Chronicles of the True Wizard

Once the wave was completely dealt with, Amani led Felix back down the wall and walked with him into the city.

Felix looked over at Amani as they walked and nodded, “You guys seem to have this down to a science.”

Amani sighed, “We’ve been dealing with this from the start pretty much. Unfortunately, it’s gotten worse over time though. We didn’t use to have to deal with monsters in the 300s. A few days ago there were some at 400.”

Felix nodded, “Which is why you think it’s at least level 500?”

Amani nodded, “Exactly. We can mostly deal with a few creatures at that level when they run at the wall but I can’t go out and fight it in the middle of the desert. Even if I sent an army, they would have to fight their way there through high level monsters. Without the wall and cannons…”

“I see.”

Amani sighed again, “We thought about creating large mobile tanks to try and deal with it but we haven’t had the time to figure it all out. The monster waves have been increasing in level too quickly so we’re just trying to keep up with making new cannons and ballista bolts. You saw the vibrating shot? That’s something we only came up with in the last few weeks.”

“They do seem to be running away from something, how do you know it’s a creature and not a natural disaster or something?”

Amani shrugged, “I don’t. I also don’t have the ability to fly and investigate it.”

Felix dismissed her jab with a wave, “Yeah yeah gotcha. You coming with me or are you gonna hang back?”

Amani smirked and winked at him, “If you’ll have me.”

“Sure. Let me just grab Nova real quick.” Felix said as he walked into the closest alley and pressed his pocket home marble against the wall. Amani looked at him with wide eyes as he mentally nudged Nova through their bond to come to him. They reluctantly stopped licking the large hunk of Demitium and jumped in one leap straight to Felix. As soon as Nova passed through the portal they dropped slightly as they got used to the gravity then floated back up and crawled into Felix’s robe.

“What the hell is that?” Amani looked incredulously at the portal.

“My house, long story. Come on let’s go.” Felix gestured her over towards Nova with his hand.

Felix conveyed the mental image of Nova turning back into their larger form and flying with Amani on their back and tried to make it more of a polite ask than a command. He wasn’t sure how clearly that intention was conveyed but Nova didn’t seem to mind. They hopped back out of his robes and quickly grew to the size of a large panther. Felix gestured for Amani to climb onto their back then Felix flew up into the air followed by Nova and Amani.

Felix immediately flew towards the monster wave’s origin, or his best guess of where it had come from. As soon as they passed over the wall, Felix pulled his hood up to completely cover himself from the sun and then cast a cooling spell inside his robes. Effectively, it felt like he had his own personal little air conditioner for his body and he was loving it. Amani had simply pulled a small sack with a draw string out of her inventory then had sand pour out of it and create a small personal parasol. Finally Nova, just didn’t seem to care.

They flew over the horizon until the city wasn’t visible behind them anymore and continued flying over a vast sea of sand, in every direction, for a couple hours. Felix was worried he would veer slightly off course so he checked his map fairly consistently to make sure the flight was more or less straight.

As they flew over the dunes, Felix saw surprisingly few monsters around. Given the density of the wave, he had expected to see monsters just about everywhere. Instead, there were a few creatures here and there, some birds and some burrowed but nothing to indicate a large wave of monsters would head towards the city any time soon.

Felix didn’t even have to deal with anything attacking them, it seemed like everything around was happy to just leave them be. He wondered if it had to do with the fact that a monster wave had just recently run towards the city but he wouldn’t know for sure until he found the source and figured out what was happening.

The landscape gradually changed from a sea of sand to a sea of sand with some rocks poking out. Those rocks gradually turned into boulders and those boulders into larger mountains. Eventually the space between the mountains deepened and they flew over an area of the desert filled with canyons and plateaus.

Everything become perpendicular with vertical cliff faces and horizontal plateaus in every direction. The canyons themselves varied in depth from a few hundred meters to just a dozen meters deep as they twisted and wound themselves around the desert.

Felix lowered himself to the ground at the top of one of the plateaus and Nova landed next to him a few moments later.

Felix addressed Amani without looking at her, “How much time between waves usually?”

