Shouts down the hall grew louder. The whizzes and odd whurrs were definitely echoes of magic.

Determination pumped through Nico, but he calmed himself down. He had to be careful. If it was the murderer, they would surely recognize him.

Even if he was able to jump them in the middle of a fight, the killer was at least a full practitioner class above him. He had a few ideas for that, but nothing completely certain. His ability worked furiously in the undercurrents of his mind for possible solutions. This situation wasn’t completely hopeless.

Nico did have one thing to his advantage.

They wouldn't know that the portal to Earth had closed behind them outside the obelisk. Their only way out was now locked, unless they had a scroll for a portal. But the fact that they were still using his sigil as a sort of thread for their leyline meant that they needed the original portal to get out.

That also meant that they couldn't kill him, or else his sigil would be completely useless and leave them stranded. But that didn't mean that they couldn’t beat the ever-loving soul out of him. Either way, it wasn’t the time for stupid mistakes.

As he walked down the hall, he saw giant indentations on the sides above him. Within the stone were what looked like intricate spell arrays. The air seemed to thicken with every step down the hall..

Nico admired the formations in wonder.

Practitioners back on Earth were so quick to hide their theories, which was why they used invisible ink as the standard. And yet, here was a practitioner so secure in their power and knowledge that they used spell formations as mere set pieces.

Whoever made this tower spent a lifetime just expanding their theories enough to put on the walls. Nico envied that. He still had hundreds of more theories to test with his ability when he finally had the time, if he somehow survived this crazy day.

He was suddenly reminded of the martial arts schools in Asia that would practice their martial arts at night so other schools wouldn't steal techniques. Thousands of years later, mixed martial arts came in to blend all of those ideas and schools of thought into a deadly form of combat. Nico stopped to take a breath and saw his stamina bar was going down even further. Even though he was out of breath he huffed, "I'm gonna be the god damn Bruce Lee of spellcraft. Take what is useful and discard what is not useful."

[Due to the foreign magic pressure your magic is lowering significantly. This will be translated as a debuff to your MP.]

Nico stared at the notification. He looked around, and saw that the air seemed to thicken further down the hall. This wasn’t just magic pressure. It was a trap.

He was an idiot. Of course the giant obelisk with monsters, magical barriers, and puzzles had traps. Why wouldn’t it? This was practically a video game dungeon.

"As long as this place doesn't have snakes. I hate snakes," he joked darkly. After a deep breath, he put his hands on his knees to keep himself from tipping over from exhaustion. He said, "Calculate new magical pressure by distance in yards and degradation of my MP."

[MP lowers every 20 yards.]

Just from where he stood, the magical pressure proved overwhelming if he stayed there for more than ten minutes. Time to back pedal and figure this out.

Nico turned around,and started walking back up so that way the magical pressure wouldn't crush him.

A wall of fire erupted, almost grazing his nose and blocking his path backwards.

Nico froze still, and the fire wall dissipated. “Message received.”

He was reminded of adventure shows he saw as a child. They trained him to look around for any odd color stones that might trigger another trap. With his stamina depleting he said, "Scan area for spell formations or any other traps."

A window appeared showing that the only spell formations in the area that his ability could find were the ones that were on the wall. Any traps that he activated by going back were ones he couldn't break the product barrier for their information or they were incredibly well hidden.

Nico gave each of the spell formations on the walls their own unique window, and spread them out across his vision.

This must've been another test like like the spell formation to enter the obelisk tower. The problem was, different theories and schools of thought were too numerous to count. In the spell formations didn't seem to have any kind of pattern between them. One look like came from ancient Nordic fighting Vikings. Another look like it was a offshoot of Shintoism. Each one of the spell formations were different. But as he looked at them for a few seconds longer he felt he could see a few similarities. It was then he realized that his mind at spotting magical patterns was much faster than it ever been before. That must've been his ability.

He moved the Windows he rearranged the windows until the similarities were near each other and overlapped.

"I was right. It’s some sort of trap,” he murmured. “Or a test, maybe instructions."

[Your MP is at 20%.]

