"1100 credits?" I repeat her price like that was going to change the answer. My lips parted, and I frowned at the boots on my feet. I wanted them badly, but couldn't afford them with my measly 100 credits.

"A member of the water tribe paid for them already," said Bente, watching my face. "You did good work freeing those people. I'm glad to help outfit you to do more good work."

I snapped my mouth shut and nodded. While I would have helped those folks without new boots, they were comfortable. It was a nice bonus.

"You really need to look into some better clothes for under your armor. Whatever you are wearing now is wearing thin in various places."

I nodded again and glanced at Shelli to save me from my outfit critic.

"Don't worry, I'm working on pants for her, along with a shirt," said Shelli, stepping close to Bente. "She'll be decent by the time she leaves the dungeon. I just need the seamstress to finish the basic sizing before I imbue some runes."

"Wait, is that how all of your guy's clothing is so clean?" I asked, realizing that no matter who I glanced at, everyone's outfits looked on point. No dirt, blood, or even wear showed on the clothes. Everything looked like they'd just received it yesterday.

"Of course." Shelli nodded with a slightly confused smile. "Your world must not have those. That makes sense now, given the state of your clothes."

Both Bente and Shelli seemed less confused.

Lenna stepped closer to Shelli and whispered, "Any chance you can touch up my armor with those runes?"

"Of course! It isn't hard, I just need to find a quiet place to get it done. I can do it at the same time I get Alex's gear done."

I didn't need to remove the boots, and life was good. Or put on the gross socks that now hid in my inventory.

"Next stop is a place where I can get that done, and you both can rest."

I stood up and smiled at Bente. "Thank you again for the boots. I will put them to good use."

"Of course," she bowed her head toward me, still taller than me by inches. "I am glad I can be part of your path, even if only a small part."

Thankfully, she stood back up before I could respond.

The number of people in the gaps between the stalls had lessened, and Shelli headed toward an even emptier area. The number of Azura folk decreased until we walked through an archway for much taller people than I.

Inside was another short hallway, followed by an open door and a large open space with tables, workbenches, and additional doors that were placed every five feet or so. Some doors were open, and the lights hanging from above showcased the beds in the rooms. On one side of the room, a fire blazed in a ring of stones on the floor. A grate sat on top, with a cooking pot.

"You can grab any open sleeping space, or use any of the workbenches," said Shelli.

Kabi and Cekta sat near the fire, and Kabi glanced up as we entered. He nodded at me, but continued his conversation with Cekta, Fiko, and Sile.

Shelli headed toward a man working with some dark green clothing.

I headed to my own workbench and sat down, pulling out the crystal I'd gathered so far. I had a large hunk from the collars, and then the forest crystal as well. And the transparent mixture from the ring, though I left that aside for the moment.

I'd ignored my notifications from the battle and quickly pulled them up to read through them as quickly as I could.

[You have freed a binding crystal.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singing.]

The same notifications repeated, and I'd gained 5 levels in my profession. It was slowly catching up to my class, but I still had a ways to go, with level 43 in my profession verses my class level of 65. My focus went to the forest crystal that had been changed to be close to a protective crystal, but somehow wasn't finished.

Strange.

I poked at it before diving deep to make sure there weren't any secrets I'd missed. Inside the crystal, someone had started on a rune, but it wasn't complete; it didn't have anything to tie it together. As I watched, pieces of it broke off, and it faded even more.

I pulled away to let my mind think about what it had felt and grabbed the broken binding crystal from the ring. Carefully, I pulled two small round marbles off of it that were mostly air crystal, then I pulled the communication marble out of my pocket. I focused on making them match, which took more focus than I'd expected.

Impurities were inside the mixed crystal, and first I needed to remove them. Bit by bit, a pile of stuff gathered next to the marble I worked on as I hummed. Then I switched to the second one, and again, stuff oozed out of it until they both felt like air crystals again.

Sweat dripped down my back and dotted my forehead.

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singing.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singing.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singing.]

[You have evolved Crystal Singing and Attunement - II into Crystal Transcendence: By singing, you can now not only locate and manipulate mana crystals, but also liberate those bound by external forces and cleanse them of impurities. You can shatter bindings, dispel corrupting energies, and restore crystals to their natural, harmonious state. The voices within the crystals sing clearer, and their elemental power flows more freely.]

The notification felt jarring, and it slipped me out of my concentration state. I found Lenna sitting at the fire with Kabi and the others, talking in low voices. My stomach growled, even though I had just eaten, and I quickly ate a couple of slices of meat until it settled down.

I returned to the marbles and focused on syncing the three of them.

[You have created a communication crystal.]

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[You have created a communication crystal.]

I didn't get another level, but still. They were done. I opened my stat sheet to see my current growth.

Name: Alex

Level: 65

Race: Human

Traits: Survivability, Adaptation, Hangry

Class: Shadowstalker, level 65

Profession: Crystal Singer, level 46

Stats:

STR: 246(258)

QUICK: 400(433)

FLEX: 400(433)

TOUGH: 260(318)

INT: 375(416)

FORT: 389(427)

WILL: 290(311)

CHA: 201(211)

FREE: 24

Monstrosity: 6%

Titles & Achievements:

Jack-of-all-Trades

Lucky Stars

Giant Slayer

Songweaver

Citizen

Ahead of the Curve

The First

Skill: 10/10

Fortified Adaptation

Crystal Transcendence

Perceptive Awareness

Relentless Pursuit - II

Shadow Walking

Blades and Polearms - II

Venomous Chomp - II

Tensile Claw Strike

Whispering Trap

Fast Swimmer

Runes:

Truth Sayer

So much progress between the new skills and stats. It made me feel good reviewing where I now stood. The gap between my class and profession slowly narrowed, which was my goal. I needed those levels for when I ranked up, not to mention the lack of stats for crystal singing at the moment. At the same time, thinking of my next rank up felt a little crazy given it didn't happen till level 200.

