"Bedova!"

"Glacio Effusorium!"

"Os Infirmar!"

"Ignis Ventus!"

Jack, Veti and Drake exchanged fierce smiles as they softened up their foes the instant before their friends lashed out with vorpal blades and devastating maul, before Jack would rush forward after twisted black limbs and snapping maws were cleaved free of their foe before flooding the deliberately narrow portal before them with a blast of flame that now flared as brilliantly as plasma from the sun.

On que, his now fully formed sprite-like familiar Auriel whipped up the ice water reserves into a chilly mist that helped diffuse the sudden surge of lethal heat as Jack turned the chamber just beyond into a superheated kiln while obliterating the nearest pair of tendril whipping abominations near instantly, his Elite ranked Artisanal Manipulation allowing him to seal up the hole in the blink of an eye. A blood-smeared palm pressing against it quickly locked in runes of resilience and permanence that not only made their plugged murder-hole indestructible, but also reinforced and sealed off the wall behind their foes as the heat cooked the beasties fruitlessly pounding against Jacks wards for a final handful of seconds before the air grew suddenly still, all of them exchanging fierce smiles as they braced for the surge of fierce potency now flooding through their souls with the death of their foes.

"Level 12! Yes!" Hooted Elof, pumping his now powerful fist before sweeping a laughing Su Li in his arms, her short height and exquisite doll-like features belying just how powerful her own physique had become, for all that she happily melted in Elof's arms.

"Your Sifu is proud of her disciple," she teased Elof, her petal soft lips caressing his own as the rest of them chuckled or looked away, Veti and Barlton sharing their own tender smile as Chu Hua's soft amber eyes caught Jack's own.

Jack felt his cheeks flush under her appraising gaze. "How are you feeling, Jack?"

Jack blinked, then grinned. "Right as rain, with you at my side, Chu."

Of course he understood. Because for all that they had been growing and fighting together so diligently over the last few weeks as they cleared ever more of the inky dark Orange tier cultivators that Jack thought they now worked together like a well oiled machine, there was the ever growing gap in their abilities, the warriors among them now striking with such speed and grace Jack thought their arms moving with the flickering speed of magicians, cleaving blows unerringly finding their targets.

Fortunately he wasn't completely outclassed, Veti and Drake's builds meaning their physical attributes were only modestly better than Jacks, for all that Jack would be the first to emphasize the importance of both Speed and Vitality and Perception as well, to survive down here, whatever one's specialization.

Yet if there was one massive advantage to Veti's Bane specialization, besides the fact that her singular focus allowed her to put so many of her points into advancing that single school, was that bane spells that did no direct harm were far more likely to penetrate enemy resistances and were a massive force multiplier when you had half a dozen powerful polearm specialist with mithril edged weapons on your side. But most of all, Veti could effortlessly use her third tier banes on their foes without worrying about messy physics resulting in any backlash of force causing collateral damage, such as was the case with elemental attacks.

Because even if elemental spells could push past most resistances just by upping the intensity, all Jack had to do was feel the blazing hot stone wall that required the constant bathing of fresh cool air thanks to his elemental to keep them all from slowly roasting alive with each fire trap they had set up, their sealed corridor now stretching for many hundreds of yards after countless days, perhaps weeks, fighting for their lives.

As carefully as they could, training every day, readying themselves to face ever new an evolving foes, because their lives were too precious to risk on a single sloppy misstep, as far as Jack was concerned, his friends clearly feeling the same.

"Jack?"

He blinked, catching Chu's increasingly worried gaze.

"Sorry, just thinking about how well we're all working together, grateful to be fighting with you all by my side."

Aroust grinned, catching the last comment and raising a pitcher of cold elemental water Jack's way. "As are we to be fighting with you!" he said, before flashing Jack a concerned frown. "But be careful next time you rush in to finish them off with your Windfire. That claw came out of nowhere, too close for comfort. If it had actually connected with your throat before your spell fried it and forced it back."