“We get them once every 12 hours or so.”

“So one should be arriving in 8 hours or so?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Ok then, if the monsters take 6 hours or so to run all the way to the city, it should start in just a couple hours. Should we set up here and wait? Either the wave starts further down or we flew too far. Either way, the wave likely isn’t directional. Based on where it seems to start, we can continue moving towards the source. If we’re lucky, we might be able to see what causes it.”

“Sure.” Amani said as she hopped off Nova’s back, “Whatever will we do for 2 hours then?”

Felix just threw out the first thing that came to mind, “Wanna spar?”

Amani’s eyes lit up, “Definitely. Aren’t you a caster though?”

Felix shrugged again, “Yeah, but it sounds fun. Teach me some sword play or something.”

Amani cocked a brow, “Oh, what are you gonna teach me in return?”

Felix cocked his head, “I can’t exactly teach you how to cast spells or anything.”

Amani smiled, “How about this, I’ll teach you some swordplay and you show me your ‘house’ as you called it.”

“You mean the inside?”

“Yeah.”

Felix shrugged, “Sure. After all this mess though?”

Amani seemed to be happy with the trade, “Sounds good to me.”

Felix quickly replicated both of Amani’s swords from Starmetal ingots and made himself a sword as well. He made sure none of the edges were sharp and with Amani’s guidance, made sure the balance was right. Once that was done, they sparred. They started with a handful of bouts so Amani could get a better idea of Felix’s skill. From there, she gave him pointers and advice.

“You’re footwork isn’t awful but it’s not meant for swordplay.”

Felix looked down at his feet and realized his feet had been naturally falling into the mobility stances from the Dragon’s Dance.

“It’s like you’re constantly ready to run away but you have no stability. You’ll never be able to strike back like that, if you even tried I would just knock you over.”

Amani helped him plant his feet better so he had more stability and power, as she had said, from his lower body then they continued to spar. Though Amani continued to essentially pummel Felix in their bouts, he was having a blast.

She had offered to slow their bouts down so he could see what was happening better but he refused outright. It was a challenge and Felix found it exhilarating just trying to survive against her. He had no hope of ever striking back but he was totally ok with that. At one point he had landed a blow but he immediately called out Amani for letting him hit her.

After that, Felix got pummeled over and over for almost 3 hours. Luckily, due to his energy constantly replenishing itself from his mana stores along with his manual regeneration, he was in peak condition the entire time. Amani was worried at first that he would wear himself out before they met whatever was out here but he assured her he would be fine.

After almost 3 hours, as Amani knocked Felix to the ground once again and poked his chest with the dull point of her sparring sword Felix saw something in the sky.

Flying far above them and circling outwards from the cliffs ahead of them, was a massive flying creature. The creature had a long neck and tail with large bat like wings but Felix couldn’t make out much because of the setting sun right behind it.

He quickly hopped to his feet and pointed it out to Amani. They didn’t make any moves at first but simply watched as it raced into the desert for a few kilometers before diving down at some creature. The creature stood no chance as the flying monster dove down far faster than it’s prey could react and snatched it in its jaws. The flying creature immediately flicked it’s head up and swallowed the creature whole then leapt into the air and flew off to look for more prey.

Felix identified the creature but had no idea what he was seeing.

[D - Legendary] Endycor (Lvl 217)

He had a very apt name for it, but he knew that wasn’t possible so he had no idea what to call it.

“It’s a dragon.” Amani said.

He quickly realized he had names on for identification and switched it back to race.

[D - Legendary] Infant Dragon (Lvl 217)

Felix already knew identify relied on his own knowledge so he knew that was simply the best name he had for what he was seeing, not that it actually was a dragon.

Felix shook his head as he corrected her, “No. Identify doesn’t actually give you a creatur-”

“I know. I have a skill that gives me the real name. That’s a dragon.”

Felix shook his head, “Your skills wrong. It can’t be.”

Amani crossed her arms, “Oh? My skill is wrong? Is it an illusion? Because I don’t think those creatures it’s eating think it’s an illusion.”

