Chapter 117: Vagabond Extraordinaire

  When the alarm went off, all three of them were already airborne, high above the town square. Moira was lazily floating on her wings, whereas Parth and Kwame were standing atop a platform made of fire. Now that he had his flames under control once again, there was no need to waste Moira’s barrier cards and vectors in such a manner.

  The trial had begun. And their next move would depend on their allies’ signal.

  Usually, they were the ones jumping into the dungeon at this exact time. But this go around, they were on the opposite side already. And there was no visible fanfare heralding the arrival of the voyagers.

  Sure, the teleportation happened with a golden glow, courtesy of Byrone’s boon. But this far off, they didn’t see anything. Kwame and Moira even had their binoculars out. But Parth didn’t think that they would catch anything due to the foliage, hills, and whatnot. So far, the dungeon hadn’t really lived up to this floor’s name. But now that the voyagers were back, in its frenzy to feed, it would show its true colors.

  They waited for ten minutes before they finally spotted something. Off in the distance, a thin blue line was climbing vertically.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Parth asked.

  “It is,” Moira confirmed, taking the binoculars off her eyes.

  “So what do you think?”

  “It’s not too far off. About ten kilometers into the dungeon. We don’t need to abandon our camp then. We can stay here, eat properly for once, and you can get some proper sleep. And then once we are settled, we can head out,” Kwame said.

  “So we are still going with the plan? No changes?” Parth asked.

  “Yeah, it doesn’t make sense for all of us to go and then backtrack here,” Moira said.

  “I asked because I thought you’d want to meet everybody.”

  “We’ll meet them a week later on the outside. I want to meet them, but can’t risk another tsunami. I mean, if in this stage the dungeon takes offense, then it would be pretty catastrophic,” she said.

  “Fire, I can handle way better than I handled the water. But yeah, I get what you mean. We don’t want to cause problems for our allies and other innocent voyagers,” Parth said.

  “It’s faster this way,” Kwame said, agreeing. He then handed Parth the empty storage container. They had shifted everything inside it to Moira’s container. There was not enough stuff remaining in their hands anyway. An expanded box full of supplies would be more than enough for them to survive this week.

  Once Parth took the box, Kwame hung on to his artifact and allowed it to begin lowering him to the ground. Normally, such a maneuver would severely injure one’s shoulder. But mana made it easy, and Kwame didn’t like to be babied in his current condition.

  “All right. See you in maybe half an hour. I’ll try to be as fast as possible,” Parth said. The flaming platform wrapped around him and reformed into a flaming aura. He waved at his teammates and began gaining altitude. Once he was sufficiently high, his flames turned blue. The next moment, he shot towards the ice pillar in the distance.

  The blue fire burned hot. Hotter than he had ever wielded any flames. They generated a tremendous amount of thrust, propelling him forward. At the same time, he compressed more mana into the aura and gave it more physical depth. That made the aura act as a pseudo-solid barrier that prevented him from the wind blast and the external pressure. The mana inside his body was working rapidly to protect his innards from the rapid acceleration as well.

  The drake scale cloak did not flutter uselessly in the wind and create drag. His flames had completely engulfed him after all. For a brief moment, he imagined the cloak as a red cape instead. He couldn’t help but grin maniacally as he flew. Magic was the best thing that ever happened to him.

  The world was a blur as he pierced through the air. He had an extreme case of tunnel vision. He couldn’t see anything properly all around him, except for his target, which seemed to get closer by the second. His heatmap was firing at full force. He couldn’t trust his other senses completely at this speed. But the heatmap was quite reliable. His mind was processing its inputs very clearly. The mana was flowing along the one specific pathway inside his brain pretty smoothly.

  There was no impediment, and no wastage, as it followed the path to the tee, without interfering with the other waves of mana circulating across his brain. Improved control meant a better heatmap, he’d realized. A bigger range and a better understanding of what he was sensing. Fine control was the gift that kept on giving.

