—Bas—

A change settled over the dwarves just after the first moon rose over the plains behind them. They straightened, all the weariness falling from their shoulders.

The change in the terrain was innocuous, but these were dwarves.

"Mountains." Grimheld breathed beside him. "Have ya ever felt anything more beautiful beneath yer feet."

Bas snorted, "You mean blisters?"

"Pah. Ya need need to appreciate the finer things in life, kid." Grimheld's face took on a yearning look, "Mountains underfoot, the pounding of hammers on steel and a lass in need of hammering." He skipped backwards, sweeping up Blue in his muscled arms, causing her to yelp in fright. "Whadd'ya say lass, ya don't have any beard to speak of, but it's awful lonesome out of here. Do ya fancy a quick roll in the grass?"

Blue gave him a scathing look, "How quick? Ten seconds? Twelve at most, from the looks of you." She paused, smirking at him, "Or, how about I shove a bottle of sacchar up your backside and set fire to it. You can choose which end of the bottle goes where. Who knows, you might even get that roll in the grass that you wanted." She smiled sweetly at him.

Grimheld paled, dropping the gnome back on her feet.

Blue straightened her shirt, smoothing out the creases from being hoisted up into the air. She continued onwards as if nothing had happened.

Both Bas and Grimheld held back, the gnome was the very image of gentleness and sweetness most of the time, but sometimes...

"Why are you all so scared of her? Even Kort treads lightly when she's nearby."

"Ya see, Blue is a Mentalist Variant of the liquid mana form. They're able to concentrate mana in their brains for short periods of time. Allows them to predict exactly what gonna happen do over a short period of time, almost to the point of prophecy. If yer a decent marksman, for a short time you become one of the best shots in the world. If yer a champion sword-master, ya become a whirlwind of steel and death, capable of mowing down hundreds of people with graceful efficiency. The downside is that it makes ya a bit loopy, downright fries yer brain if ya use it for too long at one time.

"That's the problem, kid, ya never quite know if a Mentalist is serious or not. Especially if the Mentalist is a gnome as well. If she is, you'd better prepare for a bottle up yer ass, because nothing in the world is gonna save ya." Grimheld winked at him, in a way that made Bas think that he might be exaggerating, "That's why they make such good Guild clerks."

"Sounds a lot like librarians. Are there any other liquid mana Variants apart from Daggerdancer, Brawler and Mentalist."

Grimheld shook his head, "No... Well... there might be. But any other Variants are kept closely guarded secrets by their inventors. If you discover one, keep it to yourself. You never know who would be willing to kill you for it."

Bas gripped his chin, suddenly pensive. He felt he could trust the dwarves around his physics book, safely stored away in Grimheld's pack. They wouldn't be able to understand it without him.

Plasma was a different matter, he once again reproached himself for almost letting the secret slip while he was drunk. It was a good thing that the team hadn't taken it too seriously. He didn't expect anything bad to come from them knowing, entrusting precious secrets to a handful of alcoholic, murder-happy dwarves was probably not the best of ideas.

He slipped out of his musings as Kort slowed down, joining up with them.

"I think this be as good a place t' stop as any. The powdergrass is thinning out, so there's nae risk of being burned t' a crisp while we sleep, although we can still use it t' make a fire."

Bas simply nodded, not wanting to engage in conversation with the dark haired dwarf.

"We need t' be careful from here on out. In the Tinderbox, the fires killed off any large predators, in the Parapets there's nae anything t' kill them off 'cept something stronger."

Bas scratched his head, unwillingness to speak with Kort forgotten at the mention of danger, "What's the problem with a few large predators? You've got mana, right?"

"There's nae problem with predators. But when predators accumulate enough Lifeforce, by killing other creatures, they become monsters. They're natural killers, they have t' be in order t' survive long enough t' progress. Therein lies th' issue. The increased mana granted to them by their Lifeforce makes them deadlier and more long-lived."

"So why haven't we seen any monsters here? Shouldn't they be ubiquitous?"

