Their daily lives returned to a semblance of routine, as normal as it could be now that they had a small mobile lichen colony living in their home, and with Niala carrying around a mana-less rat-lich, talking to it as if it were a very smart pet, which David guessed it was, when you considered everything. Training with Leandro resumed four days a week, and they had a talk with Jordo regarding what they had learned from Kevin.

  While the golem was not an expert in mana-biology or mana-physics, he did bring up two points. Firstly, the Reign luminaries did have a concept similar to the fairies' essence, which they had called the mana well. Whatever the name, it had the same function: to open a path through the membrane, allowing living things to retrieve mana from its dimension.

  The second, and more interesting bit of information, was how the Reign theories did not align with the Fairies' on what caused mana corruption. The fairy thought that the essence itself was what became corrupted and would taint the mana flowing through it. The Reign luminaries believed it was mana that lingered for too long outside of the aetheric realm that became corrupted, infecting one's mana pathways in the process.

  In both cases, draining someone's mana reserves did the same thing: expunge the impurities out of someone's mana system.

  This left David with the same issue: how did one with too much mana “cycle” his mana properly?

  Niala had brought up an element that puzzled her; just how much mana did someone have to expend to reach the soul-mana barrier? Jordo had said that this varied from person to person, but was usually around a few million manawatts. The golem had agreed that David's threshold was abnormally high, given that he had supposedly released trillions of manawatts without any apparent ill effect. They added this to the list of things to explore when Totori secured a fairy lab.

  Leandro's training was currently focused on Niala's basic understanding of her power, and on helping David pinpoint and activate more of his imbuements, starting with Tremor Step. It was a powerful ability found in the legs and feet that allowed the user to unleash a burst of directed energy into the ground or floor, creating a miniature localized earthquake that would crack the earth or destroy any flooring.

  And, of course, the veteran kept his pupils doing exhausting physical training.

  “Good muscles will never betray you!” He'd bellowed.

  In a way, they were grateful for the exertion, which kept them warm in the chilly early winter weather. The first snowfall had been two weeks ago, but hadn't stuck around, melting in the following days. The next one would probably stay, with the temperature barely going above freezing these days.

  Another thing that winter brought was a glut of adventurers clogging up the town, as they closed down the wilderness camps for the winter and retreated to the warmth of solid structures.

  The three inns were full up, and many villagers had put up single rooms for rent, which seemed to be a recurring event each year. The town guards had also doubled their patrols in areas where adventurers congregated. Apparently, winter was a time for two kinds of festivities in Riverwall.

  The reduction in the number of expeditions into the Ruinlands also meant that many of the businesses that catered to the adventurers would slow down, and Niala had learned that most of them also had reduced winter hours. After discussing it with Linzy, they had agreed on doing the same, much to the goblin's pleasure.

  After all, there were a bunch of rowdy adventurers cooped up in town with not much to do. As far as she was concerned, that was a perfect crowd to go have some fun, and some “fun”, with.

  Niala had only understood what she meant when Linzy asked to purchase a crate of contraceptive potions with an employee's discount.

  David was glad to see his girlfriend hadn't lost the ability to impersonate a tomato.

  Brenson blew on his hands, rubbing them together for some warmth, as he continued observing the Panacea Potion shop from behind a ruined home across the small plaza.

  Something insidious was going on. He didn't know what, exactly, but there were just too many suspicious individuals, and Niala and her guard dog's routine made no sense.

  What kind of self-respecting alchemist left their shop most of the week, disappearing to saints' know where? And there was no way their potions were as good as he'd heard people clamour.

  He suspected drugs, or some form of addictive compound, that messed with people's minds. He'd heard a story about one of her healing potions closing a wound in under a minute. Preposterous! The only such potions he knew of that could even come close were from the fabled All Brew all the way down in Majestic, and even then, only the highest grade of potions.

