The three hunters stood and watched in disbelief as Lan effortlessly cut down waves of bees. Running around and twisting in the air in ways no man should have been able to. His sword never stopped, even as he slashed bees that he should not have been able to see.

  ‘Is that the same guy who couldn’t even scratch a Razerwolf?’ Sora asked, looking between Vulk and Drevin as he tried to ensure he wasn’t seeing things.

  Drevin couldn’t blame him. He didn’t know everything Lan had been through in detail, but he was sure it couldn’t explain what he was watching.

  ‘I mean, how is it he looks more in command in the air than those damn bees?’ Vulk mused as Lan backflipped in the air, cutting down bees in his arc.

  Drevin nodded. He had never seen a person move like what he was witnessing. Even though Lan had to keep moving to avoid the bees, what he was doing did not look like flying most of the time, and did he just dive and roll in mid-air?

  No matter how much he changed, one thing hadn’t. Even behind the glow of his eyes, the Hunter’s Mark burned bright, if not stronger than the first time.

  ‘We all saw the scar marks…’ Sora started. ‘those weren’t from his first job. Lan has been in the deep end all this time.’

  Drevin nodded. Even if the first job could be chalked up to bad luck, it was clear that Lan had been putting himself in greater danger than any bronze could reasonably be asked to, and Lan hadn’t started as the average bronze. So there was no wonder, even for one with the hunter’s mark. Lan looked like he was born for battle. Almost as if he had been a hunter his whole life.

  Lost in his musing, Drevin’s instinct forged from years of watching his friend’s backs kicked in as Lan appeared in a spot that had been clear a moment before he reached it, only to leave him with stingers at his back, readying his shield in a heartbeat, Drevin activated his Guardian leap ability, his body and shield becoming charged with power before he launched himself like a cannonball into the space at Lan’s back.

  Reaching the point he had targeted, the power surging through his body rushed to his shield, killing his momentum and granting him the added strength to crush the wave of bees with the shock wave from his swing.

  Lan turned in the air as if swimming before looking at Drevin,

  ‘Thanks,’ he grinned, his eyes like two stars while his hair looked to be swept up in a wind that only affected him. More than that, the very ends of his hair and the corner tips of his armour glowed like white-hot steel, even if it didn’t seem to bother him.

  The power of his shield ran out, and Drevin started to fall even as he watched Lan run around him to kill a bee coming towards him.

  The four continued like this for the next few hours. For some reason, the bees that year seemed far more aggressive. Maybe they knew of the danger coming too, making them fight long until the sun started to set. And so, with a few breaks for Lan to catch his breath and restore his mana, Lan kept at it until he started to forget what they were out there for. That was until he blocked and slashed a bee, and the buzzing ringing in his ears suddenly cut out…

  Lan Wisp Walked back to the others.

  ‘Good job out there.’ Drevin smiled as Sora and Vulk patted Lan on the back.

  ‘Thanks, and thanks for watching my back.’ Lan smiled back.

  ‘Don’t mention it.’ Sora nodded before looking out over the field. ‘So… how many do you think.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Vulk hummed. ‘Lan did better than I thought he would. With that sword and his ability, I would say he easily got around two thousand. Sixty exp each. I would say… four levels for sure.’

  ‘Four?’ Lan asked just before the motes of exp started to lift from the bees, gathering as they flew towards him.

  [Kill log: storm bees – 1,743 = 87,150]

  The pillar of light slammed into Lan four times, growing more intense with each one, making him feel like his blood had turned to lava that would burst from under his skin at any moment.

  [Level Up!]

  [Level Up!]

  [Level Up!]

  [Level Up!]

  [Congratulations, you have levelled up!]

  [Level 8 > 12]

  [Exp 525/ 10,000 > 17,675/30,000]

  [Attributes.]

  [Strength: 17 > 25][5]

  |Body: 17 > 25[5]

  |Mind: 17 > 25[5]

  |Dexterity: 17 > 25[5]

  |Perception: 17 > 25[5]

  |Charisma: 17 > 25][5]

  Shaking his head, Lan started to test out his new body before Vulk slapped him hard on the back while grinning at him. Lan turned to the dwarf with a frown at the interruption of what was becoming a ritual to him.

