A bead of sweet rolled down Nar’s temple, and the open breeze of the Canopy began drying its trail almost immediately.

  “That’s it! You’re doing it!” Jasphaer whispered, clasping his hands hard, his eyes bright and widening as he watched Nar’s blade.

  Cen pointed with a trembling, excited finger. “That bit there is still… Ow!”

  Jasphaer smacked her hand away.

  “Hush! He needs to be the one to do it!” he hissed.

  Nar ignored the furry healer and the bald caster.

  The three of them set a little apart from the others. Pockets of people or individuals focused on their own training, keeping a healthy distance between them and the aethermancers on the thick, twisting branch that they had set a brand-new tent on top of.

  A razor-thin layer of shifting, transparent aura shone from Nar’s blade, fully encasing it in a blurry edge of gray that was a full hand taller than the blade itself, and nearly three fingers wider.

  Tuk had unlocked his [Rings of Radiance] skill almost two weeks ago, aided by his increasing [Creativity] and [Shaping]. Nar had turned to Gad’s suggestion to learn [Aura Sight] from Cen and Jasphaer.

  He continued to learn to make better use out of his senses from Jul and Sej, to which he had added training his [Awareness] like a proper tank from Gad, with Tun and Leon joining in from time to time.

  Adding in the constant fighting, the trekking through the jungle, the continued improvement of his [Aura Blade], of his [Enduring Stand], the search for the still illusive self-healing passive skill, of continued swordsmanship lessons with Leon, and heavy sparring with everyone that asked for it, Nar barely had any time to breathe… And he was loving every second of it.

  Not only did it keep his mind off his dad and his failure, but he could literally see himself growing by leaps and bounds. And today, he was decided to make sure that the next time he leveled up, he would be seeing two brand new skills unlocked amongst his gains: [Aura Sight] and [Aura Edge], or whatever its name turned out to be.

  He frowned, but just about stopped himself from squinting at his sword before Jasphaer chastised him again. [Aura Sight] was not physical, and squinting only pulled Nar back to the physical reality and away from being able to see the powerful energy that poured from his soul unto his core.

  While Nar wasn’t sure if he could describe the process of learning to “see” his aura as hard, it had definitely been much stranger than expected. He had thought he could see aura all along, knowing intimately of his pathways thanks to the continued, torturous practice that the Master of Aura had told them to do in what now seemed like a long, long time ago in the Aura Hall. By gathering increasingly bigger agglomerates of aura, and slowing forcing them down each of their pathways, it was possible to slowly carve the pathways both wider and deeper. And Nar could see both his pathways and the aura cycling within, plus the large clumpful of aura that he used every night to train his pathways with. And add that to the list of things he was working on!

  But he’d thought that [Aura Sight] was merely something that aided with external aura control, such as Cen’s direct aura manipulation or Jasphaer’s healing. But according to Jasphaer, what Nar had was the knowledge of the aura inside him. The feeling that his brain interpreted in a way akin to sight, but which wasn’t. He wasn’t actually seeing his aura at all. But if he wanted to be able to forge his own edge of aura, he would have too.

  Tuk hadn’t needed to unlock [Aura Sight] because thanks to his [Shaping], he could envision what he wanted his aura to look like, and the [Shaping] did the heavy lifting for him. Cen, on the other hand, needed all three, [Aura Sight], [Shaping], and [Creativity], because she was pushing for something far more complex.

  In theory, that sounded right enough to both Cen and Jasphaer, the aura experts of the group. In Nar’s case, he did need [Aura Sight] in order to form the simple shape of an aura edge around his sword, because he had no [Shaping] to do the heavy lifting for him. However, without [Shaping], he could never hope to achieve anything more complicated than that…

  “Makes sense, right?” Jasphaer had asked him, all the way back in the unnatural quiet of the Jungle of Silence.

  Cen had nodded effusively, but to Nar, the whole conversation had seemed rather convoluted and quite a bit circular, but he had gotten the gist of it. No [Shaping] equals get [Aura Sight] and do it yourself.

  For over almost a full month since, he’d learned to see, or sense, he still wasn’t quite sure on which it was, for the energy that powered his every day, and which remained an existence somewhat between the real and the soul while within his pathways. His aura only truly materialized once he used it for his [Aura Blade] or when he coated his sword with it.

  Now, Jasphaer waved a hand behind his immaterial blade, and Nar grit his teeth to not allow his eyes to follow after the bright glow of the aura the healer was cycling within his fingers, and to remain focused on his own sword.

  The edge of the aura was nearly complete, but he spotted many imperfections that kept it from fully taking shape. Hence the need for [Aura Sight], which he had to be close to unlock by now! With his heartbeat growing heavier as he tried to beat back his enthusiasm before it ruined his attempt, he smoothed over his control across each and every imperfection, slowly but surely bringing that deadly edge of shifting gray into the physical realm…

  The edge of aura seemed to snap into being, to gain a presence, and even the sword itself felt heavier in his hands.

  “Damn,” Jasphaer whispered, looking over his aura-covered blade with raised eyebrows. “I think you did it.”

  “That looks crazy…” Cen breathed.

  Nar shifted the blade in his hands, observing the razor thin edge of aura he had brought into being through his own effort and step-by-slow-step building. It shifted in tones of white, gray, and black independently from the aura torch sitting in between the three of them.

  His crimson blade shone just the same way it did when he cycled his aura through it, but now, from its sharp edges and tip, there was a flow of aura that condensed to form what almost looked like a real, solid and bigger blade.

  It was beautiful, despite its deadly purpose, and Nar reached a hand to touch the aura edge…

  “Careful!” Cen warned.

  “Oh,” Nar mumbled, pulling back his fingers. “You think it will hurt me?”

  “It looks like it’s going to do some serious damage, that much is for sure,” Jasphaer said, examining the edge. “But we don’t know what its properties are, I guess. Touching Cen’s aura hexagons is fine, but you wouldn’t want to touch her [Orb of Erasure]. Or be anywhere near it.”

  “Right,” the caster said with a slight paleness. “It doesn’t seem to be doing anything right now, though? It kind of just looks like a bigger blade.”

  “Like a two-handed sword,” Nar said, almost transfixed by what he had achieved. “It does look like a real blade, doesn’t it? But just being a bigger blade… will that even help me? It should be like Tuk’s [Rings of Radiance], burning… What if I…”

  The other two faded to the background as he focused deeper into his new aura edge.

  If I want it to do proper damage, it needs to be the same as when I cycle aura to my sword, he thought. Oh? Can I just cycle aura into it as—

  The dungeon vanished in a glare of gray.

  “Ow!” Jasphaer cried.

  “What’s going on over there!” Sej shouted in Nar’s mind. “Turn that off!”

  “Hold on!” Nar shouted back. “I don’t know how to—Oh?”

  Just like that, his aura pulled back from the edge he had shaped, and the edge itself collapsed as he was no longer holding focus over its shape.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “What did you do?” Cen asked, her eyes still half-covered by a hand.

  “I just cycled to it,” Nar whispered.

  Feet rushed over to the trio, and soon there was a crowd around them.

  “Did you get it?” Tuk asked, eyes sparkling.

  Nar lifted the sword and repeated the same procedure. It was still a little slow, but the gathering watched him with patient anticipation.

  “Damn,” Mul said, when Nar was done. “That looks way crazier than someone’s bling-bling rings.”

  “Hey! My [Rings of Radiance] is going to grow, man!” Tuk snapped.

  “Sure, it will, Tuk,” Jaz said, grinning. “No need to be so self-conscious about it, man.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Hush!” Row said. “Why was it shining like that, Nar?”

  “I cycled to it,” Nar explained, split between feeling self-conscious with all the eyes on him, and the pleasure of having not only finally figured his edge out, but also that he could cycle to it! “Look.”

  “Careful!” Sej warned. “Some light is okay, since even at night, it's this bright, but don’t flash the whole Canopy either.”

  “It will be okay. I think,” he said, as he gently cycled his aura past the blade itself and unto its new edge. “Look… I think I just wasn’t expecting it to work the first time around, and cycled too much.”

  The aura edge glowed much more subdued this time, but it was undoubtedly glowing with the burning might of his aura.

  “Nice,” Tun rumbled. “That means not only that your damage potential is a lot higher, but also that your [Aura Infused Strikes] and its [Lingering Aura] will also work with this bigger blade.”

  “Yes. This is a great development,” Gad concurred. “Well done.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought that far yet,” Nar said, eyeing his weapon. It brightened and dimmed with ease, as he cycled more or less to it. “It’s surprisingly easy to do.”

  “You have phenomenal pathways and control, so it’s not really that surprising?” Cor ventured.

  “Yup,” Mul agreed. “I just hope that when you unlock the actual skill, that it has a better name than [Aura Edge]. You already have [Sword Aura], [Aura Blade], and [Aura Quickening]... Time for something more creative, no?”

  Tuk snorted. “Says the guy whose skills either mention rage or fire?”

  Mul shrugged.

  “That’s two things.”

  Nar smile.

  “It would be nice if it had a different name, actually. Getting a bit confusing,” Nar said.

  “Do you want to try it out in combat?” Eum asked, grinning wickedly at him.

  “Absolutely not!” Cali shouted, smacking the back of his head. “Are you trying to blow us all up? Wait until it becomes a proper skill at least!”

  “Yeah, I think that’s for the best,” Nar said, deactivating his aura edge. Who knows how it would behave in an actual spar?

  But do I need to use it in combat to gain it? Nar wondered, as the others devolved into a dozen, clashing conversations about their own training. Jul got her two fear skills without combat, but that has never happened with me…

  The more he thought about it, the more he became certain that he would have to use it first.

  Maybe I’ll ask Kur to let me aggro something and try it far from the party.

  “Right, since everyone is here, we might as well talk and address the big hydra in the branch,” Sej said.

  Sarke threw an arched eyebrow at that particular attempt at a joke, but otherwise, let it slide.

  “The egg,” Mach whispered, and Nar would’ve sworn that a breeze ruffled through his hair as he spoke.

  “Yes, the egg,” Sej said. She gestured for all of them to get comfortable. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I do have a plan. But it’s risky.”

  Nar glanced across the distance of gently swaying green and silver canopies, to stare at the glowing, towering tree where their target hid.

  “Isn’t it always?” Jaz asked.

  The blue skinned guide shook her head, and she too cast her ashen yellow eyes to the tree in the distance.

  “Not like this,” she said, in the silence that fell upon the party. “This will be the most dangerous thing we’ve done so far.”

  “Alright, lay it on us, please,” Leon asked.

  Sej took a deep breath. “Right, so, the fact that we can’t use [Stealth], which is already the risky way that it’s usually done in, really complicates everything.”

  “Sorry,” Mach whispered. “I’ve been begging my spirit to change that condition, but no luck.”

  “There’s a better chance of us sprouting actual wings,” Sej muttered. “If you want to do this, we have to do it in a way that gives us the highest chance of survival. And I don’t mean success. I mean survival. If it turns out that you can’t get your hands on that egg, we’re pulling out.”

  “We’re listening,” Calli urged her.

  “Right… So, smearing rat shit is still part of the plan,” the guide said.

  “Yay,” Eum muttered.

  “But that by itself is not going to get you far. These rats have eyes, and they will panic when they see something that is clearly not a rat walking into their home covered in their shit.”

  “Which makes sense, and it's why you shouldn’t just believe anything you read on the 2NET!” Calli said, glaring at Mach, Eum and Leon.

  “So, what do we do then?” the paladin asked, ignoring his sister. “How do we get in?”

  “We need to cause a distraction. A huge one,” Sej said. And after another deep breath, and a glance at the assembly before her, she added. “We’re going to set the tree on fire.”

  Nobody spoke. Nar glanced back at the tall tree in the distance, frowning.

  Cause panic, dash in, snatch the egg, get out, he thought. The smoke and fire will block their senses, and the poop smearing will only help mask our scent even more.

  “The whole thing?” Leon said. “I see.”

  “Is that really necessary?” Row asked. “Seems a bit extreme for one egg…”

  “It will regenerate again?” the paladin asked her.

  “Oh, right. Regenerate,” Row mumbled, eying the tree.

  I get why she’s asking it, Nar thought. It’s still easy to forget that anything in a dungeon will regenerate and respawn. It also hurts a little to destroy something so beautiful.

  “Why is that so dangerous?” Mul asked, his tone low. “Setting a tree on fire and running in and out doesn’t seem that bad.”

  “We’re not all fireproof, man,” Jaz said.

  “Neither am I, but the question stands,” the brawler asked. “Are the serpents going to chase us for revenge?”

  Sej shook her head. “The serpents will likely be too preoccupied trying to save their eggs and their young…”

  Ouch. I know they respawn, but still… Dungeons were still such a crazy concept.

  “The real problem comes from Silver Fists,” the guide finished with a wince.

  “Oh,” Kur said, his expression dropping.

  “Oh…” Calli mimicked. “I see.”

  “Care to elaborate for the rest of us?” Eum asked, frowning. “Also, I thought we we’re going to lure him away?”

  “And that was for Where the Winds Meet? Not here,” Mach added.

