"You're a very fluffy lady!"
The child, no more than about 6 years old, had been silently watching Sophia's tails flit and flutter while she worked.
"...Um... Thank you?"
I'm not sure how I feel about being called 'fluffy,' but best to take it as a compliment and return the favor.
"You're very... observant."
The compliment seemed to pass over the child's head, instead they hopped up and waddled over to the table where Sophia was mixing potions.
"What are you doing?" The child asked, reaching out for a bowl full of a fine purple powder made from poisonous nightshade. Sophia deftly pulled the bowl out of the child's reach before they could kill themself.
"I'm preparing the ingredients to make a large amount of minor healing potions. These will allow you all to take care of things like minor lacerations or a sprained ankle without needing either myself or Psyche around to cast a spell."
"You talk funny!"
Excuse you? Your pre-frontal cortex isn't done developing, who are you to tell me I talk funny?
"Thank you— I try. What was your name by the way?"
"Tara!"
"What a lovely name, Tara. Where are your parents?"
Once again Sophia's words passed through one ear then out the other.
"What's that?" Tara asked while pointing to a vial of glowing blue liquid.
"That is Wyvern Tear extract- despite the name Wyvern Tears are actually a kind of flower. I'm using it as a strengthening agent for the natural healing properties of Good-Berries."
Sophia picked up a bowl filled with bright red berries and handed it to the child.
"You can try one, if you want. They are very sweet."
Tara, a child's curiosity plastered on their face, took the bowl and, after great contemplation, plucked out one of the berries and tossed it in their mouth. Tara's eyes went wide with wonder as a sweetness they never knew existed exploded onto their palette. The child started gobbling down the other berries, as if they were afraid this would be the last time they'd ever get to taste them. Before long her ravenous outburst had consumed the remaining Good-Berries, only then Tara seemed to remember that Sophia was using them for something.
They looked down at the bowl, looked back up at Sophia, and the tears started.
"S-Sorry..." Tara stammered out.
Oh dear, the child is crying. This would not be good for our relations with the village should it continue.
"Hey, it's okay, we can always get more." Sophia said, making her best attempt at a comforting, motherly voice.
"B-b-but y-you were... y-you were using..." The poor child couldn't even finish their thought before the emotions overwhelmed them and they burst into tears again.
"Tara– hey, you're alright. Look, watch this." Sophia clapped her hands together before circling them around Tara's head. The sudden movement succeeded in capturing the child's attention, though Tara was still beset by hiccups from crying and their dower mood was written all over their face. After a couple of circles, Sophia held her hands out in front of Tara.
"Go ahead and hold your hands out under mine."
Tara seemed confused, but did as they were told. Sophia took her hands away from each other, and a new pile of Good-Berries tumbled into Tara's open palms. Their eyes went wide with amazement.
"How did you do that?!" They asked.
Sophia smiled. "Magic." She said, "I can teach you how to do it yourself, if you want."
Good-Berry was a Level 1 spell. The berries have a very minor healing effect when applied as a poultice and are very calorie dense, making them the perfect survival food. While not very useful for more advanced medicines and alchemy, Good-Berry is still an essential spell for any aspiring pharmacist.
Tara eagerly nodded her head. "Yes please!"
"I see you've made a friend, Tara!" Said Gram, who approached Sophia's workstation with Psyche in tow.
"Grandpa!" Tara said, rushing towards Gram. Without skipping a beat, Gram swooped up Tara while they ran and held them up above his head.
"Tara! I hope you haven't been bothering Lady Sophia, you little rascal!"
Tara giggled and held out their handful of berries. Gram turned towards Sophia and tilted his head.
"Those are Good-Berries." Sophia said. "They are a magical ingredient I am using as part of the base for the healing potions."
Gram's expression failed to change at that information.
"They are safe to eat." Sophia added.
Gram smiled at that and allowed Tara to drop one of the berries into his mouth.
"Yummy! It seems a sweet snack is all it takes to lure you away from me, huh?"
