Muddy Boots Inn

  Martyn hummed as the icy winds billowed outside, clouds parted, and sunlight shone through the window, feeling two bodies on him.

  The panther kin, as usual, woke up first. A smile forming on his face as he peered down to see Amber lightly snoring and drooling on him with her mouth open and Jade curled up around his arm.

  ‘Just a moment longer,’ a sigh left him as he stared up at the ceiling, ‘nice and warm with two girls at my side, I could stay like this forever.’

  Martyn liked the idea, but for someone of his kind, to know true peace means to be strong enough to ward off troubles. And he wasn’t there yet. All this time of contentment with the girls made him frown.

  ‘Something’s coming, and I can’t tell what it’ll be.’

  Jade rustled and, with a cute yawn, rose, rubbing her eyes. “Good morning,” she kissed Martyn on the cheek. Jade held back a snort, seeing Amber’s sleeping face.

  “Alright, Amber, wake up.” Martyn gently nudged Amber; she hummed, denying him and sinking further into his warmth.

  Jade giggled, waking Amber up. “Ah, what is it?” Amber said, wiping the corner of her mouth.

  “I didn’t know I was such a comfy bed for you.” Martyn teased, wiping off Amber’s excess drool.

  Seeing that she quickly pieced together what had happened, her cheeks flushed; she prodded Martyn, “It’s your fault.”

  “Mm, she’s right,” Jade nodded, snuggling into him. “You're so warm and soft.”

  “Alright, that’s enough snuggling, guys; we’ve got work to do.”

  They got up and went through their daily routine, including a big breakfast in the tavern before gearing up. A few minutes ter, the trio found Donald in front of the space mage building.

  “Well, aren’t you a punctual lot?” Donald smiled.

  “I should be since you’ve given us early access once we’re done with this thing,” Martyn said, shaking hands with the dryad.

  “I’ve got a quick question before we go.” Jade raised her hand.

  Donald nodded, and she continued.

  “Do we need to wear our gear? The monster wave won’t reach the city till tomorrow.”

  “A fair question. To answer it, it’s a general estimation, as some monsters, stronger ones, travel faster. It’s better to be safe than sorry. If you’ve got any other questions, please ask away.”

  “That's all I needed to know,” Jade said.

  “Well, alright then, hang on.”

  Donald snapped his fingers, a spell circle formed beneath them, and they vanished from in front of the building.

  Outside Quartz City walls

  The group arrived at a snowy field; the chilling wind brushed against their faces as they took in the sight a distance away from the city.

  “Oh shit,” Jade said.

  In front of them were rge metal chains, thick as a person, all wrapped into a hill, and he saw three others in the distance. The sheer volume of it all was a lot to take in.

  There was also a ptoon of knights around them, standing on metallic ptforms.

  “I feel like a day of training isn’t enough for this,” Amber said.

  “Maybe, but any help is welcomed. I’ll raise this anchor with you, and Kallie will raise the other one.”

  “And what’s with the knights?” Jade asked.

  “For protection, while lifting the chains, the ptforms will bring us to the isnd as close as possible,” Donald said, plucking a strand of leaf out of his hair.

  “I’m assuming we’re also part of the protection?” Amber asked, gncing at Martyn.

  “Yes, but hopefully, you won’t have to engage. Now step on the ptforms, and let’s begin. The sooner we’re done with this, the better.” Donald yawned, stretching his arms.

  The dryad snapped his fingers, and a fme of mana engulfed his hand, forming a wooden staff in hand with a glowing yellow jewel in the centre.

  Martyn’s hair stood on end. ‘The energy from that staff is insane.’

  “And this one is for you; everyone gets one of these before you get a personal one made,” Donald snapped his fingers.

  In another fsh, a metallic staff appeared before Martyn; he grabbed it and appraised it. Immediately, he felt his mana pool increase, and his mind became clearer.

