After a well-deserved night of fun and dancing, the party slept soundly in their beds knowing it would be the last time for a while. At the dinner with the king, it was decided that their path along the mountain range would be done by traversing across the top of the range itself. Apparently, it was relatively safe and would cut their travel down by almost two months. The only drawback would be the cold, rocky terrain.

  Gene still attempted to sway the party to make the trip at the base of the mountains since it was almost autumn and they would still be on the mountains come winter. However, with their skills, the party assured the owl that they would be able to fend off the weather.

  When the sun shined through their curtains, they were reluctant to get up and get moving. They all stayed until the end of the gala since Shell had too. Synexus also didn’t want to leave her alone since he knew a Divine had taken interest.

  He decided to tell her after her performance and to his surprise, she was happy and almost excited. She truly believed that the stranger was her friend from the dungeon. Synexus wanted to do more research before coming to any assumptions. Gene would probably know, but he didn’t want to become reliant on his friend.

  Either way, they all decided to be more vigilant of any spying eyes.

  Mid-morning arrived and the party had finally made it down the stairs and into the dining room for one final breakfast at the inn. The innkeeper was sad to see them go. Shell’s performances had brought in a lot of business. She ended up leaving a few of the recording crystals with him to sell if anyone came in and asked. She told him that he could keep the profits for letting her perform each night. He also waived the fee for her room. Synexus went ahead and paid for the rest. Ecclo had told him that he had nearly 130,000 gold guins in his bank account, so he wasn’t too worried about covering things for now or at least until everyone else found their thing like Shell did.

  A royal escort was waiting for them outside and led them through the city to the mountain path gate. The king had given them a scroll with a final thanks and praise to Shell’s flawless performance the night before. He welcomed them back to Goldhill anytime which everyone thought was a pleasant and kind sendoff.

  When the gate creaked open, they all stared at another long staircase that led up the mountain. It was steep and not nearly as wide as the one leading to the city, but even so, they were excited to get their journey moving once more towards Yu’s home.

  There was hope in the air that they would encounter powerful enemies to challenge them that would lead to further enhancing their skills. The king said the path was relatively safe, meaning there were still monsters depending on the time of the year and other factors.

  Synexus was ready to hit level 22. He had 5 more levels in Progress Garden to obtain before he got there. All his other skills were close to level 30 or higher which meant that once he got over the hurdle with Progress Garden, he would have a windfall of class levels. He constantly used the skill and was surprised that it hadn’t gotten there already, but passives were always harder to level up.

  Zuls couldn’t wait to be able to let all her bonded out at once to get some exercise in after being confined to the city. She would wait until they got up to the path that should be a bit wider.

  Kumo leapt into the air and started walking on clouds up the side of the mountain as soon as they left the gate. She was barely walking a foot off the mountainside, so she could still converse with the rest of the party.

  Prith pulled out his swordsmanship tome and started reading while they ascended the great staircase. His agility was so high that it took him almost no focus to ensure careful footing. He had been obsessed with memorizing every word in the tome since the king had given it to him.

  Gene rode on the back of Yu and they chatted as she climbed up the mountain. Her mood was soaring since they were once again making progress towards getting her home to her sisters. She was already telling a story about the sphinx and how different their society was. The owl listened intently and had their pen scribbling on the endless paper.

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  Shell made everyone hold onto a recording quartz and was playing new songs to record and sell via The Progress Nexus. Most of her listings had already been sold and she was making some decent progress credits.

  Vorin was checking the map for the hundredth time to make sure he knew what the party was going to face along the path they had chosen to traverse. Ever since they had heard back from Minily and Laiko, he had a new energy to him. He was happy. They had sent messages back saying they were okay and that they were finding their way home. Laiko reassured him that it wasn’t his fault and even apologized about blaming Vorin for his sister’s death. He also complained about Minily a lot, which everyone found humorous. She really could talk all day.

  Goldhill had been a great refresher for them and had given the party time to focus on the other aspects of their lives instead of fighting and surviving. They had made great memories and helped as many people as possible. That’s what they would hold onto for the months travelling along the mountains in the cold, wild terrain.

  ***

  Az stood atop the peak of the shadow labyrinth mountain looking towards the west. She could feel her sister getting closer once more and knew the party was on the move. Her suspicions were verified moments later when a seer sphinx flew up to meet her.

  “First Sister, she is on the move. She is heading home.”

  ***

  The golden-scaled dragon sat upon his throne listening to his advisor talk about various topics that he didn’t necessarily care about. Things had a way of working themselves out. A being his age knew that not much truly mattered in the grand scheme of things.

  Still when his advisor mentioned the strange heartbeat issue, he homed in on his words.

  “What about his heartbeat? I thought we already told the dragons to ignore it.”

  “Yes, Elder. The original fifty or so were told to ignore it. However, everyday there seem to be more and more dragons dealing with this strange phenomenon.”

  “It must be close to hatching then. Send out one of the wyverns to challenge this Bond Forger. I want to know if she will be able to keep a creature of such power in line. If not, then I will end the beast before it breathes.”

  “As you wish, Elder.”

  ***

  Wilton and Plessa had arrived in Goldhill as the sun was starting to come over the horizon. Both were clearly exhausted from searching various cities after being led astray with false information.

  Their superiors were breathing down their necks for proof. Each city they failed to find the Progress Druid in was another mark on their record. If they continued to fail, then they would be pulled from Motholo and higher levelled members of the Coalition would be sent to investigate.

  “Wilton, let’s find an inn. We’ve been nonstop for days now.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. I know Desyx wants a progress report tomorrow, but I just can’t function without a little sleep.”

  They left the teleportation platform and tipped the space mage before asking if he could point them towards a comfortable inn.

  “Sure thing. It must be your first time in the city. I would normally recommend the Peak inn and tavern, but the Dragon’s Fire inn has been popular lately. An incredible bard has been filling the inn every single night. I went myself two nights ago and I was amazed. It’s just that way about three blocks. Can’t miss it!”

  Both of the Coalition members nodded in annoyance. They were too tired for the additional information to process.

  As they shuffled towards the inn their eyes wandered over to a group of adventurers being led by guards in golden armor. They had a sphinx with them and an owl that could talk. Sleep lured them towards the inn, however.

  “We’d like two rooms please.”

  “You’re in luck! We’ve been completely full for almost a week now, but we just had some folks leave the city. Top floor, okay?”

  “Perfect. Thank you.”

  Wilton handed over the guins and then looked down at a strange looking crystal.

  “Oh, interested in buying one?”

  “What is it?”

  “A recording quartz. They are quite incredible! A bard that was staying here left them to sell. Each one can play one of her songs.”

  “Is this technology normal around here?”

  The innkeeper put his hand to his chin.

  “I don’t wanna lead you astray, but no. I’ve never seen one. She just appeared with them one day and then they took off. A ton of people in the city are using them now.”

  “Did this bard have silver eyes?”

  “No, hers were a beautiful blue. Although, her friend who paid did have mirror-like eyes. Quite fetching if I must say.”

  “Is this bard still here?”

  “Nope. She was part of the group that just left sadly. They are headed towards the mountains or something like that. Just missed them.”

  Plessa put her hand on her face and groaned.

  “They were the group with the sphinx, Wilton.”

  Both immediately turned around and took off running.