The rest of the evening was rather uneventful compared to how it had started. Brian came back and regaled Asher with the tale of how he'd managed to track down and shoot the rabbits all on his own while the three of them feasted on his fresh bounty. From how Brian told it, he'd been as silent as the wind, creeping up on each rabbit and landing a perfect shot directly between their eyes before the poor creatures had even noticed his presence.

Based on Samantha's frequent eye rolls during Brian's retelling, Asher had the feeling that at least a few parts of the story were being embellished a tad more than necessary, but the hunter let him have his moment. Samantha even went so far as to wonder out loud if maybe Brian would end up receiving the rather uncommon Bow origin element, which made the already excited twelve-year-old all but start vibrating in his chair in anticipation.

Once they'd finished eating, Brian went out to practice shooting some more, and Asher helped Samantha take care of a few minor tasks around the house.

It turned out when living in a handmade cabin more than a few decades old, there was always something or other that needed fixing. Asher had never really thought of himself as much of a handyman, but he was more than happy to hold cabinet doors steady as Samantha tightened the hinges, or help her hang strips of jerky she'd hunted and sliced herself to dry.

Once the chores were done, the two of them all but collapsed onto the living room couch. Asher couldn't keep the smile off his face as Samantha snuggled up against him like an oversized cat.

"I swear, sometimes you remind me of that awakened panther I fought a few weeks back," he chuckled, stroking her hair as she leaned her head against his chest.

"Because it was beautiful? Or because I'm just that deadly?" Samantha asked, tilting her head back and giving him a dangerous look.

"Both. Obviously."

"Good answer," she purred, stretching up to kiss him before going back to snuggling. "I know I don't have to tell you this, but make sure you're safe out there, alright? I mean, hell, you can literally come back to life after being killed, but that doesn't mean you should take unnecessary risks."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to die any more frequently than I have to," he said, shuddering slightly at the memory of his heart failing and his body losing consciousness. "I'm still curious as to what that blue powder was though. I mean, I have an entire skill sitting at level 20 designed solely to stop stuff like poison from affecting me. And it did absolutely nothing! Oh, speaking of level 20 skills…"

Pulling up his interface, Asher looked at his now two skills sitting at level 20. Distortion and Complete Resilience were both waiting for him to evolve them, though he only had the shards available to evolve one of them at the moment. And while it seemed a bit reckless, especially after what he'd just been through, he immediately knew which one he was going to power up first.

Evolving Complete Resilience might help him do better against another attack involving that strange blue powder, but it was no guarantee. Evolving skills didn't seem to make them any stronger in that moment, it just gave them an additional effect and allowed them to continue growing. For all he knew, evolving the skill might just give him the ability to no longer need to eat, or some other random effect. Not to mention that as long as he avoided getting a handful of the powder in the face again it should be a non-issue. An attack like that was only so deadly the first time around, simply knowing what to look out for changed everything. He could keep his Comprehension-enhanced mental finger on the trigger of Astral Dip and completely avoid the powder if he ever encountered it again.

On the other hand, if he was going after his own would-be assassin, he needed all the combat power and mobility he could get his hands on. It wouldn't take him long to collect another 100,000 shards again anyway if the future held the kinds of opponents he thought it would.

Spend 100,000 shards to evolve Distortion?

Double checking he had enough shards, Asher quickly spent the fruits of his boar-hunting labors, grinning at the notification that popped up.

Distortion (active) – Lvl 21

Tier 1: Bend the nearby fabric of space to your whim.

Tier 2: Temporarily alter the very existence of an inanimate object.

Shards: 26,241

"Huh. That's a bit vague," he muttered, curious just what 'temporarily altering' something would do. Summoning one of his daggers to his hand from his Personal Rift, he tried focusing this new aspect of his skill on the blade.

And nearly dropped the dagger when the blade suddenly stretched to rival that of a full-blown longsword.

"Well damn, that's pretty cool," he chuckled, turning the elongated dagger this way and that before quickly reading out the new addition to his skill for Samantha's benefit. Similar to moving within the astral realm, he could tell just from holding the skill for a few seconds that it would tire him out before long. "Guess that's just one more thing I'll need to learn how to incorporate into my fighting style!"

"Your skills are insane," Samantha sighed, pulling her legs up and curling into a ball beside him. "Don't get me wrong, my Forest element is great! It has some amazing skills, like Woodland Stride and Natural Camouflage, and I wouldn't change it for the world… But I'd love to have a few more powerful skills like you have."

"What about your new Water element?" Asher prodded, remembering how exciting it was to have unknown skills just waiting to be accessed. "Have you tried unlocking any of the additional skills yet?"

"Asher, it costs ten thousand shards to unlock the second skill," she said bluntly, frowning up at him. "Even without Trellis' absurd payments, it's going to take me some time to save up the shards needed for that. Realms, it took me the better part of six years to fully unlock all the skills for my Forest element."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Asher went to make a suggestion, only to pause mid-intake of breath as Samantha turned to glare up at him. Somehow, despite being curled up against his side like an actual cat, the hunter managed to look shockingly dangerous.

"And no, I don't want any of your shards, Asher, so stop offering. You've done more than enough for us. Just let me do this my way."

"Samantha," he said gently, wondering how to get through to the stubborn hunter. "Please don't get mad at me for this. But I think you're letting your feelings toward being in debt cloud your judgement here. I'm not offering you a loan, or expecting you to do anything in return for my help. I care about you and Brian, and I want the two of you to be safe while I'm gone. I just think the best way to ensure that is to make sure you're ready and capable to take on anything that comes your way."

Samantha frowned, but said nothing as she leaned back and stared up at the ceiling in contemplation. Letting himself sink into the couch cushions, Asher waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts. The two of them sat against one another like that for a while, each happy to just be in the other's presence as the seconds ticked by. Finally, after Asher began to suspect she was just going to drop the topic all together, Samantha spoke up.

