When at last I came to, I didn’t have the heart to move. The effects of the Liquid Euphoria tincture had yet to fade, and I was so impossibly cozy as to make even a twitch of my fingers impossible. For the first time, I found myself understanding what it was like to be a lizard, content to spend countless hours stationary under the sun.

Am I the first to wake up?

I certainly wasn’t the last to wake. It was a wonder I’d fallen asleep at all considering Alara snoring off to my side.

As for the others, it would have been a trivial thing to check, either by calling out or even cracking an eye open. Both actions, however, were far too much effort right now.

At least, they were too much physical effort: I found my mana core to be far more willing to move for me, and as a bonus, any mana used wouldn’t interfere with my current comfiness. I activated what was quickly becoming the most frequently used of my cantrips, letting the mental mana shape itself into the desired form. The pattern for Sense Minds finished and dissolved within me, and I became aware of two minds within a short distance.

As if wishing to grant me a birthday present of its own, the system chimed in with a message.

Sense Minds has reached level 10!

Congratulations! You have reached the Initiate rank in Sense Minds!

You have been granted the standard augment for your spell.

Augment of Identification

You can now distinguish minds from one another. Allows you to gain limited identification results from any minds you sense.

With how much I’d been surreptitiously casting the spell — at the behest of the archmage — it was high time that it had leveled. I was glad to see the augment wasn’t anything too invasive like “reads people’s minds” either. Identification was still palatable for me.

I cast the spell once more, this time the dual minds in range seeming much more defined to me. I instinctively focused on one of them, triggering my new augment.

Emin

No more was returned, answering just what the augment’s description had meant by “limited.” I repeated the process once more, finding as expected that the other mind was Verin’s. With Alara’s innate magical defenses, my magic was unable to find her even though her snores made her location fairly obvious.

Even past its stated effects, however, I found the new augment fascinating. Still unwilling to move, I recast Sense Minds over and over, feeling how clearly distinct Emin and Verin’s minds were. It wasn’t that I could physically see them, so it wasn’t as if they looked different. In fact, far different from my Mana Sense which largely translated mana into the senses that I already had, my mental “sight” felt like a completely new sense of its own.

If anything, it felt like the rest of the world had been pulled back. Made neater. Instead of seeing the flesh which covered a person, I was seeing them directly.

There was even a strong sensation that if I was just a tiny bit better at mental magic, I wouldn’t need to speak to communicate. Faced with the minds around me, having to speak, to cause vibrations in the air just to get my words across, felt so overly complex and messy. I felt like if I understood the magic just a little better, studied it just a little longer, that I’d be able to reach out. Form a connection and-

Mental Magic has reached level 10!

Congratulations! You have reached the Initiate rank in Mental Magic!

I snapped out of my mental deep dive, letting the spell fizzle out as the message caught me by surprise.

Wasn’t that a little fast?

True, Mental Magic was one of the skills I’d gotten a free level in from the Fruit of Growth. Still, it usually took a bit longer to go from level 10 in a cantrip to level 10 in the corresponding school of magic.

I shrugged, and then mentally cursed at the mindless motion: At last I’d moved my body, seeming to break the spell of perfect comfiness I’d been under. I opened my eyes and slowly sat up, finding that I was the first to do so. I left the other three to their peaceful naps as I read up on the remaining notifications.

Based on your skill usage, you have been granted a skill augment for achieving a new skill rank.

Augment of Sensory Enhancement

Enhances the effects of all mental spells which aid in the detection of minds. Additionally, greatly improves your ability to detect other mental magic and when your own mind is under opposing mental effects.

Class Quest Completed: Raise an advanced school of magic to level 10 (Repeatable)

+5000xp

+2 class points

I silently forgave the notifications for breaking my cozy stasis. The first effect of the augment was nice, I supposed, but the second was incredible. The whole reason I’d used Hex’s skill shard in the first place was to put my mind at ease concerning opposing mind mages. Knowing I’d have an easier time detecting their workings went a long way towards making me feel better.

Actually, speaking of Hex and the skill shards…

I fished around in my spatial pouch, pulling out an item I’d given little thought to since acquiring it.

It was a deep black crystal with ominous smoke billowing off of it. Small specks of violet light hung suspended within, somehow only furthering the gem’s off-putting aura. I examined it warily.

???

Requirements:

Level 10 in Mental Magic

Level 10 in Dark Magic

I sighed. Now that I was level 10 in both mental and dark magic, I could finally use it. Still, I’d hoped that meeting the item’s requirements would have unlocked its description.

I could probably get it appraised somewhere? Certainly someone in the city had to know what it was.

Then again, I’m not sure I want to be handing around a boon from a god so casually. Especially one that doesn’t look too friendly.

I considered just throwing it back in my pouch and dealing with it later, but stopped myself.

The last time I did this, it was painless and instantaneous, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like a spellbook which actually forced me to read through it. Any reason not to just use it now?

Well, of course there was one reason: If I’d had misgivings about the original skill shard, they were only doubled for this one. Not only could I not see what it would do, but also, it just looked plain-old freaky.

Still, after a full semester of using Hex’s first gift, I’d largely gotten over my hangups. Dark magic certainly wasn’t evil — my main use for it was magic hair dye, for god’s sake. While I knew well that mental magic could be abused, the recent augment had only proved Hex’s point. The more I leveled it, the safer I’d be from mental effects, even if I never used them on anyone else.

Plus, it was a boon from a god, and it was my birthday. I was pretty certain I’d use it eventually. Why not make it a birthday present? Hopefully, I’d end up with some incredible skill as a memorable birthday gift, and with how easily I’d absorbed the last skill shard, what could really go wrong?

Would you like to use this skill shard?

Thus resolved, I confirmed the prompt and gave in to the pull of the shard, letting the information within wash through me.

??? activated

Scanning…

Scanning…

Additional compatible skills detected!

Compatible skills:

Mental Resistance

Trauma Suppression

Compatible skills will be integrated into ???.

The hell? What sort of weird skill was Hex trying to give me? I’d never even heard about a skill being compatible with others, and I had no idea what “integration” was supposed to mean here.

Before I could get too far on that line of thought, a new message flashed across my notification screen.

Note! A message has been appended to this skill shard.

Hi Tess! Hope you’re somewhere safe. And, uh. Soundproof.

This next part’s probably going to suck a bit. Sorry about that!

-xoxo, your favorite dark deific entity, Hexaura’erevaila’vailaora

I blanched. What did she mean it was going to suck a bit. Like a tiny bit? Why did it sound like she didn’t mean a tiny bit? And what was that about being somewhere soundproof?

Undo! Cancel! This was not what I signed up for! I just wanted a cool new birthday skill!

Warning! All compatible skills will be temporarily disabled during integration.

Beginning integration.

Mental Resistance: disabled

I had a split second of dread as I understood what was about to happen. Then again, surely it couldn’t be that bad, could-

Trauma Suppression: disabled

I screamed.

I screamed and I screamed and I screamed, only vaguely aware that I was spasming on the ground as I did so. The world around me faded away, replaced by so much, so much pain. I felt the flames of a far-distant car crash wrapping around me. The chitinous blades of a giant spider slicing into me. Too much, too much, too many things all at once.

Dimly, I felt as pairs of arms wrapped around me. There was shouting. Lots of shouting that barely reached my ears.

And then finally, blissfully, as my single saving grace, it was all too much. As everything faded to black, I had time to see but a singular line of text.

Congratulations! You have learned your first Legendary skill!