They found Ana’s things the next morning. It wasn’t hard; Ana and the demon had torn up the forest far more than she’d realized as they fought, and all they needed to do was to follow the wounded trees, broken saplings, and churned soil. The wood and leather was a bit stained and the metal would need some polish, but Tor and Lessie together judged both weapon and shield serviceable. Ana gave them to Jisha for the time being, showing her how to push mana into them to activate their Engravings—the girl’s halberd wasn’t much use with only a foot of haft.
“So, now what?” Kaira asked. “Are we gonna let some unhinged deity keep us from doing what we do best? Or do we dare the bastard to do his worst?”
Someone had to ask, but once she did the outcome was pretty much already determined. The six revenants, of which Ana hadn’t even touched two, only netted Ana a Major, two Medium, and a Lesser Growth Crystal, with a Medium, two Minors, and a Least as bonuses. A single Skill Level in Long Blades, bringing it to 6, added another Medium. All told it made almost 3000 Experience Points or between seven and eight gold coins’ worth of Crystals, which wasn’t nothing, but considering what they’d been fighting, Ana was disappointed. And the others did about as well or worse, with generally lower contributions but higher Threat Levels.
Going by the metric of retrieving Ana’s things and removing a threat they’d been completely successful; going by their haul of Crystals, it wasn’t much of a Delve. And then they had to take into account the sheer Fuck you factor of taking what the Sentinel threw at them and barely even slowing down, much less turning back.
The decision to keep going was enthusiastic and unanimous.
And perhaps the Sentinel had given up. Perhaps the cost to act was simply higher than he was willing to pay after his repeated failures, and he had more important things to waste his time and effort on. Or perhaps there simply weren’t many demons in the area. Whatever the case, it took until the following day before they found their first possessed animal, a giant but badly deteriorating boar. It wasn’t even suspiciously over-Leveled for such a low-ambient Splinter, either, with a Threat Level of Weak to Ana. Between that and the fact that there were ten of them in the Party, it was such a minor threat that Ana stood back, using the thing for target practice while the others killed it. And while she didn’t get a single Level in Throwing, she did manage to make three of her five missiles stick, which was a small improvement over earlier attempts. That was pretty satisfying.
It took another day before Omda found a Delve. They’d started considering turning south instead of continuing dawnward, but a revenant deer raised their hopes and kept them on course. And in the early afternoon it paid off, as Omda led them to a small entrance rift hanging among the flowers of an idyllic glade.
After they’d prepared and formed up, Ana hesitated for a moment before entering. She suspected she might always do that from now on. While she agreed with Messy’s idea that if the Sentinel could have harmed her, he would have, having her soul snatched out of the ether and turned into nothing but a passive receptacle for an overbearing deity’s words was one of the most unpleasant experiences of Ana’s life. And that was saying something; she had quite a few to compare it to. To her relief, though, her passage this time was uneventful.
The Delve wasn’t anything special, either. Greater Tier with a Factor of 2, and fairly small. They only encountered a half-dozen demons in the whole place, and the only one above Ana’s Level was the lone boss—as Jisha had started calling the demons that invariably basked in the Crystal Chamber. With such a large Party they practically breezed through it, and that with Ana and Kaira hanging back to let everyone else contribute more.
That wasn’t to say that they got nothing out of it; all told, Ana picked up just under 2400 Points worth of Crystals from demons and the Delve itself, with everyone else doing better. No Skill Levels the whole time, though, which she couldn’t argue with; at no point in that whole Delve had she felt anything remotely like pressure. Sure, they—meaning Ana— had taken some scrapes, but with eight members actively fighting and Kaira and Ana ready to step in and end any fight at a moment’s notice, it had been more like a fun Casuals Delve than anything else. At least according to Deni, Ray, and Messy, and they would know.
They were killing demons, and they were having a good time doing it. There were jokes and laughter, and after how the outing had started, it was just what they needed. And while Ana’s rewards were small, they added up. Every Lesser Crystal was another two silver coins; another night of sleeping in a bed under a roof with a hot meal in her belly, once Ana left this place. She may have been spoiled for years now, but Ana would never let herself forget what it was like to be cold, hungry, and afraid.
On top of the regular rewards, Ana received a pleasant surprise as Deni grabbed the Peak Crystal and closed the Delve.
5 Advancement Points—6 with the one she had left over from earlier—wasn’t a game changer by any means. It wouldn’t even let her get another Enhancement just yet. What it would let her do, some quick math told her, was to get her second Enhancements in both Dexterity and Willpower once she hit Level 21. While she’d never considered either Attribute among her most important, only an idiot would discount them. The two Enhancements they’d already granted her, Twist and Lock and Fearless, had both contributed to her and the people around her staying alive over the past several months, and whatever she might get in the future was sure to be good, if not amazing.
Besides, she thought as she bought the fifth Step in her Willpower Multiplier, no one ever complained about getting away with less sleep, did they?
