The group spent another day recovering in the cave. Mark and Olivia both insisted they were okay to move after a few hours, but Alex decided they should all wait a bit longer. Despite their complaints, his decision to wait wasn’t from a sense of overprotection; rather, it came from his personal experience with serious and taxing injuries. Even if the human body was fully healed, the mind and body needed time to rest.

Ultimately, the point that got everyone to agree to stay was that Sam's degree of mana fatigue deserved some rest.

“Now that Olivia is back with us, and we’re regrouped, there isn’t as much of a rush. We can take things slower and be smart about how we progress.” Alex had told the group as they sat around the warm embers in the cave.

After reassuring them multiple times, Sarah, Valtherion, Alex, and Nox convinced the other three to get a full night's rest. The four of them could easily cover the watch rotation and allow the trio to get some more sleep.

Alex memorized the patterns of both new runes with Maelis during his watch before his charge on the amulet wore out. There was a debate about whether Alex should sit in the mana absorbing ritual and use more mana stones to charge the amulet further, but he’d argued against it.

He wanted to learn too many things, and having to divert at least half of his mind to Maelis at all times wasn’t conducive to being in the field. He’d rather have the ability to work on individual projects and theories, while letting the other half of his mind monitor the surroundings.

The following morning, he sat with his Valtherion wrapped around his shoulders. Conversing with the small amphiptere was becoming more enjoyable by the day, and it was in the lazy moments like this that Alex liked to talk to him about random things. Even though Val didn’t respond at times, Alex was sure that he was listening and learning from how his thoughts were expressed.

I’m glad we have her back. I was worried we wouldn’t catch up to her in time.

He had his back against the trunk of a blackened tree, with his left leg hanging off a thick branch he sat on. The cave was a few dozen meters behind him, and the tall tree offered a good vantage to see the surrounding area without giving away the camp’s position.

The sun slowly rose to his left, cresting the bare tree branches. Warm, golden light spilled into the deadened landscape, creating an odd sense of warmth and light in the bleak atmosphere.

His lip quirked up.

Maybe I’m just feeling warm and happy because we’re all back together. What do you think, buddy?

There wasn’t a response, but Val’s tail swished next to his left shoulder.

We’ve still got a long way to go. We need to find skills that fit your kit and Olivia’s. At this point, Mark and Sarah are further ahead than she is in terms of a well-rounded kit.

He hesitated. It had been some time since he had seen her status screen, and other than her most-used skills, he wasn’t sure what she had gained in the last few weeks.

Well, there’s plenty of time to figure all of that out. We’ve been in here for a little over two weeks, and we don’t have plans to meet up with Edwin until the four-month mark. If we can keep Nox stable that long, it’ll give us a good goal and timeline to work toward.

“Oli is stronger.”

Yes, she is. What do you think of Nox? I saw him help you in the last fight.

There was a long pause.

“Not as bad as the bad snake. He likes mana too.”

Alex tilted his head to the side.

Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

“Hmm?”

Do you like him more because he also likes mana like you? Or do you not like it that he eats the mana you want?

Valtherion didn’t respond, but Alex could feel the baby dragon vibrate. It took him a moment to realize that he was either making a sound somewhere between a ‘hmm’ and a growl.

Well, that could still go either way.

Still no response. Alex took it as a sign that Val wasn’t sure how to feel about Nox so he didn’t push the issue.

Glancing down at the pocket watch he held in his hand, he saw that it was time to wake up the team and begin their trek back to the mana spinners’ den. Alex slipped the watch back into his pocket and removed his notebook to jot down the thoughts he’d had and things that he hoped to get organized with the team when they returned to the colony’s safety.

He leapt lightly from his position in the tree and landed in the dirt before heading up the slope to return to the cave.

“Rise and shine,” he said quietly while gently shaking Sarah’s shoulder.

She stirred and woke quickly. But it wasn’t her response that caused Alex to jump, it was Olivia’s. As soon as Sarah sat up, Olivia’s eyes snapped open. Completely unaware of her surroundings, she rolled to her side with a dagger in her hand and threw it with deadly force.

Caught completely off guard, Alex almost didn’t respond in time. His barrier spell circle snapped into reality just in time to stop the blade from hitting her. To Sarah’s credit, even in her sleepy state, she reacted quickly and rolled her shoulder from the attack. Even if the blade had hit her, it would have gone into her shoulder, rather than the back of her neck.

Olivia stared wide-eyed as the blade clattered to the ground, making enough noise to startle Sam awake. “I— Oh my god. I’m so sorry,” she said. Her hand came up to her mouth, and Alex could see the horror on her face.

