Chapter Four

  That night Harmony slept fitfully in her bed, eventually giving up aling in with Hyath in his bed of pillows. The skill gain had affected him as well, he ran off, surprising everyohe moment she fell, only to be found in his pile of pillows ter. If only he didn't o carry her burden. Evolve fast. That had to work.

  The st of a simple breakfast on a tray o the cuddling pair woke her up. Ravenously she devoured it, as she’d been uo eat the night before.

  She’d he energy too. Hemlock always set her on edge. If she hadn’t hat new skill to help with her current issues she’d have visited the guild master yesterday. It all beat having the man surprise her yet again. Hopefully, Old Bones had put him through hell.

  Her wardrobe for such a visit was g. Coodly Manor had shipped her old maid uniforms, not that anyone else could fit into them. One new dress, spring style, purchased with the expectation of Adric’s aunt, the tess, visiting. Then one of the dresses she'd bought from Lad Ladies, the other had gotteen by her skill. Nervous as she was, Night already yearo be c her. If Hemloeezed she k would pop on with how sensitive she was, ruining whatever outfit she picked. The armor was being an unofficial uniform more out of y than desire.

  [Beauti] assured her she looked good ifit. The subtle ges of [Stride Before the Fall] drew eyes to her with the new unusual nature making it hard for others to look away. Not that Harmony could make the skill shut up with its opinions these days. Putting the bloody armor on quieted everything well enough.

  Gehan st time she nudged Hyath awake. “I’m off to see Hemlock. You ing with?”

  “Skill strarong and strange. Processing.” He croaked out, signaling through [Familiar Bond] that he was staying at the manor.

  As much as she’d have loved his support, she uood. The dreams of using the skill, disappearing, and watg herself disappear echoed from the night. It wasn’t an illusion, that she was certain of, but what exactly that meant chewed on her emotions.

  Harmony tapped into [Poise and Bearing] to mask her worries as she left her room.

  “Lady White, the carriage is waiting,” Bates said with a bow, outside her doorway.

  The head butler was worth a half dozen other staff. That realization had been surprising since while w at Coodly Manor she'd only seen the man in his office or at geover. Her work irenches made that opinion more than idle praise. Why the man had shackled his fate to hers was a mystery, but one she was grateful for.

  “Thank you, Bates.”

  Ambrosia waited with Adric at the exit to the manor. The little worry on her friend's face betrayed that she hadn’t ever selected a social skill for her profession as a maid. The beast tamer had to have maxed out her profession like she had. Her curtsy ure practiced performahough.

  The ck of informality from Harmony’s best friend grated when they were private like this, but they’d successfully argued that she o get used to this, and everyoill had professions to advanbsp;

  “My dy,” Adric said as his good m.

  “Are you ready to deal with Hemlock?“ Harmony asked.

  “I’ve dealt with bureaucrats all my life. I’m sure I assist you in this.”

  Her pet’s zy smile that verged on a smirk did not inspire fidehe guild master had refused to see him before he died even when he had the es his position as a prince brought him. She’d sidered taking Ambrosia who would be more reliable but only guild members were allowed deeper access to the guild.

  Together they stepped outside.

  Prince Adric’s pet was missing. “Is Bowe not going?”

  The rainbow coatl made a strong statement.

  “The guild has heavy restris os, especially rge ones. Several is of malicious defecation, and it’s easier to institute a restri than repeal o’s an iing story”

  Harmony held up her hand, stopping him from tinuing. She didn’t want to know. Maintaining posure was hard enough. The pair got into the waiting carriage for the trip to the city and the adventures guild.

  The neancer’s sense of the dungeohe closer they got to the city, familiar bits of death Old Bones and his domain permeated the nd in a way that Harmony hadn’t been as aware of as she had while living in Hazeldown. No wonder most people only visited the pce briefly or never returned after they left. Walking on the graves of millions with their eyes upon you.

  The carriage rolled to a stop. Prince Adric tried to give her a f smile. The dy maid took more fort in that this should be a oime task, no different than a particurly dirty chore like ing lord Tyler’s room after a long depressive fit.

  They stepped out to a murmuring crowd.

  “Lady White, how does it feel to meet your destiny!?”

  Of course, the muckrakers would be here. They probably camped out the moment they heard guild master Hemlock was back. The reporters for the sheets had never given up chasing her for the ce of an official statement. Ambrosia’s birds patrolled the sky over her new home and caught them regurly sihey’d figured out where she lived.

