I sit in the hearth looking across at our latest dwarf. Copper Hebron seems to be taking to his new life with great cheer. A question keeps nagging at me, though, and will not get out of my head even when I try to tell myself to focus on the here and now.

[Corwen,] I think.

It doesn't always answer unless I'm in the core room, but the core room is a day's travel away and I might as well see if it will answer me now.

[I have a question for you, Corwen,] I continue, undeterred by the lack of response so far. [You once told me that if I were to break off from Alex's main astral root, I would be reincarnated remembering being Drake Corwen. This fellow I just spawned does not remember being the dwarf that broke off from his astral vine. Why?]

Corwen's continued silence seems to invite speculation. This is important, though. I split my consciousness to take a closer look at the astral plane again.

Did they really choose not to remember those lives? Copper doesn't know. He can't answer. But perhaps his own astral tree can. I reach out with tendrils of soul across nonexistent space, because I have to know.

I touch the distant memory of a dwarf who had been the reincarnation of a Swedish blacksmith. The astral tree stirs and awakens.

Skill acquired: Necromancy (Astral Contact) Description: You may contact other souls across the astral plane. The more familiar the target is, the easier it is to contact them. A family member or someone in line of sight is easier to contact than someone you have briefly met or only heard of.

I can sense confusion from the dwarf soul, but I can't make out any words even if I spoke Dwarven or Swedish. I can get a concept across to him, though.

[WAKE UP!]

Upon dumping all my Inspiration into that message, I snap back to Drake's body to see Copper blinking in his seat.

"What… what did you do?" Copper asks in puzzlement.

Aunt Rosemary and Basalt also turn to look at me, unasked questions wafting through their auras.

"What do you remember?" I ask.

"I was a dwarf. My name was Copper then, too. Copper Kalmar Tor Midovir. I don't know what you did, but memories are flooding back now." He puts his hands on his forehead and elbows on the table. "I was 200 some odd years old when I died defending my Hearth. I was Epic rank and I couldn't stop them. I watched everyone die. I was the last one standing in the core room when the invaders broke through."

"Sorry to hear that," Basalt says.

"I didn't want to remember," Copper says. "I had the choice to start fresh and I took it. But I was just Ingmar again. That's not a fresh start. I'd severed my astral root so I didn't have to be Ingmar again."

"What's wrong with being Ingmar?" Basalt asks.

"Nothing, but he was so ignorant. I apologize if the things I've said over the past few days made me sound like a peasant who knows nothing."

"You were not expected to know anything," Aunt Rosemary says gently, brow furrowing as she looks between me and Copper.

"I… could probably make you forget again if you wanted," I say.

Copper shakes his head. "No. Blocking my memories didn't work out how I'd hoped at all. I don't blame you for it. You were trying to help."

"What are you going to do now?" Basalt asks.

"What else?" Copper says with a shrug. "Enjoy my new life and defend my new Hearth to the death again if necessary."

"How did you sever your astral root?" I ask.

"Is that what you really wanted to know when you went poking around the astral plane?"

"I just unlocked Necromancy (Astral Contact)."

"Congratulations," Copper says flatly. "Is that your first Necromancy skill?" I nod. "Don't try to mess around with your astral root anytime soon."

"Yes, a cautionary tale haunts an inn down the road from my village," I say. "She has been a fantastic example of what not to do. So you severed it and still came back to be bonded to an aether core?"

"Of course. Why would I want to reincarnate into a world full of monsters without access to the system? I wouldn't have put myself on the Soul Nexus, or for so cheap, if I didn't want to play the Game." He cracks his knuckles. "I like a good challenge, though. We heading out in the morning to go clear the dungeon you mentioned still?"

Out of curiosity, I open up the Primary Soul Nexus and look up 'Alexander Fizzlesnipe'. The display requires scientific notation to display the essence cost. It would be cheaper to buy a dozen knockoff da Vincis. Yeah, I don't blame it for throwing essence around to try to keep me alive. It was probably only able to afford that due to my Mythical and Legendary ancestors. I also know Alex joined the Game voluntarily, and his soul was not enslaved by space demons for eternity.

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I also also know that Drake was seven days old and didn't have a choice about his consciousness melding with Alex. There's not much sense in fussing about that, but I feel less bad about reincarnating these dwarves. They're offshoots of themselves and only themselves. No babies were soul-maimed in the process.

"Hebron called me to its aid," Copper says. "It's a young god and needs all the help it can get."

"You're religious?" I ask. "I thought religious people all went to the afterlives they believed in. Why didn't you wind up in Valhalla or wherever?"

Copper laughs loudly and claps me on the back. "This is Valhalla."

"Oh. Right. I guess the constant life-threatening battle should have been my first clue."

"You're the liege lord of this Hearth, but you don't act like one," Copper says. "You act like a farm kid who fell down a hole and found a dwarf spawner."

"I don't really feel like acting like a noble or whatever," I say.