  Not that he would need any tight maneuvering at this altitude. There was nothing in his way after all.

  But he needed to be careful. He didn’t want to hit something sturdy and get splattered. Sure, his flaming aura would protect him, and so would the sheer force he was projecting as he moved. However, one could never be too careful.

  It wasn’t long before he had to slow down or crash into the pillar. He rapidly deaccelerated as the mana inside his body countered the g-forces.

  Now that he was at a manageable velocity, he could see everything clearly without the blur of speed clouding his vision. He couldn’t stop controlling his smile as he kept decelerating and banked to a side, rapidly descending to meet the people standing there.

  A quick mental check told him that he had wiped out a little less than five percent of his mana reserves with just this single maneuver. But it made sense because a quick glance at his ring informed him that it had been only a minute and a few seconds since he had taken off. Roughly about ten kilometers, in a little more than a minute.

  He was nowhere near as fast as Joe was in the air. But the Wingman was designed purely for flight. Parth’s artifact was not. He’d gladly take almost half the speed of sound any day. This kind of speed was more than satisfactory despite the mana cost. And that was in a fatigued state. He was pretty sure that once he woke up, his mind would be clearer and he would be even more efficient.

  So all in all, about five percent of his massive reserves was still a very fair trade-off. He was sure that none of his predecessors had ever achieved such a feat. Without the blue flames, such a burst of speed would be impossible for the average Pygilist. And who else wielded blue flames? Nobody but Parth.

  He landed a couple of meters away from his allies as his flames slowly returned to their usual color. It seemed they had the same fears of the dungeon retaliating. Because the entire squad was not here. Andrea and Stefan were here. Emilia and the triplets must be elsewhere.

  It seemed like he had made quite the entrance, as Andrea had her mouth open wide, and Stefan had a bewildered look on his face, his artifact probably going crazy with a stream of information.

  “Cat got your tongue?” Parth asked, still smiling ear to ear.

  Andrea’s mouth snapped shut at that. “That’s the first thing you say? How corny can you be?”

  Parth just shrugged his shoulder in response.

  “Heard that you lost a fight,” Andrea said. Not mockingly, and not patronizingly. It was purely a matter of fact with her. That’s what he liked about her. No sugar coating. No bullshit. They were on the same page.

  Parth’s teammates might proclaim that they’d won, and all that. But he still considered the entire kraken saga to be a loss. In boxing, if you win five rounds and get knocked out in the sixth, your performance in the first five rounds doesn’t matter anymore. It wouldn’t even matter if it were a lucky punch that took you out. It wouldn’t change the fact that the fight ultimately ended in a loss.

  “Yeah, I did,” he said.

  “Did you learn anything from it?” Andrea said.

  “Yes, I did,” he repeated.

  “And are you healed enough and ready to get back in the ring again?”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “Then that’s all that needs to be said. Come here, you idiot,” She said with a bright smile as she walked towards him, engulfing him in a tight hug.

  It had been quite a while since he had been hugged. He didn’t know how to immediately respond to it. But gradually, he hugged her back. Ironically, despite her rampant cryomancy, the hug didn’t feel cold at all.

  They must have stayed there like that for about a minute. Parth didn’t want to separate. But a slight movement to the side caught his eye. And he finally remembered that they were not alone here.

  It seemed like Andrea had the same idea, and they disengaged.

  “It’s good to see you, Parth,” said Stefan as he walked forward and patted Parth on his shoulder. His face was still carrying a bewildered expression. Parth wondered what Stefan was seeing through that artifact of his. He must have definitely noticed something. But Parth didn’t push him. Stefan would talk on his own if it was important.”

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  “Good to see you too, buddy.”

  “What about Moira and Kwame? Are they fine?” Stefan asked.

  “Yeah, somewhat. Kwame was severely injured, but we’re managing. Couldn’t have done it without Moira’s healing. That fact has never changed, to be honest.”

