Burning excess Power while holding onto hostages and keeping track of Marcus and Taniel while her arm was rebuilding itself and her insides were melting was a trial of endurance. Elania let off several blasts of energy into a far-off wall, which caused the others to start demanding things of her again while Tanyan frantically tried to rein them in. The truth was she wasn’t happy about it either; using mana so close to the Glow-Moss, Elania was intensely aware if she damaged the moss or harmed the novices now… she would die thanks to the contract.

There wasn’t much choice, though, as if she had let the Power build up anymore, she was going to disintegrate or catch on fire or… or… Something bad.

Elania didn’t dare let go of the novices, though, as the others were still arguing. Taniel was gesturing at her, Marcus had his bow, and Tanyan was frantically explaining something to them. It all felt a bit surreal, as she realized she couldn’t hear anything except a ringing in her ears. She’d stopped blasting away at the rock when her Power had stopped climbing off the charts. With no more ways to get more Power, she’d left it topped off well above what felt tolerable.

[Hud]

Power: 476 / 246

Level: 48

It seemed that she’d gained some levels from the Innkeeper. She’d knocked a hole right through his chest like it was nothing; She had killed him. Suddenly a wave of nausea rolled over her, and she released the novice she was clinging to and threw up. The acidic bile added another burning sensation to her throat, and to top it off; she didn’t feel much better.

Tanyan came over to her and offered her a cloth. She hesitated to take it but ultimately deciding wiping off her face was worth it.

“..ear me?”

God, how it hurt.

“Fuck all of you.”

Elania pushed herself up off the ground and stood, a slight wave of vertigo, making her wobble, and Tanyan reached forward to steady her. She wasn’t having it, though, and brushed away his arm.

“Don’t touch me.”

“I’m not the enemy, Elania.”

“But they are.”

“They were just frightened. They didn’t know you could do something like that, and Saren was someone well-known around here.”

“Saren,” Elania mouthed the dead man’s name. He’d… He had left her no choice; anything short of her lethal response would have meant him easily overpowering her, and then…

Her thoughts kept clipping themselves off before finishing as she looked to the others over Tanyan’s shoulder; they were checking on the novices and securing the baskets of moss.

“Could you turn off your aura,” Tanyan gave her a weak smile and looked over at the others with her, “It’s a bit intense right now, I’m not sure they are going to wake up if you don’t.”

Besides suppressing the novices, keeping her aura up didn’t seem to serve any purpose, so she obliged. She had determined that it seemed to spike in intensity when she first activated it, so having it off cooldown would probably be a good idea anyway.

[Demonic Aura (Deactivated)]

[You cannot activate Demonic Aura for 30 minutes.]

“I explained to them the contract. It was smart.”

Elania nodded weakly, but the thought that her safety was only really guaranteed by taking hostages meant her heart wasn’t in it. She thought she had been making progress, but she realized how naïve she had been. The group wasn’t really even a group, Marcus was in it just for the job, and while the monks were together, she was most definitely an outsider to all of them.

Get to the city. Get money. Find a place to stay. Get things she needed. Join an organization that could protect her; if one existed. Maybe she'd be better off going back out into the caverns on her own, but the monsters they had faced already seemed to suggest that was a poor idea unless someone was well-prepared. She knew she needed to get stronger if only so she wouldn’t have to use lethal force to… subdue anyone trying to force her into things she didn’t want. That seemed to be the only plan she had.

She looked at Marcus, who’d just finished shaking a novice awake and standing the younger man up. He seemed to sense her looking at him, and he turned to stare at her in return. She could feel the difference in how he looked at her, the way his face was set. She was not some low-hanging fruit but a dangerous threat. Well, that would be better than him trying to set another trap for her. She wondered what the monk's elders were going to have to say about it when they received their cargo.

[Your body is experiencing thermal degradation!]

[Your body is slightly adapting.]

[Due to your excess Power, your body is exceeding its limits!]

[Your body has greatly exceeded the limit of its capacity for Power!]

[Find a stronger body or reduce your current Power!]

She wished the stupid messages would stop bothering her. It wasn’t like the sweat on her forehead or her insides being on fire were not reminder enough. She swiped the messages away; she would try and find a way to make them less obtrusive later.

The group had started to finish shaking itself back together, and although the bastard had just tried to rope her into a slave contract and set her up as a thief, she had a question.

“Marcus, does the mercenary guild accept demon recruits? As members, not slaves.”

He didn’t answer at first. She thought he was going to ignore her when he suddenly grinned.

“I misjudged you, girl. Not something someone who has lived as long as me often does. It might raise eyebrows, but nothing prevents it,” Marcus looked away towards the two demon corpses still laying about, “If you don’t mind ‘cleaning up’ those, that would be for the best. Not a wise idea to leave evidence behind.”

Elania wanted to protest, but she didn’t know if someone would come hunting her or if she would be going to jail for killing someone. Marcus seemed to notice her sudden agitation and guessed at the source.

“Saren was well liked, I wouldn’t advertise that you’re the one responsible for his disappearance. Even if you were protecting yourself.”

So, she wasn’t going to be reported directly to whatever the police were here. ‘The Guard’ she supposed. That was a relief but also drove home how different law was compared to 21st century America. It would probably be better in the city. Didn’t they mention a ‘Binding Stone’ that allowed calling the guard? That would be something to look for as soon as they arrived.

“Well?”

Elania realized she hadn’t replied at all, and nodded, “Ok. I’ll get rid of them.”

First, she needed to see about her Mana Shard; she was already way over her normal limit, although the excess was slowly melting off and her maximum ticking upward.

