"We'll figure it out," I said, turning to head in to the fire. Everything on me was wet, and it all needed to dry, but at least the ooze was gone.

His hand wrapped around my wrist, stopping me in my place. "Promise me if you come across her, you won't take anything at face value."

I stared at him, then nodded.

"Good. She shouldn't get to hurt you more than she already has…" He let go of my wrist and closed his eyes for a long moment. "Benny tried to connect with her on his research project. You should ask him about it. Get more information about what she's like, don't just take my word for it."

"Dad, don't worry. I won't let her mess with me."

He nodded and turned back toward the entrance, his shoulders stooped for a few moments before it was like someone yanked on his spine. Then he marched off like normal.

What had she done to him?

I snapped my mouth shut and headed closer to the fire. My clothes were wet and cold, both things I disliked. By the time I reached the edges of warmth, more people had gone to bed, leaving Benny, Hammy, and Sang at the fire.

Sang's eyes lit up when I approached, then she caught sight of my clothes. "How come you are a hot mess every time I run into you these days?"

"All in a good day's work," I muttered, taking a seat on a log and yanking a boot off. "Do you have those air crystals handy? I want to spend some time studying them…"

"Sure," she said as she pulled them out of the bag by her feet. "I keep all of them on me right now."

She handed over the silver crystals once both my boots were drying by the fire.

At contact, it felt like a fresh breeze blew through my whole body, and I couldn't help but shiver. The Soarstone on my chest sent energy out through me and it touched the other stones.

I shivered again, not daring to move as I studied the energy and the presence shifting between the three stones. It was like they were saying hi to old friends. When I'd harvested these air crystals this hadn't happened, and I tried to figure out what was going on.

Hammy tried talking to me, but I couldn't spare the mental energy to figure out what he was saying. Sang must have told him to wait a couple, because he stopped.

I ignored everything outside my body and concentrated on the interactions between the three presences. That connection gave me an idea, and I brought the crystals in my hands closer to myself, focusing on the bond between the two of them. The intention of keeping in touch.

Air crystals could become knowledge stones, I knew that. I had one that I hadn't done much with. It basically chilled in my pocket, but it didn't react the same way as these three. Then again, it wasn't touching my skin.

The Soarstone withdrew its connection from the other two, so I switched my focus to just them. I wanted to increase the connection between the two crystals. I started humming to myself, making them sparkle, though I didn't notice the glittering lights in a conscious way.

Like whispers being passed back and forth between two people, could the same thing happen with the crystals? The crystals agreed it could, but they needed to change and now they knew what to do. I pressed the two of them together, mixing the edges of their energy with each other and flexing my ability to shape crystals.

My energy drained away as the two crystals sucked it down. Then it suddenly stopped, as both grew warm in my hands.

[You have leveled, Crystal Singing.]

[You have leveled, Crystal Singing.]

[You have leveled, Crystal Singing.]

[You have leveled, Crystal Singing.]

Darkness crept in at the edges of my eyes and I wobbled back. Hands reached out to catch me as cool energy raced out of my healing stone.

"Woah," said Benny. "You okay?"

His voice sounded so far away, and I knew this was trouble. My stomach growled in that intense way as my mouth watered.

That is Benny, you aren't going to hurt Benny.

Yet everything inside me argued to eat, tear, and rend.

Food. I needed food.

I didn't dare release the crystals in my hands, they kept my hands from doing anything I'd regret. I yanked on my inventory crystal and a bite-sized piece of meat appeared in my mouth. I swallowed and did it again. The stack I'd processed earlier rapidly declined as I gripped the crystals in my hands.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Eventually, my stomach felt like it'd burst, but I didn't dare stop before then. This was much worse than the bloomstone.

My eyes flickered open to find Benny, Hammy, Sang, and my father staring at me.

"What did you do?" asked Sang, quietly staring at my hands.

The coppery scent of blood came from my fingertips as I relaxed my hands, but they didn't hurt. I clutched two, no, four crystals. Two appeared like small marbles, while the other two looked like the raw crystals, both half the size of before. Flecks of blood spotted both of the raw crystals near the sharp edges. I ignored them.

Instead, my focus stayed on the marbles and the connection that hummed between them.

"Sang, take this…" I held one of the marbles out to her and she carefully took it in her palm. "Can you feel that?"

"Yes…" Her eyes widened, and I felt the marble in my hand vibrate before it glowed. "You didn't? How?"

"Does it work?"

She shakingly stood up with my father's help then walked several feet back.

The marble in my hand glowed again, and I sent a little burst of energy into it. A voice spoke softly in my head. 'You made a phone…'

"Not a phone, walkie-talkies, like Dad had…" A burst of energy left me and her face glowed from the marble. "It works, I actually did it."

