“Have some more tea, Fio”, Safrah said as she poured some of my favourite berry blend into the bowl. The dwarf’s furry pointed ears were covered in her favourite dionan. For her, that meant two soft leather pieces stitched with the images of an owl and an ocelot.

“So, what was that about Selene?”

I had just returned two days ago from another trip down to the goblin village. It had also been the third time I had tried to get the human-turned-spider to properly talk to me. Needless to say, she was still holed up in her nest and would not give out much information.

“She’s been making progress, I think. Still, nothing she wants to give up.”

“Yeah, I got that part. I’m more interested in the other thing you mentioned. What would a spider need a steady supply of iron for?”

“Probably to make thaumium? Though I don’t know for sure.”

“And the goblins agreed?”

“Yup. They’re willing to trade some of their produce for silk. Threads are hard to come by for them so it makes sense, honestly.”

I slurped some tea with my beak while continuing to speak to my friend through [Telepathy].

“There’s also the dwarves who want to meet a Guardian, as you might be able to guess.”

“They still live there. That’s kinda insane.”

“They get along well. Last I heard, Hedreck was hooking up with one of the girls. We might’ve lost them.”

Safrah sighed and mock-saluted.

“May they rest in peace!”

I bobbed my head sagely.

The village had been named Gobburgh sometime last year. I was not there but the goblins told me it was the day I had first left through the lower tunnel which was now closed. Some sort of Independence Day or something. The dwarves had settled in even better than expected. I had decided to just pay them what I owed and if they ever wanted to return we would make a new deal. I had thought some would come along when Alex moved out to travel to the Dwarven Hills. They did not.

Speaking of, the living fortress was just coming in. I could hear the distinct noise of her metal feet on the parquet. I gave a hoot in greeting and a meow answered. Vivi was also home.

My two friends entered the living room after making their way upstairs. Vivi, the first-ever ‘person’ I befriended in this world, was an ocelot. Or rather, an oceanlot. She had evolved after enriching her soul and body with plenty of water vis. Her fur was not the usual dirty yellow with black spots and rings one might expect. Instead, she was blue-grey, almost like steel, with black lines like waves going along the sides of her body. I felt her reach out with her own [Telepathy] and opened up my soul to let us communicate.

“Welcome home”, I said.

“Thanks! We got food!”

The feline’s head rubbed into Alexandra’s hand. That was another of my friends. The living fortress. She was the most similar to me even though I was an owl and she looked like a purple human. What bound us was that we had both had a life before this. And both of those lives were in the same world. Earth. I was a deathly sick girl in my late teens and had died after a year-long battle with cancer only to awake in between reality in the body of an owl. That excitement had not lasted long with my soul being shoved into a new life right away. What made me keep my memories was a question I could only guess at but it likely had something to do with Truth. The being that lived in between life. In between existence. There was also the fact that I had family in the reserves of North America where it was commonly believed that being reborn as an owl was normal.

Alex, on the other hand, had been a military software engineer, or so she had told me when we first met. She had a very different path to this reality. Her soul had been picked out at random by the mind spiders of a thaumaturge to be brought into an artificial brain. For the first months of her new ‘life’, she was an advanced golem and a slave to her creator. Only when I killed the ork that did that to her was she finally freed. It had taken some effort but eventually, we managed to get her an evolution by absorbing enough vis directly into her soul. Now, there stood a purple woman. She was still made from the telltale thaumium that only thaumaturges could make but her body was no longer tiny and inflexible. Instead, she could switch it to feel and react like flesh or metal with but a thought. Even her clothes were technically part of her body, though made from brass, silver and gold she had absorbed. It looked a little extravagant but with her 176 centimetres, she topped most every dwarf by at least two heads if not three, anyway. Being inconspicuous was not an option.

I would have been envious had I not my own Skill to change my body into metal and other things as well. That one had not come with an evolution. It was part of my [Assassin] Class which had reached level 91 through some miscellaneous hunting. My personal research and spending time with my friends had not given me much time to improve it. Instead, I had gained levels in my race and brought it up to 97. I knew it was extremely rare for people to have their race surpass their Class but in my experience, it was mostly a question of being evolved or not. Even Alex had nearly doubled her Class level. Granted, [Golem Sharpshooter] was not the most amazing but it let her conjure projectiles from thin air so she kept it. Thaumaturgy was something that did not require a Class, as I was living proof. And that was what she spent most of her free time on.

The living fortress moved to sit down next to the table. She was just short enough to stand upright but still walked around the building with a hunched head. We had a small house built right next to ours with slightly taller ceilings for her to use.

The bag of food thumped on the wooden table.

“Iron again, or something else today?”, Safrah asked.

“Brass. It’s a little better but eh”, Alex said in her chiming voice.

The former golem could eat normal food and taste it as well but it would be turned into flux inside her body. That meant it would not sate her and be dangerous to eat too much. What she needed instead was metal. Anything worked just fine since she completely filled out her body mass with thaumium and yet there was a difference in taste. I could not blame her for trying to find something nicer for dinner. I would have helped if my metal form would not simply absorb anything it could.

“We have rare meat!”, Vivi exclaimed. I could spot the saliva collecting in her mouth and hooted my approval.

“Well done!”, I said.

“No! Rare!”

We chuckled at our wordplay as Safrah began to unpack our food. As the only normal dwarf at the table, she had the most diverse meal. The restaurant that had opened a minute’s walk away from our home apparently made a wonderful green salad and tasty burgers. Alex had been the one to provide that particular idea to them, wanting to taste some fast food herself. For Vivi and me there was a plate each of thinly sliced meat fried just for a second with some salt and then boiled in animal blood. Well, the boiling part was only for me. Vivi preferred plain water for her liquid sustenance.

“Well, let’s dig in!”, Safrah said once everyone had their food.

It took a few minutes for us to break out of the trance the tasty dishes provided. Alex was the first to finish only taking three bites for her ingot. That much was enough to sate her for a whole week although it seemed no issue to eat more.

Eventually, I broke the silence.

“I think I’m going to start travelling.”

“You’re telling us now?”, Safrah smirked, “After you just returned?”

“Well. That was not really travelling. I just visited some friends.”

“We’re your friends!”, Vivi said.

I bobbed my head.

“You’re more like family. But I’ve been pushing this off. I should start looking further than the Dwarven Hills.”

“Like with Stormbringer?”, Alex said, “Do make a plan, this time. I’ll even help you.”

I met her eyes.

“We decided to not talk about that any longer.”

She did not give.

I did not want to give. But I understood her point and eventually relented.

“Fine. I want to make a plan, anyways. But there’s not much to consider since I don’t know much about the world.”

“You know more than I do”, Safrah said, “and you’re two years old.”

“I’m not going to jump into danger without a backup this time. Okay?”

“Good!”, Vivi nodded, “How long?”

“I don’t know. Might be quite some time. Even a year is not out of the question.”

The oceanlot blinked.

“No. Until you leave.”

“Oh. Well. A week at least. Maybe two.”

“Make that three”, Alex said, “Or a month.”

“That’s getting too close to Stormbringer’s next passing.”

“Fair. Then we’ll have to get busy.”

“So”, Safrah said, “Do you think you’ll find a solution?”

“Eventually”, I nodded, “And if I have to see the whole world. I have a few centuries before the hungry node gets too big.”

The dwarf smiled. As did Alex.

“I’ll be continuing my research here”, the living fortress said.

“We will!”, Safrah corrected.

“Yes! We will!”, Vivi joined in.

We broke out in laughter.

“Thank you, guys. You’re amazing!”, I said.

“Of course, we are!”, Alex said, “Now, let’s get to planning!”