"Skyler!" Mom exclaims when she sees me. "What happened to you?"

I even put my shirt and vest back on before we returned, to cover up most of the wounds. The injuries on my arms, face, and lower legs were treated with salve I carry with me and have mostly cleared up, but I guess it was evident I got battered pretty hard. The bruise on my right jaw probably doesn't help, that takes more than a salve for cuts to heal.

Finn's back to wearing his cloak and backpack, hood pulled up to hide the fact that he's not human once more. It's really a shame he feels uncomfortable letting people know he's a beastkin, but with his bad experiences and the fact that this settlement only has humans, it's understandable.

Mom's sitting at her station at the market, goods displayed on a blanket that she's sitting on, with her measuring strip and a notebook beside her. Judging by how few items are left on the blanket, she's had a good sell today. I'm betting she'll be busy in the evenings and early mornings to make the commissions, too.

"Nothing much," I tell her. "I was just showing Finn some of my favorite hunting grounds."

"He tried taking on six frost beasts at once," Finn quietly adds.

"Frost beasts?" Mom's eyes widen as she jumps to her feet.

"Yeah!" I exclaim. "The bastards made it impossible to bring any of my kills! Finn and I had to flee the island before I could prep it, and there was no way we were going to try to haul something that heavy to the boat while attempting to avoid the beasts! Then one of them jumped onto the boat, and I had to kill it while Finn did his best to row us away from the island! I did so much damage to it before managing to kill it that I couldn't even sell it for as much as I normally could! And then I had to scrub out my boat, which was annoying! ARGH!"

A few merchants and shoppers look my way, but they're all foreigners. All of the locals are used to things like this.

"Is that how you got this?" Mom gingerly touches my jaw.

"I got that tripping and falling and hitting my face on some rocks," I tell her. "It was unrelated."

And totally humiliating, too! Finn saw me trip like a klutz!

"Alright," she says. "Make sure to put some cream on it to help it heal faster."

"I know," I pull away. "Anyway! Finn said that he and Sara usually camp outside of town during markets, especially when the town's small and doesn't receive visitors much, since we don't really have inn space. Or inns. Can they stay with us? They're actually planning on staying in town for awhile, and Sara wants to explore the back of the skybeast and Finn wants to hunt once his birthday passes and he gets his first Crystal. Oh! Thanks to the frost beast, I only need about fifteen hundred sorukar more before I can buy a Lesser Stat Crystal! So I was planning on going out and hunting something tough tomorrow, and-"

"Skyler," Mom raises an eyebrow.

"-being very careful not to get myself killed because anything that earns a lot of money is also something that shouldn't be fought by someone who doesn't have a Crystal socketed and a few Levels to their power," I say. "Don't worry, Finn will be with me?"

"I will?"

"So can they?" I ask Mom. "It'll make it easier for them, and we won't have to wait to meet up or anything tomorrow so that I can show Finn more of the safe islands."

"If they're okay with it," Mom tells me. "But if they aren't, then don't try to push it, okay? They may just like camping out."

"I do," Finn whispers.

"Alright!" I say. "See you later, Mom!"

"I'm getting ready to pack up and head back home," she tells me. "I need to get started on making some of these orders."

"See you then!" I tell her. "Come on, Finn! Let's go find Sara!"

Finn and I walk around the market for a bit until we locate Sara, who has already put away her Crystals and begun pulling on her bag. She smiles when she sees us, approaching and giving Finn a warm hug.

"Would you mind giving us a moment?" Sara asks.

"Sure!"

I take a few steps away, then watch as they talk in hushed tones, Finn probably telling her about our adventure today. Their discussion ends quickly and Sara beckons for me to approach again.

"Finn said you guys camp out during markets," I tell Sara. "I asked Mom if you guys could stay at our house, and she said that's fine. I don't know where you'd sleep, but Finn can sleep in my room. I'm kind of disappointed you put your goods away, I wanted to check out your Crystals."

"We'll take you up on that offer," Sara tells me. "And I can show you them once we get to your house."

"Awesome!" I clap my hands. "This way, Finn, Sara! Mom probably has a stew cooking, too! I bet she put on enough for all four of us, she probably guessed I'd invite you over."