"It's nae that simple, lad. These monsters have large ranges. They hunt throughout their territory, killing t' get stronger. They're extremely strong, any monster below it learns t' run or hide until it's strong enough to rival the local apex predator." A gleam appeared in the dwarf's eye as he basked in the opportunity to give his favorite sermon, "Welcome t' the real world, lad. The strong survive, the weak eat shit." Kort grinned madly.

Grimheld intervened, steering Bas away from the dark-haired dwarf. "Okay. I think it's time to show you how to use your mana properly."

Bas gave Kort an apologetic smile, although, secretly, he was relieved by Grimheld's timely and totally intentional interruption. He allowed himself to be led off towards the side as the rest of the team set up the tents, it was far too inclement near the mountains to risk a night under the stars.

"So, kid. Let me explain how gaseous mana works." His entire body billowed with blue mist, diffusing out through the surroundings. All of a sudden, its expansion stopped, constrained by invisible walls.

"First lesson, always keep yer mana contained. If ya don't, ya might as well wave goodbye to it. It requires a bit of mana to do so, but if not yer mana's gonna fly off like a fart in a hurricane." To prove his point, a small bubble of mana partitioned off, dissipating into strands of moonlit smoke.

"Second lesson, the gaseous mana form practitioner is the most important member of the team. Ya don't hit shit, but yer still the first and last of defense. Try and hit me." Bas hesitantly did as he was told. His fist passed right through the fog surrounding Grimheld. "Harder! Ya call that a punch? Yer trying to hit me, not jerk me off."

Bas tried again, throwing all his weight behind his fist. His knuckles brushed against the cloud of mana.

And stopped.

Straining for every inch, Bas clenched his teeth, pushing his fist deeper and deeper into the cushioning smoke.

A jarring sensation began to fill him, his arm slowly going numb. Within seconds convulsions began to wrack his body as he hastily withdrew his arm from the cloud of mana.

Grimheld explained, "Ya see how my mana stole the force from yer blows. If ya used more mana to strike, ya would have overcome the small amount I invested in the shield. When ya pushed through, despite not being strong enough, my mana began to seep into yer body, conflicting with yer own mana."

Bas nodded, clutching his arm as the convulsions subsided.

Grimheld's arm blurred, withdrawing a small knife from his belt. Before Bas could yelp in pain, he had a thin line of red running down his arm.

"Oops." Grimheld muttered, grinning all the while. "It was an accident, I swear on my uncle's life."

"Liar."

"Yeah, but my uncle was a bit of the touchy feely type when I was younger, if ya know what I mean. So who knows, if I swear on his life enough, I might get lucky."

He clapped his hands.

"Anyway, this gives me the perfect opportunity to rescue a damsel in distress." His mana flowed out, enveloping Bas' forearm in cooling blue mist. Unlike last time, Grimheld's mana didn't conflict with his.

"Why isn't it interacting with my mana?"

"Good question, kid. Because it is yer mana."

Bas watched as the cut began to close, not even leaving a scar behind.

Grimheld lunged at him again, bringing his blade across the exact same spot.

This time, the blade bounced off his skin, as if it were made of stone.

"What do you mean, it is my mana?"

"I gave some of my mana to ya, letting it flow freely into yer body. Mana determines many things, including how strong yer body is and how fast ya heal. Normally, yer Lifeforce produces a limited amount and can only constrain so much mana to yer body. This bypasses that." Grimheld gestured expansively and another wash of mana flooded into him.

"Wow." Bas felt distinctively stronger and more healthy. He bent his knees and jumped, soaring a full three feet into the air. Not bad for someone who could barely climb stairs back home.

"Of course, it doesn't last forever. Yer aura will dump it at a much faster rate, but it can still be real useful in a pinch. Give it a second and try again."

He still jumped higher than he would have, but Grimheld was right. The effects were somewhat diminished.

"Now, third and final lesson." Grimheld looked at him, "What? Ya thought I would leave it at two?"

Bas shook his head, then nodded, thoroughly confused.

"Never try and change yer mana Variant without a bit of preparation first, unless you've got top notch control of yer mana form. And never use two Variants of the same form at once. What you've seen so far is the Mitigator Variant. Now, if I do my usual Skirmisher Variant at the same time." Grimheld braced himself, his arm whipped back and the dagger suddenly became infused with gaseous mana.