He needed to hurry

Think, dammit. At the rate his magic and stamina drained, he had about 10 minutes before they reached zero. For practitioners, magic was intrinsically linked to their physiology. He couldn't separate MP drainage and its effect on his stamina. The less magic he had, the more tired he was going to be

He had to figure this out or he else he'd pass out.

"Combine spell formation with modifications to Gallahad’'s Control formation. Calculate as many possible spell formulas with a percentage of working beyond eighty five percent.”

The windows rush together in a blur, interlinking similarities based on different theories, ranging from the gemini of twin stars to the many words for snow in the Inuit language.

"Please work," Nico pleaded.

Instantly, he was shown five new arrays using the formations on the wall as modifications inside with Gallahad's Control Formation.

Wait. What?

The only formations that had a possibility of working meant using an entire formation as a modification? Was that even possible?

“It’s not like I have much choice,” he said, then tried four of the formations. They didn’t work.

With the final one, it required two MP. He only had four MP left.

His vision was beginning to fade as the formation that used formations as modifiers sucked up his magic. The blue and green bars in his HUD vision halted their dwindling.

Nico plopped his butt to the ground, tired.

To his surprise, his MP and Stamina were replenishing faster than before. Why?

He looked down, and the answer was right there. The formation he created. It somehow replenished his magic faster than before. If his MP could regenerate at various speeds, then it could technically be its own stat. Well, anything could be a stat if he wanted it to be.

Nico said, "Create a new stat based on the regeneration of my MP, labeled as MP Regen."

Another window appeared showing his new stat labeled with the number three. Right on.

Nico took a few minutes to let his MP regenerate to 20% within the new formation. When satisfied, he walked down to the end of the hall. The fighting had gotten severely louder. He peeked around the corner of the corridor. His Auto-Scan detected a new magical barrier.

[Magical barrier identical to one that you saw earlier. Spell class 0. Your sigil not located within the barrier.]

That was annoying. They must have erected this barrier recently, after the first one at the entrance was bypassed.

If it was the same kind of barrier as before and erected by the same person, then Nico should have had a pretty easy time getting past it. Looking at it now and analyzing the energy output, he was able to see that this one is a little bit different.

At the corner of each wall of the hall was a spell formation that powered and controlled the barrier. It made the barrier twice as strong and more efficient.

From how the magic flowed linearly, Nico guessed it was a West Coast style of magic. It acted more like a net than a shield. Now that he had a firm grasp of the theory, he didn’t have to create an entirely new counter spell. Altering the energy flow with his own formation would be enough, like adding lines of code to a program.

At least, that was the theory. Nico had never fiddled with someone else's magical barrier before.

Since he knew a little bit about West Coast magical theory, he was able to calculate a new spell formation within a few seconds. It would have been nice if he could alter the current arrays, but that wasn’t possible for this setup. He drew another spell formation next to it that wouldn't completely counter the barrier but would allow him to reposition the energy flow. His power extended into the spell formation and connected to the foreign magic.

The lines in the net grew thinner. The holes in the net converged into a hole wide enough for one for Nico Kanazawa to step through. When he did, the barrier closed back together since he could no longer provide the MP for his formation.

Nico entered what seemed like a vast meeting hall from the fantasy novels he read as a child.

A party of three mages fighting skeletal warriors battled in the center of the hall. One had an intricate looking bow with a glowing string and glowing arrows. Another was a large man with a beard, wearing plated armor. He weilded both his mace and shield as weapons. Finally, there was a young woman with blue hair cut in a pixie style, and blue robes with runic inscriptions. She stood on top of several spell formations jumping between each one to cast different spells.

Nico more mumbled to himself, hiding behind a giant pillar, "So we’ve got a magic archer, a tank, and healer who seems to give buffs."

They seemed completely focused on their fight, and probably wouldn't venture to turn around in the opposite direction to see him. He needed to be careful. These people were potential enemies. They were fighting what looked like undead skeletal warriors with various weapons.

Before his birthday, the only members of the Grey Dead Nico had encountered were the haunts. The slimes were more of an annoyance than a real danger, but these skeletal warriors? That was a different story.

