Things were moving far faster than Riza had anticipated. She knew she wasn’t going to be in the village for the rest of her life; she was just leaving it far sooner than expected.

And not entirely of her own volition, either.

She had been listening around—people liked to talk at her, it seemed—but kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to arouse suspicion, asking her pertinent questions, but she was also too embarrassed and nervous to talk. Life was so much easier being silent.

But people talked. She learnt a fair bit. No map, unfortunately; no one here was a cartographer and the most likely places there’d actually be a map of the surroundings weren’t areas she could get into easily.

The difficulty alone put her off any attempts.

What she had learnt, however, was still very useful. She was in the Droya province, the southest point of the Empire. What was further south than Droya? No one knew, apparently.

Moya and Toila were the two neighbouring provinces, both northwest and northeast respectively, and both larger than Droya.

Droya was relatively empty; just small and deserted villages dotted about the region. It was dominated by forests and mountains much like the caldera.

Moya, however, seemed to be more industrial. Many of the soldiers here seemed to come from there—many feeling wistful about it, even—but it wasn’t the tourist highlight of the Empire from what she had gathered. The longing was nearly unanimously nostalgia rather than because Moya was just so much better than everywhere else.

Although, she also got the sense that many people didn’t travel much, outside of joining the Dominion. That lined up with what Riza knew about the medieval period but she was wary to draw parallels between her own knowledge of history and this world.

A rather interesting name, as well—Empire. Implies there were multiple countries under the control of a central power, but the most Riza had heard was discussions of provinces and no more.

Every empire must have an emperor but not this one, it seemed. Whenever conversations ever drifted close to the topic, the absence of it ever being actually brought up spoke volumes.

All useful information, especially considering she’d be leaving soon.

“Moya,” Riza spoke aloud, remembering the information about the place and practising the word.

“I’ve never been,” Lefie offered, sitting aside her on the wagon.

They weren’t alone for the ride; four other people were huddled in the tight wagon with them, woven sacks taking up the rest of the space. A friendly, if awkward, robed man called Jakks sat opposite her. His short brown hair was disheveled and his scruffy facial hair suggested he hadn’t shaved in weeks. Despite his rugged exterior, he was fairly polite and soft on the inside.

Lefie had taken a liking to him, especially after the treatment of the other three members of their caravan.

Only one of them had given their names. Lefie, as she was wont to do, enthusiastically introduced herself, only to be ignored by a stocky, pale man in armour and frowned upon by a tanned woman wearing a robe, her hair a similar brown to her skin.

At least the third of them, a woman going by the name Meliffa, was receptive to Lefie’s introduction, although stoic and low-energy.

The three of them hadn’t talked a lot during the journey—coming on half-an-hour by now—and the robed woman was constantly fidgeting, as if uncomfortable.

Instantly, Riza did not like her, the look in her cold eyes all too familiar. She didn’t care whether she was too hasty in her judgement.

At least Jakks was nice. And Lefie didn’t outwardly seem to mind either.

“I’ve got family there,” He joined into the conversation, not unwelcome. “It’s...quaint. Many large villages with many empty houses.”

“Seems to be how most things are,” Riza supplied.

“True.” He replied, subdued. “Only the Seat of the Regent doesn’t have that problem-or so I heard,” He added hastily to the end, a quick sideways glance to the other inhabitants. None of them seemed to care.

“Seat of the Regent?” Sounds important.

“Yeah. Some people have been asked to move there for a couple of years, now. I take it your families didn’t receive the offer?”

“I lived in a forest,” Lefie explained while Riza mumbled something inaudible.

“Oh? You’re a tarny?”

“I’m nolitos thank you very much!” Lefie answered indignantly, taking umbrage with that particular word.

Is that the name of her tribe? Her race?

“Ah-sorry. Didn’t mean anything by it,” Jakks apologised, looking thoroughly scolded.

The teenager pouted but didn’t say anything more on the matter.

“When you’re in Moya, ’tarny’ will be the least of your concerns.” Meliffa interjected. Riza cast a curious glance her way with the woman patently ignoring it.

“What does nolitos mean?” Riza leaned in towards Lefie, confident she was butchering the pronunciation .

