Nate sat at the table enjoying his breakfast. He’d managed to get the details of The Severing Blade out of Fili the night before, after his little reveal about being stalked by Perenthia. What Fili had been able to share was the story of a True Divine powerful enough to threaten other True Divines. Where factions like the Dynasty of the Heavenly Serpent or the Golden Tide focused on a wide array of members from a large number of worlds, the Severing Blade Sect focused on individuals and only controlled a single world.

The structure of the Severing Blade Sect was apparently two-tier. There were those who served, functioning as attendants and assistants, apparently called The Severed. And, then, there were those that they served, the Blades. Every Blade was apparently the equal of a Seed of another faction and the way the Severing Blade Sect maintained such a high quantity of Seed-level individuals was by competing in every World Reaping in the sector and, more often than not, taking first place.

According to Fili, there were rumours they supplemented their intake of Divine Energy by other, more nefarious means, but those had largely never been proven.

Then, there was Perenthia, the daughter of the Severing Blade himself, a Seed among Seeds. Favoured by her Father, Patriarch of the Sect, and, according to Fili, rumoured to be the best swordsman at the Lesser Divine tier in this section of the Heartlands.

Nate did wonder how much of Perenthia’s skill with a blade was actual swordsmanship and how much was probability manipulation. That didn’t matter right now, though. Given what Fili had explained to him, Nate could see why the short woman was concerned. In theory, Nate couldn’t kill Perenthia without risking reprisal. But, in practice, he also couldn’t ignore her. One way or another, something was going to have to give and he had a feeling that crossing the Severing Blade himself was almost certainly the way it was going to go. After all, Perenthia had tried to kill Kiri and Wulfgar, and Nate was not in the habit of forgiving that kind of thing.

His thoughts and plans were interrupted by the sound of Gwen’s tinkling laughter and the stomping footsteps of Kiri as the pair exited Kiri’s room. Kiri was armoured up and brandishing a painting in one hand as she locked eyes with Nate.

“What is this?” she demanded.

“It’s a Kiricket,” answered Nate with a smirk.

The painting itself detailed Kiri, hunched over and hopping like a cricket with articulated legs and antennae. Around her were grass stalks that dwarfed her and she was flying towards what looked like a furry beast of some indeterminate size and shape.

“You don’t like it?” he pressed, trying not to laugh at his sister's mild annoyance.

“I think it’s cute!” piped up Gwen in the background.

Kiri looked from Nate, to Gwen, then back to Nate and rolled her eyes before heading back to her bedroom.

“I’m going to hang up this gift. I’ll just have to get you something in return, little brother!” she called out as she left the room.

Nate knew he was not going to enjoy the next prank she pulled on him. Any time she called him “little brother”, it was always bad news. It was basically the same as a mother using their child's full name in lieu of their nickname. It never boded well.

Still, Nate put it out of his mind. He had other things to focus on. Specifically, plans for what they were preparing to do. With a small application of a Sound rune, Nate had everyone present on the ship gathered around the table. Even Frick, who had duplicated himself with his Horde Skill so that he could fly the ship while participating in the discussion.

“We’re coming up on the next System Challenge and we need to have a discussion about what it entails. But, more importantly, about how we’re going to split up who is going in and who is staying out.”

With everyone’s eyes on him, Nate laid out a map on the table.

“This is roughly where we are,” he explained, highlighting a section of water they were currently flying over.

“Our destination is here, just inland of the smaller, southern continent. We’ll arrive by midday today. This is the first of the two System Challenges we intend to do with our final destination and the location of our planned ambush being here.”

Nate placed his finger next to a volcano. A very active and somewhat angry volcano. Maybe it was just annoyed at all of the gnats in the form of Lesser Divines crawling over the planet.

“Now, the first System Challenge we will be arriving at is a solo task. It’s apparently called the Endless Maze. If you haven’t heard of it before, I have the details you can go through afterwards here, but the basics of it is that it is a maze challenge. The challenge includes puzzles, traps, poisons and a variety of other problems, including potentially Divine Beasts, if you get a bit further in. Now, I assume everyone wishes to partake in the Challenge?”

When he got affirmations from all around the table, he continued.

