As good as Vin was at this point when it ca to magic, he didn’t manage to crack Dream Walk that night while they waited for Landon to run himself dry. Similar to spatial or soul magic, dream magic was far more complex and tricky than any of the more standard magical affinities like fire or water. For starters, the magic was designed to be cast while one was unconscious, which almost made the runic formations feel more fluid and less tangible than any other spell he’d ever worked with. Vin ended up giving himself two different runic backlashes while he worked, each one giving him a genuine, out of body experience for a mont. Seeing himself sitting there working on his magic was quite jarring, and he’d been thankful when he snapped back into his body a split second later.
It seed one of the downsides of putting Landon in a pleasant dream was that, now that he wasn’t actually moving the undead monster, it took far longer for his mana to wear out. It wasn’t until nearly noon the next day that the muscular flesh of the monster shook, and Landon’s hands were released, signaling that he was officially drained dry. At the very least they didn’t have to worry about him freaking out about the sun or being outside, because with not so much as a speck of magic in his core, he wasn’t waking up anyti soon.
Unless a mage had a significant number of points placed into endurance, running themselves dry of mana just about always resulted in them falling unconscious.
“Finally,” Vin muttered, having been gently brought out of his work on Dream Walk by Lul. “That tier-2 spell is kicking my butt. Dream magic is hard. Hard in a totally different way than the other difficult affinities.”
“I’m sure you’ll get it soon enough,” Lul smiled. “Ready to head back to town?”
“Yeah,” Vin said, bending down and hoisting Landon’s limp body over his shoulder. “Let’s go drop this troublemaker off with Spur and let him be soone else’s problem.”
After shoving the petrified elderwood door back into another dinsion, Vin took the lead and led them back to Terra. Fighting their way through the dungeon with Landon’s body slung over his shoulder was a rather interesting task, but he and Lul were more than strong enough to make their way through a handful of basic monsters. It was unfortunate that Lul couldn’t teleport Landon while he slept, but that was life.
While they had to move Landon the old fashioned way as he hadn’t known they were coming, Vin thought it was a bit interesting that people could preemptively consent to being teleported before losing consciousness, like how the warriors fighting to protect Terra did who knew Lul was warping around rescuing people in need of help. That ant mana itself sohow had a manner of detecting such a thing in an unconscious mind, which was an odd thought.
Vin nodded to the town guards standing tall at the entrance to Terra, snorting as they did nothing more than salute him as he walked past them with an unconscious man hoisted over his shoulder. Even if he didn’t recognize every individual guard, his golem arm made it quite clear who he was, and it seed The Roar was still able to get away with just about anything.
That said, there were plenty of entirely fresh faces who seed shocked and confused as he walked past.
“Looks like the fresh mbers from wave six are getting quite the first look at you,” Lul teased as they walked through town. By default, Vin disregarded all the whispers without even trying now, his high focus making picking out all the different conversations going on about him far too easy.
“Speak for yourself,” he teased right back, raising an eyebrow at her. “Or did you forget you’re the elusive ‘Roar’s Girlfriend’? People are just as curious about you as they are . I think keeping your head covered and wandering around in dark robes all the ti without saying much has done a number for your own image.”
“Vin!” a familiar voice called out, and Vin turned to spot a duo he hadn’t seen in so ti. Weston and Becca, a Farr and Tailor from the second wave who were nigh inseparable spotted him from down the road and jogged over. Weston’s face paled a tad at the sight of Landon’s body slung over Vin’s shoulder, but Becca didn’t even notice.
Her eyes were glued directly onto Lul.
“It’s her!” Becca gasped, grinning eagerly as she ran up and tried to all but throw herself at Lul in greeting. It was only Weston physically grabbing her collar and yanking her back at the last second that caused her to fall short.
“Becca, we talked about this!” Weston snapped, admonishing his tagalong as she tried her best to ignore him and catch a peek under Lul’s hood. While Lul was far more confident in her appearance after obtaining her Adaptable Camouflage passive, she still had her hood covering her face out of sheer habit. “You can’t just hug people without asking them first!”
“But I’ve been trying to et her for months!” Becca whined.
“And they’re clearly in the middle of sothing!” Weston argued. “Or perhaps did you completely miss the unconscious man draped over Vin’s shoulder?!”
Blinking, Becca turned to take in Landon’s motionless form, looking like she had in fact missed that entirely. Vin rely raised an eyebrow at her, and Becca shrugged in response.
“Neat,” she said, turning right back toward Lul. “Anyway, hi, I’m Becca! Wanna be friends?”
“I’m sorry, Vin, I wouldn’t have called out if I’d realized you guys were in the middle of… whatever you’re doing,” Weston said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed.
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“It’s fine,” Vin chuckled, just happy to see the duo reunited once more. They’d made it clear there was nothing romantic going on between them, but the two had beco best friends since their first day on Edregon. When Weston had gone off to Sakis for a while to study under their Farrs and learn how to maintain an underground farm, Becca had been more than a little despondent. “How goes the farm?”
“It’s going well! We started growing so of that strange, almost pre-buttered corn you brought back from the rankers fragnt, and word on the street is we’re going to be expanding Terra before the next wave. Rather than push out the wall, we’ll be building an entirely new one and adding a second ring to the town. Most of it is going to be farmland to keep up with feeding everyone, and housing to support the next couple of waves. So there’s always more to do!”
