“Well, after the confluence? Is that what it’s called?” Getting a nod from Ortik, “After the confluence, it took me a while to recover, it really hurt… Then I saw all the braziers, burning in their bright colours, swirling with impressions of so many things.” The impressions left by the essence of the Great Dragons from each brazier once again filling her with wonder. “I wasn’t really sure at first, they all felt so intimidating, so immense. I tried to approach the one in front of me from when I jumped through. It felt nearly as bad as the mist did… Like the entire mountain was pressing down on me. I had to retreat and try to figure out what the next test was.”

  “It was a continuation of the first, having focused your spirit you were then to align it with our progenitor.” Ortik reveals while she pauses in her story.

  “So, I guess I didn’t really do things properly again…” Scratching at her horns and looking away as she spoke. “When I walked around the ring between the water and braziers, I started to recognize what I was feeling from each of the plumes of smoke…”

  “Your new sense aiding you in that I expect apprentice.”

  “I think so too… When I got most of the way around, well, it was like a lodestone to iron. I just couldn't look away.” A touch of awe as she talks about the Emberscale brazier’s effect on her. “It was like with the little motes, my thoughts just evaporated in its presence and before I even realized I was standing right next to it…” A shiver travels down her spine as she remembers the feeling of the smoke embracing her and the motes of ember gracing her scales. “It felt… I’m not sure how to describe it…”

  As Kori pauses to find the right words, Lowy breaths out in a low and awestruck voice, “Divine.”

  At nearly the same moment, Ortik articulates it differently, but with practically the same meaning. “Transcendent.”

  “Yes! I just couldn’t look away… How long did I stand there anyway? It felt like it could have been seconds or days.”

  “A few minutes. Maybe fifteen at most.”

  “Are there really scales from all twelve Great Dragons in there?” Pointing out towards the various braziers, her gaze settling on the one she knows contains the garnet scale. Even now brilliant in her spiritual senses.

  “There are, yes. This is one of the great secrets of the Clans. Please do not speak of them outside of the Circle.”

  “Oh, okay…” Not really sure why they’d hide that, but if that’s what Ortik wants her to do, she guesses that’s what she’ll do. “Anyway. I lost track of time and stood there for a bit, then I got distracted by a weird notification I’d never seen before…”

  “Of course you hadn’t, you’re barely out of the hatchery. There’s more in this world you haven’t seen than that which you have.” Lowy back to her obnoxious self, clearly the shock of Kori’s status having worn off.

  “I assume apprentice, you mean the one about your bloodline that came along with the daily racial experience increasing?” Ortik ignoring Lowy’s outburst entirely in favour of answering his apprentice’s question.

  “That’s the one! I’d heard about getting increases to our racial experience allotments, but nobody ever mentioned anything about what a ‘bloodline’ is…” It was plainly visible on her face what was about to come next. “Why not?”

  After a slight chuckle at her predictability, “Because they don’t really matter. Not to us at least.”

  “But the System said it like it was important? Why would it do that if it didn’t matter?” Clearly not accepting the non-answer she had been given.

  “Bloodlines are complicated.” Falling into his lecturing tone once more, “The strength or weakness of one’s bloodline governs how much racial experience they gain and can influence many factors of their growth.” Pausing to think for a moment. “It becomes even more complicated when it comes to how powerful a particular bloodline is. If one were to posses a powerful bloodline, but only weakly, you may be at a disadvantage compared to someone with a more common but less powerful bloodline. Resources to empower the former being much more difficult to acquire than the latter.”

  “That sounds super important though…” Kori still not seeing why he is so dismissive of the concept.

  “The surface races think them to be quite important. But for us? They matter very little. When it comes to the surface races, each one possesses all sorts of bloodlines, none more so than the Humans. For some reason they’ll mingle their blood with just about anything…” Shaking his head at their folly, “Other races, beasts, elementals, monsters, there are rumours of some angelic or even demonic bloodlines still survive after all this time sealed away from such beings.” Speaking the last like he is passing along interesting gossip.

  Continuing on, though sounding bored and disinterested in the subject. “The problem for them is, the System doesn’t tell you anything about your bloodline. So, with all those options the surface races have to keep track of all their relatives, their offspring, their offspring’s offspring, who has what bloodline and so on. If they mix incompatible ones, they may cripple their children’s growth. Or they could even manage to create a new stronger line.” Tones of skepticism in his voice. “All this complicates things in their lives and creates an entire industry of around identifying bloodlines and figuring out what objects and resources resonate with them. Like the essence of the scale just did for you. Improving their Racial growth.” Shaking his head again at the thought of it, “An industry full of supposed diviners and shysters looking to prey on those seeking guidance…”

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  Returning to his lecture, no real passion to his voice but more like he’s just reading from a page. “Should the strength someone has in their bloodline be sufficient, whether through birth or effort, they may find additional opportunities available when evolving their race or class or may find jobs that are more specialized to their bloodline or unlock additional traits. Such as your own trait for instance.”

  Finally sounding as though he had some enthusiasm for the topic when he turns it back towards the Kobolds. “But us?” Pointing around them to the various Kobolds in the chamber, “We don’t really have to worry about any of that stuff.” Speaking with pride in his Clan. “We all share a single bloodline, Emberscale’s. We know that encountering the remnants of The Garnet Tyrant will resonate with us. Or that consuming resources aligned strongly with the concept of flame or tyranny will do the same.”

