“So… How far is this mine supposed to be?” I ask my unwilling companion after a few minutes of walking in complete silence.

She looks at me and I surprisingly see no animosity in her eyes. “If we keep our current pace then the journey should take between two or three days.”

I nod, “By the way, why aren’t you running? You know I can keep up with you, so-”

“I could, but then I’d be too exhausted to fight in the mine. Running also consumes a lot of energy so I wouldn’t have enough food. And there aren’t a lot of animals around at this time of year, so hunting wouldn’t be a good idea. You really don’t know anything…” her voice trails off and she looks in the distance.

Yeah, I’m not enduring three days of this bullshit.

“All right, then could you point me towards the direction of the mine?” I gesture towards my Portal Gun that I just pulled out of its holster.

She recoils when she sees my Gun and growls, “What are you planning?! I don’t-”

“For crying out loud…” I take a deep breath, “Listen, you would be dead if I wanted to kill you, so relax for a fucking second. I just want to make this journey as short as possible because I don’t want to endure your shitty attitude more than I have to.”

She snarls,”…I hate to admit it, but you have a point. The sooner we arrive, the sooner you’ll get killed by whatever’s lurking in the mines.”

I’m not even fucking surprised! But at least I know I won’t be able to count on Hisako’s help if the situation gets out of control once we enter the mine.

“Don’t count on that… So will you answer my question or not?”

She sighs and points towards two large mountains that are barely peaking above the horizon.

I nod and extend my hand. From what I’ve observed, the portals created by my Portal Gun close after something sufficiently big passes through. So two people can’t pass through unless they are considered as one object, and I believe I can trick the enchantment by holding her hand.

“What?” the woman asks while narrowing her eyes.

“Grab my hand," I order with reluctance.

I really don’t want to touch that woman, who knows what kind of deadly diseases she carries? The risk of contamination by alien germs scares me, even if my regeneration should take care of them. But who knows what’s out there… Maybe there’s something that can proliferate faster than I can regenerate?

Yeah, change of plan: I’ll Rewind as soon as my armor’s containment is breached, otherwise the risk of bringing back a deadly plague is too great. My self-cleaning armor should take care of the external germs, so I shouldn’t worry about decontamination.

“So?” Hisako takes me out of my thoughts by tapping her foot on the ground. I blink a few times and notice her slender hand wrapped around my wrist.

I grunt and aim towards the mountain before firing a portal beneath our feet, Hisako screams for a brief second. Then she falls to her knees and expels the content of her stomach on the grass.

That’s weird… I did get a bit nauseous when I used the Gates, but it never was to this extent. Not to mention that I never felt any discomfort when traveling with my Portal Gun.

Her eyes shine with rage, “I knew it, you just wanted to humiliate me! You bastard, I’ll never-”

She stops mid-sentence and a stream of bile flows out of her mouth. I take a step back to avoid the splashes of acidic liquid and take a deep breath while mentally thanking my armor for its air filtering features.

“Now, don’t get the wrong idea. It’s true that it’s amusing to see you vomiting on the ground…” She growls and reaches for her sword, but her mouth fills with bile before she can act. “But it wasn’t on purpose. I had no idea that you would react like that.”

Hisako takes a deep breath and wipes the foul liquid around her mouth before glaring at me. “I don’t believe you for one second…” she looks around, “But it’s true that we are a lot closer than before, I think we saved about half a day on our journey.”

I nod, “Of course, nothing can beat my Portal Gun!” I say while resting the barrel of the aforementioned device on my shoulder.

She grumbles and gets up before checking herself out, “Fuck, I reek of vomit…” Hisako looks around and she looks relieved to see a dense patch of forest nearby. She dusts herself off before heading towards the forest.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“I’m going to wash off all this filth; otherwise the smell might attract some wild animals. Just keep watch from here, and I swear I’ll kill you if I catch you peeking.”

I raise my hands in mock surrender, “All right, all right. Just be quick, we don’t have all day.” I sit on top of a large moss-covered boulder.

Hisako glares at me again before heading into the forest. I wait until she’s no longer visible and a wide grin creeps on my face when I take out my Interdimensional Phone from its compartment.

I only discovered this recently, but the Interdimensional Phone has a very good camera, and its zoom is pretty powerful.

I lean to the side to get a good view… And slip off the boulder.

“Fuck!” a shout escapes my mouth just as my shield protects me from fall damage. I get up and sit next to the large rock while readjusting my phone, but the forest is too dense for me to see anything.

…Hisako’s PoV…

“Tch…” I click my tongue when I peel the vomit-covered tunic off my body.

I can’t believe this outsider dared to humiliate me! And, as if it wasn’t enough, he even insulted my intelligence by pretending he didn’t make me sick on purpose!

An image of the armored figure flashes in front of my eyes, and I can barely contain my rage as I imagine his gloating and disgusting face underneath his weird armor. I’m certain that this man is beyond ugly, or he wouldn’t have any reason to always hide his face.

