Drink flowed freely at The Cozy Bramble, and Logan was on his fourth glass of something that tasted like a grapefruit hazy IPA, although the locals called it a Mana Matrix Scrambler. Mana matrix was the term for how mana flowed through the body, and it is why Logan felt different sorts of "tingling" depending on what affinity he had. The name of the drink as a mana matrix scrambler had him a little worried at first, but the drink's name was a major exaggeration.

Bromlin was on his seventh. "Ye look like a lost whelp, Alden! Even I'm fine waiting for Senna."

Alden, indeed, was sitting so he could keep glancing over Logan's shoulder at the door. He absently raised his half-full first glass to Bromlin at the mention of his name, but didn't appear as if he had actually heard the dwarf's words.

Bromlin just shook his head and toasted Alden anyway, then took a swig.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon," Logan said. While he had been charging the prism at the temple, Cassandra had taken Mishki, Alden, and Bromlin to the inn. Mishki had then given directions to Logan on how to find it through their chat.

Senna, meanwhile, had taken the plagued toadkin cores to distill them into a potion. Alden would have joined her if he could, but there were several other people using the machines and it was too cramped for him to stay there and wait.

"Yes," Alden answered even though nobody had asked a question.

"Well," said Cassandra brightly, bringing them back to their discussion. "We have our training schedules set up for tomorrow morning. Each of us will have private instruction. I've seen the instructors arranged for us, and they all have excellent degrees."

Logan nodded and sipped as Cassandra went through the high praises for the instructors. The whole time, though, he noticed how quick her words were flowing. He didn't think that was all from the alcohol, either. She still hadn't told her father about her ability to use more than radiant mana because it hadn't come up, but that cat would be out of the bag tomorrow. She seemed both nervous and excited.

As for Logan's lessons, he would have to go the entire time pretending not to have an affinity. He had assumed his mentor would have the Manasight ability, and now Cassandra confirmed he would. So, Logan would have to focus only on his core and combat skills, but even then he would have to pace himself and act as if his stat points weren't as high as they were when it came to tracking threshold perks.

There was a chance he could actually work on his affinity-aligned skills during training without being detected… but that required Aetherlens to bump up to level 25, and the skill hadn't budged since his first surface trip through the Ruined Wilds. He suspected he needed to grind the skill in areas where mana was being used heavily.

Aetherlens.

Yeah, nothing major was happening here. Some enchanted wall fixtures were drawing trace amounts of radiant mana.

Cassandra was just wrapping up her detailed breakdown of Mishki's designated mentor. "…and she is absolutely the kindest soul I have ever met. She already offered to arrange private escorting to and from our rooms here to the guild hall, and she manages the guild's vendor relations, so she will have no problem finding well-fitted clothing that still provides privacy. She can have your meals delivered privately so you can eat without a helmet or hood on. For lighting, she—"

Mishki interrupted. Despite his covered face, Logan could hear the timid blushing that must be concealed. "Thank you, this is all really kind and I look forward to training with her. And I know you didn't want us to take up your father's offer to stay in the guild hall… but I wonder if maybe, for me, that might be better."

Cassandra's face dropped slightly, but she was listening.

"The more you mention the difficulties of staying hidden, eating publicly, and all these other things… none of that applies in the guild hall, right? They already know what I am. So it might be easier for me if I stay there. Besides, they have a library, right?"

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Cassandra nodded slowly, each bob gradually picking up in speed. "You're right, Mishki. And yes, it's an extensive library."

Mishki's eyes lit, and Logan wondered how many books gobles actually had. Mishki was an avid reader, but if gobles lived on the edges of society and few of them even read, then few would have written books. Logan remembered seeing a goble toss books out of a bard's wagon and suspected that most of what gobles owned came from scavenging. Mishki had probably not read many different books, but rather read the same few over and over.

One by one, everyone agreed that would make sense, even if it was clear they were bummed out. Even Alden came out of his distracted state. "You're not staying with us?" The mage enjoyed getting into esoteric conversations with the goble.