His mana cloud pulsed once, jarring angrily with the mana inside the dagger. Grimheld quickly hurled the dagger, which burst apart a mere second after it left his hand.

The dwarf's mana cloud contracted, snapping back into his body like a demonic rubber band.

Grimheld went flying backwards twenty feet, as if he had been kicked by a mule that had been fed on anabolic steroids and Chuck Norris' breast milk. The stout dwarf gouged out a long furrow of grass and dirt where he landed.

"I'm okay." He groaned, briefly raising his upper body to give a brief thumbs up before slumping back down to the ground. A round of cheers came from the rest of the team.

Bas' mouth hung open. Dwarves were fucking insane, it shouldn't have been a shock, but Grimheld had taken it to the next level.

Why had he decided to tag along with these guys, again?

It was actually surprising that the tents had been properly...

What the fuck!?

He was just in time to see Blue load a strange looking bolt into Grimheld's crossbow. The dwarf had left it unattended. Which was obviously a grave mistake when you had a half crazy gnome running around.

Bas examined the bolt, well aware that he was within range. Tied to the shaft was a flask.

Blue looked at the crossbow as if something were wrong with it, then she shrugged, bringing the flask—still attached to the crossbow via the nocked bolt—to her mouth.

She smacked her lips in a satisfied manner, wiping stray drops with her sleeve, before pacing towards the fire. Was Blue about to go on a sacchar fueled murder spree?

She ripped off part of her tunic, plunging the scrap of cloth into the fire. Was this some sort of weird summoning ritual? If so, he had enormous respect for the fact that Blue was even functioning after a swig of the mana-fortified drink.

She withdrew the smoldering rag from the flames, stuffing it down the neck of the flask.

Oh god. Bas' brain caught up with his eyes a few seconds later. Was she making what he thought she was making?

Blue turned, sighting down the stock, her entire head glowing blue with liquid mana for a brief second.

"Burn, burn, burn." She giggled, depressing the trigger lever.

The bolt arced out and away, disappearing into the darkness. The smoldering embers clinging to the rags where not enough to light its path, and it was moving to quickly to easily discern its shape in the moonlight before it had moved on.

Bas relaxed. No harm do—

A muffled roar blasted out over the surrounding area.

Kort's head whipped out from in between his tent's flaps. His eyes gleaming in appreciation at the awesome ball of flame searing itself into the sky. Then his fingers twitched, moving with lightning speed towards the bags nearby, rifling through them for the missing flask. "BLUE! What did you do with the sacchar?"

The gnome didn't hear him, already passed out and snoring on the grass, a bemused smirk of satisfaction spread across her sleeping face.

Kort loomed over her, leg drawn back, aiming right at Blue's rump. He sighed, bunching his beard between his fingers. He let his leg relax forwards into a resting position. "Fucking delinquent midgets." He muttered, bundling her up beneath one arm, picking up the discarded crossbow with the other. After depositing the drunk gnome into her tent, he dove into his backpack and pulled out the strange beetle, evidently gratified by the fact it was still there.

Kort placed it on its armored back and spun it like a roulette wheel.

It righted itself and began scuttling off towards a mountain pass several kilometers away. Or it would have, if it hadn't been stopped by an iron studded dwarven boot and unceremoniously stuffed back into Kort's bag.

Bas turned his back on the scene, staring at the flames spreading out across the hills, setting the powdergrass on fire. A few minutes later, Kort walked up beside him, "This is nae going t' be a fun night, lad. You better get some rest while you can." Once again, the dwarf grumbled something about midget gnomes, unaware of the irony.

Bas nodded, taking his leave and entering the spare tent that had been set up for him.

A disconcerting yowl split through his peaceful dreams of home. Bas shot bolt upright, disorientated, expecting to find himself in his room, computer screen glowing softly in the corner.

Instead, moonlight filtered through the entrance of his tent, each moonbeam dancing off wisps of smoke and motes of ash that were being blown towards them.

He poked his head outside, trying to see what was wrong.