Tara giggled again and Gram placed them back down to the ground before returning to meet Sophia's gaze.
"Psyche here was telling me you may know a thing or two about growing crops, eh?" Gram asked.
"That is correct. We maintain a rather large garden within Simonopetra, and I have spent time studying various texts on the subjects of agriculture and horticulture."
"Very good! I'll take your word for it!" Gram said while giving a toothy grin.
"I should get this creature here back to its parents–" Gram said while ruffling Tara's hair. "If you have the time later, would you mind coming out with me to the fields to give me your expert opinion?"
"It would be my pleasure."
"Awesome! I'll talk to you later then! Oh and Psyche–" Gram said while turning to face the moth-kin. "Thanks for agreeing to help Maria, poor kid has had it tough."
"O-oh! No no no there's no need to thank me Master Gram!" Psyche stammered out.
Gram gave Psyche a nod. "Well, I'll see you two later then, say bye Tara!"
"Bye bye!" Tara said before bounding off after her grandfather. Sophia watched them walk off for a few moments before turning back to Psyche.
"Did you want to tell me something?"
Psyche nodded. "I've been scrying on Teacher as we discussed. They are less than an hour away from the dragon's lair."
"Very good."
"Um... Sophia?"
"Yes?"
"Are you sure Philo will be okay?"
"Only time will tell."
Psyche cringed a little at that, their eyes darting to the ground as they began to fidget with their staff.
"But..." Sophia continued. "She has slain many dragons in the past, and I'm sure she will be able to escape should her foe prove too strong."
Psyche still seemed worried, but they gave a shaky nod. Sophia tried to give a comforting smile.
"Lets focus on what's in front of us right now." The kitsune said. "You still need to help that Maria girl with her injury, right?"
"Y-yes."
"Then let's go do that. I'll join you."
"A-are you sure? I don't want to pull you away from your work just to help me..."
Sophia dismissed the concern with a casual wave of her hand.
"I want to know how our healing magic affects these people anyway, and this will give me the chance to observe those effects in person."
Psyche allowed a grateful smile to show.
"Thanks, Sophia. I appreciate it."
Sophia nodded. "Let's be off then."
I've taken down a lot of dragons before. My armor was crafted from the scales of Night Dragons (took a month to grind out all the materials). So in theory a frost dragon should be a piece of cake. Despite that I'm very nervous. It’s still unclear how I compare to the power level of this new world. I still have access to all my abilities at least, and while my build wasn't the strongest out there it was more than enough to take on all but the highest level monsters in Shangri-La, so assuming that strength carries over I should be okay.
I'm also still not entirely comfortable with the idea of killing something.
In a video game it's one thing, those are digital ones and zeros. You can still call it violence, but its fictional violence. Maybe worth a good amount of sociological papers critical of the phenomenon, but still totally different from actually killing a living creature. And from what I understand these dragons are sapient. Capable of speech and thought. Clearly they use those gifts for rather nefarious purposes, or at least this Mountain King does, so stopping them is clearly the right thing to do...
Well. I guess there's no point fretting about it until I've met them myself.
The negotiations with the villagers went way better than I thought, maybe I have a knack for this kind of thing? If so, maybe I'll be able to talk the dragon out of this behavior. Maybe I could ride him around...
No no– that's stupid. I can already fly on my own, there's no need to have a living thing debase itself by serving as some nerd's mount.
"M-Master Philo?"
Ah, speaking of flying, Yara seems to be adjusting well to Athos Air. I mean, as well as someone who has never flown before can. Unlike me she can't fly naturally, so I'm using one of my bread and butter abilities, [Telekinesis], which allows me to psychically move and manipulate objects. And before you ask, yes: that does sort of make me a Jedi. While I can use [Telekinesis] to lift a person quite easily, Yara wasn't too comfortable with the idea. Instead I knocked down a large tree branch for her to hold onto while we traveled to the dragon's lair.
"Master Philo!" Yara yells again. "Sorry! What is it?"
