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Iona woke up on a cart, rattling around.

“Hey you! You’re finally awake!” An all-too-cheerful cat beastkin man said, with a voice like sharp, rusty nails in Iona’s ears. His voice instantly gave Iona a headache.

“You were amazing! Like the Valkyries in stories! I’ve started to write one about you!” He continued on, the words like the screaming of a tortured cat, digging into Iona’s head and upgrading her headache.

Iona would pay any amount of money to hear him shut up.

“I was kinda nervous, you were touch and go for a while there. Fortunately, my skill worked!” He said, and Iona’s eyes snapped open.

She could hear again! The entire fight being in utter silence had been a strange experience, and the man’s – healer’s? – voice wasn’t nearly so irritating, as memories came flooding back.

With a thought, Iona had her Mallium armor withdraw, back into a neat little bundle on her back. The volume remained the same, just the location differed.

Iona could tell by the weight that she’d lost a small chunk of it, and Mallium wasn’t cheap. Every gram was precious.

She sat up, and got her bearings.

She was in a cart, pulled along by a pair of cows – thanks to the pirate’s pen – and there was a whole convoy of people walking along the road. Iona recognized a few faces here and there, and started to put the picture together, along with the bard’s Rory’s help.

Being able to peek at names was awesome.

The slaves had broken free, and finished off a few pirate stragglers with a vengeance. Some had watched the end of Iona’s fight with the pirate captain, and rushed over to help. Rory was a bard, and had a weak healing skill, which he’d used on Iona. Clearly, it had worked well enough for Iona to wake up again. The former slaves had organized, looted the remainder of the town to the bone, and were now walking to the nearest town.

Iona wondered if anyone had dived to the wreck, and tried to get at the treasure. It wasn’t a deep dive, and from how much mana Alfie had pulled, it had to be loaded.

“Thank you.” Iona said, after getting a few coughs out. She could’ve kissed him, if his voice wasn’t so annoying.

“No worries!” Rory said, plucking a few strings of his lute.

Iona eyed it warily. How on Pallos had he managed to get a fully functional lute so fast?

Was he secretly a pirate who was turning coat as fast as possible? Or did the pirates like their entertainment, and their entertainment needed an instrument?

Iona took a quick moment to compose a prayer to Selene and Lunaris, while Rory was nattering on about something. How one slave had organized them all, etc. etc.

Lunaris. Selene. I survived! Smashed the pirates into pieces. They shouldn’t be bothering people too much anymore. The shark escaped though, and it wouldn’t surprise me if in a few years it’s a problem again. Oh well.

I’m off to see Julie! Or get a new squire. We’ll see!

Cheers!

Iona

“A song!” Rory declared, and a number of former slaves shuffled in closer, to better hear him. “Dedicated to our savior, The Dusk Valkyrie! I’m sure you’d like to hear it! Right?” He asked.

Bad bards, and songs on the spot. Iona didn’t know which was worse.

“Hang on, hang on.” Iona said, raising her hands. “Why not something more classic to warm us up? How about a song from The Bard?” She asked, plaintively, hopefully.

Anything to not hear about herself in bad song form. Iona almost wished Rory had left her deaf.

“A song from The Bard! Greatest of us all, songs passed down through untold millennia! Heroic in word, grand in stature! Yes! I will start with the song rumored to be The Bard’s favorite!” He said, starting to strum his lute at speed.

“Rage! Sing, Goddess, of Artemis’s rage!...”

Rory’s singing voice was as good as his speaking voice was bad. Iona leaned back, and let the music wash over her.

==

Iona kept a careful eye out as they continued to travel. The Valkyries didn’t really openly recruit, not in the way Iona thought they did. No, they waited for girls to do what Iona did – approach a Valkyrie and ask. A few minor hurdles, arranged by the individual Valkyrie, and boom! That was how they got new squires.

And while Iona was nice, polite, and paid extra attention to potential candidates – none of them seemed interested in becoming a Valkyrie. Oh, they hung onto her every word, hero-worship in their eyes, but asking to be one? They couldn’t imagine it, even with Iona’s gentle nudgings.

“I was talking with some of the travelers, one Thofur Krelur the 525th, and he had news. Wanna hear it?” Rory asked her, and Iona was surprised at just how awful his speaking voice was.

“Yeah sure!” Iona asked, wanting to know more.

“A healer in The Great Tang is past 256!” Rory practically exploded as he shared the news, licking his lips nervously. His ears were twitching in excitement though. “Oathbound to boot. Rumors have it that she can create Immortals!” He said, tail swishing at the thought.

Iona let out a fake-groan.

“Don’t tell me. It’s war?” She said.

Rory nodded.

“Yeah! Think of all the stories! Aerie already declared war, Nime is crawling out of their hole and also declared war!”

“Poor healer is going to get assassinated.” Iona said, frowning at the thought. “Nobody can allow an Immortal who bestows Immortality to live.”

