“It was a coordinated attack attempting to target the logistics officers,” explained Aisling.

  Nate sat next to Kiri, with Coralie huddled up into a ball on the other side of his sister. Other Guild members who weren’t currently on duty sat around listening to their Platinum leader as she explained the events of the evening.

  “It couldn’t have happened this quickly unless they had informants within the Bright Army. Nate and Kiri can attest that the logistics officers all dressed normally and were guarded at all times. It was a calculated strike that, by the sounds of it, achieved partial success. While most of the army's supplies are likely held by the Princess herself, it wouldn’t surprise me if we found out tonight cost the army one twentieth of its total supplies. That’s a fairly effective opening attack by the Asmuisillan forces. I want you all to make sure that if you leave our camp, you do so in groups of at least two.”

  “What about Nate?” asked Kiri. “He’s the only one assigned to the healer’s tent, so when he goes out on assignment, he does so alone.”

  “I will escort him myself,” answered Aisling.

  Nate didn’t like it. Keeping Aisling in the area assigned as the Guild’s camp kept the Nobles from encroaching on them, or their guards stealing anything. He’d argue about that later though. He could see his escort arriving and nodded his farewells to Kiri and Aisling as he headed off to have dinner with a Princess. His world was changing, and he wasn’t sure that he liked it.

  *************

  Kiri lay on her side of the bed she shared with Coralie. The Ice Mage was curled up against her, back pressed into her as she faced away.

  “Will you tell me what’s wrong?” Kiri asked quietly. Her girlfriend had been like this ever since they had started their march to join the Bright Army. Kiri chalked most of Coralie’s obvious depression up to being forced into this situation by her Mother, but there was more to it. Coralie seemed distracted almost constantly, her mind anywhere but the present. Kiri had been growing more and more worried, exacerbated by her girlfriend's unwillingness to talk about it. A chasm between them that she just didn’t seem to be able to cross, and that felt like it was growing wider with every day spent away from the Capital.

  “It’s nothing. I just hate it here. Perhaps we’ll be able to go home soon. I should just let someone capture my badge,” mumbled Coralie, barely moving, her tone defeated.

  Kiri wrapped an arm around the petite Ice Mage, resting her warm fingers against Coralie’s cool skin. She was always cold these days. Kiri wasn’t sure if it was because Coralie was somehow growing her affinity, or if it was because her emotional state was completely out of her control. When they had first started dating, the moments of coldness only came when Kiri had broken through Coralie’s normally fiery exterior. The first time they had kissed. One time when Kiri had brushed Coralie’s hair out of her eyes in public. Almost always when they had sex. But normally, her girlfriend felt normal in temperature, just like everyone else.

  “Would you accept that? Would your Mother?”

  Kiri hated mentioning the Prefect. That woman was utterly horrible. But, Kiri knew her girlfriend. Despite all the manipulation, all the abuse, Coralie still wanted her Mother’s approval. The only real argument they had ever had had been about Coralie’s Mother. Kiri knew that if she didn’t mention it, Coralie would regret it, potentially souring their relationship even further. She loved the little Ice Mage, and letting her make a decision she might regret just wasn’t something Kiri could do.

  The silence dragged on and Kiri lay there, arm draped over Coralie, lost in her own thoughts.

  “The dinners with the Princess, are they nice?” asked Coralie quietly and Kiri was thankful for the change in subject.

  “They’re alright. Would you like to come to one?” she asked. Maybe it would be good to get her girlfriend away from the Guild camp for an hour or two in the next couple of days.

  “...Yes,” whispered Coralie in response, rolling to face Kiri before burying her face in her chest.

  Perhaps it would help, thought Kiri. At least, she hoped it would.

  *************

  The Princess’s tent appeared empty when Nate was first escorted inside by the Sword Guard. He had expected them to stay and monitor him but the two swordsmen left immediately. Confusion played across his face and mind as he glanced around the tent. Why would they trust him alone in the Princess’s tent? That seemed beyond foolish. Roaming his eyes over the expansive space, he started to walk towards the main table and its mess of paperwork when Conceptual Insight hummed softly, quiet as a whisper. Frowning, he stopped and looked around the tent again slowly. On his second look he finally caught on to the trick, spotting Hildi sitting on a stool watching him. The moment he noticed her his sphere of awareness suddenly recognised her.

  The short woman watched him with sharp blue eyes, brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She flashed a smirk at him when he noticed her.

