Upon waking up the day, Niphru noticed Dawn was still asleep beside him, so he carefully crept out of bed, closing the door behind himself with his magibsp; Sihat made it less likely to bother her, he decided to take a shower to make sure he was for the day, since he po go into the city. While it was now easier to scrub himself with force magic, he did still find it annoying trying to dry off. There was a system with water magic to suck most of the water down the drain, but it had problems removing water from hair, which was a clear issue when you were covered in it.

  Instead of relying on the built-in system, he had to be a bit creative. While in the past he had to mah shaking aing help, the bination of fire and air magic worked well, as long as he was careful. He had plenty of trol over his fire, and was easily able to avoid burning himself, but blowing fire all around was ly a good idea indoors. It had taken him a few days in the past, but he ended up being able to produce a very hot wind by bining his magibsp; It was difficult at first to avoid burning himself by making the air too hot, but in the end, he found the correct mix of fire and airflow, which worked well f off.

  Once he finished getting dry, he headed toward the kit. Dawn seemed to still be asleep, so he took the opportunity to get some more practid used his magic to pull some meat from ste, cut it into small strips, and cook it until it was crispy. He also cut up some apple slices and warmed up a bit of sausage. About halfway through cooking, he decided to make extra since he heard movement ing from the bedroom, and sure enough, Dawn showed up right as he was finishing.

  As he was floating the ptes to the table, Dawn rubbed her eyes and yawned before spotting the food and going to sit down. As he brought her a knife and fork, she smiled and thanked him for cooking breakfast for the two of them before beginning to eat small bites of food. He preferred to just use his teeth rather than try to use a knife, and he could easily just float the food without having to resort to stabbing it first, so he didn’t bother with any for himself.

  After they both finished, he took the dirty dishes into the kit and helped Dawn wash them, finding it was getting easier with practice to both keep a grip on them and scrub them at the same time. Due to this, they pleted ing the dishes rather quickly before putting them away. Dawn headed to go take her shower, while Niphru headed out to see if everyone had gathered together yet.

  Upon reag their usual gathering spot, he only spotted Miana reading a book, the others having not yet arrived. He carefully approached from an angle she should be able to see, having actally scared people a few times already by not doing so. As he had hoped, she spotted him and lowered the book for a moment, motioning for him to join her.

  She shared that the book was about various utations in animals close to the edges of the forest, and expined, “I was worried about some of the things we saw while we were out, and wao make sure I would be ready to deal with them if I went out again. I’m very gd that huge creatures like that snake are supposed to be pretty rare, as well as being further bato the wilderness.”

  Nodding, Niphru remarked, “We had a huge creature near our vilge before we came here, but it was several days of travel into the forest, and it seemed like it was more passive until it was attacked, instead of actively hunting others. At least, I assumed so si seemed to be much more focused on defense. I only ran into something worse than a bear once while he edge of the forest, and it was already quite injured from some other beast having attacked it. It was also asleep and trying to recover. If you were to stiear a vilge, you shouldn’t run into anything too bad; we were just very unlucky.”

  Having arrived while he was talking, Viera nodded and added, “I also came from a vilge, and we mostly entered normal creatures with small mutations, not massive things like that snake. I think I remember hearing about some hunters seeing a group of heavily mutated wolves deep in the forest after several days out there, but none ever came near us as far as I ever heard.”

  Miana smiled at hearing this and visibly rexed before saying, “I hope you don’t mind me reading more while we wait for the others, but even the less extreme things are important to know about.”

  Both Niphru and Viera had to agree with that, and gave some more information on things they had seen when Miaioned each specific thing she was reading. Slowly, the others began to arrive as well, Morris actually ing to meet them before anyone saw Lisryn. He nodded upon seeing them gathered and stated, “Lisryn won’t be ing back for a few days. Apparently, they are fairly busy, and she is needed elsewhere.

  Seeing that everyone aowledged his statement, Morris tinued, “I would like to inform you that the report of yroup’s as was well received, and you will be allowed more resources, as well as a reward for each of you. Anroup was unfortunate enough to meet danger simir to what you faced with the wolf pack, and they lost a member. You did quite well managing with only injuries, though I must say, you had some bad luck, Richard.”

  At this, Richard shuddered befreeing, “The wolf was ohing, but the soo… If Lisryn and her guards hadn’t been there, I don’t think I’d be alive.”

  In response, Morris nodded before tinuing, “The reed that Lisryn and her guardians were vital to keeping everyone alive, and my suggestion on the distribution of the scales ted. This has also helped quite a bit with how she is viewed, as several lives were saved quite obviously, and likely more less obviously. Hopefully, this will also improve how yroup as a whole is seen. Thank you for letting her join you; I am very gd that everyone made it through that enter.”

  He then pulled a small notepad out and took a quick look at it before saying, “You should all meet me here in a week and a half—that is whehing should be prepared for you. Other than that, feel free to do whatever you feel is best until then, there isn’t anything vital going on.”

  Thomas spoke up before he could leave, asking, “Do you know what sort of rewards we are supposed to get? I don’t mean to be picky or anything, but I am curious.”

  With a smile, Morris shook his head and replied, “I have some ideas, but I’m not the one preparing them, and several others are all involved. I’m sure they will be useful, however.”

  Turning to look at each of the others, Morris queried if there were any further questions, and receiving none, returo the upper levels of the spire.

  The group chatted amongst themselves for another hour or so before Niphru decided it was about time to try heading into the city ahe group.