“Oh, that sounds like a good idea,” Vin said, laughing at the surprise on Weston’s face. “Yeah, I hadn’t heard any of that yet. Well, Spur did ntion expanding a while back, but I didn’t know any details. I may be a council mber, but I miss a lot with how much I travel.”
“Why do you guys have to talk about boring stuff?” Becca pouted. “Nobody cares about your farms, Weston! It’s Vin’s girlfriend, here in the flesh!”
“Not for long if you keep freaking out about her like that,” Weston frowned. Clearing his throat, he gave Lul an apologetic smile, bowing his head and shoving Becca’s down as well even as she yelped. “Sorry about that. Becca is… easily excited.”
“You’re fine,” Lul said, surprising all three of them by actually answering. Taking a deep breath, Lul shocked him even further by reaching up and actually pulling back her hood in its entirety, fully revealing her lavender face and nervous expression. “I suppose I need to start sowhere if I want people to stop thinking about like so sort of mysterious figure.”
“Oh. My. God, you’re purple!” Becca squealed, her eyes practically beaming as Lul began blushing. “Or I suppose more of a soft lavender really… You have got to let put together so outfits for you, I’ve never worked with that skin tone before! I have so many ideas, and you’re not doing yourself any justice with those baggy black robes! What’s your bust size?”
“Becca!” Weston all but scread, his voice cracking and his face going even more red than Lul’s as he literally slapped a hand over Becca’s mouth and put her in a headlock, dragging her back. It didn’t surprise Vin that a Farr had more strength than a Tailor, and he tried not to laugh as Weston easily fended off Becca’s annoyed attempts to break free and continue grilling Lul. “I am so, so sorry. You know how she gets… And great, now she’s licking my hand. That’s not going to work, you idiot! I hope you like the taste of dirt!”
“I’m glad to see the two of you getting along the sa as ever even after everything that’s happened,” Vin admitted. The sight of the two best friends acting just like they had the first ti they’d all eaten lunch together sent a warm feeling through his stomach. This was why he worked so hard to protect Terra and everyone in it. The innocent people who went about their new, everyday lives within Terra’s walls. It was obvious Weston and Becca had never experienced any sort of monster attack and had never been in anything close to a life-or-death situation, and he intended to keep it that way.
“Weston, you can let her go,” Lul said softly, glancing around at the dozens and dozens of curious gazes locked on her as she gave everyone a small smile. She reached out and took Vin’s hand in her own, and he gave it a gentle squeeze, letting her know he was there for her.
Gasping for air, Becca shot Weston one last glare as she was released before turning back to Lul and giving her a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that, I got a bit ahead of myself. I sort of forget that a lot of won don’t like to talk about that stuff in public for so reason.”
“Because so of them have tact,” Weston muttered, grunting as Becca kicked him in the shin.
“I actually wouldn’t mind stopping by your shop and trying on so different outfits,” Lul admitted, her fingers tightening around Vin’s. “I’ve been wearing these robes for the last few months… Maybe a change in look now and again would be a good thing.”
“Hah! See, I did a good thing!” Becca said, laughing in Weston’s face. “Sure, you can drop by anyti! If I’m not bothering Weston at the farm or trying to kill ti, I’m pretty much always in my shop working on so outfit or another! I’m actually a Fashionable Tailor now, so you know I can hook you up.”
“Fashionable?” Vin asked, surprised to hear that was a prestige class even offered by the System. “That’s not one I’ve heard before.”
“Dunno what to tell you. I saw the class, I picked the class,” Becca shrugged. “Anyway, if you’re going to swing by later, then no need for to grill you here in the street. We should probably let you get back to disposing of that dead guy, or whatever it is you’re doing.”
“He’s not dead!” Vin said quickly, purposefully raising his voice for the sake of everyone watching their conversation. “Just bringing him to town hall! He’s totally fine, just a bit mana drained!”
“That’s why I never bothered putting any points into magic,” he heard soone mutter off to the side, along with a number of similar remarks in the sa vein as people nodded.
Deciding they’d wasted enough ti, Vin gave the entertaining duo one final nod. “Alright, we’re going to get back to it. Again, always nice seeing you guys.”
Waving goodbye to the two of them, Vin let out a relieved sigh as they continued toward town hall. Shooting a proud look at Lul, he smiled. “You doing alright?”
“Yeah. That was easier than I thought it would be,” Lul admitted, smiling back at him. “I think Becca being… Becca, actually helped in a way. It felt like everyone was staring at her rather than .”
“She does have one of those domineering personalities,” Vin agreed. “You sure about running by her shop? I can go with you if you want.”
“I appreciate it, but I want to start taking so baby steps toward letting people know who I am,” Lul decided, walking with a determined look on her face. “I spent pretty much my entire life doing my best to hide in the shadows, even back on my own world when I looked like just everyone else. Being an unwanted bastard child wasn’t easy. Now that that’s all behind … I need to keep moving forward.”
“I’d hug you right now, but I’m sort of carrying an unconscious guy on my shoulder who slls like a bunch of corpses,” Vin admitted, getting a giggle out of Lul.
“Let’s drop him off and get you cleaned up. Then I’ll take that hug!”
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