As I lead them to my house, I tell Sara about our adventures, though I don't mention that I know Finn is a wolfkin who's very shy about his identity. That would be rude.

When we reach the house, we find that Mom did put on a bigger pot of stew than normal, and there are two loaves of bread sitting on the counter rather than just one, ready to be put into our wood oven once Mom gets home.

"Let's go put your pack in my room," I tell Finn, then lead him upstairs. Once we're in it, I turn around and look at him. "Are you going to wear your cloak while here with just me and Mom? It's okay if you want to, but I promise that Mom is cool. Most people aren't like the ones you met, those were assholes. I bet if it were winter, Mom would knit you a comfy hat with holes for your ears that have little flap thingies to protect the backs of them."

"Do you have an off switch?"

"No, but I do have an off button," I tell him. "It's on the back of my head. You have to hit it really hard, usually with a hard object. How long I'm off for is debatable, and there may be other damage involved. Alternatively, [Sleep] would work. A few years ago, I was showing this trio of ladies around town while they were visiting during market, and they were all adventurers who had a single Skill Crystal. One of them had a Grade 1 [Sleep Crystal] and demonstrated the power of the Skill by using it on both of her companions."

"You show people around during markets a lot?"

"Yeah," I answer. "I show them things, they show me things. I teach them things, they teach me things. Speaking of showing things! Whether you're ready or not, I'm going to head downstairs so I can see Sara's Crystals. Join us when you're ready."

I return downstairs to find that Sara has spread out a cloth on the table, a variety of Crystals lined up neatly on it in three rows. There are twenty-one Crystals total, each one about two inches in size, of varying colors. They're all Grade 1 Stat Crystals and Grade 1 Skill Crystals, with no repeats.

Because there are only so many colors, and the more basic Crystals are plain rather than possessing patterns, I have to read their information to know what all of them are.

"These are so cool," I say as I examine them. "How much do you sell them for?"

"Market-standard," Sara answers. "I don't care about earning back what I spent, so I don't increase the prices to accommodate that. Grade 1 Stat Crystals are five thousand sorukar, while Grade 1 Rarity 1 Skill Crystals are twenty-five thousand."

"Cool," I say. "I wish I could regularly hunt things that are worth more. I'd go out tomorrow and gather up as much as I could, then come back and sell them all just so I could buy a Crystal from you. Or two. If you're still here when I can afford one, I'll buy one. Did you make any sales today?"

"I did sell one," she tells me. "A Grade 1 Water Crystal."

Elemental Skill Crystals grant a bonus to one's resistance to a particular element, as well as improve one's power when it comes to using Skills of that element. Even though they're Skill Crystals, they fetch a higher price than other Skill Crystals, because they're considered a little bit more useful and they're rarer.

None of the Crystals Sara has on the cloth are Elemental Skill Crystals.

"Do those help with ice-based things?" I ask.

"Ice is just frozen water," she tells me. "Though with all things, remember that there are additional factors to consider. A resistance might help a little, but it does nothing for the force behind an attack. You'd also need a Frost Resistance Crystal to resist the cold aspect."

"Yeah," I say as Mom returns, carrying her basket of leftover goods, the blanket folded up on top of it. "I didn't know Kyle had saved up enough to buy a Resistance Skill Crystal."

"So you know who bought it?" Sara's lips quirk up in a smile.

"He has an ice-based Skill," I say. "It was kind of an easy guess since most people wouldn't buy a Resistance Skill Crystal unless it would actually benefit them. He usually goes hunting down near the tail, there are some fiery monsters there that he's good against. He supplies a lot of reagents for making burn salves and fire-starters to the town. I think he's Level 17?"

Supplying those isn't enough to make a massive profit, though. He still has his own bills to pay, supplies to buy, and then there's the fact that the price on them isn't too high. Kyle also doesn't go up against anything truly dangerous – a flame beast, the fire version of the frost beasts I fought earlier, is maybe once every few months for him. He's picked a safe route that earns him enough to live by with some savings, not something that would put him at a huge risk.

