Rylan woke up the next day with a mild headache and a string of drool connecting his mouth to his bedroll. He quickly wiped it off, hoping that Tamina hadn't spotted it.

Breakfast was a rather calm affair, with Yuel seemingly the only one who was somehow full of energy. Nazyr on the other hand, looked wrecked, but happy.

It was almost enough to make Rylan ask Arphin what exactly the two had gotten up to the night before. Almost. Not that he really needed to ask; Arphin was doing plenty of talking by himself.

[You know, Boss, I keep being surprised by how many uses human orifices have!] he said, right as Rylan stuck a spoonful of rice congee into his mouth, promptly causing him to almost choke on it.

In response, Tamina patted him on the back with her heavy prosthesis, making him glad he had a Mana Shell.

[Careful, Boss! I know it's confusing, but that was actually the air tube, which is not the right tube for your food. Though, apparently, the food tube can also—]

'Arphin, please,' Rylan sent weakly. 'I really don't want to hear about what you learnt about any tubes or orifices last night.'

[Whoops! Sorry Boss, that's my bad. I'll try to remember that.]

Unfortunately, Arphin remembered for only about five minutes before he made another reference to the acts he had witnessed the night before. When Rylan found a moment alone with Tamina to complain, she wasn't much help either, seeming to find immense hilarity in his predicament.

Well, at least he got to make her laugh.

They went hunting before lunch that day, in the hopes of being done sooner and finding some more time to train.

It was giving Rylan flashbacks to rushing chores on Thistlebloom, but with a thrilling task like hunting in the fog—and Yuel and Tamina as company—Rylan found he didn't mind too much.

Plus, as he soon discovered, he now had a secret weapon. While Rylan wasn't ready to start tossing Arphin at prey, for fear of losing him, the spiritgear was still proving himself useful.

Rylan had initially asked Arphin to watch out for threats, but as the sentient knife had little idea what constituted a threat, Arphin simply started pointing out all the various creatures hidden in the fog instead.

Including a huge crab that apparently lay buried in the sand nearby.

With Arphin telling him exactly where it was, it was easy enough for Rylan to steer the hunting party in its direction, saying he had 'a good feeling' about the heading. Then, when Yuel was checking their rear, he quickly tossed a rock towards the hidden crustacean, causing it to burst out of the sand.

The action had clearly not escaped Tamina's attention, as later that afternoon, while they were practising with their new gear, she came towards him with a glint in her eyes. "Arphin told you that crab was there, didn't he?"

"He did," Rylan confirmed with a smile. "Pretty neat, huh?"

Tamina clicked her tongue. "Fog. That is neat. When you talked about his issues with privacy this morning, I failed to consider the implications..." She hesitated for a moment, then turned more serious. "Seriously, Ry, you shouldn't underestimate what you've got here. Arphin is practically the perfect spy, especially as long as people don't know he's sentient."

[Woah! Me, a perfect spy?! That's awesome! Also, what's a spy?]

"Well, he doesn't always understand what people other than me say," Rylan replied with a shrug. "And he's better at witnessing what people do from a distance than listening in on them. But still, you make a good point. Another reason to keep his existence a secret."

Tamina hummed, staring at Arphin for a moment longer before she shook her head. "Anyway, let's go heat up some leftovers for lunch, then make good use of this extra time Arphin's gained us, yeah? I know that Challenge Dungeon is calling you."

With the crab properly stowed in the pantry and their bellies sated, Rylan and Tamina set off for the little field behind the Soggy Shepherd to get better acquainted with their respective runegear.

After all the practice from the day before, Rylan decided to skip the trashcan method, and worked on getting Arphin to activate his runework at will.

Ideally, Rylan would like to learn how to activate the spiritgear's runework himself as well, of course. However, when he'd tried to send his attention along the tether towards the blade, Arphin had pushed back, claiming what Rylan was doing felt weird and uncomfortable.

Rylan supposed he wouldn't like it either if Arphin tried to control his legs, or something like that, so he settled for simply training the blade instead. For now.

Arphin started out a little hesitant and unreliable, but after some encouragement and initial successes, he was soon getting faster and faster at Recalling.

