< 25 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER, A+> [Theo] Theo waited for his individual report, and then a thrum of power slammed into him. A blue box then appeared in front of him.

Primordial Flight - Individual Gains The following changes have been applied: What changed OLD NEW Class Son of the Soil Heir of the Earth Mana Density B A- Farming Skill Rank C+ B- Process Skill Rank C- C Bounty of the Earth Skill Rank B B+ Measure of the Land Skill Rank A A+ Other Changes The user has undergone a System Collaboration Test.

Test conducted by [REDACTED]

Collaborators: 1. The System 2. System Construct D-0 3. Non-System Entity [REDACTED]

Theo looked at the things that he had gained and was mad at himself. "I should have done more. I could have walked in circles around an area and just spammed measure of the land. I could have done a lot."

He took a breath; "Either way, it's certainly a benefit. I'll have to go through my Skills with Julia."

He looked over at Julia, who was just finishing her own report.

[Julia] Julia looked at her report after feeling a mass of energy flow into her.

Primordial Flight - Individual Gains The following changes have been applied: What changed OLD NEW Class Hearthwarden Hearthsoul Keeper Mana Density B A- Bond Skill Rank S S+ Bound Teleport Skill Rank A A+ Warmth of the Hearth Skill Rank B+ A- Message Skill Rank F C+ Other Changes The user has undergone a System Collaboration Test.

Test conducted by [REDACTED]

Collaborators: 1. The System 2. System Construct D-0 3. Non-System Entity [REDACTED] 4. Divine Entity [REDACTED]

Julia furrowed her brow. "Ward didn't increase, but Bond did. Which is good because I have not been able to increase Bond no matter if I try or not."

She shrugged and looked at Theo.

[Theo and Julia] "Get some good skill ups?" Theo asked.

"Bond is now S+," Julia said with a smile as Theo's eyebrows shot to his hairline.

"What does it do?" Theo asked.

Julia focused for a moment, "Well, any children we have will have a Bond with me that goes away when they are sixteen, and we have something called a shared dreamscape now."

"Interesting," Theo said thoughtfully.

"You get anything good?" Julia asked.

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"Meh." Theo said with a shrug, "Not as good as that, but we can go over all our skills later. Let's check in with everyone and see what happens. Then we have to deal with Yordo and hopefully his mother."

Julia nodded, and they spent the next hour checking on everyone; then, when they were sure that things would be okay until the following morning, they went to sleep.

<????, ????, ????> [Theo and Julia] After falling asleep, Theo found himself in a dream. He was sitting on a bus headed for who knows where. On the bus, there was no one else except for Julia. Theo shook his head. "This is a weird dream."

"I think that this is the dream space," Julia said, startling Theo, who had been convinced that she was just a part of the dream.

"I... hooo man, that scared me. I thought you were just part of the dream." Theo said, taking a breath. "I wonder what we can use this for."

"I am curious if this will affect our sleep or if this is kind of a cheat that we can use to plan at night while we sleep. I also wonder if it's limited to a certain number of nights. Or if there are proximity limits." Julia said quickly.

"Well, we are dreaming," Theo said and then broke into a grin. "I wonder if I can show you..."

The world around them shifted, transforming and changing into a beautiful clearing that featured a pond and a small creek flowing through it. "Oh, it worked."

"What worked?" Julia asked.

"I just wanted to show you the perfect clearing that I have always imagined as a kid. This was my mental escape from all kinds of stuff." Theo said, smiling as he looked around.

They spent the rest of the night exploring their new dreamscape and woke refreshed as Ordus gently called to them.

< 25 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER, A+> [Theo and Julia] "Julia. Theo." Ordus called to them. "You have an unexpected guest."

Julia sat up from where they had been snuggled up on the ground next to the fire. Theo sat up, and Julia locked eyes with him. "I need you to build me a bed. Nothing fancy, but I am over the whole sleeping on the ground."

Theo chuckled and nodded, "As you wish. Now, Ordus, what did you say."

Ordus bowed his head and spoke again. "Apologies for waking you, but you have an unexpected guest."

Theo and Julia got up and brushed the dirt from themselves. Theo nodded, "Alright, lead on Ordus."

They walked to the edge of the Ward runes and found three female dwarves there. One of the women radiated energy on a level that reminded Theo of Lord Gurndin. She stepped forward and spoke in perfect English. "The two of you are Lord and Lady Sorrin, I take it?"

"We are," Theo said, "and who might you be?"

"I am the Goddess Marla Hammersring." She said, "And you have something that I need."

Alarm bells were going off in Theo's head as he glanced at Julia, who looked equally confused. Julia stepped forward, "And who are these two?"

"This is Lady Yallara Blackshale, and this is her attendant." Lady Hammersring said. "You have her son, and we are here to retrieve him and extract compensation for his false imprisonment."

Theo's eyes hardened. "No."

The self-proclaimed goddess's eyes grew darker. "No? Young human, what power do you think that you have here."

"Oh, I don't have any power," Theo said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "but I do have her son bound by the System. So I would be very careful as it seems that she enlisted your help. This could be considered an attack on her behalf."

"I would normally have come here and ripped your pathetic wards out of the ground," Lady Hammersring said with a high amount of venom in her voice. "But I thought you were reasonable."

Kreldar and Sylvi were walking up next to Theo and Julia. Behind them came Harbek and young Thrumli Stonewrend.