Logan, too, felt bad. Not only did he enjoy the Mishki's company and admire how the goble never let other people's opinions change his mood, it also meant Nugget wouldn't get time with Flick. The two were up in the room together now, which was Logan's one main consolation since he couldn't have the dragon down here with them. Once we bond, though, hopefully that makes things easier for Nugget. At the ceremony in a few days, he would sneak away while they were at the site of power to finalize that. Besides, they would have to go out on the road again every once in a while.

"Aw, laddy," said Bromlin, helping lighten the mood, "it was nice to have someone I don't have to crane me neck up to speak to."

Mishki chuckled. "You'll still see me almost every day in the guild hall."

They shared another round, toasting Mishki anyway. After that, a familiar voice called from the door.

Alden shot to his feet, a wide welcoming smile on his face. "Senna!"

Senna shot him a cocked eyebrow at his eagerness to see her. The mage never displayed such excitement.

The elf just wrung his hands, but Senna laughed and handed him the potion, wrapped in a burlap cloth with twine securing it in place. Logan could practically hear Alden's heartbeat as he undid the knot and removed the wrapping.

The flask held a deep black liquid, lit from within by a pulsing glow. It was like staring at a tiny sun through dark glass. Tiny sparks flew out when Alden popped the cork and chugged it.

His face puckered at what Logan imagined must be a sour taste, but then Alden smacked his lips with satisfaction and his body moved in one big jitter like a move from a robot dance.

They all waited in silence as Alden's eyes grew unfocused while he read his new skill's detail.

"Well?" Senna asked when it was taking long.

Logan figured the mage was reading it two or three times based on the subtle smile crawling onto his face.

Alden cleared his throat and read aloud. "Festered Veins, Epic." He paused, clearly savoring the rarity.

"Congratulations, you've decided to pickle your bloodstream in rot. Curdle your blood to deal 10 damage to yourself and grant yourself poison, acid, and necrotic immunity. Then, deal an additional 10 damage to yourself for [3] seconds and heal 20 points. Increase by one second for every ten levels in the skill. Additionally, spew blood from your mouth to contaminate a target. Contaminated targets will suffer the same damage effects as you, and their damage will heal you."

Alden let out a satisfied breath.

Logan, meanwhile, felt like his skin was crawling. That sounded disgusting. But, it also was incredibly useful. "Does it say the skill can stack? Like, if you end up dealing 20 damage to yourself per second, can you heal 60 points?"

"I know what stacking is," the elf said with a flat face. But he immediately brightened. "I don't know. I suppose there's only one way to find out." He grabbed the edges of his robe and shimmied them to straighten them. "I'll have to practice this instant."

Senna backed up. "Uh, not on me."

"Not this instant. But I will head to the training grounds."

"Sorry Alden," Cassandra said, "but we aren't yet authorized to enter the training grounds. I know you're excited to test your new skill, but it might have to wait until tomorrow unless you wish to leave the city."

If Alden did that, either Logan or Mishki would have to join to make sure his level mask was maintained, just in case he bumped into someone on the road.

But Alden shook his head. "Not the Adventurers' Guild training grounds. I am a member of the Mages' Guild too, you know. There will be plenty of people practicing now, and perhaps there will even be a few with the Life affinity I can speak to. I doubt they will bother sharing much, but there's always a chance."

Logan smirked. This was the first time he would ever have expected to use the word optimistic to describe the elf. Then a thought hit him.

If there were, in fact, a bunch of people testing out different types of magic, that might just be the sort of activity he needed to detect in the ambient mana to bump up Aetherlens.

"Alden, do you mind if I join you?"

"I suppose. But you don't think you should be using your… er…" he looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was listening. They had sat at a removed table for that purpose, though, and nobody was nearby.

"I won't use any affinity skills," Logan said, answering the unfinished question. He explained that he wanted to try and level up his Aetherlens. He already knew what the threshold perk would be, but if he mentioned the perk diving rod, it might dampen Alden's enthusiasm about testing the skill blindly.

The elf pursed his lips. "I probably can't get you into the grounds themselves, but I'm sure I can get you close enough."

Logan flashed a grin. If this worked, he could take his training to a whole new level even before it started.

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