Artyom awoke with a jolt. He looked at his hands and then the world around him. He was at the inn at Cape Horn, exactly where he fell asleep the night before.

  But something was different.

  He remembered the voice speaking into his mind just as he fell asleep, as if it were part of a half-dream that only appears between the last vestiges of wakefulness and sleep.

  [Skill Obtained: Precipice of Magic and Emotion, Aura’s Commandment]

  That was what it said.

  “About goddamn time,” Artyom mumbled to himself as he got out of his bed and began to stretch. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a Skill with a name like that before, though.”

  The name was wordy, but flowed like poetry. Did that mean it was powerful as well?

  “The kobold leader got a Skill with a similarly flowery name mid-battle, and he also had [Emissary of Dharma]. This is probably based around the same sub-System and rules, also probably granted by the same divine force that’s in conflict with the goddess.”

  Artyom focused his magic and infused it with the pleasant feeling of waking up to a level up.

  “Only question now is what this new Skill does. Let’s find out!”

  He let loose his magic and a wave of magically-charged emotion washed out from him, quickly filling the room.

  “Hmm, my aura doesn’t seem to be any more powerful than before,” he mumbled to himself. “It’s pretty much at the same strength. What a letdown-”

  Artyom’s eyes went wide as he realized he could feel his magic, even after it had left his body. The sensation was odd, it was something he hadn’t felt very often, even when he got to a high spellcasting level in other worlds. But even then, what he felt was something rough. Just an itch in his brain that told him his magic was merely present.

  This Skill told Artyom that his magic existed, it lived. It was an extension of himself and his senses, his hopes and dreams, his fears and failures. It was an aspect of him and his very being.

  “That just got metaphysical,” Artyom mumbled to himself. “And while I’m glad it reaffirms my sense of self, or whatever, can I actually use this?”

  Instinctually, he cut off most of the wave and focused it into a cone pointing in front of him. Then, he willed it to change.

  The path of the aura began to curve around a point in front of him, and then curve again further on, soon twisting into a snake-like pattern.

  “Ugh, this would have been so convenient to have yesterday!” said Artyom with a groan. “I could’ve used it to target Rotte so he’d run away without affecting Tommy.”

  His sudden frustration began to leak into the aura and shift it, but Artyom caught it quickly and turned it back to a feeling of pleasant surprise.

  But that frustration never left his mind, and continued to leak into the aura alongside its original emotion, becoming a mix of the two yet still remaining separate.

  “Aura flux?” Artyom asked. “I’ve had something like this before in another world, using two auras at once in quick succession to confuse and disorient a target. I wonder what else the Skill does to that, but I already appreciate the two-for-one deal.”

  A knock echoed from the door to the room.

  Artyom looked over to the source of the noise, and his beam of aura followed.

  “Shit! The controls are way more sensitive now!”

  Rather than bathing whoever was outside with the full brunt of the aura flux ability, Artyom was able to reel that second aspect back in. But with the Skill boosting the sensitivity of his control, he ended up pulling back the original emotion as well, leaving what was essentially a blank aura.

  “Oh, it’s Neitra. She seems especially happy today,” said Artyom. “Wait, how did I know all of that? Can I use my aura to read other peoples’ emotions too?”

  He didn’t think more about it and walked over to open the door.

  “Good morning!” said Neitra from the other side of the doorway with a smile on her face.

  “Good morning,” replied Artyom in a similar tone, but partially out of surprise for how accurate his supposed empath ability was.

  “Huh, you look happy today! Did you get a new Skill or something?”

  “Uh yeah… I did, actually.”

  “Really? Wow, I’m good!”

  Was it his previous aura beam that put that thought into her head? If it was, he didn’t have it in him to correct her.

  “I’m going to head down to get breakfast,” said Neitra. “Feel free to join me when you get yourself ready.”

  Artyom nodded and went back into his room to change and freshen up. Even if it wasn’t up to par with the luxury cabins, the hotel was still nice enough that his room had its own bathroom with indoor plumbing. He figured it was designed and built with Skills, but maybe there were more people smart enough to put the pieces of how something like this worked together? Or maybe they had Skills that made it easier to study and learn the physics involved.

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  It didn’t matter to him, Artyom was just glad to have running water on tap.

  After brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower, Artyom made his way downstairs, and saw Neitra sitting at one of the wooden tables in the cafe next to the lobby.

  She waved to him and he took a seat opposite her.

  He took a slice of some sort of quiche he was offered and took a small bite.

  “So whatsh the pflan ffor today?” she asked with a mouth full of food.

  “Hopefully finding the culprit. I’ve narrowed it down to a few suspects and just need to eliminate whoever it isn’t.”

  Neitra swallowed her food before replying. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Hmm, yeah actually. There’s this noble who’s got a reason to convince Tommy to feel bad about all the attacks that have been creating orphans, and I want you to see if he’s hiding the missing armor piece in his cabin.”

  “Alright, I’ll ask him to let me in and take a look after I finish eating.”

  “What? No, I want you to break into his house when he isn’t there and see if he’s hiding it somewhere. Oh, and pickpocket him if you can’t find it at his home, just in case he’s actually keeping it on his person.”