Felix shook his head again, “It’s not possible. Dragons don’t exist below the B grade.”

Amani shrugged, “I mean it’s an infant.”

Felix’s head began to slow, “Still.”

Amani finally turned to him and pointed at it, “Ok, what is that then? Explain.”

Felix sighed, “It’s impossible is what it is.”

They continued to watch as Endycor darted around the desert catching prey and filling it’s belly for a half hour. Nothing was safe as Endycor dug it’s head down into hole to rip burrowed creatures out and caught anything that tried to run away.

Endycor wasn’t thorough by any means, it simply chased after whatever seemed to be the most fun. Anything that tried to run too fast, hide or burrow. It was like it was playing a game. As Endycor flew around and ate it’s fill, more and more creatures started to run away in every direction.

Though he didn’t see it first hand, Felix had a pretty good idea of why waves of monsters were rushing out in every direction. Endycor scared off creatures up to level 500 and Felix suspected that when they started running, the lower level creatures around them would start running too.

That effect snowballed into a wave of monsters rushing at the city. As the monsters were spread out further with each of Endycor’s hunts, the levels of the monsters reaching the city would increase.

Felix just didn’t know if it was some kind of skill Endycor had to instill fear or just it’s natural presence. Considering how far it caused everything to run, he assumed it was a skill of some kind. The other part he couldn’t explain was how the monsters kept replenishing themselves.

The last creature Endycor caught was something that looked like a large bipedal camel, more akin to a bird than a mammal. Endycor didn’t eat this one whole as it was much bigger than it’s maw and instead it held it in it’s jaw as it took to the air and flew back towards the canyons. Felix quickly jumped into the air and started following from a safe distance with Nova and Amani behind him.

Amani yelled out in a hushed tone, “Felix! We can’t just chase it.”

Felix called back, “Why not?”

Amani snapped back, “You said Dragon’s don’t exist below the B grade, right? If that’s just the baby, we don’t want to run into a B grade mama dragon.”

Felix shook his head, “Not possible.”

Amani growled, “You’ve already said that, multiple times.”

Felix shrugged, “You’re welcome to stay behind if you’d like.”

Amani sighed, “Fine, just… be safe.”

As he flew, Felix heard Grim in his head, If that really is a baby dragon…

Yeah… How the hell is it here?

Grim voiced Felix’s thoughts even though he could literally read them out of a book, You think it was a natural birth then?

Has to be, right?

Grim communicated a mental shrug to Felix, I guess. Maybe whoever the guild set us up with was just wrong. Can’t be though, they audit all the answers themselves.

So the entire guild and/or the multiverse thinks one thing, and it’s wrong?

Yeah… not likely. It has to be a natural birth then. Those haven’t been seen for a hundred integrations from my understanding.

Felix unintentionally nodded his actual head slightly, Right so it wasn’t wrong, just inaccurate? Misinformed?

You think the mama dragon is really gonna be there?

Grim almost chuckled, No. I’m with you on that one, there’s no way.

They continued to follow Endycor all the way to the center of the canyons then they watched as it dove down into one of the deeper ones. They watched from the top of the canyon as the dragon pranced it’s meal into a large cave on the canyon wall across from the where they stood.

Felix stepped forwards to the edge of the canyon and dropped down to the canyon floor as quietly as he could. Nova was following him but he made sure they stayed a fair bit behind him just in case.

He had a Mana Shield spell along with multiple jump spells ready to go so he could protect himself and get out at a moments notice. He had no intention of fighting it right now, really he just wanted to figure out what the hell was happening.

Even though both him and Grim were convinced there were no adult dragons in the integration, he was still half expecting to come face to face with one as he walked into the cave.

The cave in question was massive at nearly 15 meters wide and was mostly consistent in size as he walked. He was planning on casting a small light spell but found he didn’t have to at all. The setting desert sun pointed directly into the cave and even a few hundred meters in, the light bounced enough to keep his surroundings visible.

