As soon as I connected my sight with Loki’s, I felt the whispers that would not reach me because of our distance.

He had obviously done everything by himself, so there was nothing in it for my Red Tamer level.

Still...

Loki has earned 16421 + 8526 + 4582 + 12589 + 40231 + 36897 + 16587 + 27589 + (4125x7) + 37589 + 25879 + 6512 + 1258 + (1288x33) + 162455 + 133258 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 280,000/280,000

Loki has leveled up to 29.

Agility + 5, Strength + 3, Focus + 4, Willpower + 2

Loki has earned 338,038 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 290,000/290,000

Loki has leveled up to 30.

Agility + 3, Constitution + 3, Strength + 3, Perception + 5

Loki has earned 48038 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 48,038/300,000

What in the Abyss had he been doing?

How did he get all that experience? Alright, most of that I could understand, but what did he have to kill to get those last couple of numbers? Undead? Maybe he had found out something interesting.

Yet, I was happy. The more he powered up, the strongest the Bonus I would get from borrowing one of his Attributes.

It was a Bonus that applied in almost all circumstances.

If I took his Constitution, I would certainly not become unflagging, but I became that much more resistant; if I borrowed his Strength like I was doing now, my attacks became that much Stronger.

Although I had noticed that there was some sort of stop-gap at some points, the difference was noticeable.

Maybe if I were to start borrowing his Focus, the power of my Shadow Blow arrows would soar.

Anyway, I could not focus on those details, not at that moment. We had been put into a cell, and I was sick of it; I needed to stretch my muscles.

Nova was already working on the lock, melting it with her blades of Flow.

The hissing of the melting metal was not too high; if anything, it would not be enough to call out whoever was guarding the outside if they even had been guarding it. These nomads seemed way too sure of themselves, as if they knew something that neither us nor the Sundoorians knew anything about it.

It was just a tad little worrying, but I could work with that. I was always ready, even in these harsh situations, well… almost always.

Finally, only a few seconds later, the lock gave out, and the cell opened up. They had no amulets to inform them of our escape, no sentry to come to look for us, nothing of the sort.

Even our equipment had been thrown on the ground near the other things that they had been preserving in their storage tent.

However, bound as I was, I couldn't even equip my quiver; the only thing I could use was my dagger; it was on the ground, among the other things.

"They are acting suspiciously, right?" Aisha asked.

"Exactly what I was thinking about."

But I had other things in mind.

"Nova, listen; before we leave this place, I need to speak with you."

Her blades disappeared, she turned toward me. Every trace of her being mad at me had vanished for the moment, but it was only because of the emergency, I knew her well enough to know that she would start sulking again once we were out of trouble.

"What's going on? You know that I won't abandon you here and leave, right?" She said.

I chuckled, "No, I'm not that crazy. But I wanted to tell you that... I trust you, really much. And you might end up having to hurt people right now. I know that it doesn't really bide well with you. It goes against your nature, but-"

"Loke, I know. I'm not going to abandon our escape because I don't want to hurt people. They caged us; they are not innocent. I'm sorry about them, but… but we need to free ourselves," she said.

I had to admit I was just half-surprised. Nova had already helped me in the past with doing what I had to do; she would do it again.

"Alright, but act only if needed, okay?"

She nodded.

"Let's go, Nova, lead the escape; your physical prowess is much better than Aisha's will ever be."

"You keep giving me some amazing compliments today, Loke. I would dare say you're in love with me…" Aisha answered.

"Yeah, keep dreaming, sweety. My heart belongs to my personal clock-technician."

Nova chuckled, but she got ready, looking slightly out of the heavy fur door.

"There's nobody out there."

"Alright, wait just for a second. I'll try to look at it from another angle."

I closed my left eye, connecting my sight with Loki.

He had been drawing closer. I could feel him looking from over the village from the mountainside above.

Whatever he had found, he found it near the borders with the adjacent regions, exactly where we had found ourselves three months prior.

And judging by the fact that I could not see Aisha's giant Flow-cart anywhere, they had likely hidden it. Maybe they were planning to use the pieces for their metalworkers.

