It had been a few days since I had found my stability with the others.

I had kept training Nova, whose Flow Shield we Promoted to level 3.

☆☆☆ Flow Shield - Willpower

(Eligible for Promotion)

☆ Summon a strong Shield of Flow, much less Stamina consumption

Your Shields explode damaging, everything around you and weakening your attackers; you can trigger the explosion

Willpower + 12;

☆ Flow defends you from attacks;

Flow Shield

Durability: 100%

Flow Capacity: 100%

Flow Density: 400

Strengths: Offers a good defense

Weaknesses: medium Stamina consumption

This Flow Shield has been conjured by Nova Nightfold.

Given the inherent qualities of Flow, it is heavily resistant to Shade.

When it shatters, the attackers are thrown back, and a weakening debuff is applied to them.

Her Passive had also noticeably increased; now, Flow moved around her and intercepted incoming attacks if she focused on them.

It annoyed me a little that the Passive didn't seem to really be a Passive, but maybe with a few Promotions, it would be able to intercept incoming attacks automatically.

It was in no way as strong as her Shield, but it did not weigh on her Stamina.

I couldn't Trace it, but I could guess that the weird shapes that formed around her when she focused on her Passive could have up to fifty points of Flow Density.

Also, she had used her second to last Dark Crystal to Promote her Shield to level 3 and her last one to get it to level 4, which was currently underway. The Major perk required two hundred thousand points, though. So I thought it was better if she raised it the hard way. Or my Spectre’s Dignity might break before I had destroyed enough of her Shield to level it up.

Now, I rested on a stretcher Logan had placed in the hall.

And while the others had left for Dungeon delving, only Nova had been left behind; she wanted to speed my healing up the very moment they brought me up from the basement.

Harlow had injected me with their sleeping drug. And I could already feel it working its way to my head.

"Is it really necessary? Can't I just take the clock-arm and go?"

"Loke, you're not really gonna feel anything, but once we'll be done, you'll be thankful about the prize and the stats," Harlow said.

She looked damn beautiful in her white apron.

Still, I had no idea why doctors and medics wore white aprons; I never really understood the reason. Wouldn't it be better to wear darker colors? It wouldn't show the amount of blood their patients had lost, wouldn't it?

Or was it some sort of symbol of pride? The fewer traces of blood, the better they were?

Oh, how would I know? The only thing I cared about right now was touching Harlow's face; I knew I shouldn't have, not in front of Logan, but the drug was acting up, I would soon depart for dreamy land, and then they would bring me down the basement.

It had been a while since I got near it. But I wished to stay the Abyss away from that place. Every time I got too close, Sixth Sense started flaring up a bit.

"I love you, you know…" I said, just like that, out of the blue.

Harlow became redder than her curly hair.

Logan spat from the laughter, but he didn't seem to care much about it. I doubted he hadn't noticed our relationship already.

How would he have failed to? In a crowd of one hundred people, Logan would be the smartest among them, and the same could be said if those people increased to one thousand… ten thousand… and… one hundred thousand… and… what came after that? Oh, whatever… he was smart…

And I was definitely, definitely about to fall asleep.

I could only notice Harlow getting closer to my ear then.

"Sweet dreams, Loke… I love you too," she whispered.

Then my eyes closed; I was sure I had a dumb smile on my face by then.

I woke up in a world of darkness, my world of darkness.

The Sun, which I now knew was really the Sun… or at least, so it said, was staring at me.

"We put our eyes on him too, you know?" The Sun said.

"What? On who? What are you even talking about?" I asked.

Surprisingly, I felt perfectly fine. Not even drowsy. I felt… normal.

"Your friend, Logan."

"Oh, well, he's damn good at what he does."

"Yeah, although he was almost as driven as you, we didn't really like the way he did things. You are different, perfect for our needs."

"Yeah, about that. You never really spoke to me about them."

"Why? Do you really want to know?"

