Leternum

Earth's playing a dangerous game, the planet Leternum thought while making a tiny movement.

Bound by chains and seals, there was little Leternum could influence on the surface other than preprogrammed responses. The nearly insignificant amount of freedom Leternum received was almost entirely invested at this point.

What remained to invest in was the uncertain chance of getting more freedom. To that end, Leternum pressed the blob of the remaining freedom into a thin layer of lubricant. Just enough slip to change two nodes. Trading one connection for another, Leternum gave one last advantage to his favored heir.

Alright, Earth, you want to gamble! Then I'm in, Leternum settled into its new configuration.

Within Leternums placeless space, the Amalgam palace, the Seal of Peace, did nothing. In a meeting place for a select few to perform politics and trade exotics safe from harm, trusting the most ancient rules. Leternum hid the great pleasure this violation of order inspired.

Amber

Clouds of purple and green fought, dispersing each other, as the clear air claimed its supremacy. Amber caught sight of Mathew overtop the dead Alpha. He had that thousand-yard stare going on again. That's what he did when he was facing down his internal struggles.

"You alright there, hoss?" Amber asked.

"Yeah, just working through..." Mathew trailed off for a moment. As an afterthought, he added. "The rest of them ran off. We should be safe for a minute."

If he wants to share, he will, She thought.

"Hey, Ben? How close are we to the target?" Amber focused on the mission.

"Half a mile out," Ben projected a map. The detail was so much more precise than she'd ever seen before. A large red dot showed their current location, while a chromatic glimmer showed the chronosphere Ben had scouted.

Amber recalled a summary of the notifications from the fight.

[Ya leveled up Archery to 25, free scan to 21, and living skeletal armament level to 17. That's three new perks!]

Time to get into it then, Amber thought.

[Archery - tier one

Far stab - transition seamlessly mentally and visually between near and far

Guided shot - Use willpower to adjust trajectory of arrow

Bow wielder - Aid drawing the most potential from used bow]

As she'd done every time before, Amber decided what type of perk she'd like. Not like the system would grant wishes, but she wasn't bound by the simple limits. Instead, it was more about if her growth could afford what she wanted.

Archery would only be her weapon set for now, so she wanted to grow generic benefits that she'd apply to her dream weapons another time. She'd already negotiated with Leternum for perks that provided benefits to accuracy to aim where she wanted, predicted location to know where to aim, reinforcing her weapon, and faster projectiles.

Both in the present and for future growth, she'd want to be able to rapidly fire. With an application of honeyed freedom and faith, she shifted the mechanics of gaining perks again.

[Swift arm - increase rate of fire]

Frowning, Amber kept pushing. She didn't want to perk to be limited to using bows. It was odd though, her improved stats had made everything else so much easier. Why did this feel just as difficult even when Amber had grown stronger? Even the cost of freedom magic was higher. If she didn't know better she'd say it was a rip off.

Maybe part of me stepping off the pre-built paths is fighting myself? Amber mused.

The next offer solidified.

[Rapid firing - increase rate of fire]

Double checking the details in the offer with her intelectus, Amber agreed to the perk selection. It wouldn't be as powerful as a straight archery perk would be in terms of bow and arrows. An honest drawback she'd come to expect for getting closest to what she wanted.

Moving on to scanning, Amber didn't even look at her options. Instead, she revved up her scanning intelectus and gave it the choice for her. Still, took a sun drop of her magic but honestly, Amber had been looking at scan summaries more than the actual scans anyway. Better the intelectus doing the work to pick the upgrade.

Finally, living skeletal armament. This whole skill tree was a gift to her that she'd felt ever grateful for. Out of that gratitude, Amber had split the benefit of her perk every other level. Odd skill perks would be for Mathew, evens for Amber. This third perk was Mathew's by Amber's accounting.

The first perk added her overhealing to Mathew's. Building on that foundation, she willed out more generally for the system to provide him benefits from her skill. As freedom was applied, options cycled.

When the offer settled out, Amber looked it over.

