Why are you special?

And of course, the words Wally uses to break the silence?

"Good morning. Evening. Whatever." 《Flagging you before Paul and Carter so you can be up and claim to have already eaten some rations.》

《Thanks.》 "How was your watch?" As if I don't already know.

"Boring. Just hoping for clouds and trying to avoid sunburn."

"Beats being eaten by a dragon, no?" Although I think I'd welcome an angry dragon at this point. Just one more XP….

"That it does. How'd you sleep?"

Not at all, "Eh, I'm not used to sleeping while the sun is up, but I'm OK."

"Great… let’s wake Paul and Carter…"

We knock on the tent, and when there's no answer, lift the flap… they’re just exhausted. Paul's on his back, one of his milk taps still in Carter’s mouth, who's laying beside him. Carter, for his part, is sleeping soundly, his hand still buried in Paul's equipment, and vice-versa. Neither has found clothing. Or maybe bothered. The ground under the tent is quite damp, despite the dry desert air.

We quickly see why they're exhausted. When Paul starts to stir, his hand moves within Carter, who also starts to stir, and they're both back to pleasuring each other without quite waking up… and they keep mindlessly going at each other, running their bodies down without getting enough rest to actually wake up and put a stop to it. Fun to watch, though: Two well-endowed women (one ridiculously so) squirming in each other.

Fortunately, I bypass casting times, and don't have identifiable spellcasting. So a quick Remove Fatigue spell gets both of them to fighting trim. Wally too, just because I can.

"Time to go," Wally kicks their feet.

Paul and Carter both wake up … and immediately look away from each other, quickly separating. I suspect Life’s hit another stage in her messaging plan.

"Did you get the same dream?" Paul's still not looking at Carter.

"About needing to get more militant about making kids? Yeah." Carter's not looking at Paul.

"Oh, relax, would you? You'll both be back to normal shortly after we get back to town," well… unless they get on my nerves too much, and I go with Wally’s plan… "so you can find willing women to father children with if needed."

Carter isn't looking at me, either, "Well… we basically just got told what we were just doing is… very, very wrong."

Paul continues, looking at the tent wall, "Directly by the Blessed Mother herself. So…"

Carter finishes, "Yeah."

These guys are really into Life. But I guess that makes sense: they're divine casters.

"Well, we still need to get moving. I can make you some whips or something once we're in an area where magic works again if you feel the need to self-flagellate," Wally doesn't seem very sympathetic to their plight.

They get up - still naked - and we pack up camp by starlight, then start walking back the way we came.

I'm paying a lot more attention to my surroundings, watching Wally and Carter periodically attempting cantrips and osirons (they're the same thing - at will very minor spells - but they're called by different names for Arcane and Divine casters, for whatever reason).  It's much easier now that I don’t have the constant stimulation. The desert isn’t bad… lots of sand… lots of walking… three story dunes and… yeah, that’s about it.  The stars are pretty.  After a couple of hours, we reach some plains, with brown grass that grows progressively taller and slowly greener, then starts having various bushes that eventually give way to trees about the time the sun rises.

OK, so that’s not quite as ridiculous as some of the things that show up in video games, but these biospheres are much too small.  I should not be able to walk from a desert to a forest in a single night at a normal walking pace. I mean, I can manage three full-round actions in a single turn, and I have a very buffed speed, so I could keep up with hobby airplanes back home, but normal walking? How does it make sense that there's temperate forests and scorching deserts within twenty miles of each other?

Of course, if I ask, I'll sound like a moron….

Paul speaks up, "Are you OK to push on Wally, or do you want to risk camping here?"

Wally considers, "I'd like to press on. I'll feel better camping thirty feet up." He also messages me across the link, 《I am feeling more than fine. What all did you do when you brought me back?》

I don't let the conversation show on my face, 《I made it really hard to kill you. You can possibly feel the Greater Celestial Healing repairing your body, but there's also spells that will keep you from dying from simple injury, poison, pain, disease, or drowning; further wards prevent grappling, mind control, and fatigue; another makes it extra hard for death magic to hit you. You can still starve, die of old age, be Disintegrated, petrified, … I can't stop everything,》yet, 《But you were the first person that at least tried to be nice, so….》

《How long will that last?》

《Until I turn it off. Basically forever.》

《But you made me nearly unkillable, and without support from the dungeons, no less. What did that cost you?》

《Less than a minute of my time.》

《... That's all?》

《It's just applying things I've already figured out for other reasons, with the cost of figuring such things out being about on par with Carter working his way into more complex blessings or you working your way to more capable spells.《 But I'm not losing anything by giving it to you, and best as I can tell, neither is anyone else.》How do you explain leveling to someone with no context of it?

《That is quite some blessing you're getting from The Harvester.》

《It is, yes. By the way, were you inspired to figure out any new spells while we were down there?》

《Yes, I think I've figured out how to extend Dimension Door for longer distances at a slight cost to precision, and make some short-lived, but exceptionally durable barriers.》

《So Teleport and Wall of Force?》

《I suppose that is the common name for those effects.…》

《And I imagine Carter will be rewarded for deepening faith as well. I expect he'll have access to Plane Shift and Breath of Life soon if you ask him to pray for them. I expect he'll be more excited about Raise Dead, though.》

《What makes you think….》

《He usually gets better blessing access every other time a delve inspires you to put more spells in your books, and he didn't last time, correct?》

《... OK, how…?》

《These things keep to certain predictable patterns, and I had some clues as to where you are in them. Those Phantom Steeds lasting for eight hours, for example. They'll probably last nine, now, unless you put effort into making them last longer or deliberately shorten them, it which case they'll last either eighteen hours now, or no no less than five, assuming they're not killed, dispelled, or dismissed before then. It's predictable enough that a cabal of wizards, if they were cooperating and keeping records, could figure it out… but I have access to The Harvester's bookshelf sometimes.》

《So… you know everything, then?》

《Not at all. I've just had time to study how this world works… not the people or the society or anything, but the rules it runs by.》And I'm abusing that to no end.

《So that's how you're doing it… you know things nobody else can.》

《Pretty much. Like… you can copy spells into your book before you can actually prepare them, in anticipation of being able to do so later, so that you have them as soon as you are able,》I also have access to rules outside this realm, and that’s the real keystone. So yes, I'm still being deceptive, even on a mostly secure channel with a guy… ish… that I largely trust. Mind control is a thing here, after all.

We continue on, and eventually encounter… well, what Wally, Paul, and Carter refer to as "The king's highway" - but it's basically just a dirt path wide enough for a horse and cart, with the ruts to prove it. I wouldn't want to try driving a car down it.

It's about here that Carter finally manages to light up a pebble with the Light Osiron.

Just in time, too, as a Colossal beast of red scales, claws, and fangs swoops down at us, the wings of the beast sounding like thunder as they rip through the air. As the beast screams "Fresh Meat!" in draconic, I'm sitting here thinking, "Fresh XP!"

I guess we're both hunting…sorry Wally, Carter, and Paul, you're going to be little more than backdrop for this fight.