  ‘If you are done preening, I could use a beer, and I only know one place to get that out here.’ Vulk grinned, and Lan felt his annoyance vanish in a heartbeat.

  The stronghold… even from where they were, Lan could see the spire-like peaks of the artificial mountain that sat atop the stronghold. Having not been allowed to build under any of the mountains significant to Crowngaurd, the dwarfs had made their own, although smaller than Lan thought of as a mountain. The black stone and iron dome topped with three peeks was a sight.

  An idea that was only reinforced as they got closer. Lan had always wondered what it would have looked like up close and how the black stone was joined. Was it mortared or just fitted? What he hadn’t expected was to find the surface to look like raw stone, like it had grown from the earth.

  ‘Come on.’ Sora said, grabbing Lan by the arm to keep him moving as he looked at the walls of the mountain and then the roof as he passed through the doors, even the house-sized gears moving the gate that hardly made a sound.

  ‘Easy there, Lan. You keep looking around like that, and someone might think you’re a spy. Then we would both be in trouble.’ Vulk laughed.

  ‘Oh, right, sorry, it’s just that everything here is incredible.’ Lan said, staring at the brazier connected to the wall and emitting a bright white light even without a drop of mana coming from it.

  ‘This is nothing. Wait until you see inside.’ Vulk said as he pushed open the grand inner gates with what looked to him like no effort.

  Lan only had a moment to wonder what kind of workings it had before he saw what lay behind it as he was bathed in golden light.

  The black stone gave way to smooth, gold, cream, and red stone expertly carved into geometric shapes.

  The interior of the stronghold was a multi-tiered mezzanine three floors down and three above them, with broad steps leading from the gates down. At the bottom of this, Lan could hear the unforgettable sounds of hammers at work.

  If Lan was to guess, the higher floors held the residential areas, as not only did there seem to be more people moving around those floors, but the stairs leading up were on the other side of the gate, meaning if some would-be attacker somehow managed to get in they would have to withstand incoming fire from all around before reaching the stairs.

  ‘You didn’t really think we lived in dark tunnels, did you?’ Vulk grinned. ‘although this is a little nicer than most strongholds, most are built like this so each floor can be closed off in case of attacks.’

  Lan couldn’t see how that was possible, but he was eager to find out, he told himself as he started forward, only to find himself moving to the right as Vulk and Drevin lifted him up and carried him away from every Crafter’s dream come true.

  Ten minutes later, Lan sat in one of the guestrooms at the stronghold. It turned out that although they were allowed to stay, they were only allowed to go as far as the door to the guestroom.

  Lan sighed. Dwarven secrets wouldn’t be some of the greatest treasures if anyone who walked in could just go and watch them work.

  ‘Did it really mean that much to you to look around?’ Sora asked, and Lan realised he must have looked upset.

  ‘Well, not just me.’ Lan shrugged. ‘My father once told me that although not all the best smiths and crafters are dwarves, the average is far better. From what we can tell, dwarves seemed to understand the materials better than anyone else. That’s what we have been looking for, how they seem to understand metal and stone the way they do.’ Lan tried to explain how his father had.

  ‘What do you mean we?’ Sora teased. ‘It wasn’t smithing you were doing this morning.’ He added, jabbing Lan in the ribs.

  ‘Right, the smiths and crafters do, that’s what I meant.’ Lan laughed.

  ‘Sorry Lan.’ Vulk offered. ‘I wish you could have walked around more, but I am sure I have already given Zerga a big enough headache.’ The red-haired dwarf said without a hint of remorse for this Zerga person.

  ‘How did you arrange this anyway?’ Drevin asked.

  ‘Simple Zerga owes me one, and I didn’t give him the chance to say no.’ Vulk grinned. ‘Speaking of which, I need to go ask for forgiveness.’ And with that, Vulk left the three in the large guestroom to stare after him.

  ‘Try and get some rest.’ Drevin sighed.

  ‘Should we?’ Lan asked. ‘I get the feeling we aren’t going to be staying…’ he added, looking at the closing door.

  ‘No.’ Drevin waved. ‘we should be fine.’ he added as if knowing something they didn’t, as he headed into a side room.

  Following Drevin’s lead, Sora wandered into the room next to it, and having nothing better to do, Lan headed into one of the last two rooms.