I take a deep breath only to regret it in the next instant since the smell of vomit still lingers on my body. A shiver courses through my spine when I take a step into the water, but I endure the unpleasant coldness and wash my body as fast as I can.

My eyes are surveying the surroundings since I don’t believe for a second that this shameless bastard will keep his word. In fact, I hope he’ll try to peek since it would give me a good reason to beat him until he stops breathing. And I'm convinced that I would win if we were to fight since he wouldn't have the time to activate a Formation, not to mention that his weird Artifact wouldn’t be of much use in combat.

But something still bugs me, and it’s the fact that this John Thomson was identified as a warrior after our respected leader exposed his lie.

A warrior is supposed to be honorable and just but this man isn’t. He’s rude, shameless, and he overtly looks down on our traditions. And his stance is full of openings; I could’ve cut him down countless times during our brief journey.

I grit my teeth when I remember how he treated our Elder… If this man was from a different Clan then his attitude would be a good reason to declare a war against the offender’s Clan.

I take a deep breath of fresh air and keep scrubbing my body. My thoughts then drift towards Riko; I wonder what she’s doing right now. I bet she’s studying her Formations again…

Formations are a way to create miracles by using Power Stones, materials infused with the power of the elements. A Formation could range from lighting a small campfire to releasing an inferno capable of burning down an entire village, although the former is often considered a waste of Power Stones.

The latter isn’t common either, according to the Elder’s stories a Formation capable of destroying an entire village would need ten Formation Masters to even activate.

I guess Riko still has to study a lot before-

A wind chime echoes in the forest.

I freeze for a second and survey the area, but I can hear or see anything out of the ordinary. Still, I know I heard a chime just a second ago. It could be coming from the outsider, but better be safe than sorry.

I rush towards my weapons leaning against a nearby tree and unsheathe my four-edged sword while raising my round shield in front of me. The sound reaches my ears again, and this time it seems to be slightly louder.

Fuck! I don’t know what’s causing this noise, but it’s getting closer!

The sound now appears at an increasing frequency, but I can’t sense anything no matter how hard I survey the area. A sudden oppressive aura washes over me, so I narrow my eyes towards the source of the aura.

A creature is running in the sky, clouds of white energy appear under its hooves with each of its steps. I never saw anything like this!

It’s a mix between a horse and a dragon. Its limbs are covered in green scales and green flames replace its mane and tail. The creature also has two large pointy antlers that are resting on top if it’s draconic head.

My instincts are telling me to run away, but my body is unable to move. The creature let out a deafening, but somehow melodic, roar that almost knocks me unconscious. I take a deep breath and force my mind into overdrive to identify the creature, but its appearance doesn’t match anything in our Clan’s records.

What is this thing?! It exudes so much power…

A memory of my childhood flashes in my head. I remember the stories my mother used to read to me, stories about Spirits.

Spirits are quasi-mythical creatures that are said to be centuries old, and certain Clans even worship them as gods. The legends say that they are ancient creatures that managed to infuse themselves with the power of elements, much like how a smith manufactures Power Stones. I always doubted the stories of people who claimed to have met Spirits, but now…

The Spirit lands and stares at me with its deep yellow eyes, I hold my breath and try to appear as non-threatening as possible. The stories say that certain Spirits are highly intelligent, and some can even hold a conversation with people. Those Spirits are depicted as benevolent, but they are a rarity. Most of the ancient stories depict Spirits as savage beasts capable of destroying an entire Clan.

It continues to walk towards me, the aura it generates becomes stronger with each of its steps and I’m soon forced to my knees. The Spirit suddenly stops and a familiar jolt of electricity courses through my spine.

No, it can’t be-

A blue portal appears between me and my assailant, and an armored figure burst out of the portal before unleashing thunder onto the creature.

…John’s PoV…

For crying out loud, why does this always happens?!

I rest for twenty minutes and some flying horse-lizard pops out of the sky and heads straight towards the forest where Hisako is. I don’t know what this thing is, but the way he rushes toward my defenseless guide doesn’t scream friendly to me.

It’s so fucking fast too!

I configure my Portal Gun with one hand and grab my Field Pistol with the other before jumping into the newly created portal. The creature takes a single step back and I fire five bullets in its head, but the projectiles just fall on the ground when they hit the monster. I am about to fire another volley but the horse-lizard locks its gaze with me.

My shield burns through an entire magazine of Magicite cartridges and an engraved plate in a few seconds. Then an invisible force slams me on the ground once the barrier breaks. My armor groans under the pressure, but it’s enduring the mysterious force… for now.

I grit my teeth, this thing can easily destroy my shield and it's immune to my bullets so I have to think quickly. Otherwise, we are both going to die here.

The creature, which looks intrigued, is now heading towards me. Being eaten alive is not something I want to experience, so I ignore the ominous cracks coming from my wrist as I force the Portal Gun to aim under my sprawled body.

My shield broke when the monster looked at me, so I think its power requires a clear line of sight to work. Sinking into a portal might disrupt its concentration for a second or two, and I could use this time to reload my Shield Glove, that should buy me a few additional seconds.