"We are about to arrive at the Mountain King's lair!" Yara began to move her hand to point out our destination, then thought better and gestured with a nod of the head towards a massive, jagged peak. On its snow-crowned top was a gaping hole amidst the snow, the entrance to some kind of cavern, impossible to get to without the gift of flight.
Seems we've arrived.
"Where should we land?" I ask. For all I know, the dragon is lurking just behind that shadowy curtain drawn over the cavern's maw. I would rather not fly in only to be greeted with a cone of frost breath.
"Land at the mountain's base- there's an abandoned village there we can shelter in."
"Works for me." I started directing us downward and in a few minutes we touched down. The 'village' was nothing more than a few crumbling buildings surrounded by burnt ruins.
"What is this place?" I ask.
"An old village from many decades ago. I often shelter here when my hunts take me to this area."
Yara, having worked up the courage to pull herself off the log she was holding onto for dear life, pointed to one of the more intact structures: a small stone house with a thatched roof. The roof was in rather poor repair, and had been patched with various animal pelts and wooden shingles.
Yara moved towards the house. "Come on in, we will discuss our next move."
I followed. Thankfully the inside is in much better repair than the outside would suggest. The floor was covered by a pair of large bear pelts, and a simple wooden table filled the room's center. Yara pulled out a stool from beneath the table and slid it towards me, then pulled out a second stool and took a seat.
"So," she began, "what's the plan?"
What an excellent question; imminently reasonable and pertinent to the situation. Indeed, it is the kind of question I would be thrilled to answer. Shame I don't have one.
"Well... what more can you tell me about this Mountain King?"
"He's a monster- a vicious beast which patrols the land searching for prey. Supposedly he only feeds on intelligent creatures, kidnapping people from their homes and flying them to his lair, probably to torture them before finally eating them alive."
Hmm. Maybe talking is off the table.
"You said his scales were silver, right?"
"Correct." Yara said. "Hard as metal."
"In that case we're dealing with a frost dragon."
In Shangri-La their elemental weakness was to fire. I have a couple fire element spells in my kit thanks to my racial levels, but Magic Attack is my lowest stat by far. Even if elemental typing works the same here as they did in Shangri-La, there's no way I'm going to be able to get through a level 50 dragon's magic defense.
That leaves physical attacks. Stat wise my Attack is very high, and my sword, Astral Purity, is an Orange Level Artifact (Orange is, as we all know, the strongest of all the colors). In theory I shouldn't have any trouble... but in this new world I have no way of knowing what carried over from Shangri-La and what didn't. I don't want to strut confidently into what I think will be a one sided slaughter only to get routed, or worse. I'd like to stay at a distance while I learn more about the dragon and how I stack up against it, but without magic my only option would be to use [Telekinesis] in conjunction with Astral Purity...
Well, my Agility is tied for my highest stat, and thankfully I've been able to test that out on the way over here a little. I feel just as fast and nimble as I did in Shangri-La, maybe even more so. I'll just avoid the dragon's attacks to start while I test the waters, then from there decide how to take him down. Such being the case, a surprise attack would be ideal. The entrance up on the mountaintop could work for that if I used [Perfect Unknown], but I'd have to leave Yara here.
"I assume you wouldn't accept me going to fight it without you?" I asked.
"No. I'm sorry, but I need to be certain you won't try to strike a deal with that thing. I'll hang back once the actual fighting starts, but I can't let you proceed from here without me."
"Fair enough. I want to try and ambush the dragon if possible, but I won't be able to keep us hidden while also flying us up to the cavern at the peak. Not to mention that route would leave you with no options to escape, you'd have to fight the dragon head on with me."
"That would be... not ideal."
"Agreed. Do you know of any other entrances we could take?"
"Hmm." Yara put a hand to her chin and thought for a few moments. "I don't know of any other entrances..."
"But?"
"But I know the dragon has an army of kobolds serving him. They must have a way to carry treasure and loot up through the mountain and into the dragon's horde."
"So if we find where the kobolds enter–"
"We can sneak our way through the mountain. I should fare better in that circumstance anyway, kobolds are not very observant."
