Jin didn't speak at all during the small funeral for Basima, letting Karam talk more about how they had grown up in the Service Sect together and how much he knew her parents would miss her even more than their team already did. Jin also didn't talk as they sat in their new kitchen area with a dining table that could hold a max of eight sitting elbow to elbow, like the pair of bedrooms.

She didn't speak even as they retired for the night with the girls in one room and the boys in the other. Liraz excitedly claimed the bunk above Jin's, and Jin wondered if she would have to worry about waking up with slime somehow dripped on her.

The little squishy slime companion didn't seem too bad, though, and had seemed content to rest on the corner of her pillow. Clover, however, decided to stay merged with her in sleep, claiming it would be easier for her to sense if something happened with Jin if she had that direct line to her thoughts. Jin wasn't sure she liked that idea, but was too tired to argue by this point.

Nobody else tried to make Jin talk either, which she appreciated. She didn't want to have to explain why she didn't have any words to offer tonight.

Karam had also volunteered to do the entire nightwatch with his new Talent, granting him both rest and awareness while meditating, and Jin couldn't help but think he turned into a D&D Elf from it. Either way, it was an extremely useful Talent to let all of them get a better night's sleep.

"Psst, Miss Jin."

Jin jerked awake with a start, not remembering actually falling asleep. When she realized it was Karam nervously standing near her bed with a dim gray light coming through the window, she suddenly felt wide awake again and asked, "What is it? A Monster?"

"I'm not sure," he replied, offering his hand to help her get out of the bunk. "I heard some light splashing, then the Mister Snuggleroot's leaves moving, and that whip snap, and something yelped. I didn't try stretching my Aura in that direction, just in case that would let it know we were here. It… It kinda sounded like a person but… I don't know, something was off."

"Could have been one of the other Champions or a monster that sounds like a human, then?" Jin asked, slipping her boots back on and grabbing her Armor of the Bloodthirsty from where she placed it in her [Treasure Hoard].

"Probably," Karam confirmed with a nod. "I already told Alim, and he's going to double-check the base's defensive enchantments. He seemed glad that Mister Snuggleroot protected us like we hoped."

"Well, I'm going to let him know that I'll scout out the noise if you point me in the right direction, while you bring Dia and Li up to speed," Jin replied as she conjured her spear.

"It was to the northwest," Kar replied, pointing in that direction. "You should wait for us to go with you, though."

"I'll be fine. My [Leap] lets me get away pretty well, and my perception is best to be able to see from a distance, so just scouting it out shouldn't be too risky. I'll be back in no time," she said, and walked out of the room to go find Alim.

It didn't take long to find the ritualist. Alim was in the larger room at the end of the hall with only the marble pedestal at its center. Jin tilted her head in confusion as she watched him touching the illusion display like it was a floating tablet and got some weird futuristic vibes she hadn't expected in a magical medieval world. Apparently, magic was able to fill in a lot of the technological gaps she would have normally assumed.

"What are you trying to do?" she signed as she got closer.

He didn't respond, though, and it was clear his attention was hyper-focused on the display his fingers flew across.

She tapped his shoulder, and he startled so badly that she thought he might fall.

With a hand over his chest, he stared at her for a moment before signing, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Jin chuckled. "Well, how would you prefer I get your attention when you're focused like that? Want me to throw Clover at you?"

"You wouldn't dare," Clover's voice said from within her mind, and Jin just sent her a mental picture of getting thrown out the window instead.

Alim frowned and replied, "Just wave a hand in front of me. It'll break my focus." He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "You don't think it's weird that I hyperfocus like that?"

With a nonchalant shrug, Jin explained, "I knew plenty of kids who struggled with ADHD. They'd have that same problem with either focusing too hard on something and shutting everything else out, or wouldn't be able to focus on anything at all with every little thing distracting them. It's just something we have to accommodate and work around."

Alim looked surprised by her response, and she added, "You're not 'weird' or broken; you're just wired differently. A lot of people are. If you know how to manage it, then great. If you need support in some areas, though, we'll adapt. Now, what were you doing with the tree?"

"Oh," Alim replied, looking like he wasn't sure how to react to her easy acceptance of his differences. She wasn't sure why he seemed so surprised, though. She hadn't made a big deal out of his hearing impairment either, so a little trouble with focusing wasn't gonna make her give up on him now.

"I—" He paused his signing again before straightening to answer her question. "It's apparently a lot more sophisticated than I originally thought," he explained, looking back towards the illusory display. "Aside from tracking its growth progress, it has an explanation of its current defensive enchantments and room configurations. We can actually use some of those tribute points to reconfigure or upgrade certain rooms or add more enchantments. This base will be incredibly useful for us."

"And for the other Champions," Jin pointed out, already imagining how the Workers would want crafting rooms or the Fighters would want training rooms or even an armory if the thing could generate items. She shook those thoughts from her head, though, and added, "We can figure the rooms out more later. What do our defensive enchantments look like at the moment? And did it have information on who or what intruded?"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Instead of responding, Alim tapped a few times on the floating illusion and adjusted the display so she could read for herself.

Status Effect: Guardian Spirit

Type: Transfiguration (elemental, magical, life, plant)

Effects:

The Cultivating Guardian Home has increased awareness of its territory and increased Strength and Agility against enemies.

Status Effect: Home Advantage

Type: Boon (magical, life)

Effects:

Allies within the Cultivating Guardian Home's territory gain increased regeneration of resources and slightly increased cultivation rate when meditating.

