With growing eagerness, I trained with Gutran some more. He was a little miffed I was focusing harder on finding more clever uses of my new Affix than actually practicing combat moves and making sure I was using my mace and shield correctly. I couldn’t blame him for it.

But also, I had access to new magic. I couldn’t be blamed either for finding more ways to use and exploit it.

Gutran grumbled again when he stumbled. He had been about to rush and attack, bidding me to remember how to predict his next move by observing the positioning of my opponent’s limbs. But then, I had created another field of Gravity on the spot where he was about to step, which made him stumble as his left leg suddenly weighed a ton more than normal.

Another easy opening for me to strike with my mace.

“I’m really appreciating this, Gutran,” I said.

He rubbed his shoulder, then rolled it. “I’m glad one of us is.”

I just grinned.

“Remember to modulate your Power,” Gutran said. “You’re at Silver now. It’s a big difference even from Iron X, especially for an Attribute like Power. The same force you produce will result in a bigger impact.”

“Oh, right. My bad.”

I had gotten a little too distracted by exploring my new Affix, so much so that I had forgotten how much harder I could hit without even trying to do so. That was part of what made Gutran such a good trainer. He could take hits from a Silver pretty easily.

Helped that he was a lot stronger than Silver.

It made me curious to learn about his actual rank, though that seemed too forward and personal. Knowing his rank wasn’t going to help me grow. But I suspected he was mid to high Gold, at least.

Gutran slowly smiled at me. I recognized that challenging look. “You’re getting a smidge cocky. Let’s try that again, shall we?”

Uh oh. We repeated the exercise, where he rushed in to attack and I tried use Field Manipulation to interrupt his movement yet again. The difference was that he was much faster this time. Forget creating a field of enhanced gravity, the violet threads had barely exited my body before Gutran was smashing into my shield.

I staggered back several steps, my grin jerky. “Lesson learned. Got to be faster with my casting.”

Gutran tapped his sternum. “Got to raise your Spirit.”

Exploring uses for Field Manipulation was fun and all, but I decided to focus on mollifying my Scalekin combat master and focus on properly training my physical prowess. When we decided to call it for the day, it wasn’t because any of us were really tired. Combined with my increased Vitality and Sacrificing food earlier, my overall fatigue levels were higher.

But gaining another rank after hours upon hours of training was as good a place to stop as any.

[ Rank Up!

Your Agility Attribute has risen by one Rank.

Agility: Iron VIII ]

I left with Aurier since he was done for the day too. Good thing, that. Now I wasn’t going to get lost on my way back to the temple.

“You’ve been spending longer at the smithy,” I said on our way through the streets of Ring Three. “Making something special?”

Aurier looked up into the sky, his eyes far away. “Since we’ve got a few more people now, I don’t have to spend as much time at the cult to help the Elder. He was the one who recommended I spend more time with master, actually. So I did.” Aurier hesitated. “Master Gutran says if I keep it up, he might give me a permanent position there.”

I nodded slowly. “I remember! Will you be graduating from an apprentice to a journeyman or something like that?”

“Sort of, yes. A permanent position will also secure a standard payment. I get commissions based off what I create already, but the new payment would be a monthly one compounded on top of the commissions, the rate for which will be higher too.”

“That’s pretty cool. Congratulations, Aurier.”

That finally made the poor guy flush again. “Well, it’s not a sure thing yet. I have to keep working and everything. But I also don’t want to completely forget the cult, you know. Elder Escinca was so kind to take me in and give me a place to stay. I can’t just leave for good.”

“Mm. You’ll figure it out.”

I had wondered how things would change for Aurier if he took a more permanent position at Gutran’s smithy, so it was nice he had brought it up. Aurier was genuine, willing to push past his embarrassment even when the topics were difficult.

“It doesn’t have to be one or the other,” I said. “Look at Hamsik, that bastard. He’s hardly around and Escinca treats him like family.”

Aurier laughed. “Hamsik does a lot in his own way.”

“Sure, sure.”

Aurier hummed as we reached the gate to Ring Four. “I think it’s nice we cover different… sides.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, it’s like how I’m the smith, and you’re the mage and adventurer, and Hamsik’s the noble and the economist.” Aurier’s eyes sparkled when he looked at me, flushing again. “It’s like we’re extending the cult’s reach in different directions, isn’t it?”