  “The Princess will be disappointed in me. She was convinced you wouldn’t be able to notice me,” replied Hildi softly.

  Noticing Hildi was the least of Nate’s worries. This was the second time someone had been able to exist inside of his sphere of awareness without him being able to sense them. The first had been Arikanvil, a god. That Hildi could do so as well did not bode well as far as Nate was concerned. Either there was a trick to it, which was what he hoped, or Hildi was far more than she seemed.

  “How did you do that?” Nate asked curiously, approaching the woman. Now that his sphere of awareness could truly sense the shape of her, he re-evaluated his assessment of the supposed servant. Hildi’s build reminded him of Kiri’s: someone built for speed with a wiry strength. The only difference was their height and, he supposed, age. He would’ve guessed Hildi to be in her early thirties, though with the System such estimates were always a crap-shoot.

  “What do I get out of giving you a lesson, Nathaniel?” she asked coyly.

  How much was the information worth to him? Though he didn’t show it on his face he mentally laughed. The knowledge of how she had slipped inside his sphere of awareness was worth quite a lot to him. His paranoia was ratcheting up quickly. The idea that something or someone who was less than a god could subvert his mythic awareness skill was honestly terrifying to him.

  Keeping his calm, he replied, “I could make you something, if you’d like. Though I am not sure what you might want?”

  Hildi smiled as though she had already achieved her victory, “A painting.”

  Nate’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

  “Come now, Nathaniel. I am the servant of a Royal. I am sure you’re amazingly talented, but Princess Morgane provides all that I need. So, instead, I ask for something that I want.”

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  “Any painting? Or did you have something specific in mind?” he asked.

  “Something specific…an interesting turn of phrase. I do have a preference, but now isn’t really the time. A painting owed, and I will give you your answer,” replied Hildi.

  The offer seemed more than fair to Nate. Besides, he would paint her anyway. What did it matter to him if Hildi wanted him to paint something specific? He just hoped it wasn’t a nude. He didn’t care, but Kiri would never let him hear the end of it, and he just knew his sister would find out.

  Nodding his agreement, he watched as Hildi showed a small silver bracelet on her arm. Farsight of the Runic Artist activated in response.

  Bracelet of Erased Presence (Legendary)

  Stats: N/A

  Features: Mana Storage (Legendary), Mana Erasure (Legendary), Unseen Presence (Legendary)

  Mana Storage: This item has been enchanted to store a Legendary-equivalent amount of mana which can be accessed to activate other features of the item. Slowly absorbs ambient mana to recharge.

  Mana Erasure: This item has been enchanted to erase the presence of the wearer by subverting mana that comes into contact with the wearer.

  Unseen Presence: This item has been enchanted to convince those who observe the wearer that they have not seen the wearer.

  Nate read over the item with raised eyebrows. He moved to open his mouth and felt mana flow out of Hildi before he could. His heart rate spiked and he prepared to teleport if she was attacking him, only to realise she had created a sound barrier around them.

  “Best not to mention such things out loud,” commented the short woman. “Or, at least, not if others can hear you.”

  Nate nodded his understanding, his heart rate calming back down, but still jittery from the adrenaline flowing through him.

  “That’s a Legendary item,” he commented dryly, trying to keep his surprise off his face.

  “So it is,” replied Hildi with a smile. “Did it answer your question?”

  “It did,” Nate replied.

  “Good, because whatever you’re using to sense your surroundings drained it of more mana than anything I have ever encountered. An expensive test, but the Princess will be happy with the results.”

  Nate understood the basic principle of what had happened. The item's Mana Erasure enchantment functioned somewhat similarly to Null’s aura. But where Null’s aura seemed to cancel out any foreign control, this one seemed to try and take control, sending back a message that there was nothing there. The difference between the tiers of his Skill and the enchantment were what caused the inflated cost, but it was important he understood that a lower tier of rarity did not mean his Skill would automatically win. The entire interaction, like so many of his battles, was a balancing act, between Stats, Skill Levels and Skill Tiers. Complex, he decided, was the best word to describe it, and the thought alone made him smile. He had come so far, yet there was still so much more to discover.

  Before he could continue down that line of thought, he sensed a group of five approaching the tent. Four peeled off and only one entered.

  Turning around, he watched as Princess Morgane entered the tent, armour shining with its blue and white accents, Conceptual Insight humming in the back of his mind at whatever Concept was surrounding the woman. The Royal glanced over the two of them, before her eyes settled on Hildi.