A gigantic mountain lion blurred through the moonlight, its body covered in a shifting tangle of soil and vegetation.

What?

Vines and streams of earth shot out from the mass, exposing matted fur below. One ripped a tent out of the ground, exposing a sleeping Blue, she didn’t stir.

The cords began to close in on the gnome, when they suddenly changed their focus towards a figure that blurred blue as she moved.

The questing cords of plant and soil missed completely, neatly severed by Ola as she sidestepped, they fell limply to the ground, breaking apart upon impact.

Ola was at the mountain lion's side before it could turn to stop her.

A wicked knife gleaming in each hand, she unleashed a flurry of blows into its side, growling louder than even the big cat.

The animal hissed in pain, and the shifting mass on its body contracted around Ola's wrists as she stabbed it once more, trapping both the blades and her hands. The mountain lion began to buck and whirl from side to side, trying to smash the desperately twisting dwarf against the ground.

A metallic clatter sounded to his right, Bas turned away from the impromptu wildcat rodeo to see Kort stumble out of his tent, trying to hold his hammer and slip a greave onto his leg at the same time. Bas stifled a laugh.

The cantankerous dwarf turned to him, "What are you laughing at, lad? I swear to Gnur..."

With a growl of exasperation, Kort gave up on trying to strap on the reluctant greave, instead hefting it in his off-hand as he swung his hammer menacingly.

With a shout he barreled towards the bucking mountain lion, throwing elegance to the wind, and a few choice curses as well. A barrage of knives, coruscating with gaseous mana, whistled past him as Grimheld and Dirri joined the fray, the former having foregone his crossbow for the greater rate of fire provided by throwing knives. Gern, a Caster, shot blasts of ice from his hand, muttering under his breath, using mnemonics to assist his formation of the spell patterns. Neither the knives nor the ice did much damage, dissipating harmlessly against the big cat's outer coat of writhing soil and plant-life.

Blue was snoring peacefully, a thumb stuck in her mouth.

Kort had finally reached the mountain lion, effortlessly brushing aside the big cat's tentacle-like projections of vines and earth. He brought down his hammer firmly upon the head of the cat, causing its forelegs to buckle and pitching Ola forward violently. "Watch it, you ass. I'm hangin' on for dear life here." She shouted.

"Sorry," Kort roared back, then swung the hammer down again.

Only for it to be swatted to one side, unbalancing Kort and leaving him open to another follow up strike that scored three deep bleeding lines down his side, ripping through hardened steel and mana reinforced flesh with little effort. Kort kept his grip on the hammer, but the greave in his left hand went sailing away behind Bas, falling to the ground with a clink.

Bas gulped, the animal was far too strong.

Grimheld abandoned his barrage, sprinting forward as a large cloud of gaseous mana enveloped him.

Even without mana-assisted speed like Ola's, Grimheld was wickedly fast, he was next to Kort in seconds, healing and reinvigorating him.

Gern shouted for them all to stand back as he summoned a prison of ice around the cat to restrict its movements as they reorganized. He was, however, forced to abandon the attempt when the mountain lion began slamming a restrained Ola against the icy walls.

It shattered into a thousand fragments, no longer being sustained.

The big cat stalked towards Kort and Grimheld, dragging Ola behind it as if she weighed no more than a kitten.

Its jaw opened wide, exposing sharp teeth and a lolling tongue, its muscles coiled to pounce.

It sprang forward, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.

A tiny form sprang fearlessly into its jaws, her skull aglow with liquid mana. One arm extended out front, clutching a letter opener, the other holding a discarded greave that was used to prop open the big cat's gaping mouth for a single crucial second.

Blue's outstretched arm disappeared down the predator's gullet, twisting viciously.

The mountain lion shook its head desperately, trying to dislodge the gnome. In its agony it gave no thought to crushing both the greave and the plucky gnome caught in its jaws.

Blue was thrown to the ground, minus one letter opener, which was still embedded in the cat's gullet. She clutched her skull, curled up in a fetal position, whimpering in pain at utilizing her ability for so long.