  “Too true. Moira managed to sneak her footage in through some other voyagers. The one from Kade’s team. So yeah, we saw some of what had happened. Messed up shit. Glad that you tagged those bastards back. You did, didn’t you?” Andrea said with a sour expression on her face.

  “Yeah. Took two of them out. The third one messed me up pretty badly. But Kwame and Moira together finished him off as well. So, score settled, I guess. Moira healed us up after, not without some complications, though. We’re relatively good right now. How about your team? And, how are the kids?”

  “We’re all good. We were pretty bummed out that you got stuck inside the dungeon. The kids, most of all. But they have been improving. And I’ve been training them in your stead. They all wanted to meet you guys, but I guess it’s the same reason why it’s just you here and not the other two, apart from your obvious display of speed,” Moira said.

  Her words were a balm to Parth’s soul. Everybody was fine. That was enough for him. He’d meet them all once he got outside. “Yeah, we didn’t want to risk another intervention. Plus, we need to stay put and recuperate first. Been a while since we had enough food and water without rationing it strictly.”

  Andrea grimaced upon hearing that. “Of course, that would suck. Well, we have plenty of food for you. Go wild.

  “And yes, we had similar thoughts about the dungeon’s intervention. When we got pulled out during the last trial, we had already found a suitable location for a camp, so we got teleported back into that camp. And Stefan and I just moved a bit away to set up this signal.”

  “It’s fine, I guess we’ll all meet each other back when we are back in Tava,” Parth said.

  “Yep. It would be a better location as well. Rather than this dreary place.”

  As they were speaking, a speeding humanoid entered his heatmap’s range, and Parth immediately took a defensive stance. Seeing him do that, Andrea did the same. There was a loud boom in the distance, as the person he was tracking was already upon them.

  Stefan briefly tensed up, but then relaxed. His artifact obviously decoded the situation. “It’s Xylo. We’re good,” he said, turning his attention to his storage container instead.

  And soon enough, a floating figure descended straight down. It was a synthire that Parth had only seen in photos: Xylo Galatas-S. He had the typical orange eyes of his species, along with short black hair and a youthful face. He was muscular for his age. But one could never tell with the artificial vampires. He sported a toothy grin, exposing his fangs.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Pygilist, I’m Xylo,” he said, landing in front of Parth and holding his hand out.

  Parth shook his hand, “Nice to meet you too. I’ve heard about you from the advisors and the patrons. The Honored Choker, the reigning champion.”

  “Hah! Well, I’m not the reigning champion. The artifact is. And to be honest, I don’t like the name. Just call me Xylo,” he said.

  “Only if you call me Parth.”

  “Deal”

  “How did you already get here, though? I thought I was booking it, but you reached here faster than I.”

  “We were not that far off,” Parth said, not comfortable enough with the guy to spill everything.

  “He’s just being modest. But anyway, thanks a lot, Xylo. And sorry to disappoint you, I guess,” Andrea said.

  “Yeah, it’s a bummer. But now seeing his speed, I’m even more excited for a spar after this trial ends, Parth,” Xylo proposed.

  “I don’t understand what’s happening here,” Parth said, confused.

  Andrea snorted and explained, “The signal was not just for you. And it is such an obvious sign that we are here. So we knew that we might get some other voyages, trying to see what’s happening. Or some curious monsters deciding to investigate the ice. It takes a good amount of mana as well to make the pillar tall and wide enough for everyone to be able to see. Wouldn’t be much of a signal otherwise. Xylo was supposed to be here as our backup. Basically, he wanted to get into a proper scrap. You being here before him invalidated that purpose.”

  “Oh, I see. So will you be traveling with their team then?” Parth asked. It seemed like the other team had gotten closer to Xylo during these two weeks. He wondered if that was because the conspiracy that Lord Kach mentioned had borne some results.

  “Oh, no way. See, this is a competition between Emilia and me. We are currently in a tie, and this will be our tiebreaker. Whoever makes it first to the next level wins. And it’s only fair, she has teammates to help her. But at the same time, she has to cater to her teammates and allies. Whereas I, as usual, have no help and go at it solo. But at the same time, I don’t have anyone weighing me down.”