“We’re...Um. It’s hard to explain. Like a race, but not quite, but it’s not a something either.”

“Hmm,” Riza mumbled, acknowledging she had heard but nothing more than that. Still so much of the language to learn.

“Do you see something?” Jakks asked, a half eaten skewer of meat in his hand. Something called a ‘skrillet’, whatever that was.

Riza had been staring into the bush some hundred metres away. She shook her head before casting a glance a few feet to her left, looking past Jakks at the stocky man.

He finally introduced himself as Janon—only to Riza, however—and ever since, he always seemed to have an eye on her.

His mere gaze left her feeling icky afterwards. She quickly looked away when he noticed her glance.

“It’s nothing,” She finally answered.

Jakks turned his head for only a second before giving her a suspicious look. He didn’t say anything more.

“So…” He began awkwardly, the lack of confidence evident in his tone. “How long have you known Lefie? You seem… close.” He didn’t want to seem too presumptuous.

“Not long. One-two weeks, really.” Has it really been that long already?

“Oh.” Unsure how to respond further, silence descended upon the pair.

Stupid. Say something! The awkwardness was palpable in the air.

But she couldn’t bring herself to talk and Jakks just carried on eating.

The meat was nice. Slightly seasoned with whatever the robed woman had gathered nearby, surprisingly. She had offered to cook the food, surprisingly. The meat was among the foodstuffs that were being transported in the other wagon that was along for their journey.

As it turned out, the same woman who could cook could also use ice magic as well—a lot of meat was preserved that they were taking with them.

Eventually, Lefie returned, a skewer in her own hand as she flopped to the ground, breathing hard and sweat lining her brow, wiping it with the corner of her sleeve.

She had been given a robe as well, including a cloak. It was a bit too big for her, her hands barely peeking out from beneath the sleeves and the hood covering her eyes when it was pulled down. Adorable, Riza thought when she first saw Lefie wearing it.

Even Riza had been given a robe as well. An improvement to her previous uniform of simply an apron, although that wasn’t hard to top. She had mixed feelings about the outfit. Probably won’t last long, anyway, given precedent.

“You finished?” Riza asked, nudging Lefie slightly to get her attention.

“Uh-huh,” she replied sloppily, talking while eating and not entirely focusing on Riza.

Surprisingly, her hands weren’t wet. If she produces water from her hands, does it come from the fingertips or the palm? Is it directed? Any spray? What about the pressure?

More importantly, where does all the water come from? It’s drinkable and sustains us--it can’t be created out of nothing. Just what is essence?

“You have to show me the skill sometime.” She was too curious to not ask it.

“Er...I will. At some point. It just takes a lot out of me and it’s a while before I gain it back,” Lefie hurriedly replied, wanting to get back to eating. Must be hungry.

Primordial Magic

0th Tier

[Well of Essence] (7/10) -Learned

Essence is multiplied by 3.8

[Well of Spirit] (10/10) -Learned

Spirit is multiplied by 5

1st Tier

[Knowable Essence] (10/10) -Learned

20% of Essence contributes to Spirit. 20% of Spirit contributes to Essence

Requirements: [Well of Essence] (5/10), [Well of Spirit] (5/10)

[Essence Manipulation] (1/10)

Manipulate essence to some degree of acuity

2nd Tier

[Essence Congruency] (1/10)

Use 2 active essence skills simultaneously at 20% intensity

Requirements: 10 active essence skills

Level 10 for [Knowable Essence] but neither an upgrade nor a hidden skill? A bit disappointing.

Unless...Is there something I’m missing?

At least I know what the 2nd tier looks like. Seems very useful in the future but not neccessarily right now. The only useful thing is probably [Leech] and [Essence Transformer]. Will have to run the maths on that later, not that I can even get the skill right now anyway; I only have four activate skills.

“Lefie,” Riza called for the teenager's attention, walking a bit in front of her besides the wagon.

“Yes?”

“Where do hidden skills appear and how long do they take to appear?”

“They should just work like normal skills. If they’re not showing up then you probably haven’t met the conditions or they just don’t exist.” Lefie explained.

So, I can wait to level a skill up to 10 and I may not even be rewarded for it? Well, the skill being stronger is at least something.