Not far away, the mountain lion collapsed to the ground, every single major artery on the left side of its neck had been completely severed and even its absurdly large stores of mana and Lifeforce couldn't save it from the catastrophic hemorrhaging that was underway.

Kort limped up to it, raising his hammer for a finishing blow.

The black-haired dwarf paused, looking towards the gnome curled up on the floor. "The kill's yours, Blue, so are the spoils." His hammer fell to his side as he let the massive mountain lion shudder its last, imparting a fraction of its former power to its killer.

Blue seemed to perk up slightly, her pained shaking and whimpering diminishing as the Lifeforce of one of most powerful monsters in a several hundred kilometer radius flooded into her. Her mana recovery jumped upwards, accelerating the healing of the mostly reversible damage she had done to her brain.

The vines and earth surrounding the corpse of the mountain lion sloughed off, finally freeing Ola's hands, which had been dislocated by the abuse.

Bas slowly walked up to the victorious, but shaken, team. He was ashamed at his lack of involvement in the fight. He should have tried to help but—

"Good job, kid." Grimheld patted him gently. "Sometimes the best thing ya can do is sit a fight out, it's that or be a liability. Come on, I'll show ya one way to heal with yer mana. Ya can do Blue, she has a few nasty scratches."

"That's it. Feel where your mana brushes against her aura and let the feeling of your mana match the feeling of hers. That's it, kid, you got it." Bas could feel his mana draining into Blue, depleting at a rapid rate. Even though he could see her small wounds healing over, an uncomfortable thought struck him.

"What if—"

Grimheld cut him off, "It won't conflict with hers. And ya don't need to worry about using all of yer mana either, it'll recover. There are more important things right now."

Bas kept on healing Blue as she sat by the roaring campfire, wrapped in a warm blanket while taking small sips of Dramal tea, a restorative drink made from the roots of a specific Dungeon monster with profound regeneration abilities. Every now and then she would look out at the burning hills with a sense of pride, enjoying the view.

When all the gnome's visible wounds were gone, Bas turned to Grimheld. "What was that thing?"

"That," the dwarf gestured at the corpse, "was a monster. It might have started off as a mountain lion, but it enlarged as it grew more powerful. It probably came here to defend its territory after we started the wildfire." Grimheld shrugged, "It's dead now."

"Why were vines and soil protecting it?"

"Ahhh. I see what yer getting at. It was casting a spell to create a natural barrier that it could control, which means it was most likely using crystalline mana. That's where monsters differ from people. Some can cast spells on an instinctual level, but they are limited to them, unless they have the ability to memorize spell patterns." Grimheld clapped his hands together loudly, "Now, let's fix up Ola."

Bas had been surprised by Ola, both her hands had been badly dislocated but she had seemed to just shrug it off, instead shouting at them both to go help Blue. Now that Blue had been mostly healed, she would probably be far more open to being healed.

Grimheld picked out a small purplish-green gemstone from one of the packs, waving it in front of Bas' face. "This is tourmaline, an Arcane Focus for the life subtype of mana. It'll change normal bound mana into life mana for a short period of time. As life mana is better at healing, using a life Arcane Focus will mean you use less mana and get better results. You can even cast simple spells without using crystalline mana through them, but you still need to know the required arcane patterns."

Bas followed Grimheld, watching as the dwarf held the Focus in front of Ola's wrists. The gemstone was encircled by a blue halo of mana that rapidly shifted to a whitish green as it streamed out towards Ola, settling across her like a blanket.

The life mana swirled into her wrists, a dull greyish blue fog rising up and out to replace it.

"What's that?" Bas asked.

Grimheld didn't answer, strain evident on his face, all his attention on pushing mana through the stone.

To Bas' surprise, it was Ola who replied. "You shouldn't disturb him, Arcane Foci require immense concentration to channel mana through them. That nasty haze you see is depleted mana. You see, the various subtypes of mana don't last long, and once they've been used they leave depleted mana behind."

"What does it do?"

"Nothing. Just makes the external manipulation of mana difficult. It really only affects Caster and Warder Variants of the crystalline mana form, the other crystalline Variant, Shiners, form spells internally, so they don't get affected by it. Technically, gaseous mana users can be affected too, but nothing you do produces depleted mana."