Yara gave an ominous chuckle. I can only imagine what poor kobolds got on the wrong side of her blade.
"Well then." I said. "Let's find some kobolds."
"Please stay still, Maria." Psyche said.
Sophia stood to the side, ready to assist, while Psyche stood over their patient. Maria had laid down on a make-shift table, and Psyche had pulled away the clothes from her leg to assess the injury.
"When and where did you receive this injury?" Psyche asked.
"About two years ago now, I think. I was out hunting when a group of kobolds ambushed me. They were throwing large stones, and one hit me here." She gestured to a point just above her kneecap where the skin was swollen over.
Psyche nodded. "I'm going to briefly touch the injury, Maria. There will be some pain, so I'll try to be quick. Tell me when the pain gets too severe to handle."
Gentle as she could, Psyche pressed a finger onto the swollen lump above the knee. Maria gave a sharp inhale and gritted her teeth. Psyche pressed harder, Maria digging her fingernails into her palms.
"Stop!" Maria yelled.
Psyche quickly pulled away, then nodded to Maria.
"Amazing job." The moth-kin said, her smile warm and gentle. "You likely suffered a fracture in your thighbone, just above the knee where we see the swelling. Since you're still fairly young, your body was probably able to heal the most severe damage and avoid infection. You're quite the tough one. Since we still see inflammation and severe pain under pressure, however, the fracture is almost certainly still present. If left untreated the fracture would likely grow under the strain of everyday activity, and eventually you'd be unable to walk on it at all."
"Ok..." Maria looked at Psyche, perturbed by the diagnosis but still hopeful for a solution.
Psyche continued. "I can heal the fracture and knit the bones back together. The spell won't take too long, but it will be very uncomfortable as your bones shift and regrow. Is that okay?" Maria had never experienced healing magic before, so she had no idea what to expect. But, if this would allow her to help her family on the hunt again, there was only one possible choice.
"Yes." Maria said, swallowing her nerves.
Psyche nodded. "Okay."
The moth-kin turned to Sophia. "Can you help keep her still while I cast the spell?"
The kitsune nodded, walking over and holding down Maria's shin to prevent her from thrashing while the spell was being cast. Psyche then held out a hand towards Maria. "Hold onto me." Maria hesitated a moment, then took Psyche's hand. The cleric gave a reassuring smile.
"If at any point it becomes too much to handle, tell me to stop, okay?"
Maria nodded. At this point she just wanted the whole process to be over with.
"I'm ready." She said.
"Perfect." Psyche closed her eyes.
[Restoration]
At first Maria felt nothing. Then there was a light tickling sensation in her knee. Soon, that tickling grew into an itching she felt well below the skin. Reflexively she tried to move her leg, to try and expel the feeling with movement, but Sophia's grip was like iron. Instead Maria gripped Psyche's hand tighter, using it as an outlet to try and distract her body from the gnawing sensation.
Next, her thigh bone began to move and knit itself back together. She felt the whole thing, like some insect or rodent had burrowed beneath her skin and was now roaming through her flesh. It was terrible. She desperately wanted to make it stop. She came close a few times to yelling for Psyche to do just that, but she powered through. Gripping Psyche's hand even tighter and biting down on her own thumb to distract from the pain.
Finally the feeling subsided, and Maria breathed a sigh of relief.
"All done. Fantastic job, Maria." Psyche said.
Maria still felt that itchiness beneath her skin, and on reflex tried to scratch at it. While she wasn't able to subdue the irritating feeling, she realized she felt no pain upon touching the site of her injury.
"Try standing up Maria." Psyche said.
Sophia let go of the girl's leg and took a step back, while Psyche helped Maria to her feet.
Maria initially stood as she had for years now, with most of her weight on the uninjured leg. She tried shifting some weight over, only a little at first, and when she found no jolt of pain to dissuade her stood equally on both legs.