Sarah was confused, and it took a few moments for her to process the situation.

Alex shook his head and put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “It’s all right. I expect some of this from all of us over the next few weeks. This kind of constant fighting and survival isn’t like anything we’ve ever been through.”

Sarah took a deep breath and looked from the dagger to Olivia. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” The area around her eyes was tight, and her lips were pressed together as she stared at the deflected weapon again.

Moving over to Olivia, Alex embraced her in a hug. She was shaking, and he thought she might cry again. Instead, she took a few seconds to calm down and thanked him for the comfort before apologizing to Sarah several more times.

“Seriously, it’s okay. I’d like to think I can understand what you’re going through more than most could.” She gave Olivia a weak smile as she rolled up her sleeping bag. “This isn’t an easy environment, and you were out here for weeks on your own.” Sarah looked around at the group, seeing Sam and Mark slowly wake. “Alex, I think when we get back, we should look at finding some therapists for everyone.”

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Normally, he might have dismissed the thought, but he could see the tension in the group. Part of him was proud of that tension and seriousness. The group had been too relaxed in dangerous environments before, and he’d worried that it would lead to a serious injury. The severity of the situation seemed to be sinking in, and while he wanted them to be cautious and aware, he didn’t want them to be scarred.

One more look at Olivia was all the encouragement he needed to agree with her. Liv’s hollow gaze was chilling as she petted the top of Nox’s head. “Yeah, that would probably be best. It’s a long way away, but when we meet with Edwin in a few months, I’ll make sure he lines something up for each of us.”

The group spent some time relaxing and preparing a warm meal before packing up the camp, which had served them well over the last three days. When they were packed, he reached out to the spinner that had stayed behind with them while the other ranged the nearby area.

He did his best to communicate his desires, and when he thought that the spinner understood, he turned to his friends and waved them to follow. “They’re going to lead us back to the west. We’re going to stay in the colony for a bit. If we need to, we can go back to the Hunters’ encampment, but I think it’s better we stay working on our own for now.”

“Why?” Sarah asked, confused. “The spinner colony is safe, but not safer than the camp. We’re still deep in the Night territory out here.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Olivia took a step forward. “What do you mean by Hunters’ encampment?”

Alex gave a small shrug. “A lot has changed in the short time you’ve been in here. We’ve got to catch you up, Liv.” He turned back to Sarah. “I see them both as safe spots. There are three pretty big reasons to stay with the spinners, though. I haven’t finished teaching them what I said I would, and I don’t want to go back on my word.”

“We could always—”

He held up his hand to interrupt her. “Olivia has a plan for how to stabilize Nox, and that’s going to bring us back out here into the Night anyway. Not much sense in traveling a few days or more back to the ravine, only to get comfortable, and then come all the way back. The biggest reason is more of an issue…” Glancing at Olivia, he finished his line of thinking. “I don’t know how the Hunters will react to Nox. The entire area is filled with creatures of the Night. I’m sure there have been injuries and deaths out here, and I don’t see super-powered soldiers responding well to a bonded Night-beast being in camp. Even if Olivia keeps him in her shadow, there are ways to sense him.”

The group seemed to agree with his logic, but he paused as he thought of the camp and the repercussions of returning. “Oh, man. I didn’t even think of the fact that you killed one of the Aspects. That’s why the counter on the new Rift Quest shows one out of seven. We can’t let anyone from the HA know that we’re planning to go after one of the other ones either.”

“Why not?” Olivia asked.

“They want to keep the Rift open. Uh—” His mind skipped as he was about to explain the Hunters Association seizure of the Guild assets and Rift, only to stop short when he realized that she may not even know about the continental event. “Hey, did you get a notification before entering in here? About the Continental Event?” When she nodded in response, he said, “Okay, good. There’s still a lot to tell you, but we can talk more this evening to catch you up when we set up camp. I don’t think we’ll make it all the way back to the spinner colony today, so we’re going to hug the base of the mountains and see if we can’t find another defensible cave or alcove like we did here.”

“Better than camping in the open,” Mark said.

“Yeah, or in the trees, like that one time Alex fell out while sleeping,” Sam added. They both laughed at the memory.

Olivia looked between them all, noting the change in dynamic.

Not wanting to make things awkward, Alex ushered the group to begin moving. The rest of the day passed in cautious and careful movement. Even though he’d only had the skill for a short time, it was hard for Alex not to activate his mirage combination to aid in the scouting. Something about relying solely on the two mana spinners for their pathing was frustrating to him.