Ugh. This is why Iona hated Immortals. One – just one – showed up, and three countries were at war. Thousands would die in fighting, and tens of thousands more would be a casualty of the war. Rolland shared a border with The Great Tang and Aerie, and would get dragged in as well, just for the chance to capture or kill the healer. If they couldn’t have her, nobody could.

Of course, the thinking was short-sighted. If Rolland somehow got ahold of the healer, all of Roland’s neighbors would declare war. It was a giant game of “pass the buck”, and it would continue until someone slipped a knife between the healer’s ribs.

Well. Given that it was a healer,slipped many, many knives into her.

“Wonder if more Immortals will show up, and try to rescue her.” Rory mused. “They do tend to stick together. Could be an elf. Oh! Or even one of the legendary vampires!” Rory said, dreaming of meeting one.

“Vampires almost never leave their country.” Iona pointed out. “You’d need to travel to the Exterreri Empire to see one, and they’re halfway around the world. Plus, any Immortal ‘rescuing’ her is just going to want her to make their friends and family Immortal as well. It’s no different than a country grabbing her.”

“The vampire Sentinels occasional leave the border….” Rory whined, in his annoying, contradictory way.

Iona had enough of vampires and other immortals.

“So damn inconsiderate of the healer.” Iona groused. “Setting off another round of Immortal wars.”

“Is it really an Immortal war?” Rory asked. “There’s only one after all.”

“Right. One Immortal. Four nations at war – and the number will probably go up. That counts for me.” Iona griped. “Good chance we’re going to end up in it.”

“You mean the Valkyries?” Rory said, practically salivating at the information.

“Yeah – wait no, don’t tell people that.” Iona said, cursing her mouth.

A bard? Keeping quiet?

It would never happen.

==

Iona and the rest of the former slaves made it to a local town soon enough, where Iona was able to get a healer to properly look after her injuries. A touch, a few coins begrudgingly changing hands, a map of the area, and Iona was off, to the Abbey of the Guiding Waves.

She was a little sad that none of the girls had asked to become a Valkyrie. This particular mission had been one of the best chances Iona had in ages to acquire a squire.

Iona shrugged her shoulders philosophically. Ah well. Next time. At least, the lack of a new squire let Iona see Julie, instead of heading back to the Valkyrie’s base.

She whistled a merry tune as she walked alone over the roads. The nice thing about being [Analyze]ed as a level 350+ warrior – bandits didn’t bother you at all. Nobody wanted to tangle with Iona, which was a huge pain when she needed to track them down, but great for traveling.

[Tracking] was great for tracking bandits down, but it didn’t seem like they had a strong local presence… yet.

Either way, five days of easy travel at a pace that would outstrip most low and medium level couriers with explicit movement skills had Iona eyeing up the Abbey of the Guiding Waves.

The Abbey of the Guiding Waves was somewhat wealthy, given the obscene size and ornamentation of said building. It had gothic architecture on the front, which moved into flowing, wave-like walls and ceilings as the building moved towards the sea. The d’Audrey family was wealthy, and it wasn’t too much of a surprise to Iona that they’d sent their daughter to this place.

Probably required a significant donation. The cynical part of Iona said.

Now, Iona could just walk in, ask to speak to Julie, and would probably be allowed to briefly chat with her. That was Iona’s plan E. She wanted to have a long, erm, “conversation” with Julie instead, and there was no way the Abbess would allow that.

Disguising herself would be the easiest method, but of course Iona had taken a Vow, and part of it was never lying. Somehow, in Iona’s mind, that extended to deceiving people via disguises, which caused of no end of irritation and challenges for her.

Which left breaking in.

Iona first secured her weapons. They wouldn’t be allowed in the Abbey, and for her plan to work, she couldn’t have them hanging around the entrance. She built a small cairn of stone, put her bow, arrows, axe and shield inside, then sealed it up with more rocks and dirt.

A touch obvious, but Iona was willing to gamble that nobody in the next 12 hours or so would discover and disturb the cache she just built.

Iona kept her armor, because it stayed under her tunic until she needed it. It was hard to see, unless you knew what you were looking for. The benefit of loose shirts.

Iona walked out of the woods, down the path, and up to the front door, where one of the sisters was on door-duty. She was dressed in a simple blue robe.

“Hello Sister.” Iona said politely, giving her a small bow of her head.

“Greetings. Do you wish to visit the humble abode of the goddess of the Wakacola sea?”

There was nothing humble about the gaudy Abbey, but Iona wasn’t here to pick fights.

“I am. I was also recently saved from a brush with death, and I was wondering if there was an unaffiliated altar for me to give thanks to my patrons.” Iona said.

Prayer could be done anywhere, but there was something special about praying at an altar. It was ok to pray to any deity from an “unaffiliated” altar, and it was considered more than a bit rude to pray to a different god at a particular god’s consecrated altar.

“Of course! We have a small altar for you to give thanks to your deities. Ness would appreciate a small donation for the upkeep of the Abbey.” The Sister said to Iona.

Iona didn’t bat an eye, fishing out a few mid-sized coins from her satchel, with small flecks of rubies in the middle.

