Chương 25: Reaping the Rewards

The wraith's arms launched toward me, outstretched, like it was planning on pinning me down. It wasn't moving fast enough to kill me, but I got the sense it had something worse planned. Like draining my soul levels of worse. As the wraith's arms slammed forward, I wrenched my body to the side. My dislocated shoulder cried out in pain. I wasn't sure if I couldn't move it or if my body was just entirely unwilling, but either way, I could only work with one arm. I just barely managed to avoid the wraith's clutches.

Its arms slammed into the brick floor on either side of me, crushing the stone and cracking the floor. If that had hit me, I would've lost my arms. I was pretty sure Hild couldn't actually put limbs back on. Worse, how would I explain it to any of the others? My squad would know, but Galliard would be furious and I'd have to come clean.

It wasn't what I should have been thinking about, no, but when my Focus was running wild, it turned out I could have multiple trains of thought running altogether and not lose any of them. Okay, at least two trains of thought. But since the wraith was still trying to suck my soul out of my body, it was better than being solely focused on the wraith and panicking. It kept me sane enough to know what to do next.

When the wraith opened its mouth and reverse-screeched again, I wedged my spear up against the most solid part of its chest I could find, holding the wraith away before it could swallow my face. Then I braced my spear with my knee, freeing my good hand. The wraith still slipped forward. The wooden debris I'd braced my spear against slipped back into the beast's body, letting it get closer. But it bought me just enough time to get my good hand ready.

Shouting with effort, I reached out and grabbed onto the crystal in its head. It was about the size of an apple, and in reality, it was a clump of smaller crystals all fused together. The light inside it swirled like a snowglobe, and flakes of iridescent light shimmered within. It thrummed and pulsed, and tendrils of mud clung to it, holding it in place and resisting me. If I didn't get the crystal, I was done for. And it would be all my fault.

Maybe I should've just relaxed, laid back, and let the world move around me. Maybe I should've just accepted that I was meant for nothing. Still, I pulled, yelling and panting. A tendril of mud snapped, and the others ripped free in a chain reaction. The crystal fell out of the beast's head with a satisfying pop. My elbow smashed into the ground behind me, but the crystal was free. The wraith's eyes dimmed, and its body collapsed into a heap of mud above me. Liquid splattered my face, trying to choke me.

I ripped off my helmet and wiped my eyes, then crawled away from the mess—all while making sure to stay below the darts and their launch chutes. As soon as I made it out of the room with my crystal and spear in-hand, I held the crystal up to my ear. It was still screeching, just like the wraith had, except much more quietly, and I could make out individual voices. Civilians and slaves pleading for their lives with the orcs, working themselves to death, gargling as the beasts slit their throats.

I wanted to slam the crystal into the ground to stop the noises, but what were my odds of actually breaking it? And I had worse problems. My shoulder was still an issue, and I couldn't just walk back to camp with a dislocated shoulder. Hild would have questions, and others would hear about it. There wasn't any privacy back at camp. I shut my eyes.

I was no medic, and I only had basic first aid training that was required for working at the ski hill—which, admittedly, I forgot most of it, except what I needed for mandatory recertifications. I hadn't been ski patrol, so I had figured there would always be someone more knowledgeable than me. But I had been around when ski patrol had set a man's shoulder on one of the remote lifts. The power had gone out and the highway was packed, so EMS couldn't get through. Ski patrol had to set the shoulder right there.

Drawing on the memory, laid down on my back and inched myself up against the corner of the wall. When I was younger, I thought that you could just relocate a shoulder by pushing it back up and in, but it wasn't exactly like that. I slowly teased my arm out to the side, until it was ninety degrees outward, and I used the corner to hold it. Then, I grabbed a pilaster as best I could. I had to get the ball of the joint back around the socket, which meant I had to pull it outward first.

Clenching my teeth, I fought against the pain and the urge to scream, fought against the desire to retch as bone scraped and muscle slipped in a way it really wasn't supposed to. I pushed myself away from the corner, shouting, and with another pop that was eerily similar to the crystal ripping out of the wraith's head, the joint fitted back into place. The pain didn't fade right away, but it wasn't nearly as bad, and I could still walk.

I nursed my newly set arm as I pulled my helmet back on, then picked up my spear and the crystal. Before leaving, I used the siphon on the pile of mud that the wraith left behind, drawing out a misty white sphere of Presence. To date, it was the largest Presence I'd ever found. Once I had it safely stowed in my kit bag, I raced out the Labyrinth and rushed back to the others. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As I crossed the river, I washed myself off as much as I could, because everyone would have questions if I returned to camp drenched in mud. Once I was over the river, escaping the gloomy light of the Shroud, the crystal shook. The light inside it dimmed, and the little flecks disappeared. I didn't know where they went, but they disappeared. The faint screaming stopped, leaving me with a white crystal that reminded me of salt. Just… very large salt.

