u/Zagaroth

Now with it's own subreddit: r/NoNeedForACore !

Also to be found on Royal Road and Scribble Hub.

u/Zagaroth — 6 days ago

▲ 6 r/redditserials

[No Need For A Core] — CH 371: Liquid Crystal Slime

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GLOSSARY This links to a post on the free section of my Patreon.

Amrydor did not have to wait too long before he felt the shifting shimmer of Klastoria's life pattern.

He'd never interacted with her much, though his party had fought their way past the slime boss once. She had been full of surprises and a difficult fight, constantly shifting between fluid and crystalline forms. She had also been able to escape the combat with a strange sort of jump that seemed almost like she'd shot herself off of the ground like a cannonball.

That had signaled their victory, but all of them had multiple injuries and acid burns from the fight, and if Klastoria had battled to the death, it would have been worse.

Now he got to watch as she took her massive volume and compressed it tightly, while shifting a portion of it into one of those odd directions while she assumed a humanoid form that matched him in height. She also managed to shape her outer layers into a glistening 'dress' of blue and green hues, edged with a silver iridescence. It was a rather impressive display of control over her form, as she was not using shape-shifting magic like kitsune did.

"Hello, Amrydor," Klastoria said as she walked closer. "Sarcomaag says you wish to talk with me while studying me?" She seemed puzzled by the idea.

"Yes," he replied. "I've been doing a lot of studying lately, and recently had a long discussion with Crizdirk. Now, um, well, I used to be a lot more confident about my understanding of life and death and what my powers were sensing. Now I am not sure what I actually know, and you are a lot different from everyone else."

"So, you would be staring at me to figure out how I work?"

He shook his head at that. "No, I don't even need to have my eyes open. Well, I guess it would be sort of like staring, only it would be my other sense. I don't just see life; I see the pattern of it."

That seemed to amuse her, and she pointed at her eyes. "Sort of like how these aren't real eyes; I see in all directions. These are just to make me look right to everyone else."

He hadn't thought about that before. "Yeah, that seems similar."

"Alright, but I want to try something too. I want to offer you a bonus challenge, because it might be dangerous to you." She hesitated a moment, then spoke softly. "This is a little complicated. So, I didn't choose to think of myself as a woman — that happened because Lady Kazue decided to call me princess, while the nexus was helping establish a personality imprint for me. I adore her, but I think it might have been easier for me if she had not been so impulsive."

She shuffled in place before continuing. "I can't really be female, in a physical sense, whatever I look like. I'm also not sure what I want to do about it, but there is a concern I need to overcome before I consider further options. I need to make sure I am safe for other people who aren't part of the nexus. Contractors and inhabitants are safe, but that's from the influence of the nexus keeping me from reflexively harming someone. Right now, while you are delving, you don't have that same, automatic protection. So I want to test myself, and make sure I can not hurt you even when not thinking about it. Um, to start, I think holding hands would actually be good, because of how fingers interlace. I need to be able to keep my fingers from merging together or anything while not paying attention."

The danger part seemed pretty obvious. "And if you fail, you end up eating my hand before you know what you are doing."

"Yes, or maybe more, depending on what you agree to try. Ah, if things go poorly, and I think you are suffering a lot, should I just make things quick and let the nexus manifest you a new body at the next reset?"

In other words, should she kill him if she'd eaten his arm and part of her acid was eating him from the inside out. Whatever his powers relating to life and death were, the idea of dying was still unpleasant even if he knew it would be temporary. Still, the other options could be very painful, and might kill him anyway. "That seems like it would be a good idea, and I really don't want to experience any of that. But yes, I am willing to take your challenge." Risks gained rewards, in this case, and he was fairly certain that Klastoria meant what she'd said about her intentions.

She nodded in a nervous-looking jerk of motion. "Yes, of course. I guess we can sit down over here to get started? Then you can ask any questions you want while studying me."

Interlacing his fingers with hers was an interesting sensation. The surface of Klastoria's skin was perfectly smooth like glass while being just soft enough to give properly, and she felt a little cool to the touch. Amrydor found it pleasant overall.

"Well," he said, "I hadn't planned out what to ask you; I just thought talking would be better than silence. But maybe you could tell me about how the world looks to you, since you mentioned that you see in all directions."