“Naturally, I’d want to help the good Sisters of the Abbey of the Guiding Waves.” Iona turned up the charm. The amount should be more than enough to keep the Sisters happy, and off her back.

But not too much that Iona would suddenly be a VIP, to be buttered up in the hopes of getting more.

“Thank you! Do you mind if I check in your satchel? No weapons are permitted inside, nor are drugs and…”

She then recited a long, long list of contraband, which included a few oddities.

Who didn’t like apples and vinegar in their Abbey?

This particular goddess, apparently.

Iona happily opened her satchel, showing coins, her drawing supplies, field rations, and miscellaneous supplies, like a rope.

Iona followed the Sister, keeping her eyes peeled for Julie, and hoping that they didn’t bump into each other now. This was the riskiest part of the plan – if Julie saw her, the entire jig would be up. Iona was gambling that as a new initiate, Julie would be kept away from the paying guests until she learned how the abbey expected her to act.

Which would make finding her super hard.

Iona was led to the main room of worship, a grand chamber that had an altar and a large statue of Ness herself, missing a wall entirely. Instead of a wall, it opened up to the sea, and the breeze grabbed Iona’s long hair and playfully whipped it about, as the smell of salt filled her nose.

Iona took a moment to kneel before the altar to Ness. It’d be rude to come all this way without saying hi to the goddess, as minor as she was.

Hi Ness! It’s Iona.

We haven’t chatted much, but I’d just like to say hello! It’s nice to meet you.

Hey, so I’m not here for the purest of motives, but at the same time, I don’t mean you or yours any harm. In fact, I wish them the best. I just want to say goodbye to my friend. I don’t think I’ll be able to visit frequently, and one way or another, our friendship is coming to an end.

Please don’t take offense. I mean none.

Oh! There’s a nasty shark that’s now free and on the loose in your sea. You’ll probably get some prayers about him. Heck, he might pray to you himself, I dunno how sharks think. Anyways! Take this first one from me – keep people safe from the shark.

Cheers,

Iona.

Iona had no idea how long she’d spent kneeling at the altar, but she felt just a hair stiff as she got back up. A different Sister was there.

[Magnetic Charm] was a great skill. While it didn’t do something nearly as stupid as make people think something, or change their mind, it did help Iona read them. The way the Sister’s gaze lingered on the view of the sea let Iona know that… she really liked looking at the sea.

“It’s a wonderful view, isn’t it?” Iona said, giving a raw, genuine smile. It was pretty.

A soft smile appeared on the Sister’s face.

“Like none other in the world.” She said.

Iona and the Sister made more small talk, while other nuns came in and out, and one or two other guests also came to pray. Both merchants, and Iona would bet they were asking for safe passage and favorable winds as they traded over the sea.

And with that, Iona was in her ‘this is a decent person’ books.

“I’m wondering where the unaffiliated altar is? I’d like to pray to my patrons.” Iona asked.

“Follow me!” The Sister said. “Just don’t touch any of the artwork.”

As they walked through the Abbey, the Sister gave Iona a brief tour.

“Over there are the kitchens, the dining hall’s there, that’s Mother Superior’s room, those are the novice dorms…”

On and on it went, with Iona mentally marking the novice dorms. That was her target. She was careful not to touch any of the artwork. It was one of the rules here.

Nevermind that “sneaking around in the dead of night” was probably against the rules.

“… and here’s the unaffiliated altar!” She said, finishing the tour.

It was a tiny room, out of the way, dusty, practically a closet, but that was fine with Iona.

“Let me know if you need anything!” The cheerful Sister told Iona.

“I’ll probably be here awhile. I’ll be able to find my way out on my own though?” Iona said, noticing how the Sister was somewhat fidgety, looking somewhat impatient. Good chance that –

“Yeah, ok!” She said, and turned and left.

Iona closed the door with a grin.

Unaffiliated altars were an afterthought in most temples and other religious buildings. The temple was to THE GREAT GODDESS, and, oh yeah, let’s not offend the rest of the pantheon and include a secondary, minor altar for all of them.

But the acolytes of a religious building tended to be focused on their particular god or goddess, and benevolently neglected the unaffiliated one. Hence the dust, and general unused-ness of the altar.

This one was particularly bad, and Iona spent a few moments tidying it up, before kneeling to pray.

Selene! Lunaris!

Found an altar! Going to work some mischief. Nothing too bad, but I don’t think Ness would approve. Let me know if she’s going to smite me or send some [Paladin] after me.

Iona smiled as she heard the goddesses laughing, knowing the prank she was going to pull. She had their approval… which wasn’t the same as having their protection.

Anyways, I wanted to talk more about the pirates. See, I first heard about them when….

Iona didn’t know how long she’d been kneeling in prayer, just talking with the two goddesses. She’d also checked her level-up notifications while praying, it was just part of how she did things. It felt right for her, and joy of joys, she got a level in [The Dusk Valkyrie], and three in [Traveling Archer]. When she got back up, it was dark.