  “Is it true you raised the prio be your lover?”

  She wao kick the lot of them. Instead, Adric used his body to create space for her as she ehe guild. That anization wouldn’t allow such harassment iheir building. The wealth that greeted her was impressive. Statues of heroes lihe entryway, golden ons in their hands. Each had a pque of their deeds. Not surprising sidering the room of throhey had at the colosseum. The entryened into a wider room separated by a wall of booths managing the adventurers cheg in with signs beling them, Quests, Help, Appeals, Membership. The Membership line was short. Three people waited, and as she and Adric approached they drew attention. The three ahead of them shuffled off to the side allowio cut ahead, even bowing.

  Such subservieickled Harmony's authority, and as much as she wao protest it, it was important to get this done as quickly as possible. “Gratitude.” She told them.

  The dy manning the booth looked unphased by all of this with a skill-enforced smile on her face. “How may I help you?”

  “My name is Harmony White, I’m here to see guild master Hemlock.”

  The staff member opened a book and started flipping through it slowly as though she didn’t knoas before her. “It doesn’t appear that you are a member. The guild master will only sider seeing sworn members of the guild.”

  The gift, a lifetime membership with the guild, he po force her hand. The joke is on him, she anyway. Free access to any dungeon. That was the most basiefit of membership, and if she wao level up and evolve quiough, she all. First Old Bone’s skill stone and now this. Every poison pill they give her she’d swallow, Hyath's distress echoed through her [Familiar Bond].

  “I believe a membership waiting for me to accept, a lifetime one. I’ll take that and you will tell Hemlock that I’m here to see him.”

  The girl pulled out another book and slowly thumbed through the pages like this wasn’t the only ohe guild master had offered in the years he’d been here.

  [High Kick] showed Harmoly what she o do to kick that book out of the worker’s hands. It ached to do that. She activated [Poise and Bearing] to bat it.

  “There you are. Yes, Harmony White, Neancer, It appears we do have a membership waiting for you. From her desk she pulled out a sheet of paper, no vellum, Harmony could sehat it was treated skin rather than made of dead wood with her neanbsp; A plex pattern of lines of a spell ward etched into it.

  The whole thi her es stat tingling with the hairs on the back of her neck rising. “I thought you only had to take my name for the records.”

  “Lifetime memberships are different. They are irrevocable. That way no snooty guild master have it stripped and you kicked out. That’s one reason why they’re so sought after. Because of that, it requires a different process. We’ll o cut your palm for a little blood and then for you to press your hand on the ter of the tract.”

  They were making this difficult even after she itted to accepting the membership. The spiraling magic pattern on the vellum already looked like strands of rope to be tangled up in. All a g the experienced pri her was the daft eagerness of someone who only saw the prize and not the trap. But she didn’t bring him for his brains.

  “Of course,” Harmony answered.

  The palm might be an issue. The paired gloves were part of the armor, Night, linking it to her skill [Small Armor] for ste arieval. They’d ged since she dohem. The metal on the back of the hands was now almost white and the fingerless gloves were now covered in the shiny, bck material that had boo everything when her unique dress got involved. Sure, she could store the whole thing aerform the ritual nude, but she’d rather avoid that.

  The neancer focused on the e of the armor to the spaside where she stored it. Just one glove… she used her unlocked stat to bend the rules to peel that one piece of armor away. If it took it all away she would be naked. Plenty of motivatioo make this work. Pop. Spiritually it felt like she dislocated a wrist but the right hand glove disappeared inside of her.

  Harmony reached out with her palm up. The woman wiggled her fingers and a small knife appeared in her hand and she quickly cut a small gash in the neancer’s palm. [Mend] itched to seal it up quickly. While the maid skill was aimed more toward clothing, pottery, household goods, and maybe a scrape, her neancer side was more than familiar with bodies and bohat specific skill often crossed over with healers and crafters who held it uhe same name, givihat healing edge she could bring to a team, where she could push its boundaries with synergies. She had to have it when it showed up.

  Rather tha now she kept the skill ready, just in case. She wasn’t asked to donate mana for the spell but also held that ready. Not unusual si all people who performed this have probably unlocked a mana skill.