At least [Knowable Essence] grew passively and didn’t require me to spend my essence to level.

“And you know for when a skill reaches level 10, it can be upgraded?”

“That’s called skill consolidation,” Lefie said, using the same word used for boons.

“Why doesn’t it happen for every skill?” The question had been bugging Riza for a while.

“Why should it? Probably because not every skill can be consolidated.”

“But isn’t that a little… inconsistent? Arbitrary?”

“Maybe?” Lefie replied hesitantly.

She didn’t seem to have much to offer on this topic.

“What about when you up-consolidate the skill, do you lose the original skill?”

For some of the choices, like [Leech], it made sense for that to be the case since both the upgrade and the passive made the original skill obsolete. For another skill like cleanse, however, the passive massively restricted the utility of the skill; if she lost the original skill then she would be trading the ability to help others with being able to better help herself.

Not an unprecedented direction to go in for Riza but she was more hesitant of straying that way than she was before. For one, her use in the Dominion so far seemed to be destined to be a Healer; she didn’t want to get rid of her direction without proving she could successfully do something.

If she was even still here.

“You know, I don’t know the answer to that. Maybe?” Quickly, Lefie bounded to the other side of the weapon, calling ‘Jakks’.

“Do you know if when you consolidate a skill, you lose the original skill?” Riza heard her ask as she came up to them.

The guy seemed a little startled by Lefie’s sudden appearance but he happily responded.

“I think you do. I recall being told that but that decision is still off in the distance for me.”

“Thank you!” Lefie replied earnestly, the walking doing little to drain her of energy.

“My feet hurt.”

The sun was drawing lower in the sky, the sky darkening as the day was coming to a close soon.

They all had to still walk besides the wagon—it’d take too long to respond to a potential attack if they all had to scramble out of it one after the other. Lefie had began to complain.

“You get used to it,” Riza explained, feeling the drain of energy in her own legs as well but powering through it. She was very familiar with walking long distances, a requirement when you couldn’t use a car to get anywhere.

Cars. It’s been so long since I last saw one.

“I don’t want to get used to it,” She spat insolently.

“You never said where you come from.” Jakks interjected, walking alongside them. He seemed to value their companionship during the journey.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Lefie used to live in a forest.”

“Somewhere far away,” Riza finally replied after taking a bit to think about it.

“As in the west of the Empire?”

Why must it still be in the empire? Is there nowhere else to go?

“There about,” She answered with no surety in her voice. Jakks didn’t comment; she could sense his incredulity from here.

So far, her lack of competency with the language covered for her otherwise suspicious origins. It became obvious she was going to need to come up with an answer very soon, however. She could be honest but that would undoubtedly draw a lot of attention to her—something she would rather do without.

“How did you join the Dominion?” Riza asked, preventing Jakks from thinking about her answer.

“I’m afraid it’s not very interesting. Same story for most people. When I came of age, I showed some talent with essence and decided to join. What about you two?”

“I wasn’t given an option,” Lefie answered neutrally.

“Same with me.”

Jakks drew from that his own understanding.

The first day had passed by uneventfully . When the sun crested below the horizon, the moon climbing up to meet them, the group had settled down for the night, wrapping their cloaks around them as she laid down on their bedding.

The smouldering remains of a fire left a burning smell in the air, the constantly shuffling of bodies between fabric, and the insect ambience was surprisingly comforting to Riza. It reminded her of the times she used to go camping, albeit in better conditions and with her own tent.

They had travelled a fair distance in the day. Preserved food was brought with them in one wagon, far too much for them all to eat on the journey to Moya, and Lefie was able to handle everyone’s water needs by herself, though she seemed reluctant to do so.

Left staring up at the dazzling dark night sky, Riza looked towards the stars. I doubt I can ever get used to it. A different night sky. A different universe in front of me. Nothing felt more alien than that—not even the magic.

Eventually, after much thinking, Riza fell asleep.

The second day wasn’t much different from the first. Rather than start the day sitting in the wagon, they were walking throughout, only taking periodic rests when their feet began to ache.

Something Lefie was keen to take advantage of.

