January 19, 2019, 6:03 pm.

The mana-warped Zanbia decides not to chase us as we fly even higher. We quickly deliberate the idea of fighting it but decide to head out before the Aetherium shows up. As we're leaving, the Zanbia, denied its prize as we fly away, resorts to the solution of spoiled creatures everywhere.

The tantrum.

Demonstrating just how loud a five-storey creature can wail, it thrashes about, knocking over trees in its vicinity with little regard for anything other than its dissatisfaction. Even though we're speeding away, it prevents easy conversation for a good two minutes.

Glad we didn't fight it. That's definitely going to draw attention.

Once we clear the edge of the forest and we're sure we've left the beast behind us, Tipan suggests we fly closer to the ground. When within the core territory, most Aetherium forces attack any high-flying creature that isn't clearly marked. That basically means anything other than a glider, a dragon or one of the Aetherium's airships. There are a couple of other exceptions though.

While gliders are exempt from being shot on sight, apparently using one if you're not a member of a Flight is technically illegal. But it's the kind of illegal that isn't usually enforced. Since the only glider we have at the moment is busted, it's kind of irrelevant.

So, as per Tipan's suggestion, we fly a few metres above the surface. Turns out carrying the others is working well, so we don't need more gliders yet. At least not for long haul travel. I'd hate to try to fight burdened like this.

Half an hour later we discover our very first Aetherium ranch. The 'ranch house' is floating half a kilometre in the air, tethered in place by a thin, glistening rope. The rope is so thin, I half expect it to rip free at a strong gust of wind

"It's called Pelthian's infused recombinant tethering system," Tipan explains when I ask her what the rope is made of.

"Most users just call it P-rope," Rufka adds unprompted.

"Well, yes. But P-rope just feels so inadequate. It's a marvel of enchantment design. Even the Lords trade for it."

"Yep. It's great. Users still call it P-rope," Rufka shrugs as we move past a sleepy herd of shaggy, four-legged creatures that are grazing on the wild-looking grass.

“Creature analyzed: Gruffullo. Gene-seed D."

"This herbivore is a central component of most K'tharn diets. Having enjoyed the protection of K'tharn for several millennia, this is one of the few creatures to remain mostly unchanged by the arrival of mana. An excellent source of vitamins and minerals but not essence."

"Name: None. Insufficient sense of self."

Wow, my analysis doesn't even give me details on attacks or defences. That's new.

As we get closer, I'm able to discern that the walls of the 'ranch house' are made of the same leathery material as the gliders. Combined with the tether, it gives the building a kind of leather balloon sort of appearance.

Except this balloon is bigger than my apartment building back on earth, and the fancy zigzag patterns are composed of compacted bones that serve as walkways and access scaffold.

"Mum says the Aetherium uses mana-infused parts from powerful beasts because they're lighter but mostly because the Aetherium is cheap," Rufka informs me when she sees me staring.

"They're also the most plentiful copper-grade material on Akilo. Which is important when you're trying to provide people shelter," Tipan adds, defending the Aetherium's architectural decisions.

Rufka nods, "Yep. That's why it's cheap. I think it's a great idea."

"If the tether is broken, do they float away?" Josh asks while Tipan glares at Rufka.

"If the tethering is disconnected or cut, yes. The house is more likely to be destroyed than the tether is to break on its own though," Tipan explains a second later, expanding her hand in a mock explosion effect for emphasis.

Huh, that's pretty impressive.

"Awesome," Josh exclaims, staring while I bring Smoulder out so she can take in the sights.

The conversation continues in low tones as we pass beneath the floating ranch house. Beth wanted to go around, but Tipan insists that we're no more likely to be noticed moving beneath than if we went around. Especially since we're travelling along the ground.

Surprisingly, Rufka agrees with her without any mocking or teasing.

By the time the ranch house is behind us, the conversation has shifted to what we're going to do next. While escaping the core of the Aetherium and finding a Nexus are both mandatory, we still don't know where we're going after that.

Unfortunately, neither Tipan nor Rufka know much about the dungeons on this side of the Aetherium. So, if we're going to get more powerful, we're going to need a new map. Or a guide. The academy is looking like a better and better prospect just because we don't have many other choices.

Half an hour after we've left the ranch house behind, Roberts points out that we've crossed a few rough dirt roads that don't seem to go anywhere. As I watch, I see that the nearest two that run the length of a field or three then just stop.

"Why aren't there any major routes connecting these?" Roberts asks.

"There are trade routes near Aethire, but why would the Aetherium build them here? There's hardly anyone out here. And trade with the Lords is done by river," Tipan explains as we cross another one.

"Sides, the Aetherium doesn't like to set their feet on the ground less they have to," Rufka chimes in, "Cept these ranchers. They know it's easier to move their equipment between fields using roads. Equipment like that."