"He was saving up," Mom tells me as she sets her basket down. "To buy a higher-quality spear, but said that once he saw the Resistance Skill Crystal, he knew he had to buy it. He asked me to repair his bracers again with what he has leftover from that."

"After the market ends?"

"Yeah," she answers. "I've got a few orders to do for people here for the market. I'll get to work on those in a minute, after I put the loaves in the oven."

"I didn't start a fire for it," I tell her. "I wasn't sure how long you'd be."

"That's fine," she says.

"Hello," Sara greets my mom, now that the discussion found a pause. "I'm Sara. You must be Skyler's sister?"

Mistaking Mom for my sister isn't as weird as someone might think if they saw us. Not only do we have the same sun-blond hair and golden eyes, but Mom barely looks to be around twenty.

"What?" I ask. "You think elves are the only ones who age slowly, Sara? I'll have you know that Mom is actually over-mnrgh!"

Mom covered my mouth from behind, holding my tightly. She has a really firm grip, which she's using to ensure I can't tell the elf how long-lived she is.

"Skyler," Mom says. "Sweetie. Remember, you don't go around telling people a lady's age."

She releases my mouth.

"Mom," I say. "The way you swing a sword, you ain't a lady. You're a woman."

Mom bops me on the back of my head, then goes to put wood in the oven, just in time for Finn to come downstairs. He's cast off his cloak, wearing just his pants, tunic, belt, and boots. His cheeks are a little red, and it's evident he's uncomfortable but pushing through that in a show of trust.

That makes me happy.

"Speaking of swords," Finn's voice is quiet enough that I can barely hear him from here. "What kind of sword is that you use, Skyler?"

My sword is a single-edged sword with a triangular cross section, which results in a flat back edge. The crosspiece has a slight upward angle towards the tips, to protect my hand from something sliding down the edges.

"It's a backsword," I pull it off my belt and show it to him as Mom finishes starting the fire in the oven.

She turns and sees Finn, her eyes widening upon seeing that he's a wolfkin, and Finn examines the sword.

"A backsword?" He asks.

"I don't know why it's called that," I tell him. "But it's the type of sword my parents knew how to use. Dad started teaching me how to use one when I was toddler, so I have over ten years of experience wielding it."

Though of course, the one I used back then was a much shorter training sword, with the swords becoming longer and longer as I grew accustomed to them and grew in size, up until they reached this length.

"The back of it," I indicate the flat side. "Is good for blocking attacks without needing to worry about chipping the blade. I also sometimes use it to just bash a monster in a spot if I think my blade won't cut. A well-placed blunt strike can be crippling, too."

"Yeah," he nods, his tail starting to swish from side to side as he hands back my sword. "You're pretty good with it."

"Well, I do have more than a decade of experience," I grin as I return my sword to my belt. "I can show you even more tomorrow, if you want."

"Maybe," he looks down, but the quicker swishing of his tail tells me all I need to know.

He wants to see it.

"So!" I return to my seat and look at Sara. "Can I see the Crystals you're hiding in your Inventory? They're probably a lot cooler than the ones you have out."

"Skyler!" Mom exclaims.

"What?" I ask. "It's true! Any good merchant hides the good stuff until asked!"

"It's okay," Sara chuckles. "I had a feeling he'd ask to see them, and it's not an issue. Your son is quite into Crystals."

"Yes," Mom sighs as she puts the bread into the oven, then joins us at the table. "Skyler plans on becoming an adventurer."

"He said he wishes to find the Crystern," Sara tells her.

"Yeah," Mom ruffles my hair, and Finn finally sits down. "Sky's always been interested in it, and he hopes to find it, even though it's only a myth. After my husband died, he's become even more determined to set off. He'd have probably set off on that journey already if I hadn't promised him my father's sword once he obtains his first Crystal."

"She just wants to make sure I'm actually ready," I tell Sara.

"You'd have already been able to afford one," Mom tells me. "If you didn't insist on giving me half of what you earn. I've told you before I don't need it, Skyler. I make more than enough. You can save everything, you know."

"I know," I say. "But I want to make sure you have extra money when I leave. Oh! Speaking of money!"

"Here," Sara hands me a few coins. "Two hundred fifty sorukar, for showing Finn around and keeping him company today."