"That makes sense — I've noticed most people like to talk when around other people. Um, I'm sort of good either way, I think, but maybe I'll change my mind at some point. Anyway, as for my vision, I've had to figure out a lot about what other people mean regarding things like color, and I'm still not sure I can see color the way most do. Light isn't my primary sense though; I'm more focused on vibrations. What you call 'hearing' is simply part of 'feeling vibrations' for me, whether through the air, ground, or water."

She paused there, watching him, and Amrydor took that moment to think over what she'd said. "Alright, that makes sense, but to be sure, you are saying that you don't make sound to then hear it, like bats can?"

Klastoria smiled and said, "That's right, which is why it is good that I am not limited to just passive vibrations. I also don't feel things the way you do; everything I touch I also taste and smell, the same way I taste and smell anything that comes to me through the air. It's a single sense to me."

"So, you're tasting my skin right now?"

"Yes, but don't worry, you're not too much tastier than most people I've met or fought. And I remember your taste from when I fought your party, before the tournament."

Which meant she did find him a little tastier than most. He was pretty certain that Klastoria was teasing him, but only by telling a piece of truth that she didn't have to tell at all. Amrydor was amused by that though; maybe Kazue was right to call her ‘princess’. He’d only ever experienced this type of teasing from women. Of course, that could be the result if her being influenced by Kazue's impulse.

"As for sight," she continued, "it's a little complicated. Being able to feel the warmth of light is as normal as my other senses, so I can feel shadows and changes in light just as well. Being able to get more information from light than that took work and experiments. Hmm. Before I show you something, I want to know, do you think I look pretty right now?"

"Yes."

She looked and sounded skeptical as she said, "That was a rather quick answer."

Amrydor shrugged and smiled. "Well, I already knew that I thought you were pretty, and I like the way you shaped and colored your dress."

"Wait, do you mean you find this form pretty, or my normal form?"

That one he had to think about a moment to make sure he understood his own thoughts. "Both, really, but differently. Your other form I can recognize as pretty in its own right, like a living, liquid jewel. Right now, you are a beautiful, if unusual, woman. Why?"

"Interesting. I wanted to get your opinion before I changed anything. So, once I understood that light has colors in the same way that sound has tones, I was able to start trying to feel light better. Eventually, I found I could 'see' best if I made myself like this."

Klastoria's colors began to slowly shift and darken, turning ever deeper until she was so black that he couldn't make out her features, with both her skin and the fluid flesh beneath absorbing all light that touched her. "This," she said, "is what I need to do in order to be able to see clearly and in full color. If the light passes through me, I can't really see it, but if I absorb it all, I can see very well, as long as I pay attention. So, is this prettier than before? Or is it maybe scary?"

She sounded genuinely curious, so Amrydor did his best to answer. "I think that if you weren't quite so absolutely black, it would be fine. I can't make out your face at all, and you sort of look like a flat outline, which is disturbing. Um, it might be scarier if I couldn't make out some of your shape from my life sense."

After a moment of consideration, she nodded as her color shifted once more, turning into a less intense black. "Is that better?"

"Yes, a lot. Though do you need all of you to be black? We see pretty well with just our eyes."

She sighed before she said, "Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be as efficient as eyes, though I don't understand why. The less of me that is dark, the less well I can see light. That might be something we can figure out later. Now, tell me what you have been learning from studying me."

"So much, yet so little," Amrydor replied. "I can tell that your mind is mostly in your core, but nothing else is so centralized. Most species have many specific organs, doing specific tasks, but for you, all of those processes are spread throughout your entire body." Not that he knew what all the organs did, or even most of them, but he was aware that dedicated healers usually did know the functions of most or all organs.

They continued talking for about an hour more, mostly asking questions to better understand how the other sensed the world, then Klastoria said, "Well, I think this first part of my experiment has worked. I was fairly certain it would, as I can maintain a rough version of this shape even when in my resting state, but that did not account for having my fingers in contact with what my instincts register as food." She visibly hesitated before continuing. "The next stage is much riskier. My control over my metabolism is precise enough that I can choose to not harm something inside of me, but I am not sure how well I can do that with something living, while I am resting. Basically asleep, though the state is technically different. So, if you agree to it, the next step would be for me to engulf your hand, and then for us to both lay back and, well, take a nap. I need to remind you that right now, you don't have any of the protections from me that a proper contractor would, so the danger to you is as large as it would be for any other delver."

