We reached the Monolith in twenty minutes; we could not run, not with our new load.

The forest was calm, only birds and a few monkeys' cries broke the silence.

I made sure nobody was around, then I placed my bounty on the ground by the Monolith and took out Ronda's Crystal.

"What are you doing?" Nova asked me when she saw me sit down.

"Switching the Crystal. Oh, right, you've never seen me do it. Come take a look; there might come a time you need to help me with this."

I wanted to switch my old clock-arm’s Crystal with Ronda's.

My forearm had been entirely replaced with a clock device. I had no idea why they called it "clock," probably because whoever had built these mechanical parts started by studying clocks? I had no idea.

It was a sturdy metal-framed device attached to my elbow by something called an implant. A device connected to my very flesh, then the mechanical forearm was further sustained by laces around my upper arm.

Its junctures were made with metal fiber, but they were not of the hardiest type. The outside was covered in darkened leather; it was really well done and offered a perfect cover even for the hand's more complex junctures.

Well, mine did not have proper fingers, only a thumb; the rest was a wide claw, which I could use to clasp things, like my bow. Yet, it opened and closed perfectly.

The internal structure was a mess of clock parts, wires, and devices called dampers. I studied the clock-arm at length, and although I was pretty confident that at this point I would be able to disassemble one and put it back together, having no formal knowledge nor the means to study it, I would remain ignorant in clock-tech.

I didn't like that, but damn, Logan Raive asked for exorbitant prices already, but when I asked to be taught, he laughed in my face and sent me to bugger-off.

I knew I could get good at it. I mostly asked him to build my arrows because he knew the chemicals needed to make the head explode in just the right way and at the right time. If it wasn't for that and his manual skills, which I lacked because I did not have the proper… manual abilities for it, I wouldn’t ask him at all.

Well, he did have a Sub-Class for it, so I might have to forfeit mine to get as good as him, and I really wasn't going to do that. The loss in survivability was far too big for my tastes and the village's well-being.

Anyway, the implant was the worst part of it all, and every time I had to expand it because it got too tight thanks to my growth, it was one tricky trip to the Abyss for me.

 

I opened the leather strap on the elbow's internal part and showed Nova the most important piece of the device.

"This is the core," I said. "It works with Crystals; thus, without it, the maneuverability of my clock-arm disappears. The Crystal not only interprets my intentions because of its fundamental togetherness with a living body, but it acts as a battery too. The machines do most of the work, so the usage of Flow is minimal. Its real use is that of interpreting my thoughts and sending them to various parts of the clock-arm."

I removed the half-empty Crystal inside; I could feel the lack of it right away. It felt like detaching a part of myself, but without the pain that would follow.

For a time, I could feel my perception extend with that of the newly removed Crystal inside of my working hand.

I looked at it, and it almost felt like I was looking back at myself through it. The Crystal did not have a reflective surface.

Like all Crystals, it looked like a piece of see-through glass shaped like a Dandelion. Its glass-like body was shining with light and made it definitely look more like a little Sun, in this case, a half-empty Sun.

I let Nova hold it, and I could feel the warmth in her hands then, but my senses started disappearing the moment I took Ronda's Crystal in my hand and placed it in the clock-arm's Crystal socket.

The socket could house even a five hundred grams of Crystal. Yeah, I had never seen one of those, not even back when the village still flourished, and I would probably never see it, or at least not around these parts; the size was directly related to the monster's level, and monsters around here did not get higher than level fifty, they were already a threat at that level, a proper threat to the village even in full might. Still, it stopped there; stronger monsters were found in Dungeons or places that gave them enough time to grow, so with proper lack of civilization hunting them down and halting their growth.

 

Placing a new Crystal felt like having a brand new arm. A period of adaptation would ensue, it meant that I would not be able to fully utilize my arm in the next few hours, at least, if not days, but I already only used it to hold my bow and not much else. Its stiffness would not pose a huge threat.

"Woah, how does it feel?" she asked as I closed the patch of leather bounding the arm's sensible parts closed.

"It doesn't really feel like much, actually. However, when I change the Crystal, it feels… weird. As if I had lost the use of my arm all over again, then I slowly start feeling it back. It grows on me. A bit like pets do." A spike of pain for having lost Ronda hit me as I said that.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to heal you when you lost your arm, Loke," she said out of the blue.

"What are you even talking about? Silly. You didn't even have your Sub-Class back then. Besides, you can't regrow body parts; it's impossible for Healers; how would a Mender even try? You do remember what the Sun nun auntie taught you, right?"

Even our village had a Church of the Sun before monks and nuns died to the Plague, and they were mostly Healers; there was no need for Paladins or Templars down where we came from.

"Yeah, but…"

Seeing she did not continue by herself, I pushed her a little, "But what, sis?"

"But at times… I feel that if I pushed just a little more, I could heal better than I normally do, but for some reason, I'm holding myself back." She shrugged.

"Is that so?" But really, as much as I was intrigued, I could see her frustration, and I knew her well enough that I could say that given time, she would open herself to me again.