"Alright, we should head toward the mountainside."

"Why?" Aisha put her hands on her hips, "What did they do to my Flow-cart."

"You catch on pretty quick; still, I don't know. Loki is high-up, but I can't see your cart anywhere."

"Damn… it cost a lot of crowns…"

I chuckled, "I bet. Won't your Inquisition repay it for you? The problem is still there though, we need to get out from here, and surely the mountainside offers us a good cover from the tribe. But if we want to head back before the twenty-eight hours are through, we need a means of transportation that are not our legs."

"I can ride Horned-barkers," she shrugged.

Horned-barkers.

They brought back nasty memories. They were also hard to find during this period; they would start migrating to the Drylands in a couple of months or so.

The short-legged unicorns were very comfy for transportation and helped plow the land, but they did not offer much regarding speed.

Also, one of them had almost killed Nova; I bet she had long since gone over that experience, but I still hadn't. If I saw one, I might kill it on sight.

"Well, we don't-"

"But we can learn!" Nova added.

Of course, she would.

"Even if we ride during the day, you are going to freeze to death by going through the desert, Aisha. And we'll need provisions too. So, I suggest, getting out of here, reach the mountainside, remain in hiding for a bit, then scout the palace and steal back your Flow-cart."

"Maybe you're right; let's start with getting out from here then."

As we left the tent, the weirdest thing we noticed about the nomad village was that it was entirely deserted.

I could not hear as much as a laugh.

What the hell was going on?

And where the fuck was the guard with the keys for my cuffs!?

Aisha had been holding my equipment for now while I gripped Spectre's Dignity in my conjoint hands.

The silence reigned supreme in the village, but one singular thing brought me to realize that something major was going on.

"I can't hear the laments of the Cyclopses," said Aisha just as I was thinking about it.

"Something's going on."

I closed my left eye and urged the now, not so distant Loki to look around.

There had to be something, anything that he could see from so high up that would help us notice what was going on.

Nothing… The place was deserted, the tents' insides were partially lit with the fire, to keep their hosts warm, but there were no dancing shadows, no movements, around. Not a soul was around.

It was eerie; the whole village had… disappeared.

We were alone in unhealthy darkness and an implacable solitude.

"Loke, where is everyone?" Nova asked, but I knew just as much as her.

"Something's going on, and that-" A shadow flickered somewhere in Loki's sight.

It had been far to his left, near the side of the tall mountainside.

An opening in the rocks. Not even that far from where we had parked the Flow-cart first. We hadn't noticed.

Then Loki turned his head; wolves were stalking for him. I rescinded our link not to distract him. We would have to count only on ourselves for now. At least we knew where we had to go.

"I think I know where they've gone. Follow me."

We silently crossed the village, careful for any patrol that might have been left to man the place.

There was nobody.

Before long, we were heading to the passage in the mountain Loki had seen.

It would be a couple of kilometers run, but it was the Blessed Hour; not many creatures would easily stand in our way, not yet at least. But judging by how dark the clouds had become, a tempest would soon come.

The flash of lightning illuminated the, for me already clear, mountainside for a moment, and a few seconds later, the thunder's echo resounded through the distant mountainous valley.

During this type of weather, every hideous monstrosity out there seemed to want to come out of their dens.

Back in Murkstall, there had been these types of nights, more than once.

We would gather and tell ourselves stories about the Ghosts of the Night; here there wouldn't be any, hopefully, but there had been a massive creature on the other face of those mountains, and the other face of the mountain wasn't that distant, it might even appear if it found itself especially hungry for blood.

Yet, my thoughts were taken away by a distant shadow on the overhanging of the not so far mountainside. It was Loki, and he was running along the edges of the height overlooking the Drylands.

He had seen us and ran along with us.

I wished he stayed there; alas, we couldn't properly communicate, not at this distance. He would do what he felt like doing.

Ten minutes later, the night descended on us, and we came about the passage.

It was big, yet even looking at it with my night view, it was dark.

