Chapter 53: Splitting the Party for Fun and Profit

The half-orc pulled up the box for [An Anchor of Heart and Home], and exerted an effort of will. The system didn't exactly come with instructions, though it was rather intuitively built and would respond intelligently to most thoughts directed at it. The problem was that one needed to know that a command existed to be able to perform it.

Sure enough, it took only a slight twist of perspective for the skill to suddenly flicker, changing form.

[X-51 R###### A####R] [Grade: Unknown]

Item description missing.

Integrity at 89.7%. Degradation rate is currently: MEDIUM. Time before a##### falls below critical stability threshold: 5 months and 12 days.

#####r boundaries are currently in flux. Stable point identified using skill: [An Anchor of Heart and Home].

She flicked copies of that box over to the other four without saying a word.

"...So the anchor's merged with you in some way?" the Guildmaster frowned at the box for a moment, then glanced at Vex. "Do you know if it's possible to separate the item and the skill after something like this happens?"

"You haven't seen something like this before?" Vex asked, surprised.

"Believe it or not," the Guildmaster said dryly. "I don't actually have access to the endless resources and records that Elyra does, and things like this are actually rare. How frequently do you think adventurers get rare items and rare skills?"

"...Semi-frequently?" Vex ventured. The Guildmaster stared at him flatly, and he deflated.

"You four are a terrible example of what's common," she said, though her tone implied she was vaguely amused. "Can they be separated or not?"

"I don't know," Vex answered. "Not that I know of."

"Isn't this a good thing?" Misa asked, sounding a little protective. "The skill's... it might help me protect my home, even when I'm away from it."

"Depending on what it does, it might also make you a target, and if it's that important I was going to ask you to give it to us for safekeeping," the Guildmaster said with a sigh. "But this might be the second best thing, as long as you don't go around telling people you have it."

"This is going to make training even more important, isn't it," Sev said with a slight grimace. The Guildmaster shrugged, and favored him with a faint smile.

"It's always going to look like a bad time to take a break," she said. "There's always the next milestone to look at. The next hill to climb. If something's sufficiently urgent, then yes, by all means, run for that goal as fast as you can and don't stop until you've done what you need to do.

"Right now, you have time. Not a lot of it — not an infinite amount of it — but you have it, so make use of it as much as you can so that when you do need to run, you have everything you need to do it.

"There are a couple of quests that need to be completed that are between this branch town and Elyra. I'm sending you there anyway, so do me a favor and try to complete them. I'm sure you're not opposed to helping a couple of villages on the way?"

"I mean," Sev hedged, but she'd gotten him with the allure of helping people. "Um. Yeah, I guess we can do that. Anyone opposed?"

"If we haven't found a way to stop or slow the anchor degrading in three months," Misa said. "I'd like us to focus on that. But we'll be in Elyra by then. I don't think the trip will take more than a week. Maybe three, if we're completing quests on the way."

"We will keep an eye out on the way," Derivan said. "There is no guarantee that Elyra will contain the solution we need. Perhaps we will find a solution sooner than we expect."

"That's a good point," Misa said. "...Yeah. I feel a little better about that now."

"I need to go have a meeting about all of this," the Guildmaster said with a sigh. "Before I go. What happened to Kestel?"

"Oh." Misa grimaced a bit. They'd forgotten, in the midst of everything else. She quickly explained what had happened, going over how Kestel had apparently tried to protect the delve team from being reported.

The Guildmaster rubbed her temples like she was getting a headache."Those skeletons you mentioned will be joining the Guild, right?"

"We were hoping they could. They're strong. They'd be an asset," Sev said.

"And they need Guild protection so Elyra doesn't just steal them away," the Guildmaster muttered. "I'll get something made for them. Disguise enchantments, maybe. Oh! Speaking of."

The Guildmaster reached into her pocket and tossed an amulet at Derivan, who caught it. "The amulet I promised," she said. "It'll stop people from being able to notice that you're not quite what they expect."

"Thank you," Derivan said, bowing his head. "I will use it wisely."

The Guildmaster snorted. "You're too polite," she said as she headed out the door. "Use it however you like. Knowing you four, I expect yet another fundamental rule broken by next week."

"I can't tell if she's overestimating us or underestimating us," Misa commented once the Guildmaster left.

"I give it two days tops," Sev said with a grin.

"I'm not sure we should make this a competition..." Vex ventured.

"Perhaps one day, if you will help me test my Magic stat," Derivan said.

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Vex immediately nodded in agreement. "Okay!"

Misa snorted, and Sev just laughed. Then they settled down to discuss their plans for the next few days.

It'd be another day or two before the Guildmaster could arrange for a caravan to take them to Elyra — which, they decided, gave the four of them just enough time to split up and focus on themselves for a bit. Sev's status was still stuck behind the 'processing' notification, the process of anchoring Aurum to him apparently a costly one; he told the others he'd update them as soon as anything changed regarding his status, and that he'd try to stay relatively close to someone that could help.