Jack winced, recalling all too well the flash of scale and scythe-like claw that had snaked out of the periphery of the hole even as his flames forced back the headless corpse he had thought completely blocked the hole.

It had been over in the blink of an eye, Jack instinctively surging his will into his furious storm of fire, increasing the heat, the flood of pure oxygenated air forcing the flicker back before Jack sealed it all away.

He had reacted purely on instinct, hardly even seeing the flashing claw at all, almost certain he had been imagining it, like a flicker in the corner of his eye.

Clearly he hadn't, and his friend's heightened perception, thinking, and reaction times once again made it painfully clear just how dramatically his friends were evolving, and how utterly they were leaving him behind.

Veti caught Jack's gaze, flashing a bemused smile of her own from Barlton's gentle embrace. "Don't think I haven't noticed how tight you're getting that cone of liquid plasma, Jack. And that last ice blast you cast in less than a second! So tell me, what rank are those sweet fire and ice spells at now?"

Jack flashed an appreciative grin, instantly cheering up with her words.

Because in some ways, his growth had been profound indeed.

"Windfire's on the cusp of Adept Rank 5, and Icy Blast Just hit Adept Rank 1! Of course, for Icy Blast, I chose Instant Casting as my perk, which together with the Crimson Shards variant, actually makes it a useful close combat spell. At least for those monster hides that I can actually pierce, like our calamari lampreys."

This earned a wry chuckle for Barlton, who had, much to his own surprise, grown rather fond of digging in to those massive squirming maggots, despite their lamprey mouths and vicious spiraling rows of teeth, so long as he wasn't the one who had to chop off the heads and grill them.

But Veti was gazing at Jack with wide-eyed disbelief.

"Wait. Adept Rank 5? Jack, Windfire's a Tier 3 spell! I still can't believe you forged a perfect dual element Air Fire synergism from pure inspiration, no matter how much of a genius you are. But still, It's a hell of a lot closer to Tier 4 than 3. Maybe even approaching Tier 5, when you consider all the damned perks you have tied to that Masterwork spell. That should make it all the harder to rank up any further!"

Jack grinned. "I know. And Artisanal Manipulation's going up the ranks as well. Even my Rune Forger skill went up a level!"

"Jack, Your Rune Forger talent... it's already a Master Ranked skill!"

Jack nodded. "And now it's Master Rank 4, and it's striking how much easier the mana and potency flow through me with my workings after gaining that last rank. It's as if the amount of potency I have to pay with each blood rune I forge or artifact I create has just been cut by, I don't know... maybe a third? It's as if my imperfect soul had been thoroughly cleaned, rust removed, transformed into a well-lubricated machine calibrated for maximum efficiency. And thank the heavens, because I must have paid close to 10,000 potency points with all the passageways I've reinforced, artifacts I've forged, and wall's I've made."

Words that earned him sudden silence, everyone pinning a suddenly discomfited Jack with their gaze.

"Really? You guys see me use it every day. You know what it's capable of. What all of those skills are capable of. As for it continuing to go up the ranks... I mean, think about it. How many of these nightmare horrors has my Windfire spell finished off? Along with Artisanal Manipulation sealing the ones I don't catch in the cone of the blast in what amounts to superheated stone kilns, assuring us a shit-load of EX as my walls divide the corridor, with my Air familiar cooling our side of the stone diving the chambers while my Blood Runes locking us all in tight, so not a damn thing can break through our fortifications?"

He then flashed them all a wry smirk. "And you guys are what... level 12, now? So what does that say about me, that all of those levels I should have earned just went into a handful of useful spells and skills?"

Veti nodded unashamedly. "We are. And Jack, you know how diligently I've been casting my Banes, eager to magnify their power, their potential, with specialized perks just as you do. And do you know what level I've managed to push the spells I've diligently cast to slow and weaken near every single monster we've ever faced?"

Jack blinked. "I'm guessing pretty high?"