Suddenly, a rush of hot air blasted through the cavern past Felix so he instinctively cast a Mana Shield in front of him. After a few seconds of nothing else happening, he decided it wasn’t necessary. He dismissed the spell form and continued walking as waves of hot air rushed by him every minute or so.

Eventually, the hot air was accompanied by a bright orange light ahead of him along with with a guttural coughing. He wasn’t sure if Endycor was cooking or fighting something but he knew they definitely weren’t trying to attack him.

Felix did his best to walk stealthily, carefully stepping through the cavern and naturally falling into some of the footwork from the Dragon’s Dance mobility steps. He finally turned a wide corner of the cave and caught sight of the creature he was following.

This deep into the cave, the light coming from the entrance was dim at best and Felix would have had a hard time seeing were it not for the small burst of flame about every minute.

The cave opened up just a dozen meters ahead of Felix into a larger open space that held a dragon prancing around in a circle. The dragon looked more or less exactly as Felix imagined a dragon would look, just a little smaller. It was covered head to toe in mostly dark crimson scales broken up by wavy stripes of white that almost resembled the edge of fire.

The dragon that walked in a circle in the middle of the cave stopped every minute or so and opened it’s maw then coughed out a small burst of flame that was more sparks and voluminous black smoke than inferno. The dragon then shook it’s head and continued to circle around the cave.

Felix slowly approached just a few meters further back so he could get a better look at the rest of the cave and make sure there was no adult dragon waiting for him. As soon as he took a few more steps forwards, the Dragon’s nostrils flared and his head flicked over in Felix’s direction.

Felix froze and instantly cast his prepared Mana Shield then pushed mana towards his boots so he could jump away. The dragon looked at Felix for a moment or two then simply looked away. Felix quickly stopped the mana flowing into his boots and cautiously approached with his Mana Shield still cast in front of him.

The dragon had stopped pacing now that Felix approached but it didn’t seem to regard Felix as anything really. It looked away from him and continued it’s pitiful attempt at breathing fire but now pointed at the wall. In the back of the cave Felix saw the corpse of the creature the dragon had carried back with it still in tact so he hoped that meant it wasn’t hungry.

After a few more steps forwards the dragon stopped it’s practicing and walked straight at Felix. Were it not for the fact that the dragon walked so non chalantly towards him, Felix would have ran. Instead, he stood with his Mana Shield before him and waited to see what it would do.

The dragon walked right up to him then stretched it’s neck downwards until it was just a meter from Felix’s shield then it tried to breathe fire at him. Felix had seen it’s attempts at breathing fire so he simply waited and let it happen.

As expected, the smoke and sparks bounced off his mana shield, barely costing him a few hundred mana then the dragon closed it’s mouth and walked up to Felix until it’s body was just in front of him. Felix stared at the dragon and waited but the dragon didn’t move. He wasn’t sure what to do but it seemed like the dragon was waiting for something.

After almost a minute, the dragon breathed a small burst of smoke and sparks onto his shield once again then rose back up and waited. Felix had an idea of what to do but he was also pretty sure it was a terrible idea.

He prepared another Mana Shield spell as a backup before dropping the one in front of him then quickly made some minor upgrades and adjustments to his Flame Thrower spell that he hadn’t used in a long time. He formed the spell and placed it just inside his mouth, behind his teeth, opened his mouth and shot fire forwards onto the dragon.

The flames from the spell spread out from a tiny stream that passed between his open lips into a larger column of fire that washed over the body of Endycor. Felix kept the stream going for half a minute then stopped it and readied his Mana Shield in case he had misread the situation, which was highly likely.

As soon as Felix’s makeshift fire breath abated, the dragon hopped up into the air and danced in a circle roaring and yapping as it skipped around in a circle. Felix wasn’t sure if it was trying to talk or really what it was doing but it continued for a few minutes then reached it’s head down and sniffed Felix.

It’s head rose once again and it finally made a threatening move, jumping into the air directly on top of Felix. Felix immediately cast his Mana Shield and held it above him, confident it would be able to hold it back then mentally called for Nova to rush into the cave as well.