"Alright," better to change the topic, "You remember how to switch the torch's Crystal, though, right?"

"Yups!" she seemed indeed happy about the change.

I followed the process, but, really, it was nothing hard. She uncorked the stopper and replaced the empty Crystal in the socket. Then tested if it worked by turning the switch from off to on.

The empty Crystal was entirely see-through. It would turn to dust if left by itself for a night, exactly like Stones would if left by themselves during the day.

"Come on, let me check this new Skill."

Once inside the Monolith's weird super techy hall, again, I placed my hand on the hand-shaped device, and my Status information appeared on the screen.

 

Loke Nightfold
Class	Hunter Lv. 25	Agi + 1, Foc + 1, Per + 1
Sub-Class	Tamer Lv. 21	Foc + 1, Will + 2, For + ☆
Attributes
Stats	Natural	Augments
Agility	14 + 4	Shoddy boots (+1)
Constitution	8	Shoddy clothes (+1)
Strength	14	Clock arm (+ 3)
Focus	12 + 2
Perception	16 + 4
Willpower	24 + 2
Fortune	★ ★ ★ + ☆

 

Hunting Skills
Name	Major	Minor	Passive
Trick Shot - Agility	★ A Shade projectile follows your shot		Agility + 3
Hunting Tactics - Focus		★, ☆ Your target’s weak points are partially exposed
Trace - Perception (Eligible for Promotion)	☆ Trace the whispers of the Soul	★, ☆ Add a permanent Tracker on your target	Perception + 3
Tamer Skills
Name	Major	Minor	Passive
Return to nature - Focus			★, ☆ Gain minor knowledge about your prey
Animal Instincts - Perception		★, ☆ Partially feel your pet’s emotions	★ Perception + 3 with Shade
Together we are one - Willpower	☆ You can tame weak Flow creatures		Your creatures can understand you

 

"You increased your Constitution!" She said in glee.

"Yes, I have to admit it. Seeing yours that high at your age has put my priorities into perspective," but, thinking about it, I did indeed deal enough damage to creatures even with my current level of Strength, did I need more for now? Probably not.

I could have all the damage I needed if I increased my equipment's power output, or at least, I would until we faced the current level of threat.

However, there was something that I did not like about my new Skill perk. Other than its weird description.

The Flow Star by it meant that It needed Flow to work. That was a huge deal-breaker for me. The deadliest creatures, those that would really need to be Traced, were night creatures, Shadelings.

I might have to start bringing with me my collection of Crystals.

 

---

 

We quickly left the Monolith and the Clearing and changed routes; we would need to pass through the Drylands but not through the Dump. We could reach the village easily by heading directly toward the mountains.

Murkstall was enclosed in a hard to get to and notice location, snuggly fitting inside a gorge between the two sides of Murk mountain range. It was the perfect location to hide both our farms and our people from scouts.

Another thing that came to our advantage was the fact that there had been an earthquake many years ago that had brought down a side of the mountain, which left Murkstall blessed in the shine of the Sun for the better part of the day.

The peculiar situation did not give enough time for Shadelings to start taking over the place.

We constantly found patches of corrupted lands, yes, but that was something everybody had to deal with. And there were many solutions for those; purifying the land had been one of the many things the Church of the Sun did for us, and before perishing, the same nun that had taught Nova how to heal people correctly had taught the rest of the village how to purify the corrupted lands.

 

---

 

Our journey through the Drylands was fast, but I had Nova fight a couple of foxes all the same. She needed the practice, and I could still carry some more weight, so could she.

I had to be honest; I was rather intrigued, I wanted to see how many of these Soul fractions I would receive by hunting down one of the Redfoxes, but that could wait.

The first fight went smoothly because the fox was hungry, she attacked us. It was rare, but even Flow creatures were not immune to starvation.

The second one was a little bit more troublesome; the fox did not know if it wanted to fight us or not, it kept trying to pounce on us, yet at the same time, Nova did not make any decisive blow.

I used my new perk then to try and understand what its deal was.

 

Redfox, Level 14

Health: 100%

Stamina: 78%

 

Agility: Intermediate-Moderate

Constitution: Low

Strength: Low

Focus: Low-Intermediate

Perception: Intermediate

Willpower: Intermediate

 

Strength: Agility

Weakness: Cold

 

Although Redfoxes are not very dangerous to an able-bodied sapient, they evolve into Cinderfoxes at level 15, which can pose some higher level of threat with their ability to spew clouds of cinders.

Crystal weigh: 0.014kg

 

The voice definitely intrigued me; I was already picturing how that could come to our advantage.

We could try to suffocate the slave traders using its ability; however, was there any sure way of doing that apart from sneaking so close to their hideout while not being noticed? I doubted it.

No, the plan fell apart in my mind right away.

I would not even try to tame it; it would be of no experience to me. A monster of that level I could tame with an arm tied behind my back.

So, I left it for Nova to deal with.

