They had spent hours in the study, and Nick had actually completed a few short books. Eirwen’s pile she worked through was remarkable, and her note-taking meticulous. Kaya too worked hard, and had a satisfied expression after a time.

They were sitting at their tables working through their books quietly. “Why are you looking so proud of yourself over there, Kaya?”

“Because I found the Path of the Samurai. There are many Ideals that are compatible with the Path, and one of those Ideals looks a lot like what my mother was doing! We’ll talk about it later, but the wolflings may do well with this path and some of these Ideals too.”

Nick now knew a lot more about monsterfolk today than he did yesterday, and essence in general. As a result of his race being hunted by the so-called good races, the Archaen had often allied with the monsterfolk of Orion. 

What young Nick knew, shocked older Nick. To an extent, essence was alive. There was a sort of will or consciousness within Orion’s essence it rewarded, and as you wove it into yourself, the essence that matched your will or desires the most was what would stick, or otherwise be enhanced within your core. 

It would be what slowly caused your body, mind, and soul to drift toward your Ideal and become more like your beliefs, actions, and desires. This was also how wanting more or less of an attribute focus while cultivating simply made it happen.

Monsterfolk could not cultivate in the same way, at least at first. However, as they consumed essence and were rewarded it by the Orion system, they would still be merged with the essence that matched their actions, desires, and behaviors. 

There was a sort of, you are what you eat with monsterfolk, but now, Nick actually knew their cooking of the food was changing that slightly. The cooked drake’s meat was excellent for boosting his wolfling’s intelligence, and Nick almost smirked when he saw a book in Eirwen’s pile about raising monsterfolk. It likely had many of these concepts inside.  

And when they reached certain thresholds, they could evolve. Now he understood so much about why Kaya had been teasing him, but he wouldn’t give the game up. He’d let them have their fun. 

Nick frowned, pretending to be confused. “But do you think they can even follow an Ideal, Kaya? Just before we left Nagduros for Havendale, I saw one of ‘em still licking their own private areas.”

Kaya giggled. “They are learning so quickly! We can teach them to at least only do that behind closed doors. I believe they can advance an Ideal, they are capable of following much of the elements already. If nothing else, it should still keep them focused on working to a strong goal.”

Nick noticed Eirwen’s amusement from behind her book, and her smile made his feigned ignorance worth it to him. 

“That’s awesome, Kaya. How’s it going over there for you, Becca?”

The archpriestess placed a bookmark on the page, and closed the book and smiled at him. “I’m really thankful for you inviting me, Lord Noblefrost. There is so much here for me to learn! While we had many books on the human body, we were definitely lacking in beastfolk and monsterfolk knowledge. This will help us improve with our ability to heal them! I hope you won’t mind me taking notes, and sharing it with our clergy?”

Nick smiled at her. “Not at all, Becca. I’d be happy to let you borrow and transcribe nearly anything in here–except those with details or hints about my race, or the book’s origins. We cannot allow that information to fall into the wrong hands, and so it’s best that none of those books leave this room.”

Eirwen nodded. “We’ll work together on removing anything that makes their origin easy to identify, but I do think your family has done well in their selections already. Those books appear to be marked.” She held up the book, and it had a symbol: the Noblefrost family’s emblem, a crown of ice.

Rebecca once again looked moved. “Thank you so much. I know the people of Zura are going to have some difficulty with the merge, but knowing you care about our interests sets me at ease.”

“No problem, Becca. I’m definitely going to do what I can to make the people of Zura feel welcome. They’re my people now, even if I have to, in a way, share them with Seraphara. Let’s work together to make Havendale prosperous for all of its people.”

Next, when Nick got a little bored of reading after a couple of hours, he spent a little bit of time with Eirwen. He was beginning to practice the cantrips for dream magic. 

Eirwen thought the two of them adding their efforts together would allow them to accomplish even more complicated dreams, and he was also hoping he could meet with a certain soulbound in his dreams.

Forming the cantrips was simple enough for Nick to learn. His dreamweaver trait made it instinctual to create the proper blend of mana, mind and soul essence. His core thankfully carried what he needed.

