Chapter 448: (442) 6.56. What Can We Squeeze In?

“So according to John, this upcoming battle for wave seven should only be the usual amount of horrible,” Vin said the next morning as he and Lumel ate breakfast. While she wasn’t anywhere near back to one-hundred percent just yet, she was at least capable of walking on her own two feet at this point. “It’s been thirty-four days since the battle for wave six, and we are to have sixty days between waves six and seven. But obviously, with the Gods’ having sped up the timeline, that’s going to be a lot shorter. Based on the rate of increase of the last few waves, Golrim predicts this one is going to come anywhere from fourteen to sixteen days early.”“Wait, John can’t give the council an exact date this time around?” Lumel asked, furrowing her brow as she focused on her arm and shakily brought another spoonful of porridge up to her mouth. “He was so accurate last time.”

“It seems the greater the danger we’re in, the more accurate his doomsday clock is,” Vin explained. “The ranker king was going to pretty much destroy all of Terra kill everyone in his rage, at least before we altered our strategy and drew him somewhere else. Which means no matter what happens with this upcoming wave, it’s not going to be quite as bad as that potential future. Though that’s not saying too much. For all we know, whatever is coming for us might still be bad enough to cause Terra to fall, we just might manage to get most of the survivors out before it happens. Or, as Golrim has so kindly reminded us, John’s skill might be completely countered by whatever epic monster spawns to fight us this time around. He’s only in his first prestige, after all, so it’s not as though we can rely too much on his predictions.”

“That’s probably wise not letting up on preparations just because John doesn’t think everyone is going to die,” Lumel agreed, sighing as she let her spoon clatter against her bowl. “So what does that mean for you? You still have a solid ten days before the expected arrival of the next wave?”

“In an ideal world, but I’m not going to play it that close to the wire,” Vin said, frowning as the horrific memories of racing back to Terra only to find they missed the entire battle for wave three flitted through his mind. “I figure I’ll spend a couple more days working toward finishing up the third ring, and then hang out here in Terra with an extra week to spare. I want to try putting together my second tier-3 spell before the next battle, which means I’m going to need that time for magic. Though now that I can work through the night as well, I might have time to learn even more.”

“So three more days of exploring, then prepping for the upcoming wave,” Lumel nodded, looking like she was on board with this plan. “As much as I wish I could come with you, in my current state, I’d just slow you down. I’ll spend the next few days down in the Underside, continuing my research. If I push myself, I think I might be able to reach level 50 before the next wave arrives. The Gods really did leave me an entire treasure chest of runic formations to decipher and learn from when they created the Underside.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I doubt just any Dimensional Mage could glean as much information from the workings of the actual as you have,” Vin pointed out, getting a smile from the pulmon. “And I’m hoping to at least hit level 52 myself before that point. Even if arcane discoveries tend to be the largest chunks of experience for me, weaving together new spells is definitely my most consistent source.”

“Well isn’t that just great for you two!” Scule said, dramatically barging through the tiny petian-sized door built into their front door as he threw up his hands. “And here I was being all excited about having reached level 48, but , you guys just to show me up once again!”

“Welcome back,” Vin laughed, waving at Reginald as the rat trailed in behind Scule. “How were the folks?”

“Honestly? I think I would have preferred dealing with the cultists,” Scule admitted as he hopped up onto the table. “Glad to see you’re doing alright, Lumel, that was a scary message to get from Fred.”

“It’s all thanks to Vin,” she said, blushing as she looked at him. “Diving into a deadly dream journey just to rescue me… He was like a Hero from the stories.”

“Well, so long as Mr. Hero here doesn’t mind having a Rogue riding along on his shoulder, I’m down to get out and see a new fragment if you are,” Scule said, grinning up at Vin. “I tried running around the Citadel for old-times’ sake, but it was boring beyond belief. I think I might literally be the highest-leveled person in the entire city at this point, which is wild to think about. Half of the guards still don’t have their first prestige yet, even after all this time.”

“Lumel and I were just talking about the next couple of days,” Vin admitted. “I want to be back in Terra three days from now to start prepping for the battle for wave seven, but we should be able to squeeze in quite a lot in that time frame. Lumel’s going to be sitting this one out while she recovers, but Alka already told me she wants to come with us.”

“Always nice to have a deadly battle golem on our side,” Scule nodded. “What about long ears?”

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“I sent a message with some Earthers heading over to the Sacred Forest yesterday. We’ll have to see if she gets back before we leave,” Vin shrugged. “Oh, before I forget. Thoughts on me hitting you with a Dream Mark so we can stay in touch even if we get separated? I was also planning to ask all of you about me using Soul Mark on you guys in case any more of us get kidnapped, but after I created the spell, I started having second thoughts. There aren’t a lot of people I would want to be able to know my location, and I figured others would probably be the same.”

