Chapter Twenty-Four

Len laughed when she told him they made her the leader of their tribe. A good-natured one, only because he knew enough about her that being a leader was not her favorite activity despite being shoved into aristocracy. "I'm betting you delegated most of that." He said after wiping away the humor-induced tears.

"Yeah. I mostly do tours three times a day complimenting people. Adric and a few volunteers keep people busy. What's your tribe doing?"

"It's like freshman orientation from the university, but run by drunk social societies. Five competing groups fighting over resources. Only one group has decent shelters. There is a rough bartering system that includes physical favors. Two people have been stabbed, and have gone into debt with the healing contingent. I wish I was in your tribe."

"And how are you surviving that?"

"I'm using astral projection, Hazgul, and Farthington to spy on everyone and blackmail myself to a place of power. It's gross that I'm using what those old professors did to keep me under their thumb at the university, but to quote one of your letters, "You use the tools you have and don't cry about those you don't.""

"You just saved me from my own foolishness and now you're quoting me like I'm some wise woman."

"It's all my conspiracy to make you believe in yourself," Len said with a smile and more than a hint of amusement in his eyes. He really was aligning himself with his new profession.

"Ha! Just be sure to give me all your problems, messes, and obstacles and I'll be sure to erase them for you." Harmony retorted back.

The timer started its final approach to zero, Ten… "Best of luck."

Nine. "I suppose we should head back." Harmony sighed.

Seven. "I don't think we have to worry about that."

Five. "Oh?"

Four. "Too early to leave us to our own devices," Len answered as the last seconds ran out.

At zero, the flash of teleportation whisked her away. Before she saw it, she felt it. A lack of complete instantaneousness and in that movement, the obelisk's presence appeared; she knew that was where they were going by the hum of undead energy keeping the mysterious message hidden within. Around her the sounds of people and bonded echoed about with gasps, murmurs, and groans.

"Medic!" Milo Viners yelled, [Recall] matching voice to name and face.

While still worn out from her misadventure with [Rush], Harmony pivoted, accelerating to the call. One problem was that their tribe had a dearth of healers if you could call them that. [Preserve Meat] and [Disinfect] from a butcher who'd admitted to being flexible with his skills toward healing. Viner's astral spirit of his grandfather was an expert surgeon, which came with no skills and plenty of knowledge. Jenny's pet slug secreted a slime with healing properties. They had the water reward from the mimics but that didn't even amount to a weak healing potion. Finally, they had Harmony with [Mend] and [Renew Spirit].

It was bleeding Kenny, the one she'd said would be good for the Games.

"Oh my gods, they killed Kenny!" Eric, the other calestian competitor in their group yelled.

"He's not dead yet," Harmony growled. It looked bad. Real bad. Nearly bisected. The butcher was using [Preserve Meat] on him, keeping the boy in a quasi-stasis usually reserved for sausages in the pantry.

[Mend] wasn't meant for wounds of this caliber. If it was the only problem she'd be less worried. Body damage was one thing, but she could feel his soul's container was ripped open as well. He was lucky no skills were hit.

Milo's grandfather hovered over the whole scene fully manifesting. "If I was here I could heal him. But we need to slow the bleeding more,"

Harmony shoved her hands into the gaping wound, while Kenny was still hanging on much of the damaged tissue was dead at the edges. That gave a picture of what she was looking at. [Col dTouch] reached out directed by [Style and Grace], [Analyze], and [Keen Investigative Awareness] while matching anatomy from [Recall], she made little plugs of ice popped in like pebbles doing some damage but blocking veins and arteries from losing more blood.

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[Mend] had a harder time, but was paired with [Manipulate Dead] so she could realign tube to tube, be it a vein or intestine, and seal them back together with what little healing was provided.

Adric was pouring one of their precious waters down his throat slowly while she worked. The physical damage repair was a tiring and intense process. And ultimately that soul damage was trickier. She'd only worked on dead containers, spirits and that one time with the assassin Susan, even then that was a unique case. Kenny's vitality was making it difficult, the fact that it was flagging and he was on the cusp of dying was actually helping.

There was some irony in him needing to be nearly dead to possibly live. So he kept on looking worse and worse as she pulled everything together. Pappi Viner's comments were helpful, pointing out bits she needed to focus on. Reapplying the ice blocks, and if it looked like she was going to misalign an organ.

