Chương 430: (423) 6.37. Read the Room

In stark contrast to the silence and sanctity of the rest of the Haven, it sounded as though the portion set aside to hold guests was handled a little bit differently. Vin could practically feel their rambunctious antics and loud boasting from over a dozen rooms away, and he grinned as he looked forward to seeing some of the Tamers once again. Urluna and Huark had been an entertaining duo, and it would be good to speak with them once more.

Standing in the doorway of the large room, Vin picked out a good dozen Tamers and nearly twice that in dwarves all sharing a long table, enjoying a meal in the way only two people who didn't understand a lick of the other's language could.

There was a lot of pantomiming and boisterous laughter as Huark did his best to charade his way through what looked like a story about riding his Morouk after some sort of bear, and the dwarves were all but falling over themselves as the large, dangerous-looking elf with a nasty scar down the center of his face tried to act out stomping around, grumbling and roaring in his best impression of a monster.

Everyone was so enthralled by the performance that it was Huark himself who was the first one to spot Vin, and he paused, a wide grin spreading across his face as he beamed and threw his arms open in greeting.

"Vin! Our very own wandering mage has wandered into our dining hall!" At that, the others turned to follow Huark's gaze, and Vin suddenly found himself the center of attention. The Tamers all clearly recognized him, which wasn't surprising seeing as he and Shuvo had been the focus of the party they'd thrown the last time he'd seen them, but the dwarves were a bit more reserved and curious. Although he did spot one familiar face.

"You survived!" Hearshal grinned, downing a tankard of alcohol before hopping up and running over to grab his arm and drag him into the room.

"Don't just stand there looking all pretty, come, join the party! We don't have any idea what the pointy-eared folk are saying, but they sure are hilarious!"

"You are friends with the short-folk?" Urluna asked, shaking her head as Vin was settled at the head of the table, equidistant from both groups.

"I don't know why this even surprises me at this point, of course you are!"

"I only met them yesterday," Vin admitted, eyeing up the room and somehow knowing everyone here had already had a bit much to drink. It was strange. He didn't usually have that much of a social instinct, what with how much he avoided giant crowds. But he just knew practically without even looking of the drunken merriment that filled the room. Granted, with the handful of empty kegs lining the wall, that wasn't all that impressive.

"So, what happened with the Whisperer?" Hearshal asked, drawing the attention of his fellow dwarves who nodded and leaned forward as one.

"Did you chicken out?"

"What is he asking?" one of the Tamers asked, frowning as he thrust a tankard toward the dwarf.

"They keep forgetting to mime it out!"

"Oh, hold on. I can actually help with that," Vin said, doing a quick headcount and deciding he could help at least a good number of them. Walking around the table, Vin laid a hand on one person's head after another, casting Comprehend Languages and imbuing their brain with the mana needed to translate for them. The tier-2 spell was one of his more mana-intense ones, and Vin began getting low on mana after hitting his twentieth person.

But rather than stop, almost by instinct, he felt the urge to breathe in just as he'd done a few minutes ago. Doing so without even thinking, Vin's eyes widened as he once again felt foreign sensations wash throughout his body as mana that was even partially his own was pulled into his core. Curiosity at what the human was doing as he wandered around the table. The wooden grain of the very seats everyone was sitting on. The warmth in the air, given off by the glowing red stones and body heat alike.

All of it swept over Vin and he stumbled for a moment before catching himself, his eyes going wide as he discovered at least one rather important aspect of his new Capstone. Everything from emotions to physical objects to the underlying forces of the universe such as temperature was just mana given form. If his own mana pool was getting a bit empty… Why not borrow a little from his newfound friend?

"You alright there, Vin?" Hearshal asked, his merriment shifting slightly toward concern as he peered at him.

"The Whisperer didn't do that much of a number on you, did she?"

"What is this?! I can understand the small-man!" Huark shouted, causing a dozen dwarves to jump and gasp as they fully understood what the Tamer was saying as well.

"I'm fine. Just surprised myself is all," Vin said, laughing at the eager faces from those he hadn't gotten to just yet.

"Give me a second, I'm coming around!" With his newfound ability to draw on mana from his surroundings, Vin quickly finished up casting Comprehend Languages on everyone before taking his own seat, letting the dwarves and elves entertain themselves for a moment now that they could communicate with one another via a method other than charades. As amazing as his new power was, he had to admit he was a little bit worried about what it meant.

For starters, what was really happening to the mana he was drawing into himself? Everything in the universe was mana given different shape and form and purpose, that much he understood. But did that mean he was stealing from the universe itself when refilling his mana pool as he just did? He'd been able to feel the curiosity in the room around him. Sense the very warmth in the air. Were the dwarves and Tamers permanently less curious than they had been before, or was it a more temporary thing?