  Parth didn’t know what to make of that.

  “See, it’s stuff like that. You speak without thinking, and it really comes off the wrong way,” Andrea said.

  “I don’t really care, to be honest,” Xylo shrugged. “Also, do you guys need me to stick around? If not, I’d really appreciate the head start.”

  Andrea looked at Stefan, trusting his artifact’s analytical capabilities.

  “We should be wrapped up soon. You can leave if you want, Xylo. Thanks a lot for your assistance,” Stefan said.

  “Alrighty then. I’ll see you all later,” he said and rose into the air again.

  Parth and Andrea waved him goodbye as he flew away from them. A second later, they heard another boom. A wielder of the Honored Choker, capable of supersonic flight already. That was more than enough to paint a picture of his capabilities to Parth.

  “So, that happened. You’ll get to know him better later. Anyway, hate to rush things, but let’s get to business. His sonic boom stunts are not subtle. We need to get moving,” Andrea said, drawing his attention again. “Here, catch this.”

  She detached the storage container on her back and threw it at him. To Parth’s surprise, it was half the size of the expanded one.

  “What?”

  “Well, it’s a mini. As you know, due to the dimensional interference of the dungeon and whatnot, we can’t carry too many full-sized expanded storage boxes. So it was Celeste’s idea to replace one person’s storage container with two mini boxes instead. I volunteered.”

  She turned around, displaying another small box that was attached to her back.

  “The one that you’re holding has some special stuff prepared by Celeste. We don’t know what’s in there. But she said it’d be good. Other than that, we have your standard supplies,” she said, pointing at Stefan.

  Stefan had already removed his full-sized storage box and was rapidly retrieving stuff from it and placing it on the ground. There were several packing cubes, each labeled with what it contained. Food, meds, peripherals, and so on.

  “This should set you up for this trial,” Stefan said.

  “This trial, and some. I’d bet, knowing Celeste,” Parth said, as he began placing them all into Kwame’s empty container.

  “You would be right. So don’t ration too much and eat your fill. God knows I’d be ravenous if I were you.”

  “Umm, about that. Do you all have enough? You’d had to sacrifice your storage space, right?”

  “Don’t worry about that, we have plenty. Just a matter of cutting out some excess and reorganizing everyone’s supplies optimally,” Stefan said.

  “Alright. Thanks a lot, both of you,” Parth said, grateful for all the help. Without his allies, this would have been a very rough week. They’d have somehow managed. But nobody could say what could happen inside the dungeon.

  “No need to thank us. But leave that for a minute. I almost forgot in all this excitement. Care to explain what that whole blue fire thing was? How did you get here so quickly? We were prepared to wait for hours on end,” Andrea asked, excited.

  “It’s a new development. A long story. I’ll tell you everything later,” Parth said.

  “It burns very hot. My artifact clocked you at about just above six hundred kilometers per hour,” Stefan said.

  “Yeah. I didn’t expect to be this quick as well.”

  “Although, do you feel fine right now?” Stefan asked.

  “I do. Why do you ask?” Parth enquired, confused.

  “Your sync rate is fluctuating,” Stefan bluntly said. And that explained his bewildered look at the beginning.

  Parth was bewildered at that, though. “Fluctuating how? I’m already at ninety-eight percent.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” Parth asked.

  “You’re at ninety-nine percent,” Stefan said.

  “Holy shit,” Andrea exclaimed at that.

  “Are you certain?” Parth asked.

  “I am. And once again, my artifact isn’t malfunctioning. I confirmed it by observing Xylo. Just like it happened for Andrea back then, your sync rate has gone up.”

  “Ninety-nine percent,” Parth whistled, not knowing what to make of it. That explained a lot of things, though. It was not just the meditation. He’d basically had back-to-back growth phases without realizing. But he did remember something else relevant.

