Jin hadn't been able to sleep either after killing that goblin and getting back to the base. It felt like they had too much to get done now, but there wasn't exactly much she could do. She tried to help Alim out with getting more of those simple protective enchantments set up to cover their whole little island. They were the same ones they had at the last cabin, hiding them from sight, sound, and this time smell as well.

She was able to help more with cataloging the items they had found. Jin would read off the item name and flavor text, but the rest of the information was the same as every other Divine Tower item. They noticed an interesting pattern: the smaller the item, the more points it seemed to be worth.

They didn't convert any of the seeds, despite them being the smallest items, but everyone agreed to try growing them instead. Getting renewable tribute points seemed like a good plan if possible.

Jin spent a little time going through the room options they had. The main room that had what Jin was now referring to as the "Captain's Console" allowed them to choose a function for free to give it at first, but changing the foundation of already designated rooms was expensive. That said, altering a few of the interior options was cheaper. For instance, with only Alim and Karam in the second bedroom, they could remove the other set of bunk beds and replace them with a writing desk, which included some writing supplies.

It had cost twenty points to change, but they decided to go ahead with it so Alim could use the provided journal to record all the tribute information they had gathered so far. That left them with twenty-two points still, but they agreed the kitchen and bathroom were probably the best options for the other two rooms.

For their free choice on what the main room should be designated as, it had been a tough choice between a greenhouse or a ritual room, especially when both would come with some supplies. It didn't seem like they could add on new rooms or expand vertically at all, but Alim suggested it might be something they'd unlock once they upgraded the base itself. In the end, they decided to go with the greenhouse and try to farm more tribute points.

With all of that decided and Alim doing most of the work on the new defenses, Jin found herself restlessly waiting for everyone to be ready to go scavenging. She was hoping there would be a ton of Divine Towers items out there that they simply didn't notice at first on their walk in because they weren't looking for them.

Jin had been tempted to go without them, but Hadia had given a lecture about her running ahead of everyone like a 'hero-wanna-be with a death wish' that she didn't want to hear a repeat performance of any time soon. The worst part about that lecture was that she knew Hadia was right. It had been reckless and honestly pointless with how trapped in slime the goblin had been. She wasn't sure she even wanted to use the Surprise Spirit Gem she had gotten off it—like some karmic joke at her shock that it could talk.

The others had agreed that it would probably be good for her, though, and she had more than earned it during their trek through the swamp so far. When Jin had offered it to Liraz, thinking it might result in some sort of slime-trap, the little girl just laughed and said Jin needed more surprises than she did. Now, Jin was mildly worried that it would create some kind of joke power.

With a sigh, and the knowledge that she couldn't afford to be picky in this Tower, she triggered her [Aetheric Transmigrator] Talent and absorbed the tiny sparkling gem. Unlike the Aspects simply melting into her, this polished jewel shattered into hundreds of little pieces before swirling around her and then embedding itself into her—both were painful.

When she caught her breath again, she tapped the Display rune on her bracelet to see the details of what she intuitively felt unlocking within her soul as the gem was bound to her Abyssal Dragoon Aspect.

Class Ability: Death From Above

Type: Special Attack (combination, divine, magical, dimension, void)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: When you are above a target enemy, activating this will compress the distance between you and the target, greatly increasing fall speed and imbuing your weapon with additional Dimension and Void damage for your next attack. Damage inflicted is scaled based on how far from an Aetheric Core you activate this at.

"What the crap is an 'Aetheric Core'?" Jin wondered aloud.

Clover melted out of her hair to land on her shoulder as they cleared their throat and said in a lower octave than normal with an air of refined patience, "Let Professor Fourleaf explain this one to you, young one."

Jin rolled her eyes at the overly dramatic dragon before shaking her head and deciding to play along, raising her hand like she had a question.

"Yes, Miss Jin?" Clover said with an approving nod.

She smirked in return and asked much too sweetly, "Mister Fourleaf, is this going to be another long-winded info dump about the lore of the cosmos, or can you just give it to me in, like, a sentence or two?"

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Clover's eyes narrowed at her for a moment before huffing a sigh and deflating like a popped balloon to bonelessly hang over her shoulder. "Fiiine… but one day you are going to learn more about the greater cosmos even if I have to whisper it into your ear while you sleep… or meditate if you get to the point of not needing to sleep."

Jin perked up as she clarified, "I won't need to sleep? Like ever?"

"At Obsidian, so don't hold your breath. I'm not sure you'll even live to see Sapphire at the rate you're going."

"Still, it'll be nice to get more time in the day back," Jin pragmatically pointed out.

Clover barked a laugh at that, however, and retorted, "You also stop aging completely, so time becomes less of an issue in general. Which means no more excuses for skipping in-depth lessons about universal truths."

Jin rolled her eyes again and waved her hand in a rolling motion. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a terrible student who only learned anything because decent grades were required for sports. So what's an Aetheric Core?"