The dragon landed on the Mana Shield and it’s body folded around it costing Felix a few thousand mana but otherwise leaving him untouched. Nova appeared almost instantly though Felix couldn’t exactly see anything as he was still surrounding by scales on all sides. He could however, feel how close they were through his soul bond.

He quickly conveyed what he needed Nova to do and got a very excited response in return then waited. He heard and felt a low rumble all around him as the dragon’s scales vibrated for a few moments then shortly afterwards, leapt off of Felix and into the air. Felix repositioned his Mana Shield and backed up a little to give Nova and Endycor room then watched as two dragons essentially wrestled.

Nova’s dragon form, or imitation of a dragon, was muddy but getting significantly better by the second as they saw and experienced Endycor’s body. Felix made sure Nova knew not to try and fight or eat the dragon then instructed them on how to greet it and luckily, it seemed to have worked.

Nova was still significantly smaller than Endycor at just under half the size overall but luckily, it was pretty hard to actually injure them because they could simply reform sections of their body. Nova was still sustaining injuries as they played but none of them were significant in large part because they had made their body significantly elastic, like a rubber toy.

When Endycor jumped onto them or lightly bit them, Nova’s body would simply deform then bounce back. They both took turns bathing each-other in fire, Nova using a spell and Endycor trying their best to actually produce a flame but neither of them were significantly hurting each-other. It seemed like Endycor had a very high resistance to heat and flames so Nova didn’t have to worry while Endycor had trouble doing any damage with plumes of smoke.

They wrestled for a few minutes then Felix caught sight of Amani creeping her way into the cave. He carefully circled around the duo as they crashed into the sides of the cave and made his way over to her. She carefully crept up next to him and watched then frowned after a few moments.

Amani whispered to Felix, barely audibly, “Are they just playing with each-other?”

Felix nodded and didn’t bother whispering, “Yup.”

Amani nodded, “So what’s the plan? Are you going to be able to kill it?”

Felix looked at her and frowned, “Kill it?”

Amani just looked at Felix.

Felix shook his head, “I’m not killing it and I told Nova not to.”

Amani shook her head incredulously, “Why not? I’m sure it would give you tons of experience. Plus, dragonhide seems like an awesome resource. You could sell it or make some sweet armor with it.”

Felix closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Why not? Because from everything I’ve heard, this creature is essentially a miracle. Also, at some point in it’s future, it will be just as smart and sentient as any of us. I’d feel like I was killing a baby.”

Amani cocked her head, “Couldn’t that be true about almost any creature you kill? Except maybe the Devoured. What’s different about this one? Why’s it a miracle?”

Felix sighed, “I guess. Did you get tokens at the end of the tutorial and in the auction?”

Amani nodded, her voice gradually loudening to a normal volume, “Yeah a bunch.”

Felix nodded, “Did you get one from The Guild of Answers?”

Amani shrugged, “Yup. Been using it for tons of stuff. Super helpful for choosing classes and figuring out city layouts and stuff.”

Felix just nodded again, “Ask it about Dragons. See what you get as an answer.”

Amani sighed, “Can’t you just tell me?”

Felix tilted his head back and forth, “I could but I don’t think I can convey the significance properly. I’m hoping you getting the answer from some unknown high level entity in the multiverse will mean more. Just humor me.”

Amani threw her hands up as she relented, “Alright sure.”

Amani backed up into the cave entrance while she sent a question using the token and Felix continued to just watch Nova and Endycor. They were now taking turns breathing fire into each-other’s mouths then burping, or rather simulating the sound and air of a burp in Nova’s case. It only took a minute or two for Amani to get her answer and walk back over to Felix.

Amani nodded, “Ok I get it now. I know why you said this was impossible.”

Felix was just happy they didn’t have to argue about this anymore, “Yeah.”

Amani frowned, “How’s it here?”

Felix chuckled, “Been trying to figure that out.”

Amani nodded, the situation was a little more dire for her than Felix so she remained completely serious, “So what do we do? We can’t just leave it here. I’m okay with not killing it but… Felix, my city isn’t going to survive these waves if they continue.”

Felix nodded, “Yeah I know. I’ve actually got an idea but it’s gonna take me at least an hour.”