"You're already Elite at 9 years old," Copper says. "That takes some drive and luck, but if you hold onto some of that humility when you rank up, you might just make it."

"What are our neighbors like?" Copper asks.

"Our stop is Splott Lakeside," Basalt says. "Not every goblin tribe is friendly, but the Splotts are ridiculously nice," Basalt says. "Nefern is the closest human surface village. They're friends. We saved two of their children earlier this year. We keep our skyboat there."

"I will remain here and continue to defend Hebron," Aunt Rosemary. "My old knees are not up to the task of trudging through the Underswamps again."

"I can be the Heroic chaperone now!" Anise exclaims.

Basalt says, "We'll go run the Living Stone Caverns, hit up the Beer Festival at Nefern, and then maybe run a garden dungeon or two while we're in the area."

"The Secret Garden and Wisteria Garden would be no problem for your party," Aunt Rosemary says. "I recommend letting each party member try to solve the puzzles solo."

Copper just nods along, already familiar with this. There is no longer a sense of wonder in his aura.

"The Living Stone Caverns were reported to have a Heroic-rank final boss, so this should be within your party's capabilities, but don't be afraid to back out if you find the monsters getting too tough for you. You can always make another attempt at clearing it. Don't forget to look for alternate paths."

Although now lacking in awe and confusion, Copper's aura is grateful rather than upset at me. And I think I know why. I know many of my past life memories were closed off deliberately. They're not even locked away. I can open them anytime I want.

Why don't I? Well, there's a few reasons. Thoughts are concepts, and with those memories, I would be simply become more like the average Alexander Fizzlesnipe incarnation. I don't see a point in that. The main root is already the average of five million lives. It's to the benefit of both that each life be different. Maybe Drake Corwen will still do the same sorts of things. I can let Alex handle the astral stuff and just be Drake, though. He can let me know about whatever I might actually need to know.

Copper interrupts my navel-gazing, noticing the snake rod I'm holding. "You intend to brandish that like a wand? Does your skill need you to touch it with your bare hands?"

"I don't know," I say. "Let's find out."

We wrap some cave newt leather around the end of the wand for a quick grip, and I test out [Copper Affinity] to see if it's impeded. A brief gust of wind bursts out of the end of the rod.

After making sure the grip is secure and we have everything ready, we head out into the Underswamps.

Raid Party Leader: Drake (You) Subparty 1: Drake Elite Resonant Child Anise Heroic Sorcerous Aethernaut Rowan Elite Apprentice Bodyguard Milo Elite Mystic Child Subparty 2: Basalt Elite Dwarven Dad Jade Elite Apprentice Pirate Copper Basic Dwarven Metalworker Crystal Basic Dwarven Merchant

Setting up the subparties so that the Basics aren't in the same subparty as the Heroic will reduce their experience penalty. My subparty takes point and theirs follows along after us by ten meters. We keep quiet and I coordinate telepathically. Although I'm sure we'll be fine, we're not enough above this area to get complacent.

Along the way, I keep [Ghost Eyes] looking out for the local wildlife. The Basic giant cave newts are no threat to us, but they might still try to bite Copper or Crystal if they almost step on one. I wave my snake wand and try to inflict various types of venom on them as practice. My resonance with the wand is strong, and we're only about halfway to Splott before a notification pops up.

Skill acquired: Invocation (Serpent's Bite) Description: You may use a representation of a snake to inflict your choice of status effects upon a target: damage over time, slow, sleep, blindness, paralysis, confusion, and/or hallucination. Level up to increase effect strength, duration, and stacking limit.

The newt slumps down drowsily, only for a moment, but Copper kills it with a spear before it can recover. We carry the corpse with us to Splott because it's always polite to bring the inn some meat you hunted. Along the way, we take down a few more to get practice for me and Copper, as well as collect the ingredients for water breathing potions.

We arrive at Splott Lakeside without encountering any swamp monsters this time, more's the pity. I might even be able to actually heal people this time. Well, we're about to get some practice at that soon enough. The goblins of Splott greet us warmly and take our hunted game off our hands to prepare for dinner, while I start chopping mushrooms for our potions.

My potions still taste terrible, but they get us into the entrance to the Living Stone Caverns where Anise quickly dries us off with some Sorcery. (She hasn't mentioned the name of the skill, but I'm sure 'annoyance at being wet' is a valid emotional state.)

Milo cracks his knuckles. "Alright, Drake, Basalt? Want to learn some handy Necromancy? Take notes. This skill is called [Ghostly Watcher]."

He doesn't pull out a skull or anything cliche like that. He gives some esoteric instructions, clearly just repeating what Estelle told him at one point, as he works magic slowly and deliberately. His aura ripples, and an astral tendril pushes into the world. Yellow eyes open in the air, and the system identifies them as Category: Eye.

Once the spirit has scouted the first floor, Milo reports what he found, and we head in.

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