Sophia stared at her Status for a moment, then dropped Aura Armor into the open slot in her Species Abilities. She might have 11 Wisps available, but that wasn’t enough to buy anything and keeping a slot open seemed silly when she already had an Ability that could fill it. The only unslotted Abilities she had now belonged to the Grand Spell and Grand Ability.

  The weird thing was that Spirit Sight had moved from the Grand Spell Part the Veil to the Grand Ability Shrouded Insight. Maybe that was the reason the Guide offered an incomplete Fragment transfer: her Grand Spell and Grand Ability overlapped and it was giving her the choice of which one got what Abilities?

  It would be nice if the Guide explained anything before she had to make choices.

  Sophia frowned at her Status. Dav was right; it was almost like she’d gained more free slots, because the ones that came out of an existing slot were simply shoved into a new slot under the Grand Ability, while the old slot was still there. A check of the cost to pick up a new slot for both the Grand Spell and the Grand Ability said that they were actually free in all senses, too: the next slot for both was the same price, 100 Wisps. Sophia didn’t have that, and probably wouldn’t any time soon, but at least she knew what the price was now.

  It looked a lot like a backhanded incentive to keep things in slots, especially when you might be able to get a Grand Spell or Grand Ability related to whatever it was. If she wanted to use the unslotted Abilities or Spells, she’d have to buy a slot first. Well, for the Abilities, she could unslot one to stick in a different one. She wasn’t planning to do that immediately, though she might be willing to drop one of the Abilities for Spirit Sight if she needed to see Spirits.

  Nexus Knowledge was probably the first candidate, since she wasn’t even at a Nexus. Visual Targeting also looked like a good one to drop; she hadn’t found it as useful as she expected to. She was a bit worried that dropping it would reveal that she was actually using it more than she thought she was, though, since it was passive like all of the other Abilities in Shrouded Insight.

  Innate Communication was another good candidate. It had never actually mattered, since everyone here spoke English. On top of that, Dav also had Innate Communication; he’d be able to translate for her if something came up and she actually did need it, until she had the Wisps to change it back.

  Sophia frowned. Innate Communication was not on the list Dav gave her. If it moved for her, it ought to have moved for him, shouldn’t it? “Did Innate Communication move to your Grand Ability? It moved for me, it’s in my Shrouded Insight Grand Ability now.”

  “Uh.” Dav seemed to focus on a screen in front of his face for a moment, then he snorted. “I missed it. I stopped looking after I saw three empty slots, but you’re right, that one’s empty too. Uhm. I didn’t expect that.”

  “What?” Sophia tried to keep the worry out of her voice.

  Dav took a lot longer than seemed necessary to check things before he answered this time. At the same time, Sophia knew that he wasn’t worried; he seemed more embarrassed about getting it wrong the first time. “It’s not the only one that’s missing, and two of the Abilities in the Grand Ability aren’t named the same, either. I now have Eyes that See, Psychic Mesh, and Weapon Union. Eyes that See still has a useless description; it just says that my eyes can see the eldritch reality of the world. Spirit Sight is missing as an Ability Fragment, so I can probably see spirits now.”

  “That might be useful? If we need to go anywhere there are spirits, anyway.” Sophia knew that there weren’t any spirits on the list of Night Owl areas, but that was all she could say for sure.

  “It should make it easier to use the Cord of Spirit Ice safely,” Dav agreed. “Psychic Mesh seems to be a combination of Eldritch Splice and Eldritch Mental Diffusion, with the addition that all members of the Mesh can fully understand each other; I think that’s where Innate Communication went.”

  Sophia’s eyes widened. That was probably why she was certain Dav was embarrassed even though he was holding himself stiffly; the way he held himself was in itself a message that she could read. That could be both good and bad; openness was good but there were times when it was better to not say everything.

  She looked at Amy and Taika; neither of them had stirred and she didn’t get any odd certainties from them. Amy was concentrating and Taika was trying to sleep. It must only work when you were trying to communicate; that was a good thing, then. Dav probably didn’t mind her knowing that he was a bit annoyed at himself for missing the altered and missing Abilities. It was more like hearing the additional nuance of tone of voice than anything else, just with less of a chance to misunderstand what was being said.