"Sweet! Thanks!" I separate the coins and pull a couple from my pockets as I add my half to my pockets, then I slide Mom her half. "Here you go!"

"See?" Mom looks at Sara. "He insists on it even though it means he'll take longer to go on his quest."

"The Crystern has been a fable for thousands of years," I say. "It can wait another year or two if it means you have extra savings when I leave."

Mom grabs me and pulls me toward her so she can kiss the top of my head. Finn seems uncomfortable by that. Did he have a bad relationship with his parents? Is that why he left home, and becoming an adventurer was just an excuse?

"Well," Sara says as I straighten up and fix my hair. "Let me show you some of my more expensive wares, Skyler."

Sara holds out her hand, and a Crystal appears in it. She sets it down on the cloth and pulls out another Crystal. I pick up the first one and examine it. It's dark orange with red and yellow streaks in it, and warm to the touch. I could tell before examining it that this Crystal has to do with fire. A check into its information confirms that.

Flame Strike Crystal +Flame Strike (Technique) Grade: 2 Rarity: 3

It has a Rarity 2 base, since this is a Grade 2 Crystal instead of a Grade 1 Crystal. That means it will boost two Stats every time its user gains a Level while it's socketed. Unlike Stat Crystals, Skill Crystals themselves don't grant Attributes for being socketed.

Instead, they grant a Skill and the Skill grants the bonus. We lose the Skill and the bonus to Levels upon unsocketing the Skill Crystal, but not the Attribute increases it had already given us. While a Skill Crystal is socketed, we can also accumulate Experience for it, and if we bring it up to Level 10, then we keep the Skill even when we unsocket it.

This is actually a pretty useful Skill, too. It's a Technique, specifically, and one which allows us to cloak an attack with flames. Skills like this are why special weapons are needed for adventurers – a normal sword would melt from this and using it with bare hands? Well, better have a high Constitution!

However, a Skill like this is also useful against monsters that are weak to that element, like slimes and elementals. With a fire attribute, this one is also more damaging to other things as well.

"What's with that look of wonder on your face?" Mom asks me.

"I'm holding over six hundred thousand sorukar in my hand, Mom."

Mom and Sara laugh, and I set the Crystal down, then begin examining others. Sara really does have a wide variety, and while most of them are Rarity 2 or Rarity 3, she brings out a Rarity 7 Skill Crystal at the end.

The Crystal is brown, with red and orange streaks inside of it, and they seem to glow a little.

It's a Grade 1 Meteor Crystal. [Meteor] is one of the most powerful spells there is, able to perform wide-scale devastation that can take down many great beasts, if one has the Mana and magical power to use it.

I've never seen a Crystal higher than Rarity 5 before, and I'm really hesitant to touch the Grade 1 Meteor Crystal because of that. It's worth almost four hundred million sorukar.

"This one was obtained during an incident where I nearly died," Sara tells me as she picks it up and places it in my hand. It's warm to the touch, like a fire-based Crystal, and heavier than most Crystals normally are."I've never used it, but have also never found someone to sell it to. The only people who could afford it wanted it for a collection."

"You nearly died to obtain it?" I ask, sensing her sorrow. "What kind of beast were you fighting? I've only heard myths of these, and no one I've talked to knew how to obtain a base Rarity 7 Crystal."

Finn seems interested in this story, which tells me that he's probably never heard it before. If that's the case, why did Sara decide to share it now?

"I didn't fight the beast," she shakes her head. "The Archfiend of Wind attacked the skybeast I had grown up on. I was thirty-two at the time and only a budding swordsman of Level 28."

"Archfiend?"

"Great, powerful monsters," she tells me. "Sapient, like people. It attacked the back of the beast, killing nearly everyone on it. It also tried to kill the skybeast – and it nearly succeeded. The skybeast was wounded so badly, it was going to die anyway. The Archfiend of Wind left once it knew the skybeast was doomed."

Skybeasts can die?

"I'd managed to get onto a great bird," Sara continues her story. "A thunderbird. They're large birds that we elves ride on. She was a beautiful creature who served me for twenty years before she passed. We elves put a lot of emphasis on worshipping the skybeasts, so I had her fly around to the front of ours, so that I could say goodbye.