It didn't hurt! Other than the itching it was like nothing had ever happened! Maria shifted her whole weight to her now healed leg to make sure it wasn't a trick, then lifted her other leg totally off the ground, standing solely on her healed leg.
No pain.
She started hopping on that leg. Still no pain!
Maria looked at Psyche in awe, and the moth-kin gave her a warm smile.
"How does it feel?" They asked.
"Amazing! Its like nothing ever happened!" Maria reached down and scratched at her leg. "It is kind of itchy though... is that bad?"
"O-oh! Sorry, I should have warned you. Yes, the itching is expected, but it should fade by tomorrow morning."
Maria nodded. "Thank you so much!"
"Of course! It was no trouble, I'm very glad we were able to help."
"If the itching grows too severe to handle, please drink this." Sophia said as she reached into a pouch at her waist, pulling out a small vial of a clear orange liquid. "This should suppress the worst of it."
"Thank you!" Maria said, taking the vial from Sophia's outstretched hand.
"We'll want to check up on you in about a week or so, until then try to avoid any strenuous activity while the new bone growth settles."
Maria nodded. "Thank you both, so much. I can finally help my brothers again!" Maria's eyes were lit up with a vibrant energy, pent up for the last two years. "I'm going to go tell my family the good news, thank you again!" Maria yelled a few more words of gratitude as she ran off back to her home. Soon she was gone, Psyche and Sophia left standing alone.
"It seems our healing magic still works in this place." Sophia said.
"Yes, I'm glad." Psyche said, giving a long sigh of relief. "I would have been rather useless if it didn't."
"That's not true."
"Maybe I could have assisted the outer disciples with the laundry..."
"I'm sure they would appreciate if you did that no matter what. Laundry is important, keeps morale high and disease at bay. No need to rank how helpful we are, if any of us stopped we would all suffer for it."
"I suppose that's true."
The two stood in silence for a few more moments.
"Psyche?"
"Yes?"
"Has Teacher... no, never mind."
Psyche tilted her head. "What is it? Has Teacher what?"
"It's nothing. Lets go speak to Gram about the crops, yes?"
Without waiting for an answer Sophia strode off.
Psyche stood for a few moments longer.
That was... odd. Sophia is usually rather direct about her concerns.
Psyche thought for a bit, trying to decipher what their friend had been trying to communicate. They recalled that the day they were brought to this world Philo and Sophia had spoken alone after Psyche and the others were sent off.
Philo must have told Sophia something very important. Psyche pondered the matter a little longer, but soon came to the conclusion that if Sophia didn't want to talk about it there was no reason to press the issue.
"Coming!" Psyche yelled, as she ran to catch up with the aloof scholar.
Merrig possessed a Feat called DEATH WATCH, which alerted him whenever someone he was close to died. It had caused him much suffering over the years, but it was an invaluable tool in keeping the village safe. Should Merrig sense her death, he would know to evacuate the village.
It was why Yara insisted on accompanying Philo on this mission. If Philo and her should fall fighting the dragon, or worse Philo attempt to strike a deal with it, then should Yara fail to return and warn the others, at least they'll have a chance to escape. Yara didn't think Philo would betray them. She felt she could read people well, and despite her initial suspicions Philo did seem genuine in their desire for positive relations.
Still. You don't live this long up in the Mountains on faith in others alone. You always need to be prepared for the worst. And so, Yara found herself sneaking up through a den of kobolds to, somehow, slay a dragon at the top.
It was honestly all a little ridiculous.
Yara assumed it would take at least a day, maybe longer, to find an entrance. They'd probably have to find a kobold wandering on its own and capture it, forcing it to spill the location of its den. Instead? Philo uses some magic spell to just find where all the kobolds are. No kidnapping necessary! Just a couple words muttered under her breath and voilà: she knows where the entrance is.
Outside the entrance were two kobolds standing guard. Again, Yara thought she knew how things would play out. They'd take out the guards, maybe leave one alive to get information on their comrades, and sneak inside.
Well, the second part was true, but instead of a silent takedown Philo just snapped her finger's and the guards fell asleep, right on the spot.