  Letting thoughts distract her rather than act, she cursed at herself, activated [Mana Rotation], and smmed her palm down on the symbol. The paper started to glow, and Harmony watched, listened, a for any intrusions, feeling the es of the magic, as her mana skill granted her an increased perception of magic.

  While the tutors they’d hired had beehan useless at skill training, pushing Thibodeaux’s repetitive bullshit, she had mao gain more knowledge on ward work and other uses for mana and magibsp; Her stats of es and synergy seemed to make it easier, not that she had much time w on wards with the o focus on raising her skills to relieve the pressure authority had put on her.

  Mana was soaked into the vellum, her neantises could feel the faint hint of death released with it. Either a high-level dungeon reward or a powerful animal went into making it. The spellwork and mana ied with her blood, but she couldn’t see how. Irritation bristled in her, she hadn’t the experience or training he mana in the spell was difficult to see, as most of her experience was with her mana. She hadn’t been instructed not to use her own. I just a little bit, and then she hoped to use that to figure out exactly what this tract was.

  She pushed gently. It resisted like oil and water, stopping the intrusion. But she could cheat. Flexiats, es pyed fast and loose with simirities, mana is mana, then synergizing [Mana Rotation] and [High Kick] she booted her mana into the spell.

  "Bloody bone me." ostasis kicked in and the world seemed to freeze. But not the spell. It made the rush of [Mana Rotation] seem slow. The pathways weren't smooth, twisted spellwork was along the insides of the lines, hidden and invisible.

  The teical skill to uand the specifics of the casting was beyond her. But now that she had her mana in it she could grasp the cept of what it was trying to do. Her mana was so knotted into it, that pain or worse would be the sequences of pulling out now. Authority? Bound to be a symbol for the guild?

  No, the spell wasn’t meant to bind; blood, will, and a mana donation were needed for that. What should have been a magical identification print, uo her, so that others couldn't’ pretend to be her, was turning into something else. She'd screwed up. It was made to take the unique cept of Harmony White and e with her blood for the guild. Now that it had her mana and will, the magical w wanted a piece of her.

  She wasn’t going to let it. Vellum was easier to ge than paper with [Manipute Dead]. Whatever the fiails of the spell were, she was vandalizing it, like spshing paint on a masterpiece. She just had to make sure the backsh went into it rather than her. New fractures, and nees spiraling outward she pushed hard to ge the grooves, but it bounced back. She could feel the path jump off the paper and into her hand sending new lines into her flesh, the path of least resistance when peting against whatever the powerful creature the Vellum had been harvested from. She’d have closed the cut with [Mend], except it was going around her hand. [Manipute Dead] turned on her, carving the dead yer of skin at the surfabsp;

  That ged the spell, but it wasn’t enough. Gut instinct told her that, and all her skills wao help. The spirals of [Mana Rotation], [Beauti] for accurate elegance, [Stride Before the Fall] to dig deeper. Split off again, no, split into it. Maybe the masterpiece wasn’t ruined, but she’d draw a wicked mustache on the portrait's smug fabsp; The feeling had to be right, so she pushed with everything. It hurt like a thousand needles sinking into her skin.

  Click. [Stride Before the Fall] was satisfied, but art of her did that represent? At least it wasn’t the detat of [Cold Touch] or the anger of [High Kick]. The spell no longer felt like it was going to take a piece of her liver, and instead, they shared something she couldn’t pbsp;

  The Vellum winked out of existender her palm. Everything spun back up to normal, except her hand still hurt. On top of her hand was a tattoo of twisted dark gray lines. Using [Recall] she could see that it was simir to what had been on the paper, but off somewhat. Another problem for ter, the Harmony pulled her paired glove ba, c it up, hopefully, quiough that no one had noticed.

  “Where did it go?” Harmony asked in a pleasantly i voice that hid her ay. Experience from the unfortable and barely there uniforms she suffered to work in for years had made this deception easy to do even without a skill.

  If the staff member suspected anything, she didn’t show it. It’s not like they performed lifetime guild memberships regurly, if ever, in Hazeldown.

  “It joins part of the head offices' grand w, eg every guild house, from the smallest test dungeons, wherever we are active. Which is everywhere. You’ll never have to worry about dungeon fees again.”

  “Sounds perfect.” It didn’t. Harmoed the urge to scratch over her glove where the attoo was. “ you see if guild master Hemlock will see me now?” The soohis was over the better.