  “Now, I believe that should be sufficient for this lesson, if you desire more ask the Matrons.” Clearly done with the topic. “Back to the matter at hand. How were you able to simple walk right up to the brazier, you should have taken some time to acclimatize yourself and become aligned with our progenitor’s essence.”

  “I don’t know? I just kind of did…” Unsure in how to explain it, not really even understanding what happened herself. “I saw the brazier, I saw the flames and embers, I felt the pull of it and my mind went blank save for the brazier. And then I was just standing there, next to it… I barely even remember moving…”

  “When I realized what it was, and what they all were, I was awed. All the lessons from the Matrons came to mind and each of their names and titles were there at the tip of my tongue.” Even now she can nearly picture each of the Great Dragons surging from their braziers.

  “Then the notification came, and it was like a spell was broken. And I just walked the rest of the way passed.”

  “Hmm… Even having watched it happen, I’m not really certain of the how or why of it myself either. Whatever lingering effect of the trance in which you attained your sense skill must have aided you.” Trying to sound confident as he dismisses the event, his curiosity still unsated as to how the youngling managed her feat. “Onto the third trial. You approached several of the spirits before leaving the dais to find the exits but then came back and roamed through nearly the entirety of the totems.” With a bit of a cheeky grin, “As you would say, ‘Why’?”

  Taking a moment to parse what he was asking, “Spirit’s? I didn’t approach any spirits…” Trying to think on her actions, “Do you mean when I tried to get the little chunk of quartz’s attention, and it ignored me?”

  “It ignored you? It didn’t offer to guide you, or tell you to leave, or even just waste your time asking questions and trying to distract you?”

  “Nope… None of that… They all just ignored me…” Perplexed at the idea that the spirits in the totems were supposed to actually communicate with her.

  “You mean to say, after all of that, they didn’t even try to swindle you?” Lowy’s cackle returning with a vengeance. “Not a single bound spirit so much as told you to leave it alone?”

  “Uhhh… No?”

  “You know, I should be shocked that this trial too wasn’t completed properly… But I’m not… I’m just… Baffled… I guess that’s the right word… Baffled…” Ortik completely unable to hide his exasperation at the situation before him. “Please tell me you managed to get at least one of them to acknowledge you?”

  “Nope.” With a shake of her head.

  “Nope? That’s all she has to say for herself? The most important rite for any shaman, bargaining with their first spirit, and all she has to say is… Nope?” Even Lowy’s cackle ended in stupefied expression at the monosyllabic response.

  “They were supposed to bargain with me?” Confused at the premise. “How do you bargain with a shiny rock? It just sat there, content to be shiny…”

  “Apprentice… How in the scale did you find your way back to the Clan if none of the spirits guided you?” Wiping a hand down his muzzle, clearly getting tired of her antics.

  “Oh, that was a lot of work… First, I made a few assumptions, like that the exit would align with the Emberscale brazier and that there were twelve intersections, I vaguely remembered about that many. Twelves a really important number after all.” Recounting her effort with great enthusiasm. “Then I drew a map, I’d show you but it’s not in my tome anymore. I had to make ink with the tea.” Ortik’s eye twitches as she says that with such pride, the stunned look on his face just growing more intense as she speaks. “Then I drew a grid, I just arbitrarily chose thirty by thirty, figuring that was enough.”

  “Then more deductions. Well, assumptions? Maybe informed guesses?” Tilting her head as she tries to find the best descriptor that doesn’t sound like she just wagered everything on a guess. “I figured that since if I hit a thirteenth intersection it would mean it wasn’t the right path, so I crossed out everything that took more than that number to reach.”

  “You saw the map and navigation skills I got from it in my status earlier…” Pausing as she considers the skills” I’m actually a bit confused by the map one, cartography… Why’s it called that, it’s got nothing to do with carts, it’s maps. Shouldn’t it be Mapology, or Mapography?”

  “I… I’m not really sure, apprentice… Please just continue…” Ortik lacking the mental energy to even scold her distraction from the topic.

  “Oh, okay.” Disappointed to not get an answer, but there’s something in his tone making her not want to press the question, maybe she’ll bring it back up later. “Anyway, I tried to calculate exactly how many potential paths were possible… It was a lot… Like more than one hundred thousand…” Her speech quickening as she goes on, excited to discuss her efforts. “Except it wasn’t, cause paths eliminated other paths that would end on their route, and it just became this big, long mess of attempting to figure out how to include that in the calculation and I never really did get a solid answer… But trying maxed out my math skill, so that’s pretty nice.”

  Interrupting her with a long and exasperated sigh, “Kori… Just describe how you made it to the exit please…”

  “Sorry…” Slowing down and taking a breath, Kori returns to the point of the discussion. “So, I made the map, and deduced the best way to search was to go twelve segments straight ahead, then backtrack a single intersection, take the other two paths to the end of their twelfth segment, backtrack again and repeat.” Clearly proud of her method. “Each bad path I’d cross out on my map and then try the next. It took me a couple of days to clear the straight path, then I turned left, thankfully, if I’d tried right, I wouldn’t have made it in time, and eventually following the same method found the exit.” Pausing for a moment, “Well, I found the back of the exit, the intersection with only two branches instead of three, but seeing that I knew it had to be around the other side.”

  “Once I found it, I just ran up the tunnel and found the mean door. Why was the door angry by the way?”

  “Mean… Door… Why do you think the door was angry Kori?”

  “Well, I think it tried to eat me? Maybe? It felt really hungry and then angry at me like it being hungry was my fault… Honestly, I think it was the only totem spirit to even acknowledge I existed…”

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