Holding his form in the Origin was difficult, and grew harder the longer he was there. It simply wasn’t comfortable to have a fixed material form. Since Rube didn’t seem to be stirring, Serenity allowed his sword-self to relax into his Sovereign form. It took a little effort to shift only a single form, but with concentration he was able to manage it.

The pressure to shift kept growing. Serenity wanted to experiment a little, so he shifted from his chimera form into his dragon form.

It was much, much easier to maintain than his chimera form. It still didn’t quite feel like he belonged, but it no longer felt like he was actively being pushed to shift. Encouraged, perhaps, but not pushed. The pressure of his surroundings dropped and seemed to level off at a low enough level that Serenity suspected he’d be able to maintain his dragon form indefinitely, as long as he was willing to put up with the mental strain.

Serenity shifted his attention back to Rube. He was still unconscious, but his oversized arm looked a little better. The sores looked less inflamed and there didn’t seem to be as much pus continually weeping out of them.

Serenity watched and waited. He had time, as long as Rube continued to improve.

Several hours later, Serenity realized that he was getting tired quickly. It could be the strain of being in Origin-space when he wasn’t in a form suited to it, but Serenity remembered that he’d needed to leave in the past, as well. It was better not to risk it, so he returned Rube and both of himself to the normal world.

It was a relief, but it also emphasized how tired he was.

Serenity tiredly tried to force his Sovereign of Potential form back into the shape of a sword, but felt his focus waver before he shifted. He dropped the shift instead of changing both forms; they moved differently, maybe he could manage.

Serenity took another look at Rube’s arms. They looked much better, even though they were both still twisted and nonhuman. Serenity couldn’t identify what had changed other than the apparent lack of infection on the larger arm; they were visually the same, but he knew they were better.

Serenity flopped down on a pile of pillows next to Rube’s bed and half of him passed out. The other half of him floated nearby, semiconscious. He was aware of what was happening around him, but not really awake and definitely not thinking about anything in particular.

It wasn’t until his hatchling dragon form woke that Serenity made the connection that his Sovereign of Potential form didn’t sleep. It was apparently capable of something not much better, however, because even though he remembered Rissa coming in when Rube woke up and ushering him away from the room, Serenity knew he hadn’t really reacted or even thought about it. It was what had happened; it didn’t require action.

He had reacted when Rissa came into the room and found a spot on the pillow pile next to him; he’d lifted a wing to let her cuddle in next to him. It didn’t really take any thought.

Serenity woke when Rissa left. He vaguely heard her tell him to “go ahead and sleep in”, but he couldn’t sleep any more once she was no longer next to him. It still took him a bit to really get moving, but he didn’t fall back asleep.

Serenity shifted into the combination of human and sword. It seemed to make the most sense for an active day. With Rube awake, Serenity had some tasks to attend to, starting with asking a few more pointed questions.

After breakfast. Preferably with Rissa. Probably Raz, as well.

Agent Price didn’t like this at all.

Yes, the man was an alien who seemed to be intent on … well, something bad. It wasn’t quite taking the country over from the inside; he wasn’t taking the right actions for that. Maybe the whole Path thing itself was an insidious trap?

Even that wouldn’t explain why he spent the night at a park. His vehicle had gone all over the place the day before, but the few times they’d actually put eyes on it, the only person in it was the assistant. What was her name, Janet? Something like that.

Whatever he was after, it didn’t seem right to be hunting him. They should be trying to figure out what he was after; if nothing else, there was no guarantee he was in this alone. If one person could “come back from the Tutorial” after being replaced, so could others. If the others were less well placed, they might well have escaped detection. If Serenity was simply a distraction, that would mean -

What was that? Was that a door set in the side of a hill? With a handicapped accessible ramp leading up to it?

Agent Price could have sworn there wasn’t supposed to be anything like that in this part of the park; he’d seen the maps. Was there a secret alien bunker being built here? He snapped a picture and forwarded it to his team lead.

Which was another thing; why were they using ordinary cell phones? It just wasn’t good practice.

He toggled his radio. “No sign of Peace, but I’ve found something. You should have the picture by now.”

Peace was a dumb codename for Serenity. Far too similar to the original word; anyone could figure it out.

The reply came a moment later. “An old park facility of some sort; ignore it.”

It gave Agent Price a creepy feeling to have an unexplored door behind him.

Serenity had just finished eating when a rush of magic swept past him; it was the Veil he’d set up weeks ago to protect the living area from unexpected visitors. It was limited; simply an area of confusion that said ‘there is nothing interesting here’ that Aki could trigger by flooding the runes with her mana. It wouldn’t stop anyone who was really determined, but it would stop people who were just casually exploring, directing them around the area.

It generally triggered a couple of times a week; it’d been getting less common as Aki’s area grew. Serenity wasn’t concerned about it until Aki spoke. :Serenity? There are four people who just hit the edge of the Veil. They appear to all be in a uniform of some sort, all black. I haven’t seen anyone like them in my dungeon before.:

Serenity frowned. “Is the Veil working? It’s really just a mild misdirection runeset.”