One of the mana spinner hunters led the group, while the second ranged to the open forest to the group’s left. Just as planned, they kept to the rocky base of the mountains, following a more winding path to stay close to the rocks. There was less activity around the rocky environment, which he’d noticed likely had to do with the extreme lack of mana in the area.

When they made camp that evening, Olivia touched Alex’s shoulder. “Can we talk before you go on watch?”

“Of course, what’s up?” he asked.

“Well… I’m feeling a bit out of the loop. It was pretty obvious how much has changed in the group. I can tell even in the way that we moved today. That was the safest stretch of travel I’ve seen in more than a month.”

“What do you mean?” He turned toward her as she sat on the ground near the entrance to the new cave.

“The group just moved and interacted so much different. Mark was quiet,” she emphasized the statement as if that said proved everything she was saying. “Everyone responded to you moving your arms and stayed focused the entire way. Even though Nox and I were looking for fights, I don’t think there’s been a single day that we’ve gone entirely without fighting.”

He chuckled at the joke about Mark and rested a hand on her knee. Her leg twitched, but she didn’t pull away. “Yeah, we got a lot better at working together. We spent a lot of time learning to move together, and it was important to react quickly, since Mark and Sarah were so low level when we came in.”

“It’s not just that, though. Even setting up the camp, making food, and training… You all are so coordinated. I almost can’t even believe how much they’re training, it’s so much different than our time in the Teams Event.”

Alex chewed on his lip and looked at her. “I don’t want this to sound too rude, but I do want to be honest.” She nodded, so he continued. “You left without us. You went off on your own, and I’m sure your reasons were urgent, but the change in the group was a result of needing to get better coordinated to catch up to you.”

Olivia closed her eyes tight and lifted her hand to gently pet Valtherion’s head. “I know. I don’t blame you; I’m only saying it because I’m impressed and I’m a bit jealous…”

“You’ll get there again with the group. Your level skyrocketed almost as much as theirs. Hell, you passed me,” he said while leaning far enough to bump shoulders with her. “Tell me more about what’s up with you and Nox. We’ll get back to the colony tomorrow, and I want to start making a timeline for training and prep to get him better.”

She looked at him with a weak smile and tilted her head to the side. “I appreciate you guys coming after me and being willing to help Nox.”

“Stop saying thank you. You could keep saying it to Mark if you want, though. I think it makes him uncomfortable.”

They both laughed, and Olivia took almost a full minute to gather her thoughts. “I can tell you what I know from Nox, but even that doesn’t make the most sense. Like I said before, we killed one of the Aspects, which the System identified as the Devourer, the Aspect of Hunger. There are six others, and one of them is the Core, Aspect of Unity. We’re making a big assumption, but Nox is fairly sure that if we are able to kill it, he can use the consume ability to get another one. The core is the section of Rakshasi that balanced her core and the powerful Night energy of the B Rank creature.”

“So Nox thinks that consuming the core will be enough of the Night energy to kill off the sun magic?”

She shrugged. “We think so. Or at the least, it would be enough to push it back to a really early stage and allow us to keep looking. Maybe the ability he gets from that aspect would let him do something to balance things out.”

“Anything else that you guys learned?”

“Not a lot. The Shadow Sect members are still around, but they’re more centered now. Most of them have pushed past the ravine and into the Celestial territory to push their boundary, but there are still pretty large groups that congregate around the Aspects. They worship them and seem to get turned into some special kinds of Night creatures.”

“Oh, that makes sense. We fought a human like ‘Crescent Warlock’ in the tunnels. It was human in shape, but way taller, with spindly arms. It looked completely unnatural.” He recalled the way the warlock had looked.

“Some of them get way more twisted than that,” she said with an almost imperceptible shudder. “What about you guys, what happened since I left, and… really… what is up with the hat?”

He laughed, and removed it from his head before passing it over to her. “Can you scan it?” She tried and was able to, reading the title aloud as he ran a hand through his hair. “That was a reward given to me for a title on the mission.”

“A title that gives a reward?”

“Yeah, it was a first for me, too.” He shared the title screen with her and whistled quietly as she read it.

“That… seems pretty major.”

“I think it is?”

“Wait, didn’t the System mention that in the Continental Event window? Something about us getting our first Integration Champion?” Her eyebrows rose as he nodded in confirmation.

“Yep. The hat is a growth item and will let me keep my Intellect stat how it is, even when I split my consciousness. It’s been extremely helpful already.” He accepted the hat and continued telling her about everything that had happened since they’d split ways. They continued to talk, catch up, and share thoughts on everything that had happened. She was especially interested in the preparations being made at the house and the inheritance he’d received from Eura.