They sat along the crackling fire, roasting the meat they had gathered, when the sun had begun to set and the orange rays of light had started to filter through the leaves and the branches above them. The colder night soon overtook the warm summer evening, and the buzzing of the insects accompanied their chat beside the flames.

Thom felt warmth that wasn't coming from the campfire. It was the expressionless maiden in front of him, and her short answers and nods that made him glad to be where he was.

"I nearly died of a heart attack that day. My sister doesn't know when to stop. Gods, would you put a toad in your big brother's tea?" Thom asked with a very concerned look on his face, pointing at his palm for dramatic effect's sake.

"Pfft." Valta covered her mouth as if trying not to laugh, and Thom let out of a surprised cry.

"Gya! You laughed!" He excitedly pushed his fists in the air. "Was that a laughter coming from the cold captain Valta just now?!"

"You're wrong." She looked away.

"It totally was a laugh! A small one, but a laugh! Hey, are you blushing? Hahahaha!"

The cooked meat was done after an hour over the fire, and Thom and Valta enjoyed a hearty meal with boar meat and some extra herbs Valta had picked up from the forest. The seasoning was simple but nice, and Thom found himself enjoying a good portion of the hunt before he could notice. Valta was equally as unreserved with her manners, which made Thom extremely happy for some reason.

I guess I don't have to worry about eating like a country bumpkin like this.

They finished the meal with sparse talk, and after they were done, there was only packing up to do and then return to Pontya.

Thom was happily snuffing out the fire and kicking the rocks around when he found that Valta was trying to say something. He turned around, and asked "Yes?" With a happy voice.

Valta almost inaudibly fake-coughed as she stood up from the log she had been using as a sit, and approached Thom. He stood upright with the joking intention to match her height, to which she shook her head.

"Could we... Do this again? Someday...?" She said, fixing her eyes on his own.

Thom's neck trembled as a floating sensation overtook him for a second, and afterward, a burning sensation spread to his cheeks and his ears. The end of his lips raised slowly as he thought over the answer. He ended up letting go of a small giggle, and nodded slightly.

"Of course."

"Ah..."

Then, for the first time in the three weeks that he had known her, Thom saw her lips quickly raise up— and formed a sweet, warm smile for him.

"Then, I'll be waiting for it." She said, her voice sounding loud and clear this time around.

「 Do you wish to share a skill of grade A+ or less with the individual Valta Lockhart? The skills not available for sharing are as follows:

•Luckiest

All other skills can be transferred with the use of [Skill Sharing], as well as one of its subordinate skills.

Suggested skills:

• Skill Master (Grade A+)

Suggested subordinate skills:

• Skill Master: [Bookread's Guideline]

• Skill Master: [Dissolve Sublevels]

• Skill Master: [Skill Sharing]

Awaiting response.」

Wait... Skill Master... Not now. I think I'm having a heart attack.

Thom leaned against a tree with his face beet-red and his hand clasped on his chest. Valta was looking from afar completely aware of what had happened, and perhaps apologetic about it. She didn't think she could have such an impact on the poor lieutenant.

「Learning unsuccessful. The user did not make a correct evaluation of his status. As such, he couldn't obtain the related skill.」

"Fucking hell..." Thom covered his mouth while trying not to laugh.

「?」

•••

"Hmm. So that's your current situation." Valta nodded in understanding as soon as Thom finished explaining his story.

"You took it surprisingly well."

"Umu." She nodded again. "It's understandable. Now I get why you killed Piston. I can't say I disagree."

"Well, that's a relief." Thom snickered. "I felt confident enough to tell you. So, you know, the whole story about my sister is not actually from Suu, but from my sister back at home."

"Back at the other plane."

She said those words with confidence, creating confusion in Thom's face. She proceeded to explain, then, after seeing the lieutenant was oblivious to her meaning, about what she meant.

The universe they lived in was comprised, in essence, by the planet they inhabited and everything that was beyond it. No one knew if there was life beyond the stars. It was said that grand mages and artificers had managed to create tools that allowed their sight to shoot past the moon and see the stars from up close, but such claims couldn't be proved yet. It had been centuries since rumors started circulating.

The important part was that the universe, in its vastness, was not the only one in existence. If there was more than one, and it was thought to be, they were called planes. With different rules, different races, different people and different times. It was unknown whether the majirical dimension was connected to every plane in existence, or if its influence was as strong in each one of them.

"Since you didn't know about magic to begin with... I'll assume the influence of the magic plane isn't as strong in your world."

They strolled inside the city and slowly walked under the fire of the torches, which cast two dancing shadows on the stone.

"Now that I think about it, Runa did mention something about her talent being useless if she couldn't manage to gather enough magic. Something about there not being enough magic to cast even a single... First-tier spell?"

Valta sighed.

"Very low, then. Almost unconnected? Opening a portal to this plane must have been a death sentence."

Thom swallowed dry at her words.

Although she wasn't sure if it was Runa or the men in red robes who had opened that portal to begin with, he started to get extremely nervous. What if Valta was right and opening a "gate" between those two words had caused Runa to die? If such a thing had happened and he wasn't capable of helping her at that moment, it would mark him forever as his fault.