If the trio of practitioners lost, Nico could just double back to the barrier. He wasn’t quite sure he could handle a dozen sword-wielding undead. It was time to see if they were the ones who framed him.

“Examine the group for my sigil with no more than five MP,” Nico whispered.

[Your sigil cannot be found on any of the practitioners.]

Nico felt a wave of disappointment and relief. He wanted to find his killer, but he also felt too tired to try to fight them. On top of that, these people might be willing to help him if he gave his side of the story.

He migrated to a closer pillar, making sure to keep a low profile. Auto-Scan confirmed he had never met these people. He invested two more MP for his Scan, hoping they wouldn’t have defenses for divination or were too busy dealing with the Grey Dead.

Numbers calculating possible power outputs in the form of MP floated with each spell they released. Jesus Christ. They were dishing out cantrip and first class spells like they were nothing. These people were an entire class of power above Nico, and each could handle a full on mage of the Union. From the way they worked together, they might be skilled enough to take on a warlock-class practitioner.

The armored battle-magician and the archer were clearly adept because they didn't need spell formations to summon spells. But their support magician, despite obviously having at least twice as much MP as Nico, needed formations to cast her spells. Despite that, she was healing them with good timing.

"They've been working with each other for a while," Nico guessed.

With a quick Measure, he saw he was only just above fifty yards away from them.

The young woman froze. She looked to her left. Down the hall, a swarm of slime ate through a magical barrier. She cursed. Unfortunately her attention was focused back on her comrades, barely healing one of the stab wounds to the magic archer in time so he could recover

The slimes were fast, and by the time she looked at them again they attached themselves to her feet, locking her in place and siphoning her magic. Nico stepped forward to help, but hesitated.

Sure, she was in trouble and they didn't have his magic sigil attached to their formations, but could still treat her as a threat. He was sure the last thing they would have expected was another person in these halls.

The woman winced and cried out, trying to cast a spell, but she looked completely drained. Her glowing hands shook, trying to eake out a spell, but fizzled out too quickly.

“She doesn’t have enough magic to cast a spell,” Nico said. “Dammit.”

Before he could think about it any longer, he found himself running toward the woman with his exhausted legs. He skidded on the ground next to the slime and quickly drew his new Ectoplasmic Binding formation without bothering to trace it. The formation was probably at half the efficiency without the tracing, but he didn’t have time. Nico poured power in the formation.

The slimes twisted and were sucked into the formation, filling up its inner circle to a complete blue glow before fading to marker-black.

A shadow loomed over him. One of the skeletal warriors lifted a hammer and brought it down toward Nico’s skull.

Someone’s arm shield smashed into the skeleton, halting its attack.

The shield belonged to the large bearded man in plated armor. He lifted his mace to attack Nico but hesitated, confused by the scene.

“Did he hurt you, sis?” The warrior asked.

The healer shook her head. Good.The bearded man now knew that Nico had saved the woman. The warrior turned back around, and fought the skeleton, too busy to deal with the newcomer.

Despite the exchange, the pixie-haired healer a spell at Nico’s face. Before Nico could defend himself, a cry from the battle caught her attention. A dagger lodged into the shoulder of the magic archer. The woman snapped her spell hand from Nico to the archer and stamped her foot on one of the spell formations to the side. White light sparked from her fingertips, and covered the archer.

“Now!” She yelled.

“I know, dammit!” The magic archer grunted, and pulled out the dagger with a pained scream. The wound closed instantly.

Nico got up as a skeletal warrior slipped past the bearded mace-wielding mage. It thrusted the rusty sword at Nico.

The human warrior roared, and smashed the skeleton’s skull into pieces. The skeleton collapsed to the floor. The mage-fight yelled to Nico, “I don't know who the hell you are but thanks for saving my sister.”

He turned back around to fight two more skeletons that entered his weapon’s range.

“Sure thing man,” Nico replied, waving a tired hand. He scanned the members of the Grey Dead for two MP. Above each skeleton displayed their general health and stamina. Some were losing their health, while others gained it from a skeletal mage far behind the rows of undead. Different parts of different bones in each skeleton were highlighted to show glowing areas. Those were probably their spirit shards.

