"I'm sorry, what?" Jeff stared at Zoe, sitting across the table. Crispy bits of greasy ryz skin clinging to the edges of her mouth, crumbs scattered along the deep red, knitted sweater she was wearing.

  "You fought the dragon, lost, and then your first decision was to loop?" Tom looked bewildered.

  Jeff couldn't fault the man. She'd nearly been killed and her first thought was to throw away the entirety of her power?

  Zoe nodded. "Yup. In hindsight it was stupid. But what's done is done. I would appreciate if we didn't linger on my mistake. I know it was a mistake. Are you two still alright with me coming along for your journey?"

  Tom sighed. He'd talked a lot about Zoe in the time she'd been gone. The experience was jarring, though until she sat down and explained what happened they'd thought it was a sensible decision. A dragon too powerful for even her at her peak of power would think them nothing more than ants. They'd been thankful for her quick reactions.

  But, at the same time it was quite eye opening. Travelling with Zoe meant there would be greater dangers. She'd warned them of it before they even began travelling. She wanted more than they could offer, and she would do that. And if every time that happened, they had to get shunted back to Foizo?

  Meeting the Verdant Watcher was an incredible experience. Seeing what she could do first hand was awe inspiring. But that wasn't how they wanted to live their lives. She just existed on a different level, their lives just weren't compatible.

  They'd already decided before that if this was going to be a regular occurrence, they wouldn't be able to stay with her. They'd hitch a ride with her to the nearest valley — the same place they would have chosen to walk to without her, and then give their appreciation and say their goodbyes.

  But now? Jeff looked just above her head. Level twenty three? Could she even give them a ride to the valley now? Could she survive in the dungeons they'd be visiting? Somehow the tables seemed like they'd turned and over night she'd gone from omnipotent tour guide to bumbling fool begging for protection as she accumulated even more power — at their expense, no less.

  Jeff looked to Tom and gave him a subtle nod. Assurance that whatever Tom chose, Jeff would be okay with.

  Tom leaned forward, looking Zoe in her eyes. "If you're going to be abandoning us like that again, then no. And we're not going to be your guards while you're weak. You can come, at your own risk. But we're going to do what we want and go where we want. This is our journey, not yours."

  Zoe gave a weak smile. "That's fine. I'm sorry. I was overconfident. When do you want to leave? I'm ready whenever you two are."

  "We've been waiting." Tom said with a curtness Jeff rarely heard. He was furious, Jeff knew. But the chance to learn from the one person they knew who had reached their seventh class was too great to give up. She was their senior in almost every respect, and for as flawed as she might be, all that meant was she'd made plenty of mistakes to learn from. The frustration would pass, if she could behave herself.

  Jeff nodded, adding his own piece. "We're ready to leave now."

  "So," Zoe bit her lip. "My teleport is very very weak now so it'll take a while to get to the valleys. It'll still be faster than walking!" She defended herself, though with little confidence. "But I can't make the journey in one teleport anymore."

  "How long will it take?" Tom asked, a hint of his frustration seeping through his voice. Not only had they been ripped away from their destination but now they were told it would even be a long journey to get there?

  "Mmm," Zoe shifted her head back and forth as her eyes rolled around, deep in thought. "Probably four hours? Five, maybe? Around there. Sorry, I probably should have at least gotten to the valleys before I looped."

  Five hours? The nearest valley was at least several thousand kilometers away. Five hours was very, very weak to her? How far could she teleport before?

  Tom stared at Zoe with a blank expression, stunned for just a moment. "Then we better get moving."

  "Which direction were you planning to go?" Zoe asked, looking between Tom and Jeff. "I think the closest is to the west, right?"

  "It is," Jeff answered. "We were planning to travel west."

  Tom nodded. "You can take us directly west until we reach the edge."

  Zoe nodded, paid far more than their meal was worth — again, and then ripped them out of their seats and far to the west. Foizo was just visible in the distance and then grew smaller and smaller, before vanishing past the horizon as they teleported again and again with each passing second.

  It was, by all accounts, a much smaller display of power than when she'd first brought them out to above the valleys. A single jump from an inn out to the middle of nowhere was an incredible feat. Jeff understood that, just the sheer mana required to perform such a teleport was outrageous. Millions of mana ripped away in an instant. On a technical level, it was one of the most blatant displays of overwhelming might Jeff had ever seen. It didn't matter where they were, or what they were doing. Zoe could see them, and she could move them to anywhere.

