said, rushing out and jumping onto Jennifer, as she hugged her tight and spun her around.

“I did Rumina! Let me down first though,” Jennifer said. Rumina let go of her after one last spin, grinning at her from behind her freckled face. “Let’s head inside first, I’ll tell you more,” Jennifer added as the two walked inside.

“So, what took you this long to tell me? I’m kinda mad that I had to find out from others that my best friend's dreams had come true,” Rumina pouted.

For a moment, an odd sensation filled Jennifer’s chest, talking to her friend who did not remember any of what had happened in the past three months. She let the thought go, extending her hand as she quickly summoned a shard of glass atop it.

“I awakened to glass magic,” Jennifer said, watching Rumina’s eyes spread wide open.

“Elphion damn me, is that- is that real?” Rumina paused, slapping her forehead lightly. “I’m going silly, of course it is. When? How?! Why didn’t you tell me?! Now I’m even more mad!” Rumina exclaimed, making Jennifer grin. Some things didn’t change even across resets.

“I had a nightmare, Rumina. Five days ago. It was the most realistic nightmare I’d ever had, and in it, I was chased by monsters, I fought demons and gave a trial, and then I was hunted down by a man. Then I woke up, and found that I’d awakened to glass magic.”

“A… nightmare? I’m not sure whether to be envious or not.”

Jennifer shook her head in reply. “There’s not much to be envious about. It was awful, extremely so. I was certain that I’d died and lost everything. Despite that, I can’t deny the benefits either,” Jenifer replied, her mind briefly going back to the night of the invasion.

“Oh.. I’m sorry Jenn. Sounds like it was quite difficult on you,” Rumina said, moving in as she put a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder.

“A bit,” Jennifer replied. She’d already gotten more in depth than she’d have preferred to. It was difficult to hide things from her friend, Rumina had always been great at sniffing out any lies, and not just because she had the Skills for it.

“In any case though… this is great news! Glass magic is so rare, the academy is going to love you! I can’t wait to brag about you when you become a famous [Enchanter],” Rumina exclaimed. Jennifer recognised a topic change when she saw one, and she followed along with it.

“About that Academy thing. I’d actually come here to get some help from you in regards to that,” Jennifer said, as she dug into her leather pouch and pulled out the little parchment sheet she’d scribbled down the details about Loux on. “There’s this girl called Loux Nekrot in the academy. I want you to look into her,” Jennifer said, as she handed the sheet of parchment to Rumina.

The red-head took a quick look through the details she’d written. She muttered a Skill under her breath as the note vanished from her hand. “Will be done within a week,” Rumina replied.

Jennifer nodded in thanks, watching as her friend’s jovial expression returned. Rumina had never tried to hide her work as an informant for the thieves’ guild, but it was not a job she loved getting Jennifer involved in.

“Anyway, we need to celebrate! There’s this new shop by a lizardfolk called Scampi Tails, and I hear it’s really good! Wanna go? My treat!” Rumina said, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she gave Jennifer the most unfair pleading expression ever.

“You know I can’t say no if you ask me like that…” Jennifer muttered, eliciting a cheer of excitement from Rumina.

The two girls quickly left the shop and made their way towards their destination. Jennifer walked along, answering Rumina’s question as she showed off her ‘new’ affinity to her friend.

The dungeon shift should happen anytime now as well. I wonder if Viel will notice me with my presence hidden.

It didn’t take long before Jennifer could test that hypothesis. A tremor shook the ground underneath their feet, as the dungeon plaza shuddered with power. Jennifer frowned, sensing the strong wave of mana that accompanied the shift from within the dungeon. Something about it felt strange to her senses, an oddity that she’d failed to notice in the previous few resets.

“Jenn, you okay?” Rumina asked, grabbing her hand and looking her over with concern.

Jennifer clenched her friend’s hand, nodding, but she didn’t reply. Her eyes were occupied, tracking the chaos at the entrance of the dungeon. Cracks ran through the dungeon entrance as guards and people ran about in a hurry.

The familiar presence of a Mark brushed against Jennifer’s mind. The Mark of Valor stood ahead, spreading his presence like a beacon, as if he wanted people to discover who he was, and where he was.

Perhaps it’s more than just confidence on Viel's part. The confidence with which he broadcasts his presence would make any unknown Mark curious or nervous. It’s a good way to find new Marks, especially if he thinks that he can take on any hostile ones. I may just have fallen right into his hands the last time around.

Jennifer’s eyes remained on the tall adventurer, his blonde hair glistening in the sun alongside his pristine armor. For a brief moment, she felt as if Viel had turned back towards her, and met her eyes, but the gaze did not linger as the man walked away.

So it’s not me stupidly spreading my presence everywhere that’s getting me caught. That is good to confirm.