Nighttime.

Perfect.

Iona creaked the door open a hair, and quickly looked around. Nobody was around, but that didn’t mean a nun wouldn’t turn the corner any minute now. It wouldn’t surprise Iona if there were some younger acolytes who had been sent to the Abbey, who snuck around at night – and some of the Sisters patrolled the hallways, looking for wayward charges.

The moons were up, and half full, throwing red light around everywhere. More than enough to see and sneak around by.

Iona looked up, and briefly considered climbing up to the ceiling, and moving around up there. She had the stats for it… but she wasn’t sure if the ceiling could hold her. It looked delicate, almost art-like.

And she had been told not to touch the art.

Fortunately, traps and alarms were unlikely. Who trapped their own home? Who risked waking everyone up when one of the younger nuns snuck around?

No, worse-case there was an alarm for one of the Sisters on-duty, but Iona imagined a perimeter alarm was much likelier than an internal one.

And Iona had made sure to brazenly walk in through the front door before nightfall.

Iona slunk around, silently padding through the hallways before reaching an intersection. She didn’t have [Sneaking]or [Quiet Footsteps] or anything – but she did have soft shoes and over 10,000 points in dexterity. Sadly, there was no way to justify this as [Vow]-worthy.

Iona reached an intersection before the novice’s dorms, only to freeze in panic as she heard footsteps.

She quickly determined that they were coming from the novice’s dorms, and fled back down the hallway, making sure she restrained herself to move slowly enough to not create a breeze, to not have her clothes rustle against each other and give herself away.

Iona didn’t have [Sneaking], but she and the other squires had totally done sneaking around the castle when they should’ve been in bed once upon a time. Iona was no stranger to this game – except nuns instead of Valkyries, and fleeing in embarrassment and not seeing Julie instead of a paddle and extra-hard training.

Iona allowed herself to shed a single tear for the friends that she’d lost, that she’d never see again, before refocusing.

She was losing another friend, but not to death, and this time, she’d say goodbye.

The Sister’s footsteps receded down another hallway, and Iona seized the chance to blitz into the dorm.

Now was the hard part. Dozens of closed doors, and only one was right. There were three options when Iona checked on a door.

1) It was empty. Try again.

2) It had Julie! Success!

3) It had someone else. Time to run away!

Iona thanked her lucky stars that she’d decided to pick up [Tracking]. Not only did it usually help with hunting down whatever monster was causing trouble, but it’d help now.

In theory.

Iona focused on her skill, her nose, and Julie, sniffing the air. She’d had her face buried in her soft fur often enough, smelling like a lively forest in spring, with a hint of sunshine and berries.

Iona was no beastkin, nor was she of a race that was blessed with an improved sense of smell. Almost 30,000 vitality together with [Tracking] somewhat made up for it.

Near each room she’d quietly sniff, seeing if the scent matched Julies.

Weirdly, there was no smell from almost every room. Business wasn’t doing well.

Eventually, Iona hit a room that smelled right enough. Not perfect… but Iona chalked that up to time and the new place.

Iona strained her ears to see if anyone else was around. Not hearing the menacing footfalls of one of the nuns patrolling the hallways, she softly rapped on the door.

“Julie! Psst, Julie!” Iona hissed at the door.

Nothing.

Iona knocked again, a bit louder.

“Julie!”

Nada.

Iona knocked one last time, a rapid staccato drumming on the door. She froze as she heard movement in two rooms.

The handle clicked, the door opened, and there she was, in all her tired glory – Julie.

“Huh? Iona? Wha-?” Julie said, at cursed normal volume, as Iona barged in, putting a finger on her lips and closing the door behind her.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhh!” Iona whisper-hissed. “Otherwise they’ll find us!”

Having gone from “sleeping” to “someone’s barging in my room”, Julie was remarkably composed, not shouting – just getting that mischievous grin that kitsunes were so famous for, amusement dancing in her eyes.

The two of them said nothing, the only thing louder than their pounding heartbeats was the sound of the other acolyte asking questions of the hallway – then the patrolling nun finding her, and softly yelling at her.

Iona and Julie’s face were both straining with restrained laughter, and at last, Iona couldn’t take it anymore. She grabbed the pillow, shoved it over her face, and let peals of laughter break loose. Julie had better restraint, as she quietly laughed in that high, yipping way.

After a few minutes, they were able to compose themselves.

“What are you doing here!?” Julie hissed at Iona.

“I wanted to say goodbye.” Iona said.

“You could’ve just asked to see me!” She retorted.

“Yes, but then how could I have…” Iona trailed off a moment as she patted herself for Julie’s letter. She unfurled it, and started quoting from it.

“How could I have kissed your lips one last time? How could I rub your ears, run my hands through your fur, massaged your-“

Blushing, knowing the rest of the line, Julie snatched the letter back from Iona.

“I didn’t expect you to sneak in!” She said.

Iona winked roguishly at her.

“Nobody does! You didn’t expect it the first time either, did you?”

