"Though you wouldn't actually kidnap someone without hearing my explanation first, right?" Vex asked, just to be sure.

"Well, no, of course not," Misa said, looking suspiciously willing to do exactly that. She glanced surreptitiously at Sev and Derivan, then leaned in to Vex, mock-whispering. "I mean, those two won't, but you just tell me who we need to kidnap—"

"Misa," Vex said, laughing as he pushed her away. She grinned at him, sticking her tongue out, and he shook his head with a fond sort of exasperation. "It's a last resort, guys, I'm not actually that serious about it. I'm hoping we won't have to, but..."

A small shadow crossed his expression, and he shook his head, changing the subject. "Let's figure out everything we can about the reality anchor first, and then when we've gotten the chance to rest a bit I'll tell you what I can. I... need a bit of time to get ready to talk about it, anyway."

"Take your time," Sev said seriously. "We've got plenty of time before we reach Elyra, if we go there by conventional means. And we're going to have to convince the Guildmaster to take care of all the extra people, too..."

"J'rokksur can take care of itself," Misa interjected.

"Yes, but they still need the space to do that," Sev said dryly. "I guess they could try to go back to where J'rokksur originally was, to rebuild, but..."

"...Yeah, it's pretty far from here," Misa acknowledged with a slight frown, shaking her head.

"It's not practical for a whole village to travel far, and even if we secure the teleportation magic to get them there, they'd need a protective escort the whole time while they're rebuilding," Sev agreed.

"It's up to dad, but I don't think he'll spring for that when he could just rebuild nearby," Misa admitted.

Sev nodded. "What I'm saying is, we have some time before we actually reach Elyra," he said, glancing back to Vex. "Don't worry too much about telling us everything as soon as possible. Tell us when you're ready."

"Thanks," Vex said. "I'll, uh. Try to be ready before we actually reach Elyra."

"That would be ideal, yes," Sev said with a chuckle. "As for the reality anchors... I feel like we've gone through just about everything we know. Presumably they're related to why dungeons are able to do everything they do, and there's clearly a link to the gods in some way..."

"We still don't know how they do all that," Misa said with a frown. "It's some fucked up shit. And what did it mean when it said backups?"

"Perhaps reality anchors keep a record of some sort," Derivan suggested. "It would explain..."

He trailed off before he finished speaking. It would explain how the dungeon was able to revive J'rokksur wholesale — but it brought up other questions as well. Misa seemed to understand, given the way her eyes darkened slightly, but she didn't say anything.

"What I don't understand is why," Vex said, changing the subject. "Reality anchors are obviously a system construction, but why have them at all? Why have dungeons? Elyra doesn't do a lot of research on this — they're more interested in the how of dungeons, or how to best take advantage of the effects — but there's obviously a purpose to it, looking at what we know is happening to the gods."

"A lot of people say that it's the system's way of giving us a challenge," Sev said. "But that's..."

"It seems a poor way of challenging a populace, if the consequence for failure is death," Derivan observed quietly.

"I don't think 'challenge' fits," Vex agreed. "And there are too many things about the system that just... it's bad. I'd argue it hurts more than it helps. The idea that the system exists to challenge and empower people is a popular line of thought everywhere, even in Elyra, but too many things don't make sense."

"We should think about the relationship between anchors, gods, and overseers." Sev hesitated as he spoke, glancing at the box that still claimed it was 'processing'. "They might not all be linked, but they're presumably all core to the system in some way."

"The fuck was the system doing to Aurum, anyway?" Misa asked. There was a touch of aggression in her voice, but it was soft, too — genuinely concerned. "Kid was having trouble with his memories? Is that what happened with Onyx?"

"I... don't know," Sev hedged, hesitating. "I wasn't there with Onyx when the system was trying to erase him. I could feel the link between us weakening, though, and I tried to heal him through that. But if erasing a god looked like anything... I imagine it would look something like that."

There was a small silence at this.

"It was like he was being digested," Misa said softly. She frowned. "But that wasn't happening with Onyx..."

"It might be different for different gods," Sev said.

"I can't imagine," Vex said softly. "He was just having his memories slowly stripped from him, and he even realized it, but it took away his ability to care about it. If that can happen to a god..."

"We're going to need to be especially careful moving forward," Sev said with a sigh. "If we can't find something to protect our memories specifically, we need to know if we've lost something. We seem to be somewhat protected under at least one infolock, but..."

"There might be more out there," Vex agreed. "I'll... have to try to research memory preservation magic. Or at least something that can alert us if something's altered..."

"I may be able to help," Derivan finally spoke up, a contemplative slant to the glow in his eyes. "Though I am unsure. I have... suspicions, regarding what has changed regarding my status."

"I'm worried something's already changed, and we don't know it," Sev muttered, and to that, the others had no response. They were each silent for a moment, contemplating the idea.

"...It's a beautiful day out," Vex finally said after a moment, glancing up at the sky. The sun was shining brightly overhead, the sky a brilliant blue — a strong contrast with the darkness of the dungeon and the chaos of the bonus rooms. They were walking along a path that had been roughly cleared in the grass using some basic [Pathmaker] skills, presumably.