Some magic might have been at play.

However, that would have to wait; I could see a couple of sentinels waiting nearby.

I had to hope they hadn't got a night sight ability; they likely didn't, or they would have already spotted us at this point.

Still, I made us deviate from running around the edges of the mountainside, right below the overhanging. Loki would be standing a few hundred meters above our head right now; he was following.

When we reached as far as we could go before being spotted by the guards, I took my time to Trace them; if we were lucky, we could take them on.

Tarik Vegedi, Spectral Warrior Level 50 (Max/500,000), Chef Level 37(27589/370,000)

Health: 200%

Stamina: 95%

Agility: 25

Constitution: 25

Strength: 26

Focus: 25

Perception: 16

Willpower: 20

Strengths: Body, Focus, Forms, Weapon

Weaknesses: None

Class Skills: Phantasmic Lance (Agility), Phantom Armor (Constitution), Phantasmic Slash (Strength), Luck of the Draw (Fortune)

Sub-Class Skills: Deft Hands (Agility), Working Knowledge (Perception), Everybody Eats (Willpower), Focus Star (Fortune)

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Height: 178 cm

Weight: 74 kg

Age: 31

Origins: Drylands

Family: Teresa Vegedi

The second guard was equipped with similar Skills.

They both had invisible spears, which I had no idea how to fight against, nor how they had possibly made them.

But more importantly, they had both a thing called Spectral Armor, which I couldn't Trace nor see right now because I hadn't borrowed Loki's Perception and thus his inherent ability to see Phantoms.

Damn, I needed to get close to him. It was the only way.

I sighed, "Wish me luck, girls."

"Loke!? What do you think you are doing, like that? You can't fight them!" Hissed Nova.

"I'm not going to fight them," I whispered. "I need to get to Loki, to borrow his Perception, then I'm going to reach over their head and drop on one to kill him on sight. But one of you, or both, has to surprise-attack them as I make my move, or I'm fucked. I can't fight both, not like this, alright?"

Aisha and Nova exchanged a look; I did not wait for them to answer. "Okay, I'm going, look for me over the ridge; I’m going to give you a signal when I'm ready."

Saying so, I turned myself over the overhanging and started climbing it, hoping I would beat the rain in the race of time.

Enough to say, I didn't.

The last thirty or so meters had been Sun-damned hard to climb.

I was about to fall four times over. If it hadn't been for my clock-arm digging with the strength of my bare fingers into the rocks, I would have died at least twice.

It was with a half-consumed Stamina, even though the night was already upon me, that I reached the curb, exhausted and panting.

What immediately put a smile on my drenched face as I lay immobile, trying to catch my breath, was Loki.

He joined me and started licking my face, or maybe scratching my face would have been the most appropriate term, given the tongue he had.

"I love you, lion, you know that?" I said, over the sound of the rain. Then I borrowed his Perception.

"Can you join us down there? Take your time, but try not to be seen."

He might have understood half of it, but sure as the Abyss, he started running along the right edge of the overhanging, the one which would get him to the village.

Now, however, I would have to kill the men below.

It would be more than two-hundred meters fall, from up there, but I couldn't even climb down like that; what was I to do?

I was thinking about that and other scenarios when I had an idea.

What would happen if I pushed my still unknown Perks through sheer effort alone?

Logan had told me that Skills Perks selection was based on which aspects of the Skill suited the user the most, but that at the same time if situations and experiences allowed, a Perk could be revealed that served exactly that situation if the Skill was of the right type.

What stopped me from pushing my Skill right now? The bindings? No.

They did not block me as much as disturb the forming of Shade, and the lower the Shade consumption, the easier it was to use. Proof of that was my active Night Vision. I could still summon a partial type of Trick Shot.

I had to test it.

I picked up a pebble; there was an almost infinite number of them for me to choose from. Then threw it toward the mountainside. I wished for my Trick Shot to form, as I always had.

It formed, but when the pebble reached its objective, there was no copy coming out from it; it was too Shade hungry a Skill to correctly form, given the binding.

