Eventually, once I’ve digested most of the gains, I get up from the floor. Inu, Thatch and Opal surround me. “You okay?” Thatch asks. I see that he wants to hold my shoulder, and give him a nod. He pulls me into a hug, and I pat his back.

  “Yeah,” I say. “You’re getting blood on your shirt though.”

  A wet drop nds on my shoulder. “I was worried about you, Snow.”

  “Ah. That’s…” I feel a little awkward. “My bad, Thatch.”

  Inu clicks her tongue, giving me a mischievous smile. “He has a point, Snow. You oughta take better care of yourself.”

  I look at her. Without saying the words, I silently mouth ‘traitor’ to her, and she ughs. Thatch pats my back, then lets me go. “It’s… okay,” he says. “Gd you’re okay.”

  “Mostly,” I say, grimacing. “My shirt’s ruined. It’s so sticky now.”

  “You mean my shirt,” Opal says with a raise of their eyebrows. Thatch ughs and cries a little. Bay gives me a suspicious look, for making her son feel bad. Norman just clicks his tongue, and Jess looks equal parts concerned and confused. “What was that all about?” she asks.

  Right. I’ll have to expin it all. “I got a css. It lets me peer into what makes mana work. I overexerted myself a bit too much.”

  “A css, huh?” Opal asks, grinning. “What’s that all about, then?”

  I give a small sigh. It’s just an expnation. I can do this. “The main level we have is called supremacy,” I say. “Proving to the world that we’re better or stronger than anyone else. Csses are unlocked… somehow. One of the methods is getting level ten, but proving you’re good enough is probably another. Csses have their own levels and add experience gain mechanisms, and work with supremacy, trading some experience back and forth.”

  “What’s your css then?” Opal asks with a glimmer in their eyes.

  “Deconstructor,” I say, waving them off. “It’s cool. I got bestowed a skill. It lets you kind of trigger it once, but then you learn it and stuff. Like normal skills.”

  Opal didn’t let up, though. “What does it do, Snow?! What awesome abilities are you hiding from me? Do I needa shake them out of you?! Give me your lunch money!”

  I step back as Opal creeps towards me, making zy and pyful grabbing motions. I stare at them bnkly, expining while walking backwards. “It lets me deconstruct things, Opal.”

  They are deeply unsatisfied. “What does that meaaaaan?”

  Too fun to tease. I smile. “Oh, dunno. Take things apart, I guess.”

  With a swift motion, the greatsword appears in their hand again. “Snow…”

  “Right, right!” I say, ughing. “It lets me take apart other skills, learn how they work. Disassemble magic to understand each piece.”

  They light up. “That’s awesome! Hey, hey, take a look at my [Bound Armament]! I wanna know how to make it better.”

  Without hesitation, they trigger the skill, but I faintly shake my head. “Not right now,” I say, casting the butchered, half-assed healing spell in the back of my mind, and feeling the rushing of blood in my ears pull back a little. “We need to scout.”

  At that, Opal drops the teasing. They smile, just a little. “Right,” they say, looking up at the spire. “Sylves is the only one missing, no?”

  I smile, nodding. They always get me. “Yeah. Sylves.”

  “Where do you think she would’ve gone?” they ask, putting the summoned bde on their shoulder.

  “The forest,” Inu says.

  “Yep. The forest,” Thatch provides.

  There is nothing to do but nod. “The forest,” I agree. Since she’s not with us, that’s the only real option for her.

  “We don’t have any forests around,” Opal notes.

  “Not before the terraforming,” Inu says. “Now, though?”

  I just nod. “Let’s climb the tower then,” I say. There is a stairwell upwards, behind the throne.

  “One problem,” Amelie interrupts. She gestures pointedly at her wheelchair. “That sure isn’t a ramp.”

  Opal drops the sword, freeing up their hands. “No trouble,” they say. “I’ll carry you.”

  The girl smiles a little. “What are you, a knight?”

  “Don’t have any shining armor yet, but you sure are spoiled enough to call a princess,” they say, smirking.

  Amelie gasps. “A mercenary, then!”

  With a sigh, Opal walks up to the girl, swiftly grabbing the wheelchair and lifting it. Their power must be high. A few strings tie the chair to Opal’s shoulders, courtesy of Amelie’s [Puppeteer]. Then, we walk.