They walked, they ate, and they slept, the day passing by quickly. Riza talked with Lefie and Jakks, and even Meliffa got involved occasionally.

Apart from the dirt road, which was only a thin, muddy strip made bare by the repeated trampling of horse hooves, the rest of the scenery consisting of long grass, big bushes, and tall trees. There were in plains, yes, but if Lefie decided to hide, they’d be looking for hours.

She had to admit, as pressured as she was feeling, talking with others, expanding the number of people she interacted with, was helpful in this place. She was learning something new every day and constant practise with the language meant she rarely struggled now, even if her non-native speaking showed in her sluggish and purposeful speech, constantly making sure to pronounce every word correctly.

And, as she was getting to sleep, the delightful, blue notification informed her that [Well of Essence] had levelled to level 8!

The day was good.

On the third day, the green expanse finally changed.

There was metal.

So much had happened since Riza first arrived at that village that she had forgotten about the strange sighting she had on the way there; that of a strange, mechanical corpse. A dead machine by her estimation, partly broken and buried, treated as ordinary by the townsfolk.

And now, she had encountered another one. The caravan passed on by, with no one treating the thing as anything strange at all.

But not Riza. As soon as it came within her vision, she rushed towards it, taking her relative freedom to properly examine this one.

It’s fine if they continue without me; I’ll catch up later.

The thing was big, probably around twenty feet tall but lying along the ground. Most of it was covered in dirt and hidden underground; just one protruding bit of metal, around half the total length, stuck out, as well as a metal body at the top.

The metal was articulated, and hard. She knocked against it with her knuckles, hearing it ring out rather dully. Not hollow. Or, at least, filled with something.

Only when she investigated the end of the metal, seeing how the articulated, metal beam branched out into a four-pronged foot, did an idea of what this thing was emerge in her mind.

It’s a leg, with a foot. The pistons and metal pipes almost glowed to her as she began to picture the movement of this thing in her mind. The gears, how the parts would pivot, whatever little flexibility left in the thing she tested as she manhandled the metal panels that made up the foot.

Her heart was racing, breathing rapid, as she stepped back to look upon it from a different perspective.

So excited was she that as Riza nearly skipped towards the uninvestigated half, a hand firmly clamped down on her shoulder.

She flinched as she met the hardened eyes of the stocky man bearing into her own.

"Get moving," He said firmly, making Riza wilt under the harshness of his tone. The presence of his hand exerted tremendous pressure on her as she nodded meekly.

“Are they not that rare?” Riza asked Jakks, the more worldly of her two friendly companions.

“The relics of the Ancients?”

“Is that what they’re called? The metal things?”

“Yeah. They’re all over the place. Have you not seen one before?” Jakks asked bemusedly. Not in real life!

“No, not at all. What are they?”

“No one knows. If you think that one was impressive, though, just wait until we enter Moya proper.”

Even after Riza repeatedly prodded him to explain, Jakks kept schtum, a smile on his face watching her increasing exasperation.

Eventually, she gave up, her mind wandering over what could be more impressive than that!

It was a bit after lunch, with the sky blossoming with orange as sunset was upon them soon.

Lefie had been driven hard enough to stop audibly complaining about the long walks and the damage that was being caused to her feet, not that Riza missed Lefie taking a seat whenever she thought she could get away with it.

It was during one of these rest periods, where Lefie was routinely filling jugs and flasks with magically created water, that Riza jerked her head upwards upon hearing the screams of the teenager.

Rushing immediately to the other wagon, she found Lefie dashing towards them from a little bit away, thankfully uninjured.

“Something! There’s a pack of something!” She shouted as everyone else had arrived, attracted by her screams and then shouts.

Instantly, Riza felt herself tense up, her mind thinking back to the demons. No, it can’t be that. It’s something I hadn’t heard of before. That did little to assuage her as her hands grasped for a non-existent weapon.

The two soldiers had already pulled out their spears while Lefie ran and jumped into their wagon, rummaging for a few seconds before pulling out a crossbow and a full quiver of bolts from the sack holding her stuff.

She quickly strapped the quiver around her waist, jumping off the wagon and holding the crossbow at the ready, loaded with a bolt.

Everyone stood still, looking around for whatever this mysterious target was.