  ‘Hey Lan.’

  Hearing his name, Lan opened his eyes and found Sora peeking through the door. ‘Want to go look for a restroom?’ he said.

  ‘There’s one on the other side of the main room.’ Lan blinked.

  ‘Yeah, but we can’t see the smiths working from that one,’ Sora grinned. ‘Come on, you wanted to take a look, right? And it’s a good chance for me to show you some sneaking skills.’

  ‘Won’t this be bad for Vulk if we got caught?’

  ‘Then let’s not get caught. That’s lesson one, by the way.’

  Five minutes later, Lan found himself walking beside a striding Sora, who looked like he was on his way to take over the stronghold.

  ‘Uh, when you said sneaking skills, this isn’t what I thought you had in mind.’ Lan said as he looked through Tyr’s eyes to make sure the guard far behind them still hadn’t noticed them.

  ‘Well, yeah. The fastest way to get in trouble for sneaking around somewhere you shouldn’t is by actually sneaking around. We are just looking for the restroom, which is all we can get in trouble for.’ Sora grinned. ‘Turn here.’ He added quickly, and the two turned down to another hallway.

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  Despite his words and cavalier attitude, they had not encountered any guards. Sora’s pace picked up and dropped off, seemingly randomly, but always kept them away from anyone else. They turned down hallways just before they ran into guards or entered as a guard left the hall.

  [New skill Acquired: Stealth]

  ‘Would you look at that…’ Lan grinned at the younger man, getting a smug smile back.

  ‘You know, I never would have thought you would be interested in crafting.’ Lan said as they stopped to wait for a guard to walk past the end of the hall.

  ‘Oh, not even in the slightest,’ Sora shrugged. ‘But you looked like you really wanted to, so...’ Sora shrugged again as Lan couldn’t help but feel moved.

  ‘You are willing to break the law just because I wanted to?’ Lan joked only to get a wry smile.

  ‘Trust me, Lan. now that you are one of us, we are going to break a lot of laws for each other.’ He grinned before thumping Lan on the arm, the moment of unexpected camaraderie born from the promise of future law-breaking hanging between them before Sora looked down the hall. ‘Come on.’ he said, and the two started walking again.

  ‘You know…’ Sora started as they picked up speed a little. ‘I just realised that I finally have a guy around my age with you now on the team. I guess the idea of having someone to talk to who is going through the same things as me is nice.’ Sora said offhand as he watched a guard reaching the end of the hallway.

  ‘Yeah.’ Lan said, realising he felt the same. Sora was the first male friend he had around his age since he was a boy. ‘Although, I don’t know what guys our age talk about. Girls, buying a house, the weather?’ Lan joked.

  ‘Buying a house?’ Sora laughed. ‘Man, you sound older than Drevin.’

  Lan laughed, too,

  ‘Plus, don’t you already get enough attention from Olivia?’ Sora teased. ‘one would think you would, seeing as you look like someone shuts off your lights whenever she gets going.’

  ‘Really?... I thought I was playing it off well.’ Lan sighed. ‘although, can you blame me? I was betrothed before my first whiskers. I guess I am still getting used to forward women… come to think about it, it was the same with the vampire…’ Lan noted.

  ‘Lan buddy, you can’t just say two outlandish things like that and just not elaborate.’ Sora laughed.

  Before Lan could say anything, both heard footsteps moving towards them from around the corner.

  ‘Damn it.’ Sora hissed through his teeth. They had almost made it back to the main hall from the sounds of things. The problem was that the hallway leading to it had no side halls for them to turn down, and the guard behind was only catching up. Worst yet, there was nowhere to hide in the smooth stone hall, and there wasn’t even a shadow from the floor to the rounded ceiling to hide in.

  Just before the voices turned around the corner, Lan ripped off the tuning bell, and Wisp walked into the air before grabbing Sora’s arm and shooting up to lay flat on the point of the ceiling.

  With Lan stuck to the stone and Sora dangling from his arm, all the guards would have to do was look up, and they would be in for it. But why would the guards have to look up? It wasn’t like they could expect people hanging off the roof right, which would be ridiculous. At least that was what Lan told himself instead of thinking about their time limit before the Silver Wind ran out.