The creature stops again when a portal appears under me. I reappear a few feet away, but it looks like my hypothesis was correct since I no longer feel crushed by an invisible force. I quickly reload my Shield Glove with a fresh magazine and fire at my opponent, but I don’t even scratch the white fur covering most of its body.

The monster roars, but my armor’s hearing protection enchantments activate and stop my eardrums from exploding. I glance towards Hisako, she covered her ears with her hands and tears are flowing from her eyes.

I focus on the creature and it’s hard to admit, but I have no chance of beating this thing. This abomination is completely immune to my bullets so I won’t be able to do anything no matter how hard I try.

This thing is very interested in us, and it’s very fast…

But I doubt he’s faster than my Portal Gun!

I fire a portal as far as possible and fire under the monster’s feet. It yelps when it suddenly sinks into the ground and disappears from our view. I don’t have too much time since this thing will just run back here, so I rush towards the quivering Hisako and grab her hand before teleporting away. The shock of traveling through the portals knocked her unconscious, so I’m forced to carry her on my back before resuming my jumps.

My escape stops when I’m certain that I no longer hear the chime sounds generated by the flying horse-lizard. I carefully drop Hisako against a tree and just realize that she’s not wearing anything on her upper body.

The view is enjoyable, but it’s not the time to be a pervert. She must be freezing and the sun is going down so she’s only going to get colder. I quickly teleport back to my home and grab a thick blanket before wrapping it around the unconscious woman. I hope it’s enough to stop her from dying of hypothermia… I can’t risk lighting a fire since the creature might still be searching for us.

…??? PoV…

“Tch…” I click my tongue and open my eyes once the connection to my summoned construct is severed. I retract my collapsible Attuning Wand and attach it to my belt, an action that doesn’t go unnoticed by my companion.

“So what happened?” he asks with a gravelly voice.

“Two stragglers entered the perimeter, they couldn’t damage the construct but I somehow lost my connection.”

The dog-eared man waves his hand in the air, “If they couldn’t damage that thing then we don’t risk anything if they end up here. And this summon is still a prototype, so your sudden loss of connection is probably due to some instability. We’ll have to report it to our smiths once we’re done here.”

I nod, “That makes sense, and they should be scared beyond measures anyway. Our intelligence confirmed that the savages of the United Clans are a superstitious bunch, so our Spirit-shaped construct should be enough of a deterrent.”

One of them was wearing a peculiar set of armor, but it’s probably nothing to worry about. I focus back on the Formation responsible for controlling the pseudo-Spirit; it’s a complex Formation with more than thirty different Power Stones of various shapes and size. The intricate links between the Stones are spread around a small folding iron square that’s about twelve inches in length and width.

I pick up the Formation and pull the lever on the side of the plate, the sockets holding the Stones in place pop up and eject the now inert Stones. My attention then turns towards one of the numerous solid iron circles with a hole in the middle hanging on my belt. I grab one, pop it onto the Formation and turn it until I hear a click, then I pull the lever on the circle and on the Formation plate before putting the circle back on my belt.

A quick inspection of the iron plate reveals that the new Stones are all firmly inserted into their sockets, so I fold the plate and attach it on my belt.

This is so much easier than the ancient way of doing things. My grandfather told me how they had to carry around large rolls of thick infused paper and sacks of looses Power Stones. Not to mention how unwieldy the long Attuning Wands were back in those days.

“All done?” my dog-eared companion asks after he checks the Power Stones embedded into his sword.

I nod, “I’m good to go, how about you?”

He tightens his grip on his weapon and smirk, revealing a row of pointy teeth, “All good, then let’s go get that thing!”

“I will never understand how you can always be so enthusiastic,” I say with a sigh as I pull the lever on the large iron column strapped to my back. The device comes to life and the large Power Stone embedded on its top lights up.

“Aren’t you excited? Our Formation Masters felt a massive concentration of World Energy in this general area when they tested a new Formation. So I bet it’s something amazing!”

“I wouldn’t count on it, according to what we learned from the locals this mine used to be an important source of wealth, but the miners all disappeared.” I shake my head since we’ve been partners for so many years now, he should know that our recon missions never end up being interesting.

“Stop being so gloomy, you should smile more! So what do you think? I wonder if it’s a Spirit-”

“Impossible,” I interrupt. “According to the locals the incident with the miners happened more than thirty years ago, and a Spirit wouldn’t stay in this crappy mine for that long. Furthermore, I sincerely doubt a Spirit could emit enough energy for our Masters to pick it up from so far away. I’m certain it’s just a cluster of large naturally formed Power Stones.”

My partner grins, “Really? Then why don’t we bet on what we’ll find? The loser pays for drinks when we get back home!”

I feel my long dog ears twitch and a grin creeps on my face," Then I'll take you up on your offer, but don’t cry when I empty your wallet!”

We laugh as we go deeper into the dark mineshaft.