Chương 17: Running Hot.

Nythera awoke in a half-drenched bed, rolling out of bed. This is so fucking uncomfortable. She changed into dry clothes, walked downstairs and grabbed a cup of hot tea on the table without a word to Edwin or Shelly.

"Nyth! Its good to see you made it back! Sounds like you had a rough time. Did you find what you were looking for in Amplewood?" Shelly asked.

"You could say that." Nythera mumbled as she dove into her bacon and eggs. Talvik perched on a nearby shelf, having long since been banned from walking on the table. Finally, good food and no krakens or cultists.

"Oh by the way, Lance would like to see you, apparently they caught an outsider snooping around town. He was searching for you. Interrogation is slated to begin today." Edwin remarked casually, in between sips of tea.

"Interrogation? An outsider? From where? Is there even an outside? It's just a bunch of islands." Nythera asked.

"Uh, Nyth you do know there's two other inhabited islands right?" Shelly asked.

"I most certainly do not, why have I never heard of this? I thought it was only Myrraval that had people." She replied.

"Karaveth and Mistvale each have a town, Grand Karaveth is the largest city on these seas… and something of a rival to Myrraval, they are ruled by a tyrant called Damien." Shelly said.

"Damien Lock is a rat bastard" Edwin whispered while mixing alchemical agents on the dining room table. Oh I have heard of Karaveth! So that's what those farmers meant by "tyrant down south".

"Mistvale is nothing but a pathetic slave to Karaveth, it's where they toss all their undesirables and prisoners. They extract a tribute every month as well. The only reason they don't bother Myrraval is because we are too far away and too powerful." Shelly continued. She turned to stare directly at Nythera.

"But make no mistake Nythera, Damien Lock is the strongest person on these isles, a full fledged strata three." She finished. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Someone pounded on the door.

"One moment, I'll get the door." Shelly said, swiveling up. Lance was there, his face red from exertion "I need Nythera to come with me now, the situation has gotten far worse and she cannot be left unguarded." Lance said. Talvik glided onto her shoulder as she departed.

"Lance, what is going on, what happened?" She asked as they made their way to the townhall.

"Nythera, you must understand the gravity of what has occurred. Karaveth knows about the domain core. Your existence has confirmed what Damien wanted most, domain cores exist, on each island. Even worse, he believes only you know how to get to them." Lance explained. He turned away from her.

"If he kills you, he can take control of Myrraval in a day." Lance said. Not again… can people stop trying to kill, test, or gut me for one fucking day!

"When are they coming? Soon? What is Myrraval going to do?" She shot out in rapid succession.

"Relax, miss, we are currently debating what to do. The consensus is leaning towards fight. Myrraval is a lot stronger than it used to be, and a domain holder gives us an edge they don't have." Lance said, pushing open the doors to the town hall. When they entered the assembly room, they found four mayors bickering.

"I reckon we ought to show those Karavethian bastards what they got coming to 'em" Ollie said.

"Karaveth is too far away, they can't siege Myrraval across the flux seas, we just need to hold them off once." Noah said.

"I am telling you guys, we kill the girl, put the domain core in one of our men, and then hide them somewhere remote." Reachman retorted. This fucking bastard, KILL ME? Blood rose to her head.

"Look, the lass has been through enough, I think we should get her in the dungeon as much as possible and begin preparing for the worst." Felix said.

"Lance, how many vessels can we have prepared for battle within the week." Noah asked.

"I reckon… a dozen or so. Those new ballistas will make for strong weapons on the sea, and we can use some sheeted metal to armor them a bit, but rallying the men and building fighting crews out of them will take longer." Lance said.

"And how strong can we get the little lord?" Noah asked, gesturing at Nythera.

"The dungeon… only one more run, but if we fit her with a full crew, they can probably full clear it. I'd say another dozen levels if we're lucky." Lance said.

"Alright then, all in agreement?" Noah said, raising his hand. Ollie then Felix also raised their hands. Reachman stormed out of the room "You fucking idiots, Damien will kill us all." he muttered. He slammed the door.

"I can have a half dozen ships prepared within the week." Felix said with a wave as he exited. Stolen novel; please report.

"Halsbury doesn't have any sea-faring ships, but I'll rally our delvers and send them down to Grandport soon, I reckon they'll attack here." Ollie said, sauntering out the door. Lance turned to face her "You're gonna need to work extra hard, there's no time for rest." Lance said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Noah came up to them "Miss, your idea was wonderful, the delver's guild is being adopted in full in Halsbury, if it weren't for that war I'd ask you for your next.

As it stands your focus should be on leveling. We'll also have you meet some community leaders, it's important people see who and what we are fighting for." Noah said, departing with a wave. Grand Administrator (1 > 2)"Uh Lance… Grand Administrator, do you remember that skill?" Nythera asked.

"Yeah, it's that incredibly powerful skill that boosts all yields. The mayors are interested in finding ways for you to level it further, even a single level would have a large cumulative effect." Lance said.

"It just leveled, like right now." Nythera reported.

"What, are you serious? From the Delver's guild being implemented?" Lance asked with a cocked eye-brow.

"Yeah, it seems so." She replied.

"I'll… mention it to the mayors, if getting you more involved would level it faster, I think most would be … receptive to the idea." Lance said with a thoughtful stroke of his chin. He beckoned at the door.

