The last thing Ana did before she and Messy left the eatery was to Level. It had been a forgone conclusion that she would, ever since she got the last Crystals she needed. She kept putting it off "in case we need the money," but now she was leaving the outpost and Messy had made her promise to do it before setting foot in the forest. So, why not do it while she could still see the look of surprise and delight on Messy's face when the Vitality bonus from Bastion increased?

Ana ate her Crystals, then waited for Messy's eyes to close, lips parting slightly as she inhaled, before looking at her notifications and opening her Summary

Congratulations! You have reached Guardian Angel, Level 17. 17 Advancement Points awarded.

She had 19 Points to spend, and the choice was easy. With her Base Attribute bonus her effective Strength had hit 45; two Steps to her Strength Multiplier, from 5 to 7, brought her to 51 for a cost of 13 Points. That left her with 6 Points, and she still had two Multipliers, Endurance and Willpower, left to raise to the third Step.

Maybe she shouldn't have let those two lag behind as much as she had, but her Enhancements made fatigue and fear non-issues when it really mattered. Now, though, the price was right.

Having spent her Points, she closed her Summary, taking a moment to appreciate the satisfied smile on Messy's face before checking her new notification.

Congratulations! Your effective Strength now equals or exceeds 50. You have gained the Enhancement Hammer Blows.

Hammer Blows: Nails, doors, faces… With mitts like yours, who needs a hammer? Your effective Strength when striking with any part of your body is greatly increased, and your unarmed attacks count as Blunt Weapons for the purpose of activating Perks.

Ana didn't laugh, but it was a near thing. Tor had been trying to get her to branch out and make her weapon Skills a little more well rounded, but she kept getting Perks and Enhancements that encouraged her to just forget about weapons and throw herself into fights bare-handed. Not that she would, but being a living weapon was a nice backup for when she didn't have an axe or hammer to hand.

She really did need to test the limits of her Strength soon, though. Her Big Three lifts had been pretty respectable back home, and she'd been no slouch on the clean-and-press, either. Being a smallish woman, she'd had limited muscle to work with, so a lot of that had been technique and a willingness to push herself to her absolute limit. She wanted very much to see what she could do with almost five times the muscle power.

Across the table, Messy let her breath out as a happy little hum. "That was a nice surprise," she purred.

"Someone once said to always leave 'em wanting more," Ana replied.

Messy just smiled fondly as she rolled her eyes.

The Party that gathered to leave the outpost that morning was small. There were only six of them: Ana, Jisha, and Rayni, and the core Party of Kaira, Tor, and Omda. They didn't know exactly how long they'd be out, but they each had dry food for seven days, with the expectation of hunting and foraging for their meals as much as possible; with a Ranger and a Huntress in the Party, that would be easy.

By dint of the morning's Leveling, Ana was the highest Level person in the Party. By unspoken agreement, this made her the leader, at least when it came to inviting people. It should have been Kaira, really, but it saved Ana an argument; she wasn't sure if she could join a Party anyway, not when she was always in a Party with Messy..

When they'd met, two months ago, Ana had been Level 3, and Kaira Level 15. Now Ana was Level 17; Kaira had gained a single Level in that time. While nobody actually voiced any envy, Ana wouldn't have blamed them. It was blatantly unfair how quickly she'd Leveled; not only had she been getting bonus Crystals for every demon and non-Changeling person she killed, but she'd been showered in Crystals by the leadership of the outpost, who'd had access to a copy of her Summary and had known a trump card when they saw one. That, and she suspected that she was gaining Skill Levels faster than she was supposed to.

From what Ana could tell, they had a well-rounded Party:

Party members:

Anastasia Cole, Human Companion (17), Leader

Kaira, Themion Evoker (16)

Mestendi, Elfin Jeweler (15)

Torden Barlo, Human Peacekeeper (14)

Rayni, Human Huntress (13)

Omda, Human Ranger (13)

Jisha Pillai, Human Fighter (3)

 

Party effects:

Companionship (Anastasia Cole): All Party members within 85 feet of you recover more quickly from fatigue, mana depletion, and injury. Range and effect increases with Class Level.

