Returning to Earth #1 after Zentha Qitris zipped away, I found myself without any clear and imdiate goals. That was fine sotis, but I felt like I was supposed to have gained so ground. Instead, I was barely enlightened with knowledge, and none of it was freely offered by her. Just ominous portents that she had to know wouldn't be useful.
I had decent hopes for her, since she'd been so helpful to Izzy. Sure, we'd sought her out in hiding instead of in her fancy manor, but if that was such a problem you'd think she'd have accepted my offer of aid. I wasn't going to take on a world full of wizards… but surely we could have at least brought her to a world willing to protect her instead of one she was just hanging out in.
I rarely ever ended up on Earth #2 without an incident with The Scouring. I had been slightly concerned that my presence had drawn them in, sohow. Though the incident with the large batch of Humuruns I pulled through was probably related to their presence more than the Gate.
It was also possible being cognizant of that issue had helped. My Gate could have been more subtle. Or they were all busy. Surely if they could actually just assault the world whenever they wanted with limitless numbers they would have won already.
While I was personally disappointed in so of the developnts, the Power Brigade probably liked my availability. I did still have so experintation to do, but mostly I spent ti on patrols. Though I did try to figure out how one got as quick with mana manipulation as Zentha. Was that just an experience thing?
I was probably faster than before. I just hadn't really thought about that factor all that much, given that I would simply run out of mana faster. But being able to respond to attacks more easily would be very useful. Fortunately, that was the sort of thing I could do on the job, just generally trying to improve my casting speed. It might just take ti, but if there was so sort of secret to it I needed to grab soone and make them tell .
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It was entirely possible that Zenfer Cloudfound didn't know what ti zone I was in. I ca to that conclusion because I received a Sending shortly before midnight and it wasn't related to so sort of ergency.
Maybe mages were supposed to have awful sleep schedules. I certainly did sotis, but there was rarely a reason I couldn't take a proper rest and continue whatever I had been doing more alert in the morning.
"Information regarding the whereabouts of grand mage Ixius Uvithar has co to our attention. It may be of interest to you."
Whoa. That was a revelation.
I'd never heard Master Uvithar's given na, as far as I was aware.
I got a text from Midnight asking about the magic and my response. I just invited him across the hall. It would be cool if we had a little tunnel he could just run across, but that wouldn't be the standard for most people in this apartnt complex so it was sensible they didn't have that. Mostly, it was just ant for individuals of various sizes to be accommodate.
"Sounds like a trap," Midnight comnted.
"Right?" I replied. "I'm just not sure for who. I don't think I've done anything to bother the super secret cabal lately."
"Except for the thing with Zentha."
"Oh yeah. You think she's part of the cabal?"
Midnight shook his head. "No. She wouldn't have to be in hiding."
That made sense. "So they figured out I saw her sohow?"
"Not necessarily. It could be a coincidence. Also, there might not be a super secret cabal running things."
"Nah. That sounds boring. There has to be." I pondered for a few monts. "This specific 'they' has to be the Archmages of Granbold, right? Think we can trust them?"
"Who can say?" Midnight shook his head. He paced along the back of the couch- that was about as high as he was comfortable going most of the ti. "How much contact have we really had? The initial eting, a couple ssages thanking us for participating in the defense of allies in Linduel, and not much else."
"I did get the mana manipulation book. Though maybe it was so I didn't figure out the true secrets."
"Or so you didn't kill yourself with your mana crystal thing."
"They didn't even know about that. Also, I didn't stop doing it." It was still the best way for to maximize my mana. Though I only over absorbed individual crystals after I got a level to make up for the small difference in potential. It also hadn't stopped from wanting to explore other potential mana options. If anything, seeing the safe and approved thods made think about others. And now I was thinking about how to use mana better, not just absorb and store it.
Midnight pondered for a few monts. "You have to respond soon, right? How do we politely decline?"
"Well…" I shrugged. "I don't know if we should. Because they might actually have information I want. We just need to make sure to be safe about things. Maybe et sowhere public and bring backup?"
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"And what sort of backup can we bring? Undertrained recruits? Jero?" Midnight asked.
Oh right. We couldn't bring supers. "I suppose our options are limited. But Sir Kalman should be willing. And if he's not available… then we won't go."
"I suppose that would work. Though ard soldiers might be a bit much for so people."
Personally, I thought they were reasonable to have everywhere. "There aren't that many others we can ask. Ceira is super busy and also not really combat oriented. I'm sure she'd gladly grow us a new limb if we lose one, but that's a better reason to not have her. Zeb… might be too suspicious? And Izzy might not want to go."
"As long as we end up safe," Midnight said. "That's all that matters. But we should think about how to word our response first."
