The figure who approached us didn’t seem to be approaching with hostility or even aggression in his steps. Looking around at my friends though, I could see that I wasn’t the only one of us three who where getting a bad feeling from this moment. The tension in Venos’s muscles and the way Orkus was quietly laying a hand on one of his many daggers without drawing it. I could feel myself silently preparing some of my mana to be in a ready state as I looked at the figure, who took a second to look us over just out of reach before closing the last few steps of distance. I got a better feel of the man’s form, road weary would be the polite way to describe him, dirty and untrustworthy would be better for everyone’s health. He was human, about a head short of 6’ and with a short brown beard to match some unkempt head of hair. His eyes where the most concerning though.

  No human should have golden eyes.

  “Sorry to bother you three” his voice sounded tired, in that way that no sleep could alleviate, I have seen many an adventurer and scholar like that. “I have word you three are the most familiar with the new dungeon, and me and my friends where looking to be some of the first to dive it proper.” That sent a sharp blade of distrust through my entire form. Few people should know that, and fewer still would be brazen enough to ask them directly, especially considering the Guild Master is watching us three like a mother hen.

  “And...who told you this?” Orkus was looking tenser and tenser as he asked this, he seemed ready to move at a second’s notice.

  The man held up both his hands in a surrendering manner “whoa whoa, let’s slow down a little.” He looked between the blade and then to the tense Orkus, then across me and Venos, his gaze was calm but clearly evaluating. “sharp ears, overhead some lot talking as they where leaving, I think it was a naga and minotaur.” I think back and sigh as that lines up with how things where, those three where closer then ever but their tongues where looser then their coin purses. The words slightly alleviated Orkus’s tension but Venos and I where still very much on edge. Him from being just generally on edge by the whole situation, and me because my sense was just burning in the back of my mind about this man.

  I could feel something begin to click as I looked at the man, and suddenly that thing appeared before me again.

  Identification Complete

  Alert, target unable to be fully Identified

  high amounts of divine interference

  detected on person.

  Likely reasons, anti scrying blessings,

  blessings of battle, or potential demigod/paragon

  status in effect on the target.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  I blinked slightly, reading this over, keeping my expression as neutral as possible as I consider what in the world that meant. I look over the man again with what this….idintification has said, and consider the options. Using my mana to probe for divine magic, I could see the subtle yet omnipresent amount of it. If I was just idly feeling it out, I would assume a simple blessing or a man with a holy trinket. But with what that box said and my own touchings with the priestly types, I could see the little inconsistencies that an anti scrying blessing or a dense combat blessing would place energy into the figure. They look the same in density to lesser blessings, but are structured so fundamentally differently that it is easy to see the differences. The third option though, a demigod or a paragon, that is something that would be rather annoying. No not annoying. Terrifying.

  If this man was either of those, and all that it implied then it would mean that one group was involved. The church, and if the church was involved, and interested in the dungeon, then that could prove rather problematic. As I was mulling it over, the identify box had yet to disappear, and as I was looking through it towards him, I swear I could see his eyes moving like he was reading it. That couldn’t be possible though, no one had been able to see it, no one should be able to see it but me, that felt fundamental in my soul.

  I shake my head as the window vanished, clearing my head and looking to Venos for what he thought. He looked at me and was clearly putting a lot of thought into what was about to happen and what he should do.

  ___________________________________________________________________________________

  It was rather interesting, a battle of wits on the plane of our minds, or was it souls considering everything. Eh semantics, doesn’t matter at this point considering Ortheon was working rather hard to overpower me and either kill me or free himself. It doesn’t particularly matter which as I intend to win this battle of wills and hopefully at least cow him for a few weeks. As it stands we are in a bit of a stalemate, he has been sending probing attacks at cracks in my mental defenses. The cracks would bother me more in their number if I wasn’t extremely new to this whole mental battle thing. My mind has sort of shaped the whole thing into a sort of table top war game siege situation. Honestly it would be more interesting if it wasn’t for the fact my foe kept slamming on the metaphysical gates.

  Focusing my mind into something sharp and powerful for defense, my mental defenses become steadily more modern. Shifting from what was once stone ramparts to concrete walls, this has severally slowed Ortheon, if not out of the sheer change then from his own curiosity getting the better of him. With that hesitation on go on a counteroffensive, sparks like soldiers materializing on the walls carrying the weapons of war. I can see him preparing a shield wall to counteract but my mind feels sharp enough to pierce through. I can almost hear the methodical clicking of the bolt and the bullet, the ringing sound of fire being thrown in magnitudes and calibers. His mental defenses where not prepared for the counterattack, nor the form it took, and it shredded the front line of his mental assault. Forcing him back into a retreat.

  I wanted to pursue him but something else caught my attention as urgent so I pulled back from him, leaving him as he was. Turning my attention outwards properly again, I found that many of my creatures, including the spiders and Terra, where surrounding my core in concern. I looked through there eyes and felt their concern slowly fade by my presence, though my own was slightly growing. My for had changed, what once was a simple sliver of clear gem was now showing the signs of growing. Two nubs of growth had formed at the center in a way that would, if grown out to the same size as my main prongs, turn me into quite the cross. I am not sure of how important this is but it feels like a massive step in some direction. It’s something that I am going to have to keep track of going forwards, especially since it could mean nothing or everything.

  Once my monsters where reassured nothing was happening that I couldn’t handle I do a quick check of the land. The gem spiders where still spinning and eating, the skeletons continued to mull about, the castle remains unfinished, Elisa continued to haunt her section of forest seeming unperturbed. Life went on, or in some cases death, maybe I should work on the third heir, get that quest near done.

  QnA chapter?