“I did too!”

Ok, fair point there.

“Well, look, I’m here now. Why don’t we chat? Talk about old times before you become one of the stuffy nuns.”

Julie snorted.

“I swear, the Mother Superior must have a [Shove a Stick up your Arse] skill. All the nuns get stodgier and stodgier as time goes on.”

Iona grinned at her.

“See what I mean?”

Julie punched her in the shoulder.

“And what do you mean, ‘old times’? We’ve only known each other for three years! We only spent like three weeks together total!”

Iona’s face went from smiling to sad. She tried to fight back tears.

“Julie… that makes you one of my oldest friends.” Iona barely managed to get out.

Julie’s face fell, as she hugged Iona.

Iona hugged her back, wrapping the smaller kitsune in her gigantic frame.

“I’m sorry.” Julie said, after a moment or three passed. “I forgot.”

Iona patted her on the back.

“It’s ok.”

They broke the embrace, and Julie hopped onto her bed.

“Hey Iona?” She asked.

“Yeah?”

“Do you still have [Drawing]?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Draw me. Get a picture of me as I am now, bring it with you.”

The light played with the shadows to make an interesting portrait, but Iona had no trouble breaking out her drawing supplies, and starting to sketch Julie. Swift lines crossed the paper, drawing almost as fast as an experienced painter with classes and skills. Such was the tyranny of insane stats.

As Iona drew, the two idly chatted, catching up on what had happened since they’d last met. Julie told the mundane tale of the life of a trader, the discovery and subsequent ultimatum. Iona hung onto every word, hearing stories of a world not her own.

“Are you sure you want to be here?” Iona asked. “It’d be easy enough to walk out with you.”

Julie nodded.

“What would I do? Where would I go? I’m not strong like you Iona. I can’t forge my own path.” She said.

Iona privately disagreed – anyone could forge their own path, especially with the System.

But maybe that was just it. Julie didn’t have the drive, the resolve, the fire needed to do that – and hence, wasn’t strong enough.

Iona shrugged.

“If you’re happy, I won’t stop you.” She said.

Julie smiled, and settled back down further on the bed. Lounging on the bed, in a pose well-suited to being drawn.

Iona finished up, and showed Julie the portrait.

“Oooh! That’s me! It’s so good!” Julie cooed over the picture. “Do yourself!”

Iona rolled her eyes.

“With what mirror?” She asked.

Julie got a mischievous look on her face, and slipped the habit down over one shoulder, exposing a breast.

“Well… why don’t you draw me like one of your Rolland girls then?” She asked with a sultry tone, waggling her eyebrows.

Iona’s drawing was fast, and not particularly good – but she did manage to fill Julie’s entire wishlist of “things I regret not doing.”

==

They only stopped when the sun was starting to peek over the horizon, and sweat covered both of them.

“You need to get out of here.” Julie panted out, wrung out and exhausted. “The Sisters will be mad if they find you.”

Iona agreed. She already heard footsteps in the hallways as people were getting up.

She gave Julie one last kiss.

“Hey. If you need anything – just write! I’ll try to swing by.” Iona said with a wink.

Julie laughed and threw a pillow at Iona.

“Shoo! Get out of here! If they catch you here with me, it’s the birch stick for me.”

Iona grinned.

The halls were filling up with nuns, and going out the normal way? Impossible not to get caught.

However…

“All the rooms are the same, right?” Iona asked

Julie nodded.

“Well. This is goodbye then.” Iona said, giving her one last hug.

“Goodbye Iona.” Julie said.

They broke apart, and Iona focused, seeing if her latest stunt would qualify as protecting Julie. She felt no boost come over her, and she mentally shrugged. It wasn’t needed, it’d just be nice.

Iona cracked the door a hair, and seeing nobody in the hallway for a moment, burst out of the room, entered the room next to Julie’s – to not implicate her – and launched herself feet-first out the window.

She ignored an alarmed shout as she landed on the grass outside the abbey, and was off in a sprint a moment later, off to her weapons cache, grinning all the way.

Crying all the way.

She made it back to her weapons, and as she slung them back on, considered what her next move was.

The pirate’s treasure was still at the bottom of the bay, and with the stupid amount of mana Alfie had used, was probably more than a bit valuable. The Valkyries could use it.

There was the healer in the north, a flashpoint for a full-fledged Immortal war. Diving into the fray could be useful, although Iona would need to whisk the healer away somewhere nobody could find her – probably into the Immortal lands, where such people were welcomed.

Then again, Immortals brought the trouble on themselves, and for millions of others in multiple other countries. So thoughtless.

It was a healer that needed help though. Iona was indecisive.

In the other direction was getting back to the Valkyrie castle, and reporting back to Sigrun, and seeing what the next emergency that needed a Valkyrie was. Possibly getting a squire, expanding the order, demonstrating they still had value, etc.

Bonus – Randall was in the town around the castle, and it’d been a while since she’d visited him.