A solid minute passed in tense silence until the sudden rustling of the long grass drew gazes towards it.

But not in time as a large wolf jumped from out of the growth, mouth open and chomping down on the arm of the man.

Riza was stunned but only for a second. Very quickly, two, three, four more wolves jumped into the fray, taking advantage of the confusion as shouts of pain released from the less armoured individuals.

She was knocked off her feet by the heavy, furred body of her attacker, arm swiftly ensnared by the sharp teeth in its mouth.

The beast bit down strongly. She could feel her bones vibrate as an intense wave of pain assaulted her, trying to power through the sensations as she let out a loud grunt of pain.

The creature was heavier and stronger than her; she couldn’t push it off her.

It took a few seconds for her dazed mind to recover—a second of [Meditate] helped massively. The brief lucidity was all she needed; as soon as her eyes opened back up, she had already prepared the visualisation, quickly [Leech]ing off the wolf and restoring all her health.

A single maximised [Leech] was all she needed for the wolf’s body to grow limp on top of her.

Riza struggled to heave the corpse off of her, the sound of fighting in the background an impetus for her to hurry.

With a few strong pushes, she scrambled free, quickly taking in the situation and then activating [Leech] with no hesitation.

She targeted the wolf attacking Lefie first; it was almost on top of her, her crossbow bolts going wide as a combination of nerves and limited training.

A second later, it was dead.

Jakks was doing fine; the wolf attacking him was skewered with spikes of stone through each of its feet, effectively keeping it still as it struggled to move. The mild flailing wasn’t helped, just causing more blood to effuse from the pierced pads of its paws.

She [Leech]ed that one too.

The soldiers had made short work of the rest. The most armoured and with the greatest close quarter combat experience, they quickly regained control, batting back and killing the wolves like they were ants.

There was a visceral nature to their attacks that her own lacked. When they stabbed a wolf with a spear, the speed, the strength, all contributed to a impression of power.

Their forms looked impeccable and their movements so graceful; they evoked a presence when they thought while Riza didn’t.

No sooner had the attack begun, it ended. An inventory of injuries was taken; thankfully limited. Both wagon drivers had kept atop their wagons while the soldiers were armoured. Lefie had never allowed the wolf to get close to her, feet constantly slipping on the suddenly very muddy ground while Jakks kept his assailant trapped.

Riza collapsed to the floor, taking in deep breaths. While not the most physically exerting thing she’s ever done, her heart was racing. Lefie quickly joined her, leaning against her for support.

The two soldiers and the robed woman got to work with the corpses, slicing the wolf fur off of them and then preserving the meat itself.

Riza should’ve paid attention to how they did, in case she could learn something, but her mind was preoccupied with the whole event currently.

[Life Sense] has just moved up the priority list. But, then again, it’s not like it was necessary right now.

But what about if they were demons instead? There’d be injuries abound, then.

“How-How did you see the wolves?” Riza asked out of breath, now figuring out what the word Lefie had used meant.

“I saw them. While I was making water. Barely.” She wheezed out, the short run back to the wagons having already tired her out.

“I’m glad you’re not hurt,” Riza struggled to get out.

“Me too. Although, It’s less of a worry with you.”

“You know you’re in Moya when the wolves start attacking.”

“How so?”

“They’ve more prevalent here than Droya, for whatever reason.” Jakks explained.

“What about highwaymen? People?” Riza quickly corrected herself.

“People who’ll attack you? Can’t say I’ve ever heard of that happening when travelling.”

Food for thought.

“What about demons?”

“They’re not much of a problem unless you go looking for them. They never wander far from their homes. Unless there’s a storm.”

Riza looked up into the sky, searching the clouds for any ominous sign. Let’s hope there’s not a storm, then.

The fourth day. They’d either be arriving today or tomorrow, Riza had been told.

That didn’t mean their journey would be only easier, however.

The sky was dark but it wasn’t late enough for them to set camp yet—they wanted to get as much travelling as they could.

Riza was fatigued, both physically and mentally. Her feet were aching, walking so often and hard in the ill-fitting and badly made shoes. Her mind was constantly on the edge of worry, now always alert for a sign of attack after the previous day.