  The two guards appeared from around the corner a few seconds later, seconds of their time, and Lan prayed that they would hurry up, but being in no rush to make their rounds, the guards took their time until Lan started to feel himself pull away from the ceiling as the combined weight of the two young men started to bleed through the Silver Wind.

  Sora looked at Lan with wide eyes as if asking, “What the hell do we do?” and Lan could only look back, hoping his thought of “How the hell should I know?” would make it across to his friend.

  Luckily, their descent was gradual enough that Sora’s boots just missed the helmet of the slower guard. The moment Sora was on the ground, his eyes locked on the two guards as Lan twisted and landed next to him before both held their breaths.

  As soon as the guards had pulled away far enough, Lan and Sora scurried as fast and quietly as possible while trying not to panic before diving around the corner.

  ‘That was too close.’ Lan breathed before looking around the corner. Luckily, the guards hadn’t heard them over the sound of their armour.

  ‘What are you talking about? We were fine all along. By the way.’ Sora said, trying to smile. ‘you should have said you could do that from the start.’

  ‘I would if I had known. Until now, I had no idea I could move other people with the Silver Wind,’ he sighed before looking back to find Sora staring blankly at him.

  ‘Come on.’ Lan said, patting Sora on the arm before starting down the hallway.

  ‘Yeah…’

  Not long after, the two reached the main hall and, picking up the idea of hiding in plain sight, made their way down a level before finding a quiet spot from which to look down into one of the lower smithies. There was a shop close to them on their left, but also no way they could look into it without being seen. So, with Sora watching for anyone coming too close, Lan looked into the Dwarves’ closest-held secrets.

  At least, that was what he had hoped. Looking into the Smith workshop, Lan didn’t see anything unusual. Soon enough, he found himself frowning.

  ‘This can’t be right?’ he said to himself as he watched the Smiths at work, although shorter Smiths than what he was used to. He didn’t see anything that explained the phenomena of dwarven-steel being stronger and more flexible or that held a sharper edge for a longer time than what humans could produce on mass.

  ‘This can’t be right. They are heating the steel to the same temps, and the hammers may be a little bigger, but they are the same style as human smiths. Even the flux is the same. Damn it, even that hammering timing is the same.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ Sora asked.

  ‘Huh?’ Lan looked over, trying to hide his feelings.

  ‘How can you tell all that?’

  ‘Oh…’ Lan straighten, not thinking Sora would have cared. ‘Well, the temperature, you can tell by the colour. You want that golden wheat colour. Most smiths and crafters learn all that before they can walk, so I can tell even from here. The only thing is that there had been some theories that dwarves had to be forging at a different temperature somehow. The same goes for the timing. As for the hammers and flux. The first is a guess, and only one place makes the second in Crown guard, and I can see their crest on the bag.’

  ‘You really are a Crafter’s son, aren’t you?’ Sora smiled.

  ‘Yep, although not the best it would seem if I can’t even…’ Lan said before trailing off as he looked back at the piece of metal he had been watching them shape into a sword.

  They had gotten it into the rough shape of a sword, only much larger. That was until the smiths started to sing and strike the large blade with new timing, as he saw the metal shrinking before his eyes.

  By the time they were done, the blade was about half the size it had started as.

  ‘No way.’ Lan breathed.

  ‘What?’ Sora asked, moving to stand next to Lan.

  ‘Somehow, they are compressing the steel.’ Lan said

  ‘Isn’t that what they do anyway?’ Sora asked, leaning over to get a better look.

  ‘Well, not like this. Usually, you hammer the metal to push it into the shape you want. And although that leads to some compression, it’s nothing on the scale of this. that has to be the trick, somehow… they are collapsing the metal in on itself.’ Lan marvelled. ‘But how and what is it doing to the metal? People have studied dwarven steel, and none noticed.’

  ‘That… ah!’ Sora shouted and jumped back.

  Lan looked over, worrying that someone had heard him before looking down and shouting himself.

  ‘Ah!’ Lan jumped as he found three dwarves looking at his waist or, more accurately, his sword.’

  ‘What ya got there, kid. It looks like a normal if not fancy, sheath, but there is more to it, right?’ One of the dwarves with short grey hair and a beard asked.