Finally, there was finally spending some time on working on acquiring and bonding with a companion. Iona was one of the oldest Valkyries who’d never tried to get one. Iona believed that she was good, that she’d bond with one – she’d just never had the time.

Choices, choices. She chewed on them – and some jerky – as she walked back through the forest.

Onto the next adventure.

[Name: Iona]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 21]

[Mana: 86960/86960]

[Mana Regen: 69848]

Stats

[Free Stats: 421]

[Strength: 13242 +(127520)]

[Dexterity:   13242 +(127520)]

[Vitality: 28019 +(53096)]

[Speed: 15073 +(145153)]

[Mana: 8696]

[Mana Regeneration: 18490]

[Magic Power: 5488]

[Magic Control: 5488]

[Class 1: [The Dusk Valkyrie - Celestial: Lv   391]]

[Celestial Affinity: 391]

[New Moon's Dance: 391]

[Weapon Mastery: 376]

[Strength from the Stars: 377]

[Celestial Armaments: 375]

[Moon's Twilight: 384]

[Stellar Body: 379]

[Gaze of the Galaxy: 383]

[Class 2: [Traveling Archer - Ice: Lv 314]]

[Ice Affinity: 314]

[Shortbow Skills: 299]

[Blizzard Shot: 271]

[Chilled Mind: 281]

[Trick   Shot: 305]

[Ice Arrow Conjuration: 305]

[Glacial Slow: 265]

[Snowflake Drift: 261]

[Class 3: Locked]

General Skills

[Drawing: 180]

[Valkyrie's Valor: 388]

[Adaptable: 202]

[Tracking:   210]

[Vow of Iona to Lux: 321]

[Magnetic Charm: 169]

[Comprehensive Education: 280]

[Dinosaur Husbandry: 290]

Other

Blessing of Selene and Lunaris

Comments

SelkieMyth

Y'all bullied me until I released this one bonus :(

Monus

What is this madness? An extra chapter? I mean I appreciate it. But don't let the meanies bully you.

Angus Hamilton

Selkie, you might want to update the patreon tier descriptions, they still list as 10 chapters ahead instead of 16

SelkieMyth

I'm going to. I'm working on a minor overhaul of all the tiers, and I want to MAKE SURE I've got it all set in stone, and I have a long announcement time about it, before I make changes.

Summercat

I see an Artemis reference...

Rainer

Is this Elaine I'm hearing about?

Jonathan

I'm guessing it stems from the time when the entire world tried to capture or kill her healy-bug.

Evgeni Ivanov

I liked the interlude - it wasn't overly long and was pretty entertaining . I think the interlude gave us the time period Iona is living in - if Thofur Krelur the 525th is a dwarf and they keep their naming traditions it means that the year is about 26000 . /Elaine story is set in 4798 and they are at the 94th generation /. Also Vampire Sentinels sound very very cool . I totally forgot that Night can create Immortals too .

evyatar

Nooo i wrote so much but the messege got lost!

KalAeon

Don't let them bully you =P Do I want to get back to Elaine? Sure. Am I disappointed with Iona? Absolutely not, I find them perfectly entertaining. If anything I'm just getting impatient for them to finally meet up, but something tells me that might not be too far off. Anyway, thanks for the chapter, I love it.

Andrew Moreton

It also demonstrates Elaine's continuing influence on culture being a modification of the opening of the Illiad she has introduced.

evyatar

You missed so many points and revelations! -)The moons are still red, confirm the deceiver is alive -) its more likely the year is nearer to 50000, maybe 45000. Because the wood dwarves are dead, most of the survivors are unconfirmed, they are probably the stone dwarves, which means they were 47th generation! -)a tribute maybe NIGHT is alive. -) oath bound healers are bound to heal mortals of their mortality, because each day they injure their life spam, their cells divide and they are closer to death, an injury they are bound by oath to heal

evyatar

Probably not? She got to be way, way up than 256 i hope

Andrew Moreton

We also now know why Healers are not allowed above 256 at least some of them like Elaine can become or create immortals after that. Lots of other interesting hints about how the world has changed and which bits have lingered on

evyatar

One more which is extremely unlikely but could still be funny as hell, Both elaine and Iona talk about a companion What if Iona connect with a ‘golden crow’? Ah? I could throw a guess that Elaine got tired of being targeted as an immortality granting device, and maybe the third class is kind of a shapeshift As a golden crow she dont have healing abilities so she cant be oath bound to help? Or in the crow form she doesnt feel the oath? So she passes her time traveling? Until she finds an injured Valkyrie, and they get a connection?

evyatar

Imagine the oath bound ones are forced to heal mortals from their mortality and grant people around them immortality

Tjark

I just realised it's totally possible for Elaine to be 2000+ without making the difference between her and Iona too big. Because if/when they bond Elaine will drop to the level of her bond and they will share exp after that until Iona caught up with her.