  But this felt so much more impactful, somehow. The wilderness vanishing beneath them. Villages visible far below for just a moment before they shifted again. Lakes, clearings. A brief moment where a bear was visible, stalking after a deer in the forests and then all Jeff saw was a field full of flowers.

  Just under six hours passed with sweat beading down Zoe's face before she dropped them at the edge of one of the valleys. Mana surged around her the entire time, pulled in by what looked like a Meditation type skill but significantly more powerful than any Jeff had found.

  She took several deep breaths when they'd landed, and then walked up to the edge to peer over it. "Were you ever afraid of heights?"

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  Tom shook his head. "Nope. Never bothered me. It's looking up at tall things that does it for me."

  "I fear nothing." Jeff said. "Well, aside from wild sinkhole wizards. Everybody should fear them."

  Tom rolled his eyes.

  Zoe looked up at the sun that had just past its highest point and then to Tom. "We've got about thirty, maybe forty minutes of light left. Do you two want to go camp down there or up here?"

  "Down," Tom said with no hesitation.

  "Agreed," Jeff said. He didn't mind either way if he was being honest, but they'd decided to go with their first instinct if it ever came time to make decisions. And Jeff's first instinct was to agree with Tom.

  Zoe nodded and their surroundings vanished. It only took a few jumps to get to the bottom but with each one the sky darkened further. The bright, warm day became a dim, cool evening in seconds as they reached the bottom.

  They landed in a small clearing in the middle of a vast forest. Around them were healthy trees, plentiful bushes baring colourful fruits. Tall strands of grass that reached up around Jeff's shins, much of which had been trampled over by the various creatures that roamed the area.

  Magic surged from Jeff's form as he carved out a small hole in the earth, dirt and grass shunted away into wherever it went when his magic destroyed it. The sinkhole dimension, Jeff believed. A few steps lead down into a small room, large enough for the three to each have a bed but space for little else.

  Zoe nodded. "Good. I've got my new class I want to test, if either of you are interested in helping? I've got a buff I'd like to test at least."

  Tom shrugged. "Nothing else to do tonight."

  "What did you get?" Jeff asked. Even if her decision had been impulsive, a class worthy of giving up her seventh for would have to be impressive.

  Zoe shrugged. "It's nothing special, really. It's called Arcane Beholder, gives a bunch of bonuses to perception. But it's part of a series, so I'm hoping it will merge into a better class."

  "Never heard of it," Tom said. "What's the buff?"

  "Apparently I imbue your eyes with mana. Can I try?" Zoe tilted her head.

  "You can try it on me," Jeff offered.

  Mana swelled from Zoe's form, settling in to Jeff's eyes. In an instant, the world lit up. The dim lit forest clearing looked bright as day, every shadow a dull representation of what it had been moments earlier. Leaves swayed in the gentle breeze, visible to Jeff hundreds of feet off in the distance, through the smallest of holes through the dense thicket of branches.

  The mana that surrounded them seemed so much clearer, too. Far more than just his measly mana sight. Small wells of power, sinking deep within the very fabric of reality itself. Pulsing and shifting across the trees and grasses. A gaping hole where Zoe stood, reality seeming to bend as it tried to accommodate her immense weight.

  Jeff stumbled backwards at the sight.

  "You good?" Tom asked.

  Jeff nodded. "Yeah. It's good. It's really good. I just wasn't expecting it, is all. You should try it."

  Tom nodded at Zoe, and another swell of mana flooded from her body, settling in to Tom's eyes. He looked around in wonder, seeing the same sights Jeff had seen. And when he turned back to Zoe, had a similar reaction of shock.

  "You. What are you?" Tom asked, pacing around her, staring at however the mana chose to present itself to him.

  "What do you mean?" Zoe's head tilted.

  "You're. So much more. Is it just the mana you have that's doing that? It couldn't be, you're only barely level twenty." Tom looked back at Jeff.

  Jeff didn't expect him to see much. Tom's mana was much less than Jeff's but not by enough to cause that kind of reaction. And Tom looked much more normal. Wells of power that clung to his form — and particularly large ones in his eyes, but nothing so intense as a singular gaping hole in reality.

  "Yeah, you look normal. A little insane, but normal." He turned to Zoe. "But you, you look so much more full."