“That worked?”Nico exclaimed. He didn't think he would get such useful information from that scan.

Behind the skeletons were more skeleton bodies on the ground that were broken up. AT the center of the littered bodies stood a skeletal mage with a black robe. Where its eyes would have been were malicious red glows. Its bony hands erupted into green lights as it barked out a harsh invocation in a language Nico had never heard before. Next to it a notification window appeared from Nico’s earlier Scan.

[83% chance skeletal mage is summoning and re-binding fallen skeletal warriors to at least 60% HP.]

Oh shit. He had to warn the trio.

"Hey,” he yelled. “You have to focus your attacks on the skeletal mage right now or else it will bring the fallen skeletons back again!" Nico said. "I can try to hold the others off but only for a second!"

The healer and the warrior were too busy with their own skeletal soldiers to pay him any mind.

Nico took that as an opportunity to draw on the ground. He calculated a new modification for the ice wall spell he had formed earlier during the apprentice exam. The modification changed its axis from horizontal to vertical. It was a surprisingly more complex modification than he expected.

He slammed his hand on the spell formation as soon as finished tracing it. Warmth flooded Nico as twenty one MP drained out of him and into the array.

Nico collapsed to the ground on his knees, exhausted by the sudden drop in magical power.

A sheet of ice erupted out of the spell formation and crawled fast as lightning on the ground towards the skeletal soldiers. The ice floor lifted them from the ground. Their smooth bones couldn’t grip the ice. They slipped and fell on their backs.

Nico sucked in a hard breath to regain some of his strength, and smiled at the result. His ability couldn’t make his spells any stronger so far. Instead, Measure helped lower the cost of the spells and provided near-limitless versatility. All it required was a quick mind.

The magic archer’s head whipped around, his eyes wide staring at Nico. The plated warrior and the healer stopped to stare at him too.

Nico shook his head and yelled, "What the hell are you doing? Kill the mage!"

The plated warrior and the magic archer hesitated.

All the time Nico bought them went to waste. The skeletal mage released its green spell. The broken pieces of undead scattered across the floor pulled together in a horrific swirl of death aura. Their mishmashed parts formed into new and fresh skeletal warriors.

[Re-bound skeletal soldiers. 65% health.]

The fighter and the archer turned back around, and raised their weapons at the newly risen skeletons.

"God dammit!" Growled the warrior. "We should've listened to the kid."

"Just hold the damn line!" Barked the archer.

The healer's legs wobbled, and she barely released her spell. It covered her friends’ bodies in a green light, but much dimmer than her previous spells.

"That was probably her last spell," Nico said. With their skill and power, the trio should have been able to cast first-class spells for hours. How long had they been fighting this undead mage for?

The woman collapsed to one knee and fought to stay standing, but failed. Nico shouldered her up. She gave him a bewildered look.

"You can trust me!" Nico assured her. "But you’ve run out of magic. I can make her spell formation more efficient so it requires less power to cast."

The healer looked confused. Nico didn’t blame her. So much was happening at once, and he was a complete stranger to them.

The archer and the warrior were barely fighting off the undead mages' skeletal soldiers. Still, the magic archer managed to yell out, "Don't listen to him, Vera!"

The warrior bashed his shield into the face into the skull of one of the warriors which broke apart into a pile of bones once more. He growled, "No time for your paranoia, Chris! He saved my sister."

Vera looked at Nico, her whole body shaking with exhaustion. She gave him a weary smile and nodded. “Keith is right. Trust won't matter if we're all dead."

Even in her exhausted and confused state, she still saw that she had no options and was willing to trust him. Nico admired that. He realized then that he’d been yelling the whole time with panic from the fight, so he purposely calmed his voice down and gave her as warm of a smile as he could in that situation.

“I can help,” he said.

“What do you need from me?”

Nico pulled out his black marker and uncapped it. "I know that your magic comes from the west coast school of thought. A lot of that comes from hippy magic in the seventies, and the memories you summon are based on love. That's why you're able to cast spells as a support class for your friends so quickly."