Half of Ana’s attention caught on that as they divided the Crystals. Willpower affected how much sleep she needed. She’d know that ever since Rayni taught her the basics. And while she didn’t have any hard numbers to work with, experience told her that if she slept for two hours in a day, she’d feel like she’d gotten a solid eight or nine—which hadn’t been unusual for her on her days off back on Earth. She could get along on one if she had to. She wasn’t a particularly pleasant person if she did, but she could.
If she assumed that a 10 in any given Attribute was supposed to represent an average human, or more likely an average sapient no matter what race or species they happened to belong to, then the math seemed simple. If she took that assumed average of 10, divided by her Effective Willpower of 48, and multiplied by the normal healthy amount of sleep of eight or nine hours, she ended up in the right ballpark. So what did that mean for her other Attributes? If Vitality slowed aging, did her 63 in the Attribute mean that she aged a sixth as fast?
Did she age a tenth as fast while in combat?
She didn’t bother holding back the laughter that bubbled out of her. If the Sentinel or his minions didn’t manage to kill her, fighting them might buy her another year of life all told. Youth, even. Of course, that assumed that she’d spend cumulative years actively fighting over the course of her life, but still. How about that?
Hey, she thought, trying to catch the Wayfarer’s attention. Are you there? Have you been listening?
Several second later the reply came. No. Should I have been?
Doesn’t matter. Can you talk to the Sentinel? Like, is there some way for you to get a message to him?
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Effortlessly. We all can, but it’s up to each of us if we want to hear it. Why?
Tell him, “Thanks.” Not only has he repeatedly failed to kill me, giving me some good Crystals and Skill Levels, but every time he’s tried he’s made my life that little bit longer. He’s not just failing; he’s doing the complete opposite of what he wants.
How wonderfully petty, the goddess replied, her voice toneless but the message carrying a sense of soft amusement. I’ll make sure to tell him.
The Party turned south after their first Delve, and found and cleared a second the next day. This one was a little more lucrative, and pushed them a little harder; it was the same Tier, but had a Factor of 3 rather than 2 and contained a few more demons. With three “bosses” in the Crystal Chamber, both Ana and Kaira got involved from the start, though they both focused on setting the demons up for the others to do the real damage.
Again, Ana got no Skill Levels, but with 1800 Points worth of Crystals as her cut from the Delve itself and another 2610 from the demons, she couldn’t complain. She was getting close enough now to being able to afford Level 21 that she had to remind herself that these Crystals were for selling, not for eating. Though, she did eat her Shards; being 10 Points along toward her next Level and having 4 Shards sitting around in Storage irked her.
“So, what do you all say?” Kaira asked them all that evening as the fire crackled, a big hunk of deer meat roasting over it. “One more and then we call it quits?”
“I could do one more,” Tor said, grinning with anticipation. “Might just make it to Level 16 before we get home. Hell, at this rate I may get to use that Ascension Point for its intended purpose before I’m all gray and wrinkly!”
Omda clapped him firmly on the shoulder with a sound like someone beating a carpet. “You will,” the big man said, nodding confidently. “We will. Together.”
“Together,” Tor agreed.
“Do we all still have our Ascension Points?” Deni asked, looking around the group. “I know a bunch of people used theirs, but I still do. Seems like the kind of thing you can’t afford to waste, right? I mean, how do you even get another one?”
“Kill an Ascender,” Messy said flippantly, grinning across the fire at the young Evoker. Her confidence was an act, though; to Ana, sitting beside her, Messy’s aura was nowhere near as carefree as she made herself out to be. “That’s the only other way I know, at least. You kill one of the two most powerful and dangerous kinds of being in existence, and you get a shot at joining them. That, or you use the Point as a desperate, last chance attempt at survival.”
Messy squeezed Ana’s hand hard as her aura flickered with remembered fear. Ana squeezed back, leaning her head against Messy’s shoulder. “I’ll admit, it worked pretty well the one time I tried it,” Messy finished with a shaky laugh.
“Worked damn well,” Tor agreed, nodding to the Duelist.
“You didn’t do so poorly either, as I recall,” Messy replied, nodding back.
“You both were dying when you come to Anette,” Jisha reminded them.
Tor shrugged. “Maybe, but we were only dying, not dead. A big difference, I think you’ll agree.”
“And the bastards didn’t lay a finger on Ana,” Messy added. A vicious satisfaction smoothed out the ripples of old fear in her aura. “That’s worth bleeding a bit.”
There was a wave of agreement at that; everything from a sharp, “Fuckin’ aye!” from Kaira to Omda’s solemn nod. It was enough to make Ana’s ears warm with a strangely pleasant embarrassment. But Ana knew that they weren’t only talking about her; everyone there was willing to bleed for anyone else, and many of them had—and would have done so far more if Ana hadn’t been there.
“So we all still have them?” Deni asked a little later, after the cheers had died down and they’d all had a bit of freshly roasted venison. No one asked what she was referring to.