Amani nodded, just happy there was a plan, “What is it?”

Felix shrugged, “We just relocate it.”

Amani frowned, “Won’t that just delay the waves?”

Felix finished his sentence, “To another continent.”

“Uh…” Amani seemed to have trouble closing her mouth for a few seconds, “Which one?”

Felix crossed his arms, “Stormbringer’s.”

Amani cocked her head, “Your continent? Can you open a portal there?”

Felix nodded slightly then caught himself and realized what she had just said, “Ye-… I can. How did you know?”

Amani snorted like it had been obvious, “The story of how your integration went. How there was one person who killed the final boss. Then you can fly, are constantly the highest level, your familiar is stupidly strong and you got a special quest in the world event. It just made the most sense. Completely unfair you got a continent by the way. Do you really need all that space?”

Felix frowned in annoyance, “Wha- no. I didn’t choose to claim an entire continent, it kind of just happened.”

Amani shook her head slightly, “Uh huh. Sure it did.”

“Do you want this thing out of here or not?”

“Oh by all means. Please relocate the dragon, oh great Stormbringer.”

“Stop, too far.” Felix said with no mirth in his voice whatsoever. He already didn’t love the nickname and her chastising him for an accident then not believing him about it was just frustrating.

Amani rolled her eyes and walked away.

Felix backed up a little bit to give himself and the dragon duo more room then pulled out some Starmetal and inlay material. He first pulled out the anchor Henry had made him for Orselle and tossed it on the ground in the cave then started working on a different portal. He modified his existing portal mold so that the spell form created a portal with a much larger diameter than any he had previously cast. He needed it to be large enough for Endycor to fit through and up to this point, he hadn’t actually tried to manipulate portal sizes much at all.

Luckily, it was a simple endeavor. It cost him a decent amount more mana but not nearly a proportional amount more. He mentally prepped Nova then began funneling mana into the portal at the cave’s entrance. There were some minor flaws he had to fix but only had to restart the spell once.

He silently thanked his past self for leaving an anchor behind on the continent because targeting an anchor, the entire spell was relatively easy. As soon as he had funneled enough mana into the spell, which took a little while to pull in from the ambient, a large 10 meter wide portal suddenly appeared in the air.

This time, the portal was accompanied by a sound, of sorts. As soon as the path was open, a rush of air was pulled into the portal with a loud whoosh that evened itself out into the whistle of wind after the initial burst. It was dark as night through the portal so very little light actually poured through but it was still a completely different atmosphere. The portal had opened up facing the forest, away from the volcano.

Endycor immediately stopped wrestling with Nova and seemed to be transfixed as they looked through the portal. They approached slowly but stopped about ten meters away and just stared.

Felix had Nova walk through to demonstrate for and motivate Endycor to do the same but Endycor just wouldn’t move. Felix tried to have Nova breath fire on Endycor again, through the portal, causing Endycor to pace and whine right in front of the portal. They feigned walking into it a few times but decided against it at the last minute.

They seemed to want to go through but something was stopping them from doing so. Endycor eventually just backed up blew smoke in Nova’s direction then continued to pace and whine.

If only I could speak dragon.

Grim frowned in Felix’s head, I don’t think it’s actually speaking.

Yeah I figured this was more toddler animal noises than actual words. Still would be nice to understand it.

Felix tried pulled meat out of his inventory and throwing it through. He tried pushing them lightly. He even tried replying to the dragon with screeches and whines of his own, but that just caused Endycor to look at him with a funny look.

Eventually he just sat and watched while Endycor paced around in circles, scratching the walls and generally seeming to be conflicted. Eventually it stopped moving entirely once again and simply laid down on the cave floor, seemingly sulking.

Felix continued to try things and was tempted more and more with everything he tried to just force the issue. Eventually though, he figured it out. He started trying to replicate as many environmental factors as he could for Endycor and finally, he made a cave.