Amrydor didn't respond immediately, and took the time to consider the situation properly. If his life were in true danger, then he would have said no immediately. Instead, the risk was the experience of death, and probably more pain along the way, but to be restored to full health and life later. And unlike a normal delver, who had a one year period during which they could not benefit from Kazue's boon, he would always be restored on the next nexus reset, thanks to his tie through Fuyuko. Who would almost certainly be hosting his soul instead of the core. Amrydor briefly wondered how much that would annoy her before focus back on his situation, which seemed higher risk than Klastoria's first proposal.

If it was just a matter of gaining wealth, refusing would have been easy, but there was something he wanted and a limited time to get it. Well, he could always get it in the future, but he wanted it for a specific occasion, which was his real time limit. It might only be a want, but it was a strong want, and the risk was of a temporary sort. And no matter the results, he would still gain value toward his goal. The only 'penalty' would be a potentially very unpleasant experience.

"I'm willing to take the risk," he said.

Klastoria nodded, then asked Sarcomaag to grow enough mushrooms to give them a private space, so that no wandering delvers interrupted. Then they laid down on a soft section of the fungal matting and held hands again. Once they were settled, Klastoria's arm oozed out a pool of her fluid to flow over their joined hands, wrapping his hand and part of his arm inside this new layer while maintaining the structure of her hand at the same time.

The difference was immediately clear; whereas her hand felt solid but malleable, this was very clearly a thick, viscous liquid encasing that part of his arm. She was still relatively cool to the touch, but she didn't seem to wick heat away as quickly as water would, and he found the sensation reasonably comfortable.

Now it was time to take a nap, and find out if he was going to wake up or get eaten.

Not the most comforting thought to lull himself to sleep with. However, he'd had a full day and was tired, so all it took was a light meditative exercise to let that thought go and drift off into dreams.

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Now with it's own subreddit: r/NoNeedForACore !

Also to be found on Royal Road and Scribble Hub.

u/Zagaroth — 12 days ago

▲ 6 r/ProgressionFantasy

Processing img tr66byoxg2zg1...

RR/SH cover is by Navae and Tsuu

"No Need For A Core?" (RR Link) is set to be published November 3rd by Podium, so now is a good time to give it a shot for free on Royal Road or Scribble Hub.

Our starring trio (Kazue, Moriko, and Mordecai) are in circumstances where they chose to form literal magical bonds for mutual benefit, and those bonds also become a path to a three-person relationship. This is slightly complicated by Mordecai also acting as Kazue's mentor in how to be (and thus build) the sort of spiritual nexus (i.e. living dungeon) she would prefer to be.

His backstory is also the source of the troubles that they eventually face.

If you like "Beware of Chicken" for its semi-cozy vibes with characters living/building their lives, and occasionally needing to use force to deal with people who would harm them and theirs, then this might be a good fit. Though to be clear, I am not claiming any other similarities beyond those vibes; very different stories set in very different worlds. Though I do think Tigu and Fuyuko would get along fabulously (while also confusing each other occasionally).

Currently past 950K published words, and growing!

Book 1's title is "Down The Rabbit Hole", and now for preorder links!

Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B0GFDCX2CN (you can also follow my author profile here: amazon.com/author/zagaroth )
Barnes and Noble: barnesandnoble.com/w/down-the-rabbit-hole-a-b-zagaroth/1149137751
Bookshop: bookshop.org/a/123333/9798347033119

u/Zagaroth — 17 days ago

▲ 6 r/redditserials

Cover Art || <<Previous | Start | Next >> ||

GLOSSARY This links to a post on the free section of my Patreon.

Hello all, I have an official announcement about the release date for my first volume!
Book 1's title is "Down The Rabbit Hole" (naturally), and the release date is November 3rd. If you know anyone who has this story on their TBR, now's the time to start reading!
Now for links!

Amazon: https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0GFDCX2CN (you can also follow my author profile here: amazon.com/author/zagaroth )
Barnes and Noble: barnesandnoble.com/w/down-the-rabbit-hole-a-b-zagaroth/1149137751
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/123333/9798347033119

Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the series.

Amrydor's second-to-last challenge for the mushroom forest zone was to provide training for a foxkin named Shuni. She had orange fur that started out dark at the base and faded toward the tips, creating a sort of pinkish haze around her that Amrydor thought was adorable. He also was wise enough to say nothing about it.

Shuni's interest was in his technique for cutting something beyond the path of his blade.

