As pleasant as the meriders were, Vin was eager to get on the road again after spending only a single day with them. The spider-folk were just so… happy. To the point where it was exhausting to chat with them for any extended period of time.

Part of Vin wanted to chase after Alka and make sure she was okay when she failed to return by nightfall, but he knew deep down if he should be worried about anything, it was the monsters she was no doubt having the time of her life hunting down. Instead, he stayed and chatted with Kark for a few hours until dealing with the merider's endless happiness sapped the life out of him.

Accepting Kark's offer to house them, Vin grabbed a few of the silk blankets, summoned himself a stone bed, and called it a night. The blankets were comfortable enough that he managed to fall asleep despite the solid stone bed, but his hope of getting an uninterrupted night's rest was dashed by Alka walking into Kark's nest only a few hours later, looking around at the lot of them.

"You guys are still sleeping?" she huffed, planting her hand on her hip and waving her warpick at them. "Come on, we're burning daylight!"

"Alka, we're not all powered by an endlessly replenishing mana gem," Shia yawned, emerging from her own pile of blankets and blinking at the Slayer. "Oh ew, Alka!"

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, only then did Vin realize Alka was utterly covered from head to toe in monster blood. In fact, he couldn't even make out a single speck of the black darthsteel armor covering her form.

"What?" Alka asked, finally looking down at herself. "Ah. Yeah, that's kinda gross, huh?"

"You seriously didn't notice?" Vin yawned, breaking apart his stone bed with Stone Shape and folding up the blanket Kark had lent him. Seeing as he'd conjured his bed directly out of Kark's webbed floor, he wasn't able to shove the stone-bits back into the ground like he normally did when deconstructing stone furniture. But he was still able to brush the bits out of the nest and through some of the cracks in the web, which was good enough for him.

It wasn't like there was anyone wandering around underneath the hanging village to get mad at him for dropping crushed up rocks on them anyway.

"I can't really feel much, and I can't smell," Alka shrugged. "Which means I'll be relying on you guys to tell me when I look like this."

"Come with me," Vin sighed, leading her out of Kark's nest and to the edge of the web. After a good fifteen minutes or so of hosing her down with Create Water, Vin had to call it done when his mana dropped to dangerous levels.

"I really need to come up with some sort of 'pressure washer' spell," he huffed, wiping sweat from his brow as they went back inside. "Using Runic Recalibration to adjust the pressure and make a hose works, but it's exhausting."

"Speaking of exhausting," Shia said, looking far more awake than she had a few minutes ago as she hit Alka with a quick Cleanse spell to sterilize whatever bits Vin might have missed. "How was the dungeon? Were you seriously fighting monsters all night?"

"Pretty much," Alka nodded. "We've finally found a dungeon that I wouldn't recommend just trying to run through to the Underside. These monsters weren't tough, but they were both fast and agile, and they attacked in small groups to boot. I'm not ashamed to admit they actually got in a few hits on me while I hunted down their different packs. Their claws were easy enough to watch, but their tails end in large spiked clumps, and they packed a nasty punch."

"Seriously?" Vin asked, trying to wrap his head around a monster fast enough to actually land an attack on the Slayer. If that was the case, then they really didn't want to risk running past those guys.

"I probably could have fought a bit more cautiously, but I was having too much fun," Alka laughed, her glowing eyes flaring. "Anyway, do you want to try and use the dungeon to visit camp before we move on? I know you said you didn't want a repeat of our last vanishing act."

"We only left camp yesterday morning," Vin said, scratching his head. "I think checking in every couple of days is plenty. We don't need to make it a daily thing."

"Thank the Gods, I can only take so much of Theodore in one sitting," Scule muttered, popping up out of a mountain of blankets with Reginald at his side. "Though after dealing with the meriders' constant happiness, the man's theatrical attitude doesn't seem so bad in comparison."

"Ah, you lot are finally up!" Kark grinned, showing off his fangs as he scuttled into the nest. "And I see your friend has finally returned! How was your hunt?"

"It was great. Really got to put my new body to the test," Alka said, nodding her thanks.

"I don't understand, but I'm glad to hear you had a good time!" Kark said, not hesitating for even a moment in his confusion. "Now, I hate to be a rude host, but seeing as none of you appear to be in serious need of our aid, unless you are planning on becoming a merider and joining Pendet, I will have to ask you all to leave. Though you are welcome to come back anytime for brief visits!"

"We probably will," Vin chuckled, happy they'd found another fragment filled with potential allies. "Actually Kark, I do have one question for you before we go…"

"I still can't believe I didn't think of that first," Shia said, shaking her head as they made their way down one of Kark's well maintained paths out of the forest. "I mean seriously, best idea you've ever had, Vin."

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"It pains me, but I have to agree with pointy ears here," Scule nodded. "I owe you one for sure."

Reginald poked his head out of Vin's shirt pocket, looking up and nodding eagerly in agreement.

"Don't worry guys, I'll always have your backs," Vin said, returning his comrades' heartfelt looks of gratitude with a smile.

"For the love of the Gods, you guys are acting like he saved your lives or something!" Alka said, throwing up her arms. "All he did was trade for some blankets!"

