Kara had trouble knowing whether she existed or not. Neither Mana, Life Force, nor Notes responded to her. She was left with no senses and a mind that could barely work a coherent thought. This was as close to death as she’ll get.

For the first time in a long time, Kara began to feel fear. Everyone dies at some point, her sooner than later, most likely, but to pass without even knowing it frightened her. Will it be now? A few seconds? A few minutes?

Kara heard a sound, from some direction. She attempted to lift a hand towards it. She wove Kinetic Mana around it—she would know if she touched something.

Something wrapped around her hands.

Kara tried to jolt up but all she could muster was a flinch. She could barely use anything, but sound slowly came back as she focused on the Kinetic Mana in the air.

“What did I tell you about sleeping in the frontlines of a battle?” Ron’s voice said, right above her. He held her hands against his cheeks.

Her Life Force finally activated. She was on the ground with her head resting on his lap. They were under the same tree when Kara left. She focused to the side, noticing the storm was gone. The Dungeon was over.

“Did you catch so-”

You have dealt 1 tearing damage to Ron’s HP!

Kara pulled on his cheeks, testing how far his skin could stretch.

“Staaap!” he moaned, trying to unlatch her fingers.

“Did you not learn your lesson from the first time?” Kara said, and began to pull further on the other cheek. “Don’t touch crazy people without their permission.”

“Umm Shooryyyyy!” he whimpered with teary eyes.

“Now why don't I believe you, Mr Ron?” she said, letting his cheeks fall back into place. “I would appreciate a hand.” The moment her Soul left without a shell it began the transformation process. She got her Notes to pick her up in time, but the damage was done. Her Soul was fully rattled. She couldn’t use it to control Life Force or Mana. Speaking, hearing, and keeping her body together was the full extent of her abilities.

She had to get to Nilog as soon as possible, even if that meant having to ask for help.

She needed to save then tear that unintelligible creature apart.

“You won’t hit me?” he asked as he raised his nose in suspicion.

“Promise.”

“Then, of course, my lady,” he said as he helped her sit up. When he saw how limp her body was, he kept a hand on her back for support. He kept his silence as Kara gazed towards the giant tree in the center of the forest. It was truly enormous, and in this bleak land, it glimmered like a gem. Its Life Force pulse was magnificent.

“Say your…heart doesn’t beat, and your blood is cold,” he said, nodding. “In a physical way! I mean—”

“Yes, yes, you may laugh. I appreciate the irony,” she said. It really was, but he didn’t laugh at that one either. “What happened to the prisoners?”

“Uh, the Dungeon was cleared about 10 minutes ago. Most of the survivors are arriving to camp now.”

“Was a young blond girl part of them?”

“No,” Ron said after a pause. “Most were guys. I take it you weren’t actually napping?”

“I wish,” Kara said, shaking her head. She pointed at Yggdrasil. “Can you take me there? I’ll be sure to repay the favor.”

“I would love to!” he replied instantly. “Wait, what for?’

“My… apprentice might have gotten himself killed.” Calling him her Dancer would have been weird in this context.

Ron shrugged, and then leaned forward, getting one hand under Kara’s knees while the other held wrapped around her shoulders.

You’ve dealt 1 Blunt Damage to Ron’s HP!

Kara didn’t have to explain why she struck him. He turned around, letting her put her arms around his neck.

After a few seconds of charging up his Life Force, Ron leaped into the tree line, hoping a few trees with every steps. He glanced to the side, noticing Kara’s cane was flying by their side, but made no comment. A couple minutes later Ron reached the natural barrier that surrounded Yasargil. Hundreds of trees were layered on top of each other, creating impassable terrain for at least fifty meters into the air. It was half the height of Yasargil itself.

“I don’t think I can land on top,” Ron said, shaking his head. “Beyond this rests the garden, and those usually have defensive mechanisms. We'll need to walk through the tree openings.”

“So don’t land there. Our destination is the tree.” Kara said. They had no time.

“B-but it's so far!”

“Let’s go Iron Heart. Flex those quads.”

Kara felt Ron swallowing. He glanced to the left and right, almost as if looking for an escape. “Whatever happens is on you,” he said, and began overflowing his body with Life Force.

“I’ll give us a little boost, but no matter what, do not cover your feet with Life Force as you land. Just be prepared to take… some minor damage. Understand?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ron said quietly.

“Shh, it will all be over soon.”

He fiddled in place. “I swear, it’s like your allergic to explanations,” he said under his breath. When he finally gathered the courage, Ron used a 4th Life Force Leap. The moment they went up Kara used an Amplification on him.

They whizzed through the air, and the only thing that kept Kara’s cheeks from being pulled off was the Kinetic Shield she used. They rose higher than Kara had expected. Higher than the tree, in fact.

“Kara?” Ron said as they floated in the air for a few moments as their momentum died. “Are you going to make us fly now?”

They fell like a comet through the sky. She felt her organs sliding up and had to forcefully place them back. Ron’s hand tightened around her legs as his Life Force began to envelop her.

A futile effort, if she ever saw one, though flattering still the same. At this height only a 6th Life Clay dropped below them can cushion the fall, and she was sure he was only at 5th rank.

Third Movement: Deviation, Kara mouthed, touching the ground with her feet before Ron did. She deviated the force of their fall through her skeletal system, and blast it above her through her upraised arms.

White cracks appeared in the space in front of Kara’s palm. A half-second later, the sound of glass breaking screeched above her as a violent wind screamed. The gale extending from Kara’s hand pierced what few of the clouds remained, creating a hole in their shade.