"Well," he began, "I am still trying to fully understand it myself. Part of it involves visualization; you have to be able to form a complex mental image of both what is, and what will be, and then apply will and spirit toward changing what is into what will be. It's not just about imagining a cut happening at a certain distance from the blade; you need to sort of mentally twist reality so that there is no distance between the blade and the target, at least, in the weird direction you are imagining. Um, alright, that's starting to not make much sense."

He frowned as he thought about how to describe it better, then realized that he could just tell Shuni how he'd figured it out. "Oh, I have it! If you know someone who can shadow jump, or flame jump, or anything like that, and you have a way of tracking what direction they are from you, pay very close attention to what 'direction' they are when they are neither where they started or where they are going. They don't cross the space between; they cross a different space where those two locations are touching, or at least very close to touching. Fuyuko is most of how I figured it out, but I've also seen Carnelian Flame jump between fires as well. But not teleportation; that's doing something else I don't understand."

Shuni scratched at the underside of her jaw for a moment as she stared up at him, then nodded. "I'll have to figure out a way to do the tracking, but there are a few people I can study, and I should be able to ask for some help. Even a temporary spell would let me study a little each day."

Amrydor nodded. "That should help. Um, so, the next part is sort of numberless math."

The expression on her face made him grin. "I know, it sounds weird, but we do it all the time. Like, if one person throws a ball and the other person catches it, they are both doing math, but fast math without the numbers, and that math relies on how quickly those two people understand everything too. Things like catapults require the same actual math, but the sizes and distances involved aren't the sorts of things that people are good at doing instinctive math for. That's why we do math with actual numbers in order to aim them."

Talking about it brought back some less than pleasant memories, and he grimaced. "I'm pretty good with intuitive, physical math, and I am fine with normal math, but the complex math for that stuff is frustrating." Mostly because it was slow; he wanted to get it done faster, instead of having to do it carefully, step-by-step.

"Alright," Shuni said, "how does that relate to your technique?"

"Well, rearranging how space and distance works in your head requires that same sort of math. I think people like Mordecai and Shizoku learn how to do the numbers-math in their heads quickly when they cast similar spells, but for something like my technique, I think you have to do it intuitively. You do the math for a throw as you are throwing, based on the weight you feel in your hand and your estimate of distance. It's the same thing; you make the version of space in your head change while you are striking. It's not a charge that sits on your weapon or something — it's all one action."

Shuni considered that for a moment before nodding. "I'm not sure I get it entirely, but you gave me enough that I can study it, and see if I can understand it better."

"Good. Um," Amrydor hesitated for a moment, then said, "Give me a moment, the final part is sort of weirder."

He considered several ways of saying it before settling on an option, though he wasn't sure if it was the best version. "You sort of have to change what your instincts are. That part is hard. It's almost an extension of using your will to make reality match the image in your head, but it's also a different thing."

Trying to explain it was hard because he felt like he needed to say all the pieces at once to make it make sense. "Rather than using your will to change reality, you also need to be certain that this is the way things should and will work. It has to make intuitive sense to you that the blade is connecting with the target, despite looking like it doesn't. Er, I think I should demonstrate at this point."

"Go right ahead," Shuni said.

Amrydor summoned a sword from his bracers; while the technique felt easier for him when using his war scythe, it worked with any edged weapon, and he was pretty certain that even the requirement of an edge was a limitation he should be able to get passed at some point.

"I'm going to use that mushroom as my target. Now, if what I want to do is have the blade's edge strike a target in front of it, that's pretty easy to have feel right. Everything is lined up properly, so in my mind, the change is not all that different." His slash cut through the air about a foot away from the stalk of the giant mushroom, yet the surface of his target sliced open all the same.

"Now, if I want to try being sneaky and hit something to the side of my blade, it's harder to make it 'real' in my head, because everything isn't lined up in a way that makes intuitive sense. The numberless math is mostly the same; it's just my mind that thinks of it as different."

For this example, he stepped forward, then sliced downward in an arc that just barely missed the side of the mushroom, but a parallel cut was scored into the mushroom flesh, anyway. "Oh, um, and distance is important too; it's harder to believe in the altered version of reality if there is a large gap between your blade and your target."

"Wait," Shuni said with a frown. "Does this mean you can cut directly inside of a creature? Not having to deal with scales or armor seems like it would make everything easy."