Champion (Anastasia Cole): All other Party members within 17 feet of you count their effective Willpower as 17 points higher when resisting fear and intimidation. They may also add the effects of your Charm and Intimidation Skills and associated Perks to their own, against hostile creatures.

Bastion (Anastasia Cole): All other Party members count their effective Endurance and Vitality as 17 points higher for all effects except Enhancements. They also benefit from your Endurance and Vitality Enhancements, if any.

Mana Confluence (Kaira): All Party members gain a bonus to their Shaping efficiency and recovery from mana depletion, based on the average Connection of the Party.

Pack Vigilance (Rayni): All other Party members count their base Perception as 2 Points higher for all effects except Enhancements. Bonus increases with Class Level. This cannot raise their effective Perception above yours.

Tireless Rover (Omda): All other Party members count their base Endurance as 2 Points higher for all effects except Enhancements. Bonus increases with Class Level. This cannot raise their effective Endurance above yours.

Messy being included was another thing Ana wouldn't have blamed them for grumbling about, but no one did. She'd just told them that was because it let her know that Messy was fine, and they agreed to work something out to compensate for the Crystals Messy might leech. However, there was no way to avoid talking about her Party Abilities. Not when she had to warn Kaira, Tor and Omda about Bastion and how it would hit them with 17 Points of Vitality and Endurance all at once. The experience drew some extremely crude comparisons from Kaira, despite Ana's recommendation that they sit down and focus on their breathing before accepting her Party invitation.

"Gods below, Ana!" Kaira said, after some choice things that had Omda blushing. "I'm telling ya: charge a silver a go just to join your Party, and you'll never have to leave the Outpost again! Wayfarer's boots, woman, I—!"

"Outside the walls, maybe?" Ana suggested in a tone that invited no disagreement.

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"Right, sure, yeah," Kaira agreed sheepishly. The woman was familiar with discretion; they just weren't particularly close.

As they started out, Ana felt like Messy should have been here to see her off. But just like when Ana had gone out with Rayni, they'd said their goodbyes outside of Master Renvi's shop. Messy had even given her a kiss for luck — this time, though, that kiss had been rather less chaste than a peck on the cheek.

Ana didn't have long to mull over the absence of her emotional anchor, though. Kaira only managed to keep herself together for so long, and they couldn't have gone more than a hundred yards from the dawnward gate before the Evoker burst out, "17 points, Ana! 17 points! We all know your Class is ridiculous — what is it? Journeyman tier? Master? — but I had no idea that your Party Abilities were so ridiculous, too!"

To be fair, they weren't supposed to be. Her Abilities were supposed to affect only her objects of devotion, i.e. Messy. But the Wayfarer had done something when Ana entered her first Delve, and now those Abilities affected her entire Party. Not that Kaira was complaining — her eyes were shining with excitement, and she was grinning almost literally ear to ear as she spoke. Themions had very wide mouths.

"And if that weren't enough, we get to benefit from your Perks and Enhancements, too? Any chance you want to tell us?"

Ana thought about it. Abilities weren't considered particularly private, since they were always the same for any given Class, but Perks and Enhancements were. Still, these were her friends. People who'd helped her when she was a clueless new arrival, and who'd taught her a lot. And it would benefit them all if they knew what her Enhancements would let them do. Her Perks, though, she wasn't so sure about.

"The Enhancements," she decided. "I'll tell you about those. Close in and listen up. Kaira, can you translate to Wanteul for Jisha? I'd rather not repeat myself."

"Sure, if you don't mind her getting the not-for-kids version. My vocabulary's kind of limited."

Ana had seen those two talking. She'd seen Jisha blush, but she'd also heard the girl laugh until she cried at some of the things Kaira said. Jisha rarely even cussed, but the girl appeared to have a filthy sense of humor.

"She's a big girl," Ana said. "She can take it."

"On your head be it," Kaira said, then rattled off something to Jisha that had the teenager giggling and unable to look at Ana.