  "Hmm," Zoe rubbed her hands against her hips, her black pants stretching back and forth as she did, then pointed to Jeff. "How much mana do you have?"

  "I'm almost at a hundred thousand, now." Jeff said with pride. He wasn't built for mana, but he had more than enough to play with. A comfortable amount, capable of staggeringly powerful sinkholes.

  "Is that a lot?" Zoe asked with an annoying innocence, shattering Jeff's pride in an instant.

  "It should be," Jeff said.

  Zoe bit her lip, and swelled with mana again. It rushed to her eyes, then fizzled out with no effect. "It says allies, so I guess I'm not considered an ally. That's too bad, I wish I could see myself. It's definitely not just mana though, I only have fifty thousand. So it's something else that you're seeing."

  She paused for a moment, and then Jeff felt the mana dissipate from his eyes as the darkness fell on the forest again. "I'll have to test that with my friend next time I see her then. For now I think I'll avoid using it, just in case it's doing something it shouldn't be."

  "You have fifty thousand mana? At level twenty three?" Jeff asked. "How? How much Intelligence do you have?"

  "Right now, I have one thousand ninety two. I have a few feats that give me some passive stat points. Like Trailblazer, you heard of it? Though my Trailblazer points have all gone into Vitality." She waved her hand. "Anyway, got some more skills to test!"

  And then she vanished.

  "Zoe?" Tom called out.

  "Wow, that good huh?" Zoe's voice rang out from where she'd been standing a moment ago.

  Jeff reached out and groped around where she'd been standing and felt his hand brush against the soft knitted material she was wearing. He made a mental note to ask her where she'd bought it from later.

  "You can't see me at all?" Zoe's voice asked.

  "No, you're completely invisible." Tom said.

  "Huh. Cool. Alright," Zoe's skill released and she appeared, not having moved at all from where she stood. "Next is scrying, then."

  A pulse of mana rushed in to her eyes, then quickly dissipated and she shrugged. "Doesn't seem like it can go very far yet. Couldn't even see back to Foizo with it. Alright, lets get the violent ones out of the way then."

  Zoe turned and stared at a bush. Mana surged through her, flying from her eyes towards the bush, ripping apart its branches and splattering the leaves with juice from the fruits.

  A moment later several dozen blasts of mana shot from her body one after the other, pulverizing the bush into the dirt.

  "Ehh," Zoe shrugged. "Not bad. Not great. Either of you two feel like taking some damage?"

  "Nope," Tom said immediately.

  "I'd rather not," Jeff agreed. Neither of the skills seemed like they'd pose too much immediate danger, but both of them looked rather unpleasant to experience.

  "Alright, field test it is then, whenever we find a dungeon. Two more then. Onubulate. Onubla... Ubnobulate. Whatever. One or two?"

  "Two?" Jeff suggested.

  "Oble then. I have no idea how to pronounce it. Says it will form an area clouded to magical perception." Mana rippled out from Zoe's form, forming a sphere that reached out about fifteen feet in every direction. Constant, small pulses of mana shot out and raced across the barrier, strengthening its form.

  Jeff felt his connection to the earth beyond the barrier wane, like the distance had been stretched to just beyond his normal range. That somewhat familiar feeling of dirt and rocks he could vaguely identify, yet never touch.

  "Huh, that's weird." Zoe said, the sphere of mana dissipating into the atmosphere. A moment later a hexagon of solid mana surged from her body, floating just in front of her torso. Zoe's head followed it as it drifted around in a small radius around her.

  "Try hitting it?" Zoe looked to Tom.

  Tom summoned his bow and a mundane arrow, then aimed and fired it. The arrow shattered as it impacted the hexagon of mana.

  "What would that have done to, like, a tree?" Zoe asked.

  Tom summoned another arrow and fired it at a nearby tree. The arrow soared through, piercing through the tree like it wasn't even there and embedding itself deep within another tree several dozen feet behind it.

  "Ehh, not that great then." Zoe shrugged. "But a skill's a skill, right? I'll have to test these as enchantments later."

  The darkness overtook the forest as the three stuffed themselves in to the tiny room Jeff had carved out. Earth rose up from the doorframe, shutting them off from the outside world and leaving them in pitch darkness.

  not come across as just pointless fan service and instead actually read as the parody that I wanted it to be was shockingly tricky lol. Instead I settled for hopefully a simple subversion of expectations.

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