Valta saw he had suddenly gotten quiet, and shook her head.

"No worries. After all, even if low, there was magic. She might have done it."

"You're right. There's no need to worry about that. She's a smart girl and, well, if even I'm fine after falling through that portal, she should be fine as well."

"Right. You came from the sky. Crashed on the crops. That's why they had jailed you." Valta said as she remembered that discussion from one of the meetings she had been in that week.

"Is... Is that right? Hmph. I had never properly asked anyone about it, now that I notice. No wonder my head was split open like a melon."

They arrived at their quarters, and they both pulled the keys from their rooms. After opening their own doors, they stood at the frame, and looked at each other.

"Good night, Valta. See you for tomorrow's progress detailing. Not as exciting as our date today, but we'll manage." He smiled.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Good... Good night, ehm... Thom." She muttered as she nodded, and took a step into her apartment.

Claker

Thom happily entered his room, and sat on his desk. He retired his boots, his rigid-neck shirt, and the belts on his waist. He laid on his bed with his eyes slowly closing, and made a big yawn as he stretched his whole body.

As he stared at the ceiling, he thought things over. Not about the date with Valta— he had already thought long and hard about that before. Right now, he was thinking of something else.

"Skill Master?"

The only two people he had told about the so-called divine skill, granted by the fifth something of the something, were Valta and Suu. Although Suu had made a big fuss about it that day after playing chess, Valta for some reason preferred not to talk about it. She didn't mention it once after Thom had finished his explanation.

"Do I still have pendant confirmation for... Skill sharing, was it?"

「The individuals Suu Dragontwist and Valta Lockhart are still pending confirmation for the obtention of skill transference. This is not an urgent matter. It can be done at any time.」

"Heh... Not an urgent matter, you say? So you're smart enough to tell I'm troubled by it, yet you can't hold a conversation with me? I really wanna know what the hell are you all about and you ain't helping me. That seems rather unfair, Skill Master."

「Skill Master is a recollection of all The Forest's memories and abilities. The sole purpose of its existence is to serve the successor of the heart, both in life and death.」

"Hmm..."

Thom closed his eyes with a pensive pout, the calm of the night rocking his shadow-shrouded body back and forth.

The warmth of summer had started to die out. Even with his window closed, the wind of autumn had left a lasting feeling of refreshment in his sheets. The touch on his skin slowly recomforted him, putting him in a state of tranquility between unconsciousness and vigil. In that darkness, he could still see the dancing flames inside his heart.

These auras... I can feel them.

Thom had started to sense things out more clearly once he was closer to sleep. Perhaps because he had shot down everything but his hearing, he was now so focused on his sensing that he could even make out the shapes of the people he could feel.

Valta was sitting on her bed. Chamgue was doing push-ups, even in the middle of the night. Erina was playing cards with Suu— they had started to spend a lot of time together lately. Petyo was throwing something, probably darts, at his door. He didn't know much about this last man, but since he had heard he was witness to his little scene with Piston, he had taken great interest in him.

He could only make up a basic, almost humanoid shape out of them. He couldn't make out items, backgrounds, or spaces, it was a simple supposition of what they were doing. It got particularly hard to make a form out of them when they moved, it made their humanoid shape transform into a simple flame, dancing in Thom's darkened mind.

But it didn't stop in the rooms beside him. His sensing soon stretched to the whole quarters. Then, he stopped seeing humanoid shapes. Everything was indistinct, like a cluster that he could only count as an approximation.

I guess the sensing skill isn't all-powerful...

He thought. And, just a few moments later, he fell asleep.

And was woken up by a sharp pain spreading trough his neck

Clank!

"What?!"

"Shit!"

Thom jumped from the bed and quickly pulled the scabbard of his sword, unsheathing it in a moment. He looked in front of him to see a man cloaked in pitch-black robes that seemed to vanish into the dark, holding a broken dagger in his hand.

"Who—"

Before he could ask for the man's identity, the shadow quickly ran towards the door, and bust it open to escape.

Thom reacted in an instant and activated his dash skill, but the man seemed to have done the same, as he zoomed down the corridor and into the courtyard.

"Son of a bitch!"

Thom yelled as he ran for the man's back, which he still didn't manage to catch. He chased the assassin through the entirety of the yard, failing to get his hands on him. The cloaked man managed to jump against the wall, and skillfully started to climb up without looking down. Thom halted in front of the wall to do the same, but when he arrived at the top the man was already long gone. He saw a dark figure slide down the hill, jump across the river with extreme agility, and scram for the forest.

"Ha... Ha..." Thom started to pant heavily as he saw the rustling trees from half a mile away. He knew it was way too late to start chasing after him. "Shit, I let him get away..."

He sat down on the wall, grabbing his neck, and noticed his hand get soaked in a warm and sticky liquid. When he looked at it, it was covered in his own blood. The dagger he felt on his neck was most probably not simple iron. It wouldn't have managed to pierce through [Copper Skin II] if it was.

"Huff..." Thom grabbed his neck. He was feeling extremely dizzy, and it couldn't have been the blood loss. He had lost way more blood than this before without feeling this dizzy.