Status Effect: Well Rested

Type: Boon (magical, covenant)

Effects:

Allies who sleep within the Cultivating Guardian Home's territory gain an increase to their strongest Attribute upon waking; the duration of this Boon will equal the amount of time they slept.

"Well, those are awesome," Jin said after reading through the list. She turned to Alim and asked, "Can we add more?"

"With more tribute points, yes. I want to add my own rituals to the area first, though, like I did for the last cabin." Alim paused thoughtfully for a moment before adding, "It doesn't seem to have information about what came too close earlier." He gave her an analytical look as he took in her battle-ready appearance and said, "I'm guessing you're going to go check yourself?"

"You're welcome to join me."

Alim let out a soft sigh, but nodded and gestured for her to lead the way as he began casting his [Mana Barrier] around her.

By the time Jin reached the entrance, the others were already there as well. Liraz looked like she was still sleeping on her feet as Karam tried to steady her, but Hadia looked just as ready for battle as she was. Jin pulled on her [Poker Face] to try and hide her relief, not wanting them to think she had been nervous of going alone at all.

"We gonna attack first, question later?" Hadia asked as the others fell into step behind her.

Jin headed northwest like Kar had pointed and mentally prepared herself for combat. "Depends on what it is. Monster? Yes. Fighter Champion? Definitely. Any other Champions? We can ask a question or two first."

As they approached the tree's draping vines forming a partial shield around them, they all tensed when their Auras brushed against an unfamiliar one.

"It feels like a monster," Alim signed from beside Jin, finishing the last of his barriers around her.

Jin nodded in confirmation and signed to the others, "Hadia and I will rush it. If it tries to run, stop it with your slime, Li. Al, Kar, keep the shields and heals going as needed. It feels like there's only one by itself."

The vines parted on their own as they all moved forward, and they didn't spot the creature right away in the gloomy half-light. A lot of monsters they had run into so far had done well blending into the environment, so it wasn't a surprise that they didn't sense it right away. However, Jin's [See Without Sight] gave her the advantage, and it was the movement that gave it away.

On the other side of the moat surrounding the island, a small green humanoid creature seemed to scurry along the shoreline, heading north.

"Li!" Jin said, but the small girl was already moving, her own [Slimesense] giving her the forewarning from the tremors rippling through the ground and water.

"Some for you!" Liraz incanted quickly as she tossed a ball of slime towards the fleeing enemy.

Ability: Dollop of Slime

Type: Spell (construct, elemental, corrosion, water)

Cost: Low mana.

Cooldown: none.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (18%)

Crystal Effect: Magically lob a highly sticky and caustic slime orb that explodes on the target, covering them and a small area around them in slime, inflicting low Corrosion damage for a moderate duration. You may choose to forgo the exploding effect on creation.

The glob of slime struck true and exploded around the monster in a burst of brilliant blue. It gave a high-pitched keening sound as it fell forward into the puddle and began to burn from the corrosive attack.

Jin didn't waste time trying to ferry the others across. Instead, she ran forward on the water—her boots slowly trickling some of her mana to do so.

"Wait! Jin! You going alone wasn't the plan!" Hadia yelled after her.

But Jin wasn't about to let the enemy get away somehow and potentially come back later or worse: lead more monsters to them. "I'll be right back!" she called over her shoulder, then triggered her [Leap]. Launching herself high into the air, she got a better look at the creature struggling against the blue slime and was fairly certain it was a goblin. It looked like many of the depictions she had seen back on Earth with muddy green skin, a bald head with long tapered ears, and wearing little more than rags.

As she felt gravity take its hold again on her body, she triggered both [Vorpal Charge], followed by [Piercing Thrust], stacking the combination bonuses to land a single devastating blow straight through the back of its spine and near where a heart should be.

A small part of her winced when she heard the splintering of bone, but a monster was a monster, and monsters needed to die.

Its lower half went limp instantly from the severed spine, but the upper half flailed and tried reaching outward, scrambling and failing to crawl away from the viscous slime as it screamed in pain. It then did something Jin wasn't expecting at all, as it seemed to stretch and reach for something on the ground a little ways in front of it. That wasn't the only weird thing, though, and a shiver ran down her spine as she heard it gurgle, "Mine! My treasure!"

When Jin followed the path of its attention, she noticed a gleaming golden flower lying on the ground. She instantly recognized it as another Divine Tower item, and a flood of new questions ran through her head.

Her attention fell back to the writhing creature beneath her boot, but it wasn't until it stopped moving that she finally pulled her spear out of its corpse. She had never heard a monster speak before, let alone have some kind of goal other than slaughtering them.

Jin simply stared at the creature for a long moment before the others finally reached her side.

"Why are you just standing there, Sky Girl?" Hadia asked first, stomping over to inspect the half-melted kill.

"I—Just thinking through something. Have you seen this kind of monster before?"

Alim walked past them, not stopping to look at the corpse, but heading towards the golden flower he must have spotted as well.

"I don't think so," Hadia replied, bending closer to try and get a better look at it. She then glanced back up at Jin with her piercing aquamarine eyes and pointed out, "If you loot it, then you'll know, right?"

Jin grimaced and mentally triggered the display of the corpse's information with her Aura alone, grateful she didn't have to touch dead bodies anymore. Her frown deepened as she read the information, her heart sinking at a piece of information she hadn't expected, and informed the others, "Apparently, it's called a Bog Goblin Scout… and its name was Goburi…"

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