  [Item: The 177th branch of the Abyss, Rank: Artefact, Mana: 1,000/1,000]

  [Skill: Levitate, Distort space, Temporary domain, Artificial core]

  [Effect: Magic boost, mana efficiency, blood bind]

  [Description: A staff created by one of the few space bcksmiths, this can only be wielded by those with spatial affinity; it bridges the connection to the abyss and reduces the cost of casting space magic.]

  ‘Holy shit.’ Martyn needed a moment to process the prompt; it took Amber tapping his shoulder to bring him back to reality.

  Without hesitation, he bit his finger, drawing blood and smearing it on the staff; an instant connection was made, and the bonds between him and the girls also shivered in response to the staff.

  “Hah, what the hell was that?” Jade shivered, but not from the cold.

  “What happened?” Donald asked.

  “I think we’ve just discovered with my css, but let’s focus on the task at hand,” Martyn said.

  The knights stood firm and ready; Martyn and Donald shared a nod and began pouring their mana into the chains. Using the staff, Martyn could feel the load of enchanting the chains being shared by the staff.

  But it was still a challenge.

  ‘I feel like I’m doing a third of the work while Donald’s carrying me.’ It sucked, but it was the truth.

  The ptforms slowly rose as they lifted the chain with their magic; seconds turned to minutes, and with nothing but mind-numbing and sweaty focus, an hour passed.

  They were high up in the air, and the cold winds pierced through Jade’s heat enchantments on their gear, making the hobgoblin girl double enchant to keep them warm.

  As they rose further, Jade moved closer to Martyn, enough to feel safe and not look down. Amber went to her side, grabbing her hand and helping calm her down.

  “Thanks,” she whispered.

  “It’s alright; I’m nervous, too,” Amber said.

  “Yeah, I’m mostly thinking of not falling over and trying to go spt.” Jade chuckled.

  “Yeah, I’ve felt that too and...!” Amber’s face scrunched, and she looked up at the open skies.

  Jade tilted her head for a moment before a shiver ran through her. “What?”

  “Knights, prepare yourselves!” A knight captain shouted, drawing his sword.

  Martyn felt the need to tear himself away to help, but knowing the importance of the task, he grunted and focused.

  Not far from them, hissing filled the sky. Clouds parted, and from it, a group of rge, winged snakes emerged, varying in colour.

  The monsters hissed and dove right at them.

  The knights let out their battle cries and leapt from their ptforms, mana covering their boots. They ran on solid air, their boots forming ptforms beneath their feet, helping them to manoeuvre and engage in a battle with the winged serpents.

  Metal cshed with scales, and fire, water, and ice bsts filled the area. And through the battle, one red flying serpent managed to pass through, diving towards Martyn’s ptform; Jade moved in front, firing off an arrow.

  Amber frowned and took a running stance.

  “This better work,” Amber muttered before running, “Cover me!”

  The kobold knight’s body fred with mana, and she jumped off the ptform. “What!?” was all Jade could cry as she stepped back and shot more fming arrows.

  Amber, with her shield raised, smmed into a winged serpent. The monster hissed before spewing a bst of fire, which she blocked with her shield.

  'Focus.' She bore with the heat, focusing mana on her steel boots and sending out magic fmes to keep afloat, allowing her to thrust at the serpent with her spear as arrows flew past her, stabbing into its body.

  It writhed in pain and struck Amber with its tail, sending her flying back.

  ‘Bance!’ She grunted, her chest numbing from the force, before realising she was falling; her heart drummed as she saw the serpent dive after her.

  She sent a vast majority of her mana to her boots, bsting out fmes and propelling herself up, avoiding the serpent and surpassing the ptform. The serpent hissed, fpping its wings, following behind her.

  “Water spear!” She quickly unched her spell at the serpent; it swerved past her magic, closing the distance. Amber raised her shield, bracing for impact when more arrows smmed into its side, forcing it to miss.