"Thom?"

He heard someone yell his name from afar, and saw Erina and Suu closing in from the middle of the courtyard. Valta was behind them.

"H... Hey!" He was about to stand up on the wall to wave his hand, but his body strongly advised against it. How many feet down would it be? In his state, surely enough to knock him out cold.

"Are you okay?"

Suu asked from afar while waving her hand.

"Yeah...!" He said while closing his eyes. "Probably...! No... I think I... Got poisoned..."

He bent his body forward, and Suu and Valta were quick to react. They dashed forward and before Thom could touch the ground, they caught him between their arms.

Thump

Valta immediately noticed the cut on his neck and figured the problem came from there— but not from the cut itself.

"Lay him down." She told Suu, and the girl did it in a rush.

Erina quickly came by as well.

"Wait, shouldn't we take him to his room?" She nervously asked.

"There's no time." Valta put her hands together and let out a deep exhalation, her magic energy quickly coagulating in her stomach. It extended several feet away from her, and a projection of mossy purple clumps started coming from Thom's entire body, centering in his heart.

"Poison. A brew of several of them. I've seen it before... He'll die in..." Valta was about to say the number of minutes left for him, but decided not to as she saw the tears welling up in Suu's eyes.

"When?" She pushed for an answer.

"Doesn't matter. We've got time to do something."

Valta fluctuated the magic inside of her body again, this time centering it on her palms. She placed them on Thom's chest as she started to mumble something, probably a desperate prayer, and a light soon started to cover Thom's body. It seeped inside of his nose, and then, slowly, his breathing started to regulate.

"Huff..." The three of them saw Thom recovering his breath, and both Suu and Erina smiled relieved. Valta, however, wasn't the same.

"He's still afflicted." She whispered. "I bought him an hour. But at this rate..."

She bit her lower lip in frustration.

"Wait, there's a priest with more power in the quarters." Erina stood up. "Araba is here, isn't he?"

"He's not." Valta said. "He's currently at a mission. Holy mission. Something... Like that."

"Okay, don't worry." Suu whispered. "If one spell could heal him that much, another spell would work just as good. Can't you use it again, Valta? Do you need more magic energy? I can give that to you!"

Valta looked with an anxious face at the girl in front of her who was falling into despair. Indeed, she wouldn't deny it. She could feel, even without trying, that this girl that kept acting like a swordsman had enough magic energy inside her to topple the Archpriest Of Feriphia. She was an abnormality even between grand mages, but still—

"There's a limit to my magic." Valta touched the young man's forehead. "My divine link has become extremely weak. Even the strongest spells I know will only reach a beginner's level."

"Then...!" Suu started to cry, a pair of water streaks leaked from her eyes.

Valta also started to feel a knot in her throat. What was this feeling? Seeing Thom's neck bleeding profusely while his tanned, dark face started to get pale as a sheet. His aura, which had suddenly exploded like a third-tier spell back at the forest, started to get extremely weak. She wanted to reach forward and spend all of her magic on him, but that wouldn't solve the problem. She could still feel the poison festering and multiplying inside his veins, it wasn't just a simple poison, but a powerful toxin. Whoever wanted to kill him wanted to be extremely sure of his death.

If only... I hadn't stopped praying every day...

She frowned and tightly clutched the man's fingers. Were those burning streaks in her eyes tears she was holding back? It was sudden. Extremely sudden. Like grabbing the most beautiful flower out of a mesmerizing field, only to see it crumble in your hands and fade away into the wind.

It was something she had never managed to experience in her sheltered life. And then, besides the sorrow in her heart, she felt extremely disgusted with herself. Because she was feeling, while watching that man's poor visage, truly glad.

She was glad that someone had managed to made her feel happy, excited, and then at the brink of crying, all in the same day.

"Thom!" Suu grabbed the man's neck. "I won't forgive you if you go and die like this! What about your stupid dream? Ahh? What's wrong with you?!"

Suu started to cry as she pulled him by the arm. The rattling of his body didn't make him any good, but Valta wouldn't mention it. She simply stared in silence, as the man's pulse weakened, and slowly, a single tear fell from her eye.

They heard Suu cry in silence.

"..."

"..."

And then, a voice that nobody else could hear ringed out.

「Learning successful. Through the aid of the skill [Superior Recovery] and external intervention, the toxin has been dwindled to 3/4ths of its original value. [Superior Recovery] has been upgraded to [Superior Recovery II]. From now on, all wounds will heal 3.5 times faster.

As a consequence, the skill [Poison Resistance] has been acquired. Defense against poison and toxin has been augmented threefold.」

Thom slowly opened his eyelids, and was met by an extremely weird scene unfolding in front of his eyes.

A completely heartbroken Suu was crying on his chest, while Erina rubbed her back with a pained look on her face. Valta was grabbing his hand as a single streak of water flowed down her eyes. The less-than-warm breeze from the coast reached him, and the dirt that covered his sweat-covered back felt extremely displeasing.

He simply closed his eyes back as the girls beside him hadn't noticed his awakening. For his own sake he decided that, for the time being, they didn't need to.