“You figured anything out about it?” Sarah asked once her amusement faded, staring at the rock in a far less mocking way.

“It’s mine,” Rainer quickly said, putting it into the Dimensional Ring, “You thief! You were just lulling me to complacency!”

“Drat, you got me,” Sarah said in faux agreeance. He was right about one thing, “Though I agree there’s no way you got something useless as a reward.”

“Then why the laughing?”

“It’s still funny you got just a rock even if it’s a rock capable of ending the world or fixing all the universe’s problems.” Sarah may not be able to see things like Rainer could, but given her natural gift for sensing, she could still tell the rock felt completely mundane.

“That… that is a valid point.”

Sarah sat across from him, giving him a weird look.

“Yes?” Rainer asked after a few seconds.

“Thanks for going after that guy the way you did.”

“That’s a given.”

“That’s why I said thanks, I love you bro,” Sarah said, smiling. Her life had always revolved around defending herself and mostly Rainer when their grandfather eventually passed. It was comforting to pass the buck. At least for a little while.

“Why are you acting so weird?” Rainer asked, playing with the rock again.

“Hush you.”

“Love you too.”

“Are you talking to me or the rock?”

“Yes.”

“Can I take back my ‘I love you?’”

“Afraid not. It’s set in stone.”

“I hate you.”

Both the siblings looked out as they heard laughter from the hallway.

“Impressive as always, Sorcerer.”

“How… hideous,” Fai’Etah said with a shiver as she looked at the surroundings. The bright colors, the strange looking building of dead trees that was covered in… ground flower excrement? The Dungeon was bad enough, what was this place?

“Took you long enough.”

“Unlike this place of horrors, my Rest Area was hard to leave.”

“And here I was going to offer you a place on my world, but if that’s-”

“I accept!” here Fai’Etah thought that he might ask something of her, yet for it to be so simply offered. Had the hive mother blessed her at birth, did misfortune precede fortune?

“How about a drink?”

It was a few minutes later that Fai’Etah was enjoying his manipulated Arcane-Water as any Fae would.

“We had traded with fleshlings before, and we had thought their tales of alcohol were merely scams. How wonderful.”

“Traded?”

“Yes. Our Drifting Isle visits lands of the fleshlings more often than not. I think you’d find the Order of the Elements quite interesting,” she said, giving Rainer a look like she was peering at his Soul. At least, that’s what the shadows he could see felt like.

“Order of the Elements?”

“A quite popular group of Magi. They are experts of the 3rd Tier Trial despite none of their number ever passing it.”

“What?”

Fai’Etah went into a long explanation soon after. The Order of the Elements believed the true path of magic involved changing one’s Soul and that advancing into the 3rd Tier under such a thing would result in a level of magic beyond their wildest dreams. So they did everything they could to prepare themselves for the 3rd Trial.

Whether it was enchanted items, elixirs, techniques to enhance the body, a variety of skills and spells, or other more obscure methods of strength, they were considered the most prepared for the 3rd Tier Trial despite never passing it themselves. It wasn’t uncommon for powerful empires or 3rd Tier experts to seek them out and pay exuberant prices for themselves, their descendents, or important members for the chance to be improved by all the Order had to offer.

“They are experts at enchantment?” Rainer asked curiously.

“No. Mana Crystals are quite rare due to the harvesting that goes on. But they have quite the collection of system and Dungeon rewarded items that they study and modify.”

“How long can you survive?” Rainer asked, suddenly turning serious. As much as he wanted to visit these places, and figure out just what a ‘Drifting Isle’ was, he was far more concerned over his new friend.

“Since we’ve had a chance to recover, and strengthen for that matter, we should be able to last quite a bit. Our race’s strength lies in survival.”

“I’ll hurry to you the moment you leave.”

“You mean…”

Rainer waved his hand before explaining the concept of Avatars. He wasn’t that selfless after all.

“Truly an Arcanist,” Fai’Etah mumbled.

“Well then, contact me whenever you are ready to leave this place. Though I’d prefer you wait as long as possible. If I can master one of the Dungeon-given skills, it’ll be far more likely I’ll be able to travel all the way to you and still have something left in the tank,” Rainer said, refilling her glass of Arcane-Water.

“Thank you.”

Rainer walked into the room Art was staying in. The now young-looking appearance of his grandfather only seemed to further the disturbing feeling coming from the poison expert.

A small vine crawled across the pale man’s skin, twisting and turning as it went along as if it were a snake. The Familiar of this man was truly an interesting thing. It’s entire purpose was to hold his poison in greater quantities as well as to function as a vessel to nurture it.

“Grandson,” the still aged and raspy voice of this former walking corpse spoke out. He seemed to be pleased to see him.

Rainer smiled before sitting across from him, getting his thoughts in order. He needed to figure out the goals of this man, especially given the wariness and fear even his own mother had towards Art, on top of his grandfather’s issues. Not being much for subtlety, he figured coming out and just asking him was the best course of action. Whether he received a lie or not, it didn’t really matter. It would be useful in either case with [Mana Reading]. However that low level Tier 2 Mage of the Skyborne managed to avoid this skill, Rainer had no idea.

“What do I… want?” Art pondered, repeating the question, “What is it you want?”

Having no issue answering the question, Rainer explained his goals. From the Academy to his personal magical ones. There was little reason to hide or lie about them.

Art laughed, getting more and more pleased with this grandson of his with every spoken word.

“We are not too different, you and I. Merely, our aims travel along a different line. You seek external magic improvement, where as I cultivate internally and in the bloodlines of myself. I could have easily raised my clan to be the strongest amongst Earth’s magi by pure number alone, but I took a different route. Quality over quantity, ignoring the massive amount of Magi I could create with my research. Mixing of a variety of talents for a greater whole. To seek the ultimate path of magic through bloodlines. Such is my goal.