  He turned towards Andrea and asked, “Yours went up after you had that weird vision about a zone where your powers didn’t work, right?”

  “That was the only proper vision I had, but yes. I was not able to use my power and had to climb a pillar of ice with just my strength,” she said.

  It tracked with Parth’s bout with his doppelganger, where he had to fight the man without his pyromancy. But their fight was not truly finished. Is that the reason why it was still fluctuating? Would his sync rate increase even more when they finish that fight for good? The doppelganger did say that they’ll meet again. And it seemed like these green-skinned people were setting up some arbitrary challenges for the voyagers inside the vision.

  Seeing his silence, Andrea asked. “What happened after the dungeon closed?”

  “Too much. I guess it’s a tale for when we’re back outside. My question is, if it’s fluctuating, is it going up and down?” he asked Stefan.

  “I don’t know,” Stefan said straight-faced.

  “Then how do you say that it’s fluctuating?” Parth asked.

  “Because it shows ninety-nine percent one moment, and then shows an error message the next. Undefined, it says. That’s why I asked if you were feeling fine,” Stefan said.

  “That’s weird. I feel fine, though. Better than ever. And my connection to my artifact feels stronger as well. There’s no fluctuation right now. But for a while, I did have some control issues.”

  “Then I don’t know what to say. If everything is working fine, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll keep our advisors abreast of this situation. And it’s better if you’re aware of the problem and see if something weird happens. You and Andrea are the only voyagers ever on record whose sync rate has increased. There haven’t been any side effects for her apart from the proportionate power up itself, so hopefully it’s the same case for you,” Stefan said, once again verbose when it came to his analysis.

  “Understood. Thanks for looking out, man,” Parth said. Stefan just nodded in response.

  Andrea, instead, started giggling.

  “What’re you laughing about?” Parth asked.

  “My sync rate increased by nine percent when it happened for me. And here you are, with a measly one percent,” she said playfully.

  “Last I checked, even after your boost, you only managed a ninety-three percent. My synchronization was higher than yours in my base state,” Parth responded in a playful tone as well.

  “We’ll see, big man. I don’t expect you to be holding back in our spars when we get back, though. Come at me with all these new tricks,” Andrea said.

  “Would you be able to handle the heat, though?” Parth said

  “Your puns are not as charming as you think. And what do you think? You are the only one who has gotten stronger?”

  “Alright, all right. We’ll see after we get back.”

  “And what’s with this cloak. New fashion statement?” she asked.

  “Looks cool, doesn’t it? Took down a drake. Moira thought it’d be a shame to let it go to waste. Moreover, my armor is pretty much shredded; this covers me up pretty nicely.”

  “I hate to agree with that, but it does look cool,” she said begrudgingly. “And it does go well with the beard.”

  “Really? I haven’t really let it grow out this much ever,” Parth said, surprised.

  “It could do with some trimming, but it suits you.”

  “Thanks,” he mumbled. By now, Parth had finished packing everything inside his storage container. There was a lot of stuff, but the expanded space still had a lot of room. Not that they’d fully need it. They were going to be here for one week and one week alone. They won’t be doing any extra stints inside the dungeon this time.

  So he got up, straightened his cloak, and reattached the container to his back. He then held the smaller box, wedging it between his arm and hip.

  “Alright, get back to your team. We’ll get back to ours as well. And we’ll beat this son of a bitch,” Andrea said, bumping her shoulder with his. She gave him a quick hug and walked back towards the pillar. All while pulling out ice from the pillar.

  “Yeah, I’ll see you soon,” he said in a wistful tone, then turned towards Stefan. “Thanks once again, Stefan. Covey my gratitude to the others. We’ll be seeing each other.”

  They all bid farewell to each other. Andrea and Stefan left on a sheet of ice towards their teammates. And Parth angled himself towards the edge of the dungeon, using his ring’s compass to perfectly align himself in the exact direction. He then shot through the air once again, flying at full speed towards his team.