Red up to her elbows when she finally sealed him up, Kenny only had slow ragged breaths with no other movement while Jenny's slug sat on his still body working to coat it in the healing slime.

No one seemed optimistic. "I don't know how long he'll live," Pappi noted solemnly.

"It was that bastard from the broken isles with all the swords. I think he figured there was more than one way to win the competition. Why wait for votes when you can be the last person standing and win it all quicker." One of the tribe members cursed. [Reall] was burnt out enough that Harmony wasn't connecting it to a name, even her eyesight was blurry after all that labor.

"We do have the prizes from the contest. Loap says that if Kenny doesn't have a body type one could help." Tyler added in.

Holding out a bottle, harmony used [Analyze]

Half-step, Lunar body potion. - unusable -

"This says unusable."

"It wouldn't be for you since you earned a body type in Nae's Garden." Owsley stepped in. "Won't be usable for anyone who got a half-step through a potion, family ritual, or some other method. Eric, you're in his group, does he have a half-step body?"

Eric's eyes were downturned, not bashfully, but bouncing around between the women gathered nearby, Owlsley, Harmony, and mostly Loap, who had removed her armor and was back to being without clothes. "I mean I don't think he does. It was one of the reasons why I was set to replace him. But if he dies wouldn't it be a waste of the prize?"

Viner's astral spirit floated about like an excited bird flittering from person to object. "Yes, yes, the quasi-evolutionary state of such potions could save him. At this point, it's hours to live, but I'd say the likelihood of survival with the potion is a coinflip assuming his class and profession don't clash with the nature of the potion."

"I was given a potion with similar effects after my evolution. I still died but I think it contributed to me lasting longer." Adric added in.

So they won. That seemed the least important thing right now. How valuable was a half-step potion? Harmony had never heard of one nor read it, yet the tourists all seemed to understand it, and it had been one of the many attempted cures for Adric. Too many who thought life was cheap probably would rage against the idea. "Do it," Harmony ordered.

Tyler took the potion to Kenny's still form and tipped it into his throat. A web-like lattice of energy formed over the boy.

"Half-steps being riskier than evolution always take longer. We won't know if it's success or failure for a day. If Milo wishes I'll watch over the boy." The surgeon stated.

From being in her hands to now being out of it. [Manipulate Dead] peeled all the blood and gore off of her body [Beautician] while not being able to synergize helped monitor the process making sure not a speck remained. There was a second set of spider armor back at her lodging to replace what she'd lost but that could wait.

"We won?" Harmony asked.

"Come see," Adric said, pointing her to the pillar which wasn't far away.

Loap stood staring at it, her bunny-like nose scrunched up as she stared at the obelisk where the text had been replaced with colored script matching the tribes it mentioned

Red Tribe - 976 points

Green Tribe- 899 points

Blue Tribe- 755 points

Red Tribe Leaders

1st Tyler Coodly

2nd Owlsley Wurrick

3rd Harmony White

4th Erin Solstice

And onward every name in their tribe was listed. It did not attribute points to people, nor list pets or bonds. Tyler was not who Harmony expected to end up first, and when she looked at Tyler who was standing next to his pet he gave a shrug.

"Loap is very skilled and did most of the work."

"He tried to offer me a potion, but I've already completed my half-hop form. Moon and sun are not competing forms. I've suggested he use it." Loap added to the conversation not looking away.

Owlsley walked up. "It's as useless for me as it is for you, Lady White. Should we go down the list?"

That presented a problem, Kenny was near the end of the list. Someone might feel the poor boy had stolen theirs. Erin, most likely, if they ruled the top competitors got the prizes. "Tyler gets one because he won. The other can be offered for contribution points. We'll award contribution points to people based on their performance to even it out." She'll need to book more time with Gareth to get this all sorted out. The bookie was sure to make it take two hours. "If Kenny lives it can come out of his contribution point total."

[Rush] and the time playing doctor left her ragged. All Harmony wanted to do was eat, restock [Claim the Remains of Power] and crawl into bed. [Poise and Bearing] covered her frustration at needing to stay up and do leadership activities. Adric leaned in and gave her a hug, making her feel a bit better. He hadn't missed that she was recovering. With a long exhausted sigh, she got to work.

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