“Then what we need to discuss is the order of people going in. As we have found out firsthand, if we’re not careful we will get ambushed upon exiting the Challenge. That means only myself or Kiri can be in the Challenge at the same time. Not both of us, as at least one of us needs to be around to defend you if Seeds of other factions show up. However, there is a question of if just one of us waits outside while everyone else completes the Challenge or should we split it up. Half in, half out. I’m asking for opinions here.”

Kiri tapped her foot angrily, “I’m torn. On one hand, I think it should be half-in, half-out. But, in the unlikely event that your wannabe girlfriend, miss I-have-pink-hair-and-am-crazier-than-three-Gokats-in-a-woolen-sack, shows up, I don’t know how to stop her from killing someone. I am not worried about me surviving. I am worried about everyone else. So, by that thinking we should all go in and leave you out on your own. But then…the way Fili tells it, this woman may actually be able to take you in a fight. Like, are you a hundred percent certain you could beat her and the quiet ones that follow her around.”

“The Severed,” supplied Fili.

“Yeah, the Severed. Because, if you’re not certain…I don’t want to see you kidnapped. Again. By an older woman.”

Nate tried not to roll his eyes at Kiri’s little extra comments. He could see the amused smile on her lips and knew she was just getting a small amount of pay back for his ‘Kiricket’ painting.

“So, what do you suggest?”

“I go in first, alone, and then you and everyone else goes in. That way you have time to set up protections. And, I am not worried about surviving and I have no one to take care of. I doubt anyone will have caught us by the time I am done and if anyone catches up to us before you are done it’s me they’re fighting and I am fucking immortal.”

Fili glanced at Nate, “Is she…really?”

Nate tilted his head back and forth, “Close enough.”

He proceeded to ignore as Fili mouthed the word ‘Immortal’ while Jak was doing a doublecheck with Wulfgar. Only Gwen didn’t seem surprised and Nate wondered if maybe Kiri and her potentially new girlfriend had discussed their skillsets with each other.

“That’s mostly fine by me,” agreed Nate, ignoring how Kiri’s eyes narrowed. “But I won’t be able to set up defences.”

Kiri’s eyebrows went up ever so slightly, “Last one?”

“Last one,” agreed Nate.

“No defences, then,” agreed Kiri immediately before glancing around at everyone else. “And no discussing what you see. Understood?”

Everyone except Frick and Wulfgar seemed somewhat confused but readily agreed. A moment later, everyone was breaking off to do their own thing. Fili went topside to practise what looked like some form of kata that involved daggers. Gwen and Kiri opted to return to Kiri’s room while Wulfgar and Jak began debating the finer points of using an axe and how different axe-blade shapes could lend themselves to different battle styles.

Frick followed Nate to his room after a gentle poke through the Familiar bond.

The little, blue goblin hopped up on the bed while Nate sat on a plain, wooden stool.

“I’ve been avoiding this conversation,” muttered Nate.

“I know,” piped up Frick.

Nate was surprised to hear a note of sadness in his Familiar’s voice.

“It’s alright, Boss,” continued Frick. “Can’t help but pick up on these things. When we got together, I just saw you as a meat bag that could deliver me a bit of mana. Then that turned into a lot of mana and well…it’s been a crazy journey! I’ve loved every minute of it! And, now, I am already more than just a Spirit. I am no longer anchored to the Spirit Realm. I have a physical presence. Can’t phase through shit anymore but the trade off has been getting to do some of the things I learned from…”

Nate held up his hand and cut Frick off before the little, goblin spirit could start describing the things that went on in brothels.

“Yeah, yeah, Boss. The point is it’s been great! And I am going to miss living a bit in your head and having access to your Skills…but as long as you’re not giving me the boot I will still be here. Just now…you know…a part of the team instead of just the mascot.”

“You were always a part of the team, Frick,” said Nate quietly. “I suppose I feel the same. I got so used to you being in my head a bit and knowing what I was thinking that it’s going to be an adjustment not having that. You’ll need to anchor yourself to something else, I imagine? Dare I ask what?”

“The Solaris, of course.”

Nate stopped and did a double take, “What?”

