The feeling of Zalia’s Healing Presence had undergone a fundamental change again. With the new Healing Spirit that inhabited it, the warm and comfortable feeling now encompassed her at a deeper level. Much like how overuse of passive abilities caused a soul level weariness that no sleep would fix, the new type of healing gave her a comfort of the soul. It wasn’t the first time she had experienced soul healing, as Aylie already had it, but now it was an ever present feeling.

  Alongside that was the Healing Spirit itself. She could feel it inside her, a strange new being that gave no word nor thought as it continued to do its duty.

  Boreal was pouncing around in the snow, sniffing at all manner of dead creatures and destroyed plantlife even as Zalia’s powers worked to restore it. Bodies were burnt, trees and undergrowth restored in moments and the ground beneath them shifting to its former state. While destruction and death were natural processes by which the world changed, Zalia didn’t quite count herself as a natural force… yet.

  It had occurred to her that she might be trying to eliminate something natural in the worms and their mind controlling disease, there was a part of her that had known they weren’t. The same instincts that told her to avoid trying to kill the Starlight Wolf so long ago, the same ones that had drawn her to restore Nateysta to his former glory, they told her that these things weren’t from this world. Not directly, at least.

  Only when she inspected them closely did she come to the realisation that they weren’t beings of the physical world, but the Astral. The feeling they gave off to her senses was similar to that of the adjacent world in which the mind and thoughts existed, a feeling she had experienced previously due to Aylie’s powers. The fact they didn’t belong to the physical world didn’t mean they didn’t belong somewhere, it just meant they didn’t belong here. It explained their strange ability to control the minds of the creatures they infected, though there were plenty of things that could affect the mind in the physical world too.

  “I wonder how they got here…”

  Boreal turned to look at Zalia, head cocked.

  “Mreow?”

  “Yeah, the worms. They’re from the Astral. I wonder if Aylie could figure it out.”

  Someone had warned her once that going to the Astral could be a dangerous endeavour, as there were things other than thoughts that existed there. She knew what one of those things were now.

  “I’ve got four abilities at Silver nineteen and two at Silver eighteen. What say we level those up and then ask Aylie about the worms?”

  Boreal perked up excitedly. She had calmed significantly since her early days of murderous energy but some of it still remained.

  With the land now restored to its former state and the bodies all burnt and buried, Zalia and Boreal took to the air. The Healing Spirit was still on her mind as they flew. It had been her experience that abilities often evolved or gained extra functions in reaction to the way that they were used and levelled. The fact that Healing Presence now had a function that could heal the soul and potentially bring people back from the dead concerned her only a little bit. In fact, bringing people back from the dead sounded like a great power. She could rest a little easier bringing others into dangerous situations knowing that she had both an anti-death power and a resurrection power combined into one.

  Boreal spotted another group of controlled animals and dove towards them with Zalia close behind. It was going to be a long day.

  Two more Astral worms and about a thousand mind controlled creatures later, Zalia finally managed to get the four Silver nineteen abilities over the edge into Gold.

  Congratulations! Kill Shot has reached Silver 20.

  Congratulations! Kill Shot has reached Gold 1.

  Active 1 - Kill Shot - spell - targeted - execute

  Tin - Enhance an attack, go for the kill. This ability deals a tiny amount of damage. The damage of this ability scales exponentially with the target's missing health.

  Iron - Kill Shot deals increased damage based on how many separate effects you have active on the creature.

  Bronze - Kill Shot gains Enhanced Shot. You are able to infuse arrows with an element your herbal magic ability can create or execute a kill shot putting this ability on cooldown for thirty seconds.

  Silver - if Kill shot kills the target, excess damage is transferred to the nearest target marked by Hunter's Mark. Enhanced Shot becomes Enchanced Attack with the element infusion working on any weapon you have a proficiency with.

  Gold - Each time an enemy is slain with Kill Shot, its cooldown is reset and a small amount of health and mana is restored based on Kill Shot’s overkill damage.

  Mana - high

  Cooldown - 30 seconds

  Congratulations! Hunter’s Mark has reached Silver 20.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Congratulations! Hunter’s Mark has reached Gold 1.

  Active 2 - Hunter's Mark - spell - targeted - channel

  Tin - Marked by the hunter, there is no escape. This ability marks a creature you can see. Marked creature takes a small amount of extra damage when damaged by you. You know the general direction of the marked enemy. Marking a second creature removes the first mark.

  Iron - you may apply Hunter's Mark to three creatures at once

  Bronze - the three creature limit increases to ten and a small amount of damage a marked creature takes is applied to other marked creatures as well.

  Silver - Any damaging ability or attack now applies Hunter’s Mark. When applied this way, the mark does not count towards the mark limit. Marked creatures are more susceptible to controlling effects such as restraint and are slowed.