So far, nothing. The day was peaceful—beautiful, even.

As everyone was prepared to wind down, all tired and longing to get some restful sleep, a sudden and frantic rustling of grass draws everyone’s attention, the situation feeling all too similar to the wolf attack just the day prior.

People congregated on the wagon, drawing their weapons as they all prepared for another potential ambush. Riza simply withdrew her dagger from it's sheath, keeping her only weapon on her nearly all the time.

The black knife. She didn’t know why they had handed her weapon back to her but they had and now it was in her hands once more. The familiar weight, the way the grip practically modded to her hand, the sense of power she got when holding it—she was embarrassed to remember how happy she was over getting it back.

The rustling was intense omnipresent, sounding like it came from all around them.

And then, the feeling came back. Left, right, behind, in front—multiple spots appeared in Riza’s mind. She felt herself tugged towards all directions, head whipping back and forth as they danced about, intermingled, and somethings blended into one large signal.

But the feeling was definitely there. Demons.

A quick glance up showed the sky was as clear as can be—no clouds nor any sign of a storm.

They’re weak. They can’t even ambush you properly.

Suddenly, one signal felt like it was growing larger, stronger. Riza swiftly turned around, just in time to see a large, wolf-like demon jump towards Meliffa.

Riza released her grip on the [Leech] skill, draining the demon so much that by the time Meliffa stabbed through with her spear, it was dead, the combined damage too much for the thing.

And then the rustling stopped. Even to Riza, nothing moved. But they were still there.

“Have they gone?” Jakks whispered loudly.

“No.” Was all Riza said, gripping her dagger even tighter, staring at a particular spot in front of her.

Slowly, she took one step forward, feeling the dirt shift underneath her thinly covered feet.

The feeling was big but indistinct; she couldn’t quite make out how many there were.

Taking a deep breath, Riza closed her eyes as she stood stock still.

Still big. There’s three more, smaller signals surrounding us.

Rustle. Rapidly, Riza turned around, towards the sound, but as she did, the back of her mind flared up suddenly.

By the time she turned to face them, three demons were nearly atop her.

Stabbing with her knife, one of the demons fell onto her, mouth open and going for her head but only getting her shoulder as she stabbed into its body as she collapsed to the ground.

Winded, Riza grimaced as she struggled to hold in her screams of pains, forcing her eyes open even as both the pain and dust stung.

That was the signal to attack. All the demons had charged in.

Frustration bloomed in Riza as she shunted essence into the connection, healing herself as she heaved and heaved to push the demon off of her.

Leaving her knife in the creature, she clambered to her feet, not caring much about conserving her essence, and targeted the nearest demon with [Leech].

This one was almost equine in shape, though its hind legs were far larger than they should be. It didn’t matter, though—they fell as easily as each other.

One, two, three. Soon, all of the demons had died, Riza personally taking care of all but one, two late to kill that one.

[Level up]

You have gained 5 stat points and 1 skill point

They’re weak.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking but...” Jakks paused,”Why don’t you join the party with the rest of us? I’m not demanding that you do but we can all benefit from leveling up.” He tried to be polite but couldn’t fully hide his annoyance.

“What’s the benefit of being in a party?” Riza asked tentatively, wondering whether to give him her true reasons.

“Apart from the skills that require you to be in a party, you can benefit when someone else in your party kills something, whether that is a level up or an increased level cap.”

So that’s why he’s annoyed; he could’ve leveled up from the demons if we were in a party. I guess I probably shouldn’t tell him I leveled up, then.

“My boon is [Lone Wolf].” Riza answered, hoping that was enough.

“Ah. I guess that makes sense,” Jakks said, taking it all in. “I guess that also explains why you’re so strong.”

Riza inwardly cringed at such a comment.

“What’s the different between the wolves and the demons?” Riza asked, changing topic but also asking a question she had been wondering for a while now.

“You don’t know?” Riza shook her head. “I’ll start simply, then. There are three types of ‘entities’, as the system calls them: there are demons, then there monsters, and then there are animals.

“Demons are born in essence, monsters live surrounded by essence, while animals have nothing to do with essence. That’s why you can level up when killing demons and monsters but not with animals.” Jakks explained with authority.