  The adults, who still seem a little out of it after the fight, follow us up. They’ve been talking, of course, but I wasn’t listening very closely. We trudged up the stairwell, giving me some time to think.

  The system. What was its main point? Csses, jobs, supremacy. Those seem to be the three aspects. It’s definitely geared towards some kind of end goal, but I’m curious what that is. Entertainment? For the eyes in the sky? That has to be part of it, but it doesn’t feel like the full picture.

  Defiance, maybe? The idea of reaching high heights? There are clearly floors to it, so is there some kind of tower to climb? If so, I hope there’s ramps. Otherwise, we might need to send a strongly worded email to some kind of leading department.

  Eventually, we reach the top of the spire.

  We step out to the roof of the castle. It’s a tower, those notched walls all around the rim that are so typical of castles. I wanna climb on top of them. “Hey, Inu?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Hold my hand for a sec,” I say.

  She raises her eyebrows for a second, but does as I ask her, holding onto me. I hop onto one of the ramparts, then climb to the higher one. It’s just thick enough for my feet to fit onto it entirely. I don’t need to bance, but better safe than sorry.

  The way down is so far. I wonder what would happen if I fell. Just… spt, like that. I lift my head, not giving the dizzying drop another look.

  I feel the wind blowing through my hair, white strands drifting around me, drying out the blood on my face and shirt. Red fkes blow away in the breeze, and I look around. Forests, kes, overgrown cities, buildings that shouldn’t exist. There are so many things out there.

  It makes me wanna see it all.

  Breathing deep, I let the moment st a little while longer. Mana, prickling on my skin, blood rushing through my ears, wind pying with my hair. The world, so much vaster, sprawled out to the horizon.

  Norman almost starts whining again, but I can hear someone cp a hand on his mouth. Opal, I’d imagine. I close my eyes. The world is big. It’s just gotten bigger, and I can't suddenly see it all anymore at my fingertips.

  For just a little while, just a few seconds, I enjoy it. The silence. The open possibilities. The way the world has changed.

  “Okay,” I say into the silence. “Done.” I hop down, then let go of Inu’s hand. “Thanks.”

  She smiles at me. “No problem.”

  Opal lifts their palm from Norman’s mouth. “The hell was that about?” he asks, grumpily.

  “Snow was having a moment,” Opal says, looking down at the smaller man. “I made sure you didn’t disrupt it.”

  “A moment?” he asks, impatiently, staring at me. He takes a step closer. “Lookie here, Snow. We all just almost died, and you wanna just stand there and take it in? Think it’s beautiful, huh?”

  I look back at him, tilting my head. I don’t see the issue with it. Why’s he asking something so obvious? “Yes,” I say.

  “Inu, I don’t think you should associate with this person,” he says.

  The words are icy. Cold. I look at him, then at Inu, then back at him. She gives her dad a long look. Then, she smiles, awkwardly.

  “Don’t say stuff like that, dad,” she says. “You know, Snow is quite lovely. I’m gd to be friends.”

  Norman looks like he wants to say something else, but keeps his mouth shut. He clicks his tongue. Given the pained smile on Inu’s face, I think she’ll talk to him about this again.

  That’s okay. She’s allowed to. It’s her dad. She can make her own decisions. I’ll trust her, fully, and if she decides to exploit that trust, then it’ll hurt. And after that hurt, I’ll live on, anyway.

  “Sylves,” I say, my mouth feeling dry. “Thatch. Can you look for Sylves?”

  He just nods. “Of course,” he says.

  Bay holds his hand as he bances on the rampart, and turns on his [Piercing Gaze]. One of its functions is intimidating opponents, but the other is just very literally piercing through objects. He looks down at the forest.

  “See anything?” Opal asks.

  Thatch shakes his head, slowly walking around the edge of the tower. “Not yet,” he says. “I’ll keep looking, though.”

  And so, we wait. Seconds slowly turn into minutes as he walks around. He takes one trip, then a second, then a third. I see Norman get impatient. He grumbles to Jess about wanting a pce to sit down and sleep, to eat some food in peace, and she pats his head affectionately, with a faint smile.

  What an effective way to deal with his grumbling. She doesn’t even need to speak. Truly an expert grumpiness dispeller. I am in awe of her ability.

  Eventually, Thatch breaks out into a grin. “There!” he says. “Spotted her!”

  I smile. “Let’s get her, then.”

  - - -

  Patreon is 40 Chapters ahead!!!

  Thank you all very much for reading <3