“Hamsik’s an economist, is he?”

“I, uh, I’m not really sure honestly.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

I decided against pressing since Aurier was already red as a tomato. “You’re right, though. It is nice that we’re bringing in different things to the cult.”

It was pretty late when we reached the gate. Late enough that most working people who used it had already returned home, so there wasn’t a ton of traffic. That was probably what allowed the guard there to stop us.

“No, I’m not saying praise be the woven way or whatever bullshit you’ve come up with today,” I said, frowning at the uniformed men.

“I never asked. Like the Woven Way would ever have cultists like you.” The familiar Rakshasa crossed his arms with an unpleasant sneer. “But if I were to stop you, what would you do, huh? Camp out on the streets? This isn’t Ring Four, gutter rat.”

He laughed like he had made a joke, and a couple of his guard buddies joined in with snickers.

“You know I can literally jump over the gate, right?” I said.

Their laughter just increased.

“Jump over the gate he says!” The Rakshasa guard slapped his knee while guffawing. “They think just because they’re breeding like rabbits in that shithole, they think they’re actual Pits-cursed bunnies.”

That made the others’ snickers turn to laughter too.

Aurier growled and stepped up, but I sighed as I held him back. Then I channelled Gravity, focusing on Siphon while also creating a field of lowered gravitation force with Field Manipulation.

No sooner had the deep purple threads appeared around and on me before I was jumping straight up.

The gate wasn’t that high. Maybe two storeys, if that. Definitely not over twenty feet. The Greater Brillwyrm had reached much higher, and I was sure I’d have been able to touch the crests on its skull.

All the laughter ended when I landed on top of the gate. The guards, even Aurier, all stared as I looked down.

Actually, there was one laugh. Mine. “What’s wrong? Cat—I mean, rabbit got your tongue?”

The Rakshasa guard eventually gathered himself. “That’s illegal!”

“I’m sure it is. Question is, are you going to jump up here and enforce your laws?”

He growled, his face turning demonic with growing anger.

“Uh.” Aurier had crossed the gate to the other side, now officially in Ring Four like it was a bridge across a river and the monsters couldn’t cross it. “We have to get going, Ross. Got, um, the big meeting, remember?”

Bless him, he was trying to defuse the situation in his own way. I nodded and dropped down on the Ring Four side. A slow application of Infusion increased my weight to help pull me down, but gently.

“Wait a moment,” another guard said. The tall Scalekin didn’t sound angry like his Rakshasa partner. “We never addressed why we really stopped you. We were asked to give you a message.”

I turned back. “A message? From whom?”

“Captain Revayne.” The Scalekin approached and held out a letter. “She said to make sure you took it. So here.”

I took the letter, then remembered to thank the guard for it, who grunted back something unintelligible. His companion still looked like he would enjoy strangling me, but we ignored him. At least he had the wherewithal to not escalate things further.

“An invitation from the guard captain?” Aurier waggled his eyebrows as we continued walking. “You made that guard jealous.”

I blinked. Wait, had the Rakshasa acted out because of jealousy? Revayne had left a message for me specifically, which meant they knew me and they knew their captain knew me in person, and all that had fuelled some sort of weird envy.

“So?” Aurier elbowed me suggestively. “Where is she taking you for a romantic rendezvous?”

I deadpanned him. “It’s not like that.”

“What? Oh, you don’t feel that way about her?” Aurier, who had been trying to be cheery and friendly, now got flustered again. “I mean, you don’t have to. It’s fine if there’s someone else, uh, wherever. Or if it’s here too, that’s fine! And if they’re not human, that’s also perfectly—”

“Aurier, you’re rambling.”

Aurier shut up.

“I don’t feel that way,” I said. “Period.”

“Period?”

“Figure of speech where I’m from. Means basically that’s it.”

“I see…” Now he looked curious. “So you don’t feel…”

I wasn’t sure how to explain to it, especially to someone who wasn’t where I was from. “I don’t feel attracted towards anybody.” I shrugged, then smiled. “It’s just how it is.” My smile turned into a grin. “Hasn’t made my life any less interesting…”

Aurier was smart enough to grasp what I meant and flushed in guilty embarrassment again.