The woman blinked. "How the hell did you know that?"

Nico ignored her. “Listen. I don't need you to tell me your entire school's way of thinking or any theories like that. I have enough information to go off of. Trust me as part of my ability."

He pointed to different aspects and features of her spell array. “Just tell me what these modifications do. This line looks like it's sweeping up towards an endless cloud. I get that. But what about these alchemical symbols? They seem to contradict the patterns of change here and here.."

Vera looked half in wonder and half frightened. "Uhm. They are used for converting death magic into life," she said without hesitation, as if she had practiced orating this theory in front of her master for years.

Nico nodded. The alchemical changes didn’t act as a guide for the magic, but as a catalyst for enhanced change. It was a brilliant method, really. If he survived this whole mess of a day, he promised himself to test that theory out himself.

He whispered quietly enough so Vera wouldn’t hear. "Absorb spell formation and calculate for maximum efficiency to lower the cost of magic power.."

As Nico let his ability do the math and theory crafting for him, he wasted no time. He opened a new window with the MP Regeneration Formula he had just discovered by passing the trial on the hallway. He dropped the window to the ground and traced it perfectly. Nico pointed at it and said to the woman, “Step inside here, and your magic power should regenerate quickly."

Still confused, Vera stepped in the array and her eyes widened. A subtle pressure whirled towards her, and she glowed a little with power.

Nico let out a sigh of relief. He was glad the formation worked on somebody else rather than just him.

[New spell formation acquired. Accompanying spell unable to recreate due to insufficient knowledge.]

[Spell formation efficiency increased from original. Minor penalty for insufficient knowledge of proper vocal inflection for summoning.]

Dammit. He should've asked for the invocation. It didn't matter. Even if she had provided the words, he wouldn’t have had the practice to enunciate the intonations and rhythm properly.

He put in a new window and drew the formation large enough for the woman to step in on the ground. It looked fairly similar to her own array, which was drawn next to it in what looked like paint. He said, “How’s your magic?”

A little color returned to her face. Vera nodded, "I should have enough for one more spell."

“Good step in here. Just do what you always do, nothing different,” he ordered. They didn’t have much time. Whatever enhancement spell she had cast on her friends before had faded. Their movements were sluggish and tired. They would soon be overwhelmed.

Vera hurried did as she was told. She spoke the words to her spell in a guttural sing-song. Forest-green light erupted out of her like thick vines. Nico made sure to Scan the moment and file away her vocal inflections for later. He might be able to incorporate some of the spell for himself.

The forest-green light washed outward, and even collided into Nico. He felt what he could only describe as life energy coursing through him. His senses sharpened, and he felt less tired. To his surprise, a new window opened to reveal several of his stats increasing by at least five percent..

From the look on Vera’s face, she probably hadn’t expected her spell to flow so easily, and accidentally involved Nico in the enhancement spell. If so, the buffs he received were unintended and would pale in comparison to the ones Chris and Keith got.

Nico stepped into the MP Regeneration circle she was just into to recover his own power. He canceled his passive Auto-Scan to maximize the regeneration. Before the ability was cancelled, he received a new window.

[Including the vocal inflection penalty, you have increased the effectiveness of Vera’s enhancement spell formation from 23% to 72%.]

Nico's jaw dropped. He had more than doubled not only the efficiency but the output of her spell. But with ten more undead soldiers and a skeletal mage left to deal with, he felt uncomfortable just sitting on the sideline.

Heico focused his attention on the skeletal mange and said, “Examine with five MP!"

[Soul energy linked to bone in the right rib cage]

In Nico's vision, a blue light glowed exactly where skeletal mage’s soul shard was embedded.

"It's soul is connected to the right part of its rib cage!" Nico informed the trio. "That's how you defeat it! And for the love of god, don’t hesitate this time!"

The thick necked mace-wielding warrior slammed his arm shield into a group of skeletons all at once. They seemed to burst apart into separate pieces. It must have been some kind of spell, or more likely, a spell formation that redirected some energies.

