"Mister, I have to pee."
Ty kept walking through the grass.
The slope had leveled out and the valley floor was darker than the forest above. The grass was shorter than the wheat but a decent creature could hide in it well enough.
Beyond the grass was the sound of steady water.
"Mister, I'm going to pee all over your back."
Ty set her down and she stumbled on numb legs, catching herself on the moth-eaten cloak before it slipped off her shoulder.
Ty stood with his back to her and looked west. The dust trail had followed him into the valley but still shot over the horizon.
Trick of the atmosphere. It's fine.
Fuka shuffled herself behind a formation of old rocks.
"Mister, there's a glowing beetle," she said.
"Don't care."
The sky was lighter to the west, silver bleeding through the gray where the valley opened up. He'd been walking for hours.
The twin moons had drifted since the forest; the red one had moved further ahead, sitting low over the valley's far edge.
Fuka crawled back and held her arms out. Ty crouched and she climbed on.
"I hear water," Ty said to her moping face. "How are your legs?"
"Still tired, mister~." She blinked performatively. "Don't believe me?"
"Nope."
They found the river where the valley narrowed between two ridges. It cut through the floor in a channel barely wider than Ty could jump, the water clear and flowing steadily through pebbles and weeds.
Ty set Fuka down on the bank and crouched at the edge. The water was cold against his fingers and it didn't smell like anything. He drank, then cupped more and drank again.
"Is it safe?" Fuka asked.
"I already drank it." He looked at her dry lips. "Don't drink too much. I'd rather not carry dead weight."
Ty sat on the bank and leaned back. His chest wound was closed, the pink skin turned his normal tan. The burns from the goblin's binding spell had left marks on his forearms that looked like faded tattoos.
"That doesn't answer my question, mister."
Fuka fell behind him and pulled the cloak tighter. She dipped her feet in the river and pulled them back immediately.
"I told you it's cold," Ty said.
"Shush." She tucked her knees under the cloak. "Mister, when was the last time you slept?"
"I don't know. When did you last sleep?"
"Before my master summoned me." She sighed and turned away. "I was napping."
"Sorry about that," Ty said.
Fuka had her eyes closed already, dozing off with drool down her chin.
He brought up his skill interface.
─────── [SKILLS] ───────
ACTIVE
Lesser Bolt .... 12 MP
Crude Binding .... 25 MP
PASSIVE
Erisight (Mythic)(Permanent)
Chaos Broadcast (Tethered)(Source: Fuka)
He stood up and raised his right hand toward a tree across the river. The blind goblin had cast three times during the fight. Three [Lesser Bolts], each one fired from both palms.
The Erisight had mapped every cast, the sigil structures locking together like chain links.
Fuka opened one eye and looked him up and down.
"What're you doing now?"
"Let me focus."
Ty pulled on the pattern with his fingers. The five-link chain assembled in the air around his right hand, the sigils a mixture of blue and green.
It's like tug-of-war with a damn lion.
The sigils clicked with a final pull but nothing happened.
They hung in a geometric shape around his palm, connected and ready, but the mana sat in his core and refused to move past the actual skin. In other words, the engine wouldn't turn over.
"Mister?"
"Trying to cast." He lowered his hand and the sigils died. "It's not working."
Fuka tilted her head, the drool still on her chin. "Cast what?"
"The goblin's spell. [Lesser Bolt]. [Erisight] recorded the sigil pattern during the fight. I can see the whole chain. It just won't fire."
Fuka blinked twice, then her mouth fell open. "You can see spell structures through Erisight?"
"I can see everything through Erisight."
She was quiet for a while. "Mister, that's... that's not normal. That's not even close to normal." She pulled her knees tighter. "But if it won't fire, it's probably locked behind the lens."
"You can't be serious."
Fuka nodded, grinning with all teeth now. "My lens. The broadcast." She tapped her forehead. "If I'm not broadcasting, the archive is probably sealed." She scooted to the stream's edge and prodded at the water.
The sigil chain was still faintly visible in his vision, three-dimensional and green. Every connection was labeled and primed for use. But none of it had a trigger.
Even with Erisight being able to copy the geometric shapes of spells, it was inherently blocked behind the lens.
In other words, the pale girl cupping dirtied river water by scoops to her mouth was the inhibitor.
She slurped the water off her palms and wiped her chin with the back of her hand, completely oblivious.
My fucking luck.
Ty walked up to her.
She tilted her head up as he got closer.
"What's your name again?"
"Fuka. You already know that, mister."
"Can you stream yet?"
"I guess... for a few minutes." She tilted her head. "Why, mister?"
Ty flexed his right arm. "I want to test something."
"Ka-aay."
Fuka's body compressed. Her limbs shortened, her skin pulled tight, and her wings shrank with her until they were dragonfly-small and buzzing. She shot into the air above his head, her purple eyes glowing again.
The cloak shrank with her, too. It trailed behind her as she zipped through the air.
"Going live!"
[STATUS: LIVE]
[VIEWERS: 0]
[VIEWERS: 3]
[VIEWERS: 5]
The followers from the first stream were already there. Most of them, anyway.
Ty raised his right hand toward the same tree. The sigil chain assembled between his fingers, the same five-link pattern from the goblin's casting. The sigils clicked into place and the geometric circle flared to life above his palm.
This time when he pushed mana through his skin, it fucking let loose.
A flash left his hand and hit the tree. The bark blackened in a circle the size of his fist. The wood underneath was untouched.
[VIEWERS: 14]
The five links had problems. The second connection bled nearly a third of the input, and two of the five links existed to compensate for a flaw in another. After all, a goblin had built this chain, and naturally it was held together with saliva.
Ty stripped it down to three connections and tightened the second link with his free hand.
This one was a rubber band that relished his half-dead fingers.
Now all I have to do is aim it at the body.
Fuka landed on his raised arm and gripped his sleeve.
"Ready, mister!"
He let the sigils flare again and fired at the highest output.
The bolt hit the same tree and blew a hole through the trunk, the sound like thunder under a sky that carried none. The top half crashed into the water.
Across the river, past the fallen tree, a boulder the size of a small car was half-buried in the valley floor. Its surface was shaped like a crude head. It had two shallow craters for eyes and a ridge where a nose should be. Whatever had carved it was long gone.
It even had a mouth cut at the lower jaw.
[VIEWERS: 22]
It was just stone, but stone was harder than wood.
Ty raised his hand again and the sigils formed between his fingers, the three connections locking already as natural as blinking.