  “Oh I see, I’m surprised you found the culprit already. We just need the evidence to catch him red-handed.”

  “Nope, he’s still a suspect. But if we were to find that evidence, it would wrap all of this business up. Just make sure to tell me instead of the others. I wouldn’t be surprised if they killed him before I can ask him- I mean bring him to justice properly.”

  “Hold on, you want me to break into an innocent man’s home and rifle through his things, and then even pickpocket him?!” all but shouted Neitra. If she hadn’t previously swallowed her food, she might have choked on it.

  Several people looked at them, but a harsh glare from Artyom and a pulse of “mind your business” aura that masterfully hit everyone except Neitra made them quickly lose interest.

  “You are a rogue, aren’t you?” asked Artyom. “Isn’t that your job?”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “Besides stabbing people in the back.”

  “I’m not going to stab someone we don’t even know is guilty!”

  Artyom sent out a stronger wave of aura while Netira was still mid-sentence, and it thankfully was just as effective as last time.

  “I don’t want you to kill or steal from anyone, alright?” said Artyom, shaking his head. “I just want you to check if he has the armor piece to make sure he’s innocent. If you do it right, it’ll save him a lot more trouble than if we were to break into his place and check ourselves.”

  “You-”

  “Breaking in by due process, like with a warrant.”

  Neitra closed her mouth and stared intently at Artyom for a couple of seconds. Eventually, she took another slice of quiche from the tray between them and began to chew.

  “You’fe gott yourshelf a dheal.”

  Artyom nodded with a smile, and the two finished their meal in relative peace.

  By the time they finished, the door to the inn was thrown open and the rest of the party walked through.

  “Hey you two,” said Tommy, leading the front. “How was the inn? Sorry there wasn’t enough room in the cabin.”

  Artyom shrugged. “It’s plenty good, I’m just happy they have indoor plumbing.”

  “Why wouldn’t they?” Tommy asked back.

  Artyom stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. “Never mind. So what are your plans today?”

  “Oh, we’re going to investigate who took the armor piece and is controlling the zombies!”

  “Us too!” exclaimed Neitra. “I’m going to-”

  “-check out a couple of suspects,” said Artyom, interrupting her. “Nothing too solid yet, however.”

  Neitra looked offended, but a single raised eyebrow and a finger to his lip made her realize that they were keeping the information from the other ladies.

  Artyom was surprised she was on-board with keeping information from the rest of the party as readily as him, but figured it might have had something to do with how the other four ladies treated her.

  “You already have suspects? Nice!” exclaimed Tommy. “Lensa is still praying for guidance, but the goddess apparently pointed her to a couple of locations around town. We’re going to split up and search for clues! Now all we need is a talking dog…”

  “Don’t forget to set a trap for the monster,” said Artyom with a chuckle.

  Tommy looked at him as if he’d grown a second head, but quickly dismissed it and turned towards the rest of the party behind him.

  Artyom couldn’t help but notice they weren’t focused on their conversation at all. He was thankful for it, since they probably missed the fact he and Neitra were hiding something from them, as well as Tommy’s reaction to the reference. It was too early to tell him, since he’d likely blab to the others who might openly try to kill him in turn. He swore to himself internally for almost giving himself away, but he couldn’t help but make such a classic reference.

  The other four ladies were instead focused on other parts of the inn, while Lensa was staring at the floor.

  Artyom decided to send a quick pulse of empty aura around him, and thankfully none of them seemed to notice. It came back with interesting results.

  They were still frustrated and angry, likely at Lensa, who was filled with grief and shame.

  So despite their private chat yesterday seemingly ending on a high note, it looked like whatever they salvaged from it deteriorated after the party had split up for the night. Artyom didn’t want to think about the details, especially when it might have involved their bedroom.

  “By the way,” said Lensa, grabbing everyone’s attention except for the other three ladies, who were still looking away from her. “There’s a church service this evening, and I’d like you all to attend. My father is leading it, and it might bring us all some ease.”

  The mention of her father made the other three sour, but the rest of the party didn’t seem to notice.

  “Sounds good!” exclaimed Tommy, looking directly at her and ignoring the frigid atmosphere. “I love how it’s in the evening here, I hated getting up early in the morning for it back on Earth.”

  The rest of the party nodded along, and Artyom did the same, but with a reminder of why he was pursuing the culprit of the undead attack. They used rune magic to help control the zombies, the same type of magic used to summon people from Earth. There had to be some kind of clue in it as to how Tommy ended up here.

  “Right, let’s get going, gang!” exclaimed Tommy as he led the four ladies out the door and back into town.

  “I’m going to go meet with Rotte now,” said Artyom, getting up from his seat and making his way to the door. “I promised to show him the fundamentals of magic so he doesn’t accidentally hurt himself with his self-study.”

  “What about narrowing down the suspects?” asked Neitra.

  “Who says the kid isn’t one?” replied Artyom with a wink.

  Neitra thought about that for a moment, and her face suddenly turned a mix between surprised and offended at such an accusation towards the poor child. But before she could voice her displeasure, Artyom was already out the door.