“As far as I can tell, this skill is functionally the same as [Mana Sense],” Aria said. “There are no blind spots that are commonly associated with what we consider to be failed merges. Other than the strange way you’re experiencing the world, the skill is identical.”

“And… any thoughts on what it is exactly that I’m seeing?” Velik asked.

“I couldn’t begin to guess.”

They’d relocated to a sitting room on the opposite side of the house, leaving Jensen alone in his office. Velik hadn’t missed the soft mutter after the door closed, though. “Good luck,” Jensen had told them. “They’re both pissed that you disappeared without a word.”

The pair had put aside their earlier animosity to gang up on Velik, but he didn’t think he’d even have realized it if Jensen hadn’t warned him. As far as he was concerned, this had been the most productive conversation he’d had in weeks. They kept their comments short and to the point, with no side tangents or small talk. Everything was clear and concise. In short, it was the perfect discussion.

“What about your two new skills?” Sildra asked. “How are they interacting with [The Wanderer’s Path]?”

“They seem fine, but I’m not sure what they’re supposed to feel like, so I don’t really know.”

“I’ve described this all to you before,” Aria said.

Velik wasn’t so stupid as to say it out loud, but his immediate thought was, Nothing you’ve described to me works like you say it should.

He recognized that it was mostly his own fault. He was the weird one, and her advice probably would have been immensely helpful to any aspiring young mage. They were all muddling through this as best they could.

Aria’s eyes narrowed like she could read Velik’s mind, but all she said was, “Let’s try a few of the beginner exercises.”

She put Velik through his paces over the next two hours, seeming at first surprised that he didn’t tire out. Halfway through, she gave in and asked what his mystic was up to, only to end up openly gaping at him when he reported 198 with his gear on. Amending his stat to just 128 base didn’t make it any better.

“I don’t even have 100, and I’m a damn gold-ranked mage!” Aria sputtered.

“I didn’t ask for any of this,” Velik said quietly. Off to the side, Sildra winced.

Aria, on the other hand, had no mercy. “Give me a break. You think you’re the only one with a sob story? Do you have any idea how many hunters have hometowns that were flattened by monster hordes, how many of them are orphans or sole survivors? It’s awful, but you’re not special for having a bad childhood. Most people in a position like yours take a common or uncommon class and make the best of it.”

“Aria,” Sildra said, a note of warning in her voice. “That’s enough.”

Things were quiet after that, and at the end, he got a notification from the system.

[Magical Finesse has advanced to rank 2.]

“That seems like a good place to call it for now,” Aria announced after Velik shared the rank up with them. “I’m sure you’ve got some business to see to, perhaps in the bathhouse. We’ll meet back up at the same time tomorrow. I’ll have some more challenging exercises for you—something that fits your insanely high mental and mystic.”

Without waiting for a reply, Aria swept out of the room. Velik exchanged a look with Sildra, who just shrugged back. “She’s been in a bad mood ever since you left,” the druid said by way of explanation. “Not that I blame her. You could have at least let us know what you were doing.”

“Sorry?” Velik asked as much as said. “What we were doing wasn’t working. I had to try something else.”

“I understand that, but was it really too much to ask that you include us in your plans?”

“I… I guess not. I didn’t think—”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“You never do.”

“Yeah. That’s fair. I’m sorry… Hey, what’s with that face?”

“I just didn’t think you had it in you to apologize,” Sildra said, faintly dazed.

Velik scowled. “I can admit when I make a mistake! I wasn’t thinking, but now that you pointed it out, I can see where I screwed up. We were working on this together. You’re right. I should have told you what I was planning. You had an interest in it.”

“Or maybe let us in on the planning.”

“No, not that,” Velik said. “Aria would just complain that it was too dangerous and to just keep doing what she wanted, and that obviously wasn’t going to work.”

Sildra gave him a long, searching look. Finally, she shook her head and heaved out a sigh. “I guess it’s a start.”

“What’s a start?” Velik asked, confused.

“Never mind.”

* * *

The next week passed both quickly and slowly at the same time. Velik’s days were packed with various lectures and practical exercises, all of which were boring and tedious. But he recognized the importance of what they were doing, and unlike last time, there was actually notable progress with both skills. They ranked up twice more each, which put them at what was generally considered the minimum threshold for a skill to be included in a merger.