At first, I think Rufka's pointing at a collection of sticks but then I realize it's an evenly dome-shaped pile of sticks.

"Is it under the sticks?" Josh asks, staring intently at where Rufka's pointing.

"I believe it is the sticks," Roberts comments from Tipan's back as we go over a low ditch.

"Yep. They mix natural camouflage with ambient camouflage and low power 'nothing interesting here' mental enchantments to keep the harvesters protected when not in use."

"You know, Rufka. For someone so opposed to the Aetherium, you seem to know a lot about it," Beth comments as we fly over another field.

"Course. I live in its shadow. And they make a habit of conscripting or capturing my mum. Not that it ever did them much good before," Rufka grumbles, throwing a glare over her and Josh's shoulders, back the way we came.

"Once we make our way into the Aetherium, rescuing your mother will be one of our top priorities," I promise, looking to the others for confirmation. Josh and Roberts nod while Tipan shrugs.

Rufka smiles at me for a second but then she looks to Beth.

Beth shifts on my back, meeting Rufka's gaze for a few long seconds before answering, "If what you've said about your mother is true, it would be foolish not to enlist her assistance. I'm not certain we'd be capable of rescuing her without a great deal of preparation though."

"Oh, Vaus knows, that's an understatement," Rufka chuckles as we pass over the end of the fields. From here forward, as far as I can see there's a rolling forest. I wonder if we're out of the core territory now.

Even as we fly, I continue my experimenting, using twilight to shroud myself, trying to find a method that will travel with us. Using the umbrella spell as a base does allow for a mobile shadow shield. But it's only in a single direction and blocks my vision as much as anyone else's. A change to the shield to match my night vision use of twilight creates a shield that grants everyone on this side night vision. It's more accurate to say that everything seen through the shield appears in that same dusky yellow.

I'm not the only one experimenting. Partway through my tests, I feel unexpected lift as Beth figures out her own way to create wings.

"Nothing personal kid, but I didn't feel entirely comfortable not having a safe way to the ground."

"Yeah. Totally understandable Beth," I reply while checking my mana to see if I'm back to full.

Which it is, but I also discover my health is decreasing. I don't want to say anything, but I think carrying Beth on my back is starting to lower my health. Either that or something involving her experiment. It's only 0.1 per minute, but it was nothing when we first left the forest by the dungeon.

"Uhm Beth," I start even as I take a better look at the terrain we're flying over. The trees here are taller than the ones in the reaches. These are the sort of trees I'd expect even a five-storey tall dinosaur would be able to peep over.

"Yeah, kid?"

"I think you're hurting me," I respond, unconsciously flying a little bit closer to the forest below before catching myself then regaining altitude.

"Weird. Are you in pain?"

"No. I just seem to be losing health. It's not that bad, I can probably keep going for another few hours as long as it doesn't get worse," I answer as Beth waves Roberts and Tipan closer.

"Roberts, can you heal the kid? And let me know if you find anything strange."

"Absolutely. One moment," Roberts affirms, reaching out to grab my shoulder. The familiar tingle washes over me though it feels more invigorating than it used to. When I check my resources, I discover he didn't just heal me, he fixed the health loss. Furthermore, he increased my health edge by one.

"Wow. You're even increasing health edge now?" I gasp, slowing slightly in surprise.

"It doesn't last long I'm afraid. No more than a minute. But I'm hoping to improve that," Roberts replies with a grin.

"I'm starting to feel like I haven't been spending enough time practicing. That's great, doc. Good job," Beth congratulates Roberts with a slap on the shoulder, slightly unbalancing me.

We continue flying over the forest for another hour when Rufka speaks up, "I'm not going to be able fly much longer. My mana is getting low."

Checking her mana, I'm surprised to see she only has 30/318 left. Even as I'm watching it drops to 29.

"Understood. Let me know if you see any promising shelter," Beth responds, causing me to start laughing.

"What's so funny, kid?"

I start pointing at the ground, swinging my arm back and forth as I proclaim, "shelter here, shelter there, shelters every, everywhere."

Rufka and Tipan both start laughing along with me but it takes Beth a moment to realize what I'm saying.

"Right. Nevermind, kid. Just find a clear spot I guess?"

Rufka's already leading the way to the ground, so I follow her down, with Tipan just behind me.

Landing in a small clearing with a babbling brook running through it, we check the perimeter as Rufka states, "I'm going to need some sleep before I'm able to fly again."

"Indeed. I'm starting to feel the effects of our long day myself," Roberts notes with a large yawn.

"Okay, kid. Do your thing," Beth instructs me, waving her arm in what I suspect is supposed to indicate magic.

Nodding, I start fashioning an underground space. Shaping the entrance so it's hard to spot from above is tricky, holding me up for a minute before I achieve any progress.

