“Sure,” the guard said. “That’s a new name, so call them what you want.”

“Not a new name. They are the spawn of the Scath-Draoi, who is the Ginearál de Far Dorcha, a powerful general of a very evil goddess. Normally, they wouldn’t survive past daylight, but since this place never sees daylight… Tell your people to research the Scath or Shadowmen.”

“We can do that. We might have been destroyed if it wasn’t for the Nightstone. The rock brothers helped build the wall to protect us, but they have a strict policy about getting involved in the affairs of humans.”

“Rock brothers? Are you talking about the Stone Breakers?”

“Yeah, informally, we call them rock brothers. They are polite, so don’t have any conflict with them.”

“Ah, it’s nothing like that. I have a few Stone Breaker friends, so I was curious.”

“Friends?” The guard looked startled.

“Yeah, we fought in a war together at Rosdoe on the first floor. They were there building a wall too and invited us to visit their town, but we have a few floors to go before then.”

“Earning their trust is impressive, but even they won’t fight the Scath.”

“Why? From my understanding, the Scath convert everyone to Shadowmen without exception.”

“Then that part isn’t completely true because the Scath doesn’t molest them.”

*He might be right. I felt the Stone Breakers were unusual when we met them. There is a wholesomeness to them—call it ‘goodness.’ The Scath might not harm them.* Lily explained to Crow, and he nodded.

*And fae? Are you considered ‘good?’ Why can it target you?*

*We are, but our blood created the Scath, so we would accept fae blood even if it’s corrupted.*

That was a scary thought. Crow felt that this floor just became their first major roadblock. If the Scath were everywhere, they would have to hold up here for a bit and find a way across. He couldn’t fly because it was a cavern. Vanguard was out because he hadn’t heard of any river. Their only option was… stealth. Crow looked over at Faelan and speculated whether they could cross the entire floor without being detected.

She appeared to read his thoughts.

“Your ability isn’t strong enough. You’ll need to train it more.”

“What are you two talking about?” Mara asked.

Faelan pointed at Crow. “He plans to use the stealth approach. Not only does his ability need to be better, but we’ll need supplies, especially protective formations and… Light Bombs? If there is such a thing, that’d help.”

“You are all crazy,” the guard informed them and went back to patrolling.

“Wait?” Song Lin called after him. “What’s the difference between a Moon Stone and a Nightstone?”

“You want to know why the wall is so effective?” The guard asked.

“That too,” Song Lin nodded.

“Nightstones provide light by absorbing the surrounding darkness. Moon Stones emit light they’ve. If you are right about those things, then the Nightstone wall will not only scare them off, it could kill them.”

Mara used a Nightstone long ago during the Hunt, but Crow hadn’t paid much attention to it. It was now giving him the confidence to sneak across the floor. While he was thinking about that, the guard walked off.

“What about it?” Crow asked Song Xue.

“Same answer. Improve.”

His eyes shifted toward Song Lin, and he wondered if she could do something.

“If you get me some Nightstones I might be able to create something,” Song Lin answered his unspoken question.

“We already have some. You can find them in the treasure cave.”

“What plan?” Otto asked.

“We’ll remain here while I try to rebuild my stealth ability. It shouldn’t take too long since I already have the foundation. After that, we will attempt to sneak past the Scath and hope for the best.”

“Mara, we should find a residence and maybe consider putting up an auction. There might be a lot of opportunity here, and I’m accumulating Soul Carvings.”

“No problem, we have a few people from our organization here. They should be able to help us.”

Crow walked toward the closest hotel. It appeared hastily built, but that was okay because it looked lively. The others followed, and as they stepped in, the crowd quieted upon seeing strangers.

“May I help you?” the innkeeper asked.

“Two rooms.”

“Only two?” The man asked, looking over Crow’s shoulder.

“They are my wives, the second room is for the big guy and that person,” Crow said and pointed at Acco.

“What about food?”

“No need. We’ll be gone in the morning.”

Crow left some Mana Crystals on the counter.

The next day they had a place. It was a small house because most wanted to stay inside his SoulScape. Everyone was working on various tasks, and Otto was on protection duty when the girls went around town. Acco took it upon himself to warp beyond the wall and look around. Sometimes Song Xue also disappeared into the darkness. Crow wanted them to find the safest routes.

Crow used his time rebuilding his Auras to effectively make himself disappear. Not just camouflage, but to appear as if he didn’t exist. At first, Song Xue could find him instantly, but initially, Crow didn’t realize he was touching on the Truths related to time. He had a strange assortment of abilities, of which phasing was one. He learned it through his understanding of time, but he hadn’t thought much about it until now. While phasing, nothing could sense him, but usually, he was inside of solid objects, so he thought that was why. However, nothing was stopping him from phasing through the air.

Phasing’s initial concept allowed Crow to exist in the same spacetime as something else. The energy drain was because of how much energy it required to protect the two things from destroying each other. It created a distortion because it needed to shift mass, and phasing would probably be impossible without Sage’s Mind. There was too much data to memorize while using the ability.

“Can I hide the matter that comprises my flesh and bones within air molecules? I mean without disintegrating myself,” Crow muttered and focused on the tip of his smallest finger. Phasing turned into a phantom-like state he could see through. It wasn’t invisible, but it was changing his state. Turning himself into a gaseous state wasn’t impossible. If he became like air, he’d be invisible in the dark. There might still be a smell—no. He could isolate those molecules and maybe seal them.

The best part was that the mana drain was negligible because he wasn’t trying to exist in the same space as something with higher density. But there was one thing that made him grimace a little—he’d have to do it naked and couldn’t interact with anything in that state. This was a truer form of Ghosting than the ability he used before. It was like he was really becoming incorporeal.

Slowly, he transformed his whole body until his clothes fell to the ground—passing right through him. Solid to gaseous and back again. He kept doing that until he better understood what he was doing. It made him realize he was on the precipice of learning a domain. A domain made up of the truths about time meant anyone within his control would move much slower than him. Or faster if he used it that way. Crow found it exciting until Song Xue walked and looked down at Li’l Crow swaying in the breeze. Her eyes moved back up to his and down again before she broke down in giggles.

“Dammit, woman. You don’t look at-at-at m-my manhood and laugh. You know how demeaning that is?” Crow grumbled, but it turned her giggles into laughter. Crow smiled evilly before attacking her. It didn’t take long before the sounds coming from the training yard warned people away. Song Xue limped out of the room a few hours later, and Crow followed with a triumphant smile. Not just because he got lucky.

His new ability was a success, but it wasn’t stealth—not really. If he attempted it in the light, people would see him like an incorporeal ghost that didn’t have a presence. Without light, Song Xue couldn’t detect him at all. The weirdest thing about the ability was that he could move around almost instantly, like Acco, only much shorter distances. Faelan called it Synchronous and suggested he used ‘chrono-’ for future time-related abilities. Crow like this idea very much.