“You can open your eyes now, Ron,” Kara said. The flowers swayed slightly from the wind, few petals floating around them from the breeze.

He didn’t move for a while, maintaining his awkward sitting position. She could see his body shaking.

“Ron?” she said again.

“Are we...in heaven?” he said, finally opening his eyes. He glanced around, awing at every corner of the garden. “It smells like it.”

“I wouldn’t be here if that was the case. Up we go,” Kara said, pulling on his nose with her free hand. The other was being thoroughly repaired. It wouldn’t be used for a while.

"Uh, you're still not going to explain anything?"

"At a later time.” Probably in a few more years.

"Figures," Ron mumbled, jogging closer to the tree. He began leaping from one branch to the next until they reached the top entrance.

“I can go from here,” Kara said, tapping his shoulder. Not a bad ride, considering the quality of the last one.

“Looks like there is a lair down there.”

“I’m familiar with it. Try to keep up,” Kara said, finally standing up on her own two feet. She was stable enough to use Kinetic Mana in more modest amounts. Life Force and her Notes still seemed out of the question.

“Ha! A mage is going to race a Life Force?” he said, nudging her with a shoulder.

Kara turned towards him with a pitting look. He was only a Tiger. It was only after Dragon did the differences in archetypes make themselves painfully obvious. Agility and speed were not synonymous.

Well, that was fine. It would make it more enjoyable. “The lair is directly to the front from here. Start in 3?”

“What do I get if I win?” Ron said, getting in position. He put two hands on the ground and raised his butt high. Life Force began to envelop him.

If he was taking it seriously, then so should she. “Pride,” Kara said, and began the countdown.

The earliest rank a mage can unlock Kinetic Flight as at the 5th. Using it here would give him intel about her skill ranks, but considering that he'd seen up to Dragon Tier, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

At one Ron bolted at maximum speed, leaving a crater behind.

A hundred mana points, I guess?

Nilbog using a hundred mana points was different than Kara, who had just about every skill to boost her magic. She launched forward using 5th Kinetic Flight. Once she built up enough momentum, she used an Amplification.

It was far from breaking the sound barrier, but it was enough to nearly blow Ron to the side as she whizzed by. She slightly curved her body to adjust for the winding road, but it was a mostly straightway to the lair. A few seconds later Kara found herself within the dome.

Instead of the dingy room she had expected, Kara found it to be overflowing with plant life and numerous Light Vines. Squads of fireflies flew around the grass, avoiding the rays of sunlight that fell through the open half of the room.

A tree had grown where the Ent Core had died. A small pound that was half-covered in sunlight spread under it.

“Dude,” Ron said as he trundled into the room, panting. “What was that.”

“A mage against a Life Force user in a race,” she said, walking around. Her Life Force Sense refused to work adequately. She still needed a few more minutes to get that back up. She went around trying to pick up on his signal. He might still be alive.

An Ash Tree began spurting on the other side of the pond. Pure white, it stood at about five feet with no leaves on its smeared branches. It was a rare high-level material used to create equipment specialized in Fire Mana. It was also a material banned from usage by most civil races, purely because of the way it was made. While wood was not Kara’s choice for staff, Ash Wood fetched a nice price. Nilbog would need a source of in-come, after all.

“I wouldn’t drink that, if I were you.” Kara pressed her ring against the tree. Purple Mana seeped out of it, enclosing the tree. It turned into fog that entered the ring.

“Why?” Ron asked, his lips a few inches from the cupped water in his hands.

“People died here, yet there are no bodies in sight,” Kara said, leaving the rest for him to figure out.

“Eweewewew!" leaped away from the river. She sheepishly fell beside her with a frown. "Who are we searching for?”

“A young girl, in her 20s. Blond and petite. The other is a young male with dark hair and of the same height.”

“Uh, do you have any more details on the guy? That only narrows it to half the population of Dlar, and that's only because most of them are dead, may they rest in peace."

“Or pieces," Kara corrected, "But I do apologize. I tend to be very bad with remembering facial features." She turned towards the newly created exists. “Let’s go up.”

Maybe fatally wounded? Or is she torturing him? Or...was she pursuing him as we speak?

For some reason, him running away seemed to have posed a bigger problem to Kara. She began to feel anxious. She floated outside into the sun, and went up the spiral, letting Ron trail behind her.

There! It was faint, but leaving the lair let her pick up on two heat sources extremely close to the other. Kara flew up using Kinetic Flight, knocking aside branches leaves and fruits as she whizzed by. She broke through the clearing, her cane pointing forward with a 4th rank Kinetic Ray.

Ron followed shortly, his sword and shield materialized into his hands before landing next to her. He held his ground, waiting for Kara’s cue, but once he saw Nilbog and Iris on the ground, he hesitantly lowered his shield.

“Uh, Kara?” he said, shaking off the leaves that stuck to his hair. “I don’t know who he is, but aren’t you being a bit...overprotective? They're just kid-"

“Not another word,” Kara said slowly, her hands shaking.

They were soundly sleeping next to each other. Nilbog was safe, and so was Iris. They didn’t fight, and in fact seemed to be on good terms, which was the best-case scenario she didn’t even dare to imagine. She expected him to get stabbed a couple of times at the very least. Trying to make friends with the person trying to kill you rarely panned out well.

It worked, however, and that’s all that mattered. Presumably, he gained a competent party member and received valuable experience in surviving a bizarre situation. He grew, both in power and in his character.

But why in the two faces of the world did she have the strongest urge to blast him to smithereens, anyway?

Oh right, the fool almost got me, himself, and the rest of Dlar killed.

Now that she thought about it, that was a damn good reason to beat him to a pulp.