Tjark

Certainly possible. Though Iona would instantly know Elaine is human because she can read her status. So there would still be ionas prejudice against immortals

Tjark

You know Selkie this is annoying (in a good way). You always end books on cliffhangers where i want to know what happens to elaine now (at least book 3 + 4) and then there's an Iona interlude. And when i finally get over elaine's cliffhanger and get invested in the interlude Ionas story ends and i get left hanging for more of Iona this time... :(

maxime cheniour

How has no one talked about the skyrim ref at the start ? It seems that the count of meme/ref has shoot up in these interludes xD

Rainer

It just says a healer is past 256, not what level they are.. and that they can make people immortal...

SelkieMyth

I've always had a lot of references in what I write. However, if you don't know it's a reference, it seems natural. Like this one!

Nick

Afaik, These interludes are set in the far distant future, Elaine would be centuries old by this point and well above 256

evyatar

Yes certainly, but she will see elaine original oath, and her name!

Treim

Who was Julie again? I can't seem to remember her.

D

its the opposite. the higher leveled one will have to wait for the lower leveled one to catch up. read the talk about it with hunting in the capital.

evyatar

A healer appeared with the level of 256 or above, oath bound, Sure it could be Elaine, but probably not, we know that elaine would get a curse and will already create a riot when she returns with the ability to turn people immortal, in the future she won’t fall to the trap and start another civil war. She wont do that again.

evyatar

Ah, drake you are saying the same thing, Elaine will wait for Iona because she is high as fuck

evyatar

A cool thing that could happen is character development for Elaine a wild guess. An amazing adventure now, in the mineshaft she returns to the empire with a thunderbird and causes a ruckus when she returns with the ability to make people immortal as a result down the line when healers start popping up with the intention of imitation elaine? Another catastrophe? What is the curse? Elaine loses people who are dear to her, maybe her companion dies. She grows tired of being a target, The god who made her reincarnate? Papilion? Idk the name please forgive me! On her third class, she again get an offer from him, golden crow? Looks good, she shapeshifts, she grow apathetic from humans, and her oath is nulled in this form, either from her not having healing abilities in the form. Or because she shapeshift. Years pass, she levels, and becomes a legend or idk Later on, she connect with Iona, and tada. Lol what weird ass logic and ideas At least we know both prefer woman

Scott, just Scott

How can someone tell you are an immortal? Does it show up in your status, which would be unfortunate? Otherwise, I assume immortals would just lie about it, and the only way to prove them wrong would be to watch them for a long time.

SamHawke

shes one of Iona's friends/lovers she has at least three

SelkieMyth

You can totally lie about it! And see how long you can get away with it. Fairly common tactic is to lie about it, and try to be discreet.

Tjark

doesn't really matter if you're a healer past 256 tho? Are there other ways of gaining immortality?

Noodles

You know, Elaine has room for a third valkyrie class. Also, I wonder what Iona would think about a Human Healer with a sentinel class that only vampires should have? I doubt that Elaine will have to make people immortal, indeed I doubt she can make people immortal. Her skill should turn back the clock on aging a bit, but eventually the person would age again. Without constant use all she would do is extend their lifespan. And every time she heals someone normally from a life ending wound it can be considered as her extending lifespan. We keep hearing about oathbound healers, I wonder if they actually took the [Oathbound Healer] class. Iona is so cool! Elaine needs to get a hobby like everyone else. Hunting has mosaics, Iona has drawing, night has contemplating existence.

Pltergeist

Elaine has reading. She just has a big problem to find and keep books :)

Flying Goat

We don't know Elaine with get the ability to make others immortal - merely to be immortal herself. We also don't know this healer can make people immortal, as it's just a rumor she can do that. Nor do we know if Elaine will be conscious and levelling during the timeskip. There have been a few mentions of fairies, for instance, and in folk tales, they do have a habit of sending people into the future (more due to the nature of time in their realm than due to malice, but the point still stands...). So, in summary...who knows? Maybe it's her, maybe not.

Flying Goat

Vampires seem to be immortal, and Night's no healer. The guardians seem pretty immortal-ish, too, and didn't see them throwing a whole lot of healing spells around. It's been mentioned fairies are immortal as well (in some of the bonus material?).

Scott, just Scott

So how do "they" know that there is an immortal healer wandering around? I guess stupid high level and an apparent young age might be suspicious. But people cannot identify the level of very high status characters--so perhaps 256+ is the practical limit for most people?

SelkieMyth

Yes! I worked it out the other day, and every element, every class, has ways of getting Immortality. Water can have [Fountain of Youth], while a Dark rogue might have [Hide from Death itself]. Healers are unique in that they can spread it though. It's not only themselves that become immune to time, they can make others immune to time as well. And that's priceless. You're immortal, and fall in love with a mortal? Well, either they need to get lucky and get an immortality skill (unlikely), or you need to find a healer willing to help out. Again. And again. And Immortal healers that are "successful" might not want to spend all day, every day, rewinding the clock for people. Also, Immortal healers don't always get the "reverse others" perk. Because that puts a giant target on your back, vs "I can only do myself", which is just "bah, another bog-standard Immortal."

