With how peaceful Caelthal was, you'd swear we weren't just attacked by a horde of undead, including a giant zombie bird! I doubted nobody would have noticed, which probably meant something was obscuring the forest down below.

We casually made our way to the Feirelle estate, casually waving or exchanging brief pleasantries with the few elves we passed by. Eventually, we made it there, and before I even knocked on the door, it was opened and revealed Paeris.

"Welcome back, Lady Sylthaeryn," he said, giving a picture-perfect bow.

"Good to see you again, Paeris. I've succeeded in my tasks," I replied, making sure to emphasize the plural.

He gave a knowing nod in understanding and gestured for me to enter, holding the door ajar. We entered and began to walk to one of the rooms that had previously been designated as a safe room, warded against any potential eavesdropping. Paeris also instructed a woodsprite to go and fetch Llewel, and the little creature scampered off in a hurry.

"Has mother returned yet?" I asked.

"I'll give you the update shortly," he replied, hinting at the need for privacy.

Once we were in the meeting room and settled, with him joining our telepathic connection with Vee, he finally broke his character somewhat.

"Mistress Loreleia was attacked during ascension, as expected. She was injured but has survived the ordeal and, from my understanding, has also succeeded in elevating herself to a High Elf."

"That's wonderful news!" Vee declared. "Not the injury part, of course, but that she succeeded."

Paeris nodded. "The odd part is that she was attacked by humans. Which should have been an impossibility, as the ascension grounds are off limits and heavily protected. Regrettably, there were no survivors among the lot, as even though Mistress Loreleia held back, they committed suicide on the spot."

"Well then, we have some good news for you," Vee spoke up again. "Because we captured one of them alive and well."

Paeris' eyes shone with a glint. "That is indeed some good news. Very well done. You've truly gone above and beyond."

"We also succeeded in the trial," I said, and pulled out my diamond acorn. "Although that was realistically just the bait. We were also attacked by two humans, a horde of undead, and an elf, who is the one we managed to capture."

"Yeah, he fell for our trap hook, line, and sinker," Vee snickered.

"I assume you've kept him imprisoned somewhere? Can you share the details, and I'll go secure him immediately. We can't risk him being rescued or taking his knowledge to the grave," Paeris urgently requested.

I waved my hand dismissively. "There's no need. I've bought him with us and there's no risk of him dying. But…"

Paeris' eyes widened with genuine surprise at my remark, then squinted with my final line. "But?"

"He's been poisoned with [Sanguine Dream]. So he's unconscious until we can get an antidote or magically detoxify him," I answered.

Paeris let out a soft hiss, "That's a dreadful poison…"

"It was either that or [Basilisk Venom]," Vee replied. "And speaking from experience, that probably wouldn't have ended well."

"Most definitely not," he agreed. "Can you bring him out?"

I nodded and cast [Rift Door] on the spot, opening it as wide as possible. I'd already noticed that Paeris' mask of perfect composure was waning, likely due to the stress of his mistress being attacked and the present situation. However, opening up a dimension rift before his very eyes must have been the final straw as the mask slipped and a look of pure bewilderment appeared.

Paeris audibly swallowed as he stared at the strange spell. "I see you've been busy…"

"I mastered [Basic Elemental Magic] too," I replied cheerfully and stepped through the door while indicating for him to follow.

Paeris nervously followed after and then saw our spoils of war. With his mask already compromised, we got to see a look of genuine rage flash across his face as he noticed the undead elves among the evidence. He then came across our unconscious prisoner.

"Dornhallows…" he spat, venom dripping from his tone.

"We aren't sure if he was working alone or at the behest of the Branch. We figured you'd be able to find out," I replied.

Paeris nodded. "I'll make sure he squeals like a pig. The only issue is awakening him from the poison-induced slumber."

"Can Loreleia not use her healing magic?" Vee asked.

"Mistress Loreleia is indisposed until she recovers from her wounds. They were equipped with tools and poisons to directly counter magical healing, so she's in the process of slowly recovering and cannot make a public appearance until then or risk exposing a weakness to the public."

"Can we contact the Carren Branch then?" I suggested. "I was already in talks with Aimon regarding a transfer of knowledge about arachnids. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get an antidote from them at the same time."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Paeris rubbed his chin in thought. "That is a reasonable plan, especially since Aimon Carren asked about your whereabouts during your absence. Of course, we should ask Llewel first if he can't concoct an antidote as our resident alchemist."

"Speak of the devil, it looks like he just entered," Vee said and pointed a leg towards the rift opening.

Standing outside with eyes wide and pupils dilated while frantically looking around as if trying to suck in every bit of information he was seeing all at once was Llewel. Despite his rather unique position, he showed none of the restraint Paeris did as his astonishment and inquisitiveness were on full display.

"What marvelous creation is this!?"

"It's called [Rift Door]!" I shouted back. "Come inside, we have important business to discuss."

"Remarkable!" Llewel cried out in joy and finally stepped inside. At the same time, I hooked him up to the telepathic conversation. However, his jubilation quickly diminished when he saw the corpses.

"Lady Sylthaeryn was attacked," Paeris stated.

"I'll bet… judging by all of this, it was a resounding victory," Llewel replied.

"Yeah, we even captured one alive. Although he's been poisoned," Vee said.

"Poisoned? Either self-inflicted or administered to prevent him from perishing, I assume."

"The latter. [Sanguine Dream]. Can you cure it?" Paeris asked sternly.