"Alright. Here's what you need to know. Indefatigable lets you keep going, and going, and going—"

There was a predictable burst of giggles from the two children in the Party, which Ana ignored.

"—as long as you don't stop. You can completely ignore fatigue. It'll catch up to you hard once you do, though, so keep that in mind."

"I can witness to that," Rayni said. "When I got back in during the siege I sprinted all out for half a mile. I had to go to Touanne for healing and stay in bed for hours afterward, the soreness in my legs and chest were so bad."

"Right," Ana said. "Next, Fight Through lets you keep fighting despite pain and blood-loss. Not sure what the limit is — I've had people go down despite it — and it won't keep you alive once combat is over. It buys you time, that's it. But that shouldn't be relevant, because anyone at risk of getting hurt is going to stick close to me, right?" She waited for Kaira to translate, then locked eyes with Jisha and added in French, "Especially you. Five meters! If we're in a fight, you're not going one step more than five meters from me, and I've got the rope to make sure you don't if you can't handle it yourself."

Jisha nodded soberly at that, while the others exchanged uncomprehending looks.

"Finally, there's one more. And I need a promise from each of you that you won't spread this around, because I don't want people hassling me. Alright? Alright. Good. So: Panacea. Poison, disease, festering wounds — you're immune." Ana looked around the stunned faces of the group. "Touanne knows. She says that gaining the Enhancement is known to cure any disease you may already have, and she strongly believes that just joining my Party will have the same effect. You all get why I want to keep this under wraps? I know potions can do a lot, but I don't want people begging me for cures or trying to pressure me into using it for their benefit. You're all my friends, so feel free to ask for yourselves, but don't tell anyone, alright? I know I won't be able to keep it under wraps forever, but… yeah."

The Party was practically silent until they reached the trees. And of course it was Kaira who broke that silence. In this case, though, she did so privately, coming up right next to Ana and speaking so softly that she was barely speaking at all.

"How much have you told the others?" she asked. "I mean, they all know that you're no Companion. Nobody in the outpost believes that. But I haven't told anyone any details, so…"

"Like you say," Ana replied just loud enough for Kaira to hear. "No details. Why?"

"Well, they know that you've got a minimum of 50 Vitality now. Which isn't impossible at your Level if your Class has a per-Level Vitality bonus, but we've all seen how strong you are, everyone knows that your Charisma must be through the roof, and anyone who's boosted their Connection knows that you're way stronger than what you can suppress. My point is, they're going to guess pretty soon that something's a lot fuckier than they already know."

Ana sighed. She couldn't argue with that. But some stubborn part of her didn't want to volunteer any more information than she had to, so instead of gathering the Party again she just told Kaira, "If they ask, you can tell them the truth. And if they ask me, I'll do the same. But don't bring it up, alright?"

"Sure. Yeah. Fair," Kaira said. She fidgeted a bit, plucking the string of her crossbow. Then she said, "Gods below, but I hope they ask me. You know how hard it was not to tell them in the Trap Delve?"

"I can only imagine."

They hiked east, taking much the same route as Ana and Rayni had several weeks earlier. It didn't take long before they found their first demon; Rayni returned to the main group saying that she'd spotted a possessed lynx, with a Threat Level of Weak to herself. After exchanging a quick look with Kaira, Rayni turned to the group.

"It'll be Considerable or Lethal to Jisha, sure," Rayni said as she made her pitch, "but I say we have her fight it. On her own as much as possible, with the rest of us ready to step in if it gets too much. That's, uh… that's assuming you're not too worried about taking a scratch or three, Ana. That's how it works, right? You just take whatever injury one of us would have, if you're close?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Ana said. "But I'm tough enough to take a lot more abuse than any of you. I'm in if she is."

"Yeah, that's the thing, right?" Rayni said. "Irry, Ana, you'll talk to her? I can barely speak more than two words of Wanteul, and her Inter-guild isn't."

"Isn't what?" Tor asked after waiting a moment.

"It just isn't. Girl really needs to start practicing more."

"Alone?" Jisha squeaked when Ana told her the plan. "You want me to fight one of those things alone?!"