He walked through the portal himself and closed it then used spells to carve out a cave where his tower had been removed from the volcano side. He used a spell form with enchantment nodes to soften the rock then spells to pull it free, tossing large chunks of rock down the mountain side. He wasn’t sure it would work at all so he only made it 10 meters or so deep then cast a portal back to the anchor he had left in the cave.

He made sure the portal pointed at the cave, in case that made a difference and as soon as the portal opened, Endycor saw the cave and leapt through the portal.

That was the difference maker?

Nova and Endycor wrestled some more while Felix made the cave even deeper, now that he knew he wasn’t wasting his time. He made the cave curve to the side a little bit so Endycor wasn’t exposed and opened up the end a little to give them room to move. As he worked, Endycor ran around and scratched walls, seemingly trying to help but was really just getting in the way.

Once Felix was satisfied with the cave, he hopped out and took to the air. Nova was having fun and expressed their intent to stay with Endycor for now so Felix flew up the volcano until he was a fair distance away and opened a normal sized portal back to the cave he had found Endycor in.

He just wanted to make sure he didn’t tease or tempt Endycor by showing them their old home again but he felt Nova far enough away that he was certain it wouldn’t be an issue. Once the portal was open, Felix stepped through and picked up the permanent anchor he had for Orselle then tossed it through. As soon as it passed through the portal, the portal closed.

Felix had decided to repurpose the anchor to be the new permanent anchor on his continent, or at least more permanent than the makeshift anchor he had left there originally. He was getting worried it might degrade or something and considering he had to retrieve Nova at some point, he decided it was worth the sacrifice.

Back in the cave, Felix closed the portal then started walking out of the cave but stopped himself. He quickly scurried around the cave and collected all the dragon scales that had fallen off of Endycor when they were wrestling with Nova

He quickly scanned the cave to make sure he got all of them then walked back out of the cave and into the canyon. He surprisingly found Amani sitting just outside the cave. Felix had expected her to go back to the city with her sand traveling ability considering how long it had taken him to carve out a cave.

Felix looked down at her, “You’re still here.”

Amani shrugged, “You are my ride.”

“You could have easily made it back yourself.”

“Yeah, I could have… Look, sorry.”

Felix winced mentally but managed to keep it from reaching his face, For what?

He just brushed her off with a gesture, “Don’t worry about it. Wanna head back now?”

Amani looked off into the distance wistfully, “I shouldn’t have been so short with you and the whole continent thing. I have no reason to distrust you. I just don’t think it’s fair I had to deal with the desert and… I look at you and how much stronger you are and I get a little… mad.”

I… don’t care. I literally forgot about the whole thing two seconds later. Also, that’s just… dumb.

Grim chuckled, You humans and your irrational emotions.

Felix just ignored her full apology, it felt wrong to forgive her when he cared so little about the whole thing, “Do you want to head back then?”

Amani nodded, seemingly relieved that Felix wasn’t mad at her, “Yeah, I guess. You dealt with it then?”

Felix nodded, “Yup. Unless it flies back here then I don’t know what to do.”

Amani smiled, “Finger’s crossed then. Where’s Nova?”

Felix shrugged, “They wanted to stay with the dragon.”

Amani nodded slowly, “I see. So I get to ride you back to the city then?”

Felix shook his head, “Nope, no need. I’ve been practicing and I should be able to carry you alongside me with spells.”

To demonstrate, Felix flew up into the air and simultaneously lifted Amani up a few meters away from him with a few force spells.

Amani flailed about as she rose into the air, “Woah woah hold on. I don’t know tha-”

Felix didn’t even listen to the rest and instead just lifted her into the air and flew off towards the city. Whatever her concerns were, they quickly subsided as they flew over the desert. He saw her face relax and her arms stretch out next to her. It seemed to him like she might actually be enjoying herself.

Felix prepared a Feather Fall spell just in case then used an extra force spell to have Amani spin around him then spin around herself. She giggled a little, unable to hold back a laugh as they flew.

The sun had just crossed over the horizon and the temperature was moderate enough that Felix didn’t need to supplement it with spells. They flew across the desert towards the city, completely unhindered by any monsters or creatures, though Felix suspected that was a lasting effect from Endycor’s last hunt. Given enough time, it would be much harder for anyone to just fly through the desert unbothered.