  Two things ran through Lan’s mind in a second. The first was that they had seen more to his sheath, even though it being bonded to him should have made all forms of appraisal impossible. No doubt, the three were masters of their craft. The second thing was being called a kid. Lan had heard plenty of different forms of address from older people, but “kid” was new, and he wasn’t sure how it made him feel.

  ‘Give us a closer look, won’t you, kiddo?’ another with dark brown hair and a beard that was split by a strip of silver like a skunk added as he combed his fingers through it.

  ‘Yeah.’ The last sung, ‘It’s the least you can do for sneaking around here.’

  Lan looked around, short of making a run for it. He didn’t see an answer short of going along with the dwarven shakedown.

  Detaching his sword from his belt, he drew, reversed, and joined the two halves in one motion.

  The moment the two halves joined, Lan watched the dwarves’ jaws fall open as the sheath blossomed with a roar before snapping back into what had always been its true form.

  ‘Wow! What was that?’ the first exclaimed.

  ‘Yeah! The inner frame that secures the blade expanded to fill the gaps that transformation made.’ The second nodded.

  ‘Surely that can’t be that strong of a connection. There is nothing holding the two parts together.’ The last added.

  Smiling, Lan spun his sword spear once before handing it over to the first dwarf. ‘By all means, try and pull it apart.’

  Taking the challenge and the sword spear, the first dwarf tried to separate the two halves. When his firm and careful pull didn’t do anything, he tried again, putting his back and shoulders into it until his face turned red. When that didn’t work, all three tried to pull it apart together.

  ‘Maybe you should try breaking it at the joining point.’ Lan offered with a smile to Sora, who watched. Lan was having fun showing off his father and Cawl’s work to the three masters despite the situation.

  Looking up at Lan, the first dwarf waved the others off before bracing the sword spear on his knee, letting out a cry as he did more damage to his knee than the joint.

  ‘Alright, kid. You proved your point.’ the first said, rubbing his knee. ‘That really is something… you wouldn’t part with it for something of dwarven make, would you?’

  ‘No.’ Lan said, which seemed to get the attention of the three more than the sword spear itself. Crafter, Smith or not, no one turned down anything of dwarven make and, doing so, told them that they were holding something substantial.

  ‘This blade is also something I have never seen before…’ the second dwarf said as the first continued to look at Lan.

  ‘If you won’t part with them, then maybe you could share what you know about it?’ the first asked.

  ‘Unfortunately, it’s not mine to give, but… I am sure that those who made it wouldn’t mind me telling you in a trade for, oh, I don’t know, how you are compressing steel?’

  The three looked at Lan for a long moment and burst out laughing.

  ‘You’re alright, kid.’ The first said, handing Lan his sword spear back before slapping him hard between the shoulder blades. ‘Not only did you pick up that much from just watching the matter fusion, but you have the guts to try and trade for one of our greatest secrets. ‘But even if this is rather interesting, I would lose my head if I said anything.’

  Despite his words, it was clear the man’s mind was racing with all he could do with matter bonding. The same went for the other two, who looked hurt that the first had returned Spell thief.

  ‘You talk like a smith, so what are you doing with the tag of those madmen.’ The third asked.

  ‘Guess I am just mad too.’ Lan smiled.

  ‘You going on that big job then?’ the first asked.

  ‘That’s right.’ Sora cut in. ‘that’s why we are here. To get Lan some levels before the campaign.’

  ‘Hmm,’ the first dwarf sounded just as they heard a familiar voice.

  ‘Sora? Lan?’ it was Vulk, and looking, the two found he wasn’t alone. Standing beside him was a dwarf that, even for his kind, was muscular, with dark blond hair and a beard, both with golden chords weaved into it. Whereas Vulk seemed to be trying not to laugh, the new man wanted to throw everyone in sight over the edge.

  ‘What by the Makers are all of you doing!’ the large dwarf barked. ‘What are you doing out of the guestroom? And you three!’ the man rounded on the dwarves. ‘What the hell are you talking to them instead of calling the guards.!’

  ‘Oh, come off it, Zerga,’ the first rolled his eyes. ‘This kid has something interesting that could be big. We could have gotten it off him if you hadn’t butted in. and it’s not like seeing Matter Fusion will teach him anything.’

  ‘Sorry.’ Sora started. ‘we were looking for the restroom when we got lost and ended up here.’

