Dross raised a shaky limb, the end curled as though into a fist. [I…am…the greatest! My power is endless. Now please let me sleep.]

Northstrider nodded once. Then, finally, he spoke to Lindon again.

“Observe.” He waved a hand.

A void key—or something like it—opened in the center of the room. An instant later, the corpse of a giant pig fell out.

Its hide looked like dull metal, and it filled up the entire room, stinking of musk and filth. With a start, Lindon realized he could feel the spiritual pressure of an Overlord from this sacred beast. And its chest was rising and falling.

It was asleep.

Northstrider extended one hand, cycling madra in a slow, exaggerated motion that Lindon had no problem following. He could sense only blood madra.

Although…

Now that he was searching for it, and Northstrider was allowing him such a thorough look, he realized that there was a similar feel to Northstrider’s madra and that in his own arm. As though they shared a personality. An endless, hollow greed that could never be satisfied.

“Open your aura sight,” Northstrider commanded.

Lindon did, overwhelmed by the blood aura in the air. It drowned out everything else, reducing the other colors to dull smears.

Then the Monarch put his palm onto the pig’s swelling side and…pulled.

His hand itself didn’t move, but the madra in his body cycled rapidly, creating a suction as though the technique was taking a deep breath.

Northstrider inhaled the blood aura through his hand, but not just the aura. Sparks of bright green light joined it, and when Lindon concentrated, he could see that the beast’s lifeline had dimmed. He was draining its life.

And…everything else.

Witnessing the process himself had far more impact than watching a cobbled-together memory.

More colors joined the maelstrom, including gold and yellow that Lindon took to be its madra. Surely those aspects couldn’t be compatible with Northstrider’s Path, but he took them in anyway. There were even brighter sparks of red: blood essence, the power in the creature’s body, and hazy purple specks that Lindon took to be the dream aura of the creature’s mind.

That was dim, as this sacred beast had never gained awareness, but it was still there. And there was something else, gaps where Lindon could sense nothing, but he was certain there was something there.

When Northstrider finished, the pig went on snoring. He had taken only a portion of the creature’s vitality, and he banished it back to storage with a wave of his hand. A few fleas hopped over the carpet, but were incinerated in midair.

Lindon was grateful for that.

He was about to thank the Monarch for the demonstration, which had given him much to think about in terms of his hunger madra, but Northstrider wasn’t finished.

He stood still, eyes closed, cycling the powers. Processing them. Sending them where they were needed.

Though he did not veil himself and allowed Lindon to observe, Lindon couldn’t follow all of it. But Northstrider was using his madra, inwardly focused. A spirit Enforcer technique.

When the Monarch opened his eyes a second later, then Lindon bowed.

“Eternal gratitude,” Lindon said. “I will go to work on this technique immediately.”

“This is called the Consume technique. If you can master it, you will no longer need advancement resources. Only enemies.”

It would have been embarrassing to show delight in front of a Monarch, so Lindon held himself back.

“I have never had trouble finding enemies,” Lindon said. “But I would find plenty if I joined the Akura operation around the Wandering Titan. Of course, if you needed me to stay close for the sake of Dross, I could give up that opportunity and remain here.”

The black orb over Northstrider’s shoulder shimmered and vanished. “You would be wise to go and train yourself. I will come to you when I require Dross, wherever you are.”

“Then…pardon if I overstep myself, since you have already done so much for me, but would you mind sending me there directly?”

“I will not,” Northstrider said.

That was as flat a refusal as Lindon had ever received.

“It will be one more week before the Akura expedition arrives in Sky’s Edge. You should find a Sage to ferry you there. Or persuade Malice’s daughter to petition her mother. My time is too valuable.”

“Apologies, but I thought they would have arrived already.”

Lindon had seen Sages and Monarchs travel great distances at a thought. They had even transported most of the sacred artists in the Blackflame Empire to the Night Wheel Valley all at once. He had expected Fury’s cloudship to pass through a portal and then simply…arrive.

Then again, he knew there was some kind of restriction on spatial travel. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had to take a cloudship to the Ninecloud Court in the first place.

“Too many people,” Northstrider answered. “Transportation requires more power and skill across greater distances. With each additional passenger, the difficulty doubles.”

He seemed to be warming up to the subject, as he turned his attention to Lindon. “This can be mitigated by permanent or semi-permanent scripted structures that anchor transportation and create portals that can move any number of people.”

Lindon immediately thought of the doorframes that entered Ghostwater and the pillars of darkness that brought him to the Night Wheel Valley.

“However, these portals are expensive to activate. It is usually better to take the time to travel normally. In this case, Malice found the situation important enough to fuel one such pathway. It will shave weeks from their journey.”

Lindon bowed over his fists. “Thank you for the lesson, Monarch.”

Now he knew a solution existed. And he had a week before Fury and the others even arrived, so he had time to find it.

“When we meet again,” Northstrider said, “you will show me what you have learned.”

Then Lindon was gone.

At least this time, he was back in the arena. The ceremony was wrapping up, the air alight with fireworks and techniques meant to resemble fireworks.

His mind spun, and his hands itched to record his ideas, but first…

First, he had to bid his friends good-bye.

7

Information requested: Emriss Silentborn, the Remnant Monarch and Queen of the Everwood continent.

Beginning report…

Path: Ten Thousand Dreams. While the Path of Ten Thousand Dreams is not particularly suited to combat, its power is nonetheless undeniable. Sacred artists have shared dreams since antiquity, but Emriss developed the ability to accurately share memories, leading to the development and widespread adoption of dream tablets. This Path involves sharing thoughts widely, coordinating entire armies of sacred arts at once.

Emriss Silentborn was born a tree.

The men’hla tree is famous for its utility in Soulsmithing. Each of its leaves produces a separate Remnant, leading to an almost endless supply of dead matter. It takes extraordinary circumstances for such a tree to attain sentience, and Emriss is the result of such a twist of fate.

When she advanced to Underlord, she took the form of a young woman, using her control over vast networks of dream madra to voraciously learn and spread that knowledge as widely as possible.