Eventually, I create a lumpy hill with a recessed staircase covered by sod. Not perfect, but it should be sufficient. Next, I continue down, creating a large central chamber with packed earthen benches around a table. While I'm working, I stack all the stone to the side. I'm going to need it later. Once I have the central chamber finished, I inform the others.

"Uh. It's nice, kid, but where are we supposed to sleep?" Beth asks as they file in.

"Oh, I'm just getting started. But I thought everyone would prefer to wait in here," I explain, before turning back to my work.

Before I'm able to step away, Beth mentions that we're going to take shifts watching the entrance. She and Josh will go first. Rufka and I agree to do the second shift with Tipan and Roberts on the morning shift. Even as the shifts are confirmed, she and Josh walk back out to the clearing, followed shortly thereafter by everyone except Rufka. And Smoulder, of course.

But I'm hardly paying attention, shaping earth again. I wonder if I'll have time to teach the others some earth magic tomorrow? It'd be cool if we could all create places like this.

Off the central chamber, I create three small nooks. One to each side, and one at the opposite end from the stairs. Each of these nooks is going to serve as a hallway once I'm done, but for the moment they're just reminders.

As I'm working, Rufka and Smoulder both give me feedback on the design. Smoulder requests I put in running tracks along the top of the walls as well as more 'bunny nooks'. Rufka asks for a lounging chair instead of a bench.

Starting with the passage on the left, I create three rooms. Each room comes complete with my trademark, softer than stone, beds.

I miss Raz's already. I should figure out a better system for creating beds on the go.

With the first hall complete, I repeat my efforts on the opposite side, creating another three bedrooms. Once the bedrooms are complete, I inform the others.

Rufka is already asleep in her chair, but when the others make their way down, their not-so-quiet conversation wakes her. After she realizes the beds are ready, she and Roberts both thank me before heading down opposite hallways.

Coming in slightly later, Beth sits at the table experimenting with her camouflage power under Tipan's guidance while Josh watches them closely.

While they're doing that, I finish the last hall. I'm using this one to create enough bathrooms for everyone. I ensure each bathroom includes several sinks. Once the fixtures are in place, I fill each and every sink with clean water.

I'd rather not have to clean up after the others. Then I start on the truly masterful part of my abode.

Doors. The stone I've been collecting as I've been working makes for excellent doors. Starting with our main entrance, I form my door in place, fusing the pegs to the door slab. Unfortunately, I didn't think to reinforce the hinges, so the door starts tilting wildly. When I try reinforcing the hinges the door still shifts enough that I'd be the only one able to use it.

So, I use more stone to reinforce the entire door frame, only leaving round holes in the roof and floor for pegs.

The degree with which I'm able to fit the moving parts would be nigh impossible without magic. Or maybe with the right technology back on earth. We did have some pretty amazing stuff.

Once the door is complete, I consider locking mechanisms before deciding on a pair of simple bars that can be slid into place. It almost takes as long to create proper holders for the bars as it did to create the door but eventually, I have a working system.

That complete, I replicate my doors in each hallway. But with a simple latch and handle instead.

Checking my stone shaping skill, I see that it's increased to fifty-four. With our temporary shelter complete, I rejoin the others at the table, yawning as I sit.

"Hey Lex, did you put in ventilation?" Josh asks, staring at the solid stone door. I just blink at him for a moment before standing back up then carving several small holes in each door. At which point Smoulder requests a bunny hole to bypass the door. I'm glad she caught me before I sat down, I'm starting to feel tired myself.

Which makes sense, it's 3:23 in the am, locally. And we're four hours ahead from where we were this… yesterday morning. This is the first time I've been awake late enough to realize we have a 25-hour day cycle on Akilo. Well, more like 24.94. But I feel like that's splitting hairs.

That means it would be 7:23 there. It's been nearly twenty-eight hours since I woke up, yet I only feel as tired as I normally do after a long day.

"Yep," I reply to Josh's question, rather belatedly, as I plop down next to them.

Beth is still experimenting. At this point, she's turned her right hand completely black. It's kind of painful to look at. So, I don't. While she and Tipan murmur in excited tones, I pull out dried fruit jerky, (sharing with Smoulder obviously), then check my attributes.

Forty available points. Wow.

I want to jump right in, but before assigning any of my points, I bring up my quest log.

Zone Quests:

None.

System Quests:

“Quest: Survival. Requirements: Survive for 30 days. Reward: Variable. Time: 23/30 days remaining.”

“Purge Corruption. Requirements: Summoner found 0/1, Summoners neutralized 0/1, Research destroyed 0/1. Rewards: 80 iron rank integration points, 4 class progression points. Additional rewards for every summoned Fallen laid to rest. Time: unlimited."

Personal Quests:

“Quest: Return to Earth. Requirements: Find a way to return to Earth 0/1. Reward: Variable. Time remaining: 353/360 days.”

