Phoenix was surprised about the request to return to the city and most of the Crystal Casters went together while the Sapphires and Moha remained at the campsite to save on time. Dazien and Uriel had gone straight to the Market District to take the opportunity to restock on the potions that they had used up, while Polissa and Simmon went back to their family estate to retrieve summoning materials.

  She decided to use her new bracelet to feel out the direction her Mentor was in to ask about how his Emerald Caste monster mission went. She was a bit surprised to find herself walking alongside the Teras siblings the entire way, and Polissa gave her a huge grin as she said, “Looks like our dads are hanging out together. Can I show you around our home while we look for them?”

  Phoenix’s eyes went wide as she murmured, “Maybe quickly; we don’t want to keep the others waiting too long.”

  Once inside, she suddenly gained a new understanding of the actual difference the Waynd House had compared to the more moderate estate the Teras House maintained. Like most buildings, it was also a towering skyscraper, but it wasn’t as tall or as elegant as the estate she had come to call home.

  It was nice and well-kept and had many more of her favorite things adorning almost every shelf: books. Lord Ethan Teras was the new Chancellor of the Order of Magic, and his husband was a Priest of the Mentor, teaching at one of the public schools in the Research District, despite his Css actually being a more crafting-oriented Gcial Sculptor. She was surprised to learn that Polissa was also technically a member of the OOM like her dad, but during the blood moon, her work as an Adventurer took precedence.

  The trio eventually made their way to a rge room that reminded Phoenix of the big business meeting rooms on TV with a rge table that everyone sat around. Phoenix was actually shocked to hear ughter coming from the room as they entered it. They found the two lords standing but leaning over the table slightly, which was covered in various mounds of paperwork.

  At the sight of them, however, Paul’s humor vanished, and he asked, “What happened?”

  “What? Why do you think something’s wrong?” she asked in sudden confusion.

  This caused his own brow to furrow in added confusion as he crified, “Well, I thought you’d be on your mission still, but also because of the bewildered look on your face.”

  “Because you’re ughing!” Phoenix stated incredulously, “With other people! I didn’t even know that was possible!”

  Ethan burst out ughing at that and spped Paul on the shoulder, his small bck wings fluttering slightly from the movement, “I told you! Even your scion understands how stodgy you’ve become!”

  “He wasn’t always so… stoic?” she asked.

  “The self-righteous golden boy here? Absolutely not. Even he was a hormone-riddled teenager at one point in his life.”

  “You make it sound like I was some kind of entitled terror,” Paul grumbled.

  “You were!” Ethan ughed, then looked between Simmon, Polissa, and Phoenix as he added, “Speaking of teenage hormones… how are you all getting along with one another?”

  He gnced down at Paul and directed at him with a wicked grin, “I know you’re new to parenting, but you did have ‘the talk’ with your new daughter about being safe and knowing where the Healers are, right?”

  “Dad!” Polissa compined, pcing both hands on her hips, “We’re standing right here! You don’t have to be so embarrassing every time we bring someone home!”

  “I’m pretty sure I do, actually,” he retorted, “You should be taking notes, Paul. It’s a father’s duty to embarrass their children whenever possible. Especially when it comes to lovey-dovey things.”

  Paul groaned, his face sinking into his palms as he almost begged Phoenix, “Please tell me there’s another Emerald monster over in your area or something else to get me out of this conversation.”

  “Not that we’ve seen, but there was a Misery Broodmother that we ran into,” Polissa said as her stance softened, and she gave a slight chuckle, “It’s why we’re here actually. I need to resummon my Familiar and restock on some items.”

  The lords both sobered at that news, and Ethan asked, “A Broodmother? You were able to take care of it and all its spawn?”

  Phoenix could feel Paul’s gaze focused on her, and another moment ter Orebe’s voice asked directly in her mind, “Waynd and This One wish to know if you are unharmed? There must have been many miserlings, and Little Miss’s dreams must have suffered.”

  She gave a weak smile but nodded, “I’m fine,” she muttered softly, then added louder, “I used my [Supernova] to clear out most of them, and the others executed the Broodmother.”

  “Any signs of Soul Reapers?” Paul asked them.

  “Gods, could you imagine if the Reapers Caged a Broodmother?” Ethan said at the prompting question, “That would be terrifying. They could clear out an entire fortress town if they built up the swarm long enough.”

  “None of the parties have spotted any Soul Reapers yet,” Simmon reported, “We’re just stopping by for the supplies, then returning to continue searching our route.”

  “Well, we best not keep you then,” Ethan replied to his son, then gestured for them to exit the room, “Come, my children. Let’s get you resupplied, and then back on the job so you can return once more to actually spend a family dinner with us. Your Papa has been compining about missing you.”

  “Dad, seriously, we’re not little children anymore,” Po scolded as the family all made their way from the room.

  “Don’t have to be children for your parents to miss having a family dinner…”

  Phoenix gnced up to look at Paul who had moved to stand next to her as they watched the family leave. He gave her an assessing gaze before asking quietly, “Do we need to have that safety talk?”

  She stared at him for a long moment before pleading, “Please, no.”

  “You do know how babies are—”

  “Gods, I’m begging you. Please do not start being embarrassing like Po’s dad.”

