Fortunately, Alex and Claire were the only ones of the group that had spent any amount of time within the Mirrorlands. Neither Derek nor Orchid had the slightest clue about what locations would be safe, so they could do nothing but crane their necks and stare in awe as the group walked.
That made it pretty easy for Alex to kill just around an hour wandering aimlessly. He carried Claire on his back in a piggyback so she could focus on her magic and keeping her badly damaged body in one piece until her passive healing repaired enough to let her rest. His magic-empowered body barely noted the extra weight.
They left the black sand beaches and headed parallel to Valley Ford, sticking to any cover they could. Even though much of the Mirrorlands in this location was largely flatlands, there were still occasional jutting boulders or stray white-wood trees that littered the landscape amidst a few rolling hills and distant mountains.
Alex's thoughts drifted as they walked. Today hadn't gone at all how he'd thought it would. He'd been planning to be back in Towntown by now, selling things to Finley. Now, that definitely wasn't happening. He was going to need to find a different way to get access to a portal, because Valley Ford sure as hell wasn't going to be letting him and Claire use theirs.
His gaze lingered on the Disruptor in the distance. Even though they were quite far from the Riftwarped version of Valley Ford, the silvery ship was still easily visible perched upon the massive tree in the distance.
Crackles of power twisted around the Great Tide's machine, portals yawning open and pulling shut lethargically.
Interestingly enough, he'd learned quite a bit today, and all entirely on accident. The fight against the Broken Blade members had been surprisingly enlightening. It hadn't cleared up every single bit of his confusion, but it had shown starlight in what had been a cloudy night.
The Disruptors had been sent by the Outworlder families to somehow allow them to use more of their power. The closer one was to a Disruptor, the less the System constrained them — which logically meant the Disruptor's purpose was actually quite straightforward.
Its name gave it away. It disrupted the System in an area, allowing Outworlders to slip free of their bindings. The longer the machine ran, the more the invaders would be able to wrest back of their original strength.
Alex still had no idea just what the extent of the bindings was. It definitely lowered the max level of everyone, binding skills and their Soul Manifestations, but from the other things he'd heard about restrictions, he strongly suspected there was more to it than that.
It was tempting but he couldn't just go asking Orchid about it. She was too useful on their side. He didn't need her turning on them — at least, not before they got the Town Token.
But, as his thoughts drifted to the Outworlder woman, he couldn't help but notice that she looked every bit as awed as Derek as they wandered beneath the molten skies of the Mirrorlands. Her lips were parted and her eyes flicked all around, trying to take in their surroundings all at once.
Has she never been to the Mirrorlands? I thought this would have been something that the Outworlders could pull off, considering they've got giant ships here. Maybe that's something Claire can broach with her. I'm sure she's already working on finding an angle of approach… at least, if she's still fully conscious. She took a really bad beating while keeping Shale distracted.
Alex's lips thinned at that thought. They were getting strong, but it wasn't enough. They needed to get stronger. In the span of one falling tower of cards, the number and strength of their enemies had exploded exponentially.
Restrictions or not, if we're going to fight against the Outworlders, I have to keep pushing. They've got the advantage of complete knowledge, but their potential is restrained while ours is limitless so long as we have challenge.
We've taken the right steps so far, but things have to accelerate.
That might have been an endless quest, but there was one thing in particular that Alex's mind was set on. He'd seen the power that Berith could bring to bear — and what Zeal had been capable of as well.
Alex needed to evolve his Soul Manifestation to get a domain.
Meiderly had said he'd unlock that at the 3rd rank, but Absolution had used something called a Partial Soul Manifestation. That had to mean there was a way to access it before reaching the Adept Stage, and Alex was determined to figure out how.
The hour slipped by, and he felt magic drain out of him, returning to his monsters as they reformed within his Spatial Mirrors.
They were in the shadow of a looming boulder with a perfectly flat face that jutted up into the sky like a tooth in a sea of waving gray hills, all cast under the shadow of a mountain range.
Crackling magic swirled at the mountain peaks where they met the twisting energy that swam across the sky of the Mirrorlands, sending off streamers of distant, howling energy. He could see distant forms moving on the mountains but wasn't close enough to make out anything concrete.
"What are those?" Derek asked, squinting at the mountain. "Do you think they're friendly?"
"No," Alex said. He made his way over to the base of the boulder and glanced around. There weren't any obvious signs of a monster lying in wait. They weren't too close to a city, which the Mirrorlanders seemed to prefer gathering at, but he wasn't going to assume that made them safe. "Nothing in the Mirrorlands is friendly. This seems as good of a spot to rest as any."