"Of course, I would. It's my life we're talking about here. No, it's mine and my sister's."

The Sun laughed.

"It’s still too soon for that, Loke. If I told you now, as you are, you would piss your pants, or even worse, try to start now. You'd fail, and we would have to wait who knows how many cycles before we got another such chance."

"Listen, Sun, Flow, or whatever you like to be called… My sister needs to stay out of this."

It chuckled—the damn Sun chuckled.

"No, Loke. You are one and only; you need to work together, the confluence of your existences and the events you could bring forth fail if we only support one of you."

I sighed an angry sigh. I was more than sick of the bullshit.

"Let's change the topic, okay?"

"Sure, sure. Tell me, how's the weather? It's still chilly, right?"

"What? Yeah, it is—Wait! I didn't mean that…" He was going to drive me mad…

"Then what would you like to talk about, Loke?"

"I want to talk about you. Who are you, really? And don't answer with Flow, the Sun, or some other bullshit… I want to know who or what you really are."

"You want to know if I'm the God the Tales of the Abyss speak of?"

"Yeah… that." I had no idea what he was talking about, but I could go with the flow.

"Then, of course, we are their God. There's always one of us identified as good while the other is identified as bad. Shade had the idea of going forward with edifying the Abyss as you saw fit, or was it me? I can't really tell. We are not one anymore, but we are only. Our difference lies in your ideas of us."

"Alright, alright, you're starting to lose me… So, the Abyss, it's real?"

"The Abyss, the Hell, the Heavens. Your kind created it. It was born by your collective wills when we were still one and only. Now, these Realms lie dormant, separated by the Physical Realm, but they are still very much real. Maybe one day…"

"Maybe one day?"

"Maybe one day… I'll tell you more about it, now though, it's about time you woke up. They've done what they needed to do to you. Just so you know, whatever he does is useless; only your will can bring forth Skills, direct intervention can't do so. Indirect intervention though, that, does actually have an effect."

"What? Wait, I don't want to wake up! I've still got too much to ask you!"

"You will. One day you might be able to ask until you'll have finished each and every single one of your questions. Now wake up. And, it's been a pleasure, Loke."

I woke up feeling slightly sick… as if I had… As if I had stared too long into the Abyss, as they used to say.

"Lokey Loke? How do you feel?" Nova asked.

"Hey… little monkey… how do I feel? Not bad, not bad… but how do I look?"

"Like a very weird Rag-troll."

"That bad, eh?"

"Nah… you're always the best," she said, hugging me.

Ever since she had healed me up in that grotto, Nova had become even sweeter with me than she was before.

I raised my hands to hug her and noticed the absence of my left arm.

"Oh, right. They're waiting for your shoulder implant to recover before implanting the clock-arm. It's the heaviest you've had, by far."

The arm was on the table nearby, partially covered by a cloth.

SolarTitanium Clock-Arm

Durability: 100%

Bonus: Strength + 105, Constitution + 135

Flow Capacity: 0%

Strengths: Great attack power, Enormous defense

Weaknesses: None

This Clock-arm has been produced by an Ultimate Tinker Class. Its attack power is directly tied to the maximum Strength with which it can hit before starting to receive internal damage. Its defense is accounted for by the in-built Buckler.

The Clock-arm is made with SolarTitanium, the same material from which the Sunguards' armors are made.

Yeah, it was the one I had seen months ago.

It was still a little too big for me, but I could grow into it, after all. I had grown in these past months.

Loke Nightfold, TechnoHunter Level 43 (278,134/430,000), Red Tamer Level 37 (205,844/370,000)

Health: 89%

Stamina: 195%

Agility: 15

Constitution: 15

Strength: 17

Focus: 19

Perception: 27

Willpower: 35

Strengths: Mind, Aim, Willpower

Weaknesses: Clock-arm

Class Skills: Trick Shot III (Agility), Technomantic Body (Constitution), Hunting Tactics (Focus), Trace III (Perception)

Sub-Class Skills: Frenzy (Strength), Return to Nature (Focus), Animal Instincts II (Perception), Together we are One (Willpower)

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Height: 177 cm

Weight: 67 kg

Age: 17

Origins: Unknown, Murkstall

Family: Eleanor Nightfold, Faris Nightfold, Nova Nightfold

My muscle mass had been recovering in the past few days, but if I wished to grow any taller, I would have to keep pushing Constitution.