Vex and Derivan, as before, decided they'd stick together to experiment and explore what they could do with their skills. Derivan's Magic stat was vague enough that they figured there might be more to it, and keeping them together would help Derivan train up the Slime stat, too, though the benefit of that particular stat versus the cost was growing untenable.

Misa wanted to visit the village as they went to rebuild. It wouldn't be the same as J'rokksur, but it would have all the same people, and that was what mattered. She made the other three promise that they'd join her tonight for dinner before they all split up; she'd be cooking them something from her home, she said. None of them questioned where she would find the ingredients.

"Alright, let's get some sleep," Misa said, glancing outside the window and grimacing. The sun was close to setting — she didn't think the village would be arriving by tonight. By the morning, maybe, if they got some rest. "I want to greet Mom and Dad properly when they get back. It's been... it's been too long."

"We're looking forward to being properly introduced to them," Sev said with a smile.

Misa laughed. "Yeah, you say that now. Wait till Dad gets a chance to interrogate you three. Remember, come find us at eight for dinner. Sev, do not show up at eight in the morning."

Sev held up his hands. "I wasn't planning to!"

Misa narrowed her eyes at him. "Suuure."

At exactly eight o'clock the next morning, Sev found himself standing outside Jerome's room.

He wasn't actually going to intrude on Misa's reunion with her family. He'd heard the noise as they arrived early in the morning, around six; he'd heard Misa wake up around that same time, too, rushing down the stairs to go see her parents. He'd thought about what he wanted to do, and two things popped out at him.

One, he wanted to visit Jerome, and make sure the guy was doing okay. He wasn't exactly sure how much the paladin knew about what happened with Aurum, or what the state of his divine connection was. If nothing else, he felt the paladin might want to know what was happening with his chosen god.

Two, he wanted to visit Velykos. The stone elemental had been pleasant company, and while he wasn't sure what he wanted to do, with the infolock apparently not working... he wanted to see if he could give something back to him. He'd make sure there were priests around, of course. Just in case.

So he'd found the replacement clerk and asked where to find Jerome, and he'd been led to this door. Jerome's party members — the two elves — were apparently out at the moment, the clerk had told him.

"Do you know what's happening with Max?" Sev asked, vaguely worried.

"I'm not informed on that kind of thing, no," the clerk said with a shake of his head.

"And your nametag says that your name is... also Max?"

'Max' let out a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, I've been asked this question before."

"Just so we're clear," he said. "You're not actually the same Max."

"No, sir," the clerk sighed. "We just happen to have the same name. I dislike subbing in for her for exactly this reason, you know."

"Aha! You called me sir." Sev pointed triumphantly at... well, not at the clerk. That would have been rude. He pointed instead at the wall next to Max, his hand jerking to the left at the last minute, leaving this other Max to stare at him rather unimpressed. "The real Max would never call me sir. You're definitely not her."

"Sir," the clerk said, sounding vaguely exasperated. "You can only delay entering the room for so long. Jerome is expecting you."

"Just as insightful as Max, though," Sev muttered with a sigh, and eyed the door critically for a moment before giving it a knock.

He didn't know why he was so nervous. It shouldn't have mattered. He was visiting someone that was under heavy supervision; there was a reason this clerk was here in the first place, though he wouldn't be listening in. He'd just be on the lookout for skill activations.

The door opened, startling Sev. Jerome stared out at him, looking surprisingly... normal.

The man wasn't wearing any extravagant armor or anything of the like. He was dressed in casual clothes — planeshifter casual clothes. A cotton t-shirt and loose fitting pants. Sev was almost jealous, looking at him; they seemed comfortable.

"Uh, hi," Sev said awkwardly. "I'm here to visit. Give you some news about Aurum."

"Oh!" Jerome's face brightened somewhat. "Man, I've been kinda worried about the guy. Haven't heard anything at all over the connection. You know if he's okay?"

"I think he is," Sev said with a slight grimace. "The system's being a bit weird about it. It says he's attaching to me, so... I'll let you know if he's okay once that's done. Whatever that is, it's taking a long time."

"The fuck does that mean?" Jerome frowned at him. Then he winced slightly, and caught himself. "Uh. I mean... Do you know what that means?"

"You know about as much as I do," Sev said with a shrug. "Therapy's doing a number on you, huh?"

"Listen, man," Jerome groaned. "They keep giving me lectures. I didn't come to another world for this shit! And they won't stop until I actually understand them! It's not fair!"

"Are you sure that's the therapy?" Sev raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like therapy. That sounds like the introductory classes the Guild conducts for new adventurers."

Jerome's face was blank. "What's the difference?"

Sev sighed, changing the subject. "Nevermind," he said. "Look, I'm glad you're doing well. I gotta get going. I'll keep you updated on Aurum?"

"Obviously," Jerome said, and then paused. "Uh, I mean... please."

Sev stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "You know what, I'll give you credit for trying."

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