She almost couldn’t believe it when he finally walked into town. For months now, she’d been living in disguise among the humans, waiting for the experiment’s arrival. Tesir’s hurried and vague instructions as he rushed back out to the sky bridge had given her practically nothing to go on, and the amusement of watching him run off with his tail tucked between his legs had long since faded into annoyance at having yet another problem foisted onto her.

And now, finally, here was the human she’d been waiting for, just casually strolling by and disappearing into one of the town’s many ad-hoc inns. No less than six construction teams were busy working day and night expanding the town to create housing for the displaced nobles who’d been forced to the edge of their human civilization, all of whom thought they were too important to live out of a tent.

She wondered briefly if the experiment was associated with the baron who’d commissioned that particular building, or if he’d just picked a place at random. She supposed if he didn’t get tossed out on his ear in the next few minutes, she’d have her answer.

Now that he’d finally shown up, she wondered about the best way to get him under control. She’d had theories and possible plans lined up, but all she really knew about the experiment was that he was strong enough to force Tesir to accidentally kill a system-bound human. That ruled out brute force, not because she thought the experiment could beat her, but because she didn’t want to run afoul of the Covenant like her idiotic partner had.

More information first, she decided. There was no point in spinning out a thousand plans when she had nothing to base them on. That meant today’s priority was to observe without being noticed, something she had no issues with doing.

* * *

“It would be easier to wait for nightfall,” Sildra was telling a portly man with a bushy mustache as Velik walked through the door. The whole room smelled like fresh wood and iron, and it was obvious just from looking at it that the place was only a month or two old. It lacked all the dings and nicks a lived-in building accumulated over its life.

“Maybe, but we don’t have a lot of time to do everything I summoned you here to do,” the fat man said. “You’re going to have to get used to working during the day as well, even if it’s more difficult.”

Sildra’s back stiffened and her face turned dark with a scowl. “First of all, let’s get something straight. You didn’t summon me here. I don’t answer to you. None of my druids answer to you.”

“I’m sponsoring your housing, your food, and it was my writ of passage that saw you out here. Where did you get the idea that you wouldn’t be working for me?”

“Working with you, not for you,” Sildra corrected.

Velik’s eyes shifted past Sildra and the fat baron to his bodyguards. There were two of them, flanking their boss on either side. One was a woman, close to seven feet tall and with shoulders like an ox. That had to be some sort of weird side effect to a skill or a class, because Velik had never seen anybody that big. She was decked out in a breast plate with accompanying vambraces, greaves, and so on, and holding a pike that was even taller than her.

The other bodyguard was a man who actually looked a lot like Tempest. He even had that same arrogant, bored expression on his face. There was too much of a resemblance for there not to be some sort of familial relationship there, a supposition further supported by the fact that he was using some sort of magic to monitor air currents as a way to keep track of what was going on around him without having to look.

He noticed Velik looking and shot him a quick sneer before returning to pretending to ignore the world around him. I already don’t like this guy, Velik decided.

That certainly had nothing to do with his poor working relationship with Tempest. Velik wasn’t that petty to hate someone just because he happened to look like and possibly be related to another person who was annoying. But Tempest’s doppelganger had already left a bad impression on Velik, and he sincerely hoped to never see the man again.

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The argument was spiraling out of control, with the baron’s voice steadily rising in volume while his face took on a red hue. Sildra kept her own voice steady, but Velik could practically hear her teeth creaking from the pressure of her clenched jaw. He’d never seen her worked up like this and couldn’t even imagine what had changed in her life to give her so much confidence.

The Sildra he remembered was non-confrontational, someone who tried to keep the peace when Aria and Giller started in on each other. This new version wasn’t taking any of the fat nobleman’s shit, and the argument had gotten so intense that the seven-foot-tall woman was starting to look uneasy. She was probably wondering if she needed to step in, which was a fair concern since Sildra was now around level 40.