"Quest: Master the Basics. Requirements: 0/9 Elemental Skills at 100. Rewards: 11 iron rank integration points, increase mana edge by 1.0. Time: unlimited.”

“Quest: Knock knock. Requirements: open 0/1 doors. Reward: 5 iron rank integration points; unknown. Time: unlimited.”

"Quest: Hell yeah! We're going to race! Requirements: 1/3 races won. Rewards: Three iron rank integration points. Time: unlimited.

Personal Crafting Quests:

"Quest: If you build it, they won't come. Requirements: create 0/1 iron grade stone structure, 0/1 iron grade stone tools, raise Stone Shaping skill 55/100. Reward: 7 iron rank integration points. Time: 24/30 days remaining."

"Quest: Metal in the Making. Requirements: Create 0/5 iron grade tools using Metal Manipulation, raise Metal Shaping skill 45/100. Reward: 7 iron rank integration points. Time: 24/30 days remaining."

“Quest: Plenty of pots. Requirements: Create 0/10 iron-grade earthenware using ceramics, raise Ceramics skill 33/100. Reward: 7 iron rank integration points. Time: 28/30 days remaining."

Huh. If I can finish my crafting quests, I could get my spirit and Intellect to a hundred while bringing my perception and resolve up to fifty. With my mental attributes evened out, I could also finish my 'Mastering the Basics' quest.

Let's see, I need fourteen points (and thirteen hours) to raise Intellect and Spirit to a hundred, for a total of twenty-eight. That would leave me with twelve points I can invest in Perception and Resolve. I'm already noticing the difference from increasing my Resolve, so hopefully, if I increase all my mental stats at once, I'll remain mostly not crazy.

Let's say eight points into Intellect and Spirit raising them to 94. Then seven into Resolve with five into Perception raising both to 38. Technically, even if I go all the way to a hundred with my magic attributes, it should improve my ratio compared to right now, right?

Then I can just finish my manipulation quest, (ensuring I get my Temporal and Spatial skills to 100 first, of course) which would bring me even closer to being in balance. Especially if there's another hidden reward.

Which would let me invest all the points from my crafting quests into Constitution! Or maybe a general balance.

After some quick math to confirm my estimates, I assign my points while rubbing my hands together in excitement. Then, since this is going to make me very hungry, I pull out a large plate of steak, mashed tubers and still sizzling veggies.

"Wow, Lex. I take it you spent some points?" Josh asks as he pulls out his own meal that practically mirrors mine.

"Yeah. I usually spend them right before bed. That way they increase while I'm sleeping."

"Cool. Totally spend mine every time we get em. It's like a compulsion."

"It's a little unnerving to receive so many at once," Tipan admits from where she and Beth have been sitting silently for the last minute. Glancing over at her, I almost choke when I see two Tipan's staring back at me.

"I'd say the illusion is working," Beth notes, her voice issuing from the second Tipan's mouth.

"Awesome Beth. That's amazing," Josh cheers as I stare at her with awe.

"Huh. So, this must be how you feel most of the time kid?" Beth teases, lightly punching my shoulder with a hand that looks entirely like Tipan's, fur and everything.

"So cool," I answer, running my hand across hers. "It feels like real fur."

"Yeah. Tipan pointed out that I'm not limited to sight. Tactile, olfactory, even aural," Beth declares, her voice shifting until she sounds just like Tipan.

"But I've still only got two functional arms. I can only move the ones that align with my real arms," Beth explains further, drawing my attention to the fact her lower arms have remained crossed in her lap since she started talking.

"Luckily, many K'tharn have a dominant pair of arms. It shouldn't be too noticeable," Tipan reassures us even as Beth's illusion breaks apart, turning into blue dust before fading away.

"You meant for that to happen, right?" I ask as Beth shakes her only two arms as if they'd fallen asleep.

"Not really. I had an itch that I couldn't reach while disguised and for a second I wished I wasn't," Beth explains as she scratches at her elbow.

"Huh. That's a strange side effect. But it could be worse, right?"

"Yeah. It could make you smell like watermelon," Josh states.

"What's wrong with watermelon?" I can't help but ask, morbidly curious.

Josh is unfazed as Beth and I both turn to stare at him.

"It's gross. Anyway, bio-break," Josh states, heading towards the bathroom with a quick step.

"Yeah. Watermelon's gross," I sigh as I push away from the table.

"Wake me when it's my shift?" I request from Beth.

"Sure thing. Night, kid." Beth waves. Even as I'm stepping away Tipan joins in the round of goodnights, heading for the opposite hall. I find an unoccupied room near Rufka. Might as well sleep on the same side as my shift partner, right?

As I climb into my earthen bed, Smoulder settles in on my chest then I try to fall asleep.

To my surprise, it takes me instantly.