Her hard brown eyes held his own. "Journeyman Rank 1, Jack. And just barely that. My third tier spells have just hit Apprentice Rank, and my 4th tier spells are between Novice Ranks 1 & 3. So wild and potent a sphere of spells that I fear I'd need a good month of daily, diligent practice saying the 8 second chant before daring utter the words in the crucible of combat. 8 seconds we never have in the mad frenzy of melee before we're toe to toe with those horrors, assuming you lot haven't killed them already. 8 seconds where panic, fear for my Barlton, or just the terror of monstrous abominations eager for my death risk me twisting my tongue in ways that would surely doom us all.

She gave a bitter, broken chuckle. "And I won't even tell you the horrific madness of daring to Learn a Tier 5 spell down here, Jack. Compared to those? Levels one and two, even three, are like progressing from eager puppies to irritable kittens, then immediately jumping up to trying to tame savage lions in the nude."

Veti shivered, beautiful wide brown eyes growing haunted as she spoke on, even as her massive beau held her petite figure, such a tiny vessel to hold such power, like a china cup he feared would shatter if handled to hard. "It's like tapping into a wild storm lightning storm, and just one wrong misstep... I think there's a reason why even those legendary Delvers are far more powerful than us before daring to embrace such madness. And I, thinking I'm a brilliant genius, instead played the utter fool, focused all my efforts into mastering a single school of spells I could learn for effectively half the potency of any other mage learning their class set of spheres. Only now I'm at the point where any more potent magics are as likely to break me as my enemies, at least until I'm able to spend months, maybe even years, trying to progress up through the Journeyman ranks any spell I would dare embrace in the heat of battle."

She gave a rueful shake of her head, as the entire group was gazing at her with profound awe.

And Jack could read from their stunned gazes that they were thinking exactly what he was.

Veti knew Tier 5 spells? Images of archmagi roaring aloud battlefield enchantments that would flood enemy armies in rains of fire and lightning, just like in his childhood storybooks, immediately came to mind.

Chu Hua's intent gaze immediately focused on Veti, her expression an odd mixture of consternation and awe. Which made sense, Jack supposed, for all that he was still numb with surprise. The depths of Veti's knowledge and potential was a shock to the girl that Jack's original party was happy enough to let take nominal lead of their group, too pragmatic to ignore the benefit of Chu Hua's L10 Tactician subclass she had awkwardly confessed to their party just days ago, surprised and pleased by how quickly Aroust and Barlton had both been to saluting her, fist to chest, along with their teasing grins, all of them now veterans of the Deeps who knew what really mattered. Survival above all else, and Jack's girl had already proven herself in a dozen dozen encounters, fighting by their side.

But a tactician had to know the strengths and weaknesses of their party, or she could hardly deliver full party bonuses. And more to the point, it was vital for any strategist to know their party's strength before going forward with any kind of plan. Plans she happily took from anyone, always picking his mind with gentle curious whispers after she and Jack had savored the sweet joy of surviving another day in the deeps, snug in blankets and furs and make-shift tents from the other couples in their party, wrapped in each other's arms.

"But Veti..."

The former Academy mage flashed Chu Hua a bleak smile. "Why did I say nothing? Save, admittedly, to the man now holding me close?" Barlton sighed and grinned awkwardly when Aroust flashed him a bemused glare.

"It's because, like I said, daring to cast any spell above Tier 3, at least for me, is like going from manipulating the placid calm of the lake, to the wild storms of the sea. And that's just Level 4. Level 5 is like shouting into a hurricane." She chuckled softly. "And had I weeks or even months to practice those incantations, in peaceful surroundings with halcyon vistas on all sides and bodyguards I trust to watch me close as I dared to master those wild powers... or at least get them all to Novice Rank 5, then yes. Yes I would be making those spells instantly available. But I only dared one Tier 4 once, and you all recall how you glared my way, dizzy and tripping over yourselves even as our calamari swarm, so to speak, was rendered near paralyzed by the intensity of my Greater Rusticias Spell."