Doing my calculations, I knew that if I pushed my Constitution up to twenty, I would not have enough to reach thirty points of Perception. I didn't know if it precluded Classes or anything, but it wasn't like I actually cared at this point.

My power came from the very first Skill I had developed when I became a Hunter, and for now, it had always been the one on which I had counted for attack and defense: Trick Shot.

I didn't really need more powerful Skills; what I needed was… knowledge.

I knew that if I became a Clock-Engineer, I would be able to build more powerful devices that I could then recreate with Trick Shot… but that was not enough to increase the power output of my devices.

I needed to also be a Weaponsmith, a Demolitionist, or even a Ballistician… and those were all Tinker Classes. Even if it would ever come the time in which I switched my Sub-Class, that I was fairly sure I would never do, I could never switch my main Class; it defied the initial purpose.

There was still hope that I could unlock a Class Perk.

Logan had told me that some Classes came with Class Perks, while others were unlocked with determined Skills.

Who knew what Technomantic Body could bring forth? I certainly didn't, and Logan and Harlow refused to tell me in fear it would butcher my chances at gaining the next Major Perk, the one they were dreaming of studying.

So, I could really afford to spend a few more points on Constitution and maybe add another point to Focus, just so I could say I was really… focused on my job.

In the meanwhile, I took a look at the definitions of Constitution as the whispers defined it.

Constitution (Attribute)

Constitution (Basic): Measure of the individual's resilience/resistance against external and internal factors that affect their body. Constitution counts toward Health, Physical Defense, Ethereal Defense, and Flow/Shade Capacity. The higher the Constitution, the better the individual’s overall resilience. Constitution (Bonus): Skill-derived Constitution. It acts as a multiplicative factor for incrementing Basic Constitution. If not diversely specified, it does not stack with other sources of Constitution. Constitution (Class Bonus): Hybrid Constitution. It acts as Skill-derived Constitution until Class absorption, then it becomes Basic Constitution. Constitution (Augment): Equipment-derived Constitution. It works exactly as Basic Constitution. Constitution (Borrowed): Class Perk derived Strength. It counts as Skill-derived Constitution, but it can only get as high as the current maximum Class or Sub-Class level; if higher, only the maximum amount will be counted.

I checked the improvements it had brought on my Technomantic Body Passive Perk.

Technomantic Body (Skill)

Major Perk: Sealed Minor Perk: ★ Use Shade to consume tech-parts attached to implants or non-vital implants to cure or seal wounds that would otherwise heal by themselves. (Regrow bones, skin, muscles, regrown organs that can regenerate and reknit them, fix transfiguration problems) Passive Perk: Constitution bonus increases by 1 for each tech part present on the body (implants). Currently: Bonus Constitution + 23.

Well, Harlow was right. It was worth the little sacrifice.

Sixteen additional points of Bonus Constitution were good. If my hypothesis were right, it increased my Constitution by twenty-three percent.

Of course, twenty-three percent of fifteen was still not good enough; I definitely wanted to pump just a little bit more Basic Constitution into it.

My choice was set.

When I rested my eyes, Nova applied her healing on me.

The slight nausea that still lingered in me was slowly being rejected thanks to her Flowing hands. The same couldn't be said about my wounds. It would take quite some more healing to get them to the scab stage, which I knew from personal experience would mean that my healing was almost done.

When I felt Loki's whispers, I knew my companions were returning from their daily delving.

Loki has earned 1958 (x 16) + 7451 + 4085 (x 9) + 1258 + 761 (x 11) + 2158 (x 3) + 25807 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 340,000/340,000

Loki has reached level 35.

