Just like the last two times Vin had approached Sakis, Shia and him were greeted by an armed force of six warriors as they approached. This time however, despite the group being made up of villagers he didn’t know, he was recognized immediately.

  “Vin, was it?” The leader asked, cocking her head as she took the two of them in. “And… Shia, right? What brings the two of you back to the village so soon?”

  “I need to check in with Eithan really quick. Grab a new spell he promised me,” Vin said, offering the squad leader a warm smile. “We also have a few stragglers that should be showing up later today. The small man and his rat, a… knight clad in black armor, and a regular human. Would you mind helping them find us when they show up?”

  “Oh, I remember the tiny man,” she said, raising an eyebrow as if asking how any of them could have possibly forgotten Scule after he was jailed for potential murder. “And sure, I don’t mind. But what is a ‘knight?’”

  “Oh, a knight is basically just an armor-clad warrior,” Vin said, waving his hand. Which may very well have been the wrong thing to do, because the warrior’s eyes widened as she took in his brand-new arm.

  “What is that?!” She gasped, staring hungrily at his left arm.

  “Just something I picked up recently,” Vin said, wincing as he realized what it must look like to these people. The citizens of Sakis didn’t exactly worship stone or anything quite that crazy, but it was certainly the cornerstone of their culture and society. And here he was, showing up out of the blue with a magic, functioning arm of what looked like flawlessly carved marble.

  It was basically like driving a flying sports car past a crowd of car enthusiasts.

  The moment the leader pointed it out, all six pairs of eyes snapped to Vin’s new arm. The squad of warriors seemed to forget all their training as they crowded around, desperate to get a closer look at his arm. Vin was pretty sure a monster could have trotted on up at that moment and stabbed one of them without any of the others realizing.

  He entertained their raving curiosity for a minute, answering as many questions as he could…

  No, he wasn’t the one that made the arm.

  No, he couldn’t take it off.

  Yes, he could control it just like his old arm, if not better.

  No, he didn’t know what it was made of.

  …But he quickly realized the warriors would keep this up all day if he let them, and he cleared his throat, taking a hasty step back.

  “Look, I’m sorry to cut the show and tell short, but we’re in something of a rush,” he explained, taking in the sorrow-filled looks he got in return. “Once we’re done with everything we need to do, I promise I’ll come back and set something up with the Elder. Maybe we could do a brief meeting with all the interested villagers so I don’t have to repeatedly answer the same questions over and over again. Sound good?”

  The warriors all begrudgingly muttered their understanding, before coming out of their fugue state and realizing they’d completely forgotten their training. Vin had to stifle a chuckle as the other five warriors snapped back to attention, their eyes once again going to the surrounding landscape to watch for threats as the leader spoke with him.

  “Last I heard, Eithan was with a student on the other side of the village,” she explained, barely managing to keep her gaze on him instead of his arm. “Do you know where the practice grounds are?”

  “I think so,” he nodded, thinking back to where Eithan had sat him down and demonstrated his spells. “Thanks for your help!”

  As the two of them made their way toward the practice ground, Shia spoke up.

  “I think I’m going to go check in with the elder first. Just let her know we’re here. Maybe give her a heads up about your arm,” she chuckled, clearly entertained by the villagers’ reactions. “I’ll meet you at the practice grounds after.”

  “Oh? Not going to swing by the farm and chat with Peter?” Vin teased, remembering how enamored the farmer was when he’d discovered what the Druid could do with plants.

  Rolling her eyes, Shia didn’t even bother to answer before breaking away and heading toward the center of the village. Chuckling to himself, Vin kept to the village outskirts as he walked toward the practice grounds. It was slightly slower, but it would probably save him from having to explain his arm about a dozen different times.

  It wasn’t long before he picked up the tell-tale sounds of rock smashing into rock, and he grinned as he finally spotted Eithan and a much younger looking Stone Mage a ways off. The student was a young woman with a surprising resemblance to Eithan, minus the beard and with a good bit more anger on her face. In fact, she looked like she was beyond frustrated, and was currently firing Stone Shot after Stone Shot at a thick wall Eithan must have created. Most of the rocks were connecting with their target, but none of them were doing all that much damage.

  For his part, Eithan was playing the perfect teacher. Rather than get annoyed alongside her, he kept a gentle, reassuring smile on his face, coaching her through the spell.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Remember, it’s all about visualization. The rune for rock will pick up on your definition of a rock, you just need to focus as you cast.”

  “I know! I’m trying!” She snapped, frowning as she continued firing off Stone Shots. Only after hearing the snippet of their conversation did Vin recognize what the problem was.

  Whatever rock the woman kept summoning must have been a particularly weak one, which would explain the lack of damage to the target.

  Realizing Eithan was far too engrossed in his teachings to have spotted him yet, Vin wasn’t able to help himself. Raising a hand, he took careful aim and used Runic Recalibration to fire off a max velocity, hardened granite Stone Shot at the distant target.

  His rock blasted out of the air in front of his hand, screaming across the open landscape before slamming into the target. The stone pillar Eithan had setup simply exploded, sending dust and bits of rock everywhere. The student jumped and covered her head by reflex, but Eithan had a very different reaction.