"Shiners? You mean like the elf at the settleme..." He trailed off.

Ola nodded once, "Yes, like him. Shiners form spell patterns inside their bodies, activating and releasing them on contact. They produce depleted mana, they're just not affected by it."

"Why would they create depleted mana, though? They're not using Foci."

"The mana subtypes are essential for spell formation, you can't cast without one. You can either use an Arcane Focus, or you can do what they do, and use crystalline mana to mimic the structure of Arcane Foci. It's quicker, more efficient and you don't need to fiddle around with gemstones." Ola motioned to Grimheld with a tilt of her head, "Unlike that idiot."

"I love ya too." Grimheld said in a wry tone.

Ola gave a startled exclamation, "Don't you dare surprise me like that you big oaf." She tentatively reached out to punch him. Her fist connected normally, showing no signs of damage from the dislocation.

"There ya go, ya spiteful bitch," Grimheld grinned, "good as new and right as rocks."

"Thanks, Grim." Ola beamed back.

Then she punched him again, harder this time.

Grimheld doubled over, wheezing, "That's my girl."

Kort wandered over, putting an end to the moment of violent levity, "Okay, you can all go back t' sleep now. There should be nae more attacks t'night. I'll keep an eye on Blue."

There was no path upwards, so to speak, just an endless slog through bushes and the occasional scree slope. It was difficult going, even for the dwarves, and Kort brought out the beetle frequently, as much to confirm they were going in the right direction as to give them a brief respite.

Bas was on constant lookout. Every snapping twig, or rustle in the underbrush brought to mind images of sharp teeth and rending claws.

"Relax, yer not going to solve anything by needless worrying."

"But what if there's something stronger than that mountain lion?"

"Then it'll eat ya, and once it's had a snack, it'll leave the rest of us alone." Grimheld waggled his eyebrows.

Bas glared at him.

"I'm just joking with ya, kid. With the kitty dead, there's nothing between us and Heaven's Plain that we can't handle."

"Heaven's Plain?"

Kort's eyes grew wistful, "I'm not one for oceans myself, although if ya gave me a sea of ale I would be more than happy to revise my opinion, but ya should see it, kid, even if only once. It's like nothing you've ever seen. An ocean on top of the world, dammed up by the Parapets themselves.

"We crossed it on the way here, during winter when it was partially frozen over. Only real way to get to the rest of the continent, but right now it's nasty business. Whole thing is full of sea-beasties."

Surely there was another way to travel. "Can't you just go around? Or use a boat?"

"Sure, you can go around, if ya fancy meeting lots of monsters that have been gaining power for centuries. Ya can use a boat, there's a mostly safe route across Heaven's Plain, shallows almost the entire way, except for one part, called The Run. Dangerous to do, though, there are ancient monsters in there that would use yer mast for a toothpick. If ya want to pick a fight with a monster, do it in a Dungeon, not on Heaven's Plain."

Oh, right. He had been meaning to ask what Dungeons were, for quite some time. He knew what they were in video games, but he just didn't know if they were the same things here.

"Monsters spawn there and you can kill them for loot, right?"

Grimheld nodded, not even deigning to give such a basic question a verbal reply.

"What can you tell me about them?"

"Dungeons are more than just a place where ya find monsters. They're the lifeblood of Era. Almost every kingdom has access to a Dungeon, they wouldn't last long without one."

"How so?"

"They're for more than fighting and looting. They're also for helping artisans and crafters gather Lifeforce so that they can extend their lifespans and allow them to use mana in their work. After all, a country without good crafters has a problem. And there's no better source of materials than a Dungeon."

"And Kort thinks he's found one?"

"Ya can't tell what Kort thinks; I don't think he knows, himself. But if there's one thing I do know, it's that Kort would do anything if he thought it might give him a chance to..." Grimheld trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief at himself, "What am I saying. Don't ya pay any attention to me, kid."

Bas had been paying a lot of attention.

A dwarven adventuring team had crossed a dangerous, monster-filled ocean, just to hang around some shitty backwater region of Era.

It sounded suspiciously like they were running from something.