“You thought I would go with the Fury-filled Demon Heart? It doesn’t align with my Path. It’s been good for Demonic Energy, which has been helpful, but it’s terrible for Chaos and only half-decent for Consumption. And, even if we found a Peak-Grade artifact it would need to be of both equally to serve as an anchor to the Physical Realm for me without unbalancing me just as badly as you are. The Solaris has no alignment. It’s already bordering on a Divine Artifact. Means every time you upgrade it you’re going to upgrade me. It’s a flying ship, with huge fucking cannons and makes for the perfect Goblin Horde delivery system. Why wouldn’t I want to bind myself to the Solaris? You can do it, right?”

Nate calmly agreed.

“I’ll start preparing the changes.”

Frick left with a pep in his step as Nate began considering the things he was going to need. He’d need to create a new Divine Artifact to act as the anchor itself. Something specifically aligned to Soul to contain a portion of Frick’s soul energy the same way the Familiar Contract did. Then, he’d need to bind it into the ship somewhere that it would be incredibly difficult to find as well durable enough that it could survive the destruction of the Solaris, which would be a feat in and of itself.

It was likely to be expensive in terms of Divine Energy but not too bad and hopefully Nate would get a small refund from Reality for being creative with Concepts.

But using that much Divine Energy would draw attention, which was why Nate informed Kiri of what he was about to start working on. After all, if some Divine Beasts came to investigate, well, they could also help fund the little project with their own “donations.” Nate smiled and got to work.

*************

Vicoli, Disciple of the Void, watched as his fellow Herald worked. He had already known to some extent what his fellow Herald was capable of but the conversations that Vicoli had spied upon had opened his eyes.

Being able to improve materials to Divine was not unheard of. Incredibly rare, as it was an expensive Skill and, more often than not, the short-term gains outweighed the long-term ones when it came to Divine Energy. It was better to spend that Divine Energy on raising one's Skills now than it was to create an idealised Divine Artifact and wait the years it would take for it to accumulate enough Divine Energy to pay for that initial investment. That was just the law of the powerful. The more powerful you were, the easier it was to gain Divine Energy and the more expensive advancement became.

That fact was even true of these little Second Evolution Heralds, in Vicoli’s eyes. They raised up those around them at the expense of their own growth. Growth that, from what he had heard, could take them beyond what The System allowed.

Vicoli had always suspected there was more. Arikanvil had always seemed too strong, even when compared with other True Divines. If the purple bastard hadn’t robbed half the factions of the Heartlands in his bid for more power, then he could have very easily founded his own Sect or faction, much like the Severing Blade.

Divine Vessel. Vicoli tasted the words on the tip of his tongue. A Path outside The System. The little Heralds hadn’t raised up these newcomers yet. In fact, they hadn’t even finished raising up the companions they already had, the old bleeding one and the insane, little goblin spirit. But, all hints and actions pointed to the fact that they would. It was just a matter of time. And, when they did, Vicoli would be there. He would learn this other Path and he would begin treading it. After all, Arikanvil only asked Vicoli to monitor the little Heralds. It was up to Vicoli what he did and didn’t share with the God of Space and, for once, Vicoli was more than happy to leave the one holding his chain in the dark. Let the God of Space have a taste of the Void and Vicoli would sup on freedom.

*************

Dorin looked around to check that no one was nearby before putting up the privacy array. The silver-haired elf before him gave him a haughty look.

“This seems a little overboard,” commented Kalin, Seed of the Worldforger Sect.

“I heard you wanted information on Nathaniel Weber,” replied Dorin.

“The price was too high,” answered Kalin calmly, but Dorin with his Read the Room Skill could see the small micro-actions that indicated that Kalin was more than willing to hear him out.

“Yes, Head Merchant Wu To’sama has assumed a position on the Risen Sun Sect. However, I very much doubt my Master would feel the same way.”

“You’d willingly cross the Head Merchant?” asked Kalin.

“My Master should protect me from any reprisals. The price is a single Peak-Grade Divine Artifact,” answered Dorin Starbeard.

“That still seems high,” countered Kalin but, again, Dorin could see that his ‘customer’ was willing to pay.

“I am still assuming a level of risk in sharing this with you. That is the price. Take it or leave it.”

Kalin glared which eased into a frown before handing over a small stone that shone like the sun.

“Excellent,” agreed Dorin, making the stone vanish. “This is what I know…”