"First thing we need to change is how you think about your Skills,"

Both casters looked surprised, they knew Livia was just an Aspirant [Hammerer]. Then again, she did say she'd "read the books" of their future children. This was going to take some getting used to.

"Harold, you healed Kalle after he got his arm stuck in the fire, but since then you've only been self-casting [Regenerating Form], why?"

Kalle had almost forgotten that he was healed by Harold, it wasn't a part of the memory he liked to dwell on. "Uh, we tried it before, it worked on my muscle aches but when I tried it on the two of them it didn't work." Livia hid a small smile behind a cough.

"And did you really want them not to ache Harold? Really, really want it?" The question made him blush and start stammering. "O-of course I did!" But they all got the message, you couldn't cast Spells of that magnitude half-assedly. When they were in a state of survival nothing was done half-assed, so the Spell had worked.

"And you Kalle, no more keeping secrets. Your tier 10 Skill, as soon as you have the mana or whatever it requires, you need to start talking." This confused the two brothers and Kalle blanched a bit but spoke up after moment's pause. "It's called [Words of Fortitude], are you sure it will remain as effective Livia?" He tried.

"Yes, don't be a dummy, how long could you keep it secret anyway? Some Skills have a minor improved effect on unknowing targets, but you don't need to hide Spells from your partners. They'll unconsciously allow energies they recognise from you."

It wasn't that Kalle didn't want to tell anybody, but once he'd made the choice not to share the Skill for such a reason it was a bit hard to just change your mind on a dime, despite having realised it was probably not a big deal.

"And Harold, about your [Nourishing Remains], you need to start using it." Harold looked reluctant, the way the lads figured the Skill worked was as an emergency ration that would allow even a putrid corpse to become edible if Harold cast his spell on it. When they explained this to Livia she couldn't stop laughing.

"You're underestimating how flexible your magic is, if it's not diametrically opposed to your magics very nature then you can probably do it, it's just a matter of increasing costs,"

This really brightened Harold's day, because he'd figured his [Touch of Chaos] worked like that, but if it was true to a degree of his every Spell then that really opened up possibilities he hadn't considered.

"For example, I know we badly wanted to get out of there, but I'm sure you could have done something to those mosswolf corpses and somehow 'Nourished' your path with it, because it's not just a food Skill. It's a magic Spell Harold," Both Kalle and Oscar looked worried, they sensed what was coming, but Harold had an eager look in his eye. "That's why I think we should head back to the battle site tomorrow and see if we can't make you something," Livia looked like she was still thinking "And then we should head back to Salcret, instead of finishing the trip to Dormata now that it's autumn and we're low on supplies and the toughest part of the trip is remaining," She nodded to herself. "You'll all get to winter back home!"

They spent the day at the ruins, and got a second good night of sleep. But on the morrow Livia got them back up and ready to face the site of their terror. It wasn't that they were afraid to run into more mosswolves, is what they told themselves. They'd both gained a pair of levels, and despite having a good amount to go until level 10 they still felt like they could handle the same fight a lot better now. Especially with Livia there from the start, even if Harold's remaining wasps were still banged up.

It was just that they knew, with a cloying awareness, that they could be so much better prepared. Livia was adamant however, they were going right back and if they couldn't handle this much even after preparing an extra day then they didn't have the steel. She used a different word, but when they asked her to explain it she refused.

They arrived at the large boulder with the former campsite as they left it, and upon looking around it seemed like little had happened, other than some small animal trails having disturbed the ground since their departure. The tree that had been tackled was still leaning a bit, and the dirt hiding the blood remained untouched.

They gathered around the corpses and Livia borrowed the dagger to make a few incisions in the fur and muscle, exposing the bone. Next she walked three times away from the bodies, in each cardinal direction, and whispered strange unintelligible words at each end.

She hesitated a minute. "Harold go ahead,"

The inexperienced [Chaos Druid] went to sit by the remains, and activated his spell. Nothing seemed to happen but he kept casting, but then both his arms shot forward and he started shaking and chanting, he went to move the different parts to better match some constellation only he could see, and then he started settling the different bones to his body, not fusing anything, only testing each pairing and moving to the next. Then he started tearing, reconfiguring the bones and activating his Spell [Nourishing Remains] in minor bursts, again and again. He was shaping something. When Harold was done his older mates stood transfixed, still in awe at what had happened, but Livia played it cool.

The remains barely looked different, though chunks had been discarded. Harold had come out of his druidic stupor and was looking nearly as amazed. He went to lift the suit of armor, or the suit of bone rather. The fur remained, and the bones were sharpened. When Harold put it on they all matched his limbs and gave them the deadly edge he'd sorely missed the other night. He could feel how this was going to give him what he needed to develop a completely new and animalistic fighting style.

And that was when the mood was interrupted by a strange clonky clap. None of them wanted to believe it, and at least when they looked to the top of the boulder it wasn't a mosswolf waiting there, somehow clapping its paws. No. This was worse. Clap, clap, clap.

It was a Cloven.