From his memories as a young child, he now understood that, affinity, or capability to cast certain spells, had to do with a person’s core. Like Eirwen’s wavelengths of light example, the core would gather essence of the various wavelengths, or colors, and those were what could be combined with mana into spells like mixing colored paint.

But cores would not absorb or draw in all wavelengths within the spectrum of essence. Everyone’s cores were different, Eirwen’s clearly gathering the required wavelengths for casting dream magic, and in high enough quantities to manage casting those types of spells easily. 

Her Body core was previously low on the number of wavelengths it collected, limiting her spells with many of those required to influence their physical reality more heavily. Eirwen had lucked out and was able to cast some healing spells, but compared to a shaman like Agatha, she had been quite limited.

Until she was rewarded by the Trial and she became more. Now that she had earned her tempering, her Body core would gather Body Essences in a wider spectrum, allowing her to more easily mix and cast spells of varying purpose. More than likely, this same influence likely would change the balance of her attributes within Body. 

Eirwen had wanted to learn [Retreat], which was like a disengage type of spell that would allow her to leap backwards a great distance in a near instant. But the crystal would not crumble in her hand back in Nagduros, despite her class being listed as one that could learn it. 

Unless the Archaen racial version of the class was getting in the way, but they assumed it was due to her Body Affinity. He hoped that she could learn it now, or perhaps other more physically-focused spells. They would need to test her affinity again with Agatha’s artifact.

It was the middle of the afternoon, the reading party having finished a light meal of reheated food. Nick was now more than a little thoughtful, thinking about his many core options, and how he wanted to progress going forward. In addition to the dream magic, he also had many options for progressing his soul magic.

Despite practicing as a child, there was only so much he could do with such low soul power at that time. He was excited to train additional abilities, there were some things that would resemble Rebecca’s shout, and he was sure he would benefit from learning to better manipulate his chains.

Nick closed his book, then tapped on the table. “Alright! I think that’s enough reading for now. It’s time to explore, or I’m going to go crazy up in here.”

Kaya chuckled, as she stood up and stretched, and her tail swished. “For once, I’m with you on this one. I’m starting to get a little stir-crazy, I wanna see what’s in that crypt!”

Eirwen giggled. “But I thought today was the perfect day! I could spend weeks in here, and it still might not be enough. I’ve learned so much!”

Rebecca smiled at Eirwen, before looking wistfully at all the books. “Me too! There’s so much to learn in here. Oh, I do hope you don’t mind me stopping by again once I finish these books.” She gestured to a pile, which was looking downright dangerous to carry at this point.

Nick chuckled as Eirwen was quick to let her know she was welcome any time. Eirwen and Rebecca were like peas in a pod, the two exchanging books and notes alike. Kaya had almost become solitary in her pursuit of knowledge, her curiosity about various topics leading her to ignore everything around her with books sprawled haphazardly across her own table, until the food came.

The party got armed and ready for battle, before heading to the crypt door. He had Jasmine and Jasper with them, the drake and scalemaw ready for battle.

Looking at Eirwen, he hoped that now that she was a little stronger, they could get her some better equipment, or better defensive skills soon.

Nick pressed his hand against the black door, and a door slid open with a hiss at recognizing him.

Kaya noted, “This is kind of an awkward entrance, Jasmine barely fits through the door. I wonder if there are other paths down?”

Eirwen nodded. “The notes detailed that this is just a private entrance. In truth, the barrows below are expansive, and far more dangerous when entering from other locations. We can unlock other entryways, the well is just one area of many.”

Nick added, “Part of the benefits of earning my Heritage will be the Tests and the Trials, which can benefit my subordinates rather than just me. All followers can be trusted with my secrets, but entering through my study is not exactly perfect. We’ll try to find another entrance once the cities merge.”

They entered after Jasmine and Jasper, a stairwell that took them down to a decent-sized stone chamber. At the back of it, Nick saw something he didn’t expect. 

Eirwen said, “An elevator? How surprising!”

Nick was a little surprised she knew what that was, but knew that she certainly read enough to be able to identify what that might be. Floors were marked on a slate, and a button to call the elevator with a triangle or arrow pointing down.

He shrugged, and pressed the button to call it. After a while and with little sound besides a low hum, the doors hissed open.