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We didn't finish things with a single Sending. But eventually plans were made and I think we did a great job not sounding too paranoid on our end. We had a whole week to sort out our plans, and we put together our group.
"If anyone asks, say you're a druid."
"But I'm a beastmaster!" Zeb comnted. "I can't do magic and stuff!"
"First, I wasn't talking to you," I pointed out. "That's part of the plan. Though you do have a good point." I looked at Izzy. "Maybe pretend to be a beastmaster."
She frowned. "Will they listen to ?"
"I want to help!" Zeb said. "Of course I'll listen."
"I an your… companions."
Zeb looked offended. "They are all very good boys and girls! Douglas is the best girl besides , Sugar is sweet, and Tammy hasn't chewed holes in anything today! He'll be one of the bestest boys eventually."
Zeb was not good with human naming conventions. Or maybe she was just bad at nas in general. "Look," I said. "We just need to know if Izzy can at least nominally tell Squirrels #1-3 what to do."
"Their nas are-"
"If you continue gathering squirrels I'm absolutely not rembering all of them," I cut her off. She'd been surprisingly effective in the last month, tripling the size of her squirrel gang. When she'd heard about the trip she insisted on coming to protect us. That was great and all, but it was not going to be simple to bring her other two oversized- and one otherworldly- companions. Technically the squirrels were from the wrong world too, but only particular people would notice that particular detail. Sa with Zeb, since dogs existed and were pretty widely varied like on Earth.
Not that Zeb was a dog. The various things she was wearing would be attributed to her being a companion. Sa with the squirrel trio, though they didn't have combat outfits yet. I heard that with the power of a beastmaster behind them they were surprisingly effective, though. Mostly through people from the Portal Squad complaining about training.
Zeb looked pretty big next to Izzy, like one of those pretty good danes or sothing. Obviously a different build, but proportionately. Izzy was carefully considering the squirrels. She carefully stretched out a hand towards Zeb's head. "Here, Douglas."
The squirrel hesitated slightly. She wasn't that familiar with Izzy. However, with slight encouragent from Zeb she complied.
"I guess we can work with this," Izzy nodded. "Too bad we can't explain it as you having five familiars sohow."
Zeb tilted her head. "I barely even fit on his shoulder! It would be strange."
Despite my size, I was willing to say that Zeb did not fit on my shoulder. "That's not a requirent for familiars, you know," I pointed out. "So walk around independently. Midnight does, pretty often."
"It's just so much faster," Midnight comnted. "And easier. You do know that you don't have to carry your companions, right?"
Zeb currently had squirrels perched on her head and back- there had been a third monts before. "I know. Otherwise Miss Flutter and Fluffy couldn't be my companions. Instead, I can ride them."
"You don't have to stack at all," I clarified.
"... But why wouldn't you?" Zeb asked.
I didn't have a good answer for that. "Anyway, try not to talk if it's not important. I'll leave Translation up for you in case you need to talk to Izzy or soone else, but otherwise just try to… bark?"
"It will sound really bad," Zeb said. "Unless it's actual words."
"People will just think you're a dog with a weird bark. The truth wouldn't even co to mind," I said.
We passed through the lobby of Extra. Especially nowadays we had to keep up at least so proper procedures.
"... That angel slls funny," Zeb comnted after we stepped into the portal zone.
"In an important way…?" I asked. Zeb had a good nose after all.
I looked to Midnight, who shrugged. "I don't go around sniffing people." Midnight's nose wasn't quite as good, but still better than my orcish one. I wasn't sure where Izzy ranked in things if we included the squirrels. She could have enhanced her senses that way, but I didn't think so.
Zeb thought about my question. "I think she's okay. I just didn't expect an angel to sll like that."
"Like… what?" I asked.
"Umm… it's probably a personal thing."
"In that case," I said. "Maybe don't bring it up? Though if sothing is dangerous or concerning we really should know."
"It's not dangerous," Zeb confird. "Or at least, not any more dangerous than being an angel?"
Angels were pretty dangerous.
Soon enough we reached an outgoing alcove. Midnight and I split a Gate, partially for regeneration purposes and partially for casting practice. Sir Kalman was waiting on the other side.
"Ready for a journey?" he asked.
I nodded. That was the main caveat we had for showing up. No portaling into the capital, not that they'd really want that. No teleporting either- though it would have been an option. I wasn't willing to risk ending up in the wrong spot in the capital or missing, though. I'd only seen it in Scrying a couple tis. And I didn't necessarily trust them sending a random mage who could teleport us. So we were going to have a proper journey. Sir Kalman could take care of so business in the capital and his presence would help make sure nothing went wrong.
I didn't know what could go wrong, but the answer was usually everything I could think of and then ten more things.
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