“Sounds like,” Kaira said. “I know I’ll be saving mine unless I’m in a Messy-and-Tor-level dire situation. Sure, getting to be a Devouring Flame or Annihilationist or something ridiculous like that before I’ve earned it would be amazing, but this is a once in a lifetime kinda thing, yeah? I—all of us—could actually ascend.”
“Meaning you might get your chance at apotheosis, so you can become the Lady of Annihilating Flame and melt the Sentinel’s face off,” Tor said jokingly.
“Hells yeah,” Kaira replied, dead serious, and gave him the kind of grin that nightmares are made of.
They travelled south for a full day before Rayni and Perri together found a Delve. They entered the following morning, taking about six hours to clear it. It was very similar to the second Delve they’d found: same Tier, same Factor. The demons were lower level, but there were a couple more of them, so it pretty much evened out. The one major difference between the Delves was that this time, Ana actually got a Skill Level. Not in Long Blades, though she’d done some work disabling the back legs of a particularly bothersome possessed bear. No, after dozens and dozens of hurlbats thrown, and not quite so many hits, it was Throwing that finally made it to Level 2, getting her an extra Lesser Crystal. Rarely had she been so satisfied with gaining a Skill Level; she silently swore to herself that she’d get the Skill to 5 one day even if it killed her.
Ana also got a Shard as a bonus for one of the demons. It annoyed her. There was something profoundly untidy about Shards, she’d decided. All other Crystals were divisible by 50; now she’d need another four Shards to even things out.
She couldn’t be bothered. She gave the Shard to Jisha; that girl had picked up all sixty-four Shards from the Delve, and happily accepted one more.
All told, that Delve got Ana 4550 Experience Points’ worth of Growth Crystals, making a total of over 12500 Points for the entire outing. She now had more than enough in her Storage now to get Level 21, but more importantly, she had about 65 gold coins worth of Crystals to sell. That would be enough for her and Messy and whoever came with them to live on for… well, she had only a vague idea, to be honest. A month? Two? She knew that while some things were cheaper in the Primes, others were more expensive. But she’d be shocked if it wasn’t enough to get them far from Ellsthal, to somewhere comparatively safe where they could take stock and decide how to proceed, and that was all she asked.
And that was with her completely disregarding the fact that anyone who came with her was likely to have money of their own. She wouldn’t hesitate to pay anyone’s way who agreed to put their lives on the line to follow her, but knowing her friends, they’d be damned before they let her. And that was entirely fine by her. She’d need all the help she could get.
There was plenty of cheering after they closed that Delve. Ana wasn’t the only one who’d made a very tidy pile of Crystals over the past several days. With everyone else being lower Level than her, and with her and often Kaira hanging back in most fights, most of them had made out better than she had. And that was despite her getting bonus Crystals for every demon they killed; getting a Crystal one step up would always be better than getting an extra one step down, after all.
The end result was that when they decided that they’d had enough and turned back home, everyone in the Party except for Ana and Rayni, who both wanted to sell their Crystals, was a Level higher than they had been going out. Two, in Deni’s case; she’d been close to start with, and could afford to push for Level 15 without emptying out her Storage entirely.
Between people getting their milestone Abilities at Level 15 and spending their Advancement Points, the Party might as well have been a wandering celebration as they started duskward, planning to hit the road before turning for home. Rayni, who hadn’t leveled, was still almost giddy; the gold she’d make from selling her Crystals, she said, might finally get her family’s debt down to the point where her parents would be able to cover the interest.
“We’re almost free!” she finished, throwing herself at Ana with a huge smile and an excited squealing laughter that was entirely out of character for her, but in no way unwelcome. “It would have taken me years to get to this point without you, Ana! Thank you! Thank you!”
“You’re welcome?” Ana responded awkwardly, patting Rayni on the back and looking to Messy for help.
At first Messy just laughed along, but after a few long seconds she intervened. Still laughing, she said, “Alright, alright, that’s enough, you’re going to make me jealous,” prying Rayni off Ana and putting herself between them, one arm over each of their shoulders. “But Ray, truly, congratulations. Gods know how hard you’ve worked for it.”
Rayni thanked her, her joy continuing to bubble out of her as she apologized to Ana, before falling silent. Her smile didn’t falter, though; if anything, it became brighter. “The Waystone is closed,” she said softly, as though that would explain her sudden silence.
“It is,” Messy agreed, drawing the statement out into a question.
“I can’t send any money now. But when the cycle ends, I’m leaving with you. We could go and deliver it in person! I haven’t seen them in years, and now I could return with enough money to finally, truly change their lives for their better! Gods, Ana, can we? It would mean everything to me.”
And what could Ana say to that? Especially with the whole Party looking at her expectantly. It wasn’t as though she had a destination in mind once they left.
Go ahead, the nameless voice whispered. Surely you’ll not bring any disaster down on her innocent family.
“Sure,” Ana told her friend, a seed of doubt sprouting within her. “Sounds great.”
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