Llewel sucked in air through his teeth and clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I can certainly try, but I wouldn't have much confidence in it. Poisons and their antidotes have never been an area I've put too much focus on, since I find the matter quite grizzly."

Paeris sighed and turned to face me. "I guess your idea of speaking with the Carren heir is our best bet. I'll send a message notifying him that you've returned."

"Great. I wonder if he will have my spider info," Vee said excitedly.

"What do you want to do with all of this?" I asked and gestured to the corpses, items, and, of course, the slumbering prisoner.

Paeris took a moment to mull it over. "I'll prepare a room down below immediately, after which you can withdraw them all there. I'll also need to come up with a plan to keep him forcibly fed."

"I have some nutrition tonics for that," Llewel offered. "One is enough food for a day or two at present."

It sounded like a plan was coming together as Paeris left to go secure the evidence and the prison room. He thanked me once again for my outstanding service, surprising even Llewel. That left just the three of us in the rift, with Llewel looking around eagerly.

"Llewel, a bit of a strange request, but do you think you could cast a few Time spells on me? Or around me, if they work that way."

Llewel raised his eyebrow as he stared at me; you could practically hear the gears in his head turning as he tried to decipher the meaning behind my odd inquiry.

"I don't mind… but why?" he finally replied.

"I'm one level away from evolving, and I thought being exposed to [Time Magic] might unlock some interesting evolution options for me," I answered. I had opted to be honest as I figured it was my best bet when dealing with Llewel.

"Yeah, Syl wants to be a Time Slime, although I'm still hoping she will pick something better than a Blue Slime," Vee added.

"Oh! That must be a tremendous milestone for you. I know our Tamers often have tremendous celebrations when their companions reach that point in their lives. Well… assuming they have a strong enough bond, that is, otherwise it is a day of doom and gloom."

"Definitely the former for me and Vee, we don't have to worry about going crazy."

"It's been evident with how functional you both are," he replied. "Very well then, I can cast a few non-harmful spells on you. But in return, I want some explanations on all of this!" he replied while enthusiastically twirling and gesturing at the dimensional space.

"Oh sure. I can explain it while trying to guide Vee through the process of crafting the spell herself," I replied happily.

Our agreement made him begin to cast a variety of spells on me, including but not limited to: slowing down time, speeding up time, rewinding time, and even a strange buff that gave some form of precognition.

That last one was a doozy as it overlapped with your own present perception, but you could see "echoes of the future" as Llewel described it. If it were only one set of visions that would be fine and manageable, but "the future is uncertain," which meant that there were countless fractures and possibilities.

"I honestly don't know how you use this to be a benefit," I replied when the buff finally wore off. "If you're seeing a person who can potentially go left or right at a junction, you might as well take a guess."

"True… but they didn't go up, or turn around. After using it for years, I've become quite familiar with interpreting it. I honestly would be dumbfounded if you mastered it after only experiencing it once," Llewel chuckled.

It was a relatively fun experience, although extremely disorienting. I doubted it would actually influence my evolutions, as my previous ones were more based on accomplishments rather than pure happenstance, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try.

Paeris eventually returned with his preparations made, and we vacated the rift to follow after him. We went down a set of stairs that I swore didn't exist when I'd first toured the place, and down into a dungeon. Almost immediately, I felt a little restricted, and [Spatial Sense] told me it was like our prison.

Below, Paeris had prepared two rooms, one for the evidence and one for the prisoner, and requested that I dump them both out. I was initially hesitant to attempt to cast [Rift Door] in this environment, but since it was anchored to my own personal coordinates rather than this broken space, it looked like I had no trouble doing so.

And so, after opening the tear in space, we moved the prisoner and dumped out the bodies and items. Paeris thanked us once again and said he would handle this, and that I could expect a visit from Aimon tomorrow morning.

With Paeris getting to work sifting through the corpses and items, and trying to find any identifying marks, the three of us returned to the warded room. There, I finally upheld my end of the bargain and explained everything I knew about the spatial rift to Llewel. He listened with bated breath and seemed to be trying to absorb every fragment of information.

At the same time, I was assisting Vee in creating the spell construct for [Rift Door]; she had no prior experience with layering spells, so it was quite a new experience for her. Thanks to [Ritual Casting] and probably [Companion Training] too, it was going very smoothly, so much so that I wondered why I had even struggled so long in the first place.

Then again, I didn't have [Triangulate] when I was trying to make this spell.

By the time we were ready for dinner and bedtime, I'd successfully transferred the spell over to Vee. I was hoping for a level in [Companion Training], but perhaps the ease of completing it meant I didn't gain as much experience as I expected. This also got Vee to level four in [Dimension Magic], which meant she had unlocked [Expansion].

"In the morning, I'll show you how to invert it to [Reduction] if you want," I offered.

"Thanks for the offer, Syl. Although I think I'll try it a bit inside my own fancy [Rift Door]! Of course, if I get stuck, I'll come to you for help," she replied happily.

I had no complaints and was glad that she was finally showing some enthusiasm towards magic.

You see that, Mother? I think I deserve a reward!

Sadly, there was no reward or notification. Then again, I still had my outstanding request to "explore magic", so maybe she was still capped on her reward allotments.

One level to go… and I'll get to see Gramps, Mother, and Unc. I wonder if they'll be happy with all that I've accomplished. I've gone through a lot since I last saw them, and I didn't break even my traits this time!