  That a wandering, homeless alchemist catkin could perform such a feat was impossible. The panacea potion she'd “brewed” had evidently been purchased from somewhere...

  He would figure out what was happening, for the good of the town and his customers, of course! That his business would benefit was nothing but a fortuitous bonus, as his revenue had flagged a bit. It was mainly from a reduction in adventurer patronage, who were starting to swear by the catkin's potions and nothing else.

  Giving the suspect shop one last peek, he turned around, only to startle as a goblin woman stood in his way, grinning. He hadn't heard her at all!

  She eyed him up and down. “Hey, bud. Spotted ya' peekin' around a bit. Was wondering what that was all about?”

  Calming down his heart, he observed the small woman, squinting his eyes as he recognized her. “You're Niala's shopkeeper.”

  “That's right. Name's Linzy, and you must be Brenson, going by my boss's description of you?”

  “I am, and I'm not doing anything wrong! Nothing in the law states I can't observe a competing business!” He quickly defended himself.

  Linzy grinned. “Wasn't saying you did, just wanted to know what you wanted. So what is it? Business been bad? Afraid it'll get worse? Too many peeps saying your products are inferior?” She asked, tilted her head.

  At the last question, Brenson's face scrunched up, His tone increasing with every word. “My products are just fine! And I'm here because I know something's immoral is going on at this shop! I'm going to figure out what it is and report you to the authorities!” By the end, he was almost shouting.

  Linzy blinked a few times before a shark-toothed smile drew across her face.

  “All of the above, I see.” She said, resting her hands on her hips. “What if I had a business proposition for you?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “You! You... what?” Brenson eyed the goblin. “You would betray your employer?”

  “What? No, no! Niala's great, I wouldn't do that to her! I meant a business proposition, where we both make a ton of money.” She said, smiling from ear to ear, with the eyes of a predator.

  “I...” Brenson looked side to side before leaning forward and speaking quietly. “How much money? And how?”

  Linzy's smile somehow grew wider. “Oh, Mr. Brenson, you're going to love this proposal!”

  Niala was watching with glee as Lychee darted about her worktable, slurping up the condensed water vapours that the brewing process leaves behind.

  Gerat was in one of her pockets, his head poking out and observing the small creature, machinating a way to use it to his advantage, when Linzy knocked on the door frame and stepped in, addressing Niala.

  “Hey, boss, got a minute?”

  Niala looked up from her lichen pet and at the goblin. “Sure, Linzy. What is it?”

  The small woman played with one of her pointed ears. “So, I notice that keeping us stocked isn't taking a whole lot of your time. That right?”

  “That's right. Between my compound alchemy and the distiller, I can make large batches at once.”

  “Right, so if I asked if we could make more potions, simple stuff like digestives, painkillers, energizers and the like, would that be a lot of extra work?”

  Niala pursed her lips as she did some calculations. “No, not really. I could just brew bigger batches at once. Why? We don't have enough customers, we'd fill up the store.”

  “What about if I asked for common-grade potions instead of your usual stuff?” Linzy precised.

  Niala tilted her head. “Well, then yes, I'd need to brew different batches, but that still wouldn't take a lot of time. Maybe an extra bell or two per week?”

  The goblin smiled and balled her hands. “Great! Can we do that? I can get a supply contract for those!”

  “Really? That's nice! Are we exporting them like the ones for Luke? Oh, that reminds me, he asked me to increase the shipments again.”

  Linzy's eyes widened. “Again?! You're already sending him six times the initial contract amount, and he's been selling them for ten times the price!”

  “Ten times!?” Niala's ears shot up.

  “Yeah! It's crazy! I need to get some pointers from him on how to fleee-fetch such a good price!”

  The catkin rubbed her forehead. “I wish you guys would stop trying to overprice my product. Just... give me the list of what you need brewed, I need to make sure we have all the ingredients...”

  Linzy shook her head. “No need, part of the contract will have all the ingredients delivered. Just remember, common grade. Even if you can make them better, stick to common, ok?”