"You're right," she sighed, fiddling with a lock of her hair as her frown deepened. "Trust me, Asher, I know you're nothing like Trellis, and I wouldn't think for a second that you'd ever expect anything in return after how you've treated us this past month. But you have to see things from my perspective. I've spent the last eight years desperately trying to pay off a predatory loan, and now here you come, freely offering up an entire element and sacks of shards like it's nothing? Despite everything you've done and how I feel about you, I'll admit it's enough to give me pause."

Asher went to repeat that he just wanted what was best for Samantha and her brother, but his Comprehend helped him catch himself before doing so. Sometimes, there were benefits to having a brain that moved faster than his mouth. Taking Samantha's advice, Asher tried to put himself into her shoes for a moment.

How would he have felt if he'd been struggling to support and raise a younger sibling all on his own, racking up a massive amount of debt along the way, and some stranger came out of nowhere to not only erase all that debt, but then started trying to get him to take tens of thousands of dollars just because? His gut reaction was to think he'd just happily take the money and thank the stranger for their time, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt he'd probably be far too wary around this mysterious stranger, unable to help himself from wondering what their motives truly were and why they were investing so much time and money into him.

"I think I get it. At least a bit," he admitted, pulling Samantha in closer and running his fingers through her hair the way she liked. "I didn't exactly have the best life back on my world, but I've definitely never been in your shoes. I'm sorry, I'll stop trying to get you to take my shards unless you ask."

"Thank you," she said, taking his hand and holding it against her cheek as she smiled at him. "…and because my mom always told me the importance of compromising, I'll try to be better about accepting your help. If the offer is still on the table… and you seriously don't need them for yourself…" Samantha paused, her face twisting up as though the next words out of her mouth caused her actual pain. "…I suppose I'd be willing to take the shards needed to unlock my second Water skill. If you don't mind."

"Deal," Asher grinned, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. Before she could change her mind, he focused on the shards within his core, manifesting ten thousand of them into a small, glowing sphere that he immediately handed to her. Ten thousand shards was almost half of his current balance, but he could easily earn those back whenever he needed.

Shards: 16,241

"Crazy…" Samantha muttered, shaking her head. Even so, she still reached up and graciously accepted the shards, absorbing them into herself and smiling. Taking a deep breath, her eyes glazed over for a moment as she focused on unlocking her newest skill.

Asher watched her carefully, waiting for her reaction. He knew she wanted a healing skill more than anything, and while they were common enough when it came to the Water element, there were never any guarantees.

Samantha's brown eyes flicked across text only she could see, and Asher let out a sigh of relief as a wide grin crept across her face.

"'Soothing Spring,'" she read off, growing more excited with every word. "'Water you conjure has a minor healing effect.' It's exactly what I wanted!"

"That's fantastic!" Asher laughed, pulling her onto his lap and giving her a big hug. "Do you know what it means by a minor healing effect?"

"No, but I don't care, I can heal people!" Samantha shouted again, before immediately devolving into giggles and squeezing him hard enough to crack his back. "Oh, thank you, Asher, I've dreamed of being able to heal people ever since we lost my parents out in the forest. It's not like I saw them die in front of me or anything, but still, knowing that I might be able to prevent something like that from happening to anyone else is more than I could ever hope for."

"I'm happy for you," he smiled. "And I'll feel a lot safer about leaving you and Brian alone while I hunt down my would-be assassin now that I know you have a healing skill at your disposal. Though you should still be careful. I don't think your skill will be strong enough to counter any more of that blue powder. Which is why I want you to take this."

Opening up his Personal Rift, Asher made the universal antidote he'd taken from the wizard's tower fall into his hands, before passing it off to Samantha. "I don't know if this will actually do anything against the powder, seeing as it was strong enough to take me out in seconds even with my Complete Resilience, but it's better than nothing. Maybe just don't go looking for a reason to test it if you don't have to."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on opening any suspicious packages," Samantha giggled, tucking the bottle away. "I suppose I'll just have to make a pile of The Reaper's mail for when he gets back."

"Please don't you start too," Asher sighed, ignoring Samantha's boisterous laughter as he willed the universe to make everyone forget the cringy moniker. "Seriously, it makes me sound like I'm trying way too hard!"

"Eh, you should take it as a compliment," Samantha grinned, miming cutting down enemies with a giant scythe. "Maybe you're just that scary when you're in fighting mode."

"Maybe…" he shrugged. "Anyway, we should probably go over logistics for the near future. It's going to take me a few days to reach Whikoga again on foot, so I'm planning on heading out first thing in the morning. I don't actually know if my Recall has any sort of cooldown or limit on it just yet, so to start, I'll plan on just popping back for dinner and to stay the night, and then returning to where I left in the morning to keep travelling. Hopefully Recalling twice in one day is doable, otherwise, things get a bit trickier."

"You know, I'd probably be willing to give travelling a go if I had the ability to just pop back home and sleep in my own bed after walking all day," Samantha admitted. "I mean, I go on plenty of overnight hunting trips into the forest, but I've never actually been to the city."

"Maybe I'll be able to take other people with me after I evolve the skill," Asher offered, imagining how nice it would be to be able to go on trips with Samantha and Brian, or surprise Rosh with an entire group just for the fun of it.

"That does sound nice," she smiled, giving him one last kiss before getting to her feet and stretching. Asher found himself closely examining the way her shirt rode up slightly and exposed her midriff, and he blushed as he glanced up and realized she'd caught him mid stare.

"You know, you can do more than just look," she purred, reaching over to take his hand as she began leading them back to the bedroom. "If you're going to be gone for most of the day starting tomorrow, I need to get enough of you tonight to make up for it."

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