"Is everything alright?" Sylvi asked Julia, who smiled at the younger woman and nodded.

"Lady Hammersring," Kreldar said with a light bow, "What brings ye' this far out? And in the company of the Clan head?"

The dwarves began speaking in Dwarvish, and Ordus began to whisper a translation to Theo and Julia.

"Ah, a good Dwarish man." Lady Hammersring said, "If you bring Yordo out here, I will grant you a boon. Even more, if you can disable those two humans, I will grant you more."

"Ya' know, her son offered me more or less the same thing to betray them." Kreldar said with a scowl. "An' I told that fool that his stone was soft and he should leave."

"Kreldar Underbrace!" Yallara Blackshale said angrily, "Ye' take that back now!"

"Now, now, Yallara, maybe we should try and convince the young Stonewrend to help us." Lady Hammersring said, "What say you, boy?"

"I think..." Thrumli thought for a moment, and Theo felt a skill pulse. "I think that my grandfather will want to speak to ye'."

A swirling portal opened up outside the Wards, and Lord Gurndin Darksmasher came through in full armor, with seven other Dwarves equally armed to the teeth and looking ready for action. Gurndin looked around and locked eyes with Theo and Julia.

Then he saw Thrumli and seemed to relax a bit. He gestured to one of the seven dwarves in his group, and a skill was used.

>Local Message: Universal Translation Active

"Alright," Gurndin said in a tone that was devoid of emotion, "which one of ye' thought ye' could try and hurt Thrumli?"

Thrumli stepped forward, and another of the seven dwarves raised a dome of darkness that blocked sight and sound. When it fell, Thrumli walked back to where Harbek stood. Gurndin looked around, nodding to Theo, "Lord Sorrin. Ye' are well after yer' ordeal. Good to see."

Theo nodded. "Thank you for your concern, Lord Darksmasher."

Gurndin focused on Lady Hammersring. "An' ye'... Why are ye' here? Ye' claim yerself as a goddess, an' now all the sudden ye're interested in claimin' this land and rather than doin' it yersefl, ye' send this one's pup of a son to take it? Why don't ye' explain."

"Yes please do explain." Zurnek Karzun said, walking forward from where a small audience had gathered. "Explain what is happening and why it happened when we were all here."

Azeema Joolnar stepped up next. "We all saw that the dwarf was caged. Why would our hosts do that? They have been rather reasonable the whole time. I know that they even sacrificed potential gains they could have made to ensure our comfort and safety within the confines of what they were able to offer."

"None of that matters." Lady Hammersring said dismissively. "Return young Yordo to his mother. And forfeit your land."

Theo, who had been fuming slowly over all of this, burst at that moment and spoke with a fury that welled up from deep in his soul. "Why the hell does everyone want this land? What does it mean to you?"

"Ye' should watch how ye' speak to yer betters!" Yallara Blackshale said angrily.

Gurndin stepped in between everyone. "I think, that we should all take a moment, an' then we can try discussin' how to resolve this."

They did that, and when they came back after a few moments, Lady Hammersring spoke up first. "Now then, as to the discussion of recompense..."

She was cut off by Theo. "No, you don't seem to get it. Yordo is a criminal and was apparently acting on the orders of his mother, who I would guess and assume was acting on your orders. So, as far as I am concerned, you and your word are worthless until you can prove beyond any doubt that you were not the facilitating factor in his attempts to kill me and enslave Julia. It should be easy to swear on the System that I am wrong. Swear on the system that it's all a big misunderstanding. Or better yet, swear on the System that you will only ever speak the truth to me."

Theo waited, and Lady Hammersring's mouth drew into a thin line as she stared at him. Theo gave it a minute, then continued. "So, since you are here as a disruptive force, I am going to say no. We will not be compensating you for some imagined slight. Instead, we will discuss how either you or Yordo's mother will be compensating us for the attempted murder and threats that were made, and then we will be deciding if he gets punished or not."

"Sounds to me," Lord Gurndin said thoughtfully, "like it's easily solved."

"Oh, how so, Gurndin?" Lady Hammersring said with a tone that sounded like a threat.

"The same way ye're hopin' I'll not tell them." Gurndin said with a chuckle, "Bring in a truth binder."

"And where can we find a Truth Binder?" Theo asked.

"A Truth Binder is someone who can compel ye' to tell the whole truth about a thing even more so than the System, as the System has to be fair to everyone. The System seems to have created the Truth Binder Class to fill this role as it realizes that it can't be fair if it has to in these instances." Lord Gurndin said. "As to ye' finding one, just ask the little lady there to call her mother here."

The gesture that Lord Gurndin had tossed out was directed to Sylvi. Sylvi nodded. "I can ask her to come, but it may mean that we end up with an audience."

Theo and Julia looked at each other. Then Theo nodded, Julia smiled and turned to Sylvi. "Please tell her to come here; that way, we can resolve this."

Sylvi nodded. Theo turned to Kreldar and Harbek, "Now then, I guess this is happening. Would you please go get the prisoner and bring him out here. Make sure he stays on this side of the Ward runes."

Kreldar nodded and trundled off with Harbek in tow. Gurndin summoned forth his set of strange anvil-shaped chairs for himself, his grandson, and his group, and they were talking quietly.

A few minutes went by, and a blue door appeared next to Sylvi. Through it came Patriarch Karzun, a woman that they did not know, and Agara. Moments later, Kreldar, Harbek, and Ordus escorted Yordo into view.

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