"You're a Fighter," Ana said patiently. "A frontliner. That means that you'll be standing between your Party and the enemy, keeping them safe. That's what you want to do, right?"

"Yes. Yes, it is, but… alone?"

"You won't be alone. I'll be right there," Ana said, and anyone could have seen how relieved that made the teenage girl. "We hope that you'll take it out yourself, but we won't let you get hurt. If things look like they're going bad, Kaira will be ready to blast the thing to pieces. But they won't, right? You've got your armor, your shield, and your axe, and you're badass, aren't you? You wouldn't be here if you weren't."

"You'll be there?" Jisha asked, as though she hadn't heard a single word that Ana had said except that.

"I'll be there. We'll all be there."

"Okay. Okay!" Jisha said. She slapped herself lightly from the top of her head all the way down to her neck, psyching herself up. "Okay!" she said again. "Let's do it!"

What followed was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of Ana's life. They led Jisha to where the possessed lynx was, and then they just… let her deal with it. They sent her in, with cheers and shouts of encouragement, and the thing threw itself at her with its too many teeth and misshapen extra limbs full of claws and spurs of bone, and then blood started flying.

It took about a second before Jisha screamed in terror. It couldn't have taken her more than thirty to kill the thing. The whole time, from the first clash until Jisha was hugging her, crying into her shoulder and babbling non-stop in a mix of French and English about how, "I did it! I fucking did it! I can do this!" Ana had to restrain herself from stepping in.

Every time the lynx lunged or snapped at the girl, Ana wanted nothing so much as to push her out of the way and kill the thing. She constantly had to remind herself that the whole point was to make sure that Jisha got a taste of combat, to see that she could hack it, and to get her the maximum experience possible. As long as nobody else touched the demon, Jisha should be getting the maximum reward possible, meaning a Crystal one tier down from what she'd get if she hadn't been in a Party at all. If Ana stepped in, though, that would change. And Jisha was in no danger, she told herself. As long as she stayed within seventeen feet, the girl was at no risk of anything except trauma and building bad habits.

The wounds that appeared on her own body, much lessened thanks to her high Vitality, didn't make Ana feel like less of a failure every time the lynx's claws scratched Jisha. It wasn't pain that made Ana's grip tighten on the handle of her weapon until it creaked when the thing clamped its jaws down on Jisha's shield arm, which let her finally get a few good strikes in on its head and kill it. But Ana kept herself in line, and the fact that Jisha got a Major Crystal while everyone else got Shards — which they gave to Jisha — was a testament to her willpower. Or possibly Willpower; she didn't know if she could have done it without her Attribute bonuses.

That one Major Crystal was enough for Jisha to reach Class Level 4, and she ate it immediately. She then proceeded to excitedly tell Ana exactly what she'd spent her Advancement Points on — Vitality and Endurance — forcing Ana to give her a hushed lecture. Not that she didn't think she could trust the present company; nor was Jisha's future her responsibility. But Ana kind of liked how the girl looked up to her, and she enjoyed teaching her, and seeing Jisha get hurt because of something easily preventable… Ana was pretty sure it would bother her. And so she ended up giving a short, to-the-point summary on etiquette and safety in a world where people could be three times stronger than they looked, and why it was a terrible idea to let people who lived violent lives know her strengths and weaknesses.

Rayni and Omda harvested what they could from the lynx. Meanwhile, Jisha insisted on helping Ana with the scratches she'd taken in Jisha's stead, applying a thick paste to them that was supposed to help them heal quickly and without scarring. Ana didn't care much about potential scars — Messy liked them — and was pretty sure that with her ridiculous Vitality any wounds would heal quickly anyway. But the paste took away the burning sting, and applying it seemed to make Jisha feel less guilty about letting Ana act as her whipping girl, so Ana sat patiently until it was done.

They had Jisha kill another weak demon a few hours later, and this time the girl showed a lot more enthusiasm and less screaming terror. A few hours after that, they made camp. It had been a pretty good day, all things considered.

If only Ana could stop feeling like she wanted to take off sprinting through the trees and not stop until she was outside Messy's door, it would have been almost perfect.

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