  ‘Yeah…’ Lan picked up. ‘We didn’t mean to cause any trouble, but getting the chance to see dwarven smiths at work was too much to pass up. Don’t blame Sora or Vulk, especially when we are only here because Vulk called on a favour.

  ‘What! A favour?’ Zerga barked, clearly having no idea what Lan was talking about until he looked at Vulk, who looked back smugly. ‘Oh right, favour.’ He rumbled before waving over a guard. ‘Take the… take Vulk’s… companions to the restroom and then back to their room.’

  Just then, the ground shook, making everyone stop to brace themselves.

  ‘Damn!’ Zerga grunted.

  ‘What was that?’ Lan asked.

  ‘Ah, just an earth salamander. All the commotion has it worked up, that’s all... First, those Leeto Dogs snooping around and now this…’ he sighed. ‘These guards will take you to a restroom and then back to your room.’

  ‘Ah, don’t worry, I’ll do it.’ Vulk said, patting the Lord of the Stronghold on the back like an old chum. ‘Come on, boys.’ Vulk added as he started to saunter the way they came.

  ‘What was that about…?’ Lan asked Sora as they walked behind the red-haired dwarf.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Sora said back. ‘But did it look to you like he knew we would sneak out?’

  After getting back to their room and getting a talking to by a less than impressed Drevin, Vulk let on that he had been hoping they would sneak out for the sole reason of pissing off Zerga.

  ‘The man is too high-strung, and sometimes you have to give him something to really be mad about.’ Vulk laughed, and Lan wondered how he could hear thunder underground.

  After a night in a bed that had no right to be as comfortable as it was, Lan expected the second day to be just the same as the first, if not more productive, as the longer day meant more of a chance for levelling. At least, that was what Lan had thought until he looked out on a field filled with adventurers, soldiers, and even people from Leeto who could be seen across the field gaining levels.

  ‘Damn, look at all of them.’ Sora sighed.

  ‘Yeah… I guess we should have expected this,’ Drevin joined. ‘But I thought we would at least have an hour or two before they started to show. ‘Come on, let’s get a move on before they take everything out.’

  With that, the four took off, rushing through the groups that dotted the landscape as they looked for targets. This time, Lan was forced to stay on the ground, not wanting to be shot out of the air, which he learned almost the moment he Wisp Walked up for the first time. It also meant they were out-ranged outside of Sora’s daggers.

  Even still, Lan was able to gain the exp for about half a level by the time the sun was high in the sky.

  ‘Ugh,’ Sora groaned as they sat in the shade of a large tree. ‘This is taking forever.’ he said, and the others agreed with random noises before the ground shook again. ‘and there goes that lizard again.’ he added before Vulk hummed.

  ‘I would bet that some bees are the reason the salamander is acting that way. Getting under one of their skins would have to be a good deal of stingers.’ Vulk said, and all at once, the rest caught on to what he meant.

  ‘It can’t hurt to have a look.’ Drevin said, and as one, they all stood. ‘Okay then, Lan, keep trying to pick up kills along the way. Let’s go see what is keeping that salamander from its nap.’

  Even as they left the first groups of fighters and bees, Lan and the others ran into another. This time, there were bees of grey and silver coats, and later, a horde of all-black bees fought the red ones from before.

  This time, Lan was able to find a group of battling bees without any hunters around, and Lan Wisp Walked in to make the most of it. Clearing out the first group with ease, he started flying towards it as he saw a second. Lan had almost clashed with the swarm when Tyr sent an alert, giving Lan enough time to Wisp Walk back a moment before a ball of fire shot into the bees before bursting into a dark blue sun.

  Flipping with the blast, Lan righted himself. Lan looked around, trying to find out where that had come from, when he heard Sora’s voice.

  ‘Hey! What the hell do you think you are doing!’ the young rogue shouted to a Leeto mage standing above one of the many hills.

  When it looked like Sora would storm up there to choke the man out, Lan Wisp walked next to him and stopped him.

  ‘Come on, let’s keep moving.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘It’s my fault for being up there.’ Lan said, but as he looked up at the Mage, the distance between them seemed to fall away. Lan knew the man had seen him even though his face though his face was behind one of those odd wolf masks. After a moment, the Mage turned and walked down the hill.