Inside, the kobold's den is a labyrinth of winding tunnels and cramped burrows choked with the acrid smoke of dozens upon dozens of cooking fires. Rotating on spits above them Yara recognized near every animal that lives in the Mountains. Deer, mountain lions, even a couple bears and a griffin. Strangely it seemed none of the kobolds were eating them, instead chewing on small rats and other burrowing rodents unlucky enough to cross paths with the wyrmlings.
In any other circumstance this would be a near impossible place to sneak through, despite Yara's earlier confidence. Kobolds aren't very tough individually, but the tight spaces and their massive numbers would have made it very difficult to fight through. Yara assumed Philo had some plan to deal with that, maybe use that 'telekinesis' thing to collapse the ceiling over them, but so far they hadn't had to fight a single kobold. The Kobolds didn't even know they were there.
[Pass Without a Trace] is what Philo called it. It makes them all but invisible, and slipping through the kobold den with it active is as simple as staying close to Philo. Now Yara and Philo are winding their way higher and higher. Yara had no idea where they were going, but Philo strode with a confidence that made it impossible to voice any dissent.
Yara just had to accept that, somehow, Philo knew where they were going... Like she'd been here before...
Yara's grip tightened on her dagger.
Thank GOD [Clairvoyance] still works. I'd have no fucking idea where I was going without it.
[Sense Life] was enough for me to locate the entrance. A gaggle of kobolds hiding beneath the surface stands out a lot when you can see them through walls. But inside, while I can see a dragon-sized lump of green life energy near the top of the mountain, it gives me no indication of how to actually navigate there.
[Clairvoyance] makes it nice and easy. I set a target I am aware of (such as through [Sense Life]) and the spell lays out a nice cloud... trail... thing for me to follow!
Kobolds were easy to deal with as well. [Pass Without a Trace] keeps them from noticing me or Yara, and if any are in a tricky spot I just use [Sleep]. I was worried I'd have to kill the poor little guys. They probably aren't very happy being pushed around by that dragon, so I'd rather not.
As for the Dragon himself... I'm still not sure. I think I may talk to him, at least a bit. I have some abilities that let me scan a target to see what they're capable of, talking to the Mountain King would give me a chance to see if those still work in this new world.
Well, no more time to noodle on that.
"Stop." I say, holding out a hand to prevent Yara from going past me.
"What?"
"We're here."
Before us was a truly massive cavern. On the opposite side of the chamber was the opening we had seen at the mountain peak when we flew in. The space was filled with the sight and smell of metal. Gold coins, jewels, paintings, treasure's and trinkets of all kinds reflected the suns rays and painted the cavern walls in variegated, scintillating colors.
Among the horde of treasure was another kind of pile: bones. What must have been hundreds, thousands of bones. Many of them were from animals... many weren't.
Some of the piles consisted solely of skulls. Human skulls. Their tops had been smashed open and the braincase filled with coins and gems. Some of the treasure had begun to spill from the eye sockets, as if they were weeping molten gold.
Atop it all, laying on the treasure horde like it were a bed, slept a massive silver-scaled dragon.
The Mountain King.
"I believe this is where we split up." I said, fishing an item from my inventory.
"Where do I hide? All the kobolds are still alive and will come running the moment they hear a commotion!"
"Take this, put it on. It will make you invisible." Every fantasy game needs a Ring of Invisibility, it's just the law, and Shangri-La was no exception.
Yara took it, considered it for a few moments as her eyes darted between me, the ring, and the sleeping dragon.
Finally she slipped the ring on and disappeared from sight. "Find somewhere to hide, or at least where you won't get caught in the crossfire."
"What is your plan?" Said Yara's voice from... somewhere in front of me.
What is my plan indeed?
I looked at the pile of weeping skulls. There must have been at least fifty of them in that pile alone. Each one had been a person. A living being with thoughts, ambitions, loves and hates. And they had been reduced to some monster's sick trophy of war.
"I think I'm going to tickle the dragon's tail."