Jack blinked, recalling all too well the fight she was talking about, having occured just a handful of days ago, and the sight had been almost comical when Veti's delayed spell finally hit, the worms indeed rendered so clumsy they could hardly twitch, even as the rest of them slammed to the ground, dizzy and nautious, feeling as if they were on a wildly rocking ship.

Had it not been for the worms being blocked off by another one of Jack's ward-reinforced stone cage bars placed a few feet from the hole, after his magesight and infravision made out the shape of their foes beyond and so best prepared their killbox... were it not for the fact that the calamari lamprey maggots had been struck many times harder than they had and were thus nearly paralyzed... had at least one of those mitigating factors not been in play, the results would have gone from comedic to absolutely horrific.

As Jack recalled, more than a few concerned glances were sent Veti's way, Barlton having glared at them all goodnaturedly as he held his girl and said, "There there, love. Even the best wizard will fumble her spell once in awhile. Important thing is we had our cage and the buggers w ere hit twice as hard."

And the way she had flushed and bowed her head was all the apology anyone needed who didn't immediately feel sympathy for her embarrassment, but also a profound respect, feeling just how useful, and effective, her banes were.

Only now did they realize she had been casting a tier 4 spell.

"And that's the only reason why one of my Tier 4 spells is even at Novice Rank 3. My test spell, the one whose adverse effects would be the least likely to cause any long term impairment or damage your gear, had struck you all just as I had feared it would, even if it had struck our foes twice as hard. And that's after I had deliberately chosen my Journeyman Perk for Selective Targeting, specifically so that you all are never caught in the area of my basic Tier 2 banes."

Drake nodded at these words. "My own mastery of my Power Words takes an entirely different path in terms of point cost and powers granted, and I'll spare you all the details, suffice to say that if Veti and I hadn't both chosen Selective Targeting for our favored Shouts and Spells, there is no way in hell we'd dare risk our powers while you all slash up our calamari worms in a jumble before the cage."

Chu Hua flushed at this before giving a solemn nod, as if acknowleding that the mistake was somehow her own. "We've grown sloppy," she softly said. "Our warriors, myself included, positioning ourselves before the kill holes to maximize our abilities to strike and weave away as one, before pulling back so Jack can plug the breach with fire... just taking it for granted that you, Veti, and Drake, could effortlessly weave your banes in with our attacks."

She gave a deliberate nod. "From now on, we'll go back to our original tactics, allowing you and Drake both the time to release your incantations before Jack races forward. Because even if Tier 5 spells would be madness to try to master down here, your Tier 4s you've already cast before and the symptoms, though unpleasant, were manageable, and it's only through practice, and maybe draining some of the potency of your kills, if you can put it toward skill mastery as well as levels like Jack does, is the secret to moving forward and advancing yourself." She flashed a bleak smile. "Lest anyone forget, were still fighting creatures that would kill us in just a handful of encounters, were it not for my Jack's absurd mastery of blood runes and our environment."

Aroust frowned at those words, never reluctant to give his 2 cents and the benefit of his experience, for all that he deferred to Chu Hua when combat was in effect, and thus her bonuses were in play. "But that exposes us to unnecessary risk," he cautioned. "Overconfidence will kill us just as fast as anything else, down here. Let's not forget we're fighting Level 16+ abominations, not low level swarms where we can afford to test uncertain strategies and make what would be otherwise perilous mistakes. Far better to do it just as we were, I think, even if, regrettably, it's harder for our Veti to rank up her spells."

Veti cleared her throat just as Chu Hua furrowed her brow, looking a bemused Aroust's way.

"He's right," Veti softly said. "It's best to do just as we've done. Because our goal here is survival above all else, not worrying about me maximizing the potential of all my spells. And my Tier 2 spells which I evolved with the Selective Targeting perk in play, are the only ones I can cast with absolute precision and control."