Amrydor shook his head. "No, at least, not unless it's a lot weaker than you. Just like a mage can't create a fireball inside someone's lungs; that would be trying to directly affect the space occupied by their spirit and aura. They'd resist it and would have a large advantage. It's much easier to have the cut come from the outside, just as if you were not compressing space. Basically, you can't cut something that you couldn't already cut. It just changes where the cut happens."

"Ah, that makes sense. What are the limits of where you can make cuts relative to the blade?"

He shrugged. "None, really. Just, some are harder to make feel real. To the side and parallel is not too much harder than simply in front of the edge, but when you get fancy with it, your mind fights you. That's one of the things I am trying to work on. Here, I'll show you. Take one of those long, thin mushrooms, and hold it out behind my back. Not that close! I don't want to cut myself. Alright, here we go."

After glancing back to verify the distance with his vision as well as with his life sense, Amrydor took a few seconds to gather his concentration, will, and intent, then sliced forward, cutting through the stalk behind him.

Then he slid to one knee, panting. "That one is still pretty hard, and that's with it all lined up neatly. It doesn't actually feel quite right, and I had to push harder to make it happen."

Shuni studied the cut stalk thoughtfully. "If you could do that quickly and easily, it would be very useful in combat."

Amrydor dismissed his sword back into his bracer and nodded. "Yeah, and there's no reason that every time I cut, I can't make the cut happen anywhere near me, at any angle or direction. Well, other than it being a lot more tiring. But I can't make it work yet if it doesn't feel close enough to being correct. It has to make sense in my head first."

He sat down on the soft and spongy fungal matting, the earthy scent wafting up around him. "I'm going to rest for a little bit, that's probably as far as I should push myself right now. But we can still talk if you have more questions."

Shuni grinned, her sharp teeth flashing. "You have wisdom, it seems. Lord Mordecai just let me know that he didn't want you doing anything more like that right now."

From there, Shuni moved on to trying to copy what Amrydor had done while he observed her, but she was only focusing on a single strike a few inches away from her target. Doing the same movement repeatedly was letting her focus on the rest of her mental state, and every once in a while she paused to ask him a few more questions.

While she practiced, Amrydor's final challenge of the mushroom forest came to find him. It was Crizdirk, the shaman who led the no-longer-elderly group of kobolds originally from the nearby clan, and he wanted to talk about what Amrydor had been studying in the library.

Crizdirk didn't have a lot to add directly to Amrydor's research, but he proved to be very good at asking questions that Amrydor hadn't thought of and challenging the way that Amrydor looked at things.

The conversation was more about the philosophical side of life and death, and it didn't provide Amrydor with any real answers, but having a broader view of things seemed like it would probably be useful.

Even just learning about how different cultures performed their burial or similar rituals could be helpful in the long run, and Crizdirk knew a lot about the other tribes in the area, such as the tengu. Amrydor hadn't known that the feathered jewelry some tengu wore was made from the feathers of deceased friends and family. It seemed a little morbid, but it was a way of keeping memories alive.

That phrase created its own discussion about what 'alive' meant. Amrydor certainly hadn't seen anything he could describe as a memory or thought that was alive, but maybe he could only see the type of life that he at least partially understood. Which made him think about how fire in the smithy had seemed almost alive as well.

Somehow, the conversation left him confident that he was more likely to recognize odd forms of life than before, while being less certain about what being alive really meant.

When Crizdirk handed him the token for completing the challenge, Amrydor asked, "Um, how does this equal the other sorts of challenges I have been doing?"

The kobold shaman laughed, then grinned up at him. "Thinking takes energy too, young man, though that is not all of it. In our conversation, I have learned and gained insight on topics to think more on later. What I learn and understand becomes available for the whole nexus, whether inhabitant or core. Your abilities have great potential value, and anything that brings the cores closer to being able to replicate your sense of life and death is thus also valuable. Lady Kazue especially hopes it might help her ensure the life and safety of others. Though I believe Lord Mordecai is also hoping that it's an ability he can learn; if it is something that must be innate to a body, then only future avatars would be able to have it."

Crizdirk seemed rather amused at that idea. "If that is the case, then it might be something for the future avatars of the ladies to acquire, but Lord Mordecai is not inclined to create a new avatar for a very, very long time. All of this is to say, the energy exchange alone may not be in the nexus's favor, but the total value of the conversation is a very good deal for Azeria as a whole."