“And the effects of having a Fire, Nature, and Light Affinity all in one. This is not something to be underestimated. If only your mother wasn’t so soft and chose such a healing route.”

Rainer laughed in return. He certainly wouldn’t call his mother soft. But hearing what his grandfather said, he decided to share some more things. About his ideas for Draconic essence and himself along with the workings of his magical sight and recently gained attribute.

Just when Art thought he couldn’t be more happier about this descendent he was wrong. Apart from a slight disagreement in morality, were they not the same as one another? Art’s eyes suddenly widened. What if his grandson’s [Excellent Arcane Affinity], surpassing the first Nvos, was a result of a mix of all the Affinities he cultivated in their family’s bloodline in the past?

Would his lack of other talents, Mana included, not make some sense? After all, Arcane was an Affinity that covered all elements. Was this not a true culmination of his centuries of work?

And he was well aware that single gain in talent had produced a ridiculous class like [Arcanist] as opposed to the elder Nvos. How much more could be learned with that bonus of his? Even after so much use of it already, there were still endless possibilities.

“You’ve come to the right person,” Art said with a deep grin. How could he not be happy with the greatest result of his life’s work? That he’d live to experience it further only excited him even more. He briefly pushed down the dark thoughts in his mind. To ruin his relationship with his grandson would only hurt his goals. He could play a loving grandfather if it meant achievement beyond what he thought possible.

Taking a moment to check things back at the Guild, Rainer switched to his Avatar before falling asleep and entering [Sleep Learning]. In the impossibly comfortable bed, Kara and Luna already lay at his side, more than happy to finally fall asleep. No amount of strength seemed to remove the need, even if it could be delayed almost indefinitely.

Rainer’s Avatar quickly found Lilia. The library-bound girl wasn’t a hard person to find. He figured if anyone could master [Soul Presence] without the system’s aid, it’d be her and her Soul Talent. Her experience in learning it could likely help everyone else who desired it. A shame most of their gained skills were far too specialized to be useful to him. Luna’s was particularly interesting. It seemed he’d be paying another visit to the Forbidden South with her sooner or later.

And he had always felt a bit bad for neglecting Lilia’s teaching. Yes, her life was undoubtedly better with him, but he could hardly be called her ‘master’. Not to mention that if she could harness the strength of her Soul, it would make up for the lack of Mana Talent quite a bit. She could then depend on classes for increasing her Affinity as Rainer did.

It was good fortune that the girl took well to sensor training and had a pretty strong love for reading. So she at least had things to do. Not to mention any of the Enchanters were happy to assist her in learning Runes. Anyone could see the benefit of being on the good side of the [Archon]’s apprentice.

“Really?” Rainer said aloud, feeling the Shade-being chewing on his hair.

“Good to see Brother,” the goat-headed Shade chuckled. As it was the familiar of a familiar, it was left with Lilia, acting as a guard. Ready to message Luna, and subsequently Rainer, through it’s familiar bond if the little girl was in danger.

“Second head is mad,” the Chimera unbelievably excused his actions.

“Nice to see you too,” Rainer responded, stepping a bit away as he regrew the lost hair. Luna would have to tidy it up again. Despite its similar antics, consuming the permanently enraged members of its race had let its strength grow and grow. He doubted it was much weaker than most at the peak of Tier 2. In fact, given what he knew of familiar bonds, he didn’t understand how Luna maintained hers with this shadow. Was it related to the Fire?

It had even reached a point where it no longer needed the [Druidic Magic Language] to communicate.

At the very least it meant Luna’s Trial was a guaranteed thing, even for a rare class. It was truly unusual for a monster to advance so quickly even in the lifespan of a Fae. Given its current strength, Luna normally wouldn’t be able to keep it as her familiar. It wasn’t a simple trick to overcome the Trial through familiars.

“Hi Master,” Lilia said cheerfully.

“Hey,” Rainer smiled, thinking just how he’d teach her [Soul Presence].

After leaving Lilia as much info as he could, Rainer headed elsewhere. He stared at the High Elf, who had been put into a coma with Art’s poison and kept prisoner under Kara’s mother.

[Male, High Elf, Severing-Fist of Space and Time(3rd) lvl 4, Sacred Fist Master(3rd) lvl 1, Spatial Grasper(2nd) lvl 24]

[Title: Thousand Fist]

Sacred… an advancement of grand?

Rainer knew ‘Master’ tended to follow a weapon when it was in the 2nd Tier. Sacred, perhaps, was related to the 3rd Tier and the relation of the class to the Soul. Then what of the Sacred Faerie Fire. A coincidence? Unlikely.

He turned his sights to the Soul of the captured man. Carefully avoiding the magical virus that pervaded his system, he looked deeper.

How he wished to unravel the Passive skills he could see. Not only was there Zan Haste but he could see other Soul-like spells floating around with [Arcane Revelation]. With the recent attribute gain he couldn’t peer into their secrets but he could at least see them separately from the man’s Soul. One seemed to increase Spatial Affinity, while another seemed to increase Mana Affinity. At least from what he could guess. Their purpose could be far more specialized.

He truly did not regret his choice just from this alone. Rainer gave him another glance before letting out a sigh. This Elf had tried to invade this world. And now for the secrets he held he’d let his two grandfathers do as they pleased to attain them.

Rainer could only try and hope that he would never cross the line of hurting innocents for his magical gain.

He knelt down, extending [Soul Presence] as he poked and prodded at this man’s passive spells. There was no reason to let such a chance pass him by. This was a Soul changed by the 3rd Tier. Who knew what he could learn.