Jack frowned thoughtfully, gazing at his friend. Gone was the mousy, diminutive girl with frizzy hair and a constitution he would have considered almost frail, were it not for the determination of her gaze even then... now replaced by a woman now all but glowing with vitality, whose sleek, athletic build bespoke a natural athlete, her clear flawless skin, lush bounty of chestnut curls and proud elegant features made it clear she had spent at least a few of her 13 levels in boosting Charisma and Comliness, and Jack couldn't help but be happy for her as she embraced the best version of herself, having every right to beauty as well as vitality, charisma that might assure a bit of a charmed life when interacting with others, knowing she was far closer to captivating than not, and perhaps there was a part of her that wanted to be the most strikingly beautiful girl for her man that she possibly could.

Not that Jack blamed her, noting as well that Barlton's rough features and overlarge nose now conveyed a hero's charm, where before he had just looked like the epitome of the common man, or dwarf as it were, a warrior, miner, and carouser, a salt-of-the-earth bloke. Yet now he looked like he was just a good hair cut and trim away from being recognized as the long lost heir to a kingdom of his own.

Jack held back a smile. A prince in disguise indeed. How ironic that that's what he actually was and always had been, for all that he came across as a dwarf of the people. Yet now?" Jack shook his head, it being clear that both he and Veti were, consciously or otherwise, looking to be the man and woman worthy of the partner they would claim as their own.

He then pulled his eyes away from their bemused smiles, as the pair's enhanced intuition and perception caught his too intent gaze. Awkwardly clearing his throat, he spoke the idea he had been playing with in the back of his mind.

"Alright, I think the solution's simple. For Veti, Drake, and me both!" Jack said. "We continue just as we have been in taking out the Murder Bears and similar horrors, all our focus being on quick, efficient kills. But when it comes to the calamari, that are pretty much harmless once I have my stone bars in place, we take our time, working on our spells and shouts, ranking up our skill masteries as well as our overall experience pools."

He turned to the warriors of their group. "Though that might mean less combat practice with your own feats and skills, if you wouldn't mind making the sacrifice."

Chu Hua's eyes lighted with approval, flashing Jack a grin, but was diplomatic enough not to jump on her boyfriend's idea without making sure all those under her nominal battle-command agreed. "Thoughts?"

Aroust grinned, exchanging nods with Aroust and Elof. "We get enough practice dodging and striking those horror bears and their tendril-limbed cousins. And correct me if I'm wrong, Veti, but you can practice numerous banes before our foes expire. That's the nature of those spells, after all, right? They cripple, they don't directly kill. Which makes it easier for you to pierce resistance, avoid damaging us, and acts as a great force multiplier for us."

"Correct," Veti said, flashing a relieved smile, no doubt pleased to have a way to train up her spells, and Jack was almost certain that, despite her level and growing charisma, she had still been to shy to make the request before, perhaps tongue-tied and awkward feeling, after having delayed confessing her growing abilities for so long, maybe having feared Chu Hua's scolding gaze or a mini-interrogation as to why she had been holding out.

But this? Receiving satisfied nods all around, even pleased words of encouragement regarding just how far she could go, sent her now undeniably beautiful features bright with happiness.

"Well then, sounds like a plan to me," Aroust said, voicing the sentiment of the group as a whole.

Veti flashed a relieved smile. "Thank you, friends," she said. "That... that would be perfect! And I apologize for not saying anything before. We were always living in the moment and I felt... well, I was just happy ranking up my Tier 2s and feeling like an asset, not a burden."

Chu Hua grinned. "You're no burden, Veti. You're our force-multiplier, your banes brilliant for simultaneous offense and defense, weakening our prey and leaving them too dissoriented and impaired to effectively strike us back. Though I might wish you would have said something before... what matters is that we know now and we'll make best use of your skills for the sake of our party as a whole."

Drake positively beamed. "Brilliant! And I should have said something earlier as well. Why the hell am I not taking the chance to practice all my Power Words shouts? Specializing in each of my favorites might be unlocking paths to power you can't even believe, but even I could benefit from skilling up the shouts directly." he dipped his head at a suddenly blushing Chu Hua. "I apologize as well for not making my needs known prior as well."