They switched to instruction on how the skills complemented each other, which resulted in another rank up to both before Velik finally slotted it all together and created [Mana Control]. They’d all been expecting something weird after he’d come back from his trip with [The Wanderer’s Path], but other than the speed at which he managed to fold the skills together, there really wasn’t anything unusual about the process.

“I really expected something. Morgus only knows what he’s planning for you, but I thought it would be less straightforward,” Sildra said thoughtfully once Velik got the notification.

Aria agreed with her, but rather than speculating on the machinations of the gods, she simply said, “This looks like the end of our instruction. You were at times an infuriating student, but the last week has been a pleasure. What will you do now that you’ve obtained the skills Morgus wanted you to have?”

“Now it’s time to hunt,” Velik said simply.

“Before you do that, Jensen wanted to talk to you. He said he’s been working on something to help, but he wouldn’t give any of us so much as a hint as to what it was.”

Velik wasn’t sure what Jensen could possibly do to help. He wasn’t even level 30, and it had been made exceedingly clear to Velik that he wouldn’t be able to take all of his enchanted gear with him. Or rather, he could, but it would just be normal equipment once he passed beyond the boundary.

Not seeing any reason to speculate, the three of them went to go find Jensen. These days, he practically lived out of his office, so they didn’t think it’d be hard to run him down. Unfortunately for them, he happened to be out, and no one seemed to know where he was or when he’d be back. Velik would have taken that at face value, but Aria scoffed at the notion.

“Someone as important as him doesn’t just vanish. I guarantee plenty of people know what he’s doing, but they’re not going to tell us. We’re just going to have to wait for him to show up.”

“You’ll have to do it without me,” Sildra said. “I have my own business to attend to. Druid stuff.”

“Barius again?” Aria asked.

“Always,” Sildra said.

Who?

“What’s he want this time?”

“Same as always. About a hundred more druids than exists to embed in every fort, stronghold, and country estate on the east side of the country.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “I’m assuming he still doesn’t understand that he’s not the center of the world.”

“The idea that we might have work to do anywhere else did not occur to him,” Sildra agreed. “Nor was he willing to hear otherwise from anyone besides me.”

The whole conversation went over Velik’s head. His take away was that both women had lives and responsibilities that he knew nothing about, and that he had no interest in becoming involved in. Whoever Barius was, he was Sildra’s headache.

With nothing better to do than wait, they split up to see to their own lives. At both Aria’s and Sildra’s insistence, Velik visited the bathhouse behind the main building. His clothing was magically cleaned, but he himself didn’t see why people felt the need to bathe so frequently. Anyone who was concerned with their scent giving them away could invest some effort into a stealth skill to cover that up.

It was just one of those civilization things his tutors had tried to drill into him, but which they’d never convinced him of the necessity of. His lifestyle didn’t lend itself to a ready supply of bathhouses, but he supposed he was here, and it would probably be the last relaxing bath he got in a long time.

Velik emerged twenty minutes later, thoroughly cleaned and with his hair still wet. He ran a hand through it and debated taking a knife to his dark locks. They were getting long again, but a few minutes’ work would fix that. He grimaced as that thought passed through his head. Jensen had already yelled at him more than once to see a barber instead of doing it himself.

Maybe it’s a good thing I’m leaving civilization behind. It really doesn’t work for me.

He found Jensen a few minutes later, the [Vault Seeker] standing in the foyer watching a trio of men carry in a long wooden crate. The lumber groaned and strained under the weight of whatever was inside, and the laborers were visibly sweating with the strain. Jensen watched with pursed lips as they lowered it to the floor.

“Velik,” he said once the crate was down. “Perfect timing. I heard you finished up your skill merger. You’re going to be heading out soon?”

“This evening,” Velik agreed.

“I’m glad I caught you before you left. I’ve got a few things for you to help.”

“You know that I can’t take anything with me.”

“Ah, about that. I had some ideas. This is a work around to that particular problem.” Jensen gestured to the crate. “Go ahead, open it.”