Rylan's efforts to teach Arphin about privacy were less successful, especially after he'd been forced to explain what a spy was.

[Psst, Boss...] Arphin whispered unnecessarily. [What are you doing over there, and why am I over here while you do it? What secrets are you trying to hide, huh?!]

'I'm just using the outhouse, Arphin,' Rylan sent back, suppressing a sigh. 'People prefer to do so without having anyone watching.'

[But you know I'm a super-spy who can witness everything from right here, right? What's the point in leaving me behind when it makes no difference?!]

'Well, it makes a difference to me, Arphin. Though it would make more of a difference if you could stop talking to me while I'm in here...'

[Right right right, gotcha Boss. I'll just watch quietly, hidden in the shadows...]

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Stay calm, he's still learning, Rylan told himself. And he is improving. Getting frustrated won't make it go any faster.

[Are you sure you don't want me to just pop on over, though? I could help fend off anyone trying to invade your priva—]

'Yes, I'm sure!'

As Rylan struggled to teach Arphin about boundaries, Tamina worked on controlling her new shield's runework, alternately trying to strengthen or reduce its output, with varying levels of success. When Rylan ran out of mana and Arphin was taking a well-deserved and much-appreciated nap, she roped him into tossing things at her.

When he gathered some mana, rather than waking Arphin, he continued work on overcharging his Jumping Skill.

Soren joined them a little later in the afternoon, having brought his new shoes. While they reacted to his use of the Dancing Skill by giving off flashy lights, they didn't initially seem to be doing anything more.

Soren said he felt like they improved his grip a little when he poured mana into them, but when pitted against Tamina using Footwork, he was still easily pushed back, his fancy shoes sliding over the grass.

Either way, there was no reason to use Aurorium for something an Emerald-grade Skill could do with just regular mana, so it seemed unlikely that enhancing grip was their main function. Thus it remained up to Soren to try to figure out how to properly activate his boots' runework so they could figure out what it did.

It would just take some more time.

Over the days that followed, Rylan continued to make use of Arphin's senses to speed up their hunts. With Tamina's help, he did his best to make it look like a simple streak of luck. In any case, Yuel certainly wasn't complaining about all the easy prey, and if he was suspicious, he didn't show it.

In the afternoons and evenings, aside from cooking, they trained.

As Arphin's confidence in using Recall grew, Rylan carefully started throwing him. He'd been a little worried about the young spiritgear finding it disorienting to spin through the air, but Arphin absolutely loved it.

In fact, Rylan could feel how much Arphin loved it, as over time, his bond with the sentient blade seemed to be growing stronger. He found himself capable of sensing Arphin's exact location even through walls, accurately judging how much mana Arphin had left and how far he could Recall with it, and he could even feel the blade warping space somehow before it popped back into his hand.

That last sense had come in very handy the time Arphin had woken up and 'popped on over' unannounced while Rylan had been washing himself.

Rylan had still given him a stern talking to, and to his credit, Arphin hadn't Recalled himself unannounced again since.

Meanwhile, Tamina had gotten to the point where she was shield-bashing stuff again like it was her calling. Not only that, but she'd learned how to spend additional mana to extend the momentum-decreasing effect from her runegear into a roughly cone-shaped field in front of her. Spreading out the effect did weaken it a little, and projectiles—like Rylan's knives—that entered the field slowed down only a bit, but the fact that the slow-down started fifteen feet out made it much easier for Tamina to interpose her shield and block stuff with her Skill.

As for Soren, it took some time, but he eventually succeeded in activating his runework, causing multicoloured light to spread out from below his shoes. Even then, it took some experimentation for them to figure out what it did.

Soren had not been wrong per se when he'd said his new boots improved his grip, but it wasn't until he performed a spun-up jump and dramatically faceplanted that they figured out how. The runework wasn't just spilling out light; it was creating small platforms of light beneath his feet!

While the runework drained his runegear's stored mana rather quickly, the cost seemed worth it as they actually allowed him to push off a little in mid-air.

It quickly became clear that the little platforms couldn't actually hold his full weight, but they could definitely slow down his fall, or extend his jumps into gentle arcs as he literally danced through the air.