Would this room forever more be just a fraction of a degree colder, or would the mana balance itself out somehow? These were questions Vin was not prepared to answer on his own, and he pulled out his journal, starting a quick 'Questions for the Whisperer' section near the back. He didn't get too long to ponder precisely what consequences his actions would have, however, as Urluna startled him by dropping a plate of steaming meat and vegetables in front of him.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You look far too lost in thought for someone who is supposed to be enjoying themselves," she snorted, gesturing toward the conversing dwarves and elves filling the rest of the table.

"Come now, you just turned this entertaining meal into a genuine discussion. Our people can learn from one another and form an actual bond based on something more than how bad Huark's bear impression is!"

"Sorry, just a little distracted," Vin admitted, giving her a warm smile and helping himself to some of the offered food. It was just as good as he knew it would be from down the hall, and he blinked as he stared at the food before him, his eyes widening further as he realized that was true. He'd somehow known not just of the existence of food, but even how it would taste long before he got to this room.

Vin shivered slightly as he realized his newfound Capstone had far more to unpack than he could have possibly imagined, and he tried to push the matter aside for the moment. Thankfully, knowing how the food was going to taste and actually getting to experience the flavors for himself were two rather different things, and Vin was still able to enjoy his delicious meal as he got to talking with the different groups about their lives.

The Tamers, it turned out, had almost immediately headed out and began exploring their surrounding fragments after Vin had left. Without the threat of the 'deranged ones' keeping them penned in, they were excited to see what else Edregon had in store for them. The schlime fragment with the constant lightning storms had been a bit of a wash, but they had then stumbled upon the Burrow and its many dwarves, and had turned to focusing their efforts on establishing a friendship with their new neighbors.

Vin was excited to have actually found a people who were not only inherently friendly, but who enjoyed exploration as well, and he was surprised to hear they were already planning to expand a bit.

"We also found an empty fragment to the north," Huark explained, taking a long draw from his tankard before letting out a happy sigh.

"Large plains, lots of creatures, simple-enough monsters. We found evidence of a number of camps, and the remains of a rather shoddy looking town, but no people. Seeing as it's empty, we're planning on setting up an outpost to work out of as we try taming some of these new creatures. There are these four-legged beasts with fluffy fur coming out of them that look ridable.

I doubt they will be as fast or as dangerous as our Morouk, but if they have a calmer temperament, we could potentially get mounts for every single one of our people, which would be huge!"

"I know the fragment you're talking about, it's the one the Red Dawn used to live in," Vin explained, remembering the fluffy, sheep-like mounts he'd witnessed them using.

"And yeah, they used those creatures to ride around, so your plan should work. I bet actual Tamers would get a lot more use out of them."

"If it is where the deranged ones once lived, then we will absolutely take it for ourselves now that they are gone," Urluna grinned, looking excited by the prospect.

"That said, our small hunting village is barely four hundred strong. We'll only be able to spare a few people. Perhaps some of you dwarves would like to join us?"

"Leave the Burrow?" Hearshal asked. The dwarf raised an eyebrow as he leaned back in his chair and scrunched up his face.

"We're not really ones for adventure. We like the safety and security of knowing where we stand. Literally and metaphorically."

"Come on, it would be fun!" Huark said.

"You could start your own Burrow, led by someone who doesn't threaten to melt people's heads just by talking at them."

"The Whisperer does not threaten anyone. It is just how she is," one of the dwarves said, frowning at the drunken Tamer.

"Well, maybe she should be a bit less her then," another Tamer snorted, her face red from ale. Uh oh, Vin thought, actually feeling the shift in emotion in the room thanks to his newfound Capstone. This was an ability that was going to take some time to actually get used to, but what was important at the moment was that the joyful merriment and buzzing pleasure was rapidly shifting into one of drunken annoyance and slight irritation.

The last thing Vin wanted was for the warm atmosphere the two groups had been enjoying before he got there to devolve into some sort of mass bar fight, and he decided that was probably enough of that. Standing up suddenly enough that everyone's attention snapped toward him, Vin once again moved more on newfound instinct than anything else as he reached out into the world, focusing on the three dozen faces before him. Each and every one of them had some of his mana within them at this very moment.

And he wanted it back. Despite the fact that he'd put enough mana into each of his spells to last the evening, Vin breathed in, this time managing to isolate exclusively his own mana as he pulled it back into his core. At the same time, he vented mana as well, in order to prevent himself from popping like a balloon.

The dwarves and elves jerked and called out mild complaints as they realized they could no longer understand the other, but Vin ignored them all, focusing on his strange cycling of mana he was undergoing. As soon as he'd finished recalling all his mana, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was going to have to do a lot of practice in order to get comfortable with this new ability of his.

"I think we've partied enough tonight. You're all drunk," Vin said, giving them all a hard look and waiting for them to look away in shame.

"If you all can take it easier on the drinks tomorrow, I'll be happy to cast the same spell again."

"Where are you going?" Hearshal complained as Vin started to leave the room.

"Currently?" Vin asked, glancing over his shoulder at the flushed dwarf.

"To bed. I recommend you all do the same."