170 - Life

Alexandra sat in the shade of an old cypress tree, enjoying the cold air blowing down from the mountains. Beside her, Kam fiddled with a mana weave in his usual silence.

From the top of the cliff, the view of Balrum and the mud wastes in the distance was breathtaking. The town had something that the rest of the basin didn’t share: a quiet serenity away from the world.

She really hoped she’d get to start her guild here, but the council still hadn’t made a decision. If they were waiting for her to clear the sewers, they could wait a while longer. The tunnels below Balrum proved more extensive than she thought, and the number of elementals and other pests was staggering even after working in there every day for close to two weeks.

At least it proved a decent training ground for her skills. The things living there were more varied than she’d imagined. From rats and elementals to several species of very aggressive fish, she had seen it all.

Giant Slayer 9 -> 11

Solar Core Control 2 -> 3

Tracking 7 -> 8

Accounting 2 -> 4

Familiar Contract 4 -> 6

Swimming 2 -> 3

Cleaning 2 -> 3

Basic Hygiene 6 -> 8

Drain Life 9 -> 10

Rays Of The Sun 5 -> 6

She’d even managed to evolve Sure Footing by accident. Apparently, walking on slippery mold did that to you.

Sure Footing has evolved into Steady Balance

Steady Balance 1 -> 3

The skill was a straightforward evolution of Sure Footing, helping her keep her balance in most situations, and wasn’t constrained to her footing.

Contribution Points: 6,540 -> 16,760

Her gains of contribution points were substential, but way less than what she could get if the council stopped being stubborn and accepted her demands. She wasn’t even asking for much.

Still, she understood that system-designed contracts could be suspicious. She knew it better than most since Summon Lesser Fiends still stood in her skill quest list, asking her to deal with Valudipan.

Speaking of skill quests, her recent dailies had been generous, unlocking three brand new ones.

Daily quests summary: Thirteen Quests Completed -> +130 exp, +1 DEX, +5 CON, +2 INT, +5 PER, Skill Quests Unlocked: Baking, Apnea, Winnowing

Daily Quest Streak: 132 -> 145

None of the new skills felt useful. At least, the quest that gave her Baking resulted in a few nice snacks. Winnowing came after a particularly annoying quest. Apnea… she preferred not to reminisce about it.

But it mattered little since this was enough to push her over the threshold.

Level up! 7 -> 8

For her class perk upgrade, she’d had to pick between Streak Enhancement and Contribution Points. She expected the former to give her a new streak bonus, though she didn’t know which one. As for the latter, she had no idea, but thought that it might unlock more options from the contribution points shop.

She didn’t hesitate for long before making her choice.

Contribution Points (Iron) has evolved into Contribution Points (Bronze)

Contribution Points – Replace all non-daily quest rewards with contribution points. Contribution points can be traded for rewards of your choosing. The number of awarded contribution points is equivalent to the value of the original reward. You can hide sections of the contribution point shop from others.

The only change to the perk was the last sentence. It wasn’t much, and at first, she was disappointed. The ability to buy attribute points or even experience would have been nice. However, after experimenting with it for a few days, she figured it wasn’t all bad.

Her shop was a little too powerful for comfort. Some of the skills she’d browsed were downright disturbing. She only had enough to explore the common skills, but even there she’d seen things she couldn’t forget.

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A simplified version of the ritual that led to her bloodline and the destruction of Esmera stayed in the back of her mind as a sharp reminder of what people were capable of. Of course, a common skill was never going to unleash a similar level of destruction, but even on a smaller scale, Alexandra didn’t want it to happen.

She took some time to lock the entire shop and gathered a selection of common skills she was comfortable sharing.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Kam abruptly stood up.

She looked at him. “What’s up?”

“I did it,” he said, his stoic voice unable to hide his excitement.

“You did what?”

“I wove a mana structure that can interact with lifeforce,” Kam said. “I need to test it.”

Alexandra stood up. “Let’s do it.”

“I need an injured patient.” Kam stepped toward the path going down the cliff.

Alexandra grabbed him by the shoulder. “You’re not going to experiment on humans.”

“Oh.” Kam looked down. “I…”

“Let’s find a beast,” Alexandra said, pulling him into the mountains.