"There aren't any trees," Orchid said with a small frown.
"We don't want to be near those. They try to kill you." Alex lowered Claire so she sat against the rock, then sat down beside her. He summoned Glint with a thought. The Glasmir shattered a hole through reality and stepped through the falling pieces to stand over him and Claire.
"I should have guessed," Orchid said, lips pursed. "But I do not have my staff."
"I don't think breaking a branch off one of the trees is a great way to get a new one. They probably won't like that, and we really aren't in shape to fight anything we don't have to right now."
"Could I not steal a branch and run away?"
"A lot of them are pretty slow, but that'll probably end up summoning a guardian of some sort."
"You know a lot about the Mirrorlands."
That was a statement, not a question. Alex tilted his head to the side, but it wasn't exactly like he could deny Orchid's observation. He'd literally ripped a portal open to them just a short while ago.
"I know some," Alex allowed. If Orchid was surprised by that revelation, then traveling through the Mirrorlands definitely wasn't complete commonplace for Outworlders.
He wished that Claire was awake so she could help him navigate the conversation, but she was still too focused on keeping herself from dying.
"You're bold, but I suppose I shouldn't expect anything else from your family," Orchid said, slumping back against the stone beside Alex and gingerly touching her face. The bruises had already started to fade, but it was clearly still raw. She nodded to the spatial ring on his finger — the one he'd gotten from the Great Tide family during his first visit to their store. "I don't suppose you happen to have a staff in there?"
"That's just cruel." Orchid squinted at Alex out of the corners of her eyes. When he didn't respond, she heaved a sigh. "I'm a Mancer. Do you know what I'm capable of doing without my staff?"
Oh, come on. I mean, I did tell Orchid I didn't want her doing anything when we got the Town Token so Claire and I could get all the experience and growth, but I wasn't being this literal.
"Nothing?" Alex guessed.
"I'm not that pathetic," Orchid said despondently. "But not far from it. I can't do much without a staff. Most of my power is stored in it. Making a new one will be a massive pain, but I don't think I'm getting my old one back."
"Something will crop up soon enough," Alex said noncommittally. If anything, this actually made things a bit easier for him and Claire, though missing Orchid's firepower when they went up against any more people from the families would be a big problem. "How long does it take? Are you going to still be weakened by the time we return to 274-50?"
"Depends how long that takes, but it won't matter. With us out of the limelight, the families are going to be looking for the Town Token, not wasting time trying to kill me or who they believe to be random Nativeworlders. They're not idiots. The Town Token is far more valuable."
Meaning we probably aren't going to have a horde waiting for us at the portal when we return. That's good… but only if we can get to the Town Token before they do.
"Logically," Alex said with a knowing nod. "Well, take a moment to rest and meditate. Glint, keep an eye out on things for us, would you?"
His Glasmir didn't respond, but Alex knew that his command had been heard. And with that, he closed his eyes and sank into himself, plunging into the depths of his Mind Palace.
A black lake bloomed; three marble pillars rose to loom over him as a massive white marble basin took form in the center of his soul. A staircase lifted up from the darkness, sending black water sloughing down its steps as it ground to a halt at the edge of the basin.
A massive ball of swirling blue mist churned above the basin, waiting to be condensed and used. The amount of power stored within it made Alex's skin prickle. He could taste electricity on his tongue — which was a rather odd sensation, as he never would have thought such a thing could be tasted.
Wind brushed through his hair and curled around his clothes as he ascended the stairs leading to the edge of the basin. At their top was the fist-sized Nightmare Aspect Gem, glistening gently in wait. He still didn't know what it would do, but he wasn't going to stick it into the matching holes in the pillars until he did.
Fortunately, he had more than enough to do right now. In addition to all the magical energy he had waiting for him, he also hadn't had a chance to cash in the rewards from killing the Field Boss back in Towntown.
Alex reached out to the glistening black gemstone glowing with light upon the top of the marble basin's mantle. Black lines twisted out from it as soon as his finger touched with the stone.
Accept Rewards [1/1]?
"Yes," Alex said, excitement bubbling up in his chest.
Golden light carved through the air before him.
Title Fragment Acquired.
Forerunner: Granted to the one who claims the first kill on a Field Boss in a newly Initialized world.
Holy shit. The first one? This is definitely going to be a really useful title. I didn't realize we were that fast, but I guess the Field Boss did basically show up directly on top of us.
If it's based off that, it'll definitely be something that helps me fight powerful monsters… and I've still got the Lone title fragment from clearing the Razor Forest out on my own, not to mention the Top Ranker fragment.
Should I combine any of them? Or wait to get another title first?