Luckily, Lia turned out just fine after her experiment backfired on her. A little exhausted and complaining about a brutal headache, but compared to the vampire cat, she was in perfect condition. Sadly, neither of us really knew how we might be able to improve the process of creating new vampires, though we both had ideas. Ideas we planned to test at some point, but before we would go there, we decided that this city didn’t hold any further interest for us. Lia was done with her projects, Luna had completed her shrine and gained the appropriate divine reward and neither Alex nor Silva had started anything nearby.

For me, the sole remaining project was the ongoing effort of teaching Sonja and Lars in exchange for their collecting of information in regard to some of the system’s effects. I had seen some of their results and while there was nothing conclusive so far, the sample was a little too thin to extract truly relevant statistical data, there were some interesting patterns that might be confirmed in the future. Similarly, I felt that my lessons to them had given the pair enough of a foundation to continue their journey. From now on, it would be on them to forge their path, especially with the books I had stored in the shrine it should be relatively easy.

Now, the only thing to consider was how to make our exit. Should we simply slip away, maybe into the night, or should we try to make some great gesture, showing the people how we were leaving? Both had interesting implications, though I was fairly certain which I’d prefer, namely to simply slip away. The opening of the shrine had been enough of a ceremony for me, I didn’t need or want another so soon after.

With my own dislike about any ceremonies, I pitched the idea of simply disappearing into the night to Lia, Silva and Luna, with Lia and Luna not caring one way or another but Silva gently reminding me that we should tell at least the leaders we had installed. They might want to give us gifts or something but even if they did not, telling them would prevent any miscommunications or future trouble. It also would be the polite thing to do, which was the argument that ultimately sold me, my mother had always told me to be polite and I saw no real reason to disregard that particular lesson for this case. In others, I might, but here and now, polite behaviour didn’t cost me anything but a little time.

Taking Luna with me, I walked from our temporary home to the apartment complex the locals were using as shelter, looking at the changes the area had undergone since my appearance. It had only been a little over a month, but I could feel the difference quite easily. It wasn’t just the visible side that had changed, the entire area had undergone a fundamental change, the Astral Power was subtly different, in a way that was hard to put into words. It was similar to the effect of the shrine, only less directed, less cleanly flavoured. The efforts of everyone here had seeped into the Astral River and if I hadn’t been so focused on the shrine, I might not have noticed at all. Just like a frog could be easily boiled by slowly raising the temperature, I wouldn’t have realised that something was different if I had been immersed in the area as it changed.

And it wasn’t just the Astral River that had changed. Far easier to recognise was the change to their farming efforts, they had greatly expanded and I could see a clear pattern where people had taken charge and given direction to their efforts. They had gone from a few small patches of crops to fairly sizeable fields, though they were still a little limited by the seeds they had access to and the tools. I could see some fairly rough tools, made from cold-formed metal and wood, but it was a lot more than they had when we came here.

The people, too, I realised. They were moving with purpose and direction, making me wonder just how little of a shove they had needed to get from their old lethargy to this far more involved state. How had none of them realised that just a little bit of force was needed, why hadn’t they been able to make their own fate? Why had it taken my involvement to get them going, or had they been drifting towards this change all on their own and my appearance had only been a coincidence and this change would have happened anyway? I didn’t know, nor could I see a way to reliably find out, but it was an interesting question. How much did I influence on a larger scale, beyond the direct impact of my magic?

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How much had my teaching influenced the people at Apple Gate Farm, had they managed to put their differences aside after I was gone or had the disagreements I had noticed before spiralled into real conflict, the seams between different people and their beliefs widened into chasms that couldn’t be easily overcome?

A part of me wanted to look in on Kevin and the others I had taught, simply to see how their lives had continued after I moved on but I wasn’t sure I could scry them that easy. Something to try later, some of them I should be able to recognise by their impact on the Astral River, if only because I had introduced them to that space. That introduction provided a connection between me and them, something I might be able to make use of. I doubted anyone else could, a teacher looking in on their student was permissible, a student using the act of being taught to strike at their teacher, not so much. Sometimes, magic was tightly linked to such concepts, at least the magic on Mundus had been, and from what I could read in my grimoire, things shouldn’t be too different here.

A part of me was tempted to experiment using my own connection to the Grandmother, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t work. Observer effect and all that, I couldn’t perform an experiment while knowing it was an experiment without impacting its results. In this case, I would have to commit to attacking the Grandmother, hoping that it would turn out well and I could gather valuable data. Sadly, that would mean that, if it worked, the Grandmother would know I attacked her, with the obvious results, to say nothing of potential magical consequences. Just a few weeks ago, the Gods had scolded me for breaking guest rights, while acting beneficially, I did not doubt that if I turned on my teacher, Hecate would have something to say about it. If only because it would mean less magical teaching was possible. No, I couldn’t experiment with that, even if a part of me was curious about the possibilities.

“Good evening,” I greeted Sian, after reaching the apartment she was using as her office. I could feel my two students nearby, they would be the next I was planning to talk to. “It is time that me and mine will move on. You are welcome to use the dwelling Luna and I cleaned up if you like, the protections placed upon it will last a week or two unless somebody maintains them. Similarly, the shrine is obviously yours, as much as a shrine can belong to anybody but the Gods enshrined there.”

“Good evening…” she returned the greeting, confusion written clearly on her face. Most likely, she wasn’t quite sure how to respond to my declaration but after a few moments, she rallied and thanked me for my efforts in the area. I had a feeling she had never really found a good way to handle my presence which was just fine with me and in this case, her confusion had added a bit of amusement to my evening.

“Go, bid farewell to your students Mom, I’ll talk to Miss Sian a little longer,” Luna shooed me off and I obliged her with a grin on my face. I wasn’t sure what the munchkin wanted to tell her, but apparently, I wasn’t supposed to know.

Shrugging, I went and hunted down the aura of Sonja and Lars I had been able to feel. Luckily, they were sitting at a table together, hunched over a sheet of paper and occasionally scribbling something on it. A small, experiment in runic magic, as it turned out when Sonja channelled a little Astral Power into it, causing the paper to crumble and a small flash of energy to escape the formation.

Nothing too interesting and my conversation with them didn’t yield any additional information, nothing but simple farewells.

Before too long, Luna found me and, after picking up Lia, Alex and Silva, we continued on our journey, once again heading north, where I hoped to find a Nexus of Ice that I could take control of.