“I don’t know why I’m bothering to tell you this,” he said, taking out another piece of wood.

  This block was a dark red, with blue streaks through it. Square, about six inches. As he slid the knife over it, I could feel the Arcanum flowing into the wood with each slice. What he was doing looked like making nothing more than toys, which was cool and could be marketable, but I wondered if there was more that could be done.

  I started getting ideas.

  But that was for after his story.

  “I’m from Hobnit. My Faction is called the Ring Fellowship,” he barked a harsh laugh. “Not really a fellowship, not anymore anyways. Started out that way, but the current leadership? They lost their way. Made all of us lose our way.” He shook his head sadly, carving off a couple more strips. “We’re not one of the oldest Factions, but we’ve been in the Nexus for a while. Anyways, you know how Adventurers and guests work right?”

  I nodded.

  “Might surprise you to know, but I’m an Adventurer,” he said, smiling broadly, showing a bit of pride.

  That was a surprise. I’d been told he was a Guest, but then what did that dwarf really know? It was all rumors and hearsay. If I was his Faction, I’d support that he was a Guest and not Adventurer. None of it really made them look good, at least to me, but I got the feeling that to most Factions, what they did to Newton didn’t matter.

  “I’ve always had this hobby,” he said, holding up the carving, then getting back to work on it. I had no idea what it was going to be, but he was carving quickly and surely. He knew what he was doing. “I’d been an apprentice carver before the System came to Hobnit. After, the ability kind of evolved from one of the Essences I got when I went into the Challenge Tutorial.” He shook his head again, looking up and staring into the distance. “I wanted to help my people. Be a warrior to protect them. But it didn’t work out that way.”

  I settled down to get more comfortable. This was going to be a long story.

  “I got Essences to be a warrior, but also one for Crafting. Which was a bit odd coming out of the Challenge Tutorial which was all about fighting. In the eyes of the Ring Fellowship, I had a wasted spot. I did my best and hit Level 100. Took me a little longer than others but I did it. Not having all my slots geared toward combat didn’t hinder me. Least I thought so.”

  I felt like mentioning that I didn’t have all my slots filled but kept that one quiet. Didn’t think it would help make him feel any better. But knowing his situation, it made me angry at his Faction.

  “But the Fellowship didn’t think so. By the time I got here, to the Nexus, they had plans.” He waved at the camp around him. “See, turns out that Adventurers aren’t that rare, and in some cases having more non-Adventurers in Crossroads works out better. Especially when they can send those Guests to other worlds.”

  I stared at him in shock. I knew there were ways to travel from the Nexus to other worlds, but I thought only Adventurers could do that. Guests could only go from their world to the Nexus. Newton must have seen the surprise.

  “Didn’t know that, did you? Surprisingly not many do. Doesn’t get advertised, but it’s possible. So once I was here in the Nexus, my Faction kicked me out. They kept me in the Faction but banned me from any of their buildings, the compound and even the Tower.”

  “That’s possible?”

  “Yeah. It’s one of the ways a Faction can still control people. Punish them if need be. I’ve seen people banned from the Infinite Tower for a year and it really stunts their advancement. The Fellowship still wanted the two Guests that I allowed, since they had a use for them. But they had no need for me. Plenty of Adventurers coming up through the ranks. And the more years that pass, the more there are.”

  “If you’re banned from the compound, that’s why you can’t just go home?”

  “Yep, not like there would be anything at home for me. The Fellowship controls the whole planet.”

  Now I really did feel bad for the guy. He could have been feeding me a load of crap, but I didn’t think so.

  “The beatings?”

  He winced, rubbing at the back of his neck. He signed again, hanging his head.

  “Just the Fellowship reminding me of my place.”

  I really wanted to find some of these Fellowship members and punch them in the face. Multiple times. With the full amount of Force from my Essence.

  “How long has it been?”

  He shrugged.

  “Couple years. Kind of lost track.”

  “What Level are you?” I asked, the plan continuing to form.

  He chuckled as he looked up at me.

  “You’re full of questions.”

  I shrugged.

  “Level One Hundred. I’ve got Strength, Endurance, Reinforcement, Fire, Manipulation and Shaping,” he said, holding up the block of wood.

  I still couldn’t tell what it was going to be.

  “Those are some good Essences,” I said. “Would make you a pretty damn good warrior.”

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  He shrugged.

  “I was, even if I didn’t have the sixth slot dedicated to the Path.” He looked at me and smiled, knowing what the next question was going to be. “Path Of The Firewall.”

  I nodded, able to get an idea of what he could do.

  “I’m really surprised that your Faction just abandoned you with those Essences.”

  “On Hobnit, there’s a lot of warriors. When I got to the Nexus, I was one of three dozen that day alone. There were even a couple others on the Firewall Path.”