  “And?”

  Mana bloomed from Hildi and he sensed as the sound barrier expanded to take in the whole tent.

  “Second pass,” replied the ‘maid’, though Nate had very strong doubts about that title now.

  “Impressive. Dinner for the two of us, please Hildi. Nathaniel and I have some things to discuss and I for one am ravenous after this debacle,” said Morgane, golden eyes dancing in amusement as she looked at Nate.

  He tried to ignore how she had emphasised ‘ravenous’ when the Royal had glanced at him, mostly because he couldn’t decide if she was teasing him or not. Whatever it was, the Royal certainly seemed a touch more playful with him and he was questioning what had changed.

  He let Hildi escort him to the table, seating him close to the Princess’s own seat. He only had to wait a few minutes before Morgane joined him, while he could sense Hildi pulling food out of a spatial storage.

  “Would you like to guess why I invited you to dinner tonight?” asked Morgane, watching him in a way that was eerily like that of a cat. The golden eyes sealed the image and Nate realised he had a new painting idea.

  He thought over the evening's events and quickly came to a conclusion.

  “Confirmation. You got confirmation tonight,” he replied with a sigh.

  “Intelligent. Not the Stat. Actual intelligence. It’s like a breath of fresh air,” responded Morgane.

  He understood her meaning. From what he had seen, the Intelligence Stat didn’t actually make you more intelligent. It improved things like processing speed, memory and the ability to multitask – literal multitasking, allowing different parts of your mind to focus on separate problems or hold different ideas. In his case, it meant being able to hold the image of multiple runes or runic arrays at the same time. But, it didn’t help one with their ability to understand or conceptualise. It didn’t make you a genius. It simply improved what you were already working with. He suspected the same would be true of other Stats. A giant boar and a man could have the same strength Stat and yet the boar would be stronger. Physics still applied, after all, even if it could be subverted or manipulated.

  The pause in conversation was negligible, as part of his mind went over the comment, another part kept the conversation going.

  “It wasn’t the test with Hildi. That was something else. Kiri and I fought off a team of Golds from Asmuisil. That was the confirmation you got.”

  “Not just fought off. You were winning. Outnumbered, against those with Embodiments and you were winning. Now, most of the Nobility won’t know that you haven’t passed your Second Evolution. They will think you are talented, and given your performance at the Guild Tournament, will leave it at that. But some, the clever, or the paranoid, will look into you, and they will begin to suspect what I have now confirmed to my satisfaction. Legendaries.”

  Nate deflated a little. He had avoided giving direct answers to the Princess, but there was only so much he could do to conceal his abilities. Kiri was the same. The problem, he decided, was not one that could be fixed. Because, there wasn’t much he could do to change his personality. He helped, where he could. Took risks for people he didn’t even know. Could he change that? Sure, but then, in doing so, he would be changing who he was as a person, and in his heart, he didn’t want to. He had witnessed suffering, both from afar and up close on the receiving end. He wouldn’t turn a blind eye to it, just to make himself marginally safer. Did that mean it was time for him to choose a side? He had committed to staying in Etrua. The country was the worst option it seemed, for many reasons, but he wouldn’t abandon Kiri or his friends and mentors. If he was to stay, perhaps it was time he started seriously investing in making the country a better place. The Princess might be lying to him about her goals and aspirations. He could have Kiri and Deverell look into the truth of her words. Really, in the end though, he had only two questions that the Princess could answer.

  “Why didn’t you invite Kiri then? And, what do you want from me?” he asked, meeting the Princess’s golden eyes with his green.

  Morgane leaned back, her gaze considering. “I didn’t invite Kiri, because from what I have seen, she takes the same side you do. I hoped to convince you both to side with me, but it will be much easier convincing your partner if I already have your willingness to do so. As for what I want from you? I want you to help me change Etrua. I want you to put your considerable Skills towards improving my country. I want your help beating my brothers. But tonight, tonight, I want your help answering this attack against our camp. A Spatial Mage is uniquely suited to acts of thievery, after all.”

  Nate felt it in the air as she spoke. He agreed with her – making Etrua a better place. Even the comment about spatial magic and thievery. It felt like putting together the final pieces of a puzzle and as they fell into place so did his understanding. Conceptual Insight hummed happily as he finally made the connection.

  “Resonance.”

  The eyes of the Princess went wide in shock but he barely noticed as his entire body thrummed and he finally fully understood what Kiri had meant. He did feel more real.

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