Agility + 4, Constitution + 2, Strength + 6, Willpower + 4

Loki has earned 75920 Soul Fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 75920/350,000

I didn't need to Trace him. If memory served me right, his new Attributes were:

Loki (Adult Golden Netherlion), (Titan), Level 35 (75920/350,000)

Health: 100%

Stamina: 85%

Agility: 59

Constitution: 59

Strength: 62

Focus: 42

Perception: 45

Willpower: 47

Strength: Bite, Claws, Dash, Phantasmic State, Senses

Weaknesses: None

Abilities: Fading Dash, Ghastly Senses, Phase

Indeed they reflected the environment in which he fought.

However, I was curious about something else, and I wanted to know how Aisha's first delving with the others had gone.

At day, she should have been a force of nature. So I got up, or for better say, I tried to.

"Loke! Where are you going! You can't get up now!"

"No?"

"No! They've cut through your bones to insert the implants. If you get up now, you might break something."

"They did what!?"

"Yes," answered Harlow entering just then through the door of her room.

Poor thing, we always stole her bed when we got hurt, not that she cared, still. It was a constant thing.

"It's part of the experiment."

Yeah, an experiment that would yield nothing. I recalled the conversation I had with the Sun perfectly. But I wasn't going to say, or I would have to explain many things that, frankly, I barely understood and believed myself.

Maybe… maybe there was someone with whom I could speak about this, it meant speaking with the enemy, well, an ex-enemy still, she might have known something I entirely ignored. It was actually really likely.

"Loke? Are you still there?" asked Harlow sitting near me.

"Yeah. Pay no attention to it. I was thinking about... my new Bonus," I answered, smiling like a fool.

She put her forehead on mine, "You haven't gotten any fever; it's just usual Loke being lost in his Tracing."

"Yup," Nova concurred.

I wondered if Nova had had this kind of conversation with the Moon as well.

Maybe they spoke of other things; she was by no means stupid but much younger than I.

Still, I needed to ask her one of these days.

A few minutes passed as Nova kept applying her healing until her forehead was covered in beads of sweat.

Then my companions came to visit me.

"How do you feel, Captain?"

"Rather good, how did it go? I'm curious."

"This little thing has been one Abyss of a monster," Alistar said, joining the room; he had his arm around Aisha's neck and was praising her a lot.

Roana had been a little distant since I had caught her doing her little game, but she was smiling.

"The Dungeon answered in kind to her addition. It wasn't like last time you and Nova were with us, but we got pretty close to that."

"Oh, yeah, about that," Alistar said, taking a chair and sloshing over it. He removed his armor as he spoke. "Horn's party said that-"

"Who?" Who was Horn now?

"The Kobolds party joining with us every now and then," Faruq answered.

"So, Horn said that the Dungeon answers in kind to the party's potential. He saw us last time, you know. When you and Nova were there."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He thought we were a party of maxed Advanced Class holders."

Logan entered the already cramped room as well.

We were now all officially in one room, all the Hillhouse inhabitants and guests.

"About that. I have done the maths about that Dungeon response. Even taking into consideration your abilities and Fortune Stars," he said, moving his sight from me to Nova, "It still doesn't justify the response."

"What does the City-girl have to say?" He added with a smirk.

"I know as much as you do, Mr. Logan. Also, the Golden Tower doesn't have such a heavy response to a party arrival. The Golden Sewers, which are the equivalent of Fallen Kingdom's rings, are constantly cleaned of dangerous creatures, but their response is still sporadic, at best. The aggressivity of these tech creatures was… well, way beyond anything I had fought before. So, sorry, I really can't help you there."

Logan nodded, "It seems it's going to be up to you to find out then."

"Then we shall find out!" Nova exclaimed.

We all turned to stare at her.

"What!? Aren't you excited that we are going to find out something nobody else knows anything about? Because I am!"