It was all very plain — there was nothing but grass and the occasional flower littering the field — but it was beautiful, and it was a breath of fresh air after all the destruction they'd seen in the dungeon break, and even in the research camp after they'd returned.

"It is," Sev agreed. "That's something positive we can focus on, at least."

"Speaking of," Misa said. "We should probably go over our rewards while we can? See what the bonus room gave us, preferably before a fight breaks out. And maybe see if there's another hint about whatever the fuck is going on."

"Right, right. I've been too distracted by the thing with Aurum to check mine," Sev said with a grimace.

"I got... an item and a skill." Vex's eyes flicked over an invisible notification, but his tail betrayed his anxiety; it coiled around nervously. "I haven't accepted them yet. I just... I don't know, I have a lot of doubts about what the system is doing now, I guess. I don't know if there's a price to all of this that we're not seeing."

"Like the possibility that it's being powered by forgotten gods," Sev muttered with a sigh. He looked conflicted. "Onyx seemed like he was doing... I mean, not alright. But he was alive, and I don't know what that place was, but he was stable enough there... He's obviously still working to help us out. I think he would've said something if he thought we shouldn't accept system rewards."

"The system's fucked, but we still have to work within its bounds," Misa said. She furrowed her brows slightly, glancing surreptitiously towards her pocket, where she kept the reality anchor. "For now, anyway."

"Coming from anyone else, that would be incredibly ominous," Sev said dryly, and Misa just shot him a half-grin.

"My reward notification is... strange." Derivan peered closely at the screen in front of him, then shook his head. "Mostly errors. Perhaps I cannot receive rewards from the system?"

Misa frowned. "We can just work on getting more stats for you, I think. Or we can try to figure out what your existing stats do, and find new ways to leverage them. Magic has a lot of potential. Geas... Uh, we probably don't want to touch that. Slime is weird. You're already using Physical Empathy. Shift?"

"Shift had a lot of potential, if your skill was any indication," Vex said thoughtfully. "Do you know what it does, exactly? It looks like you have more of a handle on it now."

"Watching... myself... gave me an idea of what Shift might be," Derivan said with a nod, though he glanced at Misa as he did so. "Though I feel we should perhaps also discuss exactly what that was."

"I have no fucking idea," Misa said flatly, then frowned, more at herself than at her companions. "Or I mean... that's not strictly true, I guess. I kind of know, but it's hard to explain. [To Fall Yet Hold the Line] seems to work by trying to grab a version of me that wields a weapon capable of blocking the attack. There wasn't a version of me that could block an entire meteor storm on my own."

"A version of you?" Sev asked with a frown. "What does that mean?"

"A version of me that made different choices, I guess?" Misa shifted uncomfortably. "Lived a different life. Wielded different weapons. Apparently I've been switching weapons this whole time when blocking, and the skill just kind of masked it from me..."

Misa paused, her voice trailing off, and frowned at a notification that appeared in front of her.

Your understanding of [To Fall Yet Hold the Line] has increased. Skill evolution to Elite is now available.

"Guess I've got a skill evolution now," Misa said, staring at the notification a little suspiciously. "On top of the other rewards. I should feel happy, but... I think I'm with Vex on this. I don't think we should turn this down now, but we should be careful."

"We should find out what the delve team received, if they are willing to share," Derivan said. "I believe that will alleviate some of our concerns."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Sev muttered. "Uh... right. We were talking about our rewards. I think I have an item and a skill, too, but the box is grayed out until Aurum is done... attaching, I guess. Whatever that means."

"And I have the same," Misa said. "An item called [The Blade Arcane] and a skill called [Heart and Home]."

"I have an item called the [Accedere Root]," Vex said, furrowing his brows slightly as he looked over the name. "And a skill called [Delineate]. Uh... not sure how useful that one is."

"I'll let you know once mine's done graying out," Sev said with a wince. "Derivan? I know you said yours was errored out, but is there any indication of what might happen if you accept it?"

"I... do not think I have a choice," Derivan said with a frown, poking around at the air. "It seems it will not allow me to access other aspects of my status until I accept this reward. But there is nothing specific in the notification about what I might gain, and there is no option to refuse." He waved a copy of the screen out to his friends — his system still allowed him to do that, at least.

Congratulations on completing ! Here are your rewards, should you choose to accept them:

ACCEPT /

"...So we have no idea what's going to happen if you accept it," Misa said, peering at the text.

"I suppose not," Derivan said. "But I do not believe it wise to wait, since I may have gained other stats. I did not particularly have the time to check mid-battle."

Misa grimaced. "You're probably right. Uh... I'll catch you if anything happens, I guess. I haven't accepted the skill evolution yet, so I can block anything hostile if that happens. You ready?"

"As much as I can be," Derivan agreed. He glanced at the others — neither of them stopped him, though Sev looked pensive and Vex looked outright worried.

Well, no need to delay any further.

He reached out and hit 'accept'.