"The skybeast," Sara tells me. "Didn't let itself simply die. Aware that it was going to, it sacrificed itself, converting itself into a trio of Crystals to give to me as a blessing for saying farewell. All three were Rarity 7. I have two of them socketed, but I've never used this one. It's so destructive, I didn't want to even socket it for the bonuses."

Skybeasts can turn into Crystals? But only at the cost of their life. That's a really sad history to this Crystal, and it's no wonder no one knows how to obtain base Rarity 7 ones, if that's the requirement. Only a fool or a greedy, evil bastard would try to obtain them.

I set the Crystal back down.

It's worth far more than four hundred million sorukar.

"Traveling between skybeasts by flying beasts," Sara tells me. "Isn't feasible, not unless they're close. That's why it's not a method of travel, though it did make longer markets feasible. We could add on a couple of days to them, one before and one after. My poor thunderbird, she strained herself trying to reach another, and we were flying towards the closest skybeast to us. Two days, she flew without pause, without sleep, without food. Another hour of flight, and we'd have fallen into the sea of clouds. Only an hour after we landed, she passed away."

Her mount sacrificed itself in an effort to reach somewhere they might not have.

"That's… really sad."

"Thanks," she smiles. "It was more than a century ago, and I wish that I hadn't had to push her that hard. But if she didn't give herself up, I wouldn't be alive now."

And Finn might be a slave to some bastards.

The rest of the evening has a more subdued atmosphere to it, and even I can't find it in me to act normal. Sara shared something heavy, and something telling. I could sense in her the honesty of her tale, her sorrow and regret.

Now I know why she wants an airship. She's wanted it longer than Finn thought, that's for sure. With an airship, she'd never risk pushing a flying beast to its limits to escape something and reach another place.

Dinner passes in silence, then Finn and I take a bath, Finn helping me with my back so that I don't agitate my cuts, then he applies salve to the cuts on my back, since I can't do that properly. After, we put on nightshirts, and I spread out a blanket and pillow on the floor for him.

While I want to snuggle someone right now, to be held and feel safe and not alone, I don't think Finn would go for that. We don't know each other that well. I could probably ask Mom, but I don't want to bother her, I'm too old for that stuff now.

Finn seems a little bit thirsty as we get ready for bed, so I tell him I'll get some water, then make my way downstairs. Mom and Sara talking stops me on the stairs, especially because they're talking about me.

"-sorry about him," Mom tells Sara.

"It's okay," Sara tells Mom. "I've a feeling I'd have told him what happened eventually. I'm sorry I quieted him down, it doesn't seem like that's easy. Skyler is a cheerful kid, and what I said-"

"It's fine," Mom tells her. "Skyler will be back to normal tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Sara asks. "Something like what I said, it tends to weigh on people."

"Skyler's impulsive chattering?" Mom asks. "His tendency to go off and fight things that he probably shouldn't? It's his way of avoiding thinking too much his father's death. He's never let himself grieve properly, bundling it up inside of himself and forcing it down. He doesn't want to think too much about it. What you said definitely made him think about it, and he probably did his best to suppress it. Come morning, he'll be back to his energetic self in order to return to normal."

"Okay," Sara says. "I'm sorry for upsetting him, then. Should I apologize?"

"No," Mom tells her. "That might make it worse, and I'd hate to see Skyler dealing with that."

"Is it okay if I ask how he died?" Sara asks. "Your husband, I mean?"

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I'm not staying around for this.

I return to my room, and Finn looks at me from where he's spread out on the floor.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"I'm fine."

"You're crying," he says, and I lift up an arm and wipe my face.

"No, I'm not. You're imagining it."

"And you're shaking," he rises to his feet. "You're trembling really hard. What happened?"

"…nothing."

Finn stares at me for a few moments, then steps forward and pulls me against him.

"It's okay," he murmurs. "You're okay, Skyler. Your mom is still here, and she loves you very much."

He can hear them talking, can't he? He knows what's upsetting me and is trying not to say it to avoid making it worse.

"Thanks," I wrap my arms around him. "Tomorrow, I'm going to show you one of my favorite training areas."