And of course, that was all still outside of the floaty fog.

Rylan would be lying if he said he wasn't a little jealous. It was the closest thing he'd seen anyone come to flight, something he'd dreamt about since he was a little kid, listening to stories about Thunderclad zipping through the air with her A-Grade armour runegear.

Seeing his friend kicking off of small platforms of light in mid-air, he clenched his fists and turned to the target he and Tamina had woven together from tall grass and hardy bushes.

'Arphin,' he sent. 'It's time. I'm going to use my Skill on you.'

[Finally! Give it to me, Boss, I'm ready!]

Rylan took a deep breath, and drew Arphin from his hip, where the spiritgear's sheath hung next to his dagger's. For the last couple of days, he'd only been practising his Knife-Throwing Skill with regular knives, holding off on using it on Arphin, for fear it might interfere with the blade's ability to Recall.

But he couldn't hold off forever. Not if he was going to be a Ruby-Grade Quinthar soaring through the air someday.

Thus, Rylan flipped Arphin over, grabbing him by the blade, and lifted him above his shoulder, pointing his elbow towards the target, and at long last, activated his Skill.

[Woah! That tickles!]

Rylan didn't react, distracted by the interesting feedback he was getting through the spiritual node connecting him to Arphin. He could actually somewhat feel the way his Skill clung to and enveloped the blade...

He was used to having some sense of where his mana was and what it was doing, but this was the first time he was getting a sense of what it was like from the knife's perspective.

[Come on, Boss, throw me! What are you waiting for?!]

Shaking his head, Rylan took a deep breath, and whipped his arm forward. He'd gotten quite used to throwing Arphin by now. The main difference compared to his other knives was, of course, that the spiritgear was unaffected by gravity, and therefore had to be aimed straight at a target rather than slightly above it.

His release was well-timed, and Rylan watched and felt Arphin soar through the air. Seeing that his rotation wasn't quite lining up for a perfect hit, Rylan reflexively did what he'd been practising with little success for some time now, and tried to nudge Arphin a little with his Skill, to slow his rotation.

His eyes widened as through Arphin, he felt his Skill push on the blade, slowing it down minutely. Then, with a solid thwack, the blade's brief flight was over, ending deeply embedded into the target.

[That... was... awesome!] Arphin practically shouted, as his runes lit up and he started to vibrate within the woven plants. Rylan felt the tell-tale prickling on his palm, and lifted his hand before the blade popped back into it.

[Can we do that again, Boss? Please please please?]

Rylan nodded, barely listening as he lifted Arphin once more. Rather, he was fully focused on the feedback he was getting through their bond as he reactivated his Skill.

He'd felt something interesting, just now. When he'd tried to rotate Arphin earlier, it felt like his mana had mainly been pushing at the top of his handle, as if he was trying to grip it there and rotate it with a phantom hand. But from the feedback he got, he could tell that wasn't very effective, as it was too close to Arphin's centre of balance. It would be far more effective if he used the mana enveloping Arphin's ends to push.

And so, as he sent Arphin flying again, he purposely spun the blade too slowly. Then, halfway through the blade's flight, he pushed.

[Here we—woah!]

Rylan stared after the blade as its spin suddenly accelerated, though honestly, he didn't need to look. He could feel the effect reflected through their connection. It's working!

And indeed, Arphin spun over end and accurately hit the target, tip-first. The moment he did, a different voice spoke in Rylan's head, one he hadn't heard for a while now.

《Manipulation threshold has been achieved,》Ethereon announced in its customary cool voice.《Rank-Up conditions met. Applying Augmentation: Rotation Control, to Skill: Knife-Throwing. Do you accept?》

"Yes, I accept," Rylan said, the corners of his mouth turning up.

[Boss, did you just spin me up faster? That was awesome! Are you coming to get me, by the way? I'm running low on mana, and I know you said you didn't want me to waste it... Hey, what's going on?]

Rylan closed his eyes and savoured the feeling of the warm breeze pouring in from the distance.

When he opened them again, Soren and Tamina were already standing in front of him, waiting to congratulate him, as Arphin continued pestering him with questions.

At the rate things are going, we'll be ready for that Dungeon in no time!

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