Keith the warrior didn't stop there. He used that momentum and leaped forward with unnatural fluidity and speed, arcing his mace toward the skeletal mage’s rib cage, right where Nico had said.

The skeletal mage tried to summon another spell to stop the warriors attack. Sickly green light shone. Keith’s giant, armored framed block Nico's vision to see if his mace connected before the mage summoned the magic shield in time.

The skeletal mage was hurtled back at least twenty yards, but still standing.

It cracked a venomous grin.

A magic arrow traced the air and changed direction multiple times in an unpredictable pattern. It pierced the right rib cage and it exploded.

The skeletal mage screeched out an ear splitting cry as the rib cage bone broke apart like shattering glass. The red light within the skull of the red of the skeletal mage dimmed out, and the skeletal mage collapsed to the floor, lifeless.

Nico breathed out a sigh of relief, as he Scanned for two MP, and saw no signs of it coming back up. He wanted to collapse, as the day's events had seeped into his bones, but he knew his Scan wasn't a perfect way to get information.

The trio of mages seemed to know their way around undead way more than he did. His throat parched, he asked "Is it really dead?"

Before Nico had time to react, magic archer Chris, lifted his bow, pulled back the glowing string, and released an arrow that appeared out of nowhere with a practiced ease. His shirt jerked, and his torso was thrown back by the sudden momentum.

Nico collided to the ground, pinned to the stone floor with an arrow stuck in his shirt sleeve near his neck. Ouch. Damn that was good aim. He winced from the pain in his shoulder.

"Nice way of saying thanks." Nico groaned. He added. “Asshole.”

Chris loomed forward and didn't seem to be in a joking mood. He lifted his bow again at Nico, and the others didn't seem to want to stop him. Vera looked concerned but not entirely conflicted. Her brother Keith seemed too tired to give his own input yet.

Chris growled, "How did you get past our barrier? Who are you with?"

Nico sighed. He had expected this somewhat. He could feel some of his magical energy coming back since he was still in his MP Regeneration Formula. He checked in his top left of his vision and focused on his HUD. His blue MP bar crawled back up at a steady rate. The more he talked, the more time he could buy. If the situation got worse, at least he had a couple escape plans to try to get out of there.

But he refrained himself from casting any spells just yet. He sensed that would not be wise at the moment. The last thing he wanted to do was raise any more suspicion on himself.

He kept his voice as calm and friendly as possible. "Isn’t it tradition to buy someone dinner before you try to get them on their back?"

The magic archer pulled back the string tighter. “I don’t have time for jokes.”

Vera stepped between Nico and the magic archer. She pleaded, "Chris don't do this. He helped save our lives."

Keith dropped his mace,put his hand on the archer’s shoulders, and shook his head wearily. Chris did not seem swayed and kept his grip on his magic arrow tight.

Nico gave a thin smile to the healer and the warrior. At least someone there wasn't a complete jerk. He said, “Hey, I know I'm pretty threatening here with my scrawny body pinned to the ground with no weapons and outnumbered three to one, but I’m willing to overlook that fact so we could start over. I'm Nico Kanazawa graphic designer at your service."

He extended his free hand and waved with a cheerie, if albeit exhausted smile.

The warrior grunted, "Graphic designer?"

Nico flashed him a grin. "I make a mean logo."

Chris lowered his bow, and the arrow in his hand vanished. He slapped away his friend’s hand on his shoulder, and snarled, "He could be the one who tripped Vera's protection spell earlier. If that hadn’t happened, we wouldn't have been ambushed by the skeletons before we were ready!"

Vera noted, "That’s not possible. He came in from the entranceway. The barrier that broke earlier was down the hall a few rooms ago, through that corridor."

Nico was glad someone was defending him, but he found it odd he was surprisingly calm about the situation. Was it because of his new ability?. It wasn't just calm. He felt oddly confident.

In their exchange, he learned something important. They did not recognize his name when he gave it.