“What’s an ‘entity?’”

“Anything living, basically.”

“The wolves were monsters?” Riza inquired.

“Yes.”

“And what about plants? Are they ‘animals’?” If so, that explains why I don’t level up when I use [Leech] on plants.

“Plants?” Jakks asked, half chuckling. “No, not at all. Plants aren’t even entities.”

“They’re not entities?”

“Of course they’re not. Just because you can burn plants with a firebolt doesn’t mean they’re entities.”

“But I can use [Leech] on plants,” Riza said, voice low as she didn’t look Jakks in the eyes. She almost didn’t want him to hear.

“Like I said, just because fire-”

“No. Read the wording of [Leech]; I can only target living entities” She interjected, being as pushy as she dared.

Jakks, thankfully, complied, looking at something Riza couldn’t see. His face quickly turned towards confusion.

“That’s...I don’t understand.” Ignoring Riza, he turned away, looking for someone.

“Lefie!” He called jogging up to her. “Are plants entities?”

“Plants? No, they’re plants, not entities.” She quickly answered, as if the question required no thought what-so-ever.

“Then why does [Leech] work on plants?” He asked, half to himself and half to Lefie.

“Plants are alive,” Riza stated.

“They’re alive? They're animals?” Jakks asked, not seeing what Riza was getting at.

“Entities are things that are alive and plants are alive.”

“But...Plants are alive? They're entities?”

“Yes.” Riza nodded.

Jakks didn’t respond, just looking very confused. He’s clearly struggling with that concept.

“How are plants alive?” Lefie decided to ask.

“They need nutrients. They need water. They can move. They can grow. They release waste products after converting useful materials. All just like an animal. Is it not a commonly accepted fact that they’re entities?”

“Well, no, but they move?”

“They face towards the sun.” Lefie nodded in understanding.

“They release waste?”

“They take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

I shouldn’t be surprised about that. The invention of the periodic table is probably a few hundred years in the future.

“How do you know this stuff?” Lefie asked, showing no indication she didn’t believe Riza.

“I was taught it. Everyone knows this where I come from.” Lefie’s eyes grew wide as she leaned in towards her.

“Are you-” She looked around. Jakks had wandered off and was crouched down, looking at some flowers. “Are you not from the empire?” She asked in an excited whisper.

Riza didn’t answer right away. She was going over how much she trusted Lefie, how much she should say.

However, her lack of an answer was an answer enough for Lefie.

“You’re not! Ahhhh; I’ve never met someone not from the empire before,” She said, a smile on her face. She was practically vibrating.

“Don’t say anything! Please.”

“Yeah; you’re right. I promise I won’t say a thing”

The fifth and final day.

Riza woke up full of energy, happy for the journey to finally come to a close.

Gradually, the environment had changed from the low, open plains of Droya to more hilly, undulating hillocks that seemed to make up Moya. When once before, she could see a far distance into the horizon, now, she needed to clamber up a hill to see even half of what she could before.

The tall grass grew even taller, the trees more sparse, and the mechanical corpses were abundant. Wherever Riza looked, the hulking machines, the relics of the Ancients, poked up out of the ground.

But none of this made her feel like she was in an alien world more than what she saw when they arrived at their destination.

Cresting above the horizon, sun high in the sky and blaring down on them, a geodesic dome began to emerge.

The closer they got, the larger the dome became. A monolithic sight, the dome was half destroyed and hanging over a large cliff of sheer stone. The dome itself must’ve been at least 70 metres in diameter; the bottom of it reached the flat ground while the rest covered this plateauing mountain like an oversized hat.

Massive, metal tower reached up towards the dome, sometimes making it, sometimes stopping halfway. One was even lying on the ground, stripped bare with only the metallic skeleton remaining.

From the cliffside itself, numerous burrows and caves were carved in, with metal sticking out and wireframes indicating what were floors and walls.

And then, at the base of this feature itself, the ground curved inwards, tunneling down into what was a quarry. Layers upon layers of dirt and rock were dug away, with small metal houses and large swathes of canvas indicating the liveliness of this area.

From above, and so far away, the people looked like ants, and there were far, far more than what she had seen in Droya.

We’ve finally made it.