That made sense, and Amrydor certainly felt a little wrung out from that conversation. He considered making his way to the next zone so that he could get some sleep, but he decided that an hour of meditation here would do him well enough for the moment, as this zone was a good opportunity to study life that was unusual to him.

After his meditation, he rose and simply began wandering while pushing his senses out as far as he could. Azeria was so densely packed with layers of life that it was much harder to 'see' deeply than it had been in Svetlana's territory. It wasn't that his life sense was blocked, but it became so overloaded that most life was an indistinct blur if it wasn't near him.

There were exceptions, and Fuyuko was the stand-out example there, but that was a combination of his familiarity with her, the bias his feelings gave him, and the amplification from their empathic bond.

In sharp contrast was Danitsa. She was the one divine agent that Amrydor had not been able to see clearly, ever, and most of the time he couldn't sense her at all. This was creepy and a little terrifying, and he refused to tell anyone about it lest it get back to Fuyuko, because Amrydor was certain that Fuyuko would immediately seek out the celestial fox and beg for lessons in how to hide herself that way.

But right this moment, the most interesting beings that Amrydor was trying to comprehend were Sarcomaag and Krystraeliv. The giant fungal raid boss was everywhere, and the crystalline world tree was just as omnipresent. He had known this for a while, but he hadn't really been able to 'see' the continuity between all the different parts of them before.

He certainly couldn't see the whole of either of them, but their networks were clearer to him amidst the noise than they had been before, along with the pulses of life that flowed along and between them.

After a while of wandering and studying, Amrydor decided that he wasn't learning or understanding anything more from them right now. But there was one more very unusual life form in this zone. It only took a moment for him to find a mound of fungi that were actually an extension of Sarcomaag pushed up past the surface. "Sarcomaag," he said, then waited a moment to ensure that the fungal lord had the time to notice he was being addressed. When the fungi shifted colors, Amrydor continued. "I have been studying different life to deepen my understanding of its nature and my own abilities. If Klastoria is willing, I would like to talk with her for a while, and study her with my senses as we talk."

A moment later, colors on the fungal mat shifted again to spell out the word [wait].

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Now with it's own subreddit: r/NoNeedForACore !

Also to be found on Royal Road and Scribble Hub.

u/Zagaroth — 19 days ago

▲ 7 r/redditserials

Cover Art || <<Previous | Start | Next >> ||

GLOSSARY This links to a post on the free section of my Patreon.

Two days earlier:

Amrydor decided to take full advantage of being a guest in favored standing with the nexus, who was allowed to use the warrens; he was going to entirely skip normal delving schedules and protocols, which should work out best for everyone, anyway.

One of the most important things from his point of view was to keep himself too busy to think about how soon Gemeti would be here, though there were a few things he had been wanting to take care of anyway.

He was also a little embarrassed that Fuyuko had noticed he was feeling nervous, but she'd been nice enough to not actually laugh at him.

There were other complicated feelings there as well, but as he'd told Fuyuko before, he wasn't going to stop living his life. If something did change on her end in the future, they'd deal with it then. But right now, he was going to continue living with the assumption that things would remain the same.

His first stop was one of the orchards tucked away in the warrens to pick a large selection of fresh fruit to stow away for snacks later, followed by using one of the shortcuts to get down to the main kitchens, which provided him with bread, cheese, and preserved meat. Not all of the fruit or the kitchen provided staples made their way into his pack, of course; he always had room for a little more to eat.

There was going to be food available once he was properly delving anyway, but Amrydor rarely felt truly full, so having more snacks and meals was always nice.

At one time, he thought his appetite was mostly because of his traces of giant heritage, but he was beginning to have doubts on that matter. Fuyuko had similar heritage through her oni bloodlines, and even more reason for her appetite from her lycan heritage and shape-changing abilities. If his appetite was from his traces of giant ancestry alone, he shouldn't be able to match Fuyuko's hunger.

This led to the question of what his appetite was truly feeding, and he had no good answers yet.

Once Amrydor had his rations secured, he traveled to the library zone's non-combat path to begin some research. He was not delving yet, so had no challenges in front of him, but at the same time was not earning any value toward nexus rewards, and there was something specific he wanted to get before they left to go train with the Azeria clan.

That was one of the few downsides of his bond with Fuyuko, as normal guests at least earned a trickle from the mana that they fed the nexus just by being there. He only earned that trickle when at least moderately exerting himself, which still put him behind where others would be.