The letter was interesting. Revayne wanted to talk about the cave-sheep of all things, which she had intimated already, so it wasn’t surprising. I just hadn’t thought she had been that serious. Now that I thought about it, I still wasn’t sure what the mystery behind the cave-sheep was. They were this world’s version of pasture animals. What in the world was one doing in Seethescale Dungeon?

Next day, I headed out early to meet Revayne. She wanted to get the discussion done before her other guard duties kicked in, so I obliged.

“Thanks for coming,” the guard captain said. She was slowly raising her head from her closed book. Her looking too tired to even read wasn’t exactly a good sign.

“You alright down there?” I asked, taking a seat.

We were meeting at one of the local eateries. Calling them restaurants on Ring Three would have been too fancy. They certainly didn’t offer anything appetizing—no, grilled bugs were not a delicacy, no matter how gaudily the sign on the eatery proclaimed they were—and most stuff was prepared beforehand. At least there was seating, which was Revayne’s main goal.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just busy with things. You know how it is.”

“Actually, I get decent sleep most days.”

She muttered something under her breath, then straightened. Her inverted-coloured eyes flashed. “I don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get down to it. Tell me everything about the sheep, please.”

“And will you tell me why knowing about it is important?”

“I’ll tell you what you want to know in turn, as much as I can. I want to cooperate, not fence in a weird standoff.”

That was relieving to hear. I told her all about the cave-sheep, about how I had found it wounded, how it had acted very un-sheep-like but I hadn’t connected the dots yet because the idea of a Scarthrall sheep—or Thralls in the dungeon in general—hadn’t occurred to me just yet. I also explained its eventual attempt to drink Khagnio’s blood.

Revayne nodded. “Good. All that sounds like you should be able to recognize or describe the sheep well.”

“Are you… going to take me to visit the sheep?”

“In a manner of speaking.” She got up, stretched, then plopped her book in front of her face. Then she glanced at the eatery’s storefront. “Actually, I’d feel bad if I make you work for free. How about I buy you a treat? Pick whatever you’d like.”

I looked at a worm still wriggling on a stick. Wasn’t that supposed to be grilled? “I… think I’ll pass.”

“Suit yourself.”

Satisfied that at least she had offered something, Revayne led the way. I was once again glad for the company mostly because of not getting lost. Hopefully. Assuming Revayne knew the way. I figured knowing where to go was a preliminary requirement for being a city guard.

“You dislike… all insects?” she asked. Uh oh, she was too astute.

“I’ve got… alternative means of attaining sustenance,” I said. “So I don’t really need to eat at all.”

She looked at me suspiciously, which was terrible because I hadn’t lied at all. Sacrifice really did make eating unnecessary. But then she turned a page in her book, her face flicking back to it for a second, before her expression cleared up.

“You know that we know you were summoned, Ross,” she said. “The city guard were well aware of such a large summoning ritual taking place on one of the peaks of Zairgon. And everything else regarding you… it’s not hard to connect the dots you know.”

I looked at the book in front of her face. “Not for a sleuth like you, I’m sure.”

She made sure I saw the roll of her eyes over the rim of her novel. “I imagine an insect-based diet wasn’t the norm where you’re from.”

“It wasn’t, if you must know. Which isn’t to say no one ate insects at all, but yeah, not for me. Why, do you like them that much? Not judging, by the way, just curious.”

“I don’t fancy them,” she said. “But my family runs a farm for them, so I am intimately familiar with the process.”

I blinked. “You’re a farmer. Well, no, you’re a city guard. But your family are farmers?”

“Essentially, yes. That’s how House Revayne actually became a Great House. We were the most prominent group to utilize insect farming as efficiently as possible.”

“Wait, Revayne is your last name?”

“That’s what surprised you?”

I didn’t answer at first. It would be a lie to say no, because the idea that there weren’t just humans living in higher Rings, but living as nobles, seemed so difficult to fathom. I hardly saw any of them, unless it was as workers performing odd jobs around Ring Three, and now here was Revayne, proclaiming herself as a noble.

Further conversation had to be delayed because we had reached our destination. This part of Ring Three was nearly devoid of buildings. Instead, there were a lot of fields, and occasional ponds too. Dark water and darker grass.

“Come on,” Revayne said. “Let’s go meet the cave-sheep’s cave-shepherd. And get to the bottom of why a cave-sheep was turned into a Thrall.”