With a huff of both indignation and resignation, Clover explained, "The simplest explanation is that it's the magic core of a planet, or moon, or star. Not every rock floating in space will have one, but anything giving off a hint of a magical signature will. Also, the strength of those cores can vary. For instance, this planet's Aetheric Core only has enough power to sustain life at Emerald Caste and lower. If you stay here forever and don't die a very dramatic death in this tower, you might hit Ruby, but then you will slowly starve to death. Granted, that could still be a very long life, but you'll never reach Obsidian."

"Oh, wonderful," Jin replied with a heavy sigh. "Dangle the perk of immortal sleeplessness, then crush that dream with the next lore dump. How thoughtful."

"Well, you might get lucky and figure out a way off this planet, but I doubt the locals will be any help… That's a future-Jin problem, though; present-Jin just needs to know that the higher you jump in the air, the more damage that new ability will do for you. You'll really only need to worry about going too high if you start leaving the atmosphere."

Jin thought about that and realized that she had already been using that kind of tactic with her [Leap] ability already, just like she had on the goblin who gave this Spirit Gem, and that it would fit right into her opening sequence very nicely.

Clover continued his mini-lecture to interrupt that thought. "A bonus in this case is that there are no moons that you'll have to worry about lessening the effect the farther you jump."

"Wait, how do you know there aren't any moons?" Jin interjected in confusion. "You've only seen inside this tower."

"Well, I might have been given some basic information about where I was being summoned to when reviewing your contract…"

"Seriously, how thick was this contract to already know so much, and how does that even work? I did the Ritual, and then you appeared like two seconds later," Jin pointed out, gesturing to the open yard of dirt between them and the canopy of vines about a hundred feet away.

"Time works differently in Limina," Clover answered with a shrug and sat up more on her shoulder. "Compared to other realities, it might as well be eternally paused because we come and go like time is an irrelevance. I looked over your contract for what felt like days to me, while for you it was mere seconds. If I die in here and get sent back to Limina, it might take you days to resummon me, but it'll be mere seconds in Limina before I get the request to return, at which time I can stay and relax for a bit before accepting, but you won't notice that at all."

The tiny dragon then launched himself through the air back towards the cabin, landing on Karam's armless shoulder as he walked through the front door. With large pleading eyes, the shameless Familiar begged him, "You still love me, right, my friendly giant? Which means you managed to get snacks for me out of that evil box, right?"

Karam chuckled as he continued walking down the stone steps, but shook his head and said, "Mi—er, Hadia said no more snacks for the Familiars until we can make sure there's enough for us."

"You can get snacks again if you help us kill more monsters or show us those fishing skills you boasted about earlier," Hadia said from behind Kar, following him out with the others in tow as well.

Jin stood from blocking half of the path out of the base and stretched a bit while asking, "Is everyone ready to go scavenging then?"

Liraz happily nodded as she practically skipped down the stone steps and began heading west around the tree. "Gonna find some fishies and melt more gobbies. Need to find some slimy Spirit Gems!"

"Slimy?" Hadia repeated with a raised brow.

"Because slime is the bestest!" the smaller girl cheerfully proclaimed without missing a step.

Jin chuckled and picked up Clover around his middle, making him let out an indignant squawk as she deposited the Familiar back on her own shoulder opposite her little [Slime Companion]. "You're absolutely right, Li," she called out, following after the Slime Witch. "And the sticky kind that holds the monsters still for me is the pinnacle of powerful control."

Liraz grinned back at her with a mouth full of very sharp teeth that Jin realized probably came from her [Terror Mimic] Familiar being merged, much like Jin's green hair. "Sticky gobbies won't steal our shinies!"

Jin paused momentarily at that; the brief guilt and hesitancy of slaughtering more beings with intelligence tried to weigh her down again. However, the image of Jilani's smiling face as she stabbed Basima through the heart flashed across her mind, and Jin remembered that she had already killed much more intelligent beings who were equally monstrous.

She didn't regret those kills, and she couldn't afford to hesitate anymore.

She refused to be the reason she had to bury more friends.

She would slaughter any threat to them.

Jin conjured her spear and gave a decisive nod towards Liraz and said, "Let's go hunt more shinies and kill any goblin we meet."

Hadia stepped up beside her, nudging their shoulders together for a moment as she said with a hint of pride in her voice, "Glad to see that resolve finally back, Sky Girl."

"Yeah, sorry. I think I'm just… still processing everything," Jin softly replied, then tightened her grip on her weapon. With a half-hearted smirk, she added, "Next time I start to spout bullshit about not killing monsters just because they seem to be smart or have feelings, just mention that bitch who killed Bas to snap me out of it."

Hadia gave a sharp nod. "Will do. Now let's go hunt down some dinner," she said, slapping Jin's back just strong enough to help her take those first few steps forward again.

Jin glanced back at Karam and Alim, who had been discussing with one another, and gestured for them to go ahead while she brought up the rear. They still had a few hours of dreary daylight, and she wanted to keep the only people who mattered to her anymore within sight.

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