I headed to the campfire where everyone sat around. I tossed one of the marbles at Lenna, and the other at Kabi. Both caught them.

"We can communicate with these. They aren't as quiet as the runes, but they're still useful." I didn't add that I could feel them on my senses, much farther away than my radar. They didn't need to know that.

"You look like you need a bath," said Lenna with a grin, like she had a big secret she couldn't wait to share. "There are hot springs down the larger archway there…"

She pointed to a large archway I hadn't noticed.

"Really?" I asked, noticing that her hair was wet, and she was clean. Actually clean. Even the smudge of dirt that'd been on her cheek since I'd awoken was gone.

Before she could answer, I hurried in that direction. The archway opened up to a room with a large pool of water.

"Would you like to bathe?" asked a quiet voice.

My senses tingled as I nodded before I realized what it was.

A crystal.

"Do you have a collar on?" I asked.

The young girl's eyes widened, and she jerked back before nodding shyly.

"Yes, this is one of the few safe places that the slavers can't track people, even with collars." She pulled down the wrap covering her body and revealed a collar digging into the edges of her blue skin. "Any who can find their way free come here. I'm lucky that my grandfather knew how to get here…"

I reached out and touched the crystal section. Inside, the crystal slumbered, the connection to whatever ring controlled it, blocked by the dungeon.

Did that mean they didn't work between worlds, either?

Instead of saying anything out loud, I pulled the crystal away from the metal ring before vanishing it into my inventory. The crystal melted away from the metal ring easily, since there wasn't any force corruptnig it.

"It's really gone!" She pulled the rest of it off and rubbed the dark purple marks around her neck. "Thank you so much!"

"Of course. Now, how does the pool work?" I asked, changing the subject. I needed a break from all the Forger things.

"Oh, yeah. You rinse off over there," she pointed toward an area with an overhead pull. "Then you can enter the pool. If you want, I can clean your clothes, no charge for you."

"It's a deal."

It didn't take long for me to toss my new boots into my inventory and hand over the rest of my clothes. A quick rinse later and I walked into a hot steaming pool of water.

I found a seat under the water, but it was too short for me, so I leaned on it instead.

"This is amazing," I whispered to myself.

Time became meaningless within the dark warm space, and I didn't know how long I stayed in the hot water, but it helped me relax with my eyes closed. By the time I got out, my underclothes, along with my uniform, were clean. Yet, Shelli caught my eye climbing out of the pool, before I could get dressed.

"Your clothing is in the double room where Lenna is…"

"Thank you."

Weariness drifted over me at the thought of a bed, and I headed to an open doorway behind the campfire where the guys sat. Lenna's presence rested inside the open door, and I peeked in to find her looking at me. She pointed at the second bed.

"Want to double up?"

"Sure," I replied, heading in that direction.

The room was small, but it had two beds, both more square than the rectangular ones humans used. I quickly removed my boots as Lenna shut the door. Two pieces of dark green clothing rested on the bed. The pants were looser than my uniform, and the top was almost a halter top that buttoned behind my neck. It left my arms bare, which I wasn't so sure about, but at least my stomach was covered. My armor would take care of one shoulder.

[Azura Forest Outfit, imbued with self-cleaning and reinforced.]

Still, they were clean, fitted great, and were way more comfortable than my uniform. I sat down on the bed once dressed and glanced at Lenna.

She stared at the ceiling.

"Well, we saved a bunch of people," I said.

"Of course we did." She smiled and sat up, looking at me. "We aren't done, though…"

"You're sure?" I asked, thinking about the fact that the Water Tribe had to have a portal offworld, somewhere.

"Yes. These people need our help, and we can help them."

I felt relieved after she said it aloud. My father always spoke about responsibility to help those that you could, and here I could help. Not to mention, we both were leveling faster than at home.

"We don't want to get stuck on this world for decades, though."

"I don't believe we will be here that long," said Lenna with a smirk. "The water tribe is ready to remove the Forgers from their planet. I heard talk of them mobilizing to plan an attack on the Rustlands."

"Oh, wow… that didn't take long."

"The sooner they are gone, the better…" Her voice trailed off. "I need some rest."

"Same…" I whispered as I laid down on the bed. It didn't take long for sleep to take over.

#

"There you are!" said Noseen. "Oh, gaining some levels… but not many…"

I shook my head, trying to figure out where we were. The clearing looked familiar, but the hut we stood next to didn't. The remains of a watchtower made it clearer.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Working on the teleportation portal. I brought help from my world. They are staying out here…"

"Oh, okay…"

"Why aren't you leveling?"

"I'm focusing on my profession. I just gained 8 levels in it…"

Noseen didn't respond. Then he appeared again in the strange humanoid shape with the pitch black eyes. "Professions are good, but you need to survive the world you're on."

"I don't need to survive, I need to thrive."

He stared at me. It felt like the sun peered into my soul as my most recent memories flashed before me. This time, it didn't jar me at all.

"That is acceptable progress." He nodded. "Your rank-up would be delayed without your profession catching up after all. Smart."

"Hey, it's gotten me free clothing, boots, and food." I chuckled.

"You are a strange devourer…" his voice suddenly stopped, and it was like he wasn't there anymore, even though he was, but the dream didn't shatter.

"Noseen?"

He didn't respond.

I reached out and touched his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

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