Abruptly, Sildra rose to her feet and stormed out of the tent. “Stupid, arrogant, pig-headed asshole!” she muttered darkly outside the tent, not really making much effort to be quiet. The baron definitely heard her, and with a dark glower, he gestured for the massive bodyguard to go chase her down.

“No, I think it would be better if you both took some time to cool off,” Velik said as he smoothly stepped into the woman’s way.

“Kid, don’t make me break you in two,” the woman told him.

“You’re welcome to try,” Velik replied, his voice calm and steady. He had the guard pegged at somewhere around level 35. There was absolutely no chance she could outmuscle him, no matter what skills she had.

“Bring her back here now,” the baron snarled. “Flatten this idiot if he insists on getting in the way.”

Shrugging, the woman shifted her pike to strike with it. “Last chance to move before you get hurt.”

Velik wasn’t interested in posturing. His hand snaked out, palm flat, and struck her chest. Metal crumpled and she toppled backward to land on her butt. The pike clattered to the wooden floor next to her, digging gouges just from the weight of the weapon.

“You want me to jump in, sir?” the wind mage asked in a laconic drawl.

“Do it,” the baron said nastily. “This whole batch needs to learn who’s in charge.”

“Wait!” the giant woman wheezed out, but it was too late for that.

Strands of air sharpened into a shredding cocoon around Velik, pressing against his skin and clothes in an attempt to rip him to shreds. He wasn’t sure how much damage it would have done to someone around level 20 or even 30, but his physical was far too high to be hurt by such a weak skill. He simply took a step forward, tearing through the cocoon and scattering loose threads of mana.

The wind mage’s jaw dropped open in shock, but he never stopped casting. His magic looped through the air, catching the scattered remnants of his spell and weaving them back together. Or he started to, at least. Then a throwing knife embedded itself in his shoulder, causing the mage to abruptly abort his spell in favor of a surprisingly high-pitched scream.

“I suggest everyone calm down before someone gets hurt,” Velik said. “This doesn’t need to be a fight. There are more than enough enemies out there. Besides, the staff is terrified.”

He gestured to the back of the inn, near a door leading into the kitchen. A young serving girl, perhaps fourteen years, cowered behind the door frame, and the chef stood there with a cleaver in his hands. He was doing a good job of controlling the tremor in his hand, but Velik could hear his heart wildly slamming against his chest.

“If you’re going to fight,” the chef said, “do it somewhere else. I can’t afford to replace any broken furniture.”

“How vulgar,” the baron said, affecting a calm persona now that his bodyguards had been so easily overpowered. “Point your brutality at the monsters, not at me.”

“You—What? Are you seriously…” The druid who’d accompanied Velik had remained by the front door the entire time, wisely keeping his mouth shut even when Sildra had blown up and stormed off.

“Come on,” Velik told him. He walked past the man, clapping a hand onto his shoulder and steering him out of the building. “You can’t change people’s minds, but you can control your own actions. That was probably about the best possible outcome after they started fighting. No one was hurt. Nothing was destroyed.”

“You put a knife in that guy!” the druid protested.

“A cheap healing potion will fix that. Surely a baron can afford something that simple. Now, let’s go find Sildra and figure out what to do.”

* * *

It took all her willpower to avoid quivering with glee. The experiment was strong! He was controlled! He had some control over mana! He wasn’t too hard on the eyes, either. That wasn’t really important, but she could appreciate the aesthetics.

Legra save me, he’s practically perfect. There is no way this is on purpose. I am not giving that crazy old fox an ounce of credit for this. He got lucky.

But still, she couldn’t help but be excited. Even if they only got lucky once every hundred years, new divine beasts were appearing distinctly possible. She needed to know everything about this process. She needed to know everything about the experiment.

His senses were sharp, but he was limited by the mortals’ system. Until he learned to see past it, he would be blind in certain ways that she could take advantage of. Still giddy, she started following him.