Waiting a moment longer to observe the movement near the dungeon, Jennifer turned towards Rumina. “Do you still want to go to the shop? That was a pretty bad earthquake.”

“Let’s take a look at least. Maybe it’s still open?” Rumina said, to which Jennifer merely nodded. She could afford to spend a day with her friend. It’d help settle her nerves somewhat, and curb the desire to rush into things.

Still holding hands, the two girls headed through the chaos of the dungeon plaza and towards their destination.

***

“Shop’s closed girlsss, quite a lot of stuff broke in that earthquake and it’s a messs. You should come back some other daysss,” A blue scaled face poked out, yellow reptilian eyes turning to look at them. “I’d take you in, but my cooling enchantment got busted and it’ll cost me a fair bit to get that fixed. I might have to close shop for a few days,” the lizardfolk said, walking out.

“Oh oh, Jenn’s an [Enchanter]! She even got accepted into the academy, so she’s gonna be pretty famous in a few years!” Rumina exclaimed excitedly.

Jennifer almost let out a groan, trying to hide the blush creeping up her face. There were a lot of preconceptions about the Academy with people, one such fact being that everyone who went there became a graduate. The dropout rate of the academy was extremely high, with only about 10-25% of the students completing the 5 years required to become a proper graduate.

The Lizardfolk’s eyes swiveled to her, and she jumped a bit, as the frills at the base of their neck rose up. “Is this true? I have the reagents for the enchantment, I always keep a stock. I’d be truly grateful if you could fix the enchantment, even temporarily.”

“Sure,” Jennifer replied.

The Lizardfolk let out a hiss. “Follow me pleassse,” they said, walking in.

The two girls walked inside the shop, Rumina snickering and Jennifer hitting the red-head with her elbow.

Various decorations furnished the shop’s interior. Little tables and chairs dotted the entrance area, with an Elvish tapestry draped on a counter. Jennifer would’ve whistled if it wasn’t rude to do so; getting one’s hands on elven artistry was rare. Her eyes scanned the little shop, finding similar works of art and decorations from all over Zweiril. It was possibly the most varied collection of items she’d seen in any single location.

“Do you collect items from different cultures?” she asked the lizardfolk.

“Yesss, I do. I’ve traveled across Zweiril, and everywhere I went, I tried to bring one thing from that place back with me. It’s turned into something of a prized collection by nowss,” the Lizardfolk said, their eyes turning back without much movement from the neck.

Jennifer nodded, continuing to look around the area curiously. She noted the magic coming from the chamber ahead.

“It’sss in here, the whole room is covered with a [Preserve Perishable] field,” the lizardfolk said, walking inside the kitchen area.

That’s a lot of enchantments for a kitchen.

They opened one of the cabinets, cold mist wafting out of it. “Thisss is the cold box, the only thing that’sss working. I’d normally have an enchantment on this whole section of thisss side to keep stuff cool. But it’s busted, as you can see.”

Jennifer walked to the cold box. It was made of wood, with metal engraving covered by a thin layer of mithril. Likely quite expensive. She set her hand against the box, using [Enhanced Mana Sense] to have a closer look.

Spell lines ran through the enchantments - she sensed a [Temperature Resistance], [Ice Ward] and [Cooling Flow] enchantment layered in a three way segment, but the enchantment was frayed in a few locations. Mana leaked into the air through cracks in the spell matrix before it reached the functional part of the enchantment, cutting the spell off.

Jennifer used [Lesser Arcane Analysis] to feel at the spell. Her recent practice had shown her that, outside of the vocalized active effect of the spell providing her a system interface, it also had a passive ability that provided clearer analysis of any spell to a certain degree.

She carefully analyzed the spell matrix. The enchantment on the box was complicated—roughly Tier-3 in complexity. Jennifer wasn’t sure she could’ve worked with it so well if not for practicing in her resets. She focused on the spell matrices and their tie in segments, tracing back the source of damage. A sudden gap in the matrix caught her eye and she focused her attention at the location.

Ah, a damaged link in one of the runes. Should be easy to fix.

She reached out with her mana, grabbing the leaking spot with her will as she guided it back into the circuit. “[Lesser Restoration],” she said out loud. The mana weaved itself back together. With a sputter, a cool breeze started to flow again.

“That wasss very quick,” the lizardfolk said, flicking their tongue out.

“No, I’ve just sealed the leak for now. Do you have three, no four, mana stones? And two lengths of mana saturated wood? I need to put back in the scaffolding and re-engrave one section of the rune,” Jennifer asked “Honestly, it’s quite lucky that nothing too important broke - I couldn’t have tied the multi-layered enchantment back together otherwise.”

“Yesss, I think I have what you need. Let me grab it,” the Lizardfolkk said. They shuffled around the room, coming back with a pile of stuff in their arms.