They made it back in just a few hours and Felix flew them right up to the wall. He lowered her to the ground and together, they walked through the wall and into the city.

Felix addressed her as his mind had long since moved onto the next thing, “So, we still on for a portal between the cities?”

Amani nodded as they walked, “Yeah. That’s ok with me. Can we test it outside the city at first though?”

Felix nodded, “Of course. You can put it wherever you’d like. We’re planning on having a teleport station, like a train station, a few kilometers outside Atalus. Just in case.”

Amani cocked a brow and looked at him, “Are you going to connect all the cities?”

Felix shrugged, “If they’re willing.”

Amani smirked, “So we’re the first?”

Felix nodded, “Yup.”

Amani leaned in and clasped her hands behind her back, “Is it cause of our special connection?”

Felix just kept walking, “It’s because you asked me, or rather Nova, to help you with a problem.”

Amani stood straight again and looked ahead, “I see. Are you… are you mad at me?”

Felix frowned, he knew what she meant but he asked anyways because in his mind, there was nothing to be mad about, “For what?”

Amani’s head fell a little and her feet dragged just a little, “Just… are we ok? You aren’t mad at me for being short with you earlier? You know the whole continent thing, you didn’t try to claim it yourself?”

Felix sighed, “I didn’t care then, and I don’t think it’s possible for me to care less now. We’re exactly the same as before.”

Amani nodded, once again relieved, “Okay good. Maybe we can set up another sparring session later then? Maybe when the portals are all set up, yeah?”

Felix shrugged, “Sure. I’m game. You also wanted to see the inside of my house. You want me to show you now then?”

Amani skipped once as they walked, “Some other time.”

Felix nodded, “Okay, if you could just point me somewhere you’re comfortable with a portal, I’ll start working on that.”

Amani cocked her head and looked at him, “You don’t want to sleep first?”

Felix shook his head, “Not tired at the moment.”

She shrugged, “Alright, sure.”

Amani led Felix to an area just outside of the city after consulting with some people she introduced as her city planners and Felix started working on a larger, permanent portal anchor. She left after making sure he had what he needed and went to sleep. As she headed back into the city, Felix noticed she whispered something to the guards and they seemed to be occasionally eying him from atop the wall.

He started working iterated on his initial prototype for a permanent spell formation. If the improvements he made actually made a difference, he would make sure they ended up in Henry’s rendition for the actual version later on.

He was doing his best with what he had just in case he didn’t come back for a while but even then, he wasn’t confident this would last for more than a few months. He was starting to realize he needed a better way to process materials because what he was currently doing, melting inlay material in a Starmetal vat was just tedious. He resolved himself to look into it later, potentially adding forges or other tools to the lab in his tower at a later date.

Though his processing methods were unideal at best, it only took Felix a couple hours to make a portal anchor that he was pretty sure would last at least a few months. He didn’t have enough experience to tell exactly how long it would last, but he figured a month was a decent enough guess.

He looked around and chose the area around him that was the flattest then walked over and planted the anchor as best he could. He was almost certain it would move eventually, he was just hoping he made it back by then so Amani could create a more permanent surface for it.

Felix modified the mold and inlay material from teleporting Endycor to quickly construct a portal spell back to the Atalus anchor he had left with Noah. The modifications were minor as all he had to change was the size of the portal and the anchor location.

Realistically he could have left the size the same, but Felix changed it anyways just in case Noah had put the anchor close to a wall. He wasn’t sure what would happen in that situation, but he added it to the list of things he needed to figure out about portals along with what happened if it closed with his arm still through it.

The portal unceremoniously opened with a light breeze from the pressure difference and Felix stepped through into the Atalus city hall building. Looking around, he didn’t see anyone and figured they were likely asleep considering how early in the morning it was.

Felix thought about checking to see if Henry was still awake, since he tended to stay up late and often all night in his forge, but Felix decided to just wait till morning. He had something else he had been yearning to do and now seemed like the perfect time to do it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .