The moment I woke up that morning, I pulled up a chat window. I had to know what the hell had just happened, what we agreed to, and why Karlinovo had been so quick to capitulate suddenly.

Dave: Why did we agree to that? Who the hell is Otis?

Corey: I concur with Dave's sentiment. I did not enjoy being once again hijacked against my will.

Karlinovo: It's not as bad as it seemed. At least I don't think it is. As I said, there is so very much we need to discuss and figure out once you are back. But for starters, there were, or apparently maybe still are, a group of people called the Chroniclers. They were before my time, but as far as I know, they were not really popular. Not disliked exactly, but more seen as out of fashion if that makes any sense.

Dave: Okay, and how did you recognize Otis then?

Karlinovo: I had one of his books as a child. It was framed more as a look into unusual things, but even there, it was apparent he was trying to point out the unknowns hiding in plain sight of usual Spiral narratives. It was one of the first things that contributed to my later research.

Dave: So, more old legends showing up in my life than? You do understand how insane this seems to be right?

Karlinovo: We're making waves, whether we want to or not. Sanquar may be the reason this all started, or frankly, something before him, who knows? The point is that you aren't doing things the normal ways, which is going to attract attention in some way. Did I expect us to somehow pull a legend out of whatever insane journey he's started on to whatever the hell a soul realm is? No, I didn't, but that's the reality we are in and have to deal with.

Dave: I don't know if that's a fair point or not, to be honest. How much should I not bring up his name?

Karlinovo: It's likely safe to bring his name up. To call him a legend is probably giving him too much fame. He and his group are just one of the many obscure groups of fringe explorers out there. It's mostly a stroke of luck that I even knew it, let alone remembered it.

Dave: We need to learn what a soul realm is on our own as well. We probably shouldn't just trust him to be entirely honest.

Karlinovo: I would agree, and I would take that a step further. When it comes to any of these figures within the Spiral, if possible, we will always need to verify their claims.

Dave: Does that include you?

Karlinovo: If it's possible, absolutely. That's not even counting the fact that I am now in the body of a mana beast, and we have no idea what the long-term effects of that will be.

Maud: See, it's a good thing I didn't agree not to betray him! >:)

I closed out the window, not really sure what else to say after the last two messages. I didn't like the fact that we had another strange situation, but it was entirely possible that it was just the ramification of the previous series of strange coincidences. It was hard to really say either way, and ultimately, real life was always stranger than fiction. It didn't have to make logical sense after all.

In truth, this might actually be the answer to the soul chat we had going that we didn't fully understand, and at this point, I welcomed more answers. Instead of spending the morning lost in thought, worried about the soul realm and Otis, I instead made my way back to where we had had dinner the night before. I wanted to get a head start on clearing out the buildings.

I found Alex and Pryte already talking to several Reltleons when I arrived, the mayor included. "So have I missed anything yet?" I asked, wondering where everyone else was. I couldn't be that late, could I?

"No, John is outside setting up a giant cooking station near the city center. Mel is off with Grant, working on some last-minute training. Everyone else is grabbing food before we start," Alex answered as she shuffled through several pieces of paper in front of her.

"And what about you? Have you eaten?" I asked, concern for my daughter filling my voice.

"Morning sickness, I'll get some later, I promise," she replied. I chose not to push.

"So what's the plan then? Pryte, I assume you've got even more organization for this than what you said last night?" I asked, looking toward the gnome.

"Kind of. So each transport now has a number. They can easily fit twenty-five people a piece. If we have to, we can go as high as forty, but that would be double the population numbers we currently have, so that seems unlikely. What I want to do is for every person we check off as having found, we assign a vehicle and a seat. We will try to keep families together as best we can," Pryte answered, gesturing to a list of one to one hundred on various whiteboards in the room.

"And what are we doing with pets, assuming they have pets?" I asked. I knew that typically pets were often abandoned in situations like this, but considering we had the space, it wasn't something I wanted to do.

"Not really an issue, the only animal they commonly keep are a small lizard-like animal from their homeworld. They shouldn't have any issue keeping them with them for transport. What I'm really worried about are the livestock, but I've already got the brothers on that," he replied.

"Good," I said before releasing Alpha from my System storage. "Gamma, can you manifest, please? You're going to stay here with Pryte and Alex."

"Understood. I wish to see the list of people. We will get them all accounted for," Gamma said as they appeared.

"Just do what Pryte and Alex say, okay? And Alpha, your job is to stick with Elody's group today. That way we can be in constant communication," I explained.

"Okay. Elody nice," Alpha replied.

"Perfect, alright, I'll grab some food, and take Connie with me as my team. I figure we will start at the outskirts," I said, and received a nod back from Pryte. I smiled at Alex as I left the room.

After a quick meal of something similar to oatmeal, I left Alpha with Elody, grabbed Connie, and headed to the far side of the city. The sooner we started getting these buildings emptied, the sooner I'd feel the stress start to come down. While the trip back was still looming, this would at least be one more thing off my mind, letting me focus on what we will need to do there.

Maud was debating what to do. She had a problem that she wished she had settled before she had come here. The last floor of the Arena had maxed out her level, and while Rabyn had explained to her how to fortify her core, she had been nervous to do so. She was hoping to wait until John was ready as well, but she had realized that had been a mistake.

She needed the increase to her powers that it would give her now. She needed to be able to fight better on the trip back. That meant as much as she wanted to be out there helping today, she would instead need to spend it doing her first fortification. That was why she was back in the small room she had spent the night in with John. She looked over the current status again and debated a final time.

-\Core Grade {F}

-\Affinity\Animal Empathy {C}

So far, the Animal Empathy hadn't seemed to have done anything as far as she could tell, but Glorp and Rabyn both had thought she would need to unlock skills that went along with it to see some real advances there. What she really hoped for as she looked over her Elemental mana orb was to combine it with the Bond skill once she unlocked it.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -First Tier- Fundamental Forces (31) Requirements: N/A From the small to the large, all manners of interaction are made from minute changes that grow into something well beyond themselves. Fundamental Forces allow a host to connect with these changes and understand how to direct them. Further growth creates a synergistic effect with mental attributes for a more detailed understanding.

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Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Second Tier- Components (25) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (5) Recall (5) The host is able, through the use of various components described in their entry, to further empower their spells. Each rank allows for further empowerment.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Second Tier- Elemental Focus (0) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (25) Only a single rank may be invested into this skill and doing so will prompt the host to pick an element, locking this orb into a specialization of that element. Once this is done, Elemental Mixture may no longer be selected.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Second Tier- Elemental Mixture (1) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (25) Only a single rank may be invested into this skill, and doing so will allow the host to use Fundamental Forces to mix different elements together. Once this is done, Elemental Focus may no longer be selected.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Second Tier- Recall (25) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (5) The host gains the ability to recall the various interactions they have discovered through the use of Fundamental Forces. Each rank allows the recall of one additional spell.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Third Tier- Silent Casting (25) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (30) Recall (10) The host is able to dampen the noise required to cast recalled spells. Additional ranks spent further reduce the noise of all components of the spell.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Third Tier- Spell Book (25) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (30) Components (25) Using a blank mana-infused book, the host is able to begin the process of transcribing recalled spells into a spell book, doing so allows them to better customize their magic, and to catalog component effects on spells. Each rank spent allows for one spell to be transcribed into the book.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Third Tier- Wild Casting (25) Requirement: Fundamental Forces (30) Elemental Mixture (1) The host is able to draw in ambient mana of the given area to create unpredictable, but generally extremely powerful, bursts of magic. Further ranks decrease the chances of backlash.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Fourth Tier- Memorization (25) Requirements: Recall (25) Spell Book (10) Through careful study of the spell book, the host is able to commit their altered spells to their memory and may be recalled as needed. Further ranks allow for more spells to be retained in memory.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Fourth Tier- Harmonize (25) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (30) Recall (25) Wild Casting (25) The host may empower their elemental spells based on the natural features of the environment around them. Utilizing the environment to amplify their magic decreases the mana cost needed for the spell. Further ranks allow for greater control of their environment.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (2)~ +Mixture+ -Fifth Tier- Bond (0) Requirements: Fundamental Forces (35) Bond allows the host to form a connection with another being. Through this connection, they may share spells, awareness, and growth. This skill requires a full twenty-five ranks to utilize.

The idea of a cute animal buddy, or even better, one of her cats being her familiar, was what finally pushed her over the edge of debating. She again pulled up the fortification window and triggered it. It was time for her to reach grade E.

"Affinity evolution underway. All attributes and skill ranks have been ingested by your core. Your new core grade is now E. Your core affinity has gained the ability Empathetic Bond," the System's voice said in her head, just causing her to smile all the more.

-\Affinity\Animal Empathy\Empathetic Bond {0} Through the emotional connection you feel to living creatures, your core has evolved in a way to better connect you to the primal forms of such animals. Every animal bonded through this will slowly grow in their awareness until awakening as a primal mana beast. This will not grant you any control over the primal mana beast. It will only give you a chance to earn their trust.

I will make sure you are all remembered. No matter how cruel and unforgiving this existence may be, I promise you all, my friends, that I will engrave your existences onto my soul. Your truths will not be lost, as long as I live. And furthermore, I swear to you I will find an heir.

Inheritor Clorsh's Dedication in his Personal Memoires

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