“Hard pass on both options,” Scule snorted. “The last thing I need is you slipping into a dream date I’m on with Fria, and as a Rogue, I refuse to let know my location whenever they want.”

Letting out a few quick squeaks, Reginald hopped up onto the table as well, sitting back on his hind legs and waving up at Vin.

“Good point, Reginald, that’s a solid work around,” Vin said, reaching out and gently poking the rat in the chest as he cast Dream Mark. “No need to worry about interrupting any dream dates if Reginald handles communications.”

“I’ll actually take one of those Soul Marks,” Lumel said, giving him a shy smile as she scooted her chair closer. “I know your spell doesn’t alter or do anything more to the soul than place a piece of your own mana on top of it for you to better find with Sense Soul, so I’m comfortable with this much. I like the thought of my lifemate being able to find me wherever I go.”

“‘Lifemate’?” Scule repeated, raising an eyebrow as he glanced between the two of them. “Is this some sort of weird se—”

Reginald cut him off with a smack to the back of the head with his tail, angrily squeaking at him as he did so. Grumbling to himself, Scule reached into his cape and pulled out a barrel the size of Vin’s thumb. “As Reginald just oh so reminded me, Copi wanted me to share this with you guys. It’s one of his first batches of alcohol. He’s still only in the single digits level-wise, so don’t get your hopes up. Frankly, it tastes like mushrooms and dirt.”

“Thank him for us the next time you see him,” Vin said, smiling as he picked up the tiny barrel. He wasn’t really much of a drinker, but he had a feeling Shia would enjoy the treat quite a lot. Even if it was little more than a single shot.

“Thank him yourself, Nute wont stop asking me when the magical, undersea princess is going to come back and visit her again,” Scule snorted, hopping off the table and heading for the basement. “Come grab me when we’re doing something exciting, I’ll be doing some work in the meantime. Apparently I’m lagging behind and have to catch up in level! ”

Reginald gave them both quick salutes with his tail before he ran after Scule, hopefully to keep him from blowing the apartment up trying something he wasn’t ready for just yet. As soon as they left, Vin fixed Lumel with a concerned look. “You’re sure about me using Soul Mark on you? Honestly, I sort of figured the spell was a wash after I made it.”

“I’m sure,” Lumel said, taking his hand in her own and squeezing it with what little strength her recovering body currently had. “I only wish I could do the same for you. Seeing as you’re the only one of us who has actually been taken prisoner.”

“Hey now, the Red Dawn took Scule, Reginald, Shia, and I all prisoner at one point,” Vin argued, before he tilted his head as he thought back. “Though I guess technically the elves of the Sacred Forest did also take Alka and I both prisoner way back when. Only Alka was a ghost, and Shia was one of the one who took prisoner. So maybe that negates the time she was taken prisoner herself…”

“The fact that you have to think this hard about all the times you may or may not have been taken prisoner is not exactly reassuring, if that’s what you’re trying to do,” Lumel giggled, before letting out a sigh. “It’s a shame you can’t use Dimensional Shift. I’d feel a lot better about you going off on your own with that spell available to you.”

“Maybe I should learn it anyway. I mean, I’d have to chop my golem arm off before I could use it, which would seriously suck and presumably hurt like absolute hell. But for all we know that might be better than the alternative, depending on the situation.”

“No, your time would probably be better spent learning magic to keep yourself out of getting into such a situation in the first place,” Lumel admitted, smiling as he placed a hand against her chest and cast Soul Mark. “I haven’t told you about one of the spells I’ve been working on, but if I ended up coming up with a dimensional-equivalent version of your own marking spell… would you mind if I placed it on you?”

“Of course not,” Vin scoffed. “I’d love nothing more than to know you could find me the next time some military king throws me in a dungeon.”

“Let’s try not to start making that into a habit,” Lumel giggled, leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss. “Alright, you only have three days. You should probably either go check on Shia yourself or just head out with the others. Think you’ll have enough time to finish the third ring?”

“Definitely not the full thing, but three days should be more than enough time to finish the three fragments in the third ring still unknown in the south,” Vin said, pulling out his journal and tracing the empty fragments on his map. “The remaining to the north will probably have to wait until after the battle for wave seven. But that’s fine by me, I’d rather you be rested and ready to go when we tackle them.”

“Don’t you worry about me,” Lumel smiled, a fire already burning in her eyes as she looked toward the future. “You won’t be the only person with a level in the 50s once it’s time to see what Edregon has in store for us in the north!”