Pulling off her backpack, she fished inside but felt her heart crumble when she found a pile of dust in the bottom of it. She took a handful and held it up, a stream of it flowing back down into her pack like sand.

“Ah, that makes sense.”

Elania looked up at Marcus with a frown.

“I couldn’t figure out how where you were getting your Power. Normally it must come from somewhere. Pity you melted a Mana Shard though, but I suppose anything less would have ended things in a different way. Still not sure how you went over your maximum though. That shouldn’t be possible.”

Elania shrugged and decided to deal with the corpses, “I’ll need to release some energy while absorbing them.”

“What’s your maximum? 200%?”

Elania smiled, “You can see my ‘Power’ but not the exact number? How do you see it? Identify?”

“At level 20 [Identify] will show HP and Mana, or Power for demons.”

She turned away from him, and he frowned.

“You didn’t answer me.”

“No, I didn’t,” Elania said, a small smirk emerging.

Marcus grunted and went back to help the monks, while she considered the two Ash Hound corpses. It would have been simple just to absorb them and dump out a lance of energy to bleed off the excess. But… she found herself wondering if there was a way to use the extra Power to level up. Sending surges of Power in a blast did level up her [Mana Manipulation], but it seemed to be based mostly on the number or duration of those rather than how much Power she used…

She didn’t need her knife to focus on anymore to send a bolt of energy, and she started sending weak lances of the light into the wall. They dissipated without any effect, and each one cost a point of Power, but she managed to gain a few messages.

[You have gained a level in Mana Manipulation!]

[You have gained a level in Mana Manipulation!]

[You have gained a level in Mana Manipulation!]

[Power: 426 / 254]

She wasn’t sure how much Power the Ash Hound was worth; she doubted it would be anything like the tidal wave that…

She avoided thinking about him and instead focused on the first demon corpse and started the absorption process. The misting corpse began to float into the air, and she watched as her Power ticked up. It was a lot less than she had expected, only giving her ten points.

‘I guess they didn’t have much. I guess he kept them weak, but… they seemed loyal to him.’

She quickly absorbed the second one with the same result and didn’t waste any more Power. As it was, she’d already dropped over fifty points of Power, in return for three levels of Mana Manipulation and eight points to her max Power capacity.

She’d lost track of how many levels she’d gained and had not looked at her [Status] screen in a while to check the changes, but before she could do so, Tanyan called over to her.

“Let’s go,” he waved and gave her a brief smile.

She paused and followed the group from a little way behind. He seemed to be unfazed. But for her, she had finally realized they weren’t her friends. She just needed them to get to the city and answer her questions.

There was a subdued tone that had taken hold of the group as they moved towards the city. The anticipation and excitement of almost finally being there after so many troubles and trials along the way had completely evaporated for Elania.

Instead, she was focusing on a new menu that she had found.

[Essence Management]

[Power: 384 / 266]

[Rank: Manager]

[Contractees: 1] [View]

[Contract Essence Income: 0.00 PU/hr]

[Essence Composition: 79% Human, 19% Darkwalker, 2% Other]

[Corporeal Upkeep: 0.04 PU/hr]

[Excess Drain: 48 PU/hr]

Some of it was obvious, but she had to puzzle a lot of it out. Corporeal Upkeep? Was that how much it cost to keep her alive? The Excess Drain seemed to be how much was bleeding off because she was over her Power limit. And… Shouldn’t her ‘Contract Income’ be positive? It was in one of the clauses with the contract she had made with Tanyan. Maybe that was because she was over her limit right now. She would check that later when the extra bled off.

It was the voices that made her head snap up, and she spotted another group ahead of them going in the same direction. They were getting close. She hurried her step and closed the distance, so she wasn’t so far away from Tanyan and the monks. The subdued silence didn’t abate as Marcus continued to lead them through a narrowing tunnel. The width halved on them, and was down to twenty feet apart when she could hear murmuring voices indicating a crowd ahead. As they turned a corner, the tunnel widened out, and she saw the Checkpoint.

A metaled wall and gate cut off the tunnel from the ground up to the ceiling thirty or forty feet above. Two worn purple banners with a symbol of a dagger hung on either side of the gate’s raised portcullis. Torches were lit and set in holders around the bottom of the wall, but faintly glowing crystals hung from several chains hooked to points in the ceiling. They cast everything in a slight purple hue.

The large metal gates were closed, and everyone was seemingly being shuffled through a pair of smaller wooden doors built into the wall. A half a dozen guards were in sight, and there were several balconies set in the wall with doors behind them, which hinted to her that the fortification had room for many more. A small line was standing about waiting, and Marcus lead them to join the waiting people.

The line moved at a steady pace, and when the group in front of them was ushered forward, one of the steel-clad guards nodded to Marcus.

“Party of six?”

“Aye.”

Elania couldn’t help but fidget when the man’s eyes fell on her, and a frown creased his face.

“One’s a demon,” the guard said. A second guard looked over and nodded, then went inside the gate and disappeared. “Your group will receive additional screening.”

“Fuck,” Marcus cursed and then pulled out the badge he had used at the waypost and gestured to the monks. “Licensed Mercenary, en a party of Conclave Monks with valuable goods. Cannae ye cut us a break?”

The guard grinned as if he was happy to cause them discomfort.

“No exceptions to random screening.”

Elania wanted to comment that he would have made a perfect TSA agent but managed to remain silent.

Marcus seemed ready to argue; Taniel stepped forward and put a hand on the ranger’s shoulder.

“Let’s just get it over with,” Taniel said.