  “Each of the Brightnight lords follow certain rules,” Calli said. “The Thorn Hydra sticks to the middle of the Hungry Jungle and it cannot exit the miasma. The Silent Spinner in the Gloom does not spawn until you’ve killed the required number of her offspring. For Silver Fists, the Lord of the Giant’s Canopy, the rule is that he can only be confronted at his home, Where The Winds Meet, or when there is a challenge to his authority within the Canopy.”

  “Burning the serpent’s nest does that?” Teb asked, folding his four arms.

  “It does. Silver Fists, as strong as he is, does not approach nor directly challenge the nest. Sure, he can kill one of them with ease, but not all of them together… If we set fire to the tree, and in that way potentially kill loads of aelix, we are, in a way, demonstrating that we are stronger than him.”

  “And therefore challenging his control over the Canopy,” Gad rumbled.

  “Exactly,” Sej said.

  Leon frowned at Calli, and then at Sej. “But we still have the lures to distract him? We were going to have to do that anyway, in order to reach the Altair of the Winds.”

  “The stronger the perceived challenge, the harder he’ll be coming after us. Dungeon mechanics,” Sej explained. “He will come for us. He will find us, and we won’t be able to run away from him.”

  “Which means that to get the egg, we need to kill Silver Fists,” Row said, grimacing. “We need to kill a Lord of the Brightnight.”

  “We need to kill the strongest of the Lords of the Brightnight,” the guide corrected. “With just these three parties.”

  “Xu’Yot… That’s too much!” Mach said, turning a pleading eye to Calli and Leon. “We should give up. We have to!”

  “If we do, you’ll be penalized by your spirit,” Calli whispered, her tone gentle, but firm.

  “But this is an impossible quest!” Mach shouted, soaring to his feet. “We can’t do this! I can’t ask this of you guys. Much less of them. We’ve just met!”

  “Hey, now! We’ve been together for months!” Tuk said.

  “That’s nothing!” the vanore shouted. “We’re all going to die if we try this!”

  “It can be done,” Sej said, her tone careful. “But it will be really, really dangerous. And that’s the truth of it. Me and Sarke are personally willing to try it because you guys are so much stronger than the parties we usually guide, and your status as elite apprentices shows. That said, this is the plan. The only plan. You decide whether you want to do it.”

  Eyes turned from her, to Mach, and finally, to Kur.

  “Silver Fists has twenty million HP. A single punch will smear anyone not a tank…” the party leader said, staring down at his clasped hands.

  “It will also be accompanied by two female silver fist gorillas,” Calli whispered. “Low-Rare both of them right?”

  “Yes. And Silver Fists himself is a high-rare boss,” Sej said. “He doesn’t have any gimmicks to its name, or great secrets, or strategies that one needs to pay attention to. He’s just crazy strong.”

  “I can tank it,” Leon said. “With my [Divinity of the Faithful Protector], it doesn’t matter how much [Strength] that thing has. My barrier will tank anything!”

  “And when the branch you’re standing on falls apart?” Sarke asked, without a hint of sarcasm or judgment. “You have to understand we’re not fighting on solid ground here. We’re at least a 1000-feet up in the air, and if the fall doesn’t hurt or kill you, the aquatic beasts below will. There’s no fighting water beasts without a suitable aspect to match it.”

  Leon frowned, his golden, pink and rainbow glowing eyes calculating.

  “True… So, we need to worry about not destroying our arena, then. So, to speak,” he said. “That means a three way.”

  “A what?” Jaz asked, his eyebrows raising.

  “Three tanks taking turns holding the boss’ aggro. It’s used for lots of reasons, and this is one of them,” Tun said, rolling his eyes. “We will likely not only rotate between us, but keep moving branches to avoid destruction.”

  “Rampage is a better word. That thing’s a pure rage aspected beast,” Sej said. “And it’s fucking smart too. And fast… well, you get the gist of it.”

  Kur took stock around his domain party.

  “Anyone against this? Other than you, Mach,” Kur said. “Right. So, three parties, then… I guess we’re back to our triangle formation. Except this time, the enemy is inside the triangle. We’ll figure out how to get it done, but first, the only question left now is who is going to help Mach get the egg and set the tree on fire…”

  The party leader glanced in Nar’s direction, and Nar suppressed an inner sigh.

  It’s not that he was worried about dying in an uncontrollable blaze while maybe fighting his way up through Crystal knew how many hundreds or thousands of rats, plus maybe coming face to face with a couple 160-plus foot wind serpent… But did he really have to cover himself in rat shit to do it?