Vin, Shia, Scule, and Reginald all shared a sad, knowing look between themselves, their hearts collectively reaching out for the poor golem that didn't know any better.

"Trust me Alka, if you'd felt those silk blankets, you'd understand," Shia tried to explain. "They're only a step below my master's shimmerwing mattress in terms of comfort, and that's really saying something."

While Alka shook her head and focused on their surroundings once more, Vin couldn't help but chuckle. Before saying goodbye to Pendet and the friendly meriders, he'd had the bright idea to offer to trade for some of Kark's homemade blankets. They were so soft they'd made sleeping on a stone bed fairly comfortable, so the decision was an easy one.

To their welcome surprise, Kark had happily handed over a couple of the blankets, stating that they'd more than earned them what with how many monsters Alka had culled. Vin felt a little bad that he and the rest of the team were benefiting from all of Alka's hard work, but she didn't seem to mind.

She just found their near reverence of the silk blankets a tad annoying.

Seeing as Kark had promised them his paths were perfectly safe so long as they travelled in a group, the five of them leisurely made their way out of the creepy forest toward the next fragment, chatting all the while about what their new bodies would look like if they ever decided to undergo a merger and become meriders themselves. Vin and Shia were in the middle of arguing about which one of them would have the cooler pattern on their spider half when the next fragment finally came into view, taking all their breath away.

The newest fragment was a vast, crystalline desert filled with rainbow sand and massive crystal pillars jutting out all over the place. Some of the pillars barely reached up to Vin's ankles, while others stretched high into the sky. The entire land was lit up like a disco ball as the sun reflected and refracted off all the different crystals, and Vin could only stare in awe at the beautiful mosaic before them as they finally came to the end of Kark's path.

"Well, based on what you told us, I think we have pretty good odds that this is the fragment Neurol told you about," Scule said, squinting at the dazzling desert. "Dear Gods it hurts to look at! Even the ground is shiny!"

Stepping into the fragment, Vin crouched down, picking up a handful of sand and letting it run through his fingers. Unlike regular sand, it felt like he was holding thousands of miniscule crystals, and the gentle tinkling sound as they fell back to the ground confirmed it.

Second Ring Fragment Discovered! 1,000 exp gained.

"Definitely Neurol's fragment," he nodded, standing back up and wiping the remaining crystals off on his pant leg. "Which means we should be ready for anything. He warned us this place was rife with monsters."

"I'll admit I'm excited to try fighting them," Alka said, unsheathing her sword and looking around, as if hoping to see one running at her. "Do you think crystal monsters bleed?"

"The monsters aren't made of crystal," Shia said, joining them across the border as they began making their way into the fragment. "In fact, we learned a lot of interesting information from Neurol. Such as the fact that his people, the blue fur clan, actually sustain themselves primarily through monster meat."

"Wait, what? Doesn't that turn you insane?" Scule asked, only just registering what Shia had said as he tore his eyes away from one of the massive crystal pillars.

"Normally, yes. There must be something unique about his people's biology that allows them to consume monster meat without going insane," Shia said, looking more excited by the second. "If I could figure out what it is and replicate even a fraction of it, it would be a huge boon to the Sacred Forest. Eating enough monster meat increases one's attributes after all."

"And drives you insane," Scule repeated with a fake cough.

"You sure you want to take on such a lofty goal so soon? Right after your plan to amass an army of rune-weaving spiders fell through?" Vin asked, getting an eye roll for his concern.

"Don't worry, I'm not getting my hopes high like that again. If I can figure something out, fantastic. If not, that's life," she shrugged. "My focus is on plants rather than animals in the first place, so I'm not sure why I got my hopes up in the first place."

Reginald squeaked his agreement from Vin's pocket, and Scule translated with a wave of his hand.

"Reginald says, 'good attitude.' Suck up."

"Thank you, Reginald," Shia smiled, reaching out and rubbing the happily squeaking rat on the head. "At least I know you've always got my back."

"He's supposed to have my-"

"Quiet!" Alka hissed, silencing Scule as she dropped into a combat stance. "Something's coming."

Looking around, Vin couldn't make anything out with all the different crystal pillars surrounding them. While some were perfectly clear, others were opaque or cloudy, and some were even completely reflective, such as the large one they were currently walking past that showed him his own confused face as he tried to spot what Alka was detecting. They'd never encountered monsters on the edge of a fragment like this before, and if it was anyone other than Alka that had claimed to have sensed them, he would have asked if they were sure. After a few seconds, he realized the crystalline sand seemed to be shaking slightly underfoot, giving the ground the appearance that it was one massive, shifting carpet.

"Oh, I don't like that," Scule said, pulling out his daggers and coating them as he looked every which way for the inevitable threat. The sand began vibrating even more violently, a few grains here and there even bouncing a bit into the air as they waited. "I don't like that at all."

As Shia readied her staff, Vin grabbed his own and sent out a pulse of Sense Life, his eyes widening the moment the spell bounced back to him and showed him exactly what they were dealing with.

"The crystal!" he shouted, pointing with his staff at the large reflective crystal they were walking around. "Get away from the-"

Before he could finish his warning, the image of their team was shattered as a horde of large, crystal-covered monsters smashed straight through the reflective wall, roaring as they began their attack.

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