There were two particular things bothering Amrydor that his research would hopefully help with. The more general one was the realization that while he had been walking a dependable path, he had done very little toward truly forging his own abilities. Before coming to Azeria, the only things that were specifically his had been his special sense, and his battle aura having a strong death affinity.

Even his recently acquired technique felt to not be entirely his yet; the ability to shift where his blade was striking away from the physical blade itself felt like something built from his mark and his connection with the nexus. Amrydor was certain that he could build on it to make it more completely his own, but he felt that he had a fair way to go on that.

His more specific concern was mostly about his special sense; Amrydor had always thought of his life and death sense to be purely related to his death affinity, in large part because he could tell the difference between something that had died and something that had never lived.

What called this assumption into question was the wide variety of life in Azeria. Elements and divine agents were rare, but there were enough of them here for him to have started analyzing the ways in which they were different when he 'looked' at them, and the ways they were the same.

Elementals were definitely alive, but their patterns looked nothing like biological life patterns. They sort of looked similar to living spirits, but much more rooted in physical reality, and in addition to their spiritual energy, they were sort of made up from the essence of their element.

In contrast, a spirit of a given element readily interacted with and commanded that element, but was composed entirely of spiritual energy.

The various forms of divine agents were... something else. His studies at the temple had taught that these beings were generally evolved forms of mortal souls, a growth that happened slowly after they transitioned into their deity's realm. Everything he had seen was entirely compatible with that knowledge, but also made his education in the matter feel extremely insufficient to describe them.

There was overlap between the strongest mortals and the weakest divine agents, but the divine agents stood out to him anyway. It was like their true spiritual selves were projecting a three-dimensional 'shell' of biological life into physical reality, and that was only the beginning.

However, he couldn't describe most of the weirdness; he could recognize that it was there, and catch occasional glimpses of something truly different, but it was like he couldn't actually 'see' it because he couldn't comprehend it well enough.

At least there was one thing he'd been able to figure out. After a person's body died, their soul still counted as alive to his senses, though clearly marked by having had its physical body die. This was something that had begun concerning him a few years ago, when he realized that he'd never seen a soul with his senses.

Now he was certain that the souls of the freshly dead were obscured somehow.

Overall, this gave him a new starting point, because if his affinity was truly only death, then the amount of specific variations he could sense about life made no sense. But a life affinity wouldn't create a death aura, nor should it be able to differentiate between once-alive objects and never-alive objects.

So he must have both affinities, and he had no idea how that was possible. This was going to be the focal point of his studies.

Amrydor spent the entire rest of the day and well into the evening compiling everything he could about the nature of life and death, whether philosophical, religious, or magical in nature, with occasional breaks to duck into the cafe and eat. He certainly wasn't going to risk getting Horace upset by sneaking a snack while near the books! He just needed to make sure to tell one of the various librarians that he was still using the materials on his table before he went to the cafe.

Most of of the information he gathered seemed useless for his purposes, but he took notes on everything, just in case. Even if it did not provide knowledge now, it might provide perspective later.

In the end, from everything he had learned that day, there was only one thing Amrydor was certain of. Somehow, his affinities tied, directly or indirectly, to Lady Kikoi Muerte; the goddess of the transition between life and death, and wife of Lord Yamaraja, the judge of the dead.

That transition included from death into life, in the case of those reincarnated. She was the only deity he could find that was directly tied to both life and death.

And beyond that, the divine agents of both of those gods were the banshees, such as Lady Cliodhna, who had already said that she somehow knew him. But she'd also said he was not a reincarnated soul.

Now that Amrydor was certain that his powers were connected to Kikoi Muerte, he had many questions about that connection, and no answers. The most probable seeming link was the banshees themselves, but there was a flaw in that idea. Much like how a celestial fox was both a fox-spirit and a divine agent, banshees were both fey creatures and divine agents.

If he was somehow descended from one of them, he should have also inherited some aspect of their fey nature. Even if that aspect was much weaker in him for some reason, given the environment he was in, something fey should have shown itself by now.

The idea of asking Lady Cliodhna directly was rather terrifying, especially given that she'd already said that she had no intention of telling him more until he was judged ready. So his next best option was to find a priest or priestess of Kikoi Muerte when he returned to the capital.