[Reflected durability - increase skeletal durability of prime's armament by 1/10th bonus you enjoy]

That may seem nice, but it was just stacking more eggs into an overstuffed basket. Nah, she wanted to give him some advantage he wouldn't even know he needed.

[Unseen ally - increase prime's armament penetration resistance based on your skill level]

That felt right to Amber, so she made her selection and let the rest of the burden on her willpower fade away. As she recovered, the world regained a sharp meaning and bright color. Amber enjoyed her rest like a good day's work that left you hot, tired and smiling. She just let her mind wander.

She'd have to give it to Grant and Ben. They both stayed engaged in the fight no matter what. Didn't even give her a decent chance to show off the armaments she'd been working on. Amber consoled herself that it would just be an opportunity to show off later.

Looking back around, it became clear that Mathew was still struggling... which was unusual.

"Hey, Earth to Math-olomew," Amber stalked into the brutes shadow. "What's the hangup?"

"I'm not sure what to do about his," Mathew gestured to the Alpha's corpse. "Ripper is buried inside of it. If I leave it there, it will evolve into a Carrion Beast. On my team. More so than any other Carrion Beast could be because Ripper isn't just alive but an equipped weapon. We'd lose the Bramble Weaver remains and Ripper for a while."

"What does Ripper want?" Amber felt called to ask.

"Uh, Ripper just wants to help," Mathew's face scrunched up some. "It gives me full trust with whatever I say. Kinda scary, actually."

"No one is going to blame you, Mathew," Amber stared up at his earthy eyes. "None of this is your fault, and you can't play the blame game about what you don't know. Just do your best. I support you. I know it's hard to hear, but lives are always on the line. It wasn't any different on Earth. I didn't get it until I went on a mission trip, and, anyway... point is, nearly our whole lives are spent letting others die. That don't make people living their lives in what peace they have wrong. Wasn't the case there and isn't the case here."

Watching Mathew's responses, she felt like she was over the target. "You get that your sacrifices are meaningful because you don't have to make 'em. Flesh that idea out all the way. Is it fair to judge you badly for leaving something out of sight, so that you don't meddle in? You already said it's valid not to interfere. So how can you find meddling with good intentions worse than ignoring something altogether?"

"That isn't quite the issue," Mathew's chuckle rumbled. "I can't separate my instincts, the Carrion Beast instincts, my hunger magic, and this greedy pooling magic. How am I supposed to make a decision like this?"

"Oh," Amber nodded. "I can see that. Welp, my assumptions were all washed up then, huh?."

The tiniest of pauses to reorient, and she continued. "Here's what I think. You don't have to fight so hard to separate all the parts of you and pretend some of 'em aren't really you. That's right backward from how we're supposed to grow. "Accept who you are, then choose who you'll be." That's what my old man would say to me."

"Easy for you to say," Mathew sighed.

"This whole freedom thing, it gets to me sometimes," The corners of Amber's mouth pointed down. "Don't get me wrong, I take a shining to the idea, but this magic presses on me too. Makes me truly a zealot about it. It's a part of me, though. At least now it is. Just the irony of it, I'm mentally trapped by Freedom. Always wondering if it's me or my magic."

Amber giggled. "So I don't let it mean that much. No being a prisoner in my own mind. Take life as it is and just go with it."

"It's not that easy," Mathew shook his head.

"Just have to practice," Amber shook off the sunshine demeanor she carried like a dismissive cloak. "Look, I'm sure you figured it's weird that your monster side got stronger with your human essence based level ups. The monster side is a part of who you are. I'm sorry for what part I had to play in it, but you don't have to pretend to be earth Mathew when you aren't him anymore."

"Greed, hunger, mad violence," Mathew's eyes wavered. "Those aren't the things that should be driving my decisions."

"Not all of 'em," Amber nodded before starting him down. "But all those not-nice things belong in this not-nice world. Greed for you and your people, hunger to provide in excess, and mad violence when it's called for. We are all going to need that Mathew too."

"Something to think on," Mathew smiled before conjuring his exoskull back on. "Thank you."