"Me too," Jack said with a smile. "I have a couple of spells I also could be perfecting when we have a captive audience... and don't worry, I don't mean just elemental spells that don't exactly take prisoners, not the least of which are the Tier 1 versions of the Banes Veti taught me."

Which gave Veti a chance to scold Jack with what was actually a relieved smile, sensing, as they all did, that Drake and Jack were deliberately taking the pressure off her earlier recalcitrance and present confession. "You're right, Jack. You did spend an awful lot of time getting basic ranks just cursing those fish. It would be a shame not to push your genius to the utmost, and see just how far you can take it, training up against Level 16 calamari worms."

And with that resolve in mind, their progress slowed all the more as they took steps to assure maximum training for all their skills whenever Jack sensed swarms of writhing worms in the hallway beyond they would then prepare for, finally training up his too long neglected Blood Bee, as well as his basic Bane spells, a bit humbled by just how worthless his bee's poison was against creatures of this level, how often his bee had been crushed by even crippled thrashing worms, even as the air rang with the echoes of Drake's stunning, crippling shouts, now learning to time them with Veti's tier 4 banes which had the rest of the group discretely making their way not one but at least 3 chambers back before returning to find the worms utterly impaired and a bemused Drake chuckling as he got up after each unleashed spell.

"Why?" Was all Jack said, gazing at his chuckling friend even when Veti's cheeks blazed with embarrassment.

"Because Veti needs a baseline to know just how effective and controlled her Tier 4 spells are, because I don't mind yet another way to train my body and mind against a wizard who isn't actually trying to kill me, and because, more than anything else, Veti's powers and my own are far more effective if we're shouting and casting simultaneously. One blow setting up the other perfectly. And if I can time it with her Tier 4 spells, without my Shout distracting her or her bane keeping me from shouting at all, we'll have a truly powerful 1-2 combo."

Jack blinked, flashing his friend an approving smile. "Brilliant, Drake. Unquestionably brilliant."

His friend then gave him an arch look. "You're a back rank spell caster too. So why are you always ducking back after Veti finishes unleashing her staple attacks? You should be training beside me and Veti when she finally unleashes her Tier 4s!"

And before a blushing Jack could think of a clever excuse, his girl's silky, powerful hand was caressing his neck as she darted in for a kiss on his cheek. "He's right, Jack. You should be by their side. Not only to learn to coordinate and cast in less than perfect circumstances, but also... well, you're training to be a wizard, right? Isn't it best if you learn to resist their spells?" She smiled in approval at the Blood Shield and Crimson Armor he always practiced in, on top of his mithril infused aketon, effectively a backup Jack-of-plates, maximizing the effectiveness of his training, slowly increasing his stamina, and he could only hope eventually, leveling up those pair of spells as well. But since nothing had hit him in awhile, and the risks were to high at this level to practice getting struck...

"You already confessed how useful your Blood Shield is for warding elemental damage as well as physical attacks, but that doesn't do anything for bane spells, or magic that effects the mind directly, does it?" her leading question and gentle smile made it damn clear that she knew as well as he did that he was a sitting duck for Veti's style of magic, and an idiot not to practice buffering himself while he had the chance to do so with friends, in the heart of an over-leveled delve that could only help maximize the effectiveness of any training, as his mind, body, and adventurer's soul did all it could to survive.

Jack groaned, careful not to mention the obvious, that all of them could use that training, but he just gave a rueful nod, having a high enough diplomacy, or at least charisma, to concede a valid point to the woman who had was increasingly claiming his heart as well as his bed. And yes, he did know better, and yes, he had been deliberately avoiding being in range of the girl that could send his head spinning and stomach churning. Because nausea to him was one of the worst feelings in the world.

Which only made it that much more important that he learn to grin and bear it. To endure that which he hated the most before an enemy who wanted him dead could be the one to inflict it upon him.

Fortunately, Chu Hua's return smile when Jack bowed his head and conceded the point made it quite clear to him that she both understood his reluctance, and that she'd be making it up to him in other ways.

Drake's bemused chuckle earned blushes from both of them, Jack immediately clearing his throat. "Alright, time for a bit more tunnel clearing, shall we?"