However, it had worked; I had successfully summoned a small amount of Shade.

I tried again; this time, I tried forming a Shadow arrow; it barely materialized part of the arrow frame before giving out, and I had been trying to form a regular arrow.

But my reasoning was revealed to be correct.

Now it was time to reach what I was aiming for.

I picked up another pebble and threw it. When I felt the sliver of connection to it, I wished to push through; I wished for it with all my being. Nothing happened, but I had tried it. It was already something.

I would try again.

I picked up another pebble, this time wishing for the whispers to show me my current Skill points.

Skill points for Trick Shot Promotion:

- Trick Shot II Minor Perk: 9235/10000

- Trick Shot II Passive Perk: 4179/5000

They had already climbed. The Minor Perk, just by a few points, but the Passive by a good amount. Maybe it had been the climbing.

Still, I tried picking up a pebble and threw it.

The feeling of an open passage for me to slip into was there, but I couldn't reach it, I couldn't cross it.

How much had I gained?

Skill points for Trick Shot Promotion:

- Trick Shot II Minor Perk: 9245/10000

- Trick Shot II Passive Perk: 4179/5000

Good. Ten Skill points on the Minor Perk; it was better than nothing.

It was time to farm them, no matter how much it took. Loki's presence would inform Nova and Aisha of my well-being.

It had been the fiftieths or so pebble when I felt the urge, no, urge was not the correct term, the chance for me to slip away from my bindings, it was there, at my hands reach, I just hadn't been fast enough to catch it.

I tried one more time, with much more emphasis.

I wasn't even ready when it happened.

With a flash and an explosion of metal, I found myself stumbling on the slippery ground in front of me; the whispers told me that it was time for the choosing.

Trick Shot Minor Perk will be promoted. Choose one of the following Perks to be added to it:

Shadow Slip:

Transferring, you free yourself of every binding that impedes your freedom.

Shadow's Wake:

For one second after your transfer, you blend in the environment, invisible to every type of eye.

With a Boom:

Your transfer comes with an explosion of ice shards.

Now that I had finished the free ticket of my ability choosing, I was forced to actually choose.

Again, Shadow's Wake was situational, and it did not suit me.

With a Boom was a nice ability to disrupt the enemy, but the damage it dealt was low, and I would have to get close and personal; it disrupted my fighting style more than added to it.

Shadow Slip, was situational just like Shadow's Wake, but it was a certainty. Also, it did not specify from which types of binding I would be freed. So it really meant every binding.

There were many types of binding, but the ones I was afraid of the most was, indeed, Tracking.

That was one of the nastiest ones to have.

I just had to realize that to be sure of my choice.

Now all that was left for me to do was get rid of those two guards; even with only my trusted Spectre's Dignity, it would be child's play.

It took me five minutes to reach the correct spot of the overhanging below which the warriors were standing guard.

I could see them as if it was morning.

I turned the rocks I had prepared in my hand; they needed to be heavy enough for the wind to not disrupt their course, then I dropped one first and another soon after.

They were headed right on top of the guards' heads, yet they were not meant for the killing. I would be the one taking that honor.

When I felt the pull of the first one, I let myself through; my knife dug into the poor man's skull as if he was made of butter; then I disappeared even before the second guard had understood what happened and reappeared barely a meter above him.

My knife cut along his spine as I dropped right on top of him, stealing the air from his lungs.

When I removed my knife and the metal hand I had placed on his mouth, I could see him suffocate in a death rattle that was prolonging itself too much, so I put a close to that torture by perforating his heart.

When I got up, I peeked into the dark cave; no one had witnessed, nobody was there, so I dusted myself and turned in Nova and Aishas' direction.

You've earned 41825 + 42236 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next TechnoHunter level: 139,876/380,000

When I appeared from behind the rocks, a wide-eyed Aisha raised her hand, ready to burst Flow at me.

"Loke!" She shrilled even though she shouldn't have.

I hummed, "That was not the warmest of welcome backs, even by your standards. But, yeah, it's me."