  I nodded. That kind of made sense why his Faction then thought he was replaceable. But three dozen Adventurers meant seventy-two Guests with them. That was a lot of Guests. I knew Factions had a lot of people in Crossroads, but I couldn’t imagine needing so many that the two Guest slots were more important than the one Adventurer.

  It also sounded like this Ring Fellowship used its Adventurers like fodder. Setting them on a Path and unleashing them. If they worked out, great. But for the most part, they were just fodder to send into the Tower. It was kind of like how Subudai treated his Adventurers. The leaders of the Ring Fellowship and Subudai would probably get along real well.

  Newton had quickly carved the block into a small creature. It looked like a bear but longer and leaner. He set it on the ground. I felt the Arcanum flow from him to the creation. It started to move.

  The snout lifted like it was sniffing the air. It reared up on its back paws, front swiping at nothing. The mouth was open in a silent roar. It settled back down and started walking around the campsite. I watched it for a bit.

  “Do you command it to do that or does it do it on its own?”

  “Both,” he replied, smiling. Before when he’d been talking, it had been forced out, depressed. This Newton had some life in his eyes. This was his passion. “I can give it a series of basic commands to follow and it’ll do those in sequence with no stopping. Or I can give one command and it’ll do that until I tell it to stop. They don’t think at all. Just follow the commands.”

  “How big can you make one?”

  The small bear-thing, which looked kind of cool and I wanted one, the real thing not the fake, walked over to Newton and stopped. It returned to the form that he’d carved, which had been the bear mid-walk. He picked it up and tossed it to me. I caught it, sending my senses into it.

  I could feel the Arcanum moving through the thing but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to change shape. For me it was just a chunk of Arcanum infused wood.

  Beautiful work though. Newton was a master woodcarver. The black wood with the veins of red had a shine to it, the claws, face, eyes, ears were all carved in detail. Even the fur had detail in parts and wasn’t just a formless mass that was supposed to be fur.

  And he’d carved it in just minutes.

  “This is amazing,” I said.

  “Keep it,” he replied. I stored it in my inventory. Jack would love it. “I can make them as big as I want. The bigger take longer of course. Those smaller ones, no time at all. But they’re pretty useless.”

  “I don’t think so. They’re like golems,” I said, making Newton look up at me.

  “I guess,” he said but looked a little unsure. “They aren’t as strong or can’t fight as well.”

  “Why not? I’m guessing your Shaping and Manipulation Essences are pretty low?”

  “Yeah,” he replied. “The Fellowship didn’t help me Advance them. What little I did, I did on my own. The rare drops when I could hunt monsters that were known to drop those Essences. Buying some when I could afford it.” He chuckled bitterly. “The Fellowship made sure I knew that I needed all my Essences at the required Levels to get access to the Nexus or else…,” he trailed off, and I knew what that meant. “But of course, they wouldn’t help.”

  I thought about what I knew about the Essence Levels and the Nexus. The Adventurer had to be Level 100, which came from Level-Up Crystals. But their Essences didn’t need to be at Level 100 or higher. Most people tried to get them there, just because of the power levels. If they were lower, fighting Arcanebeasts in the Tower would be harder.

  Another reason most Adventurers went with a full party of five.

  But there was a minimum, just because any lower and there would be no hope of surviving in the Infinite Tower. I thought it was Level Seventy-Five in each. Maybe higher. But either way, that was very impressive that Newton had gotten two Essence that high on his own. Especially when it seemed his own Faction was actively against it.

  And him.

  “I don’t see a reason why these carvings couldn’t be turned into golems,” I said. “I’m no crafter so I’m just guessing, but most golem crafters use Shaping and Manipulation Essences right?” Newton nodded. “You’re already giving them forms and have enough control that they can follow commands. I think the rest would just require work.”

  “But they’re wood,” he said, pulling another carving from his inventory.

  This one was of a monster standing on two legs. It stood upright, had long arms, and was shaggy. Kind of looked like a Sasquatch, but was probably something native to Hobnit. He made it start walking. The long arms lifted up and smashed down into the ground.

  “Wood can be strong,” I said, shrugging. “Didn’t say there wouldn’t be negatives, but I think it could work.”

  “Maybe,” he said, but sighed. “Not that it would do me any good. I can’t get into the Tower to Level so…,” he trailed off, picking up the carving and returning it to his inventory.

  I absolutely hated what I was hearing from him and about his Faction. They were definitely someone to actively avoid. I’d warn Tammy and Fields when I saw them next. But I wanted to help Newton. He may have been throwing me a line of crap, but I didn’t think so. I was a pretty good judge of character.

  “Do you care about returning home?” I asked, making him look up at me, confused.

  He thought about his answer before shrugging.

  “I miss home and I have family there. Parents and siblings. But home was never a great place and they probably all think I’m dead. I’m pretty resigned to never seeing it again.”

  “So why not just quit the Ring Fellowship?”