Edge Cases

It took a while to get away, for the priests wanted to question them on what happened. A nervous Misa had to fend them off and explain that even trying to talk about it was dangerous, and explaining that had taken some doing. Eventually, the priests extracted a promise from them that they could be called on from the Adventurer's Guild if they were needed for anything, and with that promise secured they quickly fled back to the Guild.

To Sev's room, specifically, where they typically gathered at the end of the day.

"I'm sorry," Sev spoke first, shaking his head. "You guys were worried about me, and I think maybe I didn't take that seriously enough."

"No fuckin' kidding," Misa muttered, but she sighed, seeming to soften a little bit as she over Sev. "Are you doing okay, Sev?"

Sev gave the question its due consideration, then sighed. "Honestly, I don't know," he said. "It's hard for me to convince myself to take it seriously? It just doesn't feel real. Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet, and maybe it won't ever sink in, but I know it worried you guys and that makes it a problem."

"Good," Vex said, letting out a breath he'd been holding. He gave Sev his best attempt at a stern look. "As long as you recognize that!"

"Believe me," Sev said, though he couldn't help a small smile at the lizardkin's expression. "That sucked for me too."

"I am glad you understand." Derivan sighed out a breath he didn't need, trying to calm the worried coil of emotion in his body. "And Velykos? How should we pursue that?"

There was a small silence as everyone thought.

"I hate to say it, but I don't think there's much we can do about it right now," Sev eventually said. "We'll be there if the priests find anything, but I'm thinking we need a break."

"Haven't we already been taking a break?" Vex asked.

"We haven't left town, I guess, but in that time Derivan's gained three new stats that we still haven't entirely figured out and I almost died," Sev said drily. Vex paused.

"...Good point."

"Things keep happening and I think it's bad for our health," Sev said, trying for a small, lighthearted chuckle. "So, how about it? Picnic tomorrow? We'll go check out that nearby forest, review our statuses and have zero world-shattering revelations."

"Fuck yes," Misa said. "I've been wanting to check the stupid thing since we had to fight the massive boss monster. I can't believe we haven't checked it already."

"You know why we haven't," Sev chuckled. "And with how the system was acting, don't be surprised if we don't get any experience at all."

Misa paled, as if the thought hadn't even occurred to her. "Please no."

"I'm pretty sure we'll get experience. That part of the system didn't seem broken." Vex gave her a sympathetic pat on the back. Misa just huffed, then relented with a sigh.

"I'm honestly kinda glad you guys made me stop checking all the damn time, but it still kinda sucks after battles like this," she grumbled. "But I think it sucked more when I checked after every battle and my level didn't go up. Made our wins feel like nothing."

"That's why we check it together, right?" Sev said with a small smile.

"Yeah," Misa agreed — and though it was tentative, she returned the smile, a little more vulnerable than her usual ones.

As if to make up for the stress of the past two days, everything seemed to align perfectly for the trip to the forest. Sev had gone down to check if the scouts had returned with information about the dungeon, and had been informed that while they had, they wouldn't be announcing the details of that dungeon today. Politics were involved, he was told, and the state of the dungeon would be announced later the next day instead.

Which gave them plenty of time to prepare, even if it was mostly Sev doing the preparations. The weather was perfect — not a hint that it might rain, or that some other strange weather event would tear through the area, as would sometimes happen when there was a rogue accumulation of mana. The town was bright and cheery and welcoming when Sev went to gather some supplies, and though the markets were crowded, he was able to score good enough deals that he came back whistling.

Then they were off. The forest wasn't actually particularly far away, and time seemed to pass quickly as they chatted with one another. For all the danger that they'd so recently been put through, it had broken down the last few barriers they had between one another, and it felt like there was much more now for them to talk about.

"I don't really want to admit that I needed this," Misa said, stretching. "But damn, I kinda needed this."

"We all did, I believe." Derivan hadn't realized how wound up he'd felt until now. The subconscious way he'd been hovering over Sev and Vex and even Misa, like he had to try to protect them — it was something he'd put on himself for a long time, after all.

"No kidding," Sev said, taking in a deep breath of forest air, and then promptly deciding he didn't particularly like the smell of forests.

Of the four of them, Vex was the only one that was actually taking a break, and not just ruminating about how much they needed a break. The lizardkin was glancing around the forest with absolute fascination — Derivan would have wondered if he'd seen a forest before, if not for the fact that they'd been through many other forests in their travels.

"Is there something drawing your attention?" Derivan asked curiously, and the lizardkin froze for a moment before thawing.

"Oh! It's just that the magic in this place is really different. It's kind of gathering together, and a lot more alive than in most other places." Vex waved his arms animatedly as he spoke, gesturing to streams of mana that only he could see —

— Wait. No. Derivan paused in the middle of that thought. He had the ability to see mana now as Vex did, even if the mana wasn't so concentrated as to be visible, like it had been in the Nucleus. He'd learned the skill alongside [Barrier] and [Intermediate Mana Manipulation]; he just wasn't used to having all these options available to him. His skill list had been static for so long...

It was yet another thing to train, he supposed. He focused, and activated [Mana Sight].

Vex's version of Mana Sight was a little more complicated than his own, from what the lizardkin had explained to him — the skill you obtained as a wizard depended on how well you understood mana, and Vex understood it a lot better than he did. His own meager understanding, however, was still enough to make him stop in surprise.

Above him was a canvas, and mana was the paint.

He didn't need to be able to see the colors as Vex did in order to see the artistry with which streams of mana weaved their way through the branches, dancing merrily between leaves. He didn't need to understand the mana in-depth to recognize the patterns that briefly formed in the air, runic language appearing and disappearing in the span of a blink.

Before, when he'd cast [Barrier] and watched the flow of the mana, it had felt like that mana was missing something — like it was performing a rehearsed dance, and not truly free. This, then, was what had been missing; the sight of the mana dancing through the leaves was almost dizzying to look at.

"It is beautiful." Derivan stared upwards. Vex beamed at him.

"Isn't it? I don't get to see mana phenomena like these a lot... They're not rare, exactly, but they're very easily disturbed. I'm surprised it hasn't faded yet with us here." Vex smiled, raising his hands and watching as a stream of mana twisted between his fingers.

"It is... disrupted by the presence of people?" Derivan asked.

"Best as I've been able to tell," Vex nodded. "I mean, it'll come back after a while, so it's not permanently destroyed or anything. It just kinda feels like the mana's shy, or something. Or maybe there's something else I'm not seeing... Don't try to cast a spell, though, that'll almost certainly make it go away."

Derivan, who had in fact been about to cast [Barrier] to see if he could get the mana to dance in the same way, paused. "Ah."

"You guys are gonna make me jealous of your magic," Misa said with a smirk, teasing.

"Sorry!" Vex flushed slightly.

"Don't be," Misa scoffed, chuckling. "It'd probably make me dizzy even if I could see it. I'm not gonna be angry that you have something you can enjoy, Vex."

"Oh." Vex took this in for a moment, then nodded, projecting his best, bright smile. "Right! Okay. Yeah. I mean, if I ever figure out a spell to share my sight..."

"Then I'll ask you to share if we see something like this again." Misa smiled at the lizardkin. Derivan saw the look in her eyes, though, the glimmer of concern; it was one he shared. Sev had the same look, too, though he didn't say anything.

Hopefully, Vex would share more about his past when he was comfortable.

"We're coming up on a grove," Sev reported cheerily. "Good place to have our picnic, I think!"

"Hell yeah," Misa grinned. "I'm fucking starving."

"What happened to 'adventurers don't go on picnics'?" Sev asked, raising a brow.

"That happened three months ago!" Misa complained. "You can't keep holding that against me! Food is food!"

"Just admit you've been converted to the joy of picnics."

"Never."

It didn't take them long to set everything up — the convenience of magic meant it wasn't particularly difficult to set out an eating space. Vex took only a few moments to conjure tables and chairs made out of stone, and while it wasn't the most comfortable setup in the world, it was enough. Sev began to unpack the food he'd brought, pulling out sandwiches, drinks, and snacks.

Derivan watched with interest, wondering idly what food tasted like. He'd tried using [Consume] on food once, out of sheer curiosity. It hadn't quite worked out.

"Did you cook all of this yourself?" Vex asked.

"Nah," Sev said. "I like cooking and all, but we just turned in a grade 6 crystal. I splurged and got us the good stuff. Er... sorry, Derivan, I know you can't eat and all."

"It is no matter." Derivan wondered, idly, if he would be able to acquire a skill that would allow him to eat as others did. "As long as you enjoy your food, of course."

"Don't think that means we didn't get anything for you!" Sev grinned at him, then reached into the basket again. "Misa, Vex and I all talked about it, and since you can't eat with us we wanted to get you a gift of your own. So."

He pulled out a large container of what looked like armor polish and a cloth.

Derivan blanked. "What?"

Sev just grinned at him. "Come on, when was the last time you had your armor polished?"

"I am the armor, so... never." He could hardly remove his own armor to polish it.

"Exactly!" Sev said.

"Maybe it'd feel like a massage," Misa grinned at him. "You never know."

Derivan reached out to carefully take the polish from Sev, almost reverently. "Thank you for the gift."

What a strange feeling. He'd never been given a gift before. Misa, Vex, and Sev were all smiling at him.

"Give it a try!" Vex said, his tail swaying excitedly. "I helped enchant it. You don't even need extra tools; it does all the mechanical work by itself."

"I will try this away from the table," Derivan said after a moment, smiling at the wizard's enthusiasm. He understood that polish had a... strong smell, so he took a few steps away, then sat on the ground, staring at the tub.

His friends stared at him, evidently waiting to see him try it. Derivan chuckled, picking up the cloth, and feeling warm.

Might as well give it a try.