Jennifer took the mana stones, setting them into the cabinet. She then covered the area with some of the wooden planks, holding them in place as she concentrated. Grabbing one mana stone, she used it as an impromptu engraving crystal and began carving the enchantment. She wasn’t familiar with runes on this one, but the mana traces left by the previous enchantment were strong enough for Jennifer to figure the rest out.

“[Quick Repair].” The enchantment snapping into place, buzzing with mana again. Jennifer let out a breath as she turned towards the now visibly excited lizardfolk.

“That wasss wonderful! I never got your name, I think. I’m Kariss Blueclaw, a [Sweet Chef],” Kariss said, offering a clawed hand to Jennifer.

“I’m Jennifer, just an [Enchanter].” she replied.

“Oh, anything but just an [Enchanter]. That was a wonderful display of skill for one so young! And I know just the way to repay you, young ladiesss. Please, wait as I make something special for the two of you. You’ve saved me daysss of hassle! Daysss!” Kariss said, sharp teeth showing as they smiled. Jennifer stopped herself from taking a step back.

“Thank you,” she nodded as politely as she could before returning to the front room.

Rumina walked ahead of her, taking a seat, and Jennifer followed, sitting nearby. Kariss arrived a second later, setting a pair of tall glasses on their table before hustling away.

“It’s so empty here. It feels like we rented the place for a date, doesn't it?” Rumina asked with a smirk.

Jennifer just rolled her eyes, not dignifying her friend's attempt at humor with a response.

“I guess we can talk a bit more now. Who’s the girl? And why’re you so interested?” Rumina asked, glancing at Jennifer curiously.

Jennifer leaned on her chair, going through the words she’d prepared beforehand. It would’ve been tough to convince her friend if she hadn’t already thought the possibility through.

“I went to the academy when I got the glass affinity. It just felt like the place to go to. After looking into things, I found out that if I could complete a test, then being an apprentice mage would be possible. After looking into whether someone else had a position like that, I found Loux Nekrot. I found the girl in one of the combat classes. She’s the same age as me, but she was way way better than everyone else. I think she could probably take on an entire class of 2nd years if she wanted. So- I decided to ask her to teach me.”

Rumina eyed Jennifer, listening to her words. “That doesn’t sound like something you’d do normally. What brought on the apprenticeship? Wouldn’t your master be annoyed you jumped off a month before you’d planned?”

Jennifer grimaced. There we go, didn’t think about that.

“I’ll need to talk to Master, yeah. But, I’m not sure Rumina. So far, I’ve had very few advantages. Even my class of [Resourceful Enchanter] is because Enchanters need a lot of resources and I had to make do with what I had available to me. I had to work extra hard to beat all the kids with so many resources given to them by their families, and so many kids simply born into bloodline magic. Gaining my glass affinity… It feels like a chance. Like I can do greater things now, if I try to,” Jennifer replied, looking Rumina in the eye.

A part of her was surprised at her own words. Was she merely lying for her friend’s sake, or was this truly how she felt? She couldn’t deny envying the many, many assets that people like Nathaniel had. She’d never been one to begrudge natural talent; even just being able to use magic was a talent. But the effort she’d had to put in, to gain the spells and magic and proficiency in spellcasting, had all been to level the playfield. To compete on the same grounds. And she’d done it, and well enough to even be above average when compared to others of her age. Yet, the fear of being left behind, that she would always be left catching up to the rest of the world had not left her.

Jennifer remembered Viel’s words, on the nature of her first ability. The Mark provided her what she needed. At first she’d assumed it had been the need to keep her alive upon her death. But the longer she spent her time in these resets the more it felt as if perhaps, the true thing that she’d hoped to have all along. The one true thing she wished she could have over others, was time.

“You’re amazing just the way you are Jenn. But I understand. I’ll look into this girl,” Rumina replied, resting her hand briefly on Jennifer’s.

Jennifer smiled back at her friend. Each further reset pained her heart to talk to Rumina, yet each further one only made her realize what a great friend she had.

“I don’t deserve to have a friend like you Rumina, you’re too awesome,” Jennifer replied, catching a wide eyed stare from her friend.

“Sera, is this really you? That has to be the most un-Jenn like line I’ve ever heard! Who’re you and what did you do to my friend?!” Rumina exclaimed, jumping back in mock fear and Jennifer couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Kariss stepped out of the kitchen, blue tail dragging behind with a tray containing two glass bowls held in hand. For a brief moment, Jennifer felt the instinct to lift them into the air, but she kept it in check. Are my alteration abilities growing stronger?

“Here it isss, girlsss, one of my newest creations. One for each of you!” Kariss said cheerfully. A glass bowl was placed in front of each of them, containing small brown balls with various kinds of fruits and nuts poured on top. Cold mist wafted off of the bowls and a sweet scent touched Jenn's nose, mixed pleasantly with the tingle of mana rising from it.