  Before Vin’s spell had even hit the target, the head of the Stone Mages spun around, summoning a Stone Wall without hesitation to protect his student and then casting a brand-new spell Vin hadn’t seen before. Stone plates seemed to grow out of his very skin, and within seconds the man was covered from head to toe in a thick layer of stone armor.

  Searching for the source of the surprise attack, Eithan blinked as he finally spotted Vin walking toward them, a grin on his face as he waved to his old teacher.

  “Looks like I managed to squeeze another spell out of you after all!” Vin called out, glancing at his notification.

  New spell witnessed! Tier 3 Earth Spell (Stone Armor). 3,000 exp gained.

  “Vin?” Eithan answered, looking both shocked and pleased to see him. “I didn’t know you were back! And that was some Stone Shot!”

  “Thank you, I’ve been practicing,” he laughed, finally close enough that they didn’t have to shout. “Sorry for the surprise, I couldn’t help it when I remembered how poor my first few Stone Shots were back when you first started teaching me.”

  “No worries,” Eithan smiled, pushing over the wall he’d summoned with a stone-clad hand and gesturing toward his student. “This is Verona. One of our only villagers that is actually a brand-new mage working on her spells for the first time. She only grew old enough to access the System a month ago, so she wasn’t actually impacted by the Great Reset.”

  “Uncle E, he doesn’t need to know that!” She frowned, glaring at the chuckling Stone Mage.

  “Am I not allowed to be proud of the fact that my niece has decided to take after her uncle?” Eithan smiled, seeming completely oblivious to the daggers’ she was shooting at him with her eyes. “Verona, this is Vin. The student from the other world I told you about the other day.”

  “Oh, you’re the guy who learned these spells in like thirty minutes,” she scoffed, her voice positively dripping with venom as her glare shifted to Vin. “Well, don’t let me get in the way of whatever the two of you stone masters have to talk about.”

  “Verona,” Eithan tried, his smile fading as the young woman stomped off back to the village. Sighing, he shook his head, watching her wistfully. “Sorry about that. Verona’s been struggling a bit with her spells. I keep trying to reassure her that Stone Mages aren’t made overnight, but she’s far from pleased with her progress.”

  “Ah…” Vin winced, glancing sheepishly at the target he’d obliterated. “Crap, I was just trying to show off to you a little. I didn’t mean to make her feel bad about her magic.”

  “No, you did nothing wrong,” Eithan said, shaking his head and gesturing with a finger. The many pieces of armor covering his body all fell off at the same time, crashing to the ground and freeing the robed mage once more. “Anyway, it’s good to see you again, Vin. And while I’m sure you came back for a reason, I’m going to have to ask you to explain the arm before we get into any of that. Otherwise I’m going to be far too distracted to actually carry a conversation.”

  Laughing, Vin gave Eithan a shortened explanation as to everything that had happened since he left, focusing mainly on the bits about the golem and the dwarves, assuming that’s what the Stone Mage would be most interested in. As they talked, Eithan summoned them some stone stools to sit on, and Vin let him examine his arm more closely.

  “Absolutely incredible,” Eithan surmised, finally letting go of the new arm and leaning back as Vin finished his tale. “I have to say Vin, you’ve rekindled an old flame I thought had gone out long ago. The last time I ventured more than a few miles from the village was to visit the Great Rock nearly twenty years ago, but now I have half a mind to go speak with these dwarves myself and see what they’re truly capable of.”

  “I’d recommend it, so long as you don’t mind the heat,” Vin grinned. “But the divine warrior is actually the reason I’m back. If we’re about to go try and set a trap for him within the tunnels of the trogums’ fragment, I figured picking up Stone Shape wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

  “No, not a bad idea at all,” Eithan agreed, looking thoughtful. “Honestly, after hearing how your first attempt at taking him down went, I feel like I shouldn’t be encouraging a second. But I understand this is something you feel you need to do. There’s no telling where he’ll strike next when he’s finished with those strange beings after all. If you’d like, I could speak with the elder for you. See if we couldn’t gather up some warriors willing to help you out.”

  “That might be a good idea, thank you,” Vin said, surprised the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. “Let’s hold off on that until my friends show up. They’re bringing a trap expert with them, and I’m pretty much going to defer to whatever plan she comes up with.”

  “The right class for the right job,” Eithan smiled, nodding at his decision. “Looks like you remember the elder’s lesson well.”

  “Yepp! And seeing as I’m kind of the magic guy for my team, at least when it’s not related to nature stuff, I think it’s time I picked up my newest earth spell.”

  “Say no more,” Eithan said, raising a finger and carefully drawing the runic formation for Stone Shape in the air between them. “Fair warning, Stone Shape is often regarded as one of the more difficult tier two spells our mages learn. It certainly ruffled my feathers back in the day. Though from what I’ve seen from you so far, I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble with it.”

  “Thanks for the heads up,” Vin said, eagerly taking in the new formation and cementing it within his Iron Mind. “Now, before I go into hiding and figure out this new spell…

  “I believe you have some spells you promised to show me?”

  sixth fragment selection poll, which is pretty wild, and it's entirely thanks to all you awesome readers that decided Edregon was worth favoriting. As always, I can't thank you guys enough for all your support. Currently, I've written the winners of polls 1-4 into the story already, so what a perfect time to have our next one!

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