Balrum did a good job of keeping the most dangerous beasts away from the town, but that didn’t mean there weren't any. The species living close to the city walls were tamer. The more aggressive beasts tended to get culled quickly.

It didn’t take long for Alexandra to find a Bronze-rank boar. She engaged it with her sword, careful to only neutralize it and not kill it so that Kam could practice his skills.

A few strikes later, Alexandra lowered her sword, stepping back as the Bronze-rank boar collapsed onto the mountain grass. Its thrashing weakened into a whine, blood seeping slowly from the gashes she’d left across its flank.

“All yours,” she said, flicking her blade clean before sheathing it.

Kam approached the downed beast with unusual eagerness, though his posture remained stiff. He knelt in the dirt beside the boar, extending his hands. He didn't touch the animal at first. His fingers hovered inches above the coarse hair of its hide.

“If it tries to bite, I'm taking its head off,” Alexandra warned.

“It won't,” Kam muttered, his focus absolute.

“It might. Be careful.”

Alexandra watched closely. After her own misadventures involving lifeforce, she was interested in seeing how Kam would handle it.

Kam began to weave strands of mana between his fingers. He guided them toward the boar, but instead of aiming at the wounds, he went for the heart.

“What are you doing?” she asked, leaning in slightly.

“Getting to the source,” Kam murmured, his eyes fixed on his task. “Lifeforce originates from the heart. I need to direct it toward the wounds, and circulate it back to its origin so it isn’t completely lost.”

“Hmmm.”

He closed his eyes for a second, his fingers twitching in rhythm. “It’s more a suggestion than a real healing spell. The lifeforce should know what to do. Nothing miraculous.”

The boar gave a sudden, sharp squeal, its hind legs twitching violently against the grass.

Alexandra took a half-step forward. “Kam.”

“It's fine. It’s just hurting.”

Before her eyes, the dark blood pooling around the edge of the wound began to recede, absorbed back into the flesh as the edges of skin pulled together. The tear closed millimeter by millimeter, leaving behind a raw, pink scar that rapidly faded into healthy skin.

The boar's ragged breathing calmed into a steady, rhythmic rise and fall. It didn't try to fight anymore.

Kam drew his hands back, the threads vanishing into the air. He rested his palms on his knees.

“Well,” Alexandra said, turning to him with an approving nod. “That worked remarkably well. How do you feel?”

Kam wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve, a rare smile forming at the corner of his mouth. “Exhausted.”

“Good,” she said, offering him a hand to pull him up. “Because the next time I take a hit down in those sewers, you're doing that for me.”

Kam frowned. “You said no human experimentation.”

“Bah.” Alexandra waved her hand. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Kam nodded. “But be aware that this method does consume some lifeforce.”

“I thought you cycled it.”

“I do. But some loss is unavoidable at my level.” Kam paused. “But since we’re both Bronze, I can use my bloodline to replenish what you lost.”

Alexandra shook her head. “I already told you that was unnecessary.” She smiled. “Besides, I won’t be Bronze for much longer.”

Kam matched her smile. “Me neither. I should reach level ten and Silver in a week or so.”

Her smile froze.

I’m still more than two months away.

“Good for you. Let’s move before the boar wakes up.”

They made their way back to Balrum, eager to announce the news to Willow and Nara. Unfortunately, when they got home, neither was there.

“Where did they go?” Alexandra asked.

“Did you forget?” Kam answered. “Nara wanted to attend school.”

“I…”

Shit.

She did forget.

“Right! Was it today? I lost track after spending so much time underground.”

Great save, Alex.

Kam narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“It should be about time for classes to end. We should go pick her up!” she said.

A knock on the door. Alexandra hurried to open it, revealing a familiar face: Torak’s assistant.

“Cem, was it? What brings you here?”

“Councillor Torak would like a word with you.”

“Now?” She looked at Kam. He shook his head. “I have to—”

“Now,” Cem said. “Forgive me. If this were just about meeting with the councillor, we could set up a meeting, but the situation requires your presence immediately.”

She met Kam’s gaze again. He shrugged.

“Looks like I have to go,” she said. “Tell Willow and Nara I said hi.”