I swayed a little, even with all of the meat slowly getting consumed in my stomach.

"Let me try," asked Benny.

I gave him the marble, as I stood up shakily.

Benny quickly reached out to help me. "You need to get some rest."

My clothes were mostly dry, including my socks, so I just nodded and set the air crystals down at my feet. Then I headed for my bedroll. Yet, even as I laid on top of it my mind went to the crystals at the bottom of the lake.

I had another idea of something I wanted to create. Especially now that my Crystal Singing profession had reached level 25. As my eyes closed, I tossed 6 stat points each into Intelligence, Fortitude, and Willpower, to ready myself for my mission when I awoke.

When I blinked again, I found myself on a log next to a campfire out in a clearing, and it wasn't raining.

"Noseen, you here?" I asked.

"You're taking the fun out of this," he buzzed, almost sounding sad.

Something brushed against the back of my head and I froze, not turning to look. I felt him use Insight on me.

"Well, your profession has grown. I thought you were going to get less squishy?"

"I'm focusing on skills, like you said. I've already increased my stealth and senses."

"Good, good," buzzed Noseen, as he landed on the log next to me, again in that hand-sized mosquito form.

"I really wanted to do something with Insight, but I think crystal singing will be next."

His buzzing cut off. "Your weapon skill needs work."

"I just increased that, and got a minor increase to damage…"

He buzzed but didn't say anything. It still felt like a rebuke.

"I'll work on it," I finally said, but, I didn't add, after my crystal project. "I also did a dungeon run, but it was worthless… Hey, what are credits?"

"You got credits? How many?"

"100."

Noseen chuckled, not even buzzed, just chuckled. "That will get you maybe a glass of cheap wine. If that."

"Eh, the dungeon said it was de minimis." I scratched the back of my head.

"That's a mockingly low reward." His wings moved so fast I couldn't see them, then he suddenly was right in front of my face. "That's not how to become less squishy!"

"I was with a group of others, so they'd get past the cap and complete a dungeon."

"You played guardian?" He was suddenly on the log again. "That's different. The 100 credits make sense now."

"Guardian?"

"It's when a higher level being does a run with someone they protect, to make sure they don't die."

That made sense, and a sense of relief went through me. I'd worried about fighting things too low level, but if it had a term, it couldn't be too bad.

"Don't make a habit of it."

"Where are you, anyway?" I asked.

"Home. I need to prep the other half of your surprise. Did you…?"

Everything rippled, and I jerked away at a faint lingering pain at my neck. My hand smashed into Jennifer's side, throwing her several feet away.

A scream ripped from her throat as she tumbled over a sleeping Abby.

People jumped to their feet with weapons drawn.

I pressed a hand to my throat, feeling the cut already healing, though blood trickled down between my fingers.

"She attacked me!" Jennifer's voice echoed throughout the cavern as she tried to get to her feet, but couldn't. Blood dribbled out from between her lips as she glared at me.

I'd probably crushed a few of her ribs.

Several people started asking questions.

"Everyone, hush!" Everyone stopped talking at once. My father stood next to Hawk, his rifle pointed at Jennifer. "If she attacked you, how come she's still in her bedroll, and bleeding."

"Abomination!" The word came from her lips, so low I barely heard it.

My fingers tightened, but before I could do anything, my father and Hawk yanked her to her feet and she cried out. She swung a hand out, the knife she'd stabbed me with still clenched in her fist. Hawk caught the hand as my father slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of her head. She went down, and Hawk caught the rest of her.

"Alright, everyone, we still have time before breakfast." Abby stood up. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day of dungeon diving so, get your rest. We'll figure out what happened with Jennifer."

Randy laid back down, but he stared at me for a moment until I looked back.

"Are you okay?" David hurried over to me. "I saw your neck."

"I'm okay. Or, I will be." I stood up as he fretted.

"I hope she didn't snap. That happened at the mines sometimes," he rambled, in a panic, glancing in the direction they'd taken her. "People would just lose it one day…"

A few folks overheard that, and more people laid down, including most of the hunting crew. John gave me a look, and I sent him a thumbs up, so he pulled his blanket back over himself. Benny followed suit as well.

"Get some sleep," I muttered as I headed toward the fire. The sound of rainfall had lessened at some point.

David nodded and mumbled something to himself. Dad, Hawk, and Len, along with Sang, sat at the fire. Jennifer lay on the ground between Dad and Hawk.

"Thanks for not killing her," said Hawk. "Though, that might have been better."

Blood still trickled out between her lips.

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