  Niala squinted her eyes at the small goblin. “...Alright.”

  “Great! We're going to make a ton of money!” Linzy said, before skipping out of the room.

  Niala watched her leave with some uneasiness before returning her attention to Lychee and blinking at the table's surface. It was entirely dry, not a single droplet of liquid left. Lychee was roaming about, its feelers flailing as it attempted to locate a new source of moisture.

  “Huh, good job, Lychee?” She said.

  Gerat spoke up. “The motive moss is quite efficient at absorbing liquids. I wonder what it could do with spilled blood-OW!” He yelped as Niala flicked his head.

  “No using Lychee to clean up blood. I don't want him turning red.” Niala scolded the rat-lich before picking up her green pet. “Isn't that right, Lychee? No gross blood for you. Just good, clean water!”

  She giggled as the bumblemoss nestled into her hand, sucking up the moisture of her skin.

  They might have long-term issues, but right now, she was loving her life!

  David was in the living room, on the armchair, eyes closed, slowing his breathing, as he began looking inward.

  Jordo had kept working on deciphering the mana materialization experiments that they had retrieved from the Reign repository, and one step that all luminaries had agreed upon was that having a strong connection with your mana was the first step to proper materialization.

  And so, David had embarked upon strengthening his bond with his mana. He didn't know exactly how to do that, but he figured going for regular visits was a good first step.

  He felt his consciousness fold upon itself, and soon he was looking at the mirrored surface of his inner sea.

  “Serpent, come on up.” He called out.

  A few moments later, the serpent's dorsal fin broke the waters, soon followed by its mountainous body, which rose, and rose, and rose, temporary waterfalls draining from its back.

  “You called?” The deep voice rumbled.

  David looked up at the beast's head, so close and so huge, it nearly filled his entire field of vision.

  “Have you grown bigger?!”

  The serpent retracted its head, craning it to look at its own body, before returning its gaze to its master. “I do not know. I do not feel different. Is it a problem if I did?”

  David pinched the bridge of his nose. His mana growing bigger was... “I guess it doesn't matter. You're already too big, what's one more mountain worth?”

  “I am too big?” The serpent asked, its voice worried, as if it had done something bad unknowingly.

  David waved his hand. “Forget it, it's fine. You... you need a name.”

  “I am your mana.”

  “I still need a name to call you. Mana is not a name.” He said, rubbing his chin.

  “Levi, I'll call you Leviathan, since that's really what you are. I've never heard of a mountain-sized sea serpent.”

  The sea serpent – Leviathan- paused, turning its head sideways so that a single eye peered at David. When it spoke, it was with hesitance, as if it had been told a truth it didn't fully trust. “I... am Leviathan, the creature that is your mana.”

  Its voice gained confidence. “I have been given a name. I am your mana, but I am something more, now!”

  David suddenly felt small as Leviathan reared up, pointing its head at the sky, and opening its mouth. Its throat bulged, and it let out a roar that made the water rise up in waves all around them, wind picking up out of nowhere to buffet David.

  “I AM LEVIATHAN!”

  Above, up in the sky, the featureless sky grew opaque as dark clouds formed from thin air, beginning to swirl, the eye of the storm centered on Leviathan and David's position.

  Lighting shot up from the sea, into the clouds, a few at first, then multiplying until the flashes were non-stop, the thunder a single rolling rumble with no start or end.

  And, up above, at the centre of the hurricane clouds, a clear, unobstructed hole, giving way into an empty, sunlit white sky.

  David felt droplets of water impact under his arms. He looked down and saw the sea raining upwards, gaining in size and force, until a pillar of water rose from the sea, ever bigger, ever wider. It shot up, reaching him within seconds, and swallowing him whole.

  From his watery prison, he heard another of Levi's roar, shaking him to the bone, and felt dragged up, up into the white sky, within the solid cylinder of water.