That was good. That meant they weren't associated with the ones who framed him. For some reason, he had envisioned the person who framed him to be a single person up until he saw the three fighting. He was glad that he wouldn't have to fight three people who outclassed him in a full practitioner class.

Nico’s eyelids were getting heavy, and his stamina bar was dwindling. "Is this going to take long? I’m really tired. It's been a rough day."

The healer gave him a disappointed look, but Nico saw the edge of her lips quirk up into a smile.

Her brother slapped his palm to his forehead and groaned, "Please stop talking, man. We are trying to save your life."

The archer threw his hands up in the air, clearly exasperated. He said, "Who cares who he is. We could kill him here and no one would stop us. Mortal laws don't apply in the Next Over."

The fact that Vera and her brother didn't balk at someone mentioning murdering a human in cold blood gave Nico pause. Had they done this before? They could kill him here and no one back on Earth would know. He hadn't considered that.

The situation felt tense, but he found himself saying, "You wouldn't kill a man on his birthday would you?"

They ignored him. Vera shot Chris a glare, and said, “I don't care what you say. I trust him. Nico was it?”

The warrior leaned on the handle of his mace. "I think I heard of you before. Nico...Why does this sound familiar?"

Nico tensed. Had he heard about the red-list? It wouldn't matter if they weren't the murderer if they found out that Nico was red-listed. Any trust that he had gained with them in the past few minutes would evaporate in an instant. Then, their archer would have every reason to kill him.

Before Nico could say anything, Keith said, "Ah! I remember. You’re that one guy on the East Coast in New York State with the crazy modifications right?"

"Y-yes?" Nico stuttered. He had not expected that. How the hell did someone from the West Coast here about someone like him? He hadn’t even passed his apprentice exam.

"Oh yeah," Vera added. Some of the Holds on the West Coast caught wind of your mods from a hearth holder.”

“Fujin?” Nico asked.”

“Yeah,” Vera continued. “Apparently, you gained a reputation for banishing haunts using wacky modifications to elementary arrays. Some of the Holds near us were thinking about sending an invitation for you to try out for our apprentice exam."

They had? Nico was just a nobody. For years, he operated on the belief that he was nobody hedge-practitioner. And now here he was, an entire world away with people from the opposite side of the country claiming they heard about his modifications.

Well. Thanks Fu.

"So you're saying he might be useful," the archer muttered, still unhappy. "Fine. But if he does anything suspicious, I'll kill him before consulting you."

Nico let out a breath he did not know he had been holding. “So, uh, what does this mean?”

The archer walked over to the side of the room where a bunch of backpacks leaned against the stone wall. Nico guessed they were trying to rest when they were attacked.

Vera said, "It means that it’s time for me to put up some defensive spells and rest. That means you can too."

"We can rest for a few hours, barring no one trips our barriers again,” Chris stated in a leader-like tone. “We’re on the last of our rations, so eat up. We’ve been here for a couple of days, and with the time dilation difference between both worlds, we should be reporting back to our Hold within twenty four hours.”

Keith started pulling out some hunks of dried meat and a couple bottles of water. Nico stared at the hunks of dried meat in the warrior's hands, and felt his stomach twist. Even though it had only been that morning since he had eaten, he was starving.

Vera bent down and hovered a hand over Nico. She murmured in a language he didn't recognize, chanting in a singsong voice as her fingers danced in an intricate and purposeful pattern. Nico tried to memorize and understand what she was doing, but couldn't nail down what the theory of her magic was.

Energy trickled into him like drops of rain. His Stamina bar in the top left of his vision rose by about ten percent. But that only reminded him how exhausted he really was.

The archer sipped from a bottle of water, and walked over to Nico. He waved his hand, and the magical arrow pinning Nico down vanished. Chris’ expression grew serious.. "It's time you answer my questions."

Nico didn't bother getting up. In fact, he sprawled his hands out and let his body go limp. His eyelids went heavy as a steel door, and didn’t feel inclined to open them, not that he had the energy left to do so. He muttered, “I’d love to, Mr. Discount Robinhood, but I need to take a nap."

Chris shouted at him, but the darkness muffled out his voice and took Nico like a warm blanket.