Chapter 90: Copying

The Thornpass lived up to its name.

The road narrowed as they climbed, squeezing between walls of grey stone that rose so high the sun only touched them for a few hours each day. Thorny bushes clung to every crack and crevice, their branches laden with berries the color of dried blood. Nacho’s Apex Senses picked up the scent of something dead somewhere nearby, probably an animal that had wandered too close to the edge and paid the price.

Sera walked ahead of him, her pace steady despite the incline. She hadn’t spoken much since their conversation by the fire, and Nacho didn’t push. Some things needed time to settle before they could be examined properly.

The second day brought snow.

It started as a few flakes drifting down from the grey sky, almost pretty in the way they caught the light. Within an hour, the pretty flakes had become a howling blizzard that reduced visibility to maybe twenty feet and turned the rocky path into a treacherous sheet of ice.

"We need to find shelter," Sera shouted over the wind. Her cloak was already crusted with white, her dark hair plastered to her face by melting snow.

Nacho’s enhanced senses swept the area, pushing through the interference of the storm. There. Maybe fifty yards ahead and to the left. A dark opening in the cliff face, barely visible through the swirling white.

"Cave," he said. "This way."

They fought their way through the deepening drifts, the wind tearing at their clothes and trying to knock them off their feet. By the time they reached the cave entrance, Nacho’s fingers had gone numb despite his enhanced physiology, and even Sera was shivering hard enough that her teeth chattered.

The cave extended back into the mountain for about thirty feet, narrowing as it went until it ended in a solid wall of stone. It was dry, at least, and the wind couldn’t reach them here. Small mercies.

Sera dropped her pack and immediately began gathering the scraps of dead brush that had blown in through the entrance over the years. Her movements were stiff, mechanical, her body operating on autopilot while her mind focused on the simple task of survival.

Nacho pulled supplies from his inventory. Blankets. Dried food. A small cooking pot. Things he’d grabbed almost as an afterthought back in Thornwick, never imagining they’d actually need them.

Within fifteen minutes, they had a fire going and water heating for tea. The cave filled with warmth and the smell of burning wood, pushing back the chill that had seeped into their bones during the march through the storm.

Sera sat as close to the fire as she could get without actually climbing into it, her hands wrapped around a cup of something hot that steamed in the cold air. The color was slowly returning to her cheeks, though her lips still had a bluish tinge that Nacho didn’t like.

"Storms like this can last for days up here," she said. Her voice was rough, scraped raw by the cold wind. "We might be stuck until it passes."

"How long?"

"Two days. Maybe three." She took a sip of her tea, wincing as the heat hit her throat. "We have enough supplies?"

"Enough for a week, easily." He settled against the cave wall across from her, close enough to the fire to feel its heat but far enough to give her space. "The question is whether Vael has that long."

The words landed harder than he’d intended. Sera’s jaw tightened, and something flickered behind her eyes that might have been pain or anger or both.

"She’ll hold on. She has to."

Nacho didn’t argue. What was the point? They couldn’t control the weather, couldn’t force their way through a blizzard that would kill them both before they made it another mile. All they could do was wait, and hope that the woman they’d come to rescue was strong enough to survive a few more days of whatever the Consortium was doing to her.

The fire crackled and popped, sending shadows dancing across the cave walls. Outside, the wind howled like something alive and hungry, throwing handfuls of snow against the stone with a sound like distant applause.

"Tell me more about the Talents you’ve collected," Sera said eventually. Her voice had lost some of its rough edge, smoothed by the warmth and the tea. "I’ve been meaning to ask. Your abilities seem to grow faster than should be possible."

Nacho considered the question. He’d been careful about what he revealed, even to her. Old habits, born from years of operating in an environment where information was currency and secrets were survival. But she’d trusted him with her own vulnerabilities, with Vael and the guilt she carried like a stone around her neck. Maybe it was time to return the favor.

"It started when I died."

She raised an eyebrow but didn’t interrupt.

"Back in my old world. I was a debt collector for a cartel. Not exactly a hero’s origin story, but it paid the bills." He stared into the fire, watching the flames twist and dance. "Got struck by lightning in the middle of a parking lot. Next thing I knew, I was floating in the ocean as something that definitely wasn’t human."

"A tentacle monster."

"An Evolving Tentacle Monster, technically. The system was very specific about that." He allowed himself a small smile at the memory. "At first, I was just trying to survive. Absorbing fish to gain their forms, collecting mana from shiny rocks, that sort of thing. Then I found my first dungeon, killed a shark, and realized I could do a lot more than just survive."

"The massage parlor."

"That came later. Once I figured out what my tentacles could really do." He shifted against the wall, uncomfortable with how much he was revealing but unable to stop now that he’d started. "The Talent Stealing ability. It only works when I perform what the system calls a ’lewd act.’ The more intimate the contact, the more Talents I can absorb. And the women I touch don’t lose anything. They keep their abilities. I just copy them."