“What is this?” Rumina asked, her brow raised in curiosity as she glanced at Kariss.

The Lizardfolk smiled, waving at the bowls with a grand flourish, frills spreading out around their neck. “It’s a dish from the central empire. It’sss called gelato, quite popular among the [Ladiesss] there. Although I added my own twist to it, some little ingredients from the Verhiz and other locations to spice things up. Thisss here, my dear, is my own version of Gelato, made from a rare sweet called chocolate!”

Jennifer turned to stare at little brown balls in front of her, a bit hesitant. It looked like a ball of mud to her. She turned to Rumina, unsure of what to do. She didn’t want to be rude, and she could tell it was expensive by the slight hints of mana wafting from it.

Jennifer waited, as her friend picked up the spoon and took a small piece, before taking a bite. Her eyes widened in surprise before she quickly went for a second bite and then a third. A bit confused yet amused at the same time, she watched Rumina who seemed to just be holding her spoon in her mouth with a blissful look on her face.

Really that good?

She picked up her spoon, about to take a bite from the gelato when something soft pressed against her feet.

Jennifer jumped, pulling back as she yelped. A brown figure climbed up the table, sitting next to the bowl as it tried to take a bite from the gelato.

“Frillsss! Bad! Get back here, I’ll give you some. No stealing!” Kariss hissed at the creature. The small animal deflated. Jennifer almost jumped once more when the small mammal vanished, appearing on Kariss’ shoulder as the lizardfolk scratched its head.

“I apologize for Frillss, she lovesss chocolate and it isss rare enough that she doesn’t get much,” Kariss said in what Jennifer couldn’t decide was an unnerving eye blink or a friendly wink.

“Oh it’s fine, I was just surprised that’s all. If it’s not rude, what kind of familiar is Frillss?”

“She’s a spirit river-ottersss. I found her lost in the woods and decided to give her some leftoversss. She then decided that I was a very convenient source of food and protection and decided to stick aroundsss,” Kariss said with a trailing hiss.

“That is quite curious. We don’t see too many Lizardfolk here in Lienmont, so I’m not extremely aware of the happenings in the southern swamps,” Jennifer said. Kariss smiled, sharp teeth showing.

“Indeed, I’ve observed as much. I was afraid that like the other human cities, Lienmont would not be very accepting of my kind, but things seem to be not as bad in these parts,” Kariss said.

“We can’t afford to. Lienmont depends on trade, and the swamps are a big source of trade. The dungeon of Lienmont is what the city is known for, but the adventurers are not the real money maker at the end of it. It’s all the merchants they draw. It’d be more than stupid to go about being an asshole human-supremist in these parts, and a good way to get caught by the [Guards].”

Kariss nodded, as Jennifer gestured for the Lizardfolk to take a seat.

“What brings you to Lienmont Kariss? It’s not a common city for any sort of permanent location like this one,” Jennifer asked, eyeing the lizardfolk.

“Oh I need a reason to visit placesss. I’ve even been to the Murks, and the dwarves hate outsidersss, but I managed to get a mithril hammer out of them,” the lizardfolk said with a grin.

Jennifer stared wide eyed, turning momentarily towards Rumina. “A m-mithril hammer? Really? They give those to outsiders?”

“I’ve a hobby of smithing. It took some convincing, but I managed to get my hands on one. The dwarves didn’t all like itss, but I had friendsss” Kariss said with a laugh. “But besides my love for traveling, Lienmont seemed like a good city that I could set up shop at. It is close to the swamps for a human city, and there seems to be enough business to be hadss. With the curse causing trouble in the swampsss, things were bound to be difficult, so I decided to move somewhere close, but far enough to remain unaffectedss.”

“Curse?” Jennifer asked.

“Yess. Curse. It is an unknown one, but there have been many many still-birthss. Many illnesses too. Things are difficultsss,” Kariss replied, and Jennifer nodded.

“Oh Jenn, if you’re not gonna eat that, I don’t mind having it,” Rumina said, eyeing the gelato in her bowl that was slowly starting to melt with a predatory look. Jennifer swatted her friend’s encroaching hand’s away.

Kariss laughed, before getting up from their seat. “I’ll let you girlss eat. Both of you are welcome here at any timesss!”

Jennifer nodded, smiling at the grin full of sharp teeth that did not look nearly as intimidating anymore. She picked up her spoon, turning towards the gelato and took a small bite. A cool sensation spread through her mouth before a sharp sweet taste took over. “Sera, this is good!” Jennifer exclaimed, staring at the gelato.

Her eyes met Rumina’s and both of them laughed out loud. A serene feeling washed over her, as she cherished the rare moment of calm and peace, her mind drifting peacefully.

This? This was exactly what she needed. A break. For just a little while, her problems could wait.