"Anyways, time to get you home, you've got a dungeon run in a few days and I've got to get that leech ring off you before the mayors see it, they'd be furious." He said.

"You're not getting this ring off me, I am keeping it on. That conversation dies now. Anyways, There's two more things I need to talk to you about. I need a boat." Nythera snorted.

"A boat? We have few enough to spare, what in fuck do you need your own ship for?" Lance said, crossing his arms, looking like some disappointed parent.

"I have a skill, if you mount several artillery pieces on a ship, I can make good use of it." Nythera replied, shifting the skill description to Lance. Synchronized Thunder (lvl 3) (0 tokens) Control a single vessel and all mounted artillery pieces on it, including aiming, firing, and reloading. Available ammunition will be automatically loaded. The artillery on the vessel gains +1% reloading rate and +1% aiming speed per level. The vessel gains +1% speed and +1% physical resistance per level.

You can alternatively control all artillery within a radius around you of 2 meters + 2 meters per level. Each artillery controlled costs 2 flux every 5 seconds. Controlling the vessel costs 15 flux every 5 seconds.

"Well, what do you think? Pretty strong isn't it?" She asked.

"It is… unique, I've never seen anything like it. It's also absurdly expensive. I have no idea how you managed to level it that much with that fucking ring on ya, but it's also a flux glutton, those are costs strata one mages would struggle with, let alone a little unascended lass, you'd get what, a few minutes of control before burning out?" Lance asked, dismissing her request.

"Actually, I can keep it going for over 15 minutes, if you give me a chance to level it, it could probably get very powerful, and I could load and launch multiple ballista a minute, they would get boosted from all of my other skills!" Nythera was practically yelling at Lance by the end. He sighed "I'll see what I can do, I have no idea how you have that much flux, but maybe I can scrounge up some ship. Won't promise anything good." Lance said, "what's the other thing you need?" he sighed.

"Leo, I need to go back to Borris' shop but I don't remember where it is." Nythera said, impatiently tapping her arm.

"LEO" Lance bellowed. The doors blasted open, arms stuck out.

"Yes Mr. Lance, sir, what do you need? We going somewhere interesting? A dungeon? A raid?" Leo shot out.

"Down boy, take Nythera to Borris' place then back home then report back here." Lance barked out.

"Yes sir" Leo saluted, then marched out the door, swinging his arms in cadence. Nythera followed along. They arrived at Borris' shop in short order. Nythera stormed through the doors "I have the materials, make me a weapon!" She said.

"She reached under her cloak, using it as cover, and selected several items: [Cinderite Block] [Anchorbreaker Juvenile Tooth] [Quartz Guardian Heart] Putting one after another on the counter. Borris picked one up and examined it.

"These are some mighty fine materials you've collected here, we can make something truly powerful. What were you thinking? You seem more like a mage type" Borris said with a scratch of the chin.

"Can you make something that would boost my Aether Culverin? It's an artillery construct skill, preferably more resonance, reload rate, or if possible can you reduce the flux cost of the skill itself?" Nythera inquired, a hopeful note in her voice.

"Well it's hard to get specific, the quartz heart will work as a fantastic cornerstone for the whole thing, can definitely get some resonance out of it. The cinderite will form the foundation, it'll give it a lot of heat, you should watch your Ember-Frost scale carefully" Borris said.

"Ember-Frost Scale? What are you talking about" Nythera asked.

"Have Leo explain it to you, I ain't got that time." He waved her question off.

"And lastly, the anchorbreaker tooth, I'm honestly not certain what it'll do, I'll try to focus the staff on flux related effects, but I don't have a lot of experience with this material" Borris admitted.

"Come back in a week, you're lucky I gave you a free crafting fee last time, this would normally be very expensive, cinder tier equipment is a pain in the ass to make" Borris said, going back to the forge.

"Leo what is an Ember-Frost Scale?" Nythera asked.

"You don't know already? Wow, you're pretty uneducated for a witch. You know how some gear you put on is hot and some is cold? You know how we got shards and sparks, embers and frosts and so on, our currency from dungeons? Well basically, put on enough hot gear and you'll start to go crazy, same for cold." Leo said without a breath.

"Surely you heard of the burning men?" He followed up. Yeah, childhood stories of flaming men dragging away naughty children… that's probably it.

"The ones who capture bad children?" She asked.

"That's just a child story! Silly witch, burning men and frozen hearts are those who got too hot or too cold…. You'll see when your new gear comes in, just don't get too hot, despite the bonuses, it isn't worth it." Leo looked sad.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, as Leo dropped her off at Edwin's and left without a word. Don't mention burning men around Leo, got it.

"Child, Watch carefully how much heat you take on, too much and I will take the equipment away by force" Talvik warned her.

"Ok ok I get it" She said. Nythera drank tea with Shelly while practicing her mapwork. Finally! The first level! Cartographer (Lvl 1 > 2) Cartography (lvl 4 > 5)"I did it Shelly! Cartography leveled up!!" Nythera shouted, jumping up and down.

"Should have been much faster than that, you're clearly not a very diligent student" Shelly smirked. Nythera made her way to bed with a spring in her step. Talvik was perched there, on the sill, waiting. Talvik's almost-mechanical feathers glistened under the moonlight, his emerald eyes watching her with a strange focus. As if looking for something. A moment later, the voice followed.