Brushing invisible dust off her shoulder, Amber said, "That's just what I do."

She could take a hint too. Giving him space, Amber started exploring this new Territory.

Until now, she'd spent the whole trip just emptying her mind and staying in the moment. Ready to fight at the drop of a hat. Now with Mathew delivering the all-clear, Amber gave her curiosity free reign. Right off the bat, it was clear Harper would love all this. Everything was glowing in her free scan vision as she shifted it to include anything special. Unlike how Earth would be baren under such dark thickets of growth, the floor layer of this land was rife with plants. Smaller animals too.

A jackal bunny thing was looking at her with its ugly pointed buck teeth. That soft fur was just begging to be turned into something lovely.

Maybe I could make a gift out of it? Ah well, now isn't the time for it. Amber promised to come game hunting another time.

"Ahem," Grant coughed loudly. "Amber dear, would you be willing to help me out here? I seem to have strayed too far from the path without my senses."

That was odder than a three-dollar bill. Grant never needed help. Amber quelled her kneejerk suspicion and investigated.

Grant was standing perfectly still, awkwardly so. Tilting her head, she saw it. Glimmering lines hung from the vines above, creating a web of bent light. After more focus, her free scan highlighted it, and she drew up the information.

[Deathlock noose

Awww. Mostly known due to a tragedy where a hero saved their betrothed from a public execution by hanging. The hero cut the noose free, but a jealous god of nature cursed it to release deadly poison when cut. After the death of the hero's lover, the hero cut the Deathlock noose into a million pieces and scattered them to the winds. Real tear-jerker the way the system tells it. Anyway, breaking it releases poison and thorns with seeds in 'em.]

"As you can see, I'm in a bit of a bind, as it were," Grant swallowed, causing a cascade of vines to tighten moderately.

The urge to free him and watch him squirm blended in her heart, so she slowly sauntered over, "How do 'ya feel about getting all tied up?"

Amber expected to see his worse side, but he just showed a sad smile. "Free," Grant offered no further explanation.

Course, she hadn't just spent the time making him squirm. Figuring out the right way to apply freedom before using it was her hard-earned lesson. Two places thrummed to her ear. One place was Grant. He was a whole bundle of tied up strings, chains, and weights. Amber blanched at the thought of starting there. Looking over the vines, they seemed far more straightforward. They were tied by their nature almost entirely. One of those natural responses made 'em grab. Settling a dollop of freedom onto the plant, Amber tried to keep it on the one connection she was trying to budge loose.

The improvements to her cognition and willpower were paying off in spades. Freedom still went everywhere, but most of it kept to where she was trying to work.

Gradually the vines relaxed, and Grant finished untangling himself. " Thank you, kindly. So what next?" He asked.

"Sorry I'm late, had to make up my mind," Mathew scratched the back of his head. "I'm leaving Ripper here to evolve into a new type of weapon, and we keep pushing. After we get to the chronosphere, I'll grind away their influence and build some of my own. Any objections?"

Amber only half listened. Reviewing her experience with freedom magic was the key to her making use of it without fear. Right now, freedom was like a gun. She'd learned to respect and responsibly use guns; this was the same, except without the training wheels of a teacher.

Following in the clear cut Mathew left in the brambles was easy travel if a bit slow. No more than an hour later, they'd arrived at the destination.

[Spencer Mitch Elder

Earth raid transfer

Entry quest

1) Incomplete

2) Incomplete]

Glowing bright as a star, a chain wrapped the whole sphere, with a lock right in front of her. Amber held her magic tight to her bosom but gave the bindings a pluck. Listening to the sound, she could hear the same message from the system sounding out of the lock. The chain wrap was a binding of space, time and eldrich bureaucracy. Amber didn't bother to question how she knew what it was. This stuff seemed to happen daily now.

Instead, she wondered if her magic would set this Spencer free now or doom his transition to Earth. If he didn't show up alive or unwell, would she even know if he made it back to Earth? Or would he be banished to the void of space or unreality between dimensions?

All of a sudden, Mathew taking his time to think things through, seemed mighty wise.