  At that moment, Amber coated her spear with mana and stabbed at the serpent’s head. Her spear sunk through its skull, making it thrash in agony, with Amber holding on for dear life.

  ‘Just die!’ She poured mana into her spear, exploding its head.

  “Catch!” Jade shouted, firing a rope-tied arrow to Amber, who caught it.

  Huffing, Jade pulled her up to the ptform. “Did you need to do that?”

  “If I hadn’t, then it would’ve come here and ruined Martyn’s concentration.” Amber huffed, her chest pte heaving up and down.

  “How were you not scared the fuck out of your mind?”

  “Who said I wasn’t?”

  “Hah, fair enough; looks like the other knights are mostly done,” Jade said, seeing the dead serpents falling and the knights returning to their ptforms.

  “Hey, we also shared some experience,” Jade muttered, gncing at her status.

  “I’m only hoping there aren’t any more.” Amber huffed, reliving the height she was fighting from.

  “Please don’t do that again.” Martyn said, keeping his eyes on the chain, “You made my heart jump,” he said with a shaky grin, unable to split his focus.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Amber agreed, feeling the worry and shock filter through the bond and, more than anything, the pressure that was continuing the enchantment. She sent through her bond waves of understanding, love, and appreciation to help him in any way possible.

  More time passed, and the floating isnd was getting much closer; the chains cnked from the fierce winds. Jade and Amber had drunk mana potions and poured all the energy into Martyn a few times as they rose.

  And now, four hours since they reached a height, which Amber assumed was bordering between the tropo and stratosphere, the ptforms stopped floating, and they all just stood hovering in the skies.

  Jade and Amber shivered from the cold, as above them was the floating isnd. It was still a distance away, but they saw it. A massive jungle with a rge tree at its centre covered most of the isnd’s surface.

  “Alright, Martyn, now we’re pushing it further, and once we make contact with the edge of the isnd, I’ll do the rest; you just keep it up for a few seconds, alright?” Donald shouted from the other side.

  “Got it!” Martyn answered.

  “And remember, the titan’s mana will try and push out our energy, so you’ve gotta push through. Weave your mana slowly.”

  Martyn nodded, and with more concentration, he poured mana into his staff and through it continued to weave the enchantment through the chains. As they closed in on the isnd, he felt the chain pass through an invisible barrier.

  Immediately, the difficulty in his task doubled; gritting his teeth, he carefully etched his mana into his chains more so than before and delicately as the external mana was trying to push his back, physically attacking his mana and stopping his enchantment.

  But he held strong, doing his best to match Donald’s pace.

  “I am so upgrading my enchanting skills when we get back,” Jade muttered, applying magic to her armour.

  Amber shivered, looking into the isnd's jungle depths. She felt her spine crawl, a sense of repulsion overwhelming her senses.

  “Want me to spruce up your enchantment?” Jade offered to finish with her.

  “Yes, please…” Amber said, keeping her eyes on the isnd.

  “Something wrong?”

  “Huh? No, I mean kinda? It’s just… my senses are telling me to stay away.” Amber kept her voice low so as not to disturb Martyn.

  “Your extrasensory skill?” Jade asked with the same hushed tone.

  “Yes?” Amber tilted her head. ‘I’m not exactly sure.’

  Soon enough the chains reached the edge of the isnd. “Get ready to hold!” Donald shouted.

  He counted down, and Martyn braced himself. Amber and Jade had recovered their mana, pouring it into him as Donald stopped holding his side of the enchantment.

  ‘Fuck!’

  Martyn felt the pressure on him nearly triple; his psyche was suffering a massive headache trying to process and keep up the enchantment, the task burning through his mana like a raging fire.

  [+1 Psyche]

  ‘That’s not helping!’ He cursed, sweat running down him like the rain.

  Donald sent his mana to the top of the anchor and activated the sigil; the anchors came to life and hooked onto the isnd, embedding themselves into the earth.

  “Let go!” Donald shouted.

  Martyn did happily, with an exhausted gasp, and he fell back with Jade catching him.