:It is, but I don’t like having people like that show up. Reminds me too much of the Inspectors. Always unwanted, always showing up without warning. They don’t seem to be expecting a dungeon, at least. No weapons.:

Serenity wanted to take a look at them. While he’d explained guns to Aki, he wasn’t certain she’d really absorbed what they looked like. “Will you show me?”

:Of course.:

Serenity felt Rissa silently open the link between them so she could see through his eyes as he walked over to Raz’s house and set his forehead against Aki’s Core. He smiled, knowing she’d pick up his amusement.

The world around Serenity vanished, replaced with Aki’s vision. Somewhere off to the side, Serenity was still aware of the limited perception of the sword, but it was quite limited, especially in the sheath, and wasn’t distracting.

There were five people near the easier approach to the hillside that held the three homes Aki had built so far. Four of them were clearly the people Aki was worried about; Serenity could see that they were all wearing body armor under their jackets. Even though their weapons weren’t obvious, he had no doubt they had them. No one would wear that sort of heavy chest protection and be unarmed. “Concealed weapons. Probably pistols. And one of them’s carrying a larger case. It could be an instrument, but I’m betting it’s a weapon that hasn’t been assembled yet.”

Serenity was not an expert with guns; he wasn’t even particularly familiar with them. He’d spent most of his adult life before the Tutorial in cities that strongly discouraged gun ownership; after the Tutorial, he’d used magic and Skills when he wanted to do anything at range. He wasn’t certain what was in the case, but he had to assume it was a weapon.

It was too bad he couldn’t take a picture -

Wait, maybe he could. It wasn’t set up the way it was for his eyes in chimera form, but there ought to be some way to do the equivalent of taking a screenshot. Serenity dug through the options he knew of, but eventually had to ask Aide for help. He was sure he’d have found it eventually; if nothing else, his Magitech Affinity could have gotten him there. He simply wasn’t sure he’d have managed it in time.

Aide came through for him with a set of pictures of each man.

:Rissa? Can you head out the other way and call Lancaster once you get far enough out to get cell coverage? I don’t like this at all.: Serenity wasn’t sure who should be investigating the high magic area, but four people who acted like they hadn’t been through the Tutorial wasn’t a good choice. He doubted Lancaster had had any input, but if nothing else this might help him out.

Rissa’s laughter echoed across the link. :I know what you’re doing here, you’re getting me out of the line of fire. That’s fine; I don’t think I’d be of much help here anyway. Don’t think you’ll get rid of me this easily if I can help!:

Serenity could see himself smile through Aki’s perception. It was a little odd. :I wouldn’t dream of it.:

:Sure you would.: Rissa still sounded amused. :There isn’t anyone else like them in your area, Aki?:

:No. I’d have said if there was. I’ll keep an eye out for more like them in the future, I don’t know how long they’ve been in the dungeon. I can tell it’s been hours, but I’d be happier if I knew what they did before they got this close.: Unlike Rissa, Aki sounded worried.

Serenity turned his attention back to the four intruders. Three, including the one with the case that probably held a long gun, seemed to have headed back the way they came. The fourth was on his way up the ramp into the crafting area.

“Just swamp again. I hate this place. It’s at least three times as large as the map says it should be, and my GPS isn’t working at all.” Agent Smith grumbled. “I think we can get around to the next possibility if we go around the hill and follow the waterway downstream.”

“I think that’s upstream,” Agent Jones argued. “Or did you mean to go back the way we came?”

Agent Price sighed. The alien had to be around here somewhere; they’d tracked his assistant’s car here too many times, and he hadn’t left with her even though he’d definitely entered the park the day before. At least, they thought he had; his girlfriend’s phone had last been located near the park’s new dead zone.

The fact that the alien didn’t seem to ever have his phone on so that they could grab his location from it was simply more evidence that he was an alien. No one wanted to be without a phone.

“I’m going to head up this way, check out the…” Agent Price tried to remember the term his boss had used, “Probable old park facility. Why don’t you just keep going the way we were? It’ll go past the ramp, then around to the left.”

He had no idea where his boss picked up these jokers. They were mostly useless, all three of them. Agent Smith was supposed to be good with the sniper rifle, but he seemed to be useless at everything else.

Agent Price ignored the three of them as they headed off the way he suggested and made his way up the ramp. He expected a locked door, but it opened smoothly.

The area inside was straight out of either a bank vault or a science fiction show; Agent Price wasn’t sure which. It was all gleaming metal doors. After a moment, his eyes fell on the sign at the other end of the room.

Crafting Area Rules? What the heck?

[Do you want to attend the Tutorial? The tutorial will begin in 5 minutes.]

Agent Price blinked at the words that appeared in his vision, accompanied by a mechanical-sounding voice. Only a few seconds passed before he answered. “Yes.”

He needed to check out what the heck the Tutorial was. His boss didn’t yet have any first-person experience with it; it would be valuable.

His choice definitely wasn’t influenced by the fact that most of the people who came out of the Tutorial seemed to come out with magical powers, even if they said it wasn’t magic. No, not at all. He was far too principled to let that sway him.