I raced up to meet the others on the ground, and Shave climbed down the tower to meet me. Thankfully, his studious reporting had been enough to distract the watchmen and make them turn a blind eye to me.

"You look awful," Romance told me.

"And you smell like mud."

"I'll clean off better later today," I promised them. We walked back to the camp, and I gave myself a scrub off in the stream near Slowbend to make sure I'd gotten rid of the mud. When I was clean, I showed Shave the crystal I'd taken from the mud wraith.

"You're insane…" Romance complained.

"How are you still alive? You killed a mud wraith and took its crystal?"

"Yeah," I replied with a wince.

"It nearly killed me, too."

"As a Copper?" Elf said.

"I'd bet he has enough attributes to be an Iron," Ticks said.

"He just needs to use all the Presences he's accumulated." He was probably correct.

"We'll find out tomorrow," Shave replied.

"I assume you've gathered enough Presences to pay for this stunt. To bribe the senior squad."

"More than enough," I said, patting my kit bag.

"But the crystal. Can I do anything with it?"

"Not much," Ticks replied.

"Not out here. Sell it, maybe." I winced. I didn't really want to sell it, but there had to be a use for it.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Keep it hidden until you get to the sappers," Elf said.

"Their smiths can use it in your armour. They can grind up arcane substances like that and mix them with the metal, and if they're strong enough, they can enhance your armour. It has to be fresh-made, of course, so you're best saving it for the smiths at Castle Urcia."

"No shade to Maurifus," Romance said, "but he's no Path-walker. The best smiths are always Path-walkers. Usually wicca."

"You guys think I'll make it to the sappers?" I replied.

"At this rate?" Shave snorted.

"We're not blind, Levi. If you'd started at Homecamp, if you'd taken Lemming's body only a few weeks before he got sent to us, you probably would've become a sapper right away. They would've seen your potential and sent you to Castle Urcia instead of shipping you out to a squad like ours." I nodded.

"I see." I tucked the crystal away safely into my kit bag. We raced back to the camp, got our dinner, and settled down for the night. I hunted down the squad who I'd promised the Presences to and handed them each three, then gave the squad captain the extra pay I'd also agreed to. He looked at the Presences, and everyone in his squad did too. They checked them and used them, and all the old Dupes gave nods of satisfaction.

"How did you get these?" the squad leader asked.

"We weren't expecting you to come through like this."

"I can't tell you that," I replied.

"And what if we rat you out to the Commander?"

"You and what proof?" I asked.

"I think the Commander's starting to take a liking to me, by the way. So…good luck with that. I'll deny ever giving them to you."

"Taking a liking to you," one of the Dupes scoffed.

"Why do you figure that?" I shrugged. I wasn't going to say aloud that I helped give him an excuse to discipline Scar, nor that the punishment he'd given us for infighting was relatively minor compared to Scar's punishment—which, as I later found out, was ten lashes. These guys might be working with Scar and I didn't want to piss them off.

"Yeah, yeah, keep your supplier secret, then," one of the other Dupes said.

"We'll hear about him soon enough if he's legit." I snuck away after that, making sure to keep my head down and stay quiet, then raced back to our tent. I had to use all the remaining Presences right now for myself, and I'd saved the biggest ones for my own use. I'd tell Galliard that I bought these ones from a merchant for sale, because the man was trying to leave quickly. When I reached our tent, I opened my kit bag and drew them all out, then, one by one, crushed the presences between my fingers.

They popped, filling me with a little more physical impact, and I happily accepted them. When I was done, it felt like my chest was on fire, but I'd used enough Presence to hopefully get myself two points. I'd find out tomorrow morning. But more importantly, I needed to prepare to merge my Skills.

There were no merchants so close to the front lines this late in the season—the Greenway, apparently, was the land we'd crossed to get to Castle Urcia, and the Greenway Merchants travelled it through the summer to spread their wares. So all I had was a moderately helpful history book. I couldn't search for books about Skill merging, sadly. As we settled to sleep, I asked Shave, "Any chance you could help me with Skill merging tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, Levi," he said.

"Save it for tomorrow."

"Got it." I lay in bed for a little while, satisfied with myself. It was difficult to explain, but it was like I'd just completed a hard day of studying and work, but I'd put that effort toward bettering myself. I'd tied up a lot of my loose ends, and now, everything was about to speed up. My life was about to really change tomorrow, and I couldn't wait to see what that looked like.