  “You did it, babe.” Jade smiled.

  Loud screeches and the cnging of the chains broke the moment as the isnd shook, the trees bustled, and it tipped slightly under the influence of the chain.

  One by one, everyone noticed another anchor lifted by Kallie locking onto the isnd. A huge bst of wind struck everyone as the isnd began to dip down slowly.

  “Yeah, Kallie’s a natural when it comes to this,” Donald said, his ptform moving over.

  “Can we please go down?” Martyn said between bated breaths.

  He was lying on the ptform with Jade, using her thighs as a pillow.

  “Sure thing, after a quick break to recover, we’ll be back at it for the other two.”

  Donald tapped his staff, and everyone was brought back to the ground.

  “Can we just stay like this, please?” Martyn said, leaning into Amber’s thighs.

  “Why don’t we go back to the inn? Since we have an hour, we could rex and come back,” Amber suggested.

  “But I don’t want to get up,” Martyn whined.

  Amber rolled her eyes and lifted him by the hand. “Fine,” Martyn yawned and fell forward, leaning on Amber.

  “Don’t be such a sourpuss. I need a quick shower; god, it’s cold.” Jade rubbed her hands.

  “I’m offended by that statement.” Martyn huffed as he drew the teleportation circle on the ptform.

  “Not bad,” Donald said, looking at his work, “though you can make it simpler by changing a few things.”

  Martyn could only shrug. “See you in an hour,” he said as the circle lit up, and they vanished from the snowy field.

  Immediately back in their room, Martyn switched out of his gear to his pyjamas, his body flopped on the bed, with Amber following right behind him, switching out of her armour into bck shorts and a purple shirt.

  “I’m going to take that shower,” Jade said.

  “Okay,” Martyn said tiredly as his arms wrapped around Amber, pulling her in for a warm hug.

  “My head hurts; it’s like a dull headache.” Martyn pressed himself into Amber.

  Amber chuckled, pulling him into her chest. She ran her fingers through his hair, brushing his pointed ears. “Does this help?” She whispered.

  Martyn only hummed; Amber giggled, feeling his breath tickle against her chest, “More, please.”

  Amber chuckled as Jade came out of the bath, joining their short nap session. She crawled up behind Martyn, following Amber massaging his panther ears.

  LesserCodex

  [Martyn, Level 2 (2,201/2,700), Css: Monster Tamer, Points: 0, Titles: (D) Adventurer, Bookworm…(3)]

  ? [Mana: 720/720] [Strength: 27] [Agility: 27] [Vitality: 28] [Arcana: 30] [Psyche: 30]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (4) Agility (6) Muscurity (4) Swordsmanship (4) Basic Magic (5) Strong Mind (6) Soulbond (3) Monsterous Talent (3) Biology (3) Appraisal (3) Cooking (4) Fast Healing (2) Spatial Awareness (3) Inventory (3) Extrasensory (2) Space magic (2) Iron gut (1)]

  [Amber, Level 2 (2,154/2,700), Css: Knight, Points: 0, Titles: Leviathan Descent, Bonded, (D) Adventurer... (1)]

  ? [Mana: 720/720] [Strength: 28] [Agility: 25] [Vitality: 25] [Arcana: 30] [Psyche: 26]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (4) Tough Scales (5) Fast Healing (4) Spear and Shield Mastery (4) Focused Mind (3) Water Magic (4) Linguistic (4) Physicality (2) Extrasensory (2)]

  [Jade, Level 2 (2,058/2,700), Css: Bcksmith, Points: 0, Title: Artisan, Bonded, (D) Adventurer...(1)]

  ? [Mana: 825/825] [Strength: 24] [Agility: 22] [Vitality: 24] [Arcana: 33] [Psyche: 24]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (5) Tough Body (3) Iron Gut (5) Tinkering (2) Archery (2) Enchantment (2) Fire Magic (2)]

  [colpse]