Once he had compiled his notes and placed his borrowed books in one of the proper to-be-returned areas, Amrydor made his way to the normal entrance for this part of the zone; he was now ready to begin his delve. It was late at night, but he was more than capable of pushing through, and this time of night had the important feature of having no delving parties scheduled, giving him the luxury of doing the delve solo without interfering with other delvers.

The five challenges that he faced did not seem customized or overly difficult, so he was fairly certain that the cores were not paying specific attention to his delve. He rather appreciated that — it gave him a sense of privacy, and he felt no need to be given extra challenges at the moment.

No specific rewards were crafted for him when he finally reached the end of his challenges a couple of hours later, per previous arrangement. All things considered, Amrydor would rather accumulate owed value for now, and then make one or two specific requests. This was something that Fuyuko's parents had agreed to weeks ago, when his now more limited rate of rewards was discussed.

In the rest area for the next zone, the mushroom forest, people were already beginning to stir to get ready for their delves. Amrydor kept out of their way as he prepared a meal for himself that included adding the available mushrooms to his supplies, and then found an available bed to take a well-needed rest in. Thankfully, being this tired meant that he fell to sleep quickly, rather than his mind having a chance to wander.

He awoke in the late afternoon and took his time cleaning up and getting ready for his current 'day'. As the mushroom forest was much less linear than the previous zones, there were fewer restrictions on how the parties interacted with it. Having everyone rush out at the start of the day would be bad for everyone, but letting people trickle in over the course of the morning gave plenty of time for everyone to find challenges and quests in the village built of mushroom houses, and then disperse throughout the vast fungal forest zone to fulfill those quests.

Three of the five challenges he faced had been fairly standard for the zone: find a 'timid runaway pet' and gently retrieve it from whatever difficult location it had hidden itself, scour the sub-caverns for a rare crystal formation, and provide some manual labor to assist in the village's manufacturing.

The 'pet' in question was new to him, and certainly not the work of Lady Kazue. Probably not Lady Moriko's work either. Lord Mordecai seemed the most likely culprit for Amrydor's plight of needing to retrieve a three foot long tarantula-crab with a scorpion's tail. The toxin was only painful, according to the 'owner', but even so Amrydor didn't really want to experience that.

After his third attempt to gently corral the creature into a space where Amrydor could get a net over it, he sighed in exasperation. "You know that I can literally see that you have a sapient mind, right? I know that you are being deliberately difficult."

The inhabitant did a little dance and spun in a circle while clacking its claws at him. The clacking sounded suspiciously like laughter. It had a mixed shelter of wide-capped mushrooms and overhangs in the cave wall to scuttle between, making it very difficult to get at without getting stung.

He had been intending to try getting the net directly over his target, but now Amrydor decided to go for something a little different. It wasn't quite as gentle, but it should be gentle enough. He quickly folded the net in half a few times, creating a loose cloth 'shield' to hold in one hand, then dashed in before his target could figure out what his plan was.

When the creature lashed out to sting him, Amrydor swung the folded net to intercept and tangle the stinger, which gave him one point of control, then he used that to drag the spider-crap toward him and half-spin it at the same time, giving himself the chance to scoop underneath the creature and hoist it up against his chest.

With his target secured, Amrydor walked several feet away to put the thrashing spider-crab back on the ground and gently pin it in place, while still using the net to control the stinger. "Alright, either I can wrestle with you until I get this net unfolded enough to completely wrap around you, or you can acknowledge your defeat and we can walk back together."

After a moment, it slumped and then sighed with an odd clacking noise. "Fine, I yield. Spoilsport. I was gonna keep you running after me for the next half hour, at least!"

Amrydor laughed and released the inhabitant and returned to the village to claim his token.

Neither the mineral hunt nor the labor had any unusual aspects to them, and he rather enjoyed the labor in this case. While he certainly was not a proper smith, his training had included the basics, along with basic craftsmanship in many other fields, and he was able to work the bellows evenly to maintain the right temperature, adjusting speed for when the bunkin smith wanted it hotter or cooler.

The action provided a focus for a light meditative state as well, and while in that contemplative state, Amrydor came to realize that there was something about the process of fire burning its fuel that was akin to the patterns he saw in life. The fire was certainly not alive, but there was just a hint of something almost lifelike.

When he was done with that, Amrydor cleaned up and met with the first of his more unusual challenges. He didn't think these had been customized by the cores; rather, it seemed that some of the inhabitants wanted to learn more about Amrydor's abilities and his recent research.

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