  Gold - When a marked creature dies, the mark is spread to the two nearest enemies within a limited range.

  Mana - very low/s

  Cooldown - n/a

  Congratulations! Fight or Flight has reached Silver 17.

  Congratulations! Hunter’s Sight has reached Silver 20.

  Congratulations! Hunter’s Sight has reached Gold 1.

  Passive 1 - Hunter’s Sight - passive - body enhancement

  Tin - The hunter tracks their prey. You can track creatures easier. When tracking you learn very basic information such as number of legs, number of creatures and general size of creatures.

  Iron - you now learn how long ago a creature left tracks and may apply a Hunter’s mark if tracking it for more than an hour.

  Bronze - you are now able to discern finer details from tracking your prey. These details include things such as maturity stage, general health and even the individual who left the tracks if they are known to you. Additionally, you gain an innate sense of direction.

  Silver - When you know the target you are tracking, you are able to see who or what that target has interacted with in the past seven days even if tracks are not present.

  Gold - When tracking a creature, you gain brief flashes of insight into their future in regards to their actions and decisions.

  Congratulations! Hunter class has reached Silver 17.

  Congratulations! Natural Matter Alteration has reached Silver 20.

  Congratulations! Natural Matter Alteration has reached Gold 1.

  Active 2 - Natural Matter Alteration- spell - targeted

  Tin - The careful preparation of herbs, poisonous or healing, can enhance their effects. You may magically dry, cut or otherwise prepare various foods, herbs and other similar items that are plant based.

  Iron - Natural Matter Alteration can now be used to magically harvest plants. All bonuses from harvesting manually are still applied. You may also dry, cut or otherwise prepare foods that are not plant based.

  Bronze - You may harvest entire plants in their healthy form to be transplanted later. These can be stored directly in your Stasis ability or bonded item ‘Ethereal Vault Gauntlet’ under those abilities' normal conditions.

  Silver - You are able to control the shape of natural matter such as wood, stone and dirt with perfect precision. The range and amount of matter you are able to manipulate at once with this ability increases based on your rank.

  Gold - When altering natural matter with this ability, you can infuse it with mana. This infusion gives the matter magical effects based on what it is, your intention and the amount of mana invested.

  Mana - very, very low

  Cd - n/a

  Congratulations! Nature’s Wrath has reached Silver 19.

  Congratulations! Protection of the Wilds has reached Silver 19.

  Congratulations! Druid class has reached Silver 19.

  With these four abilities hitting Gold, Zalia was waiting on five last abilities. With Flora Identification being the lowest at Silver fifteen, it was most likely to receive the transformation to another ability. That was good because, despite how useful it might be for someone of a herbalist or alchemist profession, it didn’t help Zalia much in what was to come.

  Nature’s Wrath and Protection of the Wilds would reach Gold soon enough that she didn’t need to actively hunt them. Flora Identification and Harvester would need to be her focus if she wanted to reach Gold quickly, which she very much did.

  With the building anticipation of returning to Cormaine to retake it from the demons that had invaded for her dear friend Ro, her feeling of urgency to reach Gold rank grew.

  Boreal, having grown bored with their surroundings, came over and sat herself squarely in Zalia’s field of view.

  “Mreow.”

  Zalia rolled her eyes.

  “Oh alright, let’s go see what Lumin and Aylie are up to then.”

  They took to the air once more, making their way back towards the temple dedicated to Lumin. The air was fresh and so cold that it should have stung, yet was a comfort to Zalia’s magically enhanced body.

  She closed her eyes as she flew, more reliant on her other senses than vision, and thought about things. The changes to her and Ember’s relationship felt good. More independance, yet with the love and support still shared between them. She could feel it still, through the bond they shared, love, comfort, support and joy. Flashes of images, people whose faces were creased with the pains and worries of rebuilding their lives and the things they had lost set to joy and happiness by Ember’s help, both magical and otherwise. Houses rebuilt, people healed, lives restored.

  Within Zalia was the soaring spirit of freedom, the ability to go where she wanted, explore everything that caught her attention. Yes, this change was good.

  Her eyes snapped open as something teased the edges of her perception. A familiar presence, that of Nateysta. She was over the temple now, the glowing, starlight repairs to the structure beckoning her down.

  She dropped from the sky and teleported straight through the roof, landing in a crouch with a solid thud.

  “Ro, what are you doing here?”

  Ro-ak, Nateysta god of Nature and Mystery, was in his smaller wooden crow form. He was perched next to Lumin who stood in front of their pack of starlight wolves.

  Ro’s head turned to her, tilted sharply to the side then back.

  “The time has come.”

  Zalia’s heart beat hard.

  “The time has come?”

  She asked the question, but already knew the answer.

  “To return to Cormaine.”