Radical

It would be cool if it isnt elaine but someone whos following her path and oath or something

Thorium

You know, all this talk about immortal healers starting wars over their skills is making me really hope the healer mentioned at the end is a time-displaced Elaine. Think about it - this is the same Elaine that gets nightmares from having killed pirates that attempted to kidnap her and failing to save random people. She would probably be downright traumatized if she ended up starting a war, even by proxy. This way there is at least a chance Iona might bail her out before too many people kill each other fighting over her.

D

dont read the iona stories, but the comments. from what i understand immortals are not liked that much. maybe thats the white doves curse? 'you make people immortal? lets see how long you do it when every none immortal hates your for it!'

evyatar

So the healers have different kinds of immortality, elaine’s versions is celestial and requires high level… will anyone else get the same or not? Her curse should be interesting! There are no other like her… What happens if one gains two immortality skills from the two classes? Or three?

evyatar

I think her oath of healing will get in trouble if she tries to be a valkyrie, she cant attack bad guys unless they attack her, in the start it may help. But info will het leaked until bad guys injure themselves and trap her or something

Tarodan

I was trying to count how many webnovel references you fit into the chapter previous to this. Although one of them couldn't be a reference... Setting pigs on fire NEVER works.

Jachin Nelson

The same thing could happened now, and Elaine's Oath is public knowledge, and so far it hasn't really been exploited by anyone

Seivers

I honestly doubt that the oath would force Elaine or any other oathbound healer to make someone immortal, since aging is just one aspect of life. Of course they are still able to do that and might be guilt pressed or some other way forced to make someone immortal

Kapelteta

I really doubt that the forced healing of mortalness is a thing. There have been too many instances of Elaine bending her oath into a pretzel for her needs with no or light consequences for that to be a real threat.

Sam Castilow

Despite how much Elaine has denied being the apostle of papilion the god of change it's pretty clear this much later in the story how true that was. Her contributions are the defining shape of the future with countless healers bards still looking at her as the origin of songs, knowledge, and even moral oath bound guidance. Her work has in some ways changed Iona's era more than even The Deceiver. I wouldn't be surprised if Elaine tried to grab a third class in Iona's time and is offered being papilion's avatar.

Tetsuki

... How would she still be low leveled enough to do that?

Alexey Gladkich

I believe that it was rather heavily implied that the healer is Elaine/Lux reincarnated again - probably due to White Dove curse or something.

Alexey Gladkich

I am fairly certain that create immortals is an exaggerated rumor. Probably, it is [Stars Never Fade] i.e., ability to undo aging. It could easily appear as immortality - imagine an old guy getting young again? And it is effective immortality as long as the healer is around.

Jeanean

Currently, OI see two possibilities for the curse Elaine will get from white dove and how it could bring her to Iona's time. Both, I think would be equally interesting. The first would be that whote dove pulls an asshole move and goes: "Fine, you want to reverse youre aging? Let's take it a step further and make you completely reincarnate all over again." The question would be how much of her levels, skills and classes she gets to keep since being born with level 300+ would be hella suspicious. And if this happens, I really hope she gets told about the curse BEFORE she uses the skill the first time. The second possibility, and he one I find would be much more interesting, would be in reference to the "golden crow" and the fact that both Elaine and Iona search for a bond. In short, as soon as Elaine becomes Immortal, she is turnedinto a golden crow who slowly loses all capability of reasoning and can only regain it by becoming someones bond. That would most definitely make for a very interesting element in the story. (Though I do hope she can get her human form back. Maybe with a "golden crow" third class?)

Alan McBrayer

I'd imagine a sufficiently advanced enough healer would be able to tell that a person's cells weren't deteriorating.

Sam Castilow

Fairy time shenanigans is one possibility but I am more or less just pointing out the impact the protagonist has had even after countless years

The 49th Khan

The 525th? Dear lord, how far in the future is this?

Weebhunter452

Is no one going to mention how Artemis is in the song?

fox5s

I don't think the healers are starting wars over their skills. Rather, others are starting wars over the healers and their skills.

Alexey Gladkich

Well, it could be like 50000 years - or it could only be about 600 years if tradition changed and the number is number of decades since dawn of time - instead of centuries, or number of 50years. Kinda reasonable once shortlived races got introduced to dwarves. That would be a fine trolling by Selkie.

Thorium

@Alexey Gladkich I don't believe it was. There are certainly signs pointing to it being Elaine, with it being an oathbound female healer above 256 who can 'make others immortal' (and who was dumb or ignorant enough to advertise it) and Iona considering going after her. But I wouldn't call it heavily implied that it was Elaine, let alone that Elaine was reincarnated of all things. @fox5s Potato potahto. The war is ultimately caused by the healers getting a skill to make others immortal. It's not like 'they attacked me first' ever stopped Elaine from getting nightmares about the people she 'killed'.

Venalitor

This is the first story where I actually dislike side-stories. They're usually my favorite.

Mat

Sooo do i have this right? If the dwarf guy is 525th, then Elaine and Iona are separated by over 20,000 years?