Inside, was a sizable freight elevator. It would be a little cramped, but the six of them could fit within. 

The reptiles entered first, then Nick and the girls piled in. He was unsurprised that Eirwen more or less made sure Rebecca was forced to be pressed up against him. 

Nick placed himself between Kaya and Rebecca. “Excuse me, Becca.”

Rebecca seemed to blush at his closeness. “N-No problem, Nicholas. This is quite the adventure!”

Eirwen giggled, her ears wiggling. “You’re right. Going down!”

She pressed the button, and Nick could hardly feel their motion as the door closed and they began to descend. 

The doors hissed open, and they arrived in what looked like a giant entryway or lobby. The ceiling was high, but the stone ruins were defunct and with little light within from some magical sconces near the elevator door.

What appeared to be a destroyed fountain was ahead of them, and many arches were arrayed in the massive room to other smaller rooms that had collapsed off to the sides. They were in a crossroads of sorts, from what he could tell.   

There were four main pathways, one in each direction, but they were blocked with a significant amount of rubble. Nick stepped out first, but stayed close to the doorway to let everyone out, including Jerome and Jasper at his sides.

Rebecca was squinting in the near-darkness, trying to make out the features ahead of them. “I can’t see too well, these sconces don’t provide that much light. But it seems there are no threats here.”

A few meters in front of them, Nick saw the point of interest: a large glyph on the ground, etched into the stone just in front of the fountain. It was the Noblefrost emblem, and he knew what he had to do from his mother’s message.

He looked back at the girls behind him, still able to see perfectly despite the low lighting. “Alright. Hold on to your butts, things might get freaky up in here.”

Eirwen giggled at his weird expression with her ears wiggling. Kaya chuckled, and shook her head. She had been taking in the room with her superior night vision. 

“There you are with butt stuff again. Your sayings from Earth have a questionable focus.”

Nick could see that Rebecca blushed, but was filled with confusion at Nick’s proclamation. He figured it was her… nun-like sensibilities that were the cause.

“Aw, my bad, Becca. I’m sorry for being crude, I just get a little excited sometimes.”

“I… It’s okay, Nicholas. I am not so sheltered that such a phrasing bothers me, your expression just confused me, is all. How would holding on to our butts help anything?”

Eirwen looked more than a little amused, but she was just as in the dark about the phrase’s meaning.

Nick scratched his head, he hadn’t really thought about the expression’s literal meaning before. “I… You’re right. It just means to be alert because something crazy is about to happen. I think it’s like a catchphrase? Anyway, moving on!”

He sent a wave of his soul magic into the glyph, and it lit up blue. Glyphs began lighting up all throughout the floor, and essence began to gather. A low rumble was heard and vibrations along the floors and walls loosened dirt to fall, glyph’s lighting spreading all along the large lobby.

Nick held on to Eirwen as the ground shook, but was somewhat surprised when Rebecca held on to his shoulder to steady herself. Jasmine moved to put her body over Nick and Eirwen, while Kaya stood next to Jasper, attentive to what was happening.

The rocks from the many collapsed sections began lifting up into the air and recombining into the walls and archways. Essence pooled in various areas, as the barrows were reconnected to the leylines of the Ordeal.

Thankfully, nothing really seemed to fall from above them, only solidified into a much more dome-shaped room. The rumbling stopped after about a minute, and the lighting in the room was substantial enough to see far into the distance. Overall, Nick had a really odd feeling about the looks of the barrows, his Heritage. 

Eirwen’s eyes were wide. “Wow, it’s huge! Look how high the ceilings are! They are covered in glass, and it almost feels like we’re outside now. How is this a barrows?”

Kaya pointed over to what was clearly another level above them. “There’s even a second and third level!”

Rebecca was shocked as well. “This place is remarkable. It is huge, this will take a significant effort to explore.”

The archways into several smaller rooms lining the outsides continued into the next section, and in the distance he saw what looked like stairs going down to another level beneath them. Levels were above and below, and the glyphs on the wall were in Archaen. However, the glyphs were like signs and reminded him even further about a certain type of place on Earth.

The Noblefrost Barrows were shaped like a mega mall.