"It wants to take us down because we'll be fuel to its evolution. So it is trying to stay as safe as possible as it does so; you might want to feint your way in its range and strike as fast as you can."

Nova nodded; she knew my advice was gold for her.

She took the Shade Stone from her pouch and closed her hands around it. It would immediately start to freeze her, but the Sun was strong in the Drylands, and she could make small work of the creature.

She would be able to summon a Shade blade then, but she didn't. We gave the creature our backs and kept going in the direction of the mountains.

A couple of minutes later, the creature pounced on her, the smallest, even if not by much, and weakest among us two.

The creature expected a slash, but instead, she was thrown the blade, which barely hit her in the leg, but the surprise brought Nova enough time to draw closer and slash her with another blade she just conjured.

We ended up carrying one each.

 

"I've leveled up to nine, by the way."

I did not ask her where she would place her points; in the end, the decision was hers. We had studied our Class patterns, and she would have to follow her heart, not my mind. I would love her whatever she chose to do.

"You were close then. We are still three hours from the village, though. We might want to tone it down until tomorrow. I'll probably leave to go to the Clock-engineer, but you can train if you want."

"I won't be going to train by the crabs, nope!"

I smirked, "Well, you certainly aren't going to the Drylands alone."

The Drylands were relatively safe, but there was a but. It was not yet the rainy season, and Gnolls still patrolled the lands. I could not take down an entire patrol of them. They would just end up slaughtering her if they saw her; she had a Flow Shield, yes, but Gnolls were relentless in their pursuit, and their arrows were nasty; they were shaped like drills and could deal a lot of damage, even enough to shatter a Flow Shield, if not summoned in the middle of the day with Ambient Flow.

"Loke! I could stay at the edges; come on! You know that crabs are low-level. I don't even know if they'll make me level up all the way to ten!"

"All the way to ten? It's your next level, Nova… Besides, how did you think we all did? Hunting Gnolls?" I snorted, "We hunted crabs; then we ate them. That's how it is. And that's how you will do it as well. Don't think that having that overpowered shield of yours makes you safe. Keep thinking in those terms, and you'll be dead before long."

She was really stubborn; I needed to constantly remind her to behave, although I often gave in to her "pleeeeease" and "pretty pleeeeease," hunting alone was out of the question. I would bind her to a chair if needed.

"You can throw all the tantrums you want. You're not going out here alone."

She puffed but then ran up to me and took me by the arm, the good arm.

"I love you, Loke. You know?"

I smiled; she managed to take me by surprise. "I love you too, little monkey."

"Oh, come on! Stop calling me that!"

 

---

 

The village was in front of us.

We had gone past the frontal face of the mountains, walking all the way around it. It wasn't a long road to take, yet it was the only one.

I could see the unkempt farmlands from here. They were ruined, overgrown, and eaten away as only Flowborns did.

Well, that meant that there were, at least, a few families of Wildboars around; they were an optimal food source.

We just had to pass through the trail, hiding amid the lands to get back home quickly.

"We might have to clear the trail sooner rather than later. With crops this tall, we could be ambushed."

"It's easier for Shadelings to appear too." She was right.

But there were so many things I- we needed to do. Getting the overgrown crops out of the way would take days… Sometimes I just wished at least a few of the villagers would recover enough to give us a hand.

Darker thoughts pestered my mind, but I staved them off. When we brought them meat, the villagers' looks were all we needed to be happy and steady again.

We traveled through the trail with caution, the Sun was almost about to recede into twilight, so it was relatively free of trouble. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Before long, the entrance to the village appeared in front of us, a gate broken-down by time and lack of repairs was perpetually open, behind it opened the village, at that point of the day it was entirely covered by the shadow of the mountain, but the view was clear. There seemed to have been no troubles, or at least that was what I wished to think, for when I saw the man in front of us, my heart started beating like a drum in my chest.

The mayor, a sixty-something-year-old man with salt and pepper hair, was standing by the Soldiers' hut; his name was Edward.

But that was not his house, not at all. He lived at the center of the city.

His complexion was dark, but so were the patches of black and frosty cold on his skin; he had only one leg, the right one he had lost to the plague.

"Loke, Nova!" He shouted when he saw us then started coming our way.

"I do not like the face he's making, Loke."

I closed my eyes shut. I did not have to hear it from him to understand why he was there.

Why he waited for us at the entrance of the village, wearing the face of desperation, no, resignation.

He closed in on us, coughing for lack of breath.

"I… I'm so sorry, kids… It happened during the night; there was nothing we could do. I'm… I'm sorry."

Nova started hiccupping right away; then, she threw herself at the mayor, who took her into a big hug.

I couldn't help but let my tears cleanse the dirt that the Drylands had left on my face, but I didn't dare move a single step forward.

At that moment, the mayor drew me in, taking me by my working arm, and we all cried our souls out on that unkempt field wasted by the plague.

Grandpa had passed away, and with him had died the only Flow-chemist in the village. There would be no more Flow-fueled fire for our fireplaces. We would all freeze to death by the coming of the six months-long Shade season.

It could not get worse than that.