Chapter 2057: Sam’s Research

By the time that Dana woke up, everything felt different.

The situation seemed normal enough, as she was holding Skadi’s human form in her arms, and there were still a half dozen bunnies in the room, so she hadn’t been asleep for too long. But she felt much more tightly connected to the little forest lord than she ever had before.

Before she could sense the thoughts of all the beasts.

Now, she could almost sense the content of the little one’s dreams as she mumbled happily. It was a crazy situation, and when she explored the link, she found that there was so much more to the bond now than there ever had been before.

Not just thoughts, but there were the emotions and something more to the bonds than there had been before.

This must be what Cara had meant by "one of us", Dana decided.

Skadi opened her golden eyes and smiled up at Dana. "Good morning. That was a pretty good party, what are we doing today?"

"I should do some crafting, to help stock the store. Did you want to stay with me?"

Skadi nodded happily, "That would be lovely. I don’t have class today, so I can stay with you all day long. Where are we going to work? Sitting on the pillows in the nap room to work seems like a strange choice."

"It would be. Let’s go to the second floor workroom, and we can sit with the others and work."

That sounded very good to Skadi.

Everyone tended to gather there to work on Runecrafting and inscription. But she thought that somewhere else could be fun too.

"Or, we could go work in the forge area. It’s super warm there, but if we work next to the smiths, they can make us special things."

That was also a decent plan, but Skadi was right. The forges were hot.

They had just gotten to their feet when Sam, the Doppelgänger mage, came to see them.

"If you don’t mind, I would like to make some notes on the details of the Beast Bond. It’s a rare chance to meet anyone who has been without it, with a Soul Bond, and with the Beast Bond.

It feels odd just saying that.

But it’s research for my studies on dimensional magic. You see, the mechanics behind the separate spaces are of great interest to me, and I would like to know how the formation of one so closely linked to someone might have altered their aura."

Dana shrugged. "I was going to work on making some items for the shop, but I can help you too."

Sam smiled. "Oh, my work won’t stop you from doing other things, after the first questions. Mostly I just need to intensely study you while you’re in one spot."

Skadi giggled. "Now I see why you didn’t try one of the others. Oh, wait. They never actually existed without Karl, other than Cara, and I’m not sure that she counts."

Sam patted her on the head. "Yes, while she’s most often in humanoid form, she’s not actually beastkin, so the mechanics are a bit different. Also, she’s a Chaos Badger, so she can just move between the Mortal Realm, Immortal Realm, and Chaos Plane at will.

While that’s a fascinating skill, it doesn’t help me with my studies into the formation of separate spaces."

Dana nodded. "What sort of separate space is giving you trouble? I can use more than one of them. Well, two, but that’s more than one."

Sam shrugged, "I’m working on an alternate to the [Tiny World] spell, that will work without having that particular skill. I know that it’s one that most skill transfer abilities don’t work on. But spreading the knowledge of separate spaces on that level through the Darklight Host would allow us to grow many more powerful fighters for the Divine Battlefield.

While the primary purpose is practical, creating something like this, where you can grow resources and keep a labour force, the secondary is as a power repository and safe space for a phylactery, which will keep your soul from being shattered and scattered.

For those on the Divine Battlefield, it’s an invaluable skill if you have the ability.

But what good is the skill if only a tiny fraction of people can use it? There are a few dimensional space skills that warriors can use, but they are frankly awful. Less useful than even the [Pet Space], or the [Illusionary Domain]. They don’t nurture living things, only allow them to survive.

But for the warriors, that is enough.

Their goal isn’t to build a massive realm like this, or a new world of their own. It’s mostly just to stave off death. So, most don’t even do it on their own, and have someone like me or Leon make an amulet for them that can create a pocket dimension."

Dana laughed. "So, you’re saying that the warriors on the Divine Battlefield are mostly using the equivalent of our Villa Stones as a lifesaving device?"

Skadi giggled as she thought of the stones. She had one in her pocket right now, as it had a kitchen stocked with snacks if she was out exploring and needed an emergency cookie.

Sam nodded. "Warriors pay a massive amount for an item like that if it will link to them and remain active on its own so that they can rely on it for safety. Normally, the items have a separate function, though.

Nobody wants them to be dropped on the ground when you use them. That can lead to the stone being stolen and claimed by another, so you get locked in a bad situation.

Instead, we make them so that they can be activated remotely, or from within the inventory."

Dana frowned. "Activated from within the inventory? How does that work? The Villa Stones can’t be within their own space."

"It’s a masking rune. I don’t do it that way, I’m a Dimensional Mage. But Leon knows how to make them so that they can be in your inventory, I think. He also doesn’t make them that way most of the time, he makes them so they can be accessed remotely, so you can leave them at home with the Guild when you go to battle.

That way also helps if someone collapses the region that you were fighting on.

After all, most warriors can’t teleport."