  Sophia reached out to speak with him mentally. It was a little different from before, more like speaking across an established telepathic link than dropping a message into nothingness. “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes,” Dav’s voice answered in her mind. “Huh. I heard that without checking, and all I have to do to reply is think at you. You are hearing what I’m sending, right?” He thoughts were outlined first in surprise, then wonder, then concern.

  “Yeah,” Sophia answered with a smile. She was certain he’d feel the smile as well as see it. “This is great, it’s a good change.”

  “Well, that’s something,” Dav answered silently. “I think I like it. I wonder what else we can send across it?” Dav didn’t have to specify what he was saying to make it clear what he meant; the unsaid erotic undertone was clear.

  Sophia felt her cheeks warm. She wanted to try that, but not here and not until she knew Amy and Taika wouldn’t overhear what Dav and Sophia sent to each other. It seemed likely they wouldn’t, but she wanted to be certain.

  As if he’d heard her, Dav smoothly switched back to the earlier topic. “Weapon Union seems to be Eldritch Weapon Alteration, except that it talks about communing with a weapon instead of altering it. I’m not even sure where to start on testing what that means.”

  Dav stopped for long enough to draw his sword, then turned it into a tattoo temporarily before returning it to its usable state and sheathing it again. “It feels the same, and I’m pretty sure I can still use Eldritch Sheathe with it, so I’m not sure that matters. The only other thing I’m seeing in my Status is that Sword Forms moved from Unaffiliated to Species and seems to be called Sword Sketch now. It says I can use my sword to sketch my understanding of the eldritch nature of reality.”

  “That could be almost anything,” Sophia muttered. “Anything from fighting well to literally changing reality with your sword, as long as you believe it.”

  Dav sighed. He seemed conflicted but also determined. “That is the problem, isn’t it? I don’t want to disconnect myself from reality to become more powerful. Magic already makes it hard enough; I’ve seen enough to know that either it’s real or I’m already disconnected from reality.”

  Sophia shrugged. The answer seemed obvious; she’d seen people stop a spell with a sword before. “Then use that. Reinforce your reality on enemies. If they can’t cast spells or fly without wings, whatever they do that is impossible, they are easier to fight.”

  Dav started to object, but before he actually said anything he seemed to realize that Sophia had a point. He didn’t seem confident, but he also didn’t have a way to refute her suggestion. “I can try,” he agreed reluctantly. “It’s funny, I always wanted to cast spells but in some ways this all still seems like a fever dream or an AR game. It can’t be, but it’s still hard to believe and it’s been months.”

  Sophia didn’t have any words to help. All she could do was sit next to him and hold him, anchoring him in the reality they shared. He was usually her solid rock, buttressing her against the harsh storms of the world, but right now he needed her.

  Sophia had no idea how long they sat like that before Amy finally jubilantly explained that she’d earned Night Vision. They talked excitedly for a few minutes, then woke Taika up to try. They expected to have to leave almost immediately, but the stone continued to glow despite Taika’s visible imitation floating crystal. Amy, Dav, and Sophia talked about it in whispers and decided that the most likely reason was that although the illusion was made of light, it didn’t actually create any illumination, much like the original.

  Sophia and Dav walked Amy through what they’d learned from the Challenge. It made Amy even more determined to learn at least the techniques Dav was using, though she said she wasn’t going to use them on either Excellent Ears or Huntsman’s Target; she wasn’t willing to risk her chance at gaining Night Owl as her first upgrade.

  By the time Taika finished his crystal and called everyone over to help spot discrepancies, Sophia’s head was filled with theories and guesses. They were pretty sure that any Spell or Ability could be a Spell or Ability Fragment if you tied it to the right Grand Spell or Ability. They were even more confident that affinity mattered; Dav’s Grand Ability had slots that were a tenth the price of Sophia’s, and the only explanation for that was that it was a good fit for him. That probably also explained why his Abilities morphed as they moved into the Grand Ability, while Sophia’s didn’t.

  At the same time, the change of Sword Forms into Sword Sketch didn’t seem to be connected to the Grand Ability at all. Since it happened at the same time, there almost had to be some connection, but they had no idea what it might be.

  Taika’s efforts gave another example of affinity in practice, but it was a case of negative affinity. As far as they all could tell, he managed a perfect replica of the floating crystal, but he didn’t learn an Ability. He was going to be limited to his natural eyesight. It was a good thing he didn’t need to lead the group.

  I decided not to detail the long theoretical discussion about what might or might not be happening with Grand Spells and Abilities.