And it said something, how relieved Jack felt when he sensed yet another swarm of vicious hook horrors just ahead, happy to risk his life, however measured a risk it was, racing forward, jumping over the still spurting head of the massive beaked creature similar in build to and perhaps even deadlier than, the Murder Bears of before, it's vicious hooking scythe like claws sharper and more massive, but the way his foes shrieked and burned with phosphorous incandescence when he flooded the murder hole with his increasingly well-controlled and narrowing cone of blisteringly hot liquid flame was all the same, sealing it up with a quickly shouted "Formo!"

Before gazing at his sprite-like familiar who stuck her tiny tongue at him before blasting the wall with icy cool winds of fresh air before the heat could bake him, Jack smiling approval as his gaze slid to Chu Hua, his heart then sinking when her gaze made her thoughts perfectly clear.

He could be a Hook Horror killing badass all he like.

He was still training with Veti when she cast her level 4s.

Jack suppressed a groan, joining his friends as they rested and meditated and perfected their tactics, waiting for the fiersomely hot kiln of a chamber beyond to cooled and vented over the better part of 8 hours, even with Auriel's help, before they continued on, and it was not one but half a dozen chambers of cleared horrors before they finally came upon an absolute flood of lamprey worms that had utterly claimed this area of the dungeon, clearly.

And the training was every bit as bad as Jack had feared.

You have failed to save versus nausea!

Vertigo and weakness have resulted in the loss of Calamari Lunch.

You have been completely impaired for 10+ minutes!

"Gotta do better than that, Jack!" said a mercilessly chuckling Drake as Jack groaned and heaved, feeling like he was dying, suddenly utterly certain that not once in all incarnations had he ever been a sailor or ever had a sea voyage that didn't leave him wishing for death.

Worst of all, despite the pitying glances of Aroust and friends, his Chu Hua's pitiless glare made it clear she had no sympathy at all. "Get up, Jack! This weakness is beneath you."

Jack could only groan and huddle, waiting for the world to stop spinning while Veti winced and apologized. "I'm sorry, Jack. I should have better control. I know I should! I can only hope there's less of a backlash when I finally hit Apprentice rank 1."

"How long will that be?" Jack groaned.

"I don't know... at the rate I've been progressing, knowing the jump in difficulty to ascend to apprentice ranks... maybe another half dozen encounters? Hopefully?"

Jack choked back a quiet sob. He could only hope he'd last that long, horrified to find that the healing spells that he had trained to work against even his own Tier 1 Banes was pathetically inefficient at treating a Tier 4 spell.

Even Ah Lam's sympathetic gaze made it clear her advanced Tier Healing Hands spell was unable to hasten the relief of the awful churning nausea and dizziness.

"My regrets, Jack. Even though I chose the Dawn's Champion subclass, my Healing Hands still can't counter a Tier 4 curse while it's still in effect." She gazed up at Veti. "Just how long is your Greater Hex supposed to last?"

Veti winced in apology. "It lessens by degrees. It won't be fully neutralized until after a period of hours, at Tier 4." She crouched down, stroking Jack's back. "Shit, Jack. I am so sorry. Maybe this is too much?"

"Hardly!" Said Drake, grinning despite looking a bit green around the gills. "After the first few moments, it's no different that racing my father's sail boat through a storm! I won't be dancing any time soon, but it isn't so bad riding the rocking flow once you get used to it. It's almost fun!" He suddenly paled. "Almost."

Jack allowed his friends words to wash over him as he breathed in and out, doing his best to meditate and take in the soothing inky dark potency all around him. He might not be able to cycle it the way Chu Hua and her sisters said they could, but at least it would distract him from the awful rocking nausea that left him to weak to do much of anything else.

It was only when he his nausea had finally abated, the last of the dizziness lingering for hours, that he was finally able to get some exhausted sleep, tuning out the world, most especially a certain soft hand's gentle overtures he gave the bitter cold shoulder before blackness claimed him at last.