  Paul chuckled and gave her that slight teasing smirk, “I don’t want you to feel like you’re missing out or anything.”

  “Does that mean I should start compining about teenage girl things?” she asked with a raised brow.

  His grin widened, and he seemed to immediately call her bluff, “Going to tell me about which kids you beat at Polyball and all the people you have lovey-dovey eyes for?”

  Phoenix’s face went crimson at the thought of talking to Paul about any teenage drama like that she might ever have the misfortune of becoming involved in and shook her head while muttering, “I’d rather fight the Broodmother again...”

  Aside from being rather embarrassing for Po and Simmon, Ethan Teras was welcoming, helpful, and talkative with Phoenix. Going on and on about the two children he adored and his husband who helped raise them since the day they first brought each home from the Cultivator’s Citadel.

  She thought it was awesome how the magic rituals there helped same-sex couples be the biological parents of their kids, easily handling what the science of her own world had barely started to accomplish with mice.

  House Teras was best known for its work with golems, including the BELs, and had a strong presence within the Order of Magic. Ethan had recently gotten a promotion to its top leadership position since Lady Ruwena—who previously held the position—was sent off to Blomstra to see justice carried out.

  Most of the work Paul was helping him with concerned weeding out any of those potential traitors who might have remained hidden within its ranks as well as keeping up to date with the research being done regarding the Soul Cage. That project was practically starting from scratch with more supervision and ethics, hoping to find a way to both subvert the effect it had on monsters or freeing any innocent people who became pawns.

  That wasn’t what Phoenix and the Teras siblings were there for, however, and Paul once more reassured her to not worry about things well outside both her areas of expertise and power to affect. What that transted to was: go fight more monsters.

  Once Po restocked her summoning supplies and finished the ritual to bring back Ton-Ton, her giant rocky lizard that vaguely reminded Phoenix of a stegosaurus, they met back up with Dazien and Uriel to return to the Razorteeth mountains.

  Moha and Rayna were ughing together by the campfire that remained, waiting beside Tanner and Saiya who seemed fine with remaining silent to observe the pair. All four seemed relieved at the sight of their return but each for very different reasons, Phoenix thought, and Rayna loudly procimed that it was time to get back to punching and looting.

  From there, Phoenix portaled them back to where they had left off in their particurly long route going around the outer edges of the vast mountain range. Unlike the other teams who worked in a weaving pattern to accommodate their various movement capabilities, they were left to the route that a portal could quickly return to and continue forward without having to re-traverse as much.

  Phoenix had thought at first that she would be using her portal in a simir manner to when she had first gotten it, keeping it on cooldown while moving across the nd in portal leaps. This was quickly shot down, however, as the point was to search, not simply traverse the route. They needed to find where the enemy might be setting up a base and clear out any monster threats, which wouldn’t work as well if they portal-hopped rge sections.

  This next stretch of their route they would be perceptually combing over would be the highest point along their path and it was proving to be the most treacherous. They kept their various auras expanded and perception abilities on high alert to watch out for Reaper scouts and monsters that might try to take the group out by using the terrain to their advantage.

  Since she couldn’t put her portal to better use, Phoenix resigned herself to showing off her other most useful ability: [Collector]. Conjuring the climbing gear she had found in a random pile at Mother’s Cupboard and that she just knew she would need someday.

  The nine Adventurers were strung out in a line along a narrow mountain path between a sheer cliff and a steep drop. Phoenix found herself envious of the Talent and tails both voxen shared to make their harrowing traversal across the cold stone easier.

  Natural Talent: Nomadic Heart

  You have better footing and bance on all types of terrain and are less hindered by terrain features. Reduced stamina drain over prolonged periods.Increased resistance to environmental extremes.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful or anything,” Dazien called out past their party towards Phoenix who was bringing up the rear, ready to cast an emergency portal if needed, “But exactly why do you carry so much rope with you?”

  Phoenix clutched the wall tightly as she carefully slid her feet along the path and replied back, “It’s useful! You never know what situation you’ll find yourself in and a good Adventurer is always prepared. That’s just dungeon delving 101.”

  “Why are you delving into a dungeon?” Dazien asked in confusion, “Do you often find yourself arrested or needing to free criminals?” Then he paused and added in sudden realization, “Actually, with this much rope, you must be referring to the other kind of dungeon.”

  “What other kinds of dungeons involve rope?” she called back in equal confusion.

  “Don’t answer that!” Rayna yelled out from between them, “She’s obviously not talking about those kinds, you degenerate King.”

  “I meant the kind that has been abandoned for centuries and is filled with treasure!” Phoenix crified, figuring out from the bard’s words that she was better off not knowing what Dazien was implying.

  “Why would anyone leave treasure in a dungeon?” he replied, pausing as his foot slipped dangerously close to the edge of the ravine, “That’s what the treasury in that castle is for. It’s literally in the name.”

  “The dungeon isn’t in a castle! It’s not even an actual dungeon. And the treasure is one lost to time, obviously.”

  “What kind of world do you come from exactly? Do words mean nothing to you people? Who calls a pce that is not a dungeon ‘a dungeon’ and then just loses a bunch of treasure in the random not-dungeon that